Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2018, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (5): 70-105.

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Party, Politics and Policy: The Multi-Logic of “Rich Peasants Problem” in the Early CCP Revolution

MENG Qingyan   

  1. School of Sociology and Historical Sociology and CCP's History Research Center, China University of Political Science and Law
  • Online:2018-09-20 Published:2018-09-20
  • Supported by:

    This article is supported by the projcet "Restudy of the CPC's Rural Investigation Tradition from the Perspective of Historical Sociology (1921-1943)" (10818444), which is one of Annual Youth Project of Scientific Research and Innovation 2018 of China University of Political Science and Law.

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Abstract:

“Rich Peasants” (Funong) is an important concept of class analysis of rural China during the early stage of the Chinese Communist Revolution. It is also a focal point of policy debates and shifts during the Land Reform. The Communist Party pivoted on the concept in its adaptation of Marxist and Leninist ideology for dealing with rural crisis in modern China. This article argues that, under specific local reality of complication and conflicts, the concept became “indigenized” and thus had the following implications:First, Funong transformed itself from an ideological concept in theory into a concrete target of revolution; second, it was also entangled with the struggles of the Communist Party and was later named as the “Route of Rich Peasants” for certain policy practice in the early revolution; third, the definition of “Rich Peasants” and the land policy based on it caused major policy problems during the land reform in the Soviet Areas. These three aspects together constituted a unique revolutionary power mechanism. By reviewing a large amount of historical materials from various sources, this study presents a detailed discussion of the complex historical process of “Rich Peasant” from concept to practice, identifying the internal connection between “Rich Peasants” and “local elites” from multiple perspectives of social history, political history and historical sociology and explaining the inner logic and social process of the concept as a revolutionary power mechanism.

Key words: rich peasants, rural society, local elite, revolution