On the Policy of Granting a Two-Year to Counter-Revolutionaries Sentenced to Death
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of On the Policy of Granting a Two-Year Reprieve to Counter-Revolutionaries Sentenced to Death has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following edition: Strike Surely, Accurately, and Relentlessly in Suppressing Counter-Revolutionaries, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 5, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1977.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is a resolution drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the 8th of May, 1951. It was first published in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 5, in 1977.
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#ON THE POLICY OF GRANTING A TWO-YEAR REPRIEVE TO COUNTER-REVOLUTIONARIES SENTENCED TO DEATH
#RESOLUTION OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA
#Mao Zedong
#8th of May, 1951
#★
In regard to the counter-revolutionaries ferreted out in the Communist Party, People's Liberation Army, and bodies of the People's Government, and in educational, industrial and commercial, and religious circles, democratic political parties, and people's organizations, the Central Committee has decided as follows.
Whereas those whose crimes do not deserve the death penalty shall be sentenced to life imprisonment or various prison terms or put under public supervision and surveillance, with respect to all counter-revolutionaries deserving capital punishment, execution shall be confined to those who owe blood debts, or who have committed other major crimes which evoke public indignation, such as frequent rape or the plundering of large amounts of property, or who have done extremely serious harm to the national interest, while the policy toward the rest shall be one of passing the death sentence, granting a two-year reprieve, and subjecting them to forced labour during this period to see how they behave. This is a prudent policy, a policy that can avoid mistakes. It can win a favourable response from people in all walks of life. It can disintegrate the counter-revolutionary forces and contribute toward the thorough elimination of counter-revolution. Moreover, it can save a large pool of labour-power, which will be conducive to our national construction. Therefore, it is a correct policy. Of all the counter-revolutionaries deserving death who are ferreted out in the above-mentioned Party, government, military, educational, industrial and commercial, and people's organizations, it is estimated that those who owe blood debts, those who have committed other crimes which evoke public indignation, and those who have done extremely serious harm to the national interest make up only a small number, roughly 10 to 20%, while those to be sentenced to death, but to be granted a reprieve, probably account for 80 to 90%, that is to say, 80 to 90% may be saved. These counter-revolutionaries differ from the bandit chieftains, hardened brigands, and local tyrants in the rural areas, from the local tyrants, bandit chieftains, hardened brigands, leaders of criminal gangs, and heads of reactionary secret societies in the cities, and also from certain secret agents who have done extremely serious harm to the national interest in that they have contracted no blood debts or committed no other major crimes that incur the deep hatred of the masses. The harm they did to the national interest, while serious enough, had not yet reached an extreme. They have committed capital offences, but the masses were not the direct victims. If we have such people executed, it will not be easily understood by the masses, nor will the response from public figures be so favourable; at the same time, it will deprive us of a large pool of labour-power and will not serve to split the enemy ranks; besides, we may make mistakes on this question. Therefore, toward such persons, the Central Committee has decided on a policy of passing the death sentence with a reprieve and subjecting them to forced labour to see how they behave. If some are beyond reform and continue their wrongdoing, they can be executed later on, as the initiative is in our hands. All the local authorities are asked to adhere to the above principle in dealing with the counter-revolutionaries uncovered in the Party, government, military, educational, industrial and commercial, and people's organizations. As a precaution, the very small number of executions to be carried out (amounting to roughly 10 to 20% of all those sentenced to death) must without exception be reported to the greater administrative areas or the greater military areas for approval. As for prominent figures whose execution might affect our united-front work, approval must be obtained from the central authorities. In the case of counter-revolutionaries in the rural areas, we shall likewise put to death only those whose execution is necessary to assuage the people's anger, and none shall be executed unless the people so demand. To some, we should similarly apply the policy of passing the death sentence with a reprieve. But persons whose death is demanded by the people must be executed, so as to assuage their anger and help production.