Hakkas (Settlers) by Mao Tse-tung

[CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>]

  Hakkas (Settlers) by Mao Tse-tung

  This is an excerpt from Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung
  (English edition Peking 1961-1965), volume 1 pages 93-94.
  (Chinese edition Peking 1951) volume 1 pages 73-74

  I am doing this for those Hakkas who have not read it.
  I am a Tang Ren born in Malaysia and am not against or pro Mao.

  THE STRUGGLE IN THE CHINGKANG MOUNTAINS  November 25, 1928

  QUESTIONS OF PARTY ORGANIZATION  
 
 In English is
 The question of the native inhabitants and the settlers (Hakkas).    
  ----------------------------------------------------------------
 In Chinese is
 The question of Hakkas and the Natives
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  There is another peculiar feature in the border counties, namely, the 
rift between the native inhabitants and the settlers (Hakkas). A very 
wide rift has long existed between the native inhabitants and the 
settlers whose forefathers came from the north several hundred years ago; 
their traditional feuds are deep-seated and they sometimes erupt in 
violent clashes. The settlers, numbering several millions, live in a zone 
extending from the Fukien-Kwangtung border all the way along the 
Hunan-Kiangsi border to southern Hupeh. These settlers, who live in the 
hilly regions, have been oppressed by the native inhabitants in the 
plains, and have never had any political rights. They welcomed the 
national revolution of the  past two years, thinking that the day had 
come for them to raise their heads. But unfortunately the revolution 
failed and they continue to be oppressed by the native inhabitants. 
Within our own area the problem of the native inhabitants and the 
settlers exist in Ningkang, Suichuan, Linghsien and Chaling, and is most 
serious in Ningkang. Under the leadership of the Communist Party, the 
revolutionaries among the native inhabitants of Ningkang, together with 
the settlers, overthrew the political power of the native landlords and 
gained control of the whole county in 1926-27. In June last year the 
Kiangsi government under Chu Pei-teh turned against the revolution; in 
September the landlords acted as guides for Chu's troops in the 
"suppression" campaign against Ningkang and once again stirred up the 
conflicts between the native inhabitants and the settlers. In theory, 
this rift between the native inhabitants and the settlers ought not to 
extend into the exploited classes of workers and the peasants, much less 
into the Communist Party. But it does, and it persists by force of long 
tradition. Here is an example. after the August defeat in the border 
area, when the native landlords returned to Ningkang, bringing with them 
the reactionary troops and spreading the rumour that the settlers were 
going to massacre the native inhabitants, most of the native peasants 
defected, put on white ribbons and guided the White troops in burning 
down houses and searching the hills. And when the Red Army routed the 
White troops in October and November, the native peasants fled with 
reactionaries, and their property in turn was seized by the 
settler-peasants. This situation, reflected in the Party, often leads to 
senseless conflicts. Our solution is, on the one hand, to announce that 
"peasants who have defected will not be killed" and " peasants who have 
defected will also be given land when they return", in order to help them 
shake off the influence of the landlords and return home without 
misgivings; on the other hand, it is to get our county governments to 
order the restoration by settler-peasants of any property they have 
seized, and to post notices that the native peasants will be protected. 
Inside the Party, education must be intensified to ensure unity between 
these two sections of the membership.

By Mao Tse-tung (Mao Ze-dong)

extracted from the English edition of
Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung volume 1 pages 93-94