翻译| 团结就是力量：彭湃与海丰农会

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3. The Peasant Union

3. 农会

City walls, whose strength P'eng P'ai had come to know in his campaign against the reactionaries of Haifeng, are a good symbol of the conflict that shaped his career among the peasants from the fall of 1922 on. Within the city lay the center of bureaucratic and economic power in the hands of officials, gentry, and landlords, an elite that the Ch'ing administration had reinforced to the point where it could no longer act as father to the people, its sons. Cities were severed from their surrounding countryside. P'eng remarked on the difference in appearance between city folk and village folk, for it seemed as though they wore the uniforms of two contrasting societies: "When the villagers saw me, they thought I was one of their enemies." In Haifeng, peasants were forbidden the large bamboo hat and stood out in their own distinctive headgear. The two camps ate different food and often scarcely understood each other's speech. "The peasants coming to town felt like tigers in the public garden," awkward and uneasy within the walls and treated with derision by their masters in the yamen.

在反对海丰反动势力的斗争中，彭湃已经领教过城墙的坚固。城墙是一个绝佳的象征，代表着自1922年秋起塑造彭湃农民运动生涯的斗争。城市里集中了官僚和经济的权力，掌握在官员、士绅和地主手中。清朝统治不断强化这批精英，以至于他们已无法再做一名父母官。城市与周围乡村彼此隔绝。彭湃谈及城里人与乡下人的外表差异，两者仿佛穿着两个截然不同的社会的制服：“乡下人看见我，以为我是他们的敌人之一。”在海丰，农民不准戴大竹笠，只能戴自己的特殊头饰，因而一眼就能认出来。两个阵营吃的东西不同，彼此的话也常常难以听懂。“农民进城，觉得像老虎进了公园”，在城墙之内局促不安，又受到衙门里那些老爷们的嘲弄。

Fortified cities in particular brought out this separateness. Citadels such as Chiehshih and Chiehsheng, with their populations made up largely of descendants from garrison soldiers, were a byword for military oppression of surrounding areas. Peasants, "the devils in the villages," were despised and swindled. Clans could exert a similar tyranny. In P'uning, 3o villages around the county capital were fleeced of an annual 6,ooo yüan rewardindemnity by the Fang (backed up by 6oo foreign guns) for help given n putting down a revolt in the past.

设防的城市尤其凸显了这种隔阂。碣石、捷胜等城堡的居民，多为驻军后裔，这些地方成了军事压迫周边地区的代名词。农民被称为“乡下的魔鬼”，遭人鄙视和欺骗。宗族也能施行类似的暴政。在普宁，方氏凭着600支洋枪作支撑，以过去协助镇压叛乱有功为由，每年向县城周围30个村庄勒索6,000元酬功赔款。

The Peasant Union was not slow to take up the peasant cause, and in the early 192o's it initiated a nonviolent attack against the "republican" walled city. This represented a break with tradition, for in former times peasants would occasionally storm towns but would then, after looting, withdraw or establish an order identical to the one they wanted to change. Real changes were occurring in Hai-Lu-feng, as district Peasant Unions were set up to encircle the county city "north, south, east, and west." The whole of P'eng's "Report" is about how the countryside moved to conquer the town in order that it might complete the "unfinished Repubhcan Revolution." Unfortu nately, townspeople were safe behind their walls of arrogance, whereas peasants were cut off and excluded by their own lack of self-esteem, thinking of themselves as "useless people not up to the sons of fine officials." P'eng P'ar tried hard to pull down the psychological walls, and yet "A townsman never stood aside for a villager, rather the peasant with hus load stepped aside for the empty-handed townsman."

农会很快就承担起维护农民利益的任务，并在20世纪20年代初对“共和”制度下有城墙环绕的城市发起了非暴力进攻。这代表与传统的一个决裂：过去农民偶尔也会攻入城镇，但劫掠之后便撤走，或建立一种与他们原想改变的秩序完全相同的秩序。海陆丰正在发生真正的变化，各区农会相继建立，从“东、西、南、北”包围县城。彭湃的整篇《报告》，讲的就是乡村如何向城镇进军，以完成那场“未完成的共和革命”。可惜，城里人躲在傲慢的高墙之后安然无恙，农民却因缺乏自尊而自我隔绝、自我排斥，觉得自己是“不中用的人，比不上好官家的儿子”。彭湃极力想拆除这道心理高墙，然而，“城里人从不让乡下人，倒是挑着担子的农民让开，给空着手的城里人过路”。

But what of the countryside outside the city walls? Whose were the endless fields and paddies of eastern Kwangtung? Was the peasant's situation really so desperate? It is by no means easy to obtain an objective picture of the household economy in the lower strata of this rural society. Most surveys and descriptions convey a sense of a grim scene, and some scholars have implied or endeavored to prove that revolution was inevitable. Let us try to examine the reality in Haifeng as presented by P'eng P'ai himself and others.

那么，城墙之外的乡村是什么情形呢?广东东部那无边无际的旱地和水田，究竟属于谁?农民的处境当真绝望到了那种地步吗?要客观了解这个乡村社会下层的家庭经济，绝非易事。大多数调查和描述呈现的都是一幅惨淡景象，有些学者甚至暗示或力图证明，革命是不可避免的。下面试着考察一下彭湃本人及其他人笔下的海丰实况。

There was a chronic shortage of land in Hai-Lu-feng. Since most of the rural population lived by working the land, considerable under -use of labor was one result. The peasants of Haifeng were estimated in the 1920's to total 280,000, approximately 66 percent of the population, whereas those in Lufeng were 147,000, or 37 percent. The average land cultvatedin Haifeng per peasant was 2.14 mou, making 10.70 mou per household, the latter taken as five persons and the mou as o.166 acres. In practice, land area in Haifeng was usually calculated by the amount of seed that could be planted on a given parcel. Thus, a normal family in Haifeng cultivated as much land as could be sown with a picul of rice seeds. The picul (130pounds, or approximately three American bushels) sowed some 10. 3 standard mou.' P'eng P'ai cites six peasant families working 3o mou among them, making an average of 5 mou per family. But he further states that one able-bodied peasant could farm an area of roughly 7 mou, so an ordinary household could thus have farmed much more land without difficulty. The size of areas worked did of course vary with the nature of the terran, the type of land, and the irrigaton available. In Haifeng, farms on mountain terrain amounted to qo percent of the total cultivated area of around 6oo,o0o mou—that is, 240,ooo mou. Cultivated land on flat ground included much of the sand-field type. Dry-fields were unpopular because of the great deal of capital required to make them productive, and mountain fields also proved expensive.

海陆丰长期缺少土地。乡村人口大都靠耕地谋生，因而造成了相当严重的劳动力闲置。20世纪20年代，海丰农民估计共有280,000人，约占人口的66%;陆丰则有147,000人，占37%。海丰每个农民平均耕种2.14亩，按每户五口计算，一户便是10.70亩;一亩按0.166英亩计。实际上，海丰通常按一块地所能播下的种子数量计算面积。因此，一个普通海丰家庭耕种的土地，大致可播下一担稻种。一担为130磅，约合三个美制蒲式耳，可播种约10.3标准亩。彭湃举过六户农民合耕30亩的例子，平均每户5亩。但他又说，一个壮劳力大约能耕7亩，因此普通家庭本来能够毫不困难地耕种更多土地。当然，实际耕种面积随地势、土地种类和灌溉条件而异。海丰耕地总面积约600,000亩，其中山地占40%，即240,000亩。平地耕田中又有不少属于沙田。旱田要投入大量资金才能取得收成，因而不受欢迎;山田的耕作成本同样很高。

Most of the land rented out belonged to the "collective landlord," which was technically the clan or lineage, the village, a public body, or a charitable organization. Clan land predominated in Hai-Lu-feng. Those who managed land that was collectively owned (about half the cultivated land at this time) did well for themselves. As usual, gentry and landlords were in the forefront as treasurers, secretaries, or rent collectors. Embezzlement and the renting out of the best land to important people were common. Those already well off became richer, some of the incumbents remaining in office virtually for life and the property of large clans amounting to several thousand mou. Clan land was usually rented out first to lineage tenants and only then to others; if a clan member had had a bad year, he was given priority on renting clan land at a favorable premium." The prime example of a clan estate was that of the Lin of Meilung, who according to P'eng P'ai collected some 1o,ooo piculs of rent per annum, which would mean an area of about 6,6oo mou. The managers of such estates often wielded the real power, the control of the land rather than its ownership being the key to influence. Ironically, any peasant who sought a rent reduction had a better chance with the private landlords than with the clan landlords, since the latter were quite unscrupulous and "greatly to be feared."" Haifeng had much land under collective landlords, and with such management the peasant became "only a cog in the machine which ground for others."

出租的土地，大部分属于“集体地主”;严格说来，就是宗族或支族、村庄、公共机构或慈善组织。海陆丰以族田为主。当时集体所有的土地约占耕地的一半，经营这些土地的人，往往从中获利甚丰。与通常的情形一样，担任司库、文书或收租人的，主要是士绅和地主。侵吞款项、把好田租给有权势的人，都是常事。原本富有的人变得更富，一些管理者实际上终身在任，而大宗族的田产可达数千亩。族田通常先租给本支族的人，然后才租给外人;若族人遇上歉年，便可优先以较优惠的顶手条件承租族田。梅陇林氏是宗族田产最突出的例子。据彭湃说，他们每年收租约10,000担，据此推算，田地面积约为6,600亩。这类田产的管理者，往往掌握着真正的权力;影响力的关键在于控制土地，而不在于拥有土地。讽刺的是，农民若想减租，找私人地主反而比找宗族地主更有希望，因为后者毫无顾忌，“十分可怕”。海丰有大量土地由集体地主掌握，在这样的管理之下，农民成了“机器上的一枚齿轮，而这架机器只为别人运转”。

"Private landlords" included all single persons or families who owned land for renting out, and especially those who leased land without cultivating it. A Haifeng resident states that generally the owner-cultivator freeholders had from 3 to 4 mou and were considered middle or poor peasants, depending on the quality of the land. Distinctions between the various categories were very fine.' All surveys stress the fact that China was a land mainly ot smallholdings. In Kwangtung the axerage was 7.8 mou per family, which explains why after the Nanch'ang Uprising the slogan "Confiscate land over 2oo mou" was resented by the Kwangtung troops: in their province there were almost no landlords with so much. This smallness of plots resulted from population pressure and the principle of equal partition of land among heirs. In Meilung, for instance, the seven children of a rich peasant were each bequeathed 5 mou of land providing 7 piculs' worth of rent.

“私人地主”包括所有拥有土地并出租的个人或家庭，尤其指自己不耕作而把土地租出去的人。一位海丰居民说，拥有土地并自行耕种的自耕农，一般有三四亩地，视土地好坏被归为中农或贫农。各种类别之间的界限十分细微。所有调查都强调，中国主要是一个小块土地所有制的国家。广东每户平均只有7.8亩;这也解释了为什么南昌起义之后，“没收二百亩以上的土地”这一口号会招致广东军人的不满：他们省内几乎没有拥有那么多土地的地主。地块之所以如此细碎，是人口压力和各继承人平均分地的原则共同造成的。例如在梅陇，一名富农有七个子女，每人继承5亩地，可收7担租谷。

In Haifeng, according to the Agriculture Department of the Kwangtung Provincial University, part-owners and tenants together made up 65 percent, which leaves the freeholders at 35 percent. This is supported by the 1917 Statistical Annual, which put owners at 33.5 percent, part-owners at 29.2 percent, and tenants at 37.3 percent. P'eng P'ai's own data give markedly fewer owners and many more tenants, but since landlords were so rare his figures are suspect.

据广东省立大学农业系的资料，海丰的半自耕农与佃农合占65%，其余35%为自耕农。1917年的《统计年鉴》也支持这一判断：土地所有者占33.5%，半自耕农占29.2%，佃农占37.3%。彭湃自己的数字则显示，土地所有者少得多，佃农多得多;但鉴于地主人数如此之少，他的数字值得怀疑。

The private land in Haifeng amounted to 38 percent. That would mean some 200,000 mou, which, when divided by the 60 percent combined round figures for freeholders and part-owners in a peasant populaton of 280,000, would mean an average of 1.2 mou for 168,000 peasant-owners, or an average of 5 mou for a landed family. But the average is misleading: according to P'eng P'ai, "villages that twenty years ago had ten freeholding famihes now have only two or three." That meant much accumulation and much reduction in tenancy.

海丰的私有土地占38%，约合200,000亩。若按农民人口280,000人计算，自耕农与半自耕农合计约占60%，这两个比例都取了整数，那么168,000名拥有土地的农民，平均每人约有1.2亩，也就是有地家庭平均约5亩。但平均数容易造成误解。据彭湃说：“二十年前有十户自耕农的村庄，如今只剩下两三户”。这意味着土地大量集中，租佃也大幅减少。

Some landlords in Haifeng were called "dependent households." These were usually landlords' descendants who lived off rents derived in some cases from land bought by emigrant families—a practice that contributed to the scarcity of land on the market and its increase in price. The biggest landlord in the 192o's was the Commander's Office, that is, Ch'en Chiungming and his clan members, to whom "the various small landlords . . . one by one had to sell their land." This incorporation of land may account for the pessimistie figures provided by Peng Pai and for the pull toward tenant status.

海丰有些地主被称为“依赖户”。他们通常是靠田租生活的地主后裔，其中一些田地由侨民家庭购置。这种做法使市场上可出售的土地更少，地价也更高。20世纪20年代，最大的地主是督军府，也就是陈炯明及其族人;“各个小地主……不得不一个接一个地把土地卖给他们”。这种土地兼并，或许可以解释彭湃那些悲观的数字，也可以解释农民转而成为佃农的趋势。

The picture that emerges, then, is of an area with a high concentration of land in the hands of a few large landlords, a scattering of small landlords, a declining number of freeholders, and ever greater totals of part owners and especially of tenants. The polarization of interests was under way.

由此呈现出的景象是：土地高度集中在少数大地主手里，另有零散的小地主;自耕农人数下降，半自耕农、尤其佃农人数不断增加。利益的两极分化正在形成。

Soaring land prices were the first indication of this polarizaton. Accord. ing to the Russian experts Volin and Yolk, betwcen 1916 and 1926 the price of land in Kwangtung rose anywhere from 6o percent to 3oo percent. With money on an inflationary trend, a Haifeng saying had it that "chih tou k'o pao" ("papers [i.e. title deeds] can also fill your belly"). Prior to the establishment of the Peasant Union, land prices went ever upward, "the business of land transaction going on every day." But with the Peasant Union active, many landlords grew fearful of peasant power, "auctioned off their land, and put their capital into business. . . . So land values dropped daily." That was yet another proof that gentry-landlords turned entrepreneurs were in the land business only for the cash, with no thought for lineage and village duties.' Land transactions came to a halt and the scores of middlemen all disappeared. It was beginning to dawn on the landlords that renting-out was losing its profitability: in the 1920's income could hardly keep ahead of expenditure.

地价飞涨，是这种两极分化的第一个征兆。据俄国专家Volin和Yolk说，1916年至1926年间，广东地价上涨了60%至300%不等。货币日益贬值，海丰便有一句话：“纸也可饱”，意指田契也能填饱肚子。农会成立以前，地价不断上涨，“土地买卖天天进行”。但农会开展活动之后，许多地主害怕农民的力量，“拍卖土地，把资本投入商业……于是地价一天天下跌”。这又一次证明，转而经商的士绅地主经营土地，只是为了钱，根本不考虑对支族和村庄应尽的责任。土地交易停顿，几十个中间人也全都消失了。地主们开始察觉，出租土地正在失去盈利能力：到了20世纪20年代，已经入不敷出。

There was no standard price for land, but normally the "purchase period" of a mou, that is to say, the amount of rent required for its purchase, was ten to fifteen years. But landlords could double their holdings in just a few years, an indication of the rapid accumulation of property that needed no involvement in its productive use. It was this that P'eng P'ai strove to get across to the peasants: "The landlord is deep in debt to you. He loafs all year round, while you work yourself to death in the fields. He takes the rentgrain from you. His piece of land is worth Y roo at most and you people have farmed it for centuries. Try to figure out how much grain he has collected from you. If you think about it, it is really unfair."

地价没有统一标准，但通常一亩地的“购买年限”，也就是用田租收入抵足其买价所需的时间，为十年至十五年。然而，地主只需几年便能把田产翻倍，表明财产能够迅速积聚，而无需参与土地的生产性使用。彭湃努力让农民明白的，正是这一点：“地主欠你们的债太多了。他一年到头游手好闲，你们却在田里做得要死。他从你们那里拿走租谷。他那块田最多值一百元，而你们已经耕种了几百年。算一算，他从你们这里拿走了多少谷子。想起来，实在不公平。”

P'eng P'ai was speaking here of the prime land and wet-fields in Haifeng that fetched upwards of Y 1oo per mou. Its annual rent (at one-half the yield) was around 7 piculs. Assuming that the farmer was able to keep the entire other half of his yield—that is, in P'eng's figures, 7 piculs at ￥6 per picul— it would take roughly two and a half years for a peasant to purchase his plot. But this of course ignores living and other expenses. In real terms a peasant might be able to save 2 piculs of grain per year, let us say one-quarter of his income. That would be ￥12, which would mean slightly more than eight years to make the purchase. But even this calculation is on the optimistic side: the Kwangtung average of ten years is more believable. P'eng P'ai held that, whatever the period, the peasants were making a free gift of rent to the landlord since they had worked the fields for generations. This applied even more to second- and third-grade land. The second grade was bought in Haifeng at ￥80 to ￥ 90 per mou at an average rent of 5 piculs, in Lufeng ￥70 at 4 to 5 piculs. Third-grade land was between ￥60 and ￥70 at 4 piculs' rent in Haifeng, and ￥ 50 at 3 to 4 piculs' rent in Lufeng.

彭湃这里说的是海丰最好的土地和水田，每亩售价在100元以上。其年租约7担，为收获量的一半。假定农民能保留另一半收成的全部，也就是按彭湃的数字，7担、每担6元，那么约两年半就能买下所耕的地。不过，这显然没有计算生活费和其他开支。实际而言，一个农民每年或许能存下2担谷子，姑且算作收入的四分之一，即12元;照此，要略多于八年才能买下土地。但即使这样计算，仍偏于乐观;广东平均十年的数字更可信。彭湃认为，无论需要多少年，农民世世代代耕种土地，交给地主的田租实际上都是白送的。这一点用在二等、三等土地上尤其如此。二等地在海丰每亩售价80至90元，平均租谷5担;在陆丰则售价70元，租谷4至5担。三等地在海丰售价60至70元，租谷4担;在陆丰售价50元，租谷3至4担。

Dry-fields in Haifeng cost ￥30 to ￥ 40 per mou with 5 to 6 yüan rent for first-class, ￥20 with 4 yüan for second-class, and ￥10 with 2 to 3 yüan for third-class land. In Lufeng prices were slightly lower. Wet-fields were the land of real value, and it was this that made the south and north of both counties so different in income and living standards. The low yield of the dry-fields pushed the counties' overall average yield per mou down to 3 to 4 piculs, which equaled the average of the low-grade wet-fields.

海丰旱田，一等地每亩售价30至40元，租金5至6元;二等地售价20元，租金4元;三等地售价10元，租金2至3元。陆丰价格略低。真正值钱的是水田，这也使两县南部与北部的收入和生活水平有很大差异。旱田产量低，拉低了两县的总平均亩产，使之只有3至4担，与低等水田的平均产量相同。

The greater part of the peasant population thus depended on large land . owners for a living. Remembering that these big ownets enjoved the hon's share of the collective landlord business, we can see why for P'eng P'ar this was "the most irrational social sy stem": "A minority group owns an abundance of land and huge places, while the poor do not have a piece of land to settle down on." This, together with the exceptionally harsh tenancy conditions, scarcely made for tranquillity among the rural classes in Haifeng.

因此，大部分农民依赖大土地所有者谋生。记住这些大户还占据集体地主经营中的绝大部分利益，我们就不难理解，为什么彭湃称之为“最不合理的社会制度”：“少数人拥有大量土地和大屋，而穷人连一块安身的土地也没有。”再加上格外苛刻的租佃条件，海丰农村各阶层自然难以安宁。

P'eng P'ai described the conditions of the "petty landowners" as "pretty good"; those of the part-owners "came next." They were "the two self-sufficient types among the peasants." Even those of them with only a few mou of good land could make ends meet. "No one was worse off than the tenants, the most numerous group."- The percentage of tenants in Kwangtung yar ied with place, but in Haifeng tenancy ran about 70 percent -in line with the average for Kwangtung but below P'eng's quoted 80 percent. In earlier vears the tenants had been much better placed. Forty years before, for in stance, two-fifths of the peasants held land in permanent tenure, "a system hundreds of years old" and, as long as rent was paid, unalterable. By 1920 this two-fifths still existed, but tenaney contracts had become weak and the peasants' security in their landholdings had decreased sharply, landlords being interested in better returns through higher rent. The other tenants were part-owners renting only some of their land.

彭湃说：“小土地所有者”的境况“相当好”，半自耕农“次之”;他们是“农民中两种能够自给自足的人”。即使其中有人只有几亩好田，也能维持收支平衡。“境况最差的是佃农，他们人数最多。”广东佃农所占比例因地而异，但海丰约为70%，与全省平均相符，低于彭湃所说的80%。早些年，佃农的处境曾好得多。譬如四十年前，五分之二的农民拥有永久佃耕权，这种制度“已有几百年历史”，只要付租，就不能更改。到1920年，这五分之二仍然存在，但租佃契约的约束力已经减弱，农民保有耕地的保障急剧下降，因为地主希望通过加租获得更多收益。其余佃耕者则是半自耕农，只租种一部分土地。

Half a dozen or more different types of agreement governed tenancy in Hai-Lu-feng. Common to all was a rent generaily taken in gran and based on a proportion of the yield from one or more harvests. Another general feature (where the terms of agreement were expressed in a renewable contract) was the negative effect this system had on land productivitv: as the contract drew near to expiry, the tenant would find a variety of reasons for neglecting his land or at least for cutting back his improvement of it. Two types of agreement were the dhrect focus of the next phase of P'eng's work with the Peasant Union.

海陆丰的租佃关系受六七种乃至更多不同契约支配。它们的共同之处是，田租通常以谷物支付，按一次或数次收获量的一定比例计算。另一个普遍特点，是这种制度对土地生产率产生了负面影响，尤其在租佃条款写进可续订契约的情况下：契约将到期时，佃农总会找到种种理由疏于照料土地，至少会减少改良投入。彭湃与农会下一阶段的工作，直接针对其中两种契约。

First was the time-honored contract of fen-chih (contract on fertilizer). Tenants under this treated their fields as "manure investment" because 'their ancestors had given the landlord silver as security and gained rights to the fields. Unless the rent was in arrears, the landlord could neither reclaim hs rights nor inerease the fairly low rent, a state of affairs so favorable that a number of tenant families had been working the land for several cen turies." The system was beneficial to both landlord and tenant, and in the eves of the tenant such land was virtually his own. After sublettng by the tenant, at times "the landlord does not know any longer where his land is. . . . The tenant could become little by little the effective landlord." Even taxation became difficult to allocate, especially with deeds "improperly maintained, worm-eaten, or lost in transmission.

第一种，是由来已久的“粪契”，即以肥料为名的契约。在这种契约下，佃农把田地视为“肥料投资”，因为“他们的祖先曾交给地主银子作为押金，从而取得对田地的权利。只要不欠租，地主既不能收回这种权利，也不能提高原本相当低的田租;条件如此有利，以致有些佃户已经在同一块地上耕作了几个世纪”。这种制度对地主和佃农都有好处，在佃农看来，土地实际上就是自己的了。佃农把地转租之后，有时“地主已不知道自己的田在哪里……佃农会渐渐成为实际上的地主”。连纳税责任也难以分派，尤其当田契“保管不善、被虫蛀坏，或在传递中遗失”时。

The second type that concerns us is the pao-t'ien agreement, which provided for certain nominal tenants to re-let land to the real tenant cultivators, squeezing the maximum from their sublessees. Estates of the collective landlord were too large for ordinary peasants or small capitalists to enter into tenaney contracts, so rich landlords and merchants would take tenaney and rent out parcels of the land to others. This became a means for exploiting and not assisting the community. The worst landlords were those managing ancestral and educational land. In Haifeng there was a certain Mr. Lin, nephew of the county security commissioner, who sublet land for the Education Bureau. He himself was a merchant. He sublet 67 mou, which meant a rent of Y6oo, part of which he handed back to the Bureau. No ordinary tenant could have commanded such a sum.

与我们有关的第二种，是“包田”契约：名义上的佃户可以把土地转租给真正耕作的佃农，尽可能从转佃者身上榨取收益。集体地主的田产太大，普通农民或小资本家无法承租，便由富有的地主和商人包租，再分块转租给别人。这成了剥削共同体、而非扶助共同体的手段。最恶劣的地主，是管理祭祀田和学田的人。海丰有一位林先生，是县保卫局长的侄子，替教育局转租土地。他本人是商人，转租67亩田，租金达600元，其中一部分交还教育局。普通佃农绝不可能拿出这么一笔钱。

Whatever form of agreement applied, rent due under it was normally collected during the fifth and sixth months of the Chinese calendar in summer, and the tenth and eleventh months in winter. In Haifeng in the 192o's, "to collect rent in the villages, guards or police were always sent wellarmed." The peasants, however, felt it a moral duty to comply with rent payments. Their outlook was: "Fate decides it, and rent collectors have been rent collectors for ages, as farmers have been farmers."" Payment might be made in cash or kind, depending on the contract. Where fruit, cotton, and vegetables were grown in dry-fields, it was usually cash; where rice, it was grain. ()nly two crops per year were taxed; if a third crop was grown in Haifeng, it was rent-free.

无论适用哪一种契约，收租通常都在农历夏季的五月、六月，以及冬季的十月、十一月。20世纪20年代的海丰，“下乡收租，总要派全副武装的卫兵或警察”。然而，农民把交租视为道德义务。他们的想法是：“命里注定，收租人世世代代都是收租人，农民世世代代都是农民。”依契约不同，可以交钱，也可以交实物。旱田种水果、棉花和蔬菜，通常交钱;种稻谷则交粮。一年只向两季作物征租;海丰若种第三季，则免租。

Landlords preferred to receive rents in rice rather than in cash. Many bags of grain "gave them much face"; rice was a commodity open to price increase through manipulation of the market; and loans of rice commanded high interest. To guarantee the quality of the rice collected, landlords used special equipment such as the feng-ch'e ("wind machine"), the feng-kuei ("wind box"), or the ta-shan ("great fan"). These winnowed the good kernel trom the hight or empty husk. Additonally, the landlords often used their own large measures, making sure that the riee was thoroughl compressed by pounding it with the squared, short stick emploved to leveloft the nce in the measure: the process was called san-hsia k'ai ("three blows of the stick") and the Landlords' Society was midknamed by the peasants the "Sogaety of the Three Big-Stick Blows." This compression technique was a cause of genuine resentment, since the rice packed tight required extra catties to be added. Further catties could also be demanded by local variations in the measure." But not all tenants took this lying down. Grain could be made heavier or swollen out by moistening, or by adding sand. Empty husks from mud-laden fields could be roasted dry and clean, and made to resemble full husks. Tenants collectively could have put up some form of resistance, but the principle that rent should be pad proved stronger than their fury at the landlord's behavior when collecting it. "They not only want to clear the rent, but also to bring him empty husks for rent." In bad years they reluctantly sought rent reduction, telling the landlord: "We would be sorry not to be able to pay you a rent." The peasants were precluded from going too far in their reaction not only by their mentality, but also because they would lose their tenancy, and possibly be imprisoned, beaten up, or have their possessions seized.

地主喜欢收谷租，不喜欢收钱。成袋的谷子“让他们很有面子”;稻米可以通过操纵市场抬高价格，借出稻米又能收取高利息。为了保证收到的稻谷质量，地主使用风车、风柜或大扇等专门工具，把饱满谷粒与轻瘪谷壳分开。另外，地主常用自己的大斗量谷，还要拿刮平斗面用的短方棍敲打，把谷子压得紧紧的。这道程序叫“三下揩”，农民便把地主会戏称为“三大棒会”。这种压实的办法，迫使佃农额外添上若干斤谷子，确实引起了强烈怨恨。各地量器大小不同，也可能使佃农再多交一些。但并非所有佃农都默默忍受。他们可以把谷子弄湿，或掺入沙子，使它增重、胀大;还可以把泥田里的空壳烘干、弄净，让它看起来像实谷。佃农本来也可以集体抵抗，但交租应尽的原则，终究压过了他们对地主收租行径的愤怒。“他们不但想把租交清，甚至想拿空壳去交租。”遇到歉年，他们不情愿地请求减租，对地主说：“不能交租给您，我们也过意不去。”农民不敢反抗得太过分，不仅因为自己的观念如此，也因为可能丧失佃耕权，乃至被监禁、殴打或没收财物。

As to rent reduction itself, where the agreement was of the type that required the tenant to pay an agreed rent in normal years it might allow him to seek a 1o or 20 percent reduction in bad years; in case of total calamity the peasant could ask the landlord to divide the harvest standing in the fields. Rent reductions were left to the landlord to decide, and sometimes human nature would prevail over considerations of fairness. A period of grace might be granted, but if bv the next harvest rent was not paid, the landlord could resume the land.

至于减租本身，如果契约规定佃农在正常年景交纳固定田租，那么歉年可能允许他要求减免10%或20%;若遇彻底的灾荒，农民可以请求地主把田里尚未收割的庄稼分成。是否减租，由地主决定;有时人的性情会压过公平的考量。地主也可能给予宽限，但若到下一次收成时仍未付租，就可以收回田地。

Rent rates were everywhere increasing. P'eng P'ai complained in 1924 that "ten years ago every picul of land planted fabout to mou| required a rent of 5, 6, or at most 7 piculs. Now every picul of land planted has gone up to 2o piculs of rent." With an average vield per mou of 3 piculs, that could mean two-thirds of the harvest. A rent of 50 percent of a rice harvest "was not unusual" in Haifeng. P'eng says that \*rent rates were from 5o to 75 per - cent," and in some cases peasants had also to pay rents for their houses. Where there was no deposit on the rent agreement, gifts and contributions were customary. Sometimes the deposit itself was called the "feast fee," to entertain the landlord after the harvest, and was paid along with customary gifts. These includedcooked hen and duck, rice,and cash. Giftsof fowl were also called t'ien-t'ou chi ("foreman's chicken") and were meant to serve as compensation for grain lost during transport by the landlord's agent: a chicken supposedly fattened on this rice was handed over for the feast. The original goodwill gesture came to be a shabby means of exploitation on the part of the landlord. Another gift was the huo-t'ou chi ("cook's chicken"), meals served to the landlord's men sent to collect rice-rent. In the end this also became a customary perquisite. When the Soviet was established in Haifeng, no fewer than 26 such customary gifts and levies were done away with.

各地租率都在上涨。彭湃在1924年抱怨：“十年前，每担种的田〔约十亩〕，只要五担、六担，最多七担租。现在每担种的田，租已涨到二十担。”按平均亩产3担计算，这就可能达到收成的三分之二。在海丰，交出稻谷收成的50%作租，“并不罕见”。彭湃说，“租率从50%到75%不等”;有时农民还得交房租。租约若不收押金，按惯例便须送礼和缴纳其他款项。有时押金本身就叫“宴费”，用于收获后款待地主，并与惯常礼物一同送上。礼物包括煮熟的鸡鸭、米和钱。送的鸡也叫“田头鸡”，用来补偿地主代理人在运谷时损失的粮食：据说鸡是吃这些散落的米养肥的，因此应交给主人办宴。原本出于好意的举动，变成了地主卑劣的剥削手段。另一种礼物叫“火头鸡”，即给地主派来收谷租的人供应饭食;最后也变成了惯常的额外利益。海丰苏维埃成立后，废除了不少于26种这样的惯例礼物和征敛。

Taxation was yet another way of fleecing the peasants. It was taken for granted that "tax payment was a common duty of peasant and landlord." In Hai-Lu-feng taxes were levied on the basis of land cultivated and the number of people in the household. There were other taxes, the most important of which was the salt tax. The land deed or "red deed" (hung-ch'i) guaranteed possession as long as the tax was paid. The land's fertility, location, and use determined the amount payable, ranging from 2o cents for hilly or poor land to Y1.5o for good. Exactions for alienations on the sale of land were heavy, so "white deeds" (pai-ch'i) were commonly accepted as evidence of ownership. This and the poor state of tax registers led to much evasion. Only 6o percent of households at most were performing their duties, since for more than a century purchasers of land had not had legal ownership transferred." Taxation of land at the county level was still an "impenetrable mystery" in the 1930's."

税收是榨取农民的又一种手段。人们认为，“纳税是农民和地主共同的义务”。海陆丰按耕地和家庭人口征税，另有其他税种，其中最重要的是盐税。田契，即“红契”，在缴税的前提下保障土地占有。应纳税额取决于土地肥瘠、位置和用途，从山地或薄地的二角，到好地的1.50元不等。土地买卖时的转让税很重，所以“白契”普遍被接受为所有权凭证。这种情形，加上税册混乱，造成了大量逃税。最多只有60%的家庭履行纳税义务，因为一百多年来，买地者一直没有依法办理所有权转移。到20世纪30年代，县一级的田赋征收仍是一团“无法看透的谜”。

Tax collection was farmed out, and many landlords were paying only 10 percent of their assessments. Tax collectors had to go under armed guard, and even so were rebuffed. At the gates of villages they were confronted by peasants w ay ing tlags and taunting them. It they were bold enough toenter, the peasants "seized and beat them and gathered in great numbers to resist." But later, especially in Republican times, collection time meant open season for oppressing the peasants, and yamen runners, clerks, and constables had a field day. Tax collection was known as "seizing the pig": it was the peasant, beaten up and made to pay many times more than wasdue, who squealed.

税收实行包征，许多地主只缴应纳税额的10%。税吏必须由武装人员护送，即便如此也会遭到抵拒。他们在村口遇见挥旗的农民，受到嘲弄;若胆敢进村，农民就“把他们抓住殴打，聚集许多人抵抗”。但后来，尤其进入民国之后，征税时节却成了公然欺压农民的时节，衙役、书吏和警察尽情作威作福。收税被称为“捉猪”：农民挨打，又被迫缴出比应纳额多许多倍的钱，就像猪一样惨叫。

In P'uning county in the 192o's, for instance, the Fang lineage collected taxes for the entire place, using "the cover of government to increase taxation." P'eng P'ai declared that "rich people are happy to grease palms, corruptofficals are happy toget monev, and the bulk of the pubhe debt has been shifted onto the shoulders of ordinary poor people. Evil gentry and local bullies gang up with corrupt officials." Sun Yat-sen himself admitted in 1924: "The government cannot help asking for taxes mainl from the peas ants, not from rich landlords." This was an indictment of the failure of the Repubhe. Ch'en ( hiung-ming's tax allocaton, in the East River arca par ticularly, exempted the wealthy, both merchants and landlords, whereas in poor families "even a three-year-old child hasto pay." P'eng could state: "Between 50 and 75 percent of county revenue comes from the peasants."

例如，20世纪20年代的普宁县，方氏支族承包全县税收，“借政府的名义增加税额”。彭湃说：“富人乐意行贿，贪官乐意收钱，公债的大部分都转嫁到普通穷人肩上。恶绅土豪和贪官勾结在一起。”孙中山本人在1924年也承认：“政府不能不主要向农民征税，而不是向富有的地主征税。”这正是对共和国失败的控诉。陈炯明的税收分配，尤其在东江地区，豁免商人和地主中的富人，却让穷人家“连三岁小孩也要纳税”。彭湃因此说：“县收入的50%至75%来自农民。”

In the Haifeng of the 192o's, land taxes collected amounted to 30,000 liang (Y 1 20,ooo) and were assessed by the magistrate aganst the annual har - vest. There were national, provincial, and local taxes in Kwangtung, which according to the Statistical Monograph was one of the richest provinces in the country. High military spending and the resultng leves were typical: in 1926 mlitary expenditures amounted to well over Y72.9 millions out of a total provincial revenue of ￥ 1oo million; by contrast, only some Y1.2 million went on education. P'eng P'ai stated that army taxes were what the people feared most. In Haifeng, "the variety of military levies with which villages were burdened became too numerous to itemize."

20世纪20年代的海丰，田赋收入达30,000两，即120,000元，由县长按当年收成核征。广东有中央、省和地方各级税收。据《统计专刊》，广东是全国最富的省份之一。庞大的军费及其导致的征敛，是当地的典型现象：1926年全省收入共一亿元，其中军费支出远超过7,290万元;相比之下，教育经费只有约120万元。彭湃说，百姓最怕的就是军税。海丰“各村负担的军捐种类多到无法一一列举”。

Peasants bore the brunt of these army expenses. In 1923, with the Kwang - tung Army back from Canton, General Li Lieh -chun increased all taxes by 30 percent, appointed as new magistrates men who had bribed hi, manipulated government loan bonds, "borrowed" Y50,000 from the Chamber of Commerce, obtained Yroo,ooo on the security of the house-rent tax, and collected in advance all the 1923 land tax. In Haifeng we saw how in 1915 army taxes had already been collected up to 1920 by General Lin Kan-ts'ai; in 1925 they had been paid up to 1930 into the Commander's Office.

这些军费开支主要落在农民身上。1923年，粤军从广州撤回后，李烈钧将军把所有税额提高30%，任命向他行贿的人为新县长，操纵政府公债，向商会“借”50,000元，以房租税作担保取得100,000元，并预征了1923年全部田赋。前面已经看到，在海丰，林赣材将军于1915年就把军税预征到1920年;到1925年，督军府又已收到预缴至1930年的税款。

The peasants were also expected to pay an education tax, the benefit of which went to bourgeois children, according to Peng. But in Han-Lu feng the tax that really swelled the coffers was the salt tax. One hundred cattes of salt could be produced for 36 cents in Kwangtung, but they retailed for thirty times that sum. In 1928 the salt tax was ￥2.50 per 100 catties, but with additional taxes totaled ￥9.02. The average person used about twenty catties of salt per year and would therefore be paving Y1.5o in tax. Smugghing of salt naturally flourished. When in 1926 a salt tax official tried to take action in Ch'ingk'eng, the peasants gave him a thrashng and locked him up. P'eng P'ai affirmed that "the exorbitant taxes borne by the peasants were ex traordinarily heavy. The hardships of village hfe inereased so that income did not cover expenses. To cope with the hard times, people had to sell their land until it was all gone and they had become tenants—gradually transformed into a proletariat.

农民还要缴教育税;按彭湃的说法，受益者却是资产阶级的子女。不过，海陆丰真正充实库款的是盐税。广东每百斤盐的生产成本为三角六分，零售价却高达其三十倍。1928年，每百斤盐的盐税为2.50元，连同附加税共达9.02元。每人一年平均用盐约二十斤，因此要付约1.50元税。食盐走私自然盛行。1926年，一名盐税官到青坑查缉，农民把他痛打一顿，还关了起来。彭湃断言：“农民负担的苛捐杂税，重得惊人。乡村生活愈加艰难，收入抵不上支出。为了应付困难，人们不得不卖田，直到卖光，变成佃农——逐渐转化为无产阶级。”

One way out was to seek loans that could be obtained from the collective or private landlord and from pawnbrokers. Much of the money of the new rich in Haifeng circulated as "usury capital," the interest rates bemng high (from 20 to to percent). 'These unsecured loans had to be repaud withn two to four months, fauhng which compound interest was apphed. Loans went under various names. One kind was "Nine out and Thirteen back" whereby the peasant got 90 cents for every yüan but repaid the full yüan plus 3o percent interest. Another was called "Interest of the Sugar-room" and was taken out by those wishing to perform urgent superstitious practices, to have their fortune told, or to buy fertilizer. The interest rate was 65 percent compounded after six months, to the point w here the interest would finally exceed the amount loaned. There was also "Selling the Green Seedling": a picul of rice would be loaned in March, and in June was to be returned plus 8 pecks, that is, at 80 percent interest.

一条出路是借债，可向集体地主、私人地主和当铺借钱。海丰新富阶层的大量金钱，作为“高利贷资本”流通，利率很高，达20%至40%。这些无抵押借款须在两至四个月内偿还，逾期便计算复利。借款有各种名目。其中一种叫“九出十三归”：借一元实际只拿到九角，却要归还足额一元，再加30%的利息。另一种叫“糖房利”，借款人或急于举行迷信仪式、算命，或要购买肥料。利率为65%，六个月后按复利计算，以至利息最后超过原来的借款额。还有“卖青苗”：三月借一担米，到六月须多还八斗，也就是80%的利息。

Security could include fields, houses, gardens, and livestock. Land was mortgaged to raise loans by lodging the deed with the person advancing the cash. Default meant that after two years the creditor could post a notice prohibiting the peasant from working the land so mortgaged. Normally the peasant had then to sell to the creditor—a heavy price to pay for a loan. In China "mortgage of land meant total loss," and in Kwangtung "at least 70 to 80 percent of landless peasants have lost some of their land through mortgage."

抵押品可以是田地、房屋、园地和牲畜。借款时，把田契交给出钱的人，就能抵押土地取得贷款。若不偿还，两年后债权人可张贴告示，禁止农民耕作抵押的土地。通常，农民只好把田卖给债权人——为了一笔借款付出了沉重的代价。在中国，“抵押土地意味着彻底丧失土地”;广东“至少70%至80%的无地农民，曾因抵押而丧失部分土地”。

Poor tenants with little security could only resort to the pawnshop, pledging their tools or clothes. Moneylenders have been a recurrent feature in all agrarian societies, and Haifeng was no exception: there were thirty pawnshops there. They usually charged 30 percent interest per month, though this fell to 20 percent in winter. Pawned equipment would be redeemed at harvesttime.

贫穷的佃农几乎没有抵押品，只能到当铺典当农具或衣服。放债人在所有农业社会中都反复出现，海丰也不例外：当地有三十家当铺。通常月息30%，冬季则降到20%。典当的农具，要等收获时才能赎回。

Peasants were generally in debt—as a common saying put it, "Not to be in debt would be sufficient blessing." In the East River this meant seven out of ten peasant households. In Haifeng, debt cases brought before the Peasant Union made up 2o percent of its briefs. Borrowing was apparently a way of life for rich and poor alike." P'eng reported that peasants "would rather default on their landlord's rent than dare not to pay back their debt to the grain-lender, for fear that they might be unable to borrow again the following year." In the end creditors would refuse loans to peasants already dispossessed. Peng P'aur gives a moving deseription of how the average Haifeng peasant, having tried his utmost on the "active side,"resorted to the "passive side" to try to pay the balance of his debt. He had to mortgage land, huts, and tools, but when these failed had to pawn the dothes off the badks of his parents, wife, and children, and reduce their already poor diet to gruel.

农民普遍负债，俗话说，“不欠债就算有福了”。东江地区十户农家中有七户负债。海丰农会受理的案件中，债务案件占20%。借钱似乎是穷人和富人共有的生活方式。彭湃报告说，农民“宁愿欠地主的租，也不敢不还谷债，怕来年借不到谷”。最终，债权人连借款给已经失去财产的农民也不肯了。彭湃动情地描述了一个普通海丰农民的处境：他在“积极方面”竭尽所能之后，又不得不转向“消极方面”，设法清偿剩余债务。他先抵押田地、茅屋和农具;这些办法仍不够，就得典当父母、妻子和孩子身上穿的衣服，把原本已经很差的伙食再减成稀粥。

Family tension mounted as despair increased. If after all that "he still could not fill the bottomless well of debt," then "he took the next step: married off his woman to another man and sold his children." Left alone to fend for himself, "he could only leave his village and go to the market town as a laborer, or become a soldier, a ban dit, or a coolie. Other than that, the road led only to death."

绝望日益加深，家庭关系也越来越紧张。这样做以后，“若仍填不满债务的无底井”，他便“再走一步：把妻子嫁给别人，把孩子卖掉”。只剩自己一个人谋生时，“他只好离开村庄，到市镇做工，或当兵、做土匪、做苦力。除此之外，便只有死路”。

A contract for tenancy was hardly worth the paper it was written on; but when a landlord broke an agreement, recourse to the law was pointless, for 'nolandlord ever lost a case." Later a Haifeng magistrate admitted that "the treatment of tenants was not good" and that this contributed to the outlook of the revolt." In elaboration of the magistrate's comment come the 1923 findings of the Haifeng County Peasant U'nion: "The fields a peasant farms require capital investment every year—seed, fertilizer, farm tools, wages, the hire of oxen. They need a lot of hard-earned capital before a grain of rice will grow. Without lifting a finger to help, the landlord takes away a good half of the harv est. Who knows how inuch capital peasants like us have lost and for how many generations?"

租佃契约几乎连写契约的纸都不值;地主违约，诉诸法律也无用，因为“从来没有地主打输了官司”。后来一位海丰县长承认，“对佃农的待遇不好”，这助长了反叛情绪。1923年海丰县农会的调查，进一步说明了他的看法：“农民所种的田，每年都要投入资本——种子、肥料、农具、工钱、牛租。没花下许多辛苦挣来的本钱，连一粒米都长不出来。地主一点忙也不帮，就拿走收成的一大半。谁知道我们这样的农民已经损失了多少资本，损失了多少代?”

According to P'eng P'ai, a poor tenant family's finances could be set out in the form of a profit-and-loss statement as shown in the acconpanying tabulation.

按彭湃的说法，一个贫穷佃农家庭的账目，可以列成下表所示的收支表。

彭湃所列佃农收支表原图(用户提供的原书扫描表)。

The figures as set out by P'eng P'ar vary with the differing versions of his "Report" and betray an effort to prove his point. Furthermore, they ignore the possibility of a third harvest of rice or some other crop, and also leave out other common extra sources of income we will look at later. P'eng's statement is thus not really comprehensive. Two variants of it are giv en in Tables 3.1 and 3.2, based on market prices of the 1920's.

彭湃列出的数字，在《报告》的不同版本中有所差异，也显露出他想证明自身论点的用意。此外，这些数字没有考虑第三季稻谷或其他作物的可能收成，也没有计入后面将谈到的其他常见额外收入。因此，彭湃的收支表实际上并不全面。表3.1和表3.2按20世纪20年代的市价，另列两种收支估算。

TABLE3.1 Income and Expenditures of an Average Tenant Family of 5 People with 10 mou

表3.1 耕种十亩地的五口普通佃农家庭的收入与支出

表3.1原图：耕种十亩地的五口佃农家庭(用户提供的原书扫描表)。

sot Rc ts:HFNY:3-5: LFNY:9-11; PEM1935:17:"Kwangtungagriculturalstatistics"(1928): 332. N o t e : Yield per mou is caleulated at the minimum, and the winter rice crop at half a main one, though it was often more. Left out of the calculations is income from farm produce; a farm of this size might make ￥30 from vegetables and meat alone.

资料来源：HFNY：3—5;LFNY：9—11;PEM 1935：17;《广东农业统计》(1928)：332。说明：亩产按最低产量计算，冬稻按一季主要收成的一半计算，实际往往更多。计算未包括其他农产品的收入;这样规模的农场，单是蔬菜和肉类就可能获得30元收入。

TABLE3.2 Income and Expenditures of a Subsistence Level Tenant Family of 5 People with 5 mou

表3.2 耕种五亩地、仅能维持生计的五口佃农家庭的收入与支出

表3.2原图：耕种五亩地的五口佃农家庭(用户提供的原书扫描表)。

s o U'RCEs: Same as for Table 3.1

资料来源：同表3.1。

NoT E: Yield per mou is calculated as in Table 3.1. Farm produce, left out of these calculations might make up much if not all of the deficit; moreover, since there would normally be much extra work capacity in a family of 5 farming only 5 mou, part-time work off the farm might bring in as much as ￥1o in the high season.

说明：亩产按表3.1的方法计算。未计入的其他农产品收入，可能弥补大部分乃至全部亏空;此外，五口之家仅耕五亩，通常会有大量剩余劳动力，在农忙季节到农场之外做零工，可能赚到多达10元。

The picture that emerges from Table 3.2 is different from that shown in P'eng's figures, but one cannot disregard the experts on rural China in the 192o's and their pessimism about an av erage peasant family's ability to make ends meet. Beyond that it becomes hard to draw firm conclusions. Certainlv, any family working ten mou in Hai-Lu-feng was in a relatively good po. sition, especially if it actually owned two or three mou of plot. But ownership, though a key factor, was not the sole factor. As a recent Chinese writer has said: "The owner of a small plot of land might have less income than the tenant-farmer working a large rented farm. . . . Tenancy was not necessarily a sign of poverty."

表3.2呈现的景象，与彭湃的数字不同，但我们不能忽视20世纪20年代研究中国乡村的专家，以及他们对普通农家能否维持收支平衡所抱的悲观看法。除此以外，很难得出确切结论。可以肯定，在海陆丰耕种十亩地的家庭，处境相对不错，尤其当其中两三亩确实归自己所有时。不过，土地所有权虽是关键因素，却不是唯一因素。正如一位近年的中国作者所说：“拥有一小块地的人，收入可能还不如租种大农场的佃农……租佃未必就是贫穷的标志。”

Inflation bedeviled the farmer and made it harder for him to gain his livelihood. P'eng P'ai explains it thus: "Fettered by the imperialists' customs poliey, prices of goods rose daily, whereas prices for farm produce could at best be maintained at their original level. Thus in farming villages the cost of living rocketed and income sank." Farm produce did rise in price, too, but it was the landlord rather than the peasant who benefited, for the latter had little to sell; moreover, when the peasant did sell, the pawnbroker and the moneylender could ensure that the price he got was below market. Be. sides this, rural markets were in the hands of merchants who manipulated them. In 1923 rice was ￥6 per picul and in 1928 up to ￥1o, but the increase never reached the peasant. Peasants might spend days on the journey to the capital city, and then not clear enough from the sale of their produce to buy essentials such as fertilizer.

通货膨胀折磨着农民，使谋生更加艰难。彭湃解释说：“受帝国主义关税政策束缚，物价天天上涨，农产品的价格至多只能维持原有水平。因此农村生活费用猛涨，收入下降。”农产品价格实际上也上涨了，但受益的是地主，而非农民，因为农民几乎没有东西可卖;即使出售，当铺和放债人也能迫使他接受低于市价的价格。此外，乡村市场掌握在商人手中，由他们操纵。1923年米价为每担6元，到1928年已涨到10元，但上涨的收益从未到达农民手里。农民可能花上好几天赶到县城，卖掉农产品后的净收入，却还不足以买肥料等必需品。

The only way to balance the budget, whether it be P'eng P'ai's or one we have suggested, was to take on additional work. In Haifeng, "besides working the fields, the tenant either planted a hillside or grew fruit; raised oxen, pigs, and chickens; cut kindling from the hills; or worked as a boatman or as a sedan-chair porter." Cottage industry was a standby. A resident noted that "in farmers' homes, baskets, buckets, hoe-handles, carrving poles, straw sandals, and coarse cloth are made." A scholar family in Shuik'ou made charcoal for extra income. Fish-farming was widespread: "In every small village there were two artificial ponds, one at the front and one behind. One pond was for domestic purposes and irrigation, one for rearing fish."Grasscutting for sale was generally handled by the womenfolk. Tree-felhing was another sideline, especially in mountain areas."

要让收支平衡，无论用彭湃的账目，还是用我们提出的账目，唯一的办法都是兼做其他工作。在海丰，“佃农除耕田以外，或耕种山坡、种水果，或养牛、猪、鸡，或上山砍柴，或做船夫、轿夫”。家庭手工业也是一种补充。一位居民说，“农家制作篮子、水桶、锄柄、扁担、草鞋和粗布”。水口有一家读书人，以烧炭增加收入。养鱼十分普遍：“每个小村都有两个人工池塘，一个在前，一个在后。一个供生活用水和灌溉，一个养鱼。”割草出售一般由妇女承担。伐木也是副业，山区尤为如此。

But why did peasants work their plots even at a loss? To grasp the underlying motive of this life we perhaps must put aside the values of a Western-style economy where land and labor are a variable of capital. In a peasant economy, labor is the constant that determines the change in volume of both capital and land. To rent land for more than its potential income may appear to us senseless, but it was not for a Haifeng peasant family that otherwise would be left with uremployable members, and that by exploiting itself could still attain a clean balance sheet." P'eng P'ai might declaim: "Don't you have to wear clothes as well as eat? When something is wrong with the house, don't you have to fix it? Isn't the lamp lit at night? Ion't you have to raise a son to take your place when you are old and weak? As I see it, you can't neglect these things and so you put yourself deeper and deeper in debt." But P'eng would have had to admit that the peasants had "active" and "passive" ways for attending to such important matters, ways the simple balance sheet need not touch upon. Tenants lucky enough to be farming 1o mou got by well enough in normal times, and the 60 percent of peasants who were freeholders or part owners could be better off still and indeed were so, according to P'eng P'ai. Admittedly a percentage of tenants working 5 mou lived on the poverty line. Even here, though, the roots of distress were not purely economic but included social and political grounds. Festive occasions, weddings, and funerals were costly in Hai-Lu-feng, and though it is not sound to argue that peasants were victims of their society more for what they valued than for what they got, both economic and social factors were responsible for the hardships in their life. Feuds and court cases also took a heavy toll, along with customary gifts and random levies—not to speak of rents and taxes. Inflation gave little chance of saving, and a typhoon could wipe out an entire crop.

但农民为什么即使亏损仍要耕种呢?要理解这种生活背后的动机，我们或许得暂且放下西方式经济的价值标准;在那种经济里，土地与劳动是随资本而变的变量。在农民经济里，劳动是常量，决定资本与土地数量的变化。以超过潜在收益的租金租地，在我们看来可能毫无道理，但对海丰农家却并非如此：否则家庭成员便无工可做，而通过自我剥削，他们仍可能实现收支平衡。彭湃或许会激昂地说：“除了吃饭，你们难道不要穿衣服?房子坏了，难道不要修?晚上难道不点灯?难道不要养个儿子，等自己老弱时接替自己?我看这些事都不能不顾，于是你们就越欠越多。”然而，彭湃也不得不承认，农民有“积极”和“消极”的办法应付这些要事，而简单的收支表未必涉及这些办法。能幸运地耕种十亩地的佃农，在正常年景过得去;占农民60%的自耕农和半自耕农，可能过得更好，按彭湃的说法，事实也确实如此。诚然，耕种五亩地的佃农中，有一部分生活在贫困线上。但即使在这里，困苦的根源也不纯粹是经济性的，还包含社会和政治因素。海陆丰的节庆、婚礼和丧葬都耗费甚巨。虽然不能据此断言，农民之所以成为社会的受害者，更多是因为他们看重什么，而不是因为他们得到什么，但经济因素与社会因素，确实都造成了生活的艰难。械斗和诉讼也消耗巨大，还有惯例馈赠和任意摊派，更不必说田租和税赋。通货膨胀几乎不给人储蓄的机会，一场台风又可能毁掉整季庄稼。

Poor beyond all arguing were those who were unable either to own or to rent land. In Haifeng, agricultural laborers and hired peasants were very few, "not even 5oo in the whole county." They could count only on their wages and could be contracted on yearly, monthly, or daily terms. The year contraet fetched Y40 in Hanfeng and Y 3o or upward in Lufeng, plus board and lodgimng. During the peak season male casual workers got 50 eents and females 30 cents a day; in the off-season they got 30 cents and 20 cents, respectively. As P'eng P'ai remarked, "under the disparate and complicated conditions of peasant labor, it is difficult to calculate wages in mathematical terms." Still, if we allow Y54 for food given and Y40 for wages, a yearly contract worker would be earning ￥94; a day worker earning on average 40 cents would make some fifty dollars more if working for the whole year."

无论如何都无法否认其贫穷的，是那些既没有土地，也租不到土地的人。海丰的农业工人和受雇农民很少，“全县还不到五百人”。他们只能靠工资生活，雇约可以按年、按月或按日订立。年工在海丰可得40元，在陆丰可得30元或更多，另包食宿。农忙时，男性零工日薪五角，女性三角;农闲时，分别为三角和二角。正如彭湃所说，“农民劳动的条件各异而复杂，工资很难用数学方法计算”。不过，若把供给的食物算作54元，工资算作40元，一个年工的收入便为94元;日工若平均日薪四角，而且全年都有工做，会比他多得约五十元。

Many of the landless laborers remained unmarried, by force of financial circumstances. "They were objects of ridicule and pity in the eyes of the vil lagers, whose life centered on the family." In the past, these luckless men, "bare sticks" as they were called, would have found a "family" in the secret societies and bandit gangs, but in the Haifeng of the 1920's such organizations had disappeared. As with everyone else in Kwangtung, these peasants and laborers were at the mercy of superior forces: house rent, taxes, prices, and interest rates, to name but a few. Landlords and clan officials lived off the rent, bureaucrats and military men off the taxes, traders and compradores off price manipulation, and usurers off their exorbitant interest."

许多无地雇工因经济条件所迫，仍未婚。“在以家庭为生活中心的村民眼中，他们是嘲笑和怜悯的对象。”过去，这些被叫作“光棍”的不幸者，会在秘密会社和土匪团伙里找到一个“家庭”;但20世纪20年代的海丰，这样的组织已经消失了。与广东其他人一样，这些农民和雇工也受强大力量摆布：房租、税赋、物价、利率，等等。地主和宗族管理者靠租金生活，官僚和军人靠税收，商人和买办靠操纵价格，高利贷者则靠高额利息。

A ballad by P'eng P'ai sings of the economic situation of the peasants of Haifeng: The mountain song is full of sound and furv.

彭湃有一首歌谣，唱出了海丰农民的经济处境。这首山歌充满了愤怒的呐喊。

How wretched is the peasant's lot!

农民的命多么苦!

A bowl of potato-broth for breakfast,

早饭一碗薯水，

A bowl of potato-soup for dinner.

晚饭一碗薯汤。

Half starved, ill fed, undernourished,

半饥半饱，吃不好，养不足，

Living in a hovel with no beams in the roof,

住在屋顶没有梁的陋屋里，

Or in a couple of thatched huts,

或住两间茅草房，

The straw so lean that moonlight pours in.

茅草稀薄，月光直照进来。

After so much activity and success, there was no reason to delay the official estabhshmentof the Peasant Union. Accordingly, the iaugural meeting of the Chihshan Area Peasant Union took place (by the Western calendar date) on October 25, 1922. The membership, from an initial seven in July, increased to 3o by the end of August and stood at over 5o by late October. "The entire membership attended," and the school principals Li Yüeh-t'ing and Yang Szu-chen were present to address the gathering. The nucleus of the leftist intelligentsia was there too: they had resumed fringe activities with the peasant movement. "The most open of them, such as P'eng Han-yüan and Cheng Chih-vün, joined the Peasant U'nion; other students such as Li Lao-kung, Lin Tao-wen, and Ch'en Shun-i looked after propaganda." To these another source adds Ch'en K'uei-ya, Lin Su, and "many other sons of well-to-do families." This blend of peasants and scholars was in line with tradition: political power in China was recognized as resting on the consent of the peasantry and the support of the scholar class."

经过这么多活动，取得这么多成功，已经没有理由再推迟农会的正式成立。因此，赤山约农会成立大会于1922年10月25日(按公历)举行。会员从七月最初的七人，到八月底增为三十人，十月底超过五十人。“全体会员出席”，校长李月汀和杨嗣震也到场讲话。左翼知识分子的核心成员也来了;他们已经重新在农民运动外围开展活动。“其中最开明的，如彭汉垣、郑芷云，加入农会;李劳工、林道文、陈顺仪等其他学生，则负责宣传。”另一种资料还提到陈魁亚、林苏及“许多其他富裕家庭的子弟”。农民与读书人的这种结合符合传统：中国的政治权力，被认为有赖于农民的认可和士人阶层的支持。

To P'eng P'ai is due much of the credit for arousing student interest in peasant affairs. This occurred partly through his mnvolvement with the Socialst Youth Corps, which did much ot the pioneermng work of mobilizung the peasants." But this role of the SYC in the countryside was rather the exception, because an article of 1923 reviewing the current "back-to-theland" movement declared that "the intellectuals and students do not like to go to the rural areas. They would rather starve than return to the villages."

唤起学生对农民事务的兴趣，很大一部分功劳应归于彭湃。这在一定程度上缘于他参加了社会主义青年团;该团在动员农民方面，做了许多开创性的工作。但青年团在乡村发挥这种作用，实属例外，因为1923年一篇评述当时“到乡下去”运动的文章说：“知识分子和学生不喜欢去农村。他们宁愿饿死，也不愿回到乡村。”

In Haifeng things at first were no different, because after an initial effort to conduct a rural survey (perhaps in 1921), the students immediately gave up, calling it "a great sacrifice with little reward." It was P'eng who gave them fresh courage and motivation.

海丰起初也没有不同。学生最初曾试图开展乡村调查，也许是在1921年，但立即放弃，称之为“牺牲很大，收获很小”。是彭湃重新给了他们勇气和动力。

It is here that the real aims and ideology of the SYC members who were behind this rural involvement become apparent: in the view of an observer, the peasant movement was "self-running and autonomous"; far from being a Communist endeavor, it had the connotations of a social welfare movement. At this early date the Youth Corps was hardly Communist anyway, and the CCP was scarcely interested in the peasants at all. The young bourgeois intellectuals in the countryside would not have welcomed any CCP domination; later they actually resisted it. Nor did the peasants join the Union because of Communist beliefs, as is admitted by an important Communist document of 1926 on the peasant movement:

在这里，推动下乡活动的青年团员，其真正目标和思想才显现出来。在一位观察者看来，农民运动是“自我运作而且自主的”;它远非共产主义事业，而具有社会福利运动的意味。在这个早期阶段，青年团本来就很难说是共产主义组织，中共也几乎完全不关心农民。下乡的年轻资产阶级知识分子，不会欢迎中共的控制;后来他们确实还抵制过这种控制。农民参加农会，也不是因为信仰共产主义。1926年一份重要的共产主义农运文件就承认：

The greatest reason for the start of the peasant movement is peasant awareness. Without that, were we to go to the villages and do peasant-movement work, it would be like going to speak of rent reduction to a freeholder. . . . This awareness of suffering is essential. Therefore we in the villages, after speaking to them for half an hour, get them to establish the Peasant Association .. . because |they| already have awareness. . . . Up to now no one has told them how to organize and get united, and so they are ignorant of ways and means to stave off suffering. But now people come to lead them, saying "Become united and stand up," and this they readily duept.

农民运动发生的最大原因，是农民的觉悟。没有这种觉悟，我们到乡村去做农运工作，就像向一个自耕农谈减租一样……这种对苦难的认识，是必不可少的。因此，我们到乡村，对他们讲半个小时，便促使他们建立农会……因为他们已经有了觉悟……过去没有人告诉他们怎样组织、怎样团结，所以他们不知道抵御苦难的方法。如今有人来领导他们，说“团结起来，站起来”，他们便欣然接受。

In a letter to Li Ch'un-t'ao of July 19, 1923, P'eng P'ai wrote: "In the villages of old, this class outlook of resistance was already there from early times; but there was nobody to wake it up and to make it come alive and active." He sees it as "a pure class outlook in the villages against the landlords and capitalists" and describes it as "very deep."" No matter what P'eng's opinion was, this (as Communist historiographers concede) was only a natural awareness of "exploitation by their own landlords,"not an awareness of "the landlord system of exploitation." Real class-consciousness was still a long way off. Teng Chung-hsia puts it thus: "When shown how they were despised by the landlords, the peasants in Hai-Lu-feng clapped their hands. They were aware!" The intellectuals in the countryside had merely played the catalytic function of creating the greater awareness that produced organization. In the view of P'eng P'ai, the peasants had to work out their ends and means unanded. In his mnd, "itis not helping other s but poor men help ing themselves."

彭湃在1923年7月19日给李春涛的信中写道：“从前的乡村，早就有这种反抗的阶级观念;只是没有人唤醒它，使它活跃起来。”他认为，这是“乡村中反对地主和资本家的纯粹阶级观念”，而且“很深”。无论彭湃怎样看，正如共产主义史家也承认的，这不过是对“自己的地主剥削”的自然认识，并不是对“地主剥削制度”的认识。真正的阶级意识仍然遥远。邓中夏这样说：“向海陆丰农民说明地主怎样轻视他们，他们就拍手。他们觉悟了!”下乡知识分子只是起了催化作用，扩大了这种认识，从而促成组织。在彭湃看来，农民必须不依靠别人，自行想清楚自己的目标和手段。他心中的想法是：“这不是帮助别人，而是穷人帮助自己。”

To live up to his ideal, P'eng P'ai encouraged a local peasant to take charge of the first Peasant Unon, and Huang Feng lin was duly elected chairman. The members left the meeting full of excitement because this was peasant recognition and a peasant success. It was expected, though, that the more extensive and national——and the more permanent—the peasant movement became, the less likely it was that the leadership would reman peasant. Years later this did indeed prove to be the case, when the movement was invaded by radical intellectuals. The difference was that these intellectuals, unlike P'eng P'ai, seldom became one with the peasants.

为了实践自己的理想，彭湃鼓励一名当地农民负责第一个农会，黄凤麟于是当选会长。会员们散会时兴奋不已，因为这意味着农民受到承认，农民取得了成功。不过可以预料，农民运动越广泛、越具有全国性，也越持久，领导权就越不可能仍由农民掌握。多年以后，激进知识分子涌入运动，这一点果然得到证实。区别在于，这些知识分子不像彭湃，很少真正与农民融为一体。

The students who joined P'eng in Haifeng came predominantly from well-to-do households, and the teachers around him already enjoyed leadership status in the villages. Wu Huan -t'ang, for example, whom P'eng had made principal of the Third High Primary School, was from Wuts'ouwei village just north of Haifeng and belonged to a leading family there. He established the Peasant Union in the village, but "because of his work as principal rarely went there and was helping P'eng P'ai only in propaganda and organizaton. He was little known to the peasants." Wang Hung-wen was another from a rich family. He gave P'eng support and undertook campaign work among the students. Lin Su sported a gold watch. All these friends had the best intentions and strove to help the peasants, but they scarcely took on peasant attitudes or goals. Ch'en K'uei-ya came to be known as "King of P'uning": he had assumed full command of the movement and did not care to train his peasants.

海丰那些加入彭湃行列的学生，主要出身于富裕家庭;围绕在他身边的教师，在村里本已具有领袖地位。例如，彭湃任命为第三高等小学校长的吴焕堂，来自海丰以北不远的Wuts'ouwei村，是当地显赫家族的一员。他在村里成立了农会，却“因忙于校长工作，很少去那里，只在宣传和组织方面帮助彭湃。农民很少认识他”。Wang Hung-wen也是富家子弟，他支持彭湃，在学生中做运动工作。林甦戴着金表。这些朋友都怀着最好的愿望，努力帮助农民，但几乎没有接受农民的态度或目标。陈魁亚后来被称为“普宁王”：他把运动的指挥权全部抓在自己手里，却不关心训练自己的农民。

It was undoubtedly the large number of intellectuals associated with it, however, that helped the movement enjoy relative safety after it expanded beyond the P'eng family estate. In the words of a contemporary:

不过，运动扩展到彭家田产以外之后，仍能相对安全，毫无疑问得益于参加其中的大批知识分子。一位当时的人说：

The peasant movement was alarming the gentry and the local officials, but they hesitated to suppress it because the peasants had been careful to avoid conficts with the landlords, and because there were many students and teachers with high-school prestige locally among the leaders. They were protected by a false analogy, which ranked them with the old-time Chinese scholars—their persons being regarded by all classes as almost sacred and their opinions as entitled to peculiar respect—so that they were able to engage in seditious propaganda, even mild rioting, for which others would be imprisoned and shot.

农民运动使士绅和地方官员感到惊恐，但他们犹豫着不敢镇压，因为农民一直小心避免与地主冲突，而领导人中又有许多因任教或就读于中学而在当地享有声望的师生。他们得到一种错误类比的保护：人们把他们等同于旧式中国士人，各阶层几乎都认为这些人的身份神圣不可侵犯，他们的意见理应受到特殊尊重。因此，他们能够从事煽动性宣传，甚至轻微骚乱;同样的事，换了别人，就会被监禁或枪杀。

Under this cover the Union was expanding. "Our influence grew in every village, and the number of applicants increased to an average of ten people a day," reported P'eng. Dues were 2o cents a year, as with other societies, an initial entry fee having been canceled owing to peasant doubts about the need for it. (The peasants for the first time had imposed their own views on the leadership, who had bowed to their wishes—a small event, but an example of the accommodation on the part of the intelligentsia that was to mark later relationshuips) For the leadership, patience w as the kev: "We will be able to change this only when all peasants have enrolled and undergone lengthy training." The peasants could lay down the law on important matters, too, when they so wished, as in fact they later did when they realized that their leaders had aims different from theirs.

在这种庇护下，农会不断扩大。彭湃报告：“我们在各村的影响日益增长，申请人数增加到平均每天十人。”会费与其他会社一样，每年二角;最初还收入会费，因农民怀疑有无必要而取消了。(农民第一次让领导层接受了自己的主张，领导层也顺从了他们的意愿。这件事虽小，却说明知识分子作出了迁就，这也将成为以后双方关系的特点。)对领导层而言，耐心是关键：“只有等全体农民入会，并经过长期训练，才能改变这种情形。”只要他们愿意，农民在大事上也能自己定规矩;后来察觉领袖的目标与自身目标不同时，他们确实这样做过。

The number of Unions established soon warranted the founding of a Haifeng General Peasant Union. "By October there were about twenty new members a day," and soon "more than ten regions had set up Area Unions." First after Ch'ihshan was P'ingkang, where the P'eng had some land. Yang Ch'i-shan operated there and had already brought all the peasants over to P'eng P'ai. Yang had a strong personality and "when P'eng P'ai was subject to sudden fits of temper, his colleagues would send for Yang to subdue P'eng's fiery explosions." He became the vice-chairman of the General Peasant Union; P'eng actually wanted him to be chairman, but the membership insisted on P'eng himself taking this position. In the opinion of a contemporary, "Yang was not a Bolshevik extremist and had in his veins the traditional conservatism of the village people." During the Soviet, Yang would many times deplore the wholesale slaughter and call upon P'eng P'ai to halt it.

已成立的农会数量，很快就足以支持建立海丰农民总会。“到十月，每天约有二十名新会员”，不久便有“十多个地区成立了约农会”。赤山之后首先成立的是平岗，彭家在那里有些土地。杨其珊在当地活动，已经使所有农民都转而支持彭湃。杨个性很强，“彭湃突然发脾气时，同事们就找杨来压住他的怒火”。他后来担任农民总会副会长;彭湃本想让他当会长，会员却坚持由彭湃本人担任。一位当时的人认为，“杨不是布尔什维克极端分子，他的血管里流着村民传统的保守性”。苏维埃时期，杨多次痛惜大规模杀戮，要求彭湃加以制止。

Another early Union set up by local peasants was in the villages around Meilung. This U'mon resisted the exploitation by the Lin dan and asked for a 25 percent cut in rents, failing which the Lin fields would not be worked. The landlords surrendered. Unions were also established in Yinchen, Ch'inghu, Hok'ou, Hsiho, Kungp'ing, Chiuhsi, and elsewhere. P'eng P'ai gave Li a sketch of the village members of the Union encircling Haifeng. In a letter to a friend dated February 9, 1923, P'eng makes clear his intention to attack the capital city from the countryside through a policy of economic blockade. "In three days victory will surely be ours." The Union was the start of a rural power base that overcame the pull of the market town in the rural area; in the villages, political power "shifted from the big wheels and gentry to the Peasant Union." For the first time a true Peasant Union, pursuing peasant interests, worked in a peasant environment. Lufeng now also sent delegates to ask for the start of the Union there. "A marvelous opportunity!" exclaimed P'eng P'ai, who regretted being unable to take on everything. Still, Lufeng had its Union by May 1923.

梅陇周边村庄，也由本地农民较早成立了一个农会。这个农会抵抗林氏宗族的剥削，要求减租25%，否则便不耕林氏的田。地主让步了。Yinchen、青湖、河口、西河、公平、九溪等地，也都成立了农会。彭湃给李春涛画了一幅略图，标出包围海丰的各会员村庄。在1923年2月9日致友人的信中，他明确表示，要用经济封锁政策，从乡村进攻县城。“三天以内，一定胜利。”农会开始构成乡村的权力基础，克服了市镇对农村的吸引力;在各村，政治权力“从大头目和士绅手里转到农会”。一个真正追求农民利益的农会，第一次在农民自己的环境中开展工作。陆丰也派代表来请求成立农会。“极好的机会!”彭湃这样感叹，只遗憾自己无法兼顾所有事情。但到1923年五月，陆丰仍然有了自己的农会。

Chung I-mou points out that all these Peasant Unions were organized by the best peasant leaders. Their rapid success gave P’eng P'ai "great consolation" and showed that the peasants were far more "aware," even at this early stage, than either the landlords or the intelligentsia had estimated. By early 1923 landlords were beginning to be concerned at U'nion strength: "We thought they were unable to succeed and mere loudmouths. We never expected this." The powers that be had realized the potential threat posed by P'eng and his Union. When he was having "a hard life," as he reported to Li, he was summoned to the house of an official of the Ch'en lineage, who told him that Ch'en Chiung-ming was much interested in him and in his work, and that he could assure him a position in Canton. P'eng, however, refused to go to Canton and announced that he had no intention of becom - ing an official, excusing himself by saying that he preferred to stay at home and study. The truth was he did not want "to leave the peasants he loved and the fledgling Union."

钟逸牟指出，这些农会都是由最出色的农民领袖组织起来的。它们迅速成功，使彭湃“得到很大的安慰”，也说明即使在这个早期阶段，农民的“觉悟”已经远高于地主和知识分子的估计。到1923年初，地主开始担心农会的力量：“我们以为他们不会成功，不过是些大嘴巴。没想到会这样。”当权者已经意识到，彭湃及其农会可能构成威胁。彭湃在给李春涛的信中说，自己那时“生活艰难”，却被召到一位陈氏支族官员的家中。此人告诉他，陈炯明很关注他本人和他的工作，可以保证他在广州获得一个职位。但彭湃拒绝去广州，说自己无意做官，借口更愿意在家读书。实情是，他不愿“离开自己所爱的农民和初生的农会”。

A further reason for the establishment of the General Peasant Union was the realization that separate Unions, acting independently under local leadership alone, were not enough to meet the challenge of the landlords. In Meilung district, landlords had already forined a Society to Protect Production, with the aim of standing together to oppose the Union's demand for a 25 or 30 percent reduction in rents. So the peasants now decided to take a leaf out of the landlords' book. The pooling of membership and resources brought together a stated 20,000 households; assuming the usual average of five persons per household, this would mean 1oo,ooo people, a good quarter of the county's population, either in or under the Union." But P'eng wrote privately to Li with very different figures: 2,760 households in 98 villages at six persons per household, which makes 16,560 members. It would have been physically impossible in any case for membership to have increased so much in so short a time from the inaugural meeting in late October. The exaggeration of figures started here by P'eng P'ai was to become a constant feature of peasant-movement statistics.

成立农民总会，还有一个原因：人们认识到，分散的农会仅凭地方领袖各自行动，不足以应对地主的挑战。在梅陇区，地主已经成立保产会，联合反对农会减租25%或30%的要求。农民于是决定效法地主。汇合各会会员和资源后，据称共有20,000户;按通常每户五人计算，就是100,000人，即全县人口的四分之一，都参加了农会或处于其影响之下。但彭湃私下写给李春涛的数字很不一样：98个村，2,760户，每户六人，合计16,560名会员。无论如何，从十月底的成立大会算起，短短时间内，会员人数不可能增长那么多。彭湃从这里开始夸大数字，此后这便成了农运统计中的常见现象。

The inaugural meeting of the Haifeng County General Peasant Union on January 1, 1923, was attended by "6o district delegates" probably representing the Unions in 98 villages of the Haifeng, Kungp'ing, and Meilung districts, where the Union was strong. It was very formal, with an elaborate agenda: chairman's opening reports from delegates, review of the preparatory process, elections, constitution, suggestions, adinner-cum-entertain ment. The agenda strongly suggests democracy. Certainly P'eng wished the peasants to share in the Union's leadership, as can be seen also from the elected executive, all of whom except P'eng were peasants: P’'eng P'ai, chair - man; Yang C'hi-shan, vice-chairman; Lan Ching-ch'ing, treasurer; Lin P'ei, secretary for general affairs; Chang Ma-an, inspector." The meeting approved provisional regulations that were modeled on the Student Union's constitution. P'eng P'ai wrote to Li in February that he had intended to have it done according to the "Soviet" organization and law, but that "I myself am still not clear on the details of this kind of organization, and besides, the intellectual level of the peasants being in general rather low and their ways of thinking very simple, they were scared of the term, so difficult to remember: Su-wei-ai."

海丰县农民总会于1923年1月1日召开成立大会，“六十名区代表”出席，可能代表了海丰、公平和梅陇等农会势力较强地区的98个村庄。大会十分正式，议程详尽：主席开幕、代表报告、筹备过程检讨、选举、章程、建议，以及聚餐和娱乐。这样的议程充分显示了民主意味。彭湃确实希望农民共同参与领导，从选出的执行委员也可以看出这一点：除他之外，全都是农民。彭湃任会长，杨其珊任副会长，蓝镜清任司库，林沛任总务，张妈安任监察。大会通过了仿照学生会章程拟订的暂行规则。彭湃在二月给李春涛的信中说，自己原想按“苏维埃”的组织和法律来拟订，但“我自己对这种组织的细节还不清楚，再说农民的知识水平普遍较低，思想很简单，他们怕这个难记的名词：苏维埃”。

The first item on the agenda was "Union dues should be increased," as the leadership wanted; but up to July the fees were as before. Applicants who came in person for enrollment were persuaded to accept "our ideas" and were issued with a Union card giving full rights, including a say in elections. The card evoked for the peasants the old sign of secret-society membership, but now in a modern setting. It was seen as representing a form of economic and social security, and indeed would eventually be the pass to a 5o-percent cut in medical fees, to reduced rent, and to the allotment of land—making it a precious possession. "In court cases, when arguing against army tax and the order to transport army supplies, or in street-corner disputes, a peasant would bring out his membership card. . .. Everyone feared the power of peasant solidarity." No wonder that when the Union was dissolved, soldiers had to be sent to force peasants to surrender their membership cards "at several yüan each." The size of a calling card, it bore the slogan "No work, no food: one in heart, one in strength," together with the holder's name, village, and district, and the date of issue. On the reverse was the great seal of the General Peasant Union."

议程第一项是“应增加会费”，这正是领导层的愿望;但直到七月，会费仍与以前相同。亲自来申请入会的人，经劝说接受“我们的思想”后，便领取会员证，享有包括参与选举在内的完整权利。对农民而言，会员证唤起了旧时秘密会社入会标记的记忆，却置于一种现代背景之中。它被视为经济和社会保障的象征，后来也确实成为医药费减半、减租和分配土地的凭证，因而十分珍贵。“打官司、争辩军税和运送军需的命令，或在街头发生纠纷时，农民就拿出会员证……人人都怕农民团结的力量。”难怪农会被解散时，必须派兵强迫农民以“每张数元”交出会员证。会员证与名片大小相仿，上印口号：“不劳动，不吃饭;一条心，一股力”，并载持证人的姓名、村庄、所属区和发证日期。背面盖着农民总会的大印。

The Union was now interclan and interdistrict, democratically established with an approved constitution by a process allowing for report, discussion, and recommendations. In short, it was a serious organization, like a government of the countryside or "a government in exile," which, though still excluded from the city, had already established its "jurisdiction."% The General Union organization chart suggested a real government structure runnng parallel with the otficialone in thecounty seat.Certaunly everything here points to a power structure designed to achieve even greater power; but power of a different kind was in view, since the anarchist in P'eng P'ai was interested in an anarcho-communist revolution and working toward what he called "socialism." In his letters to Li, P'eng repeatedly expressed his aim to lead the Peasant Union to the stage of revolution."

农会如今已经跨宗族、跨地区，通过允许报告、讨论和建议的程序，以民主方式成立，并通过了章程。简言之，它是一个认真运作的组织，仿佛乡村政府，或一个“流亡政府”;虽然仍被排除在城外，却已经确立了自己的“管辖范围”。总会的组织图，显示出一个与县城官方机构并行的真正政府结构。这里的一切，显然都指向一种意在取得更大权力的权力结构;但它所设想的是另一种权力，因为彭湃身上的无政府主义者，关心的是无政府共产主义革命，追求他所称的“社会主义”。在给李春涛的信中，彭湃反复表明，要把农会引向革命阶段。

As well as Union dues, financial matters discussed at the meeting also included measures for seizing control of the yam market from the gentry and thugs. T'he Haifeng market was worth up to ￥4,000, but to avord a conflict the resolution on this subject rejected a showdown with the gentry, noting that "it was best to negotiəte." Caution was the watchword; the Union dur - ing its early stages preferred moderation and action within the law in a reformist movement. The gentry, as was expected, opposed Union meddling in the market, and objected to its use of standard scales for weighing yams. The Union reacted by notifying the peasants to set up the yam market near its own office in Ch'iao-tung-she and by strictly forbidding business at the old market. The new peasant market was estabhished at a large compound near the river, some 300 meters from the bridge. The affair went off peacefully and another victory was scored by the Union."

大会讨论的财务问题，除了会费，还包括如何从士绅和恶棍手中夺取番薯市场的控制权。海丰的这一市场价值高达4,000元，但为了避免冲突，决议不主张与士绅决裂，而认为“最好谈判”。谨慎是指导原则;早期农会作为改革运动，倾向于采取温和、合法的行动。不出所料，士绅反对农会介入市场，也反对用统一标准的秤称番薯。农会随即通知农民，把番薯市场设在桥东社本会办公处附近，严禁在旧市场交易。新的农民市场设在河边一处大院，距桥约300米。事情平静地办成，农会又赢得了一次胜利。

A political problem of another kind involved the colors of the Union flag and their significance for the peasantry. This matter was by no means trivial. P'eng realized that the old Flags still had great appeal, and that the Union would perforce have to unite both colors if all the peasants were to be brought in. "So we did not use jonly| the black |or the| red, but both, thus representing the combined fighting spirit of the old days." The flag was "four fields of red and black," the two colors which had earlier divıded villages and even fainilies in Haifeng. Eventually "peasant lovalties to Red or Black Flag disappeared and they all used the single peasant flag." This is further evidence that when peasants enrolled in the Union, they did so with their own particular ideas and aspirations. The "brothers" of the Union were just as earnest and dedicated as the Triad brothers had been. In times of crisis they now once more could shout: "Alive, we are Union men; dead, we are Union ghosts."" P'eng remarked that among the new recruits in January i923 there was no dearth of men with revolutionary spirit, the backbone of the former Triad and Flag units. The old Flags had been suppressed only ten years before, so it was relatively easy to rev ive the sentiments they inspired. P'eng and his Union provided both encouragement and a frame - work, and for provocation the Commander's Office never failed.'" The religious outlook of the former secret societies was another element present, despite P'eng's objections. The peasants looked upon him as the source of their strength: they called him "Prince P'eng" or "P'eng P'u su"—after the bodhisattva who refrains from entering Nirvana so as to minister to the needs of the suffering on earth. The Flags, as events proved, had never really disintegrated but had only gone underground, ready to be mustered in the right circumstances.

另一个政治问题，涉及农会旗帜的颜色及其对农民的意义。这绝非小事。彭湃明白，旧旗组织仍有很强的吸引力;如果要吸纳全部农民，农会就必须把两种旗色合在一起。“所以我们不用单独的黑色或红色，而把两色一起用，代表从前联合战斗的精神。”旗帜由“红黑两色四块”构成;这两种颜色，过去曾使海丰的村庄乃至家庭彼此分裂。最终，“农民对红旗或黑旗的忠诚消失，都改用一面农民旗”。这进一步说明，农民加入农会时，怀有自己独特的想法和愿望。农会的“兄弟”，与过去三合会兄弟一样真诚、忠心。危急时刻，他们如今又能喊出：“生是农会人，死是农会鬼。”彭湃说，1923年一月的新会员中，不乏有革命精神的人，他们正是过去三合会和旗组织的骨干。旧旗组织被镇压仅十年，因此相对容易重新唤起其所激发的情感。彭湃和农会提供了鼓励与组织框架，而督军府也从未停止提供挑衅。尽管彭湃反对，过去秘密会社的宗教观念仍然存在。农民把他视为力量之源，称他“彭王”或“彭菩萨”——如同那位为照顾世间苦难者而暂不进入涅槃的菩萨。事实证明，旗组织从未真正瓦解，只是转入地下，等待合适的条件再度动员。

The Flag tradition very likely facilitated the spread of the Union; the quick inerease in enrollment was probably due to the v arious Flag units deciding to join en masse and on a local basis. Yang Ch'i-shan may have taken his peasants into the Union on these grounds, once they realized that it resembled their secret organization and was wielding considerable power. Though operating in the open, the Union had its share of secrecy in that it was working against the establishment and that it used a different set of slogans for internal and external consumption. Even the use of signs was retained. Peng introduced a hand sign "as in the past the Triad had done for identifying members." Since the Union was known as the "party of the poor," the sign involved the thumb and index finger (simular to the character pa |"eight"], which stood for p'nn |"poor"|), the index and middle finger (jen ["man"]), and the five fingers (tang ["party"l).'"

旗组织的传统，很可能促进了农会的传播;会员迅速增加，也许是各旗组织的地方单位决定集体入会的结果。杨其珊或许就是基于这一点，把自己的农民带进了农会：他们认识到，农会与自己的秘密组织相似，又拥有相当大的力量。农会虽然公开活动，却也有隐秘的一面，因为它反对现存权力，而且内外使用不同的口号。就连暗号也保留下来了。彭湃引入一种手势，“像过去三合会用来识别会员的那样”。农会被称为“穷人党”，因此手势用拇指和食指作出“八”字，代表“贫”;再用食指和中指作出“人”字;五指则代表“党”。

As described in an internal report, the composition of the Union came close to secret-society elements: "victims of the political, economic, and military crisis,. . . dissident membersof the prvileged class, and nonconformist gentry."1o4 The Union's enemies, too, differed little from those the secret societies had had to confront: Li Ch'un-t'ao reports Peng describing Union policy as "facing up to the landlords and taking to task the authorities."1o5 The Unon was treading the Triad path, since the radical intelhigentsia and the lower classes joined it in "a kind of sohdarity" that typically "expressed an opposition to the state, characteristic of the poor and the peasantry." P'eng and his collaborators among the intelligentsia might have been of a different mind altogether, but to the thousands of enrolling peasants the Union was a revival of the Flags, now under one banner. They saw no contradiction between the two.

一份内部报告对农会成员的描述，与秘密会社的成分很接近：“政治、经济和军事危机的受害者……特权阶级中的异议者，以及不守成规的士绅。”农会的敌人，也与秘密会社过去所对付的敌人相差无几。李春涛记述，彭湃把农会政策概括为“对抗地主，责问当局”。农会正沿着三合会的道路前进：激进知识分子和下层民众，在“一种团结关系”中加入农会;这种关系典型地“表现出穷人和农民所特有的对国家的反抗”。彭湃和他的知识分子同伴，也许另有完全不同的想法;但对数千名入会农民而言，农会就是旗组织的复兴，只不过如今归于同一面旗帜。他们不认为两者之间有什么矛盾。

An early leaflet explaining why peasants should join the Union listed seventeen points - all heavily loaded with welfare provisions. Union countylevel plans were also along these lines—higher living standards, improved cultivation and production, village self-government, and universal educaton. The Union's main activ ities clearly centered on welfare, though at the same time the Union faced up to the sociopolitical tasks that this brought."

一份早期传单列出农民为什么应该入会的十七条理由，全都着重强调福利。农会在县一级的计划也循着同一方向：提高生活水平，改进耕作和生产，实行村庄自治，普及教育。农会的主要活动显然集中于福利，同时也正视这些活动带来的社会政治任务。

One of the first welfare schemes was a Funeral Aid Society, which was' established by P'eng P'ai before even the Union itself." The superstition of the people was especially manifested at death. Chinese geomancy holds that if a man is buried in a properly sited grave, his descendants will prosper. A funeral was thus a special opportunity for showing filial piety with no ex pense spared. A simple burial had to have a few gongs and a repast; a good one required an imposing funeral procession, with two lavish banquets at sometimes a hundred tables. Mourning was a common affair; 10 as the saying had it, "When a man dies, the whole village stops cooking."

最早的福利措施之一，是丧葬互助会;彭湃甚至在农会成立以前，就已创办它。民众的迷信，在死亡面前表现得格外明显。中国风水观认为，一个人若葬在位置适当的墓穴里，子孙就会兴旺。丧事因而成为表现孝道的特殊机会，花费在所不惜。简单的葬礼也得有几面锣和一顿饭;体面的葬礼，则要有壮观的送葬队伍和两场盛宴，有时多达一百桌。哀悼是全村共同的事。俗话说，“一家死人，全村停灶”。

To meet such expense families formed Burial Associations, which through contributions from their members prov ided loans in the event of a death. In Haifeng it was the "Parents' Association." The practice dated back to 1812 when the Association was a cover for the clandestine operations of the Triad "Society of Heaven and Earth." By the 192o's the Association was just one more form of exploitation. P'eng P'ai restored it within the social undertakings of the Peasant Union, to save families from a financial slough from which they could never extricate themselves.'

为了应付这种开支，各家组成丧葬互助组织，由会员出资，在有人去世时提供借款。海丰称之为“父母会”。这一做法可追溯到1812年，当时父母会是三合会“天地会”秘密活动的掩护。到20世纪20年代，它已不过是又一种剥削形式。彭湃把它恢复起来，纳入农会的社会事业，以免家庭陷入永远无法脱身的财务泥淖。

This form of welfare must have been a highly attractive measure, just what the peasants wanted. There were at first 150 members, each paying 20 cents when a parent died. Its utility was evident the first day of its establishment, with the funeral of the father of one of the members. T'he peasants were impressed when Peng P'ai himself conducted the ceremony and read the ritual prayers; he also gave an address, thus "turning the occasion into a piece of propaganda." Unfortunately, "within ten days of its starting, five or six people died." The Society was not in a position to cover death on this scale, and a general mceting declared "its temporary suspension untl suf. ficient funds were available."

这种福利措施一定很有吸引力，恰好合乎农民的愿望。最初有150名会员，每逢一位父母去世，各缴二角。成立第一天，就遇到一位会员的父亲出殡，其作用立即显现。彭湃亲自主持仪式、诵读祭文，使农民深受感动;他还发表讲话，“把这个场合变成了一次宣传”。不幸的是，“成立十天之内，就死了五六个人”。互助会无力承担这么多丧事，大会宣布“暂时停办，等有足够资金再说”。

The next welfare activity was a peasant pharmacy and clinic opened right in the center of Haifeng city on the main street. People in Hai-Lu-feng were generally robust, but economic disaster and social unrest influenced the general well-being. The Presbyterian missionaries reported in 191 from their new 6o-bed hospital in Swabue that tuberculosis "was rampant in all its forms." Anemia was common, and malaria, splenomegalia, beriberi, peripheral neuritis, and trachoma were prevalent. Cholera was a reg ular scourge: in 1926-27 both it and bubonie plague were rife. Leprosy was such a frequent problem that the Catholics in Swabue established a leper colony.

下一项福利事业，是在海丰县城中心的大街开办农民药房和诊所。海陆丰民众一般身体健壮，但经济灾难与社会动荡影响了整体健康。长老会传教士1911年从汕尾新建的六十床医院报告说，结核病“各种类型都十分猖獗”。贫血常见，疟疾、脾肿大、脚气病、周围神经炎和沙眼也很普遍。霍乱定期肆虐：1926至1927年，霍乱与腺鼠疫同时流行。麻风如此常见，以致汕尾的天主教徒建立了麻风病收容区。

Chinese medicine, much respected and very popular, was the form of medical treatment normally practiced. Some doctors handled it expertly, but others were quacks. In matters of health there was great superstition and much resort to sorcery. At the height of cholera epidemics, gongs were beaten to frighten away the spirits, and sorcerers were called in to dispel evil influences. As for Western medicine, there was a Catholic hospital in Huichouin additon to the Presbyteran one in Swabue, and Hong Kong offered yet another choice for those who could afford it. The Presbyterians pioneered the training of local people in Western medicine: Dr. Sandeman had eight students under him in 19o9, of whom two were ready to practice. In 191o a Chinese doctor opened a Western pharmacy in Haifeng city and in the early 192o's Ch'en Chiung-ming built a civic hospital there, with a School of Midwifery taking 22 students and run by the Presbyterians. Other clinics were opened by newly graduated doctors such as Ma Chao-p'ing and Lü Ch'u-hsiung."

通常使用的医疗方式是中医，深受尊重，也十分普及。一些医生医术精湛，另一些则是庸医。健康问题中，迷信很重，求助巫术也很常见。霍乱严重时，人们敲锣驱鬼，请巫师消除邪祟。西医方面，除汕尾的长老会医院外，惠州也有天主教医院;付得起钱的人，还可选择香港。长老会率先培训当地人学习西医：1909年，Sandeman医生有八名学生，其中两人已经能够行医。1910年，一名中国医生在海丰城开办西药房;20世纪20年代初，陈炯明又在那里建了一所市民医院，附设由长老会主持、招收二十二名学生的助产学校。马朝平、吕楚雄等新毕业医生，也开办了其他诊所。

The Union clinic on Great Street was run by I)r. Lü, "who was enthusiastic about the peasant movement." P'eng P'ai won him over to doing peasant-movement work after a casual talk in a restaurant. He joined up with P'eng, the two together visiting villages from early in the morning to late at night, and he was instrumental in winning over many peasants to the Union. The clinic became the official address of the Peasant Union. Treatment of members was not subject to charge, though medicine was, at half the usual price (the other half coming from the Union and from donations). In any event, no card-holding peasant paid out more than 2o to 3o cents. Dr. Lü was assisted by his wife Liu En-ch'üan, a midwife. "A lot of people came for medicine and deliveries," and there was some abuse with nonmembers borrowing members' cards. To eliminate this, the Union card was made nontransferable and expensive to replace if lost. To offset the costs of the medical service, money from the new market income was used.'

大街的农会诊所，由“热心农民运动”的吕医生主持。彭湃在饭馆里与他偶然交谈之后，说服他参加农运工作。他与彭湃结伴，从早到晚走访各村，在争取许多农民加入农会方面发挥了重要作用。诊所成了农会的正式通讯地址。会员看病不收费，药费则收通常价格的一半，另一半由农会和捐款负担。不论怎样，持会员证的农民，最多只花二三角。吕医生的妻子刘恩泉是助产士，协助他的工作。“来拿药和接生的人很多”，也出现非会员借用会员证的滥用情形。为杜绝此事，农会规定会员证不得转借，遗失补领费用很高。新市场的一部分收入，被用于补贴医疗服务的开支。

With the Union in full operation at the county level and the welfare work stepped up, the Peasant Union gained increasing support from Middle and Higher Prmmary students and the more enhightened of the intellhigentsia. In Haifeng many students had genuine sympathy for the peasants: it was to such people that the work of propaganda was assigned." By the methods soon laid down there would first be a "scheduled speech" on request, the speaker being nominated by the propaganda department. Next came "circulating propaganda,"with activists moving around in the villages, and also short-notice speeches "on the occasion of a religious procession or an opera."

农会在县一级全面运作，福利工作不断加强，也获得越来越多中等、高等小学学生及较开明知识分子的支持。海丰许多学生真心同情农民，宣传工作便交给这些人。按不久后制定的办法，先应请求安排“定期演讲”，由宣传部指定讲员;其次是“巡回宣传”，积极分子在各村来回活动;又会“趁迎神或演戏时”，临时安排演讲。

Propaganda topies encapsulated in slogans were already fixed at the first General Peasant Union meeting. For internal use they were these: reduce rent; abolish "the three blows of the stick" and the foreman's chicken, duck, rice, and cash; eliminate bribes to the police. For external use they were improve agriculture, increase peasant knowledge, and perform charitable work.

第一次农民总会大会，已经确定了用口号概括的宣传主题。内部使用的口号是：减租;废除“三下揩”及田头鸡、鸭、米、钱;杜绝给警察行贿。对外使用的口号则是：改进农业，增进农民知识，开展慈善事业。

Long before the Russians set up their propaganda machine in Canton in the 1920's, P'eng P'ai was already using propaganda effectively. Ch'en Chiung-ming had also done so, but P'eng P'ai now strove for direct contact with the illiterate masses themselves, not just the intelligentsia or bourgeoisie. He achieved this through the use of theater, which had already proved successful and was not an innovation, for it had played a part in Triad initiation rituals: "by means of play, deeds of injustice could be portrayed and a sense of revenge could be aroused."' Earlier, theatrical groups had gone on behalf of the T'ung Meng Hui to the masses of the Canton Delta. P'eng Pai is reported to have made theater into a forceful instrument for the peasant movement, personally coaching his performers. Related to the slogans that Chinese ideograms easily transmit were the cartoons that P'eng P'ai excelled at and that found a firm place in the magazines he published. Finally, there were also the songs P'eng composed, again very much liked bv the Hai - feng people. 1" He would give old tunes new words, as with a "reactionarv' Hakka mountain song that he transformed into a "revolutionary" ballad. The original told of an emigrant who went overseas to earn money and brought back jade bracelets and gold earrings to his sweetheart. In P'eng's adaptation the lover goes off to fight, is victorious, and returns with a pistol and grenade. '" It is commonly acknowledged that "P'eng P'aur was respon - sible for the great output of revolutionary songs in Hai-Lu-feng, and it was for the making of revolution that he used his considerable artistic and literary talent." As for his colleagues, the propaganda department can be seen as the prototype of the Peasant Movement Training Institute. Short training courses were probably given to students and peasants engaged in spreading the Union's ideas and in organization, and the touring teams of propagandists served as a model for the peasant-movement cadres later dispatched by the peasant department in Canton.

早在俄国人于20世纪20年代在广州建立宣传机器以前，彭湃就已有效地使用宣传。陈炯明也曾这样做，但彭湃如今力求直接接触不识字的群众，而非仅仅接触知识分子或资产阶级。他通过戏剧实现这一点。这种手段已经证明有效，并非新发明，因为它过去就参与三合会的入会仪式：“借助戏剧，可以表现不公正的行为，唤起复仇的情绪。”更早时候，剧团曾代表同盟会，走向广州三角洲的群众。据记载，彭湃把戏剧变成农运的有力工具，亲自指导演员。与汉字容易传达的口号相联系的，还有他擅长的漫画;这些漫画在他出版的刊物中占据固定位置。最后，还有彭湃创作的歌曲，也深受海丰人喜爱。他为旧曲填上新词，例如把一首“反动”的客家山歌改成“革命”歌谣。原歌讲一个侨民出洋挣钱，为心上人带回玉镯和金耳环;彭湃改写之后，情郎出去打仗，胜利归来，带回的是手枪和手榴弹。人们普遍承认，“海陆丰大量革命歌曲的创作，应归功于彭湃;他把卓越的艺术和文学才华用于革命”。至于他的同伴，宣传部可以看作农民运动讲习所的雏形。参与传播农会思想和组织工作的学生、农民，很可能接受过短期训练;巡回宣传队，也为后来广州农民部派出的农运干部提供了范例。

The enormous problem of peasant literacy was in the hands of the education department. Knowing that education might make or break the peasant movement, "the Peasant Union circulated a slogan 'Peasant Education'-which meant to run a peasant school." In this field again P'eng P'ai was a pioneer; he was one of the first to work seriously to educate the peasants.' Though Mao Tse-tung had established a workers' night school in Ch'angsha in the autumn of 1917 where workers were expected to master elementary reading, writing, and arithmetic, Mao's slant at this time was toward the intelligentsia, and he admitted that he identified himself with the general run of foreign-style students and teachers, "feeling that the peasants were somehow wrong." His People's School set up in 1920, and his involvement in the Mass Education Movement in Hunan in 1921, centered on evolutionary changes rather than on revolution in education.

农民识字这一巨大问题，由教育部负责。农会深知，教育关系到农运的成败，因此“提出‘农民教育’口号，意思就是办农民学校”。在这方面，彭湃又是先驱;他是最早认真开展农民教育的人之一。毛泽东虽于1917年秋在长沙办过工人夜校，要求工人掌握基本读写和算术，但当时他的取向仍偏重知识分子;他承认，自己认同一般的新式师生，“觉得农民总有些不对”。他1920年创办的人民学校，以及1921年参与的湖南平民教育运动，着眼于渐进的变化，而非教育革命。

P'eng, on the contrary, saw both the old and the new education as "timeand energy-wasting," a system whereby the exploiting class had "the peasants as slaves from generation to generation" under the guise of "loyalty to master and love of country." He was not the first to think like this, but he was surely one of the first to do something about it. The launching of the Peasant School by P'eng P'ai was an entirely new approach to rural education, motivated by direct experience in the villages that other leaders and reformers could not match. As for what he proposed, "the peasants approved . . . they liked it even more." The peasants knew what was best for their children and accepted P'eng's new plans, giving the lie to the common complaint that “illiterate peasants do not take school education very seriously."12" Temples and ancestral halls were used apparently without difficulty and rules were laid down. The Union found "inexpensive teachers" and "the provision was made that classes were free," although Union policy demanded that funds were to come from "the village where the Peasant School was set up." Following established practice, "education fields were rented from the landlord in the name of the school" and were cultivated by the peasants and their pupil children, assisted by the Union. The Union also supplied funds for "seeds and fertilizer, whereas tools, oxen, and labor were provided by the pupils tathers and brothers, who shared the work of plowing, breaking the soil, and planting."At weeding time, pupils with their teachers would get into the fields and (as one source puts it) "the weeds were soon gone."Harvesttime saw another common effort, and the net income after rent provided the teachers' salaries.

彭湃却认为，无论旧教育还是新教育，都是“浪费时间和精力”的制度;剥削阶级借“忠君爱国”之名，使“农民世世代代做奴隶”。他并非第一个这样想的人，但无疑是最早付诸行动的人之一。他创办农民学校，为乡村教育开辟了全新的途径;其动力来自亲历乡村的经验，其他领袖和改革者无法相比。对他的提议，“农民赞成……他们更喜欢”。农民知道什么对自己的孩子最好，接受了彭湃的新计划，从而驳倒了那种常见抱怨：“不识字的农民不大重视学校教育。”寺庙和祠堂似乎毫无困难地被用作校舍，学校也订立了规则。农会找来“薪金低廉的教师”，并“规定上课免费”;不过农会的政策要求，经费应由“设立农民学校的村庄”提供。按既有惯例，“以学校名义向地主租教育田”，由农民和作为学生的子女耕种，农会协助。农会还提供“种子、肥料款，农具、耕牛和劳力则由学生的父兄提供，大家分担犁田、碎土和栽种”。除草时，学生和教师一同下田;据一份资料说，“草很快就除净了”。收获时又共同劳动，扣除田租后的净收入，用来支付教师薪金。

Within a month there were ten Peasant Schools open, together with many night schools, all of them under the guidance and supervision of the educaton department. All sought "to teach peasants how to keep accounts so as not to be cheated by landlords, how to write letters, use the abacus, and write the names of foodstuffs and farm tools, and how to run a Peasant Union."

一个月内，已有十所农民学校开办，另有许多夜校，都受教育部指导和监督。它们都致力于“教农民记账，以免被地主欺骗;教写信、打算盘、写食品和农具的名称;教怎样办农会”。

P'eng noted happily that "over 5oo children previously shut off from education were now attending classes." Numbers soon rose dramatically, and P'eng P'ai notified his friend Li that the more than twenty Peasant Schools outnumbered the schools run by the county's Education Bureau.' This type of school later became a basic feature of the education system after adoption by the Peasant Association in Canton. Mao Tse-tung in 1927 commended this village education: "See how the peasants, who hitherto detested the schools, are today zealously setting up evening classes . . . which they call Peasant Schools. ... They regard them, and only them, as their own."

彭湃高兴地说：“从前被挡在教育门外的五百多个孩子，如今都来上课了。”人数很快大增;他通知朋友李春涛，农民学校已超过二十所，比县教育局办的学校还多。这类学校后来被广州农民协会采用，成为教育制度的基本组成部分。1927年，毛泽东赞扬这种乡村教育：“试看从前痛恶学校的农民，如今热心地办起夜学……他们叫它农民学校……他们认为，只有这些才是自己的学校。”

The agricultural department's various activities, by contrast, met with little success, for neither the leaders nor the peasants were "agricultural experts." Besides this, the peasants lacked interest, since as tenants "land was not something of their own, and they did not bother to use sufficient fertilizer . . . |becausejany agricultural improvements would serve only the landlords." So the U'nion merely endeavored "to promote a communal attitude among the peasants." It initiated a tree-planting scheme -mulberry trees in particular, since silk was a worthwhile business. But even this did not succeed, because the peasants were afraid to be left without rice for rent. The head of the sericulture department, Ch'eng Shu-shun, decided to plant pine trees instead, and a forest was developed at the foot of Yingp'ingshan. "A good, honest man" from Meilung, a graduate's son who was sympathetic toward the U'nion, Cheng eventually became Prmcipal of the Professional School that developed out of the sericulture department. The Peasant U'nion took up promotion of tree-plantng because of a law that brought bare hills, once planted, into common ownership. The peasants naturally were against the "town capitalists" having any hand in the matter, but "they could not do it on their own," so the Union prov ided the capital for seedlhngs and Union members the labor: "Once begun, every village that had hills welcomed the U'nion's plantng." e: This was the first time that the U'nion had taken over a government duty at the county level, actng on behalf of all the peasants at the village level. The peasants thus came into their first public property, and the communal attitude took shape on econome grounds. For all this, rural fairness and aspirations demanded that "when profits were shown, those who had done the work would get a bigger share." There was no hint of a wish among the peasants for the communal possession of land or for equal sharing of returns such as some of their leaders—P'eng P'ai for one -had adv ocated in anarcho communist terms totally foreign to them.

相比之下，农业部的各种活动成效甚微，因为领袖和农民都不是“农业专家”。此外，农民也没有兴趣：作为佃农，“土地不是自己的东西，他们也不愿施足肥料……因为任何农业改良，都只会便宜地主”。因此，农会只是努力“促进农民的共同体意识”。它发起植树计划，尤其是种桑树，因为蚕丝是一门有收益的生意。但这也失败了，因为农民怕没有稻谷交租。蚕桑部负责人Ch'eng Shu-shun于是决定改种松树，在Yingp'ingshan山脚营造了一片林地。他来自梅陇，是一位功名士人的儿子，被称为“善良诚实的人”，同情农会，后来担任由蚕桑部发展而成的职业学校校长。农会提倡植树，是因为有一项法律规定，荒山一经植树，即归公共所有。农民自然不愿“城里的资本家”插手，但“他们自己又办不成”，于是农会提供购买树苗的资本，会员提供劳力。“开始以后，凡有山的村庄，都欢迎农会植树。”这是农会第一次在县一级承担政府职责，并在村一级代表全体农民行事。农民由此第一次拥有公共财产，共同体意识也开始形成经济基础。不过，乡村对公平的理解及其愿望，仍然要求“有利润时，出力的人应多分一些”。没有任何迹象显示，农民希望土地公有或收益均分;而他们的一些领袖，如彭湃，曾用农民完全陌生的无政府共产主义(克鲁泡特金是该理论的倡导者，他宣称他所想要达到的理想社会，就是没有任何权威的自由共产主义。这是一个自发建立起来的，以完全的自治权为基础的社会。而在这个社会里，在政治上，没有任何权威相适应，在经济上，实行一切财富的共产制度。——译者注)说法，倡导这些主张。

Even their engagement with the landlords at this stage was conservative: "As for reduction of rent, we were prepared to carry that out after five years of training. It could not be done at the moment.

即使此时与地主交涉，他们也采取保守态度：“关于减租，我们准备经过五年的训练再实行。目前还做不到。”

The U'nion w as thus usurping localorganizatonal power, the ttadtional role of the gentry, to a disturbing extent. Its arbitration department actually took over several such roles: "that of the village gentry as representatives of villages in their contacts with the government, that of lineage elders as gobetweens in family squabbles, and that of the yamen runners and court bailiffs in investigating and prosecuting crimes."' It was common knowledge that in public trials in Haifeng money had the last word, but even there with Union cases the judges were very susceptible to Union pressure. The department dealt with many marriage cases (almost a third of its business), debt actions, landlord-tenant disputes, contested property divisions, and matters involving superstition such as feng-shui. There are no records of how cases were dealt with or what sanctions were applied, but it is probable that long acquaintance with Triad practices and customs accepted by the "village government" would encourage litigants to accept any Union verdict as final.

因此，农会接管地方组织权力，也就是士绅的传统职责，已经到了令人不安的程度。它的仲裁部，实际上接管了多种职能：“乡绅代表村庄与政府接洽的职责，支族长老调解家庭争执的职责，以及衙役和法庭差役调查、追诉犯罪的职责。”众所周知，海丰公开审判时，金钱有最终发言权;但即便在那里，涉及农会的案件，法官也很容易受到农会压力的影响。仲裁部处理了许多婚姻案件，几乎占业务的三分之一，此外还有债务、地主与佃农争议、财产分割纠纷，以及风水等涉及迷信的事项。没有记录说明这些案件怎样处理、采用什么制裁，不过，很可能由于人们长期熟悉三合会的做法及“村庄政府”认可的习俗，诉讼双方愿意接受农会的裁决作为最终结论。

The welfare undertakings of the Union were therefore very substantial, and the rapid successes achieved point to the willingness of the peasants to be organized and to their concern for their own well-being. The Union path had been relatively smooth up to now, for it had taken a cautious line and stayed within the law. P'eng was able to comment: "The man then in power in Haifeng, Ch'en Chiung-ming's most trusted county magistrate Weng Kuei-ch'ing, did not approve of the Peasant Union, but he did not break it up or prohibit it, so we had freedom to expand." It was, in short, a real welfare organization.

农会的福利事业因而十分可观，其迅速取得的成功，说明农民愿意组织起来，也关心自己的福祉。此前农会的道路相对平坦，因为它采取谨慎路线，在法律范围内行动。彭湃可以说：“当时海丰掌权的，是陈炯明最信任的县长翁贵清。他不赞成农会，但不解散，也不禁止，所以我们可以自由发展。”简言之，这确实是一个福利组织。

By developing so quickly, the Union could not but attract much public attention. It also gained confidence in its power and had a seal designed as a symbol of its authority. This was circular in shape, "the peasants being afraid of the square seals, that is, government seals . . . which meant official notice to exploit." The wish for an authority of a different type was strong within the U'mon, and that could only arouse hostility among the gentry and landlords. Exen Magistrate Weng felt uneasy at the new developments, but he was soon gone.

农会发展如此迅速，必然引起广泛注意。它对自己的力量也越来越有信心，并设计了一枚印章作为权威的象征。印章是圆形的，因为“农民怕方印，也就是政府的印……那意味着官府来剥削的通知”。农会内部强烈希望建立一种不同的权威，这只能招致士绅和地主的敌意。连翁县长也对新的发展感到不安，不过他很快便离任了。

As P'eng P'ai stated, the Union intended to take up the challenge of the landlords and to stand up to them first, then to deal with the magistrate's office. The strategy was thus to begin with the economic struggle, proceed through social confrontation, and finally enter into a political showdown. That the goal was so distant, with even the start of rent reduction five years away, shows a commendable maturty and statesmanship on the part of the Union and its members. "All these activ ities prosperedin an atmosphere peculiarly devoid of hostility,"136 since it was a question of moderate aims. What mattered most to the peasants was faurness within the exisuing system, fairness and respect: they were particularly against the humiliating "three blows of the stick."

按彭湃的说法，农会准备应对地主的挑战，先与他们抗衡，再对付县署。因此，其战略是从经济斗争开始，经过社会对抗，最终进入政治决战。目标定得如此长远，甚至减租都要五年后才开始，表明农会及其成员具有可嘉的成熟和政治判断力。“所有这些活动，都在一种异乎寻常地没有敌意的气氛中蓬勃展开”，因为它们的目标是温和的。农民最看重的，是现有制度内的公平，是公平与尊重;他们尤其反对那种羞辱人的“三下揩”。

As 1922 gave way to 1923 the Union had every reason to feel buoyant and to celebrate. The Chinese New Year was at hand and "groups of singers and troupes of lion-dancers came from every village with congratulations."February 16, 1923—New Year's Day—witnessed a personal triumph for P'eng P'ai, as his "Te-ch'ü" villa was thronged with peasants paying him their respects, according to custom, as to a great benefactor. The unexpected demonstration may also have been behind his idea for the Union to organize a "Peasants'New Year Celebration." This was held on March 3, outside the Union headquarters in Ch'iao-tung-she. It was a mammoth celebration attended by "over 6,00o members and 3,000 nonmembers,"the first great gathering of Union peasants in Haifeng. The proceedings included an opening address, speeches, songs and music, a lion-dance, firecrackers, and cheering—all the features of a former Flag gathering. P'eng P'ai as Union chairman, Vice-Chairman Yang Ch'i-shan, and the chairman of the first Peasant Union in Ch'ihshan, Huang Feng-lin, were the main speakers. In their addresses they referred to an ominous "revolution" (ke-ming), before whose arrival "no year will be a happy one for the proletarian masses." They hammered home the tact that "New Year's Day is the day for exploiters to exact debts." Thus an occasion for rejoicing was put to work for propaganda: "This is simply a chance to let our enemies see how many we are." If that was indeed the am they had great success; even the Hong Kong Hua tzu jih-pao (Chinese Daily) took note, reporting that in addition to the speeches the propaganda department put on a vernacular peasant play entitled Tuo Pecks of Rent, which "drew loud applause from the sorrowful and angry audience." An undertone of revenge marked the celebration, which was seen as an opportunity "to rouse our revolutionary spirit, to prepare death for our enemies"—saber-rattling common to Flag gatherings. The real significance of the celebration was that the Union, by organizing a festival in the first place, had once agaun usurped the prerogatives of the authorities.

1922年转入1923年，农会完全有理由振奋和庆祝。春节将至，“每个村都来了歌唱队和舞狮队道贺”。1923年2月16日，即大年初一，是彭湃个人的一次胜利：农民挤满他的“得趣”别墅，按习俗向一位大恩人致敬。这场意外的致敬，或许也促成了他让农会举办“农民新年庆祝会”的想法。庆祝会于3月3日在桥东社农会会址外举行，规模盛大，有“六千多名会员和三千名非会员”参加，是海丰农会农民的第一次大型聚会。活动包括开幕词、演讲、歌唱和音乐、舞狮、鞭炮与欢呼，过去旗组织集会的各项内容都齐备了。农会会长彭湃、副会长杨其珊，以及赤山第一个农会的会长黄凤麟，是主要讲员。他们的讲话提到带有威胁意味的“革命”：在它到来之前，“无产群众没有一年是快乐的”。他们反复强调：“过年就是剥削者逼债的日子。”于是，喜庆场合被用来宣传：“这不过是让敌人看看我们有多少人的机会。”如果目标确实如此，他们便大获成功。连香港《华字日报》也注意到了，报道说，除了演讲，宣传部还演出方言农民剧《两斗租》，使“悲愤的观众热烈鼓掌”。庆典带有复仇的潜在意味，被视为“唤起革命精神，为敌人准备死亡”的机会——这正是旗组织集会常见的武力恫吓。庆祝会真正的重要性，在于农会通过组织节庆，再一次接管了当局的特权。

"Over 2,ooo people joined the Peasant Union that day, and afterward there were still a hundred joining daily." This created training and preparation problems: the membership chart still showed fewer than 1o,ooo, but "the U'nion was always behind schedule in interviewing new members." Its headquarters became like a peasants' yamen, or a shadow government: "About zoo peasants came every day to ask questions, sit and talk, or join, [so that| things were really busy." Ch'en Chiung-ming had heard of the Union's strength and successes, and in early January had passed through Haifeng on his way to Hong Kong. He took no measures against it, however, for he was himself in a delicate political position following his withdrawal from Canton.

“当天有两千多人加入农会，此后每天仍有一百人入会。”这带来了训练和筹备问题：会员表上仍不到一万人，但“农会总是来不及面谈新会员”。会址变得像农民的衙门，或一个影子政府：“每天约有两百个农民来问事、坐谈或入会，所以实在忙。”陈炯明听说了农会的力量和成就，且在一月初前往香港途中经过海丰，但没有采取任何反对措施，因为他从广州撤退以后，自己的政治处境也很微妙。

Whatever Ch'en's sympathies were, the local old gentry and landlords were definitely hostile to the Union. They had never really taken much to the new gentry, and the new comrades with their extremist utterances and bold actions were even more a thorn in their flesh now that the political situation was precarious. P'eng P'ai's old foe Ch'en Yüeh-po "had plans to eliminate the Peasant Union, claiming that it was working toward communal wives and property." He had been successful with these charges the year before over P'eng's handling of the Bureau of Education, but he failed to realize that circumstances had changed in the meantime. When he asked General Chung Ching-t'ang to use his troops to break up the Union, the General pointed out that his troops were already demoralized after losing a battle and that their fire "would not be enough to light the peasants' cigarettes." The political situation in Haifeng was so tense and military power so unsure that many gentry landlords had already fled to Hong Kong and more were making similar plans. A Kwangtung Army officer returning to his native village in Meilung district noticed "a slackening of business and a general unease." All old Ch'en Yüeh-po could hope for was a miracle; "he was highly superstitious, praying to spirits and Buddhas every day for the disappearance of the Union." P'eng P'ai noted with pleasure the futility of his efforts.

无论陈炯明心里同情谁，当地旧士绅和地主却明确敌视农会。他们本来就不大喜欢新士绅;如今政治局势不稳，那些言辞激烈、行动大胆的新同志，更成了他们的眼中钉。彭湃的老对头陈月波“打算消灭农会，声称它要实行共妻共产”。前一年，针对彭湃主持教育局的工作，他曾凭同样指控得逞，却没有意识到情形已经改变。他请钟景棠将军出兵解散农会，将军却指出，部队刚打了败仗，士气低落，枪火“连替农民点烟都不够”。海丰政治形势紧张，军事力量又不可靠，许多士绅地主已经逃往香港，更多人也在作同样打算。一位返回梅陇家乡的粤军军官注意到，“商业萧条，人心普遍不安”。老陈月波只能指望奇迹：“他十分迷信，每天向神佛祈求农会消失。”彭湃乐于看到他的努力徒劳无功。

Such was the atmosphere and the disposition of strengths as the first conflict between landlords and peasants approached. This incident marked the start of Union-sponsored peasant rebellion in an organized and modern form. Its roots were in a concern for social justice rather than any political aims—a fact that should be noted, for this constituted the basic pattern of future developments in the nationwide struggle, despite all the ideological motivations that would be raised by the Peasant Association propaganda and all the revolutionary intentions of the urban leadership.

地主与农民第一次冲突迫近时，气氛和力量配置就是如此。这一事件，标志着农会主持的农民反抗，开始采取有组织的现代形式。它的根源在于对社会正义的关切，而非任何政治目标。这一点应当留意，因为此后全国性斗争的发展，尽管有农民协会宣传所提出的种种意识形态动机，也有城市领导层的种种革命意图，其基本模式仍然如此。

Toward the end of March 1923, "a certain Chu Mo, a foullandlord always on good terms with officials and enjoying substantial influence," wanted to increase the rent on some 3o mou of land cultivated by Yü K'un and five other tenants. The tenancy was of the fen -chih type, and for this reason the rent, unless in arrears, was pegged to a low figure. The fields were in Huangnitang village in the district of Kungp'ing. The landlord's demand "was so unreasonable that they ignored it." At this, Chu Mo instructed his underlings to harass the families of those concerned. Yü K'un referred the matter to the Peasant Union, which accepted the case. "Angrier still,"Chu demanded all the land back, knowing full well that if they handed over their land "no one in the neighborhood, no matter what kind of peasant, would dare to farm it." The tenants indeed "handed over the full amount," onlv to be charged in court the next day with "destruction of landlord's property.' The magistrate in that division of the court, Chang Tse-p'u (a former schoolmate of P'eng P'ai), sent three constables to serve the summons, and the villagers, behind locked doors, were "so scared that the police were like foxes pretending to be tigers." The constables tried to extort from the six peasants "Y6 for shoe leather, Y2 for lodging expenses, and an ounce of silver or four Mexican dollars as a summons fee." The victims could not pay, were taken to Kungp'ing market, and had their clothes pawned to provide tea money for the police. Yü K'un had to ask a merchant to be his guarantor and bail him out; "only then was he released."4! The incident, in itself not spectacular or out of the ordinary, became a cause célèbre, for it was the first great court case the Peasant Union took up and it split the whole of Haifeng into two camps. In open court the magistrate criticized Chu for bringing "a false accusation, there being no evidence."Chu was "speechless" and offered to provide proof "next time." He was quick to inform his fellow landlords of the decision: "No landlord has evei taken a peasant to court and lost, but I have just done so." He warned that "if we do not act soon to close down the Union, there will really be a crisis."

1923年三月底，“一个叫朱墨的恶地主，一向与官府关系很好，颇有势力”，想给余坤和另外五名佃农耕种的约30亩地加租。这些田地采用粪契，因此只要不欠租，租额就固定在较低水平。田在公平区黄泥塘村。地主的要求“太不合理，他们没有理会”。于是，朱墨命手下骚扰有关家庭。余坤把事情交给农会，农会受理了。“更加愤怒”的朱墨要求收回全部田地，明知他们一旦交田，“附近不论哪一种农民，都不敢再种”。佃农确实“把全部田地交还”，第二天却被告上法庭，罪名是“毁坏地主财产”。负责该庭的审判官张泽浦，是彭湃的旧同学，派出三名警察送传票。村民紧闭门户，“怕得厉害，警察像狐假虎威一般”。警察向六名农民勒索“六元鞋钱、二元住宿费，以及一盎司银子或四块墨西哥银元的传票费”。他们无钱可付，被带到公平市场，衣服也被典当，用来给警察付茶钱。余坤只好请一名商人担保、把他保释，“这才获释”。事情本身既不惊人，也非异乎寻常，却成为轰动一时的案件，因为这是农会承办的第一宗大案，并使整个海丰分成两大阵营。公开审判时，审判官批评朱墨“诬告，毫无证据”。朱墨“无话可说”，表示“下次”再提供证据。他立即把结果告诉其他地主：“从来没有地主告农民而败诉，如今我却输了。”他警告说，“如果不赶快采取行动关闭农会，真会出大危机”。

Ch'en Yüeh-po, still smarting from his rebuff at the hands of General Chung Ching-t'ang, led the call to action and convened "a feast" attended by some 5oo people, among them Ch'en Kai-t'ing and the commissioner of local security. P'eng wrote a satirical description of the gentlemen at the meeting in their expensive modern attire. Chairman Ch'en Yüeh-po "announced the Peasant Union's criminal record: working for communal wives and property, bribing judges, and bullying landlords." In his address Ch'en also described P'eng P'ai as "a worm" feeding on incitenent of the ignorant peasants and concocting devious schemes to threaten the property of landlords, who "spend money on land and pay taxes to the government." He continued: "It is a rule of heaven and a principle on earth that property is for the owners to administer." Ch'en then hinted strongly to the new gentry and all those with socialist leanings that "any injury to us property owners" would endanger their own chances of government, since if no taxes were collected the government would lose economic viability and the peasants "would be able to rebel at will." To this exposition of the rationale behind the old order "everyone clapped in agreement." But the meeting saw that naked force on its own would not work. The new gentry could not be counted on and Ch'en Chiung-ming was in enough difficulties. It was Ch'en's former teacher Wang Tso-hsin who proposed that they should fight fire with fire: "Since the peasants have a Peasant Union, we property owners must also unite in a society to counter it." The suggestion was immediately seconded by Chu Mo, who called for a "Landlord Society." Showing more political finesse, Ch'en Yüeh-po pointed out that such a title would not sufficiently involve the government; he advocated the name "Society to Guarantee Taxation and Production," a proposal that met with unanimous approval.The three big men in Haifeng—Ch'en Yüeh-po,Wang Tso-hsin, and Ch'en K'ai-t'ing—were elected officers, "with the constitution to be drafted by the chairman."

陈月波仍因钟景棠将军的拒绝而耿耿于怀，便带头号召行动，召集一次“宴会”，约有五百人参加，包括陈开庭和地方保卫局长。彭湃讽刺地描写了到会绅士们身上昂贵的新式服装。主席陈月波“宣布农会的罪状：主张共妻共产，贿赂法官，欺压地主”。他还在讲话中把彭湃形容为“一条虫”，靠煽动无知农民而活，设计阴谋，威胁地主的财产;地主则“出钱买田，向政府纳税”。他继续说：“财产由主人管理，是天经地义的道理。”接着，陈月波向新士绅及一切倾向社会主义的人作出强烈暗示：“对我们业主的任何伤害”，都会危及他们自己执政的机会，因为若税收无法征集，政府便失去经济基础，农民也就“可以随意造反”。对于这番阐述旧秩序依据的话，“人人鼓掌赞成”。但会议也看到，单凭赤裸裸的武力行不通。新士绅靠不住，陈炯明又已困难重重。陈炯明以前的老师王作新提出，要以其人之道还治其人之身：“农民既有农会，我们业主也必须联合成会，与它对抗。”朱墨立即附议，要求成立“地主会”。陈月波更有政治手腕，指出这样的名称不能充分牵涉政府，主张叫“保税保产会”，获得一致通过。海丰三个大人物——陈月波、王作新、陈开庭——当选负责人，“章程由主席起草”。

The new county magistrate Lü T’ieh-ts'o, "an evil old member of the gentry who opposed the Union in his heart," thought it best to remain aloof from the conflict. Nor did the Commander's Office intervene, because there were fears that the peasants might rise up en masse. Indeed, the peasants soon took to calling the landlords' group "the Society of the Three Big-stick Blows,"44 and P'eng P'ai named it "the Society of Old Rent-Collectors Wor - thy of Being Beheaded."'

新任县长吕铁槎，“一个内心反对农会的恶劣老士绅”，认为最好置身冲突之外。督军府也没有干预，因为担心农民大举起事。实际上，农民很快就把地主的组织叫作“三大棒会”，彭湃则称之为“该杀头的老收租人会”。

What P'eng had argued for with the peasants proved correct: in unity was strength. But money, too, meant power, and the landlords here were at a great advantage. Ch'en Yüeh-po worked out that from roo,ooo piculs of rent around the county capital alone, a levy of one yüan per picul would secute "at least ￥1oo,ooo," and "we can use that money to bury them." The Peasant Union for its part realized that "Union dues should be increased." Ch'en K'ai-t'ing opened the conflict with a broadside against Chang Tse-p'u, the judge who "takes Peasant U'nion bribes." He proposed that the w hole body of snubbed landlords should confront him and compel hm to uprison the peasants, "or else we shall give him what he deserves." The Haifeng grandees marched "in single file to the courthouse," effectively intimidating Judge Chang. Ch'en cursed him and ordered him "to put the peasants in jail immediately," and Chang agreed to reopen the trial. The six peasants were again summoned, and a meeting of the Peasant Union executive board decided to let the defendants go to court accompanied by as many Union staff as possible (this being a civil suit, detention of the accused prior to the verdict was ruled out). The other camp was also making contingency plans. A peasant reported the landlords to have "over a hundred hooligans lying in ambush at the east and north gates of the town," adding "if you go into town, you will get hurt." A Union spy was sent to check. The stage might have been set for an old Flag battle When the trial began, the six peasants found them selves facing some eighty landlords in the courtroom. Under this pressure, Judge Chang "simply instructed the guards to throw the peasants in jail, handcuffed and chained."

彭湃向农民说的道理得到证明：团结就是力量。但金钱同样意味着权力，在这方面，地主占有巨大优势。陈月波算出，仅县城周围便有100,000担租谷，每担征一元，就能得到“至少十万元”，“我们可以拿这笔钱埋葬他们”。农会则认识到，“应该增加会费”。陈开庭率先开火，攻击“收农会贿赂”的法官张泽浦。他提议，所有受到冷落的地主一起去找张，逼他把农民关进监狱，“否则就给他应得的报应”。海丰大人物们“鱼贯来到法院”，有效地威吓了张法官。陈开庭骂他，命他“立刻把农民关起来”，张便同意重审。六名农民再次被传唤，农会执行委员会开会决定，让被告上庭，并由尽可能多的农会工作人员陪同;因为是民事诉讼，判决之前不能拘押被告。另一阵营也在作应变准备。一名农民报告说，地主在“城东门和北门埋伏了一百多个流氓”，并补充：“进城就要受伤。”农会派密探核实。一场旧式旗组织械斗，似乎即将上演。开庭时，六名农民发现，自己在法庭上面对约八十名地主。在这种压力下，张法官“只命卫兵把农民铐起来，戴上脚镣，扔进监狱”。

This illegal treatment by "a man of law breaking the law" gave the Union its greatest opportunity yet, leaving the people "compelled to resort to force." Union leaders set about presenting the whole regime as a fraud, called an emergency meeting, and sent out word to mobilize for the next day. It was decided to use the same tactics as the enemy had employed: the peasants would petition the court and intimidate the judge in the name of justice. "Forty peasants were sent out. They spread out along the four roads, north, south, east, and west, and informed every village comrade of the next day's 10 A.M. assembly at Lung-she-p'u.'

这种“执法者违法”的非法待遇，给了农会迄今最大的机会，使人们“不得不诉诸武力”。农会领袖开始揭露整个政权的虚伪，召开紧急会议，发出通知，动员翌日行动。他们决定采用敌人用过的同一战术：农民向法院请愿，以正义之名威吓法官。“派出四十个农民，分走东、西、南、北四条路，通知各村同志，明日上午十点在龙舌埔集合。”

P'eng P'ai rejoiced the next day when he saw more than 6,ooo peasants assembled. He took command and addressed the crowd. "Our peasant friends are innocent; the judge has broken the law. This is no mere personal matter of Yü K'un alone, but one for our peasant class. . . . In this vital crisis, we ask every man to go and petition. I am with you in life and death."No one needed persuading of the issue at stake, for P'eng made it elear: "If Yü K'un loses, 100,00o peasants all lose. If Yü K'un wins, 100,00o peasants win." After P'eng, the chairman of the Ch’ihshan Peasant Union also spoke: "Their 1oo,ooo yüan, even were it millions, is nothing to be feared, because the rent is in grain and the grain is in our peasant houses, not in their houses." The prospect of a violent confrontation with the landlords excited the applauding erowd, and Huang Feng lin wentover into Flag language: "I hope no brother will allow himself to be frightened. This little brother of yours has his own strategy. . . ." In the event of war, the peasants were to destroy all the boundary marks, leaving the landlords to fight each other over their property. "Everyone cheered with delight." The atmosphere was one of unity, power, and jubilation. P'eng announced: "Our Union has rice-soup ready for over 6,ooo."'+ If "Flag" had replaced "Union," then the call for a fight to the death, the strategy, the common meals, and the mobilization would have been the same. There is no reference to the carrying of arms, but it is unhikely that peasants would gobare handed, especially with hoodlums waiting for them. Ch'en Chiung-ming later spoke of revolvers being borrowed for the action of forcibly releasing criminals, but the accuracy of the reports reaching him is open to question.'

翌日，看到六千多农民集合，彭湃十分高兴。他接过指挥，向群众讲话：“我们的农民朋友无罪，法官违法了。这不是余坤一个人的私事，而是我们农民阶级的事……在这生死关头，请大家都去请愿。我与你们同生共死。”事情关系到什么，无须再劝说，因为彭湃说得明白：“余坤输，十万农民都输;余坤赢，十万农民都赢。”随后，赤山农会会长也讲话：“他们的十万元，就是几百万元，也不必怕;因为租是谷，谷在我们农民家里，不在他们家里。”与地主暴力对抗的前景，使鼓掌的群众兴奋起来，黄凤麟也转而使用旗组织的语言：“希望没有一个兄弟害怕。小弟自有计策……”如果开战，农民就毁掉所有田界，让地主为自己的田产互相争斗。“人人欢喜喝彩。”现场充满团结、力量和欢腾。彭湃宣布：“我们农会已备好六千多人的米汤。”如果把“农会”换成“旗”，那么拼死一战的号召、战术、共同吃饭和动员方式，都与过去相同。记述没有提到携带武器，但农民不大可能空手前去，尤其还有流氓等着他们。陈炯明后来谈到，有人为强行释放罪犯的行动借了左轮手枪，但传到他那里消息是否准确，仍有疑问。

Flags in hand and posters and placards held high, the crowd went off from Lung-she-p'u under the control of Union pickets and shouting slogans. On their approach, shopkeepers closed and barred their doors from fear. This time it was no longer a bunch of schoolboys that P'eng was leading along the streets of Haifeng: the marchers were grim and resolute. A representative sent by the judge to discuss matters was ignored, and the crowd charged through a cordon of rangers around the courthouse, the troops "not daring to fire." Behind his bolted doors, Chang Tse-p'u permitted twenty peasant representatives to approach. Their petition sought freedom for the detained peasants, who were to be escorted out with drums and firecrackers and a full apology from the magistrate. Chang appealed to his friendship with P'eng, but the Union leader would have none of it: "There can be no talk of friendship today. I am here as a peasant representative." Chang was assured that the peasants had no intention of storming the jail"That is not our idea." They wanted justice only, and "Chang had no alternative but to release the prisoners." Thereupon shouts of "Long live the peasants! Down w ith the landlords!" shook the w hole town. The treed peasants were lifted shoulder-high and paraded around like trophies. Then the crowd moved down the main street in heavy rain, the peasants "cheering all the more at the response from heaven." At the street corners, waiting students unfurled another red banner: "Welcome to the peasants freed from jail." Firecrackers spattered in the air, and a resounding victory was recorded.

群众手持旗帜，高举海报和标语牌，在农会纠察队控制下，高喊口号，从龙舌埔出发。他们接近时，店主因害怕而关门上闩。这一次，彭湃带领着走上海丰街道的，不再是一群学生，游行者神情严峻、意志坚决。法官派来商谈的代表，没有得到理会;群众冲过法院周围巡防队的警戒线，士兵“不敢开枪”。张泽浦躲在上了闩的门后，允许二十名农民代表前来。请愿要求释放被拘农民，以锣鼓和鞭炮送他们出来，并由县官正式赔礼。张以自己与彭湃的交情相劝，农会领袖却不接受：“今天不能谈交情。我是作为农民代表来的。”农民也向张保证，无意冲击监狱：“那不是我们的意思。”他们只要公道，“张没有别的办法，只好放人”。于是，“农民万岁!打倒地主!”的呼声震动全城。获释农民被举到肩头，像战利品一样游街。随后群众在大雨中走过大街，“天公响应，他们反而更加欢呼”。等在街角的学生展开另一面红旗：“欢迎出狱农民。”鞭炮在空中炸响，一场响亮的胜利就此取得。

Union success had reached a peak and P'eng was eager to capitalize on it? At headquarters he addressed his followers in familiar dialogue fashion.

农会的成功达到高峰，彭湃急于把握这一成果。他在会址用熟悉的问答方式，向追随者讲话。

"Today we have been able to free six peasants from jail. I ask you by what power?" The audience responded that P'eng P'ai, the Union, and the farming comrades had saved the day. P'eng then dismissed the idea of any per . sonal merit as "a colossal mistake," and declared that neither the Union nor the comrades could have frightened the officials into action. The correct an swer was that "the Union could show six or seven thousand peasants how to unite in one place and act together." T'he recipe for present and future suc - cess was for "all of us to try for greater unity, to increase and expand our influence." After this, more and more peasants regarded the Union as "an organization representing the peasants' struggle for their own interests.' The need for protection was evidently a key factor in attracting peasants to the Union, for every time a victory was scored, enrollment shot up.'

“今天我们能从监狱里救出六个农民，我问你们，靠的是什么力量?”听众回答，是彭湃、农会和农民同志救了大家。彭湃随即说，把功劳归于个人是“极大的错误”，并宣称，农会或同志本身，都不能把官员吓得行动。正确答案是：“农会能够使六七千农民懂得在一个地方团结起来，共同行动。”现在与未来成功的办法，就是“大家力求更加团结，增加和扩大我们的影响”。此后，越来越多农民把农会看作“代表农民为自身利益斗争的组织”。保护的需要，显然是吸引农民入会的关键因素，因为每获得一次胜利，会员人数就猛增。

This great Union success (described w ith relish by P'eng P'ai), though undoubtedly colored in the telling by Peng's didactic purpose, seems fully be. lievable. The formula of massive parades proved successful, and was immediately taken up for May Day. Representatives of Haifeng, Lufeng, and Kueishan (in all 8,ooo peasants), 10o boatbuilders from Swabue, and 1,000 students met on that day at the vegetable market for a great commemorative rally and parade. A "May Day Declaration" and "Report on the Labor and Peasant Day" expressed the peasants' determination to fight for their rights--though n a vocabulary redolent of Marxist jargon familiar to the intellectuals who drafted the documents but certainly not to the peasants who signed them.' The term "class" occurs more frequently now in the text of P'eng P'ai's "Report," stating that "peasant hostility to the landlord class was intense." P'eng P'ai was definitely thinking along these lines, as his correspondence with Li Ch'un-t'ao shows, but for the peasants "class" had only a vague meaning of the enemy in the other camp. The May Day "Report" claims no fewer than 1o,ooo taking part in the rally. At the head of the parade a large red banner held by peasants announced: "The Great Parade in Commemoration of Labor Day." This was followed by the flag of the Peasant Union and many other banners inscribed not only with slogans against rent extortion but also with such slogans as "Down with International Capitalism,""Down with the Warlords," and "Let Us Go Red."

彭湃津津有味地描述了农会这场大胜;虽然叙述无疑受他的教育目的影响，但看来完全可信。大规模游行这一办法证明有效，随即被用于五一劳动节。那一天，海丰、陆丰和归善的代表，共八千农民，连同汕尾一百名造船工和一千名学生，在菜市场举行盛大纪念集会与游行。《五一宣言》和《劳动农民节报告》表达了农民为权利而斗争的决心——不过，它们使用的词汇，充满起草文件的知识分子熟悉的马克思主义术语，签名的农民却肯定不熟悉。如今，“阶级”一词更频繁地出现在彭湃《报告》中，其中写道：“农民对地主阶级的敌意很强。”从与李春涛的通信可以看出，彭湃确实沿着这一思路思考;但对农民而言，“阶级”只模糊地意指另一阵营的敌人。五一《报告》声称，到会者不少于一万人。游行最前方，农民举着一面大红旗，上写“劳动节纪念大游行”;后面是农会旗和许多其他旗帜，不仅写着反对苛租的口号，还有“打倒国际资本主义”“打倒军阀”“我们要赤化”等口号。

Immediately after the establishment of the Haifeng General U'nion, Peasant Unions were also founded in Lufeng and Kueishan. Union prestige spread to all the neighboring counties. Crowds of applicants were turnung up, but “it was impossible to enroll them all." It cannot be said too emphat ically, however, that peasant aims remained predominant in this rapid ex pansion of the Union. If "new peasant members daily increased," it was only because they saw in the Union the promotion of their own interests. The Haifeng General Union reorganized itself into the Huichou Associated Peasant Union, and each county set up its Associated Union branch. However, as P'eng P'ai told Li, in Huiyang the war was in progress, which ruled out further advances there; Union organizers consequently pushed toward Tzuchin county, where a new Union was established. By March 1923, the Union had expanded into Tzuchin, Ch'aochou, P'uning, and Huilai. By the summer there existed a Kwangtung Provincial Peasant Union, with a branch in nearly every county of the East River area.

海丰总会成立后，陆丰和归善也立即成立农会。农会的威望传遍邻县，申请入会的人群纷纷到来，但“无法全部接收”。不过，无论怎样强调都不为过：农会迅速扩展的过程中，农民的目标仍占主导。如果“每天都有新农民入会”，只是因为他们看见农会促进自己的利益。海丰总会改组为惠州农民联合会，各县设联合会分会。然而，正如彭湃告诉李春涛的，惠阳正在打仗，无法继续发展;组织者遂转向紫金，在那里成立新农会。到1923年三月，农会已扩展至紫金、潮州、普宁和惠来。夏季时，广东省农会已经存在，东江地区几乎每县都有分会。

It was at this point that Ch'en Chiung-ming sought to bring the Union under his aegis. Chung Hsiu-nan told him: "P'eng P'ai now has over 2oo,ooo supporters and is even more powerful than you." T'hese inflated figures were given by P'eng P'ai also to Li, when he reported on May Day that "the Peasant Union has already more than 70 districts, 50o villages, and 200,000 members."Ch'en wrote inviting P'eng to Hong Kong, and in June he went. There he was given Y1oo from Ch'en's dwindling funds and a promise of support: "When I return to Haifeng I will definitely reduce rents. You may carry on." P'eng made the most of this commitment by Ch'en, who thus "acknowledged the Union," even though it was more because the political situation was not going well for him than because of "his real feelings." Ch'en for his part came to admit that he needed the Union's support.'

就在此时，陈炯明试图把农会纳入自己的羽翼之下。钟秀南告诉他：“彭湃现在有二十多万人拥护，比你还强。”彭湃也把这些夸大的数字告诉李春涛;五一时，他报告“农会已有七十多个区、五百个村、二十多万会员”。陈来信邀他去香港，他在六月前往。在那里，陈从日益减少的经费中给了他100元，并许诺支持：“我回海丰，一定减租。你可以继续干。”彭湃充分利用了这一承诺;陈由此“承认农会”，尽管主要是因为政治形势不利于自己，而非“真心如此”。陈也逐渐承认，自己需要农会的支持。

The Kwangtung Army, reduced in numbers since some regiments chose to stay behind in Canton, had moved to East Kwangtung and was divided into two commands: the Kwangtung general headquarters in Huichou and the Ch'ao-Mei headquarters in Swatow. Kwangtung had switched its allegiance once again to Sun, and Hu Han-min was Civil Governor. The Kwangtung Army was in a state of decay, and was little more than an amalgam of personal and local interests. Loyalty to Ch'en held it together, but Ch'en was unable to provide it with a clear policy and aim. An early recruit who remained faithful to the end, Ch'iu Kuo-chen, noted that "there were no ideals worth fighting for." Ch'en made no attempt to convince his men of the value of his federalist notions, and battles were fought and won or lost without the soldiers understanding the significance of them. Promotions were made without system, nepotism and localism generally determnining matters, so that there was much discontent. Once the pride of Hai-Lu-feng, the Army was now part of the machinery of oppression against the lowly. T'he soldiers who returned to Haifeng in 1923 behaved differently, exacting cash and provisions since they were paid only a fraction of their former salary.'" Writing that summer, P'eng could see how real were the peasants complaints: "Ch'en Chiung-ming's troops have made this place miserable. They steal anything in sight, they rob and rape, so that even ghosts are scared when soldiers turn up." The Army wanted money, and landlords and gentry knew how to get it; when the peasants protested, "the Army went and imprisoned them."1s6 At the mercy of bandits, held to ransom by the police, despoiled by the troops, the peasants had become hopelessly disoriented and leaderless before the spread of the Union. They were looking for someone to lead them on again after Ch'en's betrayal, and to restore their dignity as clan and village members and their honor as fighters for a Flag.'

一些团选择留在广州，粤军人数减少，转移到粤东，分为两个指挥部：惠州的广东总指挥部，和汕头的潮梅指挥部。广东再次转而拥护孙中山，胡汉民任省长。粤军日益衰败，几乎只是个人与地方利益的拼合。对陈炯明的忠诚使它维系在一起，但陈无法提供明确的政策和目标。早年入伍并忠诚到底的邱国珍说，“没有值得为之战斗的理想”。陈没有试图让部下相信自己的联省自治主张有何价值;战争一次次进行，或胜或败，士兵却不明白其意义。晋升毫无制度，通常取决于裙带关系和地方关系，因而不满很多。粤军曾是海陆丰的骄傲，如今却成为压迫卑微者的机器的一部分。1923年回到海丰的士兵，行为已经不同：薪饷只剩过去的一小部分，他们便索取现金和粮食。彭湃那年夏天写信，看到农民的抱怨多么真实：“陈炯明的兵，把这里弄得苦不堪言。看见什么就偷，抢劫强奸，兵一来，连鬼都怕。”军队要钱，地主与士绅知道怎样弄钱;农民抗议时，“军队就去抓他们入狱”。农民遭土匪摆布，被警察勒索，又被军队掠夺;农会扩展以前，他们已彻底迷失方向，没有领袖。他们在陈炯明背弃之后，寻找一个重新带领自己的人，恢复作为宗族和村庄成员的尊严，以及作为旗组织战士的荣誉。

The Union's success in the Yü K'un case left the Landlord Society stunned and "afraid to move." Ch'en Yüeh-po took to drawing lots at the City God temple. The medum's message was that "the Peasant Union is assured of victory," a prognostication that led the old man to call a meeting of the Society and to submit his resignation. He also referred to a poeimn whose last line ran: "Let Han-vü have his wav." ("Han-yü" was P'eng P'ai's childhood name.) Ch'en declared that in compliance with the oracle he himself would be departing for Hong Kong in a matter of days. This face-saving device, notes P'eng, was found acceptable, and Ch'en Hsiao-lun was then delegated to find out what the Peasant Union was really up to, in order to work out if possible a modus vivendi. Since Ch'en Chiung-ming had ap. parently given the Union his blessing with an eye to using its forces, the landlords could only seek clarification of "whether communized property was envisaged for the future." The Union replied: "We are working for the peasants' interests, which in fact augurs well also for the landlords' wallets." The Union's reasoning took the form of a terse statement of social economy. If peasants were oppressed and starved, it would be difficult if not impossible for landlords to collect any rent; given a decent life, peasants would never turn to theft and landlords could sleep peacefully in their beds; therefore a good life for the peasants meant contented work for the landlords and an end to hostilities. There were "so many advantages for the landlords."Ch'en Hsiao-lun was convinced by this, saying the landlords were "pitiful and disgusting people." He attributed the conflict untl then to an enormous misunderstanding on both sides: "Before I heard what you have said, I also opposed you, but now I understand. I must explain it to them." The only bastion of conservatism still adamantly opposed to the Union was the Lu'an Daily group, joined by Wang Tso-hsin and Ch'iu Ching ·yün, both former teachers of Ch'en Chiung-ming. Thev were in frequent touch with Ch'en, regularly denouncing the Peasant Union and especally the peasants' recent petition, so that Ch'en eventually was persuaded that the court victory 'turned prominent people against the Peasant Union."

农会在余坤案中获胜，使地主会惊愕不已，“不敢行动”。陈月波开始到城隍庙求签。乩示说，“农会必胜”;这预言使老人召集地主会，提出辞职。他还提到一首诗，末句是“任汉育行”。“汉育”是彭湃的乳名。陈说，自己遵照神谕，再过几天便去香港。彭湃记述，这种保全面子的办法获得接受;随后派陈小伦去查明农会究竟想做什么，尽可能找出共存之道。陈炯明显然为了利用农会力量而给予支持，地主也只能要求澄清，“将来是否打算实行财产公有”。农会回答：“我们为农民利益工作，实际上也有利于地主的钱袋。”农会以简明的社会经济论述解释：农民受压迫、挨饿，地主便难以、甚至无法收租;农民生活过得去，就不会偷盗，地主也能安睡;因此，农民过好日子，就能安心为地主耕作，敌对也可结束。这对地主“有许多好处”。陈小伦被说服了，说地主是“可怜又可厌的人”。他把此前冲突归因于双方巨大的误解：“没听你们说以前，我也反对你们;现在明白了，必须向他们解释。”仍然坚决反对农会的保守堡垒，只有《陆安日报》集团，加上陈炯明的两位旧教师王作新和丘景云。他们经常与陈联系，不断告发农会，尤其攻击农民最近的请愿，终于使陈相信，法庭上的胜利“使显要人物转而反对农会”。

With so mans areas falling under U'non controlit was mperative totrain staff. The branch county organizations, save in Haifeng and Lufeng, were all shaky, the reason for this being "the dearth of comrades and skilled help." P'eng P'ai described such branches as "signboards,"real only in name. He wrote to Li in July of his recurring dream that he was searching everywhere for help: "Ah! Where are the comrades?"Membership was evidently scattered in the rural areas rather than concentrated in towns. The new Provincial Peasant Union, its executive committee and constitution notw ithstandimg, was amere facade.' Forexample, when Peng P'ai visited Tzuchin's county capital he could not find one union member to give him some financial assistance. One reason for the directions the Union's expansion took may have to do with the salt trails leading from Haifeng, for people in villages along the trails must have been kept informed of Union achievements. There were also local bandits who began siding with the Union and protecting its members—a fact not lost on the reactionaries, who were quick to cable denunciations to Ch'en Chiung-ming. Clearly the Hakka links, the salt-trail connections, the Triad ramifications, and the bandit connections in general furthered Union growth. To them might be added the lineage and clan relationships that went beyond the county boundaries. The P'eng in Lufeng, for instance, could not be deaf to calls from the new leader in Haifeng: later during the Soviet they would form the backbone of the Hakka Army. Lin Su urged that "as long as the clan system is of some use to our work, we should exploit it." But outstanding among all the reasons for the peasants was surely the example of P'eng P'ai himself, a man of means who had become one of them. There is no doubting the veneration accorded to P'eng throughout East Kwangtung. All these reasons were far from ideological, as the "comrades" would have had them be.

随着许多地区归农会掌握，培训工作人员已刻不容缓。除海丰和陆丰外，各县分支都很不稳固，原因是“缺少同志和熟练帮手”。彭湃把这些分会形容为“招牌”，有名无实。他在七月给李春涛的信中，谈到自己反复做的梦：到处找人帮忙，“啊!同志在哪里?”会员显然分散在农村，而非集中于城镇。新成立的省农会，虽有执行委员会和章程，却只是空架子。例如，彭湃到紫金县城，竟找不到一名农会会员给他一点经济援助。农会扩展的方向，或许有一部分与海丰通出的盐路有关，因为沿途村民一定不断听说农会的成绩。一些当地土匪也开始支持农会，保护会员;反动派注意到这一点，立刻发电向陈炯明告状。显然，客家关系、盐路联系、三合会网络及一般的土匪关系，都促进了农会成长，还可以加上跨越县界的支族、宗族关系。譬如陆丰彭氏，不可能对海丰新领袖的呼吁无动于衷;后来苏维埃时期，他们会成为客家军的骨干。林苏主张，“只要宗族制度对我们的工作还有用，就应利用它”。不过，对农民来说，所有理由中最突出的，无疑是彭湃本人的榜样：一个富有的人，成了他们中的一员。粤东各地对彭湃的敬仰，不容怀疑。所有这些理由，都远非“同志们”希望见到的意识形态理由。

In the early summer of 1923, Ch'en Chiung-ming returned from Hong Kong and reassumed his old authority in his home area. A new struggle now arose over the election of a county magistrate to follow Lü T'ieh-ts'o. On Lü's departure, Ch'en gave the post temporarily to his old teacher Ch'iu Ching-yün, a man much disliked in educational circles. The teachers and students opposed to Ch'iu quickly convinced the Peasant U'nion that itsown interests were in jeopardy, but that together they could keep Ch'iu out. "A big meeting of citizens was called." In the mind of the Union leaders, "the man who might be amagistrate and w ho would also show a hittle imnterest in the peasants did not exist." However, the imntellectuals persuaded the peasants that their nomination did have a chance of being accepted, but that "if the Union could not find a sutable man, the office would naturally fall into the hands of the gentry." Who was better qualified than P'eng P'at? Indeed the Lu'an Daily was busy spreading rumors of his candidacy already, perhaps to scare the reactionary camp into action and preempt any favorable consideration of P'eng on the part of Ch'en Chiung-ming. The Union wisely decided that an all-out political engagement at this stage would be inopportune, and that a compromise was preferable. "To solve the question quicklv, we proposed Ma Huan -hsin," the head of the Union's education department. Acceptable in educational circles, he had gentry connections as a relative of the powerful Ma Yü- hang, hailed from a landlord family, and was a petty-landlord himself. But the reactionary camp could not afford an - other defeat, and after much lobby ing arranged things so that when the time came for the citizens' meeting, Ch'en Chiung ming had already appointed Wang Tso-hsin as magistrate. The fiat of the (ld Commander avoided an awkward situation. The intelligentsia had at least prevented Ch'iu from retaining the post, so there was partal consolation. But the Union had hoped to use the citizens' meeting to show its strength, and the low turnout of peasants (a few hundred) was a clear indication of where the peasants' real concerns lay. The Union put down the dismissal of Ch'iu to its slogan "Bv the power of the people," but it had failed in its plan "to choose a county magistrate at the meeting." The peasants showed no interest, and thus the first political enterprise of the Union led by its intelligentsia was a failure. "

1923年初夏，陈炯明从香港回来，在家乡重新掌握旧有权力。吕铁槎离职后，围绕继任县长的选举，又发生了新的斗争。吕离开时，陈暂把职位交给自己的旧教师丘景云，此人在教育界很不受欢迎。反对邱的师生，很快说服农会：它自身的利益也受威胁，但双方联合便能阻止邱上任。“召开了一次大型市民大会。”农会领袖认为，“可能当县长而又稍微关心农民的人，根本不存在”。然而，知识分子说服农民，相信他们提名的人有可能获准;但“农会若找不到合适的人，职位自然就会落入士绅手中”。谁比彭湃更适合呢?事实上，《陆安日报》已经忙着散布他将竞选的传言，可能是要惊动反动阵营，促使其行动，也预先阻止陈炯明对彭湃作有利考虑。农会明智地决定，此时全面投入政治不合时宜，宁可妥协。“为迅速解决问题，我们提出马焕新”，即农会教育部负责人。他获教育界认可，又是有权势的马育航的亲戚，与士绅有联系，出身地主家庭，自己也是小地主。但反动阵营不能再输一次，经多方游说，终于在市民大会开会前，安排陈炯明任命王作新为县长。老帅的一道命令，避免了尴尬局面。知识分子至少阻止了邱继续留任，多少得到一点安慰。但农会原想利用大会显示力量，农民出席者却很少，只有几百人，清楚表明他们真正关心什么。农会把邱的去职归功于“凭民众的力量”这一口号，却未能实现“在大会选出县长”的计划。农民没有兴趣，因此，农会由知识分子领导的第一次政治行动，失败了。

A brighter note was the promulgation of a constitution for the Provincial Peasant Union, set out with its ten chapters and 33 sections in P'eng's letter to Li of July 7, 1923.16 Though in practice the organization was often threadbare, the new constitution marks the consolidation of the Union's expansion, and shows clearly the nature and aimns of the Union during its early development. In his letter, P'eng P'ai reveals that the constitution was patterned after the one adopted by the SYC. As with the former county and area constitutions, the pull toward leftist blueprints was strong, but it was checked by reality. The articles of the consttution, as well as the mode and conditions of their application, confirmed the Peasant Union to be a social movement rather than a purely political one. T'he anms clearly reflected practical needs of the peasants; but the openness to intellectual advice also made the Union amenable to political involvement, which was surely in - tended by the drafters.'" It accommodated the traditonal peasant outlook yet left room for the modern perspective of intellectuals bent on revolution. Only when we look at the Provincial Union leadership is any bias apparent. The balance betwean peasant and intelhigentstais evident enough n the executive committee, but of the ten departments only two (Finance and Research) were chaired by peasants. This was a portent of the Union's later development.

较为可喜的是，省农会颁布了章程，十章三十三条全文载于彭湃1923年7月7日致李春涛的信中。虽然组织实际上往往十分单薄，新章程仍标志着扩展成果的巩固，也清楚显示了农会早期发展的性质和目标。彭湃在信中透露，章程仿照社会主义青年团的章程拟订。与以前县、约一级的章程一样，左翼方案具有强大吸引力，但受到现实制约。条文本身及其实施方式、条件，都证明农会是一个社会运动，而非纯粹的政治运动。目标清楚反映农民的实际需要;但乐于听取知识分子意见，也使农会容易卷入政治，这无疑正合起草者的意图。它容纳传统农民的眼光，也给一心革命的知识分子的现代视野留下空间。只有观察省农会领导层时，才看得出偏向。执行委员会里，农民与知识分子的平衡相当明显;但十个部门中，只有财政和调查两部由农民主持。这预示了农会后来的发展。

The Union was now so conspicuous, and its fame so great, that emissaries were sent to P'eng P'ai from Canton inviting him there for a discussion with Ch'en Tu-hsiu. The idea of using the Peasant Union in the East River area, mainly directed by SYC members, for the political purpose of undermining Ch'en Chiung-ming was surely in the minds of the leaders in Canton. Significantly, P'eng was by now close enough to the Communists to use Ch'en Tu-hsiu's Party alias in writing about the proposed meeting, and also to be quoted in an internal Party communication as having promised them "a full report.'

此时农会如此引人注目，声名如此显赫，以致广州派人来找彭湃，邀请他前去与陈独秀商谈。广州领袖心中，无疑已有把主要由青年团员领导的东江农会，用于削弱陈炯明这一政治目的的想法。值得注意的是，彭湃如今与共产党人已相当接近：他写到拟议中的会面时，使用了陈独秀的党内化名;一份党内通信还引述他承诺提交“一份完整报告”。

At this point, however, nature intervened to give the peasant leadership a leftward impulse it would never lose. On July 26, a tremendous typhoon struck the Haifeng area with more than twenty hours of continuous gales and rain. Houses and trees fell; floodwaters killed livestock and wrecked the autumn harvest. A local missionary compared it to an earthquake. P'eng P'ai was packing for his journey to Canton when the blow came, but Union leaders at once set to work to meet the emergency.'7"

但就在此时，自然灾害介入，使农会领导层获得了一股此后再未消失的向左推动力。7月26日，猛烈台风袭击海丰地区，狂风暴雨持续二十多个小时。房屋、树木倒塌，洪水淹死牲畜，毁掉秋收。一名当地传教士把它比作地震。灾害到来时，彭湃正在收拾行装准备去广州，农会领袖随即着手应付紧急情况。