The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu ILinebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
History
The Political Doctrines of Sun Yat-sen: An Exposition of the San Min Chu I
Linebarger, Paul Myron Anthony
Sun, Yat-sen, 1866-1925. San min zhu yi
With respect to the question of land, Sun Yat-sen believed in his own
version of the “single tax,” which was not, in his programs, the single
tax, since he foresaw other sources of revenue for the state (tariffs,
revenue from state enterprises, etc.). According to the land-control
system of Sun Yat-sen the land-owner would himself assess the value of his
land. He would be prevented from over-assessing it by his own desire to
avoid paying too high a tax; and under-assessment would be avoided by a
provision that the state could at any time purchase the land at the price
set by the owner. If the land were to go up in value the owner would have
to pay the difference between the amount which he formerly assessed and
the amount which he believed it to be worth at the later time. The money
so paid would become “... a public fund as a reward, to all those who had
improved the community and who had advanced industry and commerce around
the land. The proposal that all future increment shall be given to the
community is the ‘equalization of land ownership’ advocated by the
Kuomintang; it is the _Min-sheng_ Principle. This form of the _Min-sheng_
Principle is communism, and since the members of the Kuomintang support
the _San Min_ Principles they should not oppose communism.” Continuing
directly, Sun makes clear the nature of the empirical collectivism of his
_min shêng_ program, which he calls communism. “The great aim of the
Principle of Livelihood in our Three Principles is communism—a share in
property by all. But the communism which we propose is a communism of the
future, not of the present. This communism of the future is a very just
proposal, and those who have had property in the past will not suffer at
all by it. It is a very different thing from what is called in the West
‘nationalization of property,’ confiscation for the government’s use of
private property which the people already possess.”(320) Sun Yat-sen
declared that the solution to the land problem would be half of the
solution of the problem of _min shêng_.(321)
Sun Yat-sen believed in the restriction of private capital in such a way
as to assure its not becoming a socially disruptive force. That is a part
of his ideology which we have already examined. In the matter of an actual
program, he believed in the use of “harnessed capital.”(322) He had no
real fear of capital; imperialist foreign capital was one thing—the small
native capital another. The former was a political enemy. The latter was
not formidable. In a speech on Red Labor Day, 1924, when his sympathies
were about as far Left as they ever were, in consideration for the
kindliness of the Communist assistance to Canton, he said: “Chinese
capitalists are not so strong that they could oppress the Chinese
workers,”(323) and added that, the struggle being one with imperialism,
the destruction of the Chinese capitalists would not solve the question.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account