Freedom of Religious Belief

Freedom of religious belief is a long-term, unalterable policy of the Party and the state. In the past eight years, the People's Liberation Army men and the cadres working in Tibet have consistently adhered to the religious policy of the Party and the state. The resolution on democratic reform adopted by the Second Plenary Session of the Preparatory Committee for the Tibet Autonomous Region stipulated that freedom of religious belief should be protected and patriotic and law-abiding monasteries and historical sites and relics safeguarded. This shows that the policy of the Party and the state towards religion is firmly adhered to during democratic reform.

Monasteries are one of the three groups of big manorial lords in Tibet. During the democratic reform, the feudal prerogatives of the monasteries and their system of oppression and exploitation must be abolished. If, after the abolition, the income of the monasteries is insufficient to provide proper subsistence for the lamas, an appropriate subsidy will be granted by the state. We think that state subsidies should go mainly to those lamas who are wholly engaged in scripture reading or who are old, weak or disabled. Those able-bodied lamas should take part in production.

The characteristics of the pastoral areas differ from the agricultural areas. Our main tasks in the pastoral areas are the establishment of democratic state power and the protection and development of stock-breeding. The ownership of livestock by those manorial lords and livestock-owners who have not taken part in the rebellion and all the herdsmen will not be changed; livestock of those manorial lords and livestock-owners who have rebelled will revert to the herdsmen. The feudal prerogatives and the feudal system of oppression in the pastoral areas will be abolished. The "three antis campaign" will be carried out in a planned way and step by step; the policy of benefit for both herdsmen and livestock-owners will be put into effect.

The Great Changes

As a result of the conscientious and thorough carrying out of the principles and policies laid down by the central authorities, great victories have already been won in democratic reform in Tibet.　Tremendous changes have taken place or are taking place in that part of Tibet's agricultural areas with a population of 400,000, where democratic reform has been or will soon be completed. The following facts are prime illustrations of this.

First, 360,000 serfs and 20,000 slaves have already been emancipated. Politically, they have obtained the right to equality and freedom. Their emancipation has been achieved under the leadership of the Party and the government and after they have vented their grievances and broken the constraints of feudalism with their own hands in the struggle. The serfs and slaves have become the masters in the rural areas after knocking the arrogance out of the serfowners and their agents in the villages and establishing the political supremacy of the working people. Now the peasants' associations formed by serfs and slaves have truly taken political power in the rural areas into their own hands; the ruling organs of the former Tibet local government in the villages have been thoroughly crushed.

Secondly, there are roughly over 1.5 million khal of land (a khal approximates a mu - Ed.) in the areas where the "three-anti and two-reduction campaign" has been or will soon be completed.　On this land, the policy of "harvest to the tillers" has been instituted with regard to the land of the rebellious serf-owners (about 1.05 million khal). The more than 200 million jin of food crops harvested from that land this year have completely gone to the peasants who tilled the land. As to the land of those serf-owners who have not taken part in the rebellion (roughly 450,000 khal), the rent has been reduced to 20 per cent of the crops. Previously, more than 70 per cent of the income of the peasants was taken by the serf-owners. This, together with the abolition of various kinds of unpaid ula (corvee) and the exploitation of the working people by the serf-owners through usury before 1958,has enabled the working people to own most of the fruit of their labour. For the oppressed Tibetan serfs, this never happened before. Consequently their enthusiasm in production has grown enormously. The new characteristics of Tibet's agricultural production this year are that the peasants have done more weeding and watering and reclaimed more land than before; the yield of the land has gone up generally. An unprecedented harvest has therefore been reaped despite such unfavourable conditions as harassing activities by the rebels and floods.

Thirdly, the working people who have stood up now know clearly what to love and what to hate; they have drawn a clear demarcation between right and wrong. Their ideological level and consciousness have been raised. During democratic reform, the working people, by venting their grievances, have generally come to understand that their poverty is not the result of bad fortune,but of the iniquitous old system in Tibet, the ruthless oppression and exploitation by the reactionary, ruling upper class. They are deeply aware that the Communist Party alone is their saviour and that only by firmly trusting the Communist Party and firmly following the leadership of Chairman Mao Tse-tung can they achieve real emancipation and happiness. They sincerely thank the Communist Party and Chairman Mao Tse-tung. They describe Chairman Mao Tse-tung as the sun, the lode-star and a real Buddha.

With the advance of democratic reform and the heightening of the people's ideological level and consciousness, the relations between the Han and Tibetan peoples have shown further progress. The emancipated Tibetan people have generally become aware that the working people of the various nationalities have the same interests.　They say:　"The Han cadres and People's Liberation Army men who have entered Tibet have the same hearts as we do though they do not speak Tibetan, while the reactionary upper social strata of Tibet have hearts different from ours even though they speak Tibetan."

Fourthly, the desire for education and knowledge has been growing daily among the emancipated working people. In the villages near Lhasa and Shigatse, since the "three-anti and two-reduction campaign" was carried out, quite a number of serfs and slaves have set up night schools and literacy teams on their own initiative and have been active in study. It can be envisaged that after the completion of democratic reform, an upsurge of study among the Tibetan people will surely follow rapidly.