PUBLISHER'S NOTE The present English translation of Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society has been made from the Chinese text given in the Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, Volume I, published by the People's Publishing House, Peking, in July 1952. Printed in the People's Republic of China This article was written by Comrade Mao Tse-Tung in March 1926 to combat two deviations then to be found in the party. The exponents of the first deviation, represented by Chen Tu-hsiu, were concerned only with co-operation with the Kuomintang and forgot about the peasants ; this was Right opportunism. The exponents of exponents of the second deviation, represented by Chang Kuo-tao, were concerned only with the labour movement, and likewise forgot about the peasants ; this was "Left" opportunism. Both were aware that their own strength was inadequate, but neither of them knew where to seek reinforcements or where to obtain allies on a mass scale. Comrade Mao Tse-Tung pointed out that the peasantry was the staunchest and numerically the largest ally of the Chinese proletariat, and thus solved the problem of who was the chief ally in the Chinese revolution. Moreover, he saw that the national bourgeoisie was a vacillating class and predicted that it would disintegrate during the upsurge of the revolution, with its right-wing going over to the side of imperialism. This was borne out by the events of 1927. Committee for the Publication of the Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung, Central Committee of the Communist Party of China