Funnily enough Mao's landlord policy is something I've had the least push-back from libs when talking about. Fuck landlords.
this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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chapotraphouse
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I've also had success explaining to people that while Mao may have facilitated or encouraged what happened, it's not like he personally sentenced all landlords to death. They were brought to trial and sentenced before their own tenants who testified as witnesses, many of whom were starved, brutalized, or had family killed by those same landlords in the past when unable to pay their rent or for organizing for their rights as tenants.
People are more sympathetic when tenants are the ones responsible, but they'll still hit you with "private property, bro" sometimes.
The word landlord doesn't really describe "地主" accurately enough, since they weren't just rent seeking parasites, they were more like feudal lords who had power over every aspect of life in the village, with all the exploitation and violence that implies. That's why villagers were so brutal towards most of their landlords because they were frequently engaged in beatings, sexual assault, psychological abuse, dispossession of peasants etc with complete impunity. They were far worse than some petit bourgeois failson who inherited an apartment building from their car dealership dad or something (though they go to gulag too).
They were brought to trial and sentenced before their own tenants who testified as witnesses
"Uhh, if you like your landlord, you'll be able to keep your landlord"
I feel very privileged that most of my friends' brainworms are essentially cultural issues and poor solidarity. The only person I had argue back is a friend who also believes in class warfare, and I'm pretty sure is just fucking with me half the time.
Let's be fair here, I'm pretty sure those were overwhelmingly kangaroo trials (something that Che, for example, took great pains to avoid by making sure judge and jury weren't personally the victims of a given defendant). I don't actually have a problem with them being kangaroo trials, because they served an urgent social utility of dissolving a worse-than-worthless class that was forcing peasants to pay literally like 9/10 of their harvest as rent, but it was definitely more of a country-wide mob justice thing than trials in any sort of orderly or fair sense. At least, that's my understanding of what happened.
Yeah, but I'm okay with that. 
Are there good documentaries, articles or books about this that I can forward to people I know?
I'm also curious for these recommendations!
I have to admit I don't have anything that goes into this in detail, or maybe I do but I haven't read those books yet, but I'm piecing things together.
The People's History of Ideas podcast is REALLY good to get insight into pre-revolutionary China, but it's very dry and not yet finished after many years. The guy who does it is apparently a professor and is very knowledgeable, his discussion about what tenants went through under landlords and Mao's history as a peasant-tenant organizer made everything click in terms of why people were so ready to kill landlords and why Mao permitted it. Totally understandable, honestly.
I can't remember what I've engaged with in terms of the trials and Cultural Revolution era type stuff anymore. This is the only article I could find in my bookmarks at this point: https://archive.is/41gu3
@Lavender@hexbear.net I strongly recommend reading 'Fanshen' which is a classic account of land reform in a single village.
The documentary 'How Yukong Moved the Mountains', in the chapter 'A Woman, A Family' contains a horrific description of one woman's life during landlord rule.
Thank you, I will!
mao & luigi red star saga
the only people who have positive feelings about landlords as a group, are landlords themselves
This is called fraud, and it's illegal even in our current capitalist hellscape. Probably a bit, but if not it's a written confession.
Yeah skill issue, the first rule of committing crimes is to not talk about it on social media
Sure, now wait for a judge to actually care and for a lawyer to be able to prove such fraud
Not on judges to care - but ye, would need cops to actually look into this and then a prosecutor to actually go after it. I wouldn’t hold my breath on that.
Yeah looks like it was a recycled bit
The Maoist uprising against the landlords was the most comprehensive proletarian revolution in history, leading to almost totally equal redistribution of the land amongst the peasantry.
This is a troll right?
Guy Debord → gal debored seems like enough of a tip off. How many face-value posters would make that pun?
Even if she was, how can you prove people aren't doing this without admitting it publicly?
Oh my god, it's absolutely happening everywhere. This is actually like a top-5 scam happening in the US, along with reshipping and various other types of job scams.
Application/Deposit/Credit Check/Background Check Fee scams are incredibly common tactic, where people just relist a Zillow listing for a random occupied apartment and collect a fee before you see the apartment.
Worse yet, this type of scam is a totally legal money-making method for landlords. You basically just keep one free unit as a "tourable" one, and then collect fees for applications you'll always deny. Victims have no recourse, and it's fully legal in 48 states. Scammers without an apartment to show just get to hide behind this practice, so it can be difficult to discern actual fraud from just landlord parasitism.
With a username referencing the Marxist philosopher Guy Debord, yeah I think it's pretty safe to say this is a joke.
What if it’s for luxury condos in a heavily gentrified neighborhood
That's a really good idea. 
could always refund the fee if you run across someone who can't afford it.
Hmm ya. Income less than say 110% avg get a refund. If you're rich please keep sending me a few bucks for the potential chance to maybe rent this apartment I totally own right next to something rich people totally love.
Hmm, I wonder what's the minimum you'd need to be able to skirt the fraud line. Or what other high ticket services could do something similar with minimal exposure. 
Could probably do all sorts of interesting Richie data collection in the process.
Owning or renting the apartment in question is the actual bare minimum for there to be no ability for it to be considered fraud.
A landlord doesn't have to rent or sublet to anyone that applies. The thing that makes it fraud is that you're advertising something for sale/rent which you don't own. (like selling a bridge)
You're thinking like a square. 
Let's say you know someone with a very expensive apartment. You and 5 friends each make a deal with that owner to serve as a rental "agent" to the owner giving them a cut of the application fees with an unspoken understanding that they will never approve any of your suggestions. Would that be fraud?
This is a common scam.
Why would you pay before getting the appartment?
An application fee. It isn't much and they usually offer to give it back on rent or something.
So. You stole thousands of dollars?
Hope its worth getting the wall over, pig.
If I pay an application fee and my application isn’t accepted, I’m just charging it back on the credit card.
are you all actually under the impression that a twitter account called gal debored is doing this for real and not doing a bit? jesus christ
no, and I don't see any basis in these comments for thinking others did. saying "fuck landlords" is not saying you believe the post is unironic
Pretty sure this is a reposted shitpost tbh
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