The content of Peng Yuting’s “localism”

The specific content of localism can be divided into three parts: self-defense, autonomy, and self-enrichment, which are also three specific steps to implement localism.

Self-defense, Peng Yuting called Zhenping's "nationalism". He believed that the nationalism mentioned by Sun Yat-sen was directed at the imperialist invasion of China, and Zhenping suffered oppression and Exploitation does not come directly from imperialism, but from oppression and exploitation by domestic bandits, bandit armies, and corrupt officials. Zhenping's "nationalism" is to avoid these three types of oppression and exploitation through self-defense. Self-defense is the guarantee of self-government and self-enrichment. Self-defenseism occupies an extremely important position in Peng Yuting's thoughts on local autonomy and is a key step in his implementation of localism.

Autonomism is Zhenping’s “democracy”. Peng Yuting believes that autonomy is part of civil rights, that is, the implementation of civil rights at the lower levels. It can also be said that autonomy is the starting point of civil rights. Sun Yat-sen's civil rights doctrine advocates four direct civil rights, namely the right to vote, the right to recall, the right to create, and the right to veto. If we do not advocate self-government, in another hundred years Sun Yat-sen's civil rights will have no share in us. Local autonomy is originally the legacy of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, but corrupt officials have long taken the "Prime Minister's legacy" as a formal document, and still use the power accumulated over two thousand years to rule from above. Regarding autonomy, shouting a few slogans or posting a few slogans to perfunctory the face of the Republic of China is absolutely not allowed when it comes to true "people's autonomy." Therefore, in the matter of self-government, there is absolutely no reason for cooperation between the government and the people. If we want to exercise self-government, we must overthrow official rule. After overthrowing official rule, the local tyrants and evil gentry will have no talisman, and we will have no obstacles to self-government. Therefore, autonomousism is a reduced form of the Three People's Principles. The first step in the work of self-government is to organize people and train them so that they can exercise their authority to manage the local area. The second step is to implement real popular elections. It is not enough for the people to elect district heads, town chiefs, township chiefs, and village chiefs whom they trust, and to stabilize social order through self-defense and autonomy. Only by improving people's living standards and getting rid of poverty and backwardness can we achieve autonomy. Purpose lies. Therefore, the third step of localism is "self-enrichment".

Self-enrichmentism is the "people's livelihood doctrine" of Zhenping. The main content of Sun Yat-sen's People's Livelihood Principle is "controlling capital and equalizing land rights." Regarding the specific situation of Zhenping, Peng Yuting believed that "moderation capital" seemed inappropriate because no one in Zhenping could talk about moderation. "Equal land rights" adopts a progressive tax approach to achieve the purpose of equalization. In addition, we must find ways to increase production, improve agriculture, build water conservancy projects, plant trees, set up factories, establish credit cooperatives, etc. If there is a method for production and a method for distribution, that is the success of Zhenping's people's livelihood doctrine.

Follow the above three steps to create a new town. Peng Yuting summarized the ideal society he envisioned in sixteen words. That is to say, "Do not close your doors at night, do not pick up lost items on the road, there will be no lawsuits in every village, and every family will have more than enough." In such an ideal society, there is political democracy, social stability, economic prosperity, and harmonious neighbors. He hailed such a society as the society of the Three People's Principles. He believed that what Sun Yat-sen said about local autonomy was exactly what he expected to get in these sixteen words. If local autonomy is implemented throughout the country and such an ideal society is realized, then Sun Yat-sen's Three People's Principles can be realized.