土地改革(land reform)

审慎改进农地持有制度、耕作形式和农业与其他经济间的关系。土地改革最普遍的政治目标是废除封建或殖民地主土地所有制，通常是取走大地主的土地再重新分配给没有土地的农民。其他目标则包括改善农民的社会地位和将农业产出与工业化计画整合。土地改革的最早记录出现於西元前6世纪的雅典，当时梭伦废除了迫使农民抵押土地和劳务的借贷系统。然而在古代的世界，土地集中在大地主的手中成为一种惯例，并持续至中世纪和文艺复兴时代。法国大革命替法国带来土地改革并建立起成为法国民主基石的小型家庭农场。19世纪时大多数的欧洲国家都废除了农奴制。俄国的农奴在1861年被解放，1917年俄国革命後实行农业集体化，随之而来的是资本的丧失和毁灭性的饥荒。土地改革实行於其他共产党掌权的国家，尤其是中国。土地改革至今仍然是世界上许多国家的潜在政治议题。亦请参阅absentee ownership。

English version：

land reform

Deliberate change in the way agricultural land is held or owned, the methods of its cultivation, or the relation of agriculture to the rest of the economy. The most common political objective of land reform is to abolish feudal or colonial forms of landownership, often by taking land away from large landowners and redistributing it to landless peasants. Other goals include improving the social status of peasants and coordinating agricultural production with industrialization programs. The earliest record of land reform is from 6th-century-BC Athens, where Solon abolished the debt system that forced peasants to mortgage their land and labor. The concentration of land in the hands of large landowners became the rule in the ancient world, however, and remained so through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The French Revolution brought land reform to France and established the small family farm as the cornerstone of French democracy. Serfdom was abolished throughout most of Europe in the 19th century. The Russian serfs were emancipated in 1861, and the Russian Revolution of 1917 introduced collectivization of agriculture, attended by loss of capital and devastating famines. Land reform was instituted in a number of other countries where communists came to power, notably China. It remains a potent political issue in many parts of the world. See also absentee ownership.