Hunanese Should Take a Further Step Forward[1]

(June 11, 1920)

It is reported that the southern army is about to capture Changsha. If so, the passive aspect of the Hunanese people’s Movement to Drive Out Zhang[2] can be considered nearly concluded. Hunanese should take a further step forward and strive to launch the “Movement to Abolish the Military Governorship”[3]. How to abolish the military governorship and establish civil rule is truly a major issue to which Hunanese should henceforth actively pay attention.

The theory of abolishing the military governorship has been advocated for several years, yet the military governors have never been abolished. The abolition theories of Lu Yongxiang and Tang Jiyao[4] can be judged to have had very little actual impact. But in Hunan at this moment, if Zhang Jingyao is indeed removed, there is a great opportunity for abolition. (1) The Hunanese people’s expulsion of Zhang stems from self-determination and is not constrained by any dark forces. If they truly realize that the military governorship must be abolished, they can simply kick it away with their own feet. (2) The armies in southern and western Hunan have each been requisitioning grain for as long as seven or eight years. Although they have now captured Changsha, it has long been like a field of barren stone[1]. On the one hand, the Hunan Bank has already gone bankrupt with a deficit of fifty to sixty million; both official finances and the civilian economy are completely bankrupt. Even if the armies are not disbanded, they will have to disband. Once the armies disband, the military governor will have no troops to govern, making abolition the best course. (3) Tan Yankai has also tasted the flavor of being a military governor[2]. This time, in driving out Zhang, he can only atone for past misdeeds with merit. He should be willing to cast aside this bare bone. Since the Hunanese have the courage to drive out Tang Xiangming, drive out Fu Liangzuo[3], and drive out Zhang Jingyao, why not muster some courage to abolish the military governorship? The Hunanese have always possessed a certain stubbornness, rebelliousness, and destructiveness; it is a pity they have too little talent for construction. If they let this good opportunity slip away lightly again this time, it would truly be a great injustice! According to my observation, the overall construction of civil rule in China is completely hopeless within twenty years. These twenty years will only be a period of preparation. The preparation lies nowhere else but in each province’s people first separately tackling and resolving issues (abolishing military governorships, disbanding troops, education, and industry). Suppose this time the Hunanese take the lead, and provinces with similar circumstances such as Shaanxi, Fujian, Sichuan, and Anhui follow suit. Then, after ten or twenty years, they can unite and achieve an overall national resolution. I hope the Hunanese will look at the general trend of the world, and also reflect on the sufferings they have endured over the past eight or nine years, and resolutely carry out this move.

[1] When this article was published in the Shanghai *Current Affairs News* on June 11, 1920, the following synopsis was added before the text: “An Excellent Opportunity to Abolish the Military Governorship,” “Hunanese Must Strive.”

[2] The Movement to Drive Out Zhang refers to the struggle waged by the people of Hunan from December 1919 to June 1920 to expel the Northern Warlord Zhang Jingyao.

[3] The Movement to Abolish the Military Governorship refers to the movement to abolish the military governor (*dujun*). The military governor was the highest military officer of a province, a position established after Yuan Shikai’s death in 1916. As the Hunan Military Governor Zhang Jingyao was about to be expelled, Mao Zedong, Peng Huang, and others vigorously advocated launching a movement to abolish the military governorship system, aiming to “overthrow military force” and “implement civil rule.”

[4] Lu Yongxiang (1867–1933), courtesy name Zijia, from Jiyang, Shandong. A graduate of the Beiyang Military Academy, he served as a Beiyang Army division commander and the Songhu Defense Commissioner. In 1919, he became the Military Governor of Zhejiang. On April 23, 1920, to counter the alliance of the eight northern military governors, he issued a circular telegram advocating the abolition of the military governorship system and petitioned the Beijing government to approve its implementation in Zhejiang. Tang Jiyao (1883–1927), courtesy name Minggeng, from Huize, Yunnan. He served as Military Governor of Guizhou and Yunnan, Commander-in-Chief of the Third Army of the Republic Protection Army, and Marshal of the Guangzhou Military Government of the Constitution Protection Movement (which he did not assume). On June 1, 1920, he issued a circular telegram advocating the abolition of the military governorship, relinquishing the post of Yunnan Military Governor, and expanding his ruling territory under the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou.

[1] “Stone field” refers to uncultivable land, a metaphor for something useless. *Zuo Zhuan*, Duke Ai, 11th Year: “Gaining one’s will in Qi is like acquiring a stone field; it is of no use.”

[2] Tan Yankai was elected Governor of Hunan by the Hunan Provincial Advisory Council in November 1911. He was dismissed by Yuan Shikai during the “Second Revolution” in 1913. In 1916, he was appointed by the Beijing government as Governor and Military Governor of Hunan, resigning in August of the following year. In July 1918, he was appointed Military Governor of Hunan by the Military Government of the Constitution Protection Movement, stationed in Chenzhou, confronting Zhang Jingyao in Changsha. In June 1920, after Zhang Jingyao was expelled, Tan served as Military Governor of Hunan, Commander-in-Chief of the Hunan Army, and Governor of Hunan. He was forced to resign by Zhao Hengti in November.

[3] Fu Liangzuo (1873–1924), courtesy name Qingjie, from Qianzhou Subprefecture (present-day Jishou), Hunan. He served as Defense Commissioner of Ji-Yu in Zhili and Vice Minister of the Army in the Beijing government. On August 6, 1917, he was appointed Military Governor of Hunan, assumed office on September 9, and fled Changsha on the night of November 14 during the fighting between the northern and southern warlords.

Hunanese Should Take a Further Step Forward

Mao Zedong’s article *Hunanese Should Take a Further Step Forward*, published in a newspaper at the time.