Statutes of The Russia Studies Society (September
23,1920)
The Russia Studies Society, organized by Hunanese, held a meeting on the sixteenth
of this month and elected its official staff members: Jiang Yonghong175 as secretary-general, Mao Zedong as secretary, and Peng Huang as treasurer, and asked Peng to
live at the office of the Society to take care of all administrative affairs. Mr. Jiang
Yonghong made a voluntary donation of one hundred yuan. Other members of the
Society also made their respective donations. A meeting will be held sometime in the
future to raise funds to cover special expenses for sending observers to Russia and for
a publication series. Since Beijing has sent several letters saying that arrangements
have already been made for a Russian representative to come to Beijing, given the
fact that there are many people in Hunan who would like to go to Russia, they have
requested that one person first be sent to Beijing. It was decided that Mr. Zhang
Peizong would be sent to Beijing to accompany the Beijing delegation to Russia. Two
letters of introduction were prepared, one to introduce him to people in Beijing and
the other to people in Russia. Mr. Zhang has decided to depart for the north on the
seventeenth. Everyone thinks that it is very necessary to study the academic spirit and
the affairs of Russia. The blind opposition to this on the part of those whose brains
are atrophied will be to no avail. Finally, four items were decided upon:
1. Individual research: members are to collect materials individually.
2. Research seminars: every Saturday and Sunday afternoon the members are free
to come to the Society office to participate in group discussions; twice a year, in
the spring and autumn, a conference will be held; when scholars specializing on
Russia come to Hunan they will be invited to ad hoc seminars as guest speakers.
3. The Society shall collect as many books, newspapers, and magazines related to
Russian studies as possible, for all to read.
4. Research results obtained from the above three items, together with other special
translated works, shall be compiled into a Russia publication series.
Also, because many of the people who have come to the Society office recently to
discuss their desire to visit Russia have requested that a Russian class
be started following the model of the French class, preparations are being made.
Mr. Guo Kaidi offered to assume responsibility for setting up a class at the Chuanshan
Study Society, and said that it would be possible to hire Russians in Shanghai to come
to Hunan as teachers.
The Statutes of the Society are recorded as follows:
Article I
The main purpose of the Russia Studies Society is to study everything related to
Russia. Membership is open to anyone who is recommended by three members of the
Society.
Article II
The activities of the Society shall be as follows:
1. Conduct research on everything related to Russia and compile the research results
into a publication series on Russia;
2. Send people to Russia to conduct field studies;
3. Promote a work-study program in Russia.
Article III
The expenses of the Society shall come from voluntary contributions by its members.
Article IV
The Society shall have three staff members with the following functions:
1. One secretary-general, in charge of the overall activities of the Society, who represents the Society in outside contacts.
2. One secretary, responsible for note-taking and other paperwork.
3. One treasurer, to manage the accounts of the society.
Article V
The address for correspondence with the Society shall be 56 Chaozong Street, Changsha, the provincial capital.

--- Notes

174 The clause in quotation marks is taken word for word from the biography of Xiang Yu in the
Records of the Historian, Vol. 7 (p. 207 of the Yangs’ translation). It is there attributed to the young
men of Dongyang xian, who had killed their magistrate at the beginning of the period of uprisings which
led to the overthrow of the Qin dynasty and the establishment of the Han, and proceeded to urge his
secretary Chen Ying to proclaim himself king, and to establish such a force.
175 Jiang Jihuan. For details see note 3 to the text of March 5, 1920.