To All Newspapers in Changsha, All Newspapers Nationwide, All Trade Unions, All Labor Organizations, All Workers’ Clubs, Fellow Workers, and Persons of All Circles:  Whereas we previously transmitted a telegraph by express mail, which we trust has come to your attention. All our grievances were set forth in detail in that dispatch, with the hope of a satisfactory resolution.

Unexpectedly, on the fourteenth day of the eighth lunar month, Mr. Zhou Yinggan, the Magistrate of Changsha County, issued a public notice that sided wholly with the statements of a small group of street associations, showing no understanding of our plight and asserting that there could be no justifiable reason for a wage increase. We would ask: why are all kinds of goods and rents today several times more expensive than before, and why is this not considered free price-raising? We, the most impoverished workers, are driven by extreme hardship to seek even a modest raise in wages in order to improve our living conditions. This is our inherent right to subsistence; how can we be denied the freedom to negotiate higher wages, only to be met instead with the most brutal forms of repression? Must we be starved to death before any action is taken?

We can no longer endure such treatment. Forced by circumstances, we have resolved to go on a general strike starting on the sixteenth, and to petition the Provincial Assembly in an effort to secure a final settlement. Unless a complete and satisfactory outcome is achieved, we swear never to return to work.

We earnestly appeal to all concerned to sympathize with our predicament, to grant us understanding, and to provide practical assistance. Our thoughts are with you as we send this urgent message. We remain anxiously awaiting your response.  Signed jointly by over 6,400 bricklayers and carpenters of Changsha, together with more than six worker representatives.