—1923—
Telegram to Mr. Xiao Hengshan¹ from the
All-Hunan Federation of Labor Organizations

(February 20, 1923)

To Mr. Xiao Hengshan at Wuchang:

The troops under your command have murdered thirty-two railway workers,² an
oppressive act so savage as to make the rivers freeze over. Sir, you are like a sly

This telegram has been translated from Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 9, p. 161, where the
source is given as Beifang diqu gongren yundong ziliao xuanbian (1921–1923) (Beijing:
1981). There is no indication that the text was published prior to 1981. We have no direct
evidence that Mao participated in writing this document, or the three texts on the February
7th massacre which follow, but he is uniformly characterized as the leader and moving
spirit of the All-Hunan Federation of Labor Organizations at this time. (See Li Jui, Early
Mao, p. 262, and Li Yongtai, Mao and the Great Revolution, p. 144.) Thus, whether or not
Mao actually drafted them, we feel that these four brief documents have their place here.
2. In the spring of 1922, an agreement had been concluded between the Communist
leadership of the Secretariat of Chinese Labor Organizations, which was then actively
“warlords are sacred.” Judging by recent events in Wuhan, the warlords are
sacred indeed. We’ve heard it said, however, that there are so many laborers in
this world that they cannot be exterminated, but we’ve heard no such thing about
warlords. Just think of those around you, Sir! Other than the hundred or so
division commanders, brigade and regiment commanders, garrison captains, and
police chiefs such as the unspeakably evil Du Xijun and He Xifan, who is there
who is not one of our working class comrades? The soldiers using bullets to kill
laborers today could turn around and use their weapons against the warlords
tomorrow, if the workers were to use their own tears as a guide. You would call
them rebels, but don’t you know that rebels are everywhere, that 390 million of
our 400 million people are rebels? Instead of making efforts to win over the
people, you devote your energies to harming them; instead of considering selfreflection, you think only about killing. Anger and resentment is rising against
you, and you may be forced into a precarious position when all the people, even
the old and infirm,⁴ rise up to make trouble for you. As vast as are the heavens
and earth, you will be unable to find a foothold anywhere. These are our sincere
words of advice to you; make your own choices as you see fit.

Respectfully submitted,

All-Hunan Federation of Labor Organizations
The twentieth

Telegram to Mr. Wu Ziyu¹ from the All-Hunan
Federation of Labor Organizations
(February 20, 1923)

To Mr. Wu Ziyu at Luoyang:

More than three hundred Beijing-Wuhan railroad workers² have been massacred
in cold blood for demanding freedom of assembly and association. This is an
incident such as has never been heard of in any modern civilized country. A
nation maintains an army to protect the people, but now they are destroying
our people. From Changxindian in the North to Wuhan in the South, bloodthirsty shouts are everywhere, and the cries of those wronged shake the heavens, while you, Sir, sit calmly issuing orders in Luoyang. Only after the dam
at Jinkou had been dug up,³ and disorder had arisen in Chongqing,⁴ did you
undertake the campaign. This can hardly be considered courageous. We are
told that there were popular uprisings in ancient times; now it is workers’
uprisings. When the workers rose up in Russia, the line of Nicholas, which
had held power and influence for hundreds of years, became overnight as
weak and brittle as dry weeds and rotten wood. In countries like Germany,
France, and Italy, once rebellion breaks out, their warlords, politicians, and
capitalists will all be like Nicholas. Our countrymen still feel kindly toward
you because you strongly resisted the Anhui and Fengtian cliques.⁵ Now,

the various local rail workers’ clubs, Wu Peifu decided that things had gone too far. He
announced the prohibition of the inaugural meeting, which was to be held in Zhengzhou,
and when the meeting was held nonetheless, on February 1, he sent troops to break it up.
As a result, a full-scale strike of railroad workers was called on February 4. The workers
demanded punishment of the troops involved in the action, dismissal of some railroad
managers, and pay increases. On February 7, 1923, Cao Kun in Beijing, Wu Peifu in
Luoyang, and Xiao Yaonan in Wuchang sent troops to attack the strikers. Thirty to thirty-five workers were killed and many more seriously wounded. The incident, which became
known as the “February 7 Massacre,” was an important turning point in the political
situation, as well as in the history of the labor movement.
3. Wu Peifu.
We have taken the text of this telegram, like that of the previous document, from Mao
Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 9, p. 163, where the same 1981 documentary collection is cited as
the source.
1. Wu Peifu.

--- Notes

1. Xiao Yaonan (1875–1926), zi Hengshan, a trusted subordinate of Wu Peifu, had
been appointed military governor of Hubei in August 1921 in the context of the campaign
by the Zhili faction to oppose Zhao Hengti’s attempts at extending his influence into the
neighboring province. Wu Peifu (1874–1939), zi Ziyu, was a native of Shandong. After
graduating from the Baoding Military Academy, he rose through the ranks of the military
under Yuan Shikai and Cao Kun. In 1918 Wu led troops into Hunan and recovered most
of the province for the Beijing government. When Premier Duan Qirui refused to appoint
him governor of Hunan, Wu followed an increasingly independent course. In 1920 he
joined Cao Kun in the so-called Zhili-Anhui war, which led to the overthrow of Duan
Qirui and great power for Wu, who was appointed inspector general of Hubei and Hunan.
After defeating Zhang Zuolin in the first Zhili-Fengtian war in 1922, Wu Peifu became the
dominant military figure in North China.

engaged in setting up unions of railroad workers, and Wu Peifu. It provided for the
appointment of six “secret inspectors,” who were given free passes for travel throughout
the rail network. Wu Peifu had been described by the Second Congress of the Chinese
Communist Party as a “comparatively progressive militarist,” and his program called for
the “protection of labor” (baohu laodong). From Wu’s point of view, the Communists
could be useful in undercutting the influence of his pro-Japanese rivals of the Communica-tions clique on the railroads, from which he derived revenues to maintain the Zhili army
and finance his plans to unify China. In the autumn of 1922, during the first rail strikes,
Wu Peifu had required the management to adopt a conciliatory attitude. In January 1923,
however, when workers on the Beijing-Hankou line announced their intention of forming
a General Union of the Beijing-Hankou Railway, which would be an amalgamation of
fox, relying on the might of the tiger Wu Ziyu³ to hold sway over the Yangzi and
the Han, and make mincemeat of the common people. How valiant the Beijing-
Wuhan Railway workers who made persistent efforts and won a decisive victory! It is commonly held that “labor is sacred.” You, Sir, must hold that

2. This telegram reports that “over three hundred workers” were killed, whereas that to
Xiao Hengshan says that only thirty-two were killed. As indicated in the note to the
previous text, most accounts give a figure of thirty to thirty-five. Hunan jinbainian, p. 515,
refers, however, to a total of “several hundred” killed and wounded.

3. In the campaign against the Hunan army commanded by Zhao Hengti in 1921, Wu
Peifu ordered the Jinkou dam opened so that his enemies would be drowned and their
provisions flooded. At the same time, tens of thousands of farmers and their crops were
destroyed.

4. The metaphor used here, literally “like a withered tree,” is taken from the biography
of Zou Yang, as it appears in Vol. 83 of the Records of the Historian.


4. In October 1921, Wu Peifu had driven back an attack by Sichuanese troops in
western Hubei.

5. See the note to the previous text summarizing Wu Peifu’s career.