Letter to Sun Yatsen
(June 25, 1923)

[The letter] proposes that the Guomindang "set up, in Shanghai or Guangzhou, a
strong and powerful executive committee, with the mission of combining our
efforts to promote the activity of party members, and develop propaganda on a
broad scale..
We cannot simply follow along imitating the orientation of the
feudal warlords, who use armed force to seize political power and occupy
spheres of influence. To do this will give people the impression that we and the
warlords belong to the same family. To use the old methods and the old armies
to build a new China is not only illogical, but is absolutely impossible to carry
out in practice. The old armies have ten times as many soldiers as we do. We can
only use new devices, adopt a new orientation, and create a new force. In our
dealings with the citizens, we must unite with the merchants, the students, the
peasants, and the workers, and moreover draw them to rally around the flag of
our party. The new army, built from among the people, will use new methods
and a new spirit of friendship to defend the republic." In the letter, the hope was
expressed that Sun Yatsen would not inconsiderately place his faith in the warlords of the various southern provinces. "The crimes [of the southern warlords]
are in no way less than those of the northern warlords.... We request you, sir, to
leave Guangzhou, to proceed to the center of public opinion, Shanghai, and
when you get there to call together a national assembly (such as the one you
discuss in 'The Three-power Constitution, but not limited simply to mass demonstrations). In this way, a centralized army that solves the problems of the
whole country can be built, a centralized national-revolutionary army can be
built. If we act in this way, we will not lose our leading position in the nationalrevolutionary movement."

This letter was signed jointly by Mao Zedong, Chen Duxiu, Li Dazhao, Cai Hesen, and
Tan Pingshan in their capacity as members of the Guomindang. The full text does not
appear to have been published. Our version corresponds to the excerpts, linked by summaries in indirect discourse, to be found in the Nianpu, Vol. 1, p. 115.