Letter to Lin Boqu and Peng Sumin
(September 28, 1923)

Comrades Boqu¹ and Sumin,²

I arrived in Changsha on the sixteenth. Since then the political situation has
suddenly changed again. Zhao³ entered the province from Pingjiang on the
twenty-third, putting up placards everywhere to announce that the provincial
government had been resumed. A part of the Northern Army has already
reached Yuezhou, but the future is as yet hard to predict. The only [clear point
is] that Tan's Army is now in a stronger position; to the south of Changsha it is
drawn up along the Xiang River, and to the north it is occupying half of Liling.
Hence the Northern Army is simply holding Yuezhou, without any attempt to
forge ahead, as Zhang Fulai did the year before last. In these circumstances, Tan

This letter has been translated from the text in Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 23-25,
which is followed by the indication "based on a manuscript copy." It does not appear to
have been published previously.
1. Lin Boqu (1886-1960) was a native of Linfeng xian, Hunan Province. He joined
Sun Yatsen's Chinese Revolutionary Party, the predecessor of the Guomindang, in 1914,
and the Chinese Communist Party in 1921. He became deputy director of the General
Affairs Department of the Guomindang Central Headquarters in 1923 and took part in the
reorganization of the Guomindang.
2. Peng Sumin (1885-1924) was a native of Qingjiang xian, Jiangxi Province. He was
director of the General Affairs Department of the Guomindang Central Headquarters at the
time.
3. Zhao refers to Zhao Hengti (1880-1971). See above, the text of December 14,
1922, recounting Mao's negotiations with him. At this time he was commander-in-chief of
the Xiang Army appointed by the Beijing government.
4. In the summer of 1923, war broke out within the Xiang Army between Tan Yankai
and Zhao Hengti for control over Hunan. "The Northern Army" refers here to the forces of
Wu Peifu, which were supporting Zhao Hengti.
5. Tan refers to Tan Yankai. (See the note to the text of December 3, 1920, on the incident
of tearing down the flag, and also Mao's account of his faction in "Hunan under the Provincial
Constitution" of July 1, 1923.) At the time Mao wrote this letter, Tan Yankai was engaged in
an expedition against Zhao Hengti, which was ultimately unsuccessful because Wu Peifu came
to Zhao's assistance. At the First National Congress of the Guomindang, he became a member
of the Central Executive Committee and of the Central Political Council.
6. In August 1921, Wu Peifu and Zhao Hengti were waging a war for the territory of
Hubei Province. Zhang Fulai, the frontline commander-in-chief of Wu Peifu's army, led
his troops to defeat the Xiang Army, capturing Yuezhou in Hunan. Wu and Zhao then
made a truce and negotiated peace in pursuit of their own respective interests. Wu
stopped advancing southward after he gained favorable conditions that allowed him to
garrison Yuezhou and hence easily check Zhao Hengti.

and Zhao would have to negotiate peace, and Zhao would be unable to hold his
ground.

Concerning the matter of developing our party in Hunan, which should still
be actively carried on even during a period of military activity, I discussed
yesterday with Comrade Xia Xi (Xia Xi is very able and influential in the
students' circles) a method for doing this in three steps. The first step would be
to organize the Changsha branch; the second step would be to form the Changde,
Hengzhou, and other possible subbranches; the third step, then, would be to form
the Hunan general branch. As regards the Changsha branch, we have now decided to rent a house and set up a preparatory organ (secret) within the next few
days to attract many people who believe in the Three People's Principles and
have a capacity for action to join the party. Afterward, we will hold an inaugural
meeting to elect a candidate for branch leader and apply to the Central Headquarters for his appointment. The only extremely difficult problem is shortage
of funds. Since the office is to be set up, it needs at least about a hundred yuan
per month. We are now gathering together enthusiastic comrades to find a way to
solicit contributions for our use. When I was in Shanghai, I asked the Central
Headquarters to confer on me the title of preparatory agent (Xia Xi is the preparatory director) to facilitate making contacts in different quarters. Please send me
the letter of appointment at an early date!

A letter from Comrades Sumin and Suzhong¹⁰ and four copies of Correspondence have arrived. I shall act in accordance with your directions. Correspondence
may have a better sale soon. Please send me in good time two copies of each
issue of the Bulletin of the Central Headquarters, and also send me a complete
set of all previous issues.

Your younger brother Zedong
September 28

7. The reference is to the Guomindang. As discussed in the Introduction to this
volume, the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of China had adopted, in
June 1923, a resolution in favor of cooperation with the Guomindang, including the
provision that Communist Party members should join it as individuals. As evidenced by
the letter of June 25, 1923, translated above, Mao Zedong had already done so by that
time. In September 1923, Mao was working in his capacity as a member of the
Guomindang for the development of the Guomindang party organization in Hunan. The
first efforts to reestablish the Guomindang in the province after a lapse of nearly a decade
had been made in April 1923 by Liu Shaoqi and Xia Xi (mentioned below). (See McDonald, Urban Origins, pp. 136-37.)
8. Regarding Xia Xi, see above, the note to the "Report on the Activities of the New
People's Study Society" of December 1920. In early 1924, Xia was again sent to Hunan
by the Guomindang to reorganize the party branch there.
9. Here Central Headquarters (benbu) refers to the highest leading bodies of the
Guomindang at the time.
10. Suzhong refers to Xu Suzhong, who was the secretary of the Director General's
Office of the Guomindang in 1923.