Manifesto of the First Guangdong
Provincial Congress of the
Chinese Guomindang

(October 26, 1925)1

In Guangdong, the first starting point of the revolution, representatives of all the
*xian* and towns have now assembled together to hold their first congress. At
the same time, they have set up the supreme organ of all the party councils in
the province, the Guangdong Provincial Party Council. In the course of this
congress of ours, apart from loyally accepting the former Director General's
testament and engaging energetically in struggle, we are most sincerely making our views known to the popular masses of the whole world. From the
time of its reorganization,² this party, having established and applied its political program, has never failed to devote all its energies to pursuing the interests of the popular masses. At the same time, it has joined in the cooperative
efforts to assure equal treatment for our nation, in the sincere belief that the
national revolution in a semicolony cannot be separated from the world revolution, and struggle all by itself. Therefore, when the 1911 Revolution, led by
our party, did not achieve complete success, it was necessary to wait until now to
continue our efforts. For at that time, various isolated forces were struggling on
their own, and as yet there was no worldwide revolutionary situation in which
people got together for joint action. Now, however, the forces in the world are
manifestly divided into two kinds, namely the revolutionary forces and the counterrevolutionary forces. In the East the movements of national revolution of the
oppressed nations are growing daily, and in the West the movements of social
revolution of the oppressed classes are also arising vigorously. This is a mani-

This manifesto appeared in the *Guangzhou Minguo ribao* for October 27, 1925, and our
translation has been made from that source.

festation of the fact that the revolutionary forces of the whole world are already
mustered. Moreover, all the imperialist countries of Europe, America, and Japan,
apart from severely exploiting and oppressing the worker and peasant classes of
their own countries, are also colluding with the militarists, politicians, compradors, and landlords of the colonial and semicolonial countries to exploit and
oppress the middle and lower strata of the popular masses there. This is a manifestation of the fact that the counterrevolutionary forces of the whole world are
also already mustered. Thus, the inevitable struggle between these two great
forces has progressively been drawing nearer and intensifying. Looking at the
situation from today's perspective, the serious prospect of a great decisive struggle in the whole world may materialize at any moment. Such being the position
in China, the revolutionary demands of the middle and lower strata of the popular masses are, on the one hand, naturally becoming more pressing with every
passing day. On the other hand, the British, the Americans, the French, the
Japanese, and all the imperialists must also unite with the great and small warlords within the country, the Anfu clique, the Research clique, the Federalist clique,
and all the other cliques of politicians, the compradors from various places such as
Hong Kong and Shanghai, and the local bullies and bad gentry of the whole country
to form a counterrevolutionary movement. From the big massacre by the Merchants'
Corps during the October 10 holiday last year³ to the cruel massacres during the
May 30th Incident,⁴ revolution and counterrevolution have already become two
opposing camps locked in struggle. Moreover, Guangdong is the place where we
confront British imperialism directly. It is the place where the comprador class of
Chen Lianbo⁵ and others is concentrated and the place where militarists in straitened circumstances, such as Chen Jiongming,⁶ craftily spin their outrageous
schemes. For more than a decade, and especially during the past few years, our
party has stood in the forefront of the revolutionary forces and has waged a fierce
struggle against the counterrevolutionary forces led by British imperialism.
Moreover, since Chen and Lin⁷ were driven out and Liu and Yang were put down,8 and since the butchery in Shakee,9 and the Hong Kong strike, the revolutionary forces have been even more concentrated, and British imperialism, in a
panic, has led all the counterrevolutionary forces, united them, and attacked us
once again. Then there was the death of Comrade Liao Zhongkai,10 the rebellion
of Zheng and Mo,11 and the three-cornered uprising of Chen Jiongming, Deng
Benyin, and Xiong Kewu in the east, the south, and the north.12 Now we have
already liquidated Zheng and Mo, dispersed Xiong's troops, and attacked
Huizhou.13 In the future, it will not be difficult, within a relatively short time, to
sweep away Chen and Deng and exercise a controlling influence over the Hong
Kong government, so as to obtain the victory of the strike. From all this, we can
be confident that the development of the revolutionary forces definitely has the
power to progress with lightning speed. Now, however, war has broken out
between Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and this is not merely a local question between
Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It is obviously a struggle between the Fengtian and the
Zhili cliques, in alliance with English and Japanese imperialism, to seize the
opportunity to exploit the Chinese people.14 These two warlord cliques, regardless of who wins or loses, are both harmful to China. As far as we the people of

Guangdong are concerned, let these counterrevolutionary militarists, compradors, village bullies and bad gentry, and shameless politicians one and all join
the counterrevolutionary front led by the British and Japanese imperialists. All
we oppressed popular masses and revolutionary elements will take our stand on
the side of the revolutionary front under the leadership of the Guomindang, unite
all the forces in the revolutionary front, and attack the counterrevolutionary
forces. Such is our sole task, and we will certainly be able to obtain final victory.
Let the people of the whole country arise, and in this chaotic struggle on the
territory of the whole country, in which the imperialists and warlords are striving
to exploit the Chinese people, we must stand entirely on the opposite side. Let us
organize our own forces, unite under the leadership of the Guomindang, and go
on the offensive against all our enemies. Let the revolutionary popular masses of
Guangdong strive with all their might to be the reliable rear of the revolutionary
popular masses of the whole country. Unite all revolutionary forces! Down with
all counterrevolutionary forces! Long live revolutionary solidarity! Long live the
Chinese Guomindang! Long live the liberation of the Chinese nation!

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Notes

1. According to *Nianpu*, Vol. 1, p. 26, and other sources, this is the date on which the
present manifesto, drafted by Mao and others, was adopted by the congress. (In the index
volume of the *Bujuan*, it is dated October 20, 1925, but this is undoubtedly an error,
resulting from the fact that the editors had not seen a copy of the text.) Our translation has
been made from the version published in the *Guangzhou Minguo ribao* of October 27,
1925.

2. I.e., beginning with the First Congress of January 1924.
3. The reference is to the conflict between the Merchants' Corps, organized by the
Guangzhou merchants to oppose the financial and political demands of Sun Yatsen's
government, and the armed forces under Sun's command, which came to a head on
October 15, 1924. For a longer note, see below, the text of December 5, 1925, "Zou Lu
and the Revolution."
4. See below, Mao's discussion of the May 30th Incident of 1925 in his article "To the
Left or to the Right" of December 13, 1925, and the accompanying note.
5. Chen Lianbo was the president of the Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce. For
another reference to him, see below, "Analysis of all the Classes in Chinese Society," of
December 1, 1925.
6. On Chen Jiongming, sometime ally of Sun Yatsen who had repeatedly rebelled
against him, see above, the relevant note to the preceding text.
7. Chen and Lin are, once again, Chen Jiongming and Lin Hu. (See above, the editorial of October 20, 1925, and the relevant note.)
8. Liu Zhenhuan, commander of the Guangxi forces, and Yang Ximin, commander
of the Yunnanese forces in the 1923 war against Chen Jiongming, had been forced to flee
to Hong Kong in June 1925. See below, the announcement of December 4, 1925, and the
relevant note thereto.

9. The "Shakee [Shaji] Massacre" of June 23, 1925, in which more than fifty Chinese
were killed and over a hundred wounded, led to a sixteen-month boycott of trade with
Hong Kong and made Great Britain the principal villain in the eyes of Nationalists and
Communists alike. For a brief account, see the Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, pp.
551-53.

10. Regarding Liao Zhongkai and his assassination on August 20, 1925, see above, the
note to Central Circular no. 15 of July 21, 1924.

11. The reference is to Zheng Runqi and Mo Xiong (1891-1980), zi Zhi'ang, subordinate commanders of the Guangdong forces of the national government. In September
1925, they were suspected of being in collusion with Chen Jiongming, and their troops
were attacked and defeated by Chiang Kaishek's forces. See also, below, the announcement of December 4, 1925, which accuses Zheng and Mo of complicity in the assassination of Liao Zhongkai.

12. It was a renewed attack on the Guomindang national government in Guangzhou in
October 1925 by Chen Jiongming from the east, the Sichuanese general Xiong Kewu from
the northwest, and Guangdong troops under Deng Benyin from the southwest that had
triggered the Second Eastern Expedition against Chen mentioned above. On the campaigns against them during the ensuing three months by Chiang Kaishek and his subordinates, see Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, pp. 555-56.

13. The main bastion of Chen Jiongming's forces.

14. For Mao's own analysis of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang war of the previous year (1924)
and its relation to the conflict between the Zhili and Fengtian cliques, see below, "Propaganda Guidelines of the Chinese Guomindang in the War against the Fengtian Clique,"
dated November 27, 1925.