Talk after Inquiring about the Peasant Movement in Tangjiatuo[1]

(January 1927)

Foreigners say we Chinese are a sheet of loose sand, disunited. Other countries unite without scattering; our country scatters without uniting. Other countries are strong, we are weak; other countries are rich, we are poor; other countries have developed industries, with airplanes and cannons, while our country still mostly has broadswords and spears. If we want our country to be strong and prosperous, and our people free from oppression and exploitation, we must rise up and make revolution, unite together, overthrow the foreign powers, and drive out the warlords.

[1] From January 9 to 14, 1927, Mao Zedong went on an inspection tour to Xiangxiang County. He first held a discussion at his maternal grandfather’s home in Tangjiatuo with his two uncles, several cousins, and over twenty old peasants. This talk is an excerpt from Mao’s remarks after inquiring about the peasant movement in the Tangjiatuo area.