Manifesto of the Memorial Meeting for the Martyrs Who Died in Yangxin and Ganzhou

(March 26, 1927)

Comrades! Oppressed masses, ever since imperialism colluded with domestic – warlords – corrupt officials – venal clerks – local bullies – evil gentry! The suffering and devastation they have bestowed upon us, especially upon the poor – peasant friends – and – worker friends – who brave the wind and rain, whose hands are calloused and feet are sore, who eat without enough to fill their bellies and dress without enough to keep warm – it is simply as though we dwell in a deep abyss or a pit of fire, with no freedom to live or die.

Alas! We oppressed peasant and worker masses, were we born to suffer the devastation and exploitation of the privileged classes – warlords – corrupt officials – venal clerks – local bullies – evil gentry – capitalists? Are we destined to be their slaves and beasts of burden forever? They kill us whenever they please, they throw us into prison whenever they please. If we show the slightest sign of resistance, we are called “greatly rebellious and unprincipled,” guilty of “abandoning the social order.” Alas! This is truly a world of beasts and birds of prey pretending to be human.

Such cruel, brutal oppression has made it truly impossible for us to endure any longer. And so recently, the oppressed peasant friends – worker friends everywhere have risen up with surging cries to organize – peasant associations – trade unions, struggling to relieve their own suffering. The ruthless feudal classes – local bullies and evil gentry – lawless landlords, in order to protect their own special interests – exploitation and extortion – have been thrown into great panic. They label us as “going too far” or “making trouble,” or they call us “hooligans,” “local riff-raff,” “bandits.” By such divisive tactics, they aim to turn everyone against us, prolonging their last desperate struggle and pressing their attacks still further upon us, the poor peasant and worker masses. Thus bloody tragedies have been staged in Yangxin, Mianyang, Tianmen, Hanchuan, and in Ganzhou and Jiujiang. The atrocities in Yangxin, Mianyang, and other places

are attacks by the counter-revolutionary feudal forces of the countryside – corrupt officials and evil clerks, local bullies and evil gentry, big landlords – upon the revolutionary forces – the peasant associations. They even burned peasant leaders to death with kerosene, killing more than six people in all. News of this unbearable brutality – how it pains our hearts!

The bloody tragedies in Ganzhou and Jiujiang are attacks by sham revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries upon the revolutionary forces, upon the masses of workers. They shot workers’ leaders to death. Most pitiful of all, the murderers who shot the workers’ leaders were the party representative of the Provisional First Division under Chiang Kai-shek’s command and Chiang Kai-shek’s own bodyguards. For this bloody tragedy, Chiang Kai-shek cannot escape responsibility. Our poor, most insulted, most oppressed peasant and worker brothers, the counter-revolutionary forces have already joined together and are attacking us most ferociously, and their methods of attack are extremely venomous. Now we stand at the threshold of life and death. If we do not unite with all our might and struggle hard against them, then there will be no day left for us to live. We must clearly recognize our position and our circumstances: we are now in a period of hand-to-hand combat. We must continue to attack unceasingly against the dark barricades of feudal power, sooner or later we will surely find a path to light.

Revolutionary masses of all circles, to uphold the Premier’s policy on peasants and workers, we must extend aid to the most oppressed, most suffering peasants and workers, hoping that they may attain final liberation and hasten the success of the revolution.

The meaning of our mourning for the martyrs is this: they struggled for the interests of the peasants and workers and went so far as to sacrifice their lives and die! And we must carry on the fight along the trail of their blood, leading the peasant and worker masses to attack the remnants of feudal power.

We grieve for our comrades who “shared our sickness and sympathized with our plight” and have died. We are those who survive them. We are the successors ready to go among the people and join hands! “Duty demands we do not refuse”; “there is no shirking the responsibility”!

We must cry out:

Peasant friends, unite and rise! Worker friends, unite and rise! Root out the local bullies, evil gentry, corrupt officials and venal clerks! Swear to avenge our peasant friends – and worker friends – who died in Yangxin and Ganzhou! Safeguard the interests of peasants and workers! Arm the peasants and workers! Uphold the Premier’s policy on peasants and workers! Unless the local bullies and evil gentry are overthrown, the revolution cannot succeed! Opposition to the peasant and worker

movement is counter-revolution, carry out the great rural revolution! The Yangxin tragedy is an attack by the counter-revolutionary feudal forces of the countryside upon the revolution! The Ganzhou tragedy is an attack by sham revolutionaries and counter-revolutionaries upon the revolutionary forces – enhance the authority of the Party! Root out feudal forces! Oppose military dictatorship! Long live the liberation of peasants and workers! Long live the liberation of the oppressed classes! Long live the success of the National Revolution! Long live the success of the world revolution!