Declaration of Members of
the Central Committee¹

(August 1, 1927)

Since the Second National Congress, when we were elected as members of the
Party Central Committee, thanks to the great trust placed in us by the comrades
of the whole country, we have striven for the future of the national revolution in
accordance with the principles and policies of this party, and the teachings of the
late Director General.² Thanks to the cooperation and hard work of the comrades
of the whole country, the party and the state have been able to traverse several
critical periods without suffering excessive damage. Now the crisis of the party
and the state is even more acute than in the past, so we must inform our comrades of the whole country honestly of the true facts regarding recent events and
point out the only way for them to continue the struggle. Since the March
Twentieth Incident³ last year, we have seen that in the course of the revolution,
there are always a few ambitious people, with military force at their command,
who are trying to collude with the counterrevolutionary forces in order to seek
their own interests rather than those of the party. At that time, taking the interests
of the revolution as a whole into consideration, and hoping that by promoting the
Northern Expedition and developing the force of the broad masses of the people,
it would be possible one day to deter the conspiracy of these careerists, for the
space of a year we went so far as to bend our wills and abase ourselves by
dealing with Jiang Zhongzheng⁴ and the like. We could not venture to abandon
the comrades of the whole country, ignore the future of the revolution, and go

This declaration originally appeared in the Nanchang Minguo ribao, August 1, 1927. Our
source is the version reproduced in the Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 2, pp. 291-95, from a
documentary collection published in China in 1979.
to pursue their private interests of getting rid of Chiang and expanding their own
forces, in the name of supporting this movement. We clearly know that these
military men are in no way sincere about the revolution, and it is inevitable
that they will endanger the party and the state in the future. Furthermore, only
if our party follows the teachings of the late Director General and secures the
participation of the broad peasant masses in the revolution can we consolidate the revolutionary bases. Therefore, not only do we believe that the development of the peasant movement by the broad masses of the peasants in
Hunan and Hubei and their revolutionary actions to solve the land problem
and to establish self-government in the villages should not be repressed; we
also hold that this is precisely the result of our party's principle of "land to
the tiller" being gradually understood by the broad masses of the peasants.
Only when the broad masses of the peasants have such an understanding and
carry out such actions can we destroy the remaining feudal forces and have a
real guarantee for the revolutionary forces of this party, and for a new China
of the people, by the people, and for the people. After the Second Northern
Expedition began, General He Jian, who is under Tang Shengzhi's command, unexpectedly began to plot betrayal. He instigated Xia Douyin and
others to make a sudden attack on Wuchang, and secretly ordered Xu
Kexiang and others to launch a revolt in Changsha. At this crucial moment,
the military men and those in collusion with them, who controlled the military forces, simply sat by and watched, and were unwilling to join in putting
down the rebel troops. Frightened by the reactionary bluff and bluster, a few
weak leaders in the Central Party Bureau became wavering and soft in their
attitudes and dared not take resolute and appropriate punitive actions against the
rebel troops. In the meantime, Zhu Peide8 in Jiangxi, who was planning to
compromise with Mr. Chiang, also took action to expel the revolutionaries
and to halt the labor and peasant movements. This was again tolerated and
regarded as natural by a few leaders of the Central Party Bureau. After Feng
Yuxiang entered Henan, he even went openly to Xuzhou to meet Renegade
Chiang and sent a telegram to the Central Committee threatening to dismiss
all the political workers in the army. Again a few leaders of the Central Party
Bureau were unable to restrain this. They could not help dealing with matters
and taking decisions, but they disrupted their own measures. Under the direction of these few weak leaders, the Central Party Bureau has completely lost
its prestige. They are simply dependent on the pleasure of the military men
and have used the sacred resolutions of the Central Committee to seek their
private gains. Because of this, the military men have become even more
swollen with arrogance, while the party and the government have become
nothing but a tool for the military men. Since Tang Shengzhi returned to
Hunan, he has arbitrarily reorganized the provincial government and the provincial party headquarters and ceaselessly applied a policy of massacre. Tens
of thousands of party members and peasants who had struggled faithfully
were hacked to pieces in the whole of Hunan, and five thousand in Hubei.
The Central Committee in Wuhan, however, expressed the following opinions regarding the killing of these tens of thousands of comrades: first, most
of them were Communists; secondly, those killed had not obeyed the orders
of the Central Committee and had acted on their own; third, the principle of
"land to the tiller" "should be dealt with through politics and the laws."
Today the facts are obvious and can hardly be covered up. Among those
killed in Hunan and Hubei, apart from a certain number of Communist Party
members who were faithful to the revolution and joined this party, more than
80 percent were members of this party who had not joined any other party.
These tens of thousands of party members were all engaged in arduous work

Central Bank, arrested the members of the Central Committee, searched the
houses of Comrade Song Qingling, the widow of the Director General, and of
Comrade Chen Youren,10 the foreign minister. Intimidated by such military
men, the Central Committee put forward a resolution on splitting with the
Communists, in an attempt to drive all the faithful members out of the Party,
so as to facilitate the counterrevolutionary schemes of the military men. They
went to this extreme in their shameless betrayal of the party! The resolution
on splitting with the Communists could not be put through the Standing
Committee of the Central Committee. Now these people want to call for the
convening of a plenum of the Central Committee on August 15. In the meantime, they have already begun to make up stories and twist the facts in
Wuhan and in all the other institutions under their control. They are carrying
out a big anti-Communist propaganda campaign, in an attempt to force the
members of the Central Committee to pass their resolution, so as to cover
their illegal acts of betrayal. While witnessing all this, we know that a few
leaders in Wuhan have already willingly accepted the domination of the
military men and are selling out the party and themselves. If we still suffer
patiently and do not struggle against them, thus facilitating their schemes of
betrayal, how will we be able to explain all this to our comrades throughout
the country who have placed their great trust in us? What shall we say to the
Director General and earlier martyrs of our party? We have therefore decided, for the sake of the future of the revolution and of the party, to leave
Wuhan one after the other and to try our best to lead the comrades of the
whole country in a struggle to preserve the revolutionary legitimacy of this
party. What is more painful is that Comrade Wang Jingwei,11 who used to
hold the leading position in this party, has this time adopted a vague attitude,
has been surrounded by a bunch of bad people, and has finally yielded to the
military force of the warlords. After this, he uses a glib tongue to befuddle
the minds of the public. Having thus submitted, he makes confused and
contradictory speeches and acts in an abnormal manner. Compared to his
behavior when he first returned from abroad, all his actions now are like those of
a totally different person. When the Director General was dying, he was worried
that some leaders of this party might be won over by the soft tactics of the
enemy. Now, less than three years after the Director General's death, more than
half the old leaders of the party have been won over by the enemy. How distressing it is to think of this! When we consider the difficulties that the Director
General encountered during forty years spent in building this party, and the great
expectations placed in us by millions of revolutionary comrades throughout the
country, we cannot sit and watch the glorious history of this party ruined by a
few old leaders. We therefore solemnly declare: We have not given our consent
to all the directives and resolutions recently issued by a few members of the
Central Committee in Wuhan, falsely appropriating the name of the Central
Party Bureau, and we will not be held responsible for them. The so-called Party
Bureaus and governments in Wuhan and Nanjing have both become the tools of
the new warlords. They have misinterpreted the Three People's Principles, and
scrapped the Three Great Policies. 12 They are criminals, condemned by the
Director General and by the national revolution. By different routes, these
leaders and Chen Jiongming, 13 Yang Ximin, 14 Feng Ziyou, 15 Xie Chi, Zou
Lu, 16 and their ilk are heading toward the same end. The sacrifices of the
Northern Expedition should have brought about the full implementation of the
testament of the Director General of our party, rescued the masses of the people
from their sufferings, and liberated the workers and peasants, thus promoting the
revolutionary forces. Now the old and new warlords work hand in glove with
each other in massacring the workers and peasants and oppressing the popular masses. This will not only waste the sacrifices of the Northern Expedition
but also result in the creation of separatist warlord régimes like those that
existed before, causing war and chaos in China to come and go in endless
cycles. From now on, we have no choice but to lead the comrades of the
whole country in fighting all our lives to carry out the Director General's
testament. We dare not hesitate, for this would adversely affect the revolutionary situation as a whole. At this moment, the comrades of the whole
country should adhere to the spirit in which the Director General built this
party and struggle resolutely against those who make fraudulent use of the
revolutionary name of this party. We especially hope that the loyal commanders and soldiers, under the direction of this party, will be able to summon up the unflinching courage of the Director General and thus make it
impossible for those who have usurped the name of the Party to make use of
even one soldier. We hope they will fight to the end for the realization of the
true revolutionary program of this party. At this difficult moment, all our
comrades must unite closely, and fight for the following proposals:

1. Oppose the directives and resolutions issued in the name of the Central
Party Bureau by a few members of the Central Committee in Wuhan.
2. Uphold the Three People's Principles for building a society of the people,
by the people, and for the people, and support the Three Great Policies of
allying with Russia and with the Communist Party, and assisting the
workers and peasants. Oppose every attempt to misinterpret or to betray
the Principles and the Policies.
3. Work hard to build a new base area, so as to convene the Third National
Congress outside the spheres of the old and new warlords, to discuss the
question of concentrating the revolutionary forces and continuing the revolutionary work.
4. Before the Third National Congress is convened, the representatives from
the Provincial Party Headquarters will elect leaders trusted by the whole
Party to form a provisional leading body for the revolution.
5. Continue to fight against the imperialists, and strive for the solution of the
land problem. Totally change the weak, compromising, and excessively
accommodating attitudes of a few members of the Central Committee in
Wuhan. Correctly and bravely appeal to the general public with our revolutionary programs in order to arouse the masses.
6. Make every effort to abolish the exorbitant taxes and levies, to end all
corrupt practices, and to realize this party's positions representing the
interests of the common people.
7. Actively prepare our forces for wiping out the new-style warlords such as
Chiang, Feng [Yuxiang], and Tang [Shengzhi], who represent the forces

12. The so-called Three Great Policies listed below in the second of the proposals put
forward in this document, were advocated by Sun Yatsen in the political testament which
he endorsed on the brink of death in Beijing in 1925. Their significance has been a subject
of dispute.

--- Notes

1. As will be seen from the text, the reference is to the Central Executive Committee
of the Guomindang. Although Wang Jingwei and the leadership of the Wuhan Left had
decided on July 15 to break with the Communists, a few individuals remained committed
to the united front, the most eminent of these being Sun Yatsen's widow, whose name
heads the list at the end of this document.

2. Sun Yatsen.

3. Chiang Kaishek's coup of March 20, 1926, against the Soviet military advisers,
which led in May 1926 to a purge of Communists from senior positions in the
Guomindang.

4. Chiang Kaishek, here called by his school name Zhongzheng.
off, claiming to be above politics and worldly considerations. From then until
the spring of this year, Renegade Chiang Kaishek first sought to move the
party headquarters and the government to Nanchang, in order to achieve his
personal goal of exercising a reactionary autocracy; then he openly turned
traitor, setting up a separatist régime in the southeast, colluding with the
warlords, cruelly killing comrades, and slaughtering the masses. To ensure
the survival of the party and the state, comrades of the whole country have
initiated the movement to restore party rights. The Third Plenum of the Central Committee was also held and passed various resolutions for consolidating
the revolutionary forces. The principles and policies of this party, and the
teachings of the late Director General, are under threat and must be restored.
This movement for restoring party rights depends entirely, however, on the
united efforts of the comrades of the whole country. Only thus can a heavy blow
be dealt to Renegade Chiang Kaishek, and the future of the revolution regained.
Tang Shengzhi and other military men, however, have also seized the occasion

5. On He Jian, see the relevant note to the text of July 4, 1927.

6. Xia Douyin was the commander of the Fourteenth Independent Division. On May
13, 1927, he suddenly transferred his allegiance from the Left Guomindang to Chiang
Kaishek and moved toward Wuhan, though his attack was beaten off.

7. On Xu Kexiang, see the relevant note to the text of July 4, 1927.


8. Zhu Peide (1888-1937), zi Yizhi, was a native of Yunnan and a graduate of the
provincial Military Academy. Long associated with Sun Yatsen, he was elected to the
Guomindang Central Executive Committee in 1926 and commanded the Third Army in
the Northern Expedition. Because of a personal relationship with Zhu De, dating back to
his days at the Yunnan Military Academy, Zhu Peide opted for Wuhan at the time of the
split between Chiang Kaishek and the Guomindang Left and became governor of Jiangxi.
In May 1927, however, he began to take action against the Communists in Jiangxi, even
while supporting Wuhan against Nanjing. After the Nanchang Uprising of August 1, 1927,
Zhu Peide played an important role in the peace negotiations among conflicting
Guomindang factions.

9. On Feng Yuxiang, see the relevant note to the text of July 4, 1927.
among the masses of the workers and peasants, in accordance with our party's
resolutions regarding the peasants and the workers and the teachings of the late
Director General. Now they have been cruelly murdered in this way by the
reactionary military men, and the Central Committee in Wuhan has even accused
them of disobeying the orders of the Central Committee. Their selling out of the
party and of their comrades has reached this extreme! The teachings of the late
Director General state that the problem of "land to the tiller" should not be
solved by politics and the law. Now the Central Committee in Wuhan uses
politics and the law to protect Tang Shengzhi and the like in massacring party
members, workers, and peasants. They are even going so far as to use politics
and the law to solve the problem of massacring the peasants. Such [they claim]
was the Director General's real intention! Tang Shengzhi, He Jian, and the
like went on a rampage in Wuhan, the capital. They surrounded the Central
Party Bureau, occupied the offices of the mass organizations, robbed the

10. Commonly known in the West as Eugene Chen.

11. Regarding Wang Jingwei, see the relevant note to the text of July 4, 1927.


13. Regarding Chen Jiongming see, in Volume II, p. 228, the relevant note to Mao's
editorial of October 20, 1925.

14. Regarding Yang Ximin see, in Volume II, p. 264, the relevant note to "Announcement of the Chinese Guomindang to All Party Members Throughout the Country and
Overseas Explaining the Tactics of the Revolution," December 4, 1925.

15. Regarding Feng Ziyou see, in Volume II, p. 263, the relevant note to the text of
December 4, 1925. Although he had opposed cooperation with the Communists since
1924, Feng was discredited at this time because of his participation in the assault on, and
abduction of, two prominent Guomindang members who had come to Beijing at the end of
1925 to attend the Western Hills conference and never again enjoyed significant political
influence.

16. On Zou Lu and Xie Chi, both leading participants in the Western Hills conference,
see in Volume II, pp. 280 and 328, the notes to Mao's articles "Zou Lu and the Revolution," December 5, 1925, and "Opposition to the Right-Wing Conference Spreads
Throughout the Whole Country," January 10, 1926.