Instead of Attacking Changsha, Shift the Troops Southward[1]

(September 20, 1927)

The Chinese revolution cannot succeed without the gun. This Autumn Harvest Uprising, though it has suffered setbacks, counts for nothing! Victory and defeat are common occurrences for soldiers. Our armed struggle has just begun, and everything is hard at the beginning—in making revolution, we must not fear difficulties. We have the support of millions upon millions of workers and peasants. So long as we unite as one and continue to fight bravely, victory will surely be ours. Our strength now is very small, like a small stone, while Chiang Kai-shek is like a big water vat. One day, our small stone will smash Chiang Kai-shek’s big water vat. The big cities are not where we should go now. We must go to the countryside, where the enemy’s rule is relatively weak, to mobilize the peasant masses and carry out the agrarian revolution.

[1] On the morning of September 20, 1927, Mao Zedong addressed all personnel of the First Division of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Revolutionary Army on the drill ground of the Liren School, announcing the decision of the CPC Front Committee to abandon the attack on Changsha and shift the troops southward. This is part of the speech.