The army cries out for a worker–peasant revolution,
Its banner bears the sickle and the hammer.
We shall not tarry in the Kuanglu region;
Straight on we march toward Huxiang.
Landlords oppress us with crushing weight,
But peasants unite in common hatred.
At harvest time, evening clouds bring sorrow;
With a thunderclap, the uprising breaks forth.



[Commentary]
On April 12 and July 15, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Jingwei respectively betrayed the revolution. In response, the CPC Central Committee convened an emergency meeting in Hankou on August 7 and decided to launch an armed insurrection. Following the meeting, Mao Zedong went to the border area between Hunan and Jiangxi provinces to lead workers, peasants, and certain units of the Northern Expeditionary Army in forming a Worker–Peasant Revolutionary Army. On September 9, the Autumn Harvest Uprising was launched. This poem was composed at the very outset of the uprising.


[Notes]
(1) Kuanglu: Mount Lu.
(2) Tongchou: united in purpose and action.
(3) Evening clouds bring sorrow: a symbol of the oppressive forces weighing down upon the people and their dire living conditions.