Comrades, entrusted by comrades across the nation and elected as members of the Central Committee at the First National Congress, have since been striving for the future of the National Revolution in accordance with our Party’s doctrines, policies, and the Prime Minister’s bequeathed teachings. Thanks to the concerted efforts of comrades nationwide, though the Party and the nation have passed through critical periods, we have fortunately avoided major failures. Now, the crisis facing the Party and the nation is even graver than before. Thus, we feel compelled to present the truth of recent events and the sole path of struggle for all comrades across the nation, offering this with sincerity and respect.

Looking back to the incident of March 20 last year, it became evident that a handful of ambitious individuals with military power inevitably remain in the revolutionary process, scheming to ally with counter-revolutionary forces to serve their selfish ends of bolstering their own factions within the Party. At that time, we, considering the overall interests of the revolution, hoped to advance the Northern Expedition and expand the power of the masses, believing this would ultimately curb the schemes of such ambitious individuals. Thus, for a year, we endured indignities and compromised our principles to engage with Chiang Kai-shek and his ilk, never daring to abandon the comrades nationwide, disregard the future of the revolution, or simply walk away to boast of our own moral purity. By this spring, the traitor Chiang Kai-shek first sought to relocate the Party headquarters and government to Nanchang to fulfill his reactionary and dictatorial ambitions; then he openly rebelled, carved out a separatist domain in the southeast, colluded with warlords and compradors, persecuted comrades, and slaughtered the people. In response, comrades across the nation, considering the survival of the Party and the nation, launched a movement to restore Party authority. The Third Plenary Session of the Central Committee was convened, adopting resolutions to consolidate revolutionary forces. The principles and policies of our Party, along with the Prime Minister’s bequeathed teachings, were salvaged from peril at the brink of disaster. This movement to restore Party authority succeeded only through the united efforts of comrades nationwide, dealing a heavy blow to the traitor Chiang Kai-shek and revitalizing the revolutionary cause. However, militarists like Tang Shengzhi then seized the opportunity to speculate, ostensibly supporting this movement to advance their own schemes of overthrowing Chiang while bolstering their own power. We knew full well that such militarists harbored no genuine commitment to the revolution and would inevitably harm the Party and the nation. Yet, guided by the Prime Minister’s bequeathed teachings, we could only solidify the foundations of the revolution by attracting the broad masses of peasants to participate in it. Therefore, regarding the development of the peasant movement in Hunan and Hubei and the revolutionary actions of the peasant masses to resolve land issues and establish village self-governance, we believed these should not only remain unsuppressed but also reflected the gradual realization among the broad peasantry of our Party’s principle of “land to the tiller.” With such awareness and movement, we could shatter the remnants of feudal forces and provide a concrete safeguard for our Party’s revolutionary strength and a new China of government by the people, for the people, and enjoyed by the people.

Unexpectedly, after the launch of the First Northern Expedition, He Jian, a subordinate of Tang Shengzhi, began plotting rebellion, instigating Xia Douyin and others to launch a covert attack on Wuchang and secretly ordering Xu Kexiang to disrupt Changsha. At this critical juncture, those militarists colluding with them stood by with their troops, refusing to cooperate in suppression. A few weak-willed leaders within the Central Party Headquarters, intimidated by the reactionary clamor, wavered and softened, daring not to resolutely punish the treacherous militarists. Meanwhile, in Jiangxi, Zhu Peide, seeking compromise with Chiang, expelled revolutionary elements and suppressed the workers’ and peasants’ movement. These few leaders indulged such actions with leniency, treating them as a matter of course. After Feng Yuxiang entered Henan, he openly proceeded to Xuzhou for talks with the traitor Chiang, threatening the Central authorities by telegram to dismiss all political workers in the army. These few leaders lacked the capacity to impose sanctions and merely offered hollow compliance, disrupting their own course. Under the guidance of these feeble leaders, the Central Party Headquarters completely lost its authority, relying on the whims of militarists and twisting sacred Central resolutions to serve private interests. Consequently, the arrogance of the militarists swelled immensely, and the Party and the government became mere tools of the militarists. Returning to Hunan, Tang Shengzhi arbitrarily reorganized the provincial government and Party headquarters while relentlessly pursuing a policy of massacre. Faithful and militant Party members and peasants throughout Hunan, tens of thousands in number, were butchered, with five thousand such victims in Hubei alone. Yet the Wuhan Central authorities, faced with the slaughter of these tens of thousands of comrades, dismissed them first as “mostly Communists,” then as “those disobeying Central orders and acting on their own,” and finally claimed that “land to the tiller” should be resolved “through politics and law.” Now, the facts are clear and undeniable. Among the victims in Hunan and Hubei, a portion comprised members of our Party and loyal revolutionary Communists, but over eighty percent were not affiliated with any other party. These tens of thousands of Party members, working tirelessly among the workers and peasants in accordance with our Party’s resolutions and the Prime Minister’s bequeathed teachings, have been brutally massacred by reactionary militarists. Yet the Wuhan Central authorities accuse them of violating Central orders—what utter betrayal of the Party and comrades! The Prime Minister’s bequeathed teachings did not prescribe addressing the issue of “land to the tiller” through politics and law. Yet now, the Wuhan Central authorities use politics and law to shield Tang Shengzhi and his ilk as they slaughter Party members and workers and peasants—that is, using politics and law to resolve the massacre of peasants. Is this the Prime Minister’s original intent? Tang Shengzhi and He Jian have run rampant in the capital, Wuhan, besieging the Central Party Headquarters, occupying mass organizations, looting the Central Bank, arresting Central Committee members, and searching the residences of Comrade Soong Ching-ling, wife of the Prime Minister, and Comrade Eugene Chen, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Under the threat of such reactionary militarists, the Central Party Headquarters proposed a resolution to split with the Communists, seeking to purge all loyal Party members to facilitate the counter-revolutionary schemes of the militarists—shamelessly betraying the Party to such an extreme! The proposal to split failed to pass in the Standing Committee of the Central Executive Committee, yet they still sought to convene the Central Plenary Session on August 15. Meanwhile, in Wuhan and all institutions under their control, they began fabricating and distorting facts to launch a vigorous anti-Communist propaganda campaign, attempting to coerce Central Committee members into adopting their proposed resolutions to cover up their lawless and treacherous actions.

Witnessing such circumstances, we, the undersigned, realize that a few leaders in Wuhan have willingly submitted to the coercion of militarists, betraying the Party and themselves. If we continue to endure without struggle, aiding their treacherous schemes, how can we justify ourselves to the heavy trust placed in us by comrades nationwide? How can we answer to the Prime Minister and the martyrs of our Party? Thus, we resolve to leave Wuhan successively, dedicating ourselves with all our strength to the revolution and the Party’s future, to lead comrades nationwide in preserving the orthodox line of our Party’s revolution. What is especially grievous is that Wang Jingwei, who once held a leadership position within the Party, has now vacillated amid the entrapment of a petty clique and ultimately succumbed to warlord military force. After his capitulation, he continues to speak with forked tongue, sowing confusion with contradictory words and erratic behavior. In all his actions, he bears no resemblance to the man he was upon his return from abroad. Before the Prime Minister passed away, he feared that Party leaders might be corrupted by the enemy. Now, not three years since his death, the old leaders of the Party have mostly been corrupted and lured away. To speak of this brings fathomless grief! We, reflecting on the forty years of hardship the Prime Minister endured to build the Party and the immense expectations of millions of revolutionary comrades nationwide, cannot sit idly by as the honorable history of our Party is cast aside by such a handful of old leaders. We hereby solemnly declare that all recent orders and resolutions issued in the name of the Central Party Headquarters by a few Central Committee members in Wuhan are without our consent, and we bear no responsibility for them. The so-called Party headquarters and governments in Wuhan and Nanjing have become tools of the new warlords, distorting the Three Principles of the People, abandoning the Three Great Policies, proving themselves sinners against the Prime Minister and the National Revolution, akin in nature to figures like Chen Jiongming, Yang Ximin, Feng Ziyou, Xie Chi, and Zou Lu. The sacrifices of the Northern Expedition must fulfill the bequeathed aspirations of the Prime Minister, relieving the suffering of the people, liberating the workers and peasants, and developing revolutionary forces. If, as now, old and new warlords conspire in evil, slaughtering workers and peasants and oppressing the masses, the sacrifices of the Northern Expedition will have been in vain, inevitably resulting once again in a fragmented warlord regime, plunging China into endless, cyclical warfare. From this day forward, we pledge to lead comrades nationwide, steadfastly adhering to the Prime Minister’s bequeathed aspirations and fighting to the end, never daring to waver or compromise to the harm of the revolutionary cause. At this moment, comrades nationwide must uphold the spirit in which the Prime Minister founded the Party, resolutely struggle against all who falsely claim the name of our Party’s revolution, and we especially hope that loyal soldiers under the Party’s guidance will embody the Prime Minister’s unyielding courage, ensuring that not a single soldier is exploited by those falsely invoking the Party’s revolutionary name, and fight to the end for the Party’s true revolutionary principles.

To all our comrades, in these difficult times, we must unite as one and strive for the following principles:

We believe the above to be the urgent tasks at hand. Only by the entire Party’s united and resolute struggle for these principles can the Chinese revolutionary movement have any hope of success. To all our comrades, we hope for your scrutiny.

Wu Yuzhang, Yu Shude, Yun Daiying, Enkebatu, Yang Paoan, Liu Yazi, Gao Yuhan, Xie Jin, Bai Yunti, Mao Zedong, Dong Biwu, Jiang Hao, Han Linfu, Xia Xi, Xu Suhun, Deng Yingchao, Qu Wu.

--- Notes

1. Oppose all orders and resolutions issued by the few Central Committee members in Wuhan falsely in the name of the Central Party Headquarters.

2. Uphold the Prime Minister’s Three Principles of the People—realizing a society governed by, for, and enjoyed by the people—and the Three Great Policies of alliance with Russia, cooperation with the Communists, and support for the workers and peasants; oppose all distortions or betrayals of these principles and policies.

3. Work together to secure a new base for the revolution, so as to convene a Third National Congress beyond the reach of old and new warlord forces, to discuss the concentration of revolutionary strength and the continuation of revolutionary work.

4. Prior to the Third National Congress, have representatives from provincial Party headquarters elect trusted leaders to form a provisional revolutionary leadership organ.

5. Continue the struggle against imperialism and for the resolution of the land issue, washing away the weak and compromising stance of the few Wuhan Central Committee members, and boldly and correctly champion these revolutionary principles to inspire the people nationwide.

6. Strive to the utmost to abolish exorbitant taxes and levies, eradicate all corrupt practices and abuses, and realize our Party’s principle of representing the interests of the common people.

7. Actively prepare actual forces to sweep away new warlords like Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang, and Tang Shengzhi, along with all domestic imperialist forces, the Northern warlords, and feudal society.