On the basis of the above six practical reasons, we conclude that, before a
new war among the warlords breaks out, we cannot leave Ninggang, Yongxin,
and Lianhua for southern Hunan. As soon as the bases here are somewhat consolidated, and there are some good opportunities elsewhere, the Fourth Red
Army can leave Chaling, Youxian, and Liuyang to take part in the general
insurrection in Hunan. In the meantime, every effort must be made to maintain
the network of communication with Hunan, so that the two sides can correspond
with each other and cooperate to show our strength.
We beg the Provincial Committee to give further consideration to the above
opinions and to make new decisions according to the present situation. Such is
our hope. Please allow us to present the detailed reports about the army and the
local situation later.

Border Area Special Committee
Army Committee of the Fourth Red Army
City of Yongxin, July 4
Letter of the Special Committee of
the Hunan-Jiangxi Border Area to the
Hunan Provincial Committee

(August 1928)

Hunan Provincial Committee:

1. Comrade Du [Xiujing] has arrived and we have read the letter. The Army
Committee here called an Enlarged Session on May 30, at which Comrade Du
made a report on the political situation and read out the letter of the Provincial
Committee. The Enlarged Session accepted the letter without reservation and
attached great importance to Comrade Du's report, which synthesizes the lessons
of the actual struggle in various places. The things that are mentioned in the
letter of the Provincial Committee and call for an explanation are as follows: A.
Actual strength. . . . To pool the Red efforts in the south and east of Hunan and
those in the west of Jiangxi by means of guerrilla warfare depends solely on
strength, but a reconnaissance of the enemy situation should be made before
arriving at a decision on the action to be taken. B. We also agree that it is a
mistake to organize a small group of people with few arms into independent
regiments or battalions, but this has never been practiced here. C. Our [forces]
here consist of troops under Zhu and Mao and a peasant army from southern
Hunan. Now the southern Hunan peasant army has gone to operate in its home
area. Originally it was established as the X Division; afterward, this was changed
to the X Regiment.¹ Division headquarters have now been abolished, and army
headquarters set up to exercise direct command.
2. The Provincial Committee points out that it is wrong to burn cities. We
shall never commit this mistake again.
3. The Party has been formally organized throughout the army, the form of
organization being modeled on that of the Party in the Guomindang Revolutionary Army.
4. In the past, the Southern Hunan Special Committee instructed us to orga-

Our source for this document is Jinggangshande wuzhuang geju, pp. 156-57. The same
text is reproduced in Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 2, pp. 309-10.
1. From the texts of October and November 1928 which follow, it is clear that the unit
number, omitted here, was "Twenty-ninth."