A Message to the Soldier Masses[1]

(March 27, 1929)

This army is the army of the Communist Party, the embodiment of the poor workers and peasants. We vow to struggle for the interests of the workers and peasants, so as to achieve complete liberation!

You and the workers and peasants are alike oppressed poor masses. The Guomindang, the warlords, the despotic gentry, and the landlords are your common enemies. To liberate the workers and peasants, and to liberate yourselves, we specifically call on you to rise up: carry out mutiny! Turn your guns back and strike at Zhang Zhen[2]! Turn your guns back and kill the officers who oppress you! Join the agrarian revolution and claim your share of the land!

[1] This is the main content of the "Message to the Soldier Masses" issued by Mao Zedong and Zhu De to the Guomindang's Provisional First Division.

[2] Zhang Zhen, then commander of the Guomindang army's Provisional First Division.