To All Soldier Comrades Throughout China, 1929: We have seven matters to set before you. Please read them carefully and reflect deeply.  First, soldiers are drawn from the ranks of the poor working people and peasants. Which of us was not born to a worker’s or a farmer’s family? Where could one find the son of a landlord or a capitalist serving as a soldier? In our homes, there was either no land to till or no work to be had; even when we did manage to cultivate the soil, the yield was barely enough to pay the landlord’s rent and the government’s taxes. Add to that mounting debts with interest upon interest, and we found ourselves unable to repay them, driven from our hearths and forced to take up arms. Others, having been dismissed by factory owners or shopkeepers, faced utter destitution, with no means of survival and no way out, so they sold their very lives for a few meager dollars each month.

Second, serving in the White Army is an existence of unspeakable suffering and oppression. At first, we knew nothing of military life. We simply followed those with wealth and power, believing that joining the army and taking up a rifle would allow us to strike back and exact vengeance. Little did we realize that we had strayed onto the wrong path, ending up in camps masquerading as the National Revolutionary Army. What these so-called revolutionaries sought above all was to crush our very spirit. They subjected us to cruel treatment, abusive language, savage beatings—even execution. A moment’s indiscretion would earn you the “gift” of a wooden cudgel or a rattan cane, perhaps two slaps across the face or a kick from a leather boot—such punishments were commonplace. As for pay, they would claim there was no money, often withholding it for seven or eight months at a stretch. When they deigned to hand out a pittance, it was usually accompanied by government bonds. Meanwhile, those regimental and divisional commanders? Go and investigate: each surely keeps thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of silver dollars stashed away in the bank. And what of the new warlord Chiang Kai-shek? The sums are far greater still. By himself, he has wired tens of millions of dollars to the United States. He maintains a luxurious foreign-style residence in the International Settlement, while his wife, Soong Mei-ling, ordered a single coat from a major Shanghai firm for thirty thousand yuan. Yet how do we live and clothe ourselves? How many of those divisional and corps commanders lack a fine house to call home? We dwell either in thatched huts or ramshackle shacks. And how does the attire of the officers compare with your tattered uniforms? They dine on Western banquets in grand restaurants, whereas your rations consist of no more than six yuan per month—a single dish. After years of warfare, the officers have all risen in rank and grown rich. But what of you? Many soldier comrades have fallen on distant battlefields, thousands of miles from home. Some leave behind aged mothers and wives who remain unaware of their fate; others never even had the chance to marry.

Third, among us soldiers, who are friends and brothers, and who are enemies? Do not aid your enemies in slaughtering your own kin and comrades. Let us examine this: Are the local tyrants, bad gentry, landlords, and capitalists truly our “friends”? Absolutely not—they are our bitter, irreconcilable foes. What of the workers who craft our tools and build our barracks, and the farmers who supply us with food and clothing? Are they our enemies? Again, absolutely not. They are our friends and brothers. Indeed, many among the working class and peasantry are our fathers, uncles, brothers, and other relatives. Can we possibly go forth to kill our own kin and friends on behalf of our enemies? Of course not—it is unthinkable. Yet too many soldier comrades remain unconvinced, deceived by the New Warlord Nationalist Party, and thus march off to assist the local tyrants, bad gentry, landlords, and capitalists in murdering their fellow workers and peasants. What a heartbreaking tragedy this is! Do you refuse to believe it? Chiang Kai-shek, who claims to champion “revolution,” personally oversaw the massacre of Ganzhou’s trade union chairman during his first Northern Expedition into Jiangxi. Upon entering Shanghai, he disarmed and dismantled the workers’ picket squads that had opened the city for him and routed Sun Chuanfang, then proceeded to execute countless workers. Xu Kexiang in Hunan, He Jian in Hubei, and Li Jishen in Guangdong all carried out similar massacres of workers and peasants. Altogether, the toll runs into hundreds of thousands. And yet they all professed to be “revolutionaries.” Whose lives, then, were they destroying? Those of the workers and peasants. But who was it that fell victim to their deception and was turned against its own people? Was it not we, the soldiers themselves? Through two Eastern Expeditions, two Northern Expeditions, and the Chiang-Kui War, countless soldiers perished. In the end, all that resulted was Chiang Kai-shek’s ascension to the throne of a new emperor, our blood spilled to fatten those man-eating beasts, our bones scattered to fortify the seat of the new warlords. Enough is enough! We have been fooled long enough! Soldier comrades in the Nationalist Army: Come to your senses! Recognize your true enemies and cease allowing yourselves to be duped. They tell you, “Fear not death; care not for pay,” yet they themselves lurk safely in the rear, amassing vast fortunes at your expense, while it is you who perish. They proclaim their “love of country and the people,” only to sell out the Jinan Massacre to Japan and cede air rights to the United States; the hundreds of thousands of workers and peasants they have slaughtered have already borne the brunt of this “love.” All national sovereignty has now been surrendered in its name. Who can deny this? Soldier comrades, wake up!

Fourth, let us ask ourselves: After years of fighting, what have we gained? Since Chiang Kai-shek betrayed the revolution, the various warlords have been locked in ceaseless struggles for territory and power. Whether victorious or defeated, they all rise in rank and grow wealthy. As for us, we merely traverse mountains and rivers, endure exposure to the elements, and are sent to die on the battlefield. Even the small allowances we receive vanish into the pockets of the officers. Those who survive are left maimed, unfit to serve the warlords any longer, and so are conscripted by the scores to labor on road construction. Those unable to perform such tasks are reduced to begging for scraps. Across vast distances, without a single copper coin to our names, how could we ever hope to return home? Moreover, the incessant wars exact ever-increasing levies and taxes, while the local tyrants intensify their exploitation, hiking rents and interest rates. Back in our villages, our parents, wives, and siblings teeter on the brink of starvation and freezing to death. In short, while the soldiers fight for the warlords and watch them climb to power and amass riches, those of us who survive are relegated to being discarded.

Fifth, when Red Army soldiers go to war, they do so in pursuit of their own liberation. Soldier comrades, it is time for you all to seek a way forward—to secure a livelihood free from suffering, to break the chains of servitude, and to see your families benefit. Only through awakening and unity can we achieve this: by eliminating the counterrevolutionary warlord officers, electing soldier comrades to leadership positions, establishing soldier committees to participate in the administration of the army, joining forces with the workers and peasants, overthrowing the oppressive local tyrants and bad gentry, expropriating the land of the landlord class and distributing it to the farmers. Only then can we usher in better days. To accomplish this, we must topple the Nationalist government and establish a Workers’, Peasants’, and Soldiers’ Representative Assembly government of our own, for only thus can we attain genuine, lasting happiness. Our Red Army is the army of the soldiers themselves—the army of the workers and peasants—an army led by the Communist Party, free from officer domination and exploitation. Officers and enlisted men receive equal pay and rations; soldier committees play a central role in army governance. It empowers us to execute counterrevolutionary officers, to confiscate land from the local tyrants and distribute it to the peasants, to overthrow the Nationalist regime, to establish a workers’, peasants’, and soldiers’ government, to eradicate the warlords, and to expel imperialist forces from China. This, indeed, is a revolutionary army.

Sixth, the Fourth Red Army has spent several years battling counterrevolution, vanquishing numerous powerful warlord factions. Two years ago, on August 1, when Chiang Kai-shek defected to the imperialists, shielding the local tyrants, bad gentry, and capitalists while ordering the slaughter of workers and peasants, we were commanded to protect our enemies and turn our guns against our own brothers—workers and peasants. Unwilling to forget the revolution and to be deceived into betraying our own kind, we rose in revolt under the leadership of the Communist Party in Nanchang and took up arms against the counterrevolutionary warlords. Over the past two years, we have campaigned across Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong, toppling many local tyrants and bad gentry, crushing numerous new warlord cliques, and setting up multiple workers’, peasants’, and soldiers’ governments.

Seventh, the Red Army soldiers welcome White Army soldiers to join the revolutionary struggle. Soldier comrades, let us unite and launch a joint offensive against our class enemies! Awaken, and you will find us ready to embrace you. Brothers! Rise together, hoist high the scarlet banner, and sing aloud: “Comrades! Hasten to build our Labor Republic! Only when the working class becomes master of the world can humanity enter the Great Harmony. We are the vanguard of the workers’ and peasants’ revolution!” Finally, we cry out: 1. All soldier comrades nationwide, turn your guns around and eliminate the counterrevolutionary officers who oppress you! 2. Nationwide soldier uprising: annihilate both old and new warlords—workers, peasants, and soldiers united! 3. Seize the land of the local tyrants and redistribute it to the farmers! 4. Overthrow the Nationalist government! 5. Defeat imperialism! 6. Establish a workers’, peasants’, and soldiers’ government! 7. Long live the success of the Chinese Revolution! Long live the success of the world revolution! The Fourth Red Army Soldier Committee