Fellow bandits of the green forests! Brothers on the mountains! The landlords and local tyrants have branded you as “bandits,” associating that term with the most vile, despicable, and ferocious beings. Yet these very same warlords, corrupt officials, and local oppressors can plunder tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions year after year. Meanwhile, if a bandit manages to scrape together just enough to fill his belly, he is deemed guilty of a capital offense—arrested on sight and put to death. It is an outrage that only the authorities are allowed to set fires while the common people are forbidden even to light a lamp. How unjust, how abhorrent! This defies all reason!

The Communist Party and the Red Army do not regard you as evil. The label “bandit” is merely a slander concocted by the landlords and local tyrants. But what does it matter? For you and we are both poor comrades—deprived of land to till, jobs to hold, clothes to wear, food to eat, and homes to live in. Our shared misery stems from the oppression of landlords, corrupt officials, and warlords. To strike down the landlords and resist the warlords is entirely justified; there is no need for hesitation or concern over whether one is a “bandit” or not. All must press forward with resolute action!

Nevertheless, your life is far from joyful. We fully understand your suffering. First, your forces are too small: you have few and poor-quality guns, a tiny cadre, and no military expertise, leaving you constantly under pressure from the warlords and local militias. By day you dare not show your faces, hiding deep in the mountains; at night you are busy raiding landlords, with no moment’s rest. Exposed to wind and rain, shivering in frost and dew, this is your daily lot. Though your food and drink may be slightly better than at home, you cannot move or speak freely. What agonizing hardship!

Moreover, you dare not return to your villages. Having taken to the hills and earned the infamous name of “bandits,” your families fear to harbor you. The spoils you seize from the landlords cannot be safely brought home; if the local tyrants discovered them, disaster would surely follow. Thus, while you suffer up here, your parents, brothers, wives, and children down below find no peace or happiness. Thirdly, due to your limited strength, you are relentlessly harassed by the warlords and by united militia bands. In the past, when the landlords had no guns and the warlords remained in town, seldom venturing into the countryside, you could operate more freely, raiding more landlords and sharing the loot. But times have changed: the militias now possess firearms and have constructed sturdy, high-walled fortifications. The warlords can descend upon you at any moment, forcing you to flee every three or four days, never able to catch your breath. As the landlords’ wealth dwindles and you can no longer venture far to strike new targets, should you unfortunately fall into their hands, they will show no mercy: without so much as sending a letter to your family, they will execute you on the spot. Alas! What sorrowful, infuriating fate awaits those who linger on the mountains! Your future, your very path in this world, seems utterly dim and uncertain. Even the sweetest treat grows tiresome with prolonged consumption; how much more so for you, my brothers, enduring such bitter toil in the wilds!

What, then, are your options? In our view, there are but a few: First, you might use the money gained from raiding landlords to flee to distant lands. This course is ill-advised. Along the way, militia and police patrol ceaselessly; even with wings, you could scarcely escape, let alone carry gold and silver. This path leads straight to ruin. Second, you might amass some wealth from your raids and attempt to return home, believing that operating as bandits elsewhere will spare you conflict with the locals. Yet once you rely on force to reclaim your former village, the landlords and local gentry will see you as a threat to their power. Under some pretext—perhaps alleging past crimes—they will hand you over to the county authorities for imprisonment or execution. Third, if your forces were stronger, you might compel the landlords to yield. They could not withstand your assault and might instead seek to co-opt you by inviting you to disband and rejoin the militia. This tactic is cunning indeed—a soft rope can ensnare a fierce tiger! However, since the landlords would never willingly allow you to come down from the mountains, they would devise a clever ruse to welcome you into the militia: outwardly offering clemency and absolving you of your offenses, yet secretly paying you a pittance each month to serve as watchdogs, bound by chains like domestic dogs. Fourth, if your strength were sufficient, you might be absorbed into the regular army. The Nationalist government and the warlords often employ such a strategy to pacify rebel forces. But you must never fall for it. The Nationalists are a bourgeois party, irreconcilable with us workers, peasants, and the poor. Their so-called “reorganization” of your ranks is no act of goodwill; rather, it is a sly maneuver designed to lure you into their fold before turning on you. How many former bandits have ever prospered after being thus incorporated? Furthermore, the very next day after your absorption, the landlords would likely conscript you to hunt down other bandits—essentially pitting brother against brother. This is a treacherous scheme, and you must never be deceived.

My brothers, there is but one true way out for you: join forces with the Red Army under the leadership of the Communist Party. The Red Army and the Communist Party belong to the proletariat; they strive not merely for the welfare of the poor within a single nation, but for the happiness of all humanity. Wherever we go, the Party and the Army make every effort to meet with you. By uniting with the Red Army, you will gain strength, acquire political and military skills, avoid isolation and oppression, and forge solidarity with revolutionary forces across the country—workers and peasants alike—so that you need no longer remain hidden in the mountains. The Communist Party and the Red Army are staunch allies of the poor and implacable foes of the wealthy; they will never betray your cause. Today, farmers lack land because it has been seized by the landlords; workers go hungry because wages are too meager or are siphoned off by the bosses; soldiers receive no pay because it is withheld by the warlords. We Chinese endure cold and deprivation under the yoke of the Nationalist regime and foreign imperialists. The mission of the Communist Party and the Red Army is to wrest the landlords’ estates from their grasp and redistribute them to the peasants, establishing public ownership of the land; to raise workers’ wages and prevent employers from pocketing all profits; to ensure soldiers are paid their full salaries and to overthrow the officers who steal from them; to unite the people nationwide in overthrowing the Nationalists; and to rally the global proletariat to defeat imperialism, thereby realizing freedom and equality for all.

My brothers, you possess great strength and unparalleled courage. Do not waste your valor and fighting prowess by lingering in the mountains. Unite with the Red Army and join the ongoing Great Revolution! By doing so, you will not only alleviate your own suffering but also secure land for your families. When the poor are liberated and provided with a share of the common wealth, that is a truly revolutionary achievement—worth dying for, if necessary. Come forth, my brothers! The Red Army welcomes you.

(1) Welcome fellow bandits of the green forests to join the Red Army.  (2) Welcome fellow bandits to join the Land Revolution.  (3) Bandits shall not harass workers, peasants, or other impoverished people.  (4) Bandits shall not aid the landlords; the Red Army will not spare them.  (5) Bandits shall not assist the warlords; the Red Army will not spare them.  (6) Uphold the Communist Party and overthrow the Nationalists.  (7) Long live the Land Revolution! Long live the Communist Party and the Red Army!  The Political Department of the Fourth Army