Minutes of the First Eight Meetings of the
General Front Committee of the
First Front Army of the Red Army
(May 25-June 10, 1931)

May 25, 1931, 8:00 P.M., at the Luokou-Yanfang Headquarters¹
Participants: [Mao] Zedong, Zhu De, Lin Biao
Nonvoting Participants: [Luo] Ronghuan² and [Guo] Huayu³
radio reports, Mao Bingwen's radio station broadcast a report this evening from
Toupi, but we do not know whether or not they will move out from there. Hu
[Zuyu]'s and Xu [Kexiang]'s positions are not clear. Some peasants from
Yanfang have reported that enemy sentries had been posted in front of the
mountain. Mao [Bingwen]'s and Xu's units started to retreat from Luokou on the
morning of the 23rd but had not completely pulled out until the afternoon of the
24th. It is estimated that the enemies may concentrate today along the line from
Guangchang to Toupi, and the enemies at Toupi may concentrate tomorrow at
Guangchang City.
(one division of Mao's troops) will retreat. If we attack them with our First Army

Group, we can drive them away. But our Third Army Group is still at Wucun. If
we capture Toupi and pursue the enemy to Guangchang, the Third Army Group
is 100 li away and cannot arrive in time to provide assistance, so it will not be
easy to wipe out the enemy. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the two army
groups and attack Mao, Xu, and Hu with all our forces, and it has been decided
that tomorrow (the 26th) the entire Front Army will move to Kuzhu and concentrate there.

Second Meeting of the General Front Committee

May 26, 1931, 8:00 P.M., at the Headquarters in Kuzhu Market
to the peasants' reports, the enemies at Toupi have already retreated, and
there are three divisions of enemy troops at Guangchang. There is no news
from the radio. We estimate that the whole of the enemy forces could all
converge at Guangchang City, and it appears they may retreat to Nanfeng via
Qianshan.

Ganzhu. Provided that Lu Xiaochen⁸ has not concentrated his whole division
(three regiments) together and prepared to defend it resolutely, the Third Army
could very well seize Nanfeng City, so that Mao, Xu, and Hu, when they are
defeated and forced to retreat, will have no alternative but to return to Fuzhou.
Thus, several more xian towns will be available to us for fund-raising. The rest
of the troops will be divided into two routes to attack Guangchang, the Fourth
Army constituting the left wing and the Twelfth Army the right, while the Third
Army Group will be the general reserve force. The Fourth and Twelfth Armies
should dispatch one regiment each to move forward tonight at 1:00 A.M. as the
advance force, lest the enemies escape.
Luokou, there is a transit station for wounded soldiers, under the responsibility of
the Eastern Branch Committee. At Kuzhu, the wounded soldiers will be taken
care of by their respective clinics. The bulky baggage and the staff will be
transported to Kuzhu to await further orders.

May 28, 1931, 8:00 P.M., while resting in Guangchang City
Participants: [Mao Ze]dong, [Zhu] De, [Peng De]huai, [Lin] Biao, and Lin [Ye]⁹
Nonvoting Participants: [Guo] Hua[ruo], [Yuan Guo]ping,¹⁰ [Luo Rong]huan,
and [Luo Bing]hui
27th. Not until 9:00 in the evening of that day did we break through the fortifications. By then, the enemy units under Hu and Xu had already entirely retreated
from Nanfeng. Though we suffered four hundred casualties dead and wounded,
and captured very few guns, the wounding of the commander of an enemy
division, Hu Zuyu, and the seizure of the city of Guangchang (Hu is severely
wounded and may die) have created a more favorable situation for the whole
battle.
(the 26th) Mao Bingwen crossed the river and retreated to Nanfeng. Hu and Xu began to retreat yesterday morning, and by last night at 9:00 they had withdrawn
completely. Hu Zuyu was wounded by our side, and we estimate that the enemy
must necessarily retreat and defend Nanfeng.
the Twelfth Armies and the Third Army Group should divide up to raise funds in
Jianning, Taining, and Lichuan. If Mao, Xu, and Hu leave Nanfeng City, then we
can occupy the four xian of Nanfeng, Yihuang, Lichuan, and Jianning and raise
funds.
responsible for the wounded, and the local governments should provide assistance in the form of stretchers to transport the wounded to the Xiaobu Hospital
via Kuzhu.
those units that attack the local bullies will still get 1 jiao a day as their food
allowances; units that do not have the opportunity to attack the local bullies
(because they are harassing the enemy troops at Xingguo or are located at the
rear hospital...) should get 1.5 jiao as soon as funds are available.
As soon as funds have been raised, the troops can get pocket money twice in
June, 1 yuan each time.
The Conference of the General Front Committee has decided that we will get
a day of rest at Lixin tomorrow (May 30th) and that the Third Army Group will
dispatch one division to wage guerrilla warfare in the direction of Jianning.

May 30, 1931, 8:00 P.M., at the Headquarters in Lixin
Participants: [Mao Ze]dong, [Zhu] De, [Peng De]huai, and Tan [Zhenlin]

Nonvoting Participants: [Guo] Hua[ruo], [Yuan Guo]ping, [Zuo] Quan,¹² and
[Luo Bing]hui.

moving toward Jianning behind the Third Army Group at 8:00 tomorrow morning. The Thirty-fourth Division should stay in Lixin with the division headquarters and one regiment deployed near Lixin, and one regiment stationed in
Guiyang. One company should also be sent forward to Shuinan and Guangchang
for liaison, and another regiment should be stationed between Lixin and Kangdu
to maintain contact with the Fourth Army. Their duties are (1) to establish the
work, (2) to raise funds (each regiment needs to raise 1,000 yuan a day), (3) to
maintain communications with the rear, and (4) to purchase 300 jin of saltpetre¹⁵
within three days, and on the fourth day ship them to the front.

May 31, 1931, at 9:00 P.M., at the Headquarters of the Third Army Group
outside the western gate of Jianning City
Participants: [Mao Zedong, [Zhu] De, [Peng De]huai, and Lin [Biao]
Nonvoting Participants: [Yuan Guo]ping and [Guo) Hua[ruo]

advance and occupy Lichuan with a major force and attack in the direction of

Nancheng, to coerce the enemy into giving up Nanfeng, and even Yihuang, and
Nancheng. Thus we can get Jianning, Lichuan, Nanfeng, Nancheng, Yihuang,
and such xian seats as Le'an, Yongfeng, and Jishui. The West Route Army to the
west of the [Gan] River should move toward Xiajiang and occupy it. Consider-ing that Liu has been defeated by our Sixteenth Army, and Han Deqin20 captured
by our Seventh Army (see the enemy's radio report), it will not be easy for Luo
Lin's lone army21 to defend Ji'an by itself. During the first stage of our work, it
is therefore possible that Ji'an can be seized.

The Third Army Group should reorganize its forces and appoint additional
cadres tomorrow and hold an activists' meeting the day after tomorrow. The
Twelfth Army should hold its activists' meeting tomorrow and make reports.
The tasks for work in the locality are (1) to distribute land, (2) to organize Red
Guard regiments and guerrilla bands, (3) to establish political power, and (4) to
establish the Party. The tasks concerning the army itself are (1) to raise funds,
(2) to intensify political, military, and Party training, and (3) to expand the Red
Army.
we have obtained this time is a large quantity of Western medicines. In addition
to the 15 to 16 dan of medicines captured by Headquarters from the medical
units of two regiments, the dispensaries of two other medical units from divi- sional and army hospitals have also been captured and are now being guarded by
troops sent from the Third Army Group. All of these will be collected tomorrow
(probably enough for a half-year's supplies). Except for whatever is needed for
the wounded soldiers here, the rest should be inventoried, clearly recorded, and
handed over to Headquarters, which will in turn dispatch specialists to transport
them to the Eastern Branch Committee 24 for storage and later distribution to the
various hospitals.
last battle, the casualties of the Third Army Group were no more than three
hundred soldiers. The Twelfth Army had about thirty wounded. They are being
taken care of for the time being by the army hospitals set up by the Twelfth
Army's medical department (under these circumstances, they can get at least one
month's treatment). When the army hospital of the Third Army Group arrives,
they will be responsible for all the wounded. All those who are injured so
severely that they will not be able to recover within a month should be transferred to the rear whenever it is convenient to transport them.
expand the Red Army, none of the captives should be let go and all of them
should be recruited into the Red Army. The number is approximately
3,000. Apart from the 1,500 to be kept by the Third Army Group, the other
1,500 will be recruited into the Fourth and Twelfth Armies. These captives
should be immediately assigned to various divisions for training. In the course of
training, the undesirable ones will be picked out and sent away.
than two thousand guns, as well as other booty, has been captured. All of it will
be transported to the rear under the responsibility of the Twelfth Army, but the
troops should keep what they themselves need. Each company should carry
ninety guns with it, regardless of how many men it has.
tured two mountain cannons. One will be kept by the Third Army Group. With
the one they already have, a mountain cannon company can be formed. The
other one will be sent to the rear, and with the addition of the two obtained in
Jiuyuanling and Baisha, a mountain cannon company can be formed in the First
Army Group.
staff and equipment, and uniformity of training, the radio team of the Front
Army should be set up as an independent system. It has been decided to set up a
radio team for the Front Army headquarters, under which there will be four
subdivisions. The personnel, telegraph machines, and so on will be evenly dis- tributed. The headquarters radio station is, however, of foremost importance;
next comes the one belonging to the Third Army Group; then the rear unit; and
then the one attached to the Seventh Army west of the [Gan] River. As for the
specifics of the distribution and acquisition of personnel and equipment, and the
plans for the second radio training class, they will be drafted and put forward by
the staff office.
staff to take responsibility for management and supervision, the base hospitals
have been very inadequate. Especially since the AB Corps developed in a big
way, our wounded comrades have been afraid of going to the base hospital for
treatment. 25 From now on, in order to facilitate supervision and management,
each army should run its own base hospitals. The general hospital will only
accept the seriously wounded (those who cannot recover within a month) and
those with difficult illnesses. All medication should, however, be distributed or
allocated by the general hospital. Two months from now, after most of the
wounded and sick soldiers in the branch hospitals have been discharged, all the
personnel of the branch hospitals, apart from those who return to their original
armies, must be investigated thoroughly by the general hospital. Those who are
free from any suspicion of involvement in the AB Corps will be allocated to the
various armies.
company leader and a political commissar from the Third Army Group were
suspected of being Reorganization Clique [members). They retreated from the
front without orders, let the defeated enemy escape, and held unauthorized meetings to elect a regimental commander and a political commissar. Another conspirator had concocted rumors on the battlefield and thereby weakened the
army's morale. We plan to execute him by firing squad after trial. Another
commander of a special task regiment (tewu tuan) from the Twelfth Army took
his troops with him to search [X] mountain without an order. Later, when he was
ordered to be transferred [to another assignment), he did so only after the time
limit set and thus was unable to fulfill his duties. Another regimental commander
did not obey orders when fighting at Shaxi; he hesitated and did not advance,
and therefore merits dismissal. Yet another platoon leader concocted rumors at
the front and likewise merits dismissal. In order to maintain the Red Army's iron
discipline and to facilitate the accomplishments of our political tasks in battle,
such people who have violated discipline in time of battle need to be severely
punished. The means of punishment should be proposed and approved by the
Front Committee of the Third Army Group and the Military Committee of the
Twelfth Army. In addition, they should submit reports to the General Headquar- ters, and when the Third Army Group and the Twelfth Army enforce discipline,
they should call together all commanders and fighters and proclaim the facts to
them.

Sixth Meeting of the General Front Committee

June 2, 1931, 9:00 P.M., at the Headquarters outside of Jianning City
Participants: [Mao Ze]dong, [Zhu] De, [Peng De]huai, Lin [Biao], [Yuan
Guo]ping, [Deng] Ping, 26 [Guo] Hua[ruo], [Zuo] Quan, and Yang [Lisan]
have retreated to Yongfeng and Jishui, Sun Lianzhong has retreated to Yihuang,
and Jiang and Cai withdrew from Xingguo to Ganzhou on the 30th. Zhu, Mao,
Hu, and Xu's divisions are still in Nanfeng. 27 The armies opposed to Chiang
(Kaishek) from Guangdong and Guangxi are eager to move into Hunan. Chiang
is obliged to deal with Guangdong and Guangxi first, and therefore it is possible
that he will assume a defensive role toward us. Consequently, our actions during
the first stage should still follow the original plan and consist in raising funds to
the north, mobilizing the masses, enlarging the soviet areas, and seeking to
capture such xian seats as Nanfeng, Nancheng, and Yihuang. The goal of this
stage is to see that these tasks are carried out more satisfactorily. Therefore, if the
enemy retreats from Nanfeng, the entire Third Army Group should move into
Lichuan and threaten Nancheng, the Fourth Army should enter and occupy
Nanfeng City, and the Third Army should enter and occupy Yihuang and the
area to the west of Nanfeng. The Twelfth Army should remain at Taining and
Jianning. If the enemy defends Nanfeng, Nancheng, Fuzhou (Linchuan), and
even Yihuang, the Third Army Group should keep one division in Taining and
the rest in Lichuan. As for the division that is stationed in Taining, it should
deploy one regiment between Tai[ning] and Li[chuan], one regiment between
Tai(ning) and Jian[ning), and the rest in the city. In the first stage, the Third
Army Group does not want Hengcun, but only the Tai[ning]-Li[chuan] road. It
should enter the area between Lichuan and Xiaoshi with one of its divisions,
build a bridge, and wage guerrilla war in the direction of Xiaoshi. One division
should be deployed at Lichuan City and one at Hufang, with one remaining in

Taining. Its main headquarters should be at Lichuan City. If the enemy defends
Nanfeng and Nancheng and refuses to advance, then the Third Army Group
should keep to the right, toward Guanze, Shaowu, and Taining; the Twelfth
Army's affiliated troops should be stationed to the northwest of Jianning City;
the Thirty-fourth Division in the country to the west; the Thirty-sixth Division in
the country to the east; and the Fourth Army between Nanfeng, Lichuan, and
Jianning. If the enemy advances, we will refrain from fighting, but keep to the
right (we will, however, fight again when we have concentrated our forces).
Until the enemy retreats, the Third Army should be deployed within the right
angle of Nanfeng-Baishe and Nanfeng-Dongpi, to block the routes of Zhu and
Sun 28 and to carry out fund-raising work in this area. The Headquarters is
with the Fourth Army. It has been decided that the Thirty-fifth Army will
move to Ruijin to receive important supplies from western Fujian, to keep
transportation open between Fujian and Jiangxi, and to wipe out the bandit
Wu Wensun. 29 The 103rd and 105th regiments of the Thirty-fifth Division
will be sent back to Jianning and return to the administrative system of the
Twelfth Army.
In the second stage, the areas in which the various armies will operate are as
follows:
Third Army Group-Dayu, Suichuan, Shangyou, Chongyi, Taihe (west of the
[Gan] River), and Wan'an (west of the [Gan] River)
Fourth Army Group-Huichang, Xunwu, Anyuan, and Xinfeng
Third Army-Yudu, Taihe (east of the river), Nankang, and Ganxian
Twelfth Army-Jianning, Ninghua, Tingzhou, Ruijin, Shicheng, and
Guangchang
Right now, the Twelfth Army may dispatch a regiment to the new area to
make work arrangements. After the enemy retreats from Nanfeng, the Third
Army Group may send a division to the new areas to prepare for work. Similarly,
the Third and Fourth armies may each send a portion of their troops to the new
territories at the appropriate time to make preparations.
The work of the three stages remains, as decided before, to move northward
during the first stage, eastward during the second, and westward during the third.
The work of the first stage will not take longer than two months at most.
There are four items of work directed toward the outside: (1) to establish guerrilla bands quickly, (2) to distribute the land quickly, (3) to set up soviets, and
(4) to establish the Party and the [Youth] League. Internally, there are three tasks: (1) to raise 1,000,000 yuan for the expenses of the third stage in the war, in
addition to funds for our food; (2) to strengthen military training, technical
training, political training, and Party and League training; and (3) to increase the
numbers of the Red Army by 30,000.
The central task of the work during the entire three stages is to prepare for the
military operations during the third stage, with southern Jiangxi as the heart of
the action.
a. Because of the need to expand the work here, Comrade Mao will not
go to Longgang for the time being.
b. Comrade Zuo Quan is the chief of staff. He is sent to the rear as the
special commissioner of the General Headquarters. His commissions
are (1) to deal with all wounded soldiers, Western medicine, the base
hospital, prisoners of war, weapons, and so on, and (2) to direct the
organization, training, and operations of the local armed forces.
a. On a former occasion, the Fourth Army burned down a whole street
when burning a local bully's house in Shuinan. Compensation is to be
paid for this by the Twelfth Army on the Fourth Army's behalf, and
the political department of the Fourth Army will issue a proclamation.
b. The Fourth Division arbitrarily confiscated the "Sui'an Chinese and
Western Hospital" in Jiancheng. We must investigate, punish, and
issue warnings. In future, we must not confiscate Western medical
dispensaries or hospitals. We should pay them in cash for Western
medicine when we buy it.
and used by the Third Army Group, the Western medicine obtained this time and
handed over to General Headquarters amounts to 25 dan. Of it, two-thirds of
each of the drugs important for treating wounds, such as iodine tablets, iodoform,³¹ and alcohol, should be kept at the Headquarters clinic, and one-third sent
to the rear and handed over to the Central Bureau. Within ten days to half a
month, the essential drugs should be distributed to the branch hospitals, under
the responsibility of Comrade Zuo Quan.
with it, even if it does not have enough people [to use them].

Seventh Meeting of the General Front Committee
June 4, [1931], at Kangduyu
Participants: Mao [Zedong], Zhu [De], Lin [Biao]
Nonvoting Participants: Luo [Ronghuan] and Guo [Huaruo]

Questions regarding the deployment of the various units:
Fourth Army: Whether the enemy retreats from Nanfeng or not, you should
still follow the deployment plan below, but only three days after the Third Army
Group reaches Lichuan (i.e., you should move on the 9th).

One division for Shanghang, Xiping, Xialiu, Dongping, and Zhaosa.
One division for Xiaqiao, Dongtan, Zhongxian, and Longan.
One division for Dayangkeng, Shigoucun, Shuangtian, and Hetian.
One division for Hengcun, Zhangcun, Xichengqiao, Guishang, Guixia,
Shucheng, and Zhouping.
The army headquarters should be located at Dayangkeng.

One division of the Third Army should be deployed along the line of Shishan
Market, Dangkou, and Dongpi, and another along the line of Yanhe, Yubaishe,
Jiyaoshi, and Sankeng.

The unit directly subordinate to the army and one other regiment should be
deployed along the line of Dapaishang, Yangmeizhai, and Sanxiyu.
After the Fourth Army goes into action, its headquarters should move to
Xichengqiao.

Eighth Meeting of the General Front Committee
June 10, [1931], in the evening, at the General Political Department
Participants: Mao [Zedong], Zhu [De], Zhou [Yili]32
Nonvoting Participants: Yang [Lisan] and Guo [Huaruo]

1. The current political situation and its assessment:
The economy of the Guomindang government is suffering a crisis, and the
finances of the various provinces still cannot be unified. Guangdong and
Guangxi have set up a military government. Wang, Li, and Bai have arrived in
Guangzhou, 33 and have sent the Guangxi Army to Guilin, obviously with the intention of attacking Hunan. He Jian hurried back to Changsha to deploy his
troops. Zhang [X]³⁴ could not get any money, returned to Beiping, and again
called together all the leaders of the northwestern armies for a meeting. Wang
Jinyu and Ran Zhaochang have both found some excuse to go to Beiping. In
the meantime, under present circumstances, the First Army has not failed,
and the White army pursuing our Second Army Group will also have to stop
because of the problem of Guangdong and Guangxi. The warlord armies in
Jiangxi, in particular, have been completely defeated. Chiang Kaishek has
concealed the news of the Red Army's victory. All this proves that the chaotic fighting among the warlords will not stop because of the Red Army's
victory and will certainly break out very quickly in Hunan in the vicinity of
Chang[sha] and Heng[yang]. Under these conditions, the Red Army will assuredly soon expand greatly everywhere. On the other hand, there is a possibility that Chiang Kaishek may give up Shaanxi, Henan, and Shandong to
shorten his lines of defense. In the future, he might retreat and defend various
points such as Xuzhou, Wushengguan, Changsha, and Nanchang (in Jiangxi
he would retire to Nanchang, Fuzhou, and Ji'an), and even if Chiang is
defeated, he will never surrender. But even if he compromises with the north
and moves some troops southward, he still cannot finish off either Zhang
Xueliang and the Guangxi clique or the revolutionary forces. Therefore, at
present it is only by moving northward that we can encourage Guangdong
and Guangxi to come out and fight. It will be two months before our main
force will have been deployed in southern Jiangxi. At present, the Red Guard
regiments and the Eighth Division should work toward southern Jiangxi. The
rest of the armies should each send a small portion of troops to work in the
new territory a month from now.
2. The division of labor in the Front Committee:
Organization—Zhou Yili.
Propaganda—Comrade Gu Bo³⁵ will be transferred from the rear.
Secretary General—Guo Huayu.
3. The question of setting up a Management Office:
In order to coordinate and inspect the military supplies at the front, a Manage-

Hanmin to the resolution of April 1931 endorsing the line of the International, this separatist régime survived until the Japanese aggression of September 1931 required all Chinese
political leaders to give priority to national unity and survival.

ment Office has been set up in the Front Army. Comrade Yang Lisan will
concurrently be the head of this department, and Comrade Li Jinwen³⁶ will be
military supplies officer.
in the second half of May:
Starting from June 15, the Red Army troops in the rear will get 1 jiao 5 fen each
for their food, and those at the front, 1 jiao; as for pocket money, each person will
get 1 yuan on June 15th and another yuan on July 1st. The letter-carriers and a small
number of people running errands will get 2 jiao for food per person.
5. The problem of transferring money:
All armies should dispatch a special team to escort the money all the way to
the Management Department of the Central Revolutionary Army Committee at
Junbu.
Orders will be issued regarding the above three items.
6. The question of work in the Eastern Route:
Le'an should consider Zhaoxi and Wangxian as its main work area.
Yihuang should consider Dongpi, Dangkou, and Xinfeng City as its main
work area.
Nanfeng should consider Sanxi, Sankeng, Fenglin, Dudianqian, and Kangdu
as its main work area.
Guangchang should consider Baishui, Shuinan, Toupi, Ganzhu, Fufeng, and
Qianshan as its main work area.
The 105th Regiment should work at Guangchang.
7. The question of propaganda:
a. Running the Red Army Newspaper
b. Reviewing the old slogans and issuing new ones
c. Formulating the morning and evening roll-call slogans
d. Drafting the outlines for propaganda (the political situation and our
tasks)
A conference will be called on the 20th to include the Front Committee
secretary of the Third Army Group, Comrade Lin Biao of the Fourth Army,
Comrade [Cai] Huiwen of the Third Army, Comrade [Tan] Zhenlin of the
Twelfth Army, and Comrades [Xie] Weijun and Long Pulin³⁷ of the Eastern
Branch Committee.³⁸ As soon as these individuals have returned, they should be sent out to conduct an inspection; afterward, they should come to the conference
to discuss the conference agenda, fund-raising, and mass work (during this work
they should order these two booklets). Units should be moved only after the
conference.
9. The problem of political communications:
Several dozen copies of the main points of important documents, some publishable resolutions, and some important political news should be reproduced at
irregular intervals.
10. The work in Fujian:
The main direction in which the work of the Red Army is developing in
western Fujian should not be toward Zhangzhou and the East River, but rather
toward places such as Tingzhou, Liancheng, Guihua, Ninghua, and Qingliu xian,
for only thus can it be linked to southeastern Jiangxi and the Twelfth Army
enlarged. (The General Front Committee will send a letter to western Fujian.)

---

Notes

Our source for these materials is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 3, pp. 265-80, where they
are reproduced from a documentary collection published in China in 1979. A version that
differs in some respects can be found in Jiangxi dangshi ziliao, Vol. 18, pp. 113-27.
or Toubei), prominently mentioned in the text, is not far to the southeast in western
Guangchang xian. The first several of the meetings whose minutes are recorded here were
held in various places in the Ningdu-Guangchang area.
political commissar at various levels.
1925 while at the Whampoa Academy. After studying in the Soviet Union in 1927-1928,
he rose to become chief of staff first of the Fourth Red Army and then of the First Front
Army. He is here referred to by his alternative name of Huayu.
military officer and Whampoa graduate who joined the Communist Party in 1927. After
serving with Peng Dehuai in the Fifth Army, he became commander of the Sixth Army in
early 1930 and commander of the Third Army in late 1930.
Party in 1926, fought on the Jinggangshan, and served as a political commissar in the
Fourth Army and, after June 1930, in the Third Army.
Nationalist army officer. While serving as a militia leader in Ji'an in 1929 he joined the
Communist Party and later led his troops off to join the Red Army; in 1931 he was
commander of the Twelfth Red Army.
7. I.e., the Second Encirclement and Suppression Campaign.
identifies the participant named "Lin" as Lin Ye. Lin (1902-1934), a native of Longyan in
Fujian, was a Whampoa graduate who joined the Red Army in mid-1929 and became
Twelfth Army chief of staff in mid-1930.
Party in 1925; by 1929 he was a member of the Hunan-Hubei-Jiangxi Special Committee,
and in 1930 he became head of the Political Department of the Third Army Group.
11. Jianning is a xian in Fujian adjacent to Guangchang.
¹² Zuo Quan (1905-1941), was a native of Liling in Hunan. A Whampoa graduate,
he joined the Communist Party in 1925, then studied in the Soviet Union for several
years. In mid-1930, he returned to China and came to the Central Soviet Arca, serving at
the Red Army academy and commanding the New Twelfth Army in Fujian before becoming head of the Revolutionary Military Commission's staff office in May 1931.

¹³ Liu Heding commanded the Fifty-sixth Division of the Nationalist Sixth Army.
¹⁴ I.e., resisting the upcoming Third Encirclement and Suppression Campaign.
¹⁵ For making gunpowder.
¹⁶ Zhu Yunqing (1903-1931), native of Meixian in Guangdong, was a Whampoa
graduate who joined the Communist Party in 1925. He held various positions in the
Fourth Army during the Jinggangshan struggle, and afterward was successively chief of
staff of the Fourth Army, First Army Group, and First Front Army. He died in Donggu.
where he joined the Communist Party in 1921. After two periods of study in the Soviet
Union, he went to the Central Soviet Arca in late 1930 and served on the staff of the
Central Revolutionary Military Commission until becoming political commissar of the
Fifth Army Group at the end of the year. No biographical information is available regarding Liu Nankui and He Jinrong. Li Zhuoran (1899-1989), a native of Xiangxiang in
Hunan, joined the Communist Party in 1923. After guerrilla work on the Jiangxi-Hunan
border, he joined the Fifth Army and rose to division commander; in 1931 he commanded
the First Division of the Third Army Group.
Party in 1927, and fought in the Red Army on the Jinggangshan. By late 1930 he was a
staff officer in the First Front Army's General Headquarters. We have not located biographical information on Lin Deqing or Wang Guozhong.
Army's Seventy-seventh Division.
from Nanfeng to Nancheng.
specifically mention an "Eastern Branch Committee"; instead, it says the "Regional Committee" (qu wei). We have no way of determining which of these versions is correct.
cadres were under investigation around this time, and this probably accounts for the
comments here. See Chen, "The Futian Incident," p. 25.
ity of confusion in Chinese. Deng Ping (1908-1935), a native of Fushun in Sichuan,
joined the revolution in 1927 and fought with the Red Fifth Army; by 1930 he was Third
Army Group chief of staff and concurrently Fifth Army commander.
the Second Encirclement Campaign: Fifth Route Army forces of Hao Mengling and Guo
Huazong; Twenty-sixth Route Army forces of Sun Lianzhong; Nineteenth Route Army
forces of Jiang Guangnai and Cai Tingkai; and Sixth Route Army forces of Zhu
Shaoliang, Mao Bingwen, Hu Zuyu, and Xu Kexiang.
Lianzhong, mentioned above at the beginning of this paragraph.
participated in the Second Encirclement Campaign, Wu Wensun is probably a petty local
Fujianese warlord.
Central Bureau in Shanghai.
iodoform (CHI3). It is not clear why Mao has placed the number si ("four") in front of this
compound, but he is probably referring to iodoform, which was in common use as an
antiseptic in the 1930s.
in 1924. After serving on the Hunan Party Committee and the Henan Party Committee, in
1930 he joined the Central Committee's Yangzi River Bureau and was sent as an emissary to
the First Front Army headed by Mao. In May 1931, he became a commissar in that army.
1926-1927 period. Li and Bai are Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, two major military leaders
of the Guangxi clique, who had participated in 1930 in the alliance against Chiang
Kaishek organized by Yan Xishan and Feng Yuxiang. All three of these men were involved in the establishment of a new anti-Chiang National Government in Guangzhou on
June 1, 1931, of which Wang was named premier. As indicated above in the note on Hu
1925, and was active in Party organizing work in Xunwu until leaving to work with the
Fourth Army after helping Mao conduct the "Xunwu Investigation" in 1930. In 1931 he
was serving in the secretariat of the First Front Army's General Front Committee.
fought on the Jinggangshan, and served as a political commissar in the Fourth Army. In
1931, he headed the Southwest Jiangxi Special Committee's Eastern Route Subcommit-tee. No biographical information on Long Pulin has been located.
ji. Bujuan, has been taken from the text as it appears in Jiangxi dangshi ziliao, Vol. 18, p.
127.

--- Notes

First Meeting of the General Front Committee


Participants: [Mao Zedong, [Zhu] De, Lin [Biao], [Peng De]huai, and [Huang
Gong]lue.⁴
Nonvoting Participants: [Cai Hui]wen,⁵ [Luo Rong]huan, [Luo Bing]hui,⁶ and
[Guo] Hua[ruo]
enemy is still in Guangchang City, if we followed our original plans to go to
Nanfeng City, the enemy would be behind us, and this would be inconvenient for
our operations. Therefore, we should first seize Guangchang City, driving Mao,
Xu and Hu to retreat, and thus obtaining a more favorable position for victory in
the second battle.⁷ Thereafter, we should pursue all our enemies furiously, forcing them to give up Nanfeng City, so as to facilitate our fund-raising activities in
the future. Tomorrow the Third Army will move quickly toward Nanfeng via


Third Meeting of the General Front Committee
with Hu and Xu and attack Nanfeng (the bridges have already been destroyed by
the enemy and are now being rebuilt). Strategically and topographically speaking, we should first pursue Liu Heding to seize the city of Jianning¹¹ before he
does, so as to facilitate our future fund-raising. Consequently, the Fourth Army
should stay at Guangchang today temporarily to take care of the wounded and
reorganize the troops. It should only dispatch the Tenth Division to pursue and
attack Hu and Xu, on the principle of not confronting them but pursuing them to
the vicinity of Qianshan. The rest of the army should go to attack Jianning. The
Third Army Group must immediately cross the river and advance toward Jian-ning. On the first day they should reach the vicinity of Shuinan (50 li from
Guangchang), and on the next day (the 29th) they should move to within 15 to
20 li from Lixin and camp there in preparation for the attack on Jianning City on
the third day. The Twelfth Army should follow the General Headquarters and
march behind the Third Army Group. After Jianning is occupied, the Fourth and

Fourth Meeting of the General Front Committee
Liu Heding's¹³ troops in Jianning City. They cannot have imagined that our main
forces would get here so incredibly fast. But today the enemy has not yet moved
forward. Given that the entire enemy front line has failed, we can estimate that if
Liu Heding does not retreat, he will have to defend the city. Since we need to
plan for raising funds for the third phase battle¹⁴ and for the overall combat
situation, we very much need to seize Jianning City, for only thus can we expand
to the three xian of [Jianning,] Lichuan, and Taining to raise funds. Consequently
it has been decided that if the enemy does not leave the city, we will use the
Third Army Group as the assault force to attack the city. We will plan for an
assault lasting seven days. We need to dig tunnels and blow them up with
gunpowder. (Gunpowder should be collected by the unit of the Twelfth Army in
Lixin. It must collect at least 300 jin within three days and take it to the front for
use on the fourth day.) The Twelfth Army (except for the Thirty-fourth Division)
is the reserve force for attack on the city. It should follow the Headquarters,
has died in a hospital in the rear.¹⁶ His former position is now filled temporarily
by Comrade Guo Huaruo. Comrade Zuo Quan is now the acting chief of staff. We
must circulate an order informing all departments concerning this.
[Front] Committee: Four members of the subcommittee of the General [Front]
Committee, Liu Bojian, Liu Nankui, He Jinrong, and Li Zhuoran, have left
here. 17 Three members should be added to the subcommittee. It has been decided
that Zuo Quan, Yang Lisan, and Lin Deqing will be added, with Wang
Guozhong still serving as the acting secretary. 18


Fifth Meeting of the General Front Committee
met us in battle this time was that he did not know our main force had arrived.
Similarly, when we dispatched the Third Army directly to Nanfeng on the 27th,
He Yingqin and Zhu Shaoliang thought that our main force was still attacking
Nanfeng, and only one unit was attacking Guangchang. Therefore, they changed
their original plan of keeping the three divisions of Mao, Xu, and Hu to defend
Guangchang and bringing Liu Heding's main force and Zhou Zhiqun' to hurry
to the relief of Guangchang. Instead, they asked Mao, Xu, and Hu to withdraw to
Nanfeng and kept Liu and Zhou in the original positions to keep watch. Thus we
have obtained final victory in the second phase of the battle. This time we have
repulsed Liu Heding's four regiments, probably wiping out over three regiments,
and captured more than two thousand guns, as well as enough Western medical
supplies to supply the entire army for half a year and one radio. All this was
completely beyond the enemy's expectations. Under these circumstances, and
taking into account also the seriousness of the Guangdong problem, we should
hold meetings to deal with matters after the battle, and to allow the soldiers to
recuperate, starting from tomorrow (June 1), we will rest here for two days. On
June 3, the Third Army Group will send its Sixth Division to work and raise
funds in Taining. The remainder will enter Lichuan. The Twelfth Army will still
be stationed along the line from Jianning to Guiyang to raise funds, work, and
deal with matters in the rear of Jianning (such as wounded soldiers, booty, and so
on). After the Thirty-fifth Division reaches Jianning, the Twelfth Army should
send troops into Jianning to take over the Sixth Division's work. If the enemy
leaves Nanfeng, we should deploy the Third Army Group in Lichuan, Zixi,
Xiaoshi, and so on, that is, in the general area to the east of the river between
Lichuan and Nancheng. The Fourth Army should be deployed between the river
from Nancheng to Lichuan, and the river from Nancheng to Nanfeng22 (including Nanfeng City). The Third Army should raise funds in the area to the west of
the river from Nancheng to Nanfeng. The Twelfth Army [should take up a
position] along the line from Jianning to Taining. 23
epithet rather than a name.


--- Notes

1. Available information regarding the situation of the enemy: According to

2. Questions regarding our operations: It appears that the enemies at Toupi

1. Available information regarding the situation of the enemy: According

3. Questions regarding the rear: The rear hospital is set up in Xiaobu. At

1. The results of the attack on the city: We began to attack the city on the

2. Available information regarding the enemy: Already day before yesterday

4. Arrangements in the rear: The Fourth Army should send people to be

5. The question of food allowances and pocket money: When raising funds,

3. The problem of collecting Western medicines: The most valuable booty

4. The problem of wounded soldiers: It is estimated that in the course of this

5. The question of prisoners of war. In view of the present urgent need to

6. The question of weapons and booty: On this occasion, something more

7. The question of the organization of the artillery: This time we have cap-

8. The question of a radio team: For the sake of convenience in allocating

9. The question of the base hospitals: Because of the lack of specialized

10. The question of discipline on the battlefield: During this last battle, a

1. Questions regarding our operations: At present, Hao's and Guo's divisions

2. Questions regarding the telegram from the Central Bureau: 30

3. Questions regarding mistakes made in the line for mass work:

4. Problems regarding Western medicine: Apart from the portion retained

5. The question of weapons: Each company should carry at least ninety guns

4. The allowances for the month of June will be double the amount of those

8. The problem of convening an enlarged conference of the Front Committee:

1. Luokou is a town in northern Ningdu xian. The town of Toupi (also written Toupo

2. Luo Ronghuan (1902-1963), a native of Hengshan in Hunan, joined the Communist Party in 1927, fought on the Jinggangshan, and served in the Fourth Army as a

3. Guo Huaruo (1904-), a native of Fuzhou in Fujian, joined the Communist Party in

4. Huang Gonglue (1898–1931), a native of Xiangxiang in Hunan, was a warlord

5. Cai Huiwen (1908–1936), a native of Youxian in Hunan, joined the Communist

6. Luo Binghui (1897–1946), a native of Yiliang in Yunnan, was a warlord and

8. Lu Xiaochen commanded the Nationalist army's Thirteenth Division.
9. The version of this document contained in Jiangxi dangshi ziliao, Vol.18, p. 115,

10. Yuan Guoping (1905-1941), a native of Shaodong in Hunan, joined the Communist

17. Liu Bojian (1895-1935), a native of Pingchang in Sichuan, studied in France,

18. Yang Lisan (1900-1954), a native of Changsha in Hunan, joined the Communist

19. Zhou Zhiqun commanded the Nationalist army's New Fourteenth Brigade.
20. Han Deqin commanded the Nationalist Fifty-second Division.
21. Actually, Luo Lin did not command an entire army, but only the Nationalist Fifth

22. The Litan River flows northward from Lichuan to Nancheng; the Xu River flows

23. These two cities are located across the border in Fujian Province.
24. The text of this document in Jiangxi dangshi ziliao, Vol. 18, p. 118, does not

25. Several well-publicized cases of suspected AB Corps activity among hospital

26. The characters for this and the previous Ping are different, so there is no possibil-

27. These references are to troops of the four separate Nationalist armies engaged in

28. The reference is to halting the advance of the forces of Zhu Shaoliang and Sun

29. As no Nationalist army high-level unit commander of this name is listed as having

30. The reference is presumably to the Central Bureau of the Soviet Area, and not the

31. The Chinese here reads sidianfang. Dianfang is the common Chinese name for

32. Zhou Yili (1897-1935), a native of Changsha in Hunan, joined the Communist Party

33. Wang refers to Wang Jingwei, the former leader of the "Left Guomindang" in the

35. Gu Bo (1906-1935), a native of Xunwu in Jiangxi, joined the Communist Party in

36. Biographical information on this individual has not been located.
37. Xie Weijun (1907-1935), a native of Laiyang in Hunan, joined the Party in 1926,

38. The balance of this paragraph, which is omitted from the version in Mao Zedong

2. Questions regarding our operations: In the current situation in which the

3. Questions regarding our operations: At present, it is too late to catch up

1. Questions regarding our operations: There are probably four regiments of

2. The question of establishing a staff office: The chief of staff, Zhu Yunqing,

3. The question of adding members to the subcommittee of the General

1. Estimates regarding the enemy's situation: The reason why Liu Heding

2. Decisions regarding our operations: In order to reorganize the troops, to

34. The reference is presumably to Zhang Xueliang; the missing character may be an