(June 30, 1931)

To the Army Committee of the Twelfth Army and Comrade [Zhou] Yili, as well
as the Border Area Working Committee and the Army Committee of the Thirty-fifth Army:

We don't know whether or not you have received the letter dated the 21st, sent
from the two points of Shicheng and Ruijin. According to today's radio news, He
Yingqin has come to Fuzhou from Nanchang to supervise the fighting. He
Yingqin has been appointed frontline commander-in-chief. Chiang Kaishek has
sent him an urgent telegram, and Commander-in-Chief He has quickly transmitted it to the Third Army Group and to all units belonging to the First and Second
Route armies.

In addition, Hao Mengling's radio report contains the information that his
army was ordered to follow the Fifty-fourth Division (on the 28th) and leave
Yongfeng to go up toward Tengtian and Shaxi, and so on. Judging from the
situation on every hand, there is now no doubt at all that the enemy troops are
carrying out a very swift offensive against us. These conditions absolutely do not
allow us at the moment to do any preparatory work, and we should probably be
ready for combat within the next month. Telegraphed orders have been sent to
the Fourth and Third armies to leave for Shunchang and Shaxian and to be
immediately deployed in Jiangle and Guihua to raise funds. The period for
raising funds is ten days. Naturally, the enemy's situation should be taken into
consideration. If the enemy does not advance, we will not concentrate our forces.
The period for concentration is five days, and the location is in Ninghua and
Shicheng. Yesterday's letter stated that fund-raising is not the main task of the
Twelfth Army, but that mass work in the three *xian* of Ninghua, Shicheng, and
Changting is its main task. Now it appears that both fund-raising and mass work
are main tasks, and moreover that if a great deal of mass work is arranged, it can
only help to raise funds and will surely not hinder fund-raising. Probably, by the

Our source for this text is *Jiangxi dangshi ziliao*, Vol. 19, pp. 42-44. It also appears, in
slightly less complete form, in *Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan*, Vol. 3, pp. 295-97.


time this letter reaches Ninghua, the Thirty-fourth Division will already have
been raising funds in Qingliu for about five days, and will have raised a good
deal. You should send them a letter telling them to wind up fund-raising in
Qingliu rapidly, and to return to Ninghua. Ninghua should be established as a
key place for raising funds on the one hand, and mobilizing the masses in a big
way and carrying out land redistribution on the other. One regiment of the
Thirty-fifth Army should be in Anyuan, and the other regiment and the division
headquarters should leave for Shicheng. The work in Baishui should be given up
temporarily, as Shicheng is very important. The units directly under the army
stay within the boundaries of Ninghua and the Thirty-sixth Division is in
Changting (attention should be given to the work in the border areas between
Shi[cheng], Rui[jin], [Chang]ting, and Ning[hua]). In this way there will be parts
of the main forces in both xian, Ninghua and Shicheng, and fund-raising and
mass work can both be carried out. To realize this objective, the Thirty-fourth
Division should withdraw from Qingliu and Liancheng to Ninghua and do so
quickly, so as not to hinder the work in Ninghua. Even if fund-raising is very
promising in Qingliu, not more than a week or ten days should go by before
withdrawing, for in a week to ten days quite a lot of money can be raised. Under
the present circumstances, work in the three xian of Ning[hua], Shi[cheng], and
Changting can be planned to last only a month (when a month has elapsed, this
can be extended if the situation of the enemy permits). Thus, during the month of
July, much work and good work can be done in the three xian, the central point
being the redistribution of the land. If some of the land cannot be redistributed
because of the vastness of the area, key places should be selected for redistribution, such as, in Ninghua, the five localities of Anyuan, Niusha, the xian town,
Shoukou, and Shiniu; in Shicheng, the six localities of Songshan, the xian town,
Pingshan, Yangang, and Dayouyu'; and in Changting, the xian town, Guanqian,
and Gucheng; and the border areas between the four xian. Each place needs to
have a person with clear class consciousness and strong leadership ability to
provide guidance. For example, the three comrades [Tan] Zhenlin, (Luo]
Binghui, and Tan Zheng² should not be together, but rather each of them should
be in charge of leading one place and at the same time supervising one or two
other places. Every ten days, the organs of the Army Committee should get
together and hold a meeting, and Comrade Zhenlin may go out and survey all the
locations himself or he may stay in one place. We must know that there are very
few responsible persons at the two levels of regiment and company who are
capable of independently leading mass work without making mistakes, and even
at the level of division commanders and political commissars, it would be diffi-

1. It is not clear why the text refers to six localities when in fact only five are listed.
2. Tan Zheng (1907-), a native of Xiangxiang in Hunan, joined the Party in 1926,
fought in the Jinggangshan base, and later served as a commissar in the Fourth and
Twelfth armies.


cult to say that they all have clear class consciousness and strong leadership
ability. The past failures in the work of various divisions constitute proof of this.
Upon receiving this letter, you must make new dispositions according to the
above principles. The Thirty-fifth Army, working in Ruijin, should pay attention
to the four places of Jiubao, Yanba, Wuyangwei, and Xigang; should carry out
real land redistribution within one month; and should not occupy Huichang.
Even though the city of Xigang belongs within the borders of Huichang, it
touches on the area between western Ruijin and eastern Yudu and commands a
key position on the border between them. If mass work there gets under way, it
will have a great influence on the surrounding area of the three *xian*. Therefore,
the Thirty-fifth Army should put the work in Xigang City within the scope of its
own activity, and see to it that the work quickly yields results. Comrade [Li]
Jingquan and Comrade Shaoliang³ should go personally to survey the various
locations, because the lower ranking cadres of the Thirty-fifth Army are even
less able to do mass work.

Enclosed is the second issue of the *Red Army Newsletter*, which may be used
as teaching material in the politics classes for soldiers.

General Front Committee
Evening of June 30th, in Jianning
Mao Zedong

3. The surname of the individual referred to as "Shaoliang" has not been determined.