A LETTER FROM THE CHINESE WORKER'S AND PEASANT'S RED ARMY TO
   OUR BROTHERS
  THE SOLDIERS OF THE WHITE ARMY ON THE SUBJECT OF THE FORCED OCCUPATION
  OF MANCHURIA BY JAPANESE IMPERIALISM




Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung

  A LETTER FROM THE CHINESE WORKER'S AND PEASANT'S RED ARMY TO OUR
  BROTHERS
  THE SOLDIERS OF THE WHITE ARMY ON THE SUBJECT OF THE FORCED OCCUPATION
  OF
  MANCHURIA BY JAPANESE IMPERIALISM

September 25, 1931

[This is the full text of a proclamation disseminated in
1931]



Soldiers, Our Brothers!

Do not the Kuomintang militarists frequently tell you that it is your
responsibility to 'defend the country and protect the people' ? But
look,
at present Japanese imperialist troops have already occupied all the
most
important cities of Manchuria. They have massacred the toiling masses of
workers and peasants in Manchuria and our soldiers with guns, cannons,
and
bombs , and already regard Manchuria as their colony. May I ask: How are
the Kuomintang militarists carrying out their responsibility to
‘defend
the country and protect the people'? What do they tell you now?

Confronted by such violent behaviour on the part of Japanese
imperialism,
the Kuomintang militarists tell you ‘we must not resist’, they
tell you ‘reasonable people should submit to violence’; they
ask
you to stretch out your neck and let the Japanese imperialist robbers
butcher
you; they ask you to submit peacefully and to become ‘men without a
country', slaves of Japanese imperialism. From this you can see that the
Kuomintang militarists can only toady and capitulate to imperialism, can
only act as the running dogs of imperialism. They cannot 'defend the
country'
nor can they 'protect the people' .

And yet, for the sake of enlarging their own spheres of influence, and
of
exploiting and butchering the Chinese people on a still larger scale,
the
Kuomintang militarists have, year after year, carried on a confused
military
struggle among themselves. And in the name of these wars among
militarists,
they bravely urge you to go to the battlefield to kill your own
brothers,
to destroy the lives and property of the people; they levy vexing and
irregular
taxes, impress men into coolie service and requisition horses; they suck
the last drop of blood of the toiling masses; they butcher the
revolutionary
workers and peasants; they force people to grow opium to poison the
masses;
they have created calamities (floods, drought, and famine) without
precedent
throughout China; in exploiting and butchering the masses they have
shown
great resolution and courage!

Especially when the masses of workers and peasants of our soviet area
arose
on their own initiative and drove out all the imperialists, overthrew
the
rule of the Kuomintang, confiscated all the land of the landlord class,
enforced
the eight-hour day, created the Workers and Peasants' Red Army and
established
the Soviet Government of the workers, peasants, and soldiers, all the
militarists
of the Kuomintang were mortally offended and manifested their resolution
and courage. Once, twice, three times, they attacked us with the aid of
the
imperialists; they used airplanes, bombs, poison gas, cannons, and
machine
guns to butcher the people of the soviet area. If we do not destroy them
root and branch, they will definitely not leave us alone, although their
attacks have all been defeated through strenuous effort by us and by
masses.
They are also extraordinarily brave in attacking the people’s
soviet
political power and the people's Red Army.

Soldiers, our brothers! You have had enough of the deception and
oppression
of such militarists. Think for a moment. Why do you risk your lives on
behalf
of these militarists? Can you say you do so in order to live and feed
your
families? In reality you yourselves often do not receive a copper of
pay.
You yourselves have neither enough to eat nor warm clothing. How can you
feed a family? Your superior officers treat you like cattle, like cannon
fodder; they want you to risk your lives to massacre your own worker and
peasant brothers so that they can rise in rank and enrich themselves.

Soldiers, our brothers! You must think of another way out. There is a
way
out for you -- revolution! You now have guns and cannons in your hands.
First
kill your reactionary superior officers then unite with the workers,
peasants,
and all the toiling masses of your area to overthrow the fucking
Kuomintang
Government [Kuomintang ti tao cheng-fu]; confiscate the land of
the
landlord class and distribute it among the poor peasants, confiscate the
food and the houses of the wealthy and distribute them among the poor;
let
the workers do only eight hours of work a day; then, organize yourselves
to run your own affairs. In this way, you will have created a government
of the workers, peasants, and soldiers, that is, a Soviet Government.
You
will have become the armed force of the workers and peasants — the
workers'
and peasants' Red Army. If there is a Soviet Government and a Red Army
near
your garrison area, then when you have either taken as prisoners or
killed
your reactionary superior officers, present yourself there to join the
Red
Army. Only the Soviet Government and only the Red Army can protect the
interests
of the workers, peasants, and soldiers, overthrow the Kuomintang,
overthrow
imperialism, and really defend the people.

Soldiers, our brothers! Turn your guns in the opposite direction and
fight
to overthrow imperialism and the Kuomintang, which exploit, oppress, and
butcher the Chinese labouring masses; fight to establish the Soviet
Government
and the Red Army of the workers, peasants, and soldiers! We your
brothers,
the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of the Red Army, truly welcome you
to our ranks.

Down with imperialism and the Kuomintang!

Establish the Workers', Peasants', and Soldiers' Soviet Government!

Long live the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army!

Long live the victory of the Chinese Soviet Revolution!

Commander in Chief of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and
Commander
of the First Army:

CHU TE

Chief of the Central Political Department of the Chinese Workers' and
Peasants'
Red Army:

MAO TSE-TUNG

Commander of the Second Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants’
Red
Army:
HO LUNG

Commander of the Third Army of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red
Army:

P'ENG TE-HUAI

General of the Third Army of the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants' Red
Army:

HUANG KUNG-LUEH

25 September 1931