(April 15, 1932)

Ever since Japanese imperialism occupied China's Three Northeastern Provinces
and invaded Shanghai, the Soviet Central Government has repeatedly pointed
out in all of its declarations that the aim of Japanese imperialism is to colonize
the Three Northeastern Provinces completely, and the Shanghai Incident will
come to represent a concrete demonstration of the partitioning of China by the
imperialist bandits. The Guomindang government and the warlords under its
leadership will only capitulate even more shamelessly to imperialism, sell out
China to them, and suppress the anti-Japanese and anti-imperialist movements of
the popular masses of the whole country. They will absolutely not take any real
actions to resist Japan and to strive for the independence and liberation of the
Chinese nation. The development of the Shanghai Incident has now proved that
the appraisal of the situation made by the Central Government is absolutely
correct. A Manchurian puppet government has already been established in the
Three Northeastern Provinces, and is the most obedient running dog of Japanese
imperialism. The Shanghai peace negotiations and the investigation delegations
of the League of Nations¹ are nothing but meetings and organizations to divide
up the spoils from the carving up of Shanghai and of China by the imperialist
bandits. Some of the Guomindang warlords who were previously obliged, under
pressure from the soldiers who rose up on their own initiative to fight Japan, to
make a pretense of resisting Japan, have now shown their true colors: Ma
Zhanshan² has become minister for military affairs of the Manchurian govern-

This directive was first published in Hongse Zhonghua, no. 18, April 21, 1932. We have
translated it from Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 3, pp. 115-19, which reproduces that text.

ment, and warlords such as Jiang and Cai³ are taking part in the Shanghai peace
negotiations aimed at the partition of Shanghai by the imperialists. The
Guomindang government is even readier to accept at any time the instructions of
the League of Nations and let China be exploited. The propaganda about what
they call "long-term resistance against Japan" is used on the one hand to deceive
the anti-Japanese popular masses of the whole country, and on the other hand in
an attempt to win support from other imperialist factions (in particular from the
U.S. imperialists), thereby provoking a world war during which the imperialist
bandits would have an excellent opportunity to solve the problem of carving up
China. The greatest efforts made by the Guomindang government and its various
factions of warlords over the past few months have been in compliance with the
wishes of the imperialists. They have dissolved the anti-Japanese organizations
in every part of the country, put down the anti-Japanese strikes, slaughtered the
anti-Japanese and anti-imperialist masses, fired machine guns at the brave soldiers who fought the Japanese invaders on their own initiative, strictly forbidden
the activities of the popular masses and the volunteer army, and in particular
deployed large numbers of armed forces to launch one attack after another on the
soviet areas and the Red Army. All this shows that the Guomindang government
and its various factions of warlords are nothing but tools that the imperialists will
use for the direct suppression of China's national revolutionary movement. Not
only will they never conduct any national revolutionary war against the Japanese
imperialists, but they are a fundamental obstacle to the pursuit of the national
revolutionary war.
Only the toiling masses of workers and peasants throughout China are a
genuine anti-imperialist force; only the soviets and the Red Army are truly
capable of waging a national revolutionary war against Japanese imperialism.
Now the oppressed popular masses throughout China are suffering under the iron
heel of Japanese imperialism. They will not yield to the humiliations they have
been suffering at the hands of the Guomindang government, and have risen in
anger for the revolutionary struggle against Japan and the Guomindang. In order
to lead the toiling masses of workers and peasants in the whole country to fulfill
the revolutionary task of driving Japanese imperialism out of China, the Soviet
Central Government officially declares war on Japan. It has pointed out to the
oppressed popular masses of all China that the soviet areas long ago shook off
the yoke of imperialism, but the Guomindang warlords now under the control
and guidance of the imperialists are acting on their instructions and will never
give up their attacks on the soviet areas and the Red Army. If it were not for
the attacks launched by the Guomindang government, the toiling masses of

workers and peasants in the soviet areas and the Red Army would long ago have
united with the soldiers and volunteers who fought heroically against Japan and
would have been standing shoulder to shoulder with them waging war directly
against Japan. Therefore, the Soviet Provisional Central Government is now
leading the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army of the whole country and the
broad masses of toiling workers and peasants in the soviet areas actively to
pursue the revolutionary war, to expand outward to seize key cities, and thus to
undermine Guomindang rule. This is really carrying out in practice the national
revolutionary war; it is a prerequisite for fighting directly against Japan. The
Soviet Provisional Central Government now calls on the workers, peasants, and
soldiers of the whole country and on all the toiling masses to unite closely under
the Red flag of the soviets, take an active part in the revolutionary war, arm
themselves in the areas under White rule, organize the anti-Japanese volunteers
of the popular masses, seize weapons from the Guomindang, the landlords, and
the bourgeoisie, fight the Japanese directly, and set up revolutionary military
commissions to guide their actions. The White soldiers must rise in rebellion,
overthrow their reactionary officers, fight the Japanese voluntarily, establish a
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, overthrow Guomindang rule throughout the
country, and establish a soviet régime of the popular masses in the whole country. Thus it will be possible to drive Japanese imperialism out of China by means
of national revolutionary war, oppose the partition of China by the imperialists,
and fight to the end for the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation.
Consequently, aside from issuing a circular telegram to make known these
views and this program of action relating to the proclamation of war against
Japan, the Soviet Central Government issues to the Workers' and Peasants' Red
Army and the soviet governments at all levels the following instructions:
1. The Central Revolutionary Military Commission, military commissions in
all soviet areas, headquarters of the military commands in each district, and the
Red Guard departments (i.e., military departments) of each xian should give
mobilization speeches to all the Red fighters regarding the declaration of war
against Japan, to help each one of them understand that taking an active part in
the revolutionary war to annihilate the troops of the Guomindang warlords that
are attacking the soviet areas, moving out to seize key cities, and destroying
Guomindang rule are truly the prerequisites for carrying out the anti-Japanese
national revolutionary war. The more vigorously the revolutionary civil war
develops, the more rapidly the Guomindang warlords will collapse, and the
sooner the time will come for us to fight directly against the Japanese. The Red
fighters in the whole of the soviet areas should prepare for the coming of a
national revolutionary war much broader in scope than any we have yet experienced. Mobilizing for the declaration of war against Japan is by no means a task
that should be performed only when we open fire directly against Japanese
imperialism. Moreover, the brave soldiers and the volunteer army of the popular
masses in the areas under White rule along the coast have long ceased to be

under the control of the Guomindang warlords, and they have spontaneously
begun fighting against Japan. They are in urgent need of the support and guidance of the soviets and the Red Army. Consequently, mobilizing for the declaration of war against Japan can absolutely not be separated from actively
pushing the revolutionary war into other parts of the country. On the contrary,
mobilizing to develop the revolutionary war should be seen as a blow against
Japanese imperialism, and as strong support for the anti-Japanese masses and
the brave soldiers in the White areas. Military mobilization should make it clear
to every Red fighter that he should not leave the ranks unless he is wounded or
sick; those who desert will be punished, and ridiculed by the masses. The local
armed forces should impose military discipline like that in the Red Army.
Military training should be intensified for the Red Guard Army, whose members are not released from production. The Military Commission should proclaim Red martial law throughout the soviet areas and check on it. Production
in munitions factories should continue to increase; grain supply stations and
transportation stations should be set up along vital communication lines; a
certain portion of grain should be stored in case there might be a rice famine;
funds should be saved for fighting a protracted campaign; defense works should
be established along the boundaries of the developing areas and be further
pushed outward; money should be raised to renew the equipment of the armed
forces (government taxes are, of course, used chiefly to support the Red Army)
so as to enable the Red Army, our main armed force, to continue performing its
combat tasks. A number of guerrilla detachments should be organized and
move out from the soviet areas to other places. In localities that are close to the
key cities or are directly controlled by the imperialists, the guerrilla units should
lead the popular masses in organizing an anti-Japanese volunteer army to conduct guerrilla warfare.
2. The General Political Department of the Workers' and Peasants' Red
Army and the political departments at all levels of the Red Army should carry
out political mobilization. They should conduct extensive propaganda among
the Red fighters regarding the declaration of war against Japan, and constantly
unmask in Red Star and other periodicals edited by the Red Army the facts
about how the Japanese and all other imperialists invade and occupy China,
partition China, and slaughter and oppress the Chinese nation, as well as about
how the Guomindang has sold out China and humiliated the Chinese nation.
Thus we can rouse the enthusiasm and courage of all the Red fighters for the
declaration of war against Japan, as well as stimulating their determination to
push the revolutionary war into other parts of the country to annihilate the
Guomindang warlords and their rule. Pamphlets and illustrated magazines of all
kinds should be compiled, putting forward propaganda and agitation slogans
that are closely related to the present struggle. Special attention should be paid
to political work in the places recently reached by the Red Army, especially in
places close to key cities.

3. When the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army expands into places close to
areas controlled by Japanese imperialism, its primary task is to annihilate the
Guomindang forces that are in collusion with the imperialists. If we do not
annihilate the Guomindang forces that are attacking us, we will simply give them
an excellent opportunity to annihilate us in cooperation with the armed forces of
the imperialists. This would certainly disrupt the measures for carrying on the
national revolutionary war against Japan, and would not really help to drive the
Japanese imperialists out of China. When the Red guerrilla forces expand into
places that are close to the sphere of influence of Japanese imperialism, they
should lead the popular masses to organize anti-Japanese volunteer armies, arm
themselves, and conduct mobile guerrilla warfare, fighting directly against
Japan, thereby drawing the White soldiers to fight spontaneously against Japan.
A revolutionary military commission should be organized jointly to lead this
action, so that they may detach themselves from the rule of the Guomindang
warlords and overthrow it.
4. Soviet governments at all levels in every soviet area should immediately
carry out mass mobilization regarding the declaration of war against Japan. First
they should intensify the mobilization of the toiling masses of workers and
peasants to join the Red Army voluntarily, expand the revolutionary war into
other places, and prepare to fight Japanese imperialism directly. They should
mobilize the toiling masses as a whole to take part voluntarily in all kinds of
work in the rear for the revolutionary war and, first of all, to join the Red Guards
and the Young Pioneers who are not released from production. They should see
to it that all the toiling masses throughout the soviet areas, both men and women,
will have an ardent desire to receive some military training and prepare to fight
against Japan. They should strive to mobilize people to carry out the work of
strengthening the bases in the soviet areas, intensify the enforcement of Red
martial law, step up local self-defense, save funds and grain to help the Red
Army, and also store public grain for it. They should mobilize the masses to do a
good job of the spring and autumn plowing and sowing so as to get in a good
harvest for the year, reorganize the Red postal service, repair roads and bridges
to facilitate communications in the soviet area, begin at once to collect the
progressive tax on commerce, and make plans to levy a land tax to provide a
source for government revenue. They should also mobilize the workers, peasants,
and toiling masses to produce more daily necessities for the Red Army (for
example, by making bedding and clothing, shoes, caps, and munitions); organize
teams of stretcher bearers, transport detachments, clothes-washing groups, and
gift-giving detachments, to help the Red Army men and encourage them to
continue to fight; apply the rules and regulations on giving preferential treatment
to the Red Army; help the families of the Red Army men plow their fields; and
cultivate the public fields that belong to the Red Army.
5. This directive will be issued to all units and organizations at the lower
levels in the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and in local armed forces, and to

municipal and township soviets. Specific mobilization plans should be made in
accordance with these instructions. The Central Revolutionary Military Commis-sion should promulgate its own mobilization plans.

Chairman of the Central
Executive Committee Mao Zedong
Vice-Chairmen
Xiang Ying
Zhang Guotao
--- Notes

1. A reference to the Lytton Commission. For Mao's subsequent assessment of its
work, see below, "Circular Telegram Opposing the Report of the International Investigation Team," October 6, 1932.

2. Ma Zhansan was a warlord general in Heilongjiang who initially resisted the Japan-ese invasion of Manchuria, but found himself isolated and unsupported by other Chinese
units. He then temporarily collaborated with the Japanese out of necessity in February-
March 1932, as a result of which he was named minister of war in the newly established
state of Manchukuo. On April 1, 1932 (not long after the present document was written),
however, Ma found an opportunity to redefect to the Chinese, after which he steadily
resisted the Japanese.


3. The reference is probably to Jiang Guangnai and Cai Tingkai. If so, Mao's information must have been out of date, since by this time Jiang and Cai had already become
national heroes as a result of the stubborn resistance opposed by their Nineteenth Route
Army to the Japanese attack of January 28, 1932, against Shanghai.