TELEGRAM FROM THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO THE HUNAN-KIANGSI PROVINCIAL WORKER-PEASANT-SOLDIER CONGRESS

9 June 1932

_/Text/_ Hunan-Kiangsi Provincial Soviet for transmittal to the Provincial Worker-Peasant-Soldier Congress

Comrade Representatives:

Due to transportation problems, the Soviet Provincial Central Government could not send representatives to attend your congress. It can only send you a brief directive telegram.

1.  Today, at a time when imperialist countries are frantically carrying on war against the Soviet Union and the partition of China, and the revolution in China is making progress, as evidenced in particular by the several unprecedented victories of the Soviet Red Army, the imperialist countries have turned from secret intervention to direct armed suppression of the Chinese revolution.

2.  The rule of the Kuomintang is disintegrating. But to continue betraying China and act as "trail blazers" for the imperialists, and save itself from demise, it is conducting new frenzied attacks on Soviet areas and the Red Army all over the country. Now the time has arrived for revolution and counterrevolution to engage in a struggle to the death, now the stage has been reached for the civil war in China to turn into an all-out war against imperialism.

3.  The balance of class strength has been altered and is now even more favorable to the development of Soviet revolution. At present, the Soviets are adopting a positive course of liquidating the offensive of the imperialists and Kuomintang with a series of revolutionary attacks. It is to mobilize and arm the masses to the maximum and implement completely the Central Government's mobilization order on the occasion of the declaration of war against Japan to win an initial victory by capturing Kiangsi and its neighboring provinces.

4.  Your congress should carry on all its work under this task, set an even more concrete course of action to mobilize and prepare the masses to join Red fighters in the struggle against imperialism and to overthrow the Kuomintang rule, draw up an even more specific plan to Sovietize the western bank of the Kan River and capture Kan-chou, Chi-an, and Nan-ch'ang in coordination with the Red Army and the Kiangsi Provincial Soviet.

5.  The congress should arrive at a very concrete decision regarding making a bid to expand the Red Army and implement regulations for the preferential treatment of the Red Army, and should sufficiently discuss the building up of regional armed forces and the development of guerrilla warfare, extending the Soviet areas, and reinforcing the leadership in all work and struggles in the White areas.

6.  To enhance the enthusiasm in struggle of the toiling masses, the workers and peasants, it is imperative to thoroughly implement the Soviet government program. The congress should enforce the Labor law in its entirety and carry out land inspection to see whether or not the Land Law is being implemented in full. It should carry out agrarian construction and raise production in a planned way.

7.  Consolidate urban and rural congresses, bring about a genuine democratic system, and draw the masses of workers and peasants into taking part in the government and its work.

8.  On the question of suppression of counterrevolutionaries, apart from implementing correctly Order No 6, the congress should prevent the mistake of another abandonment or the suppression of counterrevolutionaries. But the handling of workers and peasants who unconsciously joined all sorts of covert and fraudulent organizations (such as opium-smoking clubs and loafers' societies) should not be put on a par with the handling of elements who consciously or knowingly joined the AB Group. There should be a difference. We should not judge the former category of people guilty of having formally joined a counterrevolutionary organization. Only in this way can we win over the masses who have been deceived into unconsciously joining covert organizations and prevent counterrevolutionaries from intimidating them into falling into their schemes.

9.  It is necessary to take stringent measures to rectify past mistakes of inciting the masses to go and grab rice from the White areas. These things have impaired faith in the Soviets and increased the animosity of the masses in the White areas, and have been made capital of by the counterrevolutionaries. The grain and rice of landlords in the White areas for the most part should be distributed among the masses of workers and peasants locally. Only a part of it should be used to aid the Red Army and a part to aid people in Soviet areas who have been trampled underfoot and suffer from a shortage of rice. But this should still be publicized among the masses in the White areas.

10.  The Provincial Soviet in the past classified opposition against rich peasants into pre-revolutionary and post-revolutionary. This is extremely erroneous. The congress must repudiate this kind of theory. That the masses did not take an active part in production in the past was essentially the evil consequence of exacting fines and levying contributions impermissibly without regard to classes, and not of opposing exploitation by rich peasants.

11.  Implement the economic policy correctly so as to enlarge the financial resources and establish an economic base for expanding the revolutionary war. Develop the economy, improve tax collection, and organize guerrilla units to raise funds in the White areas on the one hand, and on the other hand, prevent waste and means to "cut down expenses to provide for war expenditures," punish severely corruption and wasteful acts, and put into effect a truly unified financial system so as to relieve the Red Army gradually of its official fund-raising task and enable it to concentrate solely on carrying on the revolutionary war.

12.  To carry out thoroughly all this work, it is necessary to enforce a work inspection system so as to eradicate bureaucratism, corruption and degeneration, passivity and sabotage. It was wrong that the Provincial Soviet did not set up a worker-peasant inspection department in the past. The different levels of government must now establish such a department in accordance with the regulations to be promulgated at this congress, elect Korean Communist Party members who have had a long history of struggle and are activists to serve in it, and call upon the broad masses of workers and peasants and mass organizations to take part in this work.

13.  The congress must thoroughly review the past work of the Provincial Soviet and of the government at different levels. It must mercilessly bring to light all mistakes made in the work, and it can implement scrupulously all resolutions and orders of the National Soviet Congress and the Central Government and accomplish what should be its tasks. Finally, we wish success to your congress.

Chinese Soviet Provisional Central Government
Chairman:          Mao Tse-tung
Vice-chairman:     Hsiang Ying
                 Chang Kuo-tao

CM "Red China," No 22, 9 June 1932