Promoting the Sale of the Second Issue of
Revolutionary War Bonds
Directive No. 17 of the Central Executive Committee
(October 21, 1932)
Because of the development of the revolution, especially the victorious expansion of the Soviet and the Red Army, the enemy is devoting all its might to
intensifying the massive attack against the Central Soviet Area. In addition to
proclaiming an emergency war mobilization order to lead the workers and peasants of the entire Soviet Area to smash completely the enemy's massive attack
and win victory first in Jiangxi, the Central Government is specially issuing the
second batch of short-term revolutionary war bonds of 1.2 million yuan to augment the war funds; this is to safeguard, even more sufficiently, the complete
victory of this war, to prepare fully the war economy, and particularly to mobilize all workers and peasants to complete these preparations more rapidly. Upon
receiving this order, governments at all levels must, according to past experience, immediately discuss sales plans and carry them out within a set period. The
following are the specific methods of issuance:
1. Quotas for the Distribution of the Bonds
a. 150,000 yuan is to come from business establishments:
Tingzhou City-70,000. Ninghua-5,000. Ruijin-20,000. Huichang-
8,000. Yunmenling-18,000. Guangchang-6,000. Ningdu-5,000. Xingguo
8,000. Yudu 3,000. Shicheng-3,000. Anyuan-2,000. Xunwu-2,000.

b. 986,000 yuan is to come from individual xian:
In Fujian: Changting—60,000. Shanghang—60,000. Longyan—20,000.
Yongding—15,000. Xinquan—15,000. Ninghua—10,000. Tingzhou City—
4,000. Wuping—1,000.
In Jiangxi: Ruijin—120,000. Xingguo—120,000. Ningdu—80,000.
Huichang—64,000. Ganxian—60,000. Shengli—60,000. Gonglue—50,000.
Yudu—50,000. Guangchang—40,000. Shicheng—40,000. Yongfeng—
30,000. Anyuan—15,000. Xunwu—15,000. Le'an—10,000. Yihuang—
5,000. Xinfeng—2,000. Wantai—40,000.
c. 60,000 yuan is to come from the Red Army:
From the Front—40,000. The Rear Office—10,000. The Red Army
Academy—2,000. Jiangxi Military District—5,000. Fujian Military District—3,000.
d. 4,000 yuan is to come from Party and other political organizations:
The General Executive Office²—2,700. Headquarters of the Young Pio-neers—500. Organs of the Central Government—400. The Lenin Teachers'
College—300. The Central Bureau—100.

2. Dates of Issuance and Collection
The amount of the first batch is 306,000.
The Central Government sends the bonds out on October 26.
Sale of the bonds begins in all areas on November 1.
Collection of the proceeds is to be completed by November 15.
Longyan is to produce 20,000; Yongding, 15,000; Wuping, 1,000; Le'an,
10,000; Yihuang, 5,000; Guangchang, 46,000; Ningdu, 85,000; Anyuan,
17,000; Xunwu, 17,000; and Huichang and Yunmenling, 90,000 in all.
The amount of the second batch is 360,000.
The bonds are sent out on October 30.
Sale begins on November 1.
Collection of the proceeds is to be completed by November 15.
Ruijin is to produce 140,000; Yudu, 53,000; Tingzhou City, 74,000;
Ninghua, 15,000; Shanghang, 60,000; Xinquan, 15,000; and the Fujian Military District, 3,000.
The amount of the third batch is 310,000.
The bonds are sent out on November 5.
Sale begins on November 12.
Collection of the proceeds is to be completed by the end of November.
Xingguo is to produce 128,000; Ganxian, 60,000; Gonglue, 50,000;
Wantai, 40,000; Yongfeng, 30,000; and Xinfeng, 2,000.

The amount of the fourth batch is 184,000.3
The bonds are sent out on November 8.
Sale begins on November 12.
Collection of the proceeds is to be completed by the end of November.
Changting is to produce 60,000; Shicheng, 41,000; Shengli, 60,000; the
Rear Office, 10,000; the Jiangxi Military District, 5,000; the Red Army
Academy, 5,000; and Party and political organizations, 4,000.
The amount of the fifth batch is 40,000.
The bonds are sent out on November 12.
Sale begins on November 20.
Collection of the proceeds is to be completed by December 1.
The Red Army at the front, 40,000.
3. Locations for Depositing Funds
a. All cities, xian, and military districts in Fujian deposit their collected funds
in the Fujian branch of the state bank.
b. In Jiangxi, Ruijin, Shicheng, Huichang, Xunwu, Anyuan, Yudu, Shengli,
Ningdu, Guangchang, the Jiangxi Military District, and Party and political organizations turn their funds in directly to the Central State Bank.
.c. In Jiangxi, Xingguo, Ganxian, Gonglue, Yongfeng, Yihuang, Wantai,
Le'an, and Xinfeng deposit their funds with the Jiangxi Provincial Soviet.
d. Red Army units at the front deposit their funds at the General Management
Department.4
4. Methods of Mobilizing the Masses
a. Use the method of propaganda and agitation to encourage workers and
peasants to buy bonds voluntarily. Coercive orders must not be used. But
quotas can be assigned in advance to rich peasants and large and medium
merchants, and they may be ordered to purchase the bonds.
b. Districts, cities, and townships are to call meetings of township deputies,
report on and discuss the methods of selling the bonds, and encourage the
masses to buy them. Municipal and township governments and deputies
are to call meetings of voters to explain the importance of the
government's sale of bonds and the obligations of citizens. In particular,
political agitation should be carried out regarding participation in the
revolutionary war, so that the masses will voluntarily buy the bonds.
c. Use the method of revolutionary competition. Xian, districts, townships,
villages, and organizations can compete with each other. Whoever purchases the most and turns in the funds the fastest is the winner. Governments at the next higher level will issue prize banners and honorary
prizes.

d. In villages and towns, the deputies and the municipal and township governments are responsible for handing over the funds collected to higher
levels.
e. Governments at all levels are to determine the specific methods of implementation according to the above provisions (e.g., the methods of
quota distribution, agitation, and collection). In general, whether or not
the issuance of public bonds can be accomplished according to the above
provisions depends above all on our work of mobilization and agitation
among the masses. Whoever can actively mobilize the masses will be
able to fulfill the task. The previous wrong work style of not mobilizing
the masses and relying entirely on commands must be strictly corrected.
The issuance of the second issue of public bonds is entirely for the sake of
meeting the needs of smashing the enemy's massive attack. It is now after the
autumn harvest. Workers, peasants, the toiling masses, and the inhabitants [in
general] are more active economically, and in particular, since the sale of the
first issue of public bonds, the masses more easily give credit to the bonds.
Governments at all levels must, on the basis of past experience, do their utmost
to carry out agitation among the masses and firmly correct the previous wrong
practice of assigning quotas by command without carrying out propaganda or
agitation. No matter what, every place must finish sales before the deadline and
turn in the collected funds on time to fulfill the task of the war. Should the
previous practices of working perfunctorily and slacking once again make their
appearance, those who engage in such actions will be punished in accordance
with revolutionary discipline. It is so ordered.

Chairman
Mao Zedong
Vice-Chairmen
Xiang Ying
Zhang Guotao

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Notes

This document was first published in Hongse Zhonghua, no. 38, November 1, 1932. We
have translated it from Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 3, pp. 153-58, which reproduces the text from
that source.

--- Notes

1. The first bond issue took place in July 1932 and consisted of 500,000 yuan of
short-term bonds with a six-month maturity. Sales of the first series of bonds apparently
went well, perhaps aided in part by the fact that the bonds could be used to pay taxes at
any time, even before they matured. As it turned out, most of the bonds were promptly
turned in for tax payments, leaving the government with a severe cash flow problem.
Purchasers of bonds in the second issue referred to in this document were required to hold
them to maturity before using them to pay taxes, and they therefore proved much harder to
sell. See the discussion in Hsu Kingyi, Political Mobilization and Economic Extraction,
pp. 285-89.

2. The exact nature and function of this entity (whose name in Chinese is Quanzong
zhixing ju) is not clear.

3. The numbers which follow, as given in the Chinese text, in fact add up to 185,000.

4. The General Management Department (zong jingli bu) was the overall logistical
support and staff organ in high-level Red Army units.