To the officers and soldiers of the Fujian People’s Revolutionary Government and the People’s Revolutionary Army:  More than a month has passed since representatives of the Soviet Government and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army concluded a draft agreement with your representatives for a united front against Japanese imperialism and Chiang Kai-shek. Yet up to this day we have seen no active measures on your part to oppose Japan and Chiang; nor have we observed any concrete, practical steps to mobilize the masses in struggle or to arm them for the anti-Japanese, anti-Chiang campaign. Meanwhile, Chiang Kai-shek has already dispatched three columns to attack Fuzhou and Yanping, while Japanese imperialism is poised to occupy Fuzhou and Xiamen in response to Chiang’s military moves. You and the broad masses of Fujian now find yourselves in extreme peril.

The Soviet Government and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army hereby solemnly declare that any passivity or indecision in the face of this grave danger would be a grievous sin against the Chinese revolution. Therefore, the Central Soviet Government and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army demand that you immediately act in accordance with the fundamental principles set forth in our draft anti-Japanese, anti-Chiang agreement: concentrate all your armed forces and at once launch a decisive battle against Chiang; at the same time, resolutely mobilize and arm the broad masses, organize a genuine People’s Revolutionary Army and volunteer militias, and genuinely grant the people democratic rights of speech, the press, assembly, association, and strike, so as to carry forward the mass struggle against Japanese aggression and Chiang Kai-shek’s rule. We are convinced that only by rallying the strength of tens of millions of ordinary people can we achieve final victory.  The Soviet Government and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army stand ready at any moment to unite with you and to conclude military operational agreements for the purpose of opposing and overthrowing our common enemies—the Japanese imperialists and Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government in Nanjing. We earnestly hope that you will promptly inform us of your decision.

Mao Zedong, Zhu De November 11, 1933