Appeal of the Central Government to the
Masses in the Four Xian of Ruijin, Huichang,
Bosheng, and Shicheng to Save 50,000 Dan of
Grain and Sell It to the Red Army
(June 1933)1
I. Since Chiang Kaishek's White army suffered several defeats in battles on
the northern front and the Red Army won several great victories in the course of
the Fourth Revolutionary War,2 the Guomindang warlords have been mustering
their remaining forces for a new attack. At the same time, the other warlords,
including Chen Jitang in Guangdong, Cai Tingkai in Fujian, and He Jian in
Hunan, are all taking the field at the same time to attack the soviet areas. The
Red Army is fighting a bloody war against the enemy in order to smash the joint
attack from all these enemy troops. On the other hand, the Guomindang is
colluding with the Japanese imperialists in their occupation of Beijing and Tianjin. The Red Army must get ready for direct warfare against the imperialists, and
defeat both the imperialists and the Guomindang. At this crucial moment, however, the Red Army is facing a serious shortage of grain. In some units of the Red
Army, soldiers only have millet gruel for their meals all the time. Even the
people from different departments of the Central Government have to take the
millet gruel as half of their daily food. As the rice is not only very expensive, but
also hard to buy, it has really become a knotty problem for the Red Army. In
addition, some ordinary people, especially the family members of the Red Army,
who are extremely poor, have nothing to eat. This situation is also very grave.
2. But is there really no grain in the soviet areas? No, that is not the case.
There is quite a lot of grain in the soviet areas. Not to mention xian like Gonglue
and Wantai, where grain is always abundant, xian such as Ruijin, Huichang,
Bosheng, and Shicheng have surplus grain every year. Even though they had
poor harvests last year, they still had a lot of surplus grain. Why can't the Red
Army buy any grain in these xian right now? First of all, this is because the rich
peasants and unscrupulous merchants are playing some dirty tricks. They are
deliberately making things difficult for the Red Army either by hiding away the
grain or forcing up the current price for grain. Secondly, the masses who have
plenty of grain are unaware of the Red Army's difficulties and are just waiting
for the right time to sell their grain for a higher price. There are also many
among the masses who have just enough grain for themselves, but not much
surplus. They, too, are unaware of the Red Army's difficulties, so they are not
saving any of their grain to sell to the Red Army. For these two reasons, there
has been no grain for sale on the market recently. Comrades, you do not know
about the Red Army's difficulties only because the soviets at different levels
have not informed you. Now, the Central Government intends to purchase
50,000 Dan of millet in Ruijin, Huichang, Bosheng and Shicheng xian to help
the Red Army at the front. The Central Government would like to place the
responsibility for this task on the shoulders of the xian, district, and township
soviets, as well as the one million masses in these four xian. The specific alloca.
tion is as follows: 16,000 Dan from Ruijin, 15,000 Dan from Huichang, 12,000
Dan from Bosheng, and 10,000 Dan from Shicheng.) This time, nevertheless, we
are not borrowing grain from you, we are buying grain. According to our previous experience of borrowing grain from the masses, we know that people offered
to lend a lot of grain to the Red Army. Many of them even returned to us the
receipt for the grain they had lent. All this shows that the masses maintained the
highest revolutionary enthusiasm, and that they really regarded the Red Army as
being as precious as their own lives. As soon as they learned that the Red Army
needed to borrow grain, they immediately lent it. But, comrades, all the grain the
Red Army had borrowed in the past has been consumed. The Central Government
now wants to buy more from you, 50,000 Dan in all, at the current market price. The
grain should be delivered in batches during the month of June. The procedure is
that people may put all their surplus grain and some of that which they have
saved on sale; those who do not have any surplus grain may try to save some
grain and sell it to us. Only those who have a shortage of grain themselves and
depend on the help of their relatives and friends are truly unable to sell any
grain. Comrades, everyone is expecting the Red Army to be victorious in battle.
At this moment, the Red Army is fighting at the front with a shortage of grain.
Can we be indifferent to this? All of us can eat more miscellaneous grain and
vegetables, so that we can save some grain and sell it to the Red Army. As the
old saying goes, "many a little makes a mickle." We are persuaded that it
should not be very difficult for the one million people in these four xian to save
40,000 or 50,000 Dan of grain. Comrades, so long as the Red Army at the front
has enough to eat and is victorious in battle, we the people in the rear area
should feel proud and happy even if we eat a bit less.
3. In another respect, there is a grain problem to which all of our broad
popular masses must pay attention. This problem is that a portion of the impoverished masses are also short of grain. We of the majority can absolutely not
just let these people, especially the family members of the Red Army, suffer
from hunger. The problem posed by their difficulties must be resolved by all of
us. The method for solving this problem lies in mutual aid among the masses.
First of all, let them buy grain at a reduced price; secondly, let them borrow grain
in summer and return it in autumn. In the interest of our class, everyone absolutely cannot just care about himself alone and never show any concern for
others. The townships that have more grain must help those that have less; the
villages that have more grain must help those that have less. In a village, the
people who have more grain must absolutely help those who have less. Apart
from selling 50,000 Dan of grain to the Red Army, everyone must also help the
impoverished masses to solve their food problems. This is truly the only feasible
way to manifest class brotherhood and mutual aid.
Let the one million people in the four xian act together!
Sell 50,000 Dan of grain to the Red Army!
"Reduce prices" and "lend grain" to help the impoverished masses!
Don't let the Red Army cat millet gruel!
Don't let the impoverished masses suffer hunger!
Help the Red Army with your grain to smash the enemy's Fourth Encirclement!
Long live the victory of the Red Army!
Chairman of the Central Government
Mao Zedong
Vice-Chairmen
Xiang Ying
Zhang Guotao

1933, which is reproduced in Mao Zedongji, Vol. 3, pp. 233-35.

--- Notes

Our source for this document is the text as printed in Hongse Zhonghua, no. 83, June 4,
I. As indicated by the date of publication, this document was produced at the beginning of June 1933, but the precise date on which it was issued is not known.

2. I.e., the Fourth "Encirclement and Suppression" Campaign.


l. These amounts add up to 53,000. Probably the figure or 50,000 used in the ride or
!his appeal, and repeated below, was intended as an approximation.