To all the people of China:

Since the Nationalist government in Nanjing concluded a capitulatory armistice with Japanese imperialism that betrayed Manchuria and Mongolia, and following the “celebratory gathering” among China, Japan, and Manchukuo at the Dalian Conference, the Nanjing regime has not only surrendered Manchuria and the so-called “neutral zone” around Rehe to Japanese control, but has also directly mobilized its armed forces, in concert with Japanese imperialist troops and the army of Manchukuo, to drive Northeastern anti-Japanese soldiers out of Inner Mongolia. Under the pretext of “suppressing bandits,” it has massacred tens of thousands of anti-Japanese partisans, volunteer armies, and revolutionary rank-and-file soldiers. The chief culprit of the Chinese Nationalist Party, Chiang Kai-shek, has publicly issued the most shameless declarations—“Those who boast of resisting Japan shall be executed without mercy” and “In order to suppress banditry, we must cease resistance to Japan”—using the cruelest white terror to crush every revolutionary movement opposed to Japan. At the same time, he has systematically withdrawn his North China garrisons and concentrated all his military strength on launching a new sixth encirclement campaign against the main force of the anti-Japanese and anti-imperialist struggle—the Chinese Soviet Government and the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army—in order to demonstrate his loyalty to imperialism and advance his prearranged plan for “direct Sino-Japanese negotiations.”

Direct Sino-Japanese negotiations have been accelerating since the third Lushan Conference held by leading Nationalist figures last September. The substance of that meeting clearly went beyond the Nationalist government’s de facto recognition of Manchuria and Mongolia as colonies of Japanese imperialism; it represented nothing less than a further act of national betrayal, whereby China would acknowledge North China as within Japan’s sphere of influence, while Japan, in return, would provide the Nanjing regime with funds and arms to extend its reactionary power and carry out its sixth encirclement campaign—these being the quid pro quo for direct talks. Any suggestion that Japan might relinquish extraterritorial rights in North China is, of course, merely a deceptive ploy to deceive the public.

To all the people of China: The Nationalist government in Nanjing, along with other factions of the Nationalist regime, has simultaneously sold off most of Tibet and Xikang to foreign imperialists, ceded the Nansha Islands and parts of Yunnan and Guizhou to French imperialism, and granted countless political and economic privileges to American imperialism. Most recently, it has secured loans totaling tens of millions of yuan and lethal weaponry from European and American imperialist powers—all paid for with the sale of Chinese land and the suffering of the Chinese people.

The wholesale sellout of China, surrender to imperialism, and serving as its lackey in the partition of China—this has been the consistent diplomatic policy of the Nationalist government! It is precisely for this reason that it opposes every revolutionary movement opposing Japan and imperialism; that it launches its frenzied and desperate sixth encirclement campaign against the only genuinely anti-Japanese and anti-imperialist mass government—the Soviet regime—and the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army; and that it aids imperialism in intensifying the exploitation of the Chinese people, bringing about the total collapse of the national economy, widespread droughts and floods across the country, mass unemployment among workers, dispossession of peasants, and the suspension of schooling for students. As a result, the vast majority of the Chinese people are being driven into a miserable hell, freezing and starving to death!

To all the people of China: What the Nationalists seek to lead us down is the path to turning China into a colony—a path that will bring about the complete annihilation of the Chinese nation!

Let us unite in solidarity, arm ourselves, and launch a national revolutionary war against Japanese imperialism and all imperialist aggressors. Let us overthrow the traitorous, nation-shaming Nationalist warlords, beginning with their principal instrument of imperialism—the Nanjing Nationalist government headed by Chiang Kai-shek—and fight to the death for the final liberation of the Chinese nation and its people. This is the only way forward for the revolutionary masses throughout the country!

The Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic hereby once again declares to all the people of China: In order to defeat Japan and all imperialism, to overthrow the traitorous Nationalist warlords, and to secure China’s independence, unity, and territorial integrity, we stand ready to shed our very last drop of blood. To achieve these goals, the Soviet Central Government is concentrating all its forces and preparing to make every sacrifice necessary to crush the imperialists’ and Nationalists’ sixth encirclement campaign. The struggle to defeat this sixth encirclement is, in essence, the crucial link in the battle to prevent China from being reduced to a colony—to win an independent, free Soviet New China.

In order to unite the strength of all the people of China and deliver a decisive blow against our most ferocious enemy, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic and the Revolutionary Military Commission hereby once again propose to all armed units operating in the Soviet base areas that they enter into a temporary combat agreement with us under the following three conditions:

(1) Immediately cease all attacks on the Soviet areas; (2) Immediately guarantee the democratic rights of the people—freedom of assembly, association, speech, publication, and strike; (3) Immediately arm the people and establish an armed volunteer army to defend China and strive for its independence, unity, and territorial integrity.

The Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic firmly believes that this proposal will win the sympathy and active support of the working masses throughout China, as well as of all those who still harbor even a spark of patriotic fervor. Such sympathy and support will ensure the complete victory of the Soviet path over the colonial road, and will finally liberate the Chinese nation and its people from the iron heel of imperialism!

Down with Japan and all imperialism!
Down with the Nationalist government in Nanjing that has betrayed China!
Long live the struggle for an independent, free Soviet New China!

Mao Zedong
Chairman of the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic

Zhu De
Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Chinese Soviet Republic

October 11, 1933