ON THE AWOL PROBLEM IN THE RED ARMY

Order No. 25 of the Central Executive Committee

15 December 1933

[Text] Desertion is a sinister enemy of the Red Army and revolutionary war. The struggle against desertion is an important work to insure the combat effectiveness of the Red Army. In the past there was no uniform procedure to deal with the problem. By this Order it is specially announced that

(1) Those who desert with their rifles shall be summarily executed by shooting, without distinction, as soon as they are apprehended.

(2) Those who organize desertion (such as forging trip tickets) and lead a squad, a platoon, or a company in desertion shall be executed by shooting, without distinction, after being apprehended and put on public trial.

(3) Those who repeatedly desert and spread rumors to undermine the Red Army and the return-to-the-army campaign shall be uniformly apprehended and handed over to the courts for sentencing to penal servitude for a limited term or execution by shooting.

(4) What about those who desert individually for lack of political consciousness? The various governments shall intensify propaganda and agitation directed at them and organize work to extend preferential treatment to their family dependents, so that they will return to the army of their own free will. The governments must in no way adopt measures of arrest and imprisonment. Anyone who does shall be dealt with as having violated the laws of the Soviet.

(5) If deserters stubbornly refuse to return to the army after having been subjected to propaganda and given explanations, the governments may, having obtained the countenance of the masses, require them to indemnify the state (army uniform and blanket) and the masses (labor force expended in connection with given preferential treatment to their family dependents) for losses incurred, and strip them of the right to vote.

(6) It is absolutely not permissible to harbor a deserter and let him work or serve in various organs, army units, and public bodies in the rear. In case the deserter is harbored in an organ, then the responsible official of the organ in question shall be subject to punishment by demotion, dismissal, or imprisonment.

(7) Those who fail to execute this order shall be dealt with as having aided and abetted desertion and undermined the Red Army.

(8) This order shall come into force from the date of promulgation.

Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Central
Executive Committee of the Soviet
Republic of China

Hsiang Ying, Vice Chairman

Chang Kuo-t'ao, Vice Chairman

15 December 1933