The First Telegram from the
Interim Central Government to the
People's Revolutionary Government of
Fujian and the Nineteenth Route Army1
(December 20, 1933)
To the People's Revolutionary Government of Fujian and the officers and soldiers of the People's Revolutionary Army:
It is more than a month since representatives of the Soviet Government and the
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army concluded, with your representatives, the
draft agreement on opposing Japan and Chiang Kaishek. To date, however, we
have not yet seen vigorous actions against Japan and Chiang on your part, or any
concrete practical efforts to mobilize the masses for struggle and arm the popular
masses to fight Japan and Chiang. On the other hand, Chiang Kaishek has
already dispatched three columns to attack Fuzhou and Yanping; Japanese imperialism has also completed preparations already for occupying Fuzhou and
Xiamen in response to Chiang Kaishek's military action. You and the broad
popular masses of Fujian are in extreme danger. The Soviet Government and the
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army solemnly inform you that any passivity,
hesitation, and indecision in face of this peril is an enormous crime against the
Chinese revolution. Therefore, the Central Soviet Government and the Workers'
and Peasants' Red Army demand that, in conformity with the basic principles
laid down in our draft agreement on opposing Japan and Chiang, you immediately take decisive action, concentrate all your armed forces, and launch a
decisive battle against Chiang at once. At the same time, you must most resolutely mobilize and arm the broad popular masses in their struggle, organize a
genuine people's revolutionary army and volunteer army, and truly give the
people democratic rights of expression, publishing, assembly, and association, so
as to launch a mass struggle against Japan and Chiang. We believe that only by
relying on the power of the popular masses in their millions can we win final
victory. We, the Soviet Government and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army,
are prepared to unite with you at any time and to sign a joint military agreement
with you to oppose and overthrow our common enemies-the Japanese imperialists and Chiang Kaishek's Guomindang government in Nanjing. We hope
you will quickly inform us of your decision.
Mao Zedong, Zhu De

-----19134------

--- Notes

This telegram was first published in Hong.re Zhonghua, no. 149, February 14, 1934. We
have translated it from Mao Zedongji, Vol. 4, pp. 211-12, where it is reproduced from
this source.
I. Although this is presented as the "first telegram" to the Fujian rebels, negotiations
had, in fact, been going on between them and the Soviet authorities in Ruijin since
September and October, and a preliminary agreement had been signed on October 26,
1933. (The text of this document, which is referred to below, can be found in Saich, Rise
to Power, pp. 605--6.) For further details, see above, the Introduction to this volume.