Letter From Mao Zedong and Zhu De to the
Officers and Soldiers of the White Army
(June 1934)
Brother officers and soldiers of the White army:
Japanese soldiers have already fought their way to North China, killing as ferociously as wolves and tigers. Their airplanes and artillery are now bombing your
native places. The Japanese soldiers are killing your parents, raping your sisters,
burning your villages, and digging up your ancestral graves. Japan is killing and
destroying your families, but what is the Guomindang doing? It has again signed
a traitorous treaty to sell out North China to Japan. As a result, North China is no
longer your home. Your parents and wives are longing for you to go to North
China to rescue them!
Brothers! "Maintain an army for a thousand days to use it for an hour!" To
save the country, to save your native places, to rescue your own parents and
wives, to go to North China to fight the Japanese, now is indeed the time for our
true Chinese men to defend the country and protect the people and to render
meritorious service to the state. And yet, precisely when it is time to stop the
civil war and to resist Japan as one, Chiang Kaishek has refused to send you to
resist the Japanese. but forced you to come to Jiangxi to kill your own Chinese
countrymen. What kind of logic is this? This is a traitorous act of Chiang
Kaishek in selling out the country. Chiang Kaishek has sold our native places,
and he is the "accomplice" of the Japanese soldiers in burning and killing your
parents and wives.
Chiang Kaishek deceived you by saying, ”The Red Army is making trouble in
the rear area." As a matter of fact, it is Chiang Kaishek who is selling out our
country and refusing to resist Japan. You only need to think for a moment about
the facts regarding the last three years. Who has sold out the Three Northeastern
Provinces? Who has ordered the Nineteenth Route Army, which had resisted
Japan in Shanghai, to withdraw to Fujian? Who has ordered the anti-Japanese
armies along the Great Wall to withdraw? Who has now once again ordered the
troops in North China to withdraw to the south? It is no one else but the traitorous warlord gang of Chiang Kaishek and Zhang Xueliang. The Red Army deOur source for this letter is Mao Zedongji. Bujuan, Vol. 4, pp. 221-24. It is cited briefly
in Nianpu, Vol. I, p. 430.

/UN£ J!llf 765
clared war on Japan as early as three years ago! It has long declared that it is
willing to unite with any force to fight the Japanese as long as this force really
wants to resist the invaders. Because the Red Army wants to resist Japan, Chiang
Kaishek helps Japan by the "Encirclement and Suppression" of the Red Army.
Employing a large force of seven to eight hundred thousand troops, he encircles
the Red Army and prevents it from going north to fight Japan. By saying, "To
resist Japan, it is necessary to suppress the Communists first," Chiang Kaishek is
in fact on the one hand aiding Japan to wipe out the Red Army, and on the other
hand I [refusing to let] our brother armies go to North China to fight the Japanese,
completely eliminating China's anti-Japanese forces. [and thereby allowing]
Japan to destroy China without any effort. Therefore, if Chiang Kaishek, the
traitor and collaborator, is not overthrown, our four hundred million countrymen
can only become slaves without a country.
Chiang Kaishek deceived you by saying, ”China does not have the strength to
resist Japan." This is even more nonsensical. China has a regular army of three
million soldiers and four hundred million compatriots. If the navy, army, and air
force in the whole country are totally mobilized, how can such a big China be
unable to defeat tiny Japan? Does China lack guns and artillery? There are
several dozen munitions factories in the country, and the warlords have enough
guns and artillery in their hands. Does China need money for military purposes?
If China declares war on Japan, China can immediately confiscate Japanese
banks, factories, and shops, and this will yield four billion silver dollars. It is said
that if China declares war on Japan, it must fear isolation. At the very least, the
workers and peasants in Korea, Taiwan, and Japan will respond by carrying out
an armed uprising. If we carry out a converging attack from the front and from
the rear, we need not worry that Japan will not be defeated. China can surely
defeat Japan. By saying "China does not have the strength to resist Japan."
Chiang Kaishek is actually deceiving you in order to prevent you from fighting
against Japan and to let Japan conquer China.
Brothers! What is good for you about coming to Jiangxi? What about your
own native places? Right now, they are being burned and people are being killed
by the Japanese soldiers. What about your mothers and daughters? Right now,
they are being raped by the Japanese soldiers. What can you do in Jiangxi? You
are climbing mountains, building blockhouses, repairing roads, and getting exhausted. Every day, your parents and wives are longing for you to go to North
China to rescue them, but you yourselves "cannot return to your home and
cannot rescue your mothers." Such sufferings have set your minds in turmoil.
Brothers! Chiang Kaishek has not allowed you to save your native places and
I. Here, and in three other places in the available text of this document, there are blank
spaces indicating that several characters are missing. On the whole, the meaning seems
clear in all cases, but we have marked these ellipses by putting in square brackets the
words we have supplied.

MAO'S R.OAD TO POWER
forced you to fight the Red Army. In the end, what can you gain from this? Will
you become officials and get rich? It is Chiang Kaishek who has cars and
concubines; such is not your lot. What have you got? You are hungry and your
hands [are empty]. You are unwilling to fight and want to retreat, but Chiang
Kaishek has deployed teams of machine guns and broadswords to deal with you.
Don't wait until you see your native places being burned by the Japanese and
don't sacrifice yourselves for the individual interests of Chiang Kaishek. It is
glorious to save the country and our homes. Make up your minds quickly.
Chinese don't fight Chinese! Unite with the Red Army to fight the Japanese!
The Red Army has long been ready to unite with you. The Red Army can sign
an operational agreement to oppose Japan and Chiang Kaishek with any armed
force on the following three conditions: (I) immediately stop attacks on the
soviet areas; (2) immediately guarantee the democratic rights of the people (freedom
of assembly, association, speech, and publication, and freedom to strike): and (3)
immediately arm the popular masses and establish a volunteer army.
Don't be afraid! Don't hesitate; guns are in your hands! As long as all of you
voluntarily stop fighting your Chinese countrymen and go back to North China
to fight the Japanese, Chiang Kaishek can do nothing and all of your four
hundred million countrymen will support you!
We make the following proposals to you:
I. Don't fight the Red Army, or shoot in the air. Carry out the slogan that
Chinese don't fight Chinese. The Red Army will never attack you first.
2. Quickly make agreements with the Red Army troops, let the two sides
send representatives, and sign an agreement to cease hostilities and form an
anti-Japan alliance.
The Red Army is willing to unite with any officer or soldier in the White
army to fight the Japanese, regardless of what party he belongs to, as long as he
really wants to resist Japan.
Brothers! Our enemy is Japan. It is [Chiang Kaishek] who refuses to allow
you to return to your native places and refuses to let us unite in fighting the
Japanese.
Drive out the Japanese imperialists! Down with the traitor, Chiang Kaishek!
The Red Army, which is willing
to unite with you
Do'
Zedong
.2. Zhu De and Mao Zedong signed this letter with their given names (ming) only,
omitting their surnames, presumably in order to convey a sense of familiarity and camaraderie with the White soldiers to whom it was addressed.