DECLARATION OF THE SOVIET CENTRAL GOVERNMENT TO THE INNER MONGOLIAN PEOPLE
20 December 1935
[Text] Dear people of Inner Mongolia! Currently we are at the critical
moment of world changes. Are you willing to submit to the slaughtering
and cutting by Japanese imperialism and Chinese warlords, become their
cannon fodder, and perish, or will you rise to the occasion, vigorously
exert yourselves, and strive for complete equality of the supreme
Mongolian people with the nations of the world? You must choose between
the two, and we hope you will decide promptly.

To occupy all of China, the ambitious and arrogant Japanese imperialism
must first take Manchuria and Mongolia; to gain world supremacy, it must
first occupy China. This barbarous scheme is now being gradually
realized, and the first to suffer the consequences are the people of the
Three Northeast Provinces and the five North China provinces and the
entire nation of Inner Mongolia. The cunning and despicable Japanese
bandits, with their sweet words and evil intent, are resorting to all
kinds of fraudulent measures and borrowing "Great Mongolianism" to
attain their goal of taking over all the land and assets of Mongolia and
enslaving the entire people of Inner Mongolia. They are preparing to
turn your soil into a battlefield and your people into cannon fodder in
order to achieve their goal of attacking the Chinese Soviet People's
Republic, invading the Outer Mongolian People's Republic and the Soviet
Union, and finally destroying the Mongolian nation. If you do not
believe this, you only have to look at the people of the three provinces
of Korea and Taiwan who cannot use their own language, who have no freedom of residence, movement, farming, or raising livestock, and whose
political and economic powers are entirely controlled by the Japanese.
If you will then look at the military defense and military installations
of Japanese imperialism in Chahar and its Hsing-an Head Office and all
its other conspiracies, you will clearly see the unprecedented crisis
confronting the nation of Inner Mongolia. Then there are also the
Chinese warlords headed by the shameless Chiang Kai-shek who not only
consider themselves the suzerain but have even designated the entire
region of Inner Mongolia a province and driven the Mongolian people to

an area south of the Yellow River and north of the Yin-shan mountains,
and constantly order minor warlords Ching Hsiu-yueh and Kao Shih-hsiu
to take the pastures and salt ponds, in order to destroy gradually the
Mongolian nation, serve as the road cleaners of Japanese imperialism,
and hasten the end of Inner Mongolia.

In the several years of courageous fighting, the Central Government of
the Chinese Soviet People's Republic and the brave Red Army units have
dealt innumerable severe blows to Japanese imperialism and warlord
Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese Red Army has become an invincible force,
especially the courageous Central Red Army. After an expedition of
25,000 li, it broke the world march record and successfully fulfilled
the plan to resist Japan in the North. The fighting goal of the Chinese
Red Army is not only to liberate the entire nation of China from the
oppression of imperialism and the warlords, but similarly to struggle
for the emancipation of other weak nations, and primarily it must help
solve the national issue of Inner Mongolia. We feel that only when the
nation of Inner Mongolia joins us in our fight before it can preserve
the glory of the Genghis Khan era, avoid national perdition, step on to
the road of national recovery, and gain independence and liberty similar
to the nations of Turkey, Poland, the Ukraine, and the Caucasus. Therefore, this government declares to you:

(1) The entire area of the original 6 mengs, 24 pu's, and 49 banners of
Inner Mongolia, the 2 pu's of Chahar and T'u-mo-t'e, and the 3 special
banners of Ninghsia, whether changed to county jurisdiction or deemed
grassy plains, must be returned to the people of Inner Mongolia and considered the territory of the nation of Inner Mongolia. The names and
administrative organizations of the provinces of Jehol, Chahar, and
Suiyuan must be abolished, and no other nation may occupy or seize under
any excuse the territory of the nation of Inner Mongolia.

(2) We feel that the people of Inner Mongolia have the right to solve
all their internal problems, and no one has the authority to interfere
by force in their living, habits, religion, ethics, and all other rights.
Meanwhile, the nation of Inner Mongolia may organize according to its own
desire. It may, according to the principle of self-determination,
organize its own life and form its own government. It has the right to
form alliances with other nations. It also has the right to establish
its separate entity. In sum, the nation is supreme, and all nations are
equal.

(3) All the Chinese, Moslem, and Manchurian nationals in Inner Mongolia
must, according to the principle of national equality, develop democracy,
so that all such minorities will receive the same treatment as the Inner
Mongolians, and they must have the freedoms of language, religion, and
residence.

(4) First of all, Pao-t'u-wan occupied by Ching Hsiu-yueh, the area
occupied by Kao Shih-hsiu, and the two salt ponds must be returned to
the Inner Mongolian people, and the vicinity of the Great Wall, such
areas as Ning-t'iao-liang, An-pien, and Ting-pien, must be designated
as a commercial zone, in order to develop trade between us.

(5) Our Worker and Peasant Red Army guerrillas, or any other armed unit,
has absolutely no intention to attack the grassy plains, but neither
should you permit transit of the troops of the Chinese warlords and
Japanese imperialism through the grassy plains to attack us and hasten
your own perdition. We wish to unite with you and form a defense and
offense alliance, in order to knock down our common enemies.

In sum, as long as you realize the necessity of the liberation of the
Mongolian nation, refuse to become people without a country, and have
the determination to resist Japanese imperialism and the warlords of
Chiang Kai-shek's China, then, regardless of whether you are aristocrats
or ordinary citizens, we will render you friendly and substantial aid.
The Mongolian people have always been known to the world for their
courage and fighting ability. We believe that, once you consciously
organize, wage a national revolutionary war, and oust Japanese imperialism and the Chinese warlords from the territory of Inner Mongolia, no
one will have the audacity to claim that it is easy to take advantage of
the sons of Genghis Khan. Please think it over carefully. And it is
hoped that we will mutually send delegates to discuss our great cause.
It is so declared.

Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Central Government, the
Chinese Soviet People's Republic

20 December 1935

° "Declaration of the Soviet Central Government to the Inner Mongolian
People" (mimeographed), December 1935

* "Analysis of the Current Situation," Theory and Practice Press, 1935