1. He Zhuguo was commander of the cavalry forces under the Guomindang army's
Northwest "Bandit Suppression" General Headquarters.
Appeal of the Central Soviet Government
to the Gelaohui
Brothers of the Gelaohui!
(July 15, 1936)
Recently the barbaric acts of robbery in swallowing up China on the part of our
Chinese nation's mortal enemy, Japanese imperialism, have been increasing in
ferocity and viciousness. Not only have they forcibly occupied our Four Northeastern Provinces, they have gone further and established de facto rule over the
whole of North China. They have not merely made use of smuggling to ruin the
whole of our country's economic life, and increase all sorts of suffering such as
bankruptcy and unemployment, but they have also made use of the colonial
systems in Taiwan and Korea to increase by more than 50,000 the number of
soldiers sent into North China. All of these political and economic measures are
calculated to turn North China into a second "Manchukuo," and to make of
North China a base for attacking the whole of China. They are, moreover, engaged in ruthless invasion of China's Northwest, Central China, and South China
in an attempt to swallow up all of China and turn it into their colony, and to
make slaves and beasts of burden of our four hundred million compatriots. The
grievous misfortune of the loss of our state and the extinction of our race is
already singeing our eyebrows; we find ourselves before an imminent crisis in
which life and death, survival or ruin are at stake. Apart from a few traitors who
are selling out their country, there is no one among all those Chinese who are in
the slightest degree upright, among those Chinese who are unwilling to be slaves
without a country, whose hair does not stand on end with anger, whose bosom is
not filled with rage, and who does not want to wage a war of resistance to the
death against Japan! Today the military leaders of the southwest, Li Zongren,
Chen Jitang,¹ and others, have raised the banner of resistance to Japan, and
moved their armies northward. Moreover, they have demanded of the Nanjing
government and Mr. Chiang Kaishek to go forth and do battle against Japan. The
anti-Japanese national revolutionary war has already entered a new stage.
This document was first published in Douzheng, no. 105, July 12, 1936. We have
translated it from Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 5, pp. 59-61.
1. For a biography of Li Zongren, see below, the relevant note to Mao's letter to him
dated September 22, 1936. Chen Jitang (1890-1954), zi Bonan, a native of Guangdong,
became chief commander in his native province in 1929, and remained dominant there
until July 1936, when the failure of the Southwest expedition toward the north led to the
collapse of his power and his flight to Hong Kong and thence to Europe.


Formerly, following its principles—"Restore the Han and exterminate the
Qing," "Strike at the rich and aid the poor"—the Gelaohui participated actively
in the anti-Manchu revolutionary movement of 1911. The revolution in northern
Shaanxi has also benefited from considerable aid, support, and active participation of comrades from the Gelaohui. Comrades such as Xie Zichang or Liu
Zhidan are not only leaders of the Red Army; they are also exemplary members
of the Gelaohui. This revolutionary spirit, these glorious feats, must be manifested even more widely today, in the heroic struggle to save the country and
save ourselves.
The Central Chinese People's Soviet Government has many times in the past
proclaimed its views about resisting Japan and saving the country, and called on
all those who are unwilling to be slaves without a country to unite, without
distinction of party or class, and go and fight together against our common
enemies—the Japanese imperialists and the traitors who are selling out their
country—in order to secure the independence and liberation of the Chinese
nation. The Gelaohui has always been representative of the organizations of the
resolute men of our nation, and of the broad masses of peasants and toilers. It has
constantly been the victim of the oppression of the government, the militarists,
and the bureaucrats; its members have been considered as "people of inferior
status," or calumnied as "bandits," and it was unable to exist openly. In truth, the
treatment inflicted on the Gelaohui by the ruling class is essentially the same as
that inflicted on us! In the past you supported the restoration of the Han and the
extermination of the Manchus; today, we support resistance to Japan and saving
the country. You support striking at the rich and helping the poor; we support
striking at the local bullies and dividing up the land. You despise wealth and
defend justice, and you gather together all the heroes and brave fellows in the
world; we do not spare ourselves to save China and the world, we unite the
oppressed and exploited peoples and social strata of the whole world. Our respective views and positions are therefore not very different, and there is even
more complete correspondence as regards our enemies and the road toward
salvation. Consequently, we once more make a special and very sincere appeal to
all our brothers of the Gelaohui throughout the whole country. Regardless of our
past subjects of discord or mutual grievances, we must now forget them in order
to unite under the slogan of resisting Japan and saving the country. Let us
constitute a close and intimate alliance of brothers, let us together defend righteousness and come to the aid of our country in its need. This is your sacred duty,
and the sacred duty of the whole Chinese people!
The Soviet Government is the government of the oppressed people of all
China. We have the responsibility to receive and to protect all those who are
persecuted and threatened with arrest by the Guomindang Government. Consequently, the Gelaohui can exist legally under the Chinese Soviet Government.
Moreover, we have instituted a reception bureau for the Gelaohui for receiving
all the heroes, brave fellows, and courageous fighters for upright causes who are

unable to maintain themselves in the White areas. We hope and request that the
lodge masters and grand masters of the various lodges in all parts of the country,
and our brothers among the brave fellows on every hand, will send representatives or come themselves to discuss with us plans for saving the country. We
await them with enthusiasm, and will give them a hearty welcome! We proclaim
loudly:
Show the revolutionary spirit that characterized the Gelaohui in the past!
Let the Gelaohui and the whole of the Chinese people unite to strike at Japan
and restore China!
Long live the liberation of the Chinese nation!

Chairman of the
Central Government
of the Chinese People's
Soviet Republic Mao Zedong