AND THE REAR HEADQUARTERS OF THE EIGHTH ROUTE ARMY


May 15, 1938

[This proclamation was written by Comrade Mao Tse-tung for the Government
of the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region and the Rear Headquarters of the
Eighth Route Army with a view to countering disruptive activities by the
Chiang Kai-shek clique. Shortly after the establishment of Kuomintang-Communist
cooperation, the Chiang Kai-shek clique began to plot disruption against
the revolutionary forces under Communist leadership. The disruption of the
Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region was part of their plot. Comrade Mao Tse-tung
maintained that a firm stand was necessary to defend the interests of the
revolution. The proclamation dealt a blow at the opportunist stand of some
Party members in the anti-Japanese united front with regard to the intrigues
of the Chiang clique.]


Be it hereby proclaimed: Ever since the Lukouchiao Incident, all our patriotic
countrymen have been firmly waging the War of Resistance. Officers and men
at the front are shedding their blood and sacrificing their lives. All political
parties and groups have united in good faith. All sections of the people
have joined forces to save the nation. This points to a bright future for
the Chinese nation and affords a firm guarantee for victory over Japan. All
our fellow-countrymen must continue along this line of advance. The army
and the people of our Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region
[1] have followed the Government's leadership and
devoted their efforts to the cause of national salvation. Whatever they have
done has been just and honourable. Under bitter hardships, they have struggled
on tirelessly and uncomplainingly. The people throughout the country are
unanimous in praising them. For their part the Border Region Government and
the Rear Headquarters will encourage the people of the whole region to continue
their efforts to the very end. Nobody will be allowed to neglect his duty
and nothing will be allowed to undermine the cause of national salvation.
However, recent investigations in the Border Region have disclosed that,
disregarding the public interest, some persons are using various means to
force the peasants to return land and houses that have been distributed to
them, to compel debtors to pay back old cancelled loans,
[2] to coerce the people into changing the democratic
system that has been built up, or to disrupt the military, economic, cultural
and mass organizations that have been established. Some of them are even
acting as spies, conspiring with bandits, inciting our soldiers to mutiny,
making surveys and maps of our region, secretly collecting information, or
openly spreading propaganda against the Border Region Government. Clearly,
all these activities are violations of the basic principle of unity for
resistance to Japan, run counter to the will of the people of the Border
Region, and are intended to foment internal dissension, disrupt the united
front, damage the people's interests, undermine the prestige of the Border
Region Government and increase the difficulties of mobilization against Japan.
The reason is that a handful of die-hards are behaving unscrupulously to
the detriment of the national interest. Some are even serving as tools of
the Japanese aggressors, using various guises to camouflage their conspiratorial
activities. For several months, reports demanding our daily attention have
been steadily pouring in from people in the counties requesting us to put
a stop to such activities. With a view to strengthening the anti-Japanese
forces, consolidating the rear against Japan, and safeguarding the interests
of the people, the Government and the Rear Headquarters find it imperative
to proscribe the above-mentioned activities. Accordingly, we hereby unequivocally
proclaim:

(1) The Government and the Rear Headquarters, in order to protect the rights
already secured by the people, forbid any unauthorized change in the distribution
of land or houses and in the cancellation of debts made within the areas
under the jurisdiction of the Border Region Government before internal peace
was established.

(2) The Government and the Rear Headquarters will protect the activities
of all the military, political, economic, cultural and mass organizations
which were in existence when internal peace was established and which have
since advanced and expanded in accordance with the principle of the united
front, will promote their progress, and stop all intrigues and disruptive
activities against them.

(3) The Government and the Rear Headquarters, resolutely carrying out the
Programme of Armed Resistance and National Reconstruction' will gladly initiate
and promote any undertaking that serves the cause of resistance to Japan
and national salvation. We welcome sincere assistance from people in every
quarter. But to guard against impostors and keep out traitors, we prohibit
any person, whatever his activities, from entering and staying in the Border
Region unless he secures permission and written authorization from the Government
and the Rear Headquarters.

(4) In this tense period of armed resistance, it is right and proper for
the people to report any person who tries to sabotage, engage in disruption,
stir up sedition or ferret out military secrets within the boundaries of
the Border Region. Upon valid evidence, persons so charged may be arrested
on the spot. If convicted, offenders will be punished with due severity.

These four regulations must be observed by all members of the armed forces
and all civilians throughout the Border Region, and no violation whatsoever
will be permitted. Henceforward, should any lawless person dare to plot
disruption, the Border Region Government and the Rear Headquarters will enforce
these regulations to the letter and will accept no plea of ignorance.

This proclamation is hereby issued with the full force of the law.

NOTES


1. The Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region was the revolutionary
base area which was gradually built up after 1931 through revolutionary guerrilla
war in northern Shensi. When the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shensi
after the Long March, it became the central base area of the revolution and
the seat of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. It was
named the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region after the formation of the
Anti-Japanese National United Front in 1937, and it included twenty-three
counties along the common borders of the three provinces.

2. By 1936 most places in the Border Region had carried
out the policy of confiscating the land of the landlords and distributing
it among the peasants and cancelling the old debts of the peasants. After
1936, in order to facilitate the formation of a broad anti-Japanese national
united front, the Chinese Communist Party changed its policy for the country
as a whole to one of reduction of rent and interest; at the same time, however,
it resolutely protected the gains already secured by the peasants in the
land reform.


Transcription by the Maoist Documentation Project.