Declaration of the Central Soviet Government to the People of Inner Mongolia

Dear people of all Inner Mongolia!

We now stand at a turning point of momentous change across the whole world. Will you submit to being carved up by Japanese imperialism and the Chinese warlords, serving as their cannon fodder and sliding toward ruin? Or will you seize the moment to rise and strive to grow strong, so that the sovereign Mongol nation may win a position of complete equality among the peoples of the world? One or the other must be — we urge you to choose quickly.

Japanese imperialism, blazing with ambition and murderous pressure, must first occupy Manchuria and Mongolia if it is to occupy the whole of China, and must first occupy the whole of China if it is to dominate the whole world. That barbarous plan is now being realised step by step, and the first to suffer are the people of the three north-eastern provinces and the five provinces of North China, and the entire Mongol nation of Inner Mongolia. The crafty and contemptible Japanese robbers, honey-mouthed and dagger-hearted, are now resorting to every kind of deception, invoking a so-called “Great Mongolism” in order to seize the entire territory and wealth of Mongolia and enslave the entire people of Inner Mongolia. They intend to make your land their battlefield and your people their cannon fodder, so as to attack the Chinese Soviet People's Republic, attack the Outer Mongolian People's Republic and the Soviet Union, and in the end destroy the Mongol nation altogether. If you doubt it, look at the people of Korea, Taiwan and the three north-eastern provinces, who may not use their own language and script and enjoy no freedom of dwelling, movement, farming or herding — every political and economic right is held entirely in the hands of the Japanese. Look further at the Japanese imperialists' military dispositions and installations in Chahar, and at the Hsingan Office and their other schemes, and you will see clearly that the Mongol nation faces a crisis without precedent in its history. And there is more: the shameless Chinese warlords headed by Chiang Kai-shek not only style their regime the suzerain power, but have gone further and carved the whole of Inner Mongolia into provinces, driving the Mongol nation south of the Yellow River and north of the Yin Mountains, and constantly directing small warlords such as Jing Yuexiu and Gao Shixiu to seize the Mongols' pastures and salt lakes, seeking to wipe out the Mongol nation by degrees and to act as the road-clearer for Japanese imperialism, hastening the destruction of Inner Mongolia.

The Central Government of the Chinese Soviet People's Republic and all its valiant Red Army, through years of heroic fighting, have dealt severe blow after severe blow to Japanese imperialism and the Chiang Kai-shek warlord clique. The Chinese Red Army has become a force that cannot be conquered. The valiant Central Red Army in particular, after the Long March of twenty-five thousand li, broke every marching record in the world and victoriously achieved its set objective of marching north to resist Japan. The aim of the Chinese Red Army's struggle is not only to liberate the whole Chinese nation from the oppression of imperialism and the warlords; it fights equally for the liberation of the other small and weak peoples, and the first task is to help solve the question of the Mongol nation of Inner Mongolia. We hold that only by struggling together with the Mongol people of Inner Mongolia can we quickly strike down our common enemies, Japanese imperialism and Chiang Kai-shek; and we believe at the same time that only by fighting together with us can the Mongol nation preserve the glory of the age of Genghis Khan, escape national extinction, take the road of national revival, and win independence and freedom like those the Turkish, Polish, Ukrainian and Caucasian peoples have won. This government therefore declares to you:

(1) We hold that the whole territory of the former six leagues, twenty-four tribes and forty-nine banners of Inner Mongolia, the two tribes of Chahar and Tümed, and the three special banners of Ningxia — whether already reorganised as counties or still pastureland — must be returned to the people of Inner Mongolia as the territory of the Mongol nation; the names and the actual administrative organs of the three provinces of Rehe, Chahar and Suiyuan are to be abolished; and no other nation may occupy the land of the Mongol nation or strip it from them on any pretext.

(2) We hold that the people of Inner Mongolia alone have the right to settle all their own internal questions; no one has the right to interfere by violence with the habits of life, religion and morals of the Mongol nation, or with any of its other rights. At the same time, the Mongol people of Inner Mongolia may organise as they please: they have the right to order their own life on the principle of autonomy and to establish their own government; they have the right to form a federal union with other nations, and equally the right to separate from them completely. In a word, the nation is sovereign, and at the same time all nations are equal.

(3) The Han, Hui, Tibetan, Manchu and other peoples within the territory of Inner Mongolia should, on the principle of the equality of nations, develop democracy, so that these peoples enjoy the same treatment as the Mongol people, together with freedom to use their own languages and scripts and freedom of belief and of residence.

(4) First, Batu Bay, occupied by Jing Yuexiu, and the areas held by Gao Shixiu, together with its two salt lakes, are to be returned to the people of Inner Mongolia; and the places near the Great Wall, such as Ningtiaoliang, Anbian and Dingbian, are to be designated commercial zones, so as to develop trade between your side and ours.

(5) Our workers' and peasants' Red Army guerrilla units and other armed contingents have absolutely no intention of advancing on the pasturelands; but you likewise must not allow the armies of the Chinese warlords or of Japanese imperialism to pass through the pasturelands to attack us, and so hasten your own destruction. We are willing to conclude with you an offensive and defensive alliance to strike down our common enemy.

In short, so long as you truly recognise the necessity of liberation for the Mongol nation, are unwilling to be slaves of a lost country, and are determined to oppose Japanese imperialism and Chinese warlords such as Chiang Kai-shek, then no matter whether your leaders are princes and nobles or commoners, we are ready to give you assistance both in good faith and in strength. The Mongol nation has always been famed throughout the world for valour in battle; we believe that once you organise yourselves consciously and wage a revolutionary national war to drive Japanese imperialism and the Chinese warlords beyond the borders of Inner Mongolia, who would dare say that the descendants of Genghis Khan can be bullied? We beg you to consider this deeply, and we hope that representatives be exchanged between us so that this great undertaking may be founded — nothing could give us greater joy. This declaration is issued respectfully.

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

The base text is the Wikisource version. The salutation reads 'Dear fellow countrymen of all Inner Mongolia!'; the signature reads 'Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Soviet Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic'. The piece is not divided into sections; the five points are numbered (1) to (5), with two further paragraphs as opening and close.

Places named include the three eastern provinces, the five northern provinces, Chahar, and the Long Wall border localities of Baotuwan, Ningtiaoliang, Anbian and Dingbian; the region can be located by these names. The declaration also names the pastures and salt ponds seized by Jing Yuexiu and Gao Shixiu — the concrete disputes of the time.

The fifth point says the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army guerrillas have no intention of advancing across the grassland, and proposes concluding a mutual-defence alliance with the Mongolian side — the only point to close with a concrete action proposal. The opening also asks the Mongolian side not to permit the troops of Chinese warlords or of Japan to attack across the grassland.