In the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, secret societies became widespread in China. Being one of the elements of the traditional social structure, they emerged only at the most acute moments of historical development and represented a kind of reaction of the population to changing living conditions, when traditional relations and lifestyle were broken. In the" time of troubles "of the 19 - 20s, China turned into a" federation "of militaristic fiefdoms, constant internecine wars were waged that ruined peasant farms,"taxes were increased 30 times, well-to-do peasants became poor, poor people became beggars" 1, terror and banditry raged in the country.

According to the composition of participants in the period described, there were three types of secret societies: mixed, peasant and declassified elements2 . Mixed societies are most widespread .3 The secret society movement was so powerful that all the political forces of the time - the CCP, the Kuomintang, and the militarists-had to reckon with it. In 1927, the secret society "Heavenly Gate" had 300,000 members and covered more than 20 counties .4 In Changshan County, Shandong Province, " a certain landowner and gentry, Ma Shiwei, declared himself emperor... he spoke on behalf of a secret society founded by him in 1911, the number of which by 1929 had reached 100 thousand people. " 5 In 1929, in Henan Province, a peasant army consisting of members of secret fraternities captured 12 and besieged 17 county6 cities .

Especially popular at that time were the monarchist tendencies in the movement of secret societies, which was reflected in their slogans: "Down with the Kuomintang, long live the autocracy! The old system of distinctions - mandarin ball and peacock feathers-should be restored. " 7 And this is not accidental, because for most of the population, in retrospect, life in the era of imperial China, i.e. before the Xinhai Revolution, seemed more acceptable. Therefore, most members of secret societies (with the exception of the declassified elements, who do not care what happens around them, as long as there is an opportunity to loot) hoped for a return to the "good old days" when life flowed calmly and evenly.

The sentiments of the vast masses of the population who have joined the secret fraternities are reflected in the slogans and demands put forward by these organizations and recorded in their documents. For example, Section 3 of the charter of the Red Peaks Society stated: "The present union assumes the following duty: 1) to destroy the Tufei (bandits), 2) to sweep away the evil government troops from the face of the earth, 3) to refuse to pay all excessive taxes and additional food contributions, to fight the forced collection of all kinds of levies, 4) to punish the mercenary and greedy bureaucracy."8 The Shenbin Secret society ("sacred warriors" - A. B.) in Sichuan Province aimed to "protect law and order" 9 . In the charter of the "Union of Heavenly Teaching" it is written that "the main purpose of the union is to protect its sob-

1 Problems of China, 1930, N 2, p. 172.

2 See: Ilyushechkin V. P. Secret societies and heretical sects in China in the middle of the 19th century. In: Secret Societies in Old China, Moscow, 1970.

3 Ivin A. Krasnye piki [Red Peaks], Moscow, 1927, p. 50.

4 Xiangdao, 1927, N 197, p. 2163.

5 Problems of China, 1930, N 1, p. 175.

6 Bulletin of the China Research Institute at the KUTV, 1929, N 16-18, p. 69.

7 Problems of China, 1930, N 2, p. 171.

8 Materials on the Chinese question, 1929, No. 13, p. 86.

9 Ivin A. Ocherki partizanskogo dvizheniya v Kitae 1927 - 1930 gg. [Essays on the partisan movement in China in 1927-1930].

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public house"10 . What is meant by this? Apparently, the same traditional slogans, more clearly expressed in the documents of other societies, namely: the fight against banditry, taxes and levies, and the troops of militarists.

An important document for studying the activities of secret societies is the leaflet "Appeal of the Red Peak Joint Headquarters to the population of Kaifeng city" 11 . Various secret societies often resorted to distributing such leaflets to popularize their slogans among the population. This" Appeal " is interesting because it reflects in a concentrated form the main slogans and demands put forward by almost all secret societies at that time. The leaflet was written in the spring of 1926 during the Red Peaks Society's uprising against the dictatorship of the militarist Wu Peifu in Henan Province .12
The historical outline of events is as follows. During the Northern Campaign of the National Revolutionary Army, the 2nd National Army, under the command of General Yue Weijun, was stationed in Henan Province and prepared for combat operations with the Fengtian militarist clique. In January. In 1926, several Red Peaks secret societies of the same name joined forces against the 2nd National Army, calling on the troops of Peifu to help. The discontent of the " Red Peaks "was caused by taxes imposed by the command of the 2nd National Army on the population of the province, as well as reprisals against members of the"Red Peaks". As a result, the 300,000 strong 2nd National Army was defeated and forced to abandon Province 13 . From the point of view of the revolted peasants, this was a revolt against the army of the militarists, who were shamelessly robbing them, and yet the defeat of the National Army threatened the Northern campaign of the revolutionary camp against the militarists of the North. In Henan Province, the dictatorship of Wu Peifu, a member of the Zhili clique of militarists, an ally of the Red Peaks, was established. However, the situation of the population did not change: the old taxes were restored and even increased, and Wu Peifu launched a crackdown on his recent allies-members of the Red Peaks Society.

Then, in April-May 1926, a new Red Peak uprising broke out, this time under the slogan of overthrowing the dictatorship of Peifu. Despite the selfless struggle of the rebels, they were defeated. The leaflet "Appeal" was written exactly at the time when the combined forces of the "Red Peaks" were trying to storm the city of Kaifeng, where part of the troops at Peifu were stationed. Compositionally, this document can be divided into three parts: two contain a description of the misfortunes and troubles that the Wu Peifu dictatorship brings to rural and urban residents, and the third is a call to unite to fight the Wu Peifu clique. The first part says: "Compatriots of Kaifeng!.. Wu Peifu came to Henan, and he came because he promised not to collect the grain tax for three years and to exempt from other heavy taxes and levies ... but not only did he not exempt from the grain tax and other levies, but also increased them tenfold. Remember how we rushed into a deadly battle with weapons in our hands, only so that he (Wu Peifu - AB) would come and we could pass our lives in peace. Now he has come, and it is as if a calamity has descended upon us, a calamity more fierce and cruel than the arrival of the Shensians (meaning the 2nd National Army ) . B.): taxes, levies! Today you need to pay, tomorrow they will rush to pay! They've traded and sold grain, pawned their clothes, and still there aren't enough coins to pay his grain tax, damn him three times! Look at this: even the bandits are nothing compared to the brutality of his troops. And he, you know, looks at how the bandits are brutalizing on our land, and will not lift a finger. This can no longer be tolerated. " 14
As already noted in the works of sinologists, in the first decades of the twentieth century, tax exploitation in China " clearly lost traditional regulators and went far beyond the previous norms. It was the tax oppression that was the main one in the eyes of the peasantry, and it was an external, alien one at that

10 Materials on the Chinese question, 1928, No. 13, p. 86.

11 Dongfang zazhi, 1927, No. 21, pp. 35-36.

12 For more information about the "Red Peaks", see: Dai Seanzhi. "Red peaks". Taipei. 1973 (in Chinese).

13 For more information about the uprising, see: Ivin A. Red Peaks.

14 Dongfang zazhi, 1927, No. 21, p. 35.

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evil " 15 . If earlier the subject of exploitation was the Qing state, then in the period described, this role was assumed by each individual militarist, who performed such functions of the state as taxation and punitive, but completely ignored economic, organizational and defense (in this case, protection from bandits). It was precisely against this "new" state that the class anger of the entire rural population, including the well-to-do and poor strata, was directed.

In order to find a basis for uniting with urban residents, the authors of the leaflet in its second part show that militarism is dangerous for all urban strata: "Wu Peifu is no less of a disaster for you than it is for us in the village: it collects a housing tax every month, sets an emergency tax on kerosene, auctioned off 5 li of land around the city, and released 5 million rubles. Bank notes of the "Silk and Tea Bank", forcibly installed and put into circulation shares - this is all an encroachment on your vital interests. Not only" big "merchants, but also "small" shopkeepers constantly suffer losses and go bankrupt. How can you stand this? Do you want a well-established trade to go to waste because of this? If you can muster up the courage to oppose, we, your brothers in the village, swear to be your helpers. " 17
It is obvious that for the residents of the city, the main disaster that the militarist dictatorship brought was excessive taxes and levies. The forced distribution of bank notes among the townspeople to raise funds for the maintenance of a huge army was also one of the extortions. Thus, the leaflet emphasized that the residents of the city and village had one enemy-the dictatorship of the militarist, and as a consequence-the growth of taxes and levies. The most common way to combat this evil was, in the opinion of most residents of a huge agrarian country, through the creation of secret societies.

The third part of the "Appeal" is imbued with the idea of fatalism: "No matter how you turn it, you still have to die, but it's better to die in a deadly battle with him (In Peifu - A. B.) than from taxes and levies or at the hand of an official servant." The authors of the" Appeal "dismiss any hope among the residents of the city for concessions from Wu Peifu:" You can not believe their honey speeches, because they hide their swords behind sweet smiles." The leaflet ends with the call: "Compatriots, get up! We, your brothers from the village, swear to be your helpers in the struggle. " 18
The document was compiled by direct participants in the events. The emotional coloring of the leaflet, which reflected the appearance of the rebels, is noteworthy: semi-literate peasants wrote, not at all shy in expressions, describing what they saw with their own eyes and experienced for themselves. Therefore, the study of documents similar to the "Appeal" will help sinologists to learn more about such an interesting topic as the movement of secret societies in China in recent times.

15 Mugruzin A. S. On the basic requirements of the Chinese peasantry during the Revolution of 1925-1927, two types of village split. In: Society and the State in China, Moscow, 1981, p. 189.

16 1 li = 576 m.

17 Dongfang zazhi, 1927, No. 21, p. 36.

18 Ibid.

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