The Struggle Against the Right Wing of the
Guomindang

(Central1 Circular no. 15)

(July 21, 1924)

To all the comrades of each district committee and local committee, and comrade leaders of each independent group:

It is very important, and at the same time extremely difficult, to work within the
Guomindang. All of us in different localities must be constantly alert and keep
making efforts!

Since the convening of the Enlarged Meeting of the Central Executive Committee of our Party,2 overt and covert attacks on us and attempts to push us out
have been mounting daily on the part of a majority of Guomindang members.
The aim is to expel us radical elements, so that the great powers and warlords
will mitigate their pressure on the Guomindang. At present only a very few
Guomindang leaders, such as Sun Yatsen and Liao Zhongkai,3 have not yet made

Our translation is based on Zhonggong zhongyang wenjian xuanji, Vol. 1, 1921-1925, pp.
282-84, where the text is followed by the indication "based on the original document in
the Central Party Archives."
1. "Central" (zhongyang) refers here to the Central Bureau, speaking in the name of
the Central Executive Committee.
2. The reference is to the First Enlarged Session of the Central Executive Committee
of the Chinese Communist Party, which took place in Shanghai on May 10-15, 1924. On
this occasion, much of the discussion was devoted to the role of Communists within the
Guomindang. Broadly speaking, the policies decided on called for supporting and
strengthening the left wing of the Guomindang and for carrying out propaganda against
imperialism and the warlords, against landlord oppression of the peasants, and in favor of
democratic rights. See above, the Introduction, for further details about this gathering.
3. Liao Zhongkai (1878-1925), originally Liao Enxu, was born in San Francisco and
received his early education in the United States. In 1902 he went to Japan to study
political economy. There he met Sun Yatsen and joined the Tongmenghui. He returned to
China with Sun in March 1916. By 1921 he was the Guomindang's leading financial
expert and chief fund-raiser for the party's military campaigns. He was a close ally of Sun
Yatsen, and with him was a chief architect of the Guomindang-Communist alliance. At the
First Congress of the reorganized Guomindang in January 1924, he was elected to the
Central Executive Committee, and shortly thereafter he was appointed Guomindang repre215