The Greatest Talent of the Right Wing
(December 20, 1925)

An editorial that appeared on December 3 in the right-wing organ, the Shanghai
Republican Daily, states, "The warlords fear the revolutionary party, but since
when does the revolutionary party fear the warlords?" This is the reason they use
to oppose the following telegram from Wang Jingwei and others: "The plenary
sessions of the Central Executive Committee are open meetings. If held in Beijing, the meetings would be subject to external pressure from the warlords and to
internal obstruction by reactionary elements making use of the warlords." Thus
the Republican Daily thinks that by holding its plenary session in Beijing the
Central Executive Committee would be able to demonstrate courage and show
that it did not fear the warlords. Why is the Republican Daily wrong? It is wrong
in that it does not understand that there is a distinction between the open activities and the secret activities of a revolutionary party. When acting within the
enemy's sphere of influence, a truly revolutionary party organizes and meets in
total secrecy, while its proposals and propaganda are public. When within the
enemy's sphere of influence, if the party wants to hold a public meeting on party
organization, it must first obtain dispensation from the enemy. There must be at
least a few things that are in the enemy's interest before he will give his tacit
approval, much less his protection. But what kind of a party would this be? This
would simply be a friend of the enemy, and not a revolutionary party that wants
to overthrow the enemy. Duan Qirui gave permission for the right wing to hold
open meetings in Beijing, but would he permit Wang Jingwei, Tan Yankai, and
others like them to hold open meetings in Beijing? This paper also states that
Director General Sun Yatsen went to Beijing last year and was not afraid of
Duan Qirui. They ignore the fact that there were two factors that made it possible
for Director General Sun to go to Beijing last year. One factor was that, having
just taken office, Duan Qirui's political position was not yet secure, and he had
not yet decided on the policy of suppressing the Guomindang; and the other
factor was that power over the police was still in the hands of Feng Yuxiang,
who was sympathetic to the Guomindang. If it had not been for these two
factors, Mr. Sun would not have been able to go openly to Beijing. If Mr. Sun
were still alive, Duan Qirui would definitely not allow him to engage openly in

This text appeared in Zhengzhi zhoubao, No. 3, December 20, 1925. Our source is Mao
Zedong ji, Vol. 1, pp. 139-40.