Issues Concerning the Party’s External Name and Operational Policy[1]

(November 3, 1935)

For external purposes, it is more appropriate to use the names of the Northwest Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Office of the Central Government. The open use of the names of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Central Government can be decided after the "encirclement and suppression" campaign is smashed. As for the operational policy, the issue of the third "encirclement and suppression" campaign should be resolved within this month. It would not be good to let the enemy slowly build blockhouses through a deep winter. After joining forces with the Fifteenth Red Army Corps, the organizational structure of the Fifteenth Red Army Corps should be preserved, and the Twenty-sixth and Twenty-seventh Red Armies should not be merged due to historical ties. The Shaanxi-Gansu Detachment may be reorganized into the First Red Army Corps, and the First Front Red Army shall be established.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong's speech on the issue concerning the Party's external name and operational policy at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.