Telegram to Peng Dehuai[1]

(December 19, 1935)

All comrades of the Central Committee hold that Comrade Lin Biao is one of the finest and most outstanding senior cadres within our Party. In the past, as well as during the recent Long March of twenty-five thousand li, he has rendered great meritorious service to the Chinese revolution and to the Party, and has earned honor both in China and internationally. In recent days we have received many letters and telegrams from him concerning the transfer of his work, and we believe that to take a cadre such as him away from the main Red Army to engage in guerrilla warfare cannot be agreed to. However, there are problems weighing on his mind. He should come to the Central Committee for a period, so that his views can be exchanged with the various comrades of the Central Committee, so that the problems causing his unease can be addressed, and so that he can better study political questions. His post shall be temporarily assumed by Comrade Zuo Quan.

[1] This is the main content of the telegram sent by Mao Zedong and Luofu (Zhang Wentian) to Peng Dehuai.