Transform the Gelaohui into the Jianghu Anti-Japanese National Salvation Association[1]

(August 19, 1936)

In dealing with the Gelaohui, we should adopt the strategy of the united front to win over the majority of them to the anti-Japanese front; we must not compel the Hui Gelaohui to join the Han Gelaohui, nor should we forcibly merge them. The principle that Hui affairs should be handled by the Hui themselves must be upheld.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong and Yang Shangkun to Peng Dehuai, Commander of the First Front Army of the Red Army and Commander and Political Commissar of the Western Field Army, and Liu Xiao, Director of the Political Department, regarding the issue of transforming the Gelaohui into the Jianghu Anti-Japanese National Salvation Association.