To the esteemed members of the Central Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang and, through you, to all members of the Chinese Kuomintang: Over a year has passed since our Party, the Soviet Government, and the Red Army issued the Declaration on Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation〔2〕.

The initiative put forward by our Party, the Soviet Government, and the Red Army to organize a national united front and unite all parties, groups, and sectors across the country in concerted resistance against Japan has, though supported by patriotic leaders and citizens nationwide, met with hesitation and refusal from your esteemed Party and your Party's government. As a result, the sacred war of national self-defense remains unlaunched to this day.

Meanwhile, the Japanese aggressors have exploited this void to advance step by step, encroaching inch by inch. The calamity of subjugation looms imminently before us, leaving the entire nation anxious and unable to carry on. This immense peril now confronting our entire country and nation has been brought about entirely by the erroneous policies of your esteemed Party and your Party's government.

Now, at this critical juncture of national subjugation and racial extinction, our Party must once again cry out to your esteemed Party: Immediately cease the civil war, organize a nationwide anti-Japanese united front, launch the sacred war of national self-defense, resist the onslaught of Japanese imperialism, safeguard and restore China’s territorial sovereignty, and rescue the entire people from untold suffering.

If you persist in internal strife, refuse to turn inward-pointing guns outward, refuse to shift from a policy of concession to one of armed resistance, refuse to transform division into unity, and refuse to change disunity into cohesion, then the ensuing disaster will be unimaginable, and the eternal infamy that you, esteemed gentlemen, will bear will be beyond redemption.

For this reason, we are addressing you, esteemed gentlemen, and all members of the Chinese Kuomintang, with the utmost sincerity.

Having read the manifesto of your Party’s Second Plenary Session and the report delivered by Chairman Chiang, we find that the Second Plenary Session has still offered no definitive answer to the pressing question of national survival that weighs on the minds of the people day and night. The foreign policy adopted at your Party’s Fifth National Congress—"As long as peace has not reached a state of complete hopelessness, we will not abandon peace; as long as sacrifice has not reached the final critical juncture, we will not lightly speak of sacrifice"—has not undergone fundamental change. This cannot but be deeply disappointing to the patriotic people across the nation.

In his report, Chairman Chiang provided a new interpretation of the policy set at your Party’s Fifth National Congress, stating: "The minimum limit the Central Government adheres to in foreign affairs is the preservation of territorial sovereignty and integrity. Should any nation seek to infringe upon our territorial sovereignty, we absolutely cannot tolerate it. We absolutely shall not conclude any agreement that infringes upon our territorial sovereignty, and we absolutely shall not tolerate any act that infringes upon our territorial sovereignty.

To put it more plainly, if anyone forces us to sign an agreement recognizing the puppet state, thereby harming our territorial sovereignty, that will be the moment we can no longer tolerate it, the moment of our final sacrifice."

This explanation by Chairman Chiang is very necessary, for the Chinese people have never understood how exactly to define the "period of hopeless peace" and the "final critical juncture of sacrifice" as minimum thresholds.

We acknowledge that this explanation by Chairman Chiang marks some progress compared to the past, and we sincerely welcome such progress.

Nevertheless, this explanation by Chairman Chiang still fundamentally fails to meet the demands of the people nationwide. For in his own report, Chairman Chiang also maintained: "Everyone believes that the diplomatic situation over the past six months has not yet reached the period of hopeless peace. Rather than saying peace is hopeless, it would be better to say that compared to the situation before, there is still a ray of hope over these six months.

I dare say that recent diplomatic avenues have not yet reached the final critical juncture."

Thus, Chairman Chiang remains unwilling to propose the task of organizing an anti-Japanese united front and continues to reject launching a sacred war of resistance against Japan immediately. Using the defeat of Abyssinia〔3〕 as a pretext, he persists in his policy of concession.

This is most regrettable and utterly fails to satisfy the demands of the people throughout the country.

In the eyes of the people nationwide, the loss of the four Northeastern provinces, the loss of much of Chahar〔4〕, the rampant autonomy of the East Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government〔5〕, the puppetization of the Hebei-Chahar Political Council〔6〕, the massing of Japanese troops in Hebei and Chahar, the forfeiture of economic rights in North China, the rampant open smuggling sweeping the country, the predicament of national industry and commerce brought to a dead end, the national finances nearing bankruptcy, the disruption of customs authority, the establishment of Japanese secret service agencies across North China and even the northwestern provinces, the massive offensives launched by Japanese and puppet Mongol forces against Suiyuan〔7〕, the formation of an independent government in Inner Mongolia〔8〕, the unrestricted flights of enemy planes in our territorial airspace, the unchecked lawlessness of Japanese rōnin, the direct and indirect interference by Japanese aggressors in student patriotic movements and patriotic expressions by the people, the massacre of large numbers of workers and peasants, the unbearable humiliations inflicted upon many patriotic citizens, soldiers, policemen, journalists, and even many key figures of your Party and officials of your government, the forced withdrawal of territorial defense forces, the alarm in Qingdao, and the instigation of an autonomy movement in South China—all these and more represent immense losses to China’s territorial sovereignty.

In the eyes of the people nationwide, the Shanghai Ceasefire Agreement〔9〕, the Tanggu Truce〔10〕, the He-Umezu Agreement〔11〕, the North China Anti-Communist Agreement, and other unannounced written or unwritten agreements are all treaties that forfeit sovereignty and cede territory.

Therefore, in the eyes of the people nationwide, peace has long been hopeless, and the moment of final sacrifice has long been at hand. Short of launching a resolute war of self-defense mobilizing the entire people and all armed forces of the nation, the total loss of China’s territorial sovereignty will be irremediable.

The bandit plan of Japanese imperialism to annihilate China will never change unless it is resolutely smashed by mobilizing the full strength of the entire Chinese nation.

Its shifts in methods of aggression, changes in the direction of invasion, and even gestures of so-called "economic cooperation" are in no way because it intends to halt its aggression but precisely to facilitate it.

Thus, if anyone thinks that after dispatching troops to Hebei and Chahar, the Japanese aggressors are temporarily focused on economic aggression in the five provinces of North China and that there is therefore hope for the path of peace, that is self-deception and deceiving others.

If anyone believes that Japanese aggression will halt north of the Yellow River and that we can safely remain south of the Yellow River, that too is sheer illusion.

Look—while you esteemed gentlemen are still arguing that peace is not yet hopeless, Japanese and puppet troops north of Chahar are once again launching a large-scale offensive against Suiyuan.

After setting up secret service agencies throughout Suiyuan, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, and Gansu, they are now establishing main aviation stations and numerous branch stations in these regions.

The forced establishment of a consulate in Sichuan has provoked a great upheaval, with patriotic compatriots being brutalized and killed.

After reinforcing their troops in North China, the ferocious Japanese forces are stirring restlessly; minor clashes occur from time to time along the defense lines of the 29th Army, and the situation in North China grows increasingly perilous.

Japanese military inspection teams, economic inspection teams, and other reconnaissance groups are roaming everywhere, leaving no opening unexploited.

The Japanese aggressors’ espionage network covers the entire nation, even infiltrating various organizations of your Party and your Party’s government.

All this points to the extremely critical situation of Japan’s aggression aiming to annihilate China.

Peace is utterly impossible; armed resistance is absolutely inevitable. This is a clear and unquestionable fact. Your esteemed gentlemen’s way of thinking is entirely wrong.

The manifesto of your Party’s Second Plenary Session solemnly states: "The prerequisite for resisting foreign aggression lies in concentrating all forces for national salvation under the command of the Central Government, unifying their steps, and consolidating their front. Hence the need for unity and discipline in resisting aggression and saving the nation is an unshakable iron law, and the unification of military administration and military orders is the minimum requirement for completing the organization of a 'modern state.'"

We fully acknowledge that in order to mobilize the greatest resistance strength of the entire people and achieve thorough victory in the war of resistance, it is absolutely necessary to concentrate and unify all forces for national salvation across the country.

As early as the September 18th Incident, our Party, the Soviet Government, and the Red Army called upon the entire people and all armed forces of the nation to wage a sacred national revolutionary war to expel Japanese imperialism from China.

After the January 28th Shanghai War of Resistance, our Party, the Soviet Government, and the Red Army proposed to all armed forces under your Party and your Party’s government that were besieging the Soviet areas to cease hostilities immediately and negotiate peace to jointly resist Japan.

After the North China Incident, we further put forward a new policy of swiftly forming the broadest possible anti-Japanese united front among all parties, groups, and sectors across China. We have time and again petitioned your Party and your Party’s government to stop the civil war and unite to resist Japan, and proposed the immediate convening of an Anti-Japanese National Salvation Congress, elected by the entire people and all armed forces willing to resist Japan, to decide on major plans for resisting Japan and saving the nation. This congress would elect a unified national defense government for the whole country and organize an anti-Japanese allied army to carry out large-scale armed resistance. We have also resolutely declared that the Soviet Government is willing to become a constituent part of such a national defense government, and the Red Army is willing to submit to the command of the General Headquarters of the Anti-Japanese Allied Army, undertake designated battlefronts, and guarantee the fulfillment of every combat mission.

All these propositions of our Party, the Soviet Government, and the Red Army fully conform to the demands of the people nationwide and represent the only correct policy for national salvation.

Never before have the people throughout the country so urgently demanded a cessation of civil war and the concentration and unification of forces to achieve concerted resistance against Japan. Only the Japanese aggressors and their agents would incite China’s continued division and internal strife, for this can only create conditions for the Japanese bandits to destroy China.

Yet the "concentration and unification" spoken of by your Party’s Second Plenary Session is, in truth, a case of putting the cart before the horse.

You must understand that the civil war and disunity of the past decade have been entirely caused by your Party’s and your Party’s government’s policy of misgoverning the country by relying on imperialism, and especially by the consistent policy of non-resistance pursued since the September 18th Incident.

Under your Party and your Party government’s slogan of "Pacifying the interior before resisting foreign aggression," years of uninterrupted civil war have been waged, numerous sieges have been launched against the Soviet Red Army, and no effort has been spared in suppressing the patriotic and democratic movements of the entire people.

Even recently, you continue to ignore the abandonment of the Northeast and North China, forget that Japanese imperialism is China’s greatest enemy, and instead direct all your forces against the Soviets and the Red Army, engaging in internal disputes within your own Party's camp. You use every effort to block the Red Army’s path to resist Japan, disrupt the Red Army’s rear areas for anti-Japanese operations, disregard the anti-Japanese demands of the people throughout the country, and deprive the people nationwide of their freedoms and rights. Patriotism is treated as a crime, with unjust verdicts rampant across the land; treason is rewarded, with traitors congratulating each other. To seek concentration and unification through such an erroneous policy is truly like climbing a tree to catch a fish—it achieves the exact opposite of what is intended.

We now solemnly admonish you, esteemed gentlemen: If you do not fundamentally change your erroneous course, if you do not redirect your enmity toward Japanese imperialism but instead continue to focus it on your own compatriots, then even attempting to barely maintain the status quo will be impossible, and any talk of concentration, unification, or a so-called "modern state" will be entirely empty talk.

What the people nationwide desire now is concentration and unification for resisting Japan and saving the people, not concentration and unification for toadying to foreign powers and harming the people.

The people nationwide now fervently demand a government that truly saves the nation and the people, a true democratic republic.

The people demand a democratic republican government that serves their own interests.

The principal program of this government must: first, be capable of resisting foreign aggression; second, be capable of granting democratic rights to the people; and third, be capable of developing the national economy and alleviating or even ending the sufferings of the people’s livelihood.

If one speaks of a "modern state," these are the programmatic points that a truly colonial and semi-colonial China demands in the present era. The people nationwide are now struggling with fervent aspiration and resolute determination to realize such a goal.

Yet the policies of your Party and your Party’s government run diametrically counter to these wishes of the people throughout the country.

To seek the people’s trust through such policies is absolutely impossible.

The Communist Party of China, the Chinese Soviet Government, and the Chinese Red Army now solemnly declare: We support the establishment of a unified democratic republic for all China, support the convening of a national congress elected by universal suffrage, endorse the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Congress of the entire people and anti-Japanese armed forces, and endorse the unified national defense government of the entire country.

We declare: Upon the establishment of a unified democratic republic for all China, the Soviet regions can become a constituent part of that unified democratic republic. Representatives of the people from the Soviet areas will participate in the national congress, and the same democratic system as in the rest of China will be implemented in the Soviet areas.

We hold that the National Defense Conference decided upon for organization by your Party’s Second Plenary Session, as well as the National Assembly currently being convened by your Party and your Party’s government, cannot fulfill the task of concentrating and unifying forces to resist Japan and save the nation.

Judging from the regulations of the National Defense Conference adopted by your Party’s Second Plenary Session, its organization is limited to a small number of officials currently holding power in your Party and your Party’s government, and its function is merely to serve as an advisory body to your Party’s government. It is abundantly clear that such a conference can achieve nothing and can never win the people’s trust.

As for the National Assembly that you, gentlemen, intend to convene, it is equally incapable of achieving anything or winning any trust from the people, as evident from the *Draft Constitution of the Republic of China* and the *Organic Law and Electoral Law of the National Assembly* passed by your party's government. Such a National Assembly is merely an organ manipulated by a small number of officials from your party and your party's government; it is their appendage and decoration. This kind of National Defense Conference and National Assembly bears not the slightest resemblance to the All-China Congress of Representatives for Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation (i.e., the National Defense Conference), the Chinese Democratic Republic, and its Congress as advocated by our Party.

We maintain that a National Defense Conference for resisting Japan and saving the nation must include representatives from all parties, all groups, all sectors, and all armed forces, forming a genuine organ of power capable of deciding on the great cause of resisting Japan and saving the nation, and that from this conference a unified national government of national defense should emerge.

Likewise, the National Assembly must be a congress universally elected by the people of the whole nation and serve as the supreme organ of power of the Chinese Democratic Republic.

Only such a National Defense Conference and a National Congress can be welcomed, supported, and participated in by the people of the whole nation, and can place the great cause of saving the nation and the people on a firm and indestructible foundation.

Otherwise, no matter how pleasant any terms may sound, they will absolutely be of no practical help and will never gain the consent of the people of the whole nation.

The failures of the various conferences your party and your party's government have historically convened serve as the clearest evidence of this.

The declaration of your party's Second Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee also states: "The advent of dangers and obstacles has long been anticipated; never shall we slacken in the duties we bear because of the nation's hardships and perils." Your Party "shall devote its heart, mind, and strength to the nation's survival or downfall, persevering from beginning to end."

Indeed, your party is the ruling political party in the greater part of Chinese territory, and the political responsibility for all past implementations cannot but be borne by your party. Under the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang government, the Kuomintang can by no means escape its responsibility.

In particular, since the September 18th Incident, your party has defied the will of the entire nation, betrayed the interests of the entire Chinese people, and pursued an absolutely mistaken policy, resulting in the loss of half of China. This responsibility absolutely cannot be shifted onto anyone else.

Yet, in our view and that of the whole nation, since half of China has been lost through your party's actions, your party must unquestionably be held accountable for recovering our territorial sovereignty.

At the same time, many conscientious elements within your party have now indeed come to a sudden realization of the terror of national subjugation and the inviolability of the people's will, and have begun a new transformation, expressing anger and dissatisfaction with those members of their own party who bring disaster to the party and the nation.

The Chinese Communist Party fully sympathizes with this new transformation and warmly welcomes the aspiration and awakening of these patriotic and conscientious members of the Chinese Kuomintang, who preserve and are now igniting the heroic spirit of the Chinese nation. We welcome their readiness to sacrifice and struggle, and their courageous spirit of innovation, in the face of national peril.

We know that within your party's Central Committee and provincial party headquarters, in the central and provincial governments, in cultural, scientific, artistic, journalistic, industrial, women's, religious, medical, and police circles, in various mass organizations, and especially within the vast armed forces, as well as among the old and new party members and leaders at all levels of the Kuomintang, there truly exist many awakened and patriotic figures. Moreover, such people are increasing daily, which is an extremely gratifying fact.

The Chinese Communists stand ready at any time to join hands with these members of the Kuomintang to organize a solid national united front to fight against the greatest enemy of the entire Chinese nation—Japanese imperialism.

We hope that these members of the Kuomintang can swiftly form a dominant force within the Kuomintang, to overwhelm those most despicable and shameful Kuomintang members who disregard national interests, have practically become agents of Japanese imperialism or pro-Japanese traitors and collaborators—those who insult Mr. Sun Yat-sen. We call for the restoration of the revolutionary spirit of Mr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People, the revival of Mr. Sun Yat-sen's three great policies—alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communists, and support for the workers and peasants—and the dedication of their "heart, mind, and strength" to "carrying out" the revolutionary Three Principles of the People and the three great policies "from beginning to end," and to "carrying out" Mr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary testament "from beginning to end." We urge them to resolutely shoulder the responsibility of inheriting Mr. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary cause, and together with all patriotic leaders and people from all parties, groups, and sectors across the nation, firmly struggle to expel Japanese imperialism and save China from peril, to fight for the democratic rights of the entire nation, to develop China’s national economy and relieve the suffering of the vast majority of the people, and to strive for the realization of the Chinese Democratic Republic and its democratic Congress and democratic government.

The Chinese Communist Party declares to all members of the Chinese Kuomintang: If you truly act in this way, we will firmly support you. We are willing to form with you a solid revolutionary united front, just as the two parties forged a great united front against national oppression and feudal oppression during the First Great Revolution in China from 1925 to 1927. For this is the only correct path today for saving the nation from subjugation and ensuring its survival.

Gentlemen and all members of the Kuomintang, you have surely not forgotten the glorious history of cooperation between the two parties during the last Great Revolution. Because of that cooperation, all oppressors of the nation and feudal oppressors trembled before us! At that time, the national oppressors, particularly Japanese imperialism, deeply fearful that our cooperation would lead to complete victory and the full liberation of China, resorted to every conceivable means—sowing discord, threats, coercion, and inducements—and finally succeeded in inciting one party to the cooperation to betray and bury that first united front.

Gentlemen, searching your hearts in the quiet of the night, should you not also sigh with regret? Now, everyone understands: had the Chinese Kuomintang been able to cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party to the very end back then, China would never have fallen into such a miserable state of being carved up at will, half-subjugated, but would instead be an independent and free China! Today, the hearts of the people across the whole nation are immeasurably eager for the two parties to cooperate again and jointly save the nation. They firmly believe that only renewed cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, along with the full cooperation of all parties, groups, and sectors across the nation, can truly save the nation from subjugation and ensure its survival.

Nevertheless, Japanese imperialism and the traitorous running dogs who sell out the nation will surely attempt once again to sabotage such cooperation, for they clearly understand that this cooperation will deal a fatal blow to Japanese imperialism and the traitorous collaborators.

The so-called "Three Principles" centered on "anti-Communism" which Japanese imperialism has presented to your party's government are precisely such an attempt to preempt and prepare to undermine Kuomintang-Communist cooperation.

Yet the question is perfectly clear: Should we stand together with Japanese imperialism and the traitors to establish an anti-Communist united front, which is a national-subjugation united front? Or should we stand together with the Chinese Communist Party and the people of the whole nation to establish an anti-Japanese united front, which is a national-salvation united front? The decisive moment has now arrived.

All hesitation and vacillation will only bring loss to the nation and the people, and will only serve the interests of Japanese imperialism.

The key to Kuomintang-Communist cooperation now lies in the hands of your party. Truly, as your party’s Second Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee stated: For the survival or downfall of the nation, your party bears the responsibility. If your party truly wishes to shoulder the responsibility of saving the nation from subjugation and ensuring its survival, then now is the time to make a resolution. To speak of cooperation after we have become slaves of a lost nation—then regret will be too late.

As for our side, we have long been ready to send our plenipotentiary representatives at any place and at any time to meet with your party’s plenipotentiary representatives to initiate concrete and practical negotiations, with the aim of expeditiously concluding specific agreements on resisting Japan and saving the nation, and we are willing to resolutely abide by such agreements.

If the united front between you and us, and the united front among you, us, and all parties, groups, and sectors across the whole nation, are once declared successfully established, then you, we, and all the people will have the right to cry out: Let those traitors, running dogs who sell out the nation, and all spineless lackeys shout before the violence of Japanese imperialism that "China is incapable of resisting Japan"! The descendants of the great Chinese nation pledge not to surrender, pledge not to submit! We shall struggle to the last drop of our blood for the independence and liberation of the great Chinese nation! China is by no means Abyssinia! The Chinese nation, four hundred and fifty million strong, will one day rise majestically in the East of the globe, hoisting high the banner of the final victory of the national revolution, joining hands with all free and liberated nations of the world—including even the Japanese people, minus their imperialist component—and rule over the entire earth, rule over a glorious and resplendent new world! Let our enemies tremble before our united front, victory will surely be ours!

Herein, with sincere revolutionary salutations!

Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
August 25, 1936

Printed based on the mimeographed copy preserved in the Central Archives.

**Notes**
〔1〕 This is a letter drafted by Mao Zedong from the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party to the Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.
〔2〕 Refers to the *Appeal to All Compatriots for Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation* issued on August 1, 1935, by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic, commonly known as the August First Declaration.
〔3〕 Abyssinia, i.e., Ethiopia, was invaded and occupied by Italian fascists in May 1936.
〔4〕 See Note 3 on page 382 of this volume for Chahar.
〔5〕 Refers to the puppet regime established on November 25, 1935, under the direction of Japanese imperialism, by Yin Rugeng, the former Administrative Inspector of the Luan-Yu and Ji-Mi Districts of the Kuomintang Hebei Provincial Government, in Tong County. At its establishment it was called the “East Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Committee,” renamed a month later the “East Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous Government,” thereby removing twenty-two counties in eastern Hebei Province from the jurisdiction of the Chinese government.
〔6〕 See Note 5 on page 419 of this volume for the Hebei-Chahar Political Council.
〔7〕 See Note 16 on page 371 of this volume for Suiyuan.
〔8〕 In January 1936, under the plotting of Japanese imperialism, the Mongol upper-class reactionary Demchugdongrub (i.e., Prince De) openly surrendered to Japan and established the “Mongol Army General Headquarters,” and in May of the same year, established the puppet “Mongol Military Government” at Jiabusi (present-day Huade, Inner Mongolia).
〔9〕 See Note 5 on page 411 of this volume for the Shanghai Ceasefire Agreement (Songhu Agreement).
〔10〕 See Note 6 on page 412 of this volume for the Tanggu Truce.
〔11〕 See Note 4 on page 411 of this volume for the He-Umezu Agreement.

Letter to Wang Yizhe (1936)

To General Dingfang [Wang Yizhe]:
As Japanese aggression intensifies day by day, the preparations for national salvation by both your side and ours should be greatly expedited, so as to maximally benefit the national-salvation front. With your far-sightedness, I trust you share this same conviction.

The current international and domestic situation in China grows increasingly tense. On one hand, the aggressors are mobilizing their aggression front; on the other hand, the anti-aggression forces are mobilizing the broad masses on a large scale to form a peace and national salvation front. Although the pro-Japanese traitorous forces in China are increasingly rampant (such as the faction advocating "using Japan to control Chiang, using political means to control the Party, and using cliques to control the army"), the forces opposing Japan and the traitors have also grown significantly. The beginning of certain shifts in Chiang Kai-shek's policy and the initial formation of a left wing within the Nanjing Kuomintang are indeed recent encouraging phenomena. If Mr. Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang can truly and resolutely abandon their past policies, restore Mr. Sun Yat-sen's three great policies of alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communists, and support for the workers and peasants, cease attacks on the Red Army, and lift the ban on various parties, we would be most willing to unite with them and jointly shoulder the cause of resisting Japan and saving the nation.

Negotiations between the two sides are now about to enter a more concrete stage. Although it remains unknown when they will succeed, hope indeed exists. If success can be achieved, it will greatly facilitate the cooperative endeavors between your esteemed side and ours.

Recently, there have been rumors circulating from outside that after resolving the Southwestern issue, Chiang Kai-shek intends to attack the Northeastern Army, alleging he will use divide-and-rule tactics detrimental to Deputy Commander Zhang. If this information is true, it shows that Chiang Kai-shek has not yet abandoned his vicious, underhanded, and ruthless policy of sowing discord and excluding dissidents. Should he indeed try to implement such a policy, we can assert with certainty that Chiang Kai-shek will inevitably end up in final defeat. For the policy advocated by Deputy Commander Zhang and yourself of alliance with Russia, alliance with the Communists, resisting Japan, and saving the nation is not the advocacy of a few; it is truly the advocacy of all patriotic compatriots across the nation. It is no insincere and impure advocacy like that of Chen Jitang and others, but a genuine and wholehearted advocacy for the country and the nation. Whoever opposes Deputy Commander Zhang and yourself, not only will the Red Army under our command surely exert its full strength to denounce Chiang Kai-shek’s and the traitorous elements within the Northeastern Army's criminal actions, but also the patriotic people across the whole nation and the international revolutionary forces will never permit Chiang Kai-shek and his ilk to carry on recklessly. As for the determination of the overwhelming majority of officers and soldiers of the Northeastern Army to resist Japan and recover their homeland, and their solid cohesion, they too will decidedly not allow a tiny minority of unscrupulous elements within the Northeastern Army to exercise their selfish desires and engage in the heinous deeds of betraying the nation, betraying their homeland, and betraying their comrades.

Currently, Mr. Chiang Kai-shek and his faction are also beginning to pursue a policy of alliance with Russia and alliance with the Communists. You, my brother, and Deputy Commander Zhang are in fact the first proponents and first practitioners of this policy. How, then, could you be deemed guilty and be ostracized for it?

Considering all this, I earnestly hope that such talk remains mere rumor, or that it is the scheme of a few pro-Japanese elements around Chiang Kai-shek, rather than the opinion of Chiang himself—who is now showing signs of certain shifts—or of the many conscientious members of the Kuomintang.

Nevertheless, you must remain strictly vigilant, keep your own group closely united, and take precautions against any opportunistic troublemakers within the Northeastern forces who might exploit the situation to stir up chaos. With the favorable circumstances across the country and in the Northwest, and with the combined strength of the Northeastern Army and the Red Army, there is absolutely no need to fear any external storms.

The autumn wind is harsh—take good care of yourself for the nation’s sake.

Written in haste to convey my thoughts.

With respect and best wishes,

Mao Zedong

Printed and published in accordance with *Selected Letters of Mao Zedong*, People’s Publishing House, 1983 edition.

**Notes**

[1] Wang Yizhe (1896–1937), courtesy name Dingfang, was a native of Bin County, Jilin (now part of Heilongjiang Province). At the time, he served as commander of the 67th Army of the Kuomintang forces.

[2] Refers to the Liangguang Incident. In June 1936, Chen Jitang, leader of Guangdong’s local power faction, along with Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi of Guangxi, issued a public telegram in the name of resisting Japan, organized the Southwest United Army, and dispatched troops in an attempt to seize the Nationalist regime in Nanjing. In July, Chen Jitang was forced to step down after his subordinates were bought off by Chiang Kai-shek, and in September, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi reached a compromise with Chiang.

[3] Refers to Zhang Xueliang; see Note [10] on page 371 of this volume.