LETTER FROM MAO TSE-TUNG TO TS'AI YUAN-P'EI

22 September 1936

[Text] Dear Mr Chieh-min:

It has been 20 years since I listened respectfully to your noble discourses and magnificent theories in the classrooms of Peking University
in the old capital during 4 May Movement period!

What kind of day is today? It is the day when the nation and the state
are in desperation. The old like those of your generation, the middle
aged like me, and the young like today's students, without distinction
of rich or poor, of workers, peasants, merchants, or students, or of
beliefs and preferences, will all fall into the hands of foreign aggressors. The rivers and mountains will no longer be our rivers and mountains; the people will no longer be our people; the cities will no longer
be our cities. Such catastrophe of national perdition and racial extinction is unprecedented since ancient times in the whole world. How will
you handle it? The Communist Party proposed creating a resist-Japan
united front. As the people in the nation all find it feasible, you
probably will also find it feasible. However, some among those in power
may find it infeasible or suggest postponement. When the robbers enter
the front door and one does not resist, when the tiger bites and one does
not fight, when the people are led to a desperate situation, how will you
handle it? Mr Sun Yat-sen's policy to ally with Russia, the communists,
and the peasants and workers was effective in the first revolution of
1925-1927. The period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the
Communist Party was also the most revolutionary period of the Kuomintang.
When Mr Sun's revolutionary policy was abandoned, civil war became continuous and external troubles, similar to a broken dike, became uncontrollable!
Though only renewing a former proposal, the letter of 25 August from the
Communist Party to the Kuomintang embodies actually the best means to avert
perdition. How will you handle it? In the "New Literature" opinion statements, the name which appears foremost is yours. Seeing your name after
20 years, I feel a reverence and an intimacy. Mr Chieh-min, you expounded
a brand-new theory different from the general run of new and old

reactionaries. You must realize that I was not the only one who
rejoiced upon reading it, nor the Communist Party alone, but a countless number of people! From comrades to friends, it is again doubtless
that those who rejoice over your sympathy for the cause to resist Japan
and save the nation are definitely not limited to myself, or the Communist Party, alone, but all the conscientious sons and daughters of the
nation. Nevertheless, one more step should be taken beyond the 100-foot
pole and, if you take the lead with your sense of righteousness and make
plans to block the wild tide at this critical moment of national perdition with your position as a great national leader of the Kuang-fu and
T'ung-meng Societies and an academic leader of the Peking University and
the Central Research Institute, not just by words alone, but also by
action, not just with sympathy, but also by advocation, and if you
severely censure the Nanking government and ask it to stop the civil war
immediately, abandon its erroneous policies of compromise toward the
external and harsh demands of the internal, abolish its national perdition policy of punishing the patriotic and rewarding the treacherous,
launch the army, navy, and air force of the entire nation for a true
resist-Japan war, revive the spirit of Mr Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary
three principles of democracy and three great policies, rescue our 450
million compatriots from deep water and searing fire, call a resist-Japan
national salvation congress of all parties, all factions, all fields, and
all military units, convene a national congress elected by the people,
establish a national defense government united against the external,
build a true democratic republic, place the country in a powerful and
prosperous position, and promote the nation among the free and liberated,
then, your name will shine through 1,000 generations, spread among the
people of the whole nation, and become a household word. Instead of
reducing in the least bit the enthusiasm of those who hear your words
several thousand li away, you will enhance it.

Please remember me to Messrs and Mesdames Sung Ch'ing-ling, Ho Hsiang-ning,
Li Shih-tseng, Wu Chih-hui, Chang P'u-ch'uan, Yu Yu-jen, Sun Che-sheng,
Chu Chueh-hsien, T'an Li-ming, Liu Ya-tzu, Shao Li-tzu, Wang Ching-wei,
Ch'en Pi-chun, Ching Heng-yi, Ch'en Kung-po, Ku Meng-yu, Tseng Chung-ming,
Kan Nai-kuang, Chang Ching-chiang, Tai Chi-t'ao, Ch'en Kuo-fu, Ting Wei-fen,
Sung Tzu-wen, Ch'en Shu-jen, Ch'u Min-yi, P'eng Tse-min, Li Jen-ch'ao,
Li Te-lin, Ch'en Yu-jen, Tsou Hai-pin, Hsu Chi-lung, Chu Chi-ch'ing,
Pai Yun-t'i, En-k'o-pa-t'u, Li Fu-lin, Ch'en Hu-fang, Ch'eng Sung-yun,
T'ang Meng-hsiao, Chu Yi-chih, Li Hsieh-ho, Po Lieh-wu, Liu Chen-huan,
T'an Yi-ju, Chang Chih-pen, Feng Tzu-yu, Hsieh Hui-sheng, Mao Tsu-ch'uan,
Chiang Hsi-yen, K'ung Keng, Kuo Mo-jo, Shen Yen-ping, Ch'en Wang-tao,
Li Ho-ming, Hu Shih-chih, Chang Hsing-yen, Chou Tso-jen, Ch'ien Chieh-p'an,
Fu Szu-nien, Lo Chia-lun, Tuan Hsi-p'eng, Ch'en Pao-o, Chang Tung-sun,
P'eng Yi-hu, P'eng Ch'uan-fang, Yang Tuan-liu, Hu Tzu-ching, Ch'en Fenghuang, Chou Ku-ch'eng, Shu Hsin-ch'eng, and all my old friends of the
party and the state, academic teachers and friends, and friends in
society.

As the catastrophe is imminent, I hastily present my opinions. Sharing
the same boat in wind and rain, I hope to hear your instructions. I wish
you good health.

22 September 1936

。
"On the United Front--Our Advocation To Resist Japan and Save the Nation
in the Past Year," mimeographed (→ hand copied) January 1937