We Must Actively Establish an Anti-Japanese
United Front with the Guomindang Forces
(October 1, 1936, 4:00 P.M.)
For Comrades Zhu [De] and Zhang [Guotao], Xu [Xiangqian] and Chen
[Changhao], and to be transmitted to He [Long], Ren [Bishi], Guan [Xiangying],
and Liu [Bocheng]:
According to reports: the Seventh Regiment of the Third Cavalry Division of
Jingning¹ has sent a representative to Tongwei to make contact with the Red
Army at Tongwei. Those in Tongwei, however, reckoned that the Seventh Cavalry Regiment did this only because they were afraid we would attack them, and
it seems that for this reason they did not actively seek to establish a united front
relationship with the Seventh Cavalry Regiment. We recommend to our elder
brothers that they should send a circular to all units instructing them that whenever a White army unit seeks to approach us, our side should first send someone
over on a trial basis carrying a sincerely worded letter demanding the establishment of a united front to resist Japan. If the other side sends someone over first
or sends someone over to make contact after agreeing to our request, no matter
whether their motives are fear of attack or a sincere desire to cooperate in
resisting Japan, our side should receive them all with equal sincerity, in the hope
of communicating with them and enlarging the scope of the united front in the
Northwest. On the basis of our ten months of experience, it is difficult for Red
Army commanders and fighters to engage in the work to establish a united front
with the White army unless they have undergone thorough education or learned
from experience accumulated in their own work. The reason for this is that it is
not very easy for ordinary comrades to understand the complex situation of
needing to fight and, at the same time, needing to maintain peace.
Mao [Zedong]
Zhou [Enlai]
Peng [Dehuai]
We have translated this document from Mao Zedong junshi wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 605-6,
where it is reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.
1. A regiment commanded by Zhang Chengde, under the Guomindang army's
Northwest Bandit Suppression General Headquarters.