To Commander-in-Chief Chiang and to All
Commanders of the National Revolutionary
Army in the Northwest
(October 26, 1936)
An open letter to Commander-in-Chief Chiang [Kaishek], Deputy Commander in-Chief Zhang [Xueliang], Director Yan [Xishan], Chairman Fu [Zuoyi], Director Yang [Hucheng], Director Zhu [Shaoliang], Chairman Yu [Xuezhong],
Ningxia Chairman Ma [Hongkui], Qinghai Chairman Ma [Bufang], General
Commander Chen [Cheng], Commander of the Beiping Garrison Wang [Jun],
Army Commander Hu [Zongnan], Army Commander Mao [Bingwen], Army
Commander Wang Tingfang, Army Commander Dong [Yingbin], Army Commander He [Zhuguo], Army Commander Sun [Weiru], Army Commander Feng
[Qinzai], Army Commander Tang [Enbo], Army Commander Su [Zhichu],
Army Commander Gao Peiwu, Army Commander Gao Shuangcheng, Army
Commander Deng [Baoshan], and to all division, battalion, and regimental commanders of the National Revolutionary Army in the Northwest:
It has already been more than a year since our Soviet Red Army issued an
announcement in August of last year proposing the establishment of a united
front against Japan. During this year, the aggression of the Japanese bandits has
continually increased, putting increasing pressure on the nation's territory and
increasingly weakening the country's strength. Now the vicious destruction of
the Japanese bandits is expanding even more. We are already facing the imminent prospect of having the Northeast split off, and Suiyuan and Ningxia overrun.
Enemy ships congregate everywhere along the Yangzi River and the seacoast,
restless and ready to move. Conditions that spell the loss of the state and the
extinction of the race continue to be raised. The people of all China are threatened with the fate of becoming slaves without a country. The prospects for peace
have long been hopeless, and there is no good way to avoid sacrifice. Things
having come to such a pass, the people of all China are already convinced that
they cannot possibly survive unless there is a war of resistance. What the people
of all China expect today from your honorable party and government is that you will
lead a war of resistance and expel the Japanese bandits. But to this day, we seem still
to have heard no final decision from your honorable party and government. On the
contrary, we have seen Commander-in-Chief Chiang go personally to the North-

Our source for this document is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 1, pp. 457-60, where it is
reproduced from a copy in the Central Archives.
west to oversee the "suppression" of the Red Army. This can only make the
people of the whole nation lose hope, and it can only make the Japanese bandits
very happy.
Today, at this late date, does your honorable party and government still want
to stir up trouble in the rear lines of the resistance against Japan by making
things difficult for the soviets and the Red Army? You gentlemen are in the
Northwest yourselves and should know the true situation. Ever since coming
north last year, the Red Army has proposed a ceasefire and resistance against
Japan to all the armies around it. This spring, when passing through Shanxi, it
repeatedly announced that it was headed east to resist Japan, and again Mr.
Chiang and Mr. Yan refused to listen, so it had to turn back midway and seek
another route. Now the three front armies, the main forces of the Red Army in
the whole country, have already joined forces in the Northwest and have formally asked your units to go with them to the front lines of national defense, to
join forces in the war of resistance. But Mr. Chiang, ignoring the fact that eastern
Suiyuan is on the verge of serious disaster, instead of sending more troops to
augment the defenses of Suiyuan, has, on the contrary, sent them to Gansu to
attack the Red Army. Who is it that is disrupting the rear areas of the anti-Japanese
resistance? Do you mean to say that it is all right to lose China, and all right to
let the Japanese bandits drive right in, and not stop the assaults to destroy the
Red Army that alone wants to resist Japan? We are afraid that the Japanese
bandits will have already come before the Red Army is destroyed. Even if you
gentlemen want to continue the civil war, the people of China, and the troops
under you, will definitely not allow you to commit mutual suicide and murder
once again!
Even though Mr. Chiang has great prestige and power, and he is calling for
the total destruction of the Red Army, we do not think that the threat to the
nation's survival permits any further petty struggles. For this reason the Soviet
and the Military Commission of the People's Red Army have issued an order,
which reads: "1. All Red Army units shall cease all hostile actions against the
National Revolutionary Army. 2. Only when attacked is it permitted to take the
necessary defensive measures. 3. All personnel and weapons seized during attacks on us by the National Revolutionary Army while said army is fighting
Japan shall be returned. Those who wish to join the Red Army shall be allowed
to do so. 4. When National Revolutionary Army forces are moving toward the
anti-Japanese battlelines, any actions that would impede them are prohibited; in
fact, all possible assistance must be given." In accordance with this order, the
various frontline units of the Red Army until now have not put up any violent
resistance to you gentlemen's troop units and, furthermore, have slowly retreated, waiting for you gentlemen to come to your senses. But if you gentlemen
think that this indicates that the Red Army is afraid, you are thoroughly mistaken. During ten years of experience, you gentlemen have personally learned
the lesson of the courage and fighting strength of the Red Army in its fight for

the nation, for freedom, and for justice. Now, with the finest of the whole country
concentrated in one place, you gentlemen know full well the odds for success
versus failure if they are called upon to defend themselves against any of the units
of you gentlemen, which have been sent forth without just cause, and are permeated with sentiment in favor of stopping the civil war and resisting Japan.
With a soldier's frankness and enthusiasm, we dare to warn you gentlemen
that, at a time when the Chinese nation already finds itself at a critical moment,
"if the nest is overturned, how can any of the eggs remain unbroken?" We
sincerely hope that all you gentlemen will hang up your riding whips, immediately stop attacking the Red Army, and join hands with the Red Army to go
together to the national defense frontlines, to strive to kill the thieves, protect the
national territory, drive the Japanese bandits out, and take back those lands that
have been lost. Now, more than ever, we represent the Red Army of all China
and have the responsibility to declare: Provided only that your party and government are determined to wage a war of resistance, the Red Army is willing to act
as the vanguard, and further swears to cooperate with you to the end. On the
battlelines of the anti-Japanese resistance, the Red Army is willing to be responsible for a specific front and guarantees that it will complete its specified tasks.
In battle, the Red Army is willing to submit to the direction of a unified national
military command. Without the agreement of a friendly anti-Japanese resistance
army, the Red Army will definitely not encroach on the territory defended by
that friendly anti-Japanese resistance army.
The national crisis has already reached its final moment, and the crucial
decision between civil war and the war of resistance lies in your hands. It is the
hope of the people of all China that you gentlemen will be national heroes and
rise up in a war of resistance. They do not want you gentlemen to continue the
civil war and become national criminals. They especially hope that Mr. Chiang
will quickly and resolutely stop the last attacks of the civil war on the Red Army
and will lead the armed forces of all China in carrying out the war of resistance,
and thus revive the revolutionary spirit of the Huangpu Academy and recover the
courage of the anti-imperialist struggle of the period of the cooperation between
the Guomindang and the Communist Party. An early mobilization for the war of
resistance would be a great blessing for the Chinese nation. If by chance you
gentlemen do not accept this, we shall still have to carry on against all obstacles,
never resting until the objective is reached. We sincerely hope that you gentlemen will give us a satisfactory reply. Whether you gentlemen send representatives here or we send representatives there, or perhaps we hold talks at the
front-we are willing to accept any of these. As soon as the civil war stops, and
the door of cooperation is opened, all negotiations can reach a solution on the
basis of the very highest principles of the resistance.
We are deeply convinced that as soon as the eastern Suiyuan war of resistance
begins, the many hundreds of thousands of valiant men of the Northwest will
join hands together and fight to defend the Northwest, fight to defend North
China, fight to defend the whole of China, fight to recover the lost lands of the
Northeast. We hereby offer a national revolutionary salute!
Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhang Guotao, Zhou Enlai, Peng Dehuai, Lin Biao, He
Long, Ren Bishi, Xu Xiangqian, Chen Changhao, Wang Jiaqiang, Liu Bocheng,
Ye Jianying, Xu Haidong, Xiao Ke, Luo Binghui, Dong Chentang, Yang
Shangkun, Guan Xiangying, Zuo Quan, Nie Rongzhen, Cheng Zihua, Zhang
Yunyi, Luo Ruiqing, Chen Bojun, Wang Zhen, Zhang Ziyi, Chen Zaidao, Wang
Hongkun, Huang Chao, Xie Yusheng, Chen Haisong, Cheng Shicai, Li Xiannian,
Zhou Chunquan, Zhou Zikun, Li Zhuoran, He Wei, Wang Weidan, Yan
Hongyan, Chen Xianrui, Zhou Kun, Yuan Guoping, Song Shilun, Song
Renqiong, Zhu Rui, and others jointly offer respects