1937, February 15 () The Xi’an Incident presents two possible outcomes: one is civil war, which would lead to the disintegration of China and facilitate Japanese aggression and collaboration with the enemy; the other is domestic peace, which would unite the country and promote the formation of a united national front as well as the commencement of the War of Resistance Against Japan. (1) The Central Committee has consistently pursued a policy of peace, thereby averting the danger of war and essentially laying the foundation for peaceful reunification and national unity in the face of foreign aggression. (3) Our task going forward is to consolidate domestic peace and launch the War of Resistance Against Japan.
We must devote tremendous effort to this task.
The Central Committee’s telegram to the Third Plenary Session of the Kuomintang embodies the specific direction for carrying out this new mission. (4) We call upon the Kuomintang to implement the following measures: (a) Cease all civil strife and concentrate national strength on a common front against external enemies; (b) Guarantee freedom of speech, assembly, and association, and release all political prisoners; (c) Convene a conference of representatives from all parties, groups, sectors, and military units to bring together the nation’s talents in a joint effort to save the country; (d) Rapidly complete all preparations for the War of Resistance Against Japan; (e) Improve the people’s living standards. (5) Should the Kuomintang be able to ensure the implementation of these measures—that is, should it abandon its previous policies and adopt the new policies outlined above—then a united national front for resisting Japan will have been established nationwide, providing a solid basis for the War of Resistance. (6) With the aim of uniting the entire nation in the struggle against Japan, we are prepared to pledge to the Kuomintang and to the whole country the following commitments: (a) To cease the policy of overthrowing the Nationalist government; (b) To rename the Soviet government the Special Administrative Region Government of the Republic of China and the Red Army the National Revolutionary Army, placing them under the command of the Nanjing Nationalist government and the Military Commission; (c) To introduce a system of universal suffrage and democratic governance within the territory of the Special Administrative Region; (d) To halt the confiscation of landlords’ land and instead implement the Common Program of the United Front for Resisting Japan. (7) The foregoing measures constitute a major principled concession on our part to the Kuomintang, intended to eliminate the antagonism between the two rival authorities, to facilitate the formation of a united national front for resisting Japan, and to enable a unified stand against Japanese aggression.
This concession is indispensable, for without it the establishment of such a front would be impossible, and the prompt initiation of the War of Resistance would likewise be impeded.
These steps form part of the concrete measures for implementing the Central Committee’s resolutions adopted in November of the year before last and in September of last year. (8) While the Soviet system in the base areas is being abolished and a system of universal suffrage and democratic governance introduced, the political rights already won by workers and peasants must not be relinquished but rather continued to be safeguarded.
Similarly, although the Red Army is being renamed the National Revolutionary Army, its predominantly worker-peasant composition and the Party’s political and organizational leadership must be preserved and further strengthened.
Furthermore, while the practice of confiscating landlords’ land throughout the country is being discontinued, the system of land exploitation that existed in the base areas must not be restored; land must continue to remain in the hands of the peasants.
However, in implementing the Common Program of the United Front for Resisting Japan nationwide, it remains necessary to confiscate the land belonging to traitors and collaborators. (9) The line of Soviet power and land revolution, consistently followed since the Eighth Plenary Session of the Party in 1927, was entirely correct, for the domestic and international circumstances prevailing at that time required, and permitted, precisely this course of action.
Likewise, the line of the United Front for Resisting Japan, which we have steadfastly pursued since the August First Declaration and the November resolution of 1935, together with the present proposal to abolish the Soviet system and halt the confiscation of landlords’ land in order fully to carry out that line, is equally correct, because the current domestic and international situation demands, and allows, only such a policy. (10) In sum, the Central Committee’s policy is guided by the historic mission of uniting the nation in the cause of national salvation through resistance to Japan.
All Party members should thoroughly understand this policy, rally closely around it, and fight for the interests of the nation and the working class, striving for victory in the national revolutionary war of resistance against Japan.