Speech at the Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee (June 29, 1937)

In some of the Soviet areas that suffered defeat in the past, guerrilla forces are still preserved in certain places, such as southwestern Fujian and the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border region. According to reports from newspapers and journalists, the people in many of these formerly defeated Soviet areas still strongly support the Communist Party, which shows that our past struggles were not in vain and that this constitutes a very significant force. This news should be made known to everyone in the Red Army. We should now devote a fairly long period of work to restoring our strength. With regard to these guerrilla forces, a resolute policy should be adopted: they must be preserved; however, they must change their name and no longer be called the Red Army, nor should they engage in combat—this is an extremely difficult task. For those units that are not prepared to be reorganized, they should be changed into Anti-Japanese Volunteer Forces. Preserving these guerrilla forces and these base areas is of great significance. Organizationally, a Provincial Committee for Fujian-Guangdong-Jiangxi can be established, with Zhang Dingcheng, Deng Zihui, Tan Zheng, and Fang Fang as members of the Standing Committee, and Zhang Dingcheng as secretary. As for work in Jiangxi, we must think of various ways to penetrate it. Regarding work in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border region, special attention must be paid to re-discussing Party and mass work. It is good that a very large force has been preserved there, but there is one shortcoming, namely, the lack of deep-going mass work. The most central task of the Party is to be able to grasp mass work firmly; we must rely on the masses to carry out work in the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border region.

[1] Part One is a portion of Mao Zedong’s speech on work issues in southwestern Fujian and the Hubei-Henan-Anhui border region at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee; Part Two is a portion of Mao Zedong’s speech on the issue of KMT-CPC negotiations at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee.

Speech at the Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee

II

Regarding the negotiations, the principle we have established is to preserve our independence. However, the current situation is such that they want to restrict our Party, restrict our army, and all our actions must be subject to the decisions of the League, with Chiang Kai-shek having the final say. When we go to negotiate this time, we will have to sign. Our attitude is still to operate within the circle he has drawn. Of course, this circle of his, in form, greatly damages our independence, and in substance, it also damages our independence to some extent. We should now observe from a political perspective whether it fundamentally damages our independence—it does not yet do so. The Party’s independence is primarily a question of policy. During the period of the Great Revolution, we were independent in form but in substance acted as a tail. Now our policy is gradually to break through his circle. We cannot break with him because of such restrictions. In terms of future prospects, we can overcome his circle. This circle of his can restrict some of our work, but there are two things he cannot restrict: one is the Party’s secret activities, and the other is providing food for the Red Army—the Red Army and the Soviet areas are in reality under our control.