The Luochuan Conference Will Discuss Major Military Issues[1]

(August 18, 1937)

Bo, Lin, Peng, Ren, and inform Zhou, Ye:

A. The Kuomintang’s conspiracy has already become very evident. Its attempts are:

(1) To send the entire Red Army to the front lines.

(2) To dispatch them in separate routes so they cannot be concentrated, and to forcibly compel obedience.

(3) Once the Red Army is dispatched under orders, it will become subordinate to Chiang,[2] who will then issue commands at will. At that time, the issues of the Party and the border region will be resolved by him, and he may even forbid the issuance of declarations and abolish the Soviet areas.

B. For our countermeasures, see the Central Committee’s directive to Zhou and Ye.[3]

[1] This was a telegram from Mao Zedong and Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian) to the CCP representatives negotiating with the Kuomintang—Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian) and Lin Boqu—and to Peng Dehuai, commander-in-chief of the Red Army’s front forces, and Ren Bishi, political commissar, with instructions to inform Zhou Enlai and Ye Jianying, the CCP representatives attending the National Defense Conference in Nanjing.

[2] Chiang refers to Chiang Kai-shek.

[3] This refers to the directive issued by the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee on August 18, 1937, to Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Ye Jianying regarding the conditions for negotiations with the Kuomintang. The ten key conditions outlined in the directive were mainly: (1) Publish our Party’s declaration, with a simultaneous statement by Chiang Kai-shek. (2) Announce the organization of the border region. (3) Announce the command headquarters. (4) Provide funding on equal terms. (5) Provide supplementary equipment on equal terms. (6) The Red Army shall serve as a strategic guerrilla force. (7) Under the overall strategic policy, conduct independent and autonomous guerrilla warfare, giving full play to the Red Army’s strengths. (8) To adapt to the principles of guerrilla warfare, the deployment and use of troops must be based on circumstances. (9) The Red Army shall not be divided and used separately. (10) The first batch of Red Army troops to be dispatched shall operate in the area west of the Peiping–Hankou Railway and south of the Peiping–Suiyuan Railway, and shall be under the control of Yan Xishan.

The Luochuan Conference Will Discuss Major Military Issues

C. This matter is of great importance and must be carefully discussed at the Luochuan Conference.[1]

D. Comrades Bo, Zhu, Peng, Ren, Liu, Zhang, He, Guan,[2] all eight of you, are requested to attend together and to depart from Yunyang[3] on the 20th.

Luo, Mao

18th, 1–3 p.m.

[1] The Luochuan Conference refers to the enlarged meeting of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held from August 22 to 25, 1937, at Fengjia Village in Luochuan County, Shaanxi Province. Mao Zedong delivered reports at the meeting on military issues, relations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and the basic tasks of the CPC during the War of Resistance Against Japan. The meeting unanimously adopted the “Resolution on the Current Situation and the Party’s Tasks” and the propaganda outline drafted by Mao Zedong, “Mobilize All Forces to Strive for Victory in the War of Resistance,” formulated the “Ten-Point Program for Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation,” and set forth the guiding principles for the Red Army’s operations against Japan after its reorganization.

[2] Bo, Zhu, Peng, Ren, Liu, Zhang, He, Guan refers to Bo Gu (Qin Bangxian), Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, Ren Bishi, Liu Bocheng (commander of the Red Army’s Western Route Reinforcement Army), Zhang Hao (Lin Yuying, political commissar of the Western Route Reinforcement Army), He Long (commander-in-chief of the Red Army’s Second Front Army), and Guan Xiangying (political commissar of the Second Front Army).

[3] Yunyang, a town in the northern part of Jingyang County, Shaanxi Province, was the location of the Red Army’s Front Forces General Headquarters at the time.