Speech at a Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China[1]

(September 25, 1937)

The current situation requires a government of the Anti-Japanese National United Front. We must clearly propose participation in such a government, not propose participation in the Kuomintang government. In the areas occupied by Japan, we can establish many small bloc regimes, and in various places in the south there are also small bloc Soviet regimes. In these places, regimes should be organized with the Communist Party as the main body. In the local governments in the war zones, if they can implement the anti-Japanese program and the Kuomintang government does not oppose it at the same time, under such special circumstances, Communist Party members may participate.

[1] After the establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, some Communist Party members regarded participation in the Kuomintang regime as an honor and lost the necessary vigilance against the temptations of official promotion and wealth, wine, women, and pleasure pursued by the Kuomintang. To rectify the Right-deviationist errors on the question of political power, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China convened a meeting on September 25, attended by Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), Mao Zedong, Zhang Guotao, Kai Feng, Guo Hongtao, Li Fuchun, Wu Liangping, and Wang Shoudao, to discuss the issue of Communist Party participation in government. This is part of Mao Zedong's speech at the meeting.