Telegram to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and Ren Bishi
(October 17, 1937)
[1]
Zhu, Peng, Ren:
The guiding document issued by the Military Sub-Committee on October 8 contains principled errors. It is requested that its dissemination be halted.

Luo Mao
October 17

[1] On October 8, the Forward Military Sub-Committee issued “Instructions on the Current War Situation in North China and Our Army’s Tasks.” These instructions were influenced by the Eighth Route Army’s Fifth Division having achieved a major victory at Pingxingguan. In the document, Taiyuan in Shanxi was portrayed as a stronghold of the anti-Japanese war in North China, while the strength and progressive nature of the Nationalist forces were overestimated. Most importantly, guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines was not elevated to a strategic level; the primary and secondary relationships between “guerrilla warfare” and “mobile warfare” were blurred. The instructions stated: “We must, based on the principles of independent, self-reliant mobile guerrilla warfare—operating with agility and decisiveness—achieve new victories through highly proactive actions,” and “We must oppose all sentiments of national defeatism and the fatalistic view that the situation in North China is beyond salvation.” Written solely on the basis of superficial observations and subjective wishes, this document was divorced from reality and could not withstand practical testing; hence, it was an erroneous directive. Following his review of this document, Mao Zedong, together with Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), sent the above telegram to Zhu De, Peng Dehuai, and Ren Bishi on October 17.