To Deng Xiaoping[1]

(June 7, 1938)

At present in Hebei we should strengthen the armed forces, provisional political power, and mass organizations, and consolidate their credibility among the masses. In this way, everything will be easy to handle, and it will make it necessary for those appointed by the Kuomintang to cooperate with us. If they refuse to cooperate with us and openly oppose us from all sides, we should, under the slogan of unity and resistance against Japan, openly criticize them for undermining unity and isolate them among the masses.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram from Mao Zedong, Luo Fu (Zhang Wentian), and Hu Fu (Liu Shaoqi) to Deng Xiaoping, with copies to Zhu Rui, Liu Bocheng, Nie Rongzhen, and Peng Zhen.