[1]
The work of the Party in North China, carried out under the leadership of Zhu De and Peng Dehuai, has been fruitful and constitutes the foundation of our Party’s political power and army work. North China has 600,000 Party members and over 200,000 troops, making it the largest segment of the entire Party. The central issue at present is to organize the middle bourgeoisie, for the big bourgeoisie is already in a state of vacillation and paralysis, allying with the Communist Party while opposing it, and allying with the Soviet Union while opposing it. The middle bourgeoisie includes a section of the capitalist class, such as Mu Ouchu and others. We must organize the middle bourgeoisie, organize the masses of workers and peasants, organize armed forces and political power—these are the internal conditions for overcoming the danger of capitulation. Now we must make extensive use of intellectuals; the attitude toward intellectuals during the ten years of civil war in the past was incorrect. On the issue of expanding the army, if Chiang Kai-shek recognizes the expansion of the Eighth Route Army into three armies and nine divisions, we should strive for funding for 220,000 men.

[1] This is part of Mao Zedong’s speech after hearing Peng Dehuai’s report on the work in North China at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.