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

(January 24, 1940)

I

Our Party’s past financial and economic work has achieved results, especially in the Central Soviet Area. Without the material foundation created by financial and economic work, defeating the enemy would have been impossible.

In a certain sense, without economic workers there would be no food to eat, so the Chief of General Affairs is the first hero. Regarding the collection of public grain in the Border Region, attention must be paid to accumulating strength; it must not be collected all at once. Wool cannot be taken all at once, and the same applies to the mobilization of manpower.

II

The issue now is not how to make concessions, but to raise higher demands. We still insist on three armies, nine divisions, and twenty-three counties, and can make no further concessions.

[1] Part One is a portion of Mao Zedong’s remarks on the financial and economic issues of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region in 1940 at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Part Two is a portion of Mao Zedong’s remarks on the issue of Kuomintang-Communist negotiations at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.