on the popular masses instead of arousing them will be punished for profaning
Director General Sun's memory. This is the ninth point which we urge you to
accept and act upon.
10. Put the Three People's Principles into effect. The government and Chairman Chiang have repeatedly enjoined that the Three People's Principles should be
carried out throughout the country, and regard this as an important matter.¹¹ While
it has been made in earnest, this injunction has fallen on deaf ears. Many people,
making anticommunism their first duty, are giving up the war effort and doing
everything possible to suppress and hold back the people as they rise to resist
Japan. This is tantamount to abandoning [Sun's] Principle of People's Rights; they
are ignoring the people's sufferings, which is tantamount to abandoning the Principle of the People's Livelihood. Such persons pay only lip service to the Three
People's Principles, and either ridicule as busybodies those who seriously try to
put them into effect, or severely punish them. Thus, all sorts of fantastic abuses
have sprung up, and the government's prestige has reached rock bottom. An unequivocal order should immediately be issued for the strict carrying out of the
Three People's Principles throughout the country. Those who violate the order
should be severely punished, and all who carry it out amply encouraged. It is only
in this way that the Three People's Principles can at long last be put into effect, and
the foundations laid for victory in the war. This is the tenth point which we urge
you to accept and act upon.
These ten proposals are essential measures for saving the nation and winning
the war. Now that the enemy is stepping up his aggression against China and Traitor Wang is running wild, we dare not remain silent on what we feel to be crucial
issues. Please accept and act upon these proposals, and great advantage will ensue
to the War of Resistance and the cause of national liberation. It is with a keen sense
of urgency that we state our views, and we await your considered opinion.

Respectfully from the members of the Presidium of the Yan'an Mass Rally of the
Popular Masses on Denouncing Wang and Supporting Chiang-Mao Zedong, Wang
Ming, Zhang Wentian, Lin Boqu, Wu Yuzhang, Wang Jiase, Kang Sheng, Chen Yun,
Deng Fa, Li Fuchun, Gao Gang, Xiao Jinguang, Zhang Hao, Zhang Bangying, Xu
Guangda, Meng Qingshu, Tan Zheng, Tang Hongchen, Gao Langting, Feng Wenbin,
and Guan Ruicai-and all the 30,000 members of the popular masses [in attendance at the meeting].

11. The government and Chairman Chiang have repeatedly enjoined that the Three
People's Principles should be carried out throughout the country, and regarded this as an
important matter. The Three People's Principles are the platform of the Guomindang.

Telegram to the People's Political Council Sent
by Mao Zedong and Other Councilors

(February 3, 1940)

For the perusal of all the gentlemen of the Secretariat of the People's Political
Council in Chongqing:

Recently we have been informed by repeated reports that espionage agencies in
Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi, Hebei, and Henan have issued a general order to their
subordinates to the effect that the North China Inspection Corps of the People's
Political Council is about to visit these places. Its primary mission is to collect
evidence demonstrating that the Communist Party, the Eighth Route Army, and
the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region are to blame for the incidents of friction in these provinces. It will bring back the evidence, propose solutions to the
government, and put forward a motion at the next session of the Political Council
to end the special position of the border region and the Eighth Route Army, thus
creating an opportunity to attack the Communist Party. The special agents all over
these provinces were told to gather material carefully, and to help the offices of the
Party, the government, and the army in making preparations for welcoming the
inspection corps and in achieving the above-stated purposes. We could not bring
our humble selves to believe the story, for it seemed far too strange. We did not
know for sure of the actual existence of such an inspection corps until we received
a telegram from your respected office a short while ago. After carefully looking
into the matter, we have discovered that not a single Communist councilor participates in the leadership or in the membership of the inspection corps. Not only
that, but of the people like Shen Junru, Zou Taofen, and Tao Xingzhi,¹ who were

This telegram was first published in Jiefang, no. 98/99, February 20, 1940. We have translated it from Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 7, pp. 231-32, where it is reproduced from this source.
1. Shen Junru (1874-1963) and Zou Taofen (1895-1944) were both members of the
"Seven Gentlemen" (Qige junzi), prominent public figures arrested by the Guomindang in
1935 for advocating the end of the civil war and united resistance to Japan. (See Volume V
of this edition.) Shen was a legal scholar and judicial official under the Qing and under the
National Government; Zou was an outspoken patriotic journalist and editor of the weekly
Shenghuo. Tao Xingzhi (1891-1946) was a prominent educator and philosopher who based
his ideas on those of John Dewey and Wang Yangming. During the 1930s, he was active in
the mass education and rural education movements.


the first to propose the organization of such an inspection corps at the Fourth
Session of the National Council, or of those who are known for their seniority,
good reputation, fairness, and selflessness, such as Zhang Yilin,2 Huang Renzhi,3
Jiang Hengyuan,4 and Zhang Biaofang, not a single one is included therein. With
the exception of two gentlemen, Liang Shiqiu,5 a member of the National Socialist
Party, and Yu Jiaju,6 a member of the Nationalist Youth Party, both of whom made
erroneous speeches supporting Wang and advocating peace, and therefore entered
into a fierce argument with the Communists and other councilors who supported
the War of Resistance, all the leaders and members of the inspection corps are
councilor comrades from one party, that is, the Guomindang. No doubt, the materials collected and the conclusions reached by an inspection corps, organized in
such a way, can only be biased and detrimental to the public interest. Taking into
consideration that secret organs are working in collaboration with the inspection
corps, we have all the more reason to believe that there is something going on
behind the scenes. It is fresh in our memory that, in December two years ago,
Zhang Junmai7 published his proposition that the so-called special positions of the
border areas and the Eighth Route Army be abolished and Communism banned;
not long after that, Wang Jingwei dispatched a public telegram going so far as to
advocate a fight against the Communist Party. Assuming the inspection corps harbors the same purpose as Wang and Zhang, it may as well simply take the writings
of Wang and Zhang as a draft, make a big fanfare out of it in Chongqing, and work
it into a motion, so as to save the trip back and forth, traveling in this freezing wind
and icy cold. If the designation of on-the-spot inspection is believed to be indispensable to manipulate public opinion, it is then ridiculous to have these people,
who have such special connections, prepare a fat book of two or three hundred
thousand words, based on the fabricated materials gathered from secret agencies,
to denounce the Communist Party and have it serve as the legal basis for opposing,
restricting, and dissolving the Communist Party. Political issues of the country can
only be solved on rational political principles. How can mystifying the matter help

2. Zhang Yilin (1867–1943), despite having been closely associated with Yuan Shikai,
had in the 1920s and 1930s gained a reputation for integrity and public service. When the
war broke out, he sought to organize an “Old Men’s Army” of men over sixty. He was the
oldest member of the People’s Political Council, and was frequently outspoken in raising
questions critical of and embarrassing to the Guomindang and the National Government.
3. Huang Yanpei (zi Renzhi) (1878–1965) was a leading protagonist of vocational education. At this time, he had gone to Manila to supervise the sale of Chinese war bonds there.
4. Jiang Hengyuan (1886–1961) was a native of Jiangsu. He taught during the 1920s
and 1930s at various universities.
5. Liang Shiqiu (1903–1987), a native of Zhejiang, studied English literature at Harvard
and Columbia, and later taught at Beijing University and other institutions.
6. Yu Jiaju (1898–1976) was a native of Hubei. He studied philosophy at the University
of Edinburgh, and afterward taught this subject at various universities.
7. On Zhang Junmai, see above, the relevant note to the text of January 28, 1939.


in the actual solution of the problems? Perhaps you will say that we Communists
have misjudged the matter; the trip of the inspection corps is altogether for just
and honorable purposes, without the slightest ulterior motive; its mission is to
foster the cooperation of the two parties in order to lay a foundation of unity and
progress and seek a rational solution of the problems in border areas. Should that
be the case, we would be happy to be proved wrong because the state affairs will
benefit and thus improve; when the inspection corps arrives in Yan'an, we will
treat our fellow councilors to millet and to sorghum wine, specialties of Yan'an,
raising our wine cups against a snowy background and talking to our hearts' content about plans for unity and the salvation of the nation, and try to be good hosts
to our distinguished guests. Your office is respectfully requested to convey this
message. Kindest regards and best wishes.

Councilors of the People's Political Council Mao Zedong, Chen Shaoyu, Lin Zuhan,
and Wu Yuzhang bow respectfully