(March 25, 1940)

In our struggle against the attacks launched against us by the diehard faction, and before a given diehard element has openly become a puppet soldier or Chinese traitor, it is inappropriate to point out a particular person and say that he has surrendered to the Japanese invaders or to designate someone as a Chinese traitor and to state this publicly and so inform the Guomindang. If we behave in this way, not only will society be unable to understand, so that we will lose the sympathy of the intermediate faction and anger the Guomindang, but we will also jeopardize our united front work, in which once the campaign against friction has come to an end, we will again speak of unity with the diehard faction. Therefore, in the future, we should not publicly and specifically condemn anyone as a Chinese traitor, except for those who have openly turned into puppet soldiers or surrendered to the enemy. In particular, we must be extremely prudent as regards the armies of the central government. If any of them create friction against us, we should merely collect evidence of their friction and report and always remember never to put a label on someone lightly. In addition, we should make our cadres understand that the so-called cooperation between the Guomindang and the Communist Party consists mainly of cooperation with the army of the central government. In strengthening the work of unity and persuasion directed toward every army, all of our cadres should lay particular emphasis on the work of unity and persuasion aimed at the army of the central government. Now with the military struggle against friction in the entire Northwest and North China over, it is very urgent that every unit should stress this kind of united front work, every military and political leading comrade should be responsible for guidance and planning.

Secretariat of the Central Committee and Military Affairs Commission

This document was drafted by Mao for the Secretariat of the Central Committee and the Military Affairs Commission. Our source is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 277-78, where the text is reproduced from Mao's handwritten manuscript.