Critique of Chiang Kai-shek’s Speech at the National Chiefs of Staff Conference Convened in March[1]

(March 1940)

The entire speech reveals three points: (1) The army is steeped in lethargy; (2) The Kuomintang relies on laws and decrees to make a living[2]; (3) What is spoken of is still the War of Resistance.

[1] This is Comrade Mao Zedong’s critique of Chiang Kai-shek’s speech at the National Chiefs of Staff Conference convened in March.
[2] In his speech of March 9, 1940, Chiang Kai-shek made accusations, stating that Zhu De, Commander-in-Chief of the Eighteenth Group Army (Eighth Route Army), and Peng Dehuai, Deputy Commander-in-Chief, had said that friendly forces in Shanxi Province were in collusion with the enemy and invaders, and that such statements were impermissible; he also wanted Ye Jianying to relay to Zhu and Peng that “Revolutionary military personnel must in all matters abide by the central laws and decrees.” Comrade Mao Zedong wrote the critique “rely on laws and decrees to make a living” in response to this passage.