Talk with Tan Kah Kee[1]

(June 1, 1940)

Because the diehards in the Kuomintang are trying to wipe us out, what they dream about day and night is eliminating the Communist Party as an obstacle so that they can surrender to the Japanese aggressors without any scruples. Therefore, when we are compelled to have no alternative, we can only make them acknowledge the status of the progressive forces and the anti-Japanese parties and groups and not dare to compromise with the enemy or start an all-out civil war lightly by striking back appropriately against their political and military attacks. Our policy is to strive for unity through struggle. If we seek unity through unity, not only will unity fail to be achieved, but the progressive forces will be brutally destroyed, the united front will inevitably break up, the whole country will once again be plunged into civil war, and the Party will be destroyed and the nation subjugated.

We recognize that the Kuomintang is the largest party, we support Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek as the leader of the nationwide war of resistance, and we support the leadership of the central government. The political foundation of the united front is the Three People’s Principles, and its organizational foundation is the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. If either of the two parties is missing, the united front is inconceivable. Therefore, our general policy is unity, but genuine unity can be achieved only on the basis of progress.

[1] At a little past 5 p.m. on May 31, Tan Kah Kee and his party arrived in Yan’an, where they were warmly welcomed by a crowd of more than 5,000 people. The next afternoon, Mao Zedong met with Tan Kah Kee at Yangjialing and had a cordial conversation with him. Tan Kah Kee first expressed the desire of the overseas Chinese that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party should strengthen unity and jointly confront the external enemy. He did not understand the Communist Party’s struggle against friction and believed that on the issue of relations between the two parties, the Communist Party should make more concessions and seek unity through unity. This is part of Mao Zedong’s talk with Tan Kah Kee on this issue.