Be on Guard Against Making "Leftist” Mistakes
While Carrying Out the Policies

(October 18, 1940)

To Ye [Ting] and Xiang [Ying], Hu Fu, Chen Yi, [Huang] Kecheng (by way of Hu
Fu), [Peng] Xuefeng, [Li] Xiannian, and for the information of Peng [Dehuai] and
Yang [Shangkun], Liu [Bocheng] and Deng [Xiaoping], Yang [Xiufeng] and Song
[Renqiong], Chen [Guang] and Luo [Ronghuan], and Zhu Rui:

Because we failed to see to it that our middle-level and lower-level cadres understood thoroughly, and because the upper levels failed to take precautions in advance and to investigate in a timely fashion, many places made ultraleftist mistakes,
which are mainly expressed in overly leftist land policy, labor policy, financial
policy, policy to eliminate traitors, policy toward intellectuals, policy toward captives, and policy toward members of the Guomindang, as well as in the organization of our political régime. The result has been that our social base has shrunk,
fear has been aroused among the neutral forces, and the Japanese bandits, the
Chinese traitor Wang [Jingwei], and the diehards have been given an opportunity
to win over the masses and assemble reactionary forces. Waiting until the mistakes
have taken shape before correcting them has already caused us to suffer great
losses. The work in Central China is developing at present (as it is in Shandong),
and you must prevent your subordinates from making leftist mistakes in carrying
out the policies. You must be aware that the major danger at present is "leftist"
mistakes, and you must make timely investigation of your subordinates' work and
correct any leftist actions. Otherwise, between attacks by both the enemy and the
diehards, it will be impossible for our Party and our army to achieve the great
victory of development and consolidation and to sustain our base areas for a long
time. We hope that you will sharply draw to this matter the attention of the entire
Party and the entire army; it must not be underestimated and ignored.

Secretariat of the Central Committee