To Li Kenong and Others on Mobilizing All
Forces Inside and Outside the Party to Stop the
Campaign to Suppress the Communists and
Capitulate to Japan

(November 6, 1940)

At present Japan and Germany and the pro-Japanese and pro-German faction have
surrounded Chiang [Kaishek] and are pressuring Chiang to mount an anti-Communist war and capitulate to the Japanese bandits. We should urgently call
upon members of the Guomindang and people everywhere and in sincere and
moving words explain that suppressing the Communists means the end of the
Party and the end of the country, that capitulation to the Japanese bandits would
inevitably mean the toppling of Chiang, bringing only harm and no benefits. We
should mobilize the majority of the members inside and outside the Party to come
forth to become involved in the positive and moving activities listed above. When
talking about this, do not curse Chiang or the Guomindang; curse only the pro-Japanese faction. Demand that everyone pay attention to the question of their own
survival or destruction. We, the Communist Party, love and defend Chiang, love
and defend the War of Resistance and unity. They simply must not annihilate the
Communists or capitulate. If we wait until they have annihilated the Communists
and capitulated, have destroyed the Party and the country, then we cannot help
them even if we want to. All Party members and all those opposed to Japan must
be told that if only everyone will unite and act positively, it will still be possible to
stop the campaign to suppress the Communists and capitulate, that it is not too
late, that there is still time. Please, by all means, inform the Central Committee
regarding the conditions in the various localities.

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 6, p. 193, where it is reproduced from Wannan shibian.