To the Field Political Department of the Eighth Route Army and Others

(January 30, 1941)

We must make use of the transitional period between the beginning of the rupture and its full-scale development. Therefore, the Central Committee has decided that, for the time being, except for the Central Military Commission and the New Fourth Army, which have expressed a sharply antagonistic stance toward Chiang Kai-shek, the commanders of the Eighth Route Army shall temporarily maintain a posture of outward silence, refraining from issuing declarations, circular telegrams, speeches, or other documents. Instead, we shall mobilize people's organizations to issue statements and publish editorials in newspapers to voice support for the New Fourth Army and to refute the order issued by the Chongqing Military Council on January 17 and Chiang Kai-shek's speech of January 27.

[1] This is the main content of a telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the General Political Department of the Central Military Commission of the CPC, addressed to the Field Political Department of the Eighth Route Army, the political departments of all divisions and military regions, and the political departments at all levels of the New Fourth Army.