On the Question of Resolutely Not Attending the People’s Political Council
To Zhou Enlai
(March 2, 1941)

(1) The directive of March 1 has presumably been delivered.

(2) At last night’s meeting of the Secretariat, after repeated deliberation, we believe that Chiang Kai-shek is exerting every kind of pressure to force us to submit. If we attend, the political offensive we have conducted, which is both justified and advantageous, will completely collapse, and our entire position will be lost. He will be able to completely ignore all our conditions, and nothing further can be done by way of public statements. Therefore, we absolutely must not attend unconditionally. Yet clearly ordered guarantees are conditions he will definitely not grant; hence, we must resolve not to attend.

(3) If we do not attend, he can do nothing about it. 1. In the Southern Anhui Incident he was in the wrong, as the whole nation knows. By not attending we register our protest; we are not in the wrong. 2. We have already proposed terms for compromise (the interim measures), and he has not agreed; the fault lies with him. 3. If he consequently launches even more disruptive actions (such as passing a resolution endorsing the government’s order of the 17th, issuing a punitive expedition decree, arresting our representatives, etc.), the fault lies still more with him and is even more to his disadvantage. 4. The international situation has reached a point unfavourable to him (the great war between Britain and Germany and the conflict between Britain and Japan). 5. On the domestic front, they have absolutely no way to deal with us; we have nothing whatever to fear.

(4) So long as we endure through the present pass, there is the possibility of improvement. If terms for settlement can be worked out within half a year, we would still be prepared to attend the second session of the People’s Political Council in September.

(5) The current political struggle is unprecedentedly acute. Many small parties have already gone over to Chiang Kai-shek’s side, and an atmosphere unfavourable to us may be created within the People’s Political Council. But this is temporary and will soon change. Therefore, the words of the small parties must not be believed; what they say is meant to deceive us.