Reply to Chen Yi and Liu Shaoqi[1]

(August 17, 1941)

We have received your telegram of August 10.[2] It is possible and necessary for the leading organs to move to eastern Anhui in the most difficult times, but we cannot develop westward on a large scale. At present, China, the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States, as well as both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, urgently need to unite against fascism. The Guangxi clique’s Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi also differ from He Yingqin, so it is not appropriate to advance westward on a large scale.

[1] This is the main content of a reply telegram drafted by Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Chen Yi and Liu Shaoqi.

[2] On August 10, Chen Yi and Liu Shaoqi sent a telegram to Mao Zedong and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, proposing: “If the enemy and puppet forces conduct another ‘mopping-up’ campaign, it will be extremely difficult for our main forces to operate in northern Jiangsu. Therefore, the future direction of our development in central China should shift westward, using eastern Anhui as a base and gradually developing westward along both banks of the Yangtze River to link up with Li Xiannian, so that in the future we can develop toward the Dabie Mountains and the mountainous areas of southern Anhui, northern Jiangxi, and northern Hubei.”