Speech at a Meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China[1]

(June 16, 1943)

Now the strength of the Soviet Union has increased, and it is possible to drive the German army out this winter. Regarding the relations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, our Party has adopted the policy of "harmonizing with the Kuomintang" over the past two years, not provoking the Kuomintang, nor opposing the Kuomintang in the newspapers. Last year we estimated that the Kuomintang would launch an anti-communist upsurge in May, but it did not come; they only carried out two anti-communist propaganda campaigns. Recently, when Zhou Enlai and Lin Biao met with Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang said that things should be done according to his book *China's Destiny*, demanding that the Communist Party hand over military power and political power. Wang Ming's estimation that the Kuomintang is a national alliance, democratic and populist, is incorrect. The present Kuomintang is not the Kuomintang of the Great Revolution era. The "principle of democracy" they talk about is actually fascism, devoid of democracy; the principle of people's livelihood has made life unbearable for the people, with popular uprisings occurring everywhere.

I see Japan's collapse as inevitable, and the possibility of the Kuomintang improving since Chiang Kai-shek published *China's Destiny*

[1] Part One is an excerpt from Mao Zedong's speech on the situation at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Part Two is an excerpt from Mao Zedong's speech on the drafting of the "July 7" declaration at a meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

is very small. Do not adopt a rupture attitude toward the Kuomintang. The Kuomintang has weakened internally and lacks the strength to launch a large-scale attack on us. The Border Region is now carrying out production and construction, better troops and simpler administration, and supporting the government and cherishing the people, and is doing very well. We still need time: one year for rectification, one year for studying Marxism-Leninism, and one year for studying China's problems. Our policy toward the enemy is the struggle against "mopping-up" and "nibbling"; toward the Kuomintang, it is to avoid open armed conflict and use the forces of the allied country's democracy against Japan; toward the people, it is to support the government and cherish the people, develop production, and improve the relationship between our Party and the peasants; toward the Party, it is to preserve cadres, educate cadres, and carry out rectification.