On Publishing the “Critique of China’s
Destiny”
(July 21, 1943)
[Dong] Biwu:1
The immediate cause of the present wave of anti-communism is, first, the
dissolution of the Communist International and, second, because Chiang
[Kaishek] believes that the Japanese are going to attack the Soviet Union, he
seeks to shake our Party through a propaganda offensive and to force us to
submit by using military pressure. But because he did not plan this secretly
enough, the scheme has been exposed by our Party and is known to the whole
country by telegram. We launched a frontal attack on them, whereupon they
have had no choice but to deny our charges with all their might (e.g., Hu
[Zongnan]’s and Xu [Yongchang]’s2 telegrams), strive to go through the motions
(as in their dealings with Zhou [Enlai] and Lin [Biao]),3 and to ease up a little
(two divisions have been withdrawn from the border region). But, in reality, they
can definitely not ease up on their military preparations at present. Political
oppression will likewise intensify (as in the suppression of New China Daily on
July 7 and the search of our Chongqing Office a few days ago). In order to expose
their scheme completely, and to respond to their propaganda offensive since the
Southern Anhui Incident,4 in addition to sending the aforementioned telegram
and publishing the Liberation Daily editorial,5 we have today published Chen
Boda’s denunciation of Chiang’s book China’s Destiny.6 We did this in order to
expose Chiang’s feudal, compradorial, Chinese Fascist system to the Chinese
people on an ideological and theoretical level and also to consolidate our Party
and influence in the United States, Britain, and other countries, as well as in
various small parties, various localities, and all the various cultural circles. With this goal in mind, we expect you to pay attention to carrying out the following
matters:
1. Upon receiving the broadcast of the review, try to find a way to print it
secretly in Chinese booklets and to translate it into English booklets and
distribute them among Chinese and foreign personages.
2. In the Chongqing office and New China Daily, adopt this article as a
textbook and offer explanations and carry out discussions.
3. Gather every published reaction to this article, as well as the Guomindang’s
important rebuttals, send me the main points by telegram, and send them all to
me.
4. New China Daily and The Masses magazine in particular can use other
roundabout ways to expose the evils (ideological, systemic, characteristic, and
behavioral) of Chinese fascism.
5. [Zhou] Enlai will brief you on technical questions via telegram.
Mao Zedong
Notes

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Notes

The commander of the New Fourth Army, Ye Ting, was captured and detained by the Guomindang.
6. Chen Boda was at this time vice director of the Political Research Center of the Central Committee.

--- Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 49–51, where it is reproduced from a copy preserved
in the Central Archives.

1. Dong Biwu (1886–1975) was at this time vice secretary of the Southern Bureau of the Central
Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and the head of both the Propaganda Department and the
United Front Department.

2. Xu Yongchang (1887–1959) was at this time head of the Department of Military Orders of the Military
Commission of the Guomindang government.

3. Lin Biao, the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route, had left for Chongqing as a
representative of the Communist Party in the negotiations in September 1942 and returned to Yan’an in July
1943.

4. The Southern Anhui Incident took place in January 1941, when 9,000 troops of the New Fourth Army in
southern Anhui were encircled and attacked by 80,000 Guomindang troops as they were moving north.
While 2,000 New Fourth Army troops broke through the encirclement and survived, the rest were all killed.


5. The telegram, entitled “Calling for Unity and Opposing Civil War,” was issued on July 9, 1943, by the
Yan’an mass meeting in commemoration of the sixth anniversary of the War of Resistance. It refers to the
editorial drafted by Mao Zedong for the July 12, 1943, issue of Jiefang ribao, entitled “Calling the
Guomindang to Account.” See above, the text of July 12, 1943.