Conversation with Deng Baoshan and Xu Fanting[1]

(Late November 1943)

The Kuomintang may adopt three directions. The first is the direction of direct capitulation and civil war; this road is impassable. The second is to pretend to resist Japan on one hand while actively opposing the Communists on the other; this road too will ultimately prove impassable. The third is to fundamentally abandon the policy of fascist dictatorship and civil war; this alone is a way out, and we must all strive and struggle for this. The Three People’s Principles must be realized through the Three Great Policies. Now Japan’s difficulties are growing greater by the day, victory in the War of Resistance is in sight, and it only requires the continued efforts of both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

[1] In late November 1943, Mao Zedong sent someone to the reception office of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government to bring Deng Baoshan and Xu Fanting to his residence for a conversation. This is part of that conversation. Deng Baoshan, en route from Xi’an back to Yulin, arrived in Yan’an in late November and stayed for half a month. At that time, Deng Baoshan had caught a slight cold and fallen ill. Mao Zedong had someone deliver ten fox pelts to him as material for an overcoat.