Commemorating United Nations Day,
Defend Xi’an and the Northwest!1
(June 14, 1944)
Today is the third United Nations Day. In Yan’an there is an enthusiastic mass
meeting. This is a meeting not only for celebration but also to mobilize the people
to defend Xi’an, Shaanxi, and the Northwest.
In 1942 President [Franklin] Roosevelt suggested that this day be
commemorated every year as United Nations Day by all the anti-Fascist countries
in the world. This year is the third time. The past two years were years when
great changes took place, including two great incidents. The first one was the
start of the offensive in November 1942 by the Soviet Red Army in Stalingrad,
which changed the course of world history. Subsequently, Britain and the United
States started their own offensives in North Africa and the Pacific, turning
defense and retreat among the Allied countries into offense. The great
achievement of the Soviet Red Army was its decisive role in this change. The
second incident was the opening up of the second front2 by Britain and the
United States jointly on the sixth of this month, which moved the offensive into
its decisive phase. The impact of the hard and yet victorious fighting by the brave
Allied forces inside France will be felt all over the world. As we celebrate United
Nations Day in China, we should not forget the bitter struggles of the Soviet,
British, and American people, should not forget the wise leadership of Marshal
[Joseph] Stalin, President Roosevelt, and Prime Minister [Winston] Churchill, and
the correctness of the road they have pointed out.
The war in Europe and the Pacific has turned into an offensive for some time
now, and in Europe it has entered the decisive phase. But the Japanese bandits
are still attacking China. The war in China not only has no sign of being turned

into an offensive, but even the retreat cannot be stopped. Such is the new
situation in China today. Beginning April 17, the Japanese bandits launched
consecutive offensives in Henan, Hunan, and Guangdong. Luoyang has fallen;
Changsha is in great danger; and the most serious is the campaign in Henan. On
that front, before the fall of Luoyang, the enemy’s major goal was to attack the
more than 300,000 troops commanded by General Jiang Dingwen3 and General
Tang Enbo of the First War Zone. This campaign ended with the fall of Luoyang.
At the beginning of this month, a second campaign began with the enemy’s main
goal being to attack the troops deployed along the line of Lingbao, Guolue, and
Guandaokou, commanded by General Hu Zongnan of the Eighth War Zone.
According to information we have received as of today, this line has also been
broken, and the enemy is marching toward Tongguan, apparently aiming to
invade Shaanxi. It is reported that in Xi’an people have been ordered to disperse;
the Northwest is under great threat. Thus, while China is celebrating United
Nations Day, the situation here is just the opposite of that in Europe and the
Pacific: offensive over there; retreat right here.
There are also two different situations within China itself. On the battlefields
behind enemy lines, an offensive is on; on the front-line battlefields, a retreat is
on. Two different battlefields were created at the beginning of the War of
Resistance, the battlefield behind enemy lines and the battlefield at the front.
From July 1937 to October 1938 when Wuhan fell, the enemy’s main forces went
on the offensive in the front-line battlefield, while the Eighth Route Army and
the New Fourth Army marched to behind enemy lines and opened up several
large battlefields there. After the fall of Wuhan, the enemy began to change its
war policy, making its main approach to politically entice capitulation from the
Guomindang in the front-line battlefields, with military attacks as supplemental
to this, while transferring its main force to its rear to deal with the Communist
Party. Until March of this year, for a total of five and a half years, the enemy’s
main striking force fell on the Communist Party and the people behind enemy
lines. At its peak, of a total of 600,000 Japanese troops and 900,000 puppet troops,
three-fourths were borne by the Communist Party. In spite of that, we did not
have any outside assistance, and all the anti-Japanese base areas were cut up by
the enemy. In the past five and a half years, in the front-line battlefields there
were only a few full-scale battles characterized by “leaving home in the morning

and coming back at dusk,” and there were no strategic or occupation offensives.
During this period, the policy of the Guomindang rulers was to “ward off’ and
watch, namely, to ward off the enemy when they came and to sit on their hands
when the enemy went away. At the same time, they concentrated all their power
on guarding against the people, on suppressing democracy, and opposing the
Communist Party. This policy has been carried out by all of its party,
administration, and military agencies. To this day, they are stubborn, unwilling
to make any change.
However, the situation on the enemy’s side has changed. Since April 18, the
enemy’s policy of achieving politically enticed capitulation as the main approach
has been changed to a policy of using military attack as its main approach. The
only reason that the enemy made such a change is to avoid its own death. But the
enemy has not yet lost its fighting capacity. However, due to improper policy that
has been carried out for a long time, our government and the Guomindang rulers
have sunk into such a condition that they have lost almost all their fighting
capacity and the ability to deal with the situation. Their troops have scattered
without being attacked or as soon as they were attacked; in the military, the
officers and the soldiers are alienated; so are the army and the people. After
fighting for more than fifty days they retreated to Tongguan. Xi’an is shaken, and
they are preparing for further retreat.
The years 1941 and 1942 were the two most difficult on the battlefield behind
enemy lines. Under heavy attacks from the enemy’s main forces, the population
in the base areas decreased from 100 million to 50 million. The army became
smaller, as did its territory. Nevertheless, we carried on the struggle, carried out
all the appropriate policies of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee,
defeated all the enemy offensives, and finally established a firm foothold. In 1943
and this year we launched extensive offensives, recovering large tracts of land
from the evil hand of the enemy, liberating large numbers of people. The
population in the base areas has increased to 80 million. The Eighth Route Army
and the New Fourth Army have regained their strength and have even seen some
growth. The total number of regular troops and guerrillas on the three big
battlefields behind enemy lines in northern, central, and southern China has
reached 470,000, and the number of militia has reached 2 million. More
important, they have gained plenty of experience, and their quality has improved.

The enemy originally had planned first to destroy the battlefields in its rear and
then to attack the front. This is no longer possible. Thus, to save itself from death,
it was forced to simultaneously shoulder both battlefields.
This is truly an excellent situation. As long as our government and the
Guomindang rulers are willing to revise its policies, the morale of the soldiers
will rise and the enemy’s offensive will be shattered. With such strength and such
immense battlefields behind enemy lines, we could have defeated the enemy with
ease if the front had counterattacked with some force. The enemy is few in
number. So far the total number of enemy troops in the offense in Henan, Hunan,
and Guangdong is around a dozen divisions. Is it not possible for us to drive them
back with all our nation’s strength? Yet today we see only our own retreat.
This is totally groundless. Why is it that the Communist Party is able to hold
on and able to attack (though it is not yet able to launch strategic attacks or to
take over the big cities), whereas the Guomindang is unable to hold on or to
attack?
The reason is simple; the Communist Party persists in unity and democracy. It
has united people from all walks of life on every battlefield behind enemy lines in
northern China, central China, and southern China; it practices democracy and
relies on the people; those places are filled with persistent vigor and a patriotic
spirit to resist the enemy and defend the country. The Communist Party also tries
its best to unite the entire nation. No matter how reactionary the Guomindang’s
policies are, [the Party] is willing to improve relations with it. The Guomindang
is quite different. Even today, its rulers, for example, do not show any sign of
remorse or any desire to adopt a correct policy. They do not have unity or the
principle of democracy, but instead every day they defame the Communist Party
as the “traitorous party,” the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army as
“traitorous armies,” and the anti-Japanese democratic base areas as the
“traitorous areas.” They are arrogant and conceited and consider themselves
matchless in the world. This is already known all over the world. They only
remember to ask the Allied countries for assistance, relying wholeheartedly on
the Allied countries to defeat Japan, and they seldom have the intention or plan
to be self-reliant. Expecting to defeat the enemy this way—isn’t it the same as
going into the trees to catch fish?
The current situation in the front-line battlefield in China is already critical.

We hope that our government and the Guomindang rulers will immediately
make a serious self-criticism and revise their policies. As of today they should
start a new beginning with the people, and things can still be done. The most
serious task at the moment is to defend Xi’an and defend Shaanxi and the
Northwest. This is the only international communication line today. If this falls,
Sichuan will be in danger. We Communists have always hoped that the
Guomindang will do well. We and the people of the entire nation all hope that
the two parties will improve their relations, take care of their unsettled cases, and
again move into a new era. We hope that our government and the Guomindang
rulers will no longer dishearten the people. The United States, Great Britain, and
the Soviet Union wish for this just as eagerly. The gentlemen in the press corps4
are already in Yan’an, and [U.S.] Vice President [Henry] Wallace will soon visit
China. We hope that they will promote progress and help the Chinese people
solve the problem of unity and democracy so as to overcome the crisis on the
front-line battlefields of China. No medicine other than unity and democracy will
cure China’s current malady; without this, the military crisis cannot be
overcome. We would like to take this United Nations Day to express the sincere
hopes of we Communists.
Notes
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 3, pp. 172–76, where it is reproduced from the June
14, 1944, issue of Jiefang ribao.
1. This is an editorial written by Mao Zedong for Jiefang ribao.
2. On the second front, see above, the texts of February 21, 1943, and June 12, 1944.
3. Jiang Dingwen (1895–1974) was at this time commander-in-chief of the First War Zone of the
Guomindang Army.
4. Referring to the delegation of Chinese and foreign reporters visiting the Northwest; see above, the text
of June 12, 1944.