Letter to Qin Bangxian1
(February 12, 1945)
Comrade Bo Gu:
The newspaper today carried Zhang Pingkai’s2 article “The First Year of the
Great Production Movement in the Organizations and Armed Forces of the
Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Border Region.” Please broadcast the entire article in
installments over several days. This article is vividly written and also has a sense
of principle. I suppose the editorial “Carry Out Rent Reduction”3 and the news
report on Lujiakou village4 were broadcast a few days ago. They are also very
good. That our newspaper can write such an editorial indicates major progress.
(Who wrote it?)
Please publish and broadcast the “Declaration of the Democratic League.”5
When it was published in New China Daily, the authorities mobilized to
confiscate it. Nonetheless, due to the courage of the newsboys, most copies were
distributed. When there were none left, one copy sold for 200 yuan, which shows
the mood of the masses. The red circles on the ten propositions were marked by
[Wang] Ruofei6 to draw our attention. Please do not leave them out.
Salutations!
Mao Zedong
Notes
Our source for this document is Mao Zedong shuxin xuanji, pp. 256–57, where it is reproduced from the
manuscript.

1. Qin Bangxian, better known as Bo Gu, was at this time the head of the Xinhua News Agency.
2. Zhang Pingkai, see above, note to the text of January 31, 1945.
3. This editorial was published in the February 9, 1945, issue of Jiefang ribao.
4. Referring to the article in the February 9, 1945, issue of Jiefang ribao; Mao quotes from this article
extensively in the text of January 31, 1945.
5. Referring to the declaration made by the China Democratic League on January 15, 1945.
6. Wang Ruofei (1896–1946) was a member of the Communist delegation negotiating with the
Guomindang in Chongqing; also, below, note to the text of June 10, 1945.