Reply to the Henan Regional Party Committee on the Strategy for Dealing with the Kuomintang Diehards[1]

(March 30, 1945)

Henan Regional Party Committee:

The strategy described in your telegram of the 11th day of the Yin month is correct. It is hoped that you will implement it well.

Mao Zedong

The 30th day of the Yin month

1945, Mao Zedong in Yan’an.

File photo

“Early Spring in the Cave Dwelling” (Chinese painting)

--- Notes

[1] This is Mao Zedong’s reply to the “Directive of the Henan Regional Party Committee on the Strategy for Dealing with the Kuomintang Diehards.” On the header, there is also a notation reading: “This telegram is to be forwarded to Central China, Hubei, and Wang Zhen.” On March 11, the “Directive of the Henan Regional Party Committee on the Strategy for Dealing with the Kuomintang Diehards” pointed out: 1. Recently, the Kuomintang diehards have been actively organizing local forces in Henan, mobilizing the Henan Kuomintang, organizing anti-communist and anti-Eighth Route Army activities, and openly colluding with the enemy and puppets. Their actual attempt is to organize an anti-communist united front in Henan to resist and attack us. Our strategy should be to broadly and realistically establish an anti-Japanese national united front in Henan, to connect with all possible local forces that can be connected with, to unite the people of all strata, to strive to win over the majority of the intermediate strata to join us or remain neutral, and to recognize that among the social forces in Henan, the intermediate strata constitute the majority; Henan society is also small at both ends and large in the middle. 2. The targets of our strikes are only a minority; toward the rest, we should refrain from striking, neutralize them, unite with them, and establish a national united front with the majority of local forces. 3. There are many contradictions between the Kuomintang diehards and the local forces in Henan, among the local forces themselves, between the intermediate strata and the warlords, bureaucratic officials, and big landlords, between the enemy and puppets, and between the basic masses in Henan and the Kuomintang ruling forces. We should pay attention to exploiting these contradictions to achieve the goal of winning over the masses and establishing a national united front. 4. Toward the local Kuomintang members in Henan, we generally adopt a policy of cooperating with them and urging them to participate in anti-Japanese national salvation and to carry out our military orders and government decrees, but we must not grant them any leadership authority; leadership authority must be completely in our hands. 5. Regarding the baojia regime in Henan, while temporarily utilizing it on the one hand, we should, on the other hand, deeply organize peasant anti-enemy national salvation associations, gradually transform the village political power on the basis of the peasant anti-enemy associations, and organize and mobilize the broad peasant masses, which is the central link in all our current work. 6. Toward the rural gentry, we should pay attention to uniting with them properly, organize consultative councils on a district or county basis, and strive to win over the gentry to serve the democratic political power and local administration.