Letter to Situ Meitang1
(December 28, 1945)
For the perusal of Mr. Situ Meitang in New York:
I have just received your cable of November 27, in which you oppose civil
war and forcefully advocate democracy, and I admire it with no reservations. Our
humble Party’s delegation has already reached Chongqing to participate in the
Political Consultative Conference that is about to take place and it has proposed
to the government authorities the immediate and unconditional cessation of civil
war, an end to single-party dictatorship, and the establishment of a democratic
coalition government to work for the unity, integration, and peaceful reconstruction of the state. I respectfully request your honorable party and all our Chinese
compatriots throughout America join in advocating this and in making it a reality.
Our nation’s future will truly greatly benefit from this.
Chairman of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
Mao Zedong
Our source for this letter is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 4, p. 85, where it is reproduced from
a copy corrected by Mao Zedong.
1.  Situ Meitang (1868–1955, born in Kaiping, Guangdong) was at this time head of
the General Office of the secret society known as the Zhigongtang (“Attain Impartiality
Lodge”) in the United States. For an earlier attempt by Mao to rally the support of a secret
society, see his appeal of July 15, 1936, to the Gelaohui, in Vol. V, pp. 245–47. Three
years after Mao wrote the present letter, the Communist authorities in North China began
the process of outlawing and disbanding all societies with a “feudal” character. See Lev
Deliusin, “The I-kuan Tao Society,” in Jean Chesneaux, ed., Popular Movements and Secret
Societies in China 1840–1950 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1972), pp. 225–33.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-87