In all these reactionary demonstrations, including the one in Chongqing on the 22nd, the students who were deceived into participating by the Kuomintang fascist reactionaries constituted only a tiny minority of the student body in each locality. For example, in Chongqing there were only seven thousand participants on the 22nd, and this number dropped to two thousand on the 23rd; in Shanghai on the 23rd there were just over two thousand. This clearly shows that the vast majority of the Chinese people possess a very high level of political consciousness: they are able to distinguish right from wrong and will never blindly follow the reactionaries.


The reason why the fascist reactionaries have been able to incite a section of the masses to take part in demonstrations is that they rely half on intimidation and half on deception—namely, on people’s ignorance of the true situation in Northeast China and of the reactionaries’ plot to provoke both international and civil war.


We are confident that once the truth about Northeast China becomes known and the reactionaries’ sinister schemes are exposed, the genuine masses will never be led astray by them.


Secondly, no matter how energetically the Kuomintang fascist reactionaries seek to deceive and instigate certain students to stage counter-revolutionary demonstrations aimed at provoking international and civil war, nor how much some government authorities may condone and encourage such counter-revolutionary activities, in the final analysis the reactionaries themselves are bound to fail.


The plot to stir up a so-called Third World War between the two great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, so that the Chinese fascist reactionaries might profit from it and thereby “turn the tables,” is destined to come to naught.


As for the United States and the Soviet Union, their policy of unity will remain unchanged; they will certainly not be provoked by this pack of foul-smelling Chinese fascists.


As for the Chinese people, since this plot is utterly anti-national—that is, if the reactionary conspiracy were to succeed, it would benefit only the remnants of German, Japanese, and Italian fascism, while gravely harming the Chinese nation—the masses fully understand that such slogans as “Recover Northeast China through iron and blood,” “Volunteer to join the war and arm ourselves to recover Northeast China,” and “Down with neo-imperialism” are, in fact, reactionary machinations against the interests of the Chinese nation.


With regard to the reactionaries’ scheme to foment civil war, which manifests itself in their vicious slander and insults directed at the Communist Party and democratic figures, their destruction of Communist and democratic newspapers, and their assaults on Party members and democrats, the Chinese people are likewise perfectly clear: civil war must absolutely not be allowed to break out again.


In short, despite the extreme rampaging of the reactionaries, the Chinese people will unite even more closely to put a stop to all reactionary activities.


Printed from Mao Zedong’s manuscript.


Notes [1] These are two passages added by Mao Zedong when he was reviewing Xinhua News Agency’s commentary titled “Under the Condoning and Encouragement of Government Authorities, Reactionaries Have Expanded Their Anti-Soviet and Anti-Communist Activities.” The first passage was inserted after the original text listed the Kuomintang reactionaries’ incitement and organization of anti-Soviet and anti-Communist demonstrations by small groups of students in Chongqing, Chengdu, Nanjing, Shanghai, Beiping, and Wuhan, as well as the Kuomintang secret agents’ acts of sabotage. The second passage was appended to the end of the commentary.