REFUTE CHIANG KAI-SHEK

6 April 1946

[Text] On 1 April National Government Chairman Chiang Kai-shek made a long
political report to the People's Political Council, which was organized
exclusively by the fascists in the Kuomintang and which the Chinese Communist
Party refused to attend. The CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY on 3 and 4 April
distributed the "essential points" of the 6,000-word report. According to
the CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY, there are two genuine "essential points" in
Chiang Kai-shek's report: One is to tear up the Northeast cease-fire
and again declare a large-scale civil war to the whole nation; the other
is to tear up the resolutions of the Political Consultative Conference and
again declare dictatorship to the whole nation and attempt to gain constitutional sanction by means of the National Congress.

Concerning the first point, Chiang Kai-shek said: "Until the assumption
of sovereignty over the nine Northeast provinces is completed, there is no
internal political issue to speak of." He also said: "The handling of
military conflicts will be carried out on the premise that it does not
affect the assumption of sovereignty and the exercise of state administrative power by the government." Here he successively tears up two promises:
First, he calls the action of his army in allying with the enemy and the
puppets, attacking the Northeast democratic allied army, and slaughtering
the people of the Northeast, not military conflict, but "assuming
sovereignty and exercising state administrative power," thereby tearing up
his promise in the Northeast cease-fire agreement that the executive team
must "proceed to the point of conflict or close contact between the
government and the Chinese Communist armies, stop the conflict, and make
the necessary and fair adjustment and disposal." Next, after overthrowing
the local autonomous government of the people of the Northeast and
spreading his terrorist fascist control, he said that "there is no internal
political issue to speak of," thereby tearing up his promise in the
Northeast cease-fire agreement that "the political issues will be discussed
separately and solved promptly." Here Chiang Kai-shek reveals his
ferocious bloodthirsty features, making a sickening hypocrisy of his
statement that "in view of the miseries suffered by the area, it is hoped

that the Military Mediation Executive Department will carefully select and
send an executive team to the Northeast to stop the military conflicts."
As the whole world knows, the Chinese Communist Party was the one which
persistently demanded that the Military Mediation Executive Department
stop the military conflict in the Northeast. Chiang Kai-shek and his group
vigorously opposed the Northeast cease-fire and announced time and again
that the Northeast was not within the scope of military mediation. At the
press conference for foreign correspondents on 20 February his spokesman
unequivocally answered the question of a foreign reporter: "Question: Is
the Northeast included in the functional scope of the Peiping Military
Mediation Executive Department? Answer: No. The Northeast is not
included." This was officially published by the CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY in its
20 February dispatch from Chungking and cannot be changed by any lie. Only
after the Chinese Communist Party, based on the clear provision in the
cease-fire agreement that all military conflicts must cease in the entire
nation, urged Chiang Kai-shek time and again to recognize the cease-fire
agreement. Yet, barely 5 days later, in his speech of 1 April, he
promptly and openly tore it up. He called the vicious civil war waged by
him in the Northeast with foreign rockets and tanks against our countrymen
"assuming sovereignty and exercising state administrative power."
Naturally, it will not earn the forgiveness of the people of the Northeast,
because no matter how ingenious the slogan of the executioner, it will not
help them escape death from the foreign rockets and tanks. Furthermore,
the Chinese people well remember that Chiang Kai-shek, in regard to the
civil war in any area, always declared that it was for the purpose of
"assuming sovereignty" and "exercising state administrative power," and in
regard to any local government organized by the Chinese people after
recovering state sovereignty from the Japanese aggressors, he announced
that "the assumption of sovereignty has not been completed." According to
him, the sovereignty of the Republic of China does not belong to the people
but to him and his group. Therefore, only his dictatorial political regime
can assume the sovereignty, while the people and all democratic parties
and factions have absolutely nothing to say. If they do, it is called
"threatening peace in the Far East and world security," as if the Far East
and the world were his private property and the friendly nations his
private retainers. The Chinese people also well remember that, when Japan
occupied the Northeast and large areas of North, Central, and South China,
Chiang Kai-shek was never in a hurry to defend the state sovereignty
against the Japanese. What he did in the 14 years from the 18 September
Incident to Japan's surrender can be summed up in one phrase: Retreating
from Heilungkiang to Kweichow Province. During those difficult and
dangerous months and years, the troops under his command were like a
compass, always running south. He ran so far south that even today he
is still sending large numbers of troops from Vietnam, Yunnan, Kweichow,
Kwangsi, and Kwangtung northward, while criticizing the Communist Party,
which persevered in the resistance war in the Northeast and North China,
for confronting him. What is especially shameful is that he has completely

disregarded his reputation and fabricated the ridiculous "history" of the
Kuomintang's perseverance in the resistance war in the Northeast. Feigning
forgetfulness, he acts as though he had never adhered to the principle of
nonresistance to Japan or subscribed to Sino-Japanese amity from the time
of the 18 September Incident until he was detained by Chang Hsueh-liang,
who is himself under detention to this day. To refresh his memory, we urge
him to review his past performance, and we will cite a few foul instances
here. On 7 April 1933, in his speech entitled "A Study of the Most Recent
Bandit Exterminating Tactics" to high-level officers of the Middle Route
Army of the "Bandit Extermination Army" in Kiangsi's Fu-chou, he said: "The
enemy of our revolution is not the Japanese bandits but the native bandits.
The Three Eastern Provinces and Jehol were lost. Naturally, as they were
lost under the nominally unified government, we must take the responsibility.
Nevertheless, from the standpoint of the revolution, the loss was not very
important. The revolutionary party cannot be responsible for Japan's
occupation of the Three Eastern Provinces and Jehol. Their loss is not
detrimental to the revolution. If at this time we concentrate on the high
and the distant and brag about resisting Japan, while failing to seek the
truth through the facts and to eliminate the bandits, it will amount to
speculation and taking the easy way out, and we will lose the essence of
revolutionary soldiers." This passage appears on pages 75-77 of "Theory
and Practice of Bandit Extermination," published in July 1935 by the
Propaganda Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang Central Executive Committee.
In his speech in July 1934 entitled "resisting Foreign Aggression and
Rebuilding the Nation," delivered to the Lu-shan Officers Training Corps,
Chiang Kai-shek said: "By what means can we resist the enemy and rebuild
the nation? Will we be able to fight the enemy by concentrating all our
efforts on national defense and the manufacture of airplanes and cannons?
The officers must know that not only is it already too late for us to
acquire weapons and reorganize national defense and impossible to resist
the enemy, but even if we all concentrate on these tasks for the next 30
years the effort will be inadequate. Then by what means can we reorganize
the national defense? By what means can we truly fight the enemy? There
is no such time! No such possibility! We must stop dreaming! We can say
that the life of our state and the life of our nation are now in the hands
of the Japanese, and there is no room for any free action!" This speech
was printed as a monograph, published in 1938 in all the Kuomintang papers
in the country, and included in the "Selections of Committee Chairman
Chiang's Instructions" (pages 431-432, Volume 1) edited by the office of his
aides. In September 1935 Chiang Kai-shek published an article entitled
"Changes in Sino-Japanese Relations" in the Japanese magazine KEIZAI ORAI.
He said: "Viewed from whatever aspect, China and Japan must help each
other and cooperate in order to promote prosperity in Asia. Though we are
in the midst of serious difficulties today, we think of the long history
of Sino-Japanese relations in the past and firmly believe that the current
disputes will be solved by the sincerity and efforts of the people of the
two nations and that true cooperation and amity, which are our constant
ideal, will be realized." This passage appears on pages 69-70 of the third
---

edition of "Complete Works of Committee Chairman Chiang" published by the
Shanghai Kuo-t'ai Bookstore. After the start of the resistance war, Chiang
Kai-shek, on 18 November 1939, gave a speech entitled "China's Resistance
War and the International Situation" at the sixth meeting of the sixth
central plenum of the fifth session of the Kuomintang. He said: "Just what
do we mean by resisting to the end? I explained at the fifth central plenum
that resisting to the end and recovering the status quo prior to the 7 July
Incident were based on China as the criterion." These words are found on
page 16, Volume 5, of "Selections of Committee Chairman Chiang's Instruct-ions" edited by the office of his aides. Just these random data alone are
sufficient to prove that Chiang and his accomplices were guilty of losing
the Northeast and had no merit in its recovery. Naturally, one day Chiang
Kai-shek will destroy or revise these masterpieces of his so that even
kindergarten children will believe that the fable in his 1 April speech is
true, that he never ordered nonresistance or Sino-Japanese amity after the
18 September Incident, that he never signed the Shanghai Agreement, the
T'ang-ku Agreement, the China-Manchuria Traffic and Postal Agreement, or
the Ho-Umezu Agreement, that he never pursued any diplomatic activities to
betray the Northeast and seek surrender and compromise after the start of
the resistance war, and that he never charged the puppet army in the
Northeast and the Japanese fascist remnants with "assuming sovereignty over
the Northeast." Unfortunately, he has not yet had time to accomplish all
these. He created the rumor that no Chinese Communist troops were present
in the Northeast before Japan's surrender. It has only served to prove the
absence of any national concept in him, because no Chinese with any national
concept will be so callous as to obliterate the more than a decade of
courageous history of the world-famous Northeast resist-Japan allied army,
or the 8 years of courageous history of the world-famous Hopeh-Jehol-
Liaoning Border Region, or the courageous history of the units of
Li Yun-ch'ang, Lu Cheng-ts'ao, Wan Yi, and Chang Hsueh-shih, part of the
8th Route Army, which entered the Northeast under orders of 11 August before
Japan's surrender, reinforced the anti-Japanese allied army and the
Hopeh-Jehol-Liaoning Border Region, aided the Soviet Red Army to eliminate
the enemy and puppet troops in the Northeast, liberated the people of the
Northeast, and recovered national sovereignty. That Chiang Kai-shek, as
chairman of the National Government, did not hesitate to create rumors for
the selfish purpose of one party, one faction, and one individual has truly
embarrassed the Chinese people.

In regard to the other goal of his speech--the goal of maintaining
dictatorship--Chiang Kai-shek said: "The Political Consultative Conference,
in essence, is not a conference to formulate the constitution. Its
resolutions on government organization, in essence, cannot replace the
Provisional Constitution.... If it truly becomes a conference of this sort,
our government and the people (?) of the entire nation will never recognize
it." As we all know, the functions of the Political Consultative Conference,
according to the provisions in the "Synopsis of Kuomintang-Communist
Negotiations," are to "end political tutelage and introduce constitutional

POLITICS OF COMPROMISE?

politics." According to Truman's declaration, it is "a national conference
held by the delegates of all the major political factions in China, who
will discuss and decide on the method for them to enjoy fair and effective
representation in the National Government of China. The American Government
feels that it is necessary to revise, by this means, the one-party political
tutelage system established by Dr Sun Yat-sen, the father of the Republic
of China, as a temporary measure for the state to advance toward democracy."
If the Political Consultative Conference is not for the purpose of ending,
or still cannot end, the so-called political tutelage of the one-party
dictatorship and the so-called Provisional Constitution of the political
tutelage period and the National Government Organization Law, then why is
the conference needed? What is its significance? The so-called Provisional
Constitution of the political tutelage period was a creation of Chiang
Kai-shek's puppet conference (National Conference) of May 1931. In the
opening statement of this puppet conference, Chiang Kai-shek openly
advocated fascism and opposed democracy. He said: "The political theory
of fascism follows the spirit of transcendentalism, is based on the theory
of the structure of the state, adopts the syndicalist organization, and
considers the state the supreme being. The state may demand any sacrifice
from the people. Current welfare is not the criterion for the continuation
of national life. The ruling power coexists with society, without any
order of precedence. Those in control are the most efficient in ruling in
the evolutionary stage.... The political theory of free democracy starts
from individualism, subscribes to the principle of the natural rights of
man, advocates the view that sovereignty belongs to the entire people, and
always stresses individual freedom. Though at times there is an inevitable
feeling of sluggishness in efficiency, the democracy of England and America,
in view of its long evolutionary history and the people's habitual exercise
of their civil rights, can still be practiced, but when it comes to those
nations without such a historical and social background, the confusion in
Italy before the Fascist Party came to power can serve as an example.
The weaknesses of parliamentary politics in other nations have been fully
revealed, making it doubtful and difficult for the observers. Freedom
must be coupled with responsibility before it can have significance;
otherwise, when everyone speaks his mind, who will be responsible for the
consequences? This is the most distressing aspect of the matter.... When
averting a national danger too urgent to permit delay and leading a nation
which has never had any political experience, one must rely on a relatively
more efficient power control. Furthermore, since it has been clearly
provided that fascism is only a transitional stage, it must be differentiated from the fascist theory itself." In other words, China must
clearly provide that fascism is a transitional stage. Its differentiation
from the fascist theory itself is that China will progress from the fascist
Chiang Kai-shek's political tutelage to a sort of Chiang Kai-shek
constitutional politics. Such constitutional politics is at least not the
"sluggish" and "most distressing" "democracy of England and America," i.e.,
"parliamentary politics." The Provisional Constitution of the political
tutelage period created under the guidance of this fascism has deprived,

"according to law," the people of all freedoms (Articles 8-10, 12-16, 18,
and 27 of the Provisional Constitution) on the one hand, and, on the other
hand, brazenly decided on a one-party dictatorship by announcing that "in
the political tutelage period the Chinese Kuomintang National Party Congress
will exercise the ruling power of the Central Government on behalf of the
National Congress," and that "when the Chinese Kuomintang National Party
Congress is not in session, its functions will be performed by the Chinese
Kuomintang Central Executive Committee" (Article 30 of the Provisional
Constitution). Article 15 of the Organization Law of the National
Government formulated under the Provisional Constitution provides: "The
presidents and vice presidents of the five yuan of the National Government
will be nominated by the chairman of the National Government from among the
National Government Committee members for selection and appointment by the
Chinese Kuomintang Central Executive Committee. The National Government
chairman will be responsible to the Chinese Kuomintang Central Executive
Committee, and the presidents of the five yuan to the National Government
chairman." Here the Kuomintang Central Executive Committee is the only
supreme organ of power of the state, and each of its members, according to
the decision of the first central plenum of the sixth session of the
Kuomintang, must swear that he "will obey the orders of the director general
with the utmost sincerity and will be willing to suffer the most severe
punishment of the party if the oath is violated." Thus, the so-called
"fundamental law of the state" is: The people of the whole country must,
"according to law," obey the National Government, the National Government
must obey its chairman, Chiang Kai-shek, the chairman must obey the
Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, and every member of the committee
must swear to obey Chairman Chiang Kai-shek with the utmost sincerity.
In other words, the people of the whole country must serve as fourth-class
slaves of Chiang Kai-shek's personal dictatorship! Chiang Kai-shek, in
his speech of 1 April, asks the people of the whole country to continue to
recognize the inviolable Provisional Constitution of the political tutelage
period and the Organization Law of the National Government, and he asks the
democratic parties and factions to join his National Government on this
basis, so that the "transitional stage" of the "most efficient" fascist
political tutelage will "transit" to his fascist constitutional politics;
otherwise, his government "absolutely will not recognize" the Political
Consultative Conference, because, in his view, without fascism "the country
will sink into an anarchic state!" His insistence on maintaining the
fascist dictatorship at present naturally is not merely for the 1 month of
legal control before 5 May, but for the continued preservation of this
dictatorship into the distant future. This conspiracy has been clearly
expressed in his theory on the constitutional issue. He and his group
insist on overthrowing the resolution of the Political Consultative
Conference on the principle of the draft constitution, describing the
resolution as a "reference" document without any binding force on Chiang
Kai-shek and the Kuomintang, which unanimously rose and voted for its
passage at the Political Consultative Conference. Chiang Kai-shek and his
group violate the resolution of the conference, insist that the constitution

must take the national construction program as "the most fundamental basis,"
firmly oppose a congress as the supreme organ of power, insist that the
congress (Legislative Yuan) must possess no powers of consent and nonconfidence in the cabinet (Executive Yuan), insist that neither must the
Supervisory Yuan have the power of consent, and insist that the provinces
have no need to formulate provincial constitutions as advocated by Dr Sun
Yat-sen. Yet he maintains that these stands reflect his "determination to
sincerely abide by and vigorously carry out" the resolutions of the Political
Consultative Conference and his "assiduity in being tolerant and yielding
and doing the best possible under the circumstances." His dictionary is so
different from ordinary ones! The five principles of the second central
plenum of the Kuomintang he firmly follows are apparently all for the
purpose of opposing the "most distressing" parliamentary politics, so that,
by means of the unlimited concentration of power in the Executive Yuan and
the meaningless ornament of the National Congress, he will not be restricted
by the Legislative Yuan and the Supervisory Yuan or by the provinces, but
will forever maintain the fascist dictatorship, "the most efficient in
ruling in the evolutionary stage." There is no other significance.

Right from the start the fascist reactionaries in the Kuomintang opposed
the cease-fire agreement, the Political Consultative Conference, and the
army reorganization plan, yet these achievements were all won by overcoming
the fascist reactionaries. Therefore, the vigorous attempt of the fascist
reactionaries to subsequently overthrow the agreements is not in the least
bit surprising. What is worthy of attention is that Chiang Kai-shek,
during one period in the past, expressed his support of these agreements,
yet now he personally takes the standpoint of the fascist reactionaries to
attack and tear them up. The fascist reactionaries feel that this reaction
may win certain international aid; therefore, they send large numbers of
troop reinforcements to the Northeast, recklessly expand the war, and launch
serious provocations in other areas of the nation, such as central Hopeh,
northern Kiangsu, Shansi, and northern Honan, not only not restoring
communications but openly building fortresses, not only disbanding the
puppet army but openly continuing to recruit puppet troops. They continue
to use armed enemy troops in Shansi, not only not demobilizing them but
openly declaring that "demobilization is the beginning of mobilization,"
announcing that a nationwide civil war will be launched in the next few
months, and completely ignoring the Peiping Executive Department and the
three-man committee. In politics they recklessly destroy all resolutions
of the Political Consultative Conference, continue to spread terror
throughout the nation, conspire to murder important political prisoners,
openly commend the "abundant merits and great achievements" of the vicious
secret service organ, and especially openly demand the passage of the
dictatorial constitution by the National Congress, so that China will
return to the status prior to January this year. This situation cannot
but arouse the vigorous vigilance of the people of the entire nation.
The Chinese people cannot but warn Chiang Kai-shek and the fascist
reactionaries at this critical moment: You feel that you were forced by

international pressure to accept the cease-fire agreement and the resolutions
and army reorganization plan of the Political Consultative Conference and
that, with the temporary relaxation of this pressure, you can resume your
old ways. You are wrong, not only because you have not truly recognized
the international situation, but also because you have not made an adequate
assessment of the people's power. To resist troop reinforcements in the
Northeast, to stop the civil war in the Northeast and other areas, to
preserve the democratic rights of the people of the Northeast and the
entire nation, to end the dictatorial political tutelage, i.e., the one-party
dictatorship of the Kuomintang, to seek full implementation of the Political
Consultative Conference resolutions, to insist on a democratic constitution,
i.e., the plenary powers of the congress, the consent and nonconfidence
powers of the Legislative Yuan over the Executive Yuan, the consent power
of the Supervisory Yuan, and the right of the provinces to formulate their
own constitutions which do not conflict with the national constitution and
cannot be changed by the laws of the Central Government, and to insist on
the thorough reduction and nationalization of the Kuomintang troops, the
Chinese people have determined to launch an indomitable struggle. All
these goals are linked with the Chinese people's fundamental interests, and
the people will absolutely refuse to yield. Peace and democracy in China
have been basically won by the struggles of the Chinese people and are not
a gift from any Chinese or foreigners, while the things won through struggle
can only, and will definitely, be preserved and consolidated by continuous
struggles. If the fascist reactionaries persist in their reactionism to
the bitter end, then the Chinese people know how to handle the matter
correctly.

(6 April 1946)

○ CHIEH-FANG JIH-PAO (Editorial), 7 April 1946

* "Documents of the Political Consultative Conference," Historical
Documents Press, July 1946

* "Struggle for Peace and Democracy in the Northeast," Mass Cultural
Cooperative, 1946

* "Reference Materials on the History of the Chinese Communist Party,"
Vol 5