Paying Respects to the Martyrs Who Died on
April 8
(April 19, 1946)
Dear Comrades-in-Arms, Immortal Brave Fighters:
For decades, you have performed mighty services for the cause of the people.
Today you have laid down your lives for the cause of the people. Although you
have died, you live on gloriously in spirit!
Your deaths are a call that will deepen the Chinese people’s understanding
of the Chinese Communist Party and will strengthen the resolve of the Chinese
people to persist in the cause of peace, democracy, and unity!
Your deaths are a call on all members of the entire Party and on the people of
the whole country to unite and fight to the very end for a peaceful, democratic,
and united new China!
All members of the entire Party and people of the whole country will carry on
at your behest and continue the struggle to victory. We will never lose heart and
we will never give up!
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 10, p. 41, where it is reproduced from
Jiefang ribao, April 20, 1946.
1.  The reference is to Communist members of the Political Consultative Conference
who died when their aircraft crashed on the way to Yan’an. They included Wang Ruofei,
Qin Bangxian (aka Bo Gu), and Deng Fa, as well as Ye Ting, who had been admitted to the
Party only a month earlier (see “Telegram Regarding Ye Ting’s Admission to the Party,”
March 7, 1946, in this volume).
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-114