Directive of the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China on the Defeat
of Chiang Kaishek’s Offensive by a War of
Self-Defense1
(July 20, 1946)
	 1.	 Chiang Kaishek, after violating the truce agreement,2 violating the resolutions of the Political Consultative Conference,3 and occupying Siping,
Changchun, and other of our cities in the Northeast, is now launching another
large-scale offensive against us in Central and North China;4 later, he may
again attack the Northeast. Only after completely smashing Chiang’s offensive through a war of self-defense can the Chinese people regain peace.
	 2.	 Our Party and our army are making every preparation to smash Chiang
Kaishek’s offensive and thus to win peace. Although Chiang Kaishek has
U.S. aid, the feelings of the people are against him, the morale of his troops is
low, and his economy is in difficulty. As for us, although we have no foreign
aid, the feelings of the people are for us, the morale of our troops is high, and
we can handle our economy. Therefore, we can defeat Chiang Kaishek. The
whole Party should be fully confident of this.
	 3.	 For defeating Chiang Kaishek, the general battle method is mobile warfare.
Therefore, the temporary abandonment of certain places or cities is not only
unavoidable but also necessary. Certain places or cities are temporarily abandoned in order to win a final victory, which would otherwise be impossible.

We must make all Party members and all the people in the Liberated Areas
understand this so that they will be psychologically prepared.
	 4.	 In order to smash Chiang Kaishek’s offensive, we must cooperate closely
with the popular masses and win over all who can be won over. In the rural
areas, on the one hand, we should resolutely solve the land problem, rely
firmly on the farm laborers and poor peasants and the middle peasants;5 on
the other hand, when solving the land problem, we should distinguish the
ordinary rich peasants and the middle and small landlords from the traitors, bad gentry, and local tyrants. We should be stricter in our treatment
of the traitors, bad gentry, and local tyrants, and more lenient in our treatment of the rich peasants and middle and small landlords. In places where
the land problem has already been solved, we should shift to a moderate
attitude toward the landlord class as a whole, with the exception of a few
reactionaries. To reduce the number of hostile elements and to consolidate
the Liberated Areas, we should help all landlords who have difficulty making
a living and we should induce runaway landlords to return and give them an
opportunity to earn a living. In the cities, besides uniting with the working
class, the petty bourgeoisie, and all progressives, we should also take care to
unite with all the middle elements and isolate the reactionaries. Among the
Guomindang troops, we should win over all possible opponents of civil war
and isolate the bellicose elements.
	 5.	 To smash Chiang Kaishek’s offensive we must make plans on a long-term
basis. We must most economically use our manpower and material resources
and do everything possible to avoid waste. We must investigate and clean up
the petty graft that has appeared in some places. We must work hard on production in order to become completely self-sufficient in all necessities, first
and foremost in grain and cloth. We must promote the extensive planting of
cotton and encourage every family to spin and every village to weave. We
should begin to promote this even in the Northeast. In the fields of finance
and supplies, we must meet the material needs of the war of self-defense
and at the same time lighten the burden on the people so that there will be
some improvement and increase in the living conditions of the people in our
Liberated Areas, even under wartime conditions. To sum up, we rely entirely
on our own efforts, and our position is invincible; this is the very opposite of
Chiang Kaishek who depends entirely on foreign countries. We live plainly
and work hard, we take care of the needs of both the army and the people;
this is the very opposite of the situation in Chiang Kaishek’s areas, where
those at the top are corrupt and degenerate, while the people under them are
destitute. Under these circumstances, we shall surely be victorious.

	 6.	 Difficulties lie ahead of us but they can and must be overcome. All Party
comrades and all troops and people in the Liberated Areas must unite as one,
in line with the guidance of the Central Committee Declaration of July 7,
1946, completely smash Chiang Kaishek’s offensive and build an independent, peaceful, and democratic new China.

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Zhonggong zhongyang gaoji dangxiao, ed., Dangnei wenjian
cankao ziliao, Vol.1, pp. 7–8 (publication date unknown). A revised version was published
in Xuanji (1960), pp. 1183–87.
1.  Directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Defeat
of Chiang Kaishek’s Offensive by a War of Self-Defense → Smash Chiang Kaishek’s
Offensive by a War of Self-Defense

--- Notes

# Directive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the Defeat of Chiang Kaishek's Offensive by a War of Self-Defense
# Date: 1946-07-20
# Source: en:MRP


2.  The reference is to the truce agreement of October 10, 1945.

3.  The Political Consultative Conference, convened by the Guomindang government
in January 1946 with the participation of the Communists and other parties, adopted five
agreements on government organization, peace and national reconstruction, the National
Assembly, the Draft Constitution, and Military Affairs.

4.  Central and North China → East and North China
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719511-206

5.  the middle peasants → unite with the middle peasants