Talk with Anna Louise Strong[1]

(February 10, 1947)

The Chinese Communist Party is willing to resume negotiations with the Kuomintang on the conditions that both sides return to the areas they actually controlled at the time of the signing of the cease-fire agreement of January 10, 1946; that the "Constitution" adopted by the "National Assembly" in November 1946 be abrogated; and that the resolutions of the Political Consultative Conference, unanimously adopted by all parties a year ago, be restored. He added: After you leave Yan’an, you will certainly hear many rumors spread by the enemy about our so-called "atrocities". But you will surely remember that in many places you saw our troops, which are among the most disciplined troops in the world.

[1] According to Strong’s recollection in *Why I Came to China at the Age of Seventy-two*: "On the evening before I left Yan’an, I was invited to bid farewell to Chairman Mao Zedong." "That day I received an invitation from Zhou Enlai to watch a play at the auditorium in Yangjialing." "After the play ended, Zhou Enlai led me into a cave dwelling on the hillside, where a table and some chairs had already been set, along with tea and peanuts. There, in that last cave dwelling, I had my final talk with Chairman Mao. He affirmed that I could not go into the mountains with the Communist Party, and said that I had already learned what the outside world needed to know about all their areas, and that I should take this knowledge out into the world. ‘When we re-establish contact with the outside world’—which he thought would take ‘about two years’—I could return. He said I should especially take this information to the United States." Part One of this text is a portion of Mao Zedong’s talk with Strong concerning the conditions for resuming KMT-CPC negotiations; Part Two is a portion of the talk concerning the United States’ possession of the atomic bomb.

Talk with Anna Louise Strong

II

The birth of the atom bomb spelled the end of its life. All the stupid people in the world are indulging in wild talk about atomic war, but the atom bomb can no longer be used in war. Its great explosion over Hiroshima destroyed itself. Its effectiveness was also its death, for the people of the whole world are opposed to it. Naturally, atomic energy will continue to be developed, and its tremendous power will be utilized by the people.