We Should Adopt a Positive and Cooperative
Attitude toward Those Centrists Who Can Be
Won Over
(January 14, 1948)
To Ye [Jianying] and [Li Weihan], and to be forwarded to the Hong Kong Branch
Bureau, the Shanghai Bureau, the Central Work Committee, all bureaus, the
Handan Bureau, and [Liao] Chengzhi:1
	 1.	 Be flexible in applying the principles of the [October 27] directive.2
	 2.	 With respect to the Democratic League’s resumption of activities,3 to Li
Jishen4 and others in the Guomindang who oppose Chiang Kaishek, to Feng
Yuxiang5 in the United States, and to all centrists who can be won over,
we should adopt an attitude of positive striving and cooperation, regardless of whether their speech and actions entail a certain amount of wavering or
erroneous content. When we speak of their mistakes and shortcomings, we
should adopt a tone of well-intentioned criticism.
	 3.	 We must use newspapers and periodicals to publicly criticize and expose
the very serious overt reactionary tendencies of certain right-wing elements
of the middle class who harbor illusions about the American imperialists
and the Guomindang reactionaries and who oppose the people’s democratic
revolution and the Communist Party. These articles should be analytical,
persuasive, fair, and reasonable.
	 4.	 When using newspapers and periodicals to criticize the erroneous viewpoints
of all centrists who should be won over, we must pay special attention to the
persuasiveness of our articles.
	 5.	 We should adopt an attitude of unity toward Wallace6 and his group.
The Central Committee

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Notes

Our source for this telegram is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 15–16, where it is reproduced from a copy preserved in the Central Archives.

--- Notes

1.  Ye Jianying was secretary of the Rear Area Work Commission of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Li Weihan (1896–1984, native of Hunan), also
known as Luo Mai, was vice-minister of the Central Committee’s Urban Work Department.
Liao Chengzhi (1908–1983, born in Huiyang, Guangdong) was vice-minister of the Central Committee’s Propaganda Department.

2.  Referring to the October 27, 1947, directive that the Central Committee issued to
all central bureaus, local offices, and field army front committees, which predicted several
ways in which the Chiang Kaishek government might collapse and how China’s various
classes and parties would react, and what strategies and principles the Communist Party
should therefore adopt.

3.  In October 1947, the Nationalist government declared the China Democracy League
an “illegal organization” and forced the league to disband its headquarters. In January
1948, Shen Junru and other leaders of the Democracy League decided to revive it, and they
issued a declaration denouncing the Nationalist government and stating their intention to
cooperate with the Communist Party and other democratic parties.

4.  Li Jishen was chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Revolutionary
Committee of the Guomindang.

5.  Feng Yuxiang was a member of the Standing Committee of the Central Executive
Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Guomindang and chairman of the Central Political Committee. In 1947 he established the “Chinese in America Peace and Democratic Alliance” in the United States, which opposed U.S. assistance to Chiang Kaishek
during the civil war.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-69

6.  Henry A. Wallace was vice-president of the United States from 1941 to 1945. In
June 1944, he visited China and proposed that the Guomindang improve relations with the
Communist Party. He also arranged for the U.S. delegation to visit Yan’an.