The Guomindang War Criminal Faction
Makes a Futile Attempt to Save Itself by
Changing from an “Appeal for Peace” to an
Appeal for War1
February 16, 1949
(Xinhua News Agency, Northern Shaanxi, February 16) Since January 1, when the
bandit Chiang Kaishek launched his peace offensive, the heroes of the reactionary
Guomindang clique have kept repeating at great length their willingness to “shorten
the duration of the war,” “alleviate the people’s suffering,” and “make saving the
people the premise.” By early February, however, they suddenly2 began dropping
their peace tune and struck up the old tune of “fighting the Communists to the bitter end.” This has been especially so in the past few days. The Nanjing people’s
delegation immediately encountered persecution by these heroes upon returning
from its visit to Beiping. On the 13th,3 the Central Propaganda Department of the
Guomindang issued a “Special Propaganda Directive” to “all Party headquarters
and Party papers,” which stated:4 “Ye Jianying is using the so-called Nanjing
peace delegation as a mouthpiece to spread propaganda over our rear areas about
the Chinese Communist Party’s sincerity in seeking peace, while condemning the
government’s military moves for showing a lack of sincerity in seeking peace.
All newspapers must emphatically refute this, directly and indirectly, in accordance with the following points.” This “Special Propaganda Directive” makes
quite a number of points:5 “Rather than surrender unconditionally, the government should fight to the end.” “The eight terms Mao Zedong put forward in his
January 14 statement would destroy the nation, and the government should not
have accepted them.” “The Chinese Communist Party should bear responsibility for ruining the peace. Instead, it has now put forward a list of so-called war criminals, which includes all the government leaders. It has even demanded that the
government first arrest them. This clearly shows how rude and unreasonable the
Communist Party is. If the Communist Party does not change this style, a path to
peace negotiations will be very difficult to find.” The manner6 of pathetic anxiety
for peace negotiations of two weeks ago is no more. There is no further mention of
those famous phrases—“shorten the duration of the war,” “alleviate the people’s
suffering,” and “make saving the people the premise”—phrases that gladdened
hearts and spread everywhere. If the Chinese Communist Party is not willing to
change its “style” and insists on the punishment of war criminals, then peace talks
will be impossible. Ultimately, then, is the premise saving the people or is it saving the war criminals?7 According to the “Special Propaganda Directive” of the
Guomindang heroes, they have chosen the latter. The Chinese Communist Party is
still consulting the democratic parties and the people’s organizations about the list
of war criminals, and I understand that8 opinions from many quarters have already
been received. Based on the opinions already received, they all disapprove of the
list put forward on December 25 of last year by a certain authoritative person.9
They believe that the forty-three war criminals are all correctly listed,10 but that
the list is too short; they believe that those to be held responsible for launching the
counterrevolutionary war and butchering millions of people should certainly not
be limited to forty-three people but should be well over one hundred. Let us suppose for the moment that the number of war criminals will be set at well over one
hundred. Then we must ask11 our12 heroes, why do you oppose the punishment of
war criminals? Aren’t you willing to “shorten the period of the war and alleviate
the people’s suffering”? If the war continues because of this opposition of yours,
won’t that be stalling for time and prolonging the disaster of the war? “Stalling for
time and prolonging the disaster of war” were the very words you used to accuse
the Chinese Communist Party in a statement issued in the name of the Nanjing
government spokesperson on January 26, 1949. Can it be that you now want to
take it back, write it on a placard, and hang it on yourselves as a badge of honor?
You are men of great compassion who profess to “make saving the people the
premise.” Why do you suddenly change to saving the war criminals as the premise? According to the statistics of your government’s Ministry of the Interior, the number of Chinese people is not 450 million,13 but 475 million.14 Compare that
with the one hundred-odd war criminals—which number is bigger? Your heroes
have studied arithmetic; please do a careful15 calculation in accordance with your
arithmetic textbook and then redraw your conclusion. If, without doing this sum,
you hastily change your original formula of “saving the people as the premise”—
a very good formula with which we agree, and the people of the entire country
agree—into “saving more than one hundred war criminals as the premise,” be
very careful, because you definitely16 will not be able to maintain your ground.
The people who have repeatedly17 stated “saving the people is the premise” also
want to persecute the Nanjing people’s peace delegation, saying that they have
become the mouthpiece of Ye Jianying. Ye Jianying’s charm is so great that, in a
few days’ time, he made the representatives believe that the “Chinese Communist
Party is sincere about peace but reproaches the government military for not
being sincere about seeking peace.” On February 14, the diehard faction used
the Nanjing senate to pass the “Denial of the Nanjing Peace Delegation.” Part of
the diehard faction in the Guomindang “CC” revitalization line18 is also the war
criminal group that called for war, not19 peace, several weeks after their own
“appeal for peace.” They also want to persecute the representatives of the Nanjing
peace delegation. The Guomindang diehard faction is running out of luck,20 and
anyone in their party who shows even a slight bit of conscience, or anyone who is
not willing to follow along with them, will be persecuted and come under attack.
They have therefore isolated themselves on the pinnacle of a pagoda and will not
repent, even unto death. All you broad masses of people of the Yangzi valley
and the south—workers, peasants, intellectuals, liberal bourgeoisie,21 enlightened
gentry, and Guomindang members with a conscience—listen to what I say:22 The
days are numbered for the Guomindang diehards who are tyrannizing you. We
are on the same side as you. The handful of diehards will soon topple from the
pinnacle of the pagoda, and a people’s China will soon emerge.

---

Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong xuanji (1991, second edition), Vol. 4, pp. 1413–
15, and Mao Zedong ji (1983, second edition), Vol. 10, pp. 245–48, which reproduces
Renmin ribao, February 18, 1949. It also appeared in Xuanji (1960), pp. 1415–16.

--- Notes

1.  The Guomindang War Criminal Faction ~ Appeal for War → The Guomindang
Reactionary Faction Changes from an “Appeal for Peace” to an Appeal for War.

2.  suddenly → then suddenly

3.  the 13th, → February 13,

4.  stated: → ~ put on the record:

5.  quite a number of points: → quite a number of reasons that it should be “refuted”:
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-243

6.  manner → air

7.  is it saving the war criminals? → is it to be saving the war criminals?

8.  I understand that → now

9.  a certain authoritative person. → an authoritative person in the Chinese Communist
Party.

10.  forty-three war criminals are all correctly listed, → there are only forty-three war
criminals,

11.  we must ask → can we please ask

12.  our → the Guomindang’s

13.  450 million, → millions,

14.  475 million. → millions.

15.  do a careful → carefully do a

16.  you definitely → then you definitely

17.  The people who have repeatedly → These people who have repeatedly

18.  Ed. Referring to the CC faction of the Guomindang, led by Chen Guofu and Chen
Lifu, that supported Chiang Kaishek.

19.  not → again not

20.  out of luck, → out of luck because they adamantly oppose the people and tyrannize
them,

21.  liberal bourgeoisie, → urban petty bourgeoisie, national bourgeoisie,

22.  listen to what I say: → listen to what I say please: