Reply to Fu Zuoyi’s Telegram
(April 2, 1949)
General Fu Zuoyi:1
We received your telegram of April 1. The Nanjing Guomindang reactionary government’s policy of launching a counterrevolutionary civil war is entirely
wrong. The government must bear responsibility for the vast calamities that the
Chinese people have suffered for many years because of this counterrevolutionary civil war. But as long as the civil and military officials of the Guomindang
reactionary government who carried out this policy distinguish right from wrong,
wake up to their errors, have honest intentions and display them, facilitate the
task of liberating the people, and help to peacefully resolve our country’s internal
problems, we will welcome them regardless of who they are. General, you have
made an important contribution to peacefully resolving the problem of Beiping.
We find it excellent that you are willing to stand on the side of the people from
now on and to participate in the task of constructing a new democracy, and it
deserves our welcome.
Mao Zedong
Our source for this text is Mao Zedong wenji, Vol. 5, pp. 272–73, where it is reproduced
from the handwritten manuscript.

--- Notes

1.  Fu Zuoyi was formerly commander-in-chief of the Guomindang army’s North China
“Bandit Suppression” Headquarters. On January 21, 1949, he and the People’s Liberation
Army reached an accord on the “Agreement Regarding the Peaceful Resolution of the
Problem of Beiping,” and on April 1, Fu Zuoyi published an open telegram expressing his
support for the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-249