Whither the Nanjing Government?
(April 4, 1949)
Two paths are laid out before the government of the Nanjing Nationalist Party and
its military and political personnel: one path is to draw close to Chiang Kaishek’s
war criminal clique and its American imperialist master, which will be a continuation in making enemies out of the people and suffering a common downfall with
Chiang Kaishek and his war criminal clique in the People’s War of Liberation;
one path is to draw close to the people, which will mean breaking with Chiang
Kaishek’s war criminal clique and American imperialism, and instead doing good
deeds and atoning for their crimes in the People’s War of Liberation to obtain the
people’s forgiveness and understanding. There is not any third path.
In the government of Li Zongren and He Yingqin,1 there is one group of people
who still persists in taking the first path. Regardless of what they say2 verbally, in
action they are actively3 preparing for war, continuing to betray their country, and
continuing to oppress and massacre the people who demand genuine peace. They
are the diehard followers of Chiang Kaishek. And there is also another group of
people who wish to follow the second path, but they have not attained a position
of leadership, and they cannot take decisive action. The third group of people
consists of those who hesitate at the crossroads and have an unclear direction for
action. They want to act from both sides and also want to benefit from both sides.
They do not completely stand with Chiang Kaishek and American imperialism
and also, they do not completely stand with the people’s democratic camp; they
do not want to offend Chiang Kaishek and American imperialism,4 and also, they
want to obtain the understanding and tolerance of the people’s democratic camp.
But this is only a fantasy.5 Reality demands that they express a clear stance—one
or the other. They believe that their “middle” stance can elicit favorable opinions
from among the majority of people, but in reality, if they continue to maintain this fantasy, they will not be believed by anyone, and they will become bankrupt in the
same way as the reactionary faction or they will become bankrupt even earlier.
Up until the present, the Nanjing Li Zongren and He Yingqin government,
including its Zhang Zhizhong delegation, basically is a mixture of the first group
of people and the third group of people; the second group of people is an extreme
minority. Because of this, this government’s actions until the present are still a tool
of Chiang Kaishek and the American government. Some spokespeople of this government try to demand that the people trust their “sincere desire for peace,” but
those in power in this government make a greater effort to protect their reactionary influence, protect the interests of Chiang Kaishek’s war-criminal clique, and
protect the interests of the American invaders. The mollusks6 inside Li Zongren
and He Yingqin’s government who claim to demand peace not only do not want
to, do not dare to, and cannot distinguish themselves from Chiang Kaishek and
his diehard followers, but also in all respects they depend on Chiang Kaishek and
his diehard followers for survival; in all respects they make known their devotion
to Chiang Kaishek, and they make clear their cooperation with Chiang Kaishek’s
diehard followers. Such a reactionary stance certainly cannot fail to arouse the
people’s anger, loathing, and revilement. The military and political personnel in
Nanjing’s Nationalist reactionary traitor government, whoever they are, all have
an opportunity to redeem themselves and repent for their crimes toward the people, but they simply cannot count on relying on this reactionary stance to obtain
the people’s forgiveness. Only when they have already taken concrete actions,
declared that they have broken off relations with Xikou’s Chiang Kaishek, and
have broken off relations with Chiang Kaishek’s diehard followers in Nanjing,
Shanghai, Hankou, Xi’an, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Taiwan, broken off relations with Chiang Kaishek and his diehard followers’ American imperialist masters in Nanjing, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Washington, and taken concrete actions to
implement the Chinese Communist Party’s eight conditions for peace, will they
truly begin to draw near to the people and have the opportunity to receive the
people’s forgiveness.
The tragedy that occurred on April 1 in Nanjing was not a random accident. It
was the inevitable outcome of Li Zongren and He Yingqin’s government carrying out evil policies that drew near to Chiang Kaishek and John Leighton Stuart
instead of drawing near to the people; it was the inevitable outcome of Li Zongren
and He Yingqin’s government protecting Chiang Kaishek, protecting Chiang
Kaishek’s diehard followers, and protecting the influence of the American invaders, and it was the result of Li Zongren and He Yingqin’s government absurdly
advocating a so-called “equal and glorious peace” along with Chiang Kaishek’s
diehard followers in order to resist the Chinese Communist Party’s eight conditions for peace, especially to resist punishing the war criminals. Nanjing’s tragedy once again proves that Li Zongren and He Yingqin’s government, which carried
out such reactionary policies, even within the city gates of Nanjing, still absolutely cannot control Chiang Kaishek and his diehard followers and instead it is
controlled by them. Since Li Zongren and He Yingqin’s government appointed
a peace negotiations delegation to come to Beiping to negotiate peace with the
Chinese Communist Party and expressed its willingness to accept the Chinese
Communist Party’s eight conditions as the foundation for negotiations, if this
government has the lowest limit of sincere intentions, then it must make handling the Nanjing tragedy the starting point and arrest and severely punish the
prime culprits Chiang Kaishek, Tang Enbo, Zhang Yaoming (1905–1972, born in
Lintong, Shaanxi), arrest and severely punish the operatives and thugs in Nanjing
and Shanghai, and arrest and severely punish those counterrevolutionary ringleaders who resolutely oppose peace, who actively sabotage the peace negotiations, and who actively prepare to use military, political, open, or secret methods
to resist the People’s Liberation Army as it advances south of the Yangzi. Until
Qing Fu is done away with, the crisis in the state of Lu will not be over.7 Until the
war criminals are wiped out, the nation will not have peace. Can it be that now
it has still not understood this truth? We wish to sternly warn the Nanjing government: if you do not have the ability to deal with this matter, then you should
assist the People’s Liberation Army, which will soon cross the Yangzi. If you do
not wish to help, there will naturally be many helpers who wish to contribute or
do good to atone for their errors. At the present time, all the empty talk need not
be said; doing a practical thing8 in order to contribute or atone for one’s errors
would be better so as to avoid running away from disaster, so as to avoid being
angry at Chiang Kaishek’s diehard followers once again, and so as to avoid being
disdained by the people forever. There is only one opportunity left, and you must
not lose this opportunity. The People’s Liberation Army is marching south of
the Yangzi. This is not trying to scare you with hollow words. Regardless of
whether you agree to sign the eight-condition agreement, or if you do not sign this
agreement, the People’s Liberation Army will still advance. Signing the agreement and then advancing would be beneficial for many sides—beneficial for the
people, beneficial for the People’s Liberation Army, beneficial for the people in
the Nationalist Party government who wish to do good to make up for their errors
(such people are an absolute vast majority in the Nationalist Party government
system), beneficial for all officers and soldiers of the Nationalist army, and only
not beneficial for Chiang Kaishek, for Chiang Kaishek’s diehard followers, and for the imperialists. If the agreement is not signed, the situation will still remain
the same,9 the problems will still be solved one by one by using peaceful methods
and by using10 local negotiations. There may still be some fighting, but there will
not be much fighting. From Xinjiang to Taiwan, within this vast area and on this
very long battlefront, there are only around 1.1 million soldiers in the Nationalist
army, so there are not many battles that can be fought. Regardless of whether you
sign a comprehensive agreement, or whether you do not sign this agreement and
instead sign many local agreements, for Chiang Kaishek, for Chiang Kaishek’s
diehard followers, and for American imperialism, in short, for all the reactionary factions that will stick to their course until the bitter end, the situation will
all be the same—they will certainly be destroyed. But for the other people—for
the people, for the People’s Liberation Army, for most officers and soldiers in
the Nationalist army, and for all the people within the Nationalist Party government who wish to do good to make up for their errors—this will be beneficial or
relatively beneficial. Perhaps signing a comprehensive agreement is slightly more
beneficial than not signing one for both the Nanjing side and for our side, so we
should still strive to sign this agreement. But in signing this comprehensive agreement, we must prepare to deal with many sloppy matters. For us, not signing this
agreement and instead signing many local agreements would be more straightforward. Nonetheless, we still are prepared to sign this agreement. If the Nanjing
government and its delegation also wishes to do this, then they should make a
resolution in the coming days and abandon all fantasies and hollow words. We are
not coercing you into this resolution. The Nanjing government and its delegation
are free to make a resolution. That is to say, you can either listen to the words of
Chiang Kaishek and John Leighton Stuart and stand with them forever or you can
listen to our words and stand with us. You are free to choose between these two
choices. But there is not much time to choose. The People’s Liberation Army will
soon advance, and there will be no room for wavering.

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Notes

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji, Vol. 10, pp., 263–67, where it is reproduced
from a Xinhua News Agency editorial in Renmin ribao, April 5, 1949.

--- Notes

1.  In the government of Li Zongren and He Yingqin, there → In the government of Li
Zongren and He Yingqin, there exist three groups of people. There

2.  what they say → what pleasant words they say

3.  actively → continuously

4.  American imperialism, → the American government,

5.  fantasy. → fantasy, which is impossible.
DOI:  10.4324/9781315719436-251

6.  Eds. Mollusks, i.e., those without a backbone.

7.  Eds. According to Zuozhuan (左传), an ancient Chinese historical work dealing with
the important events of the Spring and Autumn Era (770–475 bc), Qing Fu, a noble in
the state of Lu, repeatedly stirred up internal strife and murdered two reigning princes of
that state. Qing Fu’s name has since become a byword for those who stir up internal strife
(Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung [English version], Vol. 4, pp. 384–85).

8.  a practical thing → practical work

9.  will still remain the same, → will be similar,

10.  by using → can use