Memorandum to Hakamata Satomi
(September 1956)

Source: Quoted in Hakamata Satomi, Shi-no sengoshi, published in Shukan asahi
(June 2, 1978), 130.

Hakamata Satomi was a high-ranking member of the Japanese Communist Party in the
1950s. According to the article that contained the quoted passage here, he was a guest
attending the Eighth Congress of the CPC when Mao talked with him. The Congress was
held September 15–17, 1956. (See K. Lieberthal [1976], pp. 85–86.) In Kyoto daigaku
(1980), on page 100, Japanese scholars deduce the date of the meeting to be September 21,
1956. Hakamata, as hinted by the subtitle of the Shukan asahi article, later left the Japanese
Communist Party. The title of his book translates as My Personal History Since the War.

Comrade Hakamata, we Communists must make known to the public what we
are thinking.
Communists and the Communist Party are eager to resolve all problems peacefully. This is true regarding the revolution, too. We want to carry out the revolution
in a peaceful manner.
However, the ruling classes do not accept our proposals. The obstinate reactionary government employs military power in suppressing us. At such a time, what
are we to do? We are also compelled to use force in combating their bloody
suppression.
I think it is wise for us to state this explicitly.