Chapter 84 Victory requires a united front[1]

(November 21, 1946) At the Seventh National Congress of the Party we estimated that after Japan surrendered, if Chiang Kai-shek's conspiracy and the danger of China's escape from Scobie[2] were not overcome, civil war in China would be inevitable.Chiang Kai-shek seemed to have changed a bit between January and February of this year[3], but it was later proved that the estimates of the Seventh National Congress were correct.In the past, the world was a struggle between fascism and anti-fascism. The post-war world has become a confrontation between the American reactionaries and the people of the world. This confrontation is also reflected in China, where the United States supports Chiang Kai-shek in a civil war against the people.Therefore, China's struggle is closely related to the world.Some time ago, among the Chinese people and within our party, there was a problem of whether a civil war could be fought. People hoped that the Kuomintang and the Communist Party would not fight. Now this problem has been solved. For example, Chiang’s truce[4], The people have much less fantasies about it, and the reflections in Shanghai and other places prove this point.The rest is the question of whether we can win or not.This is the same as the situation in the early days of the World Anti-Fascist War, when some people worried about whether they could defeat Japan and Hitler.Now, many people hope that we will win, but they are afraid that we will not be able to win. They blame us for losing many places, such as Changchun and Zhangjiakou, and now we may lose Yan'an, Yantai and other places.Therefore, uncovering Chiang Kai-shek's plot to launch a civil war and eradicating the illusion of peace has now been relegated to a secondary issue.The first issue is to publicize that we have the conditions to win and to build firm confidence in victory. This work has been done in recent months and will continue to be done in the future.To win, we must do a good job in the united front, we must increase our numbers, and we must isolate the enemy. Of course, the enemy also wants to isolate us, but they can only be isolated.In terms of international conditions, we will not be isolated either.Now there are three places in the world: the United States, the Soviet Union, and between the United States and the Soviet Union.The people in these three places are all opposed to the U.S. reactionaries, and today's world is a contradiction and antagonism between U.S. imperialism and the people of the whole world.A few months ago, we told American reporters that the policy of the United States was wrong. They didn’t believe it, and they still defended it. Now they don’t defend it. They came to Yan’an just to ask why you didn’t criticize the Soviet Union.People in the United States will also change, and the people there will rise up against the American reactionaries.The foundation of the United States is extremely dangerous. It is not like the Danbazhaizi [5], which was a security guard in the past. If you don’t attack it, there is no crisis in it. The crisis in the United States is coming, and it is much more serious than in the past.U.S. imperialism is strong from the outside and acts in the middle, as is Chiang Kai-shek, both of which can be overthrown.Didn’t Napoleon and Hitler be defeated in the end? We say that the Chinese and American reactionaries are strong in foreign affairs but despise them. This is not just to encourage ourselves, but is based on facts.In short, the world is progressing, the Soviet Union is developing, and the United States is facing a crisis. The main contradictions today are the contradictions between the United States and other countries in the capitalist world, and the contradictions between the United States and the middle ground.We are not alone, our united front is broad.As long as we get through next year, the next year will be better.

Chiang Kai-shek's policy for us is firstly not to give us freedom, and secondly to eliminate you, and we are not allowed to make an alliance under the city on the condition that we save a piece of land.Therefore, our policy can only be the policy of fighting, that is certain.Compared with the early days of the War of Resistance, our conditions are better and our united front is broader.People who came back from Shanghai and Beiping, we all asked them: Was the united front broad in the early days of the War of Resistance or is it broad now? Some of our comrades went out and were ignored in the early days of the War of Resistance. Now it is different. Many people are willing to talk to our comrades for a few words , Said that our policy is okay, but only asked whether it will change in the future.In the Liberated Areas, is our united front narrower than it was during the War of Resistance? It's about the same.The land reform did not affect our unity with the landlords. The reduction of rent and interest during the Anti-Japanese War also offended the landlords, but we could still unite them.After the land reform is completed, next year we can help the landlords, take care of their livelihood, and learn from the experience of dealing with the landlords in Yan'an, so that they can produce like farmers and become rich.Now in southern Shaanxi, western Hubei, and western Henan, only one tenth of the landlords are against us, and nine tenths are neutral or willing to help us.The united front is a fundamental issue, uniting the greatest number of people no matter what.As long as we do not practice closed-doorism, it is impossible for Chiang Kai-shek to isolate us.Look at Article 2 of the Sino-US Commercial Treaty [6], how could Chiang Kai-shek not be isolated? If we isolate him, we will win.

In terms of military affairs, it has been almost five months since Chiang Kai-shek launched an all-out civil war. So far we have wiped out 38 enemy brigades, accounting for a little more than half of the 75 brigades[7].Yan Xishan and Gu Zhutong[8] are no longer able to attack, and Cheng Qian[9] is now not on the offensive either.The campaign launched by Liu Deng on the 19th[10] can be said to be our counterattack. This time we attacked them, and they were passive everywhere.If Gu Zhutong did not mobilize Hu Zongnan's [11] troops, it would be difficult to attack again. Perhaps Xue Yue's [12] would transfer the 11th Division or Hu Zongnan's troops to fight, and Yan'an would be relieved again.If Gu Zhutong cannot attack, we will attack him.We still use the method of attack to concentrate superior forces and destroy the enemy.At present, the Kuomintang army may launch offensives against Yan'an, Lianshui, Linyi and Yantai, and some offensives against Shanxi, Chahar, Hebei and the Northeast, but nothing else matters.If you don't analyze the enemy, it will be like Cao Cao's claim to have 830,000 horses in the Three Kingdoms period, making Soochow a lot of discussion[13].Chiang Kai-shek's offensive can be broken. After half a year to a year, seventy or eighty of his brigades were wiped out, and his offensive was halted, we began a counter-offensive, smashing within one year the strength he had accumulated over seven or eight years with U.S. aid, and bringing the Kuomintang and the Communist Party together. The power of the party is balanced.Once the balance is reached it is easy to exceed it.At that time, we can export, first to Anhui, Henan, Hubei, and Gansu, and then develop to the south of the Yangtze River. It will take about three to five years.Of course, we can't say that Chiang Kai-shek will be wiped out at that time. We would rather take the matter to a serious level. At worst, it will be nothing more than fifteen years of fighting, until we lose even a single county seat. We must also be prepared for this.In 1941 and 1942, we occupied very few counties.Now, we have only lost more than 170 of the original 499 counties.

Solving the land problem is the foundation of all work.Next year's spring plowing will be based on solving the land problem.Everything must be planned according to the long-term war. The delegation has been negotiating for a year and has done a good job.The main purpose of the negotiations was to educate the people, and this goal was achieved.The delegation cannot come back early, it must be after the "National Congress" [14], so that the responsibility for the war and division will be clear, and the hearts of the people will not be lost.In war, if the hearts of the people do not belong to me, I lose.Educating the people has always been the task of our party, and we must continue to do so.Now the people already know who is going to fight and who is going to make peace; the people are also more aware of the deception of the US government.Our party itself also needs education, and there is an education process.We suffered a loss on the issue of demobilization. As a result, some troops were not replenished and the militia was also reduced.

Do we want to bring down Chiang Kai-shek now? We are doing this work without mentioning this slogan. The slogan is still to restore the position of both sides when the armistice agreement took effect on January 13 and to realize the CPPCC resolution[15].We have to estimate that if the fight with Chiang Kai-shek continues and after seventy-five brigades have been wiped out, the United States will increase its aid, and then new difficulties will arise.Therefore, on the one hand, we must despise them, otherwise it is not enough to grow our ambitions and destroy the prestige of the enemy;When are we going to negotiate again? It was Chiang Kai-shek's mistake to open the "National Congress". He wanted to strengthen himself but weakened himself. However, he said in advance that the "Constitution"[16] could still be amended after half a year. If we abolished him seventy-five At that time, he will "love peace" again, and he may have to negotiate again, and we cannot refuse.There are still many troublesome things.Generally speaking, the struggle is long-term, and there will be many twists and turns in the middle.This is not just due to Chiang Kai-shek, but mainly a matter of imperialist intervention.

The split between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party is different from that in 1927.That time we were completely passive, but this time we are prepared. The cadres are clear about the future, and the masses also understand it. Published based on the transcript of the speech kept by the Central Archives. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] This is Mao Zedong's speech at the meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [2] Scobie, a British, served as the commander of the British Army stationed in Greece in the latter part of World War II.In October 1944, the German invaders retreated in Greece. Scobie led the British army and entered Greece with the Greek government-in-exile in London.In December of the same year, Scobie commanded the British army and assisted the Greek government in attacking the Greek People's Liberation Army, which had been heroically resisting the German army for a long time, and massacred the patriotic Greek people.

[3] On January 10, 1946, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party officially announced the armistice agreement, and Mao Zedong, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and Chiang Kai-shek, Chairman of the Military Commission of the Kuomintang Government issued an armistice order at the same time.On the same day, the Political Consultative Conference was held in Chongqing.Chiang Kai-shek announced four promises at the meeting: to guarantee the freedom of the people and the equality of all political parties, to implement local autonomy and universal suffrage, and to release political prisoners.The CPPCC meeting closed on January 31, and passed the "Outline for Peaceful Nation Construction" and five bills concerning government organization, the National Assembly, the draft constitution, and military issues, which were beneficial to the people and not conducive to Chiang Kai-shek's reactionary rule.On February 25, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party reached the "Basic Plan for the Reorganization of the Army and the Unification of the CCP's Forces into the National Army", which is the "Army Reorganization Plan."Mao Zedong here refers to Chiang Kai-shek's words and deeds during this period of time.However, Chiang Kai-shek was never prepared to implement the above agreements, and he tore them up one by one shortly thereafter.

[4] See note [7] on page 143 of this volume. [5] Baoan, which is now Zhidan County, Shaanxi.Danba Village is in the southwest of Baoan County.There are more than 200 households in the village, and the terrain is extremely dangerous.Cao Junzhang, the local landlord and gentry and the head of the militia, led more than a hundred reactionary armed forces to occupy the village for a long time, and the Red Army failed to capture it after several sieges.In August 1936, while besieging with local armed forces, the Red Army captured the basic masses in the village and disintegrated the enemy forces in the village.In December of the same year, Cao Junzhang led a small number of people to escape, and Dan Bazhaizi was liberated.

[6] Sino-US commercial treaty, that is, the "Sino-US Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation" signed by the Kuomintang government and the US government in Nanjing on November 4, 1946.There are 30 articles in this treaty that sells China's sovereignty in a large number. The main content of the second article is: Americans have to live, travel, and engage in business, manufacturing, processing, science, education, religion, and charity in "the entire territory" of China Various occupations and non-exclusively reserved for Chinese people, as well as rights such as leasing land.In China, Americans shall enjoy the same treatment as the Chinese in terms of economic rights, and shall not be inferior to the treatment given to nationals of any third country now or in the future.

[7] On October 1, 1946, when Mao Zedong summed up the three months of war experience since the outbreak of the civil war in the country, he pointed out: In the past three months, the Kuomintang army has been annihilated by our army 25 brigades.In the next three months or so, another twenty-five brigades must be wiped out. "It can be predicted that when the task of annihilating the second twenty-five brigades is completed, our army will be able to seize the strategic initiative and shift from defense to offense. The task at that time is to annihilate the enemy's third brigade Fifteen brigades." The seventy-five brigades mentioned by Mao Zedong in this article refers to the sum of the goals of annihilating the enemy in these three stages.See "Three-month Summary" (the fourth volume of "Selected Works of Mao Zedong", People's Publishing House, 1991 edition, pp. 1205-1210).

[8] Yan Xishan was then the commander-in-chief of the Second Theater of the Kuomintang Army.Gu Zhutong (1893-1987), born in Lianshui, Jiangsu Province, was the commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang Army General Command and the director of the Zhengzhou Appeasement Office at that time. [9] Cheng Qian, then director of Wuhan Xingyuan, chairman of the Kuomintang government. [10] Refers to the Battle of Huaxian conducted by the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army commanded by Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping from November 18 to 22, 1946.In this battle, the main force of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Field Army adopted the method of long-distance raids, annihilating the 12th Security Column, the entire 104th Brigade and most of the 125th Brigade belonging to Sun Zhen, the commander of the 5th Appeasement Area of ​​the Kuomintang Army. Twelve thousand people broke the enemy's plan to control Southwest Shandong and open up the Pinghan Road. [11] Hu Zongnan, at that time served as the deputy director of the Zhengzhou Appeasement Office of the Kuomintang Army and the commander-in-chief of the first theater. [12] Xue Yue was the director of the Xuzhou Appeasement Office of the Kuomintang Army at that time. [13] This story comes from a novel.It is said that Cao Cao led an army to the south to attack Soochow, claiming to have 830,000 horses.Under the pressure of the army, the civil and military officials of Soochow had different opinions. Some surrendered and some fought. Sun Quan was also hesitant.Later, Zhuge Liang lobbied Soochow and analyzed the military and political situation at that time in detail before persuading Sun Quan to join forces with Liu Bei to fight against Cao. [14] "National Congress" refers to the National Assembly convened by the Kuomintang government in 1946.According to the resolution of the CPPCC in January 1946 and the spirit of the consultations at the meeting, the National Congress should be held after the implementation of the resolution of the CPPCC and under the leadership of the reorganized government with the participation of all parties.However, the Kuomintang violated the CPPCC resolution and launched a full-scale civil war in June of the same year. After occupying Zhangjiakou, the capital of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Liberated Area, in October, it held a one-party National Assembly from November 15 to December 25.Except for the Youth Party, the Democratic Socialist Party, and a very small number of so-called "social sages", the Chinese Communist Party, all democratic parties, and various people's organizations refused to participate and solemnly declared that they would not recognize the National Assembly, which made the Kuomintang Chiang Kai-shek politically isolated. [15] Resolution of the CPPCC, see note [8] on page 143 of this volume. [16] Refers to the so-called "Constitution of the Republic of China".From November 15 to December 25, 1946, the Kuomintang reactionaries violated the resolutions of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and convened a one-party National Assembly, which passed the so-called "Constitution of the Republic of China."This "constitution" was opposed by the people of the whole country.