Chapter 2 Strive to establish a peaceful situation with the Kuomintang after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War

(January 25, 1943) Comrade Dehuai[1]: You only saw it recently on December 18th[2], so I reply as follows: (1) After Germany, Italy, and Japan are overthrown, the international and domestic situation will undergo fundamental changes. This situation is beneficial to the people and not conducive to dictatorship.But Chiang [3] made contributions in the War of Resistance, and at the same time, the people are disgusted with civil war. Therefore, we should strive to establish a peaceful situation with the Kuomintang after the War of Resistance, and make a fuss about democracy and people's livelihood.Last year's July 7th Declaration[4] was issued on this basis.Fight for the legalization of the border area and the New Fourth Army, and promise the Kuomintang to concentrate troops from the south of the Yellow River to the north of the Yellow River after the war; in the past two years, the "Liberation Daily" and Xinhua News Agency have tried their best to avoid stimulating the Kuomintang according to the policy of peace; To meet, I sent Lin Biao[5] there, but I haven't returned yet. When the right time comes, I am going to go out to meet Jiang, hoping that the negotiations will be successful.All of these also start from this starting point.Even better troops and simpler administration, in addition to the current role, also has this role.We are not going to fight a civil war, and we don't need more troops, but having fewer troops can alleviate the fear of the Kuomintang and achieve peace, waiting for the awakening of the people of the whole country.If people want to fight, we have nothing to fear.

(2) The essence of a democratic regime is to improve the people's economic life and raise the people's political awareness, both of which are resistance wars.To improve living conditions, one is to reduce the burden of farmers on landlords, that is, to reduce rent and interest; , Increase farmers' grain income and sideline income.There is a lot of work to be done on these matters in each base area.The central tasks of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region are economics and education, and the central tasks of the base areas in the enemy's rear are war, economics and education.

(3) Education is divided into objects, including cadre education, national education, etc. At present, the focus should be on cadre education, not on national education (it is not that national education should not be eliminated).In terms of content, there are ideological education, political education, military education, cultural education, etc. For cadres, especially in the current period, ideological education should be emphasized, and the method is to rectify the study and review cadres. .In Yan'an, I started studying for eight months in April last year, and finished it by the end of March this year, with great results.The review of cadres has also started (and has achieved results), and it is planned to complete the review this year.Party, government, military, and civilian cadres in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region outside Yan'an are still studying and reviewing cadres this year.The bases in the enemy's rear have not studied the rectification in depth, and the review cadres have not started seriously, so please pay attention.The rectification movement is mainly to rectify senior cadres (these are the most stubborn mentally ill people among these cadres) and open up their minds. There are about 100 to 200 people in a base area (including members of the Central Bureau and branch bureaus); The second is middle-level cadres, with hundreds to thousands of people in each base area; the third is lower-level cadres.Some grounds have reversed this direction.Only in the upsurge of serious and profound rectification study and self-criticism can the censorship of cadres be thorough.In the past, the inspection of cadres, whether in Yan'an or other places, was mostly a formality.If we can clear the minds of most senior and middle-level cadres through rectification and review in the next two years (before the victory of the Anti-Japanese War), and if we can preserve the backbone of the party and the army, then we will be considered a victory.Preserving the backbone and educating the backbone are two serious tasks for this year and next, and senior leaders must grasp this policy.All kinds of serious external and internal struggles must be waged for these two matters.

Mao Zedong January 25 Printed from manuscript. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] Dehuai, that is, Peng Dehuai (1898-1974), was born in Xiangtan, Hunan.At that time, he served as acting secretary of the Northern Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army. [2] Refers to Peng Dehuai's telegram to Mao Zedong on December 18, 1942. [3] Jiang refers to Chiang Kai-shek. [4] Refers to the "Declaration of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to Commemorate the Fifth Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japan" issued on July 7, 1942.

[5] Lin Biao (1907-1971), a native of Huanggang, Hubei (now Huangzhou City).During the Anti-Japanese War, he served as the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army.In September 1942, he left for Chongqing as a negotiator of the Communist Party of China, and returned to Yan'an in July 1943.