Chapter 43 Notice on current situation [1]

(July 15, 1944) Comrades: This is to inform you of the current situation. (1) Because the soldiers of Jiang[2] were bound and purchased, the officers were extremely corrupt and had no ethnic democratic education at all, and advocated anti-communist education, so most of the army was full of defeat and lost the will to fight.During the battles in Henan and Hunan, the vast majority of Jiang's army was defeated without a fight or collapsed at the first touch, with losses of more than 400,000 yuan.The enemy army attacking Henan was only four divisions, and Jiang's army was nearly 400,000. Except for a few miscellaneous troops with poor weapons and poor treatment, who were more capable of fighting, almost all of them fled.Hu Tsung-nan[3] had ten divisions from Shanxi and Gansu entered western Henan to join the battle, but only one or two divisions were able to fight, and the rest were all defeated at the first touch.The people of Henan, under the brutal oppression of Jiang's army, caused them to generally confront the army, and the masses rioted and confiscated the army's guns.The Communist Party in these places has long been destroyed by the Kuomintang, but after the people in these places have been disappointed with the Kuomintang, they hope that the Chinese Communist Army will come to resist the enemy's army.

(2) Hu Zongnan has mobilized ten divisions into Henan to participate in the war, and the threat to the border area has been reduced, but the troops directly encircling the border area have not decreased, the blockade still exists, and all anti-communist actions continue. (3) British, American and Soviet journalists have been in the border area for more than a month, and they feel excited.However, Chiang arranged anti-Communist propaganda ahead of the event, and Jiang sent a group of people to monitor them and carry out work to undermine the CCP, but failed to achieve their goals. These people have now left the border area, and they may carry out sabotage propaganda after they go out.But the main journalists from Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union still stayed in the border area. They were willing to see more and would go to Northwest Shanxi for a visit.Their news coverage of Britain, America, and the Soviet Union favored us.

(4) Roosevelt[4] sent three telegrams to Chiang requesting to send a U.S. military delegation to Yan'an, but Jiang refused; this time Wallace[5] came to China and led all the relevant U.S. personnel in Chongqing to meet with Chiang and formally proposed Roosevelt's fourth Jiang Shi was forced to agree to this telegram.Eighteen U.S. military personnel will arrive in Yan'an in a few days. (5) The negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party have made no progress.With regard to the party issue, although the Kuomintang formally said that it could handle it in accordance with the program of the War of Resistance Against Japan, it still did not recognize the legal status of our party; as regards the issue of the army, it only recognized the name of ten divisions, that is, 100,000 people, and the remaining 370,000 people. The army and the 2 million militia will all be disbanded; with regard to the issue of political power, only one area in the Shanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region will be recognized, and the democratic regimes representing 86 million people in the base areas behind enemy lines in North China, Central China, and South China will not be recognized at all; The arrested persons refused to be released; other requirements were not granted.Comrade Lin Boqu [6] is still in Chongqing, but the fundamental adjustment of the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party will only be hopeful when it becomes more difficult for Chiang and the United States exerts greater pressure.

(6) The political, military, economic, and cultural institutions of the Kuomintang are extremely corrupt, and a great crisis is brewing.Sun Ke, Song Ziwen, Yu Youren[7] and many Kuomintang members were all dissatisfied with the rigid policies of Chiang and his clique, and the middle parties and local power factions in Sichuan, Yunnan and other provinces were even more dissatisfied.If Japan continues its in-depth attack on the interior, major events may occur in Chongqing. (7) Our party has made new developments in the three major enemy rear battlefields in North China, Central China, and South China in recent months, wiped out many enemy and puppet troops, and regained a lot of land.In order to overcome material difficulties, extensive production campaigns have been developed. This year, the rains are timely and the grain harvest is expected to be bumper.In front of the people, the difference between the battlefield behind enemy lines led by our party and the frontal battlefield led by the Kuomintang has become more and more obvious.One is attacking, developing, and consolidating; the other is retreating, shrinking, and full of crises.This distinction will be more apparent as the enemy continues to attack.However, our party still faces many difficulties. The Japanese invaders will carry out brutal attacks on us, and the economic difficulties are still enormous. We must not be careless and lose our vigilance.

(8) With regard to the Kuomintang issue, we will continue to handle the policy cautiously. Although the negotiation has no results, it is still in progress. Mao Zedong Published on July 15th based on the original document preserved by the Central Archives. note [1] This telegram was sent on July 19, 1944, and was sent to Li Xiannian and the Central China Bureau, Shandong Branch, Hebei-Shandong-Henan Branch, Northern Bureau, Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Branch, and Shanxi-Suiyuan Branch of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. [2] Jiang refers to Chiang Kai-shek. [3] Hu Zongnan, then the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the First Theater of the Kuomintang Army and Commander-in-Chief of the Thirty-Fourth Group Army.

[4] Roosevelt, then President of the United States. [5] Wallace, then Vice President of the United States.Arrived in Chongqing on June 20, 1944, to carry out activities to "mediate" the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. [6] Lin Boqu, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region Government at that time, was the representative of the Communist Party of China negotiating with the Kuomintang. [7] Sun Ke, then President of the Legislative Yuan of the Kuomintang government.Song Ziwen (1894-1971), a native of Wenchang (now Hainan), Guangdong, was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kuomintang government at that time.Yu Youren was the president of the Control Yuan of the Kuomintang government at that time.