Chapter 32 Negotiate with Nanjing

While the "United Front" work with Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng made progress, the channel for secret negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek was also opened up. After the September 18th Incident, the Japanese invaders directed the "North China Autonomy Movement", and the upper echelons of the Kuomintang gradually formed a consensus that China must resist Japan. In the spring of 1936, the Japanese government put forward the so-called "Hirota Three Principles" in an attempt to monopolize China.Chiang Kai-shek's attitude towards this was clear: "If we reject Japan's principles, it means war; if we accept Japan's demands, we mean perish. Since the Sino-Japanese war is inevitable, the Nationalist government started negotiating with the Soviet Union while solving the CCP issue. "

At the end of 1935, Chiang Kai-shek sent his confidant Chen Lifu (then the head of the Central Organization of the Kuomintang) to the Soviet Union to negotiate in secret, hoping to sign a joint military alliance against Japan.He also considered that it was not yet ripe to go directly to the Soviet Union for negotiations, and ordered Chen Lifu to return to Nanjing to negotiate with the Soviet ambassador Balamolov. At the beginning of January 1936, Deng Wenyi, the military attache of the embassy in the Soviet Union who returned to China to report on his duties, also rushed back to Moscow under the secret order of Chiang Kai-shek, and approached Wang Ming, the head of the CCP delegation to the Communist International, and demanded negotiations.Designate Pan Hannian as the intermediary contact.

Now, Chiang Kai-shek is also trying to find a relationship with the Chinese Communist Party.Chen Lifu entrusted this task to his relative, Zeng Yangfu, the deputy minister of the Ministry of Railways; Zeng Yangfu called his subordinate Chen Xiaocen.After several twists and turns, Zhang Zihua, an underground party liaison in Peking and Shanghai, was found, but none of them could negotiate on behalf of the CPC Central Committee.Therefore, the Kuomintang hopes to get in touch directly with the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. So, under the secret entrustment of Chiang Kai-shek, Soong Ziwen and Kong Xiangxi found Soong Ching Ling who had some connection with the Communist Party, saying that the Kuomintang hoped to negotiate with the Communist Party.Song Qingling found Dong Jianwu, a communist who was active as a pastor, and handed him a secret letter sealed with wax paint, telling him that he must hand it over to the leaders of the Communist Party of China in northern Shaanxi. A lot."For Dong Jianwu's convenience, he also brought him a letter of appointment as a "Northwest Economic Special Commissioner" issued by Song Ziwen, Minister of Finance of the National Government, as his amulet, and went to northern Shaanxi with Zhang Zihua, an underground party in Shanghai.Zhang Xueliang understood Nanjing's intentions from this incident.

On February 27, 1936, Dong Jianwu and Zhang Zihua arrived at Wayaobao.Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, and Zhou Enlai were all at the front.Bogu received them warmly, feeling that the matter was very important, and then notified Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and others of the situation. On March 4th, Zhang Wentian, Mao Zedong, and Peng Dehuai telegraphed Bogu to Dong Jianwu, saying, "I welcome the awareness and wisdom of the Nanjing authorities. In order to unite the whole country to resist Japan and save the country, my brothers are willing to start specific and practical negotiations with the Nanjing authorities." And put forward five comments.1. Stop all civil wars, and unite the whole country to fight against Japan without distinction of red and white; 2. Organize the National Defense Government and the Anti-Japanese Allied Forces; 3. Allow the main force of the national Red Army to quickly concentrate in Hebei, and first resist the advance of the Japanese invaders; 4. Release political prisoners and allow the people political freedom ; 5. Implement initial and necessary reforms in internal affairs and economy.

So far, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party have been in contact for eight years, and finally connected. On April 25, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Declaration for the Establishment of the Anti-Japanese People's Front of All Parties and Factions in the Country", which included the Kuomintang. In June, Chen Jitang, who controlled Guangdong, and Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, who controlled Guangxi, unfurled the banner of "going north to resist Japan", renamed their team "Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army", and sent troops to Hunan to oppose the Nanjing government. In July, the Kuomintang held the Second Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee. Chiang Kai-shek said at the meeting: "The minimum that the central government embraces in diplomacy is to maintain the integrity of territorial sovereignty... To put it more clearly, if someone forces us to agree to recognize a puppet country, etc. When territorial sovereignty is damaged, that is when we cannot tolerate it, and that is when we make the last sacrifice.” Then, Zhang Qun, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Nanjing Government, rejected Japan’s request during negotiations with Japanese Ambassador to China Kawayue.This is the first time since the September 18th Incident that the Nanjing government has shown a tough attitude.

Besides, Pan Hannian left Moscow at the end of February 1936, traveled through many places, and arrived in Hong Kong in May. In July, as a liaison with the Communist Party, he first met Zhang Chong, a representative of the Kuomintang in Hong Kong, and then went to Nanjing to meet with Zeng Yangfu, a representative of the Kuomintang.Pan Hannian asked for a meeting with Chen Guofu. Zeng Yangfu hoped that Pan Hannian would return to northern Shaanxi to listen to the CPC Central Committee's opinions on the cooperation between the two parties, that is, the "Letter from Nanjing", and then meet with Chen Guofu.Pan Hannian set off immediately, traveled thousands of miles to Zhidan on August 8, reported the news to the Central Committee, and also reported the spirit of the meeting of the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International to discuss the Chinese issue: to abandon the slogan of "anti-Japanese and anti-Chiang" Nanjing is the primary negotiating opponent.

The so-called "Letter from Nanjing" refers to the letter sent to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China after the Second Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang to propose four conditions for new negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.This "Letter from Nanjing" mainly has the following points: (1) The army is uniformly organized and commanded, and the name of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army is abolished. (2) Reunification of political power, abolition of the name of the Soviet government. (3) Accommodating all factions and concentrating talents from all over the country. (4) The Communist Party stopped policies such as confiscation of land from landlords.The central idea is: "Unify first, then resist Japan." Under the "centralized and unified" command and leadership of the Kuomintang, Nanjing government, and Chiang Kai-shek, we should actually solve military and political problems, and then carry out resistance against Japan.

Therefore, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China attaches great importance to the Nanjing government’s need to listen to the opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the negotiation of cooperation between the two parties. On August 10, Zhang Wentian presided over a meeting of the Politburo in the meeting room of the Politburo at the foot of the Dandong Mountain in Hongdu to discuss “ Letter from Nanjing".Finally, the policy and conditions of the negotiation were determined, which can be summed up as follows: we recognize that the Nanjing government is a major force in the national movement, we are willing to negotiate with Nanjing, and we can recognize the unified command and unified organization, but we must stop the "communist suppression" and must To achieve real resistance against Japan.

Zhang Wentian made an important speech at the meeting, expounding the strategic thinking of the Communist Party of China to unite with Jiang and cooperate with the Nanjing government to form the anti-Japanese national united front under the new situation, and to "unite with Jiang" by "stopping the civil war and achieving democracy and freedom" .Mao Zedong pointed out in his conclusion: The slogan "To resist Japan, one must oppose Chiang" is no longer appropriate, and the traitors must be opposed under the united front.The meeting decided to publish the declaration publicly.

Then Mao Zedong and Zhang Wentian drafted an "open declaration" in the form of letters, "Letter from the Communist Party of China to the Chinese Kuomintang".Before the draft was finalized, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China received a telegram from the Secretariat of the Executive Committee of the Communist International on August 15, giving political instructions: "We basically agree with your policy of establishing an anti-Japanese national united front." "We I believe that it is wrong to regard Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese invaders as equals. This policy is politically wrong, because the main enemy of the Chinese people is Japanese imperialism, and at the present stage, everything should be subordinated to the resistance to Japan. In addition, both Struggle against the Japanese invaders and against Chiang Kai-shek." "It is necessary to adopt the policy of stopping military operations between the Red Army and Chiang Kai-shek's army and cooperating with Chiang Kai-shek's army to resist Japan"; "It is best for the Chinese Communist Party to issue a statement advocating the establishment of a unified Democratic Republic of China "; "Strive to reach an agreement with the Kuomintang and its army and establish an anti-Japanese national united front" and so on.

It can be seen from this that the policy of "negotiating with Nanjing" and "uniting with Chiang" decided at the Politburo meeting of the Communist Party of China was consistent with the spirit, direction, and basic strategy of the above-mentioned "political instructions" of the Communist International.Therefore, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had a clearer understanding of the essence and nature of the anti-Japanese national united front, and completely changed its policy towards the Kuomintang and Chiang Kai-shek, realizing the transition from "opposing Chiang to resist Japan" to "forcing Chiang to resist Japan." While the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China was actively developing the anti-Japanese united front, Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhang Wentian, etc. wrote letters to Kuomintang patriotic generals and famous patriots in various places, calling for an end to the civil war, to unite with the outside world, and to form a nationwide anti-Japanese united front as soon as possible.