Expose the Plot for an East Asian Munich

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of Expose the Plot for an East Asian Munich has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following editions:

• Expose the Plot for a Far Eastern Munich, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 3, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
• Circular of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 7, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk and London, 2005.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is an inner-Party directive drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China on the 25th of May, 1941. It was first published in the Jiefang Ribao (28th of May, 1941).

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#EXPOSE THE PLOT FOR AN EAST ASIAN MUNICH

#DIRECTIVE OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

#Mao Zedong

#25th of May, 1941

#★

#1

A compromise between Japan and the United States at the expense of China and the creation of an Asian Munich against Communism, against the Council Union, and against Germany — such is the new plot which is now being hatched by Japan, the United States, and Jiang Jieshi. We must expose this plot and fight it.

#2

Now that the Japanese imperialists have ended their latest round of military attacks, which was designed to force Jiang Jieshi to capitulate, there are bound to be moves to induce him to capitulate. This is a repeat performance of the enemy's old policy of using the stick and the carrot, either alternately or simultaneously. We must expose this policy and fight it.

#3

Simultaneously with its military attacks, Japan has launched a rumour-mongering campaign, alleging that «the Eighth Route Army does not want to fight in coordination with the Nationalist Central Army», that «the Eighth Route Army is seizing every opportunity to expand its territory», that «it is opening up an international route», that «it is setting up another Central Government», and so on. This is a cunning Japanese scheme to foment discord between the Nationalist Party and the Communist Party and thus to make it easier for them to induce the Nationalist Party to capitulate. The Nationalist Central News Agency and the Nationalist press are copying and spreading these rumours, showing no qualms about echoing Japan's anti-Communist propaganda, and their intentions are most dubious. This, too, we must expose and fight.

#4

Although the New Fourth Army has been declared to be «in rebellion» and the Eighth Route Army has not received a single bullet or a single copper from the Nationalist Party, they have never for a moment ceased fighting the enemy. The Eighth Route Army, moreover, has taken the initiative in coordinating its operations with those of the Nationalist troops in the fighting in the present campaign in southern Shanxi,¹ and for the last two weeks, it has been launching attacks on all fronts in North China, where fierce battles are raging at this very moment. The armed forces and the people led by the Communist Party have already become the mainstay in the War of Resistance Against Japan. All the calumnies against the Communist Party are aimed at sabotaging the War of Resistance and paving the way for capitulation. We should extend the military successes of the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies and oppose all the defeatists and capitulationists.