Telegram to Jiang Jieshi (16th of August, 1945)

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of Telegram to Jiang Jieshi 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:

• Two Telegrams From the Commander-in-Chief of the 18th Group to Chiang Kai-shek, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
• Commander-in-Chief Zhu [De] Sends a Telegram Demanding That Chiang Kaishek End the Civil War, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 9, Routledge, New York and London, 2023.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a telegram to Jiang Jieshi drafted by Comrade Mao Zedong for Comrade Zhu De and for Peng Dehuai in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China on the 16th of August, 1945. It was first published by the New China News Agency on the 17th of August, 1945.

At the time, when the Japanese aggressors had announced their surrender, but had not yet actually surrendered, the Jiang Jieshi government, with the armed assistance of US imperialism, monopolized the right to accept the Japanese surrender and was actively preparing a counter-revolutionary civil war by sending large forces to advance on the Liberated Areas on the pretext of accepting the Japanese surrender. Comrade Mao Zedong's purpose in writing the first telegram was to unmask the counter-revolutionary face of Jiang Jieshi and teach the whole people to be on guard against his civil war plot. The second telegram further exposed the plot of the Jiang Jieshi clique for preparing civil war and put forward the six-point proposal of the Communist Party of China for preventing civil war. For the same purpose, Comrade Mao Zedong wrote for the New China News Agency two comments, Jiang Jieshi Is Provoking Civil War and On a Statement by Jiang Jieshi's Spokesperson. Owing to the firm, determined standpoint of the Communist Party of China in refusing to be cowed by Jiang Jieshi's reactionary bluster, both the Liberated Areas and the Liberation Army expanded quickly; and, under strong political pressure from the forces at home and abroad opposed to civil war in China, Jiang Jieshi had to change his tactics, assume a posture of peace, and invite Comrade Mao Zedong to Chongqing for peace negotiations.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#TELEGRAM TO JIANG JIESHI

#Mao Zedong

#16th of August, 1945

#★

For the perusal of the honourable President Jiang Jieshi in Chongqing:

At a time when our common enemy, the Japanese government, has accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and already announced its surrender, but has not yet actually surrendered, I hereby address to you the following statement and demands on behalf of all the anti-Japanese armed forces and all the 260'000'000 people in China's Liberated Areas and Japanese-occupied areas.

With the War of Resistance Against Japan coming to a victorious close, I call your attention to this fact in the China war theatre today, namely, that, in the vast occupied areas abandoned by you and seized by the enemy and puppets, we have, against your will, by our eight years of bitter fighting recaptured nearly 1'000'000 square kilometres of territory; liberated over 100'000'000 people; organized over 1'000'000 regular troops and over 2'200'000 people's militia members; established 19 large Liberated Areas in the 19 provinces of Liaoning, Rehe, Chaha'er, Suiyuan, Hebei, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Henan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi,, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong;¹ and encircled most of the cities and towns, vital communication lines, and sections of the sea coast seized by the enemy and puppets since the 7th of July Incident of 1937,² except in a few areas. In addition, in China's Japanese-occupied areas (with a population of 160'000'000), we have organized extensive underground forces to strike at the enemy and puppets. In the fighting we are continuing to resist and encircle 69% of the Japanese troops invading China (not counting those in the North-East) and 95% of the puppet troops. Your government and armed forces, on the contrary, have all along followed a policy of looking on with folded arms, sitting around and waiting for victory, conserving your forces, and preparing for civil war, and have not only refused recognition and supplies to our Liberated Areas and armies, but encircled and attacked us with a huge force of 940'000 soldiers. Although all the troops and civilians in China's Liberated Areas have suffered enough from being attacked by the enemy and puppet forces on the one side and by your troops on the other, we have never in the least weakened in our determination to persevere in the War of Resistance, in unity, and in democracy. The people of China's Liberated Areas and the Communist Party of China have proposed many times to you and your government that a conference of all political parties be convened and that a democratic coalition government of the whole country be formed, in order to stop internal strife, mobilize and unite the people's anti-Japanese forces throughout China, lead the War of Resistance to victory, and ensure peace after the war. But our proposals have invariably been rejected by you and your government. We are extremely dissatisfied with all this.

The enemy country will soon sign its surrender, but you and your government have continued to ignore our opinions, issued a most outrageous order to me on the 11th of August, and ordered your troops to press against the Liberated Areas on a large scale under the pretext of disarming the enemy; the danger of civil war is therefore more serious than ever. All of which compels us to make the following demands on you and your government:

• I demand that you consult with us, so that we may reach common views before you, your government, and your Supreme Command accept the surrender of the Japanese and the puppets and conclude any post-surrender agreements or treaties. For you and your government have awakened the dissatisfaction of the people and cannot represent the broad masses or any of the people's anti-Japanese armed forces in China's Liberated Areas and Japanese-occupied areas. We reserve our right to speak out, if the agreements or treaties include, without our prior consent, anything that concerns the people's anti-Japanese armed forces in China's Liberated Areas and Japanese-occupied areas.
• All the people's anti-Japanese armed forces in China's Liberated Areas and Japanese-occupied areas have the right, in accordance with the Potsdam Declaration and the measures laid down by the Allies for accepting the enemy surrender,³ to accept the surrender of the Japanese and puppet troops encircled by us, take over their arms and materiel, and assume the responsibility for carrying out all stipulations laid down by the Allies after Japan's surrender has been accepted. On the 10th of August, I ordered the armed forces of China's Liberated Areas to make all efforts to attack the enemy troops and be prepared to accept their surrender. On the 15th of August, I ordered the enemy commander-in-chief, Okamura Yasuji, to surrender with his troops;⁴ this order, however, applies only to the sphere of operations of the armed forces of the Liberated Areas, and not to any other. I consider my orders very reasonable and very much in the common interest of China and the Allies.
• The broad masses and all the anti-Japanese armed forces in China's Liberated Areas and Japanese-occupied areas have the right to send their representatives to participate in the Allies' acceptance of the enemy surrender and in the work of dealing with the enemy country after its surrender.
• China's Liberated Areas and all the anti-Japanese armed forces have the right to select their own delegation to participate in the future peace conference concerned with Japan and any United Nations meetings.
• I ask you to prevent civil war. The way to do this is for the armed forces of the Liberated Areas to accept the surrender of the enemy and puppet troops they have encircled, while your armed forces accept the surrender of the enemy and puppet troops you have encircled. Not only is this the established practice in all wars, it is particularly imperative in order to avert civil war. If you act otherwise, it will lead to adverse consequences. I am now giving you a serious warning on this matter and I ask you not to treat this warning casually.
• I ask you immediately to abolish the one-party dictatorship, call a conference of all political parties to set up a democratic coalition government, dismiss corrupt officials and all reactionaries from their posts, punish the traitors, abolish the secret services, recognize the legal status of the various political parties (the Communist Party of China and all democratic political parties have up to now been regarded as illegal by you and your government), annul all reactionary laws and decrees that suppress the liberties of the people, recognize the popularly elected governments and the anti-Japanese armed forces of China's Liberated Areas, withdraw the troops encircling the Liberated Areas, release political prisoners, and carry out economic and other democratic reforms.

Apart from this, I sent you a telegram on the 13th of August in reply to your order to me of the 11th of August, and presumably, you have received it. I now declare again, your order was completely wrong. On the 11th of August, you ordered my troops to «stay where they are, pending further orders», and not to attack the enemy anymore. However, not only was it true on the 11th of August, but it is equally true even today (the 16th of August) that the Japanese government has surrendered only in words, and not in deeds; no instrument of surrender has been signed, no actual surrender has taken place. My view is completely in accord with that of the Allies, Britain, the United States, and the Council Union. On the 11th of August, the very day you issued your order to me, the British Army Command on the Burma Front announced that the war with Japan was still in progress. Nimitz,⁵ the commander of the US forces, declared that not only did a state of war continue, but the war with all its devastating consequences must be carried on. The Far Eastern Command of the Red Army of the Council Union announced: «The enemy must be ruthlessly smashed.» On the 15th of August, Colonel-General Antonov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, made the following statement:

The message concerning Japan's surrender issued by the Japanese Emperor on the 14th of August is only a general declaration concerning unconditional surrender. The order to the armed forces to cease hostilities has not yet been issued and the Japanese troops are continuing their resistance. Hence there is still no actual surrender by the armed forces of Japan. The surrender of the armed forces of Japan can be considered to have taken place only from the moment the Japanese Emperor orders his armed forces to discontinue hostilities and lay down their arms and when this order is carried out in practice. In view of the above, the armed forces of the Council Union in East Asia will continue their offensive operations against Japan.

It can be seen that you alone, of all the high commanders of the Allied forces, have given an absolutely wrong order. I consider that your error stems from your self-seeking and is of an extremely serious nature; that is to say, your order serves the interest of the enemy. Therefore, taking my standpoint on the common interest of China and the Allies, I shall firmly and completely oppose your order so long as you do not openly admit your error and countermand this wrong order. At present, I am still ordering the armed units under my command to make determined attacks on the enemy, in coordination with the armed forces of the Council Union, the United States, and Britain, until the enemy actually stops hostilities and surrenders their arms and all the territory of the homeland has been fully recovered. I declare to you, I am a patriotic soldier, I cannot act otherwise.

With regard to the above, I request your early reply.

#Zhu De