The Hurley-Jiang Duet Is a Flop

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of The Hurley-Jiang Duet Is a Flop 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:

• The Hurley-Chiang Duet Is a Flop, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 3, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
• On Chiang Kaishek's Speech at the Political Council, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 8, Routledge, New York and London, 2015.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a comment written by Comrade Mao Zedong for the New China News Agency in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China. It was first published on the 10th of July, 1945.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#THE HURLEY-JIANG DUET IS A FLOP

#COMMENT ON JIANG JIESHI'S SPEECH AT A MEETING OF THE PEOPLE'S POLITICAL COUNCIL

#Mao Zedong

#Before the 10th of July, 1945

#★

Convened to camouflage Jiang Jieshi's dictatorial regime, the Fourth People's Political Council opened in Chongqing on the 7th of July. It was the smallest opening session on record. Not only was nobody present from the Communist Party of China, but many members of the Council from other groups were absent, too. Out of a total membership of 290, only 180 turned up. Jiang Jieshi began at this opening session as follows:

The government is not going to submit any specific proposal on questions relating to the convocation of the National Assembly, and you excellencies can therefore discuss these matters fully. The government is ready to listen to your opinions on these questions in all honesty and sincerity.

This will probably be the end of the whole business about convoking the National Assembly on the 12th of November this year. The imperialist Patrick J. Hurley has had something to do with this business. At first, he strongly encouraged Jiang Jieshi to make such a move, and it was this that put some stiffening into Jiang Jieshi's New Year's Day speech,¹ and a great deal more into his 1st of March speech,² in which he announced his determination to «hand State power back to the people» on the 12th of November. In his speech of the 1st of March, he flatly rejected the Communist Party of China's proposal, which voiced the general will of the Chinese people, that a conference of all political parties be convened and a coalition government established. He gleefully played up the idea of forming a so-called Committee of Three, including an American, to «reorganize» the armed forces of the Communist Party of China. He had the audacity to say that the Communist Party of China must hand over its troops before he would bestow «legal status» upon it. In all this, the backing of His Worship Patrick J. Hurley was decisive. In a statement in Washington on the 2nd of April, Hurley did his best to boost Jiang Jieshi's «National Assembly» and other such nasty schemes in addition to denying the role of the Communist Party of China, vilifying its activities, declaring against cooperation with it, and uttering other such imperialist platitudes. Thus, the duet between Hurley in the United States and Jiang Jieshi in China reached its most raucous pitch, with the sacrifice of the Chinese people as the common objective. Since then, the show seems to have flagged. Countless voices have been raised in protest everywhere, among both Chinese and foreigners, both inside and outside the Nationalist Party, among people with party affiliations and without. The sole reason is that for all its high-sounding language, the Hurley-Jiang racket is designed to sacrifice the interests of the Chinese people, further wreck their unity, and, as it were, lay a mine to set off large-scale civil war in China, thereby damaging the common interests of the people of the United States and other Allied countries during the Anti-Fascist War and the prospects of peaceful coexistence afterward. Hurley, as the ambassador of an Allied country, and Jiang Jieshi, as the «Head of State» of one of the Great Powers, really look immature, ignorant, and devoid of the demeanour of statespersons by toying with this political issue, which will determine the fate of hundreds of millions of people. At the moment, Hurley seems to be lying low, busying himself with no one knows what, with the result that Jiang Jieshi has to talk twaddle before the People's Political Council. Previously, on the 1st of March, Jiang Jieshi said:

The conditions in our country differ from those in other countries: prior to the convocation of the National Assembly, we have no responsible organization which is representative of the people and through which the government can consult the people for their opinions.

If that is so, why does our Generalissimo now go to the People's Political Council to «listen» to «opinions»? According to him, there is no «responsible organization» in the whole of China through which one «can consult the people for their opinions»; it follows that the People's Political Council as an «organization» exists merely to eat, and his «listening» to it has no legal basis. Be that as it may, if the People's Political Council says even a single word against the convocation of the bogus «National» Assembly, it will have done a good deed and merited divine grace, though by so doing it would have violated the Imperial Edict of the 1st of March and committed lèse-majesté. Of course, it is still premature to make any comment on the People's Political Council, as we have to wait a few days to see what it will produce for the Generalissimo to «listen» to. One thing, however, is certain: ever since the Chinese people began raising their voices in protest against this National Assembly, even the enthusiasts for «constitutional monarchy» have been worried about our «monarch», cautioning him not to stick his neck into a noose by convening a «Parliament of Pigs»³ and warning him of the fate of Yuan Shikai. Who knows but that our «monarch» may stay his hand in consequence? But it is absolutely certain that he and his retinue will not allow the people to gain a particle of power, if that would cost them a single hair. The immediate proof is that His Majesty has described the people's justified criticism as «unbridled attacks». He said:

[...] under war conditions, a general election is obviously out of the question in the Japanese-occupied areas. Consequently, two years ago, the Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Nationalist Party of China resolved to convoke the National Assembly and institute constitutional government within a year after the conclusion of the war. However, in certain quarters, unbridled attacks were made at that time.

And the grounds for these attacks were that this date might be too late. His Majesty thereupon proposed that «the National Assembly be convoked as soon as the war situation is stabilized, in view of the possibility that the final conclusion of the war may be delayed and that order may not be quickly restored everywhere even after the end of the war». Much to his surprise, these people again made «unbridled attacks». This has put His Majesty in a terrible fix. But the Chinese people must teach Jiang Jieshi and his group a lesson and tell them: Whatever you say or do, no tricks in violation of the people's wishes will be tolerated. What the Chinese people demand is immediate democratic reforms, such as the release of political prisoners, the abolition of the secret service, and the granting of freedoms to the people and of legal status to the political parties. You are doing none of these things and instead are simply juggling with the pseudo-problem of the date of the «National Assembly»; this will not deceive even a three-year-old. Without a minimum of genuine democratic reforms, all your assemblies, large or small, will be thrown into the cesspit. Call this an «unbridled attack» if you like, but every deception of this kind must be exploded resolutely, thoroughly, wholly, and completely, with not a trace allowed to remain. The reason is simply that it is a swindle. Whether or not there is a National Assembly is one thing and whether or not there is a minimum of democratic reforms is quite another. The former can be dispensed with for the time being, but the latter must be introduced immediately. Since Jiang Jieshi and his group are willing to «hand State power back to the people sooner», why are they unwilling to carry out a minimum of democratic reforms «sooner»? Your Nationalist «Excellencies»! When you come to these concluding lines, you will have to admit that the Chinese Communists are not in any sense making an «unbridled attack» on you, but are asking you one simple question. May we not even ask a question? Can you brush it aside? The question you must answer is: How is it that you are willing to «hand State power back to the people», but not willing to institute democratic reforms?