The Truth About the Nationalist Attacks

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of The Truth About the Nationalist Attacks 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 Truth About the Kuomintang Attacks, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
• A Chinese Communist Party Spokesperson Denounces Wu Guozhen's Shameless Lies and Presents Ironclad Evidence Regarding the Repeated Attacks by the Guomindang Army, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 9, Routledge, New York and London, 2023.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a statement issued by Comrade Mao Zedong in the name of the spokesperson of the Communist Party of China to the New China News Agency in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China. It was first published on the 5th of November, 1945.

By this time, Jiang Jieshi had already torn up the «10th of October Agreement», and the civil war against the Liberated Areas was expanding daily.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#THE TRUTH ABOUT THE NATIONALIST ATTACKS

#COMMENT ON WU GUOZHEN'S SHAMELESS LIES

#Mao Zedong

#Before the 5th of November, 1945

#★

In a dispatch from Chongqing, dated the 3rd of November, the United Press reported that Wu Guozhen, Director of the Propaganda Department of the Nationalist Central Executive Committee, had declared that «the government is entirely on the defensive in this war» and had proposed measures for «restoring communications».¹

What Wu Guozhen said about being «on the defensive» is a complete lie. The Nationalist Party of China, besides occupying the five Liberated Areas evacuated by our troops in eastern Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, central and southern Anhui, and Hunan and trampling on the people there, has already moved more than 70 divisions of its regular troops into or close to most of the other Liberated Areas for example, those in Guangdong, Hubei, Henan, northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, Shandong, and Hebei — and has been oppressing the people there and attacking or preparing to attack our troops. Furthermore, scores of other Nationalist divisions are heading for the Liberated Areas. Can this be described as being on the defensive? Of the eight Nationalist divisions which reached the Handan area in their drive northward from Zhangde, two opposed civil war and favoured peace, while the other six (including three US-equipped divisions) were compelled to lay down their arms after the troops and people of the Liberated Areas counter-attacked in self-defence. Many officers of these Nationalist troops, including war-zone deputy commanders, corps commanders, and deputy corps commanders, are now in the Liberated Areas² and can confirm the whole truth about where they came from and how they were ordered to attack. Can this, too, be described as being on the defensive? Our troops in the Liberated Areas in Henan and Hubei Provinces are now completely encircled by more than 20 Nationalist divisions from the First, Fifth, and Sixth War Zones, with Liu Zhi as field commander in charge of the «suppression of Communists». Our Liberated Areas in western and central Henan and southern, eastern, and central Hubei have all been invaded and occupied by the Nationalist forces, which burned and killed so wantonly that our troops commanded by Li Xiannian and Wang Shusheng could find no shelter and had to seek quarters on the Henan-Hubei border in order to survive. But there again, they have been closely pursued and attacked by Nationalist troops.³ Can this, too, be described as being on the defensive? It is the same in the three provinces of Shanxi, Suiyuan, and Chaha'er. In early October, Yan Xishan ordered 13 divisions to attack the Xiangyuan-Tunliu sector in the Shangdang Liberated Area. Fighting in self-defence, our troops and the people there disarmed them all, and several commanders of corps and divisions were among the captured. They are now in the Taihang Liberated Area, all alive, and can confirm the whole truth about where they came from and how they were ordered to attack. In Chongqing recently, Yan Xishan told all sorts of lies about how he had been attacked and how he had merely been «on the defensive». Probably, he had forgotten all about his generals: Shi Zebo, Commander of the 19th Corps; Guo Rong, Commander of the Provisional 46th Division; Zhang Hong, Commander of the Provisional 49th Division; Li Peiying, Commander of the 66th Division; Guo Tianxiang, Commander of the 68th Division; and Yang Wencai, Commander of the Provisional 37th Division.⁴ They are now living in our Liberated Areas and can refute any lies told by Wu Guozhen, Yan Xishan, and all the other reactionary instigators of civil war. General Fu Zuoyi, under orders, has been attacking our Liberated Areas in Suiyuan, Chaha'er, and Rehe for over two months and on one occasion pushed right to the gates of Zhangjiakou and occupied our entire Suiyuan Liberated Area and western Chaha'er. Can this, too, be described as being on the defensive and not firing «the first shot»? Our troops and people in Chaha'er and Suiyuan rose up in self-defence and in their counter-attacks also captured large numbers of officers and soldiers who can all testify where they came from, how they attacked, and so on.⁵ In various battles of self-defence, we have captured piles of «bandit suppression» and anti-Communist documents, among which are the Handbook on Bandit Suppression, orders for «bandit suppression»,⁶ and other anti-Communist documents issued by the highest Nationalist authorities, but dismissed as a «joke» by Wu Guozhen; these are now being forwarded to Yan'an. All these documents are ironclad proofs that Nationalist troops have attacked the Liberated Areas.

The measures proposed by Wu Guozhen for «restoring communications» are nothing but stalling tactics. The Nationalist authorities are mustering large forces and are trying to swamp all the Liberated Areas as in a great flood. Following the failure of several attacks in September and October, they are preparing new attacks on an even larger scale. And one way to obstruct these attacks and effectively check the civil war is not to let them transport their troops by rail. Like everybody else, we advocate speedy restoration of the lines of communication, but this can be done only after the settlement of the three problems of accepting the Japanese surrender, disposing of the puppet troops, and realizing self-government in the Liberated Areas. Which should be settled first, the problem of communications or these three problems? Why are the troops of the Liberated Areas, which fought strenuously and bitterly against Japan for eight years, not qualified to accept the Japanese surrender? And why should other troops be put to the trouble of coming from afar to accept it? Every citizen has the right to punish the puppet troops; why are they all being incorporated into the «National Army» and ordered to attack the Liberated Areas? Local self-government is explicitly stipulated in the «10th of October Agreement», and Dr. Sun Yixian long ago advocated the popular election of provincial governors; why does the Nationalist government still insist on dispatching local officials? The problem of communications should be speedily settled, but even more so, the three major problems should be speedily settled. To talk of restoring communications without first settling the three major problems can only serve to spread and prolong the civil war and help its instigators achieve their purpose of swamping the Liberated Areas. In order quickly to stop the anti-popular and anti-democratic civil war, which has now spread all over the country, we advocate the following:

• All the Nationalist government forces that have entered the Liberated Areas in northern China, northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, central China, and nearby regions to accept the Japanese surrender and to attack us should be withdrawn immediately to their original positions; the troops of the Liberated Areas should accept the Japanese surrender and garrison the cities and lines of communication; and the Liberated Areas which have been invaded and occupied should be restored.
• All puppet troops should be immediately disarmed and disbanded, and in northern China, northern Jiangsu, and northern Anhui, the Liberated Areas should take charge of such disarming and disbanding.
• The people's democratic self-government in all the Liberated Areas should be recognized; the Central Government should not appoint and send out local officials; the provisions of the «10th of October Agreement» should be carried out.

Only in this way can civil war be averted; otherwise, there is absolutely no safeguard against it. The documents captured during the three battles we fought in self-defence in Suiyuan, Shangdang, and Handan and such concrete actions as massive troop movements and attacks all give the lie to the claim of the Nationalist authorities that the so-called restoration of communications is for the sake of the people and not of civil war. The Chinese people have been fooled long enough and can be fooled no longer. At present, the central problem is for the people of the whole country to mobilize to stop the civil war by every means.