On the Nationalist Party's Different Answers to the Question of Responsibility for the War

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of On the Nationalist Party's Different Answers to the Question of Responsibility for the War 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 edition: On the Kuomintang's Different Answers to the Question of Responsibility for the War, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a comment written by Comrade Mao Zedong for the New China News Agency in Xibaipo, Pingshan, Hebei, China on the 18th of February, 1949. It was first published on that date.

This is part of a series of comments written by Comrade Mao Zedong for the New China News Agency to expose the use of peace negotiations by the Nationalist Party of China in order to preserve the counter-revolutionary forces.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#ON THE NATIONALIST PARTY'S DIFFERENT ANSWERS TO THE QUESTION OF RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE WAR

#Mao Zedong

#18th of February, 1949

#★

After the conclusion of the War of Resistance, the Government, following a policy of peace and national reconstruction, endeavoured to solve peacefully the problem of the Communist Party of China. For a period of a year and a half, the Communist Party of China broke every agreement, and therefore it should bear the responsibility for wrecking peace. Instead, it has now drawn up a list of so-called war criminals, which includes all the Government leaders, and has even demanded that the Government first arrest them; this clearly shows how truculent and unreasonable the Communist Party is. Unless the Communist Party of China changes this behaviour, it will indeed be difficult to find a way to peace negotiations.

The above is the entire argument on the question of the responsibility for the war which the Propaganda Department of the Central Executive Committee of the Nationalist Party of China advanced in a «Special Directive for Propaganda», issued on the 13th of February, 1949.

It is the argument of none other than War Criminal No. 1, Jiang Jieshi. In his New Year's Day statement, he said:

As a devoted adherent of the «Three People's Principles» and the teachings of the Father of the Republic [Sun Yixian], I was reluctant to follow the conclusion of the war against Japan with the armed suppression of the bandits and thereby to aggravate the sufferings of the people. Therefore, as soon as the War of Resistance came to an end, our Government proclaimed its policy of peace and national reconstruction and moreover sought to solve the Communist problem by means of political consultation and military mediation. But contrary to our expectations, the Communist Party for a period of a year and a half wilfully obstructed all agreements and proposals and made it impossible to carry them out by the measures which were originally intended. Finally, it even started an all-out armed rebellion which threatened the very existence of the State. This Government was thus driven to the painful necessity of mobilization to put down the rebellion.

On the 25th of December, 1948, seven days before Jiang Jieshi made this statement, an authoritative person in the Communist Party of China put forward a list of 43 war criminals, and illustrious at the head of the list was none other than this same Jiang Jieshi. The war criminals, who want both to sue for peace and to shirk their responsibility, have no alternative but to shift the blame onto the Communist Party. But the two are irreconcilable. Since the Communist Party should bear the responsibility for launching the war, then the Communist Party should be punished. Since the Communists are «bandits», then the «bandits» should be «suppressed». Since they «started an all-out armed rebellion», then the «rebellion» should be «put down». «Bandit suppression» and «the putting down of rebellion» are 100% right, so why should they be abandoned? Why has the term «Communist bandits» been changed into «Communist Party» in all Nationalist public documents issued since the 1st of January, 1949?

Sun Ke, feeling that something was amiss, put forward a different argument about the responsibility for the war in a speech broadcast on the evening of the same day Jiang Jieshi issued his New Year's Day statement. Sun Ke said:

We remember that, in the early period following the victory of the War of Resistance, three years ago, because the people needed rehabilitation, the country needed active reconstruction and there was still common understanding of these needs among the various political parties, we called together representatives from various quarters and public personages for a Political Consultative Conference. After three weeks' effort, and thanks especially to the kind mediation of Mr. Marshall, President Truman's special envoy, we agreed upon a programme for peace and national reconstruction and upon specific measures for settling various disputes. If we had then carried out all these measures in good time, just think how prosperous China would be today, and how happy its people would be! Unfortunately, at the time, none of the various parties concerned would entirely forgo its selfish interests, the people throughout the country did not exert themselves to the utmost to promote the success of the peace movement, and so the disaster of war again occurred, plunging the people into misery and suffering.

Sun Ke is a little bit more «fair» than Jiang Jieshi. You see, unlike Jiang Jieshi, he does not shift the responsibility for the war entirely onto the Communist Party, but divides the blame equally among «the various parties concerned» by the method of «equalization of landownership».¹ Those involved are the Nationalist Party, also the Communist Party, also the Democratic League, and also the public personages. That isn't all; the people throughout the country» are also involved; not one of our 475'000'000 compatriots can escape responsibility. While Jiang Jieshi caned the Communist Party alone, Sun Ke canes all the political parties, all the people without party affiliation, every one of his compatriots; even Jiang Jieshi, and perhaps even Sun Ke himself, will get a caning. Here you see two Nationalists at loggerheads, Sun Ke and Jiang Jieshi.

A third Nationalist has come forward, saying: «No, in my opinion, the responsibility should be borne entirely by the Nationalist Party.» His name is Li Zongren. On the 22nd of January, 1949, Li Zongren issued a statement in his capacity as «Acting President». Regarding the responsibility for the war, he said:

The three years' civil war that followed the eight years' War of Resistance has not only completely destroyed the country's last hope of recovery after the victory in the War of Resistance, but has also spread ruin everywhere north and south of the Yellow River, devastating innumerable farmsteads and houses, killing and wounding thousands upon thousands of innocent people, breaking up countless families, and causing people everywhere to lament in hunger and cold. Such a terrible holocaust is really without parallel in the history of civil wars in our country.

Here, Li Zongren makes a statement, but names no names; he fixes the responsibility neither on the Nationalist Party, nor on the Communist Party, nor on any other quarter; yet he has stated one fact, that this «terrible holocaust» has occurred in no other place than «north and south of the Yellow River». Why, let us examine who caused this «terrible holocaust» in the area from the Yellow River south to the Yangzi River and north to the Songhua River. Could it have been caused by the people and the people's army there, fighting among themselves? Since Li Zongren was once Chief of Chiang Kai-shek's Beijing Headquarters and since the troops of his Guangxi clique together with Jiang's troops once fought into the Yi-Meng mountain area in Shandong Province,² he has reliable information about where and how this «holocaust» took place. If there is nothing else good about Li Zongren, at least it is good that he has made this one honest statement. What is more, instead of speaking about «putting down the rebellion» or «suppressing the bandits», he calls the war a «civil war», and this, for the Nationalist Party, may be said to be quite novel.

Following his own logic, Li Zongren declared in the same statement that «the Government is willing to start negotiations immediately on the basis of the eight terms proposed by the Communist Party of China». Li Zongren knows that the first of the eight terms is the punishment of war criminals and that his own honourable name is among them. That the war criminals should be punished is a logical conclusion from the «holocaust». For this reason, the Right-wing Nationalists are even now muttering complaints against Li Zongren, saying that «the eight terms Mao Zedong put forward in his 14th of January statement would ruin the nation, and the Government should not have accepted them».

There are reasons why the Right-wingers can only mutter and dare not speak out openly. Before Jiang Jieshi «retired», the Right-wingers had thought of rejecting our eight terms, but then Jiang Jieshi on second thoughts decided not to do so, probably because he considered that to reject them would leave no way out; this was the state of affairs on the 19th of January. On that morning, Zhang Junmai,³ upon his return to Shanghai from Nanjing, said that «the Government may issue another statement soon in reply to the eight terms put forward by the Communist Party of China», whereupon the Central News Agency sent a service message the same evening, saying:

Add the following note to the Shanghai dispatch on Zhang Junmai's statement that has just come through. As regards his assertion that the Government will soon issue another statement, a Central News Agency correspondent has just learned from the quarters concerned that the Government has no intention of making another statement.

In the 21st of January statement on his «retirement», Jiang Jieshi said not a single word in criticism of the eight terms and even revoked his own five terms, changing them into «attaining peace on the principle that the integrity of territory and sovereignty is maintained, that the historic culture and social order are not destroyed, and that the people's livelihood and right to freedom are safeguarded». He no longer dared raise such matters as the constitution, the legally constituted authority or the army. That is why, on the 22nd of January, Li Zongren dared to accept the eight terms of the Communist Party of China as the basis for negotiations and why the Right-wing Nationalists dared not openly reject them, but could only mutter that «the Government should not have accepted them».

Did Sun Ke consistently maintain his policy of «equalization of landownership»? No. After he «moved the Government to Guangzhou» on the 5th of February, 1949, he made a speech on the 7th of February about the question of war responsibility, saying:

In the last six months, the spread of the disaster of war has brought about serious changes in the situation and inflicted untold suffering on the people. All this has its origin in past mistakes, failures, and unreasonableness, and today's grave situation is the consequence. We are all convinced that China needs the «Three People's Principles». So long as the «Three People's Principles» are not put into effect, China's problems can never be solved. It may be recalled that, 20 years ago, the founder of our party personally entrusted the «Three People's Principles» to our party as his legacy in the hope that they would be put into effect step by step. If they had been put into effect, the situation would never have developed into such a hopeless mess.

People will please note that here the president of the Executive Chamber of the Nationalist government is not apportioning responsibility for the war equally among the various political parties and all his compatriots, but is putting it on the Nationalist Party itself. It makes people feel exceedingly good to see Sun Ke applying the cane to the backside of the Nationalist Party alone. What about the Communist Party? President Sun says:

We can see that the Communist Party of China has been able to lure and dupe the people merely by appealing for the equalization of landownership, which is one part of the «Three People's Principles», the Principle of the People's Livelihood. We ought to feel deeply ashamed, sharpen our vigilance, and examine afresh our past mistakes.

Thank you, dear President! Although the Communist Party is still charged with the crime of «luring and duping the people», at least it is innocent of other horrible crimes and hence escapes a caning and is let off with its head and its backside unscathed.

Nor is President Sun lovable for this reason alone. In the same speech, he says:

The spread of Communist influence today is a result of our failure to put into effect the principles we believe in. Our party's greatest mistake in the past was that certain members worshiped violence too much and scrambled for power among themselves, thus giving the enemy opportunities to sow dissension in our ranks. The conclusion of the eight years' War of Resistance should have been the occasion for realizing the country's peaceful unification, an opportunity of a thousand years, and originally, the Government had a plan of settling domestic disputes by political means, but unfortunately, it was not carried out. After years of war and chaos, the people urgently needed rehabilitation. The renewal of armed conflict made life impossible for the people, and the suffering was great; it also lowered the morale of the troops and caused repeated military setbacks. In deference to the feelings of the people and because he realized that military means had failed to solve the problem, President Jiang issued a New Year's Day message calling for peace.

Good! Here, this war criminal Sun Ke has made a voluntary confession, and a frank and truthful one, too, although he has not been arrested or caned. Who was it who worshiped violence, launched the war, and sued for peace only after military means had failed to solve the problem? None other than the Nationalist Party, none other than Jiang Jieshi himself. President Sun is very precise in his choice of words when he says that «certain members» of his party worshiped violence too much. This conforms with the demand of the Communist Party of China that only a certain number of Nationalist Party members be punished and branded as war criminals, but no more than this number, and of course not its entire membership.

So we have no dispute with Sun Ke over the number. We differ with him as to the conclusion to be drawn. We hold that «certain members» of the Nationalist Party must be punished as war criminals because they «worshiped violence» and caused the «renewal of armed conflict», which «made life impossible for the people». But Sun Ke does not agree. He says:

In delaying the appointment of its delegation and constantly stalling for time, the Communist Party has shown that it also worships violence, believes it has now become full-fledged and can conquer the whole country by violent means; it therefore refuses to cease hostilities as a first step. Its motive is all too clear. I hereby propose in all seriousness that in order to obtain lasting peace negotiations should be conducted by the two political parties on an equal footing and that the terms should be fair and reasonable and acceptable to the people of the whole country.

From this, you can see that President Sun is not quite so lovable. He seems to think that the punishment of war criminals is not a fair and reasonable term. On the question of war criminals, his words reveal an attitude similar to that of the «Special Directive for Propaganda» issued by the Nationalist Propaganda Department on the 13th of February, and similarly, he only mutters and dares not openly object. He differs sharply from Li Zongren, who dares to accept the punishment of war criminals as one of the fundamental terms for negotiations.

But there is still something lovable about President Sun, for he says that, although the Communist Party «also worships violence», as shown by two points, «delaying the appointment of its delegation» and «refusing to cease hostilities as a first step», yet it is not like the Nationalist Party, which worshiped violence as early as 1946 and unleashed a most cruel war. Well, the Communist Party has «delayed the appointment of its delegation», because making a list of war criminals is an important matter, it must be «acceptable to the people of the whole country», and a list that is too long or too short would be unrealistic and unacceptable to «the people of the whole country» (whose ranks do not include the war criminals and their accomplices). This requires consultation with the democratic political parties and people's organizations; it has therefore caused some «stalling», and we were not able to appoint our delegates quickly, thus causing the displeasure of Sun Ke and his like. But from this, one cannot jump to the conclusion that the Communist Party «also worships force». It is probable that, before long, the list of war criminals will be published, our delegates named and the negotiations started; and then President Sun will not be able to say that we «worship violence».

As for «refusing to cease hostilities as a first step», this is a correct attitude adopted in obedience to President Jiang's New Year's Day message. In that message, President Jiang said:

As soon as the Communist Party has a sincere desire for peace and can give definite indications of this, the Government will certainly meet it in all sincerity and be willing to discuss concrete measures for ending hostilities and restoring peace.

On the 19th of January, Sun Ke's Executive Chamber passed a resolution in violation of Jiang Jieshi's message, saying, «first, effect an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities, and then, appoint delegates to enter into peace negotiations». On the 21st of January, a Communist Party of China spokesperson sternly criticized this absurd resolution.⁴ Curiously enough, the president of the Executive Chamber turned a deaf ear to the criticism and on the 7th of February again nonsensically said that the Communist Party's «refusal to cease hostilities as a first step» was proof that it «also worships violence». Even such a war criminal as Jiang Jieshi knows that without negotiations it is impossible to cease hostilities and restore peace; on this point, Sun Ke is far behind Jiang Jieshi.

As is generally known, Sun Ke is listed as a war criminal because he has all along supported Jiang Jieshi in launching and continuing the war. As late as the 22nd of June, 1947, he was still saying that a «settlement will finally come, provided militarily we fight to the end» and that, «at present, peace negotiations are out of the question, and the Government must crush the Communist Party of China or be overthrown by it».⁵ Sun Ke himself is one of those «certain members» of the Nationalist Party who worshiped violence. But now, he is making irresponsible and carping comments from the sidelines, as if he himself had never worshiped violence and bore no responsibility for the failure to carry out the «Three People's Principles». This is dishonest. Whether tried according to the law of the State or judged according to the party discipline of the Nationalist Party, Sun Ke cannot escape the caning he deserves.