On the Resolution of the Nanjing Executive Chamber
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of On the Resolution of the Nanjing Executive Chamber 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: Comment by the Spokesman for the Communist Party of China on the Resolution of the Nanking Executive Yuan, 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 spokesperson of the Communist Party of China in Xibaipo, Pingshan, Hebei, China. It was first published by the New China News Agency on the 21st of January, 1949.
#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!
#ON THE RESOLUTION OF THE NANJING EXECUTIVE CHAMBER
#COMMENT BY THE SPOKESPERSON OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA
#Mao Zedong
#Before the 21st of January, 1949
#★
The Central News Agency, the official news agency of the reactionary Nanjing Nationalist government, said in a dispatch of the 19th of January that the Executive Chamber, at a meeting at 09:00 on the same day, had extensively discussed the current situation and passed the following resolution:
In deference to the desire of the people of the whole country to realize an early peace, the Government hereby expresses its considered wish, first, together with the Communist Party of China, to effect an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities, and then, to appoint delegates to enter into peace negotiations.
This resolution of the Nanjing Executive Chamber makes no mention of the statement proposing peace negotiations issued on the 1st of January by Jiang Jieshi, the bogus Nanjing «President», or of the statement proposing peace negotiations issued on the 14th of January by Mao Zedong, Chairperson of the Communist Party of China; nor does it indicate which of the two statements it supports and which it opposes, but instead puts forward a proposal of its own, as if neither the Nationalist Party nor the Communist Party had made any proposals on the 1st and 14th of January; all this is utterly incomprehensible. As a matter of fact, the Nanjing Executive Chamber has not only completely ignored the Communist Party of China's proposal of the 14th of January, but has also flatly repudiated the proposal made on the 1st of January by the bogus «President» Jiang Jieshi. He said in his 1st of January proposal:
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.
Now, 19 days later, an institution of this selfsame government, that is, the «Executive Chamber» of the Nanjing government, repudiates the statement made by the «President» of that government and, instead of saying that the government «will certainly meet» the Communist Party «in all sincerity and be willing to discuss concrete measures for ending hostilities and restoring peace», it says, «first, effect an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities, and then, appoint delegates to enter into peace negotiations». We should like to ask the «excellencies» of the «Executive Chamber» at Nanjing: after all, which proposal stands, yours or that of your «President»? Your «President» regarded «ending hostilities and restoring peace» as one and the same thing and professed sincerity and willingness to discuss concrete measures for doing so with the Communist Party of China, whereas you divorce war from peace as two separate things and are reluctant to appoint delegates to discuss with us concrete measures for ending hostilities and, instead, indulge in the wildest fantasy, proposing «first, to effect an immediate and unconditional cessation of hostilities» and then to appoint delegates to «enter into peace negotiations». Which proposal is right, yours or that of your «President»? We hold that the bogus Executive Chamber at Nanjing has acted beyond its authority; it has no right to cast aside the proposal of its bogus president and arbitrarily make a new proposal of its own. We regard this new proposal as unreasonable; having fought such a large-scale, protracted, and cruel war, both sides should as a matter of course appoint delegates to discuss fundamental peace terms and work out a mutually acceptable truce agreement; only thus can the war be stopped. Not only do the people desire this, even on the Nationalist side, many persons have expressed this desire. If the absolutely groundless «resolution» of the Nanjing Executive Chamber is followed and the Nationalist Party is unwilling to carry on peace negotiations unless there is first a cessation of hostilities, then where is its sincere desire for peace? The «resolution» of the Nanjing Executive Chamber has been adopted, there can be no peace negotiations unless there is first a cessation of hostilities, and from now on, the door to peace is shut tight; if there are to be negotiations, the only thing to do is to annul this absolutely groundless «resolution». It must be one or the other. If the Nanjing Executive Chamber is unwilling to annul its own «resolution», this will only show that the reactionary Nanjing Nationalist government has no sincere desire to hold peace negotiations with the opposing side. People will ask, if Nanjing is sincere, why is it unwilling to discuss concrete peace terms? Hasn't the conclusion been confirmed that Nanjing's peace proposal is hypocritical? Nanjing has now fallen into a state of anarchy, the bogus President has one proposal and the bogus Executive Chamber has another. With whom is one to deal?