The Nationalist War Criminals Turn From an «Appeal for Peace» to an Appeal for War
#PUBLICATION NOTE
This edition of The Nationalist War Criminals Turn From an «Appeal for Peace» to an Appeal for 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 editions:
- The Kuomintang Reactionaries Turn From an «Appeal for Peace» to an Appeal for War, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Vol. 4, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
- The Guomindang War Criminal Faction Makes a Futile Attempt to Save Itself by Changing From an «Appeal for Peace» to an Appeal for War, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Vol. 10, Routledge, New York and London, 2023.
#INTRODUCTION NOTE
This is a comment written by Comrade Mao Zedong for the New China News Agency in Xibaipo, Pingshan, Hebei, China on the 16th 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!
#THE NATIONALIST WAR CRIMINALS TURN FROM AN «APPEAL FOR PEACE» TO AN APPEAL FOR WAR
#Mao Zedong
#16th of February, 1949
#★
From the time the bandit Jiang Jieshi launched his peace offensive on the 1st of January, the heroes of the reactionary Nationalist clique kept on repeating at great length their willingness to «shorten the duration of the war», «alleviate the sufferings of the people», and «treat the salvation of the people as the primary consideration». But early in February, they suddenly began to play down their peace tune and strike up the old tune of «fighting the Communists to the bitter end». This has been especially so in the last few days. The Nanjing people's delegation immediately encountered persecution by these heroes upon returning from its visit to Beijing. On the 13th of February, the Propaganda Department of the Nationalist Central Executive Committee issued a «Special Directive for Propaganda» to «all party headquarters and party papers», which stated:
Ye Jianying has been using the so-called Nanjing peace delegation as a mouthpiece for spreading propaganda over our rear areas about the Communist Party of China's good faith in seeking peace, while condemning the Government's military moves as showing a lack of good faith in seeking peace. All our papers must emphatically refute this, directly and indirectly, in accordance with the following points.
The «Special Directive» gives quite a number of reasons why this «refutation» should be made:
- Rather than surrender unconditionally, the Government should fight to the bitter end.
- 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.
- The Communist Party of China 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.
There is no more of the pathetic anxiety for peace negotiations of two weeks ago. There is no further mention of those famous phrases, «shorten the duration of the war», «alleviate the sufferings of the people», and «treat the salvation of the people as the primary consideration», phrases which gladdened the heart and spread everywhere. If the Communist Party of China is unwilling to change its «behaviour» and insists on the punishment of the war criminals, then peace talks will be impossible. Which, then, is the primary consideration — the salvation of the people or the salvation of the war criminals? According to the «Special Directive for Propaganda» issued by these heroes of the Nationalist Party, they prefer the latter. The Communist Party of China is still consulting the democratic political parties and people's organizations about the list of war criminals, and opinions have now been received from several quarters. Judging by the opinions so far received, they all disapprove of the list put forward on the 25th of December last year by an authoritative person in the Communist Party of China. They consider that a list containing the names of only 43 war criminals is too short; they consider that those to be held responsible for launching the counter-revolutionary war and butchering several million people should certainly not be limited to 43, but should be well over 100. For the time being, let us suppose that the number of war criminals will be set at well over 100. Then we should like to ask the heroes of the Nationalist Party, why do you oppose the punishment of war criminals? Aren't you willing to «shorten the duration of the war» and «alleviate the sufferings of the people»? If the war continues because of this opposition of yours, won't that be stalling for time and prolonging the disaster of war? «Stalling for time and prolonging the disaster of war» was the very accusation you made against the Communist Party of China in the statement issued in the name of the Nanjing government spokesperson on the 26th of January, 1949; can it be that now you want to take it back, write it on a poster, and hang it on yourselves as a badge of honour? You are people of infinite compassion and mercy, who profess to «treat the salvation of the people as the primary consideration». Then why do you suddenly change and treat the salvation of the war criminals as the primary consideration? According to the statistics of your government's Ministry of the Interior, the number of the Chinese people is not 450'000'000, but 475'000'000; compare that with 100-odd war criminals — which number is bigger? You heroes have studied arithmetic; please do a careful sum in accordance with your arithmetic textbook and then draw your conclusion. If, without doing this sum, you hastily change your original formula of «treating the salvation of the people as the primary consideration» — a good formula with which we agree and the people of the whole country agree — into the formula of «treating the salvation of more than 100 war criminals as the primary consideration», then be careful, for you certainly will not be able to maintain your ground. You want to persecute the Nanjing people's peace delegation, saying that it has become a mouthpiece of Ye Jianying. Ye Jianying's charm is so great that, in a few days' time, he made the representatives believe that «the Communist Party of China is sincere about peace, but reproaches the government military for not being sincere about seeking peace». On the 14th of February, you Right-wingers used the Nanjing senate to pass the «Denial of the Nanjing Peace Delegation». After having «appealed for peace» over several weeks, those individuals who have repeatedly mouthed the phrase, «treat the salvation of the people as the primary consideration», are no longer «appealing for peace», but are appealing for war. They are also trying to persecute the representatives of the Nanjing peace delegation. The reason the Right-wing Nationalists are in trouble is this: they have stubbornly opposed the people, ridden roughshod over them, and thus have isolated themselves on the pinnacle of a pagoda; moreover, they will not repent, even unto death. In fact, they have proved by this persecution that anyone in their party who shows even the slightest bit of conscience, or anyone who does not dance according to their tune, will be persecuted and come under attack. All you broad masses of the people of the Yangzi River Valley and the South — workers, peasants, intellectuals, urban small bourgeoisie, national bourgeoisie, enlightened gentry, and Nationalist Party members with a conscience — your attention, please! The days of the Right-wing Nationalists who have been riding roughshod over you are numbered. You and we are on the same side. The handful of Right-wingers will soon topple from their pinnacle, and a People's China will soon emerge.