893.00/15278
The Ambassador in China (Gauss) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 2.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose translations of the following Kuomintang documents relating to the Chinese Communist Party obtained by the Embassy …:65 (1) three posters containing summaries of the “crimes of the Chinese Communist Party” prior to and since the outbreak of hostilities and of that Party’s “plots” since the beginning of hostilities with Japan and (2) a secret letter of December 1943 addressed by the Ministry of Organization of the Kuomintang to local Party Headquarters giving instructions in regard to the policy to be followed in dealing with the Chinese Communist Party.
Summary. The posters are said to have been prepared in August 1943 and to have been distributed among leading Kuomintang and Government personnel in November. The posters contain summaries of the Chinese Communist Party’s “crimes” in the military, political, economic and social fields and the Communist Party is charged with obstructing the “war of resistance” and as having as its sole aim the betrayal of China and the seizure of political power. That the Communist Party has had an opportunity to spread propaganda both in China and abroad is ascribed to the leniency of the Central Government which has heretofore refrained from exposing these “crimes” to responsible officials of the Party and the Government. The summary of the “plots” of the Chinese Communist Party includes “plots” for [Page 340] the seizure of political power, for ruining the “war of resistance”, for enlarging the Communist armed forces and for attacks upon and agitation among Central Government troops, their final aim being the overthrow of the National Government in the name of a democratic republic in order to establish a “dictatorship of the proletariat”.
The secret letter from the Kuomintang Ministry of Organization warns Party workers that in “guarding against and controlling the traitor party (the Communists)” the Kuomintang must not rely alone on those “comrades engaged in investigation work (the Kuomintang secret police)”. The work of the Kuomintang in combatting the Communists lies in several fields. In the field of propaganda, culture and education, propaganda must reveal Communist crimes, secret Party groups must be organized in schools and published writings must expose the plots of the traitors (Communists) and puppets. Politically, the masses must be incited to organize secretly for investigation and spying, the Party membership must be increased and those “elements who have been won to confession and have not yet lost their usefulness” should return to the Communist organizations to carry on disruptive activities. Militarily, an anti-conscription movement should be organized in the Communist areas, Kuomintang members should enter Communist military schools to win over Communist soldiers, and the masses should be encouraged to oppose the Communists and destroy their military establishments. Economically, the masses should destroy or seize Communist and puppet raw materials, warehouses and transport facilities and merchants should be propagandized not to trade with the Communists and puppets. End of Summary.
The present intended use by the Kuomintang of these posters is not known beyond their distribution among certain Party and Government officials although the Secretary on detail at Sian states that he saw such posters affixed to the wall of a school he recently visited in Shensi. As they are said to have been prepared in August 1943, they were apparently intended to be utilized in a propaganda campaign designed to expose the “crimes” of the Communists (Embassy’s despatch no. 1675 of October 14, 194366). It is probable that due to the decision of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang at its session in September 1943 to settle the Communist problem by political means the decision to initiate a bitter propaganda campaign against the Communists was either changed or deferred until some later date. So far as is known, these posters have not appeared in the Chungking area.
The distribution of these posters and the secret instructions issued by the Kuomintang Minister of Organization offer little indication of conciliation on the part of the Kuomintang and are scarcely designed to create better feeling on the part of either of the two parties.
Respectfully yours,
- Enclosures not printed.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1943, China, p. 351.↩