Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Memorandum by the Second Secretary of Embassy in China (Sprouse) to General Marshall
General Marshall: The attached letter,60 together with its enclosure, is addressed to General Marshall by the Chairman of the Chinese Democratic League. The writer expresses the warm pleasure of the Democratic League at the appointment of General Marshall as the Special Envoy and Ambassador by President Truman. He welcomes the recent statements by President Truman and Mr. Byrnes explaining the “true policy of the United States toward China”, coming as they did at a time when the sudden Japanese surrender brought about clashes between “Kuomintang and Communist troops” in which “the name of American troops has been involved”.
The enclosed memorandum describes the establishment of the Democratic League in 1941 through the combination of six Chinese minority groups. The League asserts that it is the largest political group representing the middle classes in China and that its present aim is to “abolish one-party dictatorship in China and realize constitutional government and rule of law”. The League demands the cessation of civil war, the settlement of party differences by political means, the establishment of coalition government, the convening of a representative national assembly for the adoption of a constitution and the revision of the organization and election laws governing the national assembly in order to ensure a free and fair election of the members of such an assembly. The League welcomes the presence of “Allied troops” in China for the purpose of eliminating Japanese military influence but hopes that the United States will not adopt a “partisan attitude toward the Chinese party conflicts” lest the civil war be prolonged. The League hopes for American aid in achieving peace, unity, and true democracy in China.
- Not printed.↩