Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
Notes on Meeting Between General Marshall and Mr. Hon Yeh-chun at No. 5 Ning Hai Road, Nanking, December 16, 1946, 10:45 a.m.
| Also present: | Mr. Effenberg |
| Mr. Yang Lien | |
| Captain Soong |
General Marshall read the memorandum submitted by Mr. Hou of the Chinese Democratic Party.28
Mr. Hou told General Marshall that the objective of the Chinese Democratic Party is to achieve unity, peace and democracy for China. He related that during the war he served under General Tang En-po as the Director of Political Affairs. Later, he realized the need of organizing a new political party. This proposal was submitted to the Generalissimo through Mr. Chang Wen-po, Minister of Political Affairs of the National Military Council, and was approved. Now, the Chinese Democratic Party has a total membership of 630,000 in Yunnan and Szechuan provinces. He also pointed out that about 27% of these members are industrialists and businessmen, and 40% are from the educational field. He further stated that the majority are between the ages of 35 to 50.
Mr. Hou then said that he would like to represent the entire membership of his party to pay their respects to General Marshall in his mission to achieve peace, unity and democracy for China. Mr. Hou stated that his party would devote itself to unification of the country and application of the Three People’s Principles.
General Marshall said that the policy outlined in this memorandum would be most difficult to attain. He expressed his belief that the [Page 631] major hope for China at the present time lay in the combined action of all the minority parties. General Marshall stated that during the past year, he had become familiar with the Democratic League and its branch under Mr. Carsun Chang, the Youth Party, the Farmers’ League and the non-partisans who almost functioned as a formal party. Ever since General Marshall arrived in Nanking, he had exerted his best efforts to persuade the numerous minority parties to organize into a third group to balance the situation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. General Marshall said that the representatives of the Democratic League, the Youth Party and the non-partisans had joined together for a very brief period when they came to Nanking shortly before the convening of the National Assembly, and were for a time able to exert an important influence. Then they were split apart under pressure from both the Kuomintang and Communist Parties, as he had warned them would be the case. Now their influence was negligible. They cancelled each other.
General Marshall stated that the most important thing at the present time is to organize all the liberals into one party and select some outsider to be the leader. He believed that the time had come for each of the minority parties to make genuine sacrifices so that they can agree on the formation of a strong and influential group to mediate between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. He emphasized that without organization, the minority parties would be powerless. General Marshall further stated that throughout his past year’s experience, he had found many liberals both in the Kuomintang and among the younger members of the Communist Party. He felt that many of the educated people joined the Communists out of sheer disgust with the local Kuomintang governments. General Marshall also believed that the Democratic League allied itself with the Communists because they felt that the only way they could bring about reform in the Government was by utilizing the power of the Communist Party.
General Marshall said that great confusion had resulted from the evil propaganda of both sides. This confusion had influenced many people erroneously and had rendered negotiations more difficult.
In conclusion, General Marshall reiterated that the most important thing at present is the unification of the minority parties. These minority parties must make individual sacrifices in order to form an effective organization to deal with the current situation. Mr. Hou said he would endeavor to conduct his party in accordance with General Marshall’s suggestion.
- Not found in Department files.↩