Cable, Mao Zedong to Stalin

Comrade Stalin!

1. Received your telegram dated 28 [sic] November.

Will act in accordance with this telegram. When the currently ongoing two large military operations are finished, then I will go to Moscow. 

2. The successes of the military operations near Suizhou are considerably greater than we expected them to be in the first place. At the present time we finished off 35 full divisions of the Guomindang army, including 4 divisions [which] started a rebellion and took our side. 19 divisions of the Guomindang remain, under the command of [GMD General] Du Yuming, which are encircled by us in the area to the southwest of Suizhou and do not have an opportunity to escape. About 2 weeks will be needed to finish them off entirely.

Army groups of the GMD forces, heading for the rescue in the direction of northwest from Bangbu, have already been thrown back by our forces and retreated in the region to the south of the Yangzi River. The remnants of the enemy in the area of Bangbu are preparing to flee.

Suizhou, Huaiying, as well as all cities and villages to the north of the Huaihe River are fully in the hands of our army.

The forces of Du Yuming, which number more than 100,000 people, are occupying a territory not greater than 10 square kilometers. They are encircled on all sides by our forces.

In this military operation we concentrated two groups of field forces of [CCP military commanders] Chen Yi and Liu Bocheng numbering 600,000 people, and forces from the servicing population at the forward fronts numbering 600,000 people, in all about 1,200,000 people. This is the biggest operation of all operations conducted previously on the southern front.

The units of the enemy, which are already defeated, and [those] in the process of being defeated, are strong and elite forces of the Guomindang. After [our] victory in this operation, Jiang Jieshi will no longer have first rate forces. 

3. In order that the 48 divisions of Fu Zuoyi's group do not escape from the line of Beipinglu-Pingsuilu, we, without waiting for [troops to] finish resting and [before] bringing in order the Manchurian units, ordered them [the troops] to undertake an offensive against the south beforehand and cooperate with our forces in northern China in encircling and destroying the forces of Fu Zuoyi.

By the present time 15 divisions of Fu Zuoyi have been destroyed by us. [We] have returned: Shanhaiguan, Tangshan, Kalgan and other wide areas, encircled the main forces of Fu Zuoyi (33 divisions) in Beiping [Beijing], Tianjin and Tanggu (a sea port). Another month will be needed, then one can finish them off.

In this military operation we are using about 900,000 troops, and about 400,000 people of the forces of the servicing population at the forward fronts. This operation is one of the largest operations, ever conducted on the northern front.

In the last military operation, conducted in Manchuria in September-October, we used the forces of the servicing population numbering a total of 900,000 people. 

4. At the present time the situation is developing considerably faster than it was predicted by us at a meeting of the CC at the beginning of the month of September. Now it is already no longer what was assumed before—mainly to overthrow the power of the Guomindang within 5 years (beginning from July 1946), but now one can for the most part overthrow the power of the Guomindang in the course of three and a half years. However, we still follow the measure of confident actions [sic].

After the end of the military operations near Suizhou, Beiping [Beijing] and Tianjin the main body of our forces must take a rest and be brought into order in the course of three months, and [must] capture an isolated city of Taiyuan, and then [they] will move into the basin of the Yangzi River and into the wide southern regions.

5. We recruited and are preparing 53,000 cadres for using them to work in new regions which will be captured next year. This preparation is being carried out in a planned manner, there is confidence in carrying out work of preparing the cadres. 

6. Intensified [ideological] education work is being carried out among the party cadres to grasp the theory of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin and a series of concrete political measures of the Chinese Revolution. The faster the Chinese Revolution is developing, the more we feel the extreme importance of this education work [among] the cadres. 

7. The rule of the Guomindang is difficult to sustain. Degradation and division are occuring internally. The wide masses of the country more and more strive towards us. The liberal bourgeoisie are wobbling more and more, searching with us for a solution for themselves. The number of people following the Guomindang is shrinking from day to day. 

8. In recent months we took a number of big cities. At the same time there was a very good order there. Our various political undertakings received approval on the part of the wide masses. This had a very good influence in the areas of the Guomindang rule. 

9. The discipline of the People's Liberation Army has increased considerably, the military spirit has gone up, the commanders have greater confidence in the matter of taking power in the country. The discipline of the Guomindang is unruly. The number of defectors from the Guomindang forces is growing larger 
and larger.

After [we] finish the two military operations near Suizhou and Beiping [Beijing] the Guomindang will no longer possess cadre-strength forces. The number of forces will be decreased to 170 divisions. The majority of these—newly formed or with low battle capability.

10. Leading figures of the democratic parties and groups and people's organizations of Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beiping [Beijing], Tianjian and other large cities have come or will soon come to our areas under the banner of the political consultative meeting and the democratic coalition government. The majority of these people were invited by us to participate in the political consultative meeting.

11. The blatantly aggressive policy of the US government has already bankrupted itself. Now the Americans intend to move from active support of the Guomindang to the support of the local Guomindang and southern Chinese militarists, so as to resist the People's Liberation Army with their military forces. This is [the case] on the one hand, and on the other—to organize and send their lackeys so that they infiltrate the political consultative meeting and the democratic coalition government and could create an opposition bloc there and undermine from within the people's revolutionary front in order that the revolution could not be consistently implemented.

This latter intrigue has already manifested itself several times. For example, they sent their diplomatic workers and journalists to the leaders of the right wing of the democratic league—Luo Longji, Zhan Lan, Hua Nanshe, and to the leader of the revolutionary committee of the Guomindang Li Jishen (he is en route to the liberated areas), so as to conduct among them provocative work and efforts to lure [them in]. We already paid attention to this and must do our best to make sure that the Americans will not achieve the aim of their intrigue.

12. We have already called a number of comrades to a meeting in the CC, that is—Gao Gang (secretary of the party committee of Manchuria), Yao Soushi (secretary of the party committee of eastern China), Bo Yibo (secretary of the party committee of northern China), Liu Bocheng (commander of the forces of central China), Chen Yi (commander of the forces of eastern China), Luo Yunhuan (political commissar of the Manchurian forces), Lin Bocui (chairman of the government of ShenGanYingXia [sic, possibly Shaanganning?]) so to discuss the questions of the whole strategy for 1949 (which units should be responsible for which line of advance, other preparatory works), [and] of the calling of the second plenum of the CCP CC in the spring of 1949, and others. 

Soon after the end of the meeting I will be able to go to Moscow and discuss with you all the questions, and then after returning from Moscow conduct the second plenum of the CCP CC.

Around the summer of next year [we] will call the political consultative meeting of the representatives of various democratic parties, groups and people's organizations and create a democratic coalition government. Now it is extremely important to create such a government, all the conditions have become ripe for this.

[I] request that you report this telegram to comrade main master and to the VKP(b) CC. 

Mao Zedong 
30.XII.1948