Speech at the Northwest Youth Salvation Congress[1]

(April 12, 1937)

Comrades:

Today the Northwest Youth Salvation Congress convenes. It will call upon the youth masses of the Northwest and the entire nation to unite with all sectors of society and step onto the path of unity and resistance against the enemy. I will speak a bit about the Communist Party’s policy of unity and resistance to Japan. The Communist Party’s policy in the past was civil war and agrarian revolution. Our policy now is peace, unity, and armed resistance against Japan. Why is this? Why have our policies in the past and the present been so different? The reason lies in the fact that during the past years we could not but act in that way, and we were only allowed to act in that way. The past was a struggle between two opposing political powers, an armed class struggle, because at that time the Kuomintang and the bourgeoisie betrayed the revolution, took up guns, and killed the revolutionary people. The revolutionary people had no other method and no other way out besides this. Acting in that way then was absolutely necessary and just.

If one says the Communist Party was wrong in the past, then pray tell, what other path was there besides this path? Should we have joined the Kuomintang in surrendering to imperialism and feudal forces? If we would not surrender to imperialism and feudal forces, then we had to resist imperialism and feudal forces.

There is no middle road between the two.

After the “September 18th” Incident, and especially after the North China Incident, Japan sought to occupy China alone and destroy China. This changed class relations within China and also changed the relations of imperialist countries like Britain, France, and the United States toward China to some degree. Splits occurred both within the bourgeoisie and within the Kuomintang. With the nation facing peril, it became necessary and possible to change our old policy and adopt a new one. Therefore, we adopted the policy of the anti-Japanese national united front and put forward the slogan, “Stop the Civil War and Unite to Resist Japan.” The objective of our united front is anti-Japanese, not opposed to all imperialisms. Our united front is a national united front, a joint front transcending class and party divisions, and it also differs from the popular fronts in foreign countries. These are the characteristics of our united front.

Since the December 9th anti-Japanese movement by the students of Beiping and Tianjin in 1935, through many events, up until the Xi’an Incident and the Third Plenary Session, China’s internal situation has begun to shift from one state to another, namely from civil war, dictatorship, and non-resistance to a stage of peace, democracy, and armed resistance. The Communist Party’s August 1st Declaration, December Resolution, Letter to the Kuomintang, September Resolution, the policy of peaceful unification during the Xi’an Incident, and the policy of peace stated in the telegram to the Third Plenary Session—all these have served as calls and guiding forces for the nation to reach this new stage. These all show that whereas in the past we raised and carried out the slogan of smashing the encirclement and suppression efforts of the domestic ruling class, now this is no longer the case. Now we must unite the whole nation to smash the encirclement and suppression of the whole of China by the fascists headed by Japan. If encirclement and suppression exist both at home and abroad, then China can only perish. Therefore, we propose that the internal encirclement and suppression must be reconciled, and a great body of the whole nation must be established to deal with the external encirclement and suppression. At present, this new task has taken its first step. The second step and the third step will follow, and will continue until the fascist encirclement and suppression is crushed.

Does our cessation of the agrarian revolution mean that we disregard the interests of the nation? No. Quite the opposite: we must struggle even more for the interests of the masses. It is precisely for this purpose that we resolutely demand the Kuomintang implement democratic reforms and democratic improvements, because today’s democratic reforms are exactly what the anti-Japanese masses of the people need. Without democratic reforms and without the people’s freedoms and rights, resisting Japan can only be empty talk. Resistance to Japan and democracy cannot be separated.

The lack of peace and unity that existed previously was not only the case between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, but also among all provinces nationwide. To resist Japan and save the nation, there must be peace and unity. Fighting and division cannot achieve resistance to Japan and national salvation. Therefore, peace and unity have become an essential demand of the whole nation. The work of the past year has been to resolutely advocate for and strive to achieve this peace and unity. It can now be said that this has been initially achieved, but peace has not yet been consolidated. To consolidate peace and realize true unity, democratic politics must be implemented.

At present, with the exception of the Soviet areas, the people of the entire country have no democratic freedoms. Speaking leads to persecution, walking leads to persecution, and patriotism leads to persecution. Patriotic leaders like Shen Junru and others were imprisoned because of their patriotism, and I hear they are now to be prosecuted. Walking in the streets to demonstrate against Japanese imperialism leads to arrest. Publishing newspapers that speak patriotic words leads to bans. How can genuine resistance to Japan be carried out under such circumstances? Therefore, we say that without peace and without democracy, there can be no unity and solidarity, and thus no resistance to Japan. Therefore, consolidating peace and striving for democracy are the necessary conditions for realizing the War of Resistance Against Japan, and are also the central tasks of today, the essay that must be written today.

We once strove to expand the Red Army. Now that is also different. Chinese who once fought each other should now become good friends, all joining together to fight the common enemy. Thus, the Red Army can also transform into the National Revolutionary Army. All Chinese armed forces must become anti-Japanese armies. We should fight for the expansion and training of a genuine anti-Japanese army.

In the past, because the Kuomintang betrayed the revolution, the Communist Party had no choice but to shoulder the responsibility of the revolution alone. And now? The Kuomintang has again begun to turn towards resistance to Japan. Therefore, we vigorously advocate cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and advocate restoring the revolutionary spirit of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People. The Kuomintang, the Communist Party, and the people of the entire nation should all struggle for national independence, the people’s rights and freedoms, and the people’s livelihood and happiness.

Some comrades, having worn the red cap for ten years and now donning the cap of the Three Principles of the People again, express they are very unwilling. This thinking was very correct in the past, because at that time the cap of the Three Principles of the People truly could not be worn. But if the old cap is given new content, then the matter changes; it is not something that cannot be worn, but rather becomes wearable. Reorganizing the Soviet system, renaming the Red Army, and placing it under the command of the Nanjing National Government—this is the meaning.

The youth of the Northwest have the responsibility to unite the youth of the entire nation. Let all the youth of the nation unite, and together with adults, children, and the elderly form a great body of several hundred millions. Then, however fierce Japanese imperialism may be, we will be able to defeat it.