May 3, 1937

[Comrade Mao Tse-tung delivered this report at the National Conference of
the Communist Party of China, held in Yenan in May 1937.]


  THE PRESENT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA'S EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS


1. As the contradiction between China and Japan has become the principal
one and China's internal contradictions have dropped into a secondary and
subordinate place, changes have occurred in China's international relations
and internal class relations, giving rise to a new stage of development in
the current situation.

2. China has long been in the grip of two acute and basic contradictions,
the contradiction between China and imperialism and the contradiction between
feudalism and the masses of the people. In 1927 the bourgeoisie, represented
by the Kuomintang, betrayed the revolution and sold China's national interests
to imperialism, thus creating a situation in which the state power of the
workers and peasants stood in sharp antagonism to that of the Kuomintang,
and, of necessity, the task of the national and democratic revolution devolved
upon the Chinese Communist Party alone.

3. Since the Incident of September 18, 1931 and especially since the Northern
China Incident of 1935, [1] the following changes have
taken place in these contradictions:

(1) The contradiction between China and imperialism in general has given
way to the particularly salient and sharp contradiction between China and
Japanese imperialism. Japanese imperialism is carrying out a policy of total
conquest of China. Consequently, the contradictions between China and certain
other imperialist powers have been relegated to a secondary position, while
the rift between these powers and Japan has been widened. Consequently also,
the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people are faced with the task
of linking China's anti-Japanese national united front with the world peace
front. This means that China should not only unite with the Soviet Union,
which has been the consistently good friend of the Chinese people, but as
far as possible should work for joint opposition to Japanese imperialism
with those imperialist countries which, at the present time, are willing
to maintain peace and are against new wars of aggression. The aim of our
united front must be resistance to Japan, and not simultaneous opposition
to all the imperialist powers.

(2) The contradiction between China and Japan has changed internal class
relations within China and has confronted the bourgeoisie and even the warlords
with the question of survival, so that they and their political parties have
been undergoing a gradual change in their political attitude. This has placed
the task of establishing an anti-Japanese national united front before the
Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people. Our united front should include
the bourgeoisie and all who agree to the defence of the motherland, it should
represent national solidarity against the foreign foe. This task not only
must, but can, be fulfilled.

(3) The contradiction between China and Japan has changed matters for the
masses throughout the country (the proletariat, the peasantry and the urban
petty bourgeoisie) and for the Communist Party, and it has changed the Party's
policy. More and more people have risen to fight for national salvation.
The policy proclaimed by the Communist Party after the September 18th Incident
was to conclude agreements with those sections of the Kuomintang which were
willing to co-operate with us for resistance, subject to three conditions
(stop attacking the revolutionary base areas, guarantee the freedoms and
rights of the people, arm the people), and it has developed into a policy
of establishing an anti-Japanese united front of the whole nation. This is
the reason for the following steps taken by our Party: in 1935, the August
declaration [2] and the December resolution;
[3] in 1936, the abandonment of the "anti-Chiang Kai-shek"
slogan in May, [4] the letter to the Kuomintang in August,
[5] the resolution on the democratic republic in September,
[6] and the insistence on a peaceful settlement of the
Sian Incident in December; and in 1937, the February telegram to the Third
Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang.
[7]

(4) Because of the contradiction between China and Japan, a change has also
occurred in the Chinese warlord regimes and the civil wars among them, which
are the product of the imperialist policy of spheres of influence and of
China's semi-colonial economic conditions. Japanese imperialism fosters such
separate regimes and civil wars for the purpose of facilitating exclusive
Japanese domination of China. Certain other imperialist powers are temporarily
in favour of unity and peace in China in their own interests. The Chinese
Communist Party and the Chinese people on their part are exerting their utmost
efforts against civil wars and splits and for peace and unity.

(5) In terms of relative political importance the development of the national
contradiction between China and Japan has demoted the domestic contradictions
between classes and between political groupings to a secondary and subordinate
place. But they still exist and have by no means diminished or disappeared.
The same is true of the contradictions between China and the imperialist
powers other than Japan. Therefore, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese
people are faced with the following task--to make the appropriate adjustments
with regard to those internal and external contradictions which can and must
be adjusted at present so as to fit in with the general task of unity against
Japan. This is the reason for the Chinese Communist Party's policies of peace
and unity, democracy, bettering the life of the people and negotiations with
foreign countries that are opposed to Japan.

4. The first stage of the new period in the Chinese revolution began on December
9, 1935 and ended when the Kuomintang's Central Executive Committee held
its Third Plenary Session in February 1937. The major events in this stage
were the movements for national salvation among the students and cultural
and press circles; the Red Army's entry into the Northwest; the Communist
Party's work of propaganda and organization for its anti-Japanese national
united front policy; the anti-Japanese strikes in Shanghai and Tsingtao;
[8] the relative stiffening of British policy towards
Japan; [9] the Kwangtung-Kwangsi Incident ;
[10] the resistance in Suiyuan and the movement in its
support; [11] Nanking's somewhat firmer attitude in the
Sino-Japanese negotiations; [12] the Sian Incident; and
finally, the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of
the Kuomintang in Nanking. [13] These events all centred
on the basic contradiction, which is the antagonism between China and Japan;
they all centred directly on the historical need for an anti-Japanese national
united front.

The basic task of the revolution at this stage was to struggle for internal
peace and stop the internal armed conflicts, so that there could be unity
against Japan. During this stage the Communist Party issued its call, "Stop
the civil war and unite against Japan", a call which in the main has been
put into effect, and thereby created the primary prerequisite for the actual
establishment of an anti-Japanese national united front.

5. Owing to the presence of the pro-Japanese group inside the Kuomintang,
it made no definite or thoroughgoing change in its policy at the Third Plenary
Session of its Central Executive Committee and did not concretely solve any
problem. However, owing to the pressure of the people and to developments
in its own ranks, the Kuomintang had to begin to change its wrong policy
of the previous ten years, that is, it had to turn away from the policy of
civil war, dictatorship and non-resistance to Japan and to move in the direction
of peace, democracy and resistance to Japan, and it had to begin accepting
the policy of an anti-Japanese national united front; this initial change
revealed itself at the Third Plenary Session of its Central Executive Committee.
From now on the demand must be for a thorough change in Kuomintang policy.
In order to attain this goal our Party and the people throughout the country
must develop the movement for resistance to Japan and for democracy still
more extensively, must go a step further in criticizing the Kuomintang, pushing
it into action and keeping up the pressure, must unite with all those within
the Kuomintang who stand for peace, democracy and resistance to Japan, and
must help the hesitant waverers forward and throw out the pro-Japanese elements.

6. The present stage is the second one in the new period. Both the previous
and present stages are stages of transition towards nationwide armed resistance
to Japan. If in the previous stage the principal task was the fight for peace,
then in the present stage the principal task is the fight for democracy.
It must be understood that just as a genuine and solid anti-Japanese national
united front cannot be established without internal peace, so it cannot be
established without internal democracy. Hence at the present stage of development
the fight for democracy is the central link in the revolutionary task. If
we fail to see the importance of democracy clearly and slacken our fight
for it, we shall be unable to establish a genuine and solid anti-Japanese
national united front.

  THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM


7. Japanese imperialism is now intensifying its preparations for the invasion
of China south of the Great Wall. In concert with the intensified preparations
of Hitler and Mussolini for predatory war in the West, Japan is exerting
every ounce of energy in the East in order to prepare the ground, according
to a definite plan, for the subjugation of China at a single stroke--she
is creating the military, political, economic and ideological conditions
at home and the diplomatic conditions internationally, and fostering the
pro-Japanese forces in China. Japan's propaganda about "Sino-Japanese
collaboration" and a certain relaxation in her diplomatic measures stem precisely
from the tactical needs of her policy of aggression on the eve of war. China
is now approaching the critical moment of decision between survival and
extinction and must rush preparations for resisting Japan and saving the
nation. We are certainly not against preparation; what we are against is
the doctrine of protracted preparation and the frivolous, dissipated and
gluttonous life of civil and military officialdom which imperils the nation;
such things actually help the enemy and must be quickly swept away.

8. Political, military, economic and educational preparations for national
defence are all necessary for armed resistance to save the nation, and none
of them should be delayed for a moment. But the key that will ensure victory
for our armed resistance is the winning of political democracy and freedom.
Armed resistance requires domestic peace and unity, but the peace already
won cannot be consolidated and internal unity cannot be strengthened without
democracy and freedom. Armed resistance requires the mobilization of the
people, but there is no way of mobilizing them without democracy and freedom.
Unless peace and unity are consolidated, unless the people are mobilized,
our armed resistance will meet the same fate as Abyssinia's. Abyssinia was
defeated mainly because her feudal regime could not achieve solid internal
unity and rouse the initiative of her people. Without democracy, a genuine
and solid national united front against Japan cannot be established in China
and its goals cannot be attained.

9. China must at once start democratic changes in the two following respects.
First, in the matter of the political system, the reactionary Kuomintang
dictatorship of one party and one class must be changed into a democratic
government based on the co-operation of all parties and all classes. In this
respect, a start should be made by changing the undemocratic procedures for
electing and convening the national assembly, and by holding democratic elections
to the assembly and ensuring freedom in the conduct of its meetings, after
which it will be necessary to go on to framing and adopting a truly democratic
constitution, convening a truly democratic parliament, and electing a genuinely
democratic government that will carry out genuinely democratic policies.
Only thus can internal peace be truly consolidated, internal armed hostilities
ended and internal unity strengthened, enabling the whole nation to unite
and resist the foreign foe. It is possible that Japanese imperialism will
attack us before the changes are completed. Therefore, in order to be able
to resist and thoroughly crush the Japanese attack when it comes, we must
quickly go ahead with the reforms and be prepared to accomplish them fully
in the course of our armed resistance. The people of the whole country and
the patriots of all parties should throw off their former indifference towards
the question of a national assembly and a constitution, and should concentrate
on the movement for a national assembly and a constitution, a movement that
is important for national defence; they should subject the Kuomintang, the
party in power, to severe criticism, and press and impel it to give up its
one-party, one-class dictatorship and act according to the opinions of the
people. In the next few months of this year, a broad democratic movement
must be set going throughout the country, with the immediate objective of
completely democratizing the national assembly and the constitution. The
second matter concerns freedom of speech, assembly and association for the
people. Without such freedom, it will be impossible to carry out the democratic
reconstruction of the political system, mobilize the people for the war of
resistance and victoriously defend the motherland and recover the lost
territories. In the next few months the nation-wide democratic movement should
strive for at least a minimal achievement of such freedoms, which must include
the release of political prisoners, the removal of the ban on political parties,
etc. Democratic reconstruction of the political system and freedom and rights
for the people constitute an important part of the programme of the anti-Japanese
national united front; at the same time they are prerequisites for the
establishment of a genuine and solid anti-Japanese national united front.

10. Our enemies--the Japanese imperialists, the Chinese traitors, the
pro-Japanese elements and the Trotskyites--have been doing their utmost to
wreck every move for peace and unity, democracy and freedom in China and
for armed resistance to Japan. In the past, while we were fighting strenuously
for peace and unity, they were doing all they could to foment civil war and
splits. At present and in the near future, while we fight strenuously for
democracy and freedom, they will no doubt resort to their wrecking again.
Their general objective is to thwart us in our task of armed resistance in
defence of the motherland and to accomplish their aggressive plan for subjugating
China. From now on, in the struggle for democracy and freedom, we must not
only exert ourselves in propaganda, agitation and criticism directed towards
the Kuomintang die-hards and the backward sections of the people, but must
also fully expose and firmly combat the intrigues of the Japanese imperialists
and of the pro-Japanese elements and Trotskyites who serve as their running
dogs in the invasion of China.

11. For the sake of internal peace, democracy and armed resistance and for
the sake of establishing the anti-Japanese national united front, the Chinese
Communist Party has made the following four pledges in its telegram to the
Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang:

(1) the Communist-led government in the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia revolutionary
base area will be renamed the Government of the Special Region of the Republic
of China and the Red Army will be redesignated as part of the National
Revolutionary Army, and they will come under the direction of the Central
Government in Nanking and its Military Council respectively;

(2) a thoroughly democratic system will be applied in the areas under the
Government of the Special Region;

(3) the policy of overthrowing the Kuomintang by armed force will be
discontinued; and

(4) the confiscation of the land of the landlords will be discontinued.

These pledges are necessary as well as permissible. For only thus can we
transform the state of antagonism between the two different regimes within
the country and achieve unity for common action against the enemy, in line
with the changes in the relative political importance of China's external
and internal contradictions. These are principled and conditional concessions,
made with the aim of obtaining in return what the whole nation needs--peace,
democracy and armed resistance. Moreover, the concessions have limits. The
preservation of the Communist Party's leadership over the Special Region
and in the Red Army, and the preservation of the Communist Party's independence
and freedom of criticism in its relations with the Kuomintang--these are
the limits beyond which it is impermissible to go. Concessions mean concessions
by both parties: the Kuomintang abandons the policy of civil war, dictatorship
and non-resistance to the foreign foe, and the Communist Party abandons the
policy of maintaining antagonism between the two regimes. We exchange the
latter for the former and resume our co-operation with the Kuomintang to
fight for national salvation. To describe this as capitulation by the Communist
Party is nothing but Ah Q-ism [14] or malicious slander.

12. Does the Communist Party agree with the Three People's Principles? Our
answer is, Yes, we do. [15] The Three People's Principles
have undergone changes in the course of their history. The revolutionary
Three People's Principles of Dr. Sun Yat-sen won the people's confidence
and became the banner of the victorious revolution of 1924-27 because they
were resolutely applied as a result of his co-operation with the Communist
Party. In 1927, however, the Kuomintang turned on the Communist Party (the
party purge [16] and the anti-Communist war) and pursued
an opposite policy, bringing the revolution down in defeat and endangering
the nation; consequently the people lost confidence in the Three People's
Principles. Now that there is an extremely grave national crisis and the
Kuomintang cannot continue to rule in the same old way, the people of the
whole country and the patriots within the Kuomintang are urgently demanding
co-operation between the two parties. Consequently, it is completely in keeping
with the historical requirements of the Chinese revolution that the essence
of the Three People's Principles should be revived and restored, and that
the two parties should resume their co-operation, in accordance with the
Principle of Nationalism, or the struggle for national independence and
liberation, the Principle of Democracy, or the attainment of internal democracy
and freedom, and the Principle of People's Livelihood, or the promotion of
the people's welfare, and they should lead the people to put these principles
resolutely into practice. This ought to be clearly grasped by every member
of the Communist Party. Communists will never abandon their ideal of socialism
and communism, which they will attain by going through the stage of the
bourgeois-democratic revolution. The Chinese Communist Party has its own
political and economic programme. Its maximum programme is socialism and
communism, which is different from the Three People's Principles. Even its
programme for the period of the democratic revolution is more thoroughgoing
than that of any other party in China. But the Communist Party's programme
for the democratic revolution and the programme of the Three People's Principles
as proclaimed by the Kuomintang's First National Congress are basically not
in conflict. Therefore, far from rejecting the Three People's Principles,
we are ready staunchly to put them into practice; moreover, we ask the Kuomintang
to implement them together with us, and we call upon the whole nation to
put them into effect. We hold that the Communist Party, the Kuomintang and
the people of the whole country should unite and fight for these three great
objectives of national independence, democracy and freedom, and the people's
livelihood.

13. Was our past slogan of a workers' and peasants' democratic republic wrong?
No, it was not. Since the bourgeoisie, and particularly the big bourgeoisie,
withdrew from the revolution, became retainers of imperialism and the feudal
forces and turned into enemies of the people, the only remaining motive forces
of the revolution were the proletariat, the peasantry and the urban petty
bourgeoisie, and the only remaining revolutionary party was the Communist
Party, which, as such, inevitably had to shoulder the responsibility for
organizing the revolution. The Communist Party alone continued to hold aloft
the banner of revolution, preserved the revolutionary tradition, put forward
the slogan of a workers' and peasants' democratic republic and fought hard
for it for many years. This slogan was not in conflict with the task of
bourgeois-democratic revolution but signified that we were resolutely carrying
out this task. Not a single item of policy adopted in our actual struggle
was out of keeping with this task. Our policy, including the confiscation
of the land of the landlords and the enforcement of the eight-hour working
day, never went beyond the bounds of capitalist private ownership; our policy
was not to put socialism in practice then. What will be the composition of
the new democratic republic? It will consist of the proletariat, the peasantry,
the urban petty bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie, and all those in the country
who agree with the national and democratic revolution; it will be the alliance
of these classes in the national and democratic revolution. The salient feature
here is the inclusion of the bourgeoisie; the reason is that in the present
circumstances there is a possibility that the bourgeoisie will once again
co-operate with us and join in the resistance to Japan, and the party of
the proletariat should therefore not repel but welcome them and revive its
alliance with them for the common struggle, so as to help the Chinese revolution
forward. In order to end the internal armed conflict, the Communist Party
is willing to discontinue the policy of forcible confiscation of the land
of the landlords and is prepared to solve the land problem by legislative
and other appropriate means in the course of building the new democratic
republic. The first question to be settled is whether China's land will be
owned by the Japanese or by the Chinese. Since the solution of the land problem
of the peasants is predicated on the defence of China, it is absolutely necessary
for us to turn from the method of forcible confiscation to appropriate new
methods.

It was correct to put forward the slogan of a workers' and peasants' democratic
republic in the past, and it is correct to drop it today.

14. To establish the national united front for joint resistance to the enemy,
it is necessary properly to resolve certain internal contradictions, the
principle here being that the solution should help strengthen and extend
the anti-Japanese national united front and not weaken or narrow it. During
the stage of the democratic revolution, it is impossible to avoid contradictions
and struggles between classes, parties and political groupings, but it is
both possible and essential to put an end to such struggles as are detrimental
to unity and to resisting Japan (the civil war, the antagonistic conflict
between the political parties, provincial separatism, feudal political and
economic oppression on the one hand, and the policy of insurrection and excessive
economic demands harmful to the resistance on the other, etc.), and to continue
such struggles as benefit unity and resistance to Japan (for freedom of
criticism, for the independence of the political parties, for the improvement
of the political and economic life of the people, etc.).

15. Within the over-all task of fighting for an anti-Japanese national united
front and a unified democratic republic, the tasks of the Red Army and the
anti-Japanese base area are:

(1) To suit the circumstances of war against Japan, the Red Army should
immediately be reorganized into the National Revolutionary Army and become
a model army in that war by raising the level of its military,
political and cultural education.

(2) Our base area should become a component part of the state, apply its
democratic system under the new conditions, reorganize its peace preservation
corps, clear out traitors and saboteurs, and become a region that is a model
of resistance and democracy.

(3) Essential economic construction should be conducted in this area and
the livelihood of the people should be improved.

(4) Essential cultural work should be carried out.

  OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LEAD


16. It is a law confirmed by Chinese history that the Chinese bourgeoisie,
which may participate in fighting imperialism and feudalism in certain historical
circumstances, vacillates and turns traitor in others, because of its economic
and political flabbiness. Thus it is history's verdict that China's
bourgeois-democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism is a task
that can be completed, not under the leadership of the bourgeoisie, but only
under that of the proletariat. What is more, it is possible to overcome the
bourgeoisie's inherent vacillation and lack of thoroughness and to prevent
the miscarriage of the revolution only by bringing the perseverance and
thoroughness of the proletariat in the democratic revolution into full play.
Is the proletariat to follow the bourgeoisie, or is the bourgeoisie to follow
the proletariat? This question of responsibility for leadership in the Chinese
revolution is the linchpin upon which the success or failure of the revolution
depends. The experience of 1924-27 shows how the revolution forged ahead
when the bourgeoisie followed the political leadership of the proletariat
and met defeat when the proletariat became the political tail of the bourgeoisie
through the fault of the Communist Party. [17] This piece
of history should not be allowed to repeat itself. In the present circumstances,
without the political leadership of the proletariat and its party it is
impossible to establish an anti-Japanese national united front, to attain
the objectives of peace, democracy and armed resistance and to defend the
motherland, and impossible to set up a unified democratic republic. Today
the bourgeoisie, represented by the Kuomintang, is still very passive and
conservative, and the proof of this is its long hesitation about accepting
the anti-Japanese national united front initiated by the Communist Party.
This situation increases the responsibility of the proletariat and its party
for giving political leadership. To function as the general staff in resisting
Japan and saving the nation is a responsibility the Communist Party cannot
relinquish, an obligation it cannot decline.

17. How does the proletariat give political leadership through its party
to all the revolutionary classes in the country? First, by putting forward
basic political slogans that accord with the course of historical development
and by putting forward slogans of action for each stage of development and
each major turn of events in order to translate these political slogans into
reality. For instance, we have put forward the basic slogans for "an
anti-Japanese national united front" and for "a unified democratic republic",
but we have also put forward the slogans, "end the civil war", "fight for
democracy" and "carry out armed resistance", as specific objectives for concerted
action by the entire nation; without such specific objectives political
leadership is out of the question. Second, the proletariat, and especially
its vanguard the Communist Party, should set an example through its boundless
enthusiasm and loyalty in achieving the specific objectives when the whole
country goes into action for them. In the fight to fulfil all the tasks of
the anti-Japanese national united front and the democratic republic, Communists
should be the most far-sighted, the most self-sacrificing, the most resolute,
and the least prejudiced in sizing up situations, and should rely on the
majority of the masses and win their support. Third, the Communist Party
should establish proper relations with its allies and develop and consolidate
its alliance with them, while adhering to the principle of never relinquishing
its defined political objectives. Fourth, it should expand the ranks of the
Communist Party and maintain its ideological unity and strict discipline;
It is by doing all these things that the Communist Party gives effect to
its political leadership of the people throughout China. They constitute
the foundation for guaranteeing our political leadership and for ensuring
that the revolution will win complete victory and not be disrupted by the
vacillations of our allies.

18. When internal peace is achieved and co-operation is established between
the two parties, changes will have to be made in the forms of struggle,
organization and work which we adopted when the line was one of maintaining
a regime antagonistic to that of the Kuomintang. They will mainly be changes
from military to peaceful forms and from illegal to legal forms. It will
not be easy to make these changes and we shall have to learn afresh. The
retraining of our cadres thus becomes a key link.

19. Many comrades have been asking questions about the nature of the democratic
republic and its future. Our answer is: as to its class nature, the republic
will be an alliance of all revolutionary classes, and as to its future, it
may move towards socialism. Our democratic republic is to be established
in the course of national armed resistance under the leadership of the
proletariat and in the new international environment (with socialism victorious
in the Soviet Union and the approach of a new period of world revolution).
Therefore, though it will still be a bourgeois-democratic state socially
and economically, yet it will be different from the general run of bourgeois
republics because, in concrete political terms, it will have to be a state
based on the alliance of the working class, the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie
and the bourgeoisie. Thus, as to the future of the democratic republic, though
it may move in a capitalist direction, the possibility also exists that it
will turn towards socialism, and the party of the Chinese proletariat should
struggle hard for the latter prospect.

20. The fight against closed-doorism and adventurism and also against tailism
is essential to the accomplishment of the Party's tasks. In the mass movements
our Party has a traditional tendency towards rank closed-doorism, haughty
sectarianism, and adventurism; this ugly tendency hinders the Party in
establishing an anti-Japanese national united front and winning over the
majority of the masses. It is absolutely necessary to wipe out this tendency
in each and every field of work. What we ask is: rely on the majority and
take the whole situation into account. There must be no revival of the Chen
Tu-hsiu type of tailism, which is a reflection of bourgeois reformism in
the ranks of the proletariat. To debase the class stand of the Party, to
obscure its distinctive features, to sacrifice the interests of the workers
and peasants to suit the needs of bourgeois reformism, is sure to lead the
revolution to defeat. What we ask is: carry out firm revolutionary policies
and strive for complete victory in the bourgeois-democratic revolution. To
overcome the undesirable tendencies we have described, it is absolutely necessary
to raise the Marxist-Leninist theoretical level of the whole Party, for
Marxism-Leninism alone is the compass which can guide the Chinese revolution
to victory.


NOTES

1. The Northern China Incident took place in 1935 when
the Japanese carried on aggression against northern China and the Kuomintang
government headed by Chiang Kai-shek betrayed our sovereignty and humiliated
our nation. In May of that year, the Japanese demanded that the Kuomintang
government grant them administrative authority over northern China, and in
June Ho Ying-chin the Kuomintang government's representative there, submitted
and signed an agreement with Yoshijiro Umezu, commander of the invading forces
in northern China which became known as the "Ho-Umezu Agreement". By its
terms China forfeited much of her sovereignty in the provinces of Hopei and
Chahar. In October at the instigation of the Japanese invaders, some Chinese
traitors staged a revolt in Hsiangho, Hopei Province, and seized the county
town. In November, a number of Chinese traitors were put up by the Japanese
invaders to start a self-styled movement of autonomy in the five provinces
of northern China, and a puppet "Anti-Communist Autonomous Administration"
was established in eastern Hopei To meet the Japanese demand for "special
administration for northern China" the Kuomintang government appointed Sung
Cheh-yuan and others to form a "Political Council for Hopei and Chahar".
2. This declaration was issued by the Chinese Communist
Party on August 1, 1935. Its main points are contained in the following extracts:
"At this moment when our country and our people are threatened with imminent
destruction, the Communist Party once again appeals to all fellow countrymen:
whatever the past or present differences of political opinion and of interests
among the political parties, whatever the differences of view and of interests
among our countrymen in their various walks of life, whatever the past or
present hostilities between the various armies, we should truly awaken to
the realization that 'brothers quarreling at home, join forces against attacks
from without' and, first and foremost, we should stop the civil war so as
to concentrate the nation's resources (manpower, material and financial
resources, and the armed forces) on the fight for the sacred cause of resisting
Japan and saving the nation. Once again the Communist Party solemnly declares
if the Kuomintang troops cease their attacks on the Red Army and if any units
carry out resistance to Japan, then the Red Army, regardless of any old feuds
or present conflicts or differences on domestic issues, will not only immediately
cease its hostile actions against these units, but willingly work closely
with them to save the nation."
"The Communist Party is willing to initiate a national defence government
of this kind; for the joint formation of such a national defence government
it is ready to hold immediate talks with all those willing to join the cause
of resisting Japan and saving the nation--all political parties, all
organizations (trade unions, peasant associations, student unions, chambers
of commerce educational associations, journalists' societies, associations
of teachers and other staff of schools, fellow-townsmen's associations, the
Chih Kung Tang the Association for National Armed Self-Defence, the Anti-Japanese
Association the Association for National Salvation, etc.), all prominent
public figures, scholars and statesmen and all local military and administrative
bodies The national defence government emerging out of these negotiations
should be a provisional organ of leadership for saving the nation from
subjugation and ensuring its survival. It should endeavour to convene a delegate
body truly representative of all our countrymen (with delegates democratically
elected by all the various circles of workers, peasants, soldiers, government
personnel, businessmen and students, by all parties and all organizations
willing to resist Japan and save the nation, and by all overseas Chinese
and all the nationalities within China's boundaries) to discuss all problems
relating to armed resistance and national salvation in more specific terms.
The Communist Party will do its very best to help convene such an assembly
of representatives of the people and to carry out all its decisions."
"An anti-Japanese united army should be formed of all troops willing to fight
Japan. A single general headquarters of this army should be set up under
the leadership of the national defence government. The question of whether
this headquarters should be composed of representatives elected by the officers
and men of the various anti-Japanese army units or be formed in some other
way should be decided by the representatives of all circles and by the will
of the people. The Red Army will unreservedly be the first to join this united
army and fulfil its duty in resisting Japan and saving the nation. To enable
the national defence government and the anti-Japanese united army effectively
to discharge their immense responsibilities for national defence and for
resisting Japan, the Communist Party hereby appeals to the whole nation:
those who have money give money, those who have guns give guns, those who
have grain give grain, those who have labour power give labour power, and
those who have special skill contribute special skill, so that all our
fellow-countrymen will be mobilized and all weapons, old or modern, will
be used to arm the people in millions upon millions."
3. The December resolution was the "Resolution on the Present
Political Situation and the Tasks of the Party", adopted at the meeting of
the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party
at Wayaopao, northern Shensi, on December 25, 1935. It made a comprehensive
analysis of the current internal and international situation and the changes
in class relations in China, and formulated the Party's policy. The resolution
runs in part as follows:
The present situation shows that the attempts of Japanese imperialism to
annex China have shocked the whole country and the whole world. Changes have
taken place or are taking place in the relations between all classes, strata,
political parties and armed forces in China's political life. There is a
realignment of forces in both the national revolutionary front and the national
counter-revolutionary front. Therefore, the Party's tactical line is to arouse,
unite and organize the revolutionary forces throughout the country and among
all the nationalities to oppose the chief enemy confronting them, namely,
Japanese imperialism and the arch-traitor Chiang Kai-shek. All people, all
parties, all armed forces and all classes, in so far as they are opposed
to Japanese imperialism and the traitor Chiang Kai-shek, should unite and
wage the sacred national revolutionary war, drive the Japanese imperialists
out of China, overthrow the rule of their running dogs in China, achieve
the complete liberation of the Chinese nation and safeguard China's independence
and territorial integrity. Only by establishing the broadest anti-Japanese
national united front (embracing the lower and upper strata) can we defeat
Japanese imperialism and its running dog, Chiang Kai-shek. Of course, different
individuals, different organizations, different social classes and strata
and the various armed forces join the anti-Japanese national revolution from
different motives and with different class standpoints. Some do so in order
to hold on to their positions, some to gain leadership in the movement so
that it will not go beyond, the limits they allow, and some genuinely to
work for the complete liberation of the Chinese nation. Precisely because
their motives and their standpoint differ, some will vacillate or turn traitor
at the very start of the struggle, some will become indifferent or withdraw
from the fight midway and some will determinedly fight to the end. Nevertheless,
our task is to unite not only al possible basic forces but also all potential
allies likely to resist Japan and enable the people throughout the country
who have labour power to give labour power, those who have money to give
money, those who have guns to give guns, and those who have knowledge to
contribute knowledge, leaving no patriotic Chinese outside the anti-Japanese
front. Such is the general line of e Party's tactics for the broadest possible
national united front. Only by pursuing this line can we mobilize the forces
of the whole people to deal with the common enemy, Japanese imperialism and
the traitor Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese working class and peasantry remain
the basic motive forces of the Chinese revolution. The broad masses of the
petty bourgeoisie and the revolutionary intellectuals are their most reliable
allies in the national revolution A solid alliance of the workers, the peasants
and the petty bourgeoisie is the basic force for defeating Japanese imperialism
and the traitors and collaborators When a section of the national bourgeoisie
and the warlords gives moral support, maintains benevolent
neutrality or directly participates in the struggle against Japan and the
traitors and collaborators, this will serve to expand the anti-Japanese front,
however much it may disapprove of the agrarian revolution an Red political
power. For the total strength of the counter-revolution will thus be reduced
and the total strength of the revolution increased. To this end the Party
should adopt appropriate ways and means to win these forces over to the
anti-Japanese front. Moreover, unity is by no means prevalent even in the
camp of the landlord and comprador classes. Since the contention for China
among many imperialist powers has generated contending groups of traitors
in their service with contradictions and conflicts among them, the Party
should employ a variety of methods to ensure that for the time being some
of these counter-revolutionary forces do not actively oppose the anti-Japanese
front The same tactics should be applied in dealing with the imperialist
powers other than Japan. In arousing, uniting and organizing the forces of
the people through out the country to fight the common enemy, the Party should
resolutely and unswervingly combat all tendencies towards vacillation,
compromise, capitulation and betrayal within the anti-Japanese united front.
Those who disrupt the Chinese people's anti-Japanese movement are traitors
or collaborators whom we should all join in hitting hard. The Communist Party
should win the leadership of the anti-Japanese front by being resolute and
right in its words and deeds against the Japanese imperialists and the traitors
and collaborators Only under the Communist Party's leadership can the
anti-Japanese movement be completely victorious. With regard to the masses
in the anti-Japanese war, it is necessary to satisfy their demands in matters
affecting their basic interests (the demand of the peasants for land and
the demand of the workers the soldiers the urban poor and the intellectuals
for better living). Only by satisfying their demands will we be able to mobilize
still broader sections of the masses to join the anti-Japanese ranks, keep
up the anti-Japanese movement, and lead the movement to complete victory.
And only thus can the Party win leadership in the anti-Japanese war.
See "On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism", pp. 153-78 of this volume.
4. The Red Army sent an open telegram on May 5, 1936 demanding
that the Nanking government end the civil war, conduct peace negotiations
with the Communists for unity against Japan. The text reads as follows:
To the Military Council of the Nanking National Government; to all land,
sea and air forces, to all parties, all political groups; all public bodies,
all newspapers; and to all fellow-countrymen refusing to be slaves to a foreign
nation.
After crossing the Yellow River on its eastward expedition, the Anti-Japanese
Vanguard of the Chinese People's Red Army, organized by the Revolutionary
Military Commission of the Chinese Red Army, was everywhere victorious and
won support from all over the country. But when it occupied the Tatung-Puchow
Railway and was energetically preparing to drive eastward into Hopei to engage
the Japanese imperialists directly, Chiang Kai-shek sent more than ten divisions
into Shansi and co-operated with Yen Hsi-shan in barring its advance against
the Japanese. He also ordered the troops under Chang Hsueh-liang and Yang
Hu-cheng, as well as the troops in northern Shensi, to march on the Shensi-Kansu
Red area to harass our anti-Japanese rear In order to be able to reach and
fight the Japanese, the people's Anti-Japanese Vanguard should have concentrated
its entire strength and wiped out Chiang's troops blocking the way. But after
much deliberation, the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Red Army
decided that a battle to the finish between the two sides in the present
national crisis would only damage China's strength for national defence and
delight the Japanese imperialists, whichever side emerged victorious Furthermore,
there are quite a number of patriotic officers and men in Chiang Kai-shek's
and Yen Hsi-shan's armies who are willing to end the civil war and unite
to resist Japan, and it is really against their consciences to obey Chiang's
and Yen's orders and block the Red Army on its way to fight the Japanese.
Therefore, in spite of its numerous victories in Shansi, the Revolutionary
Military Commission of the Red Army has withdrawn the people's Anti-Japanese
Vanguard to the west of the Yellow River in order to preserve China's strength
for national defence and thereby help to bring nearer the war of resistance
against Japan, resolutely carry out our repeated declarations to the nation
on ending the civil war and uniting to resist Japan, and hasten the final
awakening of Chiang Kai-shek and the patriotic officers and men in his army.
With this demonstration of our good faith to the Nanking government, to all
the country's land, sea and air forces and to the whole nation, we are ready
to arrange a cease-fire with all the armed units attacking the and-Japanese
Red Army within one month and to enter into peace negotiations with them
in order to end the civil war and resist Japan. The Revolutionary Military
Commission of the Red Army hereby solemnly advises the gentlemen of the Nanking
government at this critical juncture, when our country and people are threatened
with imminent destruction, to make a determined effort to atone for past
misdeeds and end the civil war in the whole country, to join forces against
attacks from-without in the spirit of brothers quarreling at home, and first
of all end the civil war in Shensi, Kansu and Shansi, whereupon both sides
should appoint delegates to discuss specific measures for resisting Japan
and saving the nation. This will be a blessing to the nation and the country
as well as for your own good. However, if you obstinately refuse to listen
to reason and prefer to be traitors and collaborators, your rule will surely
collapse in the end and you will be spurned and overthrown by the whole nation.
The old saying runs, "A thousand pointing fingers accuse, and a man dies
even without a sickness." Or as another saying goes, "The butcher who lays
down his knife at once becomes a Buddha." These are words for you gentlemen
to digest and ponder. And the Revolutionary Military Commission of the Red
Army calls upon all organizations all parties and all people in the country,
who refuse to be slaves to a foreign nation, to support our proposal for
a cease-fire and peace negotiations, and for unity against Japan, to organize
committees for hastening the cessation of the civil war and to send
representatives to the front to stop the firing on both sides and to supervise
the full implementation of this proposal.
5. See "A Statement on Chiang Kai-shek's Statement' Note
7, pp. 259-61 of this volume.
6. The slogan of "A people's republic" was first put forward
in the "Resolution on the Present Political Situation and the Tasks of the
Party", adopted at the meeting of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee
of the Chinese Communist Party held in December 1935 and in the report by
Comrade Mao Tse-tung "On Tactics Against Japanese Imperialism". Later
circumstances made it necessary for the Party to adopt the policy of forcing
Chiang Kai-shek to resist Japan and, as the slogan would have been unacceptable
to the Chiang Kai-shek clique, it was changed into "A democratic republic"
in the Party's letter of August 1936 to the Kuomintang The slogan of a democratic
republic was subsequently explained in more concrete terms in the "Resolution
on the New Situation in the Movement to Resist Japan and Save the Nation,
and on the Democratic Republic", which the Central Committee of the Party
adopted in September of the same year. Though different in form the two slogans
are in essence the same. The following two extracts concerning the democratic
republic are from the September 1936 resolution of the Party's Central Committee:
"The Central Committee holds that in the present situation it is necessary
to put forward the slogan of 'establish a democratic republic', because this
is the best way to unite all the anti-Japanese forces to safeguard China's
territorial integrity and avert the calamity of the destruction of China
and of the subjugation of her people, and also because this is the most fitting
slogan for the formation of a united front based on the democratic demands
of the broad masses of the people. By 'a democratic republic' we mean a democracy
which is geographically more extensive than that of the workers' and peasants'
democratic dictatorship in one part of China and a political system which
is far more progressive than the one-party dictatorship of the Kuomintang
in the main parts of China; it will therefore offer a better guarantee of
the wide development of armed resistance to Japan and the achievement of
complete victory. Moreover, the democratic republic will not only enable
the broadest sections of the Chinese people to take pare in the country's
political life and enhance their political consciousness and organized strength,
but also give the Chinese proletariat and its leader, the Communist Party,
scope for activity in the struggle for the future victory of socialism.
Therefore, the Chinese Communist Party proclaims its active support of the
movement for a democratic republic. It also declares that when the democratic
republic is established through the length and breadth of China and a parliament
elected by universal suffrage is convened the Red areas will at once become
an organic part of the republic, the people of the Red areas will elect their
representatives to the parliament, and the same democratic system will be
put into practice in the Red areas."
"The Central Committee stresses that we shall impel the Kuomintang government
m Nanking to resist Japan and we shall create the prerequisites for the
democratic republic only by extending the Chinese people's movement of armed
resistance and national salvation. by broadening the anti-Japanese national
united front of all political parties, people of all walks of life and all
armies, by strengthening the Chinese Communist Party's's role of political
leadership in the national united front, by greatly consolidating the Red
political power and the Red Army, and by waging a determined struggle against
all words and deeds which betray our sovereignty and humiliate our nation
or weaken the forces of the national united front. It is impossible for the
democratic republic to become a reality without bitter and sustained struggles,
without the mobilization of the entire Chinese nation, and without a high
tide of revolution. In the course of the struggle for the democratic republic,
the Chinese Communist Party should insist that the democratic republic should
begin by carrying out the Ten-Point Programme for Resisting Japan and Saving
the Nation proposed by our Party's and go on until it finally fulfils the
basic tasks of the Chinese bourgeois-democratic revolution."
7. This telegram was dispatched on February 10, 1937. The
full text reads as follows:
To the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang
Gentlemen:
It is a matter of national rejoicing that the Sian Incident has been settled
peacefully. From now on it will be possible for the policy of internal peace
and for unity and solidarity against foreign aggression to be carried out;
this is a blessing to the nation and the country. At this moment when the
Japanese invaders are running amuck and the survival of the Chinese nation
hangs by a thread, our Party's eagerly hopes that, in accordance with this
policy, the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of your
party will decide on the following as the national policy:
(1) end all civil wars and concentrate the country's strength in a united
effort to meet the foreign aggression;
(2) guarantee freedom of speech, assembly and association, and release all
political prisoners;
(3) call a conference of representatives of all political parties, people
of all walks of life and all armies, and concentrate the radon's talents
in a common endeavour to save the country;
(4) speedily complete all preparations for resisting Japan; and
(5) improve the livelihood of the people.
If the Third Plenary Session of your Central Executive Committee can succeed
in resolutely and firmly deciding on this as the national policy, our Party
will pledge the following as an expression of our good faith in solidarity
against foreign aggression:
(1) the policy of armed insurrection to overthrow the National Government
will be discontinued throughout the country;
(2) the Workers' and Peasants' Democratic Government will be renamed the
Government of the Special Region of the Republic of China and the he Red
Army will be redesignated as part of the National Revolutionary Army, and
they will come under the direction of the Central Government t in Nanking
and its Military Council respectively;
(3) a thoroughly democratic system based on universal suffrage will be put
into effect in the areas under the Government of the Special Region; and
(4) the policy of confiscating the land of the landlords will be discontinued
and the common programme of the anti-Japanese national united front resolutely
carried out.
8. In November and December 1936, big strikes broke out
among 45,000 workers in twenty-six Japanese and Chinese-owned textile mills
in Shanghai. In December all the workers of the Japanese-owned textile mills
in Tsingtao struck in sympathy. The Shanghai workers won their strike, their
wages were increased five per cent retrospectively from November, and the
employers undertook not to sack workers arbitrarily or assault or abuse them.
But the strike in Tsingtao was suppressed by Japanese marines.
9. Britain and the United States began to change their
attitude towards Japan and exerted some influence on the Chiang Kai-shek
government in its policy towards Japan after Japanese imperialism occupied
Shanhaikuan and penetrated into northern China in 1933, and especially after
the conclusion of the "Ho-Umezu Agreement" (see Note I, p. 276) in 1935,
which directly jeopardized their imperialist interests in northern and central
China. During the Sian Incident of 1936, Britain suggested rejection of Japanese
demands prejudicial to British interests in China and even intimated that,
provided the Chiang Kai-shek government maintained its rule over the Chinese
people, it would not be a bad thing for it to "form some sort of alliance
with the Communist Party" so as to deal a blow to the Japanese policy of
aggression.
10. In June 1936, Li Tsung-jen and Pai Chung-hsi, warlords
of Kwangsi, and Chen Chi-tang, warlord of Kwangtung, jointly declared their
opposition to Chiang Kai-shek under the pretext of "resisting Japan and saving
the nation". In August their opposition mated away before Chiang Kai-shek's
tactics of bribery and divide and rule.
11. The Japanese forces and puppet troops began to invade
Suiyuan in August 1936. In November, the Chinese troops there fought back
and the people throughout the country started a movement in support of their
fight.
12. After the "Ho-Umezu Agreement" of 1935, the Nanking
Kuomintang government took a firmer attitude towards Japan under the pressure
of the people's rising anti-Japanese sentiment and under the impact of the
stiffer policy the British and U.S. imperialists were adopting towards Japan.
The Kuomintang government used stalling tactics in the negotiations with
Japan from September to December 1936, which ended without result.
13. This was the meeting of the Central Executive Committee
of the Kuomintang on February 15,1937 after the peaceful settlement of the
Sian Incident.
14. Ah Q is the leading character in The True Story
of Ah Q, the famous nova by the great Chinese writer Lu Hsun. Ah Q typifies
all those who compensate themselves for their failures and setbacks in real
life by regarding them as moral or spiritual victories.
15. In the stage of China's bourgeois-democratic revolution,
the Communists agreed with the basic points of Sun Yat-sen's programme and
co-operated with him, which did not mean that they agreed with the bourgeois
and petty-bourgeois world outlook or ideological system of which he was the
exponent. As the vanguard of the Chinese proletariat, the Chinese Communists
had an entirely different world outlook or ideological system and theoretical
approach to the national and other problems, from those of Sun Yat-sen.
16. Reorganized by Sun Yat-sen in 1924, the Kuomintang
became a revolutionary alliance of several classes, which members of the
Communist Party joined in their individual capacity. After its betrayal of
the revolution in 1927, the Kuomintang carried out what it called a "party
purge" throughout the country, butchering the Communists and many of its
own left-wingers who genuinely supported Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Three Great Policies.
From then on the Kuomintang became the counter-revolutionary political party
of the big landlords and big bourgeoisie.
17. This refers to the situation created by the opportunist
leadership of the Central Committee of the Party in the first half of 1927.

Transcription by the Maoist Documentation Project.