OF RESISTANCE
August 25, 1937

[This was an outline for propaganda and agitation written by Comrade Mao
Tse-tung in August 1937 for the propaganda organs of the Central Committee
of the Chinese Communist Party. It was approved by the enlarged meeting of
the Political Bureau of the Central Committee at Lochuan, northern Shensi.]


A. The Lukouchiao Incident of July 7 marked the beginning of the Japanese
imperialist all-out invasion of China south of the Great Wall. The fight
put up by the Chinese troops at Lukouchiao marked the beginning of China's
nation-wide War of Resistance. The ceaseless Japanese attacks, the people's
resolute struggle, the national bourgeoisie's tendency towards resistance,
the Communist Party's vigorous advocacy and firm application of a national
united front policy and the nation-wide support this policy has won--all
these have compelled the Chinese authorities to begin changing their policy
of nonresistance, as pursued ever since the September 18th Incident of 1931,
to a policy of resistance since the Lukouchiao Incident, and have caused
the Chinese revolution to develop beyond the stage reached after the December
9th Movement, [1] i.e., the stage of ending
the civil war and preparing for resistance, into the stage of actual resistance.
The initial changes in the Kuomintang's policy with the Sian Incident
and the Third Plenary Session of its Central Executive Committee as their
starting point, Mr. Chiang Kai-shek's Lushan statement of July on the question
of resistance to Japan, and many of his measures of national defence, all
deserve commendation. The troops at the front, whether the land and air forces
or the local armed units, have all fought courageously and demonstrated the
heroic spirit of the Chinese nation. In the name of the national revolution,
the Chinese Communist Party ardently salutes our patriotic troops and
fellow-countrymen throughout China.

B. But on the other hand, even after the Lukouchiao Incident of July 7, the
Kuomintang authorities are continuing to pursue the wrong policy they have
pursued ever since the September 18th Incident, making compromises
and concessions, [2] suppressing the zeal of the
patriotic troops and clamping down on the patriotic people's national salvation
movement. There is no doubt that, having seized Peiping and Tientsin, Japanese
imperialism will press ahead with its policy of large-scale offensives, take
the second and third steps in its premeditated war plan and launch fierce
attacks on the whole of northern China and other areas, relying on its own
brute military strength while at the same time drawing support from German
and Italian imperialism and exploiting the vacillations of British imperialism
and the estrangement of the Kuomintang from the broad masses of the working
people. The flames of war are already raging in Chahar and in Shanghai. To
save our motherland, to resist the attacks of the powerful invaders, to defend
northern China and the seacoast and recover Peiping, Tientsin and northeastern
China, the Kuomintang authorities and the whole people must thoroughly learn
the lesson of the loss of northeastern China, Peiping and Tientsin, learn
and take warning from the fall of Abyssinia, learn from the Soviet Union's
past victories over its foreign enemies, [3] learn
from Spain's present experience in successfully defending Madrid,
[4] and firmly unite to fight to the end in defence
of the motherland. Henceforth the task is: "Mobilize all the nation's forces
for victory in the War of Resistance", and the key to its accomplishment
is a complete and thorough change in Kuomintang policy. The step forward
taken by the Kuomintang on the question of resistance is to be commended;
it is what the Chinese Communist Party and the people of the whole country
have for years been hoping for, and we welcome it. But the Kuomintang has
not changed its policies on such matters as the mobilization of the masses
and the introduction of political reforms. It is still basically unwilling
to lift the ban on the people's anti-Japanese movement or make fundamental
changes in the government apparatus, it still has no policy for improving
the people's livelihood, and is still not sufficiently sincere in its
co-operation with the Communist Party. If, at this critical juncture of life
or death for our nation, the Kuomintang continues in the same old groove
and does not quickly change its policy, it will bring disaster to the War
of Resistance. Some Kuomintang members say, "Let political reforms be instituted
after victory." They think the Japanese aggressors can be defeated by the
government's efforts alone, but they are wrong. A few battles may be won
in a war of resistance fought by the government alone, but it will be impossible
to defeat the Japanese aggressors thoroughly. This can be done only by a
war of total resistance by the whole nation. Such a war, however, requires
a complete and drastic change in Kuomintang policy and the joint efforts
of the whole nation from top to bottom to carry out a thoroughgoing programme
of resistance to Japan, that is, a national salvation programme formulated
in the spirit of the revolutionary Three People's Principles and the Three
Great Policies [5] drawn up personally by Dr. Sun
Yat-sen during the Best period of Kuomintang Communist co-operation.

C. In all earnestness the Chinese Communist Party proposes to the Kuomintang,
to the people of the whole country, to all political parties and groups,
to people in all walks of life and to all the armed forces a Ten-Point National
Salvation Programme for the purpose of completely defeating the Japanese
aggressors. It firmly believes that only by carrying out this programme fully,
sincerely and resolutely will it be possible to defend the motherland and
defeat the Japanese aggressors. Otherwise, the responsibility will fall on
those who procrastinate and allow the situation to deteriorate; once the
country's doom is sealed, it will be too late for regrets and lamentations.
The ten points are as follows:

1. Overthrow Japanese imperialism.

Sever diplomatic relations with Japan, expel Japanese officials, arrest Japanese
agents, confiscate Japanese property in China, repudiate debts to Japan,
abrogate treaties signed with Japan and take back all Japanese Concessions.

Fight to the finish in defence of northern China and the seacoast.

Fight to the finish for the recovery of Peiping, Tientsin and northeastern
China.

Drive the Japanese imperialists out of China.

Oppose all vacillation and compromise.

2. Mobilize the military strength of the whole nation.

Mobilize all land, sea and air forces for a nation-wide war of resistance.

Oppose a passive, purely defensive strategy and adopt an active, independent
strategy.

Set up a permanent council of national defence to deliberate and decide on
national defence plans and strategy.

Arm the people and develop anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare in co-ordination
with the operations of the main forces.

Reform the political work in the armed forces to achieve unity between officers
and men.

Achieve unity between the army and the people and bring the army's militant
spirit into play.

Support the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army and disrupt the enemy's rear.

Give equal treatment to all troops fighting in the War of Resistance.

Establish military zones in all parts of the country, mobilize the whole
nation to join in the war and thus effect a gradual change from the mercenary
system to one of general military service.

3. Mobilize the people of the whole country.

Let all the people of the country (with the exception of the traitors) have
freedom of speech, the press, assembly and association in resisting Japan
and saving the nation, and the right to take up arms against the enemy.

Annul all old laws and decrees which restrict the people's patriotic movements
and promulgate new, revolutionary laws and decrees.

Release all patriotic and revolutionary political prisoners and lift the
ban on political parties.

Let the people of the whole country mobilize, take up arms and join the War
of Resistance. Let those with strength contribute strength, those with money
contribute money, those with guns contribute guns, and those with knowledge
contribute knowledge.

Mobilize the Mongolian, the Hui and all other minority nationalities, in
accordance with the principle of national self-determination and autonomy,
in the common fight against Japan.

4. Reform the government apparatus.

Call a national assembly which is genuinely representative of the people
to adopt a genuinely democratic constitution, to decide on policies for resisting
Japan and saving the nation, and to elect a government of national defence.

The government of national defence must draw in the revolutionaries of all
parties and mass organizations, and expel the pro-Japanese elements.

The government of national defence shall practice democratic centralism,
and shall be at once democratic and centralized.

The government of national defence shall pursue revolutionary policies for
resisting Japan and saving the nation.

Institute local self-government, throw out corrupt officials and establish
clean government.

5. Adopt an anti-Japanese foreign policy.

Conclude anti-aggression alliances and anti-Japanese pacts for mutual military
aid with all countries that are opposed to Japanese aggression, provided
that this entails no loss of our territory or of our sovereign rights.

Support the international peace front and oppose the front of aggression
of Germany, Japan and Italy.

Unite with the worker and peasant masses of Korea and Japan against Japanese
imperialism.
 6. Adopt wartime financial and economic policies.

Financial policy should be based on the principle that those with money should
contribute money and that the property of the traitors should be confiscated
in order to meet war expenditures. Economic policy should consist in readjusting
and expanding defence production, developing the rural economy and assuring
self-sufficiency in wartime commodities. Encourage the use of Chinese goods
and improve local products. Completely prohibit Japanese goods. Suppress
profiteering merchants and ban speculation and manipulation of the market.

7. Improve the people's livelihood.

Improve the conditions of workers, office employees and teachers, and of
soldiers fighting the Japanese.

Give preferential treatment to the families of the soldiers fighting the
Japanese.

Abolish exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous levies.

Reduce rent and interest.

Give relief to the unemployed.

Regulate grain supplies.

Aid the victims of natural calamities.

8. Adopt an anti-Japanese educational policy.

Change the existing educational system and curriculum and put into effect
a new system and curriculum aimed at resisting Japan and saving the nation.

9. Weed out traitors and pro-Japanese elements and consolidate the
  rear.

10. Achieve national unity against Japan.

Build up the Anti-Japanese National United Front of all political parties
and groups, people in all walks of life and all armed forces on the basis
of Kuomintang-Communist co-operation in order to lead the War of Resistance,
unite in good faith and meet the national crisis.

D. It is imperative to discard the policy of resistance by the government
alone and to enforce the policy of total resistance by the whole nation.
The government must unite with the people, fully restore the revolutionary
spirit of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, put the above Ten-Point Programme into effect
and strive for complete victory. Together with the masses of the people and
the armed forces under its leadership, the Chinese Communist Party will firmly
adhere to this programme and stand in the forefront of the War of Resistance,
defending the motherland to the last drop of its blood. In keeping with its
consistent policy, the Chinese Communist Party is ready to stand side by
side with the Kuomintang and the other political parties and groups and unite
with them in building the solid Great Wall of the national united front to
defeat the infamous Japanese aggressors and strive for a new China which
is independent, happy and free. To achieve this goal, we must firmly repudiate
the traitors' theories of compromise and capitulation, and combat national
defeatism according to which it is impossible to defeat the Japanese aggressors.
The Chinese Communist Party firmly believes that the Japanese aggressors
can definitely be defeated provided the above Ten-Point Programme is carried
out. If our 450 million countrymen all exert themselves, the Chinese nation
will certainly achieve final victory!
Down with Japanese imperialism!
Long live the national revolutionary war!
Long live New China, independent, happy and free!

NOTES


1. The year 1935 witnessed a new upsurge in the popular
patriotic movement throughout the country. Students in Peking, under the
leadership of the Communist Party of China, held a patriotic demonstration
on December 9, putting forward such slogans as "Stop the civil war and unite
to resist foreign aggression" and "Down with Japanese imperialism". This
movement broke through the long reign of terror imposed by the Kuomintang
government in league with the Japanese invaders and very quickly won the
people's support throughout the country. It is known as the "December 9th
Movement". The outcome was that new changes manifested themselves in the
relations among the various classes in the country, and the Anti-Japanese
National United Front proposed by the Communist Party of China became the
openly advocated policy of all patriotic people. The Chiang Kai-shek government
with its traitorous policy became very isolated.

2. See the introductory note to "Policies, Measures and
Perspectives for Resisting the Japanese Invasion", pp. 13-14 of this volume.

3. See History of the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union (Bolsheviks), Short Course, Eng. ed., FLPH, Moscow, 1951, pp.
347-81.

4. The defence of Madrid, starting in October 1936, lasted
for two years and five months. In 1936, fascist Germany and Italy made use
of the Spanish fascist warlord Franco to launch a war of aggression against
Spain. The Spanish people, led by the Popular Front Government, heroically
defended democracy against aggression. The battle of Madrid, the capital
of Spain, was the bitterest in the whole war. Madrid fell in March 1939 because
Britain, France and other imperialist countries assisted the aggressors by
their hypocritical policy of "non-intervention" and because divisions arose
within the Popular Front.

5. The Three People's Principles were the principles and
the programme put forward by Sun Yat-sen on the questions of nationalism,
democracy and people's livelihood in China's bourgeois-democratic revolution.
In the manifesto adopted by the Kuomintang at its First National Congress
in 1924 Sun Yat-sen restated the Three People's Principles. Nationalism was
interpreted as opposition to imperialism and active support was expressed
for the movements of the workers and peasants. Thus the old Three People's
Principles were transformed into the new Three People's Principles characterized
by the Three Great Policies, that is, alliance with Russia, co-operation
with the Communist Party, and assistance to the peasants and workers. The
new Three People's Principles provided the political basis for the co-operation
between the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang during the First
Revolutionary Civil War period.


Transcription by the Maoist Documentation Project.