under the command of Chen Guang.

Interview with United Press Reporter
Wang Gongda

(February 1938)

Wang Gongda: Many people are now pessimistic about the future of the War of
Resistance in China. What is your view of this?

Mao Zedong: I am completely optimistic about it because the course of China’s
War of Resistance will necessarily be characterized by defeat first and then victory, and by a transition from weakness to strength. This has already become a
well-defined direction. In the initial stage of the Sino-Japanese war, the overall
situation was that Japan was strong and China was weak. But from now on, the
situation is certainly going to be that Japan’s weaknesses will be gradually exposed, while China’s strength will gradually increase. Japan is now borrowing
money to fight the war. Aside from the 2.2 billion yuan expended in the last six
months, it is said that it will need 4 billion yuan this year, and this figure will
surely be exceeded. This has already exhausted much of its national resources.
Japan’s international credit rating has been lowered, and the value of its bonds has
fallen. Its “Blitzkrieg” strategy has failed. Let me ask where it can get so much
money to fight an endless war. From a military standpoint, Japan’s battlefronts in
China have already been extended to the point where they stretch for thousands of
kilometers, from Hangzhou to Baotou. Its forces are insufficient to defend all this.
Consequently, its military strength has gradually been weakened as a result of this
deep penetration and overextension. It has seized long-distance railways and, as a
result, needs troops to guard every station. Japan has mobilized one-third of its
armed forces to invade China. If it wants to occupy Hankou, Guangzhou, and
other cities, it will have to mobilize at a minimum several hundreds of thousands
of additional soldiers. By that time, its situation will become extremely difficult.
Since China is not Japan’s only enemy, and because of the other enormous international and domestic contradictions facing Japan, in the end it will ultimately
take the road to total collapse.

Wang: Would you say that China’s strength can gradually increase?

This interview was first published in Jiefang, no. 32, March 5, 1938. Our source is Mao
Zedong wenji, Vol. 2, pp. 99–103, which reproduces this version.
Mao: On the basis of the experience of the last seven months of fighting, from a
military point of view we can certainly force the enemy armies into a very difficult
position if we can employ mobile warfare, positional warfare, and guerrilla warfare to support each other. My view is that, at present, in addition to forming
several powerful field armies with two to three hundred thousand crack troops to
deliver annihilating blows against advancing enemy units in mobile warfare, we
should take out eighty to ninety thousand men to form twenty to thirty guerrilla
units, each with three to four thousand soldiers. They should be led by firm but
flexible officers, and their political work should also be strengthened. They should
be deployed in front of the enemy lines from Hangzhou to Baotou to penetrate into
the enemy’s rear through the twenty to thirty gaps in this long front line. If they
can be used effectively, work closely with the popular masses, and breed countless
smaller guerrilla units, they will certainly be able to establish anti-Japanese bases
in the enemy’s rear, mobilize tens of millions of people, and provide effective
support for the field armies in their mobile warfare, thus harassing the enemy and
exhausting his resources. As for positional warfare, it should not be regarded as
the primary form of combat now because of our technological weakness. But we
must establish our national defense industries and produce our own heavy weapons and high-quality weapons, while at the same time trying to import these weapons, so that we can effectively wage defensive and offensive positional warfare.
This is very necessary. Some say that we advocate only guerrilla warfare. This is
nonsense. We have always advocated a combination of mobile warfare, positional
warfare, and guerrilla warfare. At present, mobile warfare should be the primary
form of combat, with the other two playing a secondary role. In the future, positional warfare should be waged to provide effective support for mobile warfare.
As for guerrilla warfare, it is always secondary to other forms of battle. Neverthe-less, in the wars of national liberation in semicolonial countries and especially in
countries with huge territories, guerrilla warfare undoubtedly plays a crucial strategic role. As regards politics, we already have internal unity and enjoy the sympathy and support of all the democratic countries in the world. But our achievements
at present are insufficient and must be further strengthened. The military and political strengthening described above is necessary. As long as we continue to work
hard, we can certainly gain strength. This is indicative of a bright future.

Wang: Does the Eighth Route Army, which is encircled by the Japanese armies on
several sides, face the danger of being driven out or annihilated by the Japanese?

Mao: The Eighth Route Army is now conducting extensive guerrilla warfare in
four zones. The first zone includes the areas between the four railway lines—
Pinghan, Pingsui, Zhengtai, and Tongpu—as well as the areas north and east of
them. This zone includes popular masses, numbering 12 million, who support
resolute opposition to the Japanese, and all of whom are intimately linked to our
forces. This is an immense fortress for the War of Resistance. The Eighth Route
Army has established itself solidly in this zone. Although the enemy is intensifying his attacks against this zone, it is impossible for him to drive our army out, still
less destroy it. Several large detachments of the Eighth Route Army, advancing
toward the east, have already pressed forward to the vicinity of the [Tian]jin-Pu[kou]
line. The second zone includes the northwestern parts of Shanxi—the areas south
of the Pingsui line, west of the northern segment of the Tongpu line, and east of the
Yellow River. The third zone includes the southwestern parts of Shanxi and southeastern parts of Hebei—the areas along the middle stretch of the Pinghan, Zhengtai,
and Tongpu lines. The fourth zone is the southwestern parts of Shanxi. All of them
[i.e., of the units of the Eighth Route Army] there enjoy close relations with the
local population. They are fiercely attacking the enemy’s lines of communication
in the rear at all times and have won many large and small victories, causing the
enemy to reduce the strength of his advancing forces substantially. Looking at
these areas, what China has lost is no more than a few railway lines and cities. It
has not lost anything else. This concrete example provides the people of the whole
country with concrete evidence: As long as this method is adopted everywhere, it
will be impossible for the enemy to destroy China. This is one of the powerful
bases from which counterattacks can be launched and lost land retaken in the
future.

Wang: Do you feel that this time the cooperation between the Guomindang and
the Communist Party will be of a lasting character?

Mao: I think so. When the Guomindang and the Communist Party split in 1927,
this was originally against the wishes of the Communist Party. The Communist
Party has consistently been unwilling to split with the Guomindang. In the last ten
years, both the Guomindang and the Communist Party, as well as the people of the
whole country, have gone through bitter experiences. Such experiences can
strengthen unity in the future. The goal for the present and future cooperation is to
fight Japan together and build the country together. Under this principle, provided
only that our allied party has the same good faith as we do, and with the scrutiny of
the people of the whole country, this cooperation will certainly last.

Wang: It is true that the Communist Party has declared in its statement on the
current situation that the Guomindang and the Communist Party will not only
resist Japan together, but will, after victory in the war, build the country together.
Let me ask you, however, how these parties, which represent two different classes,
can cooperate to build a new country in the future.

Answer: Because China is in the position of a semicolonial country and, moreover,
because it is now facing a critical moment, which will decide whether or not it
suffers the loss of the state and the extinction of the race, even its status as a
semicolonial country is in danger. Although our parties and our classes are different,
we are all in this same position. This determines that the two parties can cooperate
not only to fight the war against Japan but to build the country. But cooperation
means cooperation on the basis of certain principles. It is principled and genuine
cooperation, not unprincipled and seeming cooperation. If we diverge from our programs and principles, then our cooperation will certainly become unprincipled and
seeming cooperation, and this is something which cannot be tolerated by any party
which has its own principles. Cooperation on the basis of a program and principles
is similar to the ethical relationship between friends. Only when there are such ethical relationships can the relationship endure.

Wang: What is the “democratic republic” advocated by the Communist Party?

Mao: The democratic republic we are advocating refers to a country with a system under which all those people in the country who are unwilling to be slaves
without a country make use of a system of unrestricted universal suffrage to
elect representatives to form representative organs. Such a country is a country of
People’s Rights, which is basically like that advocated by Mr. Sun Yatsen a long
time ago. The orientation for the establishment of the state in China should take
this direction.

Wang: Is the Communist Party satisfied with the current central government? Is it
still necessary to convene an extraordinary national congress?

Mao: We support the current central government because it persists in its policy of
fighting the War of Resistance and is leading the war efforts. But we hope to
strengthen and expand this government, as well as carry out the necessary reforms
in its internal policies, in the interest of further strengthening the War of Resis-tance. We have once proposed convening an extraordinary national congress, as
Mr. Sun Yatsen also proposed. We believed that this would be advantageous in
uniting the whole country and strengthening the forces of the War of Resistance.
But we have no fixed views as to the methods that will be most advantageous to
the prosecution of the War of Resistance. As long as they genuinely contribute to
the war, any methods can be adopted.

Wang: Did the Chinese Communist Party send people to lead the anti-Japanese
activities of the Volunteer Army in the Three Eastern Provinces?

Mao: The Chinese Communist Party does have a very close relationship with the
anti-Japanese Volunteer Army in the Three Eastern Provinces. For example, the
celebrated generals of the Volunteer Army, such as Yang Jingyu, Zhao Shangzhi,
and Li Hongguan, are all members of the Communist Party. Their achievements in
resolutely fighting Japan and waging a difficult struggle are well known. There is
also a national united front there. Aside from members of the Communist Party,
there are other groups, as well as all kinds of different military units and organizations of the popular masses. They have also united under a common program.

Wang: What are your general views of the United States?

Mao: We welcome and appreciate the American Democratic Party’s support for
world peace, President Roosevelt’s denunciation of fascism, the Scripps-Howard
newspaper group’s sympathy for China’s War of Resistance against Japan, and
especially the support of the broad masses of the American people for China’s
struggle against Japan. I hope, however, that the United States will go a step further, come out, and unite with other countries to impose real sanctions against a
violent Japan. It is time for China, the United States, and all other countries opposed to aggression to unite further against the enemy.
                               An Account of the Founding of the
                                   Lu Xun Academy of Arts

                                      (February 1938)

        We are deeply aware that it is an arduous task to establish the Lu Xun Academy
        of Fine Arts; it is a task that the limited ability of a few of us can by no means
        accomplish. Therefore, we urgently hope the people from all walks of life in the
        country will offer us their sympathy and assistance, so that the academy may grow
        quickly. This will also help our country’s heroic War of Resistance move forward
        victoriously and win final victory by driving the Japanese bandits out of China!

Since the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the people of China have risen as one to
struggle for the survival and liberation of our nation, to resist the aggression of the
Japanese imperialist bandits and drive them out of China, and for the consolidation of world peace. All parties and factions have rallied under the Anti-Japanese
National United Front to wage the sacred national revolutionary anti-Japanese
war until final victory is achieved.

During this period of the War of Resistance, we must not only mobilize and
make use of all presently existing forces to resist Japan, but should seek out and
prepare new forces, which is to say that we must pay attention to the problem of
training the cadres urgently required for the war effort. “Cadres decide everything!”1 This is a very urgent question, not only in times of peace but in times of
war. In the bloody combat against the Japanese bandits at the front, as well as in
the work of mobilization in the rear, we need tens of thousands of military, political, economic, and cultural cadres. There is no doubt at all about that.

The arts—drama, music, fine arts, and literature—are the most effective weapons in propagandizing, inspiring, and organizing the masses. Artistic workers are
an indispensable force in the current War of Resistance. Therefore, the task of
training cadres specialized in artistic work for the War of Resistance is one that at
present can no longer be put off.

Our Border Region has actively carried out educational efforts regarding the
War of Resistance and established many schools (such as the Chinese Anti-Japa-nese Military and Political University and the Northern Shaanxi Public School)
that are suited for training general political and military cadres needed for the
war. But there is a gap in establishing schools specialized in the arts. Therefore, we
have decided to establish this academy of fine arts and, moreover, to name it after
China’s greatest writer, the late Lu Xun. This is not only to pay tribute to this great
teacher but to demonstrate that we will march forward on the road he opened up.

Our source for this text is Mao Zedong ji. Bujuan, Vol. 5, pp. 151–52, where it is reproduced
from a documentary collection published in China in 1979.
1. This was one of the key slogans put forward by Stalin at this time regarding the
requirements for developing socialism in the Soviet Union.