Against Capitulationism[1]

(February 5, 1939)

On the question of whether or not the Communist Party is needed, the Kuomintang side says the Communist Party should be dissolved, and some on the Communist Party side also say there is no difference between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, so the Communist Party is not needed. Since the views of these two sides are somewhat similar—both wanting no Communist Party—they are discussed together. To achieve the goal of "certain victory in the War of Resistance and certain success in national reconstruction," the central task is to consolidate and expand the national united front. To consolidate the united front, we must wage a struggle on two fronts, opposing closed-doorism and capitulationism. The Kuomintang wants to dissolve us—shall we be dissolved? No, absolutely not; that would be capitulationism. The Second Plenary Session raised the opposition to closed-doorism and at the same time raised the opposition to capitulationism. Unity and struggle are the principled questions of the united front; unity is the first basic principle of the united front; struggle is an indispensable principle of the united front—this point must not be forgotten. Now the Kuomintang is adopting a policy of preventing communism, seeking to disintegrate the Communist Party politically and organizationally. Our principle is: We will not attack unless we are attacked; if we are attacked, we will certainly counter-attack. We must remember the lesson of Chen Duxiu's capitulationism, which caused the Great Revolution to suffer defeat, oppose political weakness, and strengthen our own forces. Only thus can we consolidate and expand the national united front and defeat Japanese imperialism.

In the spring of 1939, the Kuomintang diehards whipped up the first anti-communist高潮. The picture shows soldiers and civilians in a base area rallying to oppose the Kuomintang diehards' anti-communist高潮.

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[1] Under the Japanese imperialists' policy of inducing capitulation, Wang Jingwei, Vice President of the Kuomintang, fled to Hanoi, Vietnam, on December 18, 1938. On the 29th, Wang Jingwei issued the "Yan Telegram," openly betraying the country and collaborating with the enemy. From January 21 to 30, 1939, the Kuomintang convened its Fifth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee in Chongqing. Although the meeting still spoke of "persisting in the War of Resistance to the end," it established the principles of "dissolving the Communists," "preventing communism," and "opposing the Communists," and adopted in principle the "Measures for Restricting the Activities of Alien Parties," deciding to set up an Anti-Communist Committee to strictly restrict the speech and actions of the Communist Party and all progressive forces. On February 5, 1939, Mao Zedong delivered a speech entitled "Against Capitulationism" at the Central Party School. This is a portion of Mao Zedong's speech.