The sacred war of our Chinese nation united against the monstrous Japanese fascist imperialism has now passed a full six years. On this great occasion commemorating the sixth anniversary of the War of Resistance, at a time when a tremendous shift in the balance of forces has occurred between the two great alignments—the worldwide anti-fascist alliance and the fascist aggressor alliance—the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China wishes to present its views to all our compatriots and all officers and soldiers across the nation.

Ever since the monstrous fascist nations launched their wars of aggression, our China and all anti-fascist countries throughout the world have endured long and arduous struggles. Yet the unfavorable situation in which we had consistently found ourselves at a disadvantage has now fundamentally changed.

This is a change of decisive significance on an international scale.

This change has been brought about by the victory of the Soviet Union’s second winter offensive, the victories of Britain and the United States in North Africa, China’s six-year War of Resistance, and the blows dealt by Britain and the United States over the past year against the Japanese aggressors in the Pacific. Among these, the Red Army’s victory at Stalingrad [2] has played the principal, decisive role in turning the entire war situation.

Thanks to these great victories, a world situation has emerged over the past year that is extremely favorable to the anti-fascist allied nations [3] and extremely unfavorable to the fascist aggressor nations.

On the side of the anti-fascist allies, the situation is now unprecedentedly favorable.

This means: First, the unity of the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States has been further consolidated by the first planned joint operations of the Soviet Union at Stalingrad and of Britain and the United States in North Africa. The attempt of the fascist aggressors to sow discord among the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States through peace intrigues has completely failed.

This is of the greatest historical significance and is most worthy of celebration in the entire anti-fascist war.

Second, the decisive battles by which the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States will defeat German and Italian fascism will unfold in the coming year.

These decisive battles could have materialized in the past year, but they were postponed by one year because Britain and the United States failed to implement the decision to open a second front in Europe [4].

At present, with the great victory achieved in the first joint operations of the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States, and with the armies and air forces of these three nations and the navies of Britain and the United States having developed into invincible forces, the time is ripe for the Soviet Union from the eastern front and Britain and the United States from the western front to launch a second and third, even greater, joint operations to deliver the final, decisive blow to German and Italian fascism.

As long as a second front can be swiftly opened on the European continent, there is no doubt that German and Italian fascism will be defeated in the coming year.

All the preconditions for defeating German and Italian fascism had already been established in the past year, and the coming year will be a year of decisive battles.

Third, the consolidation of the unity of the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States and the realization of the decisive battles against German and Italian fascism will mean not only the defeat of German and Italian fascism but also the defeat of Japanese fascism.

For the leader of the aggressors is Hitler, and Hitler’s defeat means the defeat of all fascism.

Some Chinese do not wish the Allies to defeat Hitler first—either because their minds are unclear or because they are unwilling to see the Hitlerite fascist system meet its downfall, which is to say, they are unwilling to see Japanese fascism meet its downfall. Otherwise, their stance cannot be explained.

Fourth, the situation in the Pacific has also shifted to the advantage of the Allies and to the disadvantage of Japanese fascism, owing to the increased strength of the United States, several operational victories by the British and American combined forces, and China’s sustained combat.

The strength of the United States is still growing vigorously. Although Japanese fascism attempts to race against the United States on its short legs, it will inevitably be overthrown.

It is entirely natural that Japanese fascism is in a state of great panic over the United States’ production plan to manufacture 125,000 aircraft, 120,000 tanks, 2,000 naval vessels of various sizes, and 20 million tons of shipping within a single year.

On the side of the fascist aggressor nations, the following notable changes have occurred: First, the fascist aggressors have fallen into a position of complete international isolation.

Over the past year, due to the first successful joint blows dealt by the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States against the German and Italian bandit armies, and due to the threat posed by the growth of American military strength to the Japanese aggressors and the blows and encirclement inflicted on the Japanese bandit armies by China, Britain, and the United States in the Pacific and on the Chinese battlefield, all these fascist nations have felt the threat of destruction.

Thus, they have resorted to peace intrigues, attempting to undermine the sacred alliance between Britain and the United States on one side and the Soviet Union on the other, vainly hoping that one side might conclude a treacherous peace with them, allowing them to first crush the other side and thereby achieve their goal of saving themselves and annihilating the entire world.

However, these intrigues have met with resolute and unanimous blows from both Britain and the United States and the Soviet Union. Consequently, whether it is German and Italian fascism or Japanese fascism, all that remains for them is the dead-end road of "unconditional surrender."

The fascist nations have also attempted to draw in the neutral countries that have not yet joined the war.

However, some neutral nations that Hitler and his ilk had originally hoped to pull into the aggressor bloc, now seeing that the tide has turned against the aggressors, are unwilling to join.

Certain neutral nations that originally leaned toward the Allies but exhibited hesitation and vacillation for fear of the aggressors’ offensives have now ended or are in the process of ending such hesitation and vacillation.

Since the peace intrigues have been shattered and the scheme to draw in neutral countries has failed, all the fascist aggressor nations find themselves in a position of complete international isolation.

Second, a crisis has also emerged within the unity of the fascist aggressor nations themselves.

Under the blows of the military and diplomatic victories of the anti-aggression allies, internal discord among the fascist aggressor nations has grown and already created a crisis.

This crisis exists not only between Germany and Italy, nor merely between Germany and its various satellite states, but also between Germany and Japan.

Due to Hitler’s military defeats and diplomatic failures, his prestige in holding together Italy, Japan, and the satellite states has suddenly plummeted.

Within Italy, a force is growing that demands withdrawal from the war.

Within Japan, the extreme pro-German faction has already been sidelined by other factions. As long as Hitler suffers one or two more blows such as those at Stalingrad and in North Africa, no faction within Japan’s ruling camp will dare to continue relying on Hitler or on the fascist alliance.

By that time, the fascist aggressor alliance will be not only completely isolated externally but will also find itself in a state of mutual isolation internally.

This threat of complete international isolation for Japanese fascism has compelled the fascist Japanese chieftain Tojo [5], over the past year, to present to the national traitors in the occupied areas of China and the various occupied territories in the South Seas a shameless intrigue under the so-called "New Policy," cloaking these traitors with the false mask of "independence" to bolster his own bluster and deludedly seeking to deceive the Chinese and Indian peoples, who are resolute in their resistance against Japan.

The so-called "New Policy" of the chieftain Tojo is in no way a reflection of any circumstances favorable to Japanese fascism; it is merely a reflection of the situation in which Japanese fascism has fallen into a state of complete international isolation.

Third, the great victories of the anti-fascist alliance over the past year have also given rise to a military crisis for the fascist aggressor nations.

Regardless of the fact that some within Hitler’s general staff remain unwilling to abandon the adventurist plan of launching yet another offensive against the Soviet Union, and regardless of the fact that some within Japan’s general staff remain unwilling to abandon adventurist plans to attack the Soviet Union or other directions, the feeling that "the game is up" now hangs over the armies and peoples of all the fascist nations, and the overall initiative has undoubtedly fallen into the hands of the Allies and slipped away from the hands of the aggressors.

In terms of the material forces that form the foundation of warfare—such as human resources, military resources, and subsistence resources—the Allies, through large-scale mobilization over the past year, have already gained superiority over the aggressors. With the mobilization of the coming year added, the Allies will, beyond any doubt, achieve overwhelming superiority.

On the side of the aggressor nations, Germany’s and Italy’s resources have already reached a stage nearing exhaustion, and Japan’s production is also about to approach its peak. This further deepens the severe military crisis for all the aggressor nations.

Fourth, due to manifold factors such as their international isolation, internal discord, and military crisis, and further compounded by their brutal and inhuman rule, all the fascist aggressor nations are now facing a political crisis both within their homelands and in their occupied territories.

In all the aggressor nations, the rifts between rulers and people, between generals and soldiers, are widening day by day like fissures in a volcano, brewing a massive eruption.

This is a vast army that will blast away fascism from under its very feet. The time of its eruption will inevitably come when the internal and external crises of fascism reach their zenith, bursting forth suddenly.

We need only recall the situation in which German and Austrian imperialism found themselves in 1918 to be convinced of this.

We also need only examine what changes have occurred over the past year in the popular sentiment in China’s occupied areas and in the morale of the Japanese aggressor troops to infer that, as these conditions persist, the maturation of Japan’s political crisis is unavoidable.

The homeland people of the Japanese aggressors are a volcano, and the Chinese people, the peoples of the South Seas, the Korean people, and the people of Taiwan [6] under Japanese domination are many more volcanoes. As long as the anti-fascist Allies (including China) deliver several severe military blows to the Japanese aggressors, these volcanoes will erupt.

Compatriots!

Officers and soldiers!

China’s War of Resistance has lasted six years now. Our resistance has been waged under extremely arduous circumstances.

We differ from our allied nations—the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States—in that they are advanced industrial nations while we are a backward agricultural country.

Nevertheless, we have carried on our resistance with great hardship for a full six years, surpassing the duration of resistance of any other nation. This has been achieved through the efforts of the people of the entire nation and the officers and soldiers of our entire army.

In the sixth year of resistance, we witnessed a decisive shift in the balance of forces between the Allies and the aggressor nations, resulting in a situation that is extremely favorable to us and the Allies and extremely unfavorable to the aggressors.

In the seventh year of resistance, we will encounter new favorable changes. When the Allies deliver the final, decisive blow to Western fascism, that will be the moment when all fascism faces defeat and the liberation of most nations of the world becomes largely realized.

At that time, the defeat of Eastern fascism and the liberation of the Eastern nations will follow in succession.

There is no doubt that, whether in the West or the East, defeating the enemy and achieving liberation will still require tremendous effort. Without such effort, victory and liberation will be impossible.

Our China is a member of the anti-fascist alliance. Given the present, exceptionally favorable international environment, how should we exert ourselves?

We are an agricultural country and cannot compare to the advanced industrial nations. Yet we have the advantages of a vast territory and a large population, and our people are endowed with great tenacity in struggle—six years of resistance provide clear proof of this.

Under such circumstances, how should we exert ourselves so as to properly coordinate our operations with the allied nations—the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States—and fulfill our due responsibilities?

Throughout the six years of resistance, we have accumulated much experience. What does this experience consist of?

In the seventh year of resistance, how should we draw on this experience to achieve greater results than in the past, thereby overcoming the many current difficulties and preparing our strength for the future counteroffensive against the enemy?

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China holds that: We must strengthen our combat efforts.

On the entire Chinese battlefield, the fighting over the past six years has been, in practice, divided into two major theaters—the frontal theater and the enemy’s rear. The roles of these two theaters are mutually supportive. Without either one, at present we could not check the rampages of the fascist beasts, and in the future we could not drive these beasts out of China. Therefore, it is essential to enhance the mutually supportive role of these two theaters.

Particularly because the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in the enemy’s rear are resisting more than half of the Japanese bandit forces, and their circumstances are a hundred times more difficult than those on the frontal theater, it is an unshirkable duty to strengthen assistance to them.

We believe that only by enhancing the mutual support between these two theaters and especially by strengthening assistance to the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in the enemy’s rear can we find a concrete means to intensify the combat efforts across the entire Chinese battlefield.

In the past few years, however, the overwhelming majority of the soldiers and civilians fighting in the enemy’s rear have received practically no aid, and the main front has not fought with sufficient initiative either. We hope the government will try to remedy this state of affairs.

In the last few years, abetted by the Japanese aggressors and the traitor Wang Ching-wei, no less than thirty-three senior officers have led their troops over to the enemy and betrayed the motherland, yet the government has issued no order for a punitive expedition against them; consequently the puppet army has grown by leaps and bounds, and the deception of the so-called “new policy” of the Japanese and puppets has been spread everywhere without any let-up. We hope that the government will take measures to deal with this state of affairs and boost army morale in the interests of the war.

In order to strengthen the war effort, it is of the utmost urgency to reform the conscription system. The existing conscription system bristles with serious abuses, such as the press-ganging, trussing up and buying of conscripts and an utter lack of political mobilization; these greatly hinder the mobilization of large numbers of people for the front. We hope that the government will speedily introduce reforms in this respect.

Unity should be strengthened. We do not wish to dwell now on the many regrettable phenomena — friction, conflict, obstruction and restriction — that have occurred in the anti-Japanese ranks in China in the past few years and also in recent months; we only hope that the government will make reforms so that such phenomena will not recur in the future. We Communists have always adhered to the Anti-Japanese National United Front and supported the government in the war. In order to overcome the still greater difficulties ahead and to prepare for a counter-offensive against the enemy in co-ordination with the Allied countries, we are ready to continue consultations with the Kuomintang and other political parties to settle the outstanding issues and improve the relations between the various parties. The War of Resistance Against Japan should begin with unity and end with unity, for unity is the foundation for the resistance of the whole people and also the foundation for the anti-fascist struggle of the people of the whole world. How to strengthen and consolidate this foundation, for the good of the war against Japan and the defeat of fascism as a whole in co-ordination with the Allied countries, is truly the most important of all tasks.

Politics should be improved. On many occasions we Communists have expressed our opinions on how China’s political life should be improved to meet the needs of the war. What we say on this occasion today is the same as in the past, namely, that the only policy to follow is the actual enforcement of Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Three People’s Principles. The Japanese aggressor troops invading China number only some thirty-odd divisions; how is it that a big country of 450 million people cannot defeat them or win a bigger victory? Is industrial underdevelopment the sole reason? No, it is neither the sole reason nor the main reason; the reason is that there is no democratic government in China and consequently the initiative of the whole people has not been brought into play in the war. China is not like the Soviet Union, Britain or the United States. In those countries, the longer the war drags on, the greater the initiative of the people, but in China it is just the opposite. In most places the people’s initiative suffered completely unjustifiable attacks and restrictions and has been sadly damped down, so that the rising spirit of the people in the first year or two of the war has gradually been evaporated in the last four years. If no necessary reforms are made in this political suffocation and obstruction, the damage to the war effort will be immeasurable. This state of affairs has given rise to much discord between the different classes, parties and nationalities, whereas the war effort urgently demands their harmony. We hope that in the seventh year of the war the government will, in accordance with the Three People’s Principles, carry out certain necessary political reforms which would create greater harmony than at present between the classes, parties and nationalities, so that the initiative of the people can be brought into play in preparation for the counter-offensive.

Production should be expanded. This is a point we have made many times before. The serious economic difficulties of today have already made themselves felt. Without timely reforms, it will be impossible to cope with the still more difficult war conditions ahead and to prepare for a vigorous counter-offensive. In our opinion, the basic principle of economic reform should be the development of production and the institution of a democratic and centralized economic policy to regulate the economic interests of the different classes. All the armies of the country should be mobilized to produce while they fight; all government and other organizations and all schools should be mobilized to produce while they work or study; the peasants should be mobilized to increase farm production and at the same time firmly put into practice the policy of reducing rent and interest; industrial workers should be mobilized to increase production and at the same time raise their wages; and the small and middle industrialists should be protected against the blows of bureaucratic capital and speculative business. In carrying out these new economic policies, we must first abolish the existing financial and economic policies that hinder both public and private initiative in production. These are our views on how to expand production in order to overcome the economic crisis.

There are many other reforms which should be carried out to win the war; we have mentioned only these four points for the government’s consideration. As for the proposal to co-operate in the building of the nation after the war, this was clearly set forth by our Party in its declaration on the fifth anniversary of the war of resistance last year and has won the approval of our compatriots in all walks of life, so we shall not dwell on it now.

The closer the victory of the War of Resistance, the graver the difficulties, and this means placing a still heavier responsibility on the government and the people and on us Communists too. In particular, an extraordinarily heavy responsibility rests on the Communists fighting in the enemy’s rear. During the six years of war it has been proved that the Chinese Communist Party is boundlessly loyal to the sacred war in defence of the motherland, and the stubborn struggles of the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies and of the people behind the enemy lines are unparalleled in history. For six years they have kept at bay half the Japanese aggressor troops invading China, and they will continue to do so until these enemy troops have been driven out of China. They have performed miracles without the least aid in the way of ammunition and pay, relying exclusively on their loyalty and creative power. They have recovered vast tracts of territory from the enemy and established democratic anti-Japanese base areas, firmly carried out the Three People’s Principles, put into effect the policy of the “three-thirds system” of uniting all anti-Japanese sections of the population, put into effect the land policy of reducing rent and interest rates and at the same time ensuring the payment of rent and interest, put into effect the labour policy of encouraging production and at the same time protecting the workers, and put into effect the cultural policy of encouraging patriotism and the initiative of the people for resisting Japan. For these reasons they have aroused the deep and bitter hatred of the Japanese aggressors and the Chinese collaborators and traitors, who have resolved to destroy them at all costs. The brutal “mopping-up” operations, the insidious “nibbling” tactics, the profusion of blockhouses and fortifications, the maze of ditches and barricades, the unceasing “burn all, kill all, loot all” policy and the so-called “intensification of public order” movement, and the widespread establishment of “communist suppression committees” — all these are intended solely to wipe them out. Life at the front in the enemy’s rear is so hard that some people in the rear area may not be fully aware of it.

Members of the Communist Party, commanders and fighters of the Eighth Route and New Fourth Armies, men and women compatriots in the enemy’s rear, strengthen your unity, unite as one man! The savage war will only temper you and make you especially brave and strong, and the enemy will never be able to make you submit. Communists must maintain close ties with the masses, protect them as you would protect the apple of your eye, and rely on them as you would on your own parents, brothers and sisters. Earnestly carry out the policies of “better troops and simpler administration”, “support the government and cherish the people” and “support the army”,and thoroughly accomplish unity between officers and men, between the army and the people and between the army and the government. Better organize co-ordination in fighting between the main forces, the guerrilla units and the people’s militia in the enemy’s rear, increase their technical and tactical training and step up their political work, and intensify the blows against the enemy and smash his “mopping-up” operations. Expand the armed working teams and strengthen the struggle against the enemy’s “nibbling” tactics, so that all military and political cadres will become good at summing up their combat experience and will raise to a higher level their skill in countering “mopping-up” and “nibbling” operations. You are experts in guerrilla and mobile warfare, and in the six years of patriotic war you have achieved results which compel admiration; the whole nation places its concern and hopes in you. Therefore you must do your utmost to improve your military skill and your political work so that you will be able to co-ordinate with the fighting on the main front and drive the enemy out of China.

Pay great attention to winning over Japanese soldiers and members of the puppet troops, and co-operate with the Japanese Communist Party in demoralizing the enemy’s and the puppet troops and greatly intensify such work. Organize schools for Japanese workers and peasants and expand the Japanese Anti-War League and the Japanese Communist League, develop the anti-Japanese armed forces and groups of the Korean people, and turn all these forces into powerful friendly forces in the Chinese people’s struggle against Japanese fascism. Stimulate production in the public sector. Every army unit and every organization and school must, as far as the fighting permits, develop a movement to produce for their own needs, so that by their own hands they can improve their livelihood and lighten the burden on the people. Stimulate production in the private sector. Communists should go deep among the villages and learn how to help the peasants draw up their household plans, organize labour-exchange groups and form co-operatives, in order to improve the livelihood of the masses. The remarkably successful production movement in both the public and the private sectors in the Shensi-Kansu-Ningsia Border Region and in many other base areas behind the enemy lines should be pushed forward tirelessly. Give awards to labour heroes, develop production emulation, combat corruption and waste, punish idlers and overcome bureaucracy and estrangement from the masses. Do everything possible to defeat the enemy.

Communists must also make conscientious efforts to learn culture, professional work, politics and theory. Continue the rectification movement, develop self-criticism, and resolutely, thoroughly, unceremoniously and mercilessly root out subjectivism, sectarianism and stereotyped Party writing in our own ranks. No matter how savage the war or how heavy the work, you must never slacken your study efforts, but must learn to do your work with outstanding ability in the course of a long and bitter war. The enemy is on the lookout for a thousand and one ways to destroy you from without and from within; let me warn you to increase your vigilance tenfold, a hundredfold, a thousandfold; you must learn every new method of combating enemy secret agents.

The sixth year of the war of resistance is the twenty-second anniversary of the birth of the Chinese Communist Party. From the very day it was born, the Chinese Communist Party for the first time in Chinese history presented to the Chinese people a programme against imperialism and feudalism, and on the basis of this programme it has defined policies of concrete application for different periods. During the past twenty-two years all its members and the broad masses of the people have worked together to carry out this programme and these policies, and they have waged a heroic, devoted and stubborn struggle, bloody and unflinching, against imperialism and its running dogs in China, for the liberation of the nation and society. No matter how powerful the enemy or how hard the road, they have resolutely pressed forward, never wavering and never flinching, and have at last brought light out of darkness and a new lease of life to the whole nation from a hopeless impasse. The historical experience of the twenty-two years has proved that the orientation of our Party’s endeavour is the one and only correct orientation for bringing new life to the Chinese nation, and this must be maintained in our future historical practice until complete victory is won. Communists are a special kind of people, who are completely free from selfishness and seek only the welfare of the nation and people. They are rooted in the people, they are the children of the people, but also their teachers, and they are always on the alert lest they be cut off from the masses. Whatever happens, they consider the interests of the masses as the starting point of their thinking, and that is why they have won the heartfelt support of the broadest masses and why their cause is bound to triumph. At this turning point when the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan and the world anti-fascist war are about to enter the final decisive stage, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party is confident that all Party members will be able to unite closely around the Central Committee headed by Comrade Mao Tse-tung, firmly and conscientiously carry out its policies, enhance their sense of responsibility, bring their creative power into play, adhere to the Anti-Japanese National United Front, do everything possible and work with all their might to unite with all the anti-Japanese parties and all the anti-Japanese people in the country, support the National Government and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, and defeat Japanese imperialism.

Long live the liberation of the Chinese nation!

〔5〕 Tojo, namely Tojo Hideki, was then Prime Minister of the Japanese Cabinet.




〔6〕 See p. 33, note 6, of this volume. 〔7〕 Wang refers to Wang Ching-wei, who was then the head of the puppet "National Government" in Nanking fostered by Japanese imperialism.




〔8〕 "Three thirds system"—see p. 25, note 8, of this volume.