NEW YEAR MESSAGE--STRIVE FOR EARLY VICTORY
1 January 1945
[Text] The year 1944 has passed. It was a year of decisive changes in the
antifascist war. On the European front there were the following brilliant
accomplishments: The complete recovery of Soviet territory, the opening
of a second front in Western Europe by the Allies, the surrender of the
dependent Axis [countries] of Finland, Bulgaria and Romania, the tremendous
growth of the people's liberation movement in France, Belgium, Yugoslavia,
Greece and Poland, and the liberation of their territories in whole or in
greater part. In 1944 the strategic plan to surround and attack the German
bandits from the east, west and south was completed, and the war is
currently being fought on the borders of the Nazi imperialists. Soviet
artillery is shelling the defenses of East Prussia, while the great armies
of America and England are attacking the western wall of the German bandits.
Regardless of how desperately the German bandits struggle, or even attempt
a partial counteroffensive, Hitler is destined to lose the war. All the
struggles of the German bandits will only prolong the war for a certain
period, and it is impossible for them to resist the final joint offensive
of the Allies in 1945. The year 1945 will be the year of Nazi Germany's
final destruction.
In the Pacific, the American forces launched a large-scale offensive
against the Japanese bandits in 1944, successively broke through their internal and external defense lines, from the Marshalls, New Guinea, via the
Marianas and Borneo to the Philippines, and placed Japan proper under
the strategic bombing of the U.S. Air Force. In the past year the
Japanese bandits lost much territory and men in the ocean and were placed
on the defensive completely. However, they still maintain their main naval
force; their army has not suffered any major loss, and it even made tremendous progress on the Chinese Kuomintang front. Therefore, the Far East
front in 1945 will see even more cruel battles than in 1944. The speed
of the victory of the war in the Far East will depend to a large extent
on China's war effort and on the joint counteroffensive of the Allies on
land and sea in the Far East. To increase China's war effort and to prepare and carry out the counteroffensive on China's battlefront, we must
overcome the military, political and economic crises created by the fascist

and defeatist policies of the Kuomintang authorities. The only way to overcome such crises is by abolishing the corrupt one-party dictatorship of the
Kuomintang, reorganizing the National Government and the high command, and
forming a coalition government and a coalition high command.

The year 1944 was a year of tremendous changes on the battlefront of China.
The period of 1939 to April 1944, stretching over 5 years and 4 months,
constituted a stage in China's battlefront. During this stage the Japanese
bandits ceased their frontal attacks and concentrated on the liberated areas
behind their lines. The Kuomintang rulers were superficial in their
resistance war effort but extremely active in resisting the communists and
the people. Therefore, the soldiers and civilians in the liberated areas
behind enemy lines were placed in an extremely difficult situation, burdened
with the entire responsibility of persevering in the resistance war on
China's battlefront. During this period of 5-odd years it was commonplace
for the cities and villages in the liberated areas behind enemy lines to
undergo more than 10 burnings and massacres by the enemy bandits; the outlying areas suffered such burnings and massacres 60 or 70 times. Under
such unheard-of severe destruction, the people's savings were completely
wiped out, yet, as a result of the 10 great policies of the Chinese
Communist Central, their unity became even more consolidated, and they
became even more tenacious in fighting. From the second half of 1942 on,
the liberated areas, far from diminishing, became ever more expanded.
We
defeated Neiji Okamura, smashed the three anticommunist campaigns launched
by the reactionaries in the Kuomintang, and created rare miracles in history.
On the Kuomintang battlefront, the enemy did not launch any major offensive
in 5 1/2 years, and the Kuomintang troops adopted the policy of passive
avoidance, withdrawing upon the approach of the enemy, losing all morale,
and collapsing on sight of the enemy. Meanwhile, in the rear under
Kuomintang control, it was tyranny and dictatorship, corruption and lawlessness. The party, government, soldiers and people were disunited, and
the bureaucratic structure became intolerably corrupt. The Japanese bandits
regarded the Chinese people as "ferocious tigers" and the Kuomintang government as the "tiger cage," and they even declared that they "did not consider
the Chungking army an enemy." Nevertheless, since April last year, due to
the unfavorable situation created by the Pacific counteroffensive of the
U.S. forces, besides maintaining a gigantic military force in its rear, the
enemy was forced to attack the "tiger cage" which was "not considered an
enemy" with a part of its force in order to open up mainland communication
lines and oust the air bases of the U.S. forces. Since the Japanese
bandits resumed their offensive against the Kuomintang's front in April
last year, the Kuomintang troops disintegrated on contact. Honan, Hunan
and Kwangsi fell one after another, and the Japanese bandits attained their
goal of opening the mainland communication lines in less than 6 months. Yet,
during the same period, China's liberated areas won victories at every
point and liberated 80,000 square kilometers of territory and 12 million
countrymen. The changes on China's battlefront in the past year clearly
reflected the contrast between two kinds of policies, two lines and two sets
of methods: The policy of negative resistance, waiting for victory,

conserving strength, and rejecting the dissenters led to collapse and crisis,
while the policy of positive resistance under the new democracy channeled
the resistance war to tremendous victories.

The military failure resulting from the erroneous policies of the Kuomintang
placed the battlefront in a grave situation. If it continues to permit the
Japanese bandits to penetrate the national territory, then they will be able
to relatively and temporarily avert their decline, prolong the war and
increase the misery and sacrifice of the Chinese people and those of the
Allies. Refusing to admit this point, or failing to stress its gravity,
is irresponsibility toward the people of China and our Allies. In fact,
the collapse of the Kuomintang battlefront has already helped the Japanese
bandits to more or less avert their strategic decline, prolonged the war and
increased the misery and sacrifice of the people. This responsibility must
be borne by the reactionaries in the Kuomintang.

In this situation, the task of our countrymen in the entire nation is, on
the one hand, to launch counterattacks wherever possible and prepare for
them wherever they are called for and, on the other hand, to block the enemy
bandits from advancing toward our rear. Our work, in Comrade Mao Tse-tung's
"Tasks for 1945," has been summarized in four slogans: "Reinforce the
resistance work of the liberated areas," "Organize the people of the enemy-occupied areas," "Render aid to the people of our rear," and "Form a
democratic coalition government."

Among the four slogans, the most crucial one is to form a democratic coalition government. It is a task requiring the unanimous efforts of the
Chinese people in three different situations (liberated areas, our rear
and the enemy-occupied areas), because, as clearly indicated by our
experiences in 1944, if we do not thoroughly abolish the erroneous policies
of the Kuomintang rulers and adopt new military, political, economic and
cultural policies commensurate with the resistance war, democracy, and unity,
and if we do not oust the defeatist and fascist elements and corrupt
officials in the government and the local tyrants and undesirable gentry
and replace them with new figures capable of representing the people's will
and strength and of leading China toward victory and freedom, then it will
be impossible to stop the Japanese bandits from continuous penetration,
let alone coordinate with our Allies to carry out a joint land and sea
offensive on the Far East battlefront. Only a democratic coalition
government will avert the crisis on China's forward battlefront; only such
a government will shorten the war and attain an early victory!

Today the resistance war has entered its 9th year. In these long months
and years our countrymen of the entire nation have tasted all the miseries
caused by the war, and we eagerly hope for an early victory. Meanwhile,
the Japanese bandits favor a prolonged war, and the reactionaries inside
the Kuomintang help them postpone China's victory with their erroneous
policies and intensify the suffering of the people. On this New Year's Day

we hope that our countrymen of the entire nation will, with a solemn attitude and concrete work, strive for the early victory of the resistance war.
We must especially seek the realization of the prerequisite of victory--
a democratic coalition government.
CHIEH-FANG JIH-PAO, 1 January 1945
*
"Reference Materials on the History of the Chinese Communist Party,"
Vol 4.