MAO TSE-TUNG
(May 3, 1937)
THE TASKS OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY IN THE PERIOD OF RESISTANCE TO JAPAN
(Report to the National Conference of the Communist Party of China held in Yenan)
THE PRESENT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA'S EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS
As the contradiction between China and Japan has become the principal
one and China's internal contradictions have dropped into a secondary
and subordinate place, changes have occurred in China's international
relations and internal class relations, giving rise to a new stage of
development in the current situation.
China has long been in the grip of two acute and basic contradictions,
the contradiction between China and imperialism and the contradiction
between feudalism and the masses of the people. In 1927 the bourgeoisie,
represented by the Kuomintang, betrayed the revolution and sold China's
national interests to imperialism, thus creating a situation in which
the state power of the workers and peasants stood in sharp antagonism to
that of the Kuomintang, and, of necessity, the task of the national and
democratic revolution devolved upon the Chinese Communist Party alone.
Since the Incident of September 18, 1931 and especially since the
Northern China Incident of 1935, [1] the following changes have taken
place in these contradictions:
(1) The contradiction between China and imperialism in general has
given way to the particularly salient and sharp contradiction
between China and Japanese imperialism. Japanese imperialism is
carrying out a policy of total conquest of China. Consequently, the
contradictions between China and certain other imperialist powers
have been relegated to a secondary position, while the rift between
these powers and Japan has been widened. Consequently also, the
Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people are faced with the
task of linking China's anti-Japanese national united front with the
world peace front. This means that China should not only unite with
the Soviet Union, which has been the consistently good friend of the
Chinese people, but as far as possible should work for joint
opposition to Japanese imperialism with those imperialist countries
which, at the present time, are willing to maintain peace and are
against new wars of aggression. The aim of our united front must be
resistance to Japan, and not simultaneous opposition to all the
imperialist powers.
(2) The contradiction between China and Japan has changed internal
class relations within China and has confronted the bourgeoisie and
even the warlords with the question of survival, so that they and
their political parties have been undergoing a gradual change in
their political attitude. This has placed the task of establishing
an anti-Japanese national united front before the Chinese Communist
Party and the Chinese people. Our united front should include the
bourgeoisie and all who agree to the defence of the motherland, it
should represent national solidarity against the foreign foe. This
task not only must, but can, be fulfilled.
(3) The contradiction between China and Japan has changed matters
for the masses throughout the country (the proletariat, the
peasantry and the urban petty bourgeoisie) and for the Communist
Party, and it has changed the Party's policy. More and more people
have risen to fight for national salvation. The policy proclaimed by
the Communist Party after the September 18th Incident was to
conclude agreements with those sections of the Kuomintang which were
willing to co-operate with us for resistance, subject to three
conditions (stop attacking the revolutionary base areas, guarantee
the freedoms and rights of the people, arm the people), and it has
developed into a policy of establishing an anti-Japanese united
front of the whole nation. This is the reason for the following
steps taken by our Party: in 1935, the August declaration [2] and
the December resolution; [3] in 1936, the abandonment of the
"anti-Chiang Kai-shek" slogan in May, [4] the letter to the
Kuomintang in August, [5] the resolution on the democratic republic
in September, [6] and the insistence on a peaceful settlement of the
Sian Incident in December; and in 1937, the February telegram to the
Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the
Kuomintang. [7]
(4) Because of the contradiction between China and Japan, a change
has also occurred in the Chinese warlord regimes and the civil wars
among them, which are the product of the imperialist policy of
spheres of influence and of China's semi-colonial economic
conditions. Japanese imperialism fosters such separate regimes and
civil wars for the purpose of facilitating exclusive Japanese
domination of China. Certain other imperialist powers are
temporarily in favour of unity and peace in China in their own
interests. The Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people on
their part are exerting their utmost efforts against civil wars and
splits and for peace and unity.
(5) In terms of relative political importance the development of
the national contradiction between China and Japan has demoted the
domestic contradictions between classes and between political
groupings to a secondary and subordinate place. But they still exist
and have by no means diminished or disappeared. The same is true of
the contradictions between China and the imperialist powers other
than Japan. Therefore, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese
people are faced with the following task -- to make the appropriate
adjustments with regard to those internal and external
contradictions which can and must be adjusted at present so as to
fit in with the general task of unity against Japan. This is the
reason for the Chinese Communist Party's policies of peace and
unity, democracy, bettering the life of the people and negotiations
with foreign countries that are opposed to Japan.
The first stage of the new period in the Chinese revolution began on
December 9, 1935 and ended when the Kuomintang's Central Executive
Committee held its Third Plenary Session in February 1937. The major
events in this stage were the movements for national salvation among the
students and cultural and press circles; the Red Army's entry into the
Northwest; the Communist Party's work of propaganda and organization for
its anti-Japanese national united front policy; the anti-Japanese
strikes in Shanghai and Tsingtao; [8] the relative stiffening of British
policy towards Japan; [9] the Kwangtung-Kwangsi Incident ; [10] the
resistance in Suiyuan and the movement in its support; [11] Nanking's
somewhat firmer attitude in the Sino-Japanese negotiations; [12] the
Sian Incident; and finally, the Third Plenary Session of the Central
Executive Committee of the Kuomintang in Nanking. [13] These events all
centred on the basic contradiction, which is the antagonism between
China and Japan; they all centred directly on the historical need for an
anti-Japanese national united front.
The basic task of the revolution at this stage was to struggle for
internal peace and stop the internal armed conflicts, so that there
could be unity against Japan. During this stage the Communist Party
issued its call, "Stop the civil war and unite against Japan", a call
which in the main has been put into effect, and thereby created the
primary prerequisite for the actual establishment of an anti-Japanese
national united front.
Owing to the presence of the pro-Japanese group inside the Kuomintang,
it made no definite or thoroughgoing change in its policy at the Third
Plenary Session of its Central Executive Committee and did not
concretely solve any problem. However, owing to the pressure of the
people and to developments in its own ranks, the Kuomintang had to begin
to change its wrong policy of the previous ten years, that is, it had to
turn away from the policy of civil war, dictatorship and non-resistance
to Japan and to move in the direction of peace, democracy and resistance
to Japan, and it had to begin accepting the policy of an anti-Japanese
national united front; this initial change revealed itself at the Third
Plenary Session of its Central Executive Committee. From now on the
demand must be for a thorough change in Kuomintang policy. In order to
attain this goal our Party and the people throughout the country must
develop the movement for resistance to Japan and for democracy still
more extensively, must go a step further in criticizing the Kuomintang,
pushing it into action and keeping up the pressure, must unite with all
those within the Kuomintang who stand for peace, democracy and
resistance to Japan, and must help the hesitant waverers forward and
throw out the pro-Japanese elements.
The present stage is the second one in the new period. Both the previous
and present stages are stages of transition towards nationwide armed
resistance to Japan. If in the previous stage the principal task was the
fight for peace, then in the present stage the principal task is the
fight for democracy. It must be understood that just as a genuine and
solid anti-Japanese national united front cannot be established without
internal peace, so it cannot be established without internal democracy.
Hence at the present stage of ...
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