IV. The Mainstay of Chinese United Resistance

The Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was a people's war involving the whole Chinese nation. In pursuit of the policy of building a Chinese united front to resist Japanese aggression advocated for by the CPC and based on cooperation between the KMT and the CPC, all of China's ethnic groups, classes, political parties, and social organizations; patriots from all sectors of society; compatriots in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; and overseas Chinese came together, quite understandably sharinga deep sense of loathing for the enemy, and worked together to save their nation, making an important contribution to winning the war.

As the vanguard of efforts to liberate the Chinese nation, the CPC developed a number of major ideas and theories, and policies and principles, offered creative answers to questions of fundamental and strategic significance to the eventual success or failure of the War of Resistance, developed a vast battleground behind enemy lines, and gave the Chinese people hope that they could save their nation. It played a pivotal role in sustaining the resistance against Japanese aggression and thus eventually winning the war.

The CPC actively advocated for the establishment of the Chinese united front against Japan, and acted with determination to maintain it. It pooled the strength of the whole nation to join the resistance against imperial foreign aggression. Beginning with the Opium War of 1840-1842, generations of Chinese people had risen again and again to fight back in resistance to foreign aggression. But never had the strength of the Chinese people been combined as a whole in this fight, instead it was scattered like a loose sheet of sand, leaving the country unable to shake off its bad fortune, and suffering one defeat after another. As Mao Zedong put it, "It is mainly because of the unorganized state of the Chinese masses that Japan dares to bully us."[Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Eng. ed., Foreign Languages Press (FLP), Peking 1967, Vol. Il, p. 186.]

Following the September 18th Incident, the CPC, the advanced party with the strongest capacity for political organization in China, was the first to propose that China should engage in armed resistance against Japanese aggression and establish a Chinese united front against Japan. It did everything in its power to bring about a peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident, which helped establish the framework of the united front. Following the outbreak of the nationwide War of Resistance, the CPC continued to work tirelessly to secure the official establishment of the Chinese united front, getting the whole nation to resist foreign aggression -an entirely new situation unprecedented in China's modern history. However harsh the conditions were, however dangerous the situation was, and however ruthless the war became, the CPC remained a staunch supporter of the united front.

The CPC made clear and stuck to its line of having the whole nation wage an all-out War of Resistance and its underlying strategy of making this a protracted war, guiding the war effort to see that while China was weaker than its foe, it would ultimately come out on top. If China, a weak semi-colonized and semi-feudal country, wanted to defeat Japan, a strong imperialist country, it had to use a strategy appropriate to a weak country trying to outfight a strong one. Following the outbreak of the nationwide War of Resistance, the CPC drew up the Ten-Point Program for thoroughly defeating the Japanese and systematically formulated the line of the whole nation waging an all-out War of Resistance and the underlying strategy of waging a protracted war. In a programmatic document, "On Protracted War," Mao Zedong made a well-constructed analysis of the circumstances China was in and the characteristics of China and Japan and discussed how the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression might evolve. The strategic vision he applied in defining the three stages that might unfold as the protracted nationwide War of Resistance evolved proved to be prescient. He explained how important it would be for China to use a stage of strategic stalemate to transform itself from weak to strong and prepare for the counter-offensive. The outlook, he argued, was good and the final victory would go to China. These insightful ideas helped to the greatest possible extent to mobilize and arm all of China's soldiers and civilians to create a people's war as vast as any ocean to engulf the enemy and drown out the aggression.

Cleaving open and developing the war behind enemy lines, the CPC engaged in guerrilla warfare to create a strategic situation favorable for the nationwide War of Resistance. The Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression pitted the weak against the strong. Drawing on a studied analysis of the respective strengths and weaknesses of China and Japan, the CPC adopted a creative strategy, elevating guerrilla warfare against Japanese aggression to a strategic position and formulating a complete set of programs, principles, and policies for creating a backstage war. The counter-Japanese forces led by the CPC carved out four backstage battlefields, one in northern China and another in central China, with the other two in southern China and northeast China respectively. In doing so, it turned the enemy rear into the frontline of resistance. With the cooperation between center stage and backstage battleground, a strategic configuration of dual battleground emerged in the War of Resistance. The soldiers and civilians led by the CPC behind enemy lines engaged in guerrilla warfare independently in accordance with the strategy and tactics of people's war, effectively pinned down and eliminated large numbers of Japanese troops and were engaged with almost all the troops of the puppet regime. As the War of Resistance raged on, the people's counter-Japanese armed forces won great popular support, and expanded and grew stronger, progressively becoming the main force in the resistance. The vast backstage battleground gradually grew to become the main battleground of China's War of Resistance, and this large-scale guerrilla warfare played a major strategic role in the protracted war of resistance.

Counter-Japanese democratic base areas, created by the CPC, were of strategic significance in securing the final victory in the War of Resistance.

The CPC's guerrilla forces relied on these counter-Japanese base areas to execute their strategic missions and achieve the goal of preserving and developing themselves and dislodging and eliminating the enemy. They provided the basic support for resistance behind enemy lines. While creating backstage battlefields and developing counter-Japanese guerrilla warfare, the CPC and the counter-Japanese armed forces under its leadership established a great number of counter-Japanese base areas all over the country. These base areas implemented counter-Japanese democratic principles and policies, and employed social reforms to adjust the relations of production and improve productivity. Of particular note, they promoted political, economic, and cultural development under new- democracy, inspiring greater enthusiasm among the people for resistance and production. As a result, not only did these counter-Japanese base areas provide long-term support for guerrilla warfare and for resisting Japanese aggression nationwide, they also served as good examples in developing counter-Japanese democracy and provided a wealth of experience to draw on in the establishment of a new China.

The CPC ensured its members played an exemplary role. The Party drew on a spirit of honor and exemplary action to encourage the whole population to develop a sense of determination to resist Japanese aggression and a belief that their resistance would ultimately prevail. The Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was a long grueling, and complicated war of national liberation. From day one, the CPC had viewed calling on, leading, and uniting the Chinese people in collective resistance as its mission, backing up words with action and playing an exemplary, vanguard role.

Yan'an, the location chosen for the CPC's Central Committee and the headquarters and center for guiding the resistance behind enemy lines, was a sacred place of revolution for progressives and young revolutionaries. In the resistance effort, countless Communists spilt their blood and gave their lives, casting an immortal national soul. They demonstrated an indomitable wil to fight and served as astrong inspiration and source of encouragement, strengthening the enthusiasm and morale of other Chinese people for the War of Resistance, and winning their trust and support.

The great War of Resistance waged by China against Japanese aggresion gives us aclear picture of the courage of the Chinese people to fight the aggressors to their last breath, their determination to recover their lost territory through their own exertion, and their ability to stand on their own two feet in the family of nations. The war was a stirring chapter in the annals of the efforts made by the Chinese people to achieve independence and freedom in their modern history and a chapter full of vicissitudes in the history of the development of the Chinese nation.