Originally published at: 抗战中流砥柱——谁打败了日本侵略者？ – 曙光
Editorial Board of League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Proletariat
The Anti-Japanese War is an extremely significant war in China's modern national democratic revolution. In this war, the great, glorious, and correct Chinese Communist Party led the Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army, various ethnic laboring people, local people's armed forces, and progressive intellectuals in arduous and extraordinary struggles. Ultimately, not only did they defeat Japanese imperialism, spread revolutionary democratic ideas, awaken hundreds of millions of workers and peasants, but also exposed Chiang Kai-shek’s bandit gang’s anti-communist and traitorous true nature, exercised the people's strength, developed Marxist revolutionary theory, and made great progress politically, economically, culturally, and militarily. During the eight years of fierce fighting, China's working people paid a huge sacrifice, with the blood of countless martyrs as the price, winning the victory in this greatest anti-imperialist war in the nearly hundred-year history of the Chinese nation. Likewise, during these eight years, the peasant class, bound by landlords for thousands of years, was widely liberated for the first time, establishing a solid revolutionary alliance with the working class, which led to a significant development of the people's revolutionary power, ultimately creating conditions for the victory of China's new democratic revolution and the birth of socialist regime.
Propaganda of nationalism and Kuomintang’s anti-Japanese theory in the reactionary TV drama “Bright Sword”
The Japanese invaders were defeated by the Chinese people led by the Chinese Communist Party, which is beyond doubt. However, since the reform and opening-up, the role played by the Chinese Communist Party and the entire Chinese people in the "anti-war dramas" produced by the Chinese government has been increasingly downplayed; instead, stories about the Kuomintang and the so-called positive battlefield are exaggerated and highlighted, and in recent years, even the Japanese puppet traitors have been portrayed as "heroes with difficulties." The number of such films praising the Kuomintang's achievements in resisting Japan is so large that five of the top ten highest-rated anti-war dramas on Douban directly depict how the Kuomintang resisted Japan. Moreover, even in some dramas about the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army resisting Japan, the Kuomintang army often appears as a "positive" image— in "Bright Sword," the Kuomintang regimental commander Chu Yunfei not only kills traitors and shells Japanese troops but also sympathizes with Li Yunlong, and when fighting against the Japanese, boldly declares: "My 358th Regiment will help the scene!" In "Snow Leopard," Kuomintang officer Zhou Weiguo becomes a main character in the resistance, fully demonstrating his patriotic spirit and leading the Hutoushan Eighth Route Army to achieve unprecedented "major victories." Conversely, the Communist organization and the broad Communist Party members are belittled, serving as "green leaves" to highlight this patriotic Kuomintang officer.
Besides TV dramas, various "documentary literature" and "first-hand materials" praising the Kuomintang's achievements in resisting Japan are also rampant, with all kinds of "war memoirs" and "battle histories" emerging endlessly. These so-called "first-hand documentary materials" not only talk about the Kuomintang army "holding back the enemy on the front line and killing many Japanese invaders" but also portray the various warlords of the Kuomintang as "national heroes" who fight tirelessly for national liberation, even the traitor Chiang Kai-shek—whose hands are stained with the blood of the people, who came to power through selling out the nation and suppressing revolution—has been transformed into a "good CEO" who "acts in accordance with the national interest" during the anti-Japanese war.
But historically, wasn't it this "President Chiang" with the "million-strong army" who retreated again and again, lost Shanghai, abandoned Nanjing, moved to Chongqing, and until the eve of Japan's surrender in 1944, was retreating in Yuxiang-Gui, leaving 60 million people under the iron heel of the Japanese invaders, allowing the Japanese to achieve the strategic goal of "opening the land route from China to Indochina"? Isn't it this "President Chiang"—cursed by the Chinese working people as "Damn Chiang"—who bombed the Yellow River, breached dikes, signed treaties, indulged in corruption, pretended to resist Japan while actually surrendering and betraying the nation, plundered the people's wealth, and after losing more than half of China, still regarded anti-communism as the top priority, brazenly launched the Wannan Incident, slaughtered the military and civilians in the liberated areas, and initiated the third anti-communist wave?! The Kuomintang bandit gang, a pile of dog dung that is shameless before the Chinese people, still dares to jump out after the victory to monopolize the fruits of victory, trying to restore China to its pre-war state, with no change at all— isn't this utterly shameless?! Those who produce these confusing films and so-called "documentary materials" are deliberately beautifying the reactionary Kuomintang—this obstacle to the people's resistance—making it out to be the backbone of the Anti-Japanese War, which is a complete reversal of black and white and shameless!
The proliferation of various reactionary literary and artistic works that praise the Kuomintang is no coincidence. After the Chinese Communist Party's rightist faction seized power and restored capitalism, this "Kuomintang anti-Japanese" farce quietly began: as early as the 40th anniversary of the victory in the Anti-Japanese War, the old rightist Peng Zhen played a mediating role, talking about how "the victory of China's anti-Japanese war was the victory of the entire nation's united resistance"[1], openly denying "the armed forces led by the Communist Party and the masses had become the backbone of the anti-Japanese war"[2], and this is a glorious statement made by Chairman Mao. The Chinese revisionists also incited their mouthpieces to openly distort history, claiming that "the Anti-Japanese War was fought under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front led by the Chinese Communist Party, with cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party." [3] In a speech commemorating the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the then Chinese revisionist leader Hu Jintao shamelessly said that "the Kuomintang... organized a series of major battles... dealt heavy blows to the Japanese army." [4] Ten years later, during the parade commemorating the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Anti-Japanese War, the counterrevolutionary bandit Xi Jinping not only did not mention the role of the Chinese Communist Party as the backbone of the resistance but also invited Kuomintang veterans to participate in the parade to demonstrate the "national unity" of the two sides of the strait. Soon after, the Chinese revisionist government even changed the duration of the war from 8 years to 14 years, covering up the fact that the Nationalist government, which did not fire a single shot between 1931-1937, suppressed revolutions internally, slaughtered workers and peasants, surrendered to foreign enemies, and signed traitorous treaties like the "He Mei Agreement," was still claiming to "persist in resisting Japan." [5] The earliest film that started the trend of beautifying the Kuomintang was the 1985 movie "Blood Battle at Taierzhuang," produced by the Chinese revisionist government. This film elevated Li Zongren, the "total commander" who was involved in the Guangxi Incident and colluded with the Japanese in the Wannan Incident, to a hero who was strategic, just, and loved soldiers and people. The traitorous and surrendering Chiang Kai-shek also appeared as the supreme commander of the war effort, personally inspecting the troops amidst the gunfire, remaining calm and fearless in the face of Japanese air raids, and delivering speeches at memorial services. The release of this film signified that the Chinese revisionist government had politically guaranteed the Kuomintang's contributions to the war and set a model for all subsequent "anti-Japanese war dramas." When filming this movie, the Chinese government issued the following instructions:
"First, this year marks the 49th anniversary of the Battle of Taierzhuang (1987), and the film can be released nationwide. Second, some proposed adding a Mao Zedong quote at the beginning of the film. It can be omitted. Third, some suggested deleting the detail that 'Chiang Kai-shek was not afraid of Japanese bombings.' Whether to delete or not is up to the artists." [5]
The reactionary Kuomintang government, which has always claimed to be the "backbone of the resistance," naturally understood the olive branch extended by the Chinese revisionist government. When "Blood Battle at Taierzhuang" was released, it received high praise from Chiang Ching-kuo, who clapped and happily declared: "From this film, the mainland has already acknowledged our resistance. This film did not blacken my father's reputation."[6] The Chinese revisionist traitor group is precisely such a group that relies on tarnishing the reputation of the Communist Party, trampling on the honor of the Communist Party, and betraying the dignity of the Communist Party for their own benefit!"They control the material means of production, and they also control the spiritual means of production."[7] The Chinese government tolerates, condones, and instructs its lackeys and intellectuals to play these "boast about others' ambitions, destroy their own prestige" tricks, which exactly exposes its extreme anti-communist and anti-people class stance. Today's Chinese ruling class is the bureaucratic monopoly bourgeoisie, which not only uses violence to maintain rule and suppress the people but also poisons the people with Confucianism and other reactionary means. In terms of class, they are no different from the Kuomintang. Sharing the same class interests, they always seek to beautify these old exploiters for their own class benefit. The current Chinese government is, in fact, the biggest promoter and supporter of the "Kuomintang's achievements in resisting Japan" theory. Through glorifying the Kuomintang, it subtly propagates the idea that:
In all external wars, the invaded nations' internal unity is absolute and without distinction. The reactionary government that suppresses the people and exterminates revolution can also be "patriotic" and must be resisted.
The clever trick of replacing class analysis with nationalism to incite "national sentiment" and cover up class contradictions is exactly what the current Chinese government has been doing consistently. Therefore, to clarify why the Communist Party is the backbone of the anti-Japanese war, why the Chinese revisionist government shamelessly glorifies the Kuomintang, and to fully expose the reactionary face of the Chinese revisionist government, the following will start from historical facts, explaining the characteristics of China and Japan during the Anti-Japanese War period."War is a continuation of politics," war is inherently political action, and since ancient times, there has been no war without politics." [8] To explain the nature of the Anti-Japanese War, and further demonstrate why the Communist Party, representing the interests of the proletariat and the working people, is the backbone of the war, it is necessary to analyze the political and economic conditions of both sides of the war, thereby understanding the political purpose behind initiating this war.
The Japan invading China is a fascist, military feudal empire ruled by a landlord-bourgeoisie dictatorship. Japan's landlord-bourgeoisie brutally exploits workers and peasants, making the lives of the Japanese people extremely miserable, and long-term suffering in dire conditions. This has led to a very narrow domestic market in Japan, which cannot accommodate the massive amount of goods produced. Meanwhile, because Japan's semi-feudal system in agriculture has not been thoroughly eradicated, large landowners and big capitalists have long monopolized land and natural resources, resulting in difficulty in resource development domestically and reliance on overseas raw materials for production. This extreme dependence on overseas markets and raw materials has caused Japan to become extremely aggressive externally. As early as the 1870s, Japanese military leader Ito Hirobumi formulated the so-called "continental policy," arrogantly claiming to "invade Taiwan first, then conquer Korea, then invade Northeast China and Mongolia, then conquer all of China, and finally conquer the world" [9], ultimately making Japan a "Hachihon Ichi U" (Great Empire of Eight Corners).
After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, Japan successively occupied Taiwan, Sakhalin South, and gradually incorporated Korea into its colonial rule, seizing nearly 76% of Japanese territory. In the imperialist era, the monopolistic bourgeoisie of various countries wanted to maintain cheap and stable raw materials and access to fixed markets for goods, and the only way was to compete for colonies. This was especially true for resource-scarce, small-market Japan. During World War I, Japan, taking advantage of the damage suffered by Britain, Germany, and France, signed the "Twenty-One Demands" with Yuan Shikai's government, attempting to turn all of China into its colony. However, due to the resolute resistance of the Chinese people and interference by imperialist powers, this treaty was invalidated, and in 1922, various imperialist countries signed the Nine-Power Treaty, maintaining China's semi-colonial status under their control.
"By the 1930s, Japanese imperialism, due to internal and external contradictions, not only had to undertake unprecedented large-scale adventurous wars but was also on the brink of collapse." To alleviate economic crises and suppress anti-imperialist movements at home and abroad, Japan's ruling class, while exploiting "old markets," urgently needed to "open new markets." Since the May Fourth Movement, the Chinese people launched a series of anti-imperialist patriotic movements, and imperialist countries intensified control over China to shift their crises onto China. This made Japan's imperialist scheme to turn China into its exclusive colony through non-war means completely impossible. As the mass movements at home and abroad grew like wildfire, China, a semi-independent country, became a "obstacle to Japan's political development"[10], and "peaceful" means could no longer achieve its evil goal of fully occupying China. Thus, the Japanese imperialist group raised the bayonet and launched a full-scale invasion of China in July 1937.
Contrary to Japan, China was a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, suffering under imperialist oppression. Through the Opium War, imperialist powers used cannons to open China's doors, flooding China with foreign invaders who greedily devoured Chinese blood and flesh, and raising comprador agents in China, transforming China from a feudal state into a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country. These imperialists not only looted huge wealth through unequal treaties but also imported large amounts of capital and factories, occupying ports and docks across the country. They ruled over the people with tyranny, eager to swallow the vast China whole.
"Dark old China, the land is dark, the sky is dark." [11] Even before Japan's invasion, the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism had already heavily oppressed the Chinese people. In this society, the exploiting classes—landlords, compradors, officials, and gentry—profited without labor, indulging in opium, prostitution, foreign "Shili Yangchang" (foreign concessions), and casinos, living extravagantly and decadently. The vast majority of workers and peasants, however, toiled without reward, oppressed by warlords, bandits, officials, landlords, and foreigners, suffering their entire lives, yet living in poverty and hunger, ultimately leaving this world filled with endless resentment and regret.
Inherited from the Beiyang government’s political legacy, Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang was the ruling class of such a society. Its reactionary nature determined it to be a dark government representing the interests of big bureaucrats and landlords, maintaining rule through foreign comprador sellouts and internal repression. Since Chiang's rise, officials at all levels have been corrupt and greedy, with the most powerful landlord-bourgeoisie groups—Chiang, Song, Kong, Chen "Four Great Families"—being the biggest corruptors. They deprived all workers and peasants of freedom for their class's "liberty," relying on violence, betrayal, and servitude to foreign masters to gain privileges, indulging in cannibalistic feastings for decades, pushing China into an abyss of despair. But "The Chinese nation is not only known for its hard work and perseverance but also for its love of freedom and revolutionary tradition."[12] "The process of imperialism and feudalism combining to turn China into a semi-colony and colony is also the process of the Chinese people resisting imperialism and its running dogs." [13] The revolutionary people of China cannot tolerate such a dark government. Since its founding, the Chiang Kai-shek Kuomintang government has faced continuous resistance and struggle from the masses. By the 1920s, with the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, China's revolutionary outlook was transformed. The CCP cooperated with Sun Yat-sen, then in dire straits, leading the Chinese people in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal national revolution, conducting the world-famous Northern Expedition. Although the revolution failed due to betrayal and slaughter by the Kuomintang rightists, under the leadership of the CCP, the Chinese people continued the land revolution to overthrow the Kuomintang government dominated by big landlords and compradors, and the revolutionary fire still burns across the vast land of China.
It can be seen that before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, China's internal situation was complex. On one hand, the reactionaries of the Kuomintang themselves represented the bureaucratic bourgeoisie and the interests of imperialist forces in China—Chiang's bandits represented the interests of Anglo-American imperialism, while Wang Jingwei's gang represented Japanese imperialism. This means their interests were opposed to those of the broad masses of workers and peasants, and they did not represent the new productive relations; they were reactionary and dying. They were inevitably doomed to perish as decayed entities. On the other hand, the Communist Party, composed of revolutionary intellectuals and revolutionary working masses, was committed to destroying the old system and establishing a new China without exploitation and oppression. This meant the interests of the CCP and the broad masses of workers and peasants were aligned, representing the new productive relations—revolutionary and progressive. They are the burgeoning new forces. The revolutionary class nature of the CCP determined that they not only aimed to drive out Japanese imperialism but also to develop people's democratic forces during the process, ultimately achieving victory in the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal national democratic revolution, and establishing a people's democratic new China. Therefore, the contrasting attitudes and lines of the CCP and the Kuomintang during the resistance against Japan inevitably determined the different fates of the two Chinas.
The Kuomintang right wing, which formed Chiang's bandit government, was precisely through selling out the country and seeking glory abroad, gaining support from Anglo-American imperialism, and wielding the butcher's knife to suppress the first revolution, stepping on the blood of the people to come to power."They formed a traitorous camp, where there is no question of whether to become a slave or not; they have already erased the boundaries of the nation."[14] When Japan extended its claws to invade China, the Kuomintang government adopted the policy of "resisting the outside and pacifying the inside," selling the Northeast three provinces to Japan without firing a shot. Later, it signed traitorous treaties such as the Tanggu Truce, He Meii Agreement, Qin-Tu Agreement, and China-Japan Commercial Treaty, agreeing to establish non-military zones in North China, withdraw all military and political organs and troops, suppress patriotic student movements, lower tariffs against Japan, grant most-favored-nation treatment, and recognize Japanese economic interests in Manchukuo.
After the July 7 Incident, Chiang Kai-shek's bandits also loudly proclaimed the so-called "responsibility of defending the homeland through resistance," but their anti-communist and anti-people class essence had not fundamentally changed. They still implemented the same set of policies as before the war, suppressing the working people and maintaining autocratic rule. After the full outbreak of the war of resistance, the Kuomintang announced "releasing all political prisoners," "stopping all anti-communist propaganda," and promised "guaranteeing freedom of speech, publication, assembly, and association"; meanwhile, under the guise of "constitutional government," they established a one-party fascist dictatorship. Relying on laws such as the "Publication Law," "Assembly and Association Law," "Martial Law Law," "Measures for Banning Dangerous Thoughts and Speech," and "News Inspection Regulations," they completely deprived the people of freedom of speech, publication, association, and assembly, and used the "Emergency Punishment Law for Endangering the Republic" to arbitrarily persecute revolutionary masses under the charge of "endangering the Republic."As the war of resistance entered a stalemate stage, with the fall of Japan temporarily alleviating the Kuomintang’s crisis, their oppression of revolutionary masses became more overt and blatant. They mandated that county governments establish “social departments,” managed by so-called “guiders” responsible for local mass organizations, and required Kuomintang members to “play a leading role” in these organizations. Through the triple system of the Executive Yuan’s Social Department, the Kuomintang Party Department, and the Military Committee’s Political Department, they almost completely abolished people’s freedom of association. In 1942, they promulgated the “Law on the Organization of People’s Groups in Extraordinary Times,” stipulating that all mass organizations must accept government supervision in their establishment, development, and activities, and explicitly forbade organizing workers, peasants, and students; propaganda of Marxism was to be “severely punished according to law.”
Under Chiang Kai-shek’s manipulation, the battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War ultimately evolved into a battleground for his anti-communist and anti-people policies. During the most difficult moments of the war, the Kuomintang secretly issued anti-communist documents such as the “Measures for Handling Communist Party Issues” and “Measures for Preventing Communist Activities in Occupied Areas,” formulated reactionary policies of “dissolving communists,” “preventing communists,” “limiting communists,” and “anti-communism,” and put them into action. Meanwhile, they fabricated public opinion, slandering the Communist Party as a “treacherous party” and a “warlord’s faction,” and under the pretext of “unification,” launched three anti-communist campaigns, directly sabotaging the true united front. This kind of “false unity theory, unreasonable unity theory, formalistic unity theory, is a deathly unity theory, a shameful unity theory… using the name of unity to implement dictatorship, hanging the sheep’s head of unity while selling dog meat of one-party dictatorship.”
The Kuomintang’s Economic Policies
In terms of economy, because the Kuomintang government was essentially a representative of bureaucratic comprador monopoly bourgeoisie, its wartime fiscal policies inevitably served this class—pretending to be patriotic while actually profiteering from the war. As Chairman Mao pointed out, “Using the war to make a fortune, officials become businessmen, corruption runs rampant, and shame is swept away; this is one of the characteristics of the Kuomintang’s territory.” The Kuomintang government was a corrupt regime where everyone was greedy. As early as during the Land Revolution War, the four major families—Chiang, Song, Kong, and Chen—had already controlled large parts of finance and industry. They manipulated markets, issued excessive paper currency, accepted bribes, and extorted vast wealth, controlling China’s economic lifeline. After the outbreak of the war, they used the guise of patriotism to monopolize finance and industry, annexed national industries, manipulated speculation, betrayed national interests, and ruthlessly exploited the people in the rear areas.
In 1939, the Kuomintang government issued the “Outline for the Reorganization of Central Financial Institutions in Wartime,” reorganizing the “Four Banks Joint Office” composed of the Central Bank, Bank of China, Bank of Communications, and Farmers Bank of China. The document stipulated: “The Four Banks Office is responsible for handling special business related to government financial policies,” and authorized the chairman of the joint office to take “convenient measures” for the four banks during extraordinary times, and to exercise their powers on their behalf. Since then, the branches of the four banks rapidly expanded behind the front lines, reaching 2,281 branches by 1945, accounting for 76.5% of all financial institutions in Kuomintang-controlled areas. The deposits of the four major banks also skyrocketed from 4 billion yuan in 1938 to 41.7 billion yuan in 1943, increasing 10.4 times, and by the end of the war in 1945, they reached 556.9 billion yuan, 397 times the pre-war amount, almost monopolizing financial business in the rear areas.
Kuomintang reactionaries issuing excessive paper currency
With their monopoly over finance, the Kuomintang government could more easily manipulate the national economy. Through the Central Bank, they began to issue large amounts of banknotes to cover war expenses, plundering the people’s wealth. Kong Xiangxi openly said: “Issuing bonds is troublesome; paying interest, drawing lots, and repaying principal—it’s hard to get any money. It’s much simpler to print banknotes.” In June 1937, the amount of legal tender issued was 1.41 billion yuan, which increased to 15.1 billion yuan by December 1941—an increase of 10.76 times; by August 1945, after the war ended, it reached 556.9 billion yuan, 397 times the pre-war level. Meanwhile, due to rampant speculation and hoarding by the Kuomintang government, prices soared even more astonishingly—by August 1945, the price level in Chongqing was 2,133.2 times higher than before the war!
Furthermore, the Kuomintang implemented extremely brutal tax policies. Since most of China’s key economic zones had fallen, the original “customs, salt tax, and unified tax,” which accounted for over 90% of Kuomintang’s fiscal revenue, sharply declined. To make up the shortfall, the Kuomintang resorted to all means to squeeze the people, heavily taxing daily necessities like salt. From 1942 to February 1945, the annual tax revenue from salt alone accounted for half of the Kuomintang government’s total annual tax revenue. Despite the people’s suffering, the greedy Kuomintang government was still not satisfied and kept expanding the scope of taxation, leading to a situation where “every pound of pork, an egg, a piece of firewood, and a head of cabbage” was taxed.
The Kuomintang’s reactionary economic policies also made it difficult for national capital to survive. Heavy taxes and inflation severely damaged the national industry in the Kuomintang-controlled areas, causing many enterprises to go bankrupt. The bureaucratic comprador capital, taking advantage of financial monopoly, political coercion, and fiscal support, swallowed up machinery and factories originally owned by national enterprises. In 1935, bureaucratic comprador capital accounted for about 12% of the industrial and mining capital nationwide; by 1942, through financial monopoly, political coercion, and fiscal support, it rose to 69.58%, while private capital decreased to 30.42%. This led the entire Kuomintang-controlled industrial sector to the brink of collapse. Even at the peak of production in 1943, the output value of major industrial products in the Kuomintang-controlled areas was only 12.2% of that in 1937, so much so that “even fabrics must be imported from the United States.” The soaring prices, heavy taxes, heavy land rent, and conscription made all the people in the Kuomintang-controlled areas “live in extreme misery.” To further exploit the people, the Kuomintang government issued regulations to restrict wage increases, controlling wages of workers, staff, and teachers to the level of January 30, 1942, with adjustments to be decided by authorities based on “official prices” far below actual market prices. This further lowered urban residents’ real wages and worsened their living conditions. Under such circumstances, bureaucratic capital also shamelessly exploited workers under the banner of anti-Japanese efforts, making it even harder for workers to survive. According to statistics from the Kuomintang Social Department in April 1944, the unemployment rate among workers in Chongqing was as high as 30%; by the end of the war, over 175,000 workers in Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan provinces alone were unemployed.
“Industrial workers worked hard for wartime production, but their wages were fixed and could not keep up with soaring prices. The whole family had to work just to survive, and illness became a serious problem. Due to economic downturn, many factories reduced or stopped production, and war damages prevented production altogether, resulting in large-scale unemployment.”
The lives of farmers under Kuomintang rule were even more miserable. Due to land concentration in the hands of landlords, farmers suffered from severe land shortage and high land prices caused by speculation and profiteering, landlords arbitrarily raising rents. Statistics show that by 1941, land rent increased by at least 20% across provinces compared to pre-war levels. In some areas, the increase was even more dramatic: in Chengdu, Sichuan, land rent reached 73%, and other regions were not less than 60%. Additionally, land rent collection also doubled in many places. By 1944, in Bishan, Sichuan, farmers even faced a situation where their annual rent exceeded their entire harvest.
Under Kuomintang rule, farmers driven to despair by tyranny could only flee their homes and seek refuge elsewhere when disasters struck. The Kuomintang government, seeing the soaring grain prices as an opportunity for profit, not only refused to provide disaster relief but also forcibly requisitioned grain, raising prices and making huge profits, causing millions to starve to death during each famine. In 1942, the severe drought in Henan, the Kuomintang government not only failed to provide relief but also extorted and conscripted people, resulting in over three million deaths from starvation.
The “Military Achievements” of the Kuomintang
The Kuomintang’s political and economic misdeeds inevitably led to continuous military defeats.
Fake resistance, genuine anti-communism, has always been a characteristic of the Kuomintang. They fabricated the Pingjiang Incident in Hunan, the Queshan Incident in Henan, incited old armies to fight new armies in Shanxi, tacitly permitted Zhang Yingwu to attack the Eighth Route Army in Hebei, ordered Qin Qirong to suppress guerrillas in Shandong, and diverted significant forces to attack border areas. In northwest China, the Kuomintang stationed three group armies, “two of which were used to encircle the Shaanxi-Gan-Ning border area, with only one defending along the Yellow River from Yichuan to Tongguan, against the Japanese invaders.” Moreover, by 1943, two-thirds of this group army had been withdrawn by Hu Zongnan for offensive operations against border areas. In South China, the Kuomintang launched the Wannan Incident, slaughtering over 9,000 commanders and fighters of the New Fourth Army, and then formed the “Anti-Communist Army” under Li Zongren’s command, aiming to completely eliminate remnants of the New Fourth Army. To counter the excellent situation created by the Communist Party behind enemy lines, the Kuomintang not only formed the “Loyal and Righteous Salvation Army” to attempt to wipe out communist-led guerrillas but also directly ordered troops to surrender to the Japanese and transform into puppet armies to assist Japanese invaders in attacking communist resistance forces.
Chairman Mao pointed out that Chiang Kai-shek’s bandits “stand on the anti-people position, so they become more and more corrupt and degenerate day by day. Besides ‘internal warfare,’ they cannot be anything but ‘outsiders’ in ‘external warfare.’” The Kuomintang army fighting the Japanese consistently adhered to a passive defense strategy. As warlords controlling their own territories, the generals prioritized their political and economic interests, avoiding direct conflict with the Japanese to preserve their strength. These warlords, as representatives of bureaucratic monopoly capital and imperialist groups in China, relied on suppressing revolution and selling out the country to gain privileges, so they could not possibly fight against Japanese invaders for the benefit of the Chinese nation and people. They “have only class prejudice but no ideas, only vanity but no conscience,” and only play tricks to save themselves by cowardice and treachery. Under this reactionary methodology, the Kuomintang Central Army always stayed behind the lines watching, pushing local armies to the front to die; when the front line faced unfavorable conditions, they immediately abandoned their arms and fled in disarray.
After the Yuxianggui campaign’s disastrous defeat, the Kuomintang lost 500,000–600,000 troops, 43 airbases and airports, 146 cities, and controlled 60 million people.
The Battle of Wuhan proved the Kuomintang’s passive defense and cowardice. When the Japanese army of 400,000 attacked Wuhan, due to logistical difficulties, they could only retreat along the Yangtze River, with front-line units potentially disconnecting from the rear. Soviet advisors to China saw the flaw and recommended that the Kuomintang adjust troop deployment, using strong positions to block the enemy while attacking their flanks and rear, cutting off their supply lines. However, the generals only wanted to hide behind city walls to survive, unwilling to risk casualties or costs for an active defense. Under their delay, the Japanese, leveraging artillery advantages, broke through the defenses along the Yangtze River and reached the city gates. When the Kuomintang defenders saw the situation turning bad, they did not fire a single shot and fled in panic, handing Wuhan over to the Japanese! By 1944, as the war of resistance was about to enter a strategic counterattack, the long-term passive resistance had resulted in “the Kuomintang’s five-and-a-half-year inaction led to the loss of combat effectiveness,” and the Battle of Yuxianggui again resulted in a crushing defeat, plunging 60 to 70 million people into the enemy’s iron hoof. The so-called “mainstay” of the Kuomintang was thus so “capable of turning the tide”!
From the above analysis, it is clear that the Kuomintang did not play any effective role in the war of resistance, let alone become the “mainstay.” The reactionary and incompetent performance of the Kuomintang in the war was a direct result of its class nature. As a group representing big comprador, big landlord, and big bureaucratic bourgeoisie interests, the Kuomintang is the most concentrated representative of these exploitative classes in politics and economy, with a distinct dual nature. On one hand, it helps imperialist Britain and America to seize benefits in China and consolidates its rule with their support, acting as a “little court official,” showing a trait of selling out the country for personal gain—“their interests are inseparable from imperialist interests.” On the other hand, since the Chinese people are unwilling to be slaves and do not want such parasitic classes to dominate and oppress them, the Kuomintang also brutally suppresses mass movements and maintains a dictatorship of “one ideology, one party, one leader,” showing extreme hatred for the people and hostility toward revolution, with fascist characteristics.
A China under such a party’s rule is ultimately a hell of warlord rule and suffering people. Such a dictatorial regime makes China’s future dark and the people have no bright prospects. As previously mentioned, this party that defies the tide of history and seeks to drag China into an abyss of eternal ruin—can in no way represent any advanced productive relations. The question of how the Kuomintang fought the war is essentially about how it used the war to strengthen itself and profit from it, whether to sell China’s sovereignty to Japan or to the United States. Because they are merely imperialist running dogs and compradors, as long as their class position as such remains unshaken, they would rather see China continue to sink under Japanese boots and suffer under American slavery than allow the vast majority of the Chinese people—95%—to rise and govern themselves. Therefore, the Kuomintang army, which hates the people, is fundamentally not patriotic; besides occasionally making “miraculous achievements” on the battlefield slaughtering revolutionaries, this kind of army is utterly useless in combat.
The true saviors and patriots are the broad masses of working people. Whether landlords or bureaucratic comprador capitalists, as exploiters and oppressors, they can still make concessions and collude with Japanese imperialists to satisfy their class and personal interests, continuing to live after China falls into decline. However, there is no room for reconciliation between the exploited and exploiters. The working people, oppressed by domestic and foreign robbers, have poured their blood into a sea of deep hatred, and their chains of slavery are tightly fastened. Only by thoroughly driving the Japanese invaders out of Chinese territory and overthrowing the landlords can they hope to turn the tide. Without this, they have no chance of rising. Faced with the vicious Japanese devils, countless workers have written heroic and tragic songs with their blood. The Chinese Communist Party is the representative of these heroic Chinese working people.The Chinese Communist Party is the representative of the broadest laboring and exploited classes, and the vanguard of the proletariat. Due to its class nature and class interests, the Communist Party has embarked on a path of resistance that is completely opposite to that of the Kuomintang, thereby representing two different China with different destinies in the future. To thoroughly defeat the Japanese invaders and establish an independent, self-reliant, equal, and democratic new China, the Chinese Communist Party implemented a comprehensive set of anti-Japanese national salvation measures, following a “full-scale resistance route” of “mobilizing the masses, realizing democracy, improving people’s livelihood, and mobilizing all forces to strive for victory in the war.” Under this guidance, the Chinese people will not only “struggle for national independence in the Anti-Japanese War” and “break through Chiang Kai-shek’s reactionary rule to gain political freedom,” but also inevitably fight for a “future of expelling Japanese imperialism and achieving China’s liberation.”
The Communist Party’s Anti-Japanese Policy
To unite the entire nation in resistance, it is necessary to establish a genuine anti-Japanese national united front. The Chinese Communist Party is the strongest initiator, supporter, and consolidator of this front. As early as when the Japanese occupation of the Northeast Three Provinces began, the Chinese Communist Party called for stopping the civil war and uniting against Japan. Later, during the strategic retreat and transfer of the Long March, the CCP chose to go to the Shaanxi-Gansu border area to realize the strategic goal of northern resistance. When the Kuomintang gradually betrayed sovereignty over North China to the Japanese invaders, the CCP led Beijing students, citizens, and workers to launch the famous December 9th Anti-Japanese Patriotic Movement, forcing the Kuomintang to delay establishing the traitorous “Jizha Political Council.” Influenced by the December 9th Movement, people across the country rose up, demanding an end to civil war, unity against Japan, and supporting the CCP to successfully resolve the Xi’an Incident, laying the foundation for the anti-Japanese democratic united front. At the Fifth Plenary Session of the Third Central Committee of the Kuomintang, the CCP participated in the struggle against pro-Japanese factions like Wang Jingwei, ultimately vetoing their political resolution of “suppress communists and surrender to Japan,” making “stopping civil war and uniting against Japan” possible.
In the struggle, the CCP adhered to the principles of “reason,” “benefit,” and “integrity,” greatly isolating the stubborn Kuomintang faction and a small number of most reactionary elements, exposing their false resistance and true anti-communist conspiracy, uniting progressive and middle forces. Through multiple struggles, especially after repelling the second anti-communist climax, the correct policies of the CCP gained sympathy and support from all anti-Japanese people at home and abroad, ultimately “creating a certain shift in the balance of power between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.” With the help of the CCP, the “Chinese Democratic Political League” was established by broad middle and democratic forces, and the anti-Japanese democratic movement developed unprecedentedly widely. In the process of fighting the stubborn faction, striving for the middle faction, and developing the progressive faction, the CCP established anti-Japanese democratic governments in various base areas.
The anti-Japanese democratic governments across the regions granted the people broad democratic rights, implemented democratic centralism, and stipulated that “any Chinese aged eighteen or above who supports resistance against Japan and democracy, regardless of class, ethnicity, gender, belief, party affiliation, or education level, has the right to vote and stand for election.” Such vibrant political life in the liberated areas sharply contrasted with the fascist dictatorship in the Kuomintang-controlled areas, which was devoid of democracy.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the CCP also achieved significant victories in economic development, greatly alleviating the burden on farmers. The CCP implemented the policy of “reducing rent and interest” in the base areas. By organizing and mobilizing the masses, a wave of rent and interest reduction swept through the liberated areas. This not only reduced landlords’ exploitation of farmers, improved their living standards, and increased their enthusiasm for production, but also raised farmers’ ideological consciousness, established the political dominance of poor and landless peasants in rural areas, and further consolidated the revolutionary governments in the liberated zones.
Starting from 1941, due to Japanese imperialist “sweeps” and the Kuomintang’s blockade of border areas, the liberated zones suffered huge losses in manpower and material resources. However, under the leadership of the CCP, the military and civilians in the liberated zones launched vigorous mass production campaigns. Guided by the principle of “self-reliance,” the CCP led the people to vigorously develop agriculture and other industries, calling on government agencies, schools, and troops in the liberated areas to actively participate in production campaigns and strive for self-sufficiency. During the campaign, soldiers, cadres, and students participated in agricultural labor alongside the people, establishing numerous self-sufficient industries. From 1941 to 1943 alone, the border government cultivated over 2 million acres of land, and many military units, government agencies, and schools gradually achieved self-sufficiency or semi-self-sufficiency. Through the mass production movement, farmers were organized into cooperatives, breaking free from small private ownership for the first time in centuries, and the seeds of communism began to sprout across China’s vast land.
“The power of the masses organized into a great labor army. This is the only way for the people to be liberated, to go from poverty to wealth, and also the only way to victory in the war of resistance.”
The establishment of enemy behind-the-lines bases and guerrilla zones, along with the development of mass production campaigns, effectively protected the people from Japanese atrocities, greatly improved their living conditions, and gradually strengthened the economic power of the base areas. This stood in stark contrast to the skyrocketing prices, economic collapse, and suffering in the Kuomintang-controlled areas. In the vast liberated zones, emerging new relations of production were thriving, and within their buds, the dawn of victory was already visible.
The Military Struggles and Theoretical Achievements of the CCP
A series of democratic reforms led by the great and wise Chinese Communist Party became the fundamental guarantee for victory over the Japanese invaders. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, the CCP immediately completed the transformation of the Red Army into the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army, and in September of the same year, dispatched over 30,000 Eighth Route Army soldiers to the critical Shanxi front to fight the Japanese. During this phase of the struggle, the CCP criticized the one-sided resistance route of relying on the Kuomintang and concentrating forces for large-scale battles, and implemented an “independent and autonomous mountain guerrilla warfare” strategy. Under this correct resistance route, the Eighth Route Army cut off three main supply lines of the Japanese in Shanxi through independent operations, placing them “strategically surrounded by the Eighth Route Army and other Chinese forces.” However, due to the Kuomintang army’s cowardice and successive defeats, after the fall of Taiyuan, they scattered in disarray, allowing the Japanese to easily occupy Shanxi. Faced with this situation, the Eighth Route Army resolutely carried out guerrilla warfare in enemy behind-the-lines mountainous areas, establishing multiple anti-Japanese bases behind enemy lines, ensuring that Japanese forces remained strategically encircled by anti-Japanese forces behind the lines. Meanwhile, the CCP persisted in mobilizing the masses in the liberated zones, expanding people’s armed forces, strengthening base area construction, and supporting the establishment and development of anti-Japanese bases in North China and Shandong.
Seeing the fierce advance of the Japanese invaders and the continuous growth of the people’s democratic forces led by the CCP, the reactionary Kuomintang was frantic, launching reactionary ideologies of “national demise” and “quick victory.” The pro-Japanese Wang Jingwei and others promoted the “national demise” theory, openly claiming that China’s weapons and armies were inferior to Japan’s, and that “the war will inevitably be a great defeat, and peace is not necessarily chaos.” Chiang Kai-shek and his clique, as agents of Anglo-American imperialism, feared the growth of people’s democratic forces and did not want to sell China to Japan. They secretly supported the “national demise” theory while loudly promoting “quick victory.” Chiang Kai-shek failed to see the power of the people and could not rely on the incompetent national army, so he could only pray for changes in the international situation, hoping for pressure from Britain, America, and Japan to end the war quickly. Under the influence of the “quick victory” ideology, the Kuomintang, after the Battle of Taierzhuang, claimed to have “massively annihilated” the enemy, and loudly declared that “this battle is the final struggle of the enemy, we have won, and the Japanese… only await judgment.” This completely unrealistic “quick victory” thinking actually reflected the Kuomintang’s extreme fear of the people, aiming to kill the people’s democratic forces in the cradle before they could grow, serving the purpose of refusing political reform and gradually strengthening fascist rule, and was therefore extremely reactionary. Within the CCP, ambitious and class-enemy elements like Wang Ming also promoted the Kuomintang and slandered guerrilla warfare as having no contribution to fighting the Japanese. To defeat the reactionary ideas of “national demise” and “quick victory,” Chairman Mao continuously published two important documents in 1938: “On Protracted War” and “The Strategic Problem of Anti-Japanese Guerrilla War.” Mao summarized over a year of resistance experience from a materialist perspective, deeply discussing the nature, prospects, and strategy of the anti-Japanese war.
Chairman Mao pointed out that Japan was a powerful imperialist country, “its military, economic, and political organization strength is first-class in the East”; while China was a weak semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, “in military, economic, and political organization strength, it appears inferior to the enemy.” Therefore, China could not defeat Japan in a short time and could only conduct strategic defense at the beginning of the war. However, China’s vast territory, large population, abundant resources, and the fact that it was fighting a just national defense war garnered worldwide sympathy and support; in contrast, Japan was a “small country lacking in military resources” and was conducting a brutal invasion war, increasingly isolated internationally. As the war continued, the strength of both sides would inevitably shift, and the conflict would gradually transition from strategic defense to strategic stalemate. During this prolonged stalemate, China’s strength would grow continuously while Japan’s would weaken. When China’s strength surpasses Japan’s, it will be able to shift to strategic counterattack, expel the invaders from the land, and achieve final victory.
Guerrilla warfare is a necessary means to cause the strength of both sides to shift, ultimately enabling China to move from strategic stalemate to strategic counterattack. Guerrilla warfare also originates from and returns to the masses, relying on and developing the people’s strength as a strategic method. Because the CCP comes from the people, loves the people, and represents the people, its guerrilla warfare is like fish in water, capable of continuous progress and victory. Conversely, the Kuomintang army, because it is disconnected from the people, hates the people, and harms the people, has completely cut off the possibility of relying on the masses for movement. Its anti-communist guerrilla units, such as the “Loyalty and Justice National Salvation Army,” were despised and resisted by the broad working people, and ultimately, after unsuccessful suppression of the communists, were recalled by Dai Li and used as “traffic police” units. In flexible and mobile guerrilla warfare, the CCP’s troops avoided frontal attacks by the Japanese, gained training and development, deepened ties with the masses, and accumulated great strength for counterattack. The widespread enemy behind-the-lines guerrilla warfare not only continuously attacked the Japanese rear economic bases but also sabotaged their plundering of Chinese resources to sustain the war. Over years of guerrilla warfare, Japanese military strength was continually depleted, and their morale declined. The cities and provincial capitals occupied by the Japanese gradually became isolated islands in the vast sea of people’s war, while the rural mountainous areas became a noose around the Japanese neck, causing them to be restless day and night, like sitting on pins and needles, yet helpless. All this contributed to the continuous growth of China’s strength, laying a solid foundation for large-scale movement and annihilation battles in the strategic counterattack phase.
By 1940, the liberated zones had a population of 80 million, and the Eighth Route Army had grown to over 500,000. Although from 1941 to 1942, the joint offensive by the Japanese and Kuomintang caused temporary difficulties for the liberated zones, under the hard struggle of the military and civilians in the liberated areas, from 1943 onward, the anti-Japanese bases and armies developed further. Even after Japan deployed over 70% of its troops and more than 90% of its puppet armies on the Chinese battlefield to sweep the liberated zones, they could not break the various anti-Japanese bases established by the CCP. As the strength of both sides shifted, Japan’s imperialist forces on various fronts became increasingly strained, and their troops in the rear areas were stretched thin, only able to garrison along railway lines. The Japanese troops stationed everywhere were actually encircled by the anti-Japanese bases, to the point of being unable to leave their fortifications, even to the point of self-preservation—Japan’s “war of attrition” conspiracy was completely bankrupt.
The Japanese invaders’ evaluation of the CCP also proved the achievements of our army’s combat against the Japanese. In 1943, the commander of the 63rd Division stationed in North China, Nagakubo Masahide, lamented in a report that Japan’s economic hinterland in North China was “weak everywhere, like a string of prayer beads floating in a red sea,” “almost no tax revenue, evading labor service, poor agriculture and commerce, difficulty in collecting military supplies, and extremely difficult to gather intelligence,” and had fallen into a state of “isolation and helplessness.” The Japanese North China Army also recognized that “Japan and Chongqing are temporarily at war but can coexist; however, between Japan and the Communist forces, coexistence is impossible.” Japanese news also confirmed that “military operations have completely shifted to anti-communist battles.” Asahi News reported that “most of the fighting against the Japanese army is with the CCP forces”; in the “15,000 battles,” over 75% of the fighting was with CCP troops, and among the two million enemy troops engaged, more than half were CCP forces. This forced Japan to lament that “the key to resolving the Greater East Asia War lies in solving the issue of the CCP army.”
Thus, the regular Kuomintang army has never been the “mainstay” of the resistance. The true force that can turn the tide is the Eighth Route Army, New Fourth Army, and guerrilla units led by the CCP, composed of broad masses of laboring people. The pivotal role played by the CCP in the anti-Japanese war is now self-evident.
In 1944, while the Kuomintang army was still being heavily beaten and retreating, our army began localized counterattacks. During the counterattacks of 1944-1945, the Eighth Route Army and New Fourth Army achieved great victories, liberating 160,000 square kilometers of land, freeing over 17 million people, with the main forces reaching 910,000 troops and militia numbering 2.2 million. After the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in 1945, the liberated zone armies launched large-scale strategic counterattacks. From August 11 to October 10, over two months of fierce fighting, they killed, wounded, and captured more than 230,000 Japanese and puppet troops, recaptured 197 cities, 315,200 square kilometers of territory, and liberated over 18 million people. The facts proved that the real force capable of maintaining full resistance, relying on the people, and ultimately reversing the war situation was not the retreating and compromising Kuomintang, but the CCP that always held the enemy behind-the-lines and pioneered the people’s war.
“The essence of the ‘Kuomintang’s Resistance Merit Theory’”
The Kuomintang, as the representative of comprador landlord classes, relied on betraying national interests and suppressing people’s movements to rise. During the resistance against Japanese invasion, they only acted in their own class interests, constantly compromising and surrendering to preserve themselves, betraying national interests. Their conflicts with the Japanese invaders were merely conflicts between domestic and foreign bandits, whether China was sold to the United States or Japan. They always placed anti-communism and anti-people as their top priority, to the extent of “preferring to ally with foreign enemies than to serve their own people,” collaborating with the Japanese invaders to jointly suppress and wipe out the Communist Party—this party of the working people. The so-called resistance of the Kuomintang ultimately aimed to maintain their old rule and keep China forever shrouded in semi-colonial and semi-feudal darkness.
The Chinese Communist Party, as the vanguard of the proletariat and the representative of the vast majority of workers, followed a path of total national resistance. The significance of this resistance route goes far beyond merely expelling the Japanese invaders. “The liberation of humanity, the responsibility to save the country, all depend on ourselves.” Under the leadership of the CCP, the Chinese people united, were tempered, and finally transformed the revolutionary democratic forces from trickling mountain streams into surging rivers, rushing fiercely towards “imperialism,” “feudalism,” and “bureaucratic capitalism,” determined to completely crush these three heavy mountains pressing on the people’s heads. The developed revolutionary democratic forces will inevitably prevent China from returning to the old path of semi-colonial and semi-feudal society after victory—awakened Chinese people will no longer tolerate the darkness of the old society!
The blood of millions of martyrs in the anti-Japanese war proved a simple truth: the Kuomintang’s false resistance and true anti-communism are determined by its reactionary nature as a landlord-buyer class; the CCP’s genuine resistance and reliance on the masses are determined by its revolutionary nature as the vanguard of the proletariat. The people are the true creators of victory. It is they who, in fields, mountains, and behind enemy lines, pick up guns, carry grain, and form countless guerrilla and militia units, supporting an eight-year-long national resistance war. Without the sacrifice and struggle of the people, there would be no victory in the resistance; without the democratic political policies implemented by the CCP, the base areas could not be consolidated and developed. All this is an ironclad fact, written on the mountains and rivers, inscribed in the hearts of the Chinese people.
But precisely because of this, the revisionist regimes in China try to distort this history. They promote the “Kuomintang Resistance Merit Theory,” ostensibly to exonerate the Kuomintang, but actually to establish a heroism history view and idealist history view of the exploiting classes, denying the great truth that the people created history. They cannot admit that it was the people led by the CCP who defeated Japanese imperialism; they cannot admit that it was the proletarian democratic political mobilization that rallied hundreds of millions of people to dedicate themselves to the country; they cannot admit that the creators of history are the great working people, not a handful of incompetent exploiters. Because once they admit this, their fascist rule today loses its legitimacy.
It should be known that today’s China is not an ordinary capitalist country but a social imperialist state reborn from the restoration of socialist regime, a fascist dictatorship. The top officials of this regime, like the old Kuomintang, are all corrupt and greedy. They monopolize finance, railways, electricity, and all important sectors, ruthlessly exploiting the people through various means, and depriving the working people of all democratic rights, turning the country into a land of prisons and secret agents.
“The particularity of Chinese bourgeoisie lies in its reliance on the most reactionary fascist government for rule, being extremely reactionary politically; and because China’s bureaucratic monopoly bourgeoisie is formed from the rightist elements within the CCP, it is also very cunning, adept at ‘wearing red flags to oppose red flags’—distorting and falsifying Marxism to serve its purpose.”
In anti-communism and anti-people efforts, the revisionist traitor group in China has a high “class consciousness.” To maintain its rule, they dare not openly tear off the “red skin” and oppose communism and the people. Instead, they use two counter-revolutionary tactics: on one hand, vulgarizing Marxism into hollow slogans, hypocritically claiming “the country is the people, and the people are the country,” “the people are the creators of history and true heroes,” pretending to be “the Communist Party”; on the other hand, they treat the broad working people as enemies, brutally suppressing mass movements that erupt from time to time— from Beijing to Shenzhen, from Pucheng to Jiangyou, where people’s anger flares, the armed police and troops of the revisionist group arrive, spilling the blood and tears of the masses across the land.
Because the revisionist group is very skilled at “wearing red flags to oppose red flags,” they often promote “Kuomintang resistance merits” and at the same time contradictorily declare “the Communist Party is the backbone.” This behavior seems contradictory but is actually malicious. The revisionist government, composed of bureaucratic monopoly capitalists, came to power through overthrowing socialism and plotting coups, and is the most reactionary ruling group. For their class interests, they cunningly admit that “the Communist government” (i.e., themselves as exploiters) defeated Japanese imperialism, but they also loudly boast about the achievements of a few monarchs and generals, ignoring or denying the democratic policies such as rent reduction, land reform, military simplification, and mass movement carried out in the CCP base areas, thus denying the role of the Chinese Communist Party, which truly embodies the unity of the people, in history.For the Chinese revisionists, the victory in the抗战 (Anti-Japanese War) can never be interpreted as a victory of the people. They would rather say it was the credit of the Kuomintang “frontline” or “national unity,” or even credit the atomic bombs of the United States, but they cannot admit that it was the masses and the Communist Party who won the victory through their own organization and struggle. This is their class stance— all the credit must go to the exploiting class, to the rulers, and never to the working people. In other words, their propagated “Kuomintang anti-Japanese war credit theory” is essentially a “credit theory of the exploiting class’s war.” The crux of this statement lies in erasing the relationship between the exploiting class and the exploited class, disguising the reality of class struggle with nationalism that pretends to serve the interests of all people. The traitor group of the Chinese revisionists attempts to deceive the people with such rhetoric: “In the face of external enemies, the entire nation can be ‘united,’ landlords and compradors can be ‘patriotic,’ reactionary regimes also want to ‘save the nation.’ During certain periods (such as the past Anti-Japanese War and possibly future imperialist hegemonism wars), class antagonism can be temporarily eliminated, and the working people should not talk about class struggle but only obey the call of ‘national interests,’ going to fight and serve the war and rule of the exploiting class.” Deng Xiaoping openly promoted such extremely shameless rhetoric: “What is a patriot? The standard of patriotism is respecting one’s own nation, sincerely supporting the motherland… As long as these conditions are met, whether they believe in capitalism, feudalism, or even slavery, they are patriots.”[49]
Peng Zhen: Speech at the Conference Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War in the Capital's Various Circles of People. ↑ Mao Zedong: "Uncovering the Munich Conspiracy in the Far East," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Wang Xiuxin: "The Chinese Anti-Japanese War is a War of National Anti-Invasion," People's Daily, August 23, 1985. ↑ Hu Jintao: "Speech at the Commemoration of the 60th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War." ↑ Instructions from the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on the publication of Blood Battle at Taierzhuang, https://movie.douban.com/review/15226359/. ↑ People's Political Consultative Conference Daily: " How Was It Made? Son of Li Zongren Tears Up," https://www.chinanews.com.cn/cul/news/2010/05-28/2311286.shtml. ↑ Marx and Engels: "The German Ideology," Collected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume Three, People's Publishing House, 1960. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On Protracted War," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Editorial Team of Draft History of Modern China: Draft History of Modern China, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1975. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On Protracted War," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Music and Dance Epic "The East Is Red." ↑ Mao Zedong: "Chinese Revolution and the Communist Party of China," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Same as above. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On Strategies Against Japanese Imperialism," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Li Yeye: "Promotion and Control of Civil Movements by the Kuomintang During the Full-Scale War of Resistance," 2023, Issue 4 of Archives of the Republic of China. ↑ Mao Zedong: "Unite All Anti-Japanese Forces, Oppose the Reactionary Anti-Communist Factions," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On the United Front," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Outline of the Plan for Healthy Central Financial Institutions During Wartime, quoted from Qing Qingrui: The Economy During the War of Resistance, Beijing Publishing House, 1995. ↑ Chen Shaowen: "History of China's Modern Economy," Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1983. ↑ Editorial Team of History of Shanghai Finance: History of Shanghai Finance, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1978. ↑ Shou Chongyi: "Kong Xiangxi: His Life and Deeds," China Literature and History Publishing House, 1987. ↑ Yang Yinpu: "History of the Finance of the Republic of China," China Financial and Economic Publishing House, 1985. ↑ Same as above. ↑ Feng Yuxiang: "My Knowledge of Chiang Kai-shek," Heilongjiang People's Publishing House, 1980. ↑ The data below shows that the proportion of bureaucratic capital is relatively low because it does not include government-owned arms factories, industries jointly operated by bureaucratic and national capital, and industries with the signboard of national capital that are actually operated by bureaucratic capital. ↑ Chen Zhen: "Materials on China's Modern Industrial History," Issue 3. ↑ Zheng Youkui: "China's Foreign Trade and Industrial Development," Shanghai Social Sciences Academy Press, 1985, pp. 138-139, reprinted from Qing Qingrui: The Economy During the War of Resistance, Beijing Publishing House, 1995. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On the United Front," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Same as above. ↑ "Wartime Wage Management Measures," quoted from Qing Qingrui: The Economy During the War of Resistance, Beijing Publishing House, 1995. ↑ Gong Yunshi: "The Situation of the Working Class in the Kuomintang-Controlled Areas from 1937-1945," Third Issue of Historical Research, 1960. ↑ Dong Bihuai: "The Situation in the Kuomintang-Controlled Areas During the War of Resistance," Third Issue of Modern History Research, 1980. ↑ Qing Qingrui: The Economy During the War of Resistance, Beijing Publishing House, 1995. ↑ Mao Zedong: "Questioning the Kuomintang," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On the United Front," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Marx: "The Civil War in France," Selected Works of Marx and Engels, Volume Two, People's Publishing House, 1972. ↑ Analysis by Cerenpanov, the then Soviet advisor to China, suggests that the weak points exposed by the Japanese army's Yangtze River offensive are that its "wedge-shaped assault groups" are prone to detach from subsequent forces, like "a small spider falling along the branches of a web," ultimately hanging on the "line" as they move forward. (Wang Zhen: "Soviet Military Advisors in China During the War of Resistance") ↑ Mao Zedong: "Learning and the Situation," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Mao Zedong: "Organize," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ In the so-called "Great Victory at Taierzhuang," the Kuomintang assembled 400,000 troops and achieved a "major victory" by eliminating more than 70,000 Japanese soldiers at the cost of over 50,000 casualties. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On Protracted War," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Mao Zedong: "On Protracted War," Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Volume One, People's Publishing House, 1967. ↑ Same as above. ↑ Japan Defense Agency War History Office: "North China Security War," Tianjin People's Publishing House, 1982. ↑ Same as above. ↑ "North China Army's 1943 Comprehensive Combat Achievements Fully Demonstrate That the North China Army, Which Previously Faced Chongqing Army, Has Completely Transformed into a War Center Focusing on Sweeping the Communist Party. Most of the Enemy Are CCP Troops, Engaged in 15,000 Battles, with 75% of Combat Involving CCP Forces. Among the 2 million enemy troops, over half are CCP troops. Of the 109,000 enemy corpses we have collected, about half are CCP troops. Among the 74,000 prisoners, only 35% are CCP troops. This exposes Chongqing Army's Weaknesses and also Shows the High Combat Awareness of CCP Troops." (January 15, 1944, Asahi Shimbun) "The CCP troops operate underground, mobilize 200,000 regular troops, 600,000 peasant guerrillas, and organize 2 million peasant self-defense groups. Our key to solving the China issue in the Greater East Asia War is to resolve the CCP army, which must be further confirmed." (December 4, 1943, Xinminbao) ↑
Music and Dance Epic "The East Is Red." ↑ Flame of Fire: "The Road of China's Future Revolution." ↑ Deng Xiaoping: "Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping." ↑ Cao Xueqin: "Dream of the Red Chamber." ↑