The Tasks of the Communist Party of China in the Period of Resistance to Japan

#PUBLICATION NOTE

This edition of The Tasks of the Communist Party of China in the Period of Resistance to Japan has been prepared and revised for digital publication by the Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism under the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Switzerland on the basis of the following editions:

• The Tasks of the Chinese Communist Party in the Period of Resistance to Japan, in the Selected Works of Mao Zedong, First English Edition, Volume 1, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1965.
• The Tasks of the Chinese National United Front Against Japan at the Present Stage, in Mao's Road to Power, First English Edition, Volume 5, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, 1999.

#INTRODUCTION NOTE

This is a report delivered by Comrade Mao Zedong to the National Conference of the Communist Party of China in Yan'an, Shaanxi, China on the 3rd of May, 1937. It was first published in the 1944 edition of the Selected Works of Mao Zedong.

#Workers and oppressed people of the world, unite!

#THE TASKS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA IN THE PERIOD OF RESISTANCE TO JAPAN

#REPORT TO THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA

#Mao Zedong

#3rd of May, 1937

#★

#1. THE PRESENT STAGE DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA'S EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL CONTRADICTIONS

As the contradiction between China and Japan has become the primary 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 revolutionary situation.

China has long been in the grip of a struggle between two acute and fundamental 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 Nationalist Party of China, betrayed the revolution and sold China's national interests to imperialism and feudalism, thus creating a situation in which the State power of the workers and peasants stood in sharp antagonism to that of the Nationalist Party, and, of necessity, the task of the national and democratic revolution devolved upon the Communist Party of China alone.

Since the 18th of September Incident of 1931, and especially since the Northern China Incident of 1935,¹ the following changes have taken place in these contradictions:

• 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 and between the Union of Socialist Council Republics [USCR] and Japan has been widened. Consequently also, the Communist Party of China 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 Council 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. China and the Council Union should unite.
• 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 Communist Party of China and the Chinese people. Our united front should include the bourgeoisie and all who agree to the defence of the homeland; it should represent national solidarity against the foreign foe. This united front must be different from the French Popular Front. This task not only must, but can, be fulfilled.
• The contradiction between China and Japan has changed matters for the masses throughout the country (the proletariat, the peasantry, and the urban small 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 18th of September Incident was to conclude agreements with those factions of the Nationalist Party which were willing to cooperate 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 declaration² and the December resolution;³ in 1936, the abandonment of the «anti-Jiang Jieshi» slogan in May,⁴ the letter to the Nationalist Party in August,⁵ the resolution on the democratic republic in September,⁶ and the insistence on a peaceful settlement of the Xi'an Incident in December; and, in 1937, the February telegram to the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Nationalist Party of China.⁷
• 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 Communist Party of China and the Chinese people on their part are exerting their utmost efforts against civil wars and splits and for peace and unity.
• 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 Communist Party of China 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 Communist Party of China'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 the 9th of December, 1935 and ended when the Nationalist Party'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 North-West; the Communist Party's work of propaganda and organization for its anti-Japanese national united front policy; the anti-Japanese strikes in Shanghai and Qingdao;⁸ the relative stiffening of British policy toward Japan;⁹ the Guangdong-Guangxi Incident;¹⁰ the resistance in Suiyuan and the movement in its support;¹¹ Nanjing's somewhat firmer attitude in the Sino-Japanese negotiations;¹² the Xi'an Incident, which in fact played the role of connecting past and present events and thereby became the key turning point in the situation; and, finally, the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Nationalist Party of China in Nanjing.¹³ These events all centred on the fundamental 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 fundamental 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 correct mobilization 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 and the vacillating group inside the Nationalist Party, 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 Nationalist Party 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 urgently demanded by us, in other words, by the people of the whole country; 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 Nationalist 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 Nationalist Party, pushing it into action and keeping up the pressure, must unite with all those within the Nationalist Party 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, from the Nationalist Party's Third Plenary Session to the beginning of the realization of nationwide armed resistance to Japan, is the second one in the new period of the Chinese revolution. Both the previous and present stages are stages of transition toward nationwide armed resistance to Japan. If, in the previous stage, the main task was the fight for peace, then, in the present stage, the main task is the fight for democracy. If the attainment of peace in the previous stage accomplished the first prerequisite for the establishment of the anti-Japanese national united front, then the attainment of democracy in the following stage will constitute the second prerequisite for the establishment of the united front. While striving to establish a genuine, solid anti-Japanese national united front for the overall objective of resisting Japan and saving the nation (and this is the only beans by which the task of defending the homeland can be accomplished), 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 development, the fight for democracy is the key link in the revolutionary task. If we fail to see the importance of democracy clearly and slacken our fight for it, we shall be unable to establish a genuine and solid anti-Japanese national united front, and it will be impossible to carry out nationwide armed resistance to Japan, to win thorough victories, and to defend China and recover lost territories.

#2. THE STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM

Japanese imperialism is now intensifying its preparations for the invasion of China south of the Great Wall. The signing of treaties of alliance by Japan, Germany, and Italy, the adoption of the JPY 2'800'000'000 budget, the dissolution of the Diet, and the fortification of Manchuria all tend toward this goal. In concert with the intensified preparations of Hitler and Mussolini for predatory war in the West, Japan is exerting every ounce of energy in the East in order to prepare the ground, according to a definite plan, for the subjugation of China at a single stroke — it is creating the military, political, economic, and ideological conditions at home and the diplomatic conditions internationally, and fostering the pro-Japanese forces in China. Japan's propaganda about «Sino-Japanese collaboration» and a certain relaxation in its diplomatic measures stem precisely from the tactical needs of its policy of aggression on the eve of war. China is now approaching the critical moment of decision between survival and extinction and must rush preparations for resisting Japan and saving the nation. We are certainly not against preparation; what we are against is the doctrine of protracted preparation and the frivolous, dissipated, and gluttonous life of civil and military officialdom which imperils the nation; such things actually help the enemy and must be quickly swept away.

Political, military, economic, and educational preparations for national defence are all necessary for armed resistance to save the nation, and none of them should be delayed for a moment. But the key that will ensure victory for our armed resistance is the winning of political democracy and freedom. Armed resistance requires domestic peace and unity, but the peace already won cannot be consolidated and internal unity cannot be strengthened without democracy and freedom. Armed resistance requires the mobilization of the people, but there is no way of mobilizing them without democracy and freedom. Unless peace and unity are consolidated, unless the people are mobilized, our armed resistance will meet the same fate as Ethiopia's. Ethiopia was defeated mainly because its feudal regime could not achieve solid internal unity and mobilize the initiative of its people. Without democracy, a genuine and solid national united front against Japan cannot be established in China and its goals cannot be attained.

Under the slogan of a democratic republic, China must at once start democratic changes in the two following respects. First, in the matter of the political system, the reactionary Nationalist dictatorship of one political party and one class must be changed into a democratic government based on the cooperation of all political parties and all classes. In this respect, a start should be made by changing the undemocratic procedures for electing and convening the National Assembly, and by holding democratic elections to the assembly and ensuring freedom in the conduct of its meetings, after which it will be necessary to go on to framing and adopting a truly democratic constitution, convening a truly democratic parliament, and electing a genuinely democratic government that will carry out genuinely democratic policies. Only thus can internal peace be truly consolidated, internal armed hostilities ended, and internal unity strengthened, enabling the whole nation to unite and resist the foreign foe. It is possible that Japanese imperialism will attack us before the changes are completed. Therefore, in order to be able to resist and thoroughly crush the Japanese attack when it comes, we must quickly go ahead with the reforms and be prepared to accomplish them fully in the course of our armed resistance. The people of the whole country and the patriots of all political parties should throw off their former indifference toward the question of a National Assembly and a constitution, and should concentrate on the movement for a National Assembly and a constitution, a movement that is important for national defence; they should subject the Nationalist Party, the political party in power, to severe criticism, and press and impel it to give up its one-party, one-class dictatorship and act according to the opinions of the people. In the next few months of this year, a broad democratic movement must be set going throughout the country, with the immediate objective of completely democratizing the National Assembly and the Constitution. The second matter concerns freedom of speech, assembly, and association for the people. Without such freedom, it will be impossible to carry out the democratic reconstruction of the political system, mobilize the people for the war of resistance, and victoriously defend the homeland and recover the lost territories. In the next few months, the nationwide democratic movement should strive for at least a minimal achievement of such freedoms, which must include the release of political prisoners, the removal of the ban on political parties, and so on. Democratic reconstruction of the political system and freedom and rights for the people constitute an important part of the programme of the anti-Japanese national united front; at the same time, they are prerequisites for the establishment of a genuine and solid anti-Japanese national united front.

Our enemies — the Japanese imperialists, the Chinese traitors, the pro-Japanese elements, and the Trotskijites — have been doing their utmost to wreck every move by the great revolutionary movement for peace and unity, democracy, and freedom in China and for armed resistance to Japan. In the past, while we were fighting strenuously for peace and unity, they were doing all they could to foment civil war and splits. At present and in the near future, while we fight strenuously for democracy and freedom, they will no doubt resort to their wrecking again. Their general objective is to thwart us in our task of armed resistance in defence of the homeland and to accomplish their aggressive plan for subjugating China. From now on, in the struggle for democracy and freedom, we must not only exert ourselves in propaganda, agitation, and criticism directed towards the far-Right Nationalists and the backward sections of the people, but must also fully expose and firmly combat the intrigues of the Japanese imperialists and of the pro-Japanese elements and Trotskijites who serve as their lackeys in the invasion of China. This is the only way to achieve our objectives.

For the sake of internal peace, democracy, and armed resistance and for the sake of establishing the anti-Japanese national united front, the Communist Party of China has made the following four pledges in its telegram to the Third Plenary Session of the Central Executive Committee of the Nationalist Party of China:

• Firstly, the Communist-led government in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia revolutionary base area will be renamed the Government of the Special Region of the Republic of China and the Red Army will be redesignated as part of the National Revolutionary Army, and they will come under the direction of the Central Government in Nanjing and its Military Council respectively.
• Secondly, a thoroughly democratic system will be applied in the areas under the Government of the Special Region.
• Thirdly, the policy of overthrowing the Nationalist Party by armed force will be discontinued.
• Fourthly, the confiscation of the land of the feudal lords will be discontinued.

These pledges are necessary as well as permissible. For only thus can we transform the state of antagonism between the two different regimes within the country and achieve unity for common action against the enemy, in line with the changes in the relative political importance of China's external and internal contradictions. These are principled and conditional concessions, made with the aim of obtaining in return what the whole nation needs — peace, democracy, and armed resistance. Moreover, the concessions have limits. The preservation of the Communist Party's leadership over the Special Region and in the Red Army, and the preservation of the Communist Party's independence and freedom of criticism in its relations with the Nationalist Party — these are the limits beyond which it is impermissible to go. Concessions mean concessions by both parties: the Nationalist Party abandons the policy of civil war, dictatorship, and non-resistance to the foreign foe, and the Communist Party abandons the policy of maintaining antagonism between the two regimes. We exchange the latter for the former and resume our cooperation with the Nationalist Party to fight against national humiliation and for national salvation. To describe this as capitulation by the Communist Party is nothing but Ah Q-ism¹⁴ or malicious slander.

Does the Communist Party agree with the «Three People's Principles»? Our answer is: Yes, we do.¹⁵ The «Three People's Principles» have undergone changes in the course of their history. The revolutionary «Three People's Principles» of Dr. Sun Yixian won the people's confidence and became the banner of the victorious Revolution of 1924-27 because they were resolutely applied as a result of his cooperation with the Communist Party. In 1927, however, the Nationalist Party turned on the Communist Party (the party purge¹⁶ and the anti-Communist war) and pursued an opposite policy, losing the people's confidence, bringing the revolution down in defeat, and endangering the nation; consequently, the people lost confidence in the «Three People's Principles». Now that there is an extremely grave national crisis and the Nationalist Party cannot continue to rule in the same old way, the people of the whole country and the patriots within the Nationalist Party are urgently demanding cooperation between the two political parties. Consequently, it is completely in keeping with the historical requirements of the Chinese revolution that the essence of the «Three People's Principles» should be revived and restored, and that the two political parties should resume their cooperation, in accordance with the Principle of Nationalism, or the struggle for national independence and liberation, the Principle of Democracy, or the attainment of internal democracy and freedom, and the Principle of People's Livelihood, or the promotion of the people's welfare, and they should lead the people to put these principles resolutely into practice. This ought to be clearly grasped by every member of the Communist Party. Communists will never abandon their ideal of socialism and communism, which they will attain by going through the stage of the bourgeois-democratic revolution. The Communist Party of China has its own political and economic programme. Its maximum programme is socialism and communism, which is different from the «Three People's Principles». Even its programme for the period of the democratic revolution is more thoroughgoing than that of any other political party in China. But the Communist Party's programme for the democratic revolution and the programme of the «Three People's Principles» as proclaimed by the Nationalist Party's First National Congress are fundamentally not in conflict. Therefore, far from rejecting the «Three People's Principles», we are ready staunchly to put them into practice; moreover, we ask the Nationalist Party to implement them together with us, and we call upon the whole nation to put them into effect. We hold that the Communist Party, the Nationalist Party, and the people of the whole country should unite and fight for these three great objectives of national independence, democracy and freedom, and the people's livelihood.

Was our past slogan of a workers' and peasants' democratic republic wrong? No, it was not. Since the bourgeoisie, and particularly the big bourgeoisie, withdrew from the revolution, became retainers of imperialism and the feudal forces, and turned into enemies of the people, the revolutionary task met with defeat before being accomplished, the only remaining motive forces of the revolution were the proletariat, the peasantry, and the urban small bourgeoisie, and the only remaining revolutionary political party was the Communist Party, which, as such, inevitably had to shoulder the responsibility for organizing the revolution. The Communist Party alone continued to hold aloft the banner of revolution, preserved the revolutionary tradition, put forward the slogan of a workers' and peasants' democratic republic, and fought hard for it for many years. This slogan was not in conflict with the task of bourgeois-democratic revolution but signified that we were resolutely carrying out this task. Not a single item of policy adopted in our actual struggle was out of keeping with this task. Our policy, including the confiscation of the land of the feudal lords and the enforcement of the eight-hour workday, never went beyond the bounds of capitalist private ownership; our policy was not to put socialism in practice then. What will be the composition of the new democratic republic? It will consist of the proletariat, the peasantry, the urban small bourgeoisie, the bourgeoisie, and all those in the country who agree with the national and democratic revolution; it will be the alliance of these classes in the national and democratic revolution. The salient feature here is the inclusion of the bourgeoisie; the reason is that, in the present circumstances, there is a possibility that the bourgeoisie will once again cooperate with us and join in the resistance to Japan, and the political party of the proletariat should therefore not repel, but welcome them and revive its alliance with them for the common struggle, so as to help the Chinese revolution forward. In order to end the internal armed conflict, the Communist Party is willing to discontinue the policy of forcible confiscation of the land of the feudal lords and is prepared to solve the land problem by legislative and other appropriate means in the course of building the new democratic republic. The first question to be settled is whether China's land will be owned by the Japanese or by the Chinese. Since the solution of the land problem of the peasants is predicated on the defence of China, it is absolutely necessary for us to turn from the method of forcible confiscation to appropriate new methods.

It was correct to put forward the slogan of a workers' and peasants' democratic republic in the past, and it is correct to drop it today.

To establish the national united front for joint resistance to the enemy, it is necessary properly to resolve certain internal contradictions, the principle here being that the solution should help strengthen and extend the anti-Japanese national united front and not weaken or narrow it. During the stage of the democratic revolution, it is impossible to avoid contradictions and struggles between classes, political parties, and political groupings, but it is both possible and essential to put an end to such struggles as are detrimental to unity and to resisting Japan (the civil war, the antagonistic conflict between the political parties, provincial separatism, feudal political and economic oppression on the one hand, and the policy of armed uprising and excessive economic demands harmful to the resistance on the other, and so on), and to continue such struggles as benefit unity and resistance to Japan (for freedom of criticism, for the independence of the political parties, for the improvement of the political and economic life of the people, and so on).

Within the overall task of fighting for an anti-Japanese national united front and a unified democratic republic, the tasks of the Red Army and the anti-Japanese base area are:

• To raise the level of the Red Army to suit the circumstances of war against Japan, the Red Army should immediately be reorganized into the National Revolutionary Army and become a model army in that war by raising the level of its military, political, and cultural education, so as to surpass its present state and that of all other armies in the country.
• Our base area should become a component part of the State, apply its democratic system under the new conditions, reorganize its peace preservation corps, clear out traitors and saboteurs, and become a region that is a model of resistance and democracy.
• Essential economic construction should be conducted in this area and the livelihood of the people should be improved.
• Essential cultural work should be carried out for the purpose of eliminating illiteracy.

#3. OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO LEAD

It is a law confirmed by Chinese history that the Chinese bourgeoisie (to put it more accurately, the national bourgeoisie), which may participate in fighting imperialism and feudalism in certain historical circumstances, vacillates and turns traitor in others, because of its economic and political flabbiness. Thus, it is history's verdict that China's bourgeois-democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism is a task that can be completed, not under the leadership of the bourgeoisie, but only under that of the proletariat. What is more, it is possible to overcome the bourgeoisie's inherent vacillation and lack of thoroughness and to prevent the miscarriage of the revolution only by bringing the perseverance and thoroughness of the proletariat in the democratic revolution into full play. Is the proletariat to follow the bourgeoisie, or is the bourgeoisie to follow the proletariat? This question of responsibility for leadership in the Chinese revolution is the linchpin upon which the success or failure of the revolution depends. The experience of 1924-27 shows how the revolution forged ahead when the bourgeoisie followed the political leadership of the proletariat and met defeat when the proletariat became the political tail of the bourgeoisie through the fault of the Communist Party.¹⁷ This piece of history should not be allowed to repeat itself. In the present circumstances, without the political leadership of the proletariat and its political party, it is impossible to establish an anti-Japanese national united front, to attain the objectives of peace, democracy, and armed resistance, and to defend the homeland, and impossible to set up a unified democratic republic. Today, the bourgeoisie, represented by the Nationalist Party, is still very passive and conservative, and the proof of this is its long hesitation about accepting the anti-Japanese national united front initiated by the Communist Party. This situation increases the responsibility of the proletariat and its political party for giving political leadership. To function as the general staff in resisting Japan and saving the nation is a responsibility the Communist Party cannot relinquish, an obligation it cannot decline.

How does the proletariat give political leadership through its political party to all the revolutionary classes in the country? First, by putting forward fundamental political slogans that accord with the course of historical development and by putting forward slogans of action for each stage of development and each major turn of events in order to translate these political slogans into reality. For instance, we have put forward the fundamental slogans for «an anti-Japanese national united front» and for «a unified democratic republic», but we have also put forward the slogans, «end the civil war», «fight for democracy», and «carry out armed resistance», as specific objectives for concerted action by the entire nation; without such specific objectives, political leadership is out of the question. Second, the proletariat, and especially its vanguard, the Communist Party, should set an example through its boundless enthusiasm and loyalty in achieving the specific objectives when the whole country goes into action for them. In the fight to fulfil all the tasks of the anti-Japanese national united front and the democratic republic, Communists should be the most far-sighted, the most self-sacrificing, the most resolute, and the least prejudiced in sizing up situations, and should rely on the majority of the masses and win their support. Third, the Communist Party should establish proper relations with its allies and develop and consolidate its alliance with them, while adhering to the principle of never relinquishing its defined political objectives. Fourth, it should expand the ranks of the Communist Party and maintain its ideological unity and strict discipline. It is by doing all these things that the Communist Party gives effect to its political leadership of the people throughout China. They constitute the foundation for guaranteeing our political leadership and for ensuring that the revolution will win complete victory and not be disrupted by the vacillations of our allies.

When internal peace is achieved and cooperation is established between the two political parties, changes will have to be made in the forms of struggle, organization and work which we adopted when the line was one of maintaining a regime antagonistic to that of the Nationalist Party. There should be complete changes in the direction of carrying out the line of an anti-Japanese national united front and a democratic republic. They will mainly be changes from military to peaceful forms, from secret to open forms, from illegal to legal forms, and from unilateral actions to cooperation with allies. It will not be easy to make these changes across the board in the work between two such fundamentally different things, and we shall have to learn afresh. The retraining of our cadres thus becomes a key link.

Many comrades have been asking questions about the nature of the democratic republic and its future. Our answer is: as to its class nature, the republic will be an alliance of all revolutionary classes, and, as to its future, it may move toward socialism. Our democratic republic is to be established in the course of national armed resistance under the leadership of the proletariat and in the new international environment (with socialism victorious in the Council Union and the approach of a new period of world revolution). Therefore, though it will still be a bourgeois-democratic State socially and economically, yet it will be different from the general run of bourgeois republics, because, in concrete political terms, it will have to be a State based on the alliance of the working class, the peasantry, the small bourgeoisie, and the bourgeoisie. Thus, as to the future of the democratic republic, though it may move in a capitalist direction, the possibility also exists that it will turn toward socialism, and the political party of the Chinese proletariat should struggle hard for the latter prospect.

The fight against closed-doorism and adventurism and also against tailism is essential to the accomplishment of the Party's tasks. In the mass movements, our Party has a traditional tendency toward rank closed-doorism, haughty sectarianism, and adventurism, which reflects China's social conditions; this ugly tendency hinders the Party in establishing an anti-Japanese national united front and winning over the majority of the masses. It is absolutely necessary to wipe out this tendency in each and every field of work. What we ask is: rely on the majority and take the whole situation into account. There must be no revival of the Chen Duxiu type of tailism, which is a reflection of bourgeois reformism in the ranks of the proletariat. To debase the class standpoint of the Party, to obscure its distinctive features, to sacrifice the interests of the workers and peasants to suit the needs of bourgeois reformism, is sure to lead the revolution to defeat. What we ask is: carry out firm revolutionary policies and strive for complete victory in the bourgeois-democratic revolution. To overcome the undesirable tendencies we have described, it is absolutely necessary to raise the Marxist-Leninist theoretical level of the whole Party, for Marxism-Leninism alone is the compass which can guide the Chinese revolution to victory.