The Line of Partial Resistance Against Japanese Aggression

There were two battlefields in China's War of Resistance against Japan: the battlefield behind the enemy lines led by the CPC and the frontal battlefield of the KMT. The two battlefields carried out two different lines in the Anti-Japanese War, namely, the resolute, all-out, full-fledged warring line of the CPC and the one-sided line of resistance which was based solely on the resistance of the government and the standing army anti-Japanese line of the KMT, while it opposed full mobilization of the masses of people in participating the War. Consequently, it carried out one sidedness in guiding war.

After the July 7th Incident in 1937, the Japanese army launched a strategic offensive against Northern China with its main troops, and at the same time, Japan realized the "August 13th Incident" in Shanghai, which shocked both China and foreign countries, and launched an offensive against Central China.

Japan's imperialist aggression against China were escalating, while the people of the whole country rose up to resist the Japanese aggression. On August 14, the National Government issued the “Declaration of War of Self-defense against Japan”, pointing out that "China was forced by Japan's endless aggression and now it has to defend itself and resist violence.”

From March 29 to April 1, 1938, the KMT convened an Interim National Congress in Wuhan and adopted the “Program of War of Resistance against Japan and the Founding of the People's Republic”, putting forward some propositions conducive to the War of Resistance. However, the KMT pursued a one-sided Anti-Japanese War line relying solely on the resistance of the government and the army.

In terms of politics, the program adopted by the KMT proposed to improve political institutions at all levels, severely punish corrupt officials, and organize national political participation organs, but it did not really propose to implement democratic politics, hold the National Congress, protect the people's democratic rights, and recognize the equal relationship between all parties; in terms of economy, it put forward that economic construction should have focused on military affairs, improved people's life, fully developed rural economy, expanded production during the war, etc., but it did not abolish various exorbitant taxes, formulate regulations to improve people's life, etc. In terms of military affairs, it proposed to step up the political training of the army, to guide and assist the armed people in various places, and accepted to launch general guerrilla warfare in the enemy's rear area, however, because of the fear of the development and growth of the people's strength, it did not take practical and effective measures to actively carry out guerrilla warfare that relied on the people, and only pinned the hope of victory in the war on the regular army of the KMT; in terms of diplomatic affairs, it proposed to unite with the countries and nations in the world who sympathize with China’s resistance war us and ally with all the forces against Japanese imperialist aggression to fight together.

However, in its practical action, KMT had the problem of relying too much on the United States, Britain and other countries; in terms of mass movement. It rejected to mobilize the whole nation, rejected granting legal status to existing patriotic organizations, extend these organizations among the workers, peasants, businessmen and intellectuals, arm the people for self-defence and for operations in support of the army. KMT rejected to give the people full legal protection in terms of freedom of speech, publishing, assembly and gather in associations, instead cautioned that these freedoms should have not violated the Three Principles of the People as interpreted by Chiang Kai-shek and as well as not violate the already established decrees and policies of the KMT government thus it restricted the people's voluntary participation in Anti-Japanese War and in the struggle for democracy, so forth.

Mao Zedong pointed out that although the partial resistance line adopted against Japan aggressors by the KMT was also a national war with revolutionary characteristics, its revolutionary nature was not complete. The partial resistance line would lead the war to defeat, and it would be absolutely impossible to defend the motherland with such a policy.