Principle of Both Unity and Struggle in the United Front

The establishment of a broad united front in China was the political basis for upholding and developing the revolution.There were two alliances in the united front: one was the alliance of the working class with the peasants and other working people, whose main pillar was the alliance of the workers and peasants; the other was the alliance of the working class with the national bourgeoisie and with other non-working people whom we could win to cooperation, which mainly targeted winning the national bourgeoisie, and in some occasions and temporarily we could unite with a part of the big bourgeoisie. The former alliance was basic and main; the latter was auxiliary and at the same time important. It was necessary to rely firmly on this first alliance and strive for the establishment and expansion of the second. The key to consolidate and expand the united front was to uphold the leadership of the working class and its political party. To this end, it was necessary to lead the allies in fighting resolutely against the common enemy and in winning victories; give material benefits to the allies, at least not harm their interests, and at the same time it was necessary to politically educate the forces we led; and it was necessary to adopt a policy of both unity and struggle towards the bourgeoisie which was fighting for leadership with the working class.

Mao Zedong, accordingly, pointed out: "An important part of the political line of the CPC is to unite with as well as struggle against the bourgeoisie.” The mentioned unity here meant allying with the bourgeoisie for the United Front. By struggle I mean a "peaceful" and "bloodless" struggle in the sphere of ideology, politics and organizational issues, when we act in unity with the bourgeoisie. On the other hand, when we are forced to split with the bourgeoisie, the peaceful struggle transforms into an armed struggle. If the Party does not understand how to unite with the bourgeoisie for a certain period of time, the Party will not be able to move forward, and the revolution would not advance. And, if the Party does not clearly understand that when it unites with bourgeoisie, at the same time it should wage a determined and serious "peaceful" struggle against it then, it would collapse ideologically, politically and organizationally and the revolution would also fail. By the same token, if the Party, does not have the courage to wage a resolute armed struggle against it when it was forced to split with the bourgeoisie, it will likewise lead to the collapse of the Party and the revolution will fail.

The Party must correctly handle the dialectical relationship between unity and struggle, within the united front. Mao Zedong, accordingly, pointed out: “During the period of the Anti-Japanese United Front, struggle is the means to unity and unity is the aim of struggle; if we seek unity through struggle, it will live, if unity is sought through yielding, it will perish.”