The Three Principles of “On Just Grounds”, “To Our Advantage” and “Acting with Restraint”

During the War of Resistance, the Communist Party of China carried out three strategic principles in fighting against the die-hards in the Anti-Japanese National United Front. After the Anti-Japanese War entered the stage of stalemate, Japanese imperialism carried out the policy of giving priority to political inducement and win over Chiang Kai-shek faction of the KMT, which was supplemented by military offensive, and Japanese imperialism shifted the focus of its military operations to the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines led by the Communist Party of China. Chiang Kai-shek faction adopted the policy of passive in the anti-Japanese fight and active in anti-communist attacks, consequently the danger of splitting up and surrender was serious. In order to develop the Anti-Japanese National United Front, and in order to crush the anti-Communist provocations of the die-hards of the KMT politically and overcome the “Left” and “Right” ideological tendencies existing in the Party, Mao Zedong made a report on " Current Problems of Tactics in the Anti-Japanese United Front " at the meeting of senior cadres in Yan'an on March 31, 1940, and put forward and elaborated on the tactic issues. He said: The tactics required for this purpose are to develop the progressive forces, win over the middle forces and combat the die-hard forces.” “However, there are several principles which we must observe in our struggle against the die-hards in the period of the Anti-Japanese United Front. Firstly, the principle of self-defense. We will not attack unless we are attacked; if we are attacked, we will certainly counter-attack. That is to say, we must never attack others without provocation, but once attacked we must never fail to return the blow. Herein lies the defensive nature of our struggle. The military attacks of the die-hards must be smashed—resolutely, thoroughly, wholly and completely.”

“Secondly, is the principle of victory: We will not fight unless we are sure of victory; we must never fight without a plan, without preparation, and without certainty of success. We must know how to exploit the contradictions among the die-hards and must not take on too many of them at a single time, but must direct our blows at the most reactionary of them first. This is the local nature of every specific struggle and we should win the overall victory with local small victories”. “The third is principle of restraint or the principle of truce: After repulsing one die-hard attack, we should know when to stop and bring that particular fight to a close before another attack is made on us. A truce should be made in the interval. We should then take the initiative in seeking unity with the die-hards and, if they concur, we should make a peace agreement with them. On no account should we fight on day after day without cease, or be carried away by success. Herein lies the temporary nature of every specific struggle, only when the die-hards launch a new attack should we counter with a new struggle.”

The three tactic principles of “On Just Grounds”, “To Our Advantage” and “Acting with Restraint”, embodies the high unity of principled struggle and flexibility, and is the typical embodiment of Mao Zedong's strategic thought.

Only by adhering to these tactics can the die-hards find it hard to attack the progressive forces, and we shall be able to restrict the effective range of their reactionary policy and compel them to recognize the status of the progressive forces only in this way, we shall be able to induce those die-hards who are still willing to resist Japan to prolong their participation in the Anti-Japanese United Front, and shall thus be able to avert a large-scale civil war of the kind that broke out before. The Communist Party of China has adhered to the principle of fighting “On Just Grounds”, “To Our Advantage” and “Acting with Restraint” and effectively opposed the “Left” and right thinking tendencies within the Party, persisted in the War of Resistance, prevented division of the united front, strove for possibility of a favourable turn in the situation, consequently promoted the development of the progressive, and forces and the victory in the Anti-Japanese War.