On New Stage

Mao Zedong made a political report at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Party which convened between October 12 to 14, 1938.

The original title of the report was "The New Stage of the Anti-Japanese National War and the Development of the Anti-Japanese National United Front", it was published in No. 57 of Liberation Daily on November 25, 1938; the title of the report was later changed to "On the New Stage". In April 1942, the Liberation Society published it as a single edition.The 7th part of the report is included in Volume 2 of Selected Works of Mao Zedong, entitled “The Role of the Communist Party of China in the National War”.

The report is divided into eight parts:

(1) From the Fifth Plenary Session to the Sixth Plenary Session of the Central Committee; (2) The summary of the 15 months’ experience of the Anti-Japanese War; (3) The new stage in the development of the National Resistance War against Japan and the Anti-Japanese National United Front; (4) The current urgent task of the whole nation at present; (5) The protracted character of the war and the protracted character of cooperation; (6) China's war to resist invasion and the world's anti-fascist movement; (7) The role of the Communist Party of China in the national war; (8) The Seventh National Congress of the CPC. Among them, the 21st point in the third part of the report, is titled as "the Characteristics of China's Anti-Japanese National United Front."

The Characteristics of China's Anti-Japanese National United Front was elaborated by Mao Zedong from eight aspects: firstly, the resistance of the whole nation against Japan; secondly, the protracted nature of the war; thirdly, the imbalance; fourthly, the armed forces; fifthly, the experience of 15-years war; sixthly, the majority of the people are unorganized; seventhly, the Three People's Principles; and part eight, elaborates on the new international environment. Mao Zedong stressed that only by deeply recognizing and studying the above characteristics can we adopt appropriate political measures and working methods; the victory of the Anti-Japanese War and the consolidation and expansion of the Anti-Japanese National United Front require such a scientific basis. Among them, the 12th point in the seventh part of the report is entitled as "Study".

Mao Zedong pointed out that " Our Party's mastery of Marxism-Leninism is now rather better than it used to be, but is still far from being extensive or deep. Ours is the task of leading a great nation of several hundred million in a great and unprecedented struggle. For us, therefore, the spreading and deepening of the study of Marxism-Leninism present a big problem demanding an early solution which is possible only through concentrated effort.”For this reason, Mao Zedong emphasized: " Being Marxists, Communists are internationalists, but we can put Marxism into practice only when it is integrated with the specific characteristics of our country and acquires a definite national form.”

Hence to apply Marxism concretely in China so that its every manifestation has an indubitably Chinese character, that is to say, to apply Marxism in the light of China's specific characteristics, becomes a problem which it is urgent for the whole Party to understand and solve. At the critical juncture when China's Anti-Japanese War was about to enter the stalemate stage, the report comprehensively summarized the basic experience of the Anti-Japanese War since it had begun, thoroughly analyzed the basic characteristics of the “War” situation at that time , the report also proposed the basic policies and strategic principles such as persisting in the Anti-Japanese War, persisting in the policy of protracted war and adhering to the policy of Anti-Japanese National United Front have been formulated; the report emphasized: “In order to strengthen the CPC, to lead the Anti-Japanese War, in order to strengthen Party building and in order to promote the comprehensive grasp of Marxism, Sinicization of Marxism should be greatly promoted; the report had been a programmatic document guiding the Communist Party of China for uniting all nationalities, classes, strata and parties to win the great victory of China's Anti-Japanese War.