April 19, 1941
The experience of the period of the ten years' civil war is the
best and most pertinent for the present period, the War of Resistance Against
Japan. This refers to the aspect of how to link ourselves with the masses and
mobilize them against the enemy, but not to the aspect of the tactical line.
The Party's present tactical line is different in principle from that of the
past. Formerly, the Party's tactical line was to oppose the landlords and the
counter-revolutionary bourgeoisie; now, it is to unite with all those landlords
and members of the bourgeoisie who are not against resisting Japan. Even in the
latter stage of the ten years' civil war, it was incorrect not to have adopted
differing policies towards the reactionary government and political party which
were launching armed attacks on us on the one hand, and towards all the social
strata of a capitalist character under our own rule on the other; it was also
incorrect not to have adopted differing policies towards the different groups
within the reactionary government and political party. At that time, a policy
of "all struggle" was pursued towards every section of society other
than the peasantry and the lower strata of the urban petty bourgeoisie, and
this policy was undoubtedly wrong. In agrarian policy, it was also wrong to
repudiate the correct policy adopted in the early and middle periods of the ten
years' civil war, [4] whereby the landlords
were given the same allotment of land as the peasants so that they could engage
in farming and would not become displaced or go up into the mountains as
bandits and disrupt public order. The Party's policy is now of necessity a
different one; it is not "all struggle and no alliance", neither is
it "all alliance and no struggle" (like the Chen Tu-hsiuism of 1927).
Instead, it is a policy of uniting with all social strata opposed to Japanese
imperialism, of forming a united front with and yet of waging struggles against
them, struggles that differ in form according to the different degrees in which
their vacillating or reactionary side manifests itself in capitulation to the
enemy and opposition to the Communist Party and the people. The present policy
is a dual policy which synthesizes "alliance" and
"struggle". In labour policy, it is the dual policy of suitably
improving the workers' livelihood and of not hampering the proper development
of the capitalist economy. In agrarian policy, it is the dual policy of
requiring the landlords to reduce rent and interest and of stipulating that the
peasants should pay this reduced rent and interest. In the sphere of political
rights, it is the dual policy of allowing all the anti-Japanese landlords and
capitalists the same rights of person and the same political and property
rights as the workers and peasants and yet of guarding against possible
counter-revolutionary activity on their part. State-owned and co-operative
economy should be developed, but the main economic sector in the rural base
areas today consists not of state but of private enterprises, and the sector of
non-monopoly capitalism in our economy should be given the opportunity to
develop and be used against Japanese imperialism and the semi-feudal system.
This is the most revolutionary policy for China today, and to oppose or impede
its execution is undoubtedly a mistake. To preserve the communist purity of
Party members scrupulously and resolutely, and to protect the useful part of
the capitalist sector of the social economy and enable it to develop
appropriately, are both indispensable tasks for us in the period of resisting
Japan and building a democratic republic. In this period it is possible that
some Communists may be corrupted by the bourgeoisie and that capitalist ideas
may emerge among members of the Party, and we must fight against these decadent
ideas; however, we should not mistakenly carry over the struggle against
capitalist ideas within the Party to the field of social economy and oppose the
capitalist sector of the economy. We must draw a clear line of demarcation
between the two. The Communist Party of China is working in a complicated
environment, and every Party member and especially every cadre, must temper
himself to become a fighter who understands Marxist tactics. A one-sided and
over-simplified approach to problems can never lead the revolution to victory.
