Theoretical Learning Center Group of the Party Leadership Group of the Central Institute of Socialism: The Anti-Japanese National United Front was the Fundamental Guarantee for the Victory of the War of Resistance
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War; it also marks the 90th anniversary of the issuance of the "August 1st Declaration" and the Wayaobu Conference, which established the strategic policy of the anti-Japanese national united front. General Secretary Xi Jinping profoundly noted: "Under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front initiated by the Communist Party of China, 'four hundred million people strove together, with one heart and one mind, clad in the same military uniform' [1]. The Chinese people built a Great Wall of steel with their own flesh and blood to save the nation from peril and defend national dignity, writing a magnificent chapter in the history of the Chinese nation’s resistance against foreign aggression with their lives and blood." This scientific conclusion is a high evaluation and profound summation of the historical contribution of the anti-Japanese national united front. Looking back at those extraordinary years of shared hatred for the enemy and bloody struggle, the anti-Japanese national united front led by the CPC miraculously coalesced the weak and fractured China of that time—which had been like "a heap of loose sand" [2] at the mercy of others—into a Great Wall of flesh and blood, united in its determination to resist foreign aggression. This thoroughly reversed the balance of power between justice and evil, providing the fundamental guarantee for the great victory of the War of Resistance.
I. The anti-Japanese national united front established the important political foundation for the victory of the War of Resistance
The flames of the War of Resistance were both a trial by fire for the survival and "phoenix-like rebirth" [3] of the Chinese nation and a touchstone for testing the historical responsibility and political wisdom of China’s various political forces. At the critical moment of survival or extinction, whoever could stand on the right side of history, accurately grasp the principal contradiction of society, and propose and implement the correct line would become the backbone of the nation and the mainstay of the resistance.
Facing the savage aggression of Japanese imperialism, the Communist Party of China, guided by scientific theory, gained deep insight into the contemporary theme of national salvation, taking the lead in proposing and actively promoting the establishment of the broadest possible anti-Japanese national united front. After the September 18th Incident [4], wherever the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders reached, fertile fields were scorched, cities became ruins, and compatriots were reduced to slaves; the Chinese nation fell into its deepest crisis since the beginning of modern times. However, the Kuomintang (KMT) government yielded in humiliation, standing by as vast tracts of territory were lost and people became displaced, causing national dignity to be trampled underfoot. Far from eliminating the foreign threat, this fueled the arrogant ambition of the Japanese invaders to swallow China whole. In sharp contrast, representing the will of the entire people to resist Japan, the CPC took the lead in proposing the correct advocacy of recovering lost territory and saving the nation through resistance. They issued the call for armed resistance and resolutely opposed Japanese militarism—this was the earliest and most determined struggle during that darkest hour. On August 1, 1935, the CPC delegation to the Comintern drafted "The Letter to All Compatriots for Resisting Japan and Saving the Nation from the Chinese Soviet Government and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China," the famous "August 1st Declaration," which was published shortly thereafter. The declaration explicitly advocated for an end to the civil war, stating that "resistance means life, while non-resistance means death; resisting Japan and saving the nation has become the sacred duty of every compatriot," demonstrating to the world the CPC's firm determination to unite and lead the Chinese people in a common resistance. In December of the same year, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held an enlarged meeting at Wayaobu [5]. Based on new changes in domestic class relations following the intensified Japanese aggression, the meeting established the strategic policy for the anti-Japanese national united front. This major strategic decision pointed out the correct direction forward for the Chinese nation in the midst of its profound crisis.
[Caption: At the critical juncture of intensifying Japanese imperialist aggression and an unprecedented national crisis, the CPC was the first to propose and actively promote the establishment of the broadest anti-Japanese national united front. This facilitated the peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident [6], playing a major historical role in promoting renewed cooperation between the KMT and CPC for a united resistance. The photo shows Mao Zedong and other leaders of the CPC Central Committee welcoming Zhou Enlai upon his return to Yan'an after concluding negotiations with KMT representatives following the peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident (Archive photo). Issued by Xinhua News Agency.]
The CPC prioritized national interests and the greater good of the nation, utilizing immense political courage, wisdom, and resolve to fully achieve the anti-Japanese national united front based on KMT-CPC cooperation. During the period of the Agrarian Revolutionary War [7], the KMT reactionaries carried out a brutal massacre of Communists and the revolutionary masses. However, to spare four hundred and fifty million compatriots the tragic fate of becoming subjects of a conquered nation, and to ensure the torch of the Chinese nation’s millennia-old civilization would endure, the Chinese Communists set aside past grievances. They underwent a policy adjustment from "opposing Chiang Kai-shek [8] to resist Japan" to "forcing Chiang to resist Japan" and finally to "uniting with Chiang to resist Japan," ultimately facilitating the peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident. This ended ten years of civil war and achieved a second period of KMT-CPC cooperation, serving as the pivot for the transformation of the overall situation. As Comrade Mao Zedong later pointed out, "In the past, if the Communist Party, the Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, and the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region had not sincerely called for an end to the civil war and for a united resistance against Japan, no one would have initiated the anti-Japanese national united front and no one would have led the peaceful resolution of the Xi'an Incident; consequently, it would have been impossible to implement the resistance." The establishment of the anti-Japanese national united front cleared the vision of hundreds of millions of Chinese people as to who the most loyal and steadfast defenders of the Chinese nation truly were. Where national righteousness pointed, the hearts of the people followed; the CPC became the focus of the people’s hopes.
Holding high the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front, the CPC resolutely maintained, consolidated, and developed the united front. By adhering to the principles of independence and initiative within the united resistance, the Party maintained the overall situation of unity and proved itself the well-deserved strong core of the resistance. After the war entered the stage of strategic stalemate, the diehard faction of the KMT became passive in resisting Japan and active in opposing the Communists. They openly put forward reactionary policies to "assimilate," "guard against," "restrict," and "oppose" the Communist Party, repeatedly creating bloody frictions and instigating three "anti-Communist high tides." Most heinous was the Southern Anhui Incident [9] manufactured by KMT diehards in early 1941—a "grievous injustice through the ages"—where the blood of New Fourth Army soldiers stained the soil of Southern Anhui, bringing the anti-Japanese national united front to the brink of collapse. The CPC always prioritized the overall situation of the war, employing extraordinary political leadership to put forward the three major political slogans: "persist in resistance, oppose surrender; persist in unity, oppose division; persist in progress, oppose regression." The Party established the strategic policy of "developing the progressive forces, winning over the middle forces, and isolating the diehard forces," firmly grasping the leadership of the anti-Japanese national united front and guiding the direction of the Chinese resistance. This art of united front work, which highly integrated firmness of principle with flexibility of tactics, not only demonstrated the political wisdom of the Chinese Communists but also safeguarded the lifeblood of the victory: the anti-Japanese national united front.
The developmental trajectory of the anti-Japanese national united front reveals to us that without the Communist Party of China, there would have been no anti-Japanese national united front; without the anti-Japanese national united front, there would have been no victory in the War of Resistance.
II. The anti-Japanese national united front solidified the strong power base for the victory of the War of Resistance
Once the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front was raised, it displayed immense cohesive and charismatic power. It successfully forged the will and actions of various parties, nationalities, classes, strata, organizations, as well as overseas Chinese, into a single entity. It stimulated the inexhaustible great power latent within hundreds of millions of people, laying a solid foundation of strength for the victory.
Under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front, the KMT and the CPC, who once met on the battlefield, set aside their grievances to build a "Great Wall of steel" against the Japanese invaders. This was not a simple case of resisting Japan together; rather, it was a strategic situation where the theater behind enemy lines, opened and led by the CPC, and the frontal theater commanded by the KMT cooperated with each other. The KMT army conducted large-scale operations to block the Japanese army in the frontal theater, fighting successive campaigns in Songhu, Taiyuan, Xuzhou, and Wuhan. Meanwhile, armed forces led by the CPC pushed forward to the front lines without hesitation, actively engaging in combat against the Japanese, and kemudian moved deep behind enemy lines to conduct guerrilla warfare, gradually opening a theater behind enemy lines that could operate independently. In September 1937, to coordinate with the defensive operations of the KMT's Second War Zone, the main force of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army skillfully used the terrain to set an ambush, wiping out over 1,000 Japanese troops and destroying more than 100 vehicles in the Great Victory at Pingxingguan. This shattered the myth of the "invincibility" of the Japanese army and greatly boosted the morale of the military and civilians nationwide. Subsequently, three divisions of the Eighth Route Army launched extensive strikes at the Japanese flank and rear—destroying roads, blowing up bridges, and conducting harassment—which effectively pinned down Japanese forces and won precious time for the KMT army. The mutual coordination between the frontal theater and the theater behind enemy lines was a vivid manifestation of the anti-Japanese national united front in the military field. It crushed the Japanese military's attempt at a "blitzkrieg" to destroy China and forced the invaders into a strategic dilemma of fighting on two fronts, creating a miracle in the history of the World Anti-Fascist War and indeed in the history of warfare both in China and abroad.
Under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front, the patriotic enthusiasm of middle forces—including the national bourgeoisie, enlightened gentry, and local power factions—was stimulated as never before. Their political stance shifted from vacillation to firm resistance, gradually coalescing into an important force for national salvation and eventually merging into the contemporary torrent of the entire nation’s united resistance. Industrialists like Hu Juewen mobilized Shanghai machine factories to overcome all difficulties and move inland to rebuild production in the rear, providing a vital guarantee for the supply of materials to the front lines. The enlightened gentleman Liu Shaobai founded the Xingxian Farmers' Bank, making active contributions to developing the economy of the base areas, solving military and civilian supply needs, and consolidating the anti-Japanese base areas. Local power figures like Deng Baoshan not only resolutely resisted Japan and defended national dignity, but also persisted in KMT-CPC cooperation and supported the anti-Japanese national united front; Comrade Mao Zedong highly praised him for "supporting the northern line and protecting the border region," stating his "great virtue will never be forgotten." The anti-Japanese national united front successfully united political forces with different views, facilitating political cooperation while strengthening national identity and forging a "bronze wall and iron wall" of common resistance.
Under the banner of the anti-Japanese national united front, the broad masses of people united with one heart, sacrificing their families to save the nation and plunging the invaders into the "vast ocean of people's war." The anti-Japanese national united front transformed a purely military resistance into a resistance of the whole nation, making the War of Resistance a true people's war. The famous bridge expert Mao Yisheng, in order to stop the Japanese advance, painfully blew up the Qiantang River Bridge that he had built with his life's blood, leaving behind the poem: "As the nation falls, the mountains and rivers seem more beautiful; I destroy the bridge to protect the land." Figures in the arts and literature used their pens as rifles and songs as clarion calls, creating outstanding works imbued with the national soul, such as the "March of the Volunteers" and the "Yellow River Cantata," building a spiritual Great Wall to support the nation's backbone. Ethnic minority compatriots joined their Han counterparts in a vigorous movement for national salvation. Armed resistance groups composed of various ethnic groups under CPC leadership—such as the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, the Central Hebei Muslim Detachment, the Mongolian Flag Independent Brigade, and the Qiongya People's Independent Column of Anti-Japanese Guerrillas—fought bravely and became heroic banners of the whole nation's resistance. Members of the religious community stepped forward to treat wounded soldiers and shelter refugees. Overseas Chinese always kept their homeland in their hearts, sharing the same fate and breath as the motherland. More than 3,200 "Nanyang mechanics" [10] resolutely returned to China, building an "unsinkable supply line" for the resistance on the Yunnan-Burma Road, which was known as the "Road of Death." With unprecedented breadth and depth, the anti-Japanese national united front thoroughly stimulated and gathered the inexhaustible power latent within the people, forming a vivid patriotic tapestry where the military and civilians at the front and rear worked in close coordination, and compatriots at home and abroad echoed one another, as hundreds of millions joined forces to save the nation from ruin.
III. The anti-Japanese national united front created a favorable external environment for the victory of the War of Resistance
In the process of the Anti-Fascist War, the CPC not only used its broad political vision to establish the domestic anti-Japanese national united front that concentrated the strength of the whole nation, but also assumed the mission of "caring for all under heaven" [11] to actively promote the establishment of an international anti-fascist united front. By closely linking China’s cause of national liberation with the cause of human justice, it secured a favorable external environment for the victory of China's War of Resistance and made an indelible historical contribution to the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War.
[Caption: On July 8, 2025, the themed exhibition "For National Liberation and World Peace" held at the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression opened to the public. The exhibition is divided into eight parts, featuring 1,525 photographs and 3,237 cultural relics, providing a comprehensive review of the flames of war and those extraordinary years. The photo shows visitors at the themed exhibition on July 13. Issued by China News Service / Photo by Chen Xiaogen.]
In the process of promoting the establishment of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, the Communist Party of China viewed the creation of an international anti-Japanese united front as an inevitable choice. It regarded China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the world’s anti-fascist war as an integrated whole, leading the establishment of the united front through the thoroughness of its anti-Japanese stance. In July 1936, during a conversation with Edgar Snow, Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: "Japanese imperialism is not only the enemy of China, but also the enemy of all people throughout the world who demand peace, and particularly the enemy of the people in countries with interests in the Pacific—namely, the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union." After the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance in July 1937, the CPC publicly advocated for the establishment of an international Eastern anti-fascist united front to further expand the anti-Japanese united front and strengthen the forces resisting Japanese fascism. On June 22, 1941, the day after the outbreak of the Soviet-German War, the CPC Central Committee explicitly expressed its support for the Soviet Union’s war against German fascist aggression, while again proposing to win over Britain and the United States to join the international anti-fascist united front. In December of the same year, following the outbreak of the Pacific War, the CPC Central Committee passed the "Manifesto of the CPC on the Pacific War," formally announcing to the world its policy of establishing an anti-Japanese united front with countries such as Britain and the United States. It pointed out: "The division of all countries and all nations in the world into a fascist front waging wars of aggression and an anti-fascist front waging wars of liberation has finally become clear." On January 1, 1942, twenty-six nations, including China, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union, signed the Declaration by United Nations, marking the formal formation of the international anti-fascist united front. This was not only an important milestone in international cooperation during the world anti-fascist war, but it also fundamentally transformed the difficult situation of China’s independent resistance. From then on, China’s War of Resistance and the world anti-fascist war became more closely linked, sharing a common destiny.
The Communist Party of China also strove to promote the formation of a broad international anti-fascist united front among the people and the proletariat of all nations. Comrade Mao Zedong once noted: "The general task of the revolution during this period is to organize all possible forces in the world into a united front against fascism and aggression, to resist the frantic aggression of the three fascist countries and the attacks of fascists within various countries." Under the advocacy of the CPC, the call of the Comintern, and the banner of the Anti-Japanese National United Front, communists and revolutionary volunteers from many countries flocked to the anti-fascist battlefields. Doctors such as Norman Bethune and Dwarkanath Kotnis actively devoted themselves to field medical work in China, dedicating their blood and even their lives to the cause of the Chinese people's liberation. Journalists like Edgar Snow, Agnes Smedley, and Anna Louise Strong used their pens and cameras as weapons to provide the world with authentic reports of the heroic deeds of the Chinese military and people in their united resistance, piercing the lies of the Japanese fascists. Rewi Alley and others initiated the establishment of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (Gung Ho), organizing production in the rear through the "Gung Ho" spirit of "work hard, work together," making significant contributions to China’s resistance. Furthermore, there were internationalist fighters such as the League of Japanese in China Against the War and the Korean Volunteer Army [12], who chose to stand with the Chinese people to jointly resist fascism. This invaluable support from the people of various countries eventually merged into the historical torrent of the Chinese nation’s resistance, not only providing essential support for the victory of the War of Resistance but also building a towering monument manifesting human conscience and international justice.
"Hardships and tribulations serve to polish you into success" [13]. The Anti-Japanese National United Front was a great pioneering undertaking by the Communist Party of China at a critical juncture of national survival. With immense political wisdom and a sense of historical responsibility, the Party united hundreds of millions of compatriots to turn the tide when all seemed lost [14]. This magnificent history reveals to us that the fundamental reason the united front remains invincible lies in always adhering to the leadership of the CPC, upholding the themes of great unity and great alliance, persisting in the policy of correctly handling the relationship between uniformity and diversity, and maintaining correct work strategies and methods.
General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized that the united front is an important "magic weapon" [15] for the Party to defeat the enemy and to govern and rejuvenate the country; it is an important magic weapon for uniting all Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and it must be maintained over the long term. On the new journey in the New Era, the risks and trials we face will only become more complex, and we may even encounter "terrifying waves and stormy seas" [16]. To this end, we must continuously develop and expand the patriotic united front in the New Era, maximizing the condensation of the wisdom and strength of Chinese sons and daughters at home and abroad, and maximizing the stimulation of the centripetal force and creativity of the Chinese nation. This will form a powerful synergy to realize the Chinese Dream with one heart, together composing a magnificent new chapter for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.