Zhang Kuan: Talent Cultivation in the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army
The learning and daily life of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army (hereafter "the NAJUA") exhibited a character defined by "adapting to war." This not only regulated the practical forms and curricular content of learning during the War of Resistance but also played a vital role in consolidating and sparking the force of their collective thought, as well as maintaining and enhancing their combat effectiveness.
Exploring Diverse and Rich Forms of Learning
NAJUA commander Zhou Baozhong [1] pointed out: "Cadres are the lever for advancing revolutionary work and the pivot for solving problems." He believed that in training and educating cadres, efforts should be intensified to study the combat experiences of Marx, Lenin, and Stalin, and that Mao Zedong and Zhu De should be taken as models. In the Northeast region, work to transform and train cadres had to be accelerated to meet the requirements of the objective environment. Political-military schools, camp-following schools [2], and temporary training classes were widely established within the NAJUA units. For example, in 1936, the NAJUA established the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army Political and Military School in the Tangwang River area; its students "were all company and platoon-level cadres transferred from various armies, divisions, and regiments."
However, faced with the practical dilemma of increasingly tight military offensives by the Japanese and their puppet forces [3] and a desperate shortage of cadres, many political-military schools fell into a state of existing in name only. For instance, the Third Army of the NAJUA once dispatched all instructors and students of its political-military school to the main units preparing to break through Japanese and puppet military offensives; though the school existed nominally, it was essentially disbanded. Temporary training classes and camp-following schools were all established provisionally according to wartime needs. Among them, temporary training classes were further divided into short-term classes, night classes, cadre training classes, and military-political training classes. Their curricula prioritized political study, supplemented by military training. Camp-following schools were important bases for promoting and training large numbers of lower-level political and military personnel. The "Recruitment Advertisement for the Camp-following School of the Second Army of the Northeast People's Revolutionary Army" explicitly stated the purpose of such schools: "Fearing no hardship, this Army has established a camp-following school specifically to train lower-level cadres from all units who are determined to resist Japan and save the nation."
In addition to the organizations mentioned above, companies generally established tactical and marksmanship research groups, literacy classes, political discussion forums, singing groups, and Lenin Units [4] for all soldiers. The task of these primary-level organizations was to implement the specific content of learning for every soldier. It should be noted that various NAJUA armies made multiple attempts to normalize and fix the routines of learning life, such as strictly formulating and implementing "daily literacy and study" activities; in the event of an emergency military situation, students of the training classes would be promptly moved elsewhere to continue instruction. Yet, under the special environment of war, implementing learning arrangements exactly according to original plans was undoubtedly a luxury. At that time, regardless of the method of practice, learning had to revolve around actual combat situations and military operations; the temporary termination of learning plans or arrangements became a recurring regret for NAJUA units. Furthermore, due to long-term operations behind enemy lines, the NAJUA faced an extreme lack of printing equipment and materials, as well as a severe shortage of learning resources. Soldiers used every means possible to overcome these difficulties, such as hand-copying textbooks, making their own teaching aids, or utilizing captured enemy materials.
Similarly limited by the wartime environment, the soldiers' learning methods were divided into collective instruction and individual self-study. During relatively stable periods, collective instruction was the most effective way to carry out learning. However, in an environment where Japanese and puppet forces frequently launched military offensives, stability was particularly rare, while instability became the norm. As regular collective instruction was difficult to sustain, NAJUA soldiers could only use pauses between battles or rest periods for self-study to improve their survival skills and combat capabilities in complex environments.
The Unique Learning Model of "The Pen + The Gun"
Based on the special environment and wartime needs of the Northeast, the NAJUA creatively developed a unique learning model of "the pen + the gun." Here, "the gun" refers to military training and the enhancement of combat capability, while "the pen" refers to ideological and political education and cultural [5] study.
Military training was a vital component of "the gun" education, consisting of two aspects. First, military skills training, mainly involving conventional weapons training and tactical study. In terms of conventional weapons, NAJUA soldiers learned to use rifles, machine guns, grenades, and other standard arms, carrying out basic training in shooting, throwing, and bayonet fighting. After crossing the border into the Soviet Union [6], they also studied auxiliary subjects such as ascending and jumping, crawling, obstacle clearing, construction of various field positions and fortifications, flag signaling and telephony, gas defense, first aid, and basic medical knowledge. Regarding tactical study, NAJUA units placed great emphasis on studying guerrilla tactics including offense, defense, and ambushes, learning how to conduct anti-offensive operations against the Japanese and puppet forces in environments where the enemy was strong and they were weak. Second, special skills training. NAJUA soldiers needed to learn special skills such as skiing, swimming, and boat handling, as well as survival skills in extreme cold—such as keeping warm and finding food and water—to adapt to the complex terrain and natural environment of the Northeast.
"The pen" education was the core content of NAJUA education, consisting of two main aspects. First, ideological and political education. NAJUA units attached high importance to these activities, helping officers and soldiers understand the Party's revolutionary history, its principles and policies, major documents, the significance of the war of national liberation, the current situation of the Chinese revolution, and the protracted nature of the Northeast national revolutionary war through Party member congresses, political discussion classes, propaganda teams, and newspaper-reading groups. In political study, Party members played a vanguard and exemplary role; political workers often brought important documents from the CPC Central Committee, provincial committee publications, and the North Manchuria Nation-Saving Daily to lower-level branches for discussion, creating a wave of enthusiasm for researching political issues among Party members. Second, basic cultural education. As most NAJUA soldiers had low levels of literacy, the units organized numerous basic cultural education activities. In addition to general subjects like literacy, writing, arithmetic, and pinyin, some also learned to read and draw maps and use telegraph codes. Furthermore, because the wartime environment in the occupied Northeast was complex and involved Japan, Korea, and the Soviet Union, the NAJUA encouraged soldiers to learn Japanese, Russian, and Korean to strengthen their understanding of the Japanese invaders, improve translation and communication skills, and facilitate the leadership of the anti-Japanese forces.
Cultivating Large Numbers of High-Quality Personnel for the War of Resistance
The NAJUA's efforts to organize and persist in learning despite all difficulties cultivated a large number of personnel who possessed both military skills and firm political convictions. This greatly enhanced the NAJUA's combat effectiveness and cohesion, making an important contribution to the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
First, the focus on cultivating well-rounded cadres provided the backbone for the survival and development of the NAJUA units. The shortage of cadres was a pressing problem faced by all NAJUA armies; therefore, the units always emphasized cadre training. Even during brief periods of rest and reorganization after crossing into the Soviet Union, they continued to attach extreme importance to ideological and political education and persisted in studying Marxism-Leninism. Through the combination of military training and ideological education, the NAJUA cultivated outstanding cadres. For instance, most of the leaders and key local officials of the Third and Sixth Armies of the NAJUA had studied at the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army Political and Military School in the Tangwang River area. This school held three sessions and trained nearly 300 military-political cadres who played vital roles across various NAJUA units and became the backbone of the War of Resistance.
Second, the comprehensive improvement of military skills and tactical levels built a strong force to resist Japanese and puppet offensives. By constructing a professionalized military training system, the NAJUA significantly improved its combat effectiveness; for example, the opening of radio communication schools trained technical personnel who met wartime needs. Additionally, adhering to the principle that "actual struggle is the best form of learning," the NAJUA maintained a practice-oriented training approach, combining theoretical knowledge with practical operation, learning tactics through battle and survival skills through hardship. For example, in response to the "collective hamlets" [7] and military offensives of the Japanese and puppet forces, the training classes held plenary discussions to debate the meaning and strategy of "fighting fire with fire" and "turning the enemy's own tricks against them." This meant: "When the enemy forces people into hamlets, if the masses can be mobilized to destroy them, then destroy them; if they have already been forced in, then use the opportunity to infiltrate, electing our own people as heads of the Bao-Jia [8] to carry out underground work and cooperate with the NAJUA's military actions." This combat-adjacent learning model not only helped break through survival crises and compensate for disadvantages but also significantly raised tactical levels and dealt heavy blows to the Japanese invaders.
Third, the simultaneous improvement of cultural levels and political literacy provided the ideological guarantee for final victory. Through study, the cultural level of NAJUA soldiers rose significantly; NAJUA commander Xu Hengzhi and others went from "being unable to write anything in the past to being able to write reports and long letters within two months." Meanwhile, ideological and political education strengthened the soldiers' revolutionary convictions and patriotic fervor. The implementation of training classes and political discussions helped soldiers understand deeply the Communist Party's revolutionary propositions, the significance of the anti-aggression war, and the protracted and complex nature of the war, firming their resolve and character to hold their ground and fear no sacrifice.
The learning practices of the NAJUA are a microcosm of the Communist Party of China's 14 years of arduous resistance against Japanese aggression. This experience teaches us that the enhancement of combat effectiveness does not rely solely on upgrades in equipment and technology; it requires the realization of the principle of "promoting combat through learning" and the shaping of absolute loyalty to the principle that "the Party commands the gun" through ideological education.