Deng Shaogen: International Dissemination and Influence of "On Protracted War"

Comrade Mao Zedong’s On Protracted War systematically expounded the general strategic guideline of the Communist Party of China (CPC) regarding protracted war, becoming a programmatic document for the CPC’s leadership during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression ^[1]. Following its publication, the CPC attached great importance to its international dissemination, which, through the efforts of foreign journalists and international friends, generated a significant international impact.

The CPC’s guideline on protracted war received affirmative support from the Soviet Union and the Comintern ^[2]. To coalesce domestic forces of resistance and strengthen the nation’s resolve for victory, Chinese Communists—with Comrade Mao Zedong as their primary representative—concentrated the wisdom of the entire Party and decided to comprehensively, systematically, and profoundly summarize the experience gained since the start of the war. This was done to respond to the concerns of the people nationwide regarding the war’s future. From May 26 to June 3, 1938, Mao Zedong delivered a series of long lectures at the Yan’an Association for the Study of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression titled "On Protracted War: Why the War of Resistance is a Protracted War, Why the Final Victory Will Belong to China, How to Conduct the Protracted War, and How to Achieve Victory." He resolutely pointed out that the War of Resistance was a protracted war and that the final victory would belong to China.

On July 1, 1938, Liberation ^[3] weekly officially published the 41-page "On Protracted War—On Why the War of Resistance is a Protracted War, Why the Final Victory Will Belong to China, How to Conduct the Protracted War, and How to Achieve Victory (Lectures delivered at the Yan’an Association for the Study of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression from May 26 to June 3, 1938)." It included a table of contents with 21 questions and a main text of 120 paragraphs, totaling approximately 50,000 characters. Mao Zedong placed great importance on this edition, not only inscribing the title by hand but also providing an inscription for the cover of the same issue: "Persist in the War of Resistance, persist in the united front ^[4], persist in the protracted war; final victory will inevitably belong to China." The following day, Mao Zedong met with James Klugmann, Bernard Floud, and other representatives of the World Student Association, conveying to them the CPC’s guideline of a protracted war of resistance.

On July 9, 1938, the Jiefang She (Liberation Press) in Yan’an officially published the monograph edition of On Protracted War, removing the original subtitle to make the main title prominent, concise, and easy to remember and disseminate. On July 25, the Hankou branch of the Xinhua Daily ^[5] published its own monograph edition. Subsequently, the Northeast Bookstore, the Hong Kong New Democracy Press, the Xinhua News Agency, the Liaodong Jianguo Bookstore, and the book department of Yi Bao (The Translation Daily) also successively published and distributed letterpress-printed revised editions. For a time, Mao Zedong’s On Protracted War was in such high demand that it could not be kept in stock, sweeping away the feelings of confusion regarding the war’s future among the Chinese people.

On September 5 of the same year, to ensure that the Communist parties of various countries understood the CPC’s thought on protracted war, Ren Bishi—then the CPC representative to the Comintern—published an article in the Soviet newspaper Pravda under the pseudonym "Chen Lin" titled "What the Slogan of Protracted War Means in China," clarifying that the Sino-Japanese War was not a war of quick decision but a protracted war. This indicated that the Comintern understood and approved of the CPC’s protracted war guideline. Georgi Dimitrov, then General Secretary of the Comintern in charge of Chinese affairs, spoke highly of Mao Zedong’s incisive analysis and scientific judgment. He published an article in the Comintern publication The Communist International praising it: "Never before has anyone explained the issues of military affairs and war so thoroughly. On Protracted War is an epoch-making work."

To expand the international dissemination of On Protracted War and promote the CPC’s line of total resistance and the National United Front Against Japan, the CPC placed great emphasis on the English translation of the work. Currently, an early extant English monograph edition of On Protracted War is the version distributed by the Shanghai Book Company in 1938. However, according to the findings of researcher Zhang Shengxiang, there were at least four English translations during the period of the War of Resistance.

First, Zhou Enlai—head of the Yangtze Bureau of the CPC Central Committee—assigned the task of translating On Protracted War into English to the International Propaganda Group. At that time, the group’s membership was small, including Xu Mengxiong, Anneliese Martens (Wang Anna), and Bi Shuowang. Their first assignment was to translate Mao Zedong’s works, such as Problems of Strategy in China’s Revolutionary War and On Protracted War. However, with the fall of Wuhan in 1938, Xu Mengxiong retreated to Chongqing; the manuscript of On Protracted War was lost when the steamship Xinshenglong was bombed and sunk en route, failing to reach publication. Second, Zhou Enlai sent the text from Wuhan to Hong Kong, entrusting Soong Ching-ling ^[6] with its English translation and publication. Later, translated by Israel Epstein and others, an English monograph of On Protracted War was published and distributed in Hong Kong. Third, in October of the same year, to expand the influence of On Protracted War in the English-speaking world, Yang Gang—a Ta Kung Pao ^[7] reporter and underground CPC member—completed an English translation. From the 3rd issue on November 1, 1938, to the 6th issue on February 9, 1939, the Shanghai English magazine Candid Comment, edited by Emily Hahn, serialized the translation in four installments titled "Prolonged War," attributed to Mao Tse Tung and the translator Shih Ming (Yang Gang’s pseudonym), accompanied by editorial notes. Fourth, in October 1938, the 42nd issue of the Shanghai Yi Cong Zhou Kan (Translation Collection Weekly) also published an English translation of excerpts titled "How China Can Win."

While the English version of Mao Zedong’s On Protracted War was being disseminated internationally, Japan translated and published its contents into Japanese through various channels, such as its intelligence departments in China, for distribution to the Japanese military and public. In fact, even before the publication of On Protracted War, Japanese media had already begun translating and introducing Mao Zedong’s remarks on the war, taking note of the protracted war guideline. For instance, in March 1937, the Japanese journal Gaiko Jiho (Diplomatic Review) published "Mao Zedong’s Theory of Anti-Japanese Combat" by Murata Shiro, a "China expert," which included partial translations of Edgar Snow’s July 1936 interview with Mao regarding the War of Resistance. After the official publication of On Protracted War, Japanese media increased their translations and introductions. In October 1938, the Japanese magazine 改造 (Kaizō) published a 98-page Japanese partial translation. On November 6, 9, and 10, the Yomiuri Shimbun serialized a commentary titled "Characteristics and Future of the New Stage of the Anti-Japanese War." That same month, Yangtze River Magazine published "Our Method for Long-Term Resistance Against Japan." In 1939, Kaizosha published The Current Situation of the CPC Army, a collection of translated excerpts by Fukada Yuzo. In March 1939, a secret intelligence report edited by the Special Service Department of the Japanese military in Hankou, titled Various Problems of China’s Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Warfare, again detailed the main points of On Protracted War. On January 8, 1940, the Tokyo Asahi Shimbun published an editorial titled "Handling the Incident and Protracted War."

Yasuji Okamura, a general of the Japanese invading forces, attached great importance to reading Mao Zedong’s On Protracted War. In his post-war testimony, he confessed: "This is a strategic document of immense value, demonstrating the CPC’s extraordinary strategic foresight and organizational capacity." Senior officers in the Japanese Ministry of War and the General Staff Office even established a "Mao Zedong Document Research Group," translating the full text of On Protracted War into Japanese for distribution to core officers as a reference. Their general attitude toward Mao’s work shifted from dismissiveness in the early stage to serious attention in the middle stage, and finally to desperation in the later stage.

The international dissemination of Mao Zedong’s On Protracted War produced a positive impact in the Western world, earning high praise from the international community. It is said that a Russian manuscript of On Protracted War, specially commissioned for translation, lay on Stalin’s desk. At the same time, English copies of the work were reportedly on the desks of Roosevelt and Churchill. Joseph Stilwell, Chief of Staff to the China Theater of the U.S. Army, considered the work a "wonderful textbook" after reading it and suggested that the U.S. government accelerate aid to China, which would surely hasten the arrival of victory. Edgar Snow, who visited Yan’an many times, praised Mao’s On Protracted War as the "prophecy from the cave dwellings" ^[8].