"On Protracted War"

At the outbreak of the all-out war of resistance against the Japanese aggression, many people in the KMT camp believed either that China would be quickly subjugated, or that it would win a quick victory. Some on the CPC side also pinned their hopes for victory on open warfare waged by the KMT regular army, and decried the importance of guerrilla warfare.

At a conference held from May 26 to June 3, 1938 in Yan'an, the seat of the CPC Central Committee, Mao Zedong gave a series of lectures entitled "On Protracted War." This reviewed the experience already gained in battle, refuted the prevailing wrong ideas, and explained the Party's rationale behind a protracted war of resistance.

Mao analyzed the situations of China and Japan, the nature of the war, the strengths and weak points of the two sides, and the attitude of the international community, and drew the conclusion that the war against the Japanese would be long, but that the final victory would be China's. He forecast that for the Chinese, the war would go through three stages: strategic defensive, strategic stalemate, and strategic counter-offensive. He emphasized that the people were the foundation of victory.

Mao's "On Protracted War" discussed the evolution of the war, pointed out a logical path leading to China's victory, criticized various erroneous views about the war, and inspired the whole Party, the Chinese army and the general public, giving them confidence in China's ability to win the war. The value of the article was acknowledged by senior officials of both the CPC and the KMT, and the article became the strategic program guiding China's resistance. It was an excellent example of applying Marxist dialectical and historical materialism to the problem of waging successful war.

《論持久戰》

抗戰全面爆發后，國民黨內出現了“速勝論”和“亡國論”等論調。在中國共產黨內，也有一些人寄希望于國民黨正規軍的抗戰，輕視游擊戰爭。1938年5月26日至6月3日，毛澤東在延安抗日戰爭研究會上，作了《論持久戰》的長篇演講，初步總結了全國抗戰的經驗，批駁了當時盛行的種種錯誤觀點，系統闡明了中國共產黨的抗日持久戰方針。毛澤東分析了中日兩國的社會形態、雙方戰爭的性質、戰爭要素的強弱狀況、國際社會的支持與否等，指出抗日戰爭是持久戰，最后的勝利屬于中國。他科學地預見到抗日戰爭必將經過戰略防御、戰略相持、戰略反攻三個階段，強調持久戰的基礎在于廣大民眾。

《論持久戰》科學地論證了抗日戰爭的發展規律，以無可辯駁的邏輯力量闡明了爭取抗戰勝利的道路，批判了對于抗日戰爭的各種錯誤認識，因而從思想上武裝了全黨、全軍和廣大人民，極大地鼓舞和堅定了廣大軍民爭取抗戰勝利的信心。《論持久戰》印刷出版后，不僅獲得國共兩黨領導的共識，更成為抗日戰爭中的戰略指導綱領。這篇著作是運用馬克思主義的辯證唯物主義和歷史唯物主義從具體情況出發解決戰爭問題的光輝典范。