Page 133 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume II.indd

ON PROTRACTED WAR 131

factors makes it possible to overcome the danger of compromise and
persist to the end in the War of Resistance.
25. Let us now answer the second question. Political progress
at home and perseverance in the War of Resistance are inseparable.
The greater the political progress, the more we can persevere in the
war, and the more we persevere in the war, the greater the political
progress. But, fundamentally, everything depends on our perseverance
in the War of Resistance. The unhealthy phenomena in various fields
under the Kuomintang regime are very serious, and the accumulation
of these undesirable factors over the years has caused great anxiety
and vexation among the broad ranks of our patriots. But there is no
ground for pessimism, since experience in the War of Resistance has
already proved that the Chinese people have made as much progress
in the last ten months as in many years in the past. Although the
cumulative effects of long years of corruption are seriously retarding
the growth of the people’s strength to resist Japan, thus reducing
the extent of our victories and causing us losses in the war, yet the
over-all situation in China, in Japan and in the world is such that the
Chinese people cannot but make progress. This progress will be slow
because of the factor of corruption, which impedes progress. Progress
and the slow pace of progress are two characteristics of the present
situation, and the second ill accords with the urgent needs of the war,
which is a source of great concern to patriots. But we are in the
midst of a revolutionary war, and revolutionary war is an antitoxin
which not only eliminates the enemy’s poison but also purges us
of our own filth. Every just, revolutionary war is endowed with
tremendous power, which can transform many things or clear the
way for their transformation. The Sino-Japanese war will transform
both China and Japan; provided China perseveres in the War of
Resistance and in the united front, the old Japan will surely be trans-
formed into a new Japan and the old China into a new China, and
people and everything else in both China and Japan will be transformed
during and after the war. It is proper for us to regard the anti-Japanese
war and our national reconstruction as interconnected. To say that
Japan can also be transformed is to say that the war of aggression by
her rulers will end in defeat and may lead to a revolution by the
Japanese people. The day of triumph of the Japanese people’s revolu-
tion will be the day Japan is transformed. All this is closely linked
with China’s War of Resistance and is a prospect we should take
into account.