Page 198 - SELECTED WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG Volume II.indd

196 MAO TSE-TUNG

PATRIOTISM AND INTERNATIONALISM

Can a Communist, who is an internationalist, at the same time
be a patriot? We hold that he not only can be but must be. The specific
content of patriotism is determined by historical conditions. There
is the “patriotism” of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler, and
there is our patriotism. Communists must resolutely oppose the
“patriotism” of the Japanese aggressors and of Hitler. The Com-
munists of Japan and Germany are defeatists with regard to the wars
being waged by their countries. To bring about the defeat of the
Japanese aggressors and of Hitler by every possible means is in the
interests of the Japanese and the German people, and the more com-
plete the defeat the better. This is what the Japanese and German
Communists should be doing and what they are doing. For the wars
launched by the Japanese aggressors and Hitler are harming their
own people as well as the people of the world. China’s case is different,
because she is the victim of aggression. Chinese Communists must
therefore combine patriotism with internationalism. We are at once
internationalists and patriots, and our slogan is, “Fight to defend the
motherland against the aggressors.” For us defeatism is a crime and
to strive for victory in the War of Resistance is an inescapable duty.
For only by fighting in defence of the motherland can we defeat the
aggressors and achieve national liberation. And only by achieving
national liberation will it be possible for the proletariat and other
working people to achieve their own emancipation. The victory of
China and the defeat of the invading imperialists will help the people
of other countries. Thus in wars of national liberation patriotism is
applied internationalism. For this reason Communists must use their
initiative to the full, march bravely and resolutely to the battle front

tionism in regard to the united front was criticized; this problem was dealt with by
Comrade Mao Tse-tung in “The Question of Independence and Initiative Within
the United Front”, which was part of his concluding speech at the same session.
Affirming that it was extremely important for the whole Party to devote itself to
organizing the people’s armed struggle against Japan, the session decided that the war
zones and the enemy’s rear should be the Party’s main fields of work and repudiated
the erroneous ideas of those who pinned their hopes of victory on the Kuomintang
armies and who would have entrusted the fate of the people to legal struggles under
the reactionary Kuomintang rule. This problem was dealt with by Comrade Mao
Tse-tung in “Problems of War and Strategy”, which was also part of his concluding
speech at the session.