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42 ZHU DE

How could the anti-Japanese guerrilla war break out spontaneously
and extensively? What is its essence? What is its correct definition?
Facts have shown that nobody could wilfully create such a war.
Nor is there any force that can wipe it out. It is a product of the times.
How Do Guerrillas Operate? published by the Soviet Union says, “A
guerrilla force is a small irregular armed detachment that operates in
the rear of an enemy who occupies a certain area. . . . In any war,
the people, or a certain class of the people, have full reason to bitterly
hate the enemy that occupies their territory. Therefore, war rouses
the people to guerrilla activities.” In the specific circumstances of
China today, the anti-Japanese guerrilla war is triggered by Japanese
imperialist aggression. The people in an area occupied by the Japanese
invaders are unwilling to be slaves of a foreign power. Armed or
unarmed, militarily trained or untrained, they go into action in or
around the enemy’s rear, or where the enemy is about to invade. The
local anti-Japanese government or army may also systematically send
regular troops to act as guerrillas and to organize the people for
guerrilla warfare. Hence the anti-Japanese guerrilla detachments
which consist of people from different walks of life and enjoy the sup-
port of all compatriots. The birth and growth of every detachment is
an epic story, heroic and moving.
Thus the anti-Japanese guerrilla war came about under the specific
historical conditions of the Japanese imperialist invasion of Chinese
territory. In essence, it is the highest and most extensive form of resis-
tance that our compatriots unwilling to be slaves of a foreign power
adopt for their own survival. It is spear-headed against Japanese im-
perialism.
The definition of anti-Japanese guerrilla war, therefore, should be:
a popular or militia war against Japanese aggression. It is different
from any other guerrilla war because it is anti-Japanese; it is different
from war waged by regular troops because it is launched by the masses
or the militia.
At the same time, there is no unbridgeable gulf between anti-Japa-
nese guerrilla war and regular anti-Japanese war. On the one hand,
when an anti-Japanese guerrilla unit has grown strong or when several
guerrilla units join forces, they can fight on a considerable scale. On
the other, so long as a regular army keeps in close contact with civilians
and enjoys their sympathy and support, it can send small or even large
units to wage guerrilla warfare.
The anti-Japanese guerrilla war is part of the War of Resistance