It will
soon be July 7, the first anniversary of the great War of
Resistance Against Japan.
Rallying
in unity, persevering in resistance and persevering in the united
front, the forces of the whole nation have been valiantly fighting
the enemy for almost a year.
The
people of the whole world are attentively following this war, which
has no precedent in the history of the East, and which will go down
as a great war in world history too.
Every
Chinese suffering from the disasters of the war and fighting for
the survival of his nation daily yearns for victory.
But
what actually will be the course of the war?
Can we
win?
Can we
win quickly?
Many
people are talking about a protracted war, but why is it a
protracted war?
How to
carry on a protracted war? Many people are talking about Final
victory, but why will final victory be ours? How shall we strive
for final victory?
Not
everyone has found answers to these questions; in fact, to this day
most people have not done so. Therefore the defeatist exponents of the theory
of national subjugation have come forward to tell people that China
will be subjugated, that final victory will not be
China's.
On the other hand, some impetuous friends have
come forward to tell people that China will win very quickly
without having to exert any great effort.
But are these views correct?
We have
said all along they are not.
However,
most people have not yet grasped what we have been
saying.
This is
partly because we did not do enough propaganda and explanatory
work, and partly because the development of objective events had
not yet fully and clearly revealed their inherent nature and their
features to the people, who were thus not in a position to foresee
the over-all trend and the outcome and hence to decide on a
complete set of policies and tactics.
Now
things are better, the experience of ten months of war has been
quite sufficient to explode the utterly baseless theory of national
subjugation and to dissuade our impetuous friends from their theory
of quick victory.
In
these circumstances many people are asking for a comprehensive
explanation.
All the
more so with regard to protracted war, not only because of the
opposing theories of national subjugation and quick victory but
also because of
the shallow understanding of its nature...
The
question now is: Will China be subjugated?
The answer is, No, she will not be
subjugated, but will
win final victory. Can China win quickly?
The answer is, No, she cannot win
quickly, and the War of
Resistance will be a protracted
war.
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_09.htm
