Chapter 75 Speech at the inaugural meeting of the China Literature and Art Association[1]

(November 22, 1936) The Chinese Soviets have been established for a long time and have done many great and astonishing undertakings, but in terms of literary and artistic creation, we have done very little.The establishment of the Chinese Literature and Art Association today is a pioneering work of the Soviet movement in the past ten years.In the past, we had many comrades who were interested in literature and art, but we were not organized, and we did not have specially planned research to carry out literary and artistic creations by the masses of workers and peasants.Now we not only want martial arts, we also want literary skills, we want both civil and military skills.Because now China has two fronts, one is the anti-Japanese front and the other is the civil war.To form an anti-Japanese national united front, drive out Japanese imperialism, and strive for the independence and liberation of the Chinese nation, we must first stop the civil war.But now some people are unwilling to stop the civil war, and instead attack the People’s Red Army, the main force of the anti-Japanese war. They want to eliminate the anti-Japanese leaders and core Soviets, all anti-Japanese forces, and anti-Japanese literature and art.Therefore, if we want to resist Japan, we must first stop the civil war.How can we stop the civil war? We want both civil and military.From the aspect of literature, we must persuade those who are unwilling to stop the civil war, and from the aspect of literature, we must publicize and educate the people of the whole country to unite and resist Japan.If Wen's side cannot persuade those who are unwilling to stop the civil war, then we will use force to force him to stop the civil war.You writers also go to the front to encourage soldiers and defeat those who will not stop the civil war.Therefore, in the movement to stop the civil war and unify the resistance against Japan, both the literary and art associations have a very important task.It is your great and glorious task to carry forward the literature and art of the masses of Soviet workers and peasants and the anti-Japanese literature and art of the national revolutionary war.

According to the publication of "Red China" on November 30, 1936. -------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ note [1] The China Literature and Art Association was formally established on November 22, 1936 in Baoan County, Shaanxi Province (now Zhidan County), at the initiative of 34 people including Ding Ling, Cheng Fangwu, and Li Bozhao.At the inaugural meeting, it was proposed by Mao Zedong and approved by all members to be named "China Literature and Art Association".The purpose of organizing the association is to jointly promote new literary and artistic work under the goal of the anti-Japanese national united front, and to form a new fighting force in the united front.