The Spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army Remains Evergreen

During his inspection tour of Heilongjiang in May 2016, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: “The spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, the spirit of the Great Northern Wilderness, the Daqing spirit, and the Iron Man spirit have inspired several generations. Today, we must still use these spirits to educate the Party’s broad ranks of cadres and members, guiding them to carry forward fine traditions and take the lead in promoting a new, healthy atmosphere across society.” [1]1 The Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army (Dongbei Kangri Lianjun, often abbreviated as Kang Lian) was a Communist-led guerrilla force that fought Japanese occupation in Manchuria from 1932 to 1945. The Great Northern Wilderness (Beidahuang) spirit refers to the ethos of reclaiming the Heilongjiang wasteland in the 1950s–1970s; the Daqing spirit emerged from the Daqing oil field campaign in the 1960s; the Iron Man spirit honors model worker Wang Jinxi. As a people’s anti-Japanese armed force founded and led by the Chinese Communist Party, the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army fought a bloody fourteen-year struggle against enemies many times its own size under extremely harsh conditions, forging the spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, whose basic connotations are: “steadfast loyalty to the Party, national righteousness in facing the nation’s crisis, and a heroic spirit of fighting to the death.” The heroic deeds of the Northeast United Army’s officers and soldiers have long been fixed in the corridors of history, but the spirit they bequeathed transcends time, remains ever fresh, and has become a spiritual treasure that inspires generation after generation to press ahead with determination.

2016年5月，习近平总书记在黑龙江考察工作时指出：“东北抗联精神、北大荒精神、大庆精神、铁人精神激励了几代人。今天，我们仍然要用这些精神来教育广大党员、干部，引导他们发扬优良传统，在全社会带头弘扬新风正气。”东北抗日联军作为中国共产党创建和领导的人民抗日武装，在极端艰苦的条件下同数倍于己的敌人浴血奋战十四载，铸就了以“忠诚于党的坚定信念，勇赴国难的民族大义，血战到底的英雄气概”为基本内涵的东北抗联精神。东北抗联将士的英雄壮举早已定格在历史长廊中，而他们留下的东北抗联精神跨越时空、历久弥新，成为激励一代又一代人砥砺奋进的精神财富。

Steadfast Loyalty to the Party

忠诚于党的坚定信念

“How could one fear hardships and dangers; what one relies on is loyalty.” [2]2 This line is from a classical Chinese poem by the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi in his “Four Songs of Follies”: “How could one fear hardships and dangers; what one relies on is loyalty.” Loyalty to the Party is the foundation of Communists’ conduct in society, the way of governance, and the key to accomplishing affairs; it is the spiritual code by which the Party unites and leads the entire people to overcome all difficulties and obstacles on the path forward. During the fourteen years of arduous and extraordinary Northeast resistance, steadfast loyalty to the Party was the powerful spiritual pillar that sustained the officers and soldiers of the Northeast United Army in their indomitable struggle to fight to the end.

“岂不畏艰险，所凭在忠诚。”对党忠诚是中国共产党人的立身之本、为政之道、成事之要，是党团结带领全国人民战胜前进道路上一切艰难险阻的精神密码。在长达14年艰苦卓绝的东北抗日斗争中，忠诚于党的坚定信念是支撑东北抗联将士百折不挠、奋战到底的强大精神支柱。

Faced with the enemy’s military suppression, economic blockade, and political inducement to surrender, Yang Jingyu, commander-in-chief of the First Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, always cherished the lofty ideal of communism, and his revolutionary will to resist Japan and save the nation never wavered. Even when trapped in a snow-covered wilderness with no food or ammunition, Yang Jingyu sustained himself on tree bark, cotton wadding, and grass roots, fighting tenaciously against the enemy until his last breath, using his life to interpret the solemn oath: “The head may be cast aside without hesitation, blood may be sprayed, but the will of unswerving loyalty will not be shaken.” [3]3 Yang Jingyu (1905–1940) was commander-in-chief of the First Route Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, captured and killed after eating tree bark and cotton wadding in extreme cold.

面对敌人的军事镇压、经济封锁和政治诱降，东北抗日联军第1路军总司令杨靖宇始终胸怀共产主义崇高理想，抗日救亡的革命意志毫不动摇。即使身陷冰天雪地、弹尽粮绝的绝境，杨靖宇以树皮、棉絮和草根充饥，同敌人顽强战斗到生命最后一刻，用生命诠释了“头颅不惜抛掉，鲜血可以喷洒，而忠贞不贰的意志是不会动摇的”铮铮誓言。

Faced with the brutal Japanese puppet forces, Zhou Baozhong, one of the principal leaders of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, remained steadfast in his revolutionary conviction. In a directive letter to Party cadres of the Fifth and Seventh Armies of the Northeast United Army, he wrote: “All kinds of difficulties in the Northeast guerrilla movement are unavoidable. Therefore, it requires that each of us Bolsheviks, faithful to China’s war of national liberation, must lead the anti-Japanese United Army troops and the masses’ national salvation and anti-Japanese struggle with an attitude of firm endurance and farsightedness, and with firm and flexible means.” [4]4 Zhou Baozhong (1902–1964) was a senior commander of the Northeast United Army; “Bolshevik” refers to a committed Communist adhering to the revolutionary tradition of the Bolshevik Party in the Soviet Union.

面对残暴的日伪军，东北抗日联军的主要领导者之一周保中的革命信念依旧坚定。他在给东北抗联第五、七军党干部的指示信中写道：“东北游击运动的各种困难是不能避免的。因此，需要我们每个忠实于中国民族解放战争的布尔塞维克，必以坚强忍耐与目光久远的态度和坚强灵活的手段，领导抗日联军部队及群众的救国抗日斗争。”

Zhao Yiman, a female political commissar of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army, was seriously wounded and captured while covering the troops’ breakout. In prison, Zhao Yiman endured months of brutal torture under the enemy but remained unyielding and steadfast, never revealing any Party secrets; she even angrily denounced the Japanese aggressors: “You can reduce entire villages to rubble, you can chop people into mincemeat, but you cannot extinguish the faith of Communists.” It was precisely through their firm belief in Marxism and their adherence to the lofty ideal of communism that the officers and soldiers of the Northeast United Army, under conditions of extreme disparity in strength and an extremely harsh environment for survival, never changed their hearts, never wavered in their will, and never compromised their integrity. [5]5 Zhao Yiman (1905–1936) was a female political commissar of the Northeast United Army, captured and executed after torture; she became a martyr celebrated for her defiance.

东北抗日联军的女政委赵一曼在掩护部队突围时，身负重伤被捕入狱。在狱中，赵一曼遭受敌人数月之久的严刑拷打依然坚贞不屈，始终没有泄露党的任何机密，更是怒斥日本侵略者：“你们可以让整个村庄变成瓦砾，可以把人剁成肉泥，可是你们消灭不了共产党人的信仰。”正是靠着对马克思主义的坚定信仰、对共产主义崇高理想的坚守，东北抗日联军将士们在敌我力量极其悬殊、生存环境极端恶劣的条件下始终不改其心、不移其志、不毁其节。

National Righteousness in Facing the Nation’s Crisis

勇赴国难的民族大义

National righteousness is the lofty integrity with which individuals and collectives step forward and sacrifice their lives in the face of national crisis; it is the sense of responsibility that closely links personal destiny with the future of the country. At the critical moment of national peril, the officers and soldiers of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army placed the interests of the country and the nation above personal interests, advancing wave upon wave and facing death unflinchingly in the struggle against Japanese imperialist aggression, demonstrating the national righteousness expressed in the line: “Were it to benefit the country, I would lay down my life; could I shun fortune and avoid calamity because of them?” [6]6 This line is from a poem by Lin Zexu, the Qing official who opposed the opium trade, written when he was exiled: “Were it to benefit the country, I would lay down my life; could I shun fortune and avoid calamity because of them?”

民族大义是个人和集体在民族危难之际挺身而出、舍生忘死的崇高气节，是将个人命运同国家的前途命运紧密相连的责任担当。在民族危亡的紧要关头，东北抗日联军将士将国家与民族的利益置于个人利益之上，在反抗日本帝国主义侵略的斗争中前赴后继、视死如归，展现出“苟利国家生死以，岂因祸福避趋之”的民族大义。

After the September 18th Incident, the Northeast region was ravaged under the iron heel of the Japanese invaders, and thirty million fellow Northeastern compatriots were plunged into the abyss of misery. [7]7 The September 18th Incident (1931) was a staged explosion on a Japanese-owned railway near Mukden (Shenyang) used as a pretext for the Japanese invasion and occupation of Northeast China (Manchuria). It marked the start of the 14-year war in China. People of lofty ideals such as Yang Jingyu, Zhou Baozhong, Zhao Shangzhi, and Li Zhaolin, in order to save the nation from peril and rescue the people from suffering, unhesitatingly threw themselves into the front line of the Northeast resistance struggle, establishing and organizing various anti-Japanese armed forces such as “Volunteer Armies,” “Self-Defense Armies,” and “National Salvation Armies” in different regions, dealing heavy blows to the Japanese aggressors. In order to expand the anti-Japanese national united front and unite all anti-Japanese forces, the leaders of the Northeast United Army, including Yang Jingyu, Wang Detai, Zhao Shangzhi, and Li Yanlu, issued the “Declaration on Unifying the Military Organization of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army,” stating: “All Chinese compatriots and all anti-Japanese armed forces, regardless of religion, regardless of political faction, regardless of any social group or individual, regardless of party affiliation, regardless of rich or poor, as long as they are anti-Japanese and national salvation, our Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army will act in concert with them.” The national consciousness of the people of all strata in the Northeast region was greatly awakened, and they threw themselves into the torrent of anti-Japanese national salvation. The armed forces scattered throughout the Northeast, under the organization and leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, were integrated into the revolutionary iron army that was the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army.

九一八事变后，东北地区在日寇铁蹄之下惨遭蹂躏，三千万东北同胞深陷水深火热的悲惨境地。杨靖宇、周保中、赵尚志、李兆麟等仁人志士为救民族于危亡、救人民于水火，义无反顾地投身于东北抗日斗争的最前线，在各地区创建和组织“义勇军”“自卫军”“救国军”等各种抗日武装，给日本侵略者以沉重打击。为壮大抗日民族统一战线、团结一切抗日力量，杨靖宇、王德泰、赵尚志、李延禄等东北抗联领导人发表《东北抗日联军统一军队建制宣言》，提出“凡中国同胞及一切反日武装军队，不分宗教，不论政治派别，不论任何社会团体或个人，不分派别，不分穷富，只要是抗日救国，我东北抗日联军便与其行动一致”。东北地区各阶层民众的民族意识被极大地唤醒，纷纷投入抗日救亡的洪流之中，遍布东北各地的武装力量在中国共产党的组织和领导下整合为东北抗日联军这支革命铁军。

The officers and soldiers of the Northeast United Army always regarded “saving the nation from peril, sacred duty, sacrificing oneself for the country, and swearing to fight Japan to the death” as their first priority. In the harsh environment of “warmth from the fire on the chest, cold wind on the back,” they fought bloodily against the ferocious enemy, pinning down and depleting a large number of effective forces of the Japanese Kwantung Army. Moreover, the officers and soldiers of the United Army shared a common hatred of the enemy with the Northeastern people and jointly resisted foreign aggression, building with their flesh and blood a steel Great Wall to save the nation from peril and defend national dignity, composing epic patriotic chapters that move heaven and earth among the White Mountains and Black Waters. [8]8 “Warmth from the fire on the chest, cold wind on the back” is a line from “The Camping Song” (Lu Ying Ge) composed by Li Zhaolin, a song popular among the Northeast United Army. The White Mountains and Black Waters refer to the Changbai Mountains and the Heilong (Amur) River, symbolizing the Northeast region.

东北抗日联军将士始终将“拯救危亡，神圣天职，以身殉国，誓死抗日”作为第一要义，在“火炙胸前暖，风吹背后寒”的艰苦环境同穷凶极恶的敌人浴血奋战，牵制并消耗了日本关东军大量有生力量。抗联将士更是与东北人民同仇敌忾、共御外侮，以血肉之躯筑起拯救民族危亡、捍卫民族尊严的钢铁长城，在白山黑水间谱写下惊天地、泣鬼神的爱国主义篇章。

Heroic Spirit of Fighting to the Death

血战到底的英雄气概

Comrade Mao Zedong pointed out: “Our Chinese nation has the spirit of fighting to the death against its enemies.” This heroic character of defying brute force and fighting to the death was fully displayed in the fourteen years of arduous and extraordinary struggle of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army. [9]9 This quote is from Mao Zedong’s article “On the Long March” (1935), originally part of a speech. The Northeast United Army moved through vast forests and snowy plains, often facing the severe test of temperatures of minus forty degrees Celsius; at the same time, the Japanese aggressors implemented “collective hamlets” in the Northeast, adopting inhuman policies such as forced consolidation of villages and the collective responsibility system of mutual surveillance (baojia), leaving the Northeast United Army in a predicament of no internal supplies, no external reinforcements, and loss of contact with the Party Central Committee for a long time. [10]10 “Collective hamlets” (jituan buluo) were fortified villages created by the Japanese to isolate guerrillas from the population, forcing peasants into compounds under strict control. Baojia lianzuo (mutual surveillance and collective responsibility) was a system where every ten households were grouped and held responsible for each other’s activities, often enforced with harsh penalties.

毛泽东同志指出：“我们中华民族有同自己的敌人血战到底的气概。”这种不畏强暴、血战到底的英雄品格在东北抗日联军长达14年艰苦卓绝的斗争中得到充分彰显。东北抗日联军辗转于林海雪原间，常要面对零下四十多度的严寒天气的严峻考验；而日本侵略者在东北地区推行“集团部落”，并采取强行并屯、保甲连坐等惨无人道的政策，使东北抗日联军长期处于内无供给、外无援兵、同党中央失去联系的困境。

Under conditions of extremely harsh natural environment and extreme scarcity of material resources, the officers and soldiers of the Northeast United Army engaged in a life-and-death struggle against the Japanese aggressors, who outnumbered them several times, with a heroic spirit of bravery, tenacity, and self-sacrifice, giving rise to countless heroes and models worthy of song and tears. Because of a traitor’s betrayal, Chen Hanzhang, commander-in-chief of the Third Front Army of the Northeast United Army, was surrounded on three sides by Japanese puppet forces in one battle. [11]11 Chen Hanzhang (1913–1940) was a commander in the Northeast United Army; he was betrayed, surrounded, and killed after having his eyes gouged out by the enemy. Faced with the enemy’s inducement to surrender, Chen Hanzhang angrily cursed: “Shameful traitors and running dogs, the people will punish you sooner or later! We would rather die than be slaves of a conquered nation!” After nearly two hours of intense fighting, Chen Hanzhang was wounded by bullets and, using his last ounce of strength, leaned against a big tree to continue fighting. The enemy slashed his face with short knives and barbarically gouged out his eyes; Chen Hanzhang continued cursing the enemy until he heroically died.

在自然条件极端恶劣、物质资源极度匮乏的情况下，东北抗日联军将士以英勇顽强、舍生忘死的英雄气概，与数倍于己的日本侵略者展开殊死搏斗，涌现出无数可歌可泣的英雄模范。由于叛徒的出卖，东北抗日联军第三方面军总指挥陈翰章在一次战斗中被日伪军三面包围。面对敌人的诱降，陈翰章怒骂道：“可耻的叛徒、走狗，人民早晚要惩办你们的！我们死也不当亡国奴！”在激战近两个小时后，陈翰章中弹负伤，用尽最后一丝力气背靠大树继续战斗。敌人用短刀在他的脸上乱刺，并残暴地剜出他的双眼，陈翰章怒骂敌人直至壮烈牺牲。

Led by Leng Yun, eight female soldiers of the United Army, in order to cover the main force’s breakout, engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese puppet forces, actively drawing the enemy’s fire. When they ran out of ammunition in a last-ditch fight with their backs to the river, the eight female soldiers, facing the enemy’s inducement to surrender, swore they would rather die than yield, shouting “Down with Japanese imperialism!” and, holding hands, jumped into the freezing Wusuli (Usuri) River, singing the “Internationale” as they died gloriously for their country. In the stormy years of the Northeast resistance, countless revolutionary heroes like Yang Jingyu, Zhao Shangzhi, and Chen Hanzhang, and heroic groups like the “Eight Female Soldiers Throwing Themselves into the River,” advanced wave upon wave and struggled unremittingly for national liberation, using their blood and lives to build immortal spiritual monuments. [12]12 The “Eight Female Soldiers Throwing Themselves into the River” refers to an incident in October 1938 when eight women soldiers of the United Army, led by Leng Yun, committed suicide by jumping into the Wusuli River rather than surrendering to Japanese forces.

以冷云为首的八名抗联女战士为掩护大部队突围，与日伪军展开激战以主动吸引敌人火力。在背水战至弹尽的情况下，八名女战士面对敌人诱降，誓死不屈，高呼“打倒日本帝国主义”，手挽手地投入冰冷的乌斯浑河中，高唱着《国际歌》壮烈殉国。在风雨如磐的东北抗战岁月里，无数像杨靖宇、赵尚志和陈翰章一样的革命英雄，以及像“八女投江”一样的英雄群体，为民族解放前赴后继、不懈奋斗，用鲜血和生命构筑起一座座不朽的精神丰碑。

The spirit of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army was nurtured in the arduous and extraordinary struggle of the Northeast United Army; the spiritual style and lofty character it displays have an enduring value that transcends time and space, and it is a precious spiritual treasure of the Chinese nation. At present, the world is undergoing major changes unseen in a century at an accelerating pace, and our country’s development is entering a period where strategic opportunities coexist with risks and challenges, and uncertainties and unpredictable factors increase. We must continuously draw spiritual strength from the heroic deeds of the revolutionary predecessors of the Northeast United Army. Faced with all kinds of difficulties and obstacles on the path forward, we must carry forward the fighting spirit of the United Army soldiers expressed in the line “We have the ambition to sacrifice, daring to make the sun and moon shine in a new sky,” dare to struggle and be adept at struggle, and open up new horizons for the development of our cause through tenacious struggle. [13]13 This line is from Mao Zedong’s 1959 poem “Return to Shaoshan” (Qilü · Dao Shaoshan): “To have sacrificed so much, daring to make the sun and moon shine in a new sky.” Moreover, we must learn from the officers and soldiers of the Northeast United Army their persistent pursuit of “revolutionary ideals higher than heaven,” take the firming of ideals and convictions as a lifelong task, fortify the foundation of faith, supplement the calcium of the spirit, and steady the rudder of thought, unswervingly striving for life for the lofty ideal of communism and the common ideal of socialism with Chinese characteristics. [14]14 “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” is the current ideological banner of the CPC, combining Marxist principles with China’s specific conditions since the reform era.

东北抗联精神孕育于东北抗日联军艰苦卓绝的斗争历史，其中所展现的精神风貌和崇高品格具有超越时空的恒久价值，是中华民族弥足珍贵的宝贵精神财富。当前，世界百年未有之大变局加速演进，我国的发展正进入战略机遇和风险挑战并存、不确定难预料因素增多的时期，我们要从东北抗联革命先辈的英雄事迹中不断汲取精神力量。面对前进道路上各种艰难险阻，我们要发扬抗联战士“为有牺牲多壮志，敢教日月换新天”的奋斗精神，敢于斗争、善于斗争，通过顽强斗争打开事业发展新天地。我们更要学习东北抗联将士“革命理想高于天”的执着追求，将坚定理想信念作为终身课题，筑牢信仰之基、补足精神之钙、把稳思想之舵，矢志不渝为共产主义远大理想和中国特色社会主义共同理想奋斗终身。

(The author is a doctoral student at the School of Marxism, Jilin University)

（作者系吉林大学马克思主义学院博士研究生）

Online Editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心