The Historical Significance and Contemporary Value of the Movement to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea

On June 25, 1950, the Korean civil war broke out. At the critical juncture when the U.S. government forcibly intervened in the war and brought the flames of war to the Yalu River, at the request of the Korean Party and government, our Party and government made the historic decision to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, and to defend our homeland. On October 19, 1950, the Chinese People’s Volunteers entered the Korean battlefield, and on October 25 they fought the first battle of the campaign to enter Korea. It was on the very next day after this battle began, October 26, that the Party and government launched a magnificent movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea at home. The movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea was a mass political movement centered on the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, aimed at supporting that war materially and morally. It accompanied the war from beginning to end, mobilizing the people of all ethnic groups across the country to unite as one in supporting this great struggle concerning the future and destiny of the nation and the state, and it possesses far-reaching historical significance and contemporary value.

1950年6月25日，朝鲜内战爆发。在美国政府强行干涉战争并把战火烧到鸭绿江边的危急关头，应朝鲜党和政府请求，我们党和政府作出抗美援朝、保家卫国的历史性决策。1950年10月19日，中国人民志愿军进入朝鲜战场，并于10月25日打响入朝作战的第一场战役。正是在此次战役打响的次日即10月26日，党和政府在国内发起一场波澜壮阔的抗美援朝运动。抗美援朝运动是以抗美援朝战争为主体，旨在从物质上、道义上支援抗美援朝战争的群众性政治运动，它与抗美援朝战争相始终，动员全国各族人民举国同心支撑起这场事关国家和民族前途命运的伟大斗争，具有深远的历史意义和当代价值。

An Important Pillar Supporting the Victory of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea

抗美援朝战争胜利的重要支撑

The war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea was a modern war fought under conditions of extreme disparity in the forces of the two sides. At that time, the national power of China and the United States was vastly different. The United States was the most powerful capitalist country in the world, both economically and militarily. In 1950, the gross national product of the United States accounted for two-thirds of the entire capitalist world, and its gold reserves accounted for 70 percent. Militarily, the U.S. military was already highly modernized, possessing the most advanced weaponry in the world at that time. At that time, the newly founded New China had not yet healed the wounds of war; its economy was impoverished and blank. The weaponry of the People’s Liberation Army was still quite backward, especially lacking heavy weapons. The New China’s navy and air force were also in their initial stages.

抗美援朝战争，是在交战双方力量极其悬殊条件下进行的一场现代化战争。当时，中美两国国力相差巨大。美国无论是经济上还是军事上都是世界上最强大的资本主义国家。1950年，美国的国民生产总值占整个资本主义世界的三分之二，黄金储备占到70%。在军事上，美国军队装备已经高度现代化，拥有当时世界上最先进的武器装备。而当时刚刚成立的新中国尚未医治好战争的创伤，经济上一穷二白。人民解放军的武器装备还相当落后，尤其缺少重型武器装备。新中国的海军、空军也处于初创阶段。

Faced with such an extremely asymmetrical and extremely difficult situation, while the Party Central Committee exercised overall command and implemented correct war guidance, the Party and government launched a powerful movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea at home. On October 26, 1950, the Central Committee of the CPC issued a directive on conducting current affairs propaganda nationwide. On the same day, the Chinese People’s Committee for the Defense of World Peace and Against U.S. Aggression (hereinafter referred to as the “General Association for Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aiding Korea”) was established in Beijing, responsible for leading the nationwide movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. On November 4, the CPC and the democratic parties issued a joint declaration, calling on the people of the whole country to actively take action and support the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. Thus, the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea unfolded vigorously nationwide. In the movement, on the one hand, through various forms of propaganda and education, the people were made to recognize the necessity of the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, arousing their patriotic fervor; on the other hand, with the call to “resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, and defend our homeland,” the people were mobilized to join the army, participate in the war, and support the front lines in a surge of activity, supporting the war in various ways. For example, in the campaign to donate fighter planes and artillery, the people nationwide donated money equivalent to the value of 3,710 fighter planes. It was precisely because of the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea that the victory in that war was ensured.

面对这样极不对称、极为艰难的情况，在党中央统揽全局、实施正确的战争指导的同时，党和政府在国内发起了一场声势浩大的抗美援朝运动。1950年10月26日，中共中央发出关于在全国进行时事宣传的指示。同日，中国人民保卫世界和平反对美国侵略委员会（以下简称“抗美援朝总会”）在北京成立，负责领导全国人民的抗美援朝运动。11月4日，中国共产党与各民主党派发表联合宣言，号召全国人民积极行动起来，支援抗美援朝战争。由此，抗美援朝运动在全国范围内轰轰烈烈地展开。在抗美援朝运动中，一方面，通过各种形式的宣传教育，使人民认识到抗美援朝战争的必要性，激发人民的爱国热情；另一方面，以“抗美援朝，保家卫国”的号召，动员人民掀起积极参军、参战、支前的热潮，以各种方式积极支援抗美援朝战争。如在捐献飞机大炮运动中，全国人民捐献了相当于3710架战斗机价值的钱款。正是因为有了抗美援朝运动，才保证了抗美援朝战争的胜利。

An Effective Driving Force for the Economic Reconstruction of New China

新中国经济重建的有效动力

After the founding of New China, facing the economic mess left by the old China, the Party and government made preliminary plans for economic reconstruction. Before the outbreak of the Korean War, China had planned to invest 70 percent of its total budget in economic construction, cultural and educational health work, and improving the people’s livelihood. But the outbreak of the war forced China to change its original plans. The Second National Financial Conference held in November 1950 determined the financial policy of “national defense first, stabilizing the market second, and other matters third.” As the war situation developed and changed thereafter, the Party and government also determined the policy of “fighting on the border, stabilizing the domestic situation, and carrying out construction simultaneously,” to ensure the coordinated advancement of the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea and the tasks of domestic economic reconstruction. During the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, the mobilization approach of “combining with various practical tasks” became a concrete manifestation of how the Party and government correctly handled the relationship between war and construction, and also became a concrete practice for implementing the policy of “fighting, stabilizing, and building simultaneously.”

新中国成立之后，面对旧中国留下的经济烂摊子，党和政府进行了经济重建的初步规划。在朝鲜战争爆发之前，中国曾计划以全部预算的70％投入经济建设、文教卫生事业和改善人民生活。但战争的爆发迫使中国不得不改变原来的设想。1950年11月召开的第二次全国财政会议上确定了“国防第一、稳定市场第二、其他第三”的财政方针。随着此后战争形势的发展变化，党和政府又确定了“边抗、边稳、边建”的方针，以确保抗美援朝战争和国内经济重建任务的统筹推进。在抗美援朝运动进行中，“与各种实际工作相结合”的动员思路成为当时党和政府正确处理战争和建设关系的具体体现，也成为落实“边打、边稳、边建”方针的具体实践。

The so-called “combining with various practical tasks” meant treating the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea as the driving force for all economic reconstruction work at that time, and implementing the movement in each specific construction task. The campaign to sign patriotic covenants was a typical manifestation of how people from all walks of life combined their patriotic fervor for resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea and defending their homeland with various practical tasks. Under the organization of governments at all levels, the General Association for Resisting U.S. Aggression and Aiding Korea, and its branches at various levels, combined with campaigns such as patriotic production competitions and campaigns to increase production and practice economy, a nationwide upsurge in signing patriotic covenants was set off, making the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea an effective driving force for economic reconstruction work. Precisely because of this, the conduct of the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea not only did not affect the economic reconstruction work of New China, but due to the vigorous development and effective mobilization of the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, it actually ensured and promoted the early and successful completion of New China’s economic reconstruction work. By the second half of 1952, the recovery of the national economy of New China had been basically completed according to the original plan. On this basis, New China entered the stage of planned, large-scale economic construction from 1953.

所谓“与各种实际工作相结合”，就是将抗美援朝运动视为当时一切经济重建工作的动力，把抗美援朝运动落实到各个具体建设任务中。订立爱国公约运动，就是各行各业人民把抗美援朝、保家卫国的爱国热情与各种实际工作相结合的典型体现。在各级政府和抗美援朝总会、各级分会的组织下，结合爱国生产竞赛运动、增产节约运动等，全国一度掀起订立爱国公约的热潮，使抗美援朝运动成为经济重建工作的有效动力。正因如此，抗美援朝战争的进行，不仅没有影响新中国的经济重建工作，由于抗美援朝运动的蓬勃开展和有效动员，反而保证和促进了新中国经济重建工作提前胜利完成。到1952年下半年，新中国国民经济的恢复工作按照原计划已经基本完成。以此为基础，新中国从1953年开始进入有计划的大规模经济建设阶段。

A Powerful Impetus for the Ideological Integration of New China

新中国思想整合的有力推动

Since modern times, due to the invasion of Western powers and the corruption of feudal rule, the nation was humiliated, the people suffered, and civilization was tarnished; the Chinese nation suffered unprecedented calamities. Faced with such national calamities, most of the people at that time did not immediately awaken. At the ideological level, Sun Yat-sen once evaluated the Chinese people of that time as a sheet of loose sand, and considered this the greatest enemy of the Chinese nation. It can be said that this state of ideological disunity was only fundamentally changed during the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea.

近代以来，由于西方列强入侵和封建统治腐败，国家蒙辱、人民蒙难、文明蒙尘，中华民族遭受了前所未有的劫难。面对这样的民族劫难，当时的多数人民并没有立即觉醒。在思想层面，孙中山曾经评价当时的中国人是一盘散沙，并认为这是中华民族最大的敌人。可以说，这种思想上的一盘散沙状态，正是在抗美援朝运动中才有了彻底改变。

First, during the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, a struggle was carried out in the economic and cultural-educational fields to eliminate the remnants and influence of imperialism. On the one hand, all property of U.S. government and enterprises in China was placed under control and liquidated, and all public and private deposits of the United States in Chinese banks were frozen; on the other hand, cultural, educational, health, and relief institutions run by foreigners or receiving foreign subsidies were taken over and reformed, to thoroughly eradicate the roots of imperialist influence. Second, because our country had long been under the colonial influence of Western powers, some Chinese people harbored negative ideas such as pro-Americanism, worship of America, and fear of America. Therefore, during the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea, the “three views” (viewing U.S. imperialism with hatred, contempt, and disdain) education campaign, aimed at “breaking the psychology of fearing America, eliminating the psychology of worshiping America, and destroying the psychology of pro-Americanism,” was also widely carried out, thereby enhancing the national self-respect and self-confidence of the Chinese people. Finally, positive ideological mobilization was carried out through the appeal of nationalism and patriotism. Conducting extensive and in-depth patriotic education among the people was an important part of the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. Amid the unprecedented upsurge of patriotic fervor, the movement effectively eliminated the adverse psychological effects of imperialist aggression against China, effectively promoted the ideological integration of New China, and enabled the Chinese people to form unprecedented national cohesion and centripetal force.

首先，在抗美援朝运动过程中进行经济领域和文化教育领域肃清帝国主义残余势力和影响的斗争。一方面，管制、清查美国政府和企业在中国的一切财产，并冻结美国在华所有银行的一切公私存款；另一方面，对外国人经办的或接受外国津贴的文化、教育、卫生、救济等机构进行接收和改造，以彻底铲除帝国主义影响的根基。其次，由于我们国家长期处于西方列强的殖民影响之下，部分中国人存在着亲美、崇美和恐美等消极思想。因此，在抗美援朝运动中，以“打破恐美心理、扫除崇美心理、摧毁亲美心理”为目标的“三视”（仇视美帝、鄙视美帝、蔑视美帝）教育运动也普遍开展起来，从而增强了中国人民的民族自尊心和自信心。最后，以民族主义和爱国主义感召，进行思想上的正向动员。对人民进行广泛深入的爱国主义教育是抗美援朝运动的一项重要内容，在爱国主义热情的空前高涨中，抗美援朝运动有力清除了帝国主义对华侵略造成的不良心理影响，有效推动了新中国的思想整合，使中国人民形成了前所未有的民族凝聚力和民族向心力。

A Precious Spiritual Treasure

弥足珍贵的精神财富

At the conference commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Chinese People’s Volunteers’ departure for the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea in 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping summarized the great spirit of resisting U.S. aggression and aiding Korea — this is the spirit of patriotism that fights selflessly for the dignity of the motherland and the nation; the spirit of revolutionary heroism that is brave, tenacious, and unafraid of sacrifice; the spirit of revolutionary optimism that fears no difficulties or hardships and always maintains high morale; the spirit of revolutionary loyalty that generously dedicates everything to fulfill the mission entrusted by the motherland and the people; and the spirit of internationalism that strives for the cause of human peace and justice. These spirits were forged in the war to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea and were initially tested and verified in the movement to resist U.S. aggression and aid Korea. Through the conduct of the movement, the spirit of resisting U.S. aggression and aid Korea became the spiritual driving force for the victory of the war, economic reconstruction, and ideological integration at that time. It transcends time and space, remains ever new, and will surely inspire the Chinese people and the Chinese nation to overcome all difficulties and obstacles and defeat all powerful enemies.

在2020年纪念中国人民志愿军抗美援朝出国作战70周年大会上，习近平总书记总结了伟大抗美援朝精神——这是为了祖国和民族的尊严而奋不顾身的爱国主义精神，是英勇顽强、舍生忘死的革命英雄主义精神，是不畏艰难困苦、始终保持高昂士气的革命乐观主义精神，是为完成祖国和人民赋予的使命、慷慨奉献自己一切的革命忠诚精神，是为人类和平与正义事业而奋斗的国际主义精神。这些精神在抗美援朝战争中锻造形成，在抗美援朝运动中得以初步实践验证。通过抗美援朝运动的进行，抗美援朝精神成为当时战争胜利、经济重建和思想整合的精神动力，它跨越时空、历久弥新，也必将激励中国人民和中华民族克服一切艰难险阻、战胜一切强大敌人。

(The author is a professor at the School of Marxism, China University of Political Science and Law)

（作者系中国政法大学马克思主义学院教授）

Online Editor: Huihui

网络编辑：慧慧