Abstract:

After the outbreak of the full-scale War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the Eighth Route Army advanced into Shanxi and established a base behind enemy lines, playing a strong role as a “revolutionary fortress”in the protracted war of resistance across North China. This was reflected not only in the creation and utilization of armed forces, primarily through mountain guerrilla warfare, but also in the construction of political power in the base area under the special relations of the united front featuring “independence within the united front,”which provided fundamental political guarantees for the deepening of the resistance behind enemy lines. Moreover, the Communist Party of China (CPC) engaged in public publicity, and mobilized and organized the masses in such a way that they laid a broad social foundation for achieving the revolutionary goals of“utilizing natural mountains”and“creating artificial mountains”within the Shanxi base area. By comprehensively integrating and localizing the trinity of armed forces, political power, and the people,the CPC was able to penetrate deep behind enemy lines and, at the same time, use these areas as a base to conduct mountain guerrilla warfare. This demonstrated the intrinsic mechanisms and practical logic of the base area resistance and opened up new  possibilities for the reconstruction and transformation of the mountainous society in the base areas during the war.

Key words: base area, guerrilla warfare, democratic regime, mass movement