抗战爆发后，国共再度合作，共同抗日。中共提出抗日统一战线，主张联合各阶层人士共同抗日。八路军进入山西后，中共开始建立晋冀鲁豫抗日根据地。动员农民参军参战成为中共在根据地最为重要的工作。在晋冀鲁豫根据地，中共旨在通过群众运动，提高农民地位，改善农民生活，以此动员他们参军参战。中共首先开展反贪污、反摊派等群众运动，改造旧政权，推行合理负担政策，救济穷人。运动得到了部分农民的响应和支持。由于群众运动中过激的斗争，造成不少地主逃亡，统一战线受到破坏，因此1940年中共提出“三三制”，以图弥合出现裂隙的统一战线，但是，基层干部和群众运动却消沉低落。抗战前期，根据地新政权中的农村干部依然贪污腐败；合理负担政策存在弊病，农民负担沉重，而且导致生产下降，经济凋敝，物价上升，农民生活困苦。加之日军“扫荡”的破坏和打击，动员农民参军非常困难。1941年前后，根据地缩小，面临严重困难。根据地各项政策和群众运动的开展，相当程度上破坏或改变了根据地农村原来的社会经济结构，而过度动员导致社会积蓄空乏。在天灾敌祸的打击下，1942-1943年根据地全区发生了大灾荒。面对灾荒，中共不仅对农民进行救济，组织农民生产，而且领导开展减租减息等各项群众运动。通过减租减息运动，贫苦农民获得经济利益，度过了灾荒，与中共的关系变得密切，根据地的困难局面发生大转变。1943年在世界反法西斯战场取得决定性胜利之后，抗战胜利在望，国共斗争再度升温，群众运动再趋激烈，农民分化为敌我双方。经过减租减息运动，土地分配变得非常平均，大部分穷人得到利益。根据地的社会经济结构发生了根本性变化，原来的租佃、雇佣、借贷等市场机制基本被破坏，取而代之的是政府统制经济。同时，中共对于农村社会的组织化程度也得到提高。之所以中共能够成功动员农民，是因为通过不断的群众运动，基层组织得到强化，农村干部、党员与中共形成了“命运共同体”。不断的动员逐渐形成一种社会动员机制，社会动员与社会变迁是一个相辅相成的过程。
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the KMT and the CCP started their second cooperation so as to withstand the Japanese invasion. The CCP called for the creation of an Anti-Japanese United Front of all social classes. After the Eighth Route Army had arrived in Shanxi, the CCP began to build up the Anti-Japanese base areas of Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu (Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan) and regarded mobilizing peasants to join the CCP-led army as its top priority. In the Jin-Ji-Lu-Yu base areas, various mass movements were launched by the CCP, intended to encourage the peasants to join the army by way of upgrading their social status and improving their living standards. The CCP first made use of mass movements, such as the anti-corruption movement and the anti-apportionment movement, to change the original regime, implement rational burden policies, and offer relief to the poor. These movements received positive responses and support from some of the peasants while at the same time disrupting the United Front by forcing a number of landlords to flee away for fear of being drawn into the extreme conflicts. In order to heal the rifts inside the United Front, the CCP brought up the “three thirds” principle in 1940, but still failed to reverse the prevailing depressing morale among grass-roots cadres and the masses. During the early periods of the War, rural cadres in CCP’s new regime continued to be corrupt and peasants’ living conditions were aggravated because of heavy burdens, decreased production, depressed economy and rising prices, all caused by the downsides of rational burden policies. The mopping-up operations carried out by the Japanese Army further worsened the situation. Under such circumstances, the peasants were reluctant to join the CCP-led army. Around the year 1941, the base areas were beset with severe difficulties and suffered from the shrinkage of territory.Those various policies and mass movements in base areas greatly changed or even sabotaged the original social-economic structures and excessive mobilization resulted in insufficient social accumulations. During 1942-1943, under the strikes of natural disasters and enemy attacks, a disastrous famine broke out in the entire base area. In order to fight against the famine, the CCP provided relief for the peasants, organized the restoration of production, and carried out a variety of mass movements. One of the movements was the rent and interest reduction movement that offered economic benefits to the peasants to help them tide over the famine and form an intimate relationship with the CCP, thus greatly relieving the problems in base areas.In 1943, the victory of the Anti-Japanese War came into view after the World Anti-Fascist War had won a decisive victory. The conflicts between the KMT and the CCP once again grew intense. The mass movements thereby turned fierce and the peasants became divided into two opposite sides. In base areas, through the rent and interest reduction movement, lands were more equally shared and most of the poor people benefitted from it. The social-economic structures in base areas had undergone a fundamental change that the original market mechanisms, such as land tenancy, employment and private lending, were basically demolished and replaced by the government-controlled economy. In the meantime, the CCP enhanced its organizational control on the rural society. The reason why the CCP was able to successfully mobilized the peasants lies in its making use of endless mass movements to reinforce organizations at the grass-roots level and to form a “fate community” with rural cadres and party members. Little by little, constant mobilization evolved into a sort of social mobilization mechanism, which became inseparably interconnected with social changes.
