1930年3月，中國文壇的左翼作家共同成立「中國左翼作家聯盟」，在其通過的理論綱領中，明確提出要「站在無產階級的解放鬥爭的戰線上」。因此成立不久旋即和「民族主義文藝」論者展開論戰，批評對方以「超階級」的民族意識對抗馬可思主義階級論，並進而以正式決議的方式通過以反對民族主義、法西斯主義及一切反革命思想，作為「中國無產階級革命文學最重要的當前任務」。然而在對日戰爭前夕，「左聯」奉共產國際及中共中央指示必須解散，另外成立一個廣大的統一戰線團體，周陽一派文人因此提出「國防文學」作為新的文藝口號。然而此舉卻引來魯迅、茅盾的質疑，認為「國防文學」階級色彩過於淡薄，且未強調左翼作家在統一戰線中的主導地位，因而另外提出「民族革命戰爭的大眾文學」作為新的口號。兩個口號的論爭，凸顯出左翼作家陷入「階級正義」和「民族主義」的兩難，雖然毛澤東認為此乃革命陣營內部在情勢轉換時的路線討論，大部分當事人也在事後將之歸因於宗派主義的情緒產物，但是這場論爭事實上反映出中國左翼文人在亡國威脅下，首次認真思考民族／階級產生對立時的處理原則。更重要的是，這個論爭結果幾乎預卜了中國「左翼文學」在對日戰爭中遭到消解的命運。

In the late 1920s, Chinese leftists in the literary field began to organize a left-wing body to absorb non-Communist writers and fellow travelers. The outcome was the League of Chinese Left-wing Writers, which formally came into being in February 1930. In the beginning, these left-wing writers disputed the slogan “Nationalist Literature” advocated by the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party). In 1936, however, the eve of the war which of resistance against Japan, Chou Yang's group organized the Chinese Literary and Art Association and used “National Defense Literature” as their solgan, while Lu Hsun organized the Chinese Literary Workers' Association and used “Mass Literature of the National Revolutionary War” as their slogan. This confrontation is therefore often referred to as the “War of Slogans”. Undoubtedly, they began to hesitate over the choice between class and nationalism. Is leftist literature class-based? We will try to answer this question.