According to the development of the political situation and the change of the party's struggle strategy, as well as the spirit of the "August 1st Declaration" issued by the Central Committee on the way to the Long March, Zhou Yang and other leaders of the left-wing cultural movement in the party believe that to meet the needs of the development of the situation, we must overcome sectarianism in the literary and art circles, put forward new literary slogans that can unite the anti-Japanese forces in the literary and art circles more widely, advocate the establishment of an anti-Japanese national United front in the literary and art circles, dissolve the "Left League" and advocate "national defense literature". Call on all writers who stand on the national front, regardless of class, ideology and genre, to create works of art to resist the enemy and save the country, and to concentrate the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal movements in literature on the mainstream of resisting the enemy and traitors. Zhou Yang's movement is a declaration of anti-Japanese literature, a dagger and spear thrown at the Japanese invaders. In a fiery and passionate world, it once again puts forward the goal of fighting for the fate of the country and the nation for cultural workers of different classes. The slogan of "national defense literature" has been recognized by literary and art groups and celebrities all over the country, and the "national defense literature" movement quickly spread throughout the country. Many writers with different artistic hobbies and life beliefs took action through declarations, and all showed the same determination to work for national freedom and liberation. However, in the propaganda of the slogan "national defense literature", some authors did not see the leading role of the proletariat in the United front. In order to make up for the defects of the slogan "national defense literature", Lu Xun, Feng Xuefeng, Hu Feng and others timely put forward the slogan "popular literature during the national revolutionary war" as their hopes and requirements for revolutionary writers.

As a result, the revolutionary literary and art circles have launched a sharp debate for nearly half a year around these two slogans, such as literature and art serving the anti-Japanese struggle. Zhou Yang also wrote articles such as About National Defense Literature, Literature at the Present Stage and Slogan of National Defense Literature with Mr. Mao Dun. 1936 10, as the result of this debate, contributed to the publication of the Declaration on Freedom of Speech and Resistance to Unity in the Literary and Art Circles, and 2 1 people signed it on behalf of various literary and art factions. The publication of the declaration not only marked that the left-wing literary and art circles unified their understanding and thoughts through arguments and achieved closer unity, but also laid the foundation for the establishment and development of the anti-Japanese literary and art movement later. After the outbreak of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, the anti-Japanese literature movement began to flourish. With the establishment of the anti-Japanese national United front based on ethnic cooperation, various national United front organizations have also been established in the literary and art circles. On March 27th, 1938, the All-China Anti-Enemy Association of Literary and Art Circles was established in Wuhan. Its slogan is "articles go to the countryside, articles join the army". Based on the creative purpose of "inspiring the people and inspiring the soldiers", the writer is called upon to actively integrate into the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers and devote himself to the real struggle. The meeting elected 45 directors, including Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Ding Ling, Tian Han, Lao She, Yu Dafu, Ba Jin, Zhang Daopan, Hu, Cao Yu and Zhu Ziqing, as honorary directors, and Zhou Yang as alternate director. Later, the Federation of Literary and Art Circles was established in Shanghai, Kunming, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Yan 'an. In May of the same year, Zhou Yang published Literature during the Anti-Japanese War, which theoretically expounded the creative direction of revolutionary literature in the special period.