MAO ZEDONG QUOTES II
Chinese Communist Party leader (1893-1976)
History shows that wars are divided into two kinds, just and unjust. All wars that are progressive are just, and all wars that impede progress are unjust. We Communists oppose all unjust wars that impede progress, but we do not oppose progressive, just wars. Not only do we Communists not oppose just wars; we actively participate in them.
MAO ZEDONG
"On Protracted War", May 1938
Without an army for the people, there is nothing for the people.
MAO ZEDONG
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong
The revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them.
MAO ZEDONG
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong
Marxism comprises many principles, but in the final analysis they can all be brought back to a single sentence: it is right to rebel.
MAO ZEDONG
speech on Stalin's 60th birthday, Dec. 20, 1939
Take the ideas of the masses and concentrate them, then go to the masses, persevere in the ideas and carry them through ... such is the basic method of leadership.
MAO ZEDONG
"Some Questions Concerning Methods of Leadership", Jun. 1, 1943
A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery. It cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.
MAO ZEDONG
Report on an investigation of the peasant movement in Hunan, Mar. 1927
Many people think it impossible for guerrillas to exist for long in the enemy's rear. Such a belief reveals lack of comprehension of the relationship that should exist between the people and the troops. The former may be likened to water the latter to the fish who inhabit it. How may it be said that these two cannot exist together?
MAO ZEDONG
"The Political Problems of Guerilla Warfare", On Guerilla Warfare
Every comrade must be brought to understand that the supreme test of the words and deeds of a Communist is whether they conform with the highest interests and enjoy the support of the overwhelming majority of the people.
MAO ZEDONG
"On Coalition Government", Apr. 24, 1945
We should go to the masses and learn from them, synthesize their experience into better, articulated principles and methods, then do propaganda among the masses, and call upon them to put these principles and methods into practice so as to solve their problems and help them achieve liberation and happiness.
MAO ZEDONG
"Get Organized!", Nov. 29, 1943
War is the highest form of struggle for resolving contradictions, when they have developed to a certain stage, between classes, nations, states, or political groups, and it has existed ever since the emergence of private property and of classes.
MAO ZEDONG
"Problems of Strategy in China's Revolutionary War", Dec. 1936
We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war.
MAO ZEDONG
"Problems of War and Strategy", Nov. 6, 1938
In order to build a great socialist society it is of the utmost importance to arouse the broad masses of women to join in productive activity. Men and women must receive equal pay for equal work in production. Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of the socialist transformation of society as a whole.
MAO ZEDONG
introductory note, "Women Have Gone to the Labour Front", The Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside
Liberalism is extremely harmful in a revolutionary collective. It is a corrosive which eats away unity, undermines cohesion, causes apathy and creates dissension. It robs the revolutionary ranks of compact organization and strict discipline, prevents policies from being carried through and alienates the Party organizations from the masses which the Party leads. It is an extremely bad tendency.
MAO ZEDONG
"Combat Liberalism", Sep. 7, 1937
If we did ten things, nine were bad and got disclosed by the newspapers, we will be over. Then I will go, to the countryside, lead the peasant and revolt. If the Liberation Army do not follow me, I will get the Red Army.
MAO ZEDONG
speech at the Lushan Conference, Jul. 23, 1959
How should we judge whether a youth is a revolutionary? How can we tell? There can only be one criterion, namely, whether or not he is willing to integrate himself with the broad masses of workers and peasants and does so in practice. If he is willing to do so and actually does so, he is a revolutionary; otherwise he is a nonrevolutionary or a counter-revolutionary. If today he integrates himself with the masses of workers and peasants, then today he is a revolutionary; if tomorrow he ceases to do so or turns round to oppress the common people, then he becomes a nonrevolutionary or a counter-revolutionary.
MAO ZEDONG
"The Orientation of the Youth Movement", May 4, 1939
The correctness of any of our policies has always to be tested and is always being tested by the masses themselves. We ourselves constantly examine our own decisions and policies. We correct our mistakes whenever we find them. We draw conclusions from all positive and negative experiences and apply those conclusions as widely as possible. In these ways relations between the Communist party and the masses of the people are constantly being improved.
MAO ZEDONG
interview with journalist Gunther Stein, 1944
We should encourage comrades to take the interests of the whole into account. Every Party member, every branch of work, every statement and every action must proceed from the interests of the whole Party; it is absolutely impermissible to violate this principle.
MAO ZEDONG
"Rectify the Party's Style of Work", Feb. 1, 1942
A Communist should have largeness of mind and he should be staunch and active, looking upon the interests of the revolution as his very life and subordinating his personal interests to those of the revolution; always and everywhere he should adhere to principle and wage a tireless struggle against all incorrect ideas and actions, so as to consolidate the collective life of the Party and strengthen the ties between the Party and the masses; he should be more concerned about the Party and the masses than about any individual, and more concerned about others than about himself. Only thus can he be considered a Communist.
MAO ZEDONG
"Combat Liberalism", Sep. 7, 1937
We must help all our young people to understand that ours is still a very poor country, that we cannot change this situation radically in a short time, and that only through the united efforts of our younger generation and all our people, working with their own hands, can China be made strong and prosperous within a period of several decades. The establishment of our socialist system has opened the road leading to the ideal society of the future, but to translate this ideal into reality needs hard work.
MAO ZEDONG
On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People, Feb. 27, 1957
War can only be abolished through war ... in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.
MAO ZEDONG
"Problems of War and Strategy"