Mao Zedong Revolution Quotations

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.

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed.

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.

Communism is not love. Communism is a hammer which we use to crush the enemy.

I have witnessed the tremendous energy of the masses. On this foundation it is possible to accomplish any task whatsoever.

A revolution is not a dinner party [...] A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another.

The arrow of Marxist-Leninism must be used to hit the target of the Chinese Revolution.

Our attitude towards ourselves should be 'to be satiable in learning' and towards others 'to be tireless in teaching.

Socialist revolution aims at liberating the productive forces. The changeover from individual to socialist, collective ownership in agriculture and handicrafts and from capitalist to socialist ownership in private industry and commerce is bound to bring about a tremendous liberation of the productive forces. Thus, the social conditions are being created for a tremendous expansion of industrial and agricultural production.

It was the Russians that introduced the Chinese to Marxism. Before the October Revolution, the Chinese were not only ignorant of Lenin and Stalin but did not even know of Marx or Engels. The salvos of the October Revolution awoke us to Marxism-Leninism.

Many who have read Marxist books have become renegades from the revolution, whereas illiterate workers often grasp Marxism very well.

The revolutionary war is a war of the masses; it can be waged only by mobilizing the masses and relying on them.

What do you think has been the effect of the French revolution? It is too early to tell.

If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution.

How is Marxist-Leninist theory to be linked with the practice of the Chinese revolution? To use a common expression, it is by "shooting the arrow at the target". As the arrow is to the target, so is Marxism-Leninism to the Chinese revolution. Some comrades, however, are "shooting without a target", shooting at random, and such people are liable to harm the revolution.

After the countrywide victory of the Chinese revolution and the solution of the land problem, two basic contradictions will still exist in China. The first is internal, that is, the contradiction between the working class and the bourgeoisie. The second is external, which is the contradiction between China and the imperialist countries. Consequently, after the victory of the people's democratic revolution, the state power of the people's republic under the leadership of the working class must not be weakened but must be strengthened.