Synopsis:
On Guerrilla Warfare presents the ideological underpinnings of Mao Tse-tung’s theory of insurgency warfare. In true Clausewitzian style he devotes a chapter to the dynamic political dilemmas engendered by revolutionary guerrilla warfare.
Excerpts:
“Military action is a method used to attain a political goal. While military affairs and political affairs are not identical, it is impossible to isolate one from the other.
“A revolutionary army must have discipline that is established on a limited democratic basis.
“Officers should live under the same conditions as their men, for that is the only way in which they can gain from their men the admiration and confidence so vital in war. It is incorrect to hold to a theory of equality in all things, but there must be equality of existence in accepting the hardships and dangers of war.
“It is only undisciplined troops who make the people their enemies and who, like the fish out of its native element, cannot live.
“We further our mission of destroying the enemy by propagandizing his troops, by treating his captured soldiers with consideration, and by caring for those of his wounded who fall into our hands. If we fail in these respects, we strengthen the solidarity of our enemy.
*All excerpts have been taken from On Guerrilla Warfare, Mao Tse-tung, University of Illinois Press.
Strategic Studies Book Club 