K. This is the 1st working draft of vol. VI. It still ... - From Marx to Mao

ON GUERILLA WARFARE
Such war, with its vast time and space factors, establishes a new
military process, the focal point of which is China today. The Japanese
are apparently attempting to recall a past that saw the Yuan
extinguish the Sung and the Ching conquer the Ming; that witnessed
the extension of the British Empire to North America and India; and
saw the Latins overrun Central and South America. As far as China
today is concerned, such dreams of conquest are fantastic and without
reality. Today’s China is better equipped than was the China of
yesterday, and a new type of guerrilla hostilities is a part of that
equipment. If our enemy fails to take these facts into consideration
and makes too optimistic an estimate of the situation, he courts disaster.
FROM MARX
TO MAO
Though the strategy of guerrillas is inseparable from war strat-
⋆
egy as a whole, the actual conduct of these hostilities differs from
the conduct of conventional operations. Each type of warfare has
methods peculiar to itself, and methods suitable to regular warfare
cannot be applied with success to the special situations that confront
guerrillas.
Before we treat the practical aspects of guerrilla war, it might
be well to recall the fundamental axiom of combat on which all military
action is based. This can be stated: “Conservation of one’s own
strength; destruction of enemy strength.” A military policy based
on this axiom is consonant NOT with a national FORpolicy
directed towards
the building of a free and prosperous Chinese state and the destruction
of Japanese imperialism. It is in furtherance of this policy that
government applies COMMERCIAL
its military strength. Is the sacrifice demanded
by war in conflict with the idea of self-preservation? Not at all.
The sacrifices demanded are necessary both to destroy the enemy
and to preserve ourselves; the sacrifice of a part of the people is
necessary to preserve DISTRIBUTION
the whole. All the considerations of military
action are derived from this axiom. Its application is as apparent in
all tactical and strategic conceptions as it is in the simple case of
the soldier who shoots at his enemy from a covered position.
All guerrilla units start from nothing and grow. What methods
should we select to ensure the conservation and development of our
own strength and the destruction of that of the enemy? The essential
requirements are the six listed below:
(1) Retention of the initiative; alertness; carefully planned
tactical attacks in a war of strategic defence; tactical speed in a
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