"Every Communist must grasp the truth; "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.""

"The army is the chief component of state power.
Whoever wants to seize and retain state power must have a strong army.

Some people ridicule us as advocates of the "omnipotence of war".
Yes, we are advocates of the omnipotence of revolutionary war; that is good, not bad,

Experience in the class struggle in the era of imperialism teaches us that it is only by the power of the gun that the working class and the laboring masses can defeat the armed bourgeoisie and landlords; in this sense we may say that only with guns can the whole world be transformed."

"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. As for unjust wars, World War I is an instance in which both sides fought for imperialist interests; therefore, the Communists of the whole world firmly opposed that war.

The way to oppose a war of this kind is to do everything possible to prevent it before it breaks out and, once it breaks out, to oppose war with war, to oppose unjust war with just war, whenever possible."

Chairman Mao Zedong