Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun explained

S:	枪杆子里面出政权
P:	qiānggǎnzi lǐmiàn chū zhèngquán

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun is a phrase which was coined by Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong. The phrase was originally used by Mao during an emergency meeting of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on 7 August 1927, at the beginning of the Chinese Civil War.^[1]

Mao employed the phrase a second time on 6 November 1938, during his concluding speech at the 6th Plenary Session of the CCP's 6th Central Committee. The speech was concerned with both the Civil War and the Second Sino-Japanese War, which had commenced the previous year.

In 1960, a portion of the 1938 speech was excerpted and included in Mao's Selected Works, with the title "Problems of War and Strategy". However, the central phrase was popularized largely as a result of its prominence in Mao's Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (1964).^[2]

Sixth plenary session

The 1938 paragraph containing the phrase is reproduced below; the central phrase (in bold), cited as deriving from the 1938 speech via the Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung:

See also

• Enemy of the people
• Civil control of the military
• Monopoly on violence
• No War but the Class War
• Proletarians of all countries, unite!
• Serve the People
• Si vis pacem, para bellum
• War is a continuation of politics by other means

External links

• Quotations from Mao Tse Tung, Mao Tse Tung Internet Archive (marxists.org)

Notes and References

1. Book: A Glossary of Political Terms of the People's Republic of China . Chinese University Press . 1995 . 978-9622016156 . Li Gucheng . Illustrated . 325.
2. Book: Mao Zedong . Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung . 61 . . Peking . 1972 . 9780835123884 . registration .