The basic principles for carrying out the socialist revolution are the same in all countries. However, there are differences in the minor principles and in the forms in which the basic principles are expressed. For instance, the principles of warfare are the same—attack, defense, advance, retreat, victory, and defeat—but the methods of fighting, how to attack and how to defend, vary and differ in many ways. During the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea, the two sides fought to a standstill at the 38th Parallel—a form rarely seen in the world. The forms of revolution are bound to be many and varied. The October Revolution and the Chinese Revolution, for example, had many differences. The Soviet Union went from the cities to the countryside, whereas we went from the countryside to the cities.

[This is from Mao Zedong’s conversation with leading members of the Chinese Musicians Association.]

[2] The War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea: After the outbreak of the Korean civil war on June 25, 1950, the United States promptly dispatched troops to invade Korea and also sent forces to invade China’s territory of Taiwan. On September 15, under the banner of the United Nations forces, it landed troops at Inchon on Korea’s west coast, subsequently crossed the 38th Parallel—the temporary demarcation line between north and south Korea—and launched a massive invasion northward, while bombing and strafing cities and villages along China’s northeastern border, posing a serious threat to China’s security. To aid the Korean people in their war of resisting U.S. aggression and saving the nation, and to defend the newly born New China, the Chinese people responded to Mao Zedong’s call to resist U.S. aggression, aid Korea, and protect the homeland. They organized the Chinese People’s Volunteers, with Peng Dehuai as commander and political commissar, and sent them to the Korean front to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Korean People’s Army against the U.S. aggressor forces. On November 4, the Chinese Communist Party and the democratic parties issued a joint declaration firmly supporting the Volunteers’ just action. The entire nation gave full support to the fighting on the Korean front through increased production and frugality, signing up for the Volunteers, donating weapons, and in various other ways. Under the heavy blows of the Chinese and Korean people’s armies, the U.S. aggressor forces suffered repeated defeats and were forced to sign the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953. With this, the armistice in Korea was realized, and the Chinese people’s War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea was victoriously concluded.