On the Two Possibilities of a World War

Date: 1961-08-19
Source: en:FLP-Diplomacy
ON THE TWO POSSIBILITIES OF
A WORLD WAR*
(August 19, 1961)
On the international situation, our views are identical to those expressed
in the Declaration of the Conference of 81 Communist and Workers Parties."'
It is less than a year since the Moscow meeting, held last November. As to
whether a world war will break out or not, the declaration has given an answer,
namely, that it is possible for a world war to break out, and it is also possible
for it not to break out. There are only these two possibilities. You may say
that the question remains unanswered, since it is still uncertain if a war will
break out or not. The question rests in: according to the socialist bloc, the
Communist Parties and the working people of various countries, war will not
break out. The forces of the socialist bloc, the Communist Parties and the
working people of various countries are very strong now, and capitalism is also
afraid of dying. Therefore it is possible for war not to break out. However,
according to imperialism and its running dogs in various countries, war will
break out. So we should be on our guard. If we tell people every day war will
not break out and everyone falls asleep, what can be done in case war breaks
out one morning? We'd rather say that imperialism wants to launch a war and
the people should be prepared to deal with it. That is to say, prepare for the
worst. If we are prepared, we may avert war. Imperialism opposes us, and it
would be very dangerous if we all went to sleep. Cuba is now ever ready.
Though the United States has not attacked Cuba directly, it has organized its
running dogs to land there. The direct involvement of U.S. imperialism in an
attack against Cuba has not happened yet, but over there they are prepared
for it.
(From the verbatim record)
* These are excerpts from Mao Zedong's talk with a visiting group of cadres from
Brazil's Communist Party and a cadre study group.