We took up arms. We had no weapons, so we seized them from the enemy.
We fought for ten years, establishing over a dozen base areas, all in remote regions, in the mountains. Later, we had an army of 300,000. In the local areas, in the army, in the base areas, and in the areas under Chiang Kai-shek's rule, there were no fewer than 300,000 Party members. You see, didn't Chiang Kai-shek help us? From having no army to having an army, and also having hundreds of thousands of Party members. But later we made another mistake, this time a "Left" opportunist mistake, fighting some battles that we had no certainty of winning. As a result, Chiang Kai-shek occupied all the southern base areas, and we undertook the 25,000-li Long March. Foreigners consider the 25,000-li Long March glorious, and we also say it was glorious, as we were not annihilated. However, that was the result of making mistakes; out of 300,000 troops, only 25,000 remained. This was a gain; our minds became clear, and we were happy. Think about it, why did this happen? It was because we made mistakes. At this point, our legs spoke, because our legs ached from walking too much. These were the mistakes we made. So we rectified our mistakes.
The Japanese invaded, and our enemy Chiang Kai-shek also said he wanted to fight Japan, and he wanted to cooperate with us again. He thought we only had a little over 20,000 people, and sending us to the Japanese would annihilate us. We organized our 20,000-plus people into three divisions. We reorganized our army and established more than ten base areas. A few years later, from 1937 to 1945, a total of eight years, Japan surrendered. By then, we had grown to a little over one million troops, all equipped with Japanese weapons. We did not go to Chiang Kai-shek's controlled areas; if we had, we would have been annihilated. China is a large country, and the Japanese soldiers were few. They occupied more than half of China, but there were many places they couldn't control, so we established base areas there. Didn't the Japanese help us? So it is said that imperialism always does good things, meaning imperialism helps you. It will continue to help, help Asia, help Africa, help Latin America, educating the people of these countries to gradually awaken.

At first, we were not awakened; we didn't understand how to fight. In the beginning, I believed in Confucius, and I believed in the capitalist system, because that's what was taught in school, so I believed in it. Later, the revolution came, Confucius didn't work, capitalism didn't work, so we founded the Communist Party, with only dozens of members. Of those who attended the First National Congress, only two remain today: one is Vice Chairman Dong Biwu [1], and the other is me. How many delegates were at the First Congress? Twelve people, some of whom later became Japanese running dogs, some became traitors, and some sacrificed their lives. When you come to China, you should ask, how did the Chinese revolution come about? Japan surrendered, and Chiang Kai-shek spoke very well. I was in Yan'an, and he asked me to go. He said the KMT and the Communist Party would jointly build the nation, and an agreement was signed. A year later, all the agreements were torn up by him. We were forced to fight again. There were two ways to fight: you fight your way, I fight my way. In simple terms, that's all there is to military theory. What does "you fight your way" mean? He tries to fight me, but he can't find me; he hits nothing. What does "I fight my way" mean? We concentrate several divisions, several brigades, and wipe him out. This means, if a person has ten fingers, I'll eat a small one first, using five to eat one, ignoring the other nine for now. After eating a small one, I leave. Doesn't he have one less finger? The second time, I eat another one, how many are left? Eight, two less. Then I eat another, one less, and another, one less. Chiang Kai-shek had over four million troops, plus over four million supplementary soldiers, and finally, only hundreds of thousands went to Taiwan. This is what "I fight my way" means. It's like eating; you always eat bite by bite. You can't eat a bowl of rice all at once! You can't eat a duck, a sheep, or a cow all in one gulp. Things can be divided, imperialism is also a thing, it can also be divided, and it can be eliminated piece by piece. Chiang Kai-shek's eight million troops are also a thing, and they can also be eliminated piece by piece. This is called defeating them one by one. This is the principle stated in European and ancient Chinese books; it's very simple, there's no profound theory.

Ninety percent of our generals were illiterate or knew very few characters. Chiang Kai-shek's generals were all university graduates, from military academies like the Army University and Whampoa Military Academy. Only a few of us had entered such schools. Our Minister of National Defense, Lin Biao, was a student of Chiang Kai-shek, and our Chief of the General Staff, Luo Ruiqing, was also his student, and a few others, but very few. The battlefield is the school. I am not against military schools; they can be run, but don't study for too long. Two or three years is too long; a few months are enough. Schools for the navy, army, and air force are not that brilliant. Some modern sciences require longer study, such as missiles and atomic bombs; this refers to research and manufacturing. The mere use of weapons and training soldiers does not require a long time. Training artillerymen takes only a month. Training drivers and pilots takes a few months, a maximum of one year. The main training is on the battlefield. In peacetime, training should be done at night. In wartime, war is learning. Didn't you say you read my articles? These things are not very useful. The main points are two: you fight your way, I fight my way. And for "I fight my way," there are two more phrases: fight if you can win, leave if you can't. Imperialism fears this method the most. If I can win, I'll wipe you out; if I can't win, I'll leave, and you won't be able to find me. In the beginning, we used guerrilla warfare, both offensively and defensively. The fundamental method was mobile warfare. When fighting Chiang Kai-shek, we fought from small battles to large battles. Later, we used 300,000 troops to eliminate his 500,000 troops; we used three fingers to eat his five fingers. We were the minority, how could we wipe them out? How did we do it? Still, we ate them one by one, and as a result, we wiped them out. Sometimes, we didn't even need to fight, and we didn't let them leave. For example, when fighting Beiping, they had hundreds of thousands of troops, but the armies on all four sides of Beiping—east, west, north, and south—were eliminated. He had no choice but to negotiate with me. This general was Fu Zuoyi [1], who is now our Minister of Water Resources. Have you seen him in Beijing? He had no choice but to contact us. We asked his army to leave Beiping and be completely reorganized, and we took them over, achieving victory. Their soldiers were well-trained, and many soldiers were incorporated into our army, serving as radio operators, doctors, and even junior cadres. So our army included Chiang Kai-shek's army. We captured Japanese soldiers and also organized and trained them.

How do you see Algeria developing? Initially, there were only two or three tens of thousands of troops, while the French army grew from 200,000, 300,000, 400,000, 500,000, finally reaching 800,000, with air force and navy. The revolutionary army was small and poorly equipped, but because the entire people opposed imperialism, they waged guerrilla warfare, creating a model example for Arab countries, defeating imperialism. This is the weak defeating the strong, the minority defeating the majority, the uncultured and despised defeating the highly cultured. I think you refugees have great hope. Because you are refugees, with nowhere to stay, you want to make revolution. People who have a place to stay also want to make revolution, for example, Algeria, the United Arab Republic [1], Yemen, Iraq, Syria [2]. I spoke with the Syrian delegation yesterday, and they gave me some very good knowledge. You also give me knowledge. I have nothing much to say, just these things. If a book is too thick, I won't remember it. If a speech is too long, I won't remember it either.

Imperialism brought revolution to China; imperialism trained the colonial people. It did not expect that some of the trained people would be against them. Chiang Kai-shek trained our Minister of National Defense and Chief of the General Staff. Some foreigners study in China, learning military skills. I advise them to go back early, not to study for too long, a few months are enough. Just lecturing in class is not very useful. Going back to participate in fighting is most useful. Some principles only need to be stated briefly, or not at all. Most of the time, stay in your own country, or don't go abroad at all, just stay there, like South Vietnam, Congo. These words of mine are not those of a great person. You say I am a great person, but I am not a great person at all; I am an ordinary commoner. Imperialism educated the people of the whole world, and the people of the whole world learned from imperialism how to eliminate imperialism. Do you believe it? If you don't believe it, I can't help it; I can't force you to believe it. It is necessary for a few people to read some books, to understand some military knowledge, some social sciences, and some natural sciences. Without understanding science, revolution cannot succeed.

Budapest