People's war

Part of a series on
Maoism
Concepts Agrarian socialism Antagonistic contradiction Anti-imperialism Anti-revisionism Capitalist roader Comprador Continuous revolution theory Cultural Revolution Four Olds Marxism–Leninism Mass line Newborn socialist things New Democracy One Divides into Two People's war Probable defeat Proletarian nation Revolutionary base area Seek truth from facts Self-criticism Social imperialism Three Worlds Theory
Variants Maoism–Third Worldism Mao-spontex Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Gonzalo Thought Prachanda Path
People Mao Zedong Faiz Ahmad Louis Althusser Samir Amin Bob Avakian Alain Badiou Mohan Baidya Afzal Bangash Charles Bettelheim Biplav Bo Xilai Chen Boda Chin Peng Pushpa Kamal Dahal Saroj Dutta Norm Gallagher Abimael Guzmán Harry Haywood Ted Hill George Jackson İbrahim Kaypakkaya Jiang Qing Kang Sheng Li Minqi Lin Biao Charu Majumdar Pierre Mulele Huey P. Newton Nie Yuanzi Qi Benyu Muppala Lakshmana Rao Narayan Sanyal Siraj Sikder Jose Maria Sison Wang Hongwen Yao Wenyuan Akram Yari Zhang Chunqiao
Theoretical works Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan (1927) On Contradiction (1937) On Practice (1937) On Guerrilla Warfare (1937) On Protracted War (1938) On the Ten Major Relationships (1956) On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People (1957) A Critique of Soviet Economics (1960) Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung (1964) Historic Eight Documents (1965—1966) Bombard the Headquarters (1966) Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat (1983)
History Chinese Soviet Republic Jiangxi Soviet Long March Chinese Communist Revolution People's Republic of China 1949–1976 1976–1989 1989–2002 2002–present Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries Korean War Sino-Soviet split Great Leap Forward Black Power movement Cultural Revolution 16 May Notification Red August January Storm Down to the Countryside Movement New Communist movement Cambodian Civil War Naxalite–Maoist insurgency Naxalbari uprising New People's Army rebellion Sino-Albanian split Maoist insurgency in Turkey Death and funeral of Mao Cambodian–Vietnamese War Two Whatevers Internal conflict in Peru Nepalese Civil War Chongqing model
Organizations Chinese Communist Party Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path National Democratic Front of the Philippines Communist Party of the Philippines New People's Army Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist–Leninist Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) Communist Party of India (Maoist) Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party Communist Party of Burma Communist Party of Ecuador – Red Sun Serve the People – Communist League Black Panther Party Revolutionary Internationalist Movement Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations International Communist League
Related topics Anarchism in China Big-character poster Feudal fascism Hoxhaism Guevarism Juche Left communism in China Mao's cult of personality Nanjie National Democracy Movement Naxalite Nazi-Maoism New Left Chinese Japanese Red Guards Red Star Over China Socialist ideology of the Kuomintang Thought reform in China
China portal Communism portal Socialism portal Politics portal
v t e

People's war or protracted people's war is a Maoist military strategy. First developed by the Chinese communist revolutionary leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976), the basic concept behind people's war is to maintain the support of the population and draw the enemy deep into the countryside (stretching their supply lines) where the population will bleed them dry through guerrilla warfare and eventually build up to mobile warfare. It was used by the Chinese communists against the Imperial Japanese Army in World War II, and by the Chinese Soviet Republic in the Chinese Civil War.

The term is used by Maoists for their strategy of long-term armed revolutionary struggle. After the Sino-Vietnamese War in 1979, Deng Xiaoping abandoned people's war for "People's War under Modern Conditions", which moved away from reliance on troops over technology. With the adoption of "socialism with Chinese characteristics", economic reforms fueled military and technological investment. Troop numbers were also reduced and professionalisation encouraged.

The strategy of people's war was used heavily by the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War. However, protracted war should not be confused with the "foco" theory employed by Che Guevara and Fidel Castro in the Cuban Revolution of 1959.