Mao Zedong: Enemy

Mao Zedong was Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Explore interesting quotes on enemy.
Mao Zedong: 362   quotes 18   likes

“We should support whatever our enemies oppose and oppose whatever our enemies support.”

Fánshì dírén fǎnduì de, wǒmen jiù yào yǒnghù; fánshì dírén yǒnghù de, wǒmen jiù yào fǎnduì.
If the enemy opposes, we must support it; if the enemy supports it, we must oppose it.
Chapter 2 https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ch02.htm, originally published in Interview with Three Correspondents from the Central News Agency, the Sao Tang Pao and the Hsin Min Pao (September 16, 1939), Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 272.
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book)

“Strategically we should despise all our enemies, while tactically we should take them all seriously.”

Speech http://books.google.com/books?id=ftv7ks-Ehq0C&q=%22strategically+we+should+despise+all+our+enemies+while+tactically+we+should+take+them+all+seriously%22&pg=PA789#v=onepage in Moscow at the meeting of Communist and Workers Parties of Socialist Countries https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sino-soviet-split/other/1957declaration.htm (18 November 1957)

“[Our purpose is] to ensure that literature and art fit well into the whole revolutionary machine as a component part, that they operate as powerful weapons for uniting and educating the people and for attacking and destroying the enemy, and that they help the people fight the enemy with one heart and one mind.”

Chapter 32 https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ch32.htm, originally published in Talks at the Yenan Forum on Literature and Art (May 1942), Selected Works, Vol. III, p. 84.
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book)

“Many people think it impossible for guerrillas to exist for long in the enemy's rear. Such a belief reveals lack of comprehension of the relationship that should exist between the people and the troops. The former may be likened to water the latter to the fish who inhabit it. How may it be said that these two cannot exist together?”

On Guerilla Warfare http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1937/guerrilla-warfare/ch06.htm (1937), Chapter 6 - "The Political Problems of Guerilla Warfare"
This is usually aphorized as "The people are the sea that the revolutionary swims in," or an equivalent.

“Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? This is a question of the first importance for the revolution.”

谁是我们的敌人?谁是我们的朋友?这个问题是革命的首要问题.
Shéi shì wǒmen de dírén? Shéi shì wǒmen de péngyǒu? Zhège wèntí shì gémìng de shǒuyào wèntí.
Chapter 2 https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/ch02.htm, originally published in Analysis of the Classes in Chinese Society (March 1926), Selected Works, Vol. I, p. 1.
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong (The Little Red Book)

“The contradictions between the enemy and us are antagonistic contradictions. Within the ranks of the people, the contradictions among the working people are non-antagonistic, while those between the exploited and the exploiting classes have a non-antagonistic aspect in addition to an antagonistic aspect.”

On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People
Original: (zh-CN) 敌我之间的矛盾是对抗性的矛盾。人民内部的矛盾,在劳动人民之间说来,是非对抗性的;在被剥削阶级和剥削阶级之间说来,除了对抗性的一面以外,还有非对抗性的一面。

“The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.”

A Single Spark Can Start A Prairie Fire https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_6.htm (1930)
He later wrote the similar quote "When guerrillas engage a stronger enemy, they withdraw when he advances; harass him when he stops; strike him when he is weary; pursue him when he withdraws." On Guerrilla Warfare https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1937/guerrilla-warfare/ch01.htm (1937), Chapter 1 - "What Is Guerrilla Warfare?"

“It is only firmly maintaining the national united front that the difficulties can be overcome, the enemy defeated and a new China built. This is beyond all doubt. At the same time, every party and group in the united front must preserve its ideological, political and organizational independence; this holds good for the Kuomintang, the Communist Party or any other party or group.”

The Selected Readings of Mao Tse-Tung, pp. 144
Role of the Chinese Communist Party (October 1938)
Original: (zh-CN) 坚持民族统一战线才能克服困难,战胜敌人,建设新中国,这是毫无疑义的。但是在同时,必须保持加入统一战线中的任何党派在思想上、政治上和组织上的独立性,不论是国民党也好,共产党也好,其他党派也好,都是这样。

“Why must there be a revolutionary party? There must be a revolutionary party because the world contains enemies who oppress the people and the people want to throw off enemy oppression. In the era of capitalism and imperialism, just such a revolutionary party as the Communist Party is needed. Without such a party it is simply impossible for the people to throw off enemy oppression. We are Communists, we want to lead the people in overthrowing the enemy, and so we must keep our ranks in good order, we must march in step, our troops must be picked troops and our weapons good weapons. Without these conditions the enemy cannot be overthrown.”

"Rectify the Party's Style of Work" (1942)
Original: (zh-CN) 为什么要有革命党?因为世界上有压迫人民的敌人存在,人民要推翻敌人的压迫,所以要有革命党。就资本主义和帝国主义时代说来,就需要一个如共产党这样的革命党。如果没有共产党这样的革命党,人民要想推翻敌人的压迫,简直是不可能的。我们是共产党,我们要领导人民打倒敌人,我们的队伍就要整齐,我们的步调就要一致,兵要精,武器要好。如果不具备这些条件,那末,敌人就不会被我们打倒。