THE POWER OF THE GUN

The preeminent expert on early 20th century Chinese republican warlordism who penned the book, The Power of the Gun, Mr. Edward A. McCord, has stated the following in his introduction, which will serve as a poignant antidote to understand contemporary Chinese political atmosphere:

"The military suppression of demonstrators in Beijing in the summer of 1989 was a stark reminder that China's Communist Party leaders had never lost sight of Mao Zedong's famous observation, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."(“枪杆子里出政权”)Strangely enough, scholars of China's modern history have often been more reluctant to acknowledge the political importance of military power in the founding and survival of China's Communist government. Explanations of the Communist Party's political strength have usually paid more attention to ideological or organizational factors than to the control and application of armed force. It would be equally wrong to interpret the party's political success only in terms of military force, BUT the recurring and crucial political interventions of the People's Liberation Army suggest the need for a more balanced appraisal of the importance of military power in modern China's political development.

Mao's recognition of the linkage between military force and political power was not simply the result of abstract theorizing. Rather, it was a practical acknowledgment that under such conditions (i.e.:linkage between military force and political power ) the Communist Party's own political struggle would depend not only on the battle for the hearts and minds of the Chinese people but also on the control of military power. "

-----Edward A. McCord

This simple manifestation precisely coined the very nature of CCP, not only on its past and its founding history, but its contemporary modus operandi, and its future course which it's bound to take. This relentless and yet objective observation has supplemented one of my earlier note (date: 9/14/06) on the initiate phase of CCP's history.