Matthew Durden

WHO 1022

Mao Tse-tung & Imam Khomeini on Revolution

Mao Tse-tung and Imam Khomeini were both revolutionary and political leaders during

the 19th century Tse-tung of China and Khomeini of Iran. Being revolutionaries, the two

leaders both strongly supported the role of revolution in shaping a government, but at the same

time expressed radical differences in their ideals. For instance, Khomeini was an extremely

religious man, and based the vast majority of his political ideals on the principles of Islam, while

Tse-tung formed his political beliefs around Marxism-Leninism. In Tse-tungs writings, he gives

explicit instructions on how to carry out a successful revolution through the use of guerilla

warfare, while Khomeini focuses instead on describing, in great detail, the type of Islamic

government he intends to create through propagation of Islam.

Tse-tung focuses practically his entire text on the use of guerrilla warfare and its role in

sparking a revolution, specifically in China against Japanese imperialism. He states that when

Japan is occupying China, a country foreign to the Japanese, in a cruel and oppressive manner,

there is no doubt that conditions of terrain, climate, and society in general offer obstacles to

[Japans] progress and may be used to advantage by those who oppose [Japan].1 Tse-tung

defines guerrilla warfare as the use of these advantages to the purpose of resisting and defeating

the enemy.2 Khomeini, on the other hand, seemed to condone a more peaceful path to

revolution. He believed that revolution began with information, and wrote that [Islam] must

generate a wave of intellectual awakening, to emerge as a current throughout society, and

gradually, to take shape as an organized Islamic movement made up of the awakened,

1
Mao Tse-tung, On Guerrilla Warfare. Samuel B. Griffith. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2005, 42.
2
Tse-tung, 42.

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committed, and religious masses who will rise up and establish an Islamic government.3 He

went on to state that the two most fundamental and important activities in sparking a revolution

are propagation and instruction.4 This is one of two major fundamental differences between

Khomeini and Tse-tung, the second being the opinion on religions role in the birth of revolution.

Khomeini was radically religious, calling Jews and Christians oppressive and treacherous

rulers, and even imploring that God curse [the Jews].5

While the revolution in Iran became more and more religious, the revolution in China

continued to revolve around militant action. That isnt to say, however, that Tse-tung ignored the

fact that the Chinese people must first unify in order to launch a successful revolution. He wrote

that [Chinas] hostilities must have a clearly defined political goal and firmly established

political responsibilities. Tse-tung defined this basic policy as the creation of a national united

anti-Japanese front.6 He even went as far as to develop a list of seven steps necessary in the

realization of his policy:

1. Arousing and organizing the people.

2. Achieving internal unification politically.

3. Establishing bases.

4. Equipping forces.

5. Recovering national strength.

6. Destroying enemys national strength.

3
Imam Khomeini, Islam and Revolution. Hamid Algar. Mizan Press, 1981, 127.
4
Khomeini, 127.
5
Khomeini, 127.
6
Tse-tung, 42.

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 7. Regaining lost territories.7

Tse-tung stated that there was no reason to consider guerrilla warfare as a separate entity from

national policy, as long as it is organized and conducted in complete accord with national anti-

Japanese policy.8

Khomeinis national policy, as to say, was much less political in nature, and instead

relied heavily on renewing the peoples faith in Islam. He called on his followers to help save

[Islams] young people from this danger of imperialists, Christians, and Jews who are

destroying Islam.9 Khomeini strongly believed that nothing would be achieved without

dispelling the doubts about Islam that have arisen as the result of centuries of false

propaganda.10 He called for Muslims to take advantage of mass gatherings as opportunities to

propagate and spread the truth about Islam. Khomeini declared, Brave sons of Islam, stand up!

Address the masses in simple language; arouse them to enthusiastic activity, and turn our

simple hearted workers and peasants, and our alert students into dedicated

mujahids.11(Mujahids being any persons performing Jihad, the promotion of Islam.) Khomeini

ties Jihad to revolution by writing, let the [people] amend their characters and beliefs in

accordance with Islam and transform themselves into a powerful force, so that they may

overthrow the tyrannical regime imperialism has imposed on [Islam] and set up an Islamic

government.12

7
Tse-tung, 43.
8
Tse-tung, 43.
9
Khomeini, 128.
10
Khomeini, 128.
11
Khomeini, 132.
12
Khomeini, 132.

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 While Khomeini seemingly relies on the masses of Islam to propagate his policy of true

Islamic principles, Tse-tung makes clear his ties to Marxism-Leninism by calling for the

organization of guerrilla warfare. Though all guerrilla bands that spring from the masses of the

people suffer from lack of organization at the time of their formation, they all have in common a

basic quality that makes organization possible, Tse-tung argues. All guerrilla units must have

political and military leadership.13 Tse-tung believed this to be true regardless of the size or

origin from the masses or from the regular troops of the guerrilla bands. He believed that in

all of these bands, strong leaders would emerge who would, over time, establish discipline in

their forces, strengthening them and increasing their combat efficiency.14 Only after this is

accomplished can eventual victory be attained.

Another difference between the beliefs of Tse-tung and Khomeini concerns the timing of

their expected victories. Tse-tung believed that China could achieve victory relatively quickly,

stating that if [China] can hold out for three or more years, it will be most difficult for Japan to

bear up under the strain.15 Khomeini contradicted this idea, believing that his goal of forming an

Islamic government would take much more time to achieve. Khomeini commanded that [Islam]

must preserve in [its] efforts even though they may not yield their result until the next

generation16 (though one must question whether Khomeini was simply propagating the

Islamic practice of not acting solely for personal benefit). In addition, Tse-tung makes his desire

for centralized control and legislation evident in his writings concerning the strategic structuring

of Chinas guerrilla bands, while Khomeini writes that the entire system of government and

13
Tse-tung, 44.
14
Tse-tung, 45.
15
Tse-tung, 67.
16
Khomeini, 133.

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administration, together with the necessary laws, lies ready for you Islam has established them

all.17 Tse-tung counteracts this ideology by laying out detailed rules and guidelines several

times throughout his text, such as a code known as The Three Rules and the Eight Remarks

guidelines meant to be followed by members of guerrilla bands.18 Tse-tung also promoted

centralized command in his writing, stating that the command must be centralized for strategical

purposes and that centralized strategical command takes care of the general management of

all guerrilla units.19

Although Khomeini relies almost entirely on Islamic laws and writings to guide his

revolution towards the formation of an Islamic government, he does provide additional guidance.

Khomeini provides four steps to overthrowing tyrannical governments:

1. Severing all relations with governmental institutions;

2. Refusing to cooperate with them;

3. Refraining from any action that might be construed as aiding them; and

4. Creating new judicial, financial, economic, and political institutions.20

These steps once again enforce the idea that Khomeini, at least at first, had a more peaceful

approach to his Islamic government in mind. He wrote that it is the duty of all of [Islam] to

overthrow the illegitimate political powers that now rule the entire Islamic world.21 In this

way, Khomeini believed, an Islamic government would slowly materialize without the explicit

formation of one by any single group of Muslims. He firmly stood by the belief that the

17
Khomeini, 137.
18
Tse-tung, 92.
19
Tse-tung, 114.
20
Khomeini, 146
21
Khomeini, 147.

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Muslims will be able to live in security and tranquility only when they enjoy the protection of

a government whose form, administrative system, and laws have been laid down by Islam.22

Imam Khomeini and Mao Tse-tung, two vastly influential revolutionaries, had mostly

contrasting ideals and beliefs when it came to the actual method of igniting revolution.

Khomeini, a deeply religious leader and activist, relied almost entirely on the laws and beliefs set

down generations before him by the Islamic religion, while Tse-tung formed his ideals around

the political teachings of Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin. Khomeini promoted gradual and

generally peaceful methods of change, such as propagation and protests by the masses, and

claimed to have expected generations to go by before his dream of an Islamic government would

be realized. Tse-tung took an opposite stance, calling for the systematic and organized

development of guerrilla bands in China, along with strong leadership, both within these bands

and centralized, to drive the imperial Japanese out of China. Tse-tung believed that China could

be liberated in a less than half a decade, claiming that Japan wouldnt be able to hold up as long

as his guerrilla bands were able to last for three or more years. However, despite, the differences

between Khomeini and Tse-tung, both men would agree, and go on to prove, that revolution

plays a pivotal role in shifting power and ushering in great change on not only a national, but

also a world-wide scale.

22
Khomeini, 149.