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A wise leader once said: All things grow out of the barrel of a gun. According to the Marxist theory of the state, the army is the chief component of state power. Whoever wants to seize and retain state power must have a strong army.

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I think the quote is actually, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun," per Google and Wikipedia. Is this part of Marxist theory, or Maoist? I genuinely don't know. I had always thought that Marx viewed the revolution as at least potentially peaceful, but I confess I have never read him.

It was Mao Zedong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_power_grows_out_of_t...

Ah, I know who it was. I was more asking whether he was reflecting a viewpoint from earlier Marxist theory, or whether it was a novel viewpoint of his.

I think he based it on reality rather than theory. Every communist government has use force to "maintain the revolution": USSR, Cuba, Venezuela, DPRK, China, Romania, etc.

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