Maos Three Magic Weapons | Generated by AI
Question: What are the three magic weapons (三大法宝) for defeating enemies in the Chinese revolution according to Mao Zedong?
Answer:
The correct answer is C. 统一战线、武装斗争、党的建设 (United Front, Armed Struggle, Party Building).
Explanation
Mao Zedong explicitly used the term “三个法宝” (three magic weapons) in his famous 1939 article 《〈共产党人〉发刊词》 (Foreword to the Journal The Communist), where he summarized the historical experience of the Chinese revolution.
He wrote:
“统一战线，武装斗争，党的建设，是中国共产党在中国革命中战胜敌人的三个法宝，三个主要的法宝。”
This sentence has become one of the most classical and frequently quoted statements in the history of the Chinese Communist Party.
Brief comparison of the options
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A. 土地革命、武装斗争、根据地建设
These were the three main strategies during the agrarian revolutionary war / rural base period (1927–1937), often called the “three pillars” of the rural revolutionary path, but not the “three magic weapons”. -
B. 工农联盟、群众路线、独立自主
These are very important principles and policies of the CPC, but Mao never grouped them together as the “three magic weapons”. -
C. 统一战线、武装斗争、党的建设
This is the historically and officially correct formulation directly from Mao Zedong’s 1939 article. -
D. 民族主义、民权主义、民生主义
This is Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People (Sanmin Zhuyi), the political program of the Kuomintang, not related to the CPC’s “three magic weapons”.
Why option B is a common wrong choice
Many people remember the importance of 工农联盟 (worker-peasant alliance), 群众路线 (mass line), and 独立自主 (independence and self-reliance), and they are indeed core ideas of Mao Zedong Thought. However, they were never officially summarized by Mao as the “three magic weapons of the Chinese revolution”.
The only correct grouping that Mao himself called “三大法宝” is 统一战线、武装斗争、党的建设.
References:
- Mao Zedong, 《〈共产党人〉发刊词》 (October 4, 1939)
- Official CPC history textbooks and documents (almost all editions since 1945 list C as the correct answer)