John Lennon Quotes

Partisans fight on familiar territory with professed political objectives to conquer power. This is what distinguishes them from terrorists.

Very unusual in an insurgency to have absolutely no political agenda other than to return to power. Most insurgents have a political side to them.

...no movement for social change has ever succeeded without 'the militarism component'....Thinkers may prepare revolutions, but bandits must carry them out

Without a revolutionary theory there cannot be a revolutionary movement.

Whoever thinks of stopping the uprising before it achieves its goals, I will give him ten bullets in the chest.

We must continually stimulate the living politics of the street...it will be our task to try and break it (elections for the National Assembly) up by force.

Insurgencies have a way of going on for a long time historically.

The only way a revolution can triumph is through the force of arms.

I believe in the armed struggle as the only solution for those people who fight to free themselves.

Since 1775, the average insurgency has lasted 7 years and since 1945 it has lasted 10 years.

My father believed in armed struggle.

To make war upon rebellion is messy and slow, like eating soup with a knife.

We don't kill Iraqis - our hands do not kill Iraqis. But we target only the occupier with all the means of resistance.

This tendency to consider only bombings or picking up the gun as revolutionary, with the glorification of the heavier the better,we've called the military error.

History teaches us that nobody can prevent a resistance group from arming when it has the support of the people.

A revolutionary is not the revolution.

Where a government has come to power through some sort of popular vote, fraudulent or not, and maintains at least an appearance of constitutional legality, the guerrilla outbreak cannot be promoted, since the possibilities of peaceful struggle have not been exhausted.

It was agreed that we should commence at home, on that night, and, until we had armed and equipped ourselves and gained sufficient force, neither age nor sex was to be spared: which was invariably adhered to.

We are on the threshold of a significant breakthrough, and the greatest weapon is the mass demonstration.

The United States, acting within the constraints imposed by its traditions and public attitudes, cannot crush a revolutionary movement which is sufficiently large, dedicated, competent and well supported…. The structure of U. S. military power is ill-suited to cope with guerrilla warfare waged by a determined, resourceful, and politically astute opponent.

The insurgent can sow disorder anywhere, whereas the counterinsurgent—fighting on behalf of the government—has to maintain order everywhere.

Grasp Revolution

It is possible to argue that our present conception of revolution was staked out more securely in science than in political action.

I have always been of opinion that all the political workers should be indifferent and should never bother about the legal fight in the law courts and should boldly bear the heaviest possible sentences inflicted upon them. They may defend themselves but always from purely political considerations and never from a personal point of view.

My job was to bring down the government, and I did that.