An Exploration of Revolutionary Methods 

The Mode of Future Communist Movements: Rural Surrounding the Cities? Or Center City Uprisings? 

--Taking India and Vietnamese Revisionism as Examples

Jinggangshan Guanxin, 5/9/2026， published in its site.

Looking at the history of communist movements, there are currently two main models for the proletariat to seize power: one is the center city uprising of the Russian October Revolution; the other is the rural surrounding the cities model of the Chinese New Democratic Revolution. (There is also the Cuban revolution's guerrilla center model, which is a special case and will not be discussed here ).

According to Marxist-Leninist theory, capitalism is bound to perish, but this demise absolutely does not mean the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie will disappear automatically. Instead, it requires the proletariat to overthrow the bourgeois dictatorship through a life-and-death, intense violent revolution.

What, then, will be the mode for future global communist movements to overthrow the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie?

1.1 What conditions are required for the Russian October Revolution's center city uprising model?

1. Industrial workers were mainly concentrated in large enterprises, which were in turn concentrated in a few industrial and transport centers like Petrograd, Moscow, the Donbas, and Baku—especially Petrograd and Moscow. Controlling these few industrial centers meant controlling the nation's political, economic, and military lifelines, thereby paralyzing the old state machinery. According to the History of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (Bolsheviks): Short Course, the rapid growth and concentration of industry led to the rapid growth of the proletariat. This growth, occurring alongside the existence of a revolutionary party like the Bolsheviks, turned the Russian working class into the most significant force in the nation's political life. Data from the Cambridge Economic History of Europe shows that the broader proletarian population in Russia reached between 10 to 12 million people. Lenin analyzed that while Russia was only a moderately developed capitalist country, its working class was relatively concentrated, highly organized, and led by a mature revolutionary party—the Bolsheviks.

2. The Bolshevization of the Soviets in central cities.

3. The Tsarist army was suffering heavy losses on the front lines, leading to high anti-war sentiment among soldiers, while major central cities had empty garrisons.

4. The establishment of a worker-peasant alliance. Although the uprising broke out in the cities, it had the support of the vast poor peasantry. Through land decrees and blows against the landlord class, the Bolsheviks successfully attracted peasants (especially those in military uniform) to cooperate with the city uprisings.

In short, the most awakened proletariat and the most resolute armed forces could quickly overthrow the reactionary government at minimal cost and establish Soviet power by capturing central cities.

1.2 What conditions are required for the "rural surrounding the cities" model? Chairman Mao summarized the conditions for this strategy. In works such as Why is it that Red Political Power can exist in China?, The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains, and Strategy in China's Revolutionary War, Mao outlined the following key factors:

1. Internal enemy groups experienced sharp contradictions and continuous wars, which diverted their attention from eliminating revolutionary forces.

2. The self-sufficient, small-peasant economy in semi-colonial and semi-feudal rural areas had not yet been completely eroded by large-scale industry, allowing revolutionary armed forces to secure logistics and food. In 1933, agricultural output dominated the Chinese economy, accounting for 64% of the GDP.

3. The revolutionary armed forces represented the laboring masses. By fighting local tyrants and redistributing land, poor peasants gained immense economic and political benefits, forming an "iron wall" as the military and civilians united to protect their newfound status.

4. Revolutionary bases were located in remote mountainous areas with extremely poor transportation, significantly weakening the enemy's mechanized advantages and turning this inconvenience into an advantage for the revolutionary forces.

Applying this to India:

1. Sharp internal contradictions among enemy groups do not currently exist as a primary contradiction in India.

2. Indian rural areas are no longer closed, self-sufficient economies. They are deeply integrated into global capitalism; farmers heavily rely on commercial seeds (like Monsanto's GMO cotton), fertilizers, and electricity. Farming alone cannot sustain a family, meaning the rural economy highly depends on urban remittances. Because the countryside cannot support a massive army, the Indian reactionary government largely uses police forces rather than the regular army to encircle the CPI (Maoist), indicating the revolutionary forces are small.

3. Land reform would bring very limited benefits because farming cannot sustain families. Without concrete material benefits, it is impossible to gain the steadfast support of the majority. Interests must be tangible for a class to possess subjective initiative.

4. India's rural road networks have improved drastically, and drones can track movements even in deep forests, negating the geographical advantage of remote areas. Therefore, the "rural surrounding the cities" strategy will highly likely fail in India.

Applying this to Vietnam (Vietnamese Revisionism): Similar conditions exist in Vietnam. In 2024, agriculture, forestry, and fishery accounted for only 11.86% of its GDP. Vietnam has rapidly developed its rural road networks, with over 80% of communes having paved, hardened roads, allowing military forces to quickly mobilize to rural areas. The more industrialized a country is, the harder the rural strategy becomes.

Section III: Center City Uprisings For countries where the rural strategy is unviable, the only remaining choice for a successful communist movement is the center city uprising. As society develops, other modes may emerge, but it will undoubtedly be a violent revolution.

A crucial factor in a center city uprising is the defection of the violence machine (the military). Chairman Mao said all reactionaries are paper tigers. Supported by a violence machine, they are real, iron tigers; but once they lose military support, they instantly become paper tigers and dead tigers.

• 1917 Russian Revolution: During the February Revolution, police fired on workers, but continuous agitation and fraternization convinced the soldiers to defect. Within two days of the general strike, the Tsar fell. Later, during the Kornilov revolt, Bolshevik agitators successfully convinced rebelling troops to stand down without firing a shot. Because the government was politically isolated and militarily helpless, the October Revolution was rapid and virtually bloodless.

• 1989 Romanian Revolution: Following protests in Timișoara, President Ceausescu ordered violent suppression. However, as massive strikes spread, the military eventually refused to shoot protesters and withdrew. Within six days, Ceausescu was captured and executed by the very military that once served him.

• 2024 Bangladesh "July Revolution": Massive student protests against a quota system escalated into national outrage. When army leaders concluded they would no longer fire on citizens to maintain Prime Minister Hasina's power, she was forced to resign within hours.

These examples show that any reactionary government crumbles instantly when it loses the backing of its military.

Section IV & V: Leadership, Propaganda, and Organization Why did only the October Revolution keep the fruits of revolution in the hands of the proletariat, while the other revolutions handed power to the bourgeoisie? The difference lies in whether the proletariat grasped the leadership of the revolution through strict organization and Marxist-Leninist propaganda and agitation.

Before the time is ripe to seize power, a proletarian party must focus entirely on painstakingly accumulating revolutionary strength—making ideological, political, organizational, and military preparations.

1. Propaganda and Agitation: Propaganda involves explaining to the masses why they are exploited, while agitation uses specific events to point out injustices, thereby awakening the masses' anger. Reactionary ruling classes loathe this and attempt to suppress it under the guise of forbidding the "manufacturing of conflict". As Marx and Lenin noted, the state is an organ of class rule, and "conflicts" are not manufactured but are objectively irreconcilable products of class interests.

2. Organization: Without organization, the proletariat has no weapons. Even under the strict surveillance of modern bourgeois dictatorships, communists must conduct secret work. Drawing from the experience of the Shanghai underground party, members must integrate deeply into the masses ("Threeizations" and "Three Diligences"—diligent in studying, working, and making friends). By being excellent, upright individuals, they build authority and trust among the masses. Furthermore, revolutionaries must infiltrate enemy government, military, and economic institutions to accumulate strength.

Finally, achieving mass trust requires immense sacrifice. Historical figures of both communist and bourgeois revolutions (such as Karl Liebknecht, Lenin, Stalin, Kim Il Sung, Castro, Tito, Gandhi, and Mandela) all endured years of imprisonment or faced death to gain the authority and trust of their people. Without being willing to go to jail, mass movements are "fake" or superficial. The Chinese Communist Party gained authority because it made enormous sacrifices for the laboring masses.

Ultimately, the deciding factor in a war is not weapons, but people. Even the most advanced technology requires humans to operate it. Once the masses awaken and are organized, their weapons will turn against the reactionary ruling class.