Revolution is not a dinner party, or making revolution is not inviting people over for dinner, is a phrase coined by

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

. It is taken from Mao's essay titled ''

Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan ''Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan'' or ''Inquiry into the Peasant Movement of Hunan'' of March 1927, often called the Hunan Report, is one of Mao Zedong's most famous and influential essays. The Report is based on a s ...

'' written in 1927 during the Land Revolution. It means that a revolution should not be gentle and soft, but determined and thorough, and it is a violent and bloody action of one class overthrowing another class. In this report, Mao stated that "A revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another." Based on this view, historian Zhang Ming further pointed out that "a revolution is not a dinner party, a revolution is a petition to eat". The saying is also the basis of a political joke: "for many cadres ''Geming bushi qingke jiushi chifan'' 'Revolution is either entertaining guests, or eating dinner t public expense or at the cost of the nouveaux riches"

References

{{Marxist and communist phraseology Maoism Maoist terminology Maoist China Marxism–Leninism Political catchphrases

See also

References