Sent: Sunday, May 06, 2001 11:43 AM
Subject: Re: Brecht on Strategy
Regarding Brecht on Strategy, it is
significant where you took that quotation from. In fact, it has nothing to do
with Brecht's own thought on strategy or warfare, but it's rather connected to
an Oriental concept of it. That is why you found it in his ballad “The Legend
of the Origin of the Book Taoteking”.
In fact, the notion of a constant,
everflowing movement to win over the opponent can be found in the earliest
doctrines of martial arts throughout the Far East - aikido is one of the most
significant -, especially China and Japan. On a more advanced level,
and related directly to the theory of war and strategy, you should check out
Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" - a fantastic book. Especially if you
consider how long ago it has been written.
Although Keegan doesn't give him
much credit for it, the work of Sun Tzu and other Oriental theorists of the
same orientation have influeneced, to a great extent, Western military
doctrine and strategic thought. So much so that one of the most promeninet
Western strategists of the 20th century, Liddell Hart, borrows heavily from
it.
As for the similarities
between this notion of overwhelming, constant action to overcome opposition
(instead of a single, decisive but isolated action) and Marxist Theory, I
beleive that it is much more evident in the writings of Mao than those of
Lenin. Mao's writings at the time of his struggle to gain control of China,
both against Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese are a good example of this link.
He integrates this strategic vision within his corpus of theory for a Marxist
victory in that country (and, presumably, anywhere else it was adopted, taken
the specific regional settings). This kind of theorizing had also a
great impact on the doctrines of insurgency wars in all of South East Asia
(think of how the Vietnmanese acted throughout the War with the US), and later
was exported to Latin America.
Just a few thoughts. Hope they can be of some
use, and that you'll send some feedback on this issue.
undergrad Pol Sci & International Relations
Universidade Nova de
Lisboa