Significance of Organizational Flexibility in Communist Revolutionary Warfare Doctrine and Practice

摘要

This monograph examines primary source writings of leading Communist revolutionary warfare theorists to identify and isolate the essence of organizational flexibility. The objective is to gain an appreciation for the important theoretical and practical functions of this concept. This facilitates our understanding of its dynamic role when applied to insurgencies as an operational category of Low Intensity Conflict (LIC). This study concludes that the US Army can improve its tactical capabilities at the low end of the conflict spectrum by fully understanding the importance of flexibility in Communist revolutionary warfare doctrine. An understanding of flexibility as the conceptual nucleus around which guerrilla tactics revolve can serve to condition minds of military leaders and prepare them counter the relative successes that Communist revolutionary warfare doctrine has enjoyed in Third World areas of conflict. Keywords: Guerrilla warfare; Guerrilla tactics; Revolutionary warfare; Counterinsurgency; El Salvador; Mao Tse-tung; Vo Nguyen Giap. (sdw)