A Politico-Military Biography of Lin Piao, Part I, 1907-1949.

Lin Piao, Mainland China's most powerful soldier and second most powerful politician, is the man officially slated to succeed Mao Tse-tung as Party leader and ideological authority. This report covers Lin Piao's life and thought, with a comprehensive collection of his writings from 1932 to 1949. These writings, until now uncollected and largely untranslated, provide a perspective on his views that could enable American decisionmakers to assess what the Lin Piao regime will mean to American policy and interests. Lin's works reveal, for example, his emphasis on correct ideological and political thinking as the basis of good military training; his opinions on the main elements for successful protracted war; his interest in techniques and tactics useful to the individual soldier and small unit; and his belief in thorough advance planning, swiftness in attack and retreat, and surprise attack against a weak spot, but only when numerical superiority practically guarantees success. 231 pp. Ref.