"Do not be alarmed either if there should be war. It would merely mean getting people killed and we've seen people killed in war. Eliminating half of the population occurred several times in
"Not very many people were killed in the two World Wars, 10 million in the first and 20 million in the second, but we had 40 million killed in one war..."
"We have no experience in atomic war. So, how many will be killed cannot be known. The best outcome may be that only half of the population is left and the second best may be only one-third. When 900 million are left out of 2.9 billion, several five-year plans can be developed for the total elimination of capitalism and for permanent peace. It is not a bad thing".
Mao Zedong: Second Speech to the Party Congress, May 17, 1958.
