Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought (mao zedong sixiang 毛泽东思想), is claimed by Maoists as an "anti-Revisionist" form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976). Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding ideology of the Communist Party of China (CPC) until 1978.
Maoism was the predominant ideology of the Chinese communist party until the party leadership was taken over by Deng Xiaoping after the death of Mao. Deng Xiaoping implemented Deng Xiaoping Theory and Chinese economic reforms from 1978.
Maoist parties and armed groups currently exist, most notably in Peru, India, and Nepal, in the latter of which, the Maoist party won the elections in 2008.
Origins of Maoism
Although often described as an evolution of Marxism/Leninism, Maoism is defined more by its theoretical and ideological departures from orthodox Marxism or Leninism than by its similarities to the Western versions of modern socialism. Thus, the origins of Maoism cannot be found in Marxist writings alone, but also in the modern Chinese intellectual tradition in which he was raised.
The Modern Chinese Intellectual Tradition
The modern Chinese intellectual tradition of the turn of the twentieth century is defined by two central concepts, iconoclasm and nationalism.
Iconoclastic Revolution/Anti-Confucianism
By the turn of the Twentieth century, a proportionately small yet socially significant cross-section of China's traditional elite(i.e. landlords and bureaucrats), found themselves increasingly skeptical of the efficacy and even the moral validity of Confucianism. These skeptical iconoclasts formed a new segment of Chinese society, a modern intelligensia, whose arrival, or as lauded historian of China Maurice Meisner would label it, their defection, heralded the beginning of the destruction of the gentry as a social class in China. The fall of the last Chinese imperial dynasty in 1911 marked the final failure of the Confucian moral order, and did much to make Confucianism synonymous with political and social conservatism in the minds of Chinese intellectuals.It was this association of conservatism and Confucianism which lent to the iconoclastic nature of Chinese intellectual thought during the first decades of the Twentieth century.
Chinese iconoclasm was expressed most clearly and vociferously by Chen Duxiu during the New Culture Movement which occurred between 1915 and 1919. Proposing the, "total destruction of the traditions and values of the past," the New Culture Movement was spearheaded by the New Youth, a periodical which was published by Chen Duxiu and which was profoundly influential on a young Mao Zedong whose first published work appeared on the magazine's pages. Vital to understanding Chinese nationalist sentiments of the time is the Treaty of Versailles which was signed in 1919. The Treaty aroused a wave of bitter nationalist resentment in Chinese intellectuals as lands formerly ceded to Germany in Shadndong were, without consultation with the Chinese, transferred to Japanese control rather than returned to Chinese sovereignty. The negative reaction culminated in the May 4th Incident which occurred on that day in 1919. The protest began with 3,000 students in Beijing displaying their anger at the announcement of the Versailles Treaty's concessions to Japan yet rapidly took a violent turn as protesters began attacking the homes and offices of ministers who were seen as cooperating with, or in the direct pay of the Japanese. Afterwards, "To become a Marxist was one way for a Chinese intellectual to reject both the traditions of the Chinese past and Western domination of the Chinese present" Maurice Meisner, Mao's China and After, page 18.
Mao's Personal Philosophy
Along with the Chinese intellectual tradition which was prevalent during his youth, it is clear that Mao's personal philosophy, his idealism and populist leanings, were foundational to the formation and profile of Maoism.
Idealism
Mao believed that human consciousness is the key factor in human history. In other words, Mao can be seen as an idealist and as such, directly contravenes the deterministic tenets of orthodox Marxism. Mao had the utmost faith that, through the actions of "dedicated revolutionaries" a new social reality could be formed which would be in harmony with his ideals. Many of the pillars of Maoism such as the distrust of intellectuals and the abhorrence of occupational specialty are typical populist ideas. Mao truly believed that China was to play a crucial preliminary role in the socialist revolution internationally. This belief, or the fervor with which Mao held it, separated Mao from the other Chinese Communists and led Mao onto the path of what Leon Trotsky called, "Messianic Revolutionary Nationalism" which was central to his personal philosophy and is demonstrated in his long-standing hostile relationship with ComIntern. The rudimentary philosophical base of Chinese Communist ideology is laid down in Mao's numerous dialectical treatises and was conveyed to newly recruited party members. This period truly established ideological independence from Moscow for Mao and the CCP.
#Many scholars opposing Maoism indicate also combination of communist ideas with populism, export of revolutions from P.R.China and, in the latter, great Han chauvinism and Sinocentrism.
Contradiction
Mao drew information from the writings of
Marx,
Engels and
Lenin in elaborating his theory. Philosophically, his most important reflections emerge on the concept of "contradiction" (
maodun). In two major essays, “On contradiction” and “On the correct handling of contradictions among the people”, he adopts the
positivist-
empiricist idea (shared by Engels) that contradiction is present in matter itself (and thus, also in the ideas of the brain). Matter always develops through a dialectical contradiction:
Furthermore, each contradiction (including class struggle, the contradiction holding between relations of production and the concrete development of forces of production) expresses itself in a series of other contradictions, some dominant, others not.
Thus, the principal contradiction should be tackled with priority when trying to make the basic contradiction "solidify". Mao elaborates further on this theme in the essay “On practice. On the relation between knowledge and practice, between knowing and doing”. Here, “Practice” connects "contradiction" with "class struggle" in the following way: Inside a mode of production, there are three realms where practice functions: economic production, scientific experimentation (which also takes place in economic production and should not be radically disconnected from the former) and finally, class struggle. These may be considered the proper objects of economy, scientific knowledge, and politics.
These three spheres deal with matter in its various forms, socially mediated. As a result, they are the only realms where knowledge may arise (since truth and knowledge only make sense in relation to matter, according to Marxist epistemology). Mao emphasizes—like Marx in trying to confront the "bourgeoisie idealism" of his time—that knowledge must be based on empirical evidence.
Knowledge results from hypotheses verified in the contrast with a real object; this real object, despite being mediated by the subject’s theoretical frame, retains its materiality and will offer resistance to those ideas that do not conform to its truth. Thus, in each of these realms (economic, scientific and political practice), contradictions (principle and secondary) must be identified, explored and put to function to achieve the communist goal. This involves the need to know, "scientifically", how the masses produce (how they live, think, and work), to obtain knowledge of how class struggle (the main contradiction that articulates a mode of production, in its various realms) expresses itself.
People's War
Maoism's political orientation emphasizes the "revolutionary struggle of the vast majority of people against the exploiting classes and their state structures", which Mao termed a "
People's War". Usually involving peasants, its military strategies have involved
guerrilla war tactics focused on surrounding the cities from the countryside, with a heavy emphasis on political transformation through mass involvement of the lower classes of society.
Agrarian socialism
Maoism departs from conventional European-inspired Marxism in that its focus is on the agrarian countryside, rather than the industrial urban forces. This is known as
Agrarian socialism. Notably, Maoist parties in Peru, Nepal and Philippines have adopted equal stresses on urban and rural areas, depending on the country's focus of economic activity. Maoism broke with the
state capitalist framework of the
Soviet Union under
Nikita Khrushchev and dismisses it as modern
revisionism, a traditional pejorative term among communists referring to those who fight for capitalism in the name of socialism.
New Democratic Revolution
The theory of the
New Democracy was known to the Chinese revolutionaries from the late 40’s. This thesis held that for the majority of the peoples of the planet, the long road to
socialism could only be opened by a ‘national, popular, democratic, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist revolution [the language of the day], run by the communists.'
And in the context of New Democratic revolution, the rationality of such economic policies as to destroy feudalism on the basis of land to the tiller, to confiscate all foreign and domestic economic establishments with a monopolistic character and to limit, control and guide private capital that do not control public life, have been proved in practice.
Mao's Intellectual Marxist Development
Mao’s” Intellectual” Marxist development can be divided into five major periods: (1) The Initial Marxist Period from 1920–1926; (2) the formative Maoist period from 1927–1935; (3) the mature Maoism period from 1935–1940; (4) the civil war period from 1940–1949; and (5) the post-1949 period, following the revolutionary victory.
# The Initial Marxist Period from 1920–1926: Marxist thinking employs imminent socioeconomic explanations; Mao’s reasons were declarations of his enthusiasm. Mao did not believe education alone would bring about the transition from capitalism to communism because of three main reasons. (1) Psychologically: the capitalists would not repent and turn towards communist on their own; (2) the rulers must be overthrown by the people; (3) “the proletarians are discontented, and a demand for communism has arisen and had already become a fact.” These reasons do not provide socioeconomic explanations, which usually forms the core of Marxist ideology.
# The Formative Maoist Period from 1927–1935: In this period, Mao avoided all theoretical implications in his literature and employed a minimum of Marxist category thought. His writings in this period failed to elaborate what he meant by the “Marxist method of political and class analysis”. Prior to this period, Mao was concerned with the dichotomy between knowledge and action. Now, he was more concerned with the dichotomy between revolutionary ideology and counter-revolutionary objective conditions. There was more correlation drawn between China and the Soviet model.
# The Mature Maoist Period from 1935–1940: Intellectually, this was Mao’s most fruitful time. The shift of orientation was apparent in his pamphlet “Strategic Problems of China’s Revolutionary War” (Dec, 1936). “This pamphlet tried to provide a theoretical veneer for his concern with revolutionary practice.” Mao started to separate from the Soviet Model since it was not automatically applicable to China. China’s historical particularism viewed through Marxist eyes served as the link between the Marxist process and China.
# The Civil-War Period from 1940-149: Unlike the Mature period, this period was intellectually barren. Mao focused more on revolutionary practice and paid less attention to Marxist theory. “He continued to emphasize theory as practice-oriented knowledge.” The biggest topic of theory he delved into was in connection with the cheng-feng movement of 1942. It was here that Mao summarized the correlation between Marxist theory and Chinese practice; “The target is the Chinese revolution, the arrow is Marxism-Leninism. We Chinese communists seek this arrow for no other purpose than to hit the target of the Chinese revolution and the revolution of the east.” Mao assertively revised theory to relate it to the new practice of socialist construction. These revisions are apparent in the 1951 version of “On Contradiction”. “In the 1930’s, when Mao talked about contradiction, he meant the contradiction between subjective thought and objective reality. In “Dialectal Materialism” of 1940, he saw idealism and materialism as two possible correlations between subjective thought and objective reality. In the 1940s he introduced no new elements into his understanding of the subject-object contradiction. Now, in the 1951 version of “On Contradiction”, he saw contradiction as a universal principle underlying all processes of development, yet with each contradiction possessed of its own particularity."
Departure From Leninism
"Mao departed from Leninism not only is his virtually total disinterest in the urban working class but also in his concept of the nature and role of the Party. For Lenin the Party was sacrosanct because it was the incarnation of the "proletarian consciousness," and there was no question about who were the teachers and who were the pupils. For Mao, on the other hand, this was precisely the question, and it remained unresolved' he proved unwilling to define fully the relationship between the organized consciousness of the Party and the spontaneous consciousness of the masses in a purely Leninist fashion."
Post-revolution
In its post-revolutionary period, Mao Zedong's thought is defined in the CPC's Constitution as "
Marxism-Leninism applied in a Chinese context", synthesized by Mao Zedong and China's "
first-generation leaders". It asserts that
class struggle continues even if the
proletariat has already overthrown the
bourgeoisie, and there are capitalist restorationist elements within the Communist Party itself. Maoism provided the CPC's first comprehensive theoretical guideline with regards to how to continue socialist revolution, the creation of a socialist society, socialist military construction, and highlights various contradictions in society to be addressed by what is termed "socialist construction". While it continues to be lauded to be the major force that defeated "imperialism and feudalism" and created a "New China" by the Communist Party of China, the ideology survives only in name on the Communist Party's Constitution;
Deng Xiaoping abolished most Maoist practices in 1978, advancing a guiding ideology called "
Socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Maoism after Mao
Shortly after Mao's death in 1976,
Deng Xiaoping started the capitalist reforms of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1978 beginning the radical change of Mao's ideology in the PRC. Although Mao Zedong Thought nominally remains the state ideology, Deng's admonition to
seek truth from facts means that state policies are judged on their practical consequences; the role of ideology in determining policy, in many areas, has thus been considerably reduced. Deng also separated Mao from Maoism, making it clear that Mao was fallible and hence that the truth of Maoism comes from observing social consequences rather than by using Mao's quotations as
holy writ, as was done in Mao's lifetime.
In addition, the party constitution has been rewritten to give the capitalist ideas of Deng Xiaoping prominence over those of Mao. One consequence of this is that groups outside China which describe themselves as Maoist generally regard China as having repudiated Maoism and restored capitalism, and there is a wide perception both in and out of China that China has abandoned Maoism. However, while it is now permissible to question particular actions of Mao and to talk about excesses taken in the name of Maoism, there is a prohibition in China on either publicly questioning the validity of Maoism or questioning whether the current actions of the CPC are "Maoist."
Although Mao Zedong Thought is still listed as one of the four cardinal principles of the People's Republic of China, its historical role has been re-assessed. The Communist Party now says that Maoism was necessary to break China free from its feudal past, but that the actions of Mao are seen to have led to excesses during the Cultural Revolution.
Both Maoist critics outside China and most Western commentators see this re-working of the definition of Maoism as providing an ideological justification for what they see as the restoration of the essentials of capitalism in China by Deng and his successors.
Mao himself is officially regarded by the CPC as a "great revolutionary leader" for his role in fighting the Japanese and creating the People's Republic of China, but Maoism as implemented between 1959 and 1976 is regarded by today's CPC as an economic and political disaster. In Deng's day, support of radical Maoism was regarded as a form of "left deviationism" and being based on a cult of personality, although these 'errors' are officially attributed to the Gang of Four rather than to Mao himself. Thousands of Maoists were arrested in the Hua Guofeng period after 1976, with prominent Maoists sentenced to death.
Maoism Internationally
Maoism outside China
From 1962 onwards, the challenge to the Soviet
hegemony in the
World Communist Movement made by the CPC resulted in various divisions in communist parties around the world. At an early stage, the
Albanian Party of Labour sided with the CPC. So did many of the
mainstream (non-splinter group) communist parties in South-East Asia, like the
Burmese Communist Party,
Communist Party of Thailand, and
Communist Party of Indonesia. Some Asian parties, like the
Workers Party of Vietnam and the
Workers Party of Korea attempted to take a middle-ground position.
The Khmer Rouge of Cambodia is said to have been a replica of the Maoist regime. The Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia), better known as the "Khmer Rouge", identified strongly with Maoism, and is generally labeled a "Maoist" movement today. Maoists, however, are quick to point out that the CPK strongly deviated from Marxist doctrine, and that the few references to Maoist China in CPK propaganda were critical of the Chinese.
In Africa, Siad Barre's regime in Somalia is often cited as being pro-Maoist, as it sided with the People's Republic of China during the Sino-Soviet split and, as such, China provided support to the regime during its war with the pro-Soviet nations of Ethiopia, Cuba and South Yemen.
In the west and south, a plethora of parties and organizations were formed that upheld links to the CPC. Often they took names such as Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) or Revolutionary Communist Party to distinguish themselves from the traditional pro-Soviet communist parties. The pro-CPC movements were, in many cases, based among the wave of student radicalism that engulfed the world in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Maoist political party in India which aims to overthrow the government of India. It was founded on September 21, 2004, through the merger of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCC). The merger was announced to the public on October 14 the same year. In the merger a provisional central committee was constituted, with the erstwhile People's War Group leader Muppala Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathi as General Secretary. It is currently proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Indian government for organizing mass killings in furtherance of their ideology.
Only one Western classic communist party sided with CPC, the Communist Party of New Zealand. Under the leadership of CPC and Mao Zedong, a parallel international communist movement emerged to rival that of the Soviets, although it was never as formalized and homogeneous as the pro-Soviet tendency.
In the United States, the Black Panther Party, especially Huey Newton, was profoundly influenced by Maoist thought.
After the death of Mao in 1976 and the resulting power-struggles in China that followed, the international Maoist movement was divided into three camps. One group, composed of various ideologically nonaligned groups, gave weak support to the new Chinese leadership under Deng Xiaoping. Another camp denounced the new leadership as traitors to the cause of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. The third camp sided with the Albanians in denouncing the Three Worlds Theory of the CPC (see Sino-Albanian Split.)
Che Guevara, though initially praising the Soviet Union prior to, during and shortly after the Cuban Revolution, later came out in support of Maoism, and advocated the adoption of the ideology throughout Latin America. The pro-Albanian camp would start to function as an international group as well, led by Enver Hoxha and the APL, and was also able to amalgamate many of the communist groups in Latin America, including the Communist Party of Brazil and Marxist-Leninist Communist Party in Ecuador. Later Latin American Communists such as Peru's Shining Path also embraced the tenets of Maoism.
The new Chinese leadership showed little interest in the various foreign groups supporting Mao's China. Many of the foreign parties that were fraternal parties aligned with the Chinese government before 1975 either disbanded, abandoned the new Chinese government entirely, or even renounced Marxism-Leninism and developed into non-communist, social democratic parties. What is today called the "international Maoist movement" evolved out of the second camp the parties that opposed Deng and claimed to uphold the legacy of Mao.
Maoist organizations
Today, there is no consensus on who does and who does not represent Maoism. Various efforts have sought to regroup the international communist movement under Maoism since the time of Mao's death in 1976.
One notable organization was the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). RIM was founded in 1984 and included such notable organizations as the Communist Party of Peru (PCP), also known as "Sendero Luminoso" or "Shining Path," the then Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), now known as the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) UCPN(M), and the Revolutionary Communist Party USA (RCP(USA)). Today, the RIM appears to be defunct or near defunct. The magazine associated with the RIM, A World To Win, has not published an issue since 2006, though A World To Win News Service still publishes regularly on the internet.
In addition, many of the one-time RIM organizations have become increasingly critical of each other. This has resulted in many public splits. For example, recently the RCP USA has criticized the UCPN(M) as revisionist after the UCPN(M) abandoned its people's war for the parliamentary road. In addition, Red Sun, a web page that claims to be affiliated with some faction the Communist Party of Peru, has criticized both the UCPN(M) and RCP USA. Another movement that has criticized the UCPN(M) is the Communist Party of India (Maoist) -- although they were never formally a RIM member, the CPI(Maoist) was formed out of three organizations, some of which were RIM members, at conferences organized by RIM.
Another effort at regrouping the international communist movement is the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO). Two notable parties that participate in the ICMLPO are the Marxist Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The ICMLPO seeks to unity around Marxism-Leninism, not Maoism. However, some of the parties and organizations within the ICMLPO identify as Mao Zedong Thought or Maoist.
Other trends have sought to lead international Maoism. The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) was founded in 1983 and largely dissolved by 2009. Although smaller than the ICMLPO and RIM, MIM's main influence was in intellectual and literary circles. Even though MIM dissolved organizationally, MIM-influenced efforts continue to exist. The Maoist-Third Worldist movement and the Leading Light Communist Organization, which was founded between 2007 and 2009, continues its efforts to spread its distinct form of Maoism through its print journal and online webpage Monkey Smashes Heaven.
The Maoist-Third Worldist movement holds that there is no first world proletariat, that the first world "working class" is a bought-off, bourgeoisified labor aristocracy that aligns with imperialism against the masses of the third world, and claims to have developed Marxism to a new, fourth stage. Monkey Smashes Heaven takes a positive view of Lin Biao, a view not shared by others claiming to be Maoist. The Maoist-Third Worldist movement has published materials in English, Polish, Chinese, Tagalog, Czech, Greek, Macedonian, French, and Spanish.
In the United Kingdom, the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) are the only British party perceived to be operating under the guidance of Mao Zedong Thought. Many meetings of the CPGB (M-L) are attended by delegates from the Chinese Embassy in London. The youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist–Leninist) maintains the sister organisation 'Hands off China'. The party has released various Maoist literature, in particular Maoist theory guides 'On Practice' and 'On Contradiction'.
The Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), a national communist party with a revolutionary background, is a follower of Maoism, although it is believed that the party has developed its own ideology, Prachanda Path, which was developed taking Nepal's political, sociological and geographical constraints into consideration. Still, this party is believed to have taken Maoism as its doctrine as its name suggests.
In the USA the Kasama Project (KP), was initiated by former RCP USA members critical of what they viewed as the dogmatism and cult of personality of RCP USA. KP describes itself as seeking to radically re-imagine contemporary revolutionary politics. It is deeply influenced by Maoist thought, in particular as developed by the RCP USA, but claims members who arrive from other traditions, such as anarchism. KP has published articles in English, Persian, Spanish, and other languages.
Critique and interpretations
Maoism has fallen out of favour within the Communist Party of China, beginning with Deng Xiaoping's reforms in 1978. Deng believed that Maoism showed the dangers of "ultra-leftism", manifested in the harm perpetrated by the various mass movements that characterized the Maoist era. In Chinese Communism, the term "left" can be taken as a euphemism for Maoist policies. However, Deng stated that the revolutionary side of Maoism should be considered separate from the governance side, leading to his famous epithet that Mao was "70% good, 30% bad". China scholars generally agree that Deng's interpretation of Maoism preserves the legitimacy of Communist rule in China but at the same time criticizes Mao's brand of economic and political governance.
Critic Graham Young claims that Maoists see Joseph Stalin as the last true socialist leader of the Soviet Union, but allows that the Maoist assessments of Stalin vary between the extremely positive and the more ambivalent. Some political philosophers, such as Martin Cohen, have seen in Maoism an attempt to combine Confucianism and Socialism - what one such called 'a third way between communism and capitalism'.
See also
Quotations from Chairman Mao
History of the People's Republic of China
Cult of Personality
New Democracy
Deng Xiaoping Theory
Three Represents
Chinese New Left
External to China:
Guevarism
Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Naxalite
Naxalite-Maoist insurgency
Maoist Rebel News
Further reading
Marxism in the Chinese Revolution by Arif Dirlik
Rethinking Mao: Explorations in Mao Zedong's Thought by Nick Knight
The Function of "China" in Marx, Lenin, and Mao by Donald Lowe
Li Ta-chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism by Maurice Meisner
Mao’s China and After by Maurice Mesiner
The Political Thought of Mao Tse-Tung by Stuart Schram
Mao Tse-Tung, The Marxist Lord of Misrule. On Practice and Contradiction by Slavoj Zizek
References
Selected organizations
Revolutions
Category:Maoism
Category:Political philosophy by politician
Category:Chinese philosophy
