What exactly is Maoism?

[Dimitri Molotov]

Hello comrades, could a Maoist or someone who understands Maoism please explain to me what Maoism is and how it is similar and different from Marxism? What would anarcho-communists have in common and difference with them?
What specifically did Mao do that was good or bad? Was he similar to Stalin?
Sorry, I don't know much about Mao or Maoism, and I was wondering what most people on Revleft thought of him and what the philosophy was all about. Thank you.

[JerryBiscoTrey]

Hey Comrade. Well Maoism is a philosophy with a lot of nuances. I guess you could go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maoism for a brief overview but if you really wanna know then i suggest you read some of the works of Comrade Mao.

Anarchists dont subscribe to Maoism because it is authoritarian in nature (as was Stalin) but they may admire certain things about him.

As for how it differs from Marxism; Maoism is merely an extension of Marxism-Lenninism



Sorry, I don't know much about Mao or Maoism, and I was wondering what most people on Revleft thought of him and what the philosophy was all about. Thank you.

Haha no need to apologize but you should know that you may have opened up a floodgate there :D

[red cat]

Hello comrades, could a Maoist or someone who understands Maoism please explain to me what Maoism is and how it is similar and different from Marxism?
Maoism or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is the most developed form of Marxism so far. It negates certain features of classical Marxism such as considering every present system as capitalist, or expecting the first revolutions to occur at the most developed countries etc.

Many lines claim to be Maoist. However, the vast majority of those who recognize the universal character of Maoism, affiliate to the line of the PCP or Shining Path. So, the broad line as summarized by the PCP is what we will refer to as Maoism henceforth. The main features of Maoism are as follows :

1) Seizure of power through people's war. The people's war can take the form of guerrilla warfare, or urban insurrections or the combination of these two or many other strategies depending upon the field-situation. This emphasizes the necessity of armed struggle and mass-participation in that struggle to avoid possible betrayal by a small group of leaders as necessary to smash the bourgeois state and successfully construct socialism.

2) The mass line. This refers mainly to learning from the masses while leading them, involving the masses, and practicing leadership in the form of service, education, organization and guidance rather than commanding the masses from the top.

3) The new democratic revolution. Maoists characterize most countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to be semi feudal - semi colonial in nature. Hence they claim that the proletariat there must lead the oppressed masses to first complete a new democratic revolution and then a socialist revolution.

4) The cultural revolution. This is based mainly on two observations of Maoists. First, that the bourgeoisie continues to struggle to regain power even after the socialist revolution. Second, the bourgeoisie can stage a comeback through any of the political, cultural, military or economic fields. Therefore, until communism is reached, or until all the remnants of the bourgeois system are wiped off from the society, the proletariat has to wage a continuous class struggle, or conduct revolution after revolution in every social aspect.

In addition to the four points above, Maoists also follow the line of dividing and setting factions of the enemy against each other and temporarily allying with smaller enemies to bring down the bigger ones first, in order to achieve victory against very powerful adversaries. Therefore, in case of a militarily weak revolution, if multiple imperialist or capitalist powers are present, Maoists will tactically ally with the ones that pose smaller threats, and turn against them only after the others have been brought down or significantly weakened.


What would anarcho-communists have in common and difference with them?
What specifically did Mao do that was good or bad? Was he similar to Stalin?
Sorry, I don't know much about Mao or Maoism, and I was wondering what most people on Revleft thought of him and what the philosophy was all about. Thank you.Maoists consider the USSR and PRC to have suffered capitalist restorations in the 50s and 70s respectively. After that, both started transforming themselves into imperialist powers. Maoists consider most of Stalin's contribution to be positive to the cause of communism, and hence they principally uphold him and then criticize him for his errors. It will be better to ask about the achievements and errors of Stalin and Mao in separate threads or in the MLM group.

Anarchism is the earliest and most primitive form of revolutionary proletarian ideology, while Maoism is the latest and most developed one. Hence there are a lot of differences. However, the features of Maoism that sometimes make it seem very close to anarchism are the mass line and cultural revolution. Some consequences of these are the CP and the red army being constituted by the whole of the able-bodied oppressed masses, the masses or bottom layers of the CP being able to overthrow the ones above, the flow of many decisions being from the bottom to top rather than the other way etc.

It should be added here that Maoism lies to the left of all other leftist tendencies when consistent theory and practice are considered. For example, what other tendencies would consider to be parts of the petite bourgeoisie and proletariat are often correctly identified as portions of the national and petite bourgeoisie respectively by Maoists. Also, as opposed to the practical inactivity or reformism of the groups that raise the slogans of "communism in one step" etc, Maoists concentrate on preparing the working class for both smaller economic gains and for the main goal of seizure of power. Due to this, as of now, Maoists outnumber by many times all the other leftist tendencies that have not openly succumbed to the theory of "peaceful transition to communism", put together, and have achieved even workers control over the means of production up to varying degrees in certain fields in the heartlands of their revolutions.

[Blackscare]

Please keep in mind that Red Cat is presenting subjective opinion as fact (Maoism being "the most advanced form of Marxism yet") and advocating a form of Maoism derived from one of the more terrible Maoist insurgent groups to ever exist (while presenting it as the mainstream, which no evidence seems to suggest).


Also, Maoism is not "to the left" of almost any forms of Communist thought, in fact they are more of a right-wing deviation. Red Cat's confused explanation on this point illustrates that he/she really doesn't grasp how that's true either.

[red cat]

Please keep in mind that Red Cat is presenting subjective opinion as fact (Maoism being "the most advanced form of Marxism yet") and advocating a form of Maoism derived from one of the more terrible Maoist insurgent groups to ever exist (while presenting it as the mainstream, which no evidence seems to suggest).

The PCP line is mainstream Maoism. The biggest Maoist parties like the PKP, CPI(Maoist), UCPN(M), TKP(ML) etc. follow it.


Also, Maoism is not "to the left" of almost any forms of Communist thought, in fact they are more of a right-wing deviation. Red Cat's confused explanation on this point illustrates that he/she really doesn't grasp how that's true either.It depends on what you consider as the defining features of a line. Mostly we take into account the activities and not the empty slogans raised by a group when we judge it. And when it comes to revolutionary activities, Maoists are yet to be surpassed or even touched by any other leftist tendency.

[Cheung Mo]

"And when it comes to revolutionary activities, Maoists are yet to be surpassed or even touched by any other leftist tendency."

Mao wasn't even a Maoist. Just ask Nixon, Kissinger, and Pinochet. :laugh:

At least Brezhnev, for how little he contributed to socialism, knew who the bad guys were.

[red cat]

"And when it comes to revolutionary activities, Maoists are yet to be surpassed or even touched by any other leftist tendency."

Mao wasn't even a Maoist. Just ask Nixon and Pinochet. :laugh:

This is what I wrote in my first post in this thread :


In addition to the four points above, Maoists also follow the line of dividing and setting factions of the enemy against each other and temporarily allying with smaller enemies to bring down the bigger ones first, in order to achieve victory against very powerful adversaries. Therefore, in case of a militarily weak revolution, if multiple imperialist or capitalist powers are present, Maoists will tactically ally with the ones that pose smaller threats, and turn against them only after the others have been brought down or significantly weakened.



EDIT:


"And when it comes to revolutionary activities, Maoists are yet to be surpassed or even touched by any other leftist tendency."

Mao wasn't even a Maoist. Just ask Nixon, Kissinger, and Pinochet. :laugh:

At least Brezhnev, for how little he contributed to socialism, knew who the bad guys were.

Of course he did ! That is why he allied with the Indian government when the first wave of the Indian people's war was being crushed.

[scarletghoul]

Red Cat's post covers just about everything but I would like to supplement it with four quotes from Mao which I think illustrate the main principles of Maoist theory and practice-

"Political power grows from the barrel of a gun"

"The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in world history."

"The law of contradiction in things, that is, the law of the unity of opposites, is the basic law of materialist dialectics."

"It is right to rebel against reactionaries."


What would anarcho-communists have in common and difference with them?
Was he similar to Stalin?
Mao himself was influenced by Anarchism and apparently used to be an Anarchist. At the same time he was also influenced by the Stalinist model. The Cultural Revolution appeals to some Anarchists because Mao led the people in rebelling against the reactionary elements in his own party and encouraged them to challenge state power. The Chinese party-state structure was influenced by the Stalinist USSR, which was after all the leader of the world wide socialist movement, but Mao did criticise Stalin for not trusting the masses enough. Reliance on the masses/people is a big part of Maoism

What specifically did Mao do that was good or bad?
Hmm to put it very breifly:
GOOD- led the chinese people in defeating the Nationalist reactionaries and the Japanese imperialists; unfied china and established the PRC; built up china into a good socialist country, doubling life expectancy, hugely increasing literacy, etc etc; encouraged the people to rebel against reactionary elements in the party/state itself and do away with bureaucracy in favour of grass roots control; spoke out against all imperialism and became a world wide icon of revolutionary struggle; advanced Marxist theory.
BAD- ultimately failed in getting rid of the reactionaries in the Party, resulting in the rise of Deng Xiaoping and the restoration of capitalism after his death; allied with the US against the USSR during his later years because he saw them both as imperialist powers (I think that was true to an extent, but by allying with the US he weakened the world socialist movement. not all maoists agree with me on this though.)

If you want to learn more just ask, but also its worth reading some of mao's works. Theyre very clear and easy to read