Anarchy and Mao

[Trap Queen Voxxy]

So, this is something of which I have wanted to talk about for quite some time and I hope everyone will pitch in and get involved in a productive manner. For my loving doubters, no, I am not trolling and it sucks I have to explicitly state this. Anywhore, moving forward, I want to discuss the concept of 'anarchy' and it's relation to Mao, Zedong thought and so on. I don't only mean, theoretically but also in practice. I have often ears the red guard and the GPCR being described as 'anarchistic' and it is these elements I want to explore. I must confess I haven't read cock all that Mao has wrote aside from On Contradiction and the Little Red Book so bare with me and my stupidity.

[Sinister Intents]

What're you looking for specifically? I've not read any Mao besides On Contradiction as well, but I'm not sure what I can state other than I've always had a soft spot for Maoism and related. Also the Maoists I've spoken to aren't as highly critical of anarchists as others and Maoism seems to me the better form of Marxism-Leninism.

[Tim Cornelis]

These Red Guards were 'anarchic' in the sense of chaotic, not as in the political ideology.

Chinese 'communism' and socialism was in general very influenced by anarchism. Li Dazhao, one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, was initially an anarchist and remained influenced by it even as 'Maoist' (of which he is said to be a greater contributer than Mao). Mao was also initially drawn to anarchism -- though not an anarchist -- but remained influenced by it. If I remember correctly, the people's communes were inspired by Kropotkin's writings (how embarrassed he would've been).

Incidentally, as anarchist I also had a soft spot for Maoism. I think that was just romanticism though. Same reason why people becoming Maoists in the first place.

[Zoroaster]

These Red Guards were 'anarchic' in the sense of chaotic, not as in the political ideology.

Chinese 'communism' and socialism was in general very influenced by anarchism. Li Dazhao, one of the founders of the Chinese Communist Party, was initially an anarchist and remained influenced by it even as 'Maoist' (of which he is said to be a greater contributer than Mao). Mao was also initially drawn to anarchism -- though not an anarchist -- but remained influenced by it. If I remember correctly, the people's communes were inspired by Kropotkin's writings (how embarrassed he would've been).

Incidentally, as anarchist I also had a soft spot for Maoism. I think that was just romanticism though. Same reason why people becoming Maoists in the first place.

I remember reading a biography about Mao back when I was an anarcho-communist. I also admired him in his pre-chairman days.

[Tim Cornelis]

The closest thing I could find about people's communes and Kropotkin was this:


It is not the intention of this paper to revitalise socialism by stating that it is a universal ideology for a sustainable society, but rather to propose that the low EF of China between 1958 and 1978 was the result of the People‟s Commune engaging with a planned economy within the available resources and the traditional ecological attitude towards such an undertaking. It thus appears to have been a more sustainable model of development. Kropotkin [48] maintained that socialism relying on small industries and local self-reliance in the countryside could be an ideal means to achieve equity and therefore social progress. As stated above, the commune has received criticism both from the West and within China [35, 49], mainly due to the occurrence of the Chinese famine (1958-1961) [50]. However, besides
the poor natural conditions [51], the major cause of the famine was the attempt to catch up with Western nations in the sense of GNP [52], and to follow the Soviet Union‟s developmental mode of socialism based on large industries in cities during the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) [53, 54]. The famine ended in 1962, which was still during the period of the commune, in part leading to the criticisms of the latter. However, the famine did not so much reflect the undesirability of the commune as a developmental model, but rather reinforced its feasibility, and hence Kropotkin‟s point of view, when such development kept strictly within the terms of its Chinese setting rather than trying to imitate what was happening in the West. In fact, the commune has also been cited as an inspiring example of sustainable development and alternative technology [55, 56].

The notion of "small industries and local self-reliance in the countryside could be an ideal means to achieve equity and therefore social progress" does correspond to the concept of people's communes. But I'm not sure if Mao and such were actually inspired by Kropotkin when they promoted the people's communes to policy.