Best way to learn about Maoism

[Comrade B]

I am trying to learn more about other forms of communism recently, and I realized I really don't know much about Maoism. Any suggestions from Maoists or people with a good understanding of Maoism on what I should check out to learn about the philosophy?

Edit: Not sure how this ended up in politics, I clicked post in learning, someone mind moving this for me?

[Sendo]

He had some good writing around 1927 on the peasant movements in southern China at the time.

But one of the best pieces of journalism happens to be on the changes that went on in a Maoist village during the revolution (some background then firsthand stuff and research in 1948). It's called Fanshen by William Hinton, printed by the Monthly Review Press. It's 800 pages or so, but a great read.

[Comrade B]

800 pages... shit.. I am a student and have difficulty fitting in reading what I really want into my life

[Valeofruin]

Lucky for you REAL Maoist works are written by Mao, and are usually short.

Maoists have a tendency to express complex things in simple ways. Reading the list im about to give will give you an idea of the mindset of Maoists, and the gist of
Maoist thought in a bit under 3 hours (if even that!) of total reading

Youll want to read the following short works by Mao:
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_1.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_16.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_03.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-3/mswv3_30.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-9/mswv9_85.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-5/mswv5_51.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_17.htm

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-6/mswv6_30.htm


If you've digested that theres always Maos infamous Red Book:

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/index.htm

yea thats Maoism in a nutshell.

If you want a good hard-hitting critique of Maoism, coming from Enver Hoxha a devout Marxist-Leninist, read this:

http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hoxha/works/imp_rev/imp_ch6.htm

Generally speaking Maoism is big on the peasentry, and the agricultural sector, Maoism values Dialectical Materialism, Maoism is big on anti-revisionism (though Hoxha disagrees of course), and Maoism is big on action. Maoists dont take kindly to liberalism, they encourage you to get off your sofa and make revolution.

Hope this helps.

[sciencefaction]

To my knowledge there are no Maoist summations of the Mao period in China [1949-1976] published in English, but Mao's China by Maurice Meisner is a relatively sympathetic, yet critical account.

In addition to writings by Mao, there are a few histories that Maoists like to recommend as capturing the spirit of Maoism:

Red Star Over China by Edgar Snow
Fanshen by William Hinton
The Hundred Day War by William Hinton
A History of the Chinese Cultural Revolution by Jean Daubier

Ironically, none of the above authors was a Maoist. Snow was a close personal friend of Mao's but always considered himself a liberal.

I have to slightly disagree with a previous poster who says that Maoism is "big on peasantry." The emphasis on peasantry only stands out because so many Marxists dismiss peasantry as a possible revolutionary socialist agent based on little empirical research, which Mao actually did [Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan and Report from Xunwu]. Instead they rely on mechanical "class" analysis in which one only needs to identify the economic coordinates of a peasantry and, from there, derive a theory of the limitations of peasant consciousness. Add in a bit of unwarranted generalizing [peasantry is the same everywhere] and you have your standard orthodox Marxist position, as espoused by some anyway.

For a good history, not of Maoism per se, read Labor and Chinese Communism by S. Bernard Shaw which provides an account of the Chinese communist labor movement, as well as how it was decimated by the Nationalists, causing the CCP to focus on peasantry as the main revolutionary force. The rise of Maoism as the dominant trend in the CCP can be found here.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

And when you have done all that, make sure you read my demolition of his 'theory' of change:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/showpost.php?p=986357&postcount=2

An updated and expanded verson can be found here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rosa.l/page%2007.htm#Dialectics-Cannot-Explain-Change

Past this URL into your address bar since the anonymiser RevLeft uses ignores hashed sub-links.