Do you believe Mao was ever a revisionist? If so, do you believe he was never more than an anti-imperialist figure of the national bourgeoisie, or that he turned to revisionism later? If the latter, when would you say so? __________________________________________________ ____________ Kind of interested to see other ML views on Mao. I personally like him as an anti-imperialist with a few mistaken ideas who eventually turned to revisionism, especially with the three worlds theory. I'm also a bit suspicious of how at some point, 25% of surplus profit was going to the national bourgeoisie. And his failure to purge the bourgeois faction from the party, and the whole class struggle being a 'contradiction among the people' BS, and criticizing Stalin for both engaging in class struggle too much and too little. Oh, also his terrible pro-American foreign policy.
Chou-en-lai said there were 65m active opponents of socialism within their borders. Pop. Britain! 3 worlds nonsense was roundly attacked by British communists. Guerilla struggle or Asymetrical warfare is still of abiding interest and will be whilst the balance of forces ranged against us remain. The towering achievements whether writ large or small, unleashing man's productive ability are staggering. There was certainly fierce class struggle against various classes deemed antagonistic to the people. As enemies from without. Certainly the rot set in with 3 world theory. One thing is certain, revolution is not for export. Each country must develop theory to liberate itself. Nobody can lecture on the balance of forces present. They must rely on their own people. Build from there.
I support his contributions to Marxist theory. I think he was a hero of the Chinese proletariat and peasantry. I do not think he was a revisionist. He made mistakes, but I do not think that he fundamentally altered or rejected key tenants of Marxism. I certainly have my list of mistakes he made, but I am still a Maoist because I believe in the theories of the protracted people's war, the mass line, criticism and self-criticism as part of party unity and organization, and the need for continued revolutionary struggle after a socialist revolution. Mao came up with some very important ideas about making socialist revolution and construction possible in China with China's conditions. He was also a military genius. He criticized everyone he liked and respected, including Stalin. That's something Marxists should do: criticize all.
I agree with Siren Bang; Mao may have been flawed (as all M-Ls are... as all people are) and had some ill-thought schemes however I think his great contributions outweigh his negative points and Maoism is still a light for the oppressed in many parts of the world. I think non-Maoist M-Ls have a right to criticise Mao but I don't think any of us should see him in the same light as, say, Khrushchev or Gorbachev.
^That, definitely.
I don't have a very positive impression of Mao. He committed a major mistake when he decided to drop the second five year plan when the first one was a success to launch The Great Leap Forward which brought terrible consequences for the Chinese economy and prevented China from enjoying the soviet economic success of the 30's as far as the industrialization is concerned. You cannot ignore the economic reality of your country. I also regard Maoism as revisionism since it changed some main principles of Marxism specially the role of the proletariat in revolution. Nonetheless, I admire Mao pre-1949, in particular how he managed to defeat first the fascist Japan in alliance with the Kuomitang and then defeating the later to bring a socialist revolution to China.
