Mao Zedong Thought
 Mao Zedong, revisionist theorist and namesake of Mao Zedong Thought. | |
| Class represented | Bourgeoisie, large peasantry |
|---|---|
| Position |
Revisionist Social-fascist Nationalist |
| Major figures |
Mao Zedong Lin Biao Jiang Qing |
| Related tendencies |
Dengism Maoism Third worldism |
| Organizations | Communist Party of China |
Mao Zedong Thought[a] (MZT) is a Chinese revisionist and nationalist ideology which was developed by the bourgeois revolutionary leader Mao Zedong of the Communist Party of China. Mao Zedong Thought was formulated during the 1940s and 1950s by Mao, who eclectically incorporated traditional Chinese philosophies such as Confucianism, bourgeois liberalism, nationalism, and fragments of Marxist theory into his doctrine.[1]
Following the rise to power of Mao and the formation of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Mao Zedong Thought was made the official state ideology, with it being regarded by the Chines revisionists as a "creative development" of Marxism–Leninism to Chinese circumstances in order to justify its deviations from scientific socialism. Mao Zedong Though was employed as the ideological justification for the numerous departures from socialist construction in China, including the disregard for the dictatorship of the proletariat in favor of class collaborationist systems such as New Democracy, political purges and insurrectionist incitement of the petite-bourgeoisie as seen with the "Cultural Revolution," and social-imperialist efforts in the form of "Three Worlds Theory."[2]
Although Mao Zedong Thought and its adherents claimed to oppose revisionism, their actions were merely those of replacing one instance of revisionism with another; the Maoists often collaborated with the Soviet revisionists, including with regard to condemning Joseph Stalin, endorsing Nikita Khrushchev's distortions, etc.[3] The policies and deviations of Mao eventually led to the rise of Deng Xiaoping in 1976, who used Mao's concepts as the basis for the fascistic doctrine of "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics," which serves as the ideological basis of the Communist Party of China into the present. Other followers of Mao, particularly those outside of China like Abimael Guzmán, have formalized the inventions of Mao and others into Maoism.
Further reading
- Against Maoism, Part One, The progenitor of Maoism — Mao Zedong Thought (2024), by the Red Spectre
See also
- Chinese revisionism
- Maoism
- Communist Party of China
- Dengism
- Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
- People's Republic of China
References
- ↑ Mao Zedong (1964). Talk On Questions Of Philosophy. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive. “To get some experience of class struggle — that’s what I call a university. They argue about which university is better, Peking University or People’s University. For my part I am a graduate of the university of the greenwoods, I learned a bit there. In the past I studied Confucius, and spent six years on the Four Books and the Five Classics. I learned to recite them from memory, but I did not understand them. At that time, I believed deeply in Confucius, and even wrote essays [expounding his ideas]. Later I went to a bourgeois school for seven years. Seven plus six makes thirteen years. I studied all the usual bourgeois stuff — natural science and social science. They also taught some pedagogy. This includes five years of normal school, two years of middle school, and also the time I spent in the library. At that time I believed in Kant’s dualism, especially in his idealism. Originally I was a feudalist and an advocate of bourgeois democracy."
- ↑ Mao Zedong (1957). On The Correct Handling of Contradictions Among The People. Available on the Marxists Internet Archive. “The contradiction between the national bourgeoisie and the working class is one between exploiter and exploited, and is by nature antagonistic. But in the concrete conditions of China, this antagonistic contradiction between the two classes, if properly handled, can be transformed into a non-antagonistic one and be resolved by peaceful methods. However, the contradiction between the working class and the national bourgeoisie will change into a contradiction between ourselves and the enemy if we do not handle it properly and do not follow the policy of uniting with, criticizing and educating the national bourgeoisie, or if the national bourgeoisie does not accept this policy of ours.”
- ↑ P. F. Yudin ( March 31, 1956). Record of Conversation with Mao Zedong. Wilson Center Digital Archive. “Further I said that I had wanted to visit him (Mao Zedong) in the very first days following my return to Beijing and to tell about the work of the 20th Congress of the CPSU and, in particular, about Comrade Khrushchev’s speech at the closed session regarding the cult of personality. [...] Mao Zedong said that the members of the CPC delegation who had attended the 20th Congress had told him something about the work of the Congress and had brought one copy of Comrade Khrushchev’s speech regarding the cult of personality. That speech has already been translated into Chinese and he had managed to become acquainted with it.” “During a conversation about I.V. Stalin’s mistakes Mao Zedong noted that Stalin’s line on the China question, though it had basically been correct, in certain periods he, Stalin, had made serious mistakes. In his speeches in 1926 Stalin had exaggerated the revolutionary capabilities of the Kuomintang, had spoken about the Kuomintang as the main revolutionary force in China. In 1926 Stalin had given the Chinese Communists an instruction about the orientation to the Kuomintang, having viewed it as a united front of the revolutionary forces of China. Stalin said that it is necessary to depend on the Kuomintang, to follow after that party, i.e. he spoke directly about the subordination of the Communist Party of China to the Kuomintang. This was a great mistake which had held back the independent work of the Communist Party of China on the mobilization of the masses and on attracting them to the side of the Communist Party.” “Through the Comintern, Mao Zedong continued, Stalin, having become after the death of V.I. Lenin the de facto leader of the Comintern, gave to the CC CPC a great number of incorrect directives. These mistaken and incorrect directives resulted from the fact that Stalin did not take into account the opinion of the CPC. At that time Wang Ming, being a Comintern worker, met frequently with Stalin and tendentiously had informed him about the situation in the CPC. Stalin, evidently, considered Wang Ming the single exponent of the opinion of the CC CPC.”
Notes
- ↑ Simplified Chinese: 毛泽东思想, Hanyu Pinyin: Máo Zédōng sīxiǎng