Maoism

Mao Zedong Thought
CPC chairman Mao Zedong, for which the ideology is named.
Simplified Chinese毛泽东思想
Traditional Chinese毛澤東思想

Maoism (simplified Chinese: 毛主义; traditional Chinese: 毛主義; pinyin: Máo zhǔyì), officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China and later the People's Republic of China. The philosophical difference between Maoism and traditional Marxism–Leninism is that a united front of progressive forces in class society would lead the revolutionary vanguard in pre-industrial societies[1] rather than communist revolutionaries alone. This theory, in which revolutionary praxis is primary and ideological orthodoxy is secondary, represents urban Marxism–Leninism adapted to pre-industrial China. Later theoreticians expanded on the idea that Mao had adapted Marxism–Leninism to Chinese conditions, arguing that he had in fact updated it fundamentally and that Maoism could be applied universally throughout the world. This ideology is often referred to as Marxism–Leninism–Maoism to distinguish it from the original ideas of Mao.[2][3][4]

From the 1950s until the Chinese economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s, Maoism was the political and military ideology of the Chinese Communist Party and Maoist revolutionary movements worldwide.[5] After the Sino-Soviet split of the 1960s, the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union each claimed to be the sole heir and successor to Joseph Stalin concerning the correct interpretation of Marxism–Leninism and the ideological leader of world communism.[2]

The term "Maoism" is a creation of Mao's supporters; Mao himself always rejected it and preferred the use of the term "Mao Zedong Thought".[6][page needed][7]

  1. ^ Mao, Zedong. "On Guerilla Warfare". Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b Lenman, B.P.; Anderson, T., eds. (2000). Chambers Dictionary of World History. p. 769.
  3. ^ Moufawad-Paul, J. (2016). Continuity and Rupture: Philosophy in the Maoist Terrain. New York City: Zero Books. ISBN 978-1785354762.
  4. ^ Lovell, Julia (2019). Maoism: A Global History. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-525-65605-0. OCLC 1135187744. Archived from the original on 2020-08-05. Retrieved 2020-05-02.
  5. ^ Meisner, Maurice (Jan–Mar 1971). "Leninism and Maoism: Some Populist Perspectives on Marxism-Leninism in China". The China Quarterly. 45 (45): 2–36. doi:10.1017/S0305741000010407. JSTOR 651881. S2CID 154407265.
  6. ^ Wittfogel, Karl A. (1960). "The Legend of 'Maoism'". The China Quarterly (1): 72–86. doi:10.1017/S0305741000022712. ISSN 0305-7410. JSTOR 763346. S2CID 153676792. Archived from the original on 2022-03-13. Retrieved 2022-03-13.
  7. ^ Chen, Jin (1 July 2016). "毛泽东眼里的"毛泽东"". People's Daily. Retrieved 25 March 2023. 毛泽东不同意叫"主义",而接受"思想"的说法,按他的意思,他是马克思、列宁的学生,不敢和他们并列,再说那时他认为自己的思想作为一种"体系"还没有成熟。 [Mao Zedong disagreed with the term 'Maoism' and preferred the term 'Mao Zedong thought' as he thought of himself as a student of Marx and Lenin hesitated to place himself alongside them. Moreover, at that time, he believed that his thoughts had not matured into a complete 'system.]