idk ur still taking questions but im an anarchist and ive been interested in maoism so like whats maoism rly about/what makes it diff than marxism leninism ?
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) is best described as the culmination of the historical, theoretical, and practical advancements of class struggle. This is why you’ll often see it described as the “highest stage” of Marxism. In relation to Marxism-Leninism (ML) it can best be described as a continuity and rupture from ML, meaning while it follows the same theoretical and practical trend, it also introduces a series of new contributions which make MLM a qualitatively different ideology beyond ML.
So, following the legacy of ML, MLM upholds the advancements of Marxism made by V.I. Lenin and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Without getting into them these include:
Marxist understanding of capitalist-imperialism
Marxist Theory of the State
The Right of Nations to Self-Determination
(Foundations of Leninism is a good all-encompassing work if you are interested in ML before Mao). Now, Leninism goes beyond just Lenin’s words and so ML includes the historical context of its theories- the Russian Revolution, the line struggle between Trotsky/Bukharin and Stalin in the Communist Party, Five-year plans according to a proletarian state, and, sadly, the foundations of revisionism which laid the groundwork for capitalist restoration in the USSR- an event that would shape much of Mao’s theoretical contributions. So to avoid making this super text-heavy, I’m gonna break them into bullet points (with explanations, of course).
New Democracy: In countries oppressed by imperialism, the material conditions for socialism and the development of the productive forces can not be completed by the bourgeoisie because of conflicting class interests. This necessitates that proletariat form a United Front of several classes against imperialism with the Communist Party at the helm. The New Democratic Revolution allows for a “telescoping” of a bourgeois revolution and proletarian revolution so as to rapidly free a country from imperialism and develop productive forces so as to smash feudal and colonial relations, carry out an agrarian revolution, and prepare for socialist construction. This is only applicable in countries that are oppressed by imperialism. [X]
Mass Line: A method of organizing where members of the Communist Party listen to the concerns/wants of the masses, study them under revolutionary theory, and formulate concrete solutions which are then propagated among the masses. It can be summed up with the phrase “from the masses, to the masses”. This was not only to ensure that the Communist Party maintains a political line in touch with their base, but to ensure that the theory of the Party was based on practical experience and investigation. [X]
The Permanence (or Law) of Contradiction: Contradictions are a fundamental element of nature and society. Some are antagonistic or violent, some are non-antagonistic. Some take primacy over others (such as the contradiction between imperialism and oppressed nations being primary over the contradiction between proletariat and bourgeoisie). Mao explained that dialectics has one fundamental law- the unity and struggle of opposites- with the other laws being expressions of this main one. Mao saw that struggle is constant and unity is temporal- this can be summed up with the phrase “one divides into two”, showing the process of conflict/change inherent in all things and the fact that contradictions will continue even after unity is achieved. This was a break from the previously dominant trend of Marxist philosophy which essentially said “two combine into one”. [X]
Protracted People’s War (PPW): The armed branch of the Party, the People’s Army, should be deeply entrenched within the masses. PPW covers a general three-stage process. The first, strategic defensive, is the establishment of base areas and the building of dual power (a concept originally developed by Lenin in his work “On Dual Power”), while revolutionaries avoid directly engaging the state and warfare is done very sporadically. The second stage, strategic equilibrium, happens when the proletarian power built in base areas rivals the power of the current bourgeois state. The third, strategic offensive, involves the capturing of larger bases of power by the People’s Army and eventually conquer state power on a nation-wide scale. Did you notice those three things i put in bold? Those are what Mao called the 3 “magic weapons” of the proletariat in revolution. This method of revolution differs from the insurrectionist method (where the urban workers rise up during a period of crisis allowing them to seize state power) and the focoist method (employed famously in the Cuban Revolution where guerrillas do not have an explicit contact with the masses). [X] [X] [X]
Cultural Revolution: The recognition that the bourgeois ideological superstructure lingers under socialism is one that derives from Mao’s recognition that class struggle continues under socialism (Mao even said it intensifies). While the system of ownership changed with socialist revolution, another revolution should be launched to help change the ideological superstructure, to fight for proletarian ideological supremacy over the bourgeoisie. [X]
Class Struggle under Socialism and that Socialism is not a distinct Mode of Production: Socialism is not a mode of production like capitalism, feudalism, or communism. It is a transitional society where the proletariat holds state power and there is social ownership of property commanded by economic planning. Because of these many contradictions that continue after a revolution (as one divides into two, remember) socialism cannot be considered a completely separate mode of production, only as a transitionally dominant mode of production and set of social relations, still bound up in the class struggle. Many MLs and other socialists focus solely on the legal form of ownership- i.e. who actually owns the means of production (the state or private entities). But this legalistic separation was never professed by Marx or Lenin. This mechanistic view of socialism leads towards forms of revisionism like the “theory of productive forces” which was the justification for capitalist restoration in both the USSR and China. Maoists stress the importance of the relations of production over the ownership or development of productive forces. For Maoists, what is most important is political line- whether or not proletarian politics are in command or not. [X] [X] [X]
MLM extends beyond just Mao however. The recognition of the qualitative advancement of his contributions by the Peruvian Communist Party and the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement in the late 80s and early 90s- the period in which “actually existing socialism” was collapsing- stands to show that MLM is the principal, preeminent force of revolution in our current era.
Here is some further reading for anyone interested, as well as the links i included throughout the answer:
Five Golden Rays: Five Articles by Mao Zedong with Commentary
What is Maoism by Bernard D’Mello
Why Maoism by Shashi Prakash
What Maoism has Contributed by Samir Amin
The Science of Revolution by Lenny Wolff
MLM Basic Course by the Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Contemporary Marxism-Leninism-Maoism by the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist
Maoism or Trotskyism by J. Moufawad-Paul
The Communist Necessity by J. Mouawad-Paul
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