What is “Maoism””



POL2 208

Spring 2007

What is “Maoism”? (Part I)

First, remember that the CCP has never used the term “Maoism” in either its Chinese or English versions. Mao’s contributions to Marxism-Leninism and Chinese Communist ideology are referred to as “Mao Zedong Thought.” In both Chinese and English, there is a distinction between the “isms,” which are universal truths applicable across time, space, and culture, and “thought,” which is the adaptation of the “isms” to the history and circumstances of a particular country.

The “universal truths” of Marxism-Leninism can be boiled down to:

• Marxism: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (“The Communist Manifesto’). In other worlds, the struggle between exploiting and exploited classes is the major force that drives human history forward. The nature of class struggle at any given time is determined by the nature of the economic system and the level of economic development. Humankind’s material conditions (economic system) are the foundation for all other aspects of human society (“materialism”). The highest stage of human development is communism, which will follow a period of socialism, which is, in turn, a transition period between capitalism and feudalism.

• Leninism: In order to win the political power needed to carry out a socialist-communist revolution, a highly-selective, tightly-organized, strictly-disciplined organization is needed. This party serves not only as the “vanguard” in the seizure of power, but also in carrying out the socialist transformation of society. The communist party also a vanguard in the sense that it made up of the most personally committed, politically active, and ideologically advanced members of society. Its task is to lead the revolutionary classes in seizing power and building socialism in preparation for the eventual transition to communism.

“Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought” was first declared the official ideology of the CCP in 1942 during the Yanan period. It is still part of the official ideology, though it has been joined by “Deng Xiaoping Theory” (in 1997), Jiang Zemin’s “Theory of the Three Represents,” and most recently at the 17th CCP Congress Hu Jintao’s “Scientific Outlook on Development.”

Following are my notes on some of the assigned writings by Mao.

“A Report on an Investigation into a Peasant Movement in Hunan Province” (March 1927)

One of Mao’s first major essays after he became a communist. But note the timing: It was written while the CCP was still joined in the United Front with the KMT vs. the warlords. Technically, Mao was also a member of the KMT (part of the requirement of the United Front) at the time and the report was written for the KMT and the CCP leadership. Because he was from a peasant family in Hunan, Mao was sent by the United Front to investigate spontaneous peasant uprisings against local landlords and to report on how the revolutionary forces (which included the KMT at the time) should respond. The focus on both the KMT and the CCP at the time was on seizing power in China’s cities. Note also that it was written just one month before Chiang Kai-shek turned on the CCP in Shanghai in “Bloody April” and drove them out in the rural areas.

Key points:

o The future of the Chinese revolution will be determined by the peasants, especially the poor peasants, who are the most oppressed and the most revolutionary of all the classes in China:

▪ “All talk directed against the peasant movement must be speedily set right. All the wrong measures taken by the revolutionary authorities concerning the peasant movement must be speedily changed. Only thus can the future of the revolution be benefited. For the present upsurge of the peasant movement is a colossal event. In a very short time, in China's central, southern and northern provinces, several hundred million peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane, a force so swift and violent that no power, however great, will be able to hold it back. They will smash all the trammels' that bind them and rush forward along the road to liberation. They will sweep all the imperialists, warlords, corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry into their graves. Every revolutionary party and every revolutionary comrade will be put to the test, to be accepted or rejected as they decide. There are three alternatives. To march at their head and lead them? To trail behind them, gesticulating and criticizing? Or to stand in their way and oppose them? Every Chinese is free to choose, but events will force you to make the choice quickly.”

o The essay was Mao’s first statement that the peasants, not the urban proletariat, would be the “vanguard” class in moving the Chinese revolution forward. To orthodox communists (in China and the Soviet Union) this was heresy, and it would later become the foundation of Maoist “heterodox” adaptation of Marxism-Leninism to the special circumstances of Chinese society and history.

o One other, often cited passage from the Hunan Peasant Report comes in the section where Mao addresses those who say that the peasant associations are “going too far” in the actions they take against the landlords and “evil gentry,” they are too violent:

▪ “Then there is another section of people who say, "Yes, peasant associations are necessary, but they are going rather too far. " This is the opinion of the middle- of-the-roaders. But what is the actual situation? True, the peasants are in a sense "unruly" in the countryside….First, the local tyrants, evil gentry and lawless landlords have themselves driven the peasants to this. For ages they have used their power to tyrannize over the peasants and trample them underfoot; that is why the peasants have reacted so strongly. The most violent revolts and the most serious disorders have invariably occurred in places where the local tyrants, evil gentry and lawless landlords perpetrated the worst outrages. The peasants are clear-sighted. Who is bad and who is not, who is the worst and who is not quite so vicious, who deserves severe punishment and who deserves to be let off lightly-the peasants keep clear accounts, and very seldom has the punishment exceeded the crime. Secondly, a revolution is not a dinner party, or writing an essay, or painting a picture, or doing embroidery; it cannot be so refined, so leisurely and gentle, so temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous. A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. A rural revolution is a revolution by which the peasantry overthrows the power of the feudal landlord class. Without using the greatest force, the peasants cannot possibly overthrow the deep-rooted authority of the landlords which has lasted for thousands of years. The rural areas need a mighty revolutionary upsurge, for it alone can rouse the people in their millions to become a powerful force.”

“Serve the People” (1942)

This became a key slogan of the Maoist era, particularly during the Cultural Revolution. The essay portrays what a good communist is supposed to do in nearly every aspect of life: don’t just think of yourself, your family, your own interests, but “fearing neither hardship nor death,” always “serve the people”! This is the essence of communist morality. By praising the selfless heroism of a very common soldier, Mao is also conveying his strong belief in egalitarianism (radical equality) as another revolutionary virtue.

“Talk at the Yanan Forum on Art and Literature” (1942)

A lecture given by Mao about the time when he had consolidated his power in the CCP laying down his “line” (policy) on art and literature. This became the basis for official cultural policy during the Maoist era, most strictly enforced by Jiang Qing during the Cultural Revolution. But even at the time the talk was given and the policy was implemented in Yanan, some intellectuals and artists who supported the party saw signs of future cultural repression.

• There is no such this as art for arts sake, or abstract beauty. Art and literature always has and reflects a class nature. Culture, like government, is part of the “superstructure,” that part of society that always reflects the nature of the economic system and class relations (the power of the “ruling” class).

• In revolutionary China, art and literature should always serve the people, especially the most revolutionary classes peasants, workers, and soldiers.

• Art and literature should reflect the lives, concerns, struggles, and accomplishments of the “people.” It should attract them, be accessible to them, and educate them, not criticize, confuse, dispirit, or seduce them.

• Artists, writers, etc. are all cultural workers who should go among the masses to learn about lives so that they can produce art that truly serves their needs.

"Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, Pay Attention to Methods of Work" (1934)

The central concern in this essay is the nature of the relationship between the CCP and the people they aspire to lead in the struggle against the KMT. Key question is how can we--the CCP-- get the peasants to support us and join the revolutionary movement?

Mao's answer? We can’t "neglect or underestimate the question of the immediate interests, the well-being of the broad masses":

• CCP must pay attention to very concrete things and practical problems: food, shelter, clothing, fuel, health, etc., not just matters of communist ideology (which they won’t understand) or grand military strategy.

• If we are concerned with the well-being of the masses, the masses will support us!

“ Our central task at present is to mobilize the broad masses to take part in the revolutionary war, overthrow imperialism and the Kuomintang by means of such war, spread the revolution throughout the country, and drive imperialism out of China….

If we only mobilize the people to carry on the war and do nothing else, can we succeed in defeating the enemy? Of course not. If we want to win, we must do a great deal more. We must lead the peasants' struggle for land and distribute the land to them, heighten their labour enthusiasm and increase agricultural production, safeguard the interests of the workers, establish co-operatives, develop trade with outside areas, and solve the problems facing the masses-- food, shelter and clothing, fuel, rice, cooking oil and salt, sickness and hygiene, and marriage. In short, all the practical problems in the masses' everyday life should claim our attention. If we attend to these problems, solve them and satisfy the needs of the masses, we shall really become organizers of the well-being of the masses, and they will truly rally round us and give us their warm support. Comrades, will we then be able to arouse them to take part in the revolutionary war? Yes, indeed we will.”

NOTE. Mao's “ulterior motive” in paying attention to the well-being of the masses: the CCP should use helping the masses in concrete, material ways to raise their political consciousness i.e. teach them about communism and about the larger objectives of the movement, which is to defeat the KMT (and the Japanese) and seize national power. The more immediate objective is to get the masses to support them (fight with them).

Sum: What does this essay tell us about Mao's approach to politics and revolution?

• Maoism contains a strong dose of POPULISM: the success of the revolution ultimately depends mobilizing popular support. This is a recurring theme in Maoist and Maoist politics and policies.

• Maoist populism also reflects a deep faith in "people power": the people as the real motive force in history:

“The Kuomintang is now pursuing a policy of blockhouse warfare, [Remember: this is during the German aided 5th Encirclement Campaign that led to the Long March] feverishly constructing their "tortoise-shells" as though they were iron bastions. Comrades! Are they really iron bastions? Not in the least! Think of the palaces of the feudal emperors over thousands of years, were they not powerful with their walls and moats? Yet they crumbled one after another the moment the masses arose. The tsar of Russia was one of the world's most ferocious rulers, yet when the proletariat and the peasantry rose in revolution, was there anything left of him? No, nothing. His bastions of iron? They all crumbled. Comrades! What is a true bastion of iron? It is the masses, the millions upon millions of people who genuinely and sincerely support the revolution. That is the real iron bastion which no force can smash, no force whatsoever. The counter-revolution cannot smash us; on the contrary, we shall smash it. Rallying millions upon millions of people round the revolutionary government and expanding our revolutionary war we shall wipe out all counter-revolution and take over the whole of China.”

“SOME QUESTIONS CONCERNING METHODS OF LEADERSHIP” (June 1, 1943)

So Mao is a “populist”? Yes, but as he makes abundantly clear in many of his other writings, including this essay, Mao also believes that the people must be led by the communist party and that without such leadership "people power" will lead only to anarchy or mere rebellion, rather than revolution, socialism and communism. In this sense, Mao was always a good “Leninist” (see above).

For Mao, the bottom line is that the success of the revolution before and after the seizure of power depends on finding the right combination of

• PEOPLE POWER + PARTY LEADERSHIP

• or POPULISM + LENINISM

Mao constantly struggled with finding the right balance. He was worried about the bureaucratic aspects of Leninism, and several times turned to populism (the masses) to shake up the Leninist party. But when push came to shove, he showed no hesitation in reining in the masses, sometimes with force. At heart, in my view, Mao was more a Leninist (Stalinist) than a populist. Nevertheless, Maoism can be understood as a combination of populism and Leninism, with the ”L” properly capitalized, and not just because it is derived from a proper name.

From the essay:

…it is essential for the success of the [movement] that a leading group should be formed in each unit in the course of the movement, made up of a small number of activists and with the heads of the given unit as its nucleus, and that this leading group should link itself closely with the masses taking part in the movement. However active the leading group may be, its activity will amount to fruitless effort by a handful of people unless combined with the activity of the masses. On the other hand, if the masses alone are active without a strong leading group to organize their activity properly, such activity cannot be sustained for long, or carried forward in the right direction, or raised to a high level.”

Mao's ideas on leadership, which is called the mass line, are often said to summed up in the following passage:

“In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily "from the masses, to the masses". This means: take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action. Then once again concentrate ideas from the masses and once again go to the masses so that the ideas are persevered in and carried through. And so on, over and over again in an endless spiral, with the ideas becoming more correct, more vital and richer each time. Such is the Marxist theory of knowledge.”

What does this mean in practice?

• Mao is concerned about the relationship between the leaders and the led:

• LEADERS ( ( MASSES -- a constant interaction, but also the source of potential problems in carrying out the revolution.

• Leaders must be always and in many ways remain close to the masses: live and work with them; share their weal and woe; teach them and lead them; but also learn from them;

• The key to successful leadership is to always maintain close ties with the masses without giving up your leading role.

• Bad leadership is that which "becomes bureaucratic and divorced from the masses.” Mao starts worry about such a trend in the CCP as early as the mid-1950s, and we will see that by the mid-1960s, Mao will conclude that many party leaders, including some at the very top, have betrayed the mass line, which will be one of his motivations for launching the Cultural Revolution.

What is Guerrilla Warfare? (1930s)

• Mao’s recognized that, in order to survive and win power, the party needed its own armed force. As (in)famously observed: “Every Communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." Our principle is that the Party commands the gun, and the gun must never be allowed to command the Party.” "Problems of War and Strategy" (November 6, 1938)

• But he also recognized that the CCP needed to develop military tactics and strategy appropriate to its relatively weak situation compared to the KMT (and the Japanese).

• Guerrilla warfare is an approach that turns your weaknesses into strengths and the enemy’s strengths into weaknesses.

• It emphasizes mobility, surprise, quick attacks, fighting on your terrain, making weapons out of easily available materials, relying on the masses for support (food, intelligence, hiding, medical care, etc.), which is why it is sometimes called “People’s War.” This might be seen as Maoist populism (the mass line) applied to military strategy.

• In guerrilla warfare, the military objective must always be keep in tune with and subordinate to the political objective of the movement.

• Guerrilla warfare does not seek an outright military victory against a “superior” enemy because such is impossible; rather its goal is to weaken the enemy, especially in terms of morale and political support. In a sense, it seeks to harass, not defeat the enemy.

• Guerrilla warfare is seem as a preparatory stage to conventional large-scale war at the time the movement is prepared for such a conflict.

• Guerrilla warfare was used by the CCP (Red Army) for during the first stage of the civil war (1927-35) and during the Yanan period (1935-45) against the Japanese.

• The final stage of the civil war against the KMT (1946-49) was mostly conventional warfare: large-scale battles between large numbers of troops fighting to seize and keep control of territory.

“On New Democracy” (1940)

Written during Yanan period, but meant, in part, to spell out what type of political and economic systems the CCP would implement when (and if) they took national power. Intended to reassure those who might be inclined to support the CCP because of their reputation for integrity, advocacy of bringing much need change to China, and resisting the Japanese but still had some apprehension about just how radical a government led by the CCP would be.

Chinese revolution will be carried out in two stages after the CCP comes to power: 1. The New Democratic Revolution; 2. The Socialist Revolution.

The New Democratic stage would not establish a Western style liberal democracy (because that’s been shown not to work in China), but a “new democracy of the Chinese type.” [or as they would say now: democracy with Chinese characteristics]. The goal of the new democratic stage is to prepare the way for the next stage, the building of socialism in China.

What is the New Democracy?

o A political system that is based on “a joint dictatorship of all the revolutionary classes of China” under the leadership of the communist party.

o The “revolutionary classes” are all those who “anti-imperialist and anti-feudalist” people who are willing to work for the “new” China and support the leadership of the CCP, including not only peasants and workers, but patriotic intellectuals, professionals, and even capitalists (the national bourgeoisie).

o All members of the revolutionary classes are invited to participate in the running of the new democratic China and will enjoy all the benefits of the new democracy, under the guidance, of course, of the CCP.

o For all others, the supporters of imperialism and feudalism and opponents of the New Democracy (i.e. opponents of the CCP), they will be subject to dictatorship. [This is based on the Marxist view that all states (governments) are the means by which one class (or group of classes) exercises dictatorship over other classes: in a capitalist democracy, the bourgeoisie [capitalist class – owners of the means of production] use various means to make sure that the working classes can never come to power or gain enough power to redistribute wealth.]

o In essence, Mao lays down a distinction that became e a hallmark of Chinese politics throughout the Maoist era (and continues in a different and much muted form today):

|“PEOPLE” |“ENEMY” |

|those who support the CCP and its goals |those who oppose the CCP and its goals |

|“NEW DEMOCRACY” |“DICTATORSHIP” |

o In the early 1950s, the scope of who fit into the category of the “people” was quite broad (inclusive), while the “enemy” was limited mostly to those who had actively supported the KMT, the Japanese, or been in close collaboration with other foreigners. Over time, the definition of who fell into the enemy category greatly expanded as Mao became more radical in his goals for the Chinese revolution.

o Other terms such as the “people’s democratic dictatorship” and the “dictatorship of the proletariat” will supplant the “new democracy,” but mean much the same thing: democracy (under the CCP) for the “people,” dictatorship for the “enemies” of the people. The PRC today defines its as a peoples democratic dictatorship under the leadership of the communist party.

o The economic system of the “New Democracy” would be:

▪ Not capitalist, but not fully socialist either.

▪ Big bank and corporations will be nationalized (state-owned), but most private property and private business will be allowed to continue

▪ Capitalism – though somewhat controlled – will be permitted, even encouraged since the new PRC must promote economic recovery and growth.

▪ In the rural areas, land reform will be carried: land will be redistributed from the landlords to the peasants.

▪ Land will not be collectivized. Ownership of the land will be given to the peasants in order to encourage them to work hard and produce as much as possible – even though this means that a “rich peasant economy” (i.e. one in which some peasants get richer than others) will develop.

▪ The economy of the New Democracy will be a mixed economy (part capitalist, part socialist).

SUMMARY: Mao is saying the New Democracy that will be implemented when the CCP comes to power (and was implemented) will be both an INCLUSIVE POLITY and a MIXED ECONOMY. Of course, both are under the leadership of the CCP and the ultimate objective is to prepare the way for the next stage: the building of a fully socialist China. No timetable is given, but the expectation is that the New Democracy will be a fairly extended period given how politically and economically “backward” China is.

Note: It is also in this essay that Mao says, sort of in passing, that “There is no construction without destruction.” As Cheek points out, this phrase would assume much more ominous meaning when it became one of the key slogans of the Cultural Revolutions.

Preserve the Style of Plain Living and Hard Struggle (March 5, 1949)

This speech was given just before the CCP took national power in October 1949… but by then Mao knew they were going to win. Note Mao’s concern that the “Mass Line” style of leadership may be threatened by the comforts of victory:

“Very soon we shall be victorious throughout the country. …To win this victory will not require much more time and effort, but to consolidate it will. …With victory, certain moods may grow within the Party -- arrogance, the airs of a self-styled hero, inertia and unwillingness to make progress, love of pleasure and distaste for continued hard living. With victory, the people will be grateful to us and the bourgeoisie will come forward to flatter us. It has been proved that the enemy cannot conquer us by force of arms. However, the flattery of the bourgeoisie may conquer the weak-willed in our ranks. There may be some Communists, who were not conquered by enemies with guns and were worthy of the name of heroes for standing up to these enemies, but who cannot withstand sugar-coated bullets; they will be defeated by sugar-coated bullets. We must guard against such a situation. To win countrywide victory is only the first step in a long march of ten thousand li [miles]. Even if this step is worthy of pride, it is comparatively tiny; what will be more worthy of pride is yet to come. After several decades, the victory of the Chinese people's democratic revolution, viewed in retrospect, will seem like only a brief prologue to a long drama. A drama begins with a prologue, but the prologue is not the climax. The Chinese revolution is great, but the road after the revolution will be longer, the work greater and more arduous. This must be made clear now in the Party. The comrades must be taught to remain modest, prudent and free from arrogance and rashness in their style of work. The comrades must be taught to preserve the style of plain living and hard struggle.”

[To be continued]

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