1. What is Maoism?
Maoism, known fully as Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, is the world outlook of the modern working class (proletariat) in the modern era. While Leninism was the proletarian theory in the era of new and rising imperialism, Maoism is the proletarian outlook in the era of falling imperialism, in which it is heading for total defeat at the hands of socialist revolution and people's war.
2. How does Maoism relate to Leninism?
As suggested by its name (Marxism–Leninism–Maoism), Maoism is a creative development of Marxism and, indeed, its third stage. Maoism takes the theoretical arsenal of the previous stages of Marxism and expands upon them in every way possible. Marxism is a science which is constantly expanded upon, and in the course of scientific thought, there emerge sudden breakthroughs which rapture form the old ways of understanding things while at the same time being in dialectical continuity with their progressive aspects.
Maoism is the third of such breakthrough which has happened in the development of revolutionary communism.
3. Who developed Maoism?
Maoism, despite its name, was not developed by Chairman Mao Zedong himself, for he was a Marxist–Leninist. Rather, Mao developed Mao Zedong Thought in the 1930s and 1940s as an application of Leninism to the material conditions of China. Within these contributions, however, laid a universal aspect to them. These developments would be defined in a universal way by Chairman Gonzalo (a.k.a. Abimael Guzmán) of the Communist Party of Peru in the 1980s and 1990s.
Marxism–Leninism–Maoism is thus the modern framework for revolutionary communism which is universal scope, applicable to all countries and circumstances.
4. What are the theories of Maoism?
The theoretical corpus of Maoism can be understood as such:
- People's war
- The Law of Contradictions as the sole fundamental law of dialectics
- New Democracy
- Bureaucrat-comprador capitalism
- Cultural Revolution
- Guiding Thought
- Great Leadership
- Militarization of the Communist Party
- Concentric Construction of the Three Instruments (i.e. the communist party, people's war, and united front)
5. Conclusion
These are the contents of Maoism described most basically. We encourage the reader to study in-detail the aspects of Maoism, apply it to their local conditions, and build Maoist communist parties globally.
"We think that to be Marxists today, to be Communists, necessarily demands that we be Marxist-Leninist-Maoists and principally Maoists. Otherwise, we couldn't be genuine communists." —Chairman Gonzalo