1. POLI 324: Asian Politics
Dr. Kevin Lasher

2. Mao and Ideology

3. Ideology – a set of political values and ideas that guide political actions

4. Marxism & Communism Scientific socialism Economics determines society
Marx writes during bleak early capitalism

5. Marxism & Communism 1818-1883 Primitive communism Slavery Feudalism
Capitalism
Socialism/Communism
Marx said must move through all stages
Quite vague about what communism would actually look like

6. Marxism & Communism
Marx predicted communism as a truly democratic and economically abundant “utopia”

7. Marxism in Russia
Russian Empire had just begun capitalism in early 1900s
Marxism doesn’t “fit” Russia

8. Leninism Vladimir Lenin adapts Marxism to Russian circumstances
Lenin more interested in revolution than “pure Marxism”
Cannot wait for bourgeois capitalist revolution

9. Leninism
Imperialism
Revolutionary party

10. Leninism: Imperialism
Capitalist nations exploit colonies and buy off their own workers
Revolutions in “colonies” first (including Russia)
Early revolutions lead to eventual world revolution (especially in advanced capitalist states)

11. Leninism: Revolutionary Party
Russian workers must be lead by small, disciplined revolutionary party which can seize power
Revolutionary party will rule as a “dictatorship of the proletariat” until full-blown communism established
Bolsheviks seize power in 1917

12. Role of Ideology in Communist States?
Driver of political actions?
Justification for political actions?
Both

13. Marxism in China
If Marxism didn’t fit Russia in 1917, it REALLY didn’t fit China in the 1930s and 1940s (and beyond)

14. YES Mao Zedong Thought Contradictions in Maoism?
Much ideology came from guerrilla experience
Mao’s articles, books, speeches to “explain” actions
Lenin as “thinker” from 1890s-1917
Mao as “thinker” and “actor” from 1927
YES
Contradictions in Maoism?

15. Mao Zedong Thought Peasantry as basis of revolution
Mass line & Voluntarism
Theory and practice
Contradictions
Permanent revolution

16. Peasantry as Basis of Revolution
90% of population in 1949
Mao from middle peasant family
Urban policy failed in 1920s
CCP grows among peasantry during 1930s and 1940s
Pragmatic decision
Marxism does not seek a peasant-based revolution

17. Peasantry as Basis of Revolution
Great Leap Forward
Deng’s reforms (post-Mao) begin in countryside

18. Mass Line and Voluntarism
From the masses, to the masses
Linkage between CCP and people
Perceive mass wishes, cadres report to higher-ups, higher-ups study and return policy to masses
Feedback loop
People’s democracy was a “kind of democracy”; later mostly propaganda and indoctrination

19. Mass Line and Voluntarism
Great Leap Forward, Cultural Revolution and mini-campaigns were efforts to mobilize the power of the masses to achieve great things

20. Mass Line and Voluntarism
“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.”
1927

21. Mass Line and Voluntarism
Voluntarism -- can do anything if people are mobilized
Power of belief, effort, enthusiasm, determination, right thinking
Revolutionary spirit can accomplish “miracles”
Great Leap Forward

22. Theory and Practice
Theory can be altered; Marxism can be reinterpreted to fit Chinese circumstances
Seek truth from facts
Early Mao and CCP were quite pragmatic

23. Theory and Practice Students should combine study and work
Learn about revolution by “making revolution”
Anti-intellectualism (Mao was intellectual who ACTED)

24. Theory and Practice HOWEVER: Red vs. expert debate
Redness or proper thinking over technical expertise
GPCR – hyper-ideological Mao

25. Theory and Practice Great Leap: theory run amuck
GPCR: search for who can be red enough (ideologically pure)

26. Theory and Practice Early Mao – emphasis on practice
Late Mao – emphasis on hyper-theory and ideological furvor

27. Contradiction Chinese harmony replaced by inevitable conflict
Borrowed from Hegel/Marx and ying-yang concept
Antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions

28. Contradiction
Antagonistic contradictions must be repressed or destroyed
Certain enemies (Nationalists, capitalists) must be eliminated

29. Contradiction Non-antagonistic contradictions are inevitable
Industry/agriculture, urban/rural, central govt/local govt, within CCP, etc.
Dialogue, struggle/criticism, rectification, mass campaigns, thought reform to solve such contradictions

30. Contradiction
“Struggle sessions” – process of creating “right thinking;” often turned violent
Hundred Flowers movement encouraged mild criticism of CCP
GPCR unleashed attack against CCP

31. Contradiction
Division between antagonistic and non-antagonistic contradictions was often unclear (with sometimes deadly results)

32. Permanent Revolution
Revolution is an ongoing process not a one-time event
Actions to deal with remaining bourgeois elements and new bureaucratic bourgeois elements
Mao wary of bureaucratization and “laziness” of CCP

33. Permanent Revolution
Mao never accepted “boredom” of post-revolution period
Mao a good revolutionary leader but a bad governing leader
Mao rejects post-Stalin USSR “conservatism”

34. Permanent Revolution
Mass campaigns, Great Leap Forward, GPCR examples of continuing revolution
Deng’s reforms = last revolution ?
Today’s China seeks order and stability

35. Mao Thought Today
Mao Zedong Thought not terribly relevant in today’s China
Mao Zedong Thought never repudiated
Some acceptance of Mao is basis of modern CCP rule

36. Mao Thought Today Mao himself a kind of “blank-slate” icon
Xi Jinping has re-emphasized aspects of Mao’s leadership, but has generally avoided specific policies

37. The End