Block, Siteadmin, SkipCaptcha, Upload, Automoderated users, delete, edit, move, nsTeam2RO, nsTeam2RW, nsTeam2_talkRO, nsTeam2_talkRW, protect, rollback, Administrators, template
294,860
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Line 4:
Line 4: − + + + + + + + + + + + + + − Marx's original revolutionary theory, formulated in the 1840's, a few decades into the [[Industrial Revolution]] during an extended economic downturn (what we would call a [[recession]] today; under the [[Gold standard]], an economic downturn could last for years and not just several months as payment in [[gold]] was required for [[trade deficit|foreign trade debt]]s), called for disgruntled factory workers to rise up and seize control of the factory (the "means of production").
→How Maoism differs from traditional Marxist theory
==How Maoism differs from traditional Marxist theory==
==How Maoism differs from traditional Marxist theory==
Maoism introduced an innovation to traditional Marxist and Marxist-Leninist theory. Traditionalist labeled it "[[Deviationism]]". However, since 1949 when it was first used to topple the government of [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and the [[Republic of China]], Maoist theory has been more successful at seizing power in [[nation state]]s where other socialist revolutions as Marx envisioned it has never succeeded.
Maoism introduced an innovation to traditional Marxist and Marxist-Leninist theory. Traditionalist labeled it "[[Deviationism]]". However, since 1949 when it was first used to topple the government of [[Chiang Kai-shek]] and the [[Republic of China]], Maoist theory has been more successful at seizing power in [[nation state]]s where other socialist revolutions as Marx envisioned it has never occurred. Even in Soviet Russia, revolution as Marx imagined it would happen, never occurred. Russia was primarily an agricultural state with few factories, and Marx formulated his theories with [[Germany]] in mind. The Marxists at that time took advantage of the chaos that emerged out of the [[February Revolution]] which toppled the czar, and overthrew a budding [[democracy]] with their [[October Revolution]]. Hence [[Marxism-Leninism]] was formulated to spread the idea of Marxist revolution to a principally agricultural population living in small villages and farming on small plots of land. There were no factory bosses to rise up against.
Marx's original revolutionary theory, formulated in the 1840's, a few decades into the [[Industrial Revolution]] during an extended economic downturn (what we would call a [[recession]] today; under the [[Gold standard]], an economic downturn could last for years and not just several months as payment in [[gold]] was required for [[trade deficit|foreign trade debt]]s), called for disgruntled factory workers to rise up and seize control of the factory (the "means of production"). From there the rebellion would spread to the state and its officials, the police, administrative departments, and the military. Eventually the whole pyramidal structure would collapse as discontent spreads and more people join the revolution. The key, Marx argued, was organizing the workers. Students also would form an important support group as they would bring the enthusiasm necessary to create a new world.
Mao saw things differently. Mao viewed the regime he was trying to topple as corrupt and without popular support. He called it a "paper tiger." Mao didn't need to "organize" factory workers and students to spread discontent, the Republic of China had been fighting a war with [[Japan]] for 15 years already. The people of China had endured many hardships while Chiang Kai-shek fought two wars simultaneously, one against the Empire of Japan and one against the forces of the Far Eastern [[Comintern]]. Additionally, the regime under Chaing kai-shek was demoralized and corrupt. Mao hide out in the hills with a band of [[guerilla]]s. Mao felt he could by-pass his instructions from [[Moscow]] to organize the workers for revolution, and swoop down on the cities when the time was right and power would fall into his hands.
Mao's innovation was successful in 1949. The strategy was replicated by [[Fidel Castro]] ten years later in [[Cuba]] against the "paper tiger" regime of [[Fulgencio Batista]]. The [[Sino-Soviet split]] of 1962 had ramifications worldwide for communist parties which were taking money and instructions from the [[Soviet Union]] to bring about the worldwide workers revolution. The [[Communist Party of the United States]] (CPUSA) was affected, as well. But a historical anomaly occurred which was little understand then outside of communist circles, and remains little understood today even in academia.
The Sino-Soviet split was not understood by the U.S. intelligence community. Indeed, throughout the [[Vietnam War]], the American public were fed a steady diet of [propaganda]] by the [[mainstream media]] and [[CIA]] that the United States was fighting the "communist bloc" - Russia and China and its allies, [[North Vietnam]], [[East Germany]], [[North Korea]] and others in a [[Cold War]]. The War in Vietnam was a Hot War in the Cold War. But the worldwide communist revolution was not a monolith, ideological differences between the "correct" interpretation of carrying out a Marxist revolution, between the Moscow directed Marxist-Leninist doctrine, and the Beijing model of Mai Zedong Thought forced many local communist parties to chose which direction to follow. The big kicker was that the Russians supplied money and material support to international communist parties, and the [[Beijing]] Marxists only gave ideological direction.
Here the historical facts get really confusing. The Cuban Revolution is strange anomaly indeed, because while they took their ideological direction from Mao, they took financial support from the Soviet Union. The [[Cuban Communist Party]] appears to be the only international communist organization that the Russians allowed this to happen. Largely because Cuba also provided a military base in the [[Western Hemisphere]], 90 miles off the continental United States, in addition receiving financial support for its ailing economy. But the Cuban communists took their ideological direction from Beijing and Chairman Mao, and taught Maoist doctrine to the [[Students for a Democratic Society]] (SDS) and the [[Weather Underground]] (WUO).
In the United States, this led to messy fight within the CPUSA.