Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Expanded Course

Some notes and commentary about the MLM Basic Course by the CPI (Maoist)

“Liberate philosophy from the confines of the philosophers’ lecture rooms and textbooks, and turn it into a sharp weapon of the masses.”

-Mao Zedong

Introduction:

There are many websites full of resources available to learn about Marxism. The Marxists Internet Archive for example offers just about everything you’d need to learn about the foundations and intricacies of Marxist, socialist, or communist theory. There is a wealth of knowledge out there, but the absence of a jumping-off point prevents people from engaging with theory.

No one can immediately grasp the entirety of Marxist theory right away, or simply read through Hegel, Marx, Lenin, etc. and just… get it. It takes time, and it also needs a good starting point.

“Do I start with reading the Communist Manifesto, or State and Revolution? Am I a communist if I don’t read Das Kapital?”

The task of reading theory may seem intimidating if it’s your first time ever engaging with it. It’s easy to forego theory altogether, and depend on other sources for learning about Marxism.

There is nothing wrong with not being entirely read up on X or Y of Marxist theory. However, it becomes a problem if only a handful of people are actually studying theory. If not enough people are read up, this allows for incorrect or mistaken attitudes within a revolutionary organization to go unchecked. If there is nobody to oppose an incorrect line of thought, this hurts an organization’s success as a whole.

If an organization’s theory is incorrect, it can cease to become revolutionary if its mistakes are not corrected. An organization with the wrong theory, or without theory entirely lacks the framework necessary for informing their politics. Without theory, reality is fragmented instead of whole. You can only look at a thing in its parts rather than its entirety because you lack the wisdom to understand how those parts function as a whole. Theory is crucial, and the correctness of an ideological and political line that arises from theory decides right from wrong.

It may seem that theory is no big deal, and that might be true on the level of the individual if they haven’t read theory or have an incorrect position. However, if this manifests onto the level of the collective, the consequences are much more severe.

So, how do we take that first step into theory? It’s certainly intimidating, but it’s possible to learn and understand Marxism if done well. I feel that starting with Marx, Lenin, or Mao for reading can be more enjoyable if there is a guide/course available alongside that can explain theory which makes reading much easier to understand, and can provide elaboration or context that will help with understanding theory.

It’s difficult to find educational courses about Marxism outside of bourgeois academia, which exists to replace revolutionary Marxism with liberal, revisionist “Marxism”. They present Marx as abstract, an individual confined to his narrow study room, and in doing so they obfuscate Marx the revolutionary–the forebearer of revolutionary theory and practice. We must unleash the latter, and develop Marxism in service of the masses and world revolution.

Social Media certainly helped with providing helpful guides about Marxism, and is available to wide audiences. Twitter threads have provided me with loads of useful information about what communism is, and what Marxism is about, but social media posts aren’t the perfect place for theory. For example, twitter’s character limit holds back the possibility for profound, productive, and informative dialogue.

However with a blog I can provide a guide that can go much more in depth. I hope to help out with any introductory leftists looking to get into Marxism, particularly Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. If you’re already familiar with Marxism, but are interested in MLM, this is also going to be helpful.

The Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Basic Course is on its own a great resource for learning Maoism, but can be expanded upon with theory. It’s both a guide to MLM, but also a history course on how MLM came to be. I’ll use each chapter as a base to provide commentary, notes, and include quotes by Marx, Lenin, Mao to help expand on the concepts provided by the Basic Course. I’ll start with Chapters 1 and 2, and we’ll go on from there.

Chapter 1

Before any reading, it’s important to have some questions in mind about what you will read. For example, you may want to ask: “What is Marxism-Leninism-Maoism? What is it in theory? In practice? What can I do to further improve my grasp on Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism?” When you’re reading, you want to make sure you are actually picking up the information, and not glossing over the info. Asking questions helps with focusing on the content in the reading, and makes it easier to understand concepts.

Guidelines ensure that readings are more focused, and enrich the experience of learning overall.

Most of us revolutionary activists are ‘practical’ people. We feel, “Why bother about ideology, and theory, and such other things, … that is for the scholars and ‘intellectuals’, … the most important thing is to get on with the job”. The lower level activists and members feel that it is sufficient that the Central Committee and the higher committees do study and provide guidance; and often, many members in the higher committees also feel that other work is too pressing to ‘allow’ much time for theory.

It’s vital to a revolutionary organization that all of its members participate in theoretical development. Establishing ideology and developing theory is important to providing a foundation for the organization as a whole. Theory is what lays a path towards a successful plan. Without it, it is like walking into a maze blindfolded.

Every member in a revolutionary organization, from its cadre to the leadership, must constantly keep up with theory. This means reading whenever possible, holding study groups to discuss Marxism, and developing new ideas to put into practice later on.

You have to spend time understanding theory as an organization. Not only reading individually, but debating and discussing about theory with other comrades to produce a deeper understanding about the world. We can simplify this process into three steps: unity, struggle, transformation. An organization comes together on points of unity, on a common agreement, then a “struggle” occurs among the group to develop a common political/ideological line through thorough discussion and lively debate. This struggle leads to a transformation of the group by elevating its consciousness.

Comrade Lenin puts it clearly:

“Without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary movement.” Every organization requires a theory to get somewhere. Practice requires theory, without it there is no starting point, and certainly no means of executing practice.”

-What is to be Done? (1902)

Attitudes can arise where theory is seen as secondary to practice. “I don’t care about ‘theory this, theory that’. Why should I care about theory when I can be using my time actually being productive? I just want a movement that gets stuff done.” This causes the theoretical development of organizations to stagnate, which eventually hurts the organization altogether. Without the foundation of theory, there is no basis from which to build on.

Now, does this mean that theory is more important than anything?

On the other hand, there are a few others who feel it is necessary to know every work of the Great Teachers in order to work ‘properly’. They spend a large amount of time in trying to read everything. They also have a tendency to treat everything they read as dogma.

However, there are people that overemphasize theory. While you can’t get anywhere without theory, what’s the point in theory if you will never put it into practice? Practice is what validates a said theory. Exposing your framework about a given subject to reality is necessary to validate it as truth. “Theory’s cool, but theory with no practice ain’t shit.” (Fred Hampton)

Dogmatism is relying too much on what Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, etc. had to say as the end-all-be-all of truth. Their eras were different from ours. If we wish to ever put theory into practice, it must be creatively adapted to the material conditions that correspond with our own reality. If you continue to dogmatically uphold Marxism, it becomes poisonous. The foundation laid before through theory can only hold well for so long before it needs to be updated, reinvigorated, and confirmed through practice. After all, how do we know that what they say is true if we don’t practice what they preach?

Chairman Mao says:

“The method of studying the social sciences exclusively from the book is likewise extremely dangerous and may even lead one onto the road of counter-revolution. Clear proof of this is provided by the fact that whole batches of Chinese Communists who confined themselves to books in their study of the social sciences have turned into counter-revolutionaries. When we say Marxism is correct, it is certainly not because Marx was a “prophet” but because his theory has been proved correct in our practice and in our struggle. We need Marxism in our struggle. In our acceptance of his theory no such formalisation of mystical notion as that of “prophecy” ever enters our minds. Many who have read Marxist books have become renegades from the revolution, whereas illiterate workers often grasp Marxism very well. Of course we should study Marxist books, but this study must be integrated with our country’s actual conditions. We need books, but we must overcome book worship, which is divorced from the actual situation.

How can we overcome book worship? The only way is to investigate the actual situation.”

-Oppose Book Worship (1930)

Marxism is not a religion nor prophecy. It must transform as material conditions change, discarding incorrect ideas, and keeping what’s correct. As we will see, Marxism has witnessed a significant evolution since its inception in the mid 19th century.

Thus, it is necessary to avoid both these attitudes in our study. All comrades should give sufficient time and attention to study in order to understand the essence of our ideology — Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM). Rather than knowing by heart a large number of books, it is necessary to understand deeply the essential and basic aspects of our guiding ideology. If we do this and learn to apply it in our day to day work we can greatly improve our practice, both, as individual activists, as well as, of the party as a whole. Very often we understand and analyse the world around us only according to our own limited experiences and therefore arrive at wrong conclusions. A proper understanding of MLM can help us overcome such errors. At other times a superficial understanding can lead to going by only the letter of certain party decisions and stands and not understanding their essence and spirit. Such mistakes can also be avoided by a deeper grasp of MLM. By our study of MLM, we learn from the positive and negative experiences of World Revolution; we learn to absorb the good in it, and we learn to differentiate between the good and the bad in our own practice. We thus learn to recognise, criticise, and fight all types of opportunism. In short, MLM is a must to mould our practice in the light of theory.

This last line is of incredible importance. We have to find a balance between theory and practice. These concepts are at once opposites, or in contradiction: one is the abstract, and the other is the actuality. Our task is to merge these opposites, resolving the contradiction. Theory has to be practical, and practice has to be carried out methodically. Practice is created from existing theory, and theory is created from what we have practiced, and developing it further so that it can be put into further practice. We call this praxis.

To specify, the medium between theory and practice is also the same for finding the medium between two erroneous lines: dogmatism and revisionism.

“Well revisionism is good right? Revising Marx is necessary because he lived in a different time.”

Revising Marxism is different from revisionism. Revisionism is fundamentally changing an aspect of theory that is still valid. Class struggle in theory, for example, does not need to be removed or ignored because class struggle in society is still very much a reality. If something is correct, it need only be refined, and does not need fixing.

Marxism in Europe fell to revisionism in the 20th century. The political organization of the proletariat at the time–Social Democracy (then a synonym for socialism/communism), was divided into respective political parties throughout the continent. They held in common support for socialism, and many adopted Marxism as a theoretical framework.

The German Social Democrats, the SDP, were the vanguard of the socialist movement with the largest support and the most advanced political line. After the Anti-Socialist period when Germany persecuted revolutionary socialists, the SDP reorganized to enter electoral politics. They were able to win elections and exert serious influence over the German government.

With the success of the SDP and other social democratic parties in Europe, it appeared that socialism no longer required a revolution to succeed. Socialist policies were being enacted in various governments, casting doubt on the importance of Marxism as a revolutionary ideology. Discussions in the social democratic movement began questioning the validity of Marxism in this “new era” of capitalism where Social Democracy was making progress in reforming the capitalist system.

Eduard Bernstein, the author of Evolutionary Socialism, was one of many socialists to provide their own theoretical outlook on reform-oriented socialism that replaced the “dogma” of Marxism. Dizzy with success, the socialist movement had slowly become integrated into the capitalist political machinery. These socialists believed that with the growing success of social democracy, the trade union movement, and with social reforms, the minority capitalist class would be gradually be disenfranchised until they were fully removed from political power. In reality, it was the socialists who were being outmaneuvered by the more powerful bourgeoisie.

Eventually the persistence of the right-wing reformists created a backlash from anti-revisionists who defended Marxism against its “socialist” critics. Capitalism had adapted not to accept socialism, but to deradicalize socialism. The state remains the political machine representing the interests of the capitalist class, and any path to socialism through the bourgeois state would never be allowed. Indeed, the state could not reconcile the interests of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, capitalism and socialism. The purpose of the state is for a class to exert itself the opposing class.

Revisionism would ultimately triumph over Social Democracy. Many parties would vote in favor of World War I over nationalistic and chauvinist pretenses, altogether abandoning Marx’s call for the organization of the proletariat across national boundaries. Later in the 20th century, the acceptance of reform socialism in Europe would change Social Democracy into liberal political parties that rejected Marxism and socialism. After incorporating a neoliberal ideology, a vast majority of social democratic parties have lost their support and fail to present a unique political program to the working class. They are capitalist political parties.

With dogmatism, we must overlook the authority of Marx, Lenin, or Mao in some cases. We must continue to develop their ideas in the real world, and instead of relying on what the book says. Marxism-Leninism-Maoism was developed from the experiences of the communist movement since the era of Marxism-Leninism, and followed the tradition of Marx, Lenin and Mao.

For example, there were frequent debates within the communist movement concerning how socialism should be built. In China, the Communist Party in 1930 was split between two lines, two roads towards revolution.

One line suggested continuing their policy of organizing the proletariat of China for a Bolshevik-style revolution. Despite extreme repression by the government that resulted in the slaughter of workers and almost destroyed the Party, supporters of this line believed that the Chinese proletariat, a small minority of the population, were the only class capable of creating a socialist revolution. Following the experience of the October Revolution, the communists in China could replicate a revolution based on the organization of the proletariat into working class councils, into Soviets.

The second line, promoted by Mao Zedong, stressed the urgency to organize the support of the Chinese peasantry in countryside, who constituted the majority of the population and were alongside the proletariat the most exploited class in society. The socialist revolution could only succeed with the proletariat, but it depended upon the support of millions of poor peasants who would participate in a wider democratic revolution that would uproot the economic base of the feudal system that dominated China.

The first line was eventually defeated because it sided with dogmatism. What happened in Russia could not, and cannot, be repeated anywhere else. The experience of revolution in a given country can provide a precedent for other revolutions, but in order for revolutions to be successful they must adapt to their own unique realities. This is why so many revolutions following 1917 failed, because they attempted to copy the Russian Revolution and make it their own. The Chinese communists however, went against the tide of Russia’s example and led their own country towards a successful democratic, socialist revolution.

We have to create a deep understanding of both theory and practice, while avoiding dogmatism or revisionism. Praxis is vital to the success of any social movement. It is not enough to accomplish the bare minimium when our goal is revolution. When theory and practice work together in harmony, mountains can be moved.

Chapter 2

In this chapter, we can explain what Marxism-Leninism-Maoism precisely is. Marxist theory is also a world full of acronyms, and often times their names are not enough provide a clear description of what it is.

Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong Thought, and Marxism-Leninism-Maoism all sound the same. They all combine the works and experiences of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, the Soviet Union, and the People’s Republic of China. Yet, all ideologies have various points of contention among seemingly small issues of theory and practice. However these differences are what sets apart the right from wrong.

We must ascend beyond the level of superficial knowledge, and look more into what makes MLM.

The party leading the revolution is the Communist party; and the ideology guiding the thinking and practice of the Communist party is Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. This is known to all of us. However many of us are not so sure as to what exactly is meant by communist ideology or MLM and what are its various parts or aspects. Quite a few understand it simply as the ideas of Marx, Lenin and Mao. Such an understanding is incomplete, insufficient and superficial. What is needed is to go deeper into the matter and understand the internal essence. Let us first therefore try to understand this essence of MLM.

To begin: a revolutionary party requires a revolutionary ideology and theory as discussed in the previous chapter. For us, the communist party’s guiding ideology is Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. With a capable party, a correct ideology, and popular unity with the masses, revolution becomes possible.

At the time when Marx and Engels were first developing and propagating the theory of communism, Engels, in 1847, drafted a booklet called “The Principles of Communism”. In this he defined what is communism in the following very simple manner, “Communism is the doctrine of the prerequisites for the emancipation of the proletariat.” Thus Engels, in this very short definition explains that the essence of communist ideology is to provide the theory regarding what is needed to achieve the ultimate freedom of the working class (the proletariat). This freedom would finally be achieved through the establishment of communist society.

A revolutionary, communist ideology will lead to the liberation of all oppressed classes. What separates communism from social democracy or democratic socialism is that communism emphasizes the necessary succession of capitalism into a new mode of production. The former ideologies merely present a means of “fixing” or reforming the system, rather than abolishing it altogether. Throughout the past 150 years, communists have struggled to forge an ideology and theory that will lead to the emancipation of the proletariat and all oppressed classes of the world.

Stalin explained the same thing in the following way, “Marxism is the science of the laws governing the development of nature and society, the science of the revolution of the oppressed and exploited masses, the science of the victory of socialism in all countries, the science of building a communist society.” Here Stalin explains the wide scope of Marxism. Firstly, it is a science, which provides the answers to the questions concerning not only society, but also the whole of nature. Thus Marxism is an all-encompassing science. Secondly, it is a science regarding revolution; and this revolution is not of the rich (as in earlier bourgeois revolutions of the capitalist class), but of the poor and toiling masses. And thirdly it is the science of building socialist and communist society.

“So… Marxism is a science?”

Yes. However not exactly in the fashion of physics, biology, or chemistry, or the many social sciences. It encompasses both forms of scientific study, and is also a philosophy. Marxism is scientific, it is a systematic and methodical outlook on the world. To further clarify, because it is a scientific ideology, does not mean there are always “hard facts” or immutable truths, which may come to mind when the word ‘science’ is mentioned. Marxism evolves continuously, and adapts to the constant development of nature and (most importantly) society, just like other sciences.

Marxism is the ideology of the proletarian revolution. Hitherto revolutions in history have been lead by classes other than the proletariat. In the era capitalism and imperialism, Marxism focuses on the ultimate liberation of the proletariat and other classes oppressed by the bourgeoisie.

This science is today given the name of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism after the names of the three Teachers who played the greatest role in establishing and developing it – Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Tse-tung. Besides these three, we recognise two other great Teachers who played a tremendous role – Frederick Engels and Joseph Stalin. Engels was the comrade of Marx who closely collaborated with him in laying the foundations of Marxism, as well as in advancing it after Marx’s death. Stalin defended and developed Marxism-Leninism after Lenin’s death.’

Of course, while MLM focuses on the theories of Marx, Lenin, and Mao, other figures such as Engels and Stalin are also the foundation of MLM, and are equally as important to study. MLM is much more than its individuals, as its theory comprises of many authors. Just as Darwinism or Newtonian science is more than simply the work of Charles Darwin and Isaac Newton, for example, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is more than Marx, Lenin, and Mao.

Marxism was first worked out by Marx, with the help of Engels, more than 150 years ago. The principal parts of Marxism are: the philosophy of dialectics and materialism and the discovery of the materialist conception of history or historical materialism; Marxist political economy which discovered the laws of motion of capitalism and its contradictions and the doctrine of surplus value which uncovered the source of exploitation; and the theory of scientific socialism based on the doctrine of the class struggle and the outlining of the principles governing the tactics of the class struggle of the proletariat.

Marxism widely encompasses many concepts. The philosophical portion comes largely from G. F. W. Hegel’s dialectics, which Marx critically adopted. Marx ‘turned Hegel on his head’, thus turning an idealist philosophy into a materialist philosophy. He states in Das Kapital:

“My dialectic method is not only different from the Hegelian, but is its direct opposite. To Hegel, the life process of the human brain, i.e., the process of thinking, which, under the name of “the Idea,” he even transforms into an independent subject, is the demiurgos of the real world, and the real world is only the external, phenomenal form of “the Idea.” With me, on the contrary, the ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought.”

-Karl Marx

Marxism is also influenced by Hegel’s philosophical conceptions of history. Using a materialist outlook, Marx and Frederick Engels applied their own philosophical concepts derived from Hegel to discover the materialist conception of history.

Second is the aspect of political economy. The laws of motion that are in the natural world also manifest in social structures such as economy. Influenced by enlightenment-era economists, Marx was able to systematically analyze and expand upon previous conceptions concerning the laws of capitalism. This led to the discovery of the many contradictions that exist in the core of capitalist economy.

Third is socialism. In order to successfully resolve the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system, socialism provided the way toward a just society. However, Marx criticized previous “utopian” socialists for not providing a systematic and methodical—scientific, outlook on how socialism can be successfully put into practice. These utopians’ conceptions of socialism were founded upon a lack of serious concrete analysis and theory.

Leninism is Marxism of the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. It was first developed by Lenin around the turn of the century during the course of the Russian revolution, while fighting the opportunism of the Second International, and while advancing the international communist movement through the Third International. Leninism, while defending and developing Marxism, made the following significant contributions: the discovery of the laws of motion of capitalism under imperialism and how they would inevitably lead the imperialist powers to war; the qualitative development of the theory and practice of proletarian revolution during the bourgeois democratic revolution as well as the socialist revolution; a clear understanding regarding the dictatorship of the proletariat, as well as the first principles regarding socialist construction; providing the theory and direction for the nationality movements and the movements in the colonies and linking the national liberation movements to the World Socialist Revolution; the development of the organisational principles of the Leninist party – the party of the new type. Stalin, while defending and developing Leninism, particularly contributed to the principles and laws governing the period of socialist construction.

Leninism is the elevation of Marxism into the century of imperialism. Marx’s historical era was during the early development of capitalism in Europe. This left out any analysis for the future development of capitalism as it matured. Imperialism as a concept was later interpreted by various Marxists, but Vladimir Lenin’s understanding of imperialism as the monopoly stage of capitalism provided an elevation of Marxist theory into a higher stage.

Lenin was among the anti-revisionist Marxists against the current of reformist socialism representing social democracy. When WWI broke out, Lenin and the Russian Social Democratic Party (Bolsheviks) refused to follow the pro-war socialist parties, with Lenin declaring to: “Turn the imperialist war into civil war,” Calling for abstention from any imperialist war of conquest, and instead agitated for proletarian socialist revolution on an international scale.

Leninism, largely represented by the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democrats, attacked the Social Democratic/Socialist parties of Europe who had betrayed Marxism. Lenin affirmed Marxism’s central premise: that it is right to make revolution.

Following the Great October Socialist Revolution, Leninism was formalized and expanded upon as a theoretical framework. Leninism was not only applicable to the conditions of Russia, but it had lessons that were universally applicable everywhere. Thus Leninism was not merely Marxism as applied to Russia, but served as a complete development to Marxism as a whole. We refer to this achievement as Marxism-Leninism.

“Leninism is the theory and tactics of the proletarian revolution in general, the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular. Marx and Engels pursued their activities in the pre-revolutionary period, (we have the proletarian revolution in mind), when developed imperialism did not yet exist, in the period of the proletarians’ preparation for revolution, in the period when the proletarian revolution was not yet an immediate practical inevitability. But Lenin, the disciple of Marx and Engels, pursued his activities in the period of developed imperialism, in the period of the unfolding proletarian revolution, when the proletarian revolution had already triumphed in one country, had smashed bourgeois democracy and had ushered in the era of proletarian democracy, the era of the Soviets.”

-J V Stalin, The Foundation of Leninism (1924)

Moving on…

Maoism is an extension and development of Marxism-Leninism applicable to the present era. It was developed by Mao during the course of the Chinese Revolution, in the process of socialist construction, in the fight against modern revisionism and particularly during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Maoism’s contributions include: the theory of contradictions, the development of the theory of knowledge and the formulation of the mass line of ‘from the masses, to the masses’; the theory of new democracy, the formulation of the path of revolution for the colonies and semi-colonies, and the formulation regarding the three magic weapons of the revolution – the party, people’s army and the united front; the theory of protracted people’s war and the development of the principles of military warfare; the development of the organisational principles of the proletarian party through the understanding of two-line struggle, rectification campaigns and criticism and self-criticism; the development of the political economy of socialism on the basis of the Soviet and Chinese experience and the dialectical understanding of the process of socialist construction as the correct handling of contradictions in the process of transition to socialism; and finally and most importantly, the theory and practice of continuing revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat to consolidate socialism, combat modern revisionism and prevent the restoration of capitalism, and its concrete expression in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.

Mao Zedong Thought and Maoism are the next crucial developments of Marxism, and Marxism-Leninism. Lin Biao sums up Mao Zedong’s Thought:

“Mao Tse-tung’s thought is Marxism-Leninism of the era in which imperialism is heading for total collapse and socialism is advancing to world-wide victory.”

-Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (1966)

Mao Zedong’s Thought covers the experiences of proletarian revolution and socialist construction in the Soviet countries, and in China. At this point in history, billions of people now lived under countries undergoing either revolution or the construction of socialism under a dictatorship of the proletariat.

Mao Zedong’s Thought (MZT) heroically guided the international communist movement through several important developments: advancing socialist revolution in the underdeveloped countries, fighting back against the modern revisionism of the USSR under Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin, who betrayed the socialist world in order to make “peace” with the predatory imperialist countries, and most importantly Mao stirred the great masses of China into struggling against the Chinese counterparts of the Soviet revisionists who sought the restoration of capitalism.

MZT recognizes the need transform the science of proletarian revolution itself. The spark of world socialist revolution following Russia was quickly extinguished following several failures in Europe. In China, the revolution took on a different form: the protracted people’s war and new democracy. Another development is the realization that class struggle carries into socialism, not only this, but also intensifies under the proletarian dictatorship rather than simply withering away after revolution. The class struggle also manifests itself within the machinery of the proletarian state itself, and especially within the communist party.

MZT was further developed following the defeat of the Cultural Revolution and the restoration of capitalism by reactionaries such as Hua Guofeng and Deng Xiaoping. While MZT was mostly adapted for the material conditions of China, Maoism or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is a groundbreaking development which ascended Marxism-Leninism, Mao Zedong’s Thought and transformed it into a revolutionary science applicable worldwide. The red banner of Maoism was primarily championed by the Communist Party of Peru during their people’s war in the 1980s.

Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism are thus not separate ideologies, but represent the constant growth and advancement of one and the same ideology. We shall in the following pages try to trace the story of the process of its development. While doing this we shall also try to understand the essence of its various parts and aspects that have been listed above. The list may appear to be long and difficult, but it need not be so. If we concentrate and try to understand the basic essence of each aspect within its historical context we will be able grasp a lot.

While these developments in Marxism may take place in different eras, they are not complete ruptures from Marxism, but are the growth and advancement of the ideology first formulated by Marx and Engels. Since its origin, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism represents eras of change, discovering new concepts and discarding incorrect ideas.

Stalin helps sum up the development of Marxism:

“As a science, Marxism cannot stand still, it develops and is perfected. In its development, Marxism cannot but be enriched by new experience, new knowledge — consequently some of its formulas and conclusions cannot but change in the course of time, cannot but be replaced by new formulas and conclusions, corresponding to the new historical tasks. Marxism does not recognize invariable conclusions and formulas, obligatory for all epochs and periods. Marxism is the enemy of all dogmatism.”

Marxism and the Problems of Linguistics (1950)