Maoism and the Chinese Revolution: A Critical Introduction

by Elliott Liu

The Chinese Revolution changed the face of the twentieth century, and the politics that issued from it—often referred to as “Maoism”—resonated with colonized and oppressed people from the 1970s down to the anticapitalist movements of today. But how did these politics first emerge? And what do they offer activists today, who seek to transform capitalist society at its very foundations? Maoism and the Chinese Revolution offers the novice reader a sweeping overview of five decades of Maoist revolutionary history. It covers the early years of the Chinese Communist Party, through decades of guerrilla warfare and rapid industrialization, to the massive upheavals of the Cultural Revolution. It traces the development of Mao Zedong’s military and political strategy, philosophy, and statecraft amid the growing contradictions of the Chinese revolutionary project. All the while, it maintains a perspective sympathetic to the everyday workers and peasants who lived under the party regime, and who in some moments stood poised to make the revolution anew. From the ongoing “people’s wars” in the Global South, to the radical lineages of many black, Latino, and Asian revolutionaries in the Global North, Maoist politics continue to resonate today. As a new generation of activists take to the streets, this book offers a critical review of our past in order to better transform the future.

Genres: History, China, Politics, Nonfiction, Asia, Philosophy

160 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2016

Reviews

[Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

See my full review here: http://www.blackrosefed.org/book-revi...

This book is an excellent review of the philosophy and historical practices of Maoism, which remain irredeemably authoritarian. Liu, who organizes with Take Back the Bronx, shows that Maoism is Stalinist, as Loren Goldner argues in parallel in "Notes toward a Critique of Maoism" (https://libcom.org/history/notes-towa...). Mao Zedong followed Lenin and Stalin in prioritizing the imposition of state capitalism on the workers and peasants of an "underdeveloped" society, with all the massive crimes such processes evinced in both countries, from the Russian Civil War to Stalinization and the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution in Red China. Such horrors have little to do with the autonomist, anti-state Marxist or anarchist vision that the author counterposes to the Red Terror. Liu concludes quite rightly: "For revolutionaries who aim at a free anarchist and communist society, Maoism as a whole must be rejected."

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly insightful

While most treatments of Maoism range from scathing polemic, true believing apologetic, or some new synthesis or theoretical treatment. While Liu admits that most of what we know as theoretical Maoism comes from the post-Deng crisis in North America and France, he points the incoherence and historical capitulation of Maoism as it was practiced by Mao. Liu assessment comes from an anarchist perspective highly sympathetic (perhaps too sympathetic) around the left wing CCP thought but decided that Mao's opportunism and state capitalism make both the gang of four and Deng legitimate heirs to Man's thought and practice. Liu is also one of the more careful historians on the CCP and this serves as a great critical introduction to both the history of the CUP and the theoretical justifications for that history in China itself. An excellent critical introduction.

[Michael Boyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Relatively accessible, easy to read, and brief survey of the Chinese revolion. I appreciate the critical engagement here, Liu has a sense of the magnitude of Chinese project, and offers his own anarchist and ultra-democratic criticism.

While I appreciate the critical engagement and the brevity of the work, the author fails to appreciate the material challenges bound up in transforming Chinese society, and doesn't articulate a clear vision of how their anarchist ultra-democratic approach would have actually survived in a hostile world.

[Lewis Weinstein · Rating 5 out of 5]

a detailed presentation of the events leading up to the Cultural Revolution and an analysis of what it meant ... excellent for me as I work to put together the elements of a novel in which these events will (so I think now) play a major role

... I didn't agree with all of Liu's conclusions, in particular his description of Mao as rationally considering the impact of his chaotic and repressive policies on China and the Chinese people ... I don't think Mao ever worried about anything except the state of his own power, for which the destruction of others - millions of others - was a by-product of little concern to him

[a · Rating 2 out of 5]

Liu offers a nice succinct history of Maoism and revolutionary China and has some valid critiques. At points though, Liu veers into the sort of criticisms that I end up rolling my eyes at. Criticizing China's "inability to end the value form" is hard to take seriously. I hate to be the material conditions guy, but how the hell was China supposed to "abolish the value form" in the geopolitical climate of its day?

[Finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book delivers what the title says: this is an excellent primer on the Chinese Revolution, especially for those of us with anarchist political leanings.
I coupled side-reading and podcast-listening for some of the theories discussed in the book to better wrap my head around what was being talked about, but overall I found this book to be very helpful. Thanks Elliott Liu!

[Charlie Lincoln · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concise, informative, and accessible. Some typos here and there.

[Ben Lear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Left-com take on Maoism and the Chinese Revolution. His narrative finishes at Mao's death which is a little earlier than I'd have liked it to but a good read if you're looking for that left-com analysis. In particular the last chapter where he approaches and critiques concepts and strategies developed by Mao v. interesting. Thoughtful critique.

[Sugarpunksattack Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this short book, Elliott Liu is able to coherently summarize the rise of Mao(ism), the united front stradegy against Japanese Imperialism, the civil war, the CCP taking power, the philosophical underpinnings of Mao/CCP, and the post-Mao period all the while contextualizing these moments in relation to foreign policy especially concerning the USSR/Stalin(ism). A crucial strength of this book stems from the authors framework of examining Mao/Chinese Revolution from an anarchist and communist perspective. Liu doesn't resort to the trite anti-communist rhetoric often openly or underlying studies of Russian and Chinese revolution, instead offering a critique of both that stems from their failure to allow popular elements to popularly control the revolutions. In other words, Lui demonstrates that the Chinese revolution, and the Russian revolution as historical parallel, are crushed following the establishment of state power under communist rule because they maintain an exploitative political and economic system-state capitalism. Read this as a crucial and welcome introduction.

[Brendan James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not an anarchist myself but Liu's basic arguments against Maoism as coherent Marxism is persuasive. Credit is given where its due and criticism of Mao's boneheadedness is usually fair and well-stated.

[Colin Bruce Anthes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Liu convincingly argues that, although Mao offers a critique of Stalinism, he never escaped it himself.

[Joe Xtarr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really fair anarchist treatment of Maoism. Hits all the right points, and stays on task.

[Bram · Rating 5 out of 5]

As leftists, we sometimes like to pretend that the 20th century never happened, that beyond the few revolutions we claim to be part of our legacy, we can just endlessly relitigate the debates of the First International. This is a shame. While there are many state-backed atrocities that we would want to distance ourselves from, any lack a proper analysis would only be an insult to their victims. No, in order to effect our disassociation, we should precisely seek to deepen our engagement with these events, to see where the history of state socialism diverged from our own revolutionary course.

It is in this context that I would review Elliot Liu's excellent work on Maoist thought and the Chinese communist experience more broadly. In this volume, he succinctly relates the basic history of 20th century Chinese state socialism, running from the early days of the CCP in the 1920s all the way to the death of Mao in 1976. Along the way, there is a clear focus on both the main historical events and the resulting development of Mao Zedong's Marxist-Leninist philosophy. Since this book is written from a more 'libertarian' anarchist/communist perspective, the author does not hesitate to criticize Mao for his authoritarian tendencies. The focus here is less on his divergences from Marxist orthodoxy (although these are supremely ironic), but rather on the way that Maoism works to excuse and further justify the absolute reign of the Chinese party-state.

As the author continuously emphasizes, Maoism is really a Stalinist critique of Stalinism, a half-hearted attempt to correct state socialist errors which never manages to escape its basic inaccuracies. At the core of this misapplication of Marxism is the ideal of the party vanguard, a notion which assumes the proletarian character of state socialist leadership rather than testing this against the self-activity of the proletariat. Indeed, while Mao was more willing than most state socialists to excite the power of the masses, it is clear from history that these interventions were only allowed insofar as they served his own ends. Whenever the independent development of theory and action at the bottom threatened to exceed the bounds that Mao had set for it, the resulting formations were ruthlessly suppressed.

Still, it is perhaps these independent formations that make up the most interesting part of this work. From the left-wing critics of the Hundred Flowers campaign to the abortive Shanghai Commune of 1967, it seems like some seed of autonomous socialism laid dormant during the Mao era, only coming to a tentative sprouting whenever the weakness of the party-state allowed it to grow. One wonders therefore whether this potential still lives in the China of today; the only way to know would be to ask the Chinese revolutionaries of today. A part of me hopes to be the one who does so.

[Jacob Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liu writes a lucid and sober analysis. This book is a clearly written and accessible survey of and critique of Maoism in Revolutionary China. I found it focused perhaps too heavily on the philosophical and ideological underpinnings of Mao Zedong Thought, rather than engaging with its development, but that topics' treatment in the conclusion is satisfactory.
Liu ultimately views Maoism under Mao as rent with contradictions and antagonisms which necessarily remain unexamined; Maoism is unable to contemplate the proletariat *itself* as the revolutionary actor, which shifts class struggle to solely a Party affair. The chapters on history build on this central argument, and Liu offers a critical appraisal and corrective on contemporary Maoist theory, finding it valuable, but in need of a shift in focus back to the actual practices of proletarian self-liberation.

This book is brief, and worth engaging with to develop an understanding not just of the history, but present possibilities and limitations of Maoism.

[yoyo · Rating 3 out of 5]

really interesting perspective of Maoism and the Chinese revolution from an anarchistic/ultra-left viewpoint. It outlines the flaws of a lot of Maoist ideology, ex: mass line having populist potential, united front, politics in command as resulting in a state capitalist “red” bourgeoisie and against proletarian self-activity. Also argues against the idea of socialism in one country & that any country that attempts to do socialism will revert to authoritarianism or state capitalist, argues that revolution has to be done in blocs/hemispheres in order to sustain socialism and avoid reliance on global chains

[Kaleb Guy Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great historical survey of China and a solid critique of Maoism. His understanding is informed and not dogmatic or overtly reactionary. I found it to be the case that he ignored some situations surrounding Chinas development but that be due to the length of the work. My final critique is that he presents anarchism as the true revolutionary ideology but does nothing to show how anarchism would have been more successful

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very clear, concise, critical intro to Maoism as it developed from the real experience of the CCP from its humble beginnings up through the Cultural Revolution. The critique comes from an anarchist and (rigorously) communist perspective — ultra-left but not unsympathetic. I have some minor disagreements with the arguments late in the book about the existence of capitalist value under state-led production, but overall find the analyses and conclusions persuasive.

[Communist Guerilla · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is clearly biased against Mao. It falsely claims that women played no role in the Chinese revolution, claims Mao was responsible for a famine that never happened. All in all, a terrible book.

[Sean · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book provides a very brief but generally good overview of Mao and the Chinese Revolution. It's written by an anarchist so there is some ultra-left silliness in the analysis here which drags the book down somewhat, but if you can get past that this is still a decent introduction to the topic.

[Rory · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Mao sought to ameliorate the worst aspects of the Soviet model, while retaining his commitment to state capitalism, party rule, and “socialism in one country.” It amounted to a Stalinist critique of Stalinism.”

[Stephen CM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good stuff