mao, maoism and mao-ology.pdf

5/27/2018 Mao, Maoism and Mao-ology.pdf

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Mao, Maoism and Mao-ologyAuthor(s): Rene GoldmanSource: Pacific Affairs, Vol. 41, No. 4 (Winter, 1968-1969), pp. 560-574Published by: Pacific Affairs, University of British ColumbiaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2754566.

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Mao,Maoism ndMao-ologyA ReviewArticle

TheParty ndLenin-ofthose win rothersWhich oesMother istoryreasure ost?Wesay-Lenin, ndmean-theParty,Wesay-theParty,ndmean-Lenin.(VladimirMayakovsky,ladimirhichenin)WXRITTEN SOME FORTY YEARS AGO in dedication o the founder f theIVTVTSoviettate, hese inesmerely equire name substitutionofit hefounder f the Chinese People's Republicand paraphrase he more prosaicslogans without hairmanMao therewouldbe no Communist arty" nd"without he Communist arty herewould be no New China," so oftenheard in China in recentyears.For in many respects,t was Mao's re-constructionf the Communist arty fter935and his adaptation f Marx-ism-Leninismo the conditions f China whichmade possible he victory ftheChineseCommunist evolution.urther,Mao created pattern f revolu-tion which claims applicabilityo all of thenon-industrializedreas of theworld, n Asia, Africa and Latin America. n this sense, Mao Tse-tungmay be considered he Lenin of China and the Lenin of our age. But thisstatementonstitutesnly a partial nd a superficialharacterizationf theman and hisachievements.The contemporaryrowthof specializations as engulfed hefield of

modernChinesehistorynd with t thestudyof theChineseCommunistmovement. whole iteratureas made itsappearancen recentyears, utsinceno study of Mao's personalitynd career an be dissociated rom hebroadcontext f the revolution hichhe shaped,muchofthis iteraturesnot redundant nd sheds ighton hitherto bscurefacts n thehistory fthe ChineseCommunist arty.The authors iffer otonly on conclusionsbutalsoin approaches,reas of concentrationnd problemsonsidered.When Edgar Snow,the firstWestern eportero make Mao Tse-tung'sacquaintance,met him in the caves of Paoan in I936, the Red Army hadjust accomplishedheepic Long March;the Communist evolutionariesadlosttheir erritorialases n theSouth, s well as thebulkoftheir rmy.ntheremote astnessfNorthern hensi,Mao was summingup the experi-ence of therevolution,n preparationf a new start.We owe to Snow'sjournalisticesourcefulnessremarkablyively tory f Mao's life,narratedbyMao himself, nd yetunmarred ysubsequent octrinal ccretions nd560

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Mao, Maoism and Mao-ologyrevisions.hrough ed Star Over China, heworld t largefor he firsttime earnedwho theChinese ommunistsnd theireaderswere.At thetime t was a sensationalevelationnd to thisday t remains uniquelyentrancingistoricalecord,nspiringn the studentf Chinese ommu-nism certain ostalgiaor hose emote ayswhen he evolutionas"sim-ple" nd "pure."A revised nd enlarged dition f Red Star Over China' has now ap-peared. lthoughhebulk f the ext emainsntact,rrorsf past ditionshave been correctednd minor djustments adeforthe benefitf thecontemporaryeader. he importanthanges re n theadditions: chro-nology f i9thand 20th entury hinese istory,bibliography,aluablebiographicalotes,nd new documents,uch as furthernterviews ithMao n 936,which idnot ind place n the riginaldition.Threedecades fterhefirst ditionfRed Star OverChina,we findourselvesn presencefa score f works n Mao Tse-tung, ost fthempublishedn recent ears. here rescholarlyrticles,2iographicalhap-ters3nd various ooks ublishedn China nd n theWest. urthermore,Mao's writings avebeenpublishedime and again in various orms,translatednmany anguagesndwidely isseminated.here re thefourvolumes f Mao'sSelectedWorks ublishedn Peking,4ndividual orkspublishedn the ormfbrochuresndtopical nthologiesfMao'spoetry,5writingsn culture` rwritingsn military atters.7ast,but not east,there s the"little ed book"Quotations romChairmanMao Tse-tung, irstprepared ytheGeneral olitical epartmentftheChinese eople's ib-eration rmy, ublishedndwidely istributedn i966 as thebreviaryftheCultural evolution.8

I New York:GrovePress, 968.2 e.g. Howard L. Boorman's xcellentrticle,Mao at Seventy," hinaQuarterly,6, I963.3 e.g. Donald W. Klein,ed.,Men and Politics n Communist hina,New York: ColumbiaUniversity,960 (mimeo).4 Internationalublishers,New York, produceda 5-volumeedition of Mao's SelectedWorks, nding n 1949; Lawrence ndWishart, ondon,producedn theyears 954 to I956 a4-volume dition f theSelectedWorks fMao Tse-tung, ontaining hematerial f the firstvolumes f the Chinese dition.5Mao Tse-tung:Nineteen oems (Peking:ForeignLanguagesPress, 958).6 Mao Tse-tung n Art nd LiteraturePeking: Foreign anguagesPress, 960).7 Mao Tse-tung, asic Tactics.Translatedwithan introductionyStuartR. Schram,witha foreword y Brigadier-Generalamuel B. Griffith,r. New York: FrederickA. Praeger,

I966); see also SelectedMilitaryWritingsfMao Tse-tung Peking:Foreign anguagesPress,I 966).8 In i967 aloneChina printed 50 million opiesof the"little edbook," ncludingeveralmillionsn scores f languages eleased ytheForeign anguagesPress n Pekingfordistribu-tion n 148 countries.hina also printedn I967, 86,400,000 setsoftheSelected Works of MaoTse-tung,even nd a halftimes heaggregateotalprintedn the 5 yearsbefore heCulturalRevolutionPekingReview, , I968). In addition, ccording o incompletetatistics,45 un-authorizedranslationsnd editions f Mao's works n 65 languageshavebeen publishedn 55countries,ncluding o2 editions fthe"Quotations" PekingReview, 9, I967).56i



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PacificAflairsTheperiodfMao'syouthndformations the nethat assufferedhegreatestmount f doctoringt the hands of orthodoxnterpretersnPeking oday. hese end omakeMao appear omewhatike he egendary

Lao Tzu, emergingrom hewomb lready ith beard nd full f wis-dom.Thus, heofficialistorianua Kang makesMao appear s oneofthe eaders ftheMayFourthMovementn 9i9.9 In viewof this,aymenand scholars like are indebted o Stuart chram's ainstakingffortstreconstructionf therealMaoTse-tung. r. Schram as accomplishedhearduous ask f collatingresentditionsf Mao's workswith heoriginaltextsnd ome fhisrevelationsre tartling.The SelectedWorkspublishedn Peking n Chinesebeginningn i95i and then

translatedntovarious anguages,nclude nly bouthalfof Mao's writings.... More-overthe texts ncluded n theSelectedWorkshave been subjected o suchnumerousand profound hanges y the author hat ne cannot ven accept single entencesbeing denticalwith what Mao had actuallywritten ithout hecking t against heoriginal ersion.10Although,s faras I know,no systematicritical econstructionndpublication f Mao's SelectedWorks s beingundertakenoutsideofChina,naturally) t thepresentime,Mr. Schram'swords onstitutewarningo all whodesire o drawquotationsrom he wisdom f the"great eacher, reat eader, reat upreme ommanderndgreathelmsman."This leavesbut littlevalue to Anne Fremantle'sMao Tse-tung:An An-thology f His Writings,"-ecause f her uncriticaleproductionftextsfrom he SelectedWorks.JohnRue furthernalyzes heMaoistrecon-structionfparty istoryndspeculatesn thereasons orMao'srevisionfhiswriting.'2e notes hat he ublicationf he electedWorks egan fterMao'sreturnromMoscown 950, andexpresseshe elief hatMaowantedas much oestablishisown version fthehistoryf theCCP as to con-

ciliate talin, y exoneratingtalin rom esponsibilityor heblundersfhisfollowers,ikeCh'iiCh'iu-pai, angMing ndothers.Mr. Schram,hemostprolific riter n Mao Tse-tung, isplayshemost penetratingnderstandingf Mao's personalitynd thought. fhis two books in English-The PoliticalThought of Mao Tse-tung ndMao Tse-tung13-theatters an extensiveiography,hile heformersan compendiumf substantialelectionsromMao'swritingsrouped n-dertopical hapterssuchas "theBourgeoisie,"PeasantryndWorking9Hua Kang, Wu-suYfintunghih (Historyof theMay FourthMovement) (Shanghai,'954).10StuartR. Schram,The PoliticalTsought fMao Tse-tungNew York: Praeger,966),p. 92.11A Mentor ook New York:New American ibrary,963).12 JohnE. Rue, Mao Tse-tungn Opposition: 927-1935 (Stanford: tanfordUniversityPress, 966), pp. 6-7.18 PelicanBooks ("PoliticalLeadersof the Twentieth entury"), ondon, 1966.

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Mao, Maoism and Mao-ologyClassLeadership,"Revolution,ictatorshipnd Liberty,"tc .. ) andprecededya lengthyntroduction,nwhich n outline fMao's ife ndthoughtspresentedgainst hebackgroundfcontemporaryvents.nmyview, chram'srrangementfthetext electionsn the atter ookap-pears obe ofquestionablealue. tmight aveprovidedhereaderwithclearerutlook nMao'sthoughtfsuch mportantssayss On Practice,On Contradictionr On New Democracyhad been appended (verbatimand nchronologicalrder) o the ntroduction,otes ndprologue,nsteadofbeing rbitrarilyragmented,norder ofit-not lwaysmoothly-underdifferentopical eadings.he difficultieshich his rrangementmposesupon thereader refurtherggravatedy theabsence f an index.Mr.Schram's ookMao Tse-toung14s theFrenchversion f thePoliticalThought fMao Tse-tung.n it, theauthor ses theofficialommunistpinyinystemftranscriptionfChinesenames,which s commendableinview f he agariesf he renchransliterationystem.Schram'smost aluable ontributionshisdocumentationf thegenesisandmaturationfMao'sthought. is basic ourcesreMao's ownnarra-tionto EdgarSnow and thereminiscencesf his childhoodriends,heHsiaobrothers,speciallyhecharmingookofHsiaoYu, Mao Tse-tungand I WereBeggars.15nhisPoliticalThought . . , Schram uotes ithertovirtuallynknownarlywritingsfMao Tse-tung, hichhe translatedhimself. ost mportantmong heses Mao'sessay n the mportancefphysicalulture,hich chram aselsewhereranslatedn itsentiretyntoFrench ndannotated andpartiallyntoEnglish n thebookdiscussedhere. chram raws vividpanorama fthecurrentsf ideas,which f-fectedhemind fyoungMao andpartlyeappearednhis SinicizedMarx-ism"oflater ays.At thetime f theMayFourthMovement, ao Tse-tung ad ustgraduatedrom eachers' ollege nCh'angshand went orthe irstime oPeking,hen heMecca ftheNewCulturemovement.ismind t thetimewas still patchworkfWesternndChinesedeas, amixturef iberalism,emocraticeformismndutopianocialism,"s hetold now. chramurtherharacterizesim s a vigorousndividualistnda ferventationalist,hodidnotfind t contradictoryoidentifyimselfsimultaneouslyith hepopular ebels n Chinese istorynd their up-pressors,hethermperorWu of theHan dynastyrTsengKuo-fanfthemid-nineteenthentury.

14 Collection , Armand olin Paris, 963). Philippe evillers asrecentlyublished bookentitled e que Mao a vraimentit (Stock,Paris, 968), which pparentlylso analyzes elec-tionsof Mao's writingsn theirhistoricalontext Le Monde,weeklyedition,June13-19,I968), butunfortunatelyhebook is not at presentvailableto thereviewer.15 Syracuse:SyracuseUniversityress, 959); Emi Siao, Mao Tse-tung,His Childhoodand Youth Bombay:People'sPublishing ouse,1953).16 Stuart chram.Une etudede le'ducation hysique Serie: "Materiaux ourl'setude e laChinemoderne t contemporaine,"aris:Mouton, 962).

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PacificAffairsAt PekingUniversity,hefather f ChineseMarxism, i Ta-chao,whosaw Chinaand otherAsiannations s proletarianizedations, ppressed ya handful f capitalist ations, ropagatedmong his studentshepopulistcall tointellectualsogo amongthepeople, speciallymongthepeasantry,in order o raise t from bscurantismnd oppression nd awakenit to itscollective reative otential. i believed hatthesalvation f China lay inthe mancipationf tspeasantry.17A case can clearlybe made that,from heMay Fourth Movement n,Li Ta-chao'steachingwas thesinglemost mportantnfluencen shapingMao's ideologicaldevelopment. i not onlyimpressedMao by his appealto the intellectualsto go into themasses"but also deepened his nation-

alism,making t possibleforhim to be botha Marxist-Leninistnd a Chi-nesenationalist,nd strengtheninghisvoluntaristicnclination, hich wasto becomeso strikinglyharacteristicf Mao's approachto problems-anapproach mountingn effecto a belief hat thesubjective an create heobjective."18ollowingLi Ta-chao,Mao rejectedbothConfucianconser-vatism nd "all-outWesternization."nstead,he appliedcritical iscrimina-tionwithin othChinese ndWesternulture,ncludingMarxism:"In his ntellectualevelopment,e leapeddirectlyrom radition-orientedational-

ismtorevolutionaryationalism,ithout verpassing hroughhe ntermediatetageofradicalWesternization.his is one ofthetraitshat itted im for he eadershipftheChinese evolution;onversely, enlikeChGen u-hsiu,nsufficientlyationalisticin outlook, ad little hance fprevailingn thestruggleorpower."19In Mao's eyes, s in Li's, theteachingsf Marxand Engelswere of littlerelevance o China,becausethey ended omakeman thepassiveobjectofblindhistoricalorces:China'stragedywas that, nlessrevolutionaryctionconsciouslyccelerated herotation f thewheel ofhistory,henation ouldnotsurvive nd be regenerated. ao was understandably oreattractedoLenin,who like himself,was essentially man of action,concerned ri-marilywithrevolutionarytrategy nd theconquestof power. Lenin hadfurthermoreiscarded hetraditional arxist ias against hepeasantryndrecognized hat n Asia thepeasantrywould constitutehe chiefforceoftherevolution.In I926-27 Mao Tse-tungbeganhis activitymongthepeasantryf hisnativeHunan and producedhisAnalysis f Classes n Chinese ociety ndReporton an InvestigationfthePeasantMovementn Hunan Province.

These are possibly he mostrevised f all the essays ncluded n the Se-lectedWorks.Oddlyenough, heearly nd immaturessay,whichthe"Hu-nan Report" s, becamethe center f a controversyn Mao's originality.17 See MauriceMeissner, i Ta-chao and the Originsof Chinese Marxism Cambridge:HarvardUniversityress, 967).18 Schram, olitical hought . . , p. 8o.19 bid.,p. 76.564



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Mao, Maoismand Mao-ologyDr.Karl A.Wittfogeluotedt todenyMao alloriginalityfthoughtndmakehimappear s a mere arrotf Lenin.20chram uotes ubstantialextractsf theoriginal ersionfthe"HunanReport"nd these learlyshowthatn 927 Mao hadnot yetfullymasteredeninistoncepts. eattributedo thepeasantry degree f initiativen thedirectionf therevolution,hich eithereninnor talin ouldhave ccepted.e wasstillideologicallyclectic,ut s a social adical ewas ndisagreementith heCCP leadership,ecausef ts rresolutenessowardhe grarianevolution.In hisother ook,Mao Tse-tung,chram ates hebeginningf Mao'sassimilationfbasicMarxist-Leninistrinciplesslate s theWayaopao on-ferencefthePolitburo CP in 935, atwhich imehe madea reportnthe acticsffightingapanesemperialism.On theother and,Mao'searly reoccupationith rganizationalech-niques ndemphasisn theprimacyfpolitics,sevidencefwhat chramcalls"natural eninism." chram onsidershe"HunanReport" s es-sentiallya-Marxist"ndaptly ums pMao's debt oLenin:the dea thatpoliticalonsciousnessoesnotmanifesttselfpontaneouslyntheproletar-iat, he heoryf mperialism,he dea ofpoliticallliance etweenhepro-letariatndcertaintherlasses. ut healso pointsutthatMao has trans-formedhese orrowingsnto somethinghichs notonlydifferent,uthas tsowncharacteristicnity,"oing eyondenin nmakingtpossiblefor heparty o substitutetself or n almostnonexistentroletariatnleading revolution:

"Leninwas a Europeanprimarilynterestedn worldrevolution.. . Mao, on theother and, s an Asianforwhomnationalisms not a necessaryvil,butan authenticvalue n itself...."21Havingsaidthis nd abundantlyocumentedlsewherehesynthesis

of Marxism-Leninismith the Chinesetraditionerformedy Mao,Schram'sonclusionsppearobeperplexing,fnot ontradictory:Everythingonsidered,t is perhapsbest not to use the term"Maoism," or al-thoughMao's workforoverthepastquarter f a centuryontains riginal lements,Mao has never rawn hose awmaterialsogethern a completeynthesishat eservesa nameof itsown. He personifies synthesisetweenMarxism-Leninismnd tradi-tionalChina;he has produced o intellectualynthesisn thesamescale-thoughhemaydo soyet....22Nor is itquite lear xactly hat chrammeanswhenhe writes:Hislimitationies nthefact hat ehasnotproduced real ynthesisfMarx-ist ndChinesedeas, utmerelynamalgam.2320 See KarlA. Wittfogel,The LegendofMaoism,"ChinaQuarterly,, 1960; andBenjaminSchwartz,The LegendoftheLegend fMaoism,"ChinaQuarter-ly,, 1960.21 Schram, olitical hought . , p. 79.22 Ibid.,p. 8i.23Mao Tse-tung,. 325.

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PacificAffairsSome otherfeatures n Mao's subsequentwritings,hould also be re-garded as "non-Marxist."Whereas,for nstance,Marx and Engels in trueHegelianfashion, onceived fa finalityo the dialectical rocess fthede-velopment f society,which would be communism,Mao asserts hatcon-tradictions eternal, lbeitvarying n form. n hisutterances n the eve oftheCulturalRevolution, e quotedLenin to justify is novel beliefthat,even ong after heestablishmentfa socialist ociety,apitalism an be re-storedbecauseof the persistencen men's minds of "bourgeois"deas. Inotherwords,Mao has furtherrevised"Marxismbyadding to it thepossi-bility f historical egression.With the passing of years the voluntaristicelement nMao's ideology as increased. one is thesanguine onfidencef

the 950s that ocialism nd evencommunismwill be realised n the nearfuture:Mao's optimism as nowtakenon a long-range imension falmostBuddhistproportions,hile in the shortrange his recent tatements hattheworldrevolutionarytruggle rogressesn waves,rather han in uni-linear fashion, eem to carrysomething f the yin-yang atalism.Thislong-rangeosmicoptimism s manifestn thealmost ight-hearteday inwhichMao envisages hatout of thecataclysmf atomicwar thesurvivingpeoplesof theworld would build on the ruinsof imperialism better ndmore beautiful ivilization.Mao's imperviousnesso the realities f thepresentge is intensifiedyhis considerablegnorance ftheworldoutsideof China and particularlyis inability o comprehendhesituationn theindustrialized ations of the West, which he (in Schram'sapt phrase)"interprets. . in terms f a combinationfMarxist-Leninisttereotypesndthe anti-foreignrejudicesof a Hunanese nationalist."t could also bearguedthattheThoughtof Mao Tse-tungdoes notprovide sensible o-lutionforChina's needsoftoday ither,hat again in Schram'sperceptivewords) the"myth f theLong March" has become"as irrelevant . . asthe . . myth f the one frontiersmano thecontemporarynitedStates."(It is interestingo speculate,whether chramwouldhave alteredhis con-clusions, ad he beenwriting fter he launching f theCulturalRevolu-tion.)Three otherbiographies f Mao Tse-tunghave been publishedor re-printedn recentyears.One, by GeorgePaloczi-Horvath,Mao Tse-tung:Emperor fthe Blue Ants,24s notdevoidof interest nd contains aluableinformation n the relationshipsetweenStalin and the Chinese Com-munists n theyears 945-I953,buton the wholethe book showswhat pit-fallsawait even themostcompetentKremlinologist" hen he attempts oapplyhis craft o the studyof Chinese Communismwithout ny deeperknowledge f theChinesemilieu.Paloczi-Horvath'sppraisalof Mao Tse-tung s shallow, nd he displays cantunderstandingf the nternalmech-anisms of Chinese Communism.Robert Payne's Mao Tse-tungre-ap-

24 London:Secker ndWarburg,962.566



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Mao, Maoism and Mao-ologypearedn i966 in a neweditionncludinghe dditionf several ages othe oncludinghapter.25nlikePaloczi-Horvath,ayne s sympatheticotheobject fhisstudy, uthisundeniableiteraryalent oesnotcompen-sateforhis gnorancefMarxism-Leninism.n the ddedpagesMr.PayneperceptivelyemarkshatMao'smind, nce o"elastic,een ndmalleable,"has in the 96os becomeclosedto all outside deas and imposedupon theChinese eople stultifyingogma.But from here aynegoeson tosaythatMao is no longerapable f mprovising,ehas ostcontact ithhispeople ndseems ninterestedn their ate.Recent ventswouldtend orefutehis,nd it remainso be seenhowhistory illtreat ayne's inalconclusionhat whenMao dies, hedictatorshipustnecessarilyie withhim."The third nd most mportantf thebiographiess Jerome h'en'sMao and theChineseRevolution.26t focussesn theMaoistpatternfrevo-lution, hereforeignificantlyndingtsnarrationf Mao's life n I949,whereaschramtresses ao'spersonalitynd the volutionfhisthought.Schram'snd Ch'en'sbooks re complementaryn certainreas.Ch'en'sbook, houghublishednly hortlyeforechram's orks, ame ooearlyto drawuponthe nterestingaterialhat ppears n the reminiscencesofrevolutionaryeteransublishedfter960. A serious eaknesssCh'en'sover-reliancenChinese ommunistublications,specially ao'sSelectedWorks,s edited fterheCommunistictory. differenteaknesss hisclumsyootnoteystem hichmakes he racingfeveryeferencetime-consumingnd often rustratingndeavour; his s especiallynfortunatesince h'en ists more bundantibliographyhat chramoes nPoliticalThoughtofMao Tse-tunghis secondbook,Mao Tse-tung,istsnone).Schram's ell-documentedcepticismbout hereliabilityfthe electedWorks,aturallyauses im odisagree ith h'en stowhat oliciesMaoactuallyupportednvarious ccasions. n interestingxamples thedis-putewithin heleadership f theCCP in theyears 937 to I939 as to thenature ftheirUnited ront"with heKuomintangntheWarof Resist-ance oJapan. h'en upportshe rthodoxersion,ccordingowhich heStalinist angMing dvocated second alliance romwithin" hileMaoadvocatedn "alliance rom ithout"norderopreservehe utonomyftheCCP anditsarmed orces. ow SchramndicateshatMao actuallyadvocatedn "Alliance romwithin."27t is unfortunatehat chram oesnotprovidemore ubstantialndconvincingvidence or his eversalfahithertocceptediewwhichallied owellwithMao'soverallecord.h'enandSchram o agree, owever,hatMao'srevolutionarytrategyid notmaturentil he ate 930s, that t the ime fhis"HunanReport" ewas

25 NewYork:Pyramid ooks, 966.28London,New York,Toronto:OxfordUniversityress, 965.27 Schram,Mao Tse-tung, . 202.567



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PacificAffairsstill nly ropingowardMarxism-Leninismnd that edid notbecomehesupremeeaderof theCCP untilafter he Tsunyi ConferenceI935). Thislastpoint,whichcoincideswith theorthodox ersion f thehistory f theCCP, isnowgenerally ccepted.In his brilliant ioneeringworkChineseCommunism nd the Rise ofMao28first ublished omefifteen ears go,BenjaminSchwartz oncludedthat thetransferf theCentralCommittee romShanghaito theCentralSovietterritoryf Kiangsi in I932 marked the final passingof power intheCCP into thehands of Mao. This conclusionwas disputed yProfessorHsiao Tso-liang n his analysisof the Ch'en Ch'eng collection f earlyChineseCommunist ocuments.29 siao's outlinehas now been developedinto a full-fledgednteresting onograph y John . Rue,Mao Tse-tungnOpposition: 927-I935,30 which, s the itle ndicates,emonstrateshatMaonotonlywas not n control f theChineseCommunistmovementwhentheChineseSovietterritories ereestablished, ut was degraded nd renderedpowerless ythe"Leftist" entralCommittee eaded byWang Ming andCh'in Pang-hsien,which condemnedhim for excessive eniency owardtherichpeasants nd foradvocacyof guerillatactics nsteadof positionalwarfare. his view s cautiously ualified ySchramwho believes hatMaowas alloweda certain utonomyn determininggrarian olicies.Thus, the"Land verification ovement" f I933 bore a characteristic aoistimprintandpre-figuredhe 950 Land Reform y nvolvinghepeasantsn an acutestrugglewiththelandlords."Nevertheless,n thewhole,as Schram ndi-

28 Cambridge: arvardUniversityress, eprint,964.29 Hsiao Tso-liang, owerRelationsWithinheChineseCommunist ovement: 930-1934-A StudyofDocumentsSeattle: Universityf Washington ress, 96i). Prof.Schwartz,n a1958 preface, uestioned is own earlier onclusions hatMao achieved eadershipf theCCPin I931.

30 Stanford: tanford niversityress, 966.31 Schram.Mao Tse-tung, . i66. Schram nd Rue (the lattermuchmoreextensively)oc-ument he evolution f Mao's land policiesfrom xtreme adicalism n theChingkangMoun-tains to a morepragmatic olicy f even toleratingichpeasants n Kiangsi.But, whereasRueholds theviewthat heearlier adicalpolicy fconfiscatingll landwas imposed ponMao bytheParty enter gainsthis own betterudgment this is also theorthodox ersion), chramwrites hatMao thenwas himselfmuch more radicalthanhe now pretendso have been. Asa matter f factSchram's iew thatMao in I928 stillwas more radicalthan theParty enterand the Cominterneemsplausible; o is his conclusion hat n thefollowing ear, fter heloss of the Chingkang ase, practical onsiderationsausedMao to adoptmore liberal andpolicieswhile Moscow, n the otherhand,now adopted muchmoreradical tand,followingthe denunciationf Bukharin nd the initiationf land collectivizationn the SovietUnion.Rue also showsthatLi Li-san,byhis decision o hold land redistributionn abeyance,o as toavoid a premature evolutionarypsurge n the countrysideefore he citieswerereadyandwhiletheanti-imperialisttruggle as his primary onsideration,eld an evenmore "rightist""rich peasant ine" thanMao. This would lendpartial upport o Hsiao Tso-liang'sviewthatMao was temporarilyn agreement ithMoscow gainst i Li-san n 1930. Rue with bundantdocumentationinksdevelopments ithin heChineseCommunistmovement o whatwas hap-pening t thattime n the Comintern, hichStalinwas transformingntoan obedient ool ofSoviet oreign olicy y replacing riginaleaderswithhis ownyes-men.568



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Mao, Maoism and Mao-ologycates,Mao's successnextendingheRedArmyndbringingizable erri-tories nderts ontrolround930 was the ource fhisundoing:heworkhe hadbegunn theChingkang ountainsn 927 wasdestroyedy thePartyeadershipn 934 andtheRed Armywas forced uton itsepicbutcostly ongMarch.The Long March ndMao's role n it is best oldby Jerome h'en,32whodwells,muchmore hanSchram, n thedetails fMao's militarycampaigns. lacingMao in theframeworkf the i9th centurySelf-Strengthening"ovements well s inthe ineage fChina's reat istoricalrebellions,h'en supplies xtremelynterestingetails bout hepoliticalsituationnHunan n Mao's youth nd thebroadpicturef thecomplexsituationnChina t the ime f theKiangsi oviet ndtheLongMarch.Ch'en lsoremarkshatMao'sdevelopmentfrevolutionaryasesn thevasthinterlanduring heAnti-Japanesearconstitutesn fact n extensionftheLeninist heory f theweakest ink in the imperialisthain.LikeSchram, e concludeshat hevictoryf theChinese ommunistsasul-timately adepossibles much y Mao'sdirectionf themovements bytheweaknessesnd blundersf ts nemies,heJapaneseggressionrovid-ing theindispensablepportunityo create he necessaryonditionsorsuch victory.Mao'svictory as followed y hisconsecrations a great ndoriginalMarxisthinker,ut he anonizationrocess adbegun lreadynYenan.Schram hows ow, t the ime ftheRectificationampaignf 942, Maolaunched isown personalityultbypromotinghe tudyf his writings;the ultblossomedortht the eventhongressf theCCP in 945, whenLiu Shao-ch'iirony f history )nshrinedheThought fMao Tse-tungasthe uide f he arty.Yetthebulkof Mao's writingss devotedo practical atters-to rob-lemsofstrategyndpolicy. e wrote ewphilosophicalssays nd thesearegenerallyothighlyegardedutside hina.Even so,Mao's essays nPracticendOn Contradictionppear oosophisticatedocertainWesternauthoritiesor hem o believehatMao could ossiblyavewrittenhem searly s I937, especiallyince n I940 he wrote rather lumsy ieceondialecticalmaterialismotconsidered orthy y its author f being n-cludednhisSelectedWorks. his view sheldnot nly yDennisDoolinandPeterGolas,3' ut lsobyArthur ohen,whose ookThe Communismof Mao Tse-tunge4s devoted o analyzinghe various spects f Mao's32 For intimatelimpses fMao on theLongMarch, ee thereminiscencesfhisbodyguard,Ch'enChang-feng,n theLong MarchWithChairmanMao (Peking:Foreign anguagePress,I959).33 VsevolodHolubnychy,Mao Tse-tung'sMaterialisticialectics," China Quarterly,9,July-September,964; also DennisJ.Doolin and PeterJ.Golas, "'On Contradictions'n theLightofMao Tse-tung's ssayon 'DialecticalMaterialism,'"bid.'4 Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, i964.

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PacificAffairsthought n relation o the classics f Marxism-Leninismnd contemporarySovietwritings.Cohen drastically ares down the claimsforMao's originality,onsign-ing it almost solely to the realm of revolutionaryractice.According ohim,Mao's onlyclaim to distinctions thatof a revolutionarytrategistndpractician. s a theorist e had attainedno real distinction. s a Marxistthinkerhis originalitys virtually imited to his differentiationetweenprimary nd secondary ontradictionsr the thesisof the principalandsecondary spectof a contradiction. therwise, is philosophical ssays reunoriginal;even the theory f the non-antagonisticontradictionsn so-cialism are paraphrases f Lenin and Soviettheoreticiansf the I930s. InMao's discussion f contradictions is originalitygain is limited to thepractical olitical ide of admitting he possibility f conflict etween ead-ers and led in socialism, nd acting n consequence. t does indeed appearthat n theformulationf pure theoryMao mayhavebeen nferioro Lenin,butCohen seemsto exaggerate is distinction etween heory nd practice,and his findings re therefore ot veryoriginal, orSchramhas clearlyn-dicatedthe strictly racticalorientation f Mao Tse-tung'swritings.Anexample of over-statementf his case can be seen in what Cohen writesaboutMao's resuscitationf the slogan of "uninterruptedevolution" n1958, when he called for a "Great Leap Forward" in productionby"walking on two legs" (simultaneously eveloping ndustrynd agricul-ture). Cohen remarks hattherewas a novel aspectto Mao's use of thisslogan-its application o internal ocio-politicalransformationsftertheseizureof power; Mao used it drasticallyo accelerate hepace of collec-tivization f agriculture eforemodernmachinery ecame available,thusreversing he orderof priorities stablished y Lenin and Stalin. Trueenough,thistheorywas quietlyburied n i960, when Mao reversedyetanotherorderof priorities stablished y Lenin and Stalin-giving pri-ority o agricultural evelopment nsteadof heavy industryn the con-struction f socialism.A seriousweaknessof Cohen's study s that it isstrictlyasedon comparativeMarxism,n almost otalabstractionrom heChinesecultural radition.What further etracts romthe value of Co-hen'sstudys thenarrowAmerican et ofvaluesfromwhichhe approacheshis subject, haracterized y an almost fetishist orshipof "freedom-and-democracy." ince, to Mao, democracy-and-freedomre "relative, ot ab-solute," oncludesCohen,hispositions thatof a reactionary ot too longafter hepublicationfCohen'swork, heupheavalof the "CulturalRevo-lution"has refuted ome of his hastyconclusions uch as that Mao haswithdrawn romhis I956-57nnovation ositing he existence f contradic-tionsbetween eaders nd ledunder ommunism nd thetolerationfsmallstrikes.Schramhas published valuablestudyof the connection etween he570



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Mao, Maoism and Mao-ologyrevivedlogan fthe uninterruptedevolution"nd the ccelerationfthepace of the revolutionn China.35 e indicateshatMao never ubliclyraised he logan imself,ut hat t s neverthelesslearlynspiredyhim;he alsoprovidesranslationsfthe peechesnd theoreticalrticlesnwhichthis logan s discussed.Schram rgues hat heresnoreason o believe hat he ssays n Prac-tice and On Contradiction ere not written t the claimeddate of I937,since hiswasthetimewhen mportantovietwritingserebeing rans-lated nYenan, nspiring spurt fproductionyChineseMarxisthilos-ophers;Mao,as leader,ouldnotremainilent,speciallyince enowhadthe eisure o read nd writend was tacklingheproblemfsummingptherecentxperiencef theCCP in order o "SinicizeMarxism-Leninism"inpreparationor new tart.No studyfMao'spersonalitys complete ithoutome valuationfhis poetic chievements.oetrywritings muchmorecommon mongChinese han mongWesterners;ven o,theclaims orMao'sdistinctionin thisfield ppear ndisputable.e has writtenn classicalmeters,s-peciallynthe z'u yric ormnd theregulatedeven-charactereter. ispoetrymanifestsn appreciationf thegrandeurf naturend a fleetingsentimentalityhich re quite lassic; et, n theother and, texudes nenergynd a self-confidencencommonn traditionalhinese oety. othCh'en andSchram ave a highregard orMao's poetry nd devote on-siderablettentiono t. Appendedo Ch'en's ook s a sectionomprising37ofMao's poems, ranslatednd amply nnotatedyhimselfnd MichaelBullock. chram uotesMao's poems hroughouthe overall ext f hisbiographyndhasalsopublishedn article evotedolely oMao'spoetry.3"(Therehavebeen ther ranslationsf Mao's poems-inPeking,37nd alsoabroad yRobert ayne,Ng Yong-sangnd others)8 Ch'en nd Bullockremarkhatprevious ranslationsf Mao's poemsweretoo smooth ndgentlen rhythmnd did not hereforeeflectthat igorous,lmost iolent,anddistinctlytaccatouality, hich newould xpect rom uch forcefuland combativeersonalitys Mao's." By the tersenessf their xcellenttranslation,h'en nd Bullock ave ndeed etainedhis uality; chram's

35Stuart R. Schram, La "R~volution Permanente" en Chine. Ideologie dialectique et dialec-tique du reel (Paris: Mouton, I963). A more ample book by Enrica Collotti-Pischel,La re'volu-tion ininterrompue (Paris: Julliard, I964) deals with China's ideological positions in relationto her internalproblems and her dispute with the Soviet Union.36 Stuart R. Schram, "Mao as a Poet," Problems of Communism, September-Octoberx964,pp. 38-45.7Mao Tse-tung, Nineteen Poems (Peking: Foreign Language Press, i958); also ChineseLiterature (Peking), i, i963.

88 Ng Yong-sang, "The Poetry of Mao Tse-tung," China Quarterly (Special Survey ofChinese Communist Literature), I3, January-March,963, pp. 60-73. Mr. Ng's rendering n myopinion is too wordy. See also Ho Ping-ti, "Two Major Poems by Mao Tse-tung," Queen'sQuarterly Kingston, Ontario), LXV, 2, 1958, p. 257.57I



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PacificAffairstranslation,n comparison,s alsoaccurate,utperhapsmorebrilliantndimaginative.One'sfirstnalyticalmpulses tocompareMao Tse-tung ithLenin.The ChineseCommunistsavenow proclaimedhatthe"Thought fMao Tse-tung"s theMarxism-Leninismf ourday,which ends orefuteFranzSchurmann'secent istinctionetweenhe "pure" Marxist-Len-inist)doctrinend "practicaldeology"theThoughtf Mao Tse-tung).39Just sLenin djustednotto say revised")Marxismo fit herealitiesfthe geof"monopolyapitalism"r"imperialism,"o Mao hasattemptedto adapt he heoreticalegacy fMarxism-Leninismoourepoch.As LinPiao (nowdecreedo behis"closestomraden arms")puts t:"MaoTse-tung's houghts Marxism-Leninismftheera in which mperialismsheading or otal ollapse,nd socialisms advancingoworld-wideic-tory."40Lenin n hisdaymadeMarxism elevanto economicallyackwardus-sia, thus nitiatingheprocess, hich chram ptly allsthe"De-Euro-peizationfMarxism."'"hisprocess as consciouslyarried orwardyMao Tse-tung, hohas adaptedMarxism-Leninismo the conditionsfChina ndhasclaimed hat isrevolutionasthemodel or evolutionsnthenon-Europeanreas f heworld.42Lenin nd Mao fatheredwodifferentodels frevolution,etMao ismore han heLeninof China:he hashad thechance osurvive,owforalmost wodecades,he eizurefpowerndtoguide herevolutionarye-constructionfhis ountry,process hich ussia xperiencednder talin.A parallellsoexists etween ao and Stalin. omeof Mao'spolicies ereinspiredyStalin-the egimentationfculturendthe rts nd the cultof thepersonality,"onameonly wo.The parallelsannot, owever,edrawn ery ar.Mao's"personalityult,"t leastuntil he ve of the Cul-turalRevolution," as notthe manifestationfunbridledutocraticuleaswas thecasewithStalin,but rather hegratificationf a need,traditionallyfeltby many Chinese,for some kind of father-figure,ymbolizing hecountry'se-unification,hile decisionswerearrived t bythe eadership ftheCCP collectively-a LeninistnormofParty ife" such as Khrushchevwanted orestorentheCPSU in 956.Mao stronglyesentedKhruschev's unmasking" f Stalinin i956,notonlybecauseit implicitlyttackedMao's own "personalityult" but also

39Franz Schurmann, Ideology and Indoctrinationin Communist China (Berkeley: Univer-sityof California Press, I966), p. 23.40 Lin Piao, Foreword to the 2nd Edition of Quotations of Chairman Mao Tse-tung, i6December I966.41 Stuart Schram and Helene Carrere d'Encausse, Le Marxisme et I'Asie: 1853-1964 (Paris:Armand Colin, I965).42 See Liu Shao-ch'i's interesting tatements n Anna Louise Strong's report,"The Thoughtof Mao Tse-tung," Amerasia, XI, 6 (June 1947), p. i6i.

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Mao, Maoismand Mao-ologybecause n issue rucial o theentirenternationalommunist ovementhad beendecided ponbythe eaders ftheCPSU withoutonsultinghe"fraternalarties,"hose restigendsurvival ere hus uddenlyeopar-dized n the yes fthepeoples verwhich hey uled.Maohadalways e-sented PSU dominationver heworldCommunist ovementor thadcaused reat arm o theChinese P. He clearlyelt hat, s long s theprestigioustalin eaded he oviet arty,hishad tobetolerated,utnowthat bscure ussianpparatchiks,ho had been errorizedccomplicesfthecrimes orwhich heynowdenounced heir atemaster,ntended operpetuatehisdomination,he timehad comeforMao,who had everyreason oconsider imselfs worthierhanKhrushchev,o rearrangeherelationshipsetween ommunistarties n a newbasis. n I957 he waswillingosupportoviet eaderships long s itdidnotmeandiktat,ut ni960 he demandedutonomynd equality f all parties. odayhe ad-vocateshineseeadership.On thewhole,Mao is a vastly ifferentersonalityrom othLeninandStalin. very evolutionarys a productfthe culturend traditionagainstwhichhe rises n revolt. his is especiallyrue frevolutionaries,who, ike talin ndMao,for llpracticalurposes everefthe ountryftheir irth,ever xperiencedhechallengingnd enrichingonfrontationof a differentraditionrmilieu. orn nd rearedn the onservativerov-ince fHunan,Maohas spentmost fhis ife wayfromheWesternized,urban entersf China nd s intenselyhinese. here s in hispersonalitya touch fboth he clecticismf theChinesecholar nd the arthyenseofhumourftheChinese easant;wefind nhim deephueofrevolution-aryromanticismnd a versatility,hich ven he levationf histhoughtas officialogma annot ompletelyide.His old rivalChang Kuo-t'ao,nowretiredn HongKong,toldan American eportern i965 that in-creasingly ao seems o havebecome revolutionaryomantic, hohaslost ouchwithhe ealitiesf ociety."Mao'svoluntarismasbecome venmore xtreme ith ge. n the ate1920S, he affirmedhat t was possible, yintensiveolitical raining,otransformandits nd various ther ural lements eclassls nto hevan-guard ftheproletariat,hus asting o thewinds llMarxiandmonitionsagainstheLumpenproletariat.is unorthodoxracticesonstantlyethimat loggerheadsith he eadershiphichMoscowmposed pontheearlyCCP. EvenwhenMoscow ccepted isguerillaactics,t merelyegardedthese s a holding ction, endingherevolutionarypsurgen the citiesandthe onsequenteassertionf proletarianeadership."utforMaothesetacticsonstitutedhe tart f an entirelyewstrategyor herevolution,with hedevelopmentfrural ases s itskey.Todaymore han ver, ebelieveshat he ubjectivean createheobjective,hat heres nomiraclethat people rmedwith evolutionarynthusiasmannotccomplishnd

573



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PacificAffairsthat n theother andthepersistencef"bourgeoisdeas" n themindscan bring bout restorationf capitalism,ong after he ast economicvestigesf capitalismavedisappeared.orthis,manyWesternndSovietauthorsave hided imfor eing fraid fthepossibleocial ndpoliticalconsequencesf modernizationnd thereforeanifesting"Yenancom-plex," eeking efuge rom changing,ncertain orld whichby hisparochialisme is not ableto comprehend)n a pastfilledwithglory.43There s a grain ftruthn this, utwhethert willprove o be the ntiretruthemainsobe seen, orMao s stilliving. istoryeservests erdict.UniversityfBritish olumbia, ugust968 RENE GOLDMAN

43 See forexample he attack n Mao Tse-tung ublishedn the October , 7967, issueofIzvestia nd entitledA Voluntaristicefiance f Scientificocialism."The article ccusesMaoof ignorancef the classics f Marxism-Leninism,fcontemptor thecorrect ath ndicated ythe historicalxperiencef theSovietUnion,ofpetty-bourgeoisdeology, fgreat-powerhau-vinism.

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