#Mao Zedong Thought

[revolutionary-marxism]

"We are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun."

— Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung, Vol. II, pp. 224-225

[revolutionarymaoistschicago]

Honoring Chairman Jose Maria Sison

The Revolutionary Maoist Coalition has just learned that the great revolutionary leader, Jose Maria Sison (Feb. 8, 1939 – Dec. 16, 2022), has passed away at the age of 83 following a two week confinement in a Utrecht hospital in the Netherlands. 

This tragic news brings great sadness to our hearts, and we extend the sincerest condolence to Sison’s family and comrades in this painful time of mourning. 

Chairman Sison was a prolific writer, revolutionary fighter, and incredible leader in the struggle for proletarian democracy. The loss of his life is felt by all those around the world who share his fight for global emancipation from the brutal capitalist-imperialist machine. 

Comrade Joma Sison was a lifelong fighter of the revolutionary cause in the Philippines. As a youth, he participated in union organization efforts and founded the Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines in 1959, from which Kabataang Makabayan would be founded in 1964. These formations organized students and youth around national democracy and Marxism-Leninism. Kabataang Makabayan continues to be a major force of Filipino communist youth today. 

In 1961, comrade Sison joined the old Philippine Communist Party (Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 or PKP-1930) and was appointed as a member of the Youth Bureau and Executive Committee. From these positions, Joma attempted to correct the revisionist political line of the Lava-clique by preparing political reports on the Party’s errors. 

As the old PKP-1930 showed it was unwilling to rectify errors in political line and military strategy, Joma Sison, using the alias of Amado Guerrero, spearheaded the founding of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 under the red banner of Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought. One year later, he oversaw the formation of the New People’s Army and the initiation of a Protracted People’s War in the Philippines, which continues fighting for new democracy and the liberation of workers and peasants in the country to this day. 

Later, in 1977 he and his wife, Julie, were arrested and exposed to brutal torture by the fascist Marcos dictatorship. Sison would continue providing political leadership to the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People’s Army (NPA), and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) while incarcerated until his release in 1986, following the collapse of the Marcos dictatorship and the installation of the Aquino regime. 

The revolutionary principles of Sison were not abandoned, or even dampened, by his nearly decade long prison stint. Once released, Sison continued the struggle for socialist democracy by taking on the Aquino regime; exposing it for its corruption and class affiliation to the comprador bourgeois class. The Aquino government responded by exiling Joma in 1987, at which point he made his way to Utrecht, where he remained until his death. 

In the years since his exile, he has continued writing books which are invaluable to the education of Marxist-Leninist-Maoists across the world, and his continued leadership of the CPP, NPA, and NDFP have led to major gains in their fight for national democracy. 

Joma Sison will forever be regarded as one of the greatest revolutionaries of our era. We remember what another great revolutionary, Mao Zedong, once said: to die for the people is weightier than Mount Tai, but to work and die for the fascists is lighter than a feather — comrade Joma’s death is certainly weightier than Mount Tai. We encourage all members of the RMC, and Maoists everywhere, to make an in-depth study of his life and theoretical contributions, which include great works such as: “Organizational Guide and Outline of Reports”, “Rectify Errors and Rebuild the Party​​​​​​​”, Stand For Socialism Against Modern Revisionism, Specific Characteristics of Our People’s War, Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism: A Primer, Philippine Society and Revolution, Upsurge of People’s Resistance in the Philippines and the World, On the Philosophy of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and countless others. 

We are confident that the revolutionary forces of the Philippines will carry on the legacy of comrade Sison by continuing their fight against capitalism-imperialism, semi-feudalism, and modern revisionism in order to establish true democracy by means of proletarian revolution. We, too, must carry on this legacy of the great Sison if we are to truly honor his life and convictions. Whether we be in the Philippines, the so-called united states, Peru, Ghana, Puerto Rico, or Palestine; Joma Sison is an inspiration and model for the type of people we must be in order to win our liberation.  

Jose Maria Sison, rest in power!​​ Long live Joma Sison!  Long live the Filipino masses!  Long live People’s War in the Philippines! 

Signed, 

Revolutionary Maoist Coalition – Chicago Revolutionary Maoist Coalition – District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia Revolutionary Maoist Coalition – New York/New Jersey Revolutionary Maoist Coalition – Arkansas

[little-red-book-daily]

We've finished the first chapter, "The Communist Party" now we're on Chapter 2, "Classes and the Class Struggle"

[connorthemaoist]

“If you dare to struggle, you dare to win. If you dare not struggle, then damn it, you don't deserve to win.” 

-Fred Hampton

[comradecowplant]

unlimited genocide on the first world.

[lleviathansoupsl]

Valiantly pursuing my goal of cementing my own immortality catalysing then ensuring the longevity of revolution

[connorthemaoist]

“Marxism-Leninism-Maoism must be the commander and guide of the world revolution”

Read: Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! (1993) from the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement

[revolutionary-marxism]

Red Guards reading Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong on a mountain above the Yangtze Gorges.

Hubei, China, 1966 / Weng Naiqiang

Guardas Vermelhos lendo Citações do Presidente Mao Zedong em montanha acima das Gargantes de Yangtze.

Hubei, China, 1966 / Weng Naiqiang

[guavagyal]

I still hold a lot of white leftists accountable. feeling morally superior for placing a protest vote when the rights of marginalized people are at stake (flawed ass government) & being mad at those marginalized for not putting in a protest vote is so fucking selfish.

I know we shouldn't blame leftists for the results of this election, but their self-righteousness has been pissing me off for 4 years now. they think accelerationism will save us, but most of them are not organized to start a revolution. they were like anti-gun liberals like 2-8 years ago. I'm cynical, so I think they expect marginalized people to be cannon fodder for right-wingers & the state. they like to think they're Che or Mao, but they're just a sanctimonious hack in a Che t-shirt they bought from Amazon (at least make your own Che shirt ffs).

surprise us all and start a mutual aid & reading theory. starting podcasts & being snarky on the Internet won't help anyone or get people onto leftist ideology.

[marxistlesbianist]

*Noir voiceover*: “It’s hard to fall asleep when you need to piss.”

[revolutionary-marxism]

"In the spring of 1965, a large group of consultants from our and other departments were entrusted with the preparation of a report by the First Secretary of the Central Committee for the 20th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War. We were sitting on the fifth floor in a room not far from Brezhnev's office. I was assigned to lead the group, and that is why Brezhnev's assistant [Aleksandrov-Agentov] passed on to me his request to analyze and evaluate the parallel text sent to him by Shelepin. Later, Brezhnev came out himself, shook hands with everyone and turned to me with a question:

- Well, what kind of dissertation did he send?

And the "dissertation", I must say, was serious - no more and no less than an application for a complete revision of the entire party policy of the Khrushchev period in the spirit of frank neo-Stalinism. We counted 17 points of a sharp turn of the political rudder to the old times: the restoration of Stalin's "good name"; revision of the decisions of the XX and XXII congresses; the rejection of the approved Party Program and certain guarantees fixed in it against the recurrence of the personality cult, in particular, the rejection of the rotation of personnel; the liquidation of economic councils and the return to the departmental principle of leadership, the installation of strict labor discipline to the detriment of democracy; return to the line of world revolution and rejection of the principle of peaceful coexistence as well as from the formula for a peaceful transition to socialism in the capitalist countries; restoration of friendship with Mao Zedong through complete concessions to him in regard to criticism of the cult of personality and the general strategy of the communist movement; the renewal of the former characteristics of the Union of Communists of Yugoslavia as a "hotbed of revisionism and reformism " ... And much more in the same direction."

- Fyodor Mikhailovich Burlatsky, scientific secretary of the editorial and publishing council for social sciences and political columnist for the Pravda newspaper; F. M. Burlatsky. Leaders and advisers. M.: Politizdat. 1990.

[revolutionarymaoistschicago]

Honoring Mao on his 129th Birthday

Today we celebrate the birthday of late chairman and founder of the Communist Party of China, Mao Zedong (December 26, 1893 - September 9, 1976). Chairman Mao is responsible for many of our advancements in Marxist thought and practice, stemming from great achievements in uniting China via the United Front, repelling fascist invaders, and combatting revisionism and the restoration of capitalism via the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Despite the ultimately successful efforts of Deng Xiaoping’s inner party bourgeois hijacking, Mao’s work prevails in impact to this day.

Long live Mao! Long live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! Long live the international proletariat!

[takkton]

The only way this post could’ve stopped me in my tracks faster is if I had walked into it.

[transgenderer]

The mango cult (Standard Chinese: 芒果崇拜) was the veneration or worship of mangoes in Mainland China during the Cultural Revolution period.[1][2][3] On August 5, 1968, Mao Zedong gave a box of Sindhri mangoes, given to him by the Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Arshad Hussain, to the Worker-Peasant Mao Zedong Thought Propaganda Team stationed at Tsinghua University.[4]

Mao gave them to the workers stationed at Tsinghua University. His refusal to eat the fruit himself was seen as a personal sacrifice for the benefit of the workers. The workers believed that the mangoes were symbolic of Mao's gratefulness. The gift of the fruits coincided with the transfer of the Cultural Revolution’s stewardship from China's intelligentsia to the working class.[5]

Very few people in that region of China at the time knew what mangoes were, leading to many people being in awe of the fruit, and comparing them to the Peaches of Immortality from Chinese mythology.[7]

The original mangoes were preserved using chemicals such as formaldehyde and were displayed in various Chinese colleges.[6] Workers soon began to venerate wax models of mangoes and parade them around the country, punishing anyone who disrespected them as counterrevolutionaries. One dentist from Fulin, Dr. Han, saw the mango and said it was nothing special and looked just like sweet potato. He was put on trial for malicious slander, found guilty, paraded publicly throughout the town, and then executed with one shot to the head.[8][5]

After more than a year, the cult of the mango had declined significantly, and some people even began using wax mangoes as candles when the power went out.[1][7]

In 1974, when the First Lady of the PhilippinesImelda Marcos visited China with a box of mangoes as a gift, Mao's wife Jiang Qing tried to reignite the veneration of mangoes by giving the box to the workers once again.[7] Jiang Qing later directed a propaganda film called The Song of Mangoes.[1] However, before the film was finished, Mao Zedong died, representing the loss of the revolutionary figurehead of the Cultural Revolution. Within a week of the film's release, Jiang Qing was arrested, and The Song of Mangoes was taken out of circulation. This marked the end of the mango cult.[7]

man the cultural revolution was crazy huh

[txttletale]

niceys positive anon!! i don't agree with you on everything but you are so clearly like well read and well rounded that you've helped me think through a lot of my own inconsistencies and hypocrises in my own political and social thought, even if i do have slightly different conclusions at times then u (mainly because i believe there's more of a place for idealism and 'mind politics' than u do). anyway this is a preamble to ask if you have recommended reading in the past and if not if you had any recommended reading? there's some obvious like Read Marx but beyond that im always a little lost wading through theory and given you seem well read and i always admire your takes, i wondered about your recs

it's been a while since i've done a big reading list post so--bearing in mind that my specific areas of 'expertise' (i say that in huge quotation marks obvsies i'm just a girlblogger) are imperialism and media studies, here are some books and essays/pamphlets i recommend. the bolded ones are ones that i consider foundational to my politics

BASICS OF MARXISM

friedrich engels, principles of commmunism

friedrich engels, socialism: utopian & scientific

karl marx, the german ideology

karl marx, wage labour & capital

mao zedong, on contradiction

nikolai bukharin, anarchy and scientific communism

rosa luxemburg, reform or revolution?

v.i lenin, left-wing communism: an infantile disorder

v.i. lenin, the state & revolution

v.i. lenin, what is to be done?

IMPERIALISM

aijaz ahmed, iraq, afghanistan, and the imperialism of our time

albert memmi, the colonizer and the colonized

che guevara, on socialism and internationalism (ed. aijaz ahmad)

eduardo galeano, the open veins of latin america

edward said, orientalism

fernando cardoso, dependency and development in latin america

frantz fanon, black skin, white masks

frantz fanon, the wretched of the earth

greg grandin, empire's workshop

kwame nkrumah, neocolonialism, the last stage of imperialism

michael parenti, against empire

naomi klein, the shock doctrine

ruy mauro marini, the dialectics of dependency

v.i. lenin, imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism

vijay prashad, red star over the third world

vincent bevins, the jakarta method

walter rodney, how europe underdeveloped africa

william blum, killing hope

zak cope, divided world divided class

zak cope, the wealth of (some) nations

MEDIA & CULTURAL STUDIES

antonio gramsci, the prison notebooks

ed. mick gidley, representing others: white views of indigenous peoples

ed. stuart hall, representation: cultural representations and signifying pratices

gilles deleuze & felix guattari, capitalism & schizophrenia

jacques derrida, margins of philosophy

jacques derrida, speech and phenomena

michael parenti, inventing reality

michel foucault, disicipline and punish

michel foucault, the archeology of knowledge

natasha schull, addiction by design

nick snricek, platform capitalism

noam chomsky and edward herman, manufacturing consent

regis tove stella, imagining the other

richard sennett and jonathan cobb, the hidden injuries of class

safiya umoja noble, algoriths of oppression

stuart hall, cultural studies 1983: a theoretical history

theodor adorno and max horkheimer, the culture industry

walter benjamin, the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction

OTHER

angela davis, women, race, and class

anna louise strong, cash and violence in laos and vietnam

anna louise strong, the soviets expected it

anna louise strong, when serfs stood up in tibet

carrie hamilton, sexual revolutions in cuba

chris chitty, sexual hegemony

christian fuchs, theorizing and analysing digital labor

eds. jules joanne gleeson and elle o'rourke, transgender marxism

elaine scarry, the body in pain

jules joanne gleeson, this infamous proposal

michael parenti, blackshirts & reds

paulo freire, pedagogy of the oppressed

peter drucker, warped: gay normality and queer anticapitalism

rosemary hennessy, profit and pleasure

sophie lewis, abolish the family

suzy kim, everyday life in the north korean revolution

walter rodney, the russian revolution: a view from the third world

[connorthemaoist]

Some of my books.