u/JITTERdUdE - originally from r/GenZhou
As I’ve been more immersed in ML spaces, I’ve noticed a few people talk about their distrust or disliking towards “ultras”, referring to hardline Maoists, particularly in Western countries. I have read and seen some articles by them, such as this blog post by Black Like Mao which claims China is not a socialist power and is exploiting African countries. They similarly accuse the USSR, Vietnam, and Burkin Faso of the same thing.
Having gone from being an anarchist to a Marxist-Leninist, I try not to just jump on board with mass criticism of other communist ideologies, as many anarchists have with “tankies”, so I’ve been curious to understand the ultra ideology and mindset and critically analysis it.
I wanted to understand ML criticisms and opinions of ultras to understand their disagreements (or agreements) with their beliefs, given I’m not totally familiar with Maoist theory.
u/proletariat_hero - originally from r/GenZhou[I’ll address Maoism specifically bc I haven’t really had personal irl experience with other ultras]
As an anarchist I was attracted to Maoism when I first became interested in Marxism. It seemed to be the most logically consistent and “pure”. It only took me a month to see through it all though, and reject it entirely - but that took some serious digging into the claims made by Maoists, particularly concerning modern China.
The more I researched the history of Reform and Opening Up, the more I realized that these “Marxist-Leninist-Maoists” were deliberately misrepresenting everything that happened in China post-Mao in really, really egregious ways. They would outright lie if it furthered their objectives, but much more often they would just throw a statistic or factoid out there out of context and use it to assert a broader point or support a broader narrative that wasn’t actually true.
For instance, this piece has circulated around Maoist circles for a while now and is very popular - it’s also full of verifiable lies, which this commenter called out: https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/9hsmen/china_a_modern_socialimperialist_power_cpimaoist/e6fi19s?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3
I’ve asked Maoists why they would share an article which claims that there were 83,000,000 private businesses in China in 1983, when there were less than 90,000 -
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://apebhconference.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/zhang-qin-20081.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiBoZ-47-v1AhX9JzQIHQd7BrAQFnoECAQQAQ&usg=AOvVaw0FnszNENlNnyIwKMu-1UXR
They just say “it was a translation error, that doesn’t invalidate the argument”. I always run into this kind of thinking with them. They only read sources that are Maoist sources about modern China - like Pao Yu-Ching for instance - and disregard/refuse to even read anything written by any modern Chinese Marxist leader or theorist. I’ve read many Maoist books but I also read Xi Jinping - I’m almost done with his series on the governance of China - I also talk to people in China, including comrades in the Communist Party (I’m in the CPUSA and they’re a fraternal party, we collaborate and even do educational workshops for each other sometimes).
Maoists’ twisted conception of what life is like in China is so beyond bizarre compared to the reality. They are somehow convinced that the Communist Party decided to do the bidding of a bourgeois class which didn’t even exist at the time (in 1978), and which the revolutionary guerillas who implemented reform and opening up (like Deng Xiaoping) inexplicably and sadistically wanted to restore the power of the people they had just sacrificed decades of their lives fighting to overthrow. Even though at the time of reform and opening up the CPC Central Committee implemented the 4 Cardinal Principles, which every party member must now vow to uphold:
1.The principle of upholding the socialist path
3.The principle of upholding the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC)
Ultras (not just Maoists, but Hoxhaists, LeftComs, etc) tend to really only read or consider sources or evidence that supports their views, and are outraged at even the idea of engaging with the theories of people they’ve labelled “revisionist”. I have never met a Maoist online or irl who has read any Deng Xiaoping or Xi Jinping. Yet every ML reads Mao.
Imo, it’s petty-bourgeois radicalism. It’s a tendency people have in the imperial core to want to be more ideologically “pure” than everyone else and thus feel superior without having to do the hard work of building a movement. In fact, more often than not, Maoists just try to wreck our movements. They attack us online and in person, sometimes even with physical violence. They wage wars on socialist countries. They vow to overthrow every socialist state on earth. Online, they regularly tell me to kill myself and joke about throwing me out of 3rd story windows (like they did to Deng Xiaoping’s son) on Twitter. These guys are not our allies. I’ve never encountered the kind of vitriol I’ve received from Maoists from any group of people in my life. It’s unreal… I just wish they’d leave us alone tbh