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/bluemagachud - originally from r/GenZhouWhere is the successful ultra revolution? How was it able to repel the forces of reaction and build a dictatorship of the proletariat? Oh, it has never even kind of happened, then why care? Let them froth uselessly in their armchairs. They’re dogmatic unscientific utopians unwilling to bend to the material conditions in the moment in order to continue the revolution at the pace that can be sustained. Like anarchists, they would much rather be dogmatically perfect in the realm of ideas and failures in practice.
u/dornish1919 - originally from r/GenZhouThis 110%, they’d sooner choose dogmatism than material reality, it leaves them clueless as to how the world works.
u/JITTERdUdE - originally from r/GenZhouSo basically ultras are the same thing as Leftcomms, only they associate with Maoism unlike the Leftcomms who are more often orthodox Marxists?
u/kandras123 - originally from r/GenZhouPretty much, yeah. Note that it’s not just Maoists, though they’re the majority. There are also those such as the ultraleft MLs who think Lenin betrayed the revolution by going with the NEP instead of trying to immediately institute a fully socialist economy. Basically mega idealists.
u/Ganem1227 - originally from r/GenZhouit’s worth mentioning that Maoists are more successful when it comes to organizing and carrying out militant action, their weakness lies in opportunistically jumping into militant struggle without mass support.
u/JITTERdUdE - originally from r/GenZhouSo they’re like anarchists in that sense?
u/Ganem1227 - originally from r/GenZhouhmm I think they’re better at it than Anarchists. afaik, Maoists utilize democratic centralism and can field actual disciplined military units with logistics, like the CPP-NPA and the CPI (Maoists). Anarchists haven’t seen large scale success like that except for those who were forced by circumstance to form a state (CNT-FAI)