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Revision as of 18:48, 29 March 2002 by 24.28.70.162 (talk)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Maoism is a variant of communism identified with Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party as its doctrine developed from the 1930s to the 1960s. It emphasizes revolutionary mass mobilization, village level industries independent of the outside world (one infamous campaign urged each and every Chinese to melt down industrial pots and pans to smelt their own iron from scratch), deliberate organizing of mass military and economic power where necessary to defend from outside threat or where centralization keeps corruption under supervision, and strong control of the arts and sciences.
Mao's doctrine is best summarized in the Little Red Book of Mao Zedong, which was distributed to everyone in China as the basis of revolutionary education.
Post-Mao, the doctrine has been identified with Pol Pot of the Cambodian Khmer Rouge, the Shining Path of Peru, and various extreme communist groups in the developed world.
As the only version of communism to have successfully laid the educational and infrastructural foundations of a modern industrial capitalist economy, Maoism is of more current interest than other 20th-century branches of communism. Some scholars argue that China's rapid industrialization and relatively quick recovery from the brutal period of civil wars 1911-1949 was a positive impact of Maoism, and contrast its development specifically to that of Southeast Asia, Russia and India. One argument is that Mao's strong personality and doctrine served the same purpose as American executive and military leadership, and the ], in Europe - an extremely simple theory of the origin of modern continental trading blocs: NAFTA, EU, and China itself.
See: Mao Zedong, communism