Question on Mao Zedong Thought/Maoism
Author
Regletto Aldrich D. Imbong
College of Social Sciences, University of the Philippines Cebu
1. RADI: In a recent publication of the Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP) entitled “Anniversary Statements (1992-2017),” I found out that it
was only during the 26th anniversary of the CPP in 1994 that the term
Macism appeared (not in 1992 and 1993, as far as the said publication
is concerned). Previous statements, like the “Rectify Errors, Rebuild the
Party,” in 1968 merely mentioned Mao Zedong Thought, despite the fact
that Chairman Gonzalo of the Communist Party of Peru in 1983 supposedly
affirmed the universality of Maoism. Can you please enlighten me with the
CPP’s appreciation of Maoism and the seemingly delayed upholding of the
CPP of Maoism’s universality?
JMS: The adoption of the word Maoism, instead of Mao Zedong Thought,
by the Communist Party of the Philippines is a matter of transcription and
symmetry alongside the terms Marxism and Leninism. It is a reaffirmation
of the earlier CPP recognition of the great contributions of Mao (under the
rubric of Mao Zedong Thought) to the development of Marxism-Leninism
in philosophy, political economy, party building (especially the rectification
movement), the people’s war and the proletarian cultural revolution in
socialist society.