Maoism

en-noun

Maoism (usually uncountable, plural Maoisms)

From Mao (surname of Mao Zedong) + -ism.

Some of the farmers were arrested in Wuhan parks where they allegedly spoke against Maoism and the Communist dictatorship, the report said.

1973 March 4, “Starving farmers given jail terms”, in Free China Weekly, volume XIV, number 8, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:

The philosophy espoused by Chinese leader Mao Zedong, a form of Marxism-Leninism that focuses on the peasantry as the revolutionary vanguard.


Maoist

After Richard Nixon's visit to Peiping in 1972 and the establishment of "liaison offices" in Washington and Peiping, the Maoists have been stepping up their infiltration and subversive activities in the United States, the sources pointed out.

1975 August 3, “Peiping increasing aid to Red insurgents”, in Free China Weekly, volume XVI, number 30, Taipei, page 1:


SLA

SLA (countable and uncountable, plural SLAs)

Symbionese Liberation Army
w:Symbionese Liberation Army

(Maoism, politics, US) Initialism of Symbionese Liberation Army.


Great Leap Forward

Calque from Chinese 大躍進／大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn). Coined by a People's Daily commentator in 1957.

zh-l

大躍進／大跃进 (Dàyuèjìn)

coinage

Louti, in Hunan Province, Central China, is one of the numerous small industrial cities that have grown up since liberation, particularly since the big leap forward.

[1960, Survey of China Mainland Press, numbers 2308-2328, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 30:

In the early 1960s, following the collapse of Mao's Great Leap Forward, Liu and Chang, as party officials in the city of I-pin (120 miles south of Szechwan's capital, Chengtu), vigorously prosecuted those cadres under their jurisdiction who had shown less than wholehearted devotion to that campaign.

1971, Thomas Jay Matthews, “The Cultural Revolution in Szechwan”, in The Cultural Revolution in the Provinces, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 96:

(historical) A vast economic and social plan lasting from 1958 to 1961 which aimed to use the Chinese population to rapidly transform the Communist China from a primarily agrarian economy by peasant farmers into a modern communist society through agriculturalization and industrialization, but failed disastrously (resulting in massive famine and the deaths of many millions of people).


Cultural Revolution

Calque from Chinese 文化大革命 (Wénhuà Dà Gémìng).

The Cultural Revolution created enormous dislocations in the Chinese economy and society.[...]During the Cultural Revolution I was exiled to Xincai County in Henan Province. There, 36 percent of the people starved to death in the early 1960s.

1990, Chen Yizi (陳一諮), quotee, Children of the Dragon: The Story of Tiananmen Square, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 48:

Li Xiaojiang was born in 1952 in Henan Province. She worked in the countryside for three years during the Cultural Revolution before being assigned a job as fitter and driver in a machine factory in Wuhan, Hebei^([sic – meaning Hubei]) Province.

1994, Diana B. Kingsbury, “The Authors”, in 金婉婷 [Diana B. Kingsbury], transl., I Wish I Were a Wolf: The New Voice in Chinese Women's Literature [我要属狼：中国当代女性文学选], 1st edition, Beijing: New World Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 248:

我要属狼：中国当代女性文学选

Liu’s person and his public meaning became completely estranged: the former was cut off from the instruments of policy and sequestered in his official residence at Chungnanhai, but the other “Liu” became the animating spirit of opposition against which the GPCR was waged, and indeed proved so dauntless and resourceful an opponent that he could be vanquished only after two years of fierce “struggle.”

[1998, Lowell Dittmer, Liu Shaoqi and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 5:

Not until 1421, when all the temples and palaces necessary for the imperial ceremonies needed to reconcile Heaven and Earth had been built, did Emperor Yongle dare to make the great move. Beijing, the "Northern Capital" replaced Nanjing, the provisional "Southern Capital." The Heavenly Temple and the Altars of Earth, Moon and Sun, Nine Dragon Wall and Echo Wall, Drum Tower and Bell Tower all testify to the artistry of that era. Though damaged during the chaos of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), they have since been restored and now once again evoke the wonder and admiration of visitors.

1999, “Beijing”, in The Book of the World, 2nd United States edition (Atlas), Macmillan, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 367, column 2:

In China, theres^([sic – meaning there's]) a long tradition of using Cultural Revolution-style stock phrases to marginalize protest activities and those who engage in them. Unrest is predictably blamed on a small group of people with ulterior motives," "evil forces plotting behind the scenes," and "masses who don't know the truth."

2008 December 1, Sky Canaves, “A Rare Media Critique of the Chinese System from Within”, in The Wall Street Journal, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-11:

In 1975, China was emerging from the Cultural Revolution, its government’s effort to purify and revitalize society. Communist officials had set up indoctrination programs, broadcast propaganda over omnipresent loudspeakers, and sought to stamp out any evidence of China’s ancient history.

2010, George W. Bush, Decision Points, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, pages 22–23:

Amid yellow pagodas pointing heavenward, Mr. Peng and a small group of volunteers built memorial arches across the park’s steep roads and paths lined with riotous subtropical vegetation. The site, in the Chenghai district of Shantou, was an appropriate place for memory — Buddhist pagodas are associated with the dead, and many local victims of the Cultural Revolution lie here, many buried in mass graves.

2016 October 2, Didi Kirsten Tatlow, “Fate Catches Up to a Cultural Revolution Museum in China”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2016-10-03, Asia Pacific:

(historical) The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution of the Communist China.

grande révolution culturelle prolétarienne

Velíkaja proletárskaja kulʹtúrnaja revoljúcija

Вели́кая пролета́рская культу́рная револю́ция


hongweibing

From Mandarin 紅衛兵／红卫兵 (hóngwèibīng, “red defense soldier; red guard”).

zh-l

The Chinese are hastily obliterating all traces of hongweibing pogroms in Moslem mosques and other holy places. Mao's successors have been clamouring for Moslems to preserve the Islamic cultural heritage. The blame for all the excesses in the Islamic policy has been heaped upon the "gang of four" and Lin Biao.

1981, Far Eastern Affairs, number 4, Moscow: Progress Publishers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 125:

(historical) red guards, a mass movement of civilians, mostly students and other young people in China, who were mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967, during the Cultural Revolution.


red guard

What on Earth could be next, the Chinese red guard-style maltreatment of language learners and yodelers?

In Beijing, Red Guard assaults destroyed 4,922 of the capital’s 6,843 designated “places of cultural or historical interest.” The Forbidden City itself was reportedly saved only by Zhou Enlai’s personal intervention.

2011, Henry Kissinger, On China, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 194:

A member of any of several organizations known as Red Guards or Red Guard.


struggle session

en-noun

struggle session (plural struggle sessions)

Calque from Chinese 批鬥大會／批斗大会 (pīdòu dàhuì)

zh-l

批鬥大會／批斗大会 (pīdòu dàhuì)

Wang also delivered a sensational “August 7” speech at the Foreign Ministry in a Red Guard struggle session aimed at Ch’en Yi.

1970, James Chieh Hsiung, Ideology and Practice: The Evolution of Chinese Communism, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 333:

On January 8, Zhou Enlai noted, “You and your friends have come to Zhongnanhai [Liu’s official residence] ... and dragged out Liu and Deng many times.¹²⁴ Yet after a break-in and 40-minute struggle session at his home in Zhongnanhai on January 3 and Wang’s public struggle session on January 6, Liu was granted what would be his last chance to see the chairman. At midnight, January 13, Mao sent his secretary in a nondescript auto to bring Liu to the Great Hall of the People for a talk.

1998, Lowell Dittmer, Liu Shaoqi and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 84:

(historical) A form of public humiliation used by China in the Maoist period to shape public opinion and to humiliate or persecute political rivals.


three togethers

If management personnel do not go into the shops and sections to take part in the three togethers and to learn one or more manual skills from the teachers, then they are liable to spend their whole lives in sharp struggle against the working class.

1970, Translations on People's Republic of China, page 23:

Acting under strict orders to practice the "three togethers" with the peasants, the work team personnel (generally one to three workers per production team) took up residence in the homes of these peasant roots.

1970, Richard Baum, Revolution and Reaction in Rural China:

While these studies were not themselves carried out by social scientists, professional social scientists were involved in training and advising the PKI/BTI cadres who carried out the field studies, practicing the "three togethers," the four don'ts," and the "four musts" in a remarkable forerunner of today's fashionable "bottom-up," "participatory action researh" strategies (White 1993).

2005, Hans Antlöv, Jörgen Hellman, The Java that Never was: Academic Theories and Political Practices, →ISBN:

(Maoism) A policy stating that peasants should eat together, live together, and labour together.


Maoize

en-verb

Maoize (third-person singular simple present Maoizes, present participle Maoizing, simple past and past participle Maoized)

Maoizes (present singular third-person)
Maoizing (participle present)
Maoized (participle past)
Maoized (past)

But from the 1950s onwards the radical politics pursued at home, such as the communization of the economy and the campaign to Maoize the political and social behavior of the masses, brought about a head-on collision with the Muslim minority.

1981, Asian Survey - Volume 21, page 903:

After Mao's death, the new leadership gradually decided to de-Maoize China and so begins the de-emphasis of the role of ideology, but in the process they had to project a counter-ideology.

1989, Naranarayan Das, Contemporary Chinese Politics And Foreign Policy, page 97:

That Peking was not trying to take back Hong Kong, but rather encouraging it to "Maoize" under Britain's trembling gaze, suggested to me that the Cultural Revolution was more political indoctrination than a drive for institutionalized political change.

1992, Ross Terrill, China in Our Time, page 81:

What is not so clear is that this series was actually inspired by the paintings of a Han Chinese artist, Chen Danqing, who lived in Tibet in the 1960s and '70s and specialized in portraits of Tibetans who had been neither modernized nor Maoized.

2016, Clare Harris, Photography and Tibet, page 146:

To cause to conform to the ideology of Mao Zedong and his Cultural Revolution.


Marxism-Leninism-Maoism

(politics, communism) A communist ideological stream which seeks to synthesize Marxism-Leninism and Maoism and which proponents believe is the highest stage of Marxism. It was systematized by the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path) and developed by the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement and its adherent parties.


capitalist roader

en-noun

capitalist roader (plural capitalist roaders)

From capitalist + road (figurative) + -er (suffix denoting a person associated with or supporting a particular doctrine, theory, or political movement), as a calque of Chinese 走資派 /走资派 (zǒuzīpài, literally “one who takes the road of capital”), a contraction of 走資本主義道路(的)當權派 /走资本主义道路(的)当权派 (zǒu zīběnzhǔyì dàolù (de) dāngquánpài, “those in power who take the capitalist road”), first used in Chinese Communist Party literature in 1965.

contraction

走資本主義道路(的)當權派

Hsiangfen County CCP Committee has launched the cadres and masses to study Chairman Mao's teachings and criticize the revisionist program of "taking the three instructions as the key link" pushed by the unrepentant capitalist roaders in the party.

1976 February 26 [1976 February 25], “Shansi County Criticism Aids Tachai Emulation”, in Daily Report: People's Republic of China, volume I, number 39, Foreign Broadcast Information Service, sourced from Taiyuan Shansi Provincial Service, translation of original in Mandarin, →ISSN, →OCLC, People's Republic of China: North Region, page K 2:

(China, Maoism, chiefly historical, derogatory) One (especially a Chinese Communist Party official) who bows to pressure from bourgeois forces and attempts to pull the Cultural Revolution in a capitalist direction.

8th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party


neo-Maoist

With the exception of the remnant orthodox “leftists” and neo-Maoists, the parameters of elite factionalism have narrowed and a more centrist consensus across a range of policy issues is evident.

2000, David Shambaugh, “The Chinese State in the Post-Mao Era”, in David Shambaugh, editor, The Modern Chinese State, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 181:

In fact, the neo-Maoist Wang Renzhi, who assumed authority in the Propaganda Department after June 4, warned that the private entrepreneurs who supported the students during the demonstration revealed “a natural tie between a private economy and democracy.”

2005, Merle Goldman, From Comrade to Citizen, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 15:

One reason neo-Maoists have regained some traction in public debate (and why pro-democracy activism continues to ferment) is that although China has lifted itself from poverty, corruption and socio-economic inequality have reached levels that would make good King Zhao weep.

2014, Linda Jaivin, Beijing, Reaktion Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 161:

The charismatic, media-friendly Bo was aiming to get into the Politburo Standing Committee at the Party Congress in 2012, and it was widely believed that the portfolio he wanted was the one for internal security held by his hardline ally Zhou Yongkang. He enjoyed the support of leftist neo-Maoist thinkers and had links with some of the younger PLA generals.

2014, Jonathan Fenby, Will China Dominate the 21st century? (Global Future Series), →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 39:

China’s neo-Maoists, as they are sometimes called, are loosely united by demands for stringent economic equality, zealous nationalism and a loathing of the capitalist West and liberal democracy.
“Many of the same ideas now animating the global populist movement have been the hallmarks of the neo-Maoist movement for over a decade,” said Jude Blanchette, a researcher in Beijing who is writing a book about the movement.
“The neo-Maoists have also clearly benefited from the rise of Xi Jinping, as he has blasted a pretty large dog whistle in their direction,” Mr. Blanchette added.

2017 April 3, Chris Buckley, “Maoists for Trump? In China, Fans Admire His Nationalist Views”, in New York Times, archived from the original on 2017-04-04:

Delegates praised Xi using Mao-era honorifics, and he became the first serving Chinese leader since Mao to have a named ideology written into the party charter, signaling that it will be in effect beyond his second five-year term, which began this week. “Their similarity is that they both want to rejuvenate the Chinese nation, they both want an independent, powerful, new China,” Song Yangbiao, a Beijing-based neo-Maoist freelance journalist, told Reuters.[...]Neo-Maoists dismiss criticisms of Mao as smears by Westerners and revisionists, and the group vociferously defends Mao and his policies in articles online, with occasional public shaming of those who slight his legacy.[...]While Xi has not lavished praise on Mao or his policies, he has defended his “mistakes” and has drawn a line against attempts to revise the Party’s official history, pleasing the neo-Maoists.

2017 October 27, Christian Shepherd, “China's neo-Maoists welcome Xi's new era, but say he is not the new Mao”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 2018-06-24:

Censors often delete articles on WeChat groups run by neo-Maoists, who denounce the “bureaucrat-capitalists” running China.

2021 July 2, “A future, with Chinese characteristics”, in The Economist, volume 439, number 9251, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 12:

A person who believes in a (post-reform and opening-up) version of Maoist ideology.

uusmaolainen

person who believes in a Maoist ideology


people's war

(military) A Maoist military strategy where the basic concept is to maintain the support of the population and draw the enemy deep into the countryside where the population will bleed them dry through a mix of mobile warfare and guerrilla warfare.


Maoistic

en-adj

Maoistic (comparative more Maoistic, superlative most Maoistic)

more Maoistic (comparative)
most Maoistic (superlative)


capitalist roadism

By analogy with capitalist roader. By surface analysis, capitalist + road (figurative) + -ism (suffix denoting a particular doctrine, theory, or political movement).

surf

(Maoism, chiefly historical, derogatory) The ideology of a capitalist roader: one (especially a Chinese Communist Party official) who bows to pressure from bourgeois forces and attempts to pull the Cultural Revolution in a capitalist direction.