Of course they’re a Maoist. I think there are Maoists who are in many respects very cool, but for some reason in the west it attracts some of the most annoying people, and I can only imagine a Maoist having this level of anti-intellectualism among nominal Marxists. I guess rarely it comes up with the more chauvinist Stalin fans who just do strawman Stakhanovism unironically, but even they usually aren’t this bad (in this respect, they are much worse in other respects).
Edit: So I know Mao said some things that, especially removed from the context of where and why he said them, feed into that anti-intellectual attitude, but he was also literally a teacher and said even after the revolution that that was how he wanted to be remembered. He obviously smoked a large portion of the intelligentsia following the Hundred Flowers campaign*, but the campaign only took place because of his strong belief in the importance of education and the development of socialist theory, something he believed in for all of his life.
*I’m not saying this to weigh in on whether he was right or wrong here, but for understanding trends in his attitudes
There’s a weird phenomenon that happens to western maoists outside the Black radical tradition where they somehow transmute themselves into a kind of reverse Left Communism, where instead of despising the global south and AES they attempt to universalize historical conditions in the global south and apply them to the imperial core
Creating these bizarre expectations where apparently if we play our cards right a “peasants revolution” could totally be imminent in the United States
Really? Not even reading the Little Red Book and calling it theory? I admit that I haven’t met many self-identified Maoists myself, mostly I just read what they write.
As bleak as that would be, I genuinely think I could work with that. Combat Liberalism puts a huge emphasis on intellectual integrity, which is necessary for disabusing someone of things like the OOP.
Only read Combat Liberalism and constantly tries to get everyone to read it even though their audience has no chance of understanding it (just like them!).
my encounters with those people have admitadly been few, as well as superficial, so i might not be the best judge.
it’s just, that in my experience, they at times tend to be more about the vibe of maoism, than the actual substance. i was bringing up stuff from on practice during organisational stuff for some work my org did together with some local maoists and some of them gave the impression of not being familiar with the text, which left me somewhat shocked, lmao
i don’t live in that place anymore, so maybe they’ve since gotten better, idk
Of course they’re a Maoist. I think there are Maoists who are in many respects very cool, but for some reason in the west it attracts some of the most annoying people, and I can only imagine a Maoist having this level of anti-intellectualism among nominal Marxists. I guess rarely it comes up with the more chauvinist Stalin fans who just do strawman Stakhanovism unironically, but even they usually aren’t this bad (in this respect, they are much worse in other respects).
Edit: So I know Mao said some things that, especially removed from the context of where and why he said them, feed into that anti-intellectual attitude, but he was also literally a teacher and said even after the revolution that that was how he wanted to be remembered. He obviously smoked a large portion of the intelligentsia following the Hundred Flowers campaign*, but the campaign only took place because of his strong belief in the importance of education and the development of socialist theory, something he believed in for all of his life.
*I’m not saying this to weigh in on whether he was right or wrong here, but for understanding trends in his attitudes
in my experience, a depressing number of western maoists haven’t actually read mao, and it shows.
There’s a weird phenomenon that happens to western maoists outside the Black radical tradition where they somehow transmute themselves into a kind of reverse Left Communism, where instead of despising the global south and AES they attempt to universalize historical conditions in the global south and apply them to the imperial core
Creating these bizarre expectations where apparently if we play our cards right a “peasants revolution” could totally be imminent in the United States
Really? Not even reading the Little Red Book and calling it theory? I admit that I haven’t met many self-identified Maoists myself, mostly I just read what they write.
You’re in for a fun time when you run into a Maoist who’s apparently only read Combat Liberalism.
As bleak as that would be, I genuinely think I could work with that. Combat Liberalism puts a huge emphasis on intellectual integrity, which is necessary for disabusing someone of things like the OOP.
*Only read the title of combat liberalism
Only read Combat Liberalism and constantly tries to get everyone to read it even though their audience has no chance of understanding it (just like them!).
my encounters with those people have admitadly been few, as well as superficial, so i might not be the best judge.
it’s just, that in my experience, they at times tend to be more about the vibe of maoism, than the actual substance. i was bringing up stuff from on practice during organisational stuff for some work my org did together with some local maoists and some of them gave the impression of not being familiar with the text, which left me somewhat shocked, lmao
i don’t live in that place anymore, so maybe they’ve since gotten better, idk
a lot of them are Gonzaloists