Here's what Maoism means: Maoism is one of the most complex of all communist ideologies that are there. Mao-ism is a blend of Marxism, Leninism, a bit of Stalinism, a bit of nationalism and Mao Zedong thought. Marx didn't consider the peasants to be a true revolutionary force, he counted more on the urban workers. However, when teh Communist Party was established in China in 1920/21 as a part of the then ruling party, Guomin Dang or GMD or KMT, there were not many industrial workers in China. The majority was still in the rural areas. The CCP was mainly funded by the Comintern, established by Stalin to export revolutions abroad, so it remained basically loyal to the Soviets, and worked with the Nationalist government to unite the nation. However, after defeating the warlords, i.e., the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek became wary of the communists so when the communists reached Shanghai, Chiang ordered his troops to kill them. After this, the communists retreated to the countryside, Jiangxi, Jianggagnshan areas. This is when Mao took over, somehow managed to make the party independent of the Comintern and realized that the only way to establish a communist country would be by organizing the vastly ignored peasants. So he altered Marxism to fit the Chinese conditions- workers were replaced by peasants. It was hard to motivate and organzie the peasants, sometimes it took upto 6 months to convert them. However, with the land reforms and a solid indoctrination programs, pretty soon the majority of the peasantry became loyal to the Communists. Also, at the same time, a new literary revolution was gripping the cities. Intellectuals were debating the merits/demerits of both socialism and capiatalism. The Nationalist governmnet, after the unification became more and more corrupt and power blind. This led many intellectuals such as Ding Ling, Qiu Qiubai and others (Lu Xun, the most famous of all Chinese writers did not join the Communist Party) were vigorously promoting communism. For them, Russia represented the model for a new, better, strong and unified China. So they went to Yan'an where the Communists had made a base, and joined the Communist party. This is where Chairman Mao released his guidelines for the authors, writers and intellectuals- from now on, everything- arts, literature etc.- will be for the masses. No burgeoise element in those will be tolerated. Then came the Japanese invasion of China, and the Nationalists' inability to fight the Japanese. Instead of focusing on the Japanese, the Nationalist governmnet was still fighting the Communists. This infuriarated the Chinese intellectuals and the urbanm dwellers. So they went to Yenn'an and joined the communist party. Furthermore, the urban workers, whose republic the Chinese Communist Party was set to establish, but who were so far unaffected by the communist doctrine, suddenly started staging strikes and joined the Communists. Now the communist party had all starta of the society supporting it. Still the Communist party was operating from its Yenn'an base. Yenn'an days, often romaticinzed in the western media, especially by Endgar Snow was an interesting phase in the Chinese communism's history because its where Chairman Mao came up with his thoughts: On Intellectuals, on class enemies, on arts and ON GUERILLA WARFARE. This is where he could crystalzie his "Non Chung Wei Cheng Shi" - villages sorrounding the cities- doctrine. And on that aim, the PLA- People's Liberation Army- headed by Peng Dahuai, Zhu De, Chen Yun etc. was organized. And in 1949, the red army took control of Beijing. Maoism shares many similarities with the Russian brand of communism than Marxism. However one striking difference is, in Russia, the Communist party took the land from the peasants and established the people's communes during the revolution, in China, the communists actually gave the land to the peasants which they took away from them only after 3 years of the establishmnet of the PRC. Because Chairman Mao and other veterans of the Communist Party were impressed by the Paris Communes, and at the same time, they feared that private ownership of land will make the peasantry idle and even more dangerous, make them petty burgeoise. So the state had to take away the land. The first thing that Deng Xiaoping did when he started his economic reforms in the late 70s was to give the land back to the peasants, so taht China would have a pety burgeoise class, a must for to achieve the aims of the economic reforms. To summarize, Maoism was a movement, more than an ideology that helped to establish the People's Republic of China. Instead of seeing it as a doctrine or philosophy in itself, I see it as a mixture/blend of various schools of communist thoughts +_ nationalism. Saavar-Sandarva Smagari for those who are interested: 1. Mao's China and After- Maurice Meisner* 2. The Gate of Heavenly Peace- Jonathan Spence 3. China: A New History- John K. Fairbank* 4. An Intellectual History of Modern China- Merle Goldman and Leo Ou Fan Lee 5. Mao Zedong- Jonathan Spence 6. Mao: A Life - Philip Short* * Highly reccomended if you are interested in learning about China and Maoism.