Marxism, Maoism and Utopianism - (Illustrated Edition)

Author: (American) Maurice Meisner
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: The author is a renowned expert in the history of the Chinese Communist Party in the United States, and this book is his breakthrough work. It reflects the typical analytical approach and argumentative style of Western Marxism. With a solid theoretical foundation in Marxism, the author attempts to comprehensively restore the profound connotations of the so-called "utopianism" in Marx's works that have been distorted. He argues that if the "utopianism" characterized by the pursuit of the unknown world is lost, it actually means that humanity reduces or abandons its creative capacity. The reason why Mao Zedong is considered a Marxist is because he fully maintained the "utopianism" impulse while organically combining Marxism with "populism" based on China's national conditions, forming a unique theoretical system of Mao Zedong Thought. This book is translated from the 1982 edition of the University of Wisconsin Press.
If Maoism did not create a true socialism in China, it did indeed create a lasting revolutionary situation, providing the possibility of achieving (or at least pursuing) the socialist goals of Marxism. If the command to change the world rather than simply explaining it is the standard for judging a Marxist revolutionary, then compared to Leninists, Mao might ultimately be recognized as a better Marxist. If Mao's non-Leninist (and non-Marxist) populist ideas were to eventually advance China's exploration of the utopian social goals predicted by Marxism in some way, this might be the most paradoxical of all paradoxes. — Maurice Meisner
The author is a renowned expert in the history of the Chinese Communist Party in the United States, and this book is his breakthrough work. It reflects the typical analytical approach and argumentative style of Western Marxism. With a solid theoretical foundation in Marxism, the author attempts to comprehensively restore the profound connotations of the so-called "utopianism" in Marx's works that have been distorted. He argues that if the "utopianism" characterized by the pursuit of the unknown world is lost, it actually means that humanity reduces or abandons its creative capacity. The reason why Mao Zedong is considered a Marxist is because he fully maintained the "utopianism" impulse while organically combining Marxism with "populism" based on China's national conditions, forming a unique theoretical system of Mao Zedong Thought. This book is translated from the 1982 edition of the University of Wisconsin Press.