A new Maoist Party in Mao's China!!

A brand new Maoist party in Mao’s China!

Snigdhendu Bhattacharya

Kolkata: A brand new Maoist party has been formed in China, the womb of Maoism, claims some internet reports.

The new party, named Maoist Communist Party of China, formed with the intension of reviving the ‘true practices of Maoism,’ wants to overthrow the Communist Party of China (CPC), which Mao himself had led to wrestle power in China in 1949.

Though the new party was reportedly formed on December 26, Mao’s death anniversary, in 2008, the news had largely been unknown because its activities have completely been underground in nature.

Qichang Huang, a worker and socialist from China who claims himself to be a Trotskyite, says in an interview published in onesolutionrevolution.net, “Last year, an underground organisation called “Maoist Communist Party of China” was launched. They oppose the current leadership of CPC as a “totally pro-capitalist revisionist group,” which they want to overthrow.”

According to Huang, Maoist ideas and symbols are experiencing a broad revival. “At this stage, most of the emerging Left wing is Maoist influenced, with a smaller but also fast-growing Trotskyite layer.”

Though he does not believe Maoist ideas offer any real alternative, “the weaknesses of Maoism are shown by the current experience: the reintroduction of capitalism happened under a party and government that Mao created.”

He experienced that Mao’s ideas and traditions have a wide reach not only among the old generation but also for many of the youth.

Another tag named Chinese Information Centre reports, “Apart from the intensified social contradiction in China, the theoretical impasse confronting the Chinese citizens has led to a revival of Mao worship"

"In june 2007, a “red sect” with Mao at its core began to make its presence known on the internet. At the end of 2008, Wuyou Zhixiang began preparations for a series of ceremonies dedicated to Mao, which were formally announced early this year. On December 26, a Maoist Communist Party was established,” the report continued.

Indian Maoists say that they are aware of this development. “Though I don’t have detailed information about the party, I know that such a party was formed to fight the revisionist CPC leadership,” Vara Vara Rao, a prominent Maoist intellectual, said, when contacted by this writer.

According to him, though the new party is trying to revive the practice of Maoism, it may be really tough for them to overthrow the CPC because of its ‘dictatorial centrism,’ and the huge structure. CPC is the largest party in the world with more than 70 million members.

In 2005, DS Rajan wrote as a guest columnist to the website South Asia Analysis Group that ultra-leftist elements in the China who are claiming absolute loyalty to Mao and firmly against the present leadership of CPC were active and they had been supporters of the Indian and Nepali Maoists.

The CPC neither supported the Nepali Maoists nor supports the Indian counterparts.

Though at that time, according to Rajan, the CPC had decided to tolerate the dissents because of the weight and influence of Mao’s name among the Chinese, Huang was quoted as saying, “Especially since the beginning of the current economic crisis, the Left is increasingly being monitored, there are arrests and other forms of harassments.”

However, neither any confirmation of the news nor any kind of comment on the part of the Chinese officials is available.