Mao's understanding of communist principles and the development of his own communist ideology appeared to have grown without him having read any of Marx and Engels' work but by observing the governance and principles of Soviet communist leaders. This form of communism clearly developed through the interpretation of Leninist principles and his setting about of the authoritarian control and dictatorship of the proletariat as with the formation of the Bolsheviks (those dictating the proletariat) to exploit the Mensheviks (the working classes who were repressed by Lenin's dictatorship and supported democratic and liberal way acknowledging the needs of all groups including the proletariat, the bourgeois so as to bring out a socialist revolution) in the Russian Revolution. Mao's values appear to be clearly resemble those of the Bolshevik with his revolution as put by Roger Griffin having been set out with the goal of "overcoming the decadence of the existing liberal democratic system". This, ironically, appears to present clear oppression of the common people for the needs of the more politically powerful and higher socially standing leader in a classist hierarchical system which clearly goes against the raw principles of collective liberty and leadership by the common people as originally proposed by Engels. This would likely present for Mao's form of communism to likely present only vague and superficial resemblance of pure communism, as well as his main intentions being likely to gain power and begin revolution against the feudal capitalist system valued by many in China at the time and which he disapproved of. This can be observed with his ideology, according to an interpretation by A. James Gregor and Maria Hsia Chang, having been believed to have:
"originated in his personal concerns, his youthful commitments, his moral principles, and the aspirations he entertained for humiliated China—rather than any familiarity with the writings of Marx and Engels"
This could perhaps present his values to not be centred around any specific ideology or model of a system of governance that existed at the time, but that he formed it based on a variety of existing models and observations of past forms of far left political leadership of which he supported. These included "revolutionary peasant populism" (or Narodnichestvo) which, while appearing to liberate and increase the influence of the proletarians and serfs within a feudal capitalist society, appears to further preserve and not attempt to dissolve this form of society, through these groups aspiring to resemble the wealthy land owning bourgeois and petty bourgeois thus further promoting this. It is important to note that the status and position in society of Mao's family could have influenced these ideas in that he described them as being "rich peasant" likely wishing to gain power in this way. The expectation that the proletariat must be subservient to and support the requirements of the bourgeois can be observed in the common and often exploited idea of hero worshipping as described by Ruhlmann as "a touchstone for the social historian: Tell me who your hero is, and I'll know who you are" with the hero in question being those of the class and status that one aspires to be.
The crossover between Mao's ideas and those observed with fascist and far right individuals is also striking with these fitting in with the garnering of support for right wing or religious groupuscules whose values complement these ideas and that Mao likely came into power as leader deemed to be extremist at a time in which there was little transparency and effect of moderate leaders at a time of desperation as "small extremist formations solely in terms of their potential to gain a mass following and so become credible electoral or revolutionary forces" according to Griffin. While these groups are fairly small and fragmented, they thrive in times such as this and are significant enough to have major influence. This, therefore, further explains the view that Mao's ideas clearly, although stemming from basic communist principles, only appear to be very loosely defined as such and function in the clearly opposite way with clear similarities observed between the philosophies of Mao and those of other leaders such as Lenin and Deng Xiaoping.
Griffin, R (2003) Patterns of Prejudice, Vol. 37, No. 1, 2003, From slime mould to rhizome: an introduction to the groupuscular right. Routledge.
Gregor, A. J and Chang, M. H (2009) Maoism and Marxism in Comparative Perspective. Cambridge University Press https://doi.org/10.1017/S0034670500028527
https://spartacus-educational.com/RUSbolsheviks.htm#section4
https://spartacus-educational.com/RUSbolsheviks.htm#section4
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