| Mao's political thought contains a paradox between revolutionary ends and means. While Mao postulates goals for the revolution, his means of acquisition is a self-emancipatory process among the masses. Yet how can particular ends be posited within a self-emancipatory process that, by definition, arrives at its own ends?; Foremost among Mao's goals was the development of "revolutionary consciousness." Yet is indigenous mass consciousness waiting to be discovered, or must some outside authority guide (force) the masses to accept a predetermined revolutionary consciousness? Mao is ambivalent on this point, as is Marx.; Implicit within Marxism is a particular vision of the way humans should be: cooperative political activity as the greatest good. Yet if cooperative political activity does not generate consciousness which can sustain further cooperation, does a leader (party) intervene to enforce such consciousness, or does such authority refrain from intervention on the grounds that the process of self-emancipation is inviolable?; The Cultural Revolution is Mao's final attempt to launch a self-emancipatory movement in China. He fully expects, however, that this movement will arrive at, and sustain, a particular revolutionary consciousness or "revolutionary morality." The end of the movement is thus predetermined. Further, rather than being the discoverable structural bases of contradictions within Chinese society, "social class" is viewed by Mao as being itself purely consciousness. What the masses discover is not the reality of their own existence but who is "proletariat"--those with the proper consciousness, and who is "bourgeois"--those without the proper consciousness.; The Cultural Revolution degenerates into a witch-hunt. Faced with chaos, Mao restores party authority. The party, in turn, dictates the consciousness of the masses. Their self-emancipatory process betrayed, the masses of China become disillusioned with Maoism.; Marxism promises a "realm of freedom," in which structure and process are understood and controlled by humans. This achievement, however, demands a broadly democratic process of self-emancipation. The truth of social reality cannot be imposed, no single person (group) can have a monopoly on such knowledge. It must be discovered by those who live it. This is the final lesson of Maoism. |
