What Does It Mean to Be Maoist?
Well, I guess it was inevitable. I became a woman and I became a Maoist. It was a long path that brought me here, both politically and gender-wise. A lot of self-loathing and being tired and wanting something better for other people — it took a lot of care. I learned to care for others before I learned to care for myself, and I learned that the best way to care for others is to become involved with others. My undergrad program is coming to an end, but I see stretching before me a long road, a road I and I alone was meant to travel. I have finally found a purpose, and that purpose is helping people to learn about the world and helping them to learn about themselves. I want to teach people about gender, about history, about sexuality, about socialism. Unfortunately, I realize this normally doesn’t happen until college, and I would probably get a handful of angry parents yelling at me were I to work for public schools. I’ll be attempting to take graduate programs at Indiana State University, where the Kinsey Institute is kept (literally the last large archive of sexual science and history in the country). From here, we’ll see. I suppose I should prepare myself; I have a single year before this.
Now that that little introduction is out of the way, what does it mean to be a Maoist? It means realizing the dominant forces of history. Mao said “the people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.” The people are the real center of power, and not the bourgeoisie. To be a Maoist is to understand that the way power is given and organized is incorrect. To be a trans Maoist is to understand that transness and gender are both material conditions, made up to control our actions and speech. To be a Maoist is to understand that we must unite at every opportunity with the people, that “the masses have boundless creative power,” and that “we ourselves are often childish and ignorant.” I certainly am ignorant, and I should allow myself to be guided more so by the people. I am also a trans woman. I am a Marxist, and I support the revolutionary actions of For the People, a group that seek to alleviate the suffering of the people and organize them. They are a mass organization, a predecessor to the formation of the party. It is sad that my own attempts to establish a chapter and organizing group have been unsuccessful.
To be a Maoist is to understand that you are not static, that nobody is anything by necessity, and the masses and each person within your organization and others are flexible, dynamic people. All change and all lines should change through engaging in class struggle. All contradictions among people within the party are non-permanent, and can be eradicated through struggle sessions and self-criticism. To be a Maoist is to understand that you should not fear criticism, that you should not take criticism as a personal attack, and that you should always consider carefully your actions and the consequences of them. We as Maoists must understand that all oppression is a material oppression, and that all oppression in the current economic situation comes from capitalist exploitation. We as trans people should recognize this as well, as for the reasons of capitalism we are constantly degraded. We are worth less and thus can be more easily exploited. Capitalism encourages the devaluing of human life, and thus it is a threat to all human lives.
To be a trans Maoist is to recognize that Marxism Leninism Maoism is the most coherent and promising revolutionary ideology, that it is the correct line to advance in the current situation. It is the only pathway to liberation in modern society.
