Relevance of Mao's theories
RELEVANCE OF MAO’S THEORIES IN CONTEMPORARY ARMED STRUGGLES
There is no doubt that Mao’s works have been, are and will be a subject of study for the revolutionaries, counter revolutionaries, military thinkers as well as historians throughout the world. With the tangible defeat of strong Japanese invaders and relatively strong Kuomintang, the world simply could not ignore the fact that Mao’s theories on armed struggle and their practical implications were undoubtedly of par excellence. Particularly, for generally weak revolutionary forces seeking to fulfill their meta political narrative through armed struggle, Mao’s works were divine. However, in retrospect, the contemporary time frame of Mao’s struggle and the various revolutionary movements that took place in the world at that time, the overall environment appears to be seemingly favourable. WWII had changed the international dynamics; nations were merely struggling to stand up on their feet as they had driven off their colonial masters and, class struggle had reached its peak with feudalistic governments crumbling down across the entire globe and Cold War had just started to crawl up. Change was inevitable for sure; however the world as our Chinese instructors would call it wasn’t informationized as yet. The fifth state as we understand it today was unheard of back then. No wikileaks, no human rights, no smart phones or even blogs. The whole gambit of internet and its implications were unimaginable back then. Hence, as an Army officer of the Nepalese Army with six years experience in countering insurgency that tried to follow Mao’s wisdom in the modern day Nepal, I ask myself just one little question. “Are Mao’s theories of armed struggle relevant today?”
Hence, this article is my humble effort to put down my views on the relevance of Mao’s theory in today’s world. They are generally based on my snap research, prior experience of the subject and knowledge of contemporary conflicts. As Mao rightly put
There is no doubt that Mao’s works have been, are and will be a subject of study for the revolutionaries, counter revolutionaries, military thinkers as well as historians throughout the world. With the tangible defeat of strong Japanese invaders and relatively strong Kuomintang, the world simply could not ignore the fact that Mao’s theories on armed struggle and their practical implications were undoubtedly of par excellence. Particularly, for generally weak revolutionary forces seeking to fulfill their meta political narrative through armed struggle, Mao’s works were divine. However, in retrospect, the contemporary time frame of Mao’s struggle and the various revolutionary movements that took place in the world at that time, the overall environment appears to be seemingly favourable. WWII had changed the international dynamics; nations were merely struggling to stand up on their feet as they had driven off their colonial masters and, class struggle had reached its peak with feudalistic governments crumbling down across the entire globe and Cold War had just started to crawl up. Change was inevitable for sure; however the world as our Chinese instructors would call it wasn’t informationized as yet. The fifth state as we understand it today was unheard of back then. No wikileaks, no human rights, no smart phones or even blogs. The whole gambit of internet and its implications were unimaginable back then. Hence, as an Army officer of the Nepalese Army with six years experience in countering insurgency that tried to follow Mao’s wisdom in the modern day Nepal, I ask myself just one little question. “Are Mao’s theories of armed struggle relevant today?”
Hence, this article is my humble effort to put down my views on the relevance of Mao’s theory in today’s world. They are generally based on my snap research, prior experience of the subject and knowledge of contemporary conflicts. As Mao rightly put