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The term Mao-spontex refers to a syncretic Marxist and libertarian political tendency in France that arose after the 1968 Mass Protests and lasted until around 1972. [1] [2] The name is a portmanteau of Maoist and spontaneist, [3] while the reference to Spontex , a French cleaning sponge brand, is a re-appropriation of name-calling which disparaged the movement's anti-authoritarian approach to revolution. [4]
Mao-spontex was inspired by both the spontaneous action of the Movement of March 22 in France and subsequent protest movement and the Cultural Revolution in China, [1] and came to represent an ideology promoting some aspects of Maoism, Marxism, and Leninism, but rejecting the total idea of Marxism–Leninism. [5] Lenin's work What Is To Be Done? was especially targeted for criticism since they rejected Lenin's critique of spontaneity. [6] The idea of democratic centralism was supported as a way to organize a party, but only if it stays in constant contact with a mass worker's movement to remain revolutionary. [1] The main party vehicles for Mao-spontex were the French political party Gauche prolétarienne and the group Vive la révolution. [2]
The tendency falls under the wider current of Western Maoism [7] [8] [9] that existed after the emergence of the New Left.
It did not take long for the GP-ists to become known as 'Mao-spontex', or Maoist-spontaneists. The name was originally an insult—Spontex was the brand name of a cleaning sponge—intended to belittle the group's embrace of anti-authoritarianism as an element of revolutionary contestation. The marxisant tradition had long criticized spontaneism as an anarchistic error.
Part of a series on |
Maoism |
---|
The term Mao-spontex refers to a syncretic Marxist and libertarian political tendency in France that arose after the 1968 Mass Protests and lasted until around 1972. [1] [2] The name is a portmanteau of Maoist and spontaneist, [3] while the reference to Spontex , a French cleaning sponge brand, is a re-appropriation of name-calling which disparaged the movement's anti-authoritarian approach to revolution. [4]
Mao-spontex was inspired by both the spontaneous action of the Movement of March 22 in France and subsequent protest movement and the Cultural Revolution in China, [1] and came to represent an ideology promoting some aspects of Maoism, Marxism, and Leninism, but rejecting the total idea of Marxism–Leninism. [5] Lenin's work What Is To Be Done? was especially targeted for criticism since they rejected Lenin's critique of spontaneity. [6] The idea of democratic centralism was supported as a way to organize a party, but only if it stays in constant contact with a mass worker's movement to remain revolutionary. [1] The main party vehicles for Mao-spontex were the French political party Gauche prolétarienne and the group Vive la révolution. [2]
The tendency falls under the wider current of Western Maoism [7] [8] [9] that existed after the emergence of the New Left.
It did not take long for the GP-ists to become known as 'Mao-spontex', or Maoist-spontaneists. The name was originally an insult—Spontex was the brand name of a cleaning sponge—intended to belittle the group's embrace of anti-authoritarianism as an element of revolutionary contestation. The marxisant tradition had long criticized spontaneism as an anarchistic error.