Mao & Lenin

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Lenin and Mao
“The so-called political spectrum is not a line, with those on the far Left actually acting as the political opposites of those on the far Right…but, rather, the political spectrum is a circle, where, the farther to the right a Party leans, in terms of ideology, the closer that that Party actually comes, not to the beliefs, but to the political results of the party on the Left, and vice versa.” (1)
Although they seem to be on the opposite side of the political spectrum, and would then seem highly unlikely to agree on anything politically, Mao Zedong and Lenin do share a common enemy in Parliamentary Democracy. They both criticize that form of government for its inefficiency and impracticality. For instance Mao believes that the ideal form of government is a reformed type of Soviet communism, Maoism. Lenin, on the other hand, does not feel like Soviet Communism, Leninism, should be reformed. Both Lenin and Mao, believe that, through a Communist Revolution, and the complete overthrow of Capitalism, Russia/China, and subsequently the world, can eventually achieve what they considers to be “true democracy.”
Mao claims that in parliamentary regimes, the continuous changes in majorities cause neglect and disorder. (2) In addition both Mao and Lenin say that the problem with parliamentary democracy is not only its lack of efficiency, but also the fact that it is deeply imbedded in capitalism and, as such, becomes only a democracy, essentially, for the elite. Lenin makes a persuasive criticism of parliamentary democracy, which he also refers to as bourgeois democracy, in The State and Revolution. In that text, Lenin asserts that: “To decide once every few years which member of the ruling class is to repress and crush the people through parliament-this is the real essence of bourgeois parliamentarism…” (3)
Like his protégé, Mao is highly supportive of Revolutionary movements and Revolutionary Par...