Traditional Marxist Considerations

Lenin and Mao traveled in a unique direction away from classical Marxism. Karl Marx attested to the
“idiocy of rural life,”1 and firmly proclaimed a proletarian revolution as the only path to be followed. Marx
suggested that the history of nations is characterized by a “constant war” between its urban centers and the
countryside, since they lie in contradiction to one another, and the periods in history which are rural-based indicate
times of stagnation and retrogressive development.2 Marx maintained that the peasantry would eventually be
dominated by the urbanized, industrialized sectors, and then disappear as a class. This view was shared by Engels:
“Our small peasant, like every survivor of a past mode of production, is hopelessly doomed. He is a future
proletarian.”3 According to Marx, there is no active role for the peasant in what he believes to be the inevitable
transition from feudalism to capitalism and then to socialism - they could only hope to fall under the leadership of
urbanite intellectuals. Peasants were viewed as pathetic, mindless toilers; they were only concerned with the
acquisition of land, and were ‘reactionary’ rather than ‘revolutionary.’ In what appears to be a direct attack on Mao,
had it not been before Mao’s time, Engels proclaims,
Hence a man who will say that this revolution can be more easily carried out in a country, because,
although it has no proletariat, it has no bourgeoisie either, only proves he has still to learn the
ABC of Socialism.4
Showing some leniency, Marx suggested that the alliance of the bourgeoisie and proletariat would be too
weak to surpass autocratic and feudal forces in the East, and would therefore require the active support of the
peasantry.5 However, this was further qualified by the fact that this period would be short-lived and that the rural
element could not be trusted. It is interesting to note that Lenin used Marx’s sparse words on this issue later in
defending his call for worker-peasant alliances, in which they would play a more influential revolutionary role.