Mao-spontex
Libertarian Maoist ideology / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The term Mao-spontex or Maoist spontaneism refers to a syncretic Maoist and libertarian Marxist political tendency in France that arose after the 1968 Mass Protests and lasted until around 1972.[1][2] The name Mao-spontex is a portmanteau of Maoist and spontaneist,[3] while the reference to Spontex [fr], 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.