Mao Zedong Thought and the Third World/Global South

This essay takes up the question of the influence of Mao Zedong on Third World societies. The discussion proceeds in three parts: first, consideration of elements in Mao Zedong Thought that would account for its appeal beyond the Chinese revolution; second, the influence of Mao Zedong Thought in the heyday of Third World struggles in the 1960s and 1970s; third, the lingering commitment to Mao's legacies in postcolonial societies when it has all but been abandoned in the People's Republic of China except for the militant nationalism that it fostered. While Mao's legacies continue to exert some influence especially in agrarian societies subjected to the devastating consequences of global capitalism (especially India and the Philippines), the discussion suggests that this influence should be understood within the context of native ideological dispositions in societies placed similarly to revolutionary China within a globalizing capitalism in the post-Second World War period.