Yes—the study of philosophy belongs here and we are glad to present it here—Lao Tzu and Mao Zedong

By Steve Otto

Lately we have had several articles on the need for philosophy. Some Conservatives don’t value the study of philosophy. Likewise some scientists and some hard core Marxists don’t value philosophy either. But some of us do. As I pointed out recently, in “Education needs philosophy, liberal arts and humanities,” Karl Marx was influenced by Democritus and  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Marx’s has a famous quote: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways. The point, however, is to change it.” But that does not mean we have no use at all for philosophy.

It seems other Maoist blogs are now looking at ancient philosophers. The latest “Is Taoism a progressive or reactionary philosophy?” on the blog The victory of the oppressed and exploited. This blog literally looks at the Taoist philosophy. As many people know, especially Maoists, Mao Zedong was influenced by Taoism. He studied many philosophies in his early years and Taoism was one of them. Edgar Snow wrote an assay: “The dialectic in China: Maoist and Daoist” in which he looked at the references in his works including Confucian and non Confucian writings, Taoist and Mohist writings, along with the traditional Marx, Friedrich Engels, VI Lenin and Joseph Stalin.[1]

As I stated in my original essay, people’s ideas often build on old ideas. One of Mao’s better known books include Five Essays on Philosophy.[2] In this book are a couple of references to Lao Tzu. The book comes right out and calls it philosophy. No hiding it—it is philosophy. We had another article called “Book Review of Jose Maria Sison’s "On the Philosophy of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism". This book clearly labels itself as philosophy. So we have plenty of example of Marxist and Maoist who use the label philosophy. So we can easily see that it is OK for Marxists/Maoists to use the label Philosophy. Some of us like that label.

As with Marx and his Epicurean philosophers, Mao builds on the earlier philosophers. I see nothing wrong with any of that. The article in The victory of the oppressed and exploited is a welcome addition to  our study of philosophy and its influence on Marxism.

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[1] Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels , VI Lenin, Владимир Ильич Ленин,

 Joseph Stalin,  Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин/ იოსებ ბესარიონის ძე სტალინი, Confucius, 孔子 Lao Tzu. , 老子. Mao Zedong,毛泽东

[2] Mao Zedong, Five Essays on Philosophy, (People’s Publishing House, Beijing, 1977).