Trotskyism and Maoism

[Lech]

This is a serious question.

Are maoism and trotskyism theoretically incompatible? most of the disagreements I have seen are historical i.e. the trotskyists dislike mao because he became another stalin or maoists dislike trotsky because he opposed stalin to the end. I do not, however, see much theoretical incompatibility between the two.

So are they truly opposed to each other or has history come between the two ideologies?

[Dimitri]

Maoism and "Trotskyism" are incompatible ideologies.
The difference is not only historical , but practical and theoretical.
The Maoists still adhere to the Stalinist Stage Theory. You might think this is insignificant , but it is not. For example the Maoists in Nepal that are in power now, do not want to nationalize the means of production under workers control and start building socialism. They say that because Nepal is a backwards country they need the alliance of the progressive bourgeoisie in order to build capitalism first and then socialism will be relevant for Nepal. This is the Stage Theory.
We on the other hand say that there is no progressive bourgeoisie on backwards countries as it is tied with foreign capital. The building of capitalism and socialism should happen simultaneously and under the control of the workers. We are against alliances with the so-called progressive bourgeoisie which is essentially reactionary.
The Stalinists/Maoists have done that many times throughout history, every time resulting in the betrayal of the working class, defeat and massacre. It has happened in Indonesia where Stalinists allied themselves with the "progressive bourgeoisie" resulting to the death of millions of militant workers by the so called progressives, it has happened in Greece where the revolution was defeated due to that policy and hundreds of thousands of communists where either exiled or excecuted, as a result of that treason.

This is one main theoretical difference which renders the Maoists reformists and treacherous to the working class and makes the two ideologies incompatible with eachother. Of course there are many other very important differences but due to the lack of time I presented you with one of the main ones.

[Lech]

Ah, I see. That is quite informative.