Lee Yur-Bok, in "The Thought of Mao Tse-Tung: Signification of Marxism-Leninism," writes that there is some dispute among scholars and historians as to just how much Mao actually contributed to the development of Marxism-Leninism and Communist theory. He writes that some say that Mao contributed mainly in terms of applied, practical Communism in China, rather than in terms of theory. Others argue that his main contribution to Communist theory and its development was in his reinterpretation of that theory so that it fit the lives and needs of the Chinese people and their culture. The author himself clearly argues that Mao did make important contributions to Communist theory---as well as to the actual practice of Communism and revolution---and especially so with respect to the special circumstances of China and its culture and people.
Yur-Bok writes that Lenin's contributions to Communist theory are many and clear, that Stalin's contribution "is rather insignificant" (103), and that Mao's debt to Marxism-Leninism is "obvious" (103). The question is whether Mao gave as much as he got with respect to Communist theory. There is no doubt that the Chinese Communist Party has long trumpeted the contributions of Mao to Communist theory, but that is to be expected. The Chinese Communist Party
claims that the "thought of Mao Tse-tung is not only the practical application of European Marxism-Leninism to peculiar conditions in China but also a further development of the basic theoretical principles of Marxism-Leninism
Mao himself takes little part in the argument over theory. The basics of Communist theory to him were important not as "dogma but as a guide for action" (106). Theory to Mao is important only insofar as it can be flexibly used to advance the cause of revolutionary activity.
Mao became a Marxist in 1920 at the age of 26. Immediately he saw that Marxism was dealing with the socialist revolution in an industrialized society, ...