Mao-Spontex
The term Mao-spontex refers to a syncretic Marxist and Libertarian political tendency in France that arose after the 1968 Mass Protests and lasted until around 1972.[1][2] The name is a portmanteau of "Maoist" and "spontaneist"[3] while the reference to Spontex, a cleaning sponge brand, is a re-appropriation of name-calling which disparaged the movement's antiauthoritarian approach to revolution.[4]
Mao-spontex was inspired by both the spontaneous action of the Movement of March 22 in France and the 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 that party 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]
Mao-spontex falls under the wider current of Western Maoism[7][8][9] that existed after the emergence of the New Left.