Maoism or Mao Zedong Thought ( ), is a variant of Communism derived from the teachings of the Chinese leader Mao Zedong (Wade-Giles Romanization: "Mao Tse-tung"). "Marxism consists of thousands of truths, but they all boil down to one: It's right to rebel against reactionaries."

Mao Zedong Thought has always been the preferred term by the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the word Maoism has rarely been used in its English-language publications except pejoratively. Likewise, Maoist groups outside China only began to call themselves Maoist after the death of the man himself, a reflection of Mao's view that he did not change, but only developed, Marxism-Leninism. Contemporary Maoist groups, believing Mao's theories to have been sufficiently substantial additions to the basics of the Marxist canon, have since the 1980s called themselves "Marxist-Leninist-Maoist" (MLM), Revolutionary Communist or simply "Maoist."

In the People's Republic of China (PRC), Mao Zedong Thought is part of the official doctrine of the CPC, but since 1978 and the beginning of Deng Xiaoping's market economy-oriented reforms, the concept of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" has dominated politics and Chinese economic reform has been implemented. The official definition of Mao's original ideology has been radically altered and marginalized in the PRC (see History of China). Outside the PRC, from the 1960s onwards the term Maoism has been used, usually in a hostile sense, to describe parties or individuals who supported Mao Zedong and his form of communism.

The Communist Party of Peru known as the Shining Path was the first grouping to officially call itself 'Maoist', and has since been followed by other groups advocating the People's War in the Third World, including the contemporary Communist Party of India (Maoist), the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and the Communist Party of the Philippines.

All those using the self-description 'Maoist' believe that capitalism was restored in the Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev and in China under Deng Xiaoping . Traditionally most Maoists have deemed Joseph Stalin as the last true socialist leader of the Soviet Union, although Maoist assessments of Stalin vary between the extremely positive and the more ambivalent.