I want to also add this quote, which I think illustrates my point quite clearly.

Marxism-Leninism holds that each of the two stages in the process of cognition has its own characteristics, with knowledge manifesting itself as perceptual at the lower stage and logical at the higher stage, but that both are stages in an integrated process of cognition. The perceptual and the rational are qualitatively different, but are not divorced from each other; they are unified on the basis of practice. Our practice proves that what is perceived cannot at once be comprehended and that only what is comprehended can be more deeply perceived. Perception only solves the problem of phenomena; theory alone can solve the problem of essence. The solving of both these problems is not separable in the slightest degree from practice. Whoever wants to know a thing has no way of doing so except by coming into contact with it, that is, by living (practicing) in its environment. In feudal society it was impossible to know the laws of capitalist society in advance because capitalism had not yet emerged, the relevant practice was lacking. Marxism could be the product only of capitalist society. Marx, in the era of laissez-faire capitalism, could not concretely know certain laws peculiar to the era of imperialism beforehand, because imperialism, the last stage of capitalism, had not yet emerged and the relevant practice was lacking; only Lenin and Stalin could undertake this task. Leaving aside their genius, the reason why Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin could work out their theories was mainly that they personally took part in the practice of the class struggle and the scientific experimentation of their time; lacking this condition, no genius could have succeeded.

They discovered us, we’re finished.

It all comes down to dialectics and the transition from quantity to quality, basically. There’s no such thing as Maoism or Dengism, simply Marxism Leninism, and that was too what Mao thought, hence why he preferred the term Mao Zedong Thought, which would imply simply, theory written by him. The reason why there is a difference between Marxism and Marxism Leninism is because Lenin effectively changed Marxist theory in a way that modified the quality of the content in a way that it is no longer essentially the same. Lenin focused his ideas in the time were capitalism was adapting to new ways under the disguise of imperialism, and focused on praxis, creating a completely different analysis than that which Marx and Engels had written. On the other hand, all of the thinkers that came after him are simply following his steps and expanding the Marxist Leninist thought but not in a way that radically changes the thought. People who call themselves Maoists, or even worse, Dengists, are nothing but people who failed to understand dialectical materialism and are trapped within a dogmatic crossroads. If you read Mao, and you read Deng, you’ll notice that both of them have policies that are in accordance with each other and when you look at the policies taken by them through the lenses of a 50 year old time lapse in the future, they decisions improved the lives of the working class.

This is a really good text on the subject.

https://armedwithapen.com/mao-on-maoism/