What is "deviationism"

n. deviation from accepted beliefs or policies, especially from a prescribed form of Communism.

n. ideological defection from the party line (especially from orthodox communism)

A deviationist is a person who expresses a deviation: an abnormality or departure. In Stalinism, deviationism is an expressed belief which is not in accordance with official party doctrine for the time and area. Accusations of deviationism often led to purges. Forms of deviationism included revisionism, dogmatism, bourgeois nationalism, and rootless cosmopolitanism.

For example, Mao Zedong in a 1953 speech referred to both " left" and " right" deviationists. Years later, in 1976, the so-called Gang of Four would strike out against "rightist deviationism".