To be pedantic again, I would like to ask in what sense is Maoist thought on guerrilla war "a theory" except in a very colloquial way where the word "theory" just means "something thoughtful I think might be true or might work"? Why isn't such thought "a program"? This is what the left used to call it. The Maoist tradition thinking through the stages of guerrilla war is advice on strategy and tactics and a long-term political program. A doctor who advises you to take aspirin to relieve your headache does not usually have "a theory of headaches" he has a prescription for (hopefully) relieving your pain. It is similar with strategy and tactics for guerrilla war... it is an observed pattern that leads to a prescription, and not a theory in the deep sense.
And shag, may I ask, what is wrong, exactly, with making such distinctions?
Jerry