Bob Avakian

Robert "Bob" Bruce Avakian (born March 7, 1943) is the founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP). Avakian developed the organization's official ideology, a theoretical framework rooted in Maoism, called "the New Synthesis" or the "New Communism." Coming out of the New Left, Avakian has written several books over four decades, including an autobiography.

Early life

Avakian was born on March 7, 1943, in Washington, D.C., to Ruth and Spurgeon Avakian (an Armenian American lawyer, civil rights activist, and later judge on the Alameda County, California superior court), and, after spending his first three years in the Washington metropolitan area, spent the rest of his childhood and adolescence in Berkeley, California.

Political activities

As a young man, Avakian became involved with the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) at Berkeley, the Free Speech Movement and the Black Panther Party. In 1968, he wrote articles for the Peace and Freedom Party's publications and in July 1969, he spoke at the Black Panther conference in Oakland, California. By the time that the SDS split into three factions in the summer of 1969, Avakian was a leading member of the Revolutionary Youth Movement II faction, and was their candidate for National Secretary. Although defeated for the top position by Mark Rudd of the faction soon known as the Weather Underground, Avakian was elected to the National Interim Committee. During that period, Avakian was a leading member of the Bay Area Revolutionary Union alongside Leibel Bergman.

In the early 1970s, Avakian served a prison sentence for desecrating the American flag during a demonstration. He was charged with assaulting a police officer in January 1979 at a demonstration in Washington, D.C. to protest Deng Xiaoping's meeting with Jimmy Carter. After receiving an arrest warrant, Avakian "jumped bail" and fled to France. In 1980, he gave a speech to 200 protestors in downtown Oakland and his police assault charges were dropped a few years later.

In 2005, Avakian published an autobiography, ''From Ike to Mao and Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist''. He has been the Revolutionary Communist Party's central committee chairman and national leader since 1979. In 2016, the RCP USA and others helped form the organization Refuse Fascism, which called for the removal of Donald Trump.

In August 2020, Avakian released a statement about the rise of fascism in America, calling on supporters to use "every appropriate means of non-violent action" to remove Trump, including voting for Joe Biden for President of the United States, while continuing to organize for revolution.

Legacy

Avakian is a controversial figure, who the RCP acknowledges is both "loved and hated." He is viewed by supporters as a revolutionary leader whose body of work has advanced communist theory and represents a "pathway to human emancipation" from the capitalist system. He is criticized by detractors for an alleged cult of personality around him, which the party has called "lies and slander."

Bibliography

Books

''The Loss in China and the Revolutionary Legacy of Mao Tse-tung''
(1979)

''Mao Tse-tung’s Immortal Contributions''
(1979)
Conquer The World? The International Proletariat Must and Will
(1981)
''For a Harvest of Dragons''
(1983)

''A Horrible End, or an End to the Horror?''
(1984)

''Bullets: From the Writings, Speeches, and Interviews of Bob Avakian''
(1985)
*

' (1986)
*

' (1992)

''Preaching from a Pulpit of Bones: We Need Morality But Not Traditional Morality''
(1999)
*

' (2005)
*

' (2005)
* '' ttp://www.insight-press.com/site/epage/55427_664.htm Away with All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World' (2008)

''Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy''
(2008)

(2010)
* ttps://www.revcom.us/avakian/BAsics/e-book/BAsics-by-Bob-Avakian.epub ''BAsics, from the Talks and Writings of Bob Avakian''(2011)

''What Humanity Needs: Revolution and the New Synthesis of Communism''
(2012)

''Constitution, Law, and Rights in Capitalist Society and in the Future Socialist Society''
(2015)

''The New Communism: The Science, the Strategy, the Leadership for an Actual Revolution, and a Radically New Society on the Road to Real Emancipation''
(2016)

''Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism''
(2019)
Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis: Breaking with Individualism, Parasitism and American Chauvinism
(2019)

Films

''Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About''
(2003)

''Revolution—Nothing Less!''
(2012)


(2015)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/512/see-and-share-this-talk-en.html ''The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America, A Better World IS Possible''(2017)

''Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution''
(2018)
Articles and Essays

(1998)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/v23/1100-99/1104/bobavakian_1104.htm The Movement Is Great...But The Movement Is Not "Everything"...The People Need Revolution(2001)
The Pyramid of Power And the Struggle to Turn This Whole Thing Upside Down
(2004)

(2004)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/1262/avakian-epistemology.htm Bob Avakian in a Discussion with Comrades on Epistemology- On Knowing and Changing the World(2004)
Bob Avakian: On Internationalism
(2004)

(2005)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/1271/avakian-cosby.htm Do the Masses Need Bill Cosby’s Scolding or Do They Need Leadership to Put an End to Oppression?(2005)
Changes in the World and the "Clash of Civilizations" — Within This Civilization
(2005)

(2005)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/007/avakian-jerry-rubenhtm.htm There Is No “They” ...But There is a Definite Direction to Things: The Dynamics Within The Ruling Class, and the Challenges for Revolutionaries(2005)
Not Being Jerry Rubin, Or Even Dimitrov, But Actually Being Revolutionary Communists: The Challenge of Defending Fundamental Rights -- From A Communist Perspective, and No Other
(2005)

(2005)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/010/avakian-leap-faith-leap-rational.htm "A Leap of Faith" and a Leap to Rational Knowledge: Two Very Different Kinds of Leaps, Two Radically Different Worldviews and Methods(2005)

Three Alternative Worlds
(2005)

(2005)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/030/avakian-repolarization.htm Polarization...''Re''polarization...and Revolution(2006)
Reform or Revolution: Questions of Orientation, Questions of Morality
(2006)

(2006)

(2006)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/070/ideasBA-en.html The Struggle in the Realm of Ideas(2006)
The Role of Dissent in a Vibrant Society
(2006)

(2007)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/104/avakian-religion-en.html Why Is Religious Fundamentalism Growing in Today’s World—And What Is the Real Alternative?(2007)
On Racism and The System: Thoughts on reading Clarence Page’s “Hung Up on Noose News”
(2007)

(2007)

(2008)
* ttps://www.revcom.us/a/142/Avakian_Objective_Situation-en.html The Objective Situation, The Bush Regime, and the Bourgeois Elections(2008)
On Obama, Redemption and the Need for a Scientific Understanding
(2008)

(2008)

(2009)
* ttps://www.revcom.us/a/157/Avakian_on_Obama-en.html On the inauguration, crimes...and complicity(2009)
Revolution and a Radically New World: Contending "Universalisms" and Communist Internationalism
(2009)

(2009)
* ttps://www.revcom.us/avakian/Out%20into%20the%20World/Avakian_Out_into_World_pt4-en.html Revolutionary Strategy, Bringing Forward a Revolutionary People(2009)
"Crises in Physics," Crises in Philosophy and Politics
(2009)

(2010)
* ttps://revcom.us/avakian/culture_wars/ Some Observations on the Culture Wars: Textbooks, Movies, Sham Shakespearean Tragedies and Crude Lies(2010)

A Reflection On The ‘Occupy’ Movement: An Inspiring Beginning…And The Need To Go Further
(2011)


(2013)


(2015)


(2019)


(2020)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/640/bob-avakian-the-deadly-illusion-of-normalcy-en.html The Deadly Illusion of "Normalcy" and the Revolutionary Way Forward(2020)

This Republic—Ridiculous, Outmoded, Criminal
(2020)


(2020)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/650/bob-avakian-dictatorship-and-communism-en.html Dictatorship and Communism—Facts and Foolishness(2020)

Radical Change Is Coming: Will It Be Emancipating, or Enslaving—Revolutionary, or Reactionary?
(2020)


(2020)


(2020)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/655/bob-avakian-on-statues-monuments-and-celebrating-or-ending-oppression-en.html On Statues, Monuments, and Celebrating—or Ending—Oppression(2020)

Capitalism-Imperialism—The Suffocation of Seven Billion—and the Profound Need For a World on New Foundations
(2020)


(2020)
* [https://revcom.us/a/658/bob-avakian-patriarchy-and-patriotism-the-danger-and-the-immediate-challenge-en.html Patriarchy and Patriotism—Aggressive Male Supremacy and American Supremacy—The Danger and the Immediate Challenge] (2020)

Statement By Bob Avakian: On the Immediate Critical Situation, The Urgent Need to Drive Out the Trump/Pence Regime, Voting in this Election, and the Fundamental Need For Revolution
(2020)


(2020)

(2021)
* ttps://revcom.us/a/690/bob-avakian-shakespeare-and-strategic-commanders-of-the-revolution-en.html Shakespeare and Strategic Commanders of the Revolution(2021)

In popular culture

James LeGros portrays Avakian in the 1995 Mario Van Peebles film ''Panther''.

Notes

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Avakian, Bob
1943 births
Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
American activists
American atheists
American autobiographers
American people of Armenian descent
American political party founders
Living people
Members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Peace and Freedom Party politicians
Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
Writers from Washington, D.C.