Contents
The Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show
If you haven’t watched the Interviews yet, watch them now right here.
University of Southern California
Letters in Support of Bob Avakian in response to attacks on BA, the Revcoms and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights
Updated October 30, 2022
We received the following statements courtesy of revcom.us. These statements are especially timely and needed in the face of slanderous lies and attacks launched by various opportunist forces and media outlets against Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, on the role of the Revcoms and Sunsara Taylor in it—and especially targeted against Bob Avakian with unprincipled slander and dangerous lies.
The BAsics, by JP and Shonuff from the Revolution Club, Chicago
Why I Love Bob Avakian
“…When I read the new draft Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America [authored by Bob Avakian-ed.] for the first time years ago, I was floored and exhilarated. No death penalty. No “The ends justify the means.” A society of vigorous debate and contention of the road forward, a society any thinking, feeling person would long to be a part of…. And I love—yes, love—Bob Avakian and what he has created for humanity and the possibility of forging a whole new world. Read more
Formerly incarcerated revolutionary and supporter of Bob Avakian
New York City
September 2022
….I have never seen anybody to apply science to understand the world and the problems of humanity and break it down like Bob Avakian. Read more
Rev. Frank Wulf
I have followed with dismay the attacks on Rise Up for Abortion Rights coming from a variety of progressive groups also engaged in the struggle to ensure that people in the United States have free and unrestricted access to reproductive and abortion care. Read more
Prof. Rafael C. Angulo
I write not as a communist but as a left-leaning progressive who respects the remarkable sort of social analysis that Bob Avakian has engaged in for decades. Read more
Young organizer with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, Bay Area
I didn’t start learning about revolutionary communism from a principled standpoint, but rather from a personal place. After being caught up in identity politics, criticizing the revcoms for following one leader, disregarding revolutionary ideas for over 5 years as unrealistic, after looking at communists as nothing more than idealistic dreamers, I happened to stumble upon an old recording of a speech by a very young revcom…. Read more
Denis Mueller, filmmaker
I am a documentary filmmaker who has made several films including about Howard Zinn and author Nelson Algren. I taught at several universities. I am not a fan of The Intercept. My view is that Bob Avakian’s POV (Point of View) is a very well-thought-out condemnation of a broken system…. Read more
Jimmi Y., Boise, Idaho
This movement is not about a cult. It is not about brainwashing. In fact it’s the polar opposite…. If you do your research, you’ll learn that Bob’s movement is about as altruistic as one can be. He’s spent his life on this. Not for himself, but for all of us. Read more
From two Iranian women, supporters of the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners NOW
We come from a theocratic fascist country and have experienced living under such a regime, with our own flesh, skin, and eyes. We have been able to escape from that hell, to another. As women who have been fighting for the rights of women in Iran and around the world, we strongly condemn these horrific and vicious attacks against Rise Up, Revcoms and Sunsara Taylor and specifically Bob Avakian. Read more
Anahita Rahmani, ex-political prisoner in Iran and supporter of the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners NOW
“…The contribution of RCP and Bob Avakian cannot be even touched upon in these few lines, but I, as one of the communists who is dedicating herself to a world without exploitation and oppression, a classless world of communism, will always appreciate the contribution by Bob Avakian in wrestling with the most difficult contradictions of the revolution. In these difficult times particularly in the current crazy situation where all kinds of revisionist, reformist, social democratic, parliamentarians, and other post-modernists and identity politics and views are suffocating the air, I cherish the principled revolutionary approach of RCP and particularly Bob Avakian.” Read more
From a long-time civil rights activist
“…This is just another slanderous accusation. We cannot allow falsehoods and “Big Lies” to run rampant and go unchallenged.” Read more
From a student of Bob Avakian and the R.C.P., active with World Can’t Wait
“More dastardly deeds of the ruling class.” by someone who understands the RCP. Read more
From A.J.
“…During the last 4 decades whatever I have heard and learned from BA has been nothing but standing with the oppressed and working men and women all over the world. I think it is his internationalism that makes some chauvinists incensed. Bob Avakian is not only defending the masses of the world but feels responsibility to lead people out of this mess and towards a better future.” Read more
Scott Gilbert, a conscious, proud follower of Bob Avakian, acting accordingly
Why I support Bob Avakian and the Revcoms
“…I challenge anyone, anywhere on the planet, to demonstrate that BA’s analyses are not both prescient and correct. And, I say this in a comradely way. Please, please come forward if you have ideas and analyses that are different and reflect both the way the world is and how we can fundamentally change it to move all of humanity forward. I challenge anyone to do this. Not because we need to have petty disagreements, but because we want to figure out the best ways to end the oppression and exploitation of most of humanity. What exists today is truly horrifying, and becoming worse. Bob Avakian has a blueprint for how to change all this: Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. How uplifting and liberating!” Read more
Reposted from Counterpunch:
Why is “the Left” Red-Baiting Rise Up for Abortion Rights on the Eve of Fascist Destruction?
by Paul Street
This article by Paul Street, historian and author, originally appeared at Counterpunch.org, August 1.
“…[I]t’s bracing and a little bizarre in 2022 to see an anti-Communist jihad launched from “the left” (see below) against an organization that has been fighting to defend something commonly identified with mainstream liberalism: the right to an abortion.
“I am referring to recent attacks directed at Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights (RU4AR), the organization that has led the struggle against the Christian Fascist war on women’s right to control their own reproductive lives….” Read more
Coco Das, Texas
The attacks on Bob Avakian, Sunsara Taylor, the revcoms, and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights are dangerous and extremely damaging to the fight against fascism and any movement for justice. Read more
John Hedlund, sociology instructor and graduate student
I want to specifically talk about BA’s overall method and approach. As a sociologist (which is a type of social scientist), I find BA’s call for and application of a thorough, rigorous, scientific approach to analyzing both the natural AND (very importantly) the social world to be incredibly inspiring. Simply put, there is no one else who is doing this with the same degree of conviction—of fearlessness, of following the truth wherever it leads you—as BA. Read more
From a Revcom
I met Bob Avakian (BA) through his memoir and writings during my third prison term. I was caught up in a lot of bad shit, ways of thinking and acting that were really harmful and ran counter to what BA stands for and fights for. I started to follow BA and break with what I had become because I engaged and came to agree with what BA had to say about the need and the possibility for a real revolution, a communist revolution where the whole of humanity could get beyond all forms of exploitation and oppression. Read more
Isabel Cardenas, Salvadoran-American activist since 1960
Why are you attacking Bob Avakian? Someone who is all about justice and making things better for all the people. That’s his goal. That’s how I see Bob Avakian. Read more
From D. Ocean, Health Care Practitioner
“When Bob Avakian and the RevCom’s take a principled position and cut through the bullshit, when they show this attack on women and the overturning of Roe v. Wade is a fascist attack, when they show how the Democratic Party is conciliatory with these fascists (refusing to mobilize the people), when in contrast to giving in and capitulating RU4AR mobilizes thousands of young women… it is at this point these forces go after Bob Avakian because he is telling people what is behind the curtain.” Read more
From Gloria Pinex—fighter for justice and mother of Darius Pinex, killed by Chicago police
I know BA personally. The first time I heard him speak I fell in love with him. And I don’t know why someone wouldn’t want to hear from someone who gets down to earth with things. I don’t know who wouldn’t want the truth. Anything having to do with oppression he touches on it. He touches bases on Police Brutality, oppressed women—yeah—he does a lot. All that gibberish they are talking is absolutely absurd. It’s not Bobby—it’s not his character.
Roosevelt—member of the Chicago Revolution Club
Over the years I’ve seen and heard many leaders who have tried to diagnosis the many issues plaguing the Poor community’s . Since 1999 one in particular showed up on my radar, Bob Avakian has been more in tune and aware of the true solutions that’s needed to overcome these issues which existed for far too long! Others have came up with their ideas of fitting inside of the same dam System that’s caused pain and suffering all over this planet! Sounds crazy but it’s true. Read more
Aurora Roja, voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico
This was an introduction to the reposting on the Aurora Roja blog of the revcom.us article “Behind the Week of Internet Attacks on Bob Avakian and the Revcoms: Imperialist Fear Mongers and Their Servants.” The translation from the original Spanish is from revcom.us. Read more
From D., Revolution Club, Bay Area
“…So when so-called “progressive” haters (coordinating with major media outlets) throw around accusations of “cult” in order to isolate BA and invite repression against him, not only do I find it intellectually dishonest, not only does it tell me that these fools haven’t read with an open mind a damn thing written by BA, not only do I question the intent of these blowhard “woke” sleep-walkers… I also take it very personal. Excuse my language, but these assholes haven’t done shit compared to BA’s work over the last 50 years.” Read more
Statement in Support of RU4AR by an educator in California
“My only hope is that these phony accusations backfire and help build the movement into a wave that washes away all exploitation of humanity in general and of women specifically in this time of growing fascist actions against so many sectors of society. Bob Avakian and the RCP, RU4AR and the RNL Show are not only hoping, but working to make this happen through correct analysis of the situation behind the sham accusations and by synthesizing powerful solutions in this current phase of the revolutionary struggle for social justice.” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
Carol Downer, Executive Director of the Feminist Women’s Health Centers and Life-Long Fierce Advocate for Reproductive Rights
“…Before you seek to defame and cast out Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights on serious (but unproven) charges of being a cult and a pyramid scheme which diverts money from social and racial justice movements, you need to seek out the experiences of non-communist feminists who have worked with the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP), such as myself. As an anti-racist activist since 1965, and a feminist pro-abortion activist since 1969, I have first-hand experience with the RCP since the 1970’s which refute these charges….” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
Jim Fouratt, gay rights activist who participated in the Stonewall Rebellion, actor, and former nightclub impresario
“These attacks on Rise Up are so similar to the attacks that happened in the 60s and 70s under the Cointelpro program by the FBI. And they’re happening today, I believe, because of the success of Sunsara Taylor and the Rise Up movement with the revcoms.” Read more
Brother Raymond, founder of Brothers Standing Together
I’ve worked with the Rev Club over many years and I’ve never heard BA try to mislead or misguide anyone. They don’t like the fact that BA is a thinker. He has a great mind and people want to know what he is thinking. So therefore people misconstrue and try to say that he has a “cult.” He doesn’t have a cult he has a group of thinkers like himself who are organized and strategizing to lead the masses in the rebellion against violence and Police Brutality. So that’s what’s going on and that’s the BA I know. Anything else they said is just bullshit.
A Concerned Activist
I’m someone who got involved in the early days of building up the October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation. The October 22nd Coalition formed in the late 1990s to fight police brutality and many, many different groups and people joined together, building support for and protesting with the families of children whose lives were stolen by police murder—even publishing a book documenting the many cases of people who were killed by police. For over fifteen years, we worked together with O22, making a difference. Read more
From Brother B In The Streets, Educator, California
“There is something called objective truth—and people will be played for fools if they refuse to realize there are people who DO speak the truth (and there will be forces who don’t like that and want to stop it). And that includes the truth about what the problem and what the solution is—no one else, other than Bob Avakian, shouts “Revolution—Nothing Less”—with real substance, and over many decades.” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
Pam Laskin, poet, author, editor, lecturer at the City College of New York
“As an active member of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights and admirer of the passion, integrity, hard work and commitment of one of its leaders, Sunsara Taylor, I was appalled to read the recent attack waged against Bob Avakian, the revcoms and–in particular–against an institution, Rise-Up, so committed to securing the health and safety of women’s reproductive freedom.” Read more
Original posted at RiseUp4AbortionRights.org
A medical professional, after reading Sunsara Taylor’s rebuttal to the hit-piece by Robert Mackey at the Intercept
“Detailing the complete lack of journalistic integrity, both by Mackey and by [the Intercept’s] editorial staff, is important. Illustrating the trumpian methods of ‘argument’ he employed to extremely dangerous ends, here directed by ‘progressive’ journalists against some of the only organized forces that mobilized protest and resistance.” Read more
From a photographer who covered the Ferguson uprising, the Stockley verdict and the Black Lives Matter Uprising in 2020
This is something that’s been on my mind anyway. I’ve been having to deal with this since it happened. Me and a few other people—we had to defend the work of the RCP, Ferguson, Refuse Fascism, Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights – we’ve had to defend all of that. And that’s ongoing. Read more
Statement in response to the attacks on Bob Avakian from Freddie J. McGee, father of Freddie Latrice Wilson, shot 18 times by Chicago Police.
Someone trying to volunteer to help you, trying to save you. And you seem like you don’t care. You have to criticize the person trying to help you. If you want to use a recent example there is Martin Luther King, he was for the righteous. He was trying to support the people. He got murdered because he was trying to tell people the truth, he was trying to get people together. And they killed him for it. We still have someone like Bob Avakian risking his life, taking his time trying to help people. Read more
A Supporter of Bob Avakian
We are talking about Leader Bob Avakian, the leader of the RCP. A very charismatic leader. A very forthright leader. He is before his time, dead on point with his analysis born out of the Black Panther Party. Very committed to what he does—and he does it like none other. Read more
Why We Need An Actual Revolution and How We Can Really Make Revolution
The following are comments from people who attended the September 22-23 preview showings across the country:
From Isabel Cardenas
An American-Salvadoran U.S. citizen activist since 1960
This country and this world are in turmoil. What Bob Avakian says about having a revolution in Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution ~ this may be the only answer. This country is preying on people who are not white. They are hunting human beings. Something has to happen. What stands out to me about BA: he has been an activist since he was a young man ~ BA could see the future is inhuman. Since then, BA has really, always, been on top of what is going on in this country and in this world. In his speech, he talks about the 1960s. There was persecution then, of Blacks, Latinos and others ~ it’s been going on since the time of slaves. Today, Trump says “Make America Great Again”—but America was never great, it began by persecuting slaves and they took this land by massacring people. In the film, BA is very contentious and conscious of what has happened in this country. BA knows WHY these things are happening—what is behind it all. BA is not a man to be fooled—he can see what’s going on and what is behind everything. BA has it figured out: what has to be done, what Revolution will entail, and the steps that must be taken to get there. I am beginning to think like he does. At my age, I got from BA’s talk a new awareness—BA thinks something has to be done and thinks Revolution is the solution. It could happen, all empires fall. The Trump/Pence regime is trying to control the entire world, like Hitler. This is an example of dictatorship—a fascist dictatorship. Fascism is consolidating all around us—spreading like dominos all over the world. There needs to be work with the masses, which is what BA is talking about. I suggest everyone see the video on October 19—the premiere—people will see and hear what I saw, an awakening to what must be done. All of us, it we truly want to be freedom fighters, we have to follow what BA is telling us, and my god the people of this country and all over the planet need this!
A Call to Those Whose Hearts Are Aching
(Courtesy of revcom.us/Revolution)
To revcom.us:
We, a small group of Iranian immigrants living here in U.S., after watching the film of a talk given by comrade Bob Avakian last summer, are writing this letter to tell you about our experience with this film and to invite, encourage and really challenge others whose hearts are aching when hearing and seeing the world of horrors that humanity is going through throughout the world to really put aside some time and really, as soon as you can, sit down with a few friends, relatives and loved ones to watch this film. This film educates you, tells you why the world is the way it is and how it does not have to be this way anymore, and how another world is possible. But more than that, the film invites you in to see that you and others can become part of the bridge to revolution, to another and much better future. This film will change you as it changed all of us in one way or the other. Read more.
From a reader of revcom.us/Revolution newspaper (courtesy of revcom.us/Revolution)
Some thoughts on responses to seeing the film Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution
At the film showing in Los Angeles, “several people commented that Part 1 presented an ‘airtight, irrefutable’ argument for why this system can’t be reformed—but that Part 2 was going to be ‘uphill.’ However, they were thinking about real revolution in the U.S. in ways they had never considered before. A Latino organizer and activist responded, ‘WOW! This is just on a whole other level. Avakian went to a whole other place. Wow.’”
I thought the comment about “a whole other place” spoke to the heart of the film. BA takes us to a place like we have not seen before. BA is a person who not only does a scientific analysis of the cruel system we live under, but has an answer as to how to defeat that system and all the horrors that go with it when the time comes, and bring into being a society based on what humanity yearns for and needs. Read more.
Letter from a Prisoner after watching this film
Comrades, I just finished watching the new film by Bob Avakian, the architect of the new synthesis of communism: Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, this film made me realize that the situation that humanity is in right now is not something we should aspire to continue for generations to come, but it not only points out the dire consequences of this capitalist-imperialist system, but BA makes it clear that it does not have to be this way. There is a scientific approach that the masses (most oppressed) can take to emancipate themselves and all of humanity. The masses can make revolution if they take the proper time to prepare in order to succeed in overthrowing the system. Read more.
THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!
In the Name of Humanity
We REFUSE to Accept a Fascist America.
A Better World IS Possible.
A Talk by Bob Avakian
Ernesto de la Loza, Street Artist ‒ Muralist – “The Ghetto Rooster”:
“Bob Avakian is a man living in truth. This man doesn’t blink. Avakian’s talk THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO… was so penetrating, convincing and compassionate…. use this talk to deal with the fear factor, the apathy, the propaganda machine, the distraction and dumbing down to the max. Instead, refuse to live on the dark side and be focused on stopping this fascism. There is a rainbow coming through the storm.” Read more
Father Luis Barrios, Holyrood Church/Iglesia Santa Cruz, New York City:
Hello my name is Father Luis Barrios, priest in charge of Holyrood Church, Iglesia Santa Cruz. In this film that I am very strong recommending, Bob Avakian, my brother, in a prophetic way he highlights real issues that are happening in the U.S. …[T]he film is like a wake-up call, but more important than a wake-up call, it’s a call to action, that we need to get together, people who believe in God, people who do not believe in God, using the common denominator—justice. So we come together, so we can fight, resist, organize, mobilize against this fascist regime that we have in the U.S. This combination of Trump/Pence can’t stay. We need to get rid of this. Read more
Arturo O’Farrill, Grammy-winning musician:
The talk given by Bob Avakian was spot on in recognizing the grave danger we have put ourselves in by normalizing the ‘presidency’ of one of the biggest con artists to come from the cesspool of New York real estate/show business. His incompetence is topped only by his evil and unmistakable grab for fascism to the benefit of he and his billionaire cronies. The solution is clear, mass disobedience and ultimately a dismantling of this administration brought about by the will of the people. Mr. Avakian’s message is clear and very inspiring.
A New York City graphic designer:
Unbelievable, is a word I often use for the programs, initiatives, and assaults that come out of this administration. Of course, nothing is unbelievable now. I have watched/listened to the Bob Avakian video. He is impressive in a number of ways. He’s very knowledgeable and seems sincere. Although not surprising, the historical overview of the U.S. patriotic mindset and the description of the rise of fascism he sets forth is alarming. It’s also accusatory, as it should be. I recognize myself to a shameful extent in the description of the non-ruling liberal class.
David Gunn Jr., son of Dr. David Gunn, the first abortion doctor to be assassinated by antiabortion extremists:
In posing the question, “Which is more important: order or justice?” Bob Avakian addresses a key impediment to an overwhelming outpouring of nonviolent resistance to the Trump/Pence regime. Namely, do we quietly acquiesce to this administration’s offence upon offence against our republic specifically, and humanity generally, due to a need for the opioid-like calm of order; or, do we insist upon an application of justice that holds the administration accountable for its tyrannical, inhuman, and felonious conduct, but disrupts and upsets that same precious order people nurture and desire? Obviously, Avakian encourages us toward the latter, to be courageous, and take action now before everyone, even those who remain dedicated to the current order, is impacted by the true horrors of this administration. There is no better time for non-violent resistance than now. Through the application of justice, it is time to forge a new order: The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!
David Meyerhof, educator/poet:
My parents and grandparents escaped from Nazi Germany and survived the Holocaust. I know what happens when people do not resist fascism. Now is the time to watch, listen and learn from a leader who is showing us the true picture of the Fascism in America and what we must do to stop it. Watch The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! A Film of a Talk by Bob Avakian.
Dongping Han, historian and author:
This is a powerful speech. It destroys all the deception the elite has been using to deceive the people. I hope that more people in the U.S., in China, and in the whole world can watch it. People need to wake up to the dangerous possibility of a new type danger in our country and in our world.
Rev. Frank Wulf, Pastor, Echo Park United Methodist Church, Los Angeles:
Too often, we decide to vote for Democrats because they are the lesser of two evils. But, of course, I am left to wonder when we will finally get to vote for people who are not evil—people whose policies and politics we can wholeheartedly endorse. In this sense, Avakian’s advice that we should not vote for the lesser of two evils because it is evil cuts very close to home. Read more
Bob Avakian and THE NEW COMMUNISM
“I love it when he talks about my people being all people…. My people across the board—I don’t care who they are…. he always puts the struggle against white supremacy at the center…. Second, the centrality of the issue of gender, the vicious forms of patriarchy inseparable from that white supremacy. Third, empire—invasions, dominations…. And the fourth, the planet—not just global warming. It’s ecological catastrophe that is impinging every day primarily owing to corporate greed and the elites who are in the driver’s seat of a capitalist civilization that cuts across national boundaries—that’s what you find in this text. And last but not least, the concern about our precious immigrant brothers and sisters and the vicious scapegoating that’s going on, the deportations under neo-liberal presidents, no matter what color they are. The attempt to [not] lose sight of their humanity. How do you bring these together in such a way that you have a united front? And that’s in part what he’s calling for, and I as a revolutionary Christian in the name of Jesus will be part of that united front, even given the disagreements that we might have. That’s why I like this text. That’s why it’s important.”
Dr. Cornel West speaking about THE NEW COMMUNISM
at the launch for the book.
With america in the midst of a profound sickness evidenced by the continuing slaughter of black people by police recently—it is necessary that a literature be in existence that challenges our assumptions and lets us begin to understand that there is a way out of this suicidal madness. However we eventually get out of this mess it will take a profusion of ideas by fearless thinkers—and Bob Avakian is that.
What I found initially interesting about Avakian was that as someone who was around the black panthers, and while recognizing some of the failures of past counterculture movements, he has continued to push forward and create a dynamic synthesis and literature in a scientific way that gives us a basis to critique the roots and structures here that hold us in chains. He never lost the faith.
Matthew Shipp
During a recent event at Revolution Books in Harlem a patron presented reservations about a revolution, citing Malcolm X and that it would be bloody. This is an issue that Bob Avakian, as always, meets head on without equivocation in his latest book The New Communism. “You don’t make a revolution without tremendous sacrifice,” Avakian writes. This is a reality, he continued, “…you have to go through to get to a better world.” In this book, Avakian honestly and perceptively handles a number of questions about the difficulties of bringing about a total change in an oppressive system. It is a valuable addition to his corpus of work; a splendid exegesis of revolutionary potential.
Herb Boyd, author of the forthcoming
Black Detroit—A People’s Struggle for
Self-Determination (Amistad Press, 2017)
THE NEW COMMUNISM is exciting! Hundreds of pages, decades of research, a method and approach to understanding and confronting reality, and a strategy to actually make a revolution in the 21st century. This is monumental; for the billions of people who catch the worst hell under this system, and for everyone wondering why the world is the way it is and how it could be radically different, Bob Avakian’s work is unrivaled! To get to a new and radically better society on the path to a world free of exploitation and oppression will take nothing short of a Revolution, not an easy task however you slice it. But, in BA’s work and leadership, readers and revolutionaries can discover the scientific method and approach that has been lacking in previous socialist movements, as well as an understanding of how revolutions are made, and ways to move forward today to fight the power and transform the people. Viva BA!
A young woman from West Africa
Having gone and listened to a live, public Bob Avakian speech, as I have, is to be exposed to one of the most provocative, serious and controversial social thinkers of our time. He’s an American original who should be heard, debated and critiqued for these dramatic and troubling times.
James Vrettos, professor, John Jay College, NYC
This is a book of “big ideas” in an era where so few have the intellectual courage and the epistemological backbone to analyze social phenomena in their totality and in their mutual penetration… let alone while announcing one’s intentions to lead an actual revolution. The strategy and method of that revolution is drawn from precisely the book’s intricate analysis, which is full of suggestive provocations and sharp indictment of the capitalist system and prevailing culture.
A grad student in sociology
The world has been crying out for The New Communism!
The conditions of the masses of the world are intolerable, they have been awakening to political life and yearning for revolution.
It has been decades since the loss of the last socialist states and we would not be able to have a deep understanding of the reasons that led to the defeat of socialism by the defenders of the old order had it not been for the tireless investigation of BA that has led to the development of The New Communism.
The New Communism is what revolutionaries across the world have been needing to be able to break with the traditional ways of thinking of what true communism and a true revolutionary line based on a higher scientific understanding is, to be able to lead masses of people to emancipation. As Mao said: “The correctness and incorrectness of the ideological and political line decides everything” and this is what has been lacking in the revolutionary communist movement.
The New Communism, the correctness of the ideological and political line, along with other factors could have put the 1979 Revolution in Iran on a different path; it could have had taken the struggle in Peru to a different level and put Nepal on the map as the next socialist state.
The New Communism is the true meaning of internationalism, it is communism with a true global perspective, The Whole World Comes First, the angle from which communist revolutions need to be led within local boundaries.
The New Communism is as important to today’s world as Marx, Lenin and Mao’s work was to previous revolutionary struggles.
It needs to be taken broadly out to the masses of the world. Without The New Communism, there will not be a radically different socialist economic system; a radically different political system, the dictatorship of the proletariat; and a transition to communism, and the masses of people will suffer endlessly.
Internationalist supporter of BA’s new synthesis of communism
originally from Iran
Not very long ago I had an opportunity to read parts of and discuss a new book by Bob Avakian, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party.
His latest book, called THE NEW COMMUNISM: The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation.
As one who saw the movement of the 60’s and 70’s fall short, where there were so much to push one in the direction of a revolution—police beating and murdering Blacks, Natives, Latinos and others in the poor community across AmeriKKKa…. I never understood why there wasn’t a revolution then. Nor did I know what a revolution was, nor what it involved.
This new book by Bob Avakian reads more like a blueprint for the RCP and Revolution Clubs to build a better bridge to understanding even more about the science within a revolutionary movement, and how to seize and maintain control once a change is made!
With this system waging war in every country and even within its own borders! It is time for those being oppressed to utilize this new approach and break away from this stranglehold before we too are choked to death!
In this new, powerful book by BA he discusses the works of Lenin, Marx and Mao and modernizes their works better than anyone else ever has!
He scientifically breaks each one open and gives the reader the knowledge that with this new scientific approach a revolution is not only possible, but capable of being won, and a road to communistic society is foreseeable.
Former prisoner and Revolution Club member
BA’s new book gave me a better understanding of what political line actually means. And what it means to be a leader—an actual leader for the revolution that is yet to come. And that we actually need a science in order to make this leadership happen. Also it showed me that there can be a better society than capitalism. And that made me appreciate it more because as a Black man growing up in this society it was always very, very tough for me. The book gave me a way to understand that we need to make a new society and hope. I am eager to share this book with everybody.
A Revolution Club member
…I particularly enjoyed how BA stated the new constitution is constructed in such a way that you have to repeatedly win the masses of people to stay on the socialist road and ultimately communism. The very last sentence is an in-depth dialogue in its own right, continually winning people over to take up all manner of contradictions, including ones that the dogs put in your way to turn people against you.
I was likewise struck by the way BA issued the challenge that more people should be grappling with the new constitution to show what kind of society we’re fighting for of course. But also to convey how heavy all this is. Read more…
Excerpt from Letter from a California prisoner, on reading a pre-publication copy of THE NEW COMMUNISM
Bob Avakian has made trenchant observations and brought insightful analyses to a host of problems confronting contemporary society. He is genuinely concerned about the plight of the masses and has given much critical thought regarding proposed solutions for their uplift.
Norm R. Allen, Jr., author and founder of African Americans for Humanism
Why is the world the way it is?
Is there a way to change it?
Isn’t communism a nightmare?
What is socialism?
What kind of world could we build?
From questions of morality to questions of what is reality, from the science and its role in changing the world. The more crucial questions for human emancipation are not just explored but deeply developed in this book in a very profound way. Have you ever felt in the Matrix as Neo when he took the red pill? Have you ever felt the veil of illusions, ignorance and lies fed to you by this system get dissipated? Revealing, challenging, bold, and very accessible. That is what this book is about, Bob Avakian challenges the ways you think about yourself, and the world, it exposes what ways of thinking represent what interests, it challenges you to take action in the road to emancipate the whole world, not just a group of people, an area or a country, but all of it. And it gives you a way to do so. This is the science, the strategy and the leadership humanity needs for bringing into being a whole new world. It all is in here and is a challenge from beginning to end.
A young woman from Latin America
The first work I read of Bob Avakian takes you to another place; In understanding, Challenging and critically changing this world. From a time I was cynically hardening to a thoroughly US American system, To have this body of work wrench and ground me in reality is beyond amazing. Confronting Topics, Vocabulary and theories I’m continually understanding better, is exciting. To know that The 7 billion around the planet can get to a world without exploitation and oppression … As BA has said, Why strive for anything less? This needs to be in every hand and mouth; beyond coast and coast; from suburbia to the projects and high rises and even further into those who the system has no place literally on the fringes of society. THE NEW COMMUNISM, Damn, Now THAT’s a book to read.
A young Black woman
Before I was released from prison, I had the opportunity to read BA’s latest work, The Science, The Strategy, The Leadership for An Actual Revolution, and A Radically New Society on the Road to Real Emancipation. This talk which he gave the summer of 2015 touched on a lot of significant points in a very concise manner, while at the same time reinforced key contradictions that we must become better at. The more we strive to reorient people towards approaching the problem and solution from a scientific approach, the better we will be overall in creating a material force—a movement for revolution—that will be capable of carrying out a real revolution in this imperialist country, and once successful, expanding that material basis on an international scale. Because in the last analysis, communism is about fundamentally transforming the whole world and being emancipators of all of humanity not just the proletarians and basic masses within the borders of the United States. Read more…
Excerpt from Letter from an ex-prisoner, on reading a pre-publication copy of THE NEW COMMUNISM
Bob Avakian is a fearless revolutionary fighter for the poor and oppressed people throughout the world. From what I see of him throughout my years in the struggle, Avakian has dedicated his life to addressing everything that stands in the way of people getting free, and this book is a product of all that work. Anybody who looks at the world and sees police getting away with murder or people driven from their homes in countries around the world by wars and wonders what, if anything, can be done to stop things like this from happening again and again needs to read The New Communism.
Nicholas Heyward, father of Nicholas Heyward, Jr.—
murdered by New York Police Dept. in 1994
Dear Revolution: I am really excited about the publishing of the latest major work by Bob Avakian, “The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation”, in the form of a book, with an apt new title, The New Communism. I believe this to be an historic event at an historic moment, with world wide ramifications for the future of humanity.
At a time when people in this society are standing up against and resisting oppression and taking a firm stand against police brutality, the timing could not be more opportune. Also, there is a great upheaval in the world, and the Imperialists are having to deal with ever sharpening unresolvable contradictions. This has the potential for sudden jolts in the system of capitalism imperialism.
Besides, the suffering in the third world, (including the South Asian subcontinent, the area I migrated from); the death and destruction caused by wars for empire; the human suffering of displaced persons/refugees; the constant degradation of the environment with catastrophic possibilities, are all crying out for communism.
Since the restoration of capitalism in China in 1976, after the death of Mao, the first wave of communist revolutions practically came to an end. In the new era, Bob Avakian, coming out of the upsurge of the 60’s, emerged as a new revolutionary leader, who took over the responsibility of deeply analyzing the whole previous revolutionary experience, studying both their short comings and great achievements, with the aim of finding what led to the reversal of communism in China, and how to move forward from there on.
His painstaking work of several decades culminated in ” The New Synthesis”. As Ardea Skybreak has rightly said in her interview:”…. Bob Avakian’s work in this period is actually ushering in a new stage of communism”. BA’s work has taken the science of communism to another level, and in addition to making significant leaps in many aspects of revolutionary theory, and important ruptures, he has also made crucial breakthroughs and resolved crucial contradictions, putting the science of communism on a far more firm foundation. He has raised Internationalism to a new dimension, completely breaking with narrow nationalism, national chauvinism, identity politics and the like. This is reflected throughout his works: “… the whole world comes first”, “…American lives are not more important than other peoples lives”, “…emancipation of humanity” and so on. Today, in the era of the second wave of communist revolutions, BA’s New Synthesis is the only correct revolutionary theory that can lead to a successful revolution. His breakthroughs and path breaking contributions, put him at a par with the founders of communism, Marx and other great communist leaders, Lenin and Mao.
In the global situation that prevails today, anyone who cares about humanity and its future, has got to get connected with BA, engage with him and spread his vision world wide, so that people can be armed with “The New Communism”, to prepare and organize for communist revolution, to deliver humanity from the clutches of Capitalism-Imperialism; end all forms of oppression and exploitation, and build a socialist society, on the march to achieving the final goal of communism world wide.
An internationalist supporter of the new synthesis from South Asia
Revolution & Religion: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion,
A Dialogue Between Cornel West and Bob Avakian
Ardea Skybreak, On Attending the Dialogue Between Bob Avakian and Cornel West:
It was like there was magic in the air. It was one of the most hopeful things that I’ve seen in a very long time. I think it was historic in many different dimensions: in terms of the topic that was approached; the people who were involved in it, the two speakers; the moment in time. I felt like I was able to see a great demonstration of morality and conscience applied to dealing with the problems of humanity—that both speakers stood out this way. Read more
Before the Dialogue:
from Ed Asner—Actor, Emmy Award winner: “We need it desperately…”
I have been a fan of Cornel West for many years. I have been deeply impressed by his intelligence and his purity and to find him in dialogue with Bob Avakian, a fearless leader of the left is a consummation to be wished for. Work prevents me from being at the dialogue, but know this, I envy all of you who are. If hope and clarity can only come from this dialogue to lighten the dark times we live in, then I would wish this same dialogue will be played throughout the land. We need it desperately.
from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, Author of Wizard of the Crow:
The gap of wealth and power between the have and the have-not nations of the earth and the social haves and have-nots within each of the nations, is deepening and widening daily, with the irony that the haves, between and within nations, depend on the resources of the have-nots for their power and privilege. The result is material and spiritual misery of millions. This condition is human made not God made. It can only be righted by human action. A discussion on the role of religion in the struggle for material and spiritual emancipation of the human has never been so necessary.
October 11, 2014
See more Comments from Before the Dialogue
After the Dialogue: Observations from the Audience
from a woman from Europe who was raised Muslim: “Depth and concern about the conditions of women in the world…”
I’ve never heard anyone—man or woman—talk with such depth and concern about the conditions of women in the world like Bob Avakian did in this event. I found myself crying and standing up in applause in what seemed to be inappropriate times in recognition of this. He spoke with the same conviction in regards to Palestinians when he explained that the Democrats—not one of them—said a word about the massacre in Gaza by the Israelis.
from a Black man in his sixties: “We need to give more thought to how people live while they are here and not pie in the sky.”
I’m a Christian. One of the things that struck me listening to the communist is that much of what he said is at the heart of, is foundational to Christianity, in terms of the Kingdom of God. The unfortunate thing about it is that the Christian religion gets a lot of criticism because we think a great deal about the pie in the sky by and by, thinking about a different world and getting the pie in the sky by and by. The reality is I don’t care if this is scientific or unscientific, this is a world full of people. One of the things I like to say to young people is part of the reason that a lot of these people get caught up in all these rituals they get caught up in it and can’t let it go. Because they’re thinking and acting like everything in this world is going to be forever. The graveyard in every society is an object lesson that nobody in this world is going to stay here and this world is not forever. But we need to give more thought to how people live while they are here and not pie in the sky.
from a white male, graduate student: “The creativity of the human spirit is something that needs to be allowed to flourish…”
BA said something that I didn’t expect, but something that touched a very unique chord in my heart. He began talking about the recent comet landing and the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake as being just as important as all of the arts.
This comparison of science and arts, placing them on equal footing and as interchangeable manifestation of human motivational needs hit me particularly close. I recall at one point trying (with little success) to convince one of my professors that science is also an art. Hearing BA validate this sentiment was refreshing and I wish I could have been as eloquent as him when addressing this professor. The creativity of the human spirit is something that needs to be allowed to flourish. Without this, we cannot be fully human. This is what a revolutionary society needs.
from a young Black woman from Chicago: “I didn’t know that Bob Avakian was a Caucasian male…”
What surprised me was that, first, I didn’t know that Bob Avakian was a Caucasian male, and it surprised me that he spoke the truth like that, because usually a lot of Caucasian people wouldn’t do that, ’cause they don’t want people to know the truth, you know? And I feel like he really broke it down, and that was just really interesting, because the way they broke the subjects and the situations down I really understood it, and I feel like it’ll change things, change the world.
from a 12-year-old Black youth from Chicago: “All the information about WHY most of our Black people are getting killed for no reason”
They said it’s always the Black people that get killed for no reason. What surprised me? Knowing that it’s always us—like my brother who was killed by police. You shoulda came because it gives you all the information about WHY most of our black people are getting killed for no reason.”
Break ALL the Chains! Bob Avakian on the Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution
Closing remarks from the Co-MC at the “Break ALL the Chains!” Celebration in New York City:
“It would mean a lot that all of these children were to hear these quotations that show that they matter, and that they can be part of building society, running society…”
I just want to say in my simple way that I break this kind of stuff down: There’s just so many young men and women and boys and girls who have potential and are creative and smart and are amazing children who will never see any of that potential come to fruition because we are living in a society that doesn’t really care about them getting to a higher place, or being a part of society; they just crush them! And it would mean a lot that all of these children, and everyone around in all these projects that we’re surrounded by here, if they were to hear these quotations that show that they matter, and that they can be part of building society, running society … that their life could actually mean something, because right now their life isn’t going to mean much, because this society doesn’t actually care that they get to another place. Read more…
from a prisoner in Idaho:
I received the sampler edition of “BA on the Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution.”
I agree with you “100%.” I learn a whole lot from reading your literature. Reading your literature makes me “think” a lot about that subject….I just wanted to say “thanks to you all.”
A person in prison has plenty of time to study and to learn. I take advantage from this lock up time that I have and a lot of other inmates do as well. I am from the south, Chattanooga, TN and I know how “backward” the state of Texas and the south is on the subject of freedom for all women. I can hardly wait for ALL women to be 100% emancipated.
My personal education is a GED and also HSE GED from prison in 1966, and HSE from another prison in 2006. At least I can write, read and comprehend very, very well. I love to read, study and to learn.
Sincerely and respectfully,
August 20, 2014
BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! BA Live
Why Non-Communists (You and I) Should See the Film BA Speaks: Revolution—NOTHING LESS!
Here’s what I have to say. Feel free to use it.
I have just seen the first two hours, of six, of BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! It was like plunging into a very blue, very icy pool. I got out shivering, sad, angry, and very worried. About my life and all of our lives.
Two wildly strange things came into my mind during the hours afterward. The first is from John 8:32: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The second is Plato’s allegory of the cave, in which Socrates describes a group of people who have been chained to the wall of a cave all their lives, facing the stone. These people watch shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them. The shadows are as close as the prisoners ever get to reality. Socrates tells us that the philosopher is like a prisoner freed from the cave, who can step outside, at last, into the freshness of truth, the real world. Read more…
from James Vrettos, professor, John Jay College, NYC:
Having gone and listened to a live, public Bob Avakian speech, as I have, is to be exposed to one of the most provocative, serious and controversial social thinkers of our time. He’s an American original who should be heard, debated and critiqued for these dramatic and troubling times.
March 10, 2013
from Rev. Robert B. Coleman, Pastor, Glendale United Methodist Church, Nashville, TN:
My conversation with Bob Avakian and my reading of his strategic plans for revolution have been challenging to say the least. To begin the conversation with focused attention on the poor and the marginalized fits my religious and biblical sensibilities. To give voice to the voiceless; to empower the powerless… these things speak to my heart as an ordained pastor and theologian. We may diverge on the various strategies employed to achieve a more just society. We may be identified by our disconnect when it comes to religion in general and Christianity in particular. But, there is great benefit in engaging in the dialogue, listening to Avakian’s critique and proposal for change, and discerning your place in the ordering of society as we move into the twenty-first century. Go, listen and learn. Engage in the dialogue and critical synthesis yet unfolding. The uncritical support of any public figure or philosophy is folly. And the test of effective strategy shall not come without intense interaction and dialogue.
March 12, 2013
from a former Peace Corps volunteer and environmental activist:
Five hundred years from now, about the same amount of time that has elapsed since Columbus invaded what his class of exploiters call the “New World” and began a genocide of its native peoples, future humans, if there are still any, will look back on this time—our time—as one of the most critical in human history. Our planet is now literally teetering on the brink of environmental catastrophe, yet our so-called “leaders,” of this capitalist-imperialist system we all live under, do nothing. In fact, they are even accelerating the crisis. It was just reported that last year saw the second largest annual increase ever recorded of atmospheric carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas driving global warming. Greenhouse gasses are not being cut back, their output is increasing! Read more…
from a conscious young Black man: Why People Should Come Out to BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS
“Bob is like a Black leader but he is bigger than that” he is an emancipator for everybody.
When I say “Bob’s like a Black Leader” it’s because most of our leaders stood up against what’s wrong and tried to make a change in our community—and that’s what he do—but not just for our community, for the whole world.
When African-Americans, Blacks, what not, when they say “we need a leader” they mean we need a voice to speak about the conditions they in that they face every day from like police brutality to Black on Black crime. So Black people say they need a voice. That’s why I be like, “Bob is like a Black leader but he is bigger than that” he is an emancipator for everybody. Read more…
from a young Latina: “It changed the way I looked at everything”
As a person who has seen the rough cut of this film, I think it’s very important for everyone, especially young people from the hood to see this because BA talks about what they go through and he has a solution to all the oppression. And I know for me, when I saw it, it changed the way I looked at everything… music, shows, commercials, ads. I just started seeing all the fucked up shit they promote and it made me want to challenge all that and not go along with any of it. So I think everyone should just buy their ticket, clear their schedules and be there on March 16.
March 6, 2013
from a Spanish speaking supporter and sustainer:
(Translated from Spanish)
I’ve been a witness of a BA’s talk that only could be described as spectacular and much needed today. In it there are many valuable things for discussion and it poses impressive objectives that deserve the effort to get this project of the BA’s movie off the ground. All this effort yearns for giving voice and inspires the possibility of a radically different world from the exasperating nightmare in which many live today. Read more…
from Barney Bush, Writer/Teacher/Native community chairman /Father/Grandfather and Activist in the honor of our homelands and the next seven plus generations
I am aware that we are at the crossroads where we are unable to recover any of the thousands of species destroyed by industrialization within just the last five years… Read more…
from an African-American Grandmother and Freedom Fighter: “You need to experience this for yourself and get moved like I did”
At the fall presentation that I attended, Bob Avakian was speaking to me.
My testimony is reflective of my experience of finally meeting someone who was able to see me as a visible, viable force of fury who has since become an inextricable part of the movement for revolution. He tapped into all my emotions: in other words I cried when he scientifically articulated how capitalism and imperialism was intrinsically embedded in the consequential genocide of Black people. That open discussion of the reality of how chattel slavery historically and contemporarily affects those of us who continue to catch hell by this fucked up system just set me on fire and forced me to diligently look outside of my own plight under capitalism and get on board with BA and the collective revolutionary communist movement of the RCP to create an unfettered movement for revolutionary transformation. It compelled me to see the world no longer as a hopeless victim but as someone on a mission to organize others and to do so methodically.
It would be selfish and counterproductive if those of you reading this did not come to the film premiere of BA Speaks: REVOLUTION–NOTHING LESS! You need to experience this for yourself and get moved like I did.
Spoiler alert: He puts forth several challenges to us at the end, and if you come make sure you experience the whole thing.
March 9, 2013
from an Iranian Communist Living in the U.S.:
As an Iranian communist who was involved in the 1979 revolution in Iran, I felt deep into my flesh and bones when I heard BA speak about “Revolution – Nothing Less!” The understanding he brings out in this talk, the lessons he shares, are lessons paid for in blood by thousands of revolutionaries and communists in Iran and around the world. Based on our experience in Iran, and what has happened to communist/Maoist forces in Peru as well as Nepal, people (communists and non-communists) who are seriously thinking about radical changes in the US should come to see the film of this talk. What BA says is based on objective reality and a summation of experience, including shortcomings, of communists all over the world. As comrade BA said, “Revolution is nothing to play with!” People who are serious should approach the revolution as scientists who want to change society based on a scientific approach. Sometimes revolutionaries and communists have not been prepared for a revolutionary situation. If you want to be prepared for a time when it might be possible to make a revolution, you should come listen to BA…
March 13, 2013
from a teacher in Atlanta: “If you are someone who once imagined a better world or if you’re someone who has checked out revolution and communism in the past, but have found yourself believing the mantra ‘It looks great on paper, but it [is] horrible in practice. Communism just doesn’t work,’ you’ve got to see this film.”
If you’re anything like me, the idea of watching a six hour film seems nearly impossible. I rarely get six hours of sleep a night, six hours with a friend or family member, six hours to do whatever…pretty much the only thing that allows me to spend 6, 8, 12, 16 hours is my work…my job and I guess I’m lucky to have one.
If you’re anything like me, you probably ask yourself, “Is this really as good as it gets? Is this really the best of all possible worlds?” If you’re anything like me, you’ve caught yourself compromising your hopes and dreams of a better world and a different future. Maybe you’ve caught yourself compromising your imagination to conform to what we’re told is “possible” and if you’re anything like me…maybe you’ve even started to believe that nothing will ever change. This is the best we can do, so I should quit whining, get back to work and be thankful.
If you’re anything like me, you MUST see this film; BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Read more…
from a high school student: “It answers questions but calls on people to ask more questions!”
Before I saw the film I had learned about the lynchings during Jim Crow and before that, and I used to think, these people were fucked up. They took slaves, they killed Black people, they were fucked up. It was always about the individual. Like, some people didn’t do that, and some people did. It was never about, like, all the things that made that OK. That’s what society was comfortable with. So I was always angry, I thought, how could you think that was ok? How could you see that and not say anything? Read more…
Bob Avakian (2012-2014)
from an “angry slave” in a California prison:
Greetings Comrades! It has been 12 years for me [in prison]. I’m pleased that my thoughts are so welcome here! And thanks for the recent reading material…
I believe it is important to get BA into the prisons as well as into the hands of the public. Not only are the prisoners oppressed but the public (or damn near all of it) is just a ½ a heartbeat away from oppression and most are in denial about that fact… BA helped me come to the terms that my “systematic oppression” was not a mere happenstance of “luck.” That there is a system in place, mostly directed against Black and Latino males (among others), which essentially criminalizes Life, and creates a “slave labor force” and that me and other Blacks like me never really escaped slavery. We just had a choice of who “master” would be and a selection of “scraps which fall from the master’s table.” I mean the dynamics of slavery changed, not the slave, not the master.
I no longer have those choices. But I got B.A. which gives me vision. I got Bob Avakian teaching me that I am not what makes this system bad, it’s this system that makes me and everybody else who’s Black, Latino, poor or female a “criminal” for its financial gain. BA is a masterpiece. Spread it everywhere. I will help, until we overcome.
An Angry Slave, seeking guidance
May 8, 2014
from Dongping Han, political scientist, author of The Unknown Cultural Revolution:
Bob Avakian’s book [BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian] is soul searching. It is powerful and courageous. If we want to have a better world in the future, we have to face our past, and we have to understand what we are doing in the world today cannot be sustained.
“I had to wake up and deal with cold reality when I met up with BA and the Revolutionary Communist Party. I also learned that there is a way out of this madness.”
My grandson was fourteen years old when he entered the most dangerous prison in Texas. My grandson was put into prison with adult men. He was scared and put up a brave front. He was often involved in fights and one time he was cut from his ear to his throat. He received no visitors because his family resides across the country. We, his family reacted like most families when he went to prison. We thought if he did the crime he must serve the time. How wrong we were. Read more…
from a BAsics Bus Tour Volunteer:
I was once ignorant of the society that has surrounded me. Not long after getting out of the service, I became an Occupier. I had the experience of having many of the world’s problems laid out in front of me, and for the first time having a voice to speak out against them. This was very exciting and uplifting. I was also out looking for so many answers to why the world is the way it is. Then I met the revolution. Listening to Bob Avakian for the first time in the midst of sleeping in a park, and spending my days searching for answers… Read more…
from Matthew Shipp, musician:
I come at it from a little different angle, but what impressed me about Bob’s work was an openness and a non-doctrinaire attitude. He always talks about a firm center and elasticity, and the fact that he talks about how revolutionaries have to have a poetic spirit. So I think freeing imagination is one reason we go into music, poetry, dance or whatever, and I really feel that the way he approaches things leaves a lot of things open for all kinds of possible syntheses and things to happen that you can’t maybe pinpoint, but if we have a situation where people’s imaginations can be unleashed, lord knows how things can evolve and come into being….So basically all that is to say that what I really liked about his work is that he approaches things in a non-dogmatic way. And at the same time he recognizes all the failures that have happened in revolution in the past. We have to learn from all the mistakes in the past but that should not close your mind to the fact that something better can emerge in the future.
from Warrior Woman for the Revolution:
When I first was introduced to BA’s teachings, I was very shocked that this white boy was very real and knew a lot about Black life. Listening to BA, I felt that he knew just what I was going through and up against day after day. Read more…
from Richard Brown: “We Have to Have a Revolution”:
I want to say to the young people, please get this book [BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian]. Get it. Young people, you have to get it… When I was in the Black Panther Party, we used the Red Book as a means of uniting a whole community, and uniting each other. We read that book every night in the Black Panther office, we took it to the street corners and some nights we would go into the communities to people in our community, we’d go in their living room, and we’d have block parties to bring the community together and read from the Red Book. It united us, it gave us principles, it taught us how to work together and we did everything we could in order to bring about a revolution. That’s what this country needs and that’s what we have to do. We have to have a revolution.
from a University student: “You start reading it and it’s like ‘the emperor has no clothes.’”
I bought it [BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian] expecting to disagree with a lot of it, but even the opening chapters have really been very lucid and provocative, with glaring parallels to the driving ideas behind veganism which I’m much more familiar with…You start reading it and it’s like “the emperor has no clothes.”
from Erin Aubry Kaplan, journalist and author:
I hope he gets number one Amazon.com. We need to get this kind of word, this kind of conversation out into—it needs to be disseminated, it needs to be in the mainstream more. We got to stop thinking that this kind of stuff just belongs at the very, very fringe of society… Everyone should hear it, you don’t have to necessarily agree with it but, my god, it needs a place at the media table… Read more…