Bob Avakian is Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA , known originally as the Revolutionary Union, is a Maoist Communist party formed in 1975 in the United States. The RCP states that U.S...

 (RCP), which he has led since its formation in 1975. He is a veteran of the Free Speech Movement

Free Speech Movement

The Free Speech Movement was a student protest which took place during the 1964–1965 academic year on the campus of the University of California, Berkeley under the informal leadership of students Mario Savio, Brian Turner, Bettina Aptheker, Steve Weissman, Art Goldberg, Jackie Goldberg, and...

 and the Left of the 1960s and early 1970s, and was closely associated with the Black Panther Party

Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....

. He has published writings on Marxism

Marxism

Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...

 and Maoism

Maoism

Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...

 for over 35 years. He has described his body of theoretical work and everything he does as head of the RCP is focused on "developing a scientific understanding of the world and providing leadership in radically transforming it toward the goal of revolution and the final aim of communism." Avakian writes for the newspaper of the RCP, Revolution.

Overview

He defines the basic aims of the communist revolution as seeking "to make those two radical ruptures of which Marx and Engels spoke: the radical rupture with traditional property relations and with traditional ideas. It seeks not to replace one form of exploitation with another but to do away with all forms of exploitation and indeed ultimately to eliminate all class distinctions."

Over the past 30 years, Avakian has critically examined what he views as the "first stage of the communist revolution" as concentrated in the revolutionary societies in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.

In his body of work Avakian attempts to excavate, for critical evaluation, not only the practice of these revolutions, but also many of the fundamental theoretical concepts, from Marx, Lenin and Mao, underlying the strategic thinking and first experiences in making revolution and transforming society. While he upholds what he calls the great achievements of these revolutions and what he claims they have proven in terms of the possibility of people being able to create a better world, at the same time Avakian has been developing new thinking which he characterizes as real ruptures with elements of the past understanding and experience, a synthesis which he describes as reviving the "viability and, yes, the desirability of a whole new and radically different world, and placing this on an ever firmer foundation of materialism and dialectics … a source of hope and of daring on a solid scientific foundation." Some of the main elements of this new synthesis address philosophy and method; proletarian internationalism

Proletarian internationalism

Proletarian internationalism, sometimes referred to as international socialism, is a Marxist social class concept based on the view that capitalism is now a global system, and therefore the working class must act as a global class if it is to defeat it...

; the character of the dictatorship of the proletariat

Proletariat

The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...

 and socialist society as a transition to communism; and a strategic approach to revolution, including on the possibility and approach of actually making revolution in a developed country such as the U.S.

The basic premise of his body of work has been that communism is not only a revolutionary political movement, but also a science, a scientific approach and method to understand and change the world. He has spoken of "the importance of the unity between grasping and applying Marxism as a way to engage all of reality, on the one hand, and its particular application to the problems of making revolution, on the other hand."

While his "new synthesis" is at the heart of Avakian's works, he has written on a variety of other subjects that are related to society and revolution including from democracy to religion.

Early Life

Avakian was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in Berkeley, California

Berkeley, California

Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...

. His father, Spurgeon "Sparky" Avakian (1913–2002), the son of Armenian immigrants who settled in Fresno, California, to farm, was an Alameda County judge in Oakland, California, and member of the Berkeley School Board. His mother, Ruth, was from Berkeley.

Avakian describes in his memoir that as a young person, he had passion for music, sports, poetry and literature, and these intersected with his life growing up in the 1950s and '60s in Berkeley, a city with a mixed black and white population which was marked by discrimination and racism, but a city which was also becoming a center of a developing intellectual, cultural and political ferment (which would have a major impact on the whole country). Growing up and going to school with both black and white friends, singing in doo-wop groups and playing sports, Avakian experienced up close and personal the prevailing segregation and racism in society and the ways it affected his black friends. As a young person, Avakian came to hate racism and would brook no tolerance for white people who were racist or did not uncompromisingly oppose it. He was the quarterback of his high school football team at Berkeley High. In his memoir he recounts the experience of a late night bus ride after a game,

On the way back after the game I was sitting with some Black friends of mine on the football team, and we got into this whole deep conversation about why is there so much racism in this country, why is there so much prejudice and where does it come from, and can it ever change, and how could it change? This was mainly them talking and me listening. And I remember that very, very deeply – I learned a lot more in that one hour than I learned in hours of classroom time, even from some of the better teachers.

His early passion for sports in general, but especially basketball, could have led his life in an entirely different direction. As he explains in his memoir,

I always thought that if I hadn't ended up being a communist, maybe I would have been a high school basketball coach – but I was feeling that my life should be about something more than sports, as much as I still had real passion about that. I felt that there were so many big things going on in the world, I wanted to do something with my life that would mean something or, to use the phrase of the time, be relevant and not just be a personal passion for me.

Going into college he had yearned to learn multiple languages, to study literature and philosophy, and to play football. He started school at the University of California at Berkeley in the fall of 1961, and was trying out for Cal’s freshmen football team, but was forced to leave school when he faced a life-threatening health problem, which kept him in and out of the hospital for months, and out of school for one year, and which did not resolve completely for at least three years.

Early Political Career

It was at Berkeley through his involvement with the Free Speech Movement that Avakian took his first steps into political activism. Avakian, in different ways, and over a period of time, became deeply engaged in the movements of the times: the anti-war movement, the student movement, the black liberation movement, the developing women’s movement and the incipient new communist movement in the U.S. Avakian's ideological and political development can be traced through these rebellious times, as he developed political relationships and friendships with many of the key figures of that era, engaging in many debates with the various trends in the movement, including working closely with the Black Panther Party, particularly Huey P. Newton

Huey P. Newton

Huey Percy Newton was an American political and urban activist who, along with Bobby Seale, co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.-Early life:...

 and Eldridge Cleaver

Eldridge Cleaver

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was a leading member of the Black Panther Party and a writer...

. Through his writing for the newspaper The Black Panther and Ramparts

Ramparts (magazine)

Ramparts was an American political and literary magazine, published from 1962 through 1975.-History:Founded by Edward M. Keating as a Catholic literary quarterly, the magazine became closely associated with the New Left after executive editor Warren Hinckle hired Robert Scheer as managing editor...

 magazine, his work in Students for a Democratic Society

Students for a Democratic Society (1960 organization)

Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...

 and with the Peace and Freedom Party, and his participation in the many struggles of the time, Avakian began to develop as a revolutionary and seriously consider what kind of revolution and revolutionary leadership was needed.

Becoming RCP Chairman

In 1967 Avakian moved to Richmond, California, and started a collective "to integrate with the proletariat and take radical politics to the proletariat." It was in this period that Avakian started to study some of the "classics" of Marxism, as well as the writings of Mao Zedong.

In 1968 Avakian played a central role in uniting a number of revolutionary collectives into the Bay Area Revolutionary Union, with the view that this would be one organization among many (such as the Black Panther Party as well as other organizations and collectives) which at some point would build ideological and political unity as the basis for a new multi-national communist party. Into the 1970s these organizations continued to develop their positions on questions related to revolution and communism, questions such as: If you are going to be for revolution, what kind of revolution? How can you make that revolution? What kind of leadership do you need? What kind of program do you need? What kind of forces do you need to mobilize and unite? His approach eventually led him to a certain understanding towards Marxism. And his understanding of Marxism was that it was the theoretical framework that most scientifically synthesized an understanding of the world.

Through his writings in the Red Papers, a journal of the Revolutionary Union, Avakian wrote about many questions regarding the communist movement and theory, as well as the sharp and controversial issues of the day. These issues included whether the Soviet Union was still a socialist country or whether Mao Zedong’s theses of "capitalist restoration" in the Soviet Union was true; whether China, under Mao, was a revolutionary socialist country; what was the character of the oppression of black people in the U.S. and the relation of this to revolutionary strategy, and other issues.

Through a very protracted process, which included theoretical debate around the critical issues of what kind of revolution is needed, issues of revolutionary strategy, and very closely linked to these issues, the question of what comprises revolutionary leadership, Avakian played a key role in the development of a new communist party in the U.S. In 1970 the Bay Area Revolutionary Union became a national organization (renamed the Revolutionary Union); this organization itself went through splits over positions in relation to the above questions. This process involved debates and sharp ideological struggles among revolutionary and communist organizations (and individuals) throughout the country, and culminated, in 1975, in the formation of the RCP. At its founding congress, Avakian was elected chairman of its central committee.

"Restoration of Capitalism" in China, Arrest and Self-Exile

In 1976, shortly after the death of Mao Zedong, the followers of Mao (known as the "Gang of Four") were arrested and new leadership took over the Communist Party of China. Among communists both within the U.S. and internationally there were major differences on how to understand what had happened in China. Within the RCP, after a process of internal study and debate, the issue came to a head in a meeting of the RCP's central committee, where a majority of the leadership, led by Avakian, camein reaction to the conclusionse events, took up the position that what had occurred in China was a coup that overthrew socialism and was in the process of unleashing capitalism in China. This led to a major split in the RCP with a significant minority who supported the new leaders in China leaving the Party.

In January 1979 a demonstration was held in Washington DC on the occasion of Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's

Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...

 meeting with Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

 to expose what the RCP and Avakian viewed as Deng's "reversal" of the revolution in China. The RCP claimed that the police attacked the demonstration, resulting in many in the demonstration injured and many arrested, including Avakian. The federal government brought serious multiple felony charges against seventeen people, including Avakian. The charges against Avakian were dropped in 1982.

While fighting these charges, Avakian went on a national speaking tour in 1979 and while in Los Angeles, gave an interview to an L.A. Times reporter. In her article, the reporter attributed statements to Avakian that were distortions, which the Secret Service then used as a pretext for an investigation. After being threatened with a lawsuit, the L.A. Times printed a partial retraction. The Secret Service investigation was challenged in court, and nothing ever came of this investigation.

In 1980 the RCP faced many arrests and other suppression. At the same time Damián García, who was closely associated with the RCP and who had raised a red flag on top of the Alamo a few weeks earlier as part of building for RCP-sponsored demonstrations on May Day

International Workers' Day

International Workers' Day is a celebration of the international labour movement and left-wing movements. It commonly sees organized street demonstrations and marches by working people and their labour unions throughout most of the world. May 1 is a national holiday in more than 80 countries...

 1980, was murdered in Los Angeles. According to Avakian's memoirs, within this same period there were growing reports of death threats against him from various quarters.

Citing the history in the U.S. of political assassinations of revolutionaries (including Malcolm X

Malcolm X

Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...

 and Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton

Fred Hampton

Fred Hampton was an African-American activist and deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party...

), and the increasing attacks and threats against Avakian, in 1981 Avakian left the country and went into self-exile in France. He has continued to be the Chairman of the RCP. Many of his writings and edited transcripts of a number of talks have been published in the RCP’s newspaper, Revolution, and its predecessor, Revolutionary Worker. There are also a number of audio recordings of these talks that have been released. In 2003 Avakian appeared at two speaking engagements (on the East and West Coasts of the United States), delivering a talk “Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About” which is in DVD distribution.

Avakian's "New Theoretical Synthesis"

Avakian contests the notion that the experience of the communist revolutions of the 20th century has proven the failure of communism. Instead, he draws an analogy to Europe in the period between the 15th and 19th centuries during which there were revolutions and counter-revolutions, but nonetheless resulted in the eventual triumph of capitalism and bourgeois democracy and the supersession of the feudal order. He maintains that while the defeats of the revolutions in the Soviet Union and then the People’s Republic of China were painful setbacks, the goals of revolution and communism remain necessary and viable. He further maintains that for communists and communism to move forward from these defeats it is necessary to scientifically and critically evaluate this "first stage of communist revolution", and on this basis further develop the theoretical framework upon which to continue the struggle for revolution and communism. While providing overall leadership to the RCP, he has, over the last 30 years, applied himself to this theoretical task.

Summing up the experience of the first stage of communist revolution, Avakian argues that "the principal aspect, looking at this with historical perspective, is firmly uphold [the historical experience of socialism]. These were positive, very positive, unprecedented breakthroughs that were achieved in the historical experience of socialism; and, at the same time, there were real and in some cases very serious shortcomings that we don't want to repeat, and should not have to repeat, even with all the necessity we're going to be up against. We ought to be able, at least in crucial spheres, to make leaps and ruptures beyond this."

This new synthesis, in Avakian’s words, "involves a recasting and recombining of the positive aspects of the experience so far of the communist movement and of socialist society, while learning from the negative aspects of this experience, in the philosophical and ideological as well as the political dimensions …"

Philosophy and Method

As referred to above, Avakian argues that what is necessary is a scientific approach to evaluating the experiences of the communist movement and socialist society, both in its practice and in the underlying conceptions, in their philosophical and ideological as well as political dimensions. Avakian's basic thesis contends that while Marx has scientifically explained how the basic contradictions of capitalist society will give rise, again and again, to the most horrid conditions, and that while these contradictions and horrors can only be resolved through revolution and communism, this resolution is not inevitable. Avakian agrees that the possibility exists of eliminating exploitive production relations and class relations in society and their expression in social relations and ideas. However, he argues that this can only be understood and transformed in the interests of all humanity if consciously approached and understood on a scientific basis – and this is something that can be done, and needs to be done, by all who come to see the need for revolution and communism.

Epistemologically, Avakian has critically examined tendencies in the communist movement to view truth as "class truth". This is the view that truth is dependent on which class outlook one brings to the pursuit of the truth, and includes the notion that there is such a thing as "proletarian truth”. In contrast to this, Avakian has argued that truth is a scientifically-based objective expression or explanation of reality. He has polemicized against the philosophical view of "class truth" (as well as pragmatism

Pragmatism

Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to form what is called intelligent practice...

, instrumentalism

Instrumentalism

In the philosophy of science, instrumentalism is the view that a scientific theory is a useful instrument in understanding the world. A concept or theory should be evaluated by how effectively it explains and predicts phenomena, as opposed to how accurately it describes objective...

 and positivism

Positivism

Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....

 and has called on communists "to rupture more fully with instrumentalism – with notions of making reality an 'instrument' of our objectives, of distorting reality to try to make it serve our ends, of 'political truth'." He has emphasized that an important part of the process to communism and an important element of communist morality is the recognition that truth matters. And as he argues, under socialism, this process of getting to truth will involve unleashing all of socialist society, in its various realms, including fostering ferment and dissent in all of this. In connection to all this Avakian has attached great importance to imagination, maintaining that "there is a unity between a systematic and comprehensive scientific method and outlook for comprehending and transforming reality, and giving flight to the imagination and giving expression to the 'need to be amazed'." While continuing to adhere to philosophical materialism – a foundation point of Marxism – Avakian has simultaneously argued against a tendency toward mechanical materialism.

Proletarian Internationalism

Avakian holds the opinion that the proletarian world revolution must be based on internationalist

Internationalism (politics)

Internationalism is a political movement which advocates a greater economic and political cooperation among nations for the theoretical benefit of all...

. But also that socialism must be first built in a particular country to be used as a base for the world revolution and to promote it. Avakian contends that as long as capitalist-imperialist relations of exploitation and production and an oppressive capitalist state still have a foothold in the world, there is the basis for these relations to recreate themselves and spread elsewhere. And that in fact, it is quite likely that socialism in particular countries is bound to be reversed unless further advances are made in the world proletarian revolution. Further, Avakian argues that the development of a revolutionary situation in a particular country is more determined by developments in the world as a whole than by developments in that country – and emphasizes that this understanding must be incorporated into the approach to revolution, in particular countries as well as on a world scale.

On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat and Socialism as a Transition to Communism

Avakian has argued that while it is true that the proletariat as a class will be the backbone social base which is most strongly compelled to make communist revolution, at the same time, it must be recognized that the process of revolution is a very complicated and difficult process: that increasingly ever larger sections and various strata of society must be drawn into and enthusiastically take up this struggle, or very soon the revolution will fail, that is its communist objectives will be undermined and some form of capitalism will be restored. Related to this, he has argued that while a very crucial task of socialism will be to figure out how to transform the economy in order to employ, feed and house people and in general take care of society’s and people’s material requirements, and while doing all this continue to overcome the scars of the capitalist past. This, hypothetically, will possess a cooperative and collective framework alongside a revolutionary state power. This approach has been encapsulated in the formulation, "solid core with a lot of elasticity". Another principle of Avakian is his stress on the role of the masses as "emancipators of humanity", where the masses are the conscious driving force of revolution; a revolution that is not about revenge nor about changes of position within the horizons of the existing class framework, but a revolution which is about the emancipation of all humanity.

Strategic Approach to Revolution

Avakian views the emergence of a "revolutionary situation" – briefly, following Lenin, a situation of major crisis in society and government in which millions of formerly inactive people have taken up political causes and, in specific, have become convinced of the need for revolution – as essential to an actual struggle for power in an advanced country. Avakian has also taken up the position for an orientation of "hastening, while awaiting" the emergence of such a situation – actively attempting to influence public opinion and organize followers to both hasten the emergence of such a situation, shape its character, and prepare to take advantage of it. In the words of the RCP's Constitution, this involves the party hypothetically leading "whole ensemble of revolutionary preparations", with party's press and the spreading of Avakian's theory. On that foundation, the mobilization of mass resistance, the raising of consciousness, and the recruitment of new members also goes on.

Avakian has also put forward a strategy of "United Front under the Leadership of the Proletariat." This involves a particular focus on the proletariat, while attempting to influence and mobilize people of many other strata. A critical part of this is the struggle of what the RCP calls "oppressed nationalities" – specifically, African-Americans, Chicanos (or Mexican Americans), Native Americans, Puerto Ricans and others more conventionally grouped under the rubric of "people of color." Speaking specifically of African-Americans, Avakian has written that:

There will never be a revolutionary movement in this country that doesn’t fully unleash and give expression to the sometimes openly expressed, sometimes expressed in partial ways, sometimes expressed in wrong ways, but deeply, deeply felt desire to be rid of these long centuries of oppression [of Black people]. There’s never gonna be a revolution in this country, and there never should be, that doesn’t make that one key foundation of what it's all about.

Other Questions – Democracy and Religion

Avakian has been a critic of democracy, arguing that democracy cannot be viewed as a universal notion of equality, understood as above or separate from class societies. Avakian takes up the position that any democracy that exists with different classes, one class will always be able to exploit another class. In his book, Democracy: Can’t We Do Better Than That?, Avakian has developed polemics against Hannah Arendt and the "theory of totalitarianism" as well as other prominent theoreticians of democracy, including Locke and Rousseau. Specifically speaking to the history of the United States, Avakian has recently published Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy, which attempts to deconstruct the philosophical basis, and consequences, of Jeffersonian democracy

Jeffersonian democracy

Jeffersonian Democracy, so named after its leading advocate Thomas Jefferson, is a term used to describe one of two dominant political outlooks and movements in the United States from the 1790s to the 1820s. The term was commonly used to refer to the Democratic-Republican Party which Jefferson...

.

Claims of "Cult of Personality"

The RCP has been widely criticized on the Left for constructing a cult of personality around Avakian. During an interview with a college radio program in Madison, Wisconsin whether there was a cult of personality being developed around Bob Avakian, Avakian responded "I certainly hope so — we’ve been working very hard to create one."

The debate has taken on renewed life since a prominent fellow affiliate in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), has disassociated themselves from this method of promoting leaders. Avakian contends that there are two mainstays of communist political work: the role of the party press and the "Appreciation, Promotion and Popularization" of Bob Avakian".

Mike Ely, a founding member of the RCP and former editor of Revolution, recently broke with Avakian citing the RCP's position that Bob Avakian's personal status is a "cardinal question".

Books

• BAsics from the Talks and Writings of Bob Avakian (2011), ISBN 0898510104
• Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World (2008), ISBN 0976023687
• Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy (2008), ISBN 089851004X
• From Ike to Mao and Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist (2005), ISBN 9780976023623
• Observations on Art and Culture, Science and Philosophy (2005), ISBN 9780976023630
• Marxism and the Call of the Future: Conversations on Ethics, History, and Politics, co-authored with Bill Martin (2005), ISBN 9780812695793
• Preaching From a Pulpit of Bones: We Need Morality But Not Traditional Morality (1999), ISBN 0976023644
• Phony Communism is Dead … Long Live Real Communism! – A Response to the Claims of the "Death of Communism" (1992, 2004), ISBN 0898511224
• Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? (1986), ISBN 0916650294
• A Horrible End: Or, The End to the Horror? (1984), ISBN 0898510708
• For a Harvest of Dragons: On the "Crisis of Marxism" and the Power of Marxism Now More Than Ever – An Essay Marking the 100th Anniversary of Marx's Death (1983), ISBN 0898510651
• Conquer the World? The International Proletariat Must and Will (1981)
• The Immortal Contributions of Mao Tsetung (1979), ISBN 0898510465
• The Loss in China and the Revolutionary Legacy of Mao Tsetung (1978), ISBN 0898510171

Printed Talks

• "Birds Cannot Give Birth to Crocodiles, But Humanity Can Soar Beyond the Horizon" – "Part 1: Revolution and the State" and "Part 2: Building the Movement for Revolution" (2010)
• "Some Principles for Building a Movement for Revolution" (May 2010)
• "There is No 'Permanent Necessity' for Things to Be This Way – A Radically Different and Better World Can Be Brought Into Being Through Revolution" (March 2010)
• "Unresolved Contradictions, Driving Forces for Revolution" (Fall 2009)
• "Ruminations and Wranglings: On the Importance of Marxist Materialism, Communism as a Science, Meaningful Revolutionary Work, and a Life with Meaning" (2009)
• "Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity" (2007), "Part 1: Beyond the Narrow Horizon of Bourgeois Right" and "Part 2: Everything We're Doing is About Revolution"
• "Bringing Forward Another Way" (2006)
• "The Need for Communists to be … Communists (2005)
• "The Oppression of Black People and the Revolutionary Struggle to End All Oppression" (2007), Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4
• "Views on Socialism and Communism: A Radically New Kind of State, A Radically Different and Far Greater Vision of Freedom" (2005)
• "The Basis, the Goals, and the Methods of the Communist Revolution" (2005)
• "The Coming Civil War and Repolarizing for Revolution in the Present Era" (2005)
• "On Truth … On Knowing, and Changing, the World: A Discussion with Comrades on Epistemology" (2004)
• "Dictatorship and Democracy, and the Socialist Transition to Communism" (2002)

Audio

• "All Played Out" (available at soundcloud.com/allplayedout)
• Seven Talks (available at BobAvakian.net)
• "Bob Avakian Speaks Out: On War and Revolution, On Being a Revolutionary and Changing the World", interviewed by Carl Dix, Vol. 1 and 2, on CD (available on BobAvakian.net)

Video

• "Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About", at RevolutionTalk.net

External links

• Writings of Bob Avakian
• Bob Avakian Speaks
• Insight Press
• A book review of From Ike to Mao,
• Berkeley: Memoir follows author's road to Communism from SFGate.
• How Can We Apologize for Taking History into Our Hands by Bob Avakian at archive.org
• For the New Socialist Republic in North America
• "Birds Cannot Give Birth to Crocodiles, But Humanity Can Soar Beyond the Horizon – Part 1: Revolution and the State"

Critical opinions

• Ely, Mike. Nine Letters to Our Comrades: Getting Beyond Avakian's New Synthesis. December 2007. (RCP response)
• Wright, Liam. On the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA: Criticizing a Residue of the Past. November 2010.
• Eric Gordon. The Maoist cultism of the RCP is anti-Marxist. Communist Voice Organization, September 2005.
• Punkerslut. MLM vs. Anarchism
• Oppenheimer, Mark. “Free Bob Avakian!”. The Boston Globe, 27 January 2008. (RCP Response)