WHAT IS BOB AVAKIAN’S NEW SYNTHESIS?

Presentation followed by discussion

(see below for locations and dates)

ON A PLANET WHERE BILLIONS LIVE A DAY AWAY FROM STARVATION...
where the lives of millions of children are cut short by curable diseases...
where brutal wars grind on in Iraq and Afghanistan and hellholes like Guantánamo stay “open for business”...where nooses spring up like weeds, immigrants are hunted and the availability of abortion is rapidly disappearing...
where youth are treated as either criminals or commodities...and where all this
is totally UNNECESSARY—the world badly needs revolution.

Revolutionary state power will set about ending these horrors and meeting the pressing needs of the people. But a truly emancipatory socialism must do more than that. It must lay the basis, and take concrete steps, toward a society where people consciously change the world and themselves, in a society of freely associating human beings and where the need for any kind of state has been surpassed.

In that light, Bob Avakian has done path-breaking work to go beyond even the best of the previous socialist societies and re-envisioned a socialism that is both visionary and viable. His “new synthesis” has tackled a whole realm of questions, including:

HOW DOES THE NEW REVOLUTIONARY POWER MAINTAIN POWER and maintain it as a power worth keeping? How does it not just survive in a world dominated by imperialism, but do that as a base area for further revolutions?
WHAT WOULD BE THE ROLE OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS, civil society, and politics outside the purview of the state? What would be the role of a constitution and elections? Why would this re-envisioned socialism not only tolerate, but foster, dissent?
WHAT WOULD BE THE RELATION BETWEEN SCIENTISTS, ARTISTS, AND INTELLECTUALS carrying out urgent work to meet the most pressing needs of society and, at the same time, pursuing work, experimentation, and exploration not tied to those kinds of immediate goals? How would the age-old division between those who work with ideas and those who are locked out of that, be overcome—in a way that does not sacrifice but actually enhances vibrancy and intellectual ferment throughout society in unprecedented ways?
WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF A FEARLESS ATTITUDE TOWARD THE TRUTH and what have been the shortcomings and blinders in regard to this in the communist movement as it has developed?
HOW DOES THIS NEW SYNTHESIS BOTH CONTINUE ON THE PATH FIRST CHARTED BY MARX, LENIN AND MAO—AND YET GO BEYOND IT, IN NEW AND CRUCIAL WAYS?

Come hear the presentation and wrangle over all this.

Bob Avakian is the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. And he is more than that: he’s an innovative and critical thinker who has taken Marxism to a new place; he’s a provocative commentator on everything from basketball to religion, doo-wop music to science; and he’s a pit-bull fighter against oppression who’s kept both his solemn sense of purpose and his irrepressible sense of humor.

Bob Avakian will not be in attendance at this event.

New York
Sunday, March 9th • 4 pm

St. Paul & St. Andrew Church
Corner of West 86th St & West End Ave
1 train to 86th Street, walk 1 block west to West End Ave
$10 sliding scale admission
We apologize that translation will not be available for this program. Programs in Spanish will be announced later.

Further info: 212-691-3345 – www.revolutionbooksnyc.org
Download PDF flyer for New York event

Chicago
Saturday, March 22nd • 1 to 5 pm

University Center*
525 S. State Street (State & Congress)
Simultaneous Spanish interpretation will be available
Venue is accessible
Parking/Ride sharing - call for information
Red line to Harrison. Walk 1 block north.
Brown, Pink, Orange lines to Library stop. Walk 1 block east, 1 block south

More information: 773-489-0930 - revbookschi@yahoo.com
Download PDF flyer for Chicago event

*This program is not sponsored by or affiliated with University Center

Los Angeles
Saturday, March 22nd • 1 to 5 pm

The New LATC
514 S. Spring Street
Spanish translation will be available
$10 sliding scale admission
For reservations and further information:
Libros Revolución 312 W. 8th St., Los Angeles, CA
213-488-1303
librosrevolucion.blog.com • librosrevo@yahoo.com
Download PDF flyer for Los Angeles event

SF/Bay Area
Saturday, March 22nd • 2 pm
Berkeley

Black Repertory Theater
3201 Adeline St, Berkeley (1/2 block south of Ashby Ave., near Ashby BART)
$10 sliding scale admission
Spanish translation available
Further info: 510-848-1196 / www.revolutionbooks.org
Download PDF flyer for Berkeley event

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