Announcing the Release of the Third Issue of Demarcations

January 11, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Revolution is very excited to announce the release of the third issue of Demarcations, A Journal of Communist Theory and Polemic, available at demarcations-journal.org.

This issue, as the Opening Editorial states, appears at first glance to be "straddling two different sets of questions: one the sharpening struggle in the ranks of those who consider themselves communists and revolutionaries internationally, and the other coming out of contemporary experience such as the upsurges of the Arab Spring, where very few sense a connection to the broader communist movement, historically or internationally.... Yet, underlying both, with their seeming complexities, is a simple question: What is the solution to all this madness and horror in the world today? Is there one?"

Emphatically answering Yes is the answer and approach concentrated in Bob Avakian's new synthesis of communism, this has to be popularized and fought for at this historical moment, in contention and polemic with other lines and frameworks—among those newly arising to struggle and with those who consider themselves revolutionary, communist, or part of different social movements.

The new issue of Demarcations features a major article onthe impasse faced by the Arab Spring and what is fundamentally needed, along with a statement from Bob Avakian released soon after the fall of Mubarak in Egypt. This issue also continues to frame and concentrate key struggles on the theoretical framework for a new stage of communist revolution, with important and significant contributions from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico (OCR, Mexico), the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist), and Raymond Lotta.

Following are the articles in this issue:

Demarcations Issue 3, Winter 2014

Egypt, Tunisia and the Arab Spring:
How the Revolts Came to an Impasse and How to Get Out of It
Samuel Albert
In the space of a few short years, what seemed like all-powerful regimes have collapsed, uprisings and revolutionary hope have surged again and again, often only to tumble into deeper, paralyzing despair. A bloody civil war has emerged in Syria and threatens to spread, pitting religious and ethnic groups against each other. The article provides a framework of analysis for the impasse faced today in these countries, indicating the deeper material roots, what is fundamentally needed in terms of a real revolutionary alternative, and what this would look like.

A CALL:

Along with emailing the individual articles and the full issue out, letting people know and spreading it to all, we invite people to host parties, gatherings and smaller salons not only with those already grappling with, and interested in these overall themes and questions, but also folks not as familiar with these debates but yearning for and seeking a solution to the madness and horror in the world today, and especially those newer to the movement for revolution and checking out BA's new synthesis of communism. Given the major article on the impasse faced by the Arab Spring, it would be especially important and critical to invite immigrants from the Middle East, and activists and others who have been following and thinking about the Arab Spring and its aftermath, the questions posed and ensuing debates.

Where local Revolution Books stores and collectivities exist, this can perhaps be kicked off and anchored by a Celebratory Demarcations New-Issue Release Party at the local bookstore or other spaces—a lively celebration, with discussion and debate, creating an atmosphere where people coming from different perspectives feel comfortable engaging and grappling with these themes and questions at many different levels. This is probably best achieved by brief opening remarks at such a celebration keying off the main themes and questions, helping people appreciate Why It Matters, debates and questions from the international communist movement and from upsurges halfway around the world

We recognize that some of the articles and exchanges in the journal address and grapple with communist theory at an advanced level, but it is important and possible for everybody to get into it, and to seek out collectivity and help in discussing it where possible and necessary. What is really needed overall is fostering a spirit of collective learning and grappling, formally and even more, informally, to help each other through this process, collectively increasing familiarity and understanding of the questions in contention—and as importantly, further developing facility with working in the realm of ideas and the method of grappling with theory. As part of, and in line with Enriched What Is To Be Done-ism, it is critical for those fighting to bring about a radically different and far better world through communist revolution to facilitate and lead a process for increasing numbers of people to grapple with these questions now—working to solve, and as much as possible, break down the barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of that. In particular, there is a real need to popularize and fight for the correct scientific method and approach of knowing and changing the world.

We invite and call on all readers of Revolution to make possible this process.

Egypt 2011: Millions Have Heroically Stood Up...The Future Remains To Be Written
A Statement By Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
A public statement from Bob Avakian, released weeks after the fall of Mubarak in Egypt. Avakian hails the upsurge of the people of Egypt and its shattering of the notion that things can never change, and calls for communist leadership to be forged in the midst of and through this uprising to lead the process for the real revolutionary transformation of society and genuine liberation. Recent events have brought the need and relevance of this into even sharper relief.

Letter to Participating Parties and Organizations of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement
The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
This letter was first distributed privately on May 1, 2012 to parties and organizations that participated in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM), an international grouping formed in 1984 as the "embryonic center of the world's Maoist movement." In summing up this experience, the letter discusses the history, and political and ideological basis, of major line struggles within this movement, culminating in what is now the defining two-line struggle in the RIM, between Avakian's new synthesis of communism as a qualitative advance in the science of communism, and its "mirror opposites"—worship of dry dogma masquerading as "Maoism" and/or outright supporters of bourgeois democracy, the political theories and system that fundamentally are consistent with and enforce the rule of the capitalist class.

The New Synthesis of Communism and the Residues of the Past
The Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico (OCR, Mexico)
Communists in Mexico contribute to the two-line struggle in the international communist movement with a fierce polemic in response to some of the detractors of the new synthesis. In the course of dissecting the opposing arguments, the OCR engages with and elaborates on several of the important themes of the new synthesis.

Reviewing the Differences Between Our Party and the Communist (Maoist) Party of Afghanistan
The Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)
The CPI(MLM) has long been the standard-bearer of revolutionary communism in Iran. In this polemic, they respond forcefully to attacks on the new synthesis coming from a party in Afghanistan, illustrating the need and importance for this theory in the world today. They draw deeply from the experience of the failed revolution in Iran and the errors of the communist movement in that country and internationally.

On the "Driving Force of Anarchy" and the Dynamics of Change
Raymond Lotta
Raymond Lotta's polemic deals with an important and controversial question of Marxist political economy today. How do the laws of capitalist accumulation interact with and set the primary framework for the class struggle? This has everything to do with the understanding the motion and development of human society in this epoch, the kinds of changes that have taken place in the world, especially over the last 50 years, and the ground on which revolution is made. The essay poses the question sharply: What kind of international communist movement will there be, one rooted in science and proceeding from the world as it is, or one that proceeds from "narratives" that force-fit reality into a reassuring belief system?

Send us your comments.

If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.