A recent letter in the Readers' Corner asked this critical question:

In the history of our project there is a clear “before” and an “after,” that is delineated by the emergence of the new synthesis of communism developed by BA—yes, building on the many lessons and accomplishments of the past, but, crucially, breaking with and discarding a tremendous amount of wrong thinking, wrong methods, and wrong practices, that, despite best intentions, seriously vitiated and contributed to derailing the first wave of socialist revolutions.

We shouldn’t want to repeat any of that! We shouldn’t want even the best of the past socialist revolutions and societies, especially now that we have an even much better theoretical and practical framework to work with! What BA has developed with the new communism really is a NEW path forward for humanity that is very DIFFERENT, and MUCH BETTER than anything that the first wave of socialism/communism was even able to conceive of, let alone put into practice.

How much do we all really understand and appreciate that? Really agree?

Do we really understand the actual content of this in a way that people can represent this new and radically different framework?

We are in a period where things are VERY rapidly changing—Bob Avakian (BA) since the 1960s has given decisive leadership to the theoretical as well as strategic and practical dimensions of revolution, both in the U.S. and internationally. And recently this has included analyzing the imminent rise of fascism and the intensifying divisions between two sections of the ruling class parties (the Democrats and the Republicans) and the urgent need to seize on the potential possibilities of revolution arising within this rare time. Some people who have been observing the revcoms and their leader BA since the election of Trump in 2016 are finally saying “you were right all along” and engaging in ways they have not. Many of them have experiences with revolutions that never had the total transformation of society as their goal, and those struggles have not only lost but been turned into reactionary regimes. “Is there a real alternative to capitalism?” is a huge obstacle objectively weighing down on people's horizons and practical political objectives. 

There is a whole body of work and method that people need to be engaging—a whole new framework for human emancipation that is being applied, and that lives and breathes in how Bob Avakian approaches every single message in the new @BobAvakianOfficial social media. In promotion of this, those following BA need to be advocating and  fighting for the OBJECTIVE and demonstratively game-changing leadership of Bob Avakian. 

In doing so, I would like to recommend that people read, and wield, the recently updated “Bob Avakian Official Biography.” THE REVCOM CORPS For The Emancipation Of Humanity in LA has been wielding this in meetings with broader forces who need to be united in a powerful movement built with the very specific aim of defeating fascism along with the series of @BobAvakianOfficial social media messages REVOLUTION #102-111. Additionally, we have been using it with people who have come into the Revcom Corps as a way to learn about the importance of revolutionary theory and to get an introduction to the actual breakthrough in human understanding the new communism is. 

This biography is also really an excellent introduction to the person who is the kind of leader that has never before existed in this country and whose leadership is of enormous importance for the emancipation of all humanity. It gives a history of the formative experiences that made BA who he is, the times that helped shape him and the critical junctures in the development of those times where his leadership has been decisive—from growing up in Berkeley and his early political life to becoming a communist and communist leader, to the restoration of capitalism in China and the end of the first stage of communist revolutions. It gets into how BA was and is the only thinker and leader in the world today to meet this defeat with the interrogation of that experience in a way that has qualitatively advanced the science of communism. Theory that has met the end of a wave of revolutions in a world that is tragically stymied and existentially imperiled—paving not only a path out of this but a path to a future that not only makes revolution viable again but worth fighting for. Paving the way for a new wave of truly emancipating revolutions throughout the world.

“Part 2: The New Synthesis of Communism” is a compelling, living introduction to what this new framework for human emancipation actually is—that has not existed before. 

To quote Ardea Skybreak, a scientist with professional training in ecology and evolutionary biology, and a follower of BA, from the Introduction to the biography:

The hallmark of Bob Avakian's work [has been] working on building a society that most human beings would want to live in. Bob Avakian has been spending his whole life, decades and decades, developing work that is deepening our understanding of why these problems are not just accidental, or periodic anomalies—how they actually stem from, originate in, the deeper structures of the system, and why it's the system itself, the system of capitalism imperialism, that has to go, and be replaced with a completely different system, before we could really emancipate humanity.  

As the Introduction to the biography goes on to note: “Central to Bob Avakian’s new synthesis of communism is its thorough and consistent scientific method and approach. ‘The new synthesis represents and embodies a qualitative resolution of a critical contradiction that has existed within communism in its development up to this point, between its fundamentally scientific method and approach, and aspects of communism which have run counter to this.’ "[Six Resolutions of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, January 1, 2016.]

And “Part 3: Key Works of Bob Avakian” is a way for people to find, continue to explore and to take up themselves the historic breakthrough this 50 years of work has produced. 

Accessible and inspiring—this official biography of the rare and exceptional leadership we are proud to call our own should be backpacked everywhere! For followers of the new communism, be they experienced, or just learning how to advocate for BA—this is a terrific tool to have. To the old order and its gatekeepers and the barriers they try to put in the way—this biography is dangerous. Let's recognize it, and wield it to ignite the fundamental change humanity needs.