Revolution #173, August 16, 2009
Finding Bob Avakian
Ever since I found Bob Avakian accidentally while searching for something on the internet in 2002 or 2003, the orientation of my life has completely changed. He has truly inspired me and helped raise my political consciousness to the level that I am ready to fight for the revolutionary line: "emancipation of all humanity –this and nothing less than this..." being the lofty goal.
Having migrated to the U.S. from a third world country, I was among the millions of communists and other revolutionaries and progressive people around the world, who had been disillusioned after the Chinese coup of 1976 when capitalism was restored in China. The Soviet Union had already become a social-imperialist country after the death of Stalin. Not expecting to find anything truly revolutionary in "the belly of the beast," I was content to listen to Amy Goodman, read Gore Vidal, Noam Chomsky, and other progressive but not revolutionary voices. I did like Howard Zinn's "People's History of the United States," which was very insightful.
Having been in the U.S. for some time, I felt comfortable enough to think about participating in some progressive political activity and as a consequence joined the Green Party. Since it was the only visible progressive political party, and I could not imagine any revolutionary communists having anything to do with either of the two pro-imperialist parties [Democrat and Republican], I had a feeling that I may find some true revolutionaries, temporarily biding their time in the Green Party, waiting for a better objective situation.
The existence of a revolutionary organization like the RCP, and a leader of the stature of Bob Avakian came as a great but welcome surprise to me.
I must confess that initially when I looked at the topics Bob Avakian had written about, I did not take him seriously. Having read some Marxist literature, especially by Chairman Mao, I thought those topics had already been dealt with quite thoroughly. So what was the necessity of repeating them? But, when I actually got to reading Bob Avakian, I immediately knew that it was not the same. I had forgotten that Marxism is a living science, and needs to be continually developed, and human understanding of reality deepened. I knew that was exactly what I was face to face with. Ever since then, there has been no going back for me. I have come to firmly believe that what Bob Avakian represents in his vision and strategic orientation, is the correct revolutionary road that can deliver humanity from the horrors of today's world. Lenin said, "Without revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement." Considering the different strains of erroneous revolutionary lines prevalent today, even in the world communist movement, this statement has never been more true.
It is not an exaggeration to say that in Bob Avakian we have that kind of a rare leader who can make the difference in carrying the revolution through to the end, and beyond. His whole life speaks for itself. He is one leader who, since the upsurge of the '60s and '70s, and until today, has stayed the course and never wavered. He has made tremendous contributions to developing Marxism to a new level, employing the method of dialectical materialism. He has carried the RCP through all the struggles with their twists and turns on the revolutionarily road. He has critically examined and analyzed the experience of the great Soviet and Chinese revolutions, taking into account both their immense achievements and the errors and mistakes; and brought forward a new synthesis which can form the basis for unleashing the second wave of revolutions in the world.
Considering the crying need for a communist revolution, and the leadership we have in Bob Avakian and the RCP, it is time to spread the word; put revolution out there in the society, make Bob Avakian, Chairman of the RCP and leader of the revolution a household word, and bring a core of people forward who are actually ready to fight for this line.
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