Bob Avakian

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Robert Bruce Avakian (born March 7, 1943)[1] is an American political activist and Maoist philosopher who is the founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP), which has been described as a cult of personality centered around Avakian.

Early life

Avakian was born on March 7, 1943, in Washington, D.C., to Ruth and Spurgeon "Sparky" Avakian. His father was an Armenian American lawyer, civil rights activist, and later as an Alameda County Superior Court judge.[1][2][3] After spending his first three years in the Washington metropolitan area, he spent the rest of his childhood and adolescence in Berkeley, California.[1][4]

Political activities

As a student at UC Berkeley, Avakian became involved with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Free Speech Movement[2] and the Black Panther Party.[5] In 1968, he wrote articles for the Peace and Freedom Party's publications[6] and in July 1969, he spoke at the Black Panther Party conference in Oakland, California.[7] Avakian was a member of the SDS Revolutionary Youth Movement II faction, and ran as the RYM II candidate for National Secretary at the 1969 SDS National Convention. Avakian was defeated by Mark Rudd of the faction later known as the Weather Underground.[8] During that period, Avakian was a founding member of the Bay Area Revolutionary Union[9] alongside Leibel Bergman.[10]Template:Rp

In the early 1970s, Avakian served a prison sentence for desecrating the American flag during a demonstration.[2] He was charged with assaulting a police officer in January 1979 at a demonstration in Washington, D.C. to protest Deng Xiaoping's meeting with Jimmy Carter.[5][11][12] After receiving an arrest warrant, Avakian went to France and applied for political refugee status.[1] In 1980, he gave a speech to 200 protestors in downtown Oakland[13] and his police assault charges were dropped a few years later.[1][5]

Avakian has been the RCP's central committee chairman and national leader since 1979.[13][14] As chairman, he has produced a large body of work that articulates what the RCP identifies as "the new synthesis of communism" or "new communism".[15][16] In 2016, the RCP USA and others helped form the organization Refuse Fascism, which called for Donald Trump's removal from office.[17]

Cult of personality

Avakian has been criticized as the center of a cult of personality within the RCP.[18][19][20][21] Aaron J. Leonard, a former RCP member, identified Avakian's 1979 trial as a catalyst in the development of this cult of personality.[22] In 2016, former USLAW national coordinator Michael Eisenscher called the RCP "a cult around Avakian" in an interview with Harper's Magazine.[19] In June 2022, a coalition of 23 abortion rights, feminist, and mutual-aid groups released a statement denouncing RCP and the affiliated abortion rights organization Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, and calling the RCP a cult.[21][23][24]

Avakian has noted that the RCP emphasizes "the great importance of the work I have done, and continue to do", but claims that criticism of his position within the RCP is "unscientific".[25][26] The party has called any claims of cultism within its ranks "lies and slander".[27]

References

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  1. ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ RNL Show, November 2022. "The Bob Avakian Interviews": Part 1, Part 3
  5. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Avakian, "Bob Avakian Speaks on the Mao Tsetung Defendants' Railroad and the Historic Battles Ahead", Introduction and pp. 18—21.
  12. ↑ Athan G. Theoharis, "FBI Surveillance: Past and Present", Cornell Law Review, Vol. 69 (April 1984); and Peter Erlinder with Doug Cassel, “Bazooka Justice: The Case of the Mao Tse Tung Defendants – Overreaction Or Foreshadowing?”, Public Eye, Vol. II, No. 3&4 (1980), pp. 40—43.
  13. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

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