redFlags

Nine Letters to Our Comrades: Getting Beyond Avakian's New Synthesis

Mike Ely, a life-long communist and former editor of the RCP's press, has released a major polemic on Avakian's supposed "New Synthesis" and the failures of the RCP to become a leading party of revolution in the USA. I'll hold off on my own commentary by way of introduction... but discussion has already taken off on Ely's new Kasama website. For anyone working to build a revolutionary movement in the United States, this is among the most thoughtful, engaged analyses you will find on such efforts over the last few decades. It is no "so long to all that" – rather, it is a call to begin the "audacious task". 

Download – Nine Letters to Our Comrades: Getting Beyond Avakian's New Synthesis (PDF)

Imperialism, local reaction and the duty of communists

The following polemic was passed on to me recently by a sometimes contributor to this blog and veteran of the North American anti-imperialist and communist movements. Included are an abridged version of a recent report  from the Communist Party of Iran (MLM) and a critical response. They raise the important question of what are the tasks of Iranian communists in the event of a US invasion and occupation of Iran. The CPI(MLM) argues that the "primary contradiction" and focus of struggle must be with the reactionary Islamic Republic, the critical response argues that it should be with US imperialism.

The implications of the discussion are all around us.

Bhutan: Red Army in the Dragon Kingdom

Participants in the CCOMPOSA political association of South Asian Maoists, the Communist Party of Bhutan (MLM) have openly declared the imminent launch of insurgency with the immediate goal of abolishing the monarchy and the establishment of a republic. I am not familiar with the author of this article, nor much beyond superficialities regarding life in Bhutan. This article is posted because it is so far unique, and that it appears to confirm the prognosis that South Asia is indeed becoming a storm center of world revolution. [Kantipur is not a Maoist publication. All links are provided for informational purposes.]

By Deepak Adhikari
Kantipur Online

Another Maoist insurgency is going to rock yet another country in South Asia, if the statements made by the leaders of the Communist Party of Bhutan Marxist-Leninist-Maoist (CPM MLM) are anything to go by.      

"Preliminary preparations for an insurgency are over. We are going to launch it soon," says Vikalpa, nom-de-plume of CPB MLM General Secretary.
Bhutan is holding its parliamentary elections in March and April 2007. But, prior to the election date, CPB MLM plans to launch its 'People's War' in the Himalayan kingdom.

The goal: Abolition of monarchy and establishment of a republic.

Sison arrested: Emergency Action Alert

RELEASE JOSE
MARIA SISON!
Picket the Dutch
Consulate in NYC
Wednesday
August 29th, 4pm
11 Rockefeller Center in Manhattan
Trains: B/D/F/V/N/R to Rockefeller Place

Readings: JoseMariaSison.org | Biography | writings & speeches | Philippine Society & Revolution |  An interview with Jose Maria Sison | Intl. Herald Tribune article on arrest and protest in the Netherlands |  National Democratic Front (Philippines) | BAYAN USA statement

CPN(M) report on developments in Nepal & Prachanda Q&A

[The text below is from the Maoist Information Bulletin, produced by the CPN(M), Central Committee. The CPN(M) is listed as a "terrorist" organization by the U.S. State Department, American citizens should be advised. redFlags provides this link for informational purposes. On the link, there is also the entire text of a recent interview between Prachanda and Kantipur Online ]

"On several occasions we have brought out our assessment that the domestic situation in Nepal is favorable and ripe to capture central state power in the near future, but as all the genuine communist parties engaged in revolutionary practice know, the international situation is quite unfavorable to accomplish new democratic revolution and sustain it. It is obvious that we should try to mobilize justice-loving people all over the world in general and the peoples of south Asia in particular to garner support in favor of revolution, improving on the domestic situation in the same spirit. For this we should dare to abandon the course once selected and have the courage to climb the unexplored mountain."

Declaration to Reaffirm the Significance and Relevance of the Anti-Revisionist Struggle and the GPCR

This international declaration, signed by several significant international communist parties including the Communist Party of India (Maoist), was originally issued on May 1, 2007. I am here including it to give communists in the USA a sense of how some of these discussions are playing out... Unfortunately, there is no organized national grouping in the USA that currently sees the need to keep these in circulation.

We, the undersigned Marxist-Leninist, Mao Zedong Thought and Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations, hereby issue this declaration to reaffirm the significance and relevance of the struggle against modern revisionism starting in 1956 in opposition to the revisionist content of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in February 1956 leading to the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976 and continuing after the bourgeoisie seized power in China in 1976. We do so after one year of activities celebrating the 50th anniversary of the anti-revisionist struggle and renewing our commitment to pursue this struggle.

U.S. Imperialism, Islamic Fundamentalism… and the Need for Another Way

by Sunsara Taylor, Revolution

As the U.S.'s crimes against humanity in the Middle East mount, it is of tremendous importance for people in the U.S. to honestly confront and rise to the profound challenges and responsibilities before us in bringing this to a halt. In this spirit, I welcomed the argument made by Hadas Thier and Aaron Hess in the Socialist Worker on April 20, 2007 entitled Standing up to Islamophobia, even while I find their central arguments to not only be wrong, but harmful.

I do not doubt that Thier and Hess want to oppose U.S. wars of aggression and their accompanying assault on Muslims, Arabs and South Asians living in the U. S. But they end up arguing for an approach that will neither meet the actual challenges of opposing the U.S. “crusade,” nor bring forward new, truly liberating possibilities here and around the world. They end up in this unfortunate place through the use of bad logic, flawed methodology, and a duck-from-unpleasant-realities epistemology (method for arriving at what is true).

Carl Dix: 50 Reasons

Iranian Women Call for International Women’s Day Actions

Received from A World to Win News Service: The Women’s Campaign for the Abolition of all Misogynist, Gender-Based Legislation and Islamic Punitive Laws in Iran is preparing for actions on March 3 and March 8, on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

The Campaign, known by its Farsi name Karzar, in 2006 organised a successful series of marches over five days from Frankfurt, Germany to The Hague in the Netherlands. Approximately 1,000 people took part on the last day, mostly Iranian women but also women and men from Europe and around the world, some travelling long distances to give their solemn support to women in Iran whose oppression is legitimised by the legal system set up by that country’s rulers.

Blazing Trail: A Journey Through the Indian Revolution

World Revolution Media says Blazing Trail is the "saga of India's Communist Revolutionary Movement initiated by the historical Naxalbari uprising of May 1967, breaking the chains of revisionism that had enveloped the movement for decades. From the first Congress of the Communist Party Of India (Marxist-Leninist) held in 1970 to its second congress held over three decades later in 2001 under the name Communist Party Of India(Marxist-Leninist)(People's War). A saga of heroism and sacrifice in the face of a brutal enemy masquarading as the World's 'largest democracy', foundations are being laid for a New Democratic India."

Download Blazing Trail (496mb)

Capitalism, Revisionism & Revolution: Avakian's "Three Alternative Worlds"

The Bob Avakian Show continues full steam. In the latest edition of Revolution, the publication of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, they've printed a transcript of a talk that opens up the question of agency and socialism. What is, after all the difference between a social-welfare state and socialism as the dictatorship of the proletariat?

For the generations coming up with no living memory of 20th Century socialism and reared on the (neo-Conservative) end of history narrative, it's worth digging into how revolutionary communism developed in opposition to the welfare/police state model of "socialism" that was unfortunately not just a cariacture.

It's not just the ruling class and its courtiers that want to equate revisionism and Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, it's also every shade of opportunist you can imagine. Anything that turns the specter of the future into the ghost of the past...

"...the rights of the people cannot be reduced to the right to have a job and earn an income, as basic as that is. There is the question of are we really going to transform society so that in every respect, not only economically but socially, politically, ideologically, and culturally, it really is superior to capitalist society. A society that not only meets the needs of the masses of people, but really is characterized increasingly by the conscious expression and initiative of the masses of people."

Anyone with links to other leaders discussing this kind of vision, I'm all ears.

Workers Party of Belgium: Pageantry, Parliaments & Uncle Joe

By way of Jimmy Higgins from Fire on the Mountain, this report about the recent growth of the Workers Party of Belgium (PTB) is interesting on a few counts. The PTB has been the center of international gatherings to re-form the international communist movement on the conflation of revisionism and Marxism-Leninism, promoting left Stalinism against MLM. At the same time, they have grown from the "biggest of the small parties" to the "smallest of the big" in the Belgian parliament and local electoral lists. Running a high-profile campaign in her district and of mixed immigrant/European family, Miss Brussels Halima Chehaima came in second promoting the PTB platform. Cuts a better profile than Uncle Joe, but what of this program they run, what of their international profile, of shop stewards vs. tribunes of the people? What of syncretism vs. synthesis?

Maybe this is a good time to have a discussion about the Old Synthesis.

The full report is here on the link.

CPN-M Enters Parliament

From left, Nepalese newly-appointed Maoist parliamentarians: Matrika Yadav, Dina Nath Sharma, Dev Gurung, and Krishna Bahadur Mahara take oath as Members of Parliament in Kathmandu. (AFP/Devendra Man Singh)

CPN-M Enters Parliament
from A World to Win News Service
dated 15 January 2007

A new interim parliament has been formed in Nepal, with about a quarter of its members named by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). On 15 January, the old parliament in the Singha Durbar (House of Representatives) unanimously voted to adopt an interim constitution and then automatically dissolved. The first session of the new parliament convened that evening to swear in the old and new MPs. A second session scheduled for 17 January is to ratify the interim constitution, which is to serve as the country’s legal framework until constituent elections are held in June to decide the future system of government, including the issue of keeping or getting rid of the monarchy. The interim constitution makes the prime minister the head of state, instead of the king, who no longer has even a ceremonial role but retains his crown. It also removes the declaration in the former constitution that Nepal is a Hindu state. The new parliament is expected to choose a new government in February after the disarmament process is complete, the media reported.

The new single-chamber legislature includes 330 members. All were in the old parliament dissolved by the king, except for the CPN(M) delegation. Of the 83 new MPs, 28 are women, 12 are Dalits (formerly known as “Untouchables”), 22 are from indigenous ethnic groups (janajatis), and 21 from the terai, the lowlands bordering India, also long oppressed by the central Nepali state. Krishna Bahudur Mahara heads the CPN(M) delegation.

What's Up in the Philippines?

Every year on the anniversary of their founding, the Communist Party of the Philippines releases their line: analysis of the world situation, discussion of developments in the international communist movement, their national assessment and plan of action. They are optimistic.

Last year they forecast an increase in capacity for their people's army. They seem to have delivered. This year they start with party building. Party building and developing ideological cadres raises the people's ability to exert conscious power. This is politics in command of the gun, an emphasis on social organizations among the people — the very opposite of terrorism. People's War.

If a liberation organization anywhere on earth puts out something like this, I want to read it. There is an international communist movement that is evolving just like all of us. Let's take the time to listen to comrades when they take the time to speak.

Statement is posted on PhilippineRevolution.net
It is also completely re-posted here for informational purposes .

What Chavez is saying... and doing.

"Those of you who want to know what type of socialism I have planned for Venezuela should read Marx and Lenin.”

Well, that's not something you hear everyday. Not going with the flow, so to speak.

The Chavista website VenezuelaAnalysis.com has a run down of recent events, the splendid nationalizations and the dreaded, authoritarian decrees. Just guess who is scared.

With events in Nepal proceeding, instability in Mexico and Chavez stepping up as the gray beard fades in grace, we aren't just stuck with Jihad vs. McWorld.

The optimism of my intellect is catching up with my will. The spirit is always willing.

Revolution Books Now Online!

For all people who think another world is possible, and are seeking the pathways to fundamental change, for people who cherish open minds and critical thought, for all who are deeply disturbed about the whole fascist direction of society and want to understand why this is happening and how to resist and change the whole dynamic. For those who are searching for the truth, Revolution Books is the place to come.

Right on. Before you spend another dollar on Amazon.com or some other for-profit shop, check out Revolution Books Online. Spend your money where it serves the movement.

Celebration and concern among Maoists regarding developments in Nepal

No revolution in the twenty-first century can be propelled forward without taking proper lesson from the experiences of great revolutions and counter-revolutions of the twentieth century. From this point of view, our party has been giving plenty of importance to the questions of defense, application and development of the fundamental principles of MLM. —Prachanda

Major institutions from the international communist movement are beginning to speak on developments in Nepal.

In the interests of gathering a developed assessment of what is up and to facilitate discussion:

Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist): The Worker #10
This is the most comprehensive political and strategic statement so far from the CPN-M, published in their party magazine and distributed internationally. It includes a number of articles analyzing domestic and international issues, from leaders and politically allied organizations from the region and the RIM. These articles have been posted to the web by an independent Maoist collective in the United States.

A World to Win News Service (CoRIM): Nepal Maoists and Government Sign Peace Agreement
This careful explication of the terms of the peace agreement has a notably restrained tone. It comes from the CPN-M's comrades in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, of which they are a participating member. This article is posted in full below.

People's March: Exclusive Interview with Communist Party of India (Maoist) spokesperson on Nepal Developments
Dated Aug. 6, 2006, this critical assessment of the peace accords comes from one of the CPN-M's closest companion organizations. Leading a people's war in neighboring India, the CPI (Maoist) is a co-participant with the Nepalese in the CCOMPOSSA, a political coordinating body of South Asian Maoists.

Analytical Monthly Review: People's Victory in Nepal, U.S. and Indian Reactions
Short analysis from the Indian companion magazine to Monthly Review here in the USA.

In the comments below, a comrade has posted a joint press statement from Aug. 8 by the Communist party of Nepal (Maoist) and Communist Party of India (Maoist) on the recent debates between two parties. They have also released statement condemning the brutal attack on Lebanon.

People of the Shining Path video, readings on the PCP – and analysis of the "peace accords"

                 

This film provides a sympathetic look at the Peruvian revolution and the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path) before Presidente Gonzalo's capture. The situation is now, very much, different. It was produced by the British TV station Channel 4. Most notable is how it actually includes interviews with guerillas and communist political officers. Considering the tremendous efforts to totally demonize these brave fighters, at a time when most of the Latin American left was hanging it all up, anyone who hasn't seen this documentary might be more than a little surprised. This honest, in-depth documentary shows why revolutionaries who refused to lower their sights found inspiration from this great attempt in a time of near universal dispair. It also shows what can be done when you try. Additional background reading:  Gordon McCormick's comparitive study of the MRTA and the PCP, Sharp Dressed Man | On the link, A World to Win's current analysis of the "Peace Accords," with some discussion of ideological issues related to Guzman (Gonzolo), the PCP's currently fractured leadership and Guzman's theory of "jefetura", or placing the Party's leadership above internal democratic centralist practice: A Sober Look at the Situation of the Peru Revolution and Its Needs

Mayday: International Workers Day

Having worked until 6 in the morning today from yesterday afternoon, I'm feeling... exploited. The 8-hour day? The 5-day work week? Ha. The Chicago Martrys fought the good fight, but today I'm off to join the Red Flag Contingent in New York's Washington Square Park to march.

Much respect to the rebels of Nepal. Much respect to the militias of Venezuela. Much respect to the Zapatistas and their darker shade of pink (El Otro... Yo Soy). Much respect to the uprisers in the Philippines. Hoping for a revolutionary May Day in Berlin...

Much respect to all hermano@s de Mexico... un otro mundo esta en nuestr@ manos.

We have no borders. Today our flag is red. Workers of the world unite. We have a world to win.

Local reports are welcome.

May 1: Another World—A Commuunist World—Is Possible!

RCP Chairman Bob Avakian:
The Need for Communist to Be... Communists
(and yes... that means you!)

Nepal: new developments, new challenges, great dangers

A World To Win News Service writes;

Nepalese politics have taken a complex turn with the restoration of parliament by the feudal autocrat Gyanendra Shah and the acceptance of this proposal by the parliamentary parties. US Ambassador James Moriarty commented, with a shudder of relief, that if this deal had not been made, Nepal “was close to getting rid of the monarchy entirely by a violent revolution.” (Nepalnews.com, 27 April) Reports now indicate that at least 19 people died and 5,000 were seriously injured in the three weeks of mass upsurge whose main demand was the total abolition of the monarchy. The alliance of seven parliamentary parties ignored this sacrifice in their eagerness to reach a compromise with the king.

Nepal Updates: King Swears in Koirala, RNA Attacks Maoists, Constituent Assembly Is On!

News links from Kantipur:

King swears in Koirala | Royal Nepal Army in Aerial Attack on Maoist meeting of 10,000 | Nepal HoR unanimously passed a proposal to hold constituent assembly elections

There's also some amazing pictures of the Nepalese democracy protests at Riot Porn, a blog dedicated to riots and violent protests in all forms.

After Years of Insurgency, Nepal Erupts

Million+ Protest Monarchy in Kathmandu, Isolated King ‘Restores’ Dissolved Parliament
After massive offensive, Maoists Call 3-Month Ceasefire; Demand ‘Constituent Assembly Now!’

Jed Brandt writes for The Indypendent: With Nepal’s capital city of Kathmandu under blockade by the Maoist-led People’s Liberation Army, a sustained general strike throughout the country and millions of protesters demanding both the king’s head and a constituent assembly for 19 straight days, on April 24, King Gyanendra restored the very same parliament he dissolved 14 months prior in a last-ditch effort to save his isolated regime.

The king’s retreat came the evening after one million protesters, fortified by throngs from the countryside, pushed past Kathmandu’s city limits, defying shoot-on-sight curfews, tear gas and mass arrests that had already left hospitals overflowing with thousands injured and at least 19 killed.

Amid popular jubilation, leaders of the country’s seven parliamentary parties, independent of their loose alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), chose the elderly and infirm G.P. Koirala of the centrist Congress Party for his fourth run as Prime Minister.

US and other powers think they can dictate Nepal's future

From A World to Win New Service: The people of Nepal have expressed their will. As one demonstrator declared, “We will burn the crown, and we will run the country.” But foreign powers led by the US are mounting what the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) called “a new ploy to break the Nepalese people.”

The Revolution is here in Nepal

I'm currently working on a short article about the rapid developments in Nepal. It will be up soon in place of this. For now, I've posted an open thread where any reporting/comments on the unfolding revolution can be posted.

The Royal army has encircled the king's palace with barbed wire. Democratic protests in the cities defy shoot-on-sight curfews. The People's War proceeds virtually unchallenged in the countryside. Prachanda warned on the eve of these protests that King Gyanendra faces "exile or death" for his crimes.

The Communist Party of Nepal has risen above Stalinophilic nostalgia and seeks a 21st Century communism, and sees the liberation of Nepal in both a regional and global context of revolution.

Will red flags fly from Katmandu? Have we finally kicked the end-of-history shroud? Is a secular, popular and revolutionary communist force pointed a way beyond the "clash of barbarisms?"

News & Views on Unfolding Revolution in Nepal
On the Scene in Katmandu: Revolution interviews Nepal expert and anthropologist Stephen Mikesell | Li Onesto's digest of breaking events: Mass Upsurge Against the King | Sudhanva  Deshpande: Nepal on the Verge of Bastille | International Nepal Solidarity Network -- tons of articles | Maoist Information Bulletin from the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) | The Royal Regression and the Question of a Democratic Republic by Baburam Bhattarai

UK Guardian: Protesters Plan Final Heave to Rid Nepal of Monarchy

And, like anyone asked, according to (boo, hiss) Bloomberg: US Demands Nepal's King Relinquish Power

And... word from the fierce one...
CPN(M) Chairman Prachanda:
Constituent Assembly Now!
Prachanda, the political and military leader of the revolutionary forces demands an "unconditional constituent assembly."

The tried ceasefires, they tried to negotiate -- but the people are done with all of it and will not wait for permission to proceed. The King's statues are being torn down and the monarchy is in fact over on the ground. The King is now the mayor of his own palace, hiding behind barbed wire and (if he's smart) checking if JetBlue has any specials to Dehli.

Prachanda: Constituent Assembly Now!

Prachanda's April 22 statement dismissing the King's last-ditch effort to "restore democracy" is another sign that the end of the line for Gyanendra may just be a rope. The capitalist press, and much of the left, does not understand that this whole insurrection is jumping off from the effective defeat of the Royal Nepal Army and surging victories of the People's War. Prachanda is demanding an "unconditional constituent assembly" -- and that, my friends and comrades, is the call of revolution. Through a democratic process, with the agency of the masses and leadership of the proletarian forces -- there will be a new constitution of the entire society. It will not be simply "representative," but will be constituted by the people themselves. The connection between the feudal elite and the comprador bourgeoisie is so deep that they will surely be swept away in the coming days.

It is exciting that the middle class parties are working in alliance with the revolution. But before our enthusiasm gets the best of us, let's pay close attention to the vanguard on the ground and try to know where different forces are bouncing. Prachanda writes:

Yesterday's so-called royal proclamation does not have any worth and significance other than fulfilling feudal arrogance and underrating the great Nepalese sea of the masses, which, chanting slogans of constituent assembly and republic, is flowing into the streets to give a new direction to the world by creative application of people's revolution in the twenty-first century. Soon after the so-called royal proclamation since yesterday evening, the Nepalese people, expressing hatred, rage and disapproval to it have already divulged their understanding and initiative against the feudal conspiracy all across the country. Our party, honoring highly the Nepalese people's great initiative, scornfully rejects the conspiratorial proclamation of feudal elements and expresses determination to persevere with the movement till the Nepalese people's sovereign right has been guaranteed by way of unconditional constituent assembly election, as a minimum basis.

Full statement on the link...

Raymond Lotta "Sets the Record Straight" on the history of 20th Century socialism

Next stop for Raymond Lotta's Setting the Record Straight campus speaking tour is Columbia University... into the belly of the intellectual beast. Challenging the barrage of reactionary garbage thrown over the history of revolutionary socialism with a powerful grasp of history, Lotta is more than up to the task.

For anyone concerned with changing the world, who wants a deeper history of the triumphs and failures of 20th Century socialism – break plans and make plans to hear Raymond Lotta. Ask your real questions, treat socialism and communism with an open mind -- even if that's already where you're trying to get.

I heard that after an hour-long presentation, Ray Lotta will open the room up for questions and answers. He knows the history as more than just a "narrative." He is a materialist who understands the force of ideas.

I'll be there, with my toughest questions.

Columbia University
Thursday, April 20, 6:00 pm
Faculty House, Harison Rm, 2nd Floor
400 West 117th St. (between Amsterdam & Morningside)

Download the leaflet and postcard for the NYC program.

Full event description follows

Prachanda and Bhattarai: Now is the time for the "decisive final blow" to feudal autocracy

What follows is the complete text of Communist Party of Nepal chairman Prachanda, leader of the Maoist political and military forces, and Baburam Bhattarai, leader of the revolutionary popular forces, press statement on the open, thus far peaceful revolt in Katmandu and throughout the country.

This is revolution.

Campaign proposal to "Celebrate Historic Milestones in the Struggle Against Modern Revisionsim Since 1956"

That's quite a mouthful, but until we start chewing it we can be sure of nothing but indigestion. The most significant Maoist parties in the world that are not participants in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement have issued an international call to engage the history of struggle against modern revisionism. The initial signatories include: Communist Party of the Philippines, Communist Party of India (Maoist), Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist, and the first mention I've heard of the Communist League of Indonesia.

What is "modern revisionism?" Well, the 1956 date is a clue to their meaning. It's when significant sections of the "communist" movement fundamentally abdicated their revolutionary, internationalist and communist responsibilities under the leadership of Kruschev. It was when the Soviet Union became irredeemable, and state capitalism (social-imperialism) stood in place of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Again, a mouthful. But more than a few nutrients when we unpack all that's there. The statement reads:

We, the undersigned, hereby propose to all Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the struggle against modern revisionism and to undertake activities for the purpose of renewing our commitment to pursue this struggle, which started in 1956 in opposition to the revisionist content of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) in February 1956.

The struggle against modern revisionism reached a new and higher level when the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution began in May 1966. But alas, since the death of Comrade Mao in September 1976, we have been confronted with the betrayal of socialism and the restoration of capitalism in China. We are challenged to uphold Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, combat modern revisionism and its evil consequences and achieve greater victories in fulfilling the historic mission of proletariat to achieve socialism.

In the 20th Congress of the CPSU, the Soviet revisionist clique headed by Khrushchov repudiated the fundamentals of Marxism-Leninism and the revolutionary achievements of Comrade Stalin under the pretext of opposing "personality cult". It unveiled the phenomenon of modern revisionism in opposition to pro-letarian dictatorship and put the Soviet Union on the road of capitalist restoration.

The full text follows.

The Siege of Katmandu: CPN(M) Calls for Blockade

Is this it?

According to reports on the BBC and local reports, the Maoist revolutionaries in Nepal have called for a 3-week blockade of Katmandu aimed directly at driving the king from power. Compliance appears widespread with fewer than 100 vehicles entering the city compared with 3,000 on a normal day. The strike is national in scope and is also targeting local "district" headquarters -- in othe words, every area of the country where the monarchy still holds sway (if only in the barracks!).

While I am always highly skeptical of reports of schism inside revolutionary movements, the same sources as above say that two ranking leaders of the CPN(M) were expelled this week for attacking the leadership of the party, with particular issue around the acceptance by the Maoists of a multi-polar society, which the expelled members apparently call a "right" deviation. They accuse the central leadership of Prachanda and Bhattarai of being soft on the king... this, while a general strike paralyzes the country to drive said monarch out. According to the non-sympathetic reports, Prachanda called the pair "anarchic" and noted that the two were already suspended when they made public statements that broke party discipline.

This post will be amended as additional information comes to light.

Kim Jong: License to ill?

It was a few years back and have was having a chill Sunday brunch with a couple of friends in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn when we found a full-page ad in the New York Times proclaiming "Kim Jong Il: Lodestar for the 21st Century." 

And I thought, what the hell is a lodestar? (Shoutout: Left Spot and my fav babe from Babeland)

Now, I like Jong Il's eyewear as much as the next guy, and he's in close competition with Kadafi for most entertaining head of state. (Kadafi wins for the all-female ninja bodyguard bridgade, hands down.)

What the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has to do with socialism is beyond me. That's why I was surprised to see the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines send birthday greetings to the hereditary monarch of the DPRK, Kim Jong Il. Not quite as happy-happy as the Korean celebrations... (continued)

Philippines: State of Emergency for US Empire

Photo by Voltaire Domingo

By Dave Pugh for MR Zine    

On the morning of February 24, 2006, President Gloria Arroyo issued Proclamation 1017 (PP 1017), which declared a State of Emergency throughout the Philippines. Using identical words as those of Ferdinand Marcos when he declared martial law in 1972,  Arroyo ordered the armed forces to suppress "any act of insurrection or rebellion."  Arroyo claimed there was an imminent danger of a coup planned by the "extreme left" and "extreme right," with the goal of setting up a "military-communist dictatorship."  The Arroyo regime, with US backing, apparently believed that the bigger the lie, the more likely it would be believed.

It was no coincidence that Arroyo issued PP 1017 during the nationwide 20th anniversary celebrations of People Power 1, which resulted in the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986.  In fact, the State of Emergency, which lasted for a week, was aimed at the main forces of the Philippine left: Nationalist, democratic organizations such as BAYAN and Gabriela, six progressive congressional representatives from Bayan Muna (People First party), Gabriela Women's Party, and Anakpawis (party of workers, peasants, and urban poor), and the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People's Army. These forces had been working to unite all political forces to bring down the Arroyo government and replace it with a transitional government composed of patriotic and democratic forces.

Arroyo's State of Emergency revoked all rally permits, called out police to break up peaceful demonstrations, instituted press restrictions, and permitted warrantless arrests of opposition figures.  Within days, Arroyo's Department of Justice released a list of 59 alleged coup plotters, including the 6 leftist congresspeople and 47 alleged leaders and members of the CPP (headed by Jose Maria Sison, the founding CPP chairman currently exiled in the Netherlands).  Six military officers were added to the list in order to promote the fiction of an extreme right-extreme left coup attempt. [continued]

State of Emergency in the Philippines: Crackdown on Legal Parties

Philippine president (and Bush flunky) Gloria Arroyo has declared a state of emergency in the Philippines, according to CNN "after security forces thrwarted what they said was a plot to overthrow her."

The New People's Army, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines has launched "seven tactical responses" to the state of emergency, which in addition to cracking down on factions inside the (unstable) military, is directed against the popular democratic movements. Several progressive, legal organizations have been tagged as "CPP fronts," and this year the Arroyo government has said that the communist insurgency is the Philippines #1 security threat... unlike all those foreign (American) troops running around "advising."

"With Gloria Arroyo arrogating martial law powers and establishing herself as a dictator, the NPA will carry out more and more tactical offensives to weaken her regime and contribute to the people's effort to put an end to her rule," CPP spokesperson Gregorio "Ka Roger" Rosal said

The Party Line: Bob Avakian's "The New Situation and the Great Challenges"

I am a defender of Bob Avakian and the following piece he wrote is exactly why. Amid the moaning about the "lack of backbone" among Democrats and all the diffuse inertias of "the left," Avakian has his finger on the pulse of this moment -- recognizing both the profound peril, and connected opportunities that cry out for action. He is not another analyst, not a manager. He is a leader.

Currently re-printed in Revolution, the national, bi-lingual newspaper of the Revolutionary Communist Party, The New Situation and the Great Challenges is effectively the RCP's line on What Is To Be Done. That's an expression that starts as a question, our duty is always to answer it in fact.

For those who can't see how to fight for what they most want, it is a challenge to put some dignity in the struggle... and some struggle in your dignity. Before the next dismissal of Avakian crosses your lips, read this and see what this man is giving his life for -- and what he offers to a world choking on its own impossibilities.

Setting the Record Straight: The Legacies of 20th Century Socialism

Set the Record Straight is challenging the anti-communist hegemony that has passed for conventional wisdom for the last couple of decades, particularly on college campuses. For anyone who has never heard the revolutionary communist read on their own history, it beats the hell out of trying to disentangle the lies promoted by the "end of history" crowd.

Starting with a speech by the Maoist political economist Raymond Lotta: Socialism Is Much Better Than Capitalism and Communism Will Be a Far Better World, their website ThisIsCommunism.org features a growing list of articles on the epochal changes that socialism brought to the world in the 20th Century: Socialist Experience. All of the articles are written from the perspective pioneered by Revolutionary Communist Party chairman Bob Avakian.

Raymond Lotta will be speaking on Thursday, February 23, 6:00 pm, in Harvard Yard,