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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.

Conditions of the Working Class in China

The SLAM X panels and celebration brought Old Heads from around the country back to New York. One old comrade came, and over a heated game of Risk (that he won!), he argued that China was essentially socialist. Why? Because they claim to be. Because state ownership plays a significant (determining?) role in the economy, regardless of foreign capital penetration (WalMart) or planning mechanisms — and because he saw no fundamental difference between the triumph of the "capitalist road" politically with the (appaulingly evident) changes in the "mode of production."

If we want to know where the sharpest argument is brewing in the International Communist Movement -- the questions of state capitalism, revisionism and popular agency are the key points of disagreement. After a year of profound growth in all camps, the bases of unification and advancement are upon us. And I'm concerned that if revolutionary, MLM advancements are not made far beyond their current fractional status, we won't be able to sum up the last century to advance towards communism. Revisionism can win. How do we know? Because it already did win everywhere socialism was established.

So read on. And let's get into it.

Here understanding China is key. And rather than just say "but the Chinese bourgeois dictatorship is creating the world's largest proletariat," we might all gain from some more serious analysis. The argument was not so much over whether China was something to emulate, as what was the bottom line basis of unity. My argument was that China was essentially fascist: state capitalism, dictatorship over the proletariat and with no possibility of popular agency within the confines of the capitalist state. In other words, we cannot accomodate with revisionism, as the range of an imagined possible, and build a liberation movement.

Red Cat, White Cat is an essential introduction to the "contradictions of market socialism," and its author, Robert Weil, has just written an extensive class analysis of contemporary China. What follows is Conditions of the Working Class in China and an attached Word version of the entire document at the very end. An abridged version will also be appearing in the forthcoming issue of Monthly Review.

We are the beating heart and nimble hands of our poets

I keep coming back to Roque Dalton. Where Neruda was the poet of the people in all, Dalton is a tangible breath of communists and rebels. He was critical without cynicism, advanced without detachment. As I'm just poetic, I turn to the poets.

FOR A BETTER LOVE
By Roque Dalton
Trans. Richard Schaaf

"Sex is a political category."
—Kate Millet

Everyone agrees that sex
is a category in the world of lovers:
hence tenderness and its wild branches.