Silver bullets

"Bullets" is a book containing quotations from the writings and speeches of Bob Avakian, the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP-USA). The book is modelled on "Quotations of Chairman Mao" a.k.a. The Little Red Book. Indeed, the RCP became notorious during the 1980's and 1990's for their personality cult of Avakian. "Bullets" is presumably part of the party campaign to elevate Avakian into an important revolutionary leader and thinker. In reality, the RCP has always been a small group.

I don't deny that "Bullets" is a good introduction to RCP politics, as they looked like circa 1985. If they are a good introduction to Maoism, is something else again.

RCP's brand of Maoism has a distinct "ultraleftist" flavour. World War III is just around the corner, and the important thing is to expose the system and organize for the impending revolution, which will break out even in the United States, probably in the form of ghetto riots. No immediate demands or reform demands are put forward, and the message often sounds extremely simple-minded, almost as if Avakian was trying to impress rookie anarchists. Elections mean nothing, the Democrats are just as bad as the Republicans, religion is a pure instrument of the ruling classes, etc. Avakian often uses slang and even expletives, underlining the anarchistic character of his message. But above all, the silver book is filled with constant regurgitations about the armed insurrection being just around the corner...

Did Avakian really believe all this? Of course he didn't. Remember: the texts quoted in "Bullets" were written circa 1979-85. Until about 1979, the RCP - in their own peculiar way - actually tried to influence striking workers, labour union activists, etc. When this failed, the group retreated into empty, revolutionary posturing which (of course) influenced nobody at all. "Bullets" is just phrase-mongering. Nobody in his right mind could possibly think that a Communist revolution was going to happen in Reagan's USA. If read carefully, Avakian actually says that one should *not* begin the armed struggle until an unspecified point in the future, when it becomes really viable. He's not calling for urban guerrilla warfare (a.k.a. terrorism). I say this guy was really a fraud!

I was most entertained by the section on religion, where Avakian makes all the classical mistakes of militant atheism. Apparently, religion always makes people passive. One is tempted to ask: what about Thomas Münzer? What about the Zealots? What about Muhammad? Since the RCP are Maoists, perhaps a more pertinent question would be: What about the Taiping Rebellion? Avakian also belongs to that breed of atheists who actually believe that the Bible must be interpreted literally (a mirror-image of the fundamentalist position): "Don't tell me you want to reinterpret it and make it figurative. It says what it says. It means what it means. And it is wrong!" Further, Avakian also claims that there is no such thing as objective morality, only different moralities of different classes and groups in society. These are ever-changing. However, since the communist goal is all-human, there must be at least an all-human morality, i.e. something very close to an objective morality. As usual, the materialist is cheating...

On one point, brother Avakian is surely right. In the section on the dictatorship of the proletariat, he exclaims: "When we're in power - no more Sylvester Stallone movies. Anybody with any artistic sense should support us, if only on that basis".

Point taken.

I'm not sure who would read "Bullets" today, since its main point (revolution in the 80's, go for it) was clearly wrong. However, it's possible that a certain kind of anarchists or ultraleft Maoists still cherish ideas similar to those of the RCP in 1985. As an introduction to what riotous youth in black masks might think, the silver bullets of Chairman Bob Avakian could perhaps still be of some interest.