Revolution #141, August 24, 2008
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Announcing
The Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
RCP Publications announces the publication of the new Constitution of the RCP, USA—one that lays out the mission and vision of a new stage of communist revolution, informed by Bob Avakian’s new synthesis of communist theory. The constitution puts forward this vision in a very accessible way, as well as laying out the principles of organization and the theoretical foundation of the Party. This includes an important appendix on communist theory as a scientific and revolutionary theory.
This constitution serves as a bold declaration that there is indeed a party, in the belly of the imperialist U.S., with the determination and strategic analysis to make a revolution. . . and the vision, method and understanding of society and history to ensure that it is a revolution worth making.
Available now at Revolution Books.
Editors’ Note: Revolution will publish more coverage and commentary on the Barack Obama candidacy, and protests at the Democratic National Convention, in our next regular issue, #142, that is being printed next Tuesday; issue #142 will be online next Monday. We are posting online commentary now on some significant events so far:
From A World to Win News Service
In Memory of Mahmoud Darwish (March 13, 1941—August 9, 2008)
August 18, 2008. A World to Win News Service. The celebrated Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish died August 9 after complications from heart surgery. In life, he was one of the world’s very few people who could fill a football stadium with as many as 25,000 listeners for a poetry reading. He had a special place in the hearts of the masses of Palestinians and other Arab people, and this was matched by the high regard in which many intellectuals of all countries held him. His poetry captured the pulse of Palestinian pain in magical ways, making readers laugh and weep.
Taking a Stand Against Torture at the American Psychological Association Convention
The American Psychological Association held its annual convention August 14th through August 17th in Boston. The association is one of the largest medical associations in the country and close to 20,000 people registered for the conference. A vast exhibition hall was filled with displays and concessions. Many attendees took advantage of the conference to connect with distant colleagues and old classmates and to do some quick sightseeing. But in the aisles of the main hall, in the smaller meetings and workshops and in the streets outside the convention center a far more serious debate took place – will the APA continue to be the only major professional medical association in the United States that condones its members participation in the torture of prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and CIA “black sites around the world”?
Letter from a Reader on the new Constitution of the RCP, USA
Well I am starting to read the party's Constitution, and so far its great! It really gets to the heart of the struggle and helps put the party's goals in a bit more focus. I read a lot, as you know, and Revolution is so inspiring, so powerful in my eyes that I can not deny the struggle that continues today, and of which I wish to be a full member of.
Note to Readers: Spread Revolution /Revolución Online!
We encourage readers to post articles from Revolution at web sites and submit them to online publications. And we appreciate hearing about your experiences and learning about sites that are reposting content from Revolution. We have three policies that are intended to enable many people to be involved in this, to get articles from Revolution posted all over, and to do this in a way that maintains the integrity of the content of Revolution.
Four Special Two-Week Issues of Revolution
The next few months will be highly charged politically. In the context of the election campaign, big questions are being posed:
What kind of society do we want to—and are we willing to—live in?
What kind of future will we have?
And what kind of change is required?
On
Barack Obama . . .
and Overcoming Differences
Barack Obama has made “overcoming differences” a cornerstone of his campaign. But this raises some questions.
How can, and how would, you “overcome differences” between, on the one hand, people who recognize the need to uphold reproductive freedom (the right to abortion and birth control, etc.) for women, as a crucial part of the fight against the oppression of women, and on the other hand, people—and moreover organized forces, with connections to the top levels of power in the U.S.—who are, and very clearly indicate that they will remain, relentless in their opposition to, and in their determination to completely eliminate, not only abortion but also birth control? How can you overcome differences between these opposing groups of people, other than through the capitulation of the one to the other, and in reality the capitulation of those who want to uphold and fight for the right to abortion and for birth control to those who are determined to abolish them, and criminalize them? And in fact this capitulation—of those whose stand is politically and morally correct and progressive to those who are politically and morally wrong and reactionary—is exactly what the position that Obama is advocating objectively represents and will lead to.
Read on…Come to Denver August 23-28 when the Democrats Meet
An Open Letter
....As recent news makes clear, an attack on Iran could happen before the election, driving the Bush Agenda into the next administration, whoever the president is.
Who will stop an attack on Iran?
REFORM OR REVOLUTION
Questions of Orientation,
Questions of Morality
Now, when you come up against the great gulf that often, and even generally, exists between the conditions and the suffering of the masses of people, on the one hand, and what you are able to do about that at any given point—when you run up against that repeatedly, everyone feels a definite pull which expresses itself in moral terms: how can you stand by and not do something about what’s happening to the masses of people? As I have said a number of times, I have enormous respect for people who do things like volunteer for Doctors Without Borders. But the fact is that while they’re doing what they’re doing, and even with the good they do, this is being engulfed and overwhelmed by a tsunami of suffering (metaphorically speaking and sometimes literally) that’s brought forth by larger objective forces.
The TRUE Story of
Mao Tsetung and the Communist Revolution in China
In the 1960s and 1970s Mao Tsetung was one of the most famous people in the world. He had led the Chinese people, against all odds, to make a revolution. For the many millions who passionately fought for justice and liberation in those days, the Chinese Revolution stood out like a beacon. And Mao himself was most famous for restlessly refusing to stop the revolution halfway—for never settling in, never ceasing to fight for a world without any division into classes, into nations, into oppressor and oppressed. A lot of people—teachers, workers, doctors, scientists, students, and revolutionaries—from many different countries, went to China to witness the socialist society being built under Mao’s leadership. And many returned home, inspired and hopeful about the possibility of a truly liberating society.
War in Georgia and
U.S.–Russia Tensions
In early August, a long-simmering conflict in the Caucasus region of Southwest Asia erupted into open warfare, bringing great suffering to the peoples of Georgia and South Ossetia (a small break-away province from Georgia). Thousands of Russian troops quickly poured in, escalating U.S./Russian tensions to a level not seen since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Obscenities
Right-wing Attacks on Abortion...and Obama’s Message of Capitulation
It’s really OBSCENE what passes as legitimate political discourse in the current presidential campaign. For example, take the debate between Obama and right-wing conservatives on abortion.
Christian Fascist Logic and a High School Health Textbook
I’m writing to express some disturbing observations from my high school “Health” class in regard to sexuality and the views of contraception. The book my school uses is the Glencoe Health textbook (Glencoe/ McGraw-Hill publishers, 2005). These are the same publishers that caved in under pressure in 2004 by the Texas State Board of Education to omit reference to contraceptive information and referred to marriage as a union between a man and a woman....
Obama’s “Yes We Can” Illusion
...and the Killing Reality for Black People
This presidential election season something different is happening. Three years ago, tens of thousands of Black people were left to die as Katrina’s flood waters surged in New Orleans. Last year, lynching nooses were being hung all across the country, from Jena, Louisiana, to New York City. But now, one of the two major parties is about to nominate an African-American, Barack Obama, to be the president of the U.S. This is major.
Shifts and Faultlines in the World Economy and Great Power Rivalry
What Is Happening and What It Might Mean
Part 4. THE RESURGENCE OF RUSSIAN IMPERIALISM
This is the fourth in a series of articles about major changes taking place in the imperialist world economy—and some of their larger geopolitical implications.
The analysis began with a survey of recent trends and key developments in the world economy. This was followed by an examination of the ascent of China in the world system and its growing capacity to project power internationally. The analysis then turned to the European Union and its emergence as a highly integrated, coordinated, and increasingly assertive imperialist bloc.
Cris and Bob Analyze Kobe
“Bob Costas here, with Cris Collinsworth. And Cris, I want to turn now to one of the most important Olympic events, at least from the Team USA standpoint—and that’s the all-arounds for bootlicking. We’ve had tremendous competition here and I think you can say we’ve had a whole scrapbook full of really inspiring moments. Clearly Bela Karolyi and his wife Marta were very impressive in the early going in the all-important women’s gymnastics.”
Note to Readers on Our Publishing
Schedule:
This issue of Revolution, issue #141, appearing on August 18 is a two-week issue. The following issue, #142, will be published on September 2.
