Robert Bruce Avakian (born March 7, 1943) is an American political activist and Maoist philosopher who is the founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP).

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. After spending his first three years in the Washington metropolitan area, he spent the rest of his childhood and adolescence in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

Political activities

As a student at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

, Avakian became involved with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Free Speech Movement and the

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

. In 1968, he wrote articles for the

Peace and Freedom Party The Peace and Freedom Party (PFP) is a socialist political party in the United States which operates mostly in California. It was formed in 1966 from anti–Vietnam War and pro–civil rights movements. PFP operates both as an organization unt ...

's publications and in July 1969, he spoke at the Black Panther Party conference in

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. 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. During that period, Avakian was a founding member of the Bay Area Revolutionary Union alongside Leibel Bergman. In the early 1970s, Avakian served a prison sentence for desecrating the American flag during a demonstration. He was charged with assaulting a police officer in January 1979 at a demonstration in Washington, D.C. to protest

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

meeting A meeting is when two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal or business setting, but meetings also occur in a variety of other environments. Meetings can be used as form of group decision-making. Definiti ...

with

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

. After receiving an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a jud ...

, Avakian went to France and applied for political refugee status. In 1980, he gave a speech to 200 protestors in downtown Oakland and his police assault charges were dropped a few years later. Avakian has been the RCP's central committee chairman and national leader since 1979. In 2016, the RCP USA and others helped form the organization Refuse Fascism, which called for

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's removal from office.

Cult of personality

The RCP began developing a cult of personality around Avakian as part of the 1979 pivot catalyzed by the Deng Xiaoping protest trial. The goal was to both increase support for Avakian in the legal arena and make RCP a more revolutionary organization, inspired by Joseph Stalin's cult of personality, Mao Zedong's cult of personality, and the Free Huey! campaign, in which Avakian participated. Relying on the theory of Georgy Plekhanov and framing the development of a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

as a

scientific Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

organizational strategy, Avakian was put forward as a larger-than-life figure to revitalize the group. Members of both the left and the broader public often see the RCP as a cult around Avakian. This perception was noted in '' The Indypendent'' in 2014, ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'' in 2016, Mic in 2017, and '' Vice magazine'' in 2022. Members and groups on the left, in organized labor, and in protest movements have called RCP a cult. In 2016, former USLAW national coordinator Michael Eisenscher called RCP primarily "a cult around Avakian". 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.

Legacy

Avakian is a controversial figure. Supporters see him as a revolutionary leader and claim his body of work has advanced communist theory and represents a "pathway to human emancipation" from the capitalist system. Detractors criticize the RCP as a

cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader,Cas Mudde, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create ...

around him, which the party has called "lies and slander".

In popular culture

James LeGros portrays Avakian in the 1995

Mario Van Peebles Mario Van Peebles (born January 15, 1957) is a Mexican-born American director and actor. He is best known for appearing in ''Heartbreak Ridge'' in 1986, and known for directing and starring in ''New Jack City'' in 1991, and ''USS Indianapolis: ...

film '' Panther''.

Notes

External links

* * for The Bob Avakian Institute {{DEFAULTSORT:Avakian, Bob 1943 births Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area American atheists American autobiographers American people of Armenian descent American political party founders Living people Members of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA Peace and Freedom Party politicians Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Writers from Washington, D.C.