This book offers readers a rare chance to witness a mainstream thinker challenge an outlaw-activist. Avakian and Martin wrestle with big questions that have to do with the state of the world and the possibility for radical change. The scope and relevance of Marxism, and the nature and reach of communist revolution, are at the heart of this rich and lively dialogue. Avakian and Martin probe a wide range of issues: the place of ethics in a transformative revolutionary politics; Kant, Rousseau, and Hegel; Marx and the question of colonialism and Eurocentrism; the Maoist experience in China; sustainable agriculture and the task of overcoming the urban-rural divide; imperialism and lopsided development in the world, and the effects on social structure and revolution; animal rights; secularism and religion; the post-911 agenda of the U.S. ruling class, the political-social-cultural landscape of the U.S., and the prospects for resistance and revolution; Marxism and the question of homosexuality; the challenges confronting radical and communist intellectuals and the possibilities for engaged, creative intellectual work today.

Marxism and the Call of the Future: Conversations on Ethics, History, and Politics

Politics & Social Sciences

Avakian, Bob

Martin, Jr, Bill

Philosophy

Open Court

Mao Tsetung's immortal contributions by Bob Avakian.

Mao Tsetung's immortal contributions

Bob Avakian Speaks on the Mao Tsetung Defendants Railroad and the Historic Battles Ahead

R C P Pubns

An essay marking the 100th Anniversary of Marx's death.  One hundred years after the death of Marx, the truth of Marxism not only remains a fact but assumes immense importance - now more than ever.  What are the essential aspects of Marxism, what have been the major changes in the world since Marx's time, how have Marxist principles developed in relation to these changes and what is the application of these principles to the decisive questions today - it is these subjects that this essay addresses.

For a Harvest of Dragons: On the Crisis of Marxism and the Power of Marxism--Now More Thatn Ever : An Essay Marking the 100th Anniversary of Marx's D

Published in 1984. Avakian surveys the contemporary social and political terrain to reveal how and under what circumstances U.S. imperialism might be brought down. Yet what makes this such a compelly study is not merely its insights into revolutionary strategy but its insistence that these issues be viewed in the larger setting of the historical advance toward, and the problems attendant to, the achievement of socialism and communism. Avakian casts his analytical gaze on the shortcomings of the movements of the 1960s, the recent assaults on Leninism, Marxist-Leninist military theory and experience, the enslaving essence of modern democracy, the role of dissent in socialist society, the centrality of the woman question to the revolutionary process, and the ideological roots of accomodationism and capitulationism within the revolution. Here, as in all his writings, Avakian articulates a Marxism for which revolution cannot be a halfway affair. A Horrible End, or An End to the Horror is not airy speculation but a lucid and riveting assessment of the problems, tasks, and opportunities that this critical historical period presents to revolutionary minded people. It may be objected to but can no more be ignored than can the imperialists' plans for nuclear war.

A Horrible End: Or, An End to the Horror

Politics & Government

Reflections, Sketches, and Provocations: Essays and Commentary, 1981-1987

What do you say about a leader of a revolutionary party who can analyze the style of play and attitude of one of the teams in an NCAA basketball championship game in order to draw lessons about revolution?  And what do you say about a self-described communist and Marxist-Leninist-Maoist who can address some fundamental questions to Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould concerning the character of intellectual inquiry and debate in socialist society, while at teh same time he can decry the ossification of Marxism into a state religion?  Well, you can say his name is Bob Avakian and that he is one of the most original and provocative thinkers of our time.  Reflections, Sketches and Profocations is a collection of articles and messages written over a period of seven years, a kind of political compass of the 1980s.  Consistently fresh and vibrant in his perceptions, Avakian can look at a movie like Fort Apache, The Bronx and launch into a discussion of liberalism; or take the opening lines of a speech by Ronald Reagan and tear apart its historica, even its geological, assumptions; or contrast two very different kinds of "festivals" occurring simultaneously in Miami: the Orange Bowl hoopla and a rebellion in the Black community.  Yet as broad-ranging as these writings are, certain basic themes run through them: the obscene hypocrisy of the imperialists, the limits of reformism, the shifts in the world since the 1960s and the strategic weakness of imperialism, the need to oppose war with revolution, and the nature and necessity of revolutionary preparation.  And if Avakian is passionately concerned with the revolutionary seizure of power, he is no less absorbed with the difficulties of exercising that power and of advancing to communist society where there would be no class distinctions and no state - no power exercised by one part of society over another.    From a piece that extends no more than a paragraph to an expansive essay, Avakian has that rare ability to not only offer up insights but to force his reader to argue with him.  For those unacquainted with the work of Bob Avakian, this collection will serve as a splendid introduction.  For those who have encountered him before, here brought under once cover of some of his most engaging writings.

A bold and challenging book that cuts right to the debate of our times. Is capitalism the best of all possible worlds? Avakian contrasts the brutal realities of the free market to the claims of its defenders. Has communism proven to be a disastrous nightmare? Avakian refutes the charges that socialist economics are unworkable and that communism suppresses individuality and freedom. But he probes deeper, into the real history and lessons of revolution, especially the Maoist Cultural revolution. Can revolutions survive in a hostile world? How can they avoid going sour? And is it really possible to move society beyond private gain and money relations? Bob Avakian shows that communism is both visionary and practical. If you want to know what real communism is about, and if you wonder whether society has to be run as a dog-eat-dog enterprise, then you will find this book as timely as it is provocative. 2nd Edition with Appendix: Democracy: More Than Ever We Can and Must Do Better Than That

Phony Communism Is Dead Long Live Real Communism

Las Contribuciones Inmortales De Mao Tsetung

Liberation Distributors

Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

Banner Pr

Is democracy, or "true" democracy, the pinnacle of human social organization? Is the fundamental goal of socialist revolution the broadening and deepening of democratic institutions? Bob Avakian argues that there is something far more subversive, something far more liberating, than democracy. "Democracy: Can't We De Better Than That?" is a major work of Marxist political theory that dissects the fundamental positions and arguments of democratic theory, and that confronts the "crowning achievements" of democratic society. Avakian posits the following theses: democracy is not an end in itself but a means to an end; it is part of the superstructure of society and conforms to and serves a particular economic base; it arises in certain historical conditions and is generally associated with the bourgeois epoch, it never exists in abstract or pure form but always has a definite class character and is conditioned by the fundamental relations between classes; and, finally, democracy has a distinctive role to play in the socialist transition period but will wither away, with the state, with the achievement of communism, and be replaced by qualitatively higher forms of political organization and participation. Avakian examines the notion of democracy as it was developed in ancient Greece and Rome, and subjects the democratic theory of Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Paine, and Mill to detailed analysis. He explores the ideological underpinnings of the modern theory of totalitarianism and goes on to critique current western Marxist and Soviet conceptions of the relationship between democracy and revolution. In concluding his study, Avakian sketches the transformative possibilities of socialist revolution, while, at the same time, considering the problems and tensions intrinsic to making such a revolution. "Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?" compels one to rethink the structures and possibilities of social organization; its practical and programmatic import is immense. Not all readers will agree with its conclusions, But no one who reads this work will quite be able to view democracy through the same prism again.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Avakian, Bob. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Avakian, Bob

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Avakian, Bob. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Marxism and the Call of the Future: Conversations on Ethics, History, and Politics

Mao Tsetung's immortal contributions

Bob Avakian Speaks on the Mao Tsetung Defendants Railroad and the Historic Battles Ahead

For a Harvest of Dragons: On the Crisis of Marxism and the Power of Marxism--Now More Thatn Ever : An Essay Marking the 100th Anniversary of Marx's D

A Horrible End: Or, An End to the Horror

Reflections, Sketches, and Provocations: Essays and Commentary, 1981-1987

Phony Communism Is Dead Long Live Real Communism

Las Contribuciones Inmortales De Mao Tsetung

Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?