Bob Avakian

Robert Bruce Avakian (born March 7, 1943)^[1] is an American political activist and Maoist philosopher who is the founder and chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP). Avakian is widely considered a cult leader.^[2][3]

Bob Avakian
Avakian in 1980
Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Incumbent
Assumed office 1975
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	Robert Bruce Avakian (1943-03-07) March 7, 1943 (age 82) Washington D.C., U.S.
Political party	Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (1975–present)
Other political affiliations	Peace and Freedom Party (1960s)

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.^[1][4][5] After spending his first three years in the Washington metropolitan area, he spent the rest of his childhood and adolescence in Berkeley, California.^[1][6]

Political activities

As a student at UC Berkeley, Avakian became involved with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Free Speech Movement^[4] and the Black Panther Party.^[7] In 1968, he wrote articles for the Peace and Freedom Party's publications^[8] and in July 1969, he spoke at the Black Panther Party conference in Oakland, California.^[9] 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.^[10] During that period, Avakian was a founding member of the Bay Area Revolutionary Union^[11] alongside Leibel Bergman.^[12]: 101

In the early 1970s, Avakian served a prison sentence for desecrating the American flag during a demonstration.^[4] He was charged with assaulting a police officer in January 1979 at a demonstration in Washington, D.C. to protest Deng Xiaoping's meeting with Jimmy Carter.^[7][13][14] After receiving an arrest warrant, Avakian went to France and applied for political refugee status.^[1] In 1980, he gave a speech to 200 protestors in downtown Oakland^[15] and his police assault charges were dropped a few years later.^[1][7]

Avakian has been the RCP's central committee chairman and national leader since 1979.^[15][16] In 2016, the RCP USA and others helped form the organization Refuse Fascism, which called for Donald Trump's removal from office.^[17]

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 as a scientific organizational strategy, Avakian was put forward as a larger-than-life figure to revitalize the group.^[18]

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,^[19] Harper's Magazine in 2016,^[20] Mic in 2017,^[21] and Vice magazine in 2022.^[22] 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".^[20] In June 2022, a coalition of 23 abortion rights, feminist, and mutual-aid groups released a statement denouncing RCP and the affiliated anti-abortion organization Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, and calling the RCP a cult.^[22][23][24]

RCP members celebrate the organization as a cult of personality around Avakian.^[25][20]

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.^[26][27] Detractors criticize the RCP as a cult of personality around him,^[28] which the party has called "lies and slander".^[29]

In popular culture

James LeGros portrays Avakian in the 1995 Mario Van Peebles film Panther.