Statement from the Los Angeles Branch of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
June 5, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
In mid-April, someone chalked messages attacking the RCP and Bob Avakian, Chairman of the RCP, on the sidewalk in front of Revolution Books in Los Angeles. Whoever wrote this signed the name "Black Riders," which is a short-hand name for the Black Riders Liberation Party (BRLP). In discussions of this with representatives of the BRLP, they have completely disavowed having anything to do with these chalked messages, stating this is not something they would do.
We are issuing this notice to the public in order to contribute to setting standards in the movements of resistance. These standards must draw an important distinction: on the one hand, there is the necessary struggle, even sharp struggle, that should be carried out in a principled way over differences in political principles and strategy, over line and approach; on the other hand, there is very harmful and dangerous wrecking activity—attacks on individuals, gossip and slanders, rumors, and so on—which is objectively counter-revolutionary. Within movements of resistance it should be clear that such wrecking activity falls outside of the bounds of genuine political debate and polemics and, further, that such activity should not be, and will not be, tolerated.
In this country, there is a long history of this kind of activity carried out by counter-revolutionary forces with the mission of attacking and destroying genuine revolutionary forces. Whether from the right, from the "left," or straight-up government counter-intelligence agents, these forces use all sorts of methods, including slanders and "dirty tricks," attempting to foment violence between different forces involved in movements of resistance. This has also provided a free hand for the state to suppress, repress, and frame people—and even set people up to be murdered. For those who have forgotten, or never knew, the U.S. government fomented and manipulated this kind of activity as part of carrying out cold-blooded murder against the LA Black Panther Party leaders Bunchy Carter and John Huggins at UCLA in 1969.
It should be clear that this kind of thing can only serve to demoralize people and weaken their ability to get organized to stand up and resist the outrageous injustices and crimes brought down on the people by the powers-that-be. We must learn from and apply the lessons of this bitter experience.
In light of the above, when incidents like what happened at Revolution Books occur, it is important where possible that those who have been the target and that those whose name has been given as the "author" are able to clarify the situation. This can send a message to whoever is behind such attacks that they cannot succeed in fomenting antagonisms by opportunistically exploiting the political differences which exist between different organized forces.
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