Exciting Book Launch of Science and Revolution
September 28, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
September 23, 2015—from Revolution Books Berkeley staff
Is there objective reality or does each person have their own reality? (Is there a worldwide system of exploitation and oppression, or not?) What is science? (Is the scientific method the way to get at the truth or is it a “social construct” that is based on perception?) Is leadership a problem or is scientific leadership and specifically the leadership of Bob Avakian a very great thing?
These were just some of the questions that came up at our September 18 launch and discussion of the exciting and very important new book, Science and Revolution: On the Importance of Science and the Application of Science to Society, the New Synthesis of Communism and the Leadership of Bob Avakian, An Interview with Ardea Skybreak.
A diverse crowd of some 20 people came to this first program we’ve held at our new space. The audience, from ages 19 to 90, included revolutionaries, students, and friends of the bookstore. Two who came had been involved in the student movement in Chile, and there were several students, including one who had grown up in China. (Leading up to the event, we’d seen people stopping to take pictures of the sandwich boards we’d placed around the UC Berkeley campus and downtown Berkeley featuring the book’s title in giant letters.)
The college students exuberantly engaged on and argued out how to express and apply science to society and politics. When our brief discussion would veer into the morass and vagaries of post-modern anti-science and relativism, people seemed genuinely appreciative to have the revolutionary leading the discussion remind us that “The title of the book is Science and Revolution.” And revolution aims to take on the objective reality of the horrors brought down on humanity by this system through the science of communism.
We read the two passages from the book featured at revcom.us: “An Explorer, a Critical Thinker, a Follower of BA: Understanding the World, And Changing It For the Better, In the Interests of Humanity”; and “Some Thank Yous That Need To Be Said Aloud.” Then we opened it up for discussion.
Comments flew and different ideas contended. Other questions raised included: Do people need to be scientific to make revolution? Is actual revolution necessary to defeat and dismantle the state apparatus and the capitalist system or is there another way to end oppression?
One young person who bought Science and Revolution made the point that it is not enough to “know” the truth, you have to act on that truth to change society. He said he had some disagreements with what was said about BA and leadership, but felt that BA and his new synthesis of communism needed to be much more widely known, not just in the U.S. but among people around the world who wanted change.
In this spirit, a staff member held up the cover of Revolution newspaper that showed refugees from Syria behind barbed wire and read the headline: “Imperialism Is a Nightmare for Humanity: There IS a Way Out—REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!” He invited the whole audience to meet him at the store and join him in taking Revolution newspaper to the campus the following day.
The questions provoked and discussions kicked off underscore the importance of this new book and of getting it into all corners of society as part of getting BA’s leadership and work everywhere.
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Shipping now. Order Science and Revolution: On the Importance of Science and the Application of Science to Society, the New Synthesis of Communism, and the Leadership of Bob Avakian, an Interview with Ardea Skybreak.
Insight Press, $11.95
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