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Full Audio of the Speech and Q&A From the Summer 2018 Speaking Tour With Bob Avakian (BA)

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Audio of Part 1 of the speech:

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Audio of Part 2 of the speech:

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Audio of Q&A session in Chicago, Part 1:

Audio URL

Audio of Q&A session in Chicago, Part 2:

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Questions and Timecodes for Q&A with Bob Avakian in Chicago, Summer 2018

PART 1:

** What are your thoughts on game development that takes up the concepts of revolutionary strategy laid out in How We Can Win?
[1:15]

** What do you think about the Consent Decree passed vs the Chicago police? Concessions on police terror; violence among the youth; and what can – & can't – be achieved short of revolution.
[2:02]

** What are the next steps if this regime consolidates power?
[21:50]

** In a revolutionary situation, how would you combat the way mass media will demonize the revolutionary forces?
[41:08]

** You've dedicated your life to revolution. Have you ever been discouraged? How do you stay motivated?
[59:25]

** What's the difference between what they talk about in Cuba and the new communism that you've developed? How was the scientific method used to develop the new communism?
[1:12:03]

 

PART 2:

** Discussion and exchange between Bob Avakian and people in Chicago:
How can youth, who are now killing each other, be inspired to become part the revolution for a whole different world?
[00:10]

** How to spread the fighting spirit against fascist politicians and brownshirts, despite what the Democrats tell people?
[1:00:56]

** How do we hasten a revolutionary situation and how do newer and more experienced people take responsibility for that?
[1:13:32]

** BA Closing remarks


Audio of Q&A session in Los Angeles, Part 1:

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Audio of Q&A session in Los Angeles, Part 2:

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Questions and Timecodes for Q&A with Bob Avakian in Los Angeles, Summer 2018

PART 1:

** What will it take for masses of white people to break from white supremacy? What is it going to take to convince Black people, and other people of color, that the Revolutionary Communist Party is not simply like the Democratic Party, really a white supremacist party?
[00:30]

** Under socialism, will there be space for autonomous communities that are self-organized and voluntary?
[29:49]

** Given the risks, and taking into account the fear in the community, how much should undocumented immigrants contribute to this movement?
[36:37]

** What is our strategy against state repression – like dealing with what was done to the Black Panther Party? How do we prevent the same thing happening even before we get to a revolutionary situation?
[45:00]

** How can we be silent on the brutality towards animals when factory farming and meat production is not only barbaric but is contributing to the destruction of the Earth?
[1:00:36]

** Questions on revolutionary strategy:

- Would the U.S. have to become a "failed state" for the revolution to have a chance?

- What is your timeframe for revolution, if you have one?

- Do you see a role for U.S. military forces joining with the forces for revolution, in a revolutionary situation?
[1:12:35]

 

PART 2:

** Questions about building up the forces for revolution now:

- What's the relationship between building up the Revolution Clubs and the broader mass movement for revolution?

- What is the role of art and artists in bringing forward a revolutionary people?

- What other movements should we be working with?

- What is the significance and necessity of being "future people" in building this movement for revolution?

- I've been wrestling with the science and art of leadership. Can you talk more about that? Also, how do we deal with the frustration of breaking through with the masses, and in particular the youth who have no future under this system?
[1:55]

** What would society look like right after the revolution?
[52:02]

** Would Mexico and Central America still be the U.S.' backyard after the revolution?
[1:01:49]

** Could you speak to the negative situation in the world – with the rise of fascism – and the negative situation in the international communist movement?
[1:08:27]

** After the revolution, what kind of justice would be applied to former rulers of this system?
[1:42:55]

** COMMENT: A painful lesson learned from previous revolutions.
[1:55:34]

** How do you think we should go about waging key ideological and political battles today? What can we learn from history about this?
[1:58:32]

** You've talked before about the obstacle of American chauvinism. How do we take this on as part of building a movement to drive out the Trump/Pence regime and, even further, for revolution?
[1:59:22]

** How do you see the role of prisoners in building the revolution now and during a revolutionary situation?
[2:00:14]

Answers to the above three questions:

** BA answers the question on waging political and ideological struggle.
[2:01:38]

** BA answers the question on American chauvinism and the Trump/Pence regime.
[2:09:55]

** BA answers the question on the role of prisoners today and in a revolutionary situation.
[2:16:35]

** BA closing remarks


Audio of Q&A session in New York, Part 1:

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Audio of Q&A session in New York, Part 2:

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Questions and Timecodes for Q&A with Bob Avakian in New York, Summer 2018

PART 1:

** What's your scientific basis to say there is no god? Won't statements like that ostracize religious people?
[1:05]

** In the actual revolutionary struggle, why shouldn’t the revolutionary forces attempt to openly control and govern territory?
[18:06]

** The United States has people from all around the world – getting away from what U.S. imperialism has done to their countries. Will they take on our understanding of U.S. imperialism when they come here?
[41:00]

** After the revolution, how will we use peaceful tactics to maintain power? What would the judicial system and army look like?
[51:35]

Questions asked together:

** What does the safety net under socialism look like? How do we identify and work towards meeting the diverse needs of formerly oppressed people under socialism?
[1:10:05]

** How would you make the argument for revolution – inspiring people to get involved – in 2 minutes?
[1:12:21]

** In trying to win people to the revolution, isn't it be better not to offend them by struggling over religion?
[1:12:47]

** How is it that private ownership of the means of production results in the oppression of women?
[1:13:55]

** Question about the Cultural Revolution in the Revolutionary Communist Party: when and how do you determine that the Party has gone off the revolutionary road? 

** BA's answer on social safety net under socialism.
[1:16:44]

** BA's answer on making the argument for revolution in 2 minutes.
[1:24:26]

** BA's answer on the struggle over religion and making revolution.
[1:28:39]

** BA's answer on the question of women's oppression.
[1:34:36]

 

PART 2:

** What should I do tactically to drive out the Trump/Pence regime by means of peaceful mass sustainable protest?
[00:16]

** It looks like there may be a coming civil war between the Democrats and Fascists. How should we understand this and act to realign things?
[13:47]

** Could you expand on the conception of the struggle for the seizure of power as protracted and finite? And what is it about the dynamics of capitalism that leads to the vacillation of the middle strata?
[27:47]

** BA's answer on the Cultural Revolution in the Revolutionary Communist Party.
[46:27]

** BA asks the audience: However long you've been part of the revolution, what drew you to this and what do you think we need to do to bring more people into this revolution on the right basis?
[59:30]

** What is the 1, 3, and 5 year ACTION plan for revolution? And how do we utilize social media and fundraising to build the movement for revolution?
[1:01:08]

** What can I do when small things happen, like when a friend dies an unjust death or when the police kill someone?
[1:08:50]

** People in the audience speak to BA's questions.
[1:20:13]


 

Today, we are releasing the full audio of the Q&A from the summer 2018 speaking tour with Bob Avakian (BA).

The Q&A was based on people having heard a speech in two parts: Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution. We are posting the audio of this speech along with the Q&A.

The first part went deeply into WHY the system cannot be reformed and why only an actual revolution can bring about the fundamental change that is needed. The second part went into HOW this system can be defeated—and what we need to do NOW to prepare for the time—for a revolutionary situation when it would be possible for millions to go all out to win.

Following the speech, a little more than two hours, the next four hours or so in each city was a revolutionary, scientific and vibrant journey with BA, who has forged a whole new framework of human emancipation, the new communism. This, at a time when existential questions on the very future of humanity are acutely posed.

What you have here is BA unrehearsed and uncut. It is a living laboratory of the scientific method and approach to reality and its radical transformation, going to work with, and leading others on the thorniest problems of the revolution. What comes through in striking relief is a model of the road BA has charted to get to a world free of exploitation, oppression, and antagonistic social divisions—and the humanity of the road and the person who concentrates this.

The questions are wide-ranging. Listen, and explore beyond the horizons of the way the world is to the way the world could be. Explore it together with friends, comrades and colleagues. Play and study them together and wrangle with the questions, the answers and the underlying approach. In the following weeks and months, these Q&As will be released as podcasts—both as audio and video that thousands can be part of spreading—to reach all throughout society.