Ajith—A Portrait of the 
Residue of the Past

Demarcations Ajith—Residue of the Past cover

 

Read full polemic.   

By Ishak Baran and KJA1

December 2014, reposted November 2026

 

“Everything that is actually true 
is good for the proletariat, all truths 
can help us get to communism.”

– Bob Avakian2

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

  1. SETTING THE STAGE: VANGUARD OF THE FUTURE OR RESIDUE OF THE PAST

     

  2. THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION, COMMUNISM AS A SCIENCE, THE MISSION OF THE PROLETARIAT, AND WHY TRUTH IS TRUTH

Ajith's Rejection of Communism as a Science 

Historical Materialism: Pivotal Point Of Marxism

The Scientific Method in Both the Natural and the Social Sciences 

Ajith Rejects the Scientific Method in Social Science

Ajith and Karl Popper

 

  1. CLASS POSITION AND COMMUNIST CONSCIOUSNESS

“Simple Class Feelings” and Communist Consciousness 

Ajith's Defense of the Reification of the Proletariat

Lenin's Decisive Contribution on Communist Consciousness 

The Proletariat and the Sweep of History

Nationalism or Internationalism?

Negative Impact of Reification in Previous Socialist Revolutions

 

  1. DOES TRUTH HAVE A CLASS CHARACTER?

“Class Truth” as a Secondary Tendency in the Cultural Revolution 

Ajith and Class Partisanship

 

  1. AJITH'S DENIGRATION OF THEORY

A Narrow View of Practice and Social Reality 

The “Direct Practice” of Marx and Engels Was Not the Source of the Development of Marxism

Partisanship Must Be Grounded in Science 

Costly Lessons of “Political Truth”

 

  1. SOME POINTS ON PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE

The Place of Philosophy in Marxism 

Ajith Divorces Philosophy from Science

Ajith's Quasi-Religious Approach to the Fundamental Principles of Marxism 

Absolute and Relative Truth and the Advance of Knowledge

How Certain Can We Be about Our Knowledge?

 

  1. COMMUNIST REVOLUTION IS NECESSARY AND POSSIBLE BUT NOT INEVITABLE... IT MUST BE CONSCIOUSLY MADE

Marx and Avakian on “Coherence” in Human History 

Real Dynamics of History and Erroneous Views within the Communist Movement

Freedom, Necessity and the Transformation of Necessity 

Ajith's Wrong Understanding of Freedom and Necessity 

A Leap but Not into Absolute Freedom

No Predestination in Revolution

How Do We Understand Historical Laws?

 

  1. AJITH FINDS HIMSELF IN THE COMPANY OF POSTMODERNISM AND RELIGION

Avakian's Dialectical Assessment of the Enlightenment

Ajith's Take on the Enlightenment and His Distortion of Avakian's Views 

On Marx's Stand Towards British Rule in India

Ajith's Opposition to “Scientific Consciousness” Science and Traditional Knowledge

Ajith Falls Back into Bed with Postmodernism Replacing Truth by “Narrative”

A Non-Scientific Critique of Capitalism 

Ajith's Embrace of the Frankfurt School 

Ajith and the Kantian Tradition

 

  1. AJITH'S UGLY AND TORTURED BRIEF FOR RELIGION AND THE CHAINS OF TRADITION

Putting the Veil on the Oppression of Women

Tailing after Nationalism, Prettifying Fundamentalism

Avakian on the “Two Outmodeds” and the Ideological Struggle with Religion 

Choosing between the “Two Outmodeds”, or Bringing Forward Another Way

 

  1. CONCLUSION

 

Read full PDF of polemic here.

Ajith—A Portrait of the Residue of the Past

 

_______________

FOOTNOTES:

1. Ishak Baran is a supporter of Bob Avakian's new synthesis and a long-time participant in the Maoist movement in Turkey. KJA is a regular contributor to Demarcations – A Journal of Communist Theory and Polemic. [back]

2. Bob Avakian, Observations on Art and Culture, Science and Philosophy, "Bob Avakian in a Discussion with Comrades on Epistemology: On Knowing and Changing the World," Insight Press, 2005, p. 43. [back]

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