Celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the RCP,USA
Revolutionary Worker #1076, October 29, 2000, rwor.org
October, 2000. This is the 25th anniversary of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. What does it mean that this Party exists and is working for revolution?
Revolution is the hope of the hopeless. And without a revolutionary party, there can be no revolution.
Today we see a system whose ruthless worldwide exploitation and everything-for-profit outlook kills 40 thousand children every day from "diseases of poverty"--and endangers the very future of our planet. But we also see new waves of risings against all that--from people's wars to new movements and new courage among the youth in this country.
We are sober and serious about our huge task--revolution in the belly of this beast. We are also optimistic.
Our Party is totally committed to revolution. Our Party has never made peace with the system of imperialism and reaction and never will. We are building on everything our Party has learned through its history, and we are applying it now--preparing to make revolution at the earliest possible time and contributing all we can to the world proletarian revolution. This is what we celebrate on this 25th anniversary.
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The roots of our Party, and its forerunner the Revolutionary Union, go back into the 1960s and early '70s--fighting as part of that time of great revolutionary upheaval in this country and worldwide. Led by Chairman Bob Avakian, the RCP was formed in 1975--in a process that involved struggling through the many lessons of that period. Our Party was founded based on the revolutionary ideology we call Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. This means the lessons of our proletarian history are alive in this country and part of our revolutionary arsenal today.
The road of revolution is full of twists and turns. They test revolutionary parties. In 1976, the world proletariat suffered a major defeat when revolutionary rule was overthrown in China by a coup after the death of the great leader Mao Tsetung.
Maoist China was a tremendous bastion and banner of world revolution, a liberated outpost with a quarter of humanity. No matter how much the present dominators of China and the world now spread lies and slanders, the fact remains that, during three decades of socialist rule, there was unprecedented mass participation in running society, old oppressive ways were overturned, and workers and peasants were involved in leading whole areas of life where they had previously been excluded and suppressed. The formerly oppressed people broke open amazing new pathways.
When this great advance was turned back, there was great disorientation. Many parties and revolutionaries went into denial, threw away revolutionary ideology, or became confused and lost direction. In some ways, our class is still coming back from this defeat.
Our Party, through intense struggle, came sharply to the defense of the revolutionary path. To come back from this defeat has required standing firmly on the accomplishments of Maoism. And, in this process, our Party has developed a deep sense of the questions involved in making the socialist revolution and staying on the socialist revolutionary path. We are working to help forge answers to problems of the world revolutionary movement and to develop the theory and practice of making revolution in the U.S.
Our Party has never bought into the system's self-serving hype about the "failure of communism"--we have not joined that chorus, nor have we lowered our sights from all-the-way revolution. This struggle, to achieve a radical break from the system which presently dominates the globe, is bound to be protracted and difficult. And the proletariat is still a young contender. One of the hallmarks of the Party has been to nurture a critical-revolutionary scientific spirit of learning from the setbacks and difficulties of our class's first experiences in holding power in a hostile world, while standing firmly with the great achievements of this history.
Our Party has met EVERY new challenge or difficulty by digging deeper, with our revolutionary ideology of MLM, into the basic questions of making revolution. We have refused to be awestruck by the power or by the "goodies" displayed by the rulers of this country. Instead, we have stood among the basic people, the proletariat, and set about charting the uncharted course for revolution in the U.S.
We have forged deeper ties with the masses, joining, learning and leading in their struggles: The battle against police brutality and murder; the vicious discrimination that infests this system; the repression and super-exploitation of immigrants; the fight for the liberation of women; the battles against the unjust wars waged by this system... and more. And in all this, we work to prepare for revolution at the earliest possible opportunity.
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Together with comrades around the world, our Party has responded to the challenge of rebuilding the strength of the world revolutionary movement. In 1984, our Party participated in forming an international regroupment of Maoist parties and organizations in the world, the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement --the embryonic center of the world's Maoist forces.
Through work and struggle we Maoist revolutionaries have been coming back. The path of advance for revolutionary parties and for proletarian revolution itself lies in the fierce up and down fight with the bourgeoisie--its power and its disgusting outlook.
Today, our Party is linked ever more deeply with the key forces for revolutionary change in this country--from those who brought us the L.A. rebellion, to newly arising youth, to allies on many different fronts of struggle. This Party is linked, especially through the RIM, to the Maoist revolutionary forces the world over who are leading, or preparing to lead, people's wars. We have a liberating ideology, MLM. We have the revolutionary leadership of our Party and our Chairman. And we are bringing forward a new Programme for proletarian revolution in this country. We have much to celebrate and much to accomplish by further building this Party.
It is a great thing for the people that a Maoist revolutionary Party exists in the U.S. This is a Party that combines maturity and vitality. Our Party combines the strengths of this history, with the newly arising generation of revolutionaries. Our ranks include comrades who are veterans of earlier upsurges and, increasingly, new revolutionary forces of the current generation.
Our Chairman has recently pointed out, in his "Message to the Youth", that meeting the challenges of revolution requires "Combining the strengths of the veterans and of the new generation of revolutionary communists: combining experience--and impatience...an understanding of the complexities of the revolutionary process--and a daring and determination to master and overcome all obstacles. All communists, veterans and younger comrades alike, should strive to embody the combination of these qualities, and as the vanguard we should have an orientation of combining all these positive factors to serve the world-historic revolutionary mission of the proletariat." (RW #1075)
When we celebrate our 25 years as a revolutionary Party, we are looking ahead. We have the great challenge of revolution ahead of us. And, as key steps toward that right now, we have to increasingly meet the challenges of preparing for that time--and hastening it along. We need to further develop the revolutionary struggles of the proletariat, as well as those of other sections of the people. We are calling on people to take up the MLM line and outlook of this Party and live a life with a revolutionary purpose--to help develop the revolutionary movement today and prepare for a showdown with the rulers of this system and their forces of oppression and destruction.
Right now, we are calling on people to join us in the great project to produce a new MLM Programme of our Party. This will be a sharp new battle plan for bringing down this system at the earliest possible time, along with a vision and concrete plan for building the new revolutionary society.
We are calling on people to contribute funds to make this new Programme and all our Party work possible. We are calling on people to join, support, and help further strengthen our Party to meet these challenges.
Celebrate this Party that dares to dream--but more than that, dares to fight to bring the hopes and dreams of the oppressed into revolutionary reality. Support this Party whose every effort is dedicated to preparing for that goal.
Long Live the RCP, USA
Celebrate the Party's 25th Anniversary
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