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Revolutionary Communist Party, U.S.A.

Documents and Publications Difficult to Find

      [Introduction to be added.]

      If you know of other difficult to find documents and publications of the RCPUSA which should be made available here, contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.net

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Party Programmes and Basic Documents

• Programme and Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, (RCP: 1975), 186 pages.   Searchable PDF format, [8,869 KB].   Also available in HTML format in the “Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line” at: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-3/rcp-program/index.htm
• Documents from the Founding Congress of the RCP in 1975:
  • “Main Political Report”, 45 pages. (This is a scan of one of the copies distributed to Party members after the Congress. Even the original was not easy to read in places, but with effort it is mostly legible. Although this scan has been run through an OCR program, that program was only able to recognize the words some of the time. Though never publicly released by the RCP, copies have been available for sale on the Internet for some time.)   Searchable PDF format, [4,708 KB].
  • “Report on Constitution”, 5 pages.   Searchable PDF format, [753 KB].
• “Revolutionary Work in a Non-Revolutionary Situation: Report of the Second Plenary Session of the First Central Committee of the RCP, USA” (1976). This is the full report, with a new introduction in light of the recent split in the Party, (Chicago: RCP Publications, June 1978), 76 pages.   Searchable PDF format, [10,108 KB].
• New Programme and New Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (Drafts for Discussion), (RCP: 1980). Online in HTML format at: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/rcp-new-pro/index.htm
• New Programme and New Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, (RCP: May 1, 1981), 3rd printing, July 1987, 131 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [17,840 KB]
• “Communism: The Beginning of a New Stage: A Manifesto from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA”, (RCP: 2009), 60 pages. Includes a section about the “Cultural Revolution” within the RCP.   Searchable PDF format   [3,611 KB]
• [More to be added.]

Internal Struggles and Splits

• Revolution and Counter-Revolution: The Revisionist Coup in China and the Struggle in the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1978), 524 pages. To its credit, this book includes the major documents from both sides of the struggle. As the title suggests, there were two central issues in this struggle, 1) how to evaluate the changes in China after Mao’s death; and 2) what line the RCP should follow in its activity in the U.S. The winning side in the struggle was led by the Party Chairman, Bob Avakian. The losing faction, rather appropriately called the “Mensheviks” by the winners, was led by Mickey Jarvis and Leibel Bergman. After losing the struggle, the “Mensheviks” split off from the RCP to form, first, the “Revolutionary Workers Headquarters” group, which later merged with other similar groups to form the basically reformist or social-democratic “Freedom Road Socialist Organization”. Clearly the Avakian side has long-since been proven correct that the capitalist roaders had staged a coup in China. However, equally clearly, neither side in this struggle has since been able to develop an effective political line within the U.S., one which both remains firmly revolutionary but also remains in close contact with the working class and their struggles. Ironically, the two factions in this struggle have always been united in their insistance that doing both of these things simultaneously is absolutely impossible—despite Lenin’s proof in the Russian Revolution that it is indeed possible.   Searchable PDF format   [6,763 KB];
  The documents in this book are also available separately as HTML files in the EROL section of the Marxist Internet Archive, online at: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/rcp-split/index.htm
• Further details about this split, with additional, more secondary, documents, are available on the MIA at: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/index.htm#rcpsplits

Works by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Central Committee of the RCP

        [Note: Although many of these works have been available elsewhere on the Web for some time, they are often difficult to locate. Therefore we have also copied them over to this site. In addition we have reduced the file sizes (without changing the content), and in a few cases scanned and added missing pages. We have also run many of these files through an OCR program to make searchable versions (though they are then again somewhat larger in size).]

• “Our Class Will Free Itself and All Mankind”, speech on the celebration of the founding of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Central Committee of the RCP, USA, October 1975, 36 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,431 KB]
• “Communist Revolution: The Road to the Future, The Goal We Will Win”, speech by Bob Avakian at the November 1977 Founding Convention of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, (Chicago: RCP Publications, March 1978), 48 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [2,132 KB]
• “Revisionists Are Revisionists And Must Not Be Supported, Revolutionaries Are Revolutionaries and Must Be Supported”, Report on China by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, Adopted by the 3rd Plenary of the 1st Central Committee of the RCP, USA (1977), Affirmed and Adopted by the 2nd Congress of the RCP, USA (1978), 138 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,021 KB]
• The Loss in China and the Revolutionary Legacy of Mao Tsetung, speech by Bob Avakian, at the Mao Tsetung Memorial Meetings, 1978; (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1978), 158 pages, 80 printed sheets.   PDF format   [1,053 KB];   Searchable PDF format   [3,906 KB]
• Mao Tsetung’s Immortal Contributions, by Bob Avakian, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1979), 342 pages, 178 printed sheets.   PDF format   [21,028 KB];   Searchable PDF format   [33,973 KB]
• “Bob Avakian Speaks: On the Mao Tsetung Defendants’ Railroad and the Historic Battles Ahead”, a speech in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 19, 1979. This speech includes a discussion of the student seizure of the U.S. embassy in Iran (which was also issued as a separate pamphlet: “Iran—It’s Not Our Embassy”). Also included in this pamphlet is an interview of Avakian by the Washington Post in October 1979. Total of 76 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,401 KB]
• “How Can We Apologize for Taking History into Our Hands?”, an excerpt from a speech by Bob Avakian in Cleveland in 1979, issued as a separate pamphlet, English and Spanish, 32 pages. (The paper is yellowed with age; our apologies.)   English: Searchable PDF format   [2,865 KB];   Spanish: Searchable PDF format   [3,065 KB]
• “Summing Up the Black Panther Party”, an excerpt from a speech by Bob Avakian in Cleveland in 1979, issued as a separate pamphlet, 48 pages. (The paper is yellowed with age; our apologies.)   PDF format   [13,575 KB]
• “Bob Avakian on... ’60s People; The ’60s-’70s Shift”, a pamphlet reprinting 6 articles (or excerpts) from the 1981-1982 period mostly from the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, 30 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,088 KB]
• “If There Is To Be Revolution, There Must Be A Revolutionary Party”, a pamphlet reprinted from a series published in the Revolutionary Worker, (Chicago: RCP Publications, June 1982), 84 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,542 KB]
• For a Harvest of Dragons: On the ‘Crisis of Marxism’ and the Power of Marxism Now More Than Ever, 1983, 156 pages.   PDF format   [1,509 KB];   Searchable PDF format   [5,232 KB]
• A Horrible End, or an End to the Horror?, 1984, 206 pages.   PDF format   [2,024 KB]
• Bullets, excerpts from the writings, speeches and interviews of Bob Avakian, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1985), 290 pages.   PDF format   [1,859 KB];   Searchable PDF format   [6,542 KB]
• In the Aftermath of the Persian Gulf War, More on Could We Really Win? Prospects for Revolution, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1991), 100 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,234 KB]
• Phony Communism is Dead... Long Live Real Communism!, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1992), 140 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [2,100 KB]
• “Getting Over the Hump”, a pamphlet reprinted from a series published in the Revolutionary Worker, not dated (but the articles are from late 1997 and early 1998), 57 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [3,400 KB]
• Preaching From a Pulpit of Bones: We Need Morality But Not Traditional Morality, 1999, 105 pages.   PDF format   [1,361 KB];   Searchable PDF format   [3,665 KB]
• From Ike to Mao and Beyond: My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist, a memoir by Bob Avakian, (Chicago: Insight Press, 2005), 473 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [2,011 KB]
• “The Coming Civil War and Repolarization for Revolution in the Present Era”, a series of excerpts and more formal talks by Bob Avakian, which originally appeared in Revolution newspaper, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 2005), 64 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,810 KB]
• Observations on Art and Culture, Science and Philosophy, from the writings of Bob Avakian, (Chicago: Insight Press, 2005), 166 pages. (This file is in .djvu format and may be read on MS Windows computers with the free SumatraPDF program.)   DJVU format   [1,820 KB]
• “Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy”, based on a talk by Bob Avakian in 2006, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 2008), 100 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,954 KB]
• “Constitution For the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal)”, authored by Bob Avakian, adopted by the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 2010), 104 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [376 KB]
• What Humanity Needs: Revolution, and the New Synthesis of Communism, an interview with Bob Avakian, May 1, 2012, 136 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,033 KB]
• The New Communism: The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation, 2016, 228 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,731 KB]

Works by Other Prominent Members of the RCP

• And Mao Makes 5: Mao Tsetung’s last great battle, edited with an Introduction by Raymond Lotta, (Chicago: Banner Press, September 1978), 539 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [21,605 KB]   [Individual sections and articles from this collection are also available at: http://www.bannedthought.net/China/MaoEra/GPCR/index.htm
• “Important Struggles in Building the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA”, by Bill Klingel and Joanne Psihountas, leading members of the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, (Chicago: RCP Publications, October 1978), 66 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [2,739 KB];   Also available in HTML format in the “Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line” at: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-5/rcp-history.htm
• “The Science of Revolution”, author not identified, (Chicago: RCP Publications, May 1980), 47 pages. (This pamphlet may be viewed as an early version of the book by Lenny Wolff listed below, but see also the Introduction page for the relationship between the two.)   Searchable PDF format   [7,350 KB]  
• The Science of Revolution: An Introduction, by Lenny Wolff, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1983), 254 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [16,921 KB]
• America in Decline: An Analysis of the Developments Toward War and Revolution, in the U.S. and Worldwide, in the 1980s, Vol. 1, by Raymond Lotta with Frank Shannon, (Chicago: Banner Press, 1984), 278 pages. The most significant work on the political economy of capitalism ever published by the RCP. [The original plan was that this would be the first of a three-to-five volume series, but no further volumes were ever completed or published.] Unfortunately, we only have a rather poor scan of this book available, which is also disfigured by the web address where it was first posted stamped on every other page. We hope to obtain a clean copy of this work to scan in the future.   Searchable PDF format   [Large file: 45,510 KB]
• “They Made Revolution Within the Revolution: The Story of China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution”, by Iris Hunter [Mary Lou Greenberg], (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1986), 68 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,949 KB]
• “Revolution Not Elections Is the Way Out of This Madness”, Two Articles by Carl Dix, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1988), 32 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,687 KB]
• Maoist Economics and the Revolutionary Road to Communism: The Shanghai Textbook, edited with an Introduction and Afterword by Raymond Lotta, (NY: Banner Press, 1994), 404 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [6,505 KB]
• The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism: Knowing What’s Real and Why It Matters, by Ardea Skybreak, (Chicago: Insight Press, 2006), 369 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [6,736 KB]
• You Don’t Know What You Think You ‘Know’ About... The Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation: Its History and Our Future, by Raymond Lotta, (Chicago: Insight Press, 2014), 211 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [8,403 KB]
• 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 of Ardea Skybreak, (Chicago: Insight Press, 2015), 258 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [1,642 KB]

Other RCP Pamphlets:

• “CUBA: The Evaporation of a Myth — From Anti-Imperialist Revolution to Pawn of Social-Imperialism”, by the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. Originally an article published on Feb. 15, 1976, in the RCP newspaper Revolution, then reissued as a pamphlet in 1976. This version is the second printing, slightly revised, June, 1977, 40 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [3,456 KB]
• “The Mass Line”, by the RCP and Bob Avakian, 3 articles reprinted from Revolution, Spring 1976, 16 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [1,482 KB]
  This pamphlet is also available in HTML format, along with a paragraph about its background, at: http://www.massline.info/rcp/ml_rcp.htm
• “200 Years Is Long Enough!, and now it is the turn of the working class to overthrow the capitalist system and build a completely new kind of society”, by the RCP, USA, (Chicago: RCP Publications, June 1976), 32 pages. (Inside pages, which had a small amount of blue trim, are here scanned in black and white.)   Searchable PDF Format   [2,114 KB]
• “War and Revolution”, by the RCP, 7 articles reprinted from Revolution, Fall 1976, 40 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [2,870 KB]
• “The Tasks of Party Branches, the Task of Revolution”, by the RCP, reprinted from Revolution, 1977, 16 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [1,151 KB]
• “Two Battles from Our Past”, two articles from The Worker about the Great Strike of 1877 and the Sacco and Vanzetti case, Labor Day 1977, 16 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [1,278 KB]
• “Miners struggle at a Crossroads”, by the RCP, reprinted from Revolution, December 1977, 16 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [877 KB]
• “Charting the Uncharted Course: Proletarian Revolution in the U.S.!”, by the RCP, USA. Originally a section of the 1980 Central Committee Report; first published in the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, #99 (April 3, 1981). This is the 1981 pamphlet edition. (English version: 19 pages; Spanish version: 21 pages.)   English: Searchable PDF Format   [2,658 KB];   Spanish: Searchable PDF Format   [2,893 KB]
• “Support Every Outbreak of Protest and Rebellion”, a pamphlet reprinting 2 articles from the Revolutionary Worker from December 1980, 33 pages (including erratum page).   Searchable PDF Format   [1,522 KB]
• “Fire in the Andes”, a pamphlet consisting of 4 articles from the Revolutionary Worker in 1983, (Berkeley, California: Revolution Books, 1983), 20 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [1,394 KB]
• “On the Political Economy of Apartheid”, a pamphlet which we believe reprints an article from the Revolutionary Worker newspaper, probably in 1985, 24 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [1,039 KB]
• “Cold Truth, Liberating Truth: How This System Has Always Oppressed Black People, and How All Oppression Can Finally Be Ended”, Special Magazine Supplement to the Revolutionary Worker, #518 (Aug. 14, 1989), and also issued as a separate pamphlet, 40 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [4,556 KB]
• “Women Are Not Incubators!”, Special Magazine Supplement to the Revolutionary Worker, #530 (Nov. 6, 1989), and also issued as a separate pamphlet, 48 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [12,117 KB]

Other Documents and Materials:

• “Draft Programme for the Party of the U.S. Working Class: Proposed for the Founding Party Congress”, by the Revolutionary Union, (Chicago: RU, April 1975), 56 pages. Has a small amount of underlining and marginal comments; our apologies.   Searchable PDF format   [15,416 KB]
• Forward to the Party! Struggle for the Party! — 1975 Party Founding Journal (RU publication for comrades).
  [Some or all of issues #1 and #4 below are also available in HTML format at: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-3/index.htm#rcp]
  • Issue Number 1, not dated, 12 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [8,856 KB]
  • Issue Number 2, not dated, 16 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [10,561 KB]
  • Issue Number 3, not dated, 42 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [32,124 KB]
  • Issue Number 4, not dated, 24 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [16,876 KB]
• “Mao Tsetung Memorial 1978”, the 4-page Program for this major presentation by the Revolutionary Communist Party Mao Tsetung Memorial Committee.   Searchable PDF format   [164 KB]

Theoretical journals published by the RCP, USA: The Communist [1976-1979], Revolution [theoretical journal, 1975-1994], and Demarcations [2009-  ].   Separate Web Page

Revolutionary Worker weekly newspaper (1979-2005) and its successor, Revolution:   Separate Web page.

Early regional newspapers published by the RCP (1975-1979), usually called The Worker.   Separate Web Page.

Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCYB):

• RCYB Pamphlets:
  • “Communism and Revolution Vs. Revisionism and Reformism: In the Struggle to Build the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade”, by the RCP, USA, (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1978), 40 pages. (Scanned copy had yellowed pages; our apologies.)   Searchable PDF Format   [10,310 KB]
  • “Minorities & Whites, Unite to Smash the Bakke Decision!”, by the RCYB, April 1978, 16 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [4,062 KB]
  • “Iran Explodes: ‘Death to the Shah and U.S. Imperialism’”, by the RCYB, November 1978, 24 pages.   Searchable PDF Format   [4,917 KB]
  
  
• Revolutionary Communist Youth Newspaper:
  • 1981:
    • January 1981 — Vol. 4, #1, 32 pages (11 pages in Spanish).   Searchable PDF image format   [36,464 KB]
    • August 1981 — Vol. 4, #8, 28 pages (10 pages in Spanish).   Searchable PDF image format   [37,975 KB]
  
  
• Red Flag/Bandera Roja Magazine:
  • 1984 — Spring, English/Spanish, 24 pages.   Searchable PDF image format   [4,857 KB]
  • 1984 — Summer, English/Spanish, 24 pages.   Searchable PDF image format   [3,900 KB]
  
  

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Criticisms of the RCP and its Leadership from Various Revolutionary Sources:

• Against Avakianism, by Ajith, a Maoist revolutionary leader in India. (Utrecht: Foreign Languages Press, 2017, 3rd printing), 256 pages. (Although this work does raise quite a number of valid and important criticisms of Avakian and the RCP, in our opinion it should not be taken as completely definitive. There may be some criticisms here which are either unjust or else are not fully substantiated. Moreover, the work neglects to focus on some of the worst shortcomings of Avakian and the RCP, such as their aloofness from the existing struggles of the masses and their failure to correctly understand and use the mass line method of revolutionary leadership. —Ed.)   Searchable PDF format   [963 KB]

Commentary on the RCP from Academic, Government and Non-Revolutionary Sources:

• “Ascendant Maoism and FBI Repression in the United States: 1968-1978”, by Aaron J. Leonard and Conor A. Gallagher, Istor — Revista de historia Internacional, XVI, #64, “Maoísmos en la Historia”, 2016, 31 pages.   Searchable PDF format   [460 KB]

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