QUESTION: RIM, AVAKIAN, RCP

["SCOTT R MCLEMEE" <MCLEMEE@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

          A question about RIM and such for those on the list who are up on
          it.

          Lately the  RCP  has especially been pushing the notion that  Bob
          Avakian is a Major Leader and Thinker.  This is not as such a new
          thing:  anyone who  ever  saw BULLETS, the "little gray book"  of
          Chairman Bob's pity Thoughts, knows that RCP  has quite the  cult
          of personality around  the ever-youthful Avakian  (whose official
          portrait  seems  not  to  have  been  updated  in  a  decade  and
          counting).  But the REVOLUTIONARY WORKER and  the RCP-niks I  ran
          into  at  the Politics of Meaning conference in Washington, DC  a
          couple of weeks ago seemed even more gung-ho on  Bob Thought than
          in the past.  And that is saying something.

          Now, the question.  Is this an effort to lift Chairman Bob to the
          level  of  Gonzalo,  given  that  G  is  not  available  to  lend
          leadership to  the  worldwide  Maoist  movement  at  the  present
          moment?  Do ex-RCPers on  the  list  have  any thoughts on  this?
          I've  always  wondered  what  it  must  be  like  to  be  in   an
          organization which took Avakian seriously as a theorist.

          Given that about half of  the list is  now devoted to  the Maoist
          Wars, I  hope somebody can take the time  to answer this sort  of
          simplistic question.  To  a non-Maoist, it's pretty hard to  tell
          the differences among  you  guys  --  maybe answering  this  will
          provide some helpful background.

          Thanks in advance.



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