Could We Really Win? Prospects for Revolution

by Bob Avakian

Written in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War (1991). Revolutionaries, especially Maoist revolutionaries, are famous for the view that "the power of the people is greater than the Man's technology." That was the spirit that marked the '60s in particular - with th estruggle of the Vietnamese people being an important and inspiring example. But the U.S. war against Iraq in 1991, with its massive "high tech" deployment, as posed new challenges to this view. How could a revolutionary army hope to defeat the modern imperialist powers? In this interview, Bob Avakian explores this question, and the power of the people is still greater than the Man's technology. But he argues that to make it so requires combining the decisive thing - the revolutionary energy of the masses - with a scientific doctrine and strategy for people's war. With that combination, he concludes, once the necessary conditions emerge, a people's war could have a real chance for success - even in a country like the U.S. This interview further develops the thesis in an earlier work by Bob Avakian, "Could We Really Win? The Possibility of Revolutionary War." It does so through a serious examination of the military strengths and weaknesses demonstrated by the imperialist side in the Gulf War - comparing and contrasting their forces and way of fighting to the potential strengths of the people.

91 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1991

About the author

"If you don't have a poetic spirit-or at least a poetic side- it is very dangerous for you to lead a Marxist movement or be the leader of a socialist state. "
- Bob Avakian

Bob Avakian (BA) is the architect of a whole new framework of human emancipation, the new synthesis of communism, which is popularly referred to as the "new communism. " The goal of the new communism is a total revolution - the most radical revolution in human history that aims at nothing less than overcoming all forms of oppression and exploitation all over the world, a society where humanity could truly flourish. The new synthesis is based on more than 40 years of revolutionary work that BA has done critically analyzing and drawing from past revo­lutionary experience and theory, and a broad range of human activity and thought. It is a continuation of, but also represents a qualitative leap beyond, and in some important ways a break with, communist theory as it had been previously developed. It provides the basis--the science, the strategy, and the leadership--for an actual revolution and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation.

Bob Avakian is the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP), which he has led since its formation in 1975. He emerged as a major political figure throughout the upheavals and rebellions of the period of the '60s: awakening to political life in the period of the emerging discontent and ferment among students in the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley; joining and then becoming a leader of the resistance and protests against the Vietnam War; becoming an early and prominent supporter of the Black Liberation struggle where he was closely associated with the Black Panther Party; then playing a critical leading role in the political and ideological struggles of the New Left Movement of the 1960s, which ultimately led to the founding of the RCP. In the decades since the 1960s BA has given decisive leadership to the theoretical as well as strategic and practical dimensions of the revolution, both in the U.S. and internationally.

BA’s extensive body of work includes more than a hundred articles, books, films and audio recordings.  His collected works are available through The Bob Avakian Institute, http://thebobavakianinstitute.org.

The above is excerpted from “Bob Avakian (BA)–Official Biography,” a publication of The Bob Avakian Institute.