Biography
A longtime Maoist organizer and theorist, Avakian emerged from 1960s political organizing in Berkeley and went on to found and lead the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, promoting revolutionary politics through publications, speeches, and national campaigns.
His activism has included repeated confrontations with law enforcement. In the late 1960s he served a short jail sentence after an arrest tied to flag desecration at a political demonstration. In 1979, he was arrested during a protest in Washington, D.C. against Deng Xiaoping’s visit to the White House and faced felony charges connected to clashes with police; he subsequently lived for a period in France while the case played out, before the matter was ultimately resolved.
Revolutionary Worker reports that the Mao Tsetung Defendants hearing scheduled for November 16, 1981 was postponed on November 5 until January 20, 1982. It describes an October 26 prosecution demand for an alibi proffer concerning the January 29, 1979 demonstration. These are procedural developments, not proof of another admission or completed hearing. Source: https://bannedthought.net/USA/RCP/RW/1981/RW130-English-OCR-sm.pdf#page=4
The December 10, 1982 Revolutionary Worker reproduced an October 25 communication from France’s refugee agency OFPRA to its appeals commission, stating that the U.S. Embassy had reported on October 18 that the prosecution and defense reached agreement, the Washington federal charges against Avakian were dropped, and the judge closed the case on June 3, 1982. The article describes the appeal against an initial denial of refugee status and disputes OFPRA’s inference that closure eliminated his political danger. June 3 is reported case closure, not a physical jail discharge or the end of residence abroad. Source: https://bannedthought.net/USA/RCP/RW/1982/RW184-English-OCR-sm.pdf#page=7
