New Book Debunks Lies About Communism, Documents Its Liberating Achievements... Author Argues More Relevant Than Ever

Contact: SettheRecordStraight@hotmail.com

The last few years have witnessed major uprisings and protests—from Egypt to Brazil to the Occupy movements. At the same time, a conversation is opening up about staggering levels of inequality and shrinking opportunity. Big questions are being raised about capitalism, in a way that has not been seen for decades.

And Raymond Lotta is addressing the biggest question of all: “is there an alternative?” The elephant in the room is socialism and communism.

1) The standard argument is that while communism might have been a good idea it was an absolute “failure” and “horror” in practice… and in any event is dead.

“Not true,” declares Lotta, political economist and expert in the history of communism. In his bold, new eBook: You Don’t Know What You Think You “Know” About the Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation: Its History and Our Future, Lotta makes the case that:

*Communism was and is indeed a very good idea and theory.
*The socialist revolutions in the Soviet Union (1917-56) and China (1949-76) accomplished unprecedented things. These were revolutions working to overcome the discrimination against and subjugation of minority nationalities, to liberate women, to promote an ethos of cooperation and working for the common good, and to unleash people to change society and themselves.
*These first revolutions did not fail but were defeated. But that’s not the end of the story.
*There is today a new synthesis of communism brought forward by Bob Avakian. He has summed up the achievements as well as the shortcomings and problems of these first communist revolutions—and developed a profoundly emancipatory communism.

2) It is said that, for all its problems, capitalism is the best and only of all possible systems.

“Not so,” answers Lotta:
“Capitalism-imperialism is the cause of incredible suffering and is the real failure. We live in a world of predator drones and NSA super-surveillance; of the pervasive degradation, brutalization, and objectification of women; of unmet needs and grotesque inequalities—a world where 18,000 children, most of them in the poor countries, die each and every day of preventible disease and malnutrion.

“What kind of society imprisons 1 of 9 Black youth? What do you say about a system that causes spreading environmental catastrophe and only acts to make things worse?

“At such a time, in such a world, communism, communist revolution, is more needed and more relevant than ever. People need to know the truth, the true history of communism—not the history told by the same system that went to war in Iraq on the basis of its lies of ‘weapons of mass destruction.’ They need to know that communism is not some utopian ideal but a visionary and practical way to tackle the great problems of humanity and to create a world in which human beings can truly flourish and protect the planet. ”

A provocative and engaging speaker, Raymond Lotta brings a unique perspective to the table. Arrange an interview by contacting SettheRecordStraight@hotmail.com, 312-399-1981.

About the eBook
Raymond Lotta’s new eBook, You Don’t Know What You Think You “Know” About the Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation: Its History and Our Future, is a wide-ranging history and analysis of communism, based on a series of interviews. It is available at Amazon and other retailers, and a review copy can be obtained from the publisher, Insight Press (www.insight-press.com).

Dongping Han, author of The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village:
Raymond Lotta’s research and argumentation, particularly about the Russian revolution and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, demonstrate forcefully once again that a better world for humanity is indeed possible. Anybody who does not want to witness the slow but sure destruction of our environment and our humanity as well should find inspiration from Lotta’s book.

John Hutnyk, author of Pantomime Terror: Music and Politics and Bad Marxism: Capitalism and Cultural Studies:
Everything you “know” about the revolution is untrue. You need to surf the first wave and get on board for the next rising tide. Lotta offers a book that sets sail towards that horizon with unflinching commitment to the better future that we need.

About the Author
Raymond Lotta is an advocate for Bob Avakian’s new synthesis of communism. He is a political economist, author of America in Decline, and writer for Revolution. Lotta has done extensive research on socialist revolution in the 20th century--including on issues of socialist planning and the restoration of capitalism in the formerly socialist Soviet Union and China. His writings on the history and achievements of the Cultural Revolution in China include Maoist Economics and the Revolutionary Road to Socialism and And Mao Makes 5. Lotta lectures widely in the U.S. and internationally and directs the “Set the Record Straight Project,” which brings out the truth of the Soviet and Chinese revolutions and provides web resources (www.thisiscommunism.org).

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