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.
Case
U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia
