ABOUT RAYMOND LOTTA  |  RESOURCES  |  SOCIALIST EXPERIENCE  |  COMMUNISM'S FUTURE


GET INVOLVED

Four things you can do to pry open the debate:
1) Bring Set the Record Straight to speak on your campus
2) Distribute materials broadly to change the discourse on campus and in society
3) Take on the lies and distortions appearing in the media, books, films, etc., such as the recent anti-Mao biography
4) Raise funds to expand the work of Set the Record Straight

1) Bring Set the Record Straight to speak on your campus
Bringing Lotta’s speech, “Socialism Is Much Better than Capitalism, and Communism Will Be a Far Better World,” to your campus depends on sponsorship by professors, students groups, or academic departments. Here are materials to use to introduce Raymond Lotta and the speech to potential sponsors and for broad outreach:
 Broad publicity needs to begin as soon as the tour date and time has been set — place ads for the speech in campus papers, arrange interviews with Raymond Lotta in print media and on radio, get the announcement posted all over campus and make sure campus listservs carry it.

Fundraising for this tour is extremely important: an honorarium should be arranged where possible and additional funds will be needed for travel expenses. Download the Set the Record Straight fundraising brochure (PDF, 8-1/2"x14", two-sided).

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2) Distribute materials broadly to change the discourse on campus and in society
  • Frequently Asked Questions – Leaflet with the FAQ “What Is Communism? What Is Its Real History? What Does It Have to Do with the World Today?” The FAQ speaks to basic questions among students and many others who have never heard the truth about communism. Download the FAQ pamphlet; copy the first page (cover), then copy the rest of the pages back to back. Put cover page on top of back-to-back copies and cut the pages in half (horizontally). Staple in the center and fold in half.

  • Pop Quiz – Get your class, your professor, your organization to take the quiz. Challenge people who ‘think they know better’ with the quiz, “You Think Communism Is a Good Idea but Doesn’t Work?...Take This Quiz, and Think Again.”

  • Book review of the recent anti-Mao biography Mao: The Unknown Story. Distribute "Mao Zedong: Not Fairy Tale Monster, But Greatest Liberator of Mid-20th Century" (PDF, 11/6/05), written by Raymond Lotta, at book signings, China Studies classes, conferences, by getting it printed in campus papers and spread online, etc.

  • Fact Sheets – Set the Record Straight has developed two fact sheets:

    • — Social and Economic Achievements Under Mao: Fact Sheet, PDF version (PDF)
    — The Truth About the Cultural Revolution: Fact Sheet, PDF version (PDF)
  • Open Letter: Reach out to the People who SHOULD Know Better: circulate the Open Letter "To Professors, Historians, Scholars and the ’60s Generation: The People of the World Need the Truth—What was Communism’s Past? What is Communism’s Future? cc: The Younger Generation, From: Penny Brown."

  • Popularize the new synthesis that Bob Avakian is developing about a vibrant socialist society and why communism is both possible and necessary (see links at SOCIALIST EXPERIENCE and COMMUNISM’S FUTURE). Avakian's re-envisioning of socialism is essential to grasping the potential of opening up this debate on campus and in society.


These materials make the case for socialism and communism, in opposition to the distortions and misrepresentations about the first wave of socialist revolutions (in the Soviet Union from 1917-56 and China from 1949-76). We welcome suggestions of additional resources for this website, and ideas and drafts of new materials for the effort to Set the Record Straight.

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3) Take on the lies and distortions appearing in the media, books, films, etc., such as the recent anti-Mao biography
Works that are straight-up lies or slander about the experience of socialism in the Soviet Union or China should be criticized and refuted. For example, Set the Record Straight responded to the recently published anti-Mao biography titled Mao: The Unknown Story with a statement “Mao Zedung: Not Fairy Tale Monster But the Greatest Liberator of the mid-20th Century.” Write letters to the editor, op ed pieces, and post articles on web news sites as well as blogs. Get the word out into the public square so that people will be able to evaluate these works from a historically accurate perspective.

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4) Raise funds to expand the work of Set the Record Straight
Set the Record Straight is a program of International Humanities Center, a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3), IRS Code.
Your support is important to advance our mission and programs:
  • Take campus speaking tour to key U.S. and international cities in 2007-2008

  • Organize panels at academic conferences

  • Raise media profile and impact

  • Expand research efforts and publish more materials

  • Redesign the ThisIsCommunism.org website
SUPPORT THE PROJECT TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT

Contributions to Set the Record Straight, a project of the International Humanities Center, are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Checks should be made payable to IHCenter/SRS.