On the New Wave of CommunismBy Amir HassanpourPublisher: The Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist)This book is a selection of the Persian-language articles and interviews of Amir Hassanpour organized in four sections. It begins with an introduction by the publisher, the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist), which situates the contents of the book in the context of the end of the first wave of communist revolutions, 1871-1976, and the struggle for launching a new wave. Section one, "Revolution and Communism," includes six writings: The first one, "On the new wave of communism," is a brief survey of the regressive nature of Kurdish nationalist movements and the failures of three attempts, since the late 1970s, to launch communist movements in Kurdistan. These efforts failed primarily because, they were unable to escape the political, ideological and theoretical limitations of the "first wave of communism." This wave began with the Paris Commune of 1871 and ended with the restoration of capitalism in the USSR in1956 and China in 1976. It is argued, following Bob Avakian, leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party of the USA, that there will be no communist future without a serious critique of the first wave and arriving at a "new synthesis" of its achievements and failures. Another article, "Revolution or revolutionary situation," written in 2011, is a critique of the claim that the "Arab Spring" constituted a revolution. Another article, "Alireza Nabdel: Azerbaijan and Kurdistan of yesterday and today" is an expose of the conflict between Turkish and Kurdish nationalists over territory and provides a reprint of an article and poem by the Azerbaijani communist revolutionary Nabdel on internationalism and solidarity with the Kurdish people. Other articles in the section are "Democracy and violence," "On the thirty-second anniversary of the uprising of Sarbedaran in Amol" and "Be realistic, Demand the impossible!" The latter is a long interview conducted on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of May 68 and the role of Maoism in this movement.The second section, "Women's and Student Movements," includes two writings: "The landscape of women's emancipation, the experience of Kobane" and "The student movement abroad and the experience of the World Confederation of Iranian Students."The third section, "The National Question and the Nationalist Movement," includes "Nation, national question and the nationalist movements of Kurdistan," "The right to self-determination and secessionism in Iran and Canada," "About the rapprochement between PKK and Turkey," "About the referendum for the 'Official Independence of Iraqi Kurdistan,'" and "On the eve of the centenary of the genocide of Armenian and Assyrian nations: 'Early Warning Signs' of ethnic cleansing in Iran."The last section offers two articles, one on "Exile and communication technologies," and the other "About scientific cognition, superstition and anti-scientism."