| − | On April 29, 1992, more than a year after the founding of STORM, members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) looted and trashed the downtown and government districts of [[Los Angeles]], triggering the infamous [[Rodney King]] riots. The RCP is known as the premier Maoist party in the United States.<ref>[http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6197 Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).] Retrieved from dicoverthenetworks.org, March 8, 2010. In 1962 a group of Maoist radicals split with the [[Soviet]] spnosored [[CPUSA]] and formed the Progressive Labor Movement (PLM). By 1966, the PLM renamed itself the [[Progressive Labor Party]] (PLP), which joined forces with the [[Students for a Democratic Society]] (SDS). PLP tried unsuccessfully to take over SDS's National Office, thereby pushing SDS even further to the left -- toward hard-line Maoism. Opposition to PLP tactics led to the formation of yet another Maoist faction, the Revolutionary Youth Movement, which eventually split into two -- one becoming the notorious terrorist group [[Weatherman]]; the other spawning a 1969 splinter group called the Bay Area Revolutionary Union (co-founded by H. Bruce Franklin, Robert Avakian, and Charles Hamilton), which would become the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1974."</ref> During the days immediately preceding the violence, RCP, which maintained close ties to the L.A. gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods, circulated throughout South Central Los Angeles a leaflet featuring a statement by RCP National Spokesman Carl Dix, titled ''It's Right To Rebel,'' a quote popularized by [[Mao Zedong]]. Encouraged by Dix, RCP activists helped lead the riots that would leave 58 people dead and more than 2,300 people injured.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/national/19king.html ''12 Years After the Riots, Rodney King Gets Along''], J. Emilio Flores, ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 19, 2004.</ref> | + | On April 29, 1992, more than a year after the founding of STORM, members of the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) looted and trashed the downtown and government districts of [[Los Angeles]], triggering the infamous [[Rodney King]] riots. The RCP is known as the premier Maoist party in the United States.<ref>[http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/groupProfile.asp?grpid=6197 Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP).] Retrieved from dicoverthenetworks.org, March 8, 2010. In 1962 a group of Maoist radicals split with the [[Soviet]] spnosored [[CPUSA]] and formed the Progressive Labor Movement (PLM). By 1966, the PLM renamed itself the [[Progressive Labor Party]] (PLP), which joined forces with the [[Students for a Democratic Society]] (SDS). PLP tried unsuccessfully to take over SDS's National Office, thereby pushing SDS even further to the left -- toward hard-line Maoism. Opposition to PLP tactics led to the formation of yet another Maoist faction, the Revolutionary Youth Movement, which eventually split into two -- one becoming the notorious terrorist group [[Weatherman]]; the other spawning a 1969 splinter group called the Bay Area Revolutionary Union (co-founded by H. Bruce Franklin, Robert Avakian, and Charles Hamilton), which would become the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1974.</ref> During the days immediately preceding the violence, RCP, which maintained close ties to the L.A. gangs known as the Crips and the Bloods, circulated throughout South Central Los Angeles a leaflet featuring a statement by RCP National Spokesman Carl Dix, titled ''It's Right To Rebel,'' a quote popularized by [[Mao Zedong]]. Encouraged by Dix, RCP activists helped lead the riots that would leave 58 people dead and more than 2,300 people injured.<ref>[http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/national/19king.html ''12 Years After the Riots, Rodney King Gets Along''], J. Emilio Flores, ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 19, 2004.</ref> |