Revolution#129, May 18, 2008
Boldly Spreading Revolution and Communism
Revolutionary communists were out among immigrant rights marchers, striking dock workers, and more broadly in society, widely distributing the May 1 issue of Revolution newspaper and the pamphlet Revolution and Communism: A Foundation and Strategic Orientation, which had just hit the streets that day. This was a great way to mark the revolutionary new beginning symbolized by May 1st! The pamphlet speaks powerfully to why communist revolution is not only necessary but possible—and how it could be made. A team that sold several dozen pamphlets at the support rally for the striking longshore workers in San Francisco reported: “There was a lot of debate and wrangling. Many wanted to see a revolution but had questions about whether communism was possible when the revolutions in the Soviet Union and China had been reversed. A Black worker said he was angry but thought that the system wasn’t working the way it was supposed to. Off of this there was discussion about whether our goal should be to make the system work the way it is supposed to or to overthrow the system.” Another correspondent, who went out to an immigrant rights march in the San Francisco Bay Area, wrote, “Some Chicano youth bought copies of the pamphlet. They said that they hate the way that society is always treating them like the enemy. They wanted revolution and to understand more what it is all about and what a strategic and scientific approach to revolution was all about. Two students from a Catholic university, one of whom had a red star on his cap, said that they had always been attracted to communism. One question they asked was how the new synthesis was different than what Stalin did in the Soviet Union.” A comrade who took papers and pamphlets out to the march in Chicago wrote, “A retired immigrant worker told us what is needed is a revolution because the problem is U.S. capitalism, and spoke of the need to help people break with religion. ‘We need a change for people all over the world,’ he said.”
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