“Why I Contribute...”
Donors and sustainers – from their own perspectives – on why it is important to financially support revcom.us.

Why I support Bob Avakian and the Revcoms

Growing up, I hated, HATED, the war in Vietnam and despised what “we” did to Vietnam and the Vietnamese people (I have since come to understand that I am not part of that “we”). I HATED that women could be called “Ho’s and Bitches” and not have control over their own bodies. I hated “red-lining” and all the open and subtle racism built into the world around me.

But, I also loved, LOVED, the uprisings in 1965 and 1968 in the U.S., civil rights and women’s rights victories, the anti-colonial struggles around the world, and the Vietnamese kicking the U.S.’s butt!! These challenges to the status quo started to open my eyes. I had read about imperialism and had dabbled with the Redbook, but I did not really understand what was going on in the world, what were the underpinnings of how the world worked, and how to change it for the better. I was yearning to figure out a way to stop all the ugliness and oppression around the world and tried different methods from NY PIRG to voting to going to a national socialist convention in Chicago. None of these really answered my questions. As I dug into and researched different issues, it became apparent to me that the answers provided by the mainstream and liberal/radical left were hollow. It became clear to me that the solution was a total revolution, a complete revamping of society and the world. But how does one do that?

I then started reading the Revolutionary Worker newspaper. I found it a bit dogmatic (this has since changed for the better), but it had an approach I had not seen before: revolutionary internationalism and dialectical materialism. Then, the death of Mao occurred along with the arrest of the “Gang of Four.” I was quite confused about all of this. I began to read essays by Bob Avakian. His many sidedness and approach gave me reason to more thoroughly dig into what is capitalism and imperialism, and what is Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. And, BA’s method started to give me the tools to figure out for myself what the truth is and follow it wherever it led me regardless of my pre-conceived prejudices. His method and approach to the world also gave me the ability to be part of fighting for truly emancipating all of humanity while fighting against all this “cancel culture,” “me-firstism,” and identity politics. And the more I read and re-read BA, the better I am at being able to fight hard for a path that will make a better world.

As for the latest attacks: A lot of people like to ignore, push aside, or outright attack Bob Avakian and the Revcoms. I get that—it means BA is doing something right, especially given the people and groups that have recently been attacking him from petty so-called progressives to outright reactionaries.

But the big question is why? And why are so many people not with BA? For many people I know, they don’t really want change, they just want their little area of the world to be nicer or more compatible with their own interests. Dealing with Bob Avakian means you have to really confront the way the world actually is. And, if you do that, this begets the question of what are you going to do about it if you have half a shred of humanity.

There are millions of people who do not know about Bob Avakian who should know about him. He is the gold standard by which everything else should be compared with and judged by when dealing with current philosophical, epistemological, economic, and political questions. This is a bold statement. But it is accurate and true. This is because he is the most scientific and methodical evaluator of society today.

I challenge anyone, anywhere on the planet, to demonstrate that BA’s analyses are not both prescient and correct. And, I say this in a comradely way. Please, please come forward if you have ideas and analyses that are different and reflect both the way the world is and how we can fundamentally change it to move all of humanity forward. I challenge anyone to do this. Not because we need to have petty disagreements, but because we want to figure out the best ways to end the oppression and exploitation of most of humanity. What exists today is truly horrifying, and becoming worse. Bob Avakian has a blueprint for how to change all this: Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. How uplifting and liberating!

I have always found it “intriguing” that people attack BA and the Revcoms around the question of leadership, as if they don’t follow one form of leadership or another, whether it be a particular party or group, person or candidate (or conglomerate thereof), or a particular world outlook. They are either lying to themselves, or they are completely out of touch with how they make day to day decisions. The question is not whether or not we need leadership, the question is what type of leadership.

Different leftists, do-gooders, radicals, socialists, and self-appointed revolutionaries talk about and acknowledge the contributions that Karl Marx and Frederick Engels made around their great breakthroughs to understanding capitalism and how this is central to the world we live in. Many of these people call themselves Marxists. But all too often people throw around the term Marxism or capitalism in a generalized way and have “time stamped” what capitalism is and do not truly understand the depth of what Karl Marx and Frederick Engels are saying. People will say they are against the evils of capitalism, but most of them have no idea of what capitalism is and how it functions independent of what they think. Ask them for a definition of capitalism. Ask them what the “4 Alls” are that Marx wrote about, pivotal points to understanding class struggle and how to get to a classless society, and they do not know. These people are “superficial” Marxists and have not spent the hard work it takes to truly becoming and being a revolutionary.  That is what sets the Revcoms apart, and why they are the vanguard.

As the saying goes, “The point is not to just study the world, the point is to change it.” This then raises the question of what truly is change? For many people, change merely means what needs to change to benefit themselves, or a select grouping of people, in one form or another, even if they think they are being altruistic. And all their efforts will mean nothing in the final analysis because they are not going after the root causes of why the world is the way it is. For true change, there must be an internationalist outlook of “the whole world comes first,” a bedrock orientation of Bob Avakian. 

Ask most self-appointed revolutionaries, “what is a revolution?” You will get almost as many answers as the number of people you ask. What REALLY IS a Revolution? Let alone what REALLY IS a socialist revolution?

What I have learned and appreciate from Bob Avakian and others who support and work with him, and consciously follow him, is to truly have a revolution this means completely dismantling the economic and political system we live under along with all the ideological trappings that go with it. 

For teaching me this, I am grateful to BA and the Revcoms. This is why I donated a week’s salary to the Fund Drive and this is why I am consciously part of the journey to truly emancipate all of society.

As BA wrote:

“Let's go on a crucial journey together—full of unity against oppression and lively struggle about the source of the problem and the solution. Pursue your own convictions—that the outrages that move you are intolerable—to their logical conclusion, and be determined not to stop until those outrages have been eliminated. And if this, as well as learning about other outrages, and ideas about how this all fits together and flows from a common source—and how it could all be ended, and something much better brought into being—leads in the direction of seeing not only the need for bold and determined resistance, but also the need for revolution and ultimately communism, then don't turn away from that because it moves you beyond your comfort zone, challenges what had been your cherished beliefs, or because of prejudices and slanders. Instead, actively seek to learn more about this revolution and its goal of communism and to determine whether it is in fact the necessary, and possible, solution. And then act accordingly.”

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Dear revcom.us summer fund drive team,

Why a group of us pledge to match all donations to the revcom.us summer fund drive up to $1,500.

Some of us have been talking among ourselves about what a hellish future this system has for the young generation, if there is a future at all. This is not something anyone with a heart should find acceptable. That is captured in this quote from BAsics, the handbook for the revolution, quotes from Bob Avakian (BA):

No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that. (BAsics 1:13).

What BA is calling out has never been more true. Look around! From the children slaving in the mines of Democratic Republic of Congo for minerals for cell phones; to the girls and young women driven into the global supply chain of prostitution; to the desperate youth in the barrios, favelas, slums, and ghettos in the midst of or surrounding all the “great cities” of the world. And, as BA has pointed out again recently in An Open Letter to Theoretical Physicist Lee Smolin, “in the period of slightly more than 75 years since the end of World War 2, because of the way the world is dominated by the system of capitalism-imperialism, at least 350 million children in the Third World have needlessly died because of starvation and preventable disease!”

Let us emphasize: needlessly.

There are two problems we have to solve. One is that this system is hellish enough now and heading for much worse. The other is that those who are suffering and outraged do not know that there is a way out through revolution, the new communism, and the leadership of Bob Avakian, and are not connected with that.

The younger generation needs to know that a better world is actually possible, but only through revolution. Whether they know it or not, they are waiting for the revolutionary leadership of Bob Avakian to connect with and unchain them. When they open their eyes, as events are forcing them to do, they need to find that leadership, through The RNL Show on YouTube and through this website, revcom.us.

Your support for revcom.us helps make that possible. So, join us. Contribute to the revcom.us summer fund drive while our match is in effect, and we will match your donation.

Seize this rare time when the workings of this system have created conditions where revolution could be much more possible. And seize this moment to double the impact of your donation to revcom.us with a matching grant in place.

Donate today

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July 30, 2022

From a Health Care Provider:

I just donated to the revcom.us Summer Fund Drive. Revcom is instrumental in popularizing The RNL Show, the work of BA and to respond in real time to the haters (ie: the rumor mongers and liars, the "Women's Movement" NGOs/poverty pimps) who attack RevComs as a "Cult". What is THEIR program for taking on the horrors of this system, and fighting for ALL of humanity?

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July 25, 2022

A Matching Donation Challenge from a Mental Health Professional supporter of the Revolution:

To All of You Who Are Heartsick at Where the World Is Today…

I am making a $1,000 challenge to all of you who are heartsick at where the world is today and horrified that women and girls are living a “handmaid’s tale” real-life scenario in this country. I am appealing to you, who realize the planet is burning up; that mankind may soon be on the brink of nuclear war and that billions of people around the globe are squashed beneath the parasitic boot of this system without mercy. We must have the courage and conviction to fight for BA, a precious leader who has devoted his life, using science, to locate the problem of this world, capitalism/imperialism, and has the only solution, revolution. Revcom.us is the critical source of information to analyze the world and learn what it will take to change it.  We must strengthen and sustain this website to fight back the heinous attacks on “Rise Up” and on BA. Now is the time to bring forward the funds needed and the spirit needed to expand our forces and prepare the ground for a desperately needed communist revolution.

(This $1,000 match was met! Thanks, generous donors.)

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July 25, 2022

I am a retired proletarian. It is with profound confidence, that I have contributed to such a great cause, as the emancipation of all humanity. While it is beyond my fixed ability to contribute even more, I implore any & all, with the vision & heart, & more means to step up, & kick it up a notch, & do so with great joy. 

JB. Retired Proletarian.

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July 23, 2022

A new sustainer in Oklahoma:

I'm donating because I'm tired of the endless *thoughts and prayers*. We are dealing with a very real fascist take over and can't afford to be caught off guard in this moment. RNL and the revcoms provide the perspectives and information that we need to meet the challenges before us so that we don't fall into the pitfalls and traps that could distract those who want to see a better world for everyone.

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July 24, 2022

From a supporter who recently retired from her job:

This [donation] is gifts was given to me at my work retirement party. It’s from people, some who surprised me, who appreciate in different ways what I’m about, with the understanding that I would donate it as I decide.

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July 23, 2022

A medical professional sent this statement with her donation:

In light of the total shit show that's going on in this country and the world, no one else except BA, the RevComs have an analysis of what is going on in the world and in this country and how it doesn't have to be this way. I am totally enraged by the assholes who attack BA, Sunsara, the RevComs & RiseUp4AbortionRights who have been doing the hard work of organizing people to defend Roe & to lay out a program on how things can be different under a different system.

None of these NGOs/ poverty pimp types tied to the Democrats are serious about doing the work which needs to be done, cuz they have staked out their "piece of the action" under this system. It's really like "living in the house of Tony Soprano," and I think that the Democrats have squandered any possible opening to keep fascism from being consolidated (not that I expected them to do so), but the responsibility lies with us to change the dynamic. I think that the outpouring of thousands of people in outrage over first the leaked draft opinion of the fascist Alito and the rest of the fascist Supremes and then their actual slap in the face of millions of people when Roe was actually killed, showed millions of people the reality of this system and why it must go. I think that there is a lot of hope in these outpourings, especially amongst the youth, many of whom are increasingly beginning to see that there must be a better way. I do think that the recent decisions by the Supremes show that they are losing legitimacy and loyalty amongst the people. I think that similar cracks are starting to show amongst the Democrats, with Biden constantly conciliating to the fascist Republicans and saying nice words to people and saying that we have to go and vote. I think that Biden will be rendered a lame duck (if he isn't one already) by the mid-terms in that the Democrats are going to go totally down the toilet because they are unable to come up with a program to get this system out of its crisis. This is why I'm making this donation now.

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July 23, 2022

I have donated to Revcom for several years now. I do so not because I am in love with Bob Avakian, the man, although I esteem him because he has been a warrior for decades in making the American shadow visible and in pointing a possible way forward. I am grateful to him and the organization for that. I donate because people like Sunsara Taylor, and other Revcoms, transform words into action. My response to the Intercept article is mainly puzzlement. Why is this fellow, Robert Mackey, kvetching so much about the fact that Revcom and RiseUp4AbortionRights are getting uncomfortable realities in front of American citizens? Why is it of any matter whatsoever that Revcom's approaches are somewhat “theatrical’—as if sincerity were inevitably tied to flat, boring blather? The work of Revcom and RiseUp4AbortionRights is crucial, a precious resource in a darkening world. I ask myself (as I sometimes ask myself about the existence of Pacifica radio, which annoys me half the time): where would we be without these voices?

With gratitude,
Steve Rood

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June 29, 2022

A donation from a friend in California:

I donated $140 to the RCP because the world situation is so serious that not getting involved in any way I could is irresponsible. A growing conflict in Ukraine that could escalate into a World War and then a nuclear war, resulting in the deaths of millions or even the planet itself, resulting in a reversion to the Stone Age or even non-existence. The reactionary demands from the Republicans to institute a Fascist dictatorship where women, African-Americans, laboring people, and Chicanos are enslaved to a system that openly evokes the morality and social systems of medieval Europe to justify naked exploitation. Rule by open force and embodying the worst aspects of mankind, dragging man down into becoming a mere beast. These things are unacceptable and have to be stopped.

BA is a true freedom fighter and the RCP are heroes to stand up to all this. They have a willingness to fight for social change and freedom, not being curtailed to the fake liberal electoral politics of the Democratic Party.

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