Percolation from a Reader:
Some Thoughts Preparing to Head out on the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride
August 24, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
This Abortion Rights Freedom Ride aims to accomplish a great deal. I'd like to comment on a few aspects, thinking of it from the point of view of accumulating forces for revolution and how it contributes to getting closer to the time when it would be appropriate and possible to go all-out to seize power. In other words, to look at it from the largest strategic objectives of communist revolution.
This BA quote has come to my mind a lot (originally from 1985, currently in the new sampler edition of Break ALL the Chains! Bob Avakian on the Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution):
"The whole question of the position and role of women in society is more and more acutely posing itself in today's extreme circumstances... It is not conceivable that all this will find any resolution other than in the most radical terms.... The question yet to be determined is: will it be a radical reactionary or a radical revolutionary resolution, will it mean the reinforcing of the chains of enslavement or the shattering of the most decisive links in those chains and the opening up of the possibility of realizing the complete elimination of all forms of such enslavement?"
This is in one sense a precursor to all BA goes into in "Unresolved Contradictions, Driving Forces for Revolution" on the oppression and liberation of women. In the speech "Where We Are in the Revolution," it is pointed out how we have to use our X-ray machine to see the cracks in the steel wall of the system surrounding us. BA has for decades been examining how the developments in the system of capitalism-imperialism have impacted the oppression of women and in horrendous ways has greatly intensified it in the recent period of intensified globalization.
And how this very contradiction, while on the surface is not favorable for revolution as with many others, actually has deepened the material basis for how it can play a key role in revolution. This is a very significant theoretical contribution of his. Of course, this will not happen without, one, seeing the real developments for what they are, and, two, going to work on the contradiction from the point of view of Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution. This includes seeing how it fits into the functioning of the imperialist system and its fundamental contradiction–I'm thinking of the piece in that sampler edition, "Can This System Do Away With, or Do Without, The Oppression of Women?–A Fundamental Question, a Scientific Approach to the Answer" and its posing the question that must be asked: "Through which mode of production will any social problem be addressed?"
The oppression of women has greatly intensified in many ways—the worldwide phenomenon of gang-rape, sex-trafficking on a massive scale, pornography becoming ever more violent as it becomes ever more mainstream. The goal of making abortion unavailable and aiming to make completely illegal abortion and birth control is a particular concentration of this oppression.
As we talk to people around the country building for this ride, one of the questions many are agonizing over is: "Why is this happening? Why are these religious fanatics so uncompromising and fanatical? Why are all aspects of government from the state to national level either overtly backing this drive to make abortion unavailable or 'seeking common ground' with it?" We can't understand that or assist others in getting to the answer without digging into BA's pyramid analysis AND, very importantly, the analysis of the coming civil war. The work on revcom.us, The Coming Civil War and Repolarization for Revolution in the Present Era, has two pieces that are particularly relevant. One is "The Pyramid of Power and the Struggle to Turn This Whole Thing Upside Down," and the title piece, "The Coming Civil War and Repolarization for Revolution in the Present Era." These are also two themes that were revisited and elaborated on in the speech "Where We Are in the Revolution."
Briefly, the pyramid: Look at society like a pyramid. At the top are the people that rule this society, roughly on the right side those represented by the Republican Party and on the left side those represented by the Democratic Party, and there is struggle between them about how society should be ruled. Then going down the right side of the pyramid is the social base of the Republicans of religious maniacs and fundamentalist fools. Down the left side is the social base of the Democrats composed of progressive people and all the oppressed people. The Republicans are not afraid of, and are, unleashing their social base in all kinds of ways, and this includes those fighting to eliminate abortion and birth control. The Democrats are deathly afraid of unleashing their social base because they do not actually represent their interests—the Democrats' role is to keep all those people confined within the electoral system—and they are afraid that if unleashed, those forces may go for a lot more than elections, including rebellion and revolution.
The Republicans are not afraid of unleashing their social base because they are willing to go all the way to a fascistic society if they feel that's where they need to go. The Democrats have sharp contradictions with a view of how to run society—they don't prefer fascism—but if it came down to fascism or revolution, they would go for fascism.
Briefly, the coming civil war: BA talks of how Newt Gingrich (Republican former Speaker of the House) observed that what is happening in U.S. society is analogous to what was going on in the U.S. in the 1840s-1850s and that can be decided only when one side or the other wins out. This represents very real conflicts within the ruling class, conflicts that correspond to what is described in the "Pyramid of Power" piece. From the Coming Civil War piece, "You really do have two fundamentally opposed forces in society, in potential; … there are two camps in antagonistic conflict with each other. Out of this can arise different kinds of resolutions, representing different interests, and ultimately different classes, going to wholly different places in terms of the future of society and the world… really are irreconcilable world views and fundamentally irreconcilable views on what society ought to be based on and what it ought to be like."
In this battle around abortion, we really can see in microcosm the developing civil war and revolutionary situation. Then the question is how do we make advances, what method and approach do we use to be able to see the reality that is developing (in all its changingness and wow, are things changing rapidly in this battle, even before the ride begins), to be able to see how to recognize the necessity we face and wrench freedom from it, to see the pathways to be able to do that. This is essential because on the surface the current polarization is so unfavorable and the thinking as well as the power that backs them seem so powerful.
Thinking of all this, I found very illuminating my study of two papers by BA recently posted on revcom.us: "Freedom and Necessity, and Proceeding from a Strategic Standpoint: Some Thoughts on Methods and Leadership" and "The Mass Initiatives and their Relation to Our Strategic Objectives." In addition, the two audio talks recently posted on revcom.us.
Again, the polarization around abortion is very unfavorable now. The trajectory is now much more toward the radical reactionary resolution in the opening quote above. A massive intervention is needed. As the mass initiatives paper puts it, we can't eliminate women's oppression within the present system but we can change the political and ideological terms around the outrages, the masses can be transformed in their understanding and the ruling class can be knocked back on its heels on this question. The battle around abortion and the overall oppression of women must be built very large—soon hundreds acting, going to thousands and eventually millions, because that is what is needed to change society on this.
BA's paper on the mass initiatives gives leadership for how to handle the aspects of building the movement to take on women's oppression and the battle around abortion in a truly mass way while also putting forward the whole picture and the need for revolution. There is much in that to study and apply. In the addendum 2014 to that paper, he talks of the need to build this movement very big in its own right, with the aim of drawing in thousands and ultimately millions. Then he says, "At the same time, WE, as revolutionary communists (and those who are in basic agreement with us on this), should be putting forward, in relation to these mass initiatives, as well as in an overall way, that these and other outrages which in fact constitute concentrations of major social contradictions, are rooted in the basic nature and dynamics of this system, and they can only be finally and fully ended, and a radically different and much better society and world brought into being, through communist revolution, proceeding on the basis of the new synthesis of communism that has been brought forward through the work done by BA over many decades."
Thinking of the "coming civil war" analysis and how doing away with abortion and pushing women back to breeders is part of the fascist social relations they are fighting for, we can see that the stakes are very high for both sides in this abortion battle. How can we wrench freedom from the necessity we face, which includes this very unfavorable polarization? "Where does freedom come from? It comes from a correct analysis of objective reality and its contradictory character. And that has a material basis. We don't have spontaneity going for us, but we do have reality, in the most fundamental terms, going for us. Therein lies a lot of our freedom–grasping that."The reality is that the horrendous attacks on abortion are a crucial part of the material basis for women (and men) to come forward to both fight for abortion and birth control. It also contributes one aspect, along with many other forms of oppression, which enable people to come to see the need for revolution, the seizure of power. As it says in "On the Strategy for Revolution" in BAsics, "The potential for a revolutionary crisis lies within the very nature of this capitalist system itself...."
We put out the Freedom Ride with its three goals of building a national movement to defeat this assault on abortion, change the terms of the debate to women's enslavement or women's liberation, and build mass independent political resistance. Many were excited, coming from many different perspectives. But some in the "leftist" "pro-choice" movement were very threatened and angry. They unleashed a Twitter shit storm of unprincipled, vitriolic attacks, saying the ride was not welcome, we are doing just fine here in Texas [continuing the same old losing strategy of hoping some savior will come from the Democratic Party] and "us Texans don't need any 'outsiders' coming from New York to yell and scream" and confront antis and the system behind them.
This surprised some supporters of the ride, kinda threw them for a loop to some extent. "Here we are, the ARFR, coming to build struggle to defend abortion. Why are these 'pro-choice' folks so against us." In "The Strategic Approach to Revolution and Its Relation to Basic Questions of Epistemology and Method," Part 1, in a section about the relation between what we do now and going for it, BA talks about, to paraphrase, how we can see now in microcosm a revolutionary situation. We are in direct confrontation with not only the bourgeoisie but MANY OTHER CLASS FORCES.
Can't we see in microcosm this and the coming civil war in what is concentratedly going on now in this abortion battle? Look at the pro-choice folks in light of "other class forces who are in direct confrontation with us." They unleashed a shit storm of hatred against outsiders, New Yorkers, carpetbaggers (yeah, they used that term! If you're not familiar with it, go to Wikipedia and check it out. It refers to thousands of people who came to the South after the defeat of the Confederacy in the Civil War to join Black people in rebuilding a society with a place for Black people, like teach Black children in schools they could attend for the first time. It's like these pro-choice forces yelled, "Those Damn Yankees are coming to interfere with our lives," as did the defeated supporters of the Confederacy.), the ARFR, Sunsara Taylor, the Revolutionary Communist Party, and Bob Avakian, telling us not to come and threatening violence against riders and Sunsara Taylor in particular. They are class forces representing the petty bourgeoisie (hesitate to give them credit for being "political and literary representatives of the petty bourgeoisie," but that is what they are, even if crude). And they are STRIVING to come under the wing of the bourgeoisie. They see the forces arrayed against abortion as too powerful to defeat, so you have to seek allies somewhere in the ruling class who will make some minor changes around the edges of this horror while the whole thing keeps hurtling to the right. And the ARFR is challenging and upsetting their program, they are threatened and are desperate to stop it.
This applies also to the two anti groups that are mobilizing to protest the ride. They have identified the ride as a more serious and determined force than other pro-abortion groups. On a radio show by Mike Harrington, the head of one of those groups, he said, "We are not ambulance chasers, we don't follow pro-abortion groups but when something special comes along [the ARFR] we must counter it."
As a revolutionary situation draws closer, as a civil war approaches, all class forces will be fighting with everything they have for their programs, for the society they want to defend or bring into being. This is what is going on in this battle in Texas and in the opposition to the ARFR/Stop Patriarchy/Sunsara Taylor/Bob Avakian/Revolutionary Communist Party.
If we don't look at it that way, we will lose our bearings and not know what to do. That is, we will not be in position to wrench freedom from necessity (and the accurate word is "wrench," once again the point of spontaneity will not bring a favorable situation to us. It will take intense political and ideological struggle.). One of our challenges will be to help all on the ride (and many more) to understand these larger dynamics while still all are welcome to join the ride and build this movement who see the emergency around abortion and want to fight it. But as I said, many want to know the larger picture about why this is happening.
These attacks by petty bourgeois forces are much more intense than on the Freedom Ride in 2013. In addition, while the antis did not directly physically confront us in 2013, we already know that two anti groups have already put out calls for many to join them to specifically counter the ride in Austin and San Antonio. The increased intensity is due to the overall situation encapsulated in the Coming Civil War analysis and the pyramid analysis. As it was put in the speech "Where We Are in the Revolution," the forces at the top of the pyramid on the right (generally associated with the Republican Party) are unleashing their social base at the bottom of the pyramid–they are unleashing their attack Dobermans, while on the left side of the pyramid the Democrats are sending their dogs to obedience school–passive, conciliating, compromising, seeking common ground, just let the Democratic Party handle it, it'll all work out OK if we just don't stir things up too much.
The antis are Dobermans being unleashed. The leadership of those forces works very closely with and some are in their own right operatives in the Republican Party and ruling class circles.
BA in the Freedom/Necessity paper on other class forces said, "Not recognizing that reality is constantly changing AND that there are other class forces out there in the world which are working on people in various ways, directly and indirectly, will cause you to go off track and lose your bearings. People who have united and worked with us will often then come under attack as a result of having taken the step to work with us. Or they get a sense that taking another forward step in uniting with us could jeopardize their career, or make it more difficult for them to achieve certain short-term objectives they may have. To fail to take this into account amounts to ignoring the fact that there is a larger and continually changing reality out there that is also acting on and influencing other people."
A reminder of something very important. I think it was from one of the two audio talks, the point it makes is that all the other class forces won't forget to fight for their class interests, it is only the forces that represent the proletariat and the emancipation of all humanity that will "forget" to fight for their class interests. This is another way of putting that we have to consciously fight for the class interests of the proletariat and we have to constantly put this battle in the context of larger strategic interests.
So even before the ride is launched in Texas, there has been a tit-for-tat battle between all the class forces in the field, fighting for their interests. The Texas legislature is continuing to push in courts and in the court of public opinion that women should have no access to abortion, period. Antis are calling for mobilizations to "counter-protest" the ride in Austin and San Antonio. I mentioned the Twitter attacks against the ride from pro-choice forces.
Attacks in various forms will undoubtedly multiply and intensify. We are initiating this ARFR, we are being and will be attacked and we will have to counter those attacks, recognizing and wrenching freedom from necessity, then continuing that process all the way through, continuing to see the aspects of reality that are constantly changing, as all class forces act on the larger reality and attempt to shape it to their class interests.
Already through this process, through this battle, riders and supporters have been strengthened and tempered and have been won to see the opposing programs and thus been inspired to reach even more broadly to the ride's goal audience of all those who see the emergency abortion is in and the need act now to fight it and all those who can be won to see this. All from many different perspectives.
This process will be telescoped and intensify almost daily in the midst of these intense political battles. This provides the basis for many to be strengthened and tempered quickly.
So we faced necessity. We acted and created freedom out of that necessity. We achieved some things. But then you get new necessity. Both from the advances you have made with people and in the overall battle and, guess what, all the other class forces don't then sit still and say, "Oh gosh, guess they got us now." No, they counter-attack. We see that now with this battle around the pro-choice forces. But we will see it much more intensely as the antis come more on the stage and the state in the form of police will play a role and it sure won't be on our side.
We have built a broad grouping of people to go on this ride. We have drawn correct dividing lines about opposing the attacks on abortion. We have achieved some unity. And we have deepened the unity with supporters and the core preparing the ride. And all through this process, we have learned a great deal from everyone. As we achieve more unity, there will be the tendency to not want to "break the unity" with people. There will be a tendency to not want to "emphasize" the larger questions of revolution and communism. To not bring to people the largest picture of the context these attacks are happening in. To not bring to people the largest view of reality we understand now.
BA again, "The constant pull is a pull to determinism–to being afraid of losing advances that have been made. Do you play to win or play not to lose?... People start protecting what they have and get afraid to risk that to make further advances, and therefore they begin throwing away what they've achieved." Read the letter from Lenny Wolff on revcom.us, "Mississippi Freedom Summer–Deep and Important Lessons." To make advances at a certain point required taking big risks, to bring 800-1,000 volunteers to Mississippi. They made the decision that they had to play to win. That would create new necessity and it would be in the midst of great risk and danger. In the face of the murder of the three Freedom Summer volunteers, should they have "played not to lose"? The irony is that if they had, they would have lost. No way they could have catapulted to a national level the oppression of Black people and forced millions to see it and many of them become activated to fight it without making that bold move to bring hundreds of volunteers to Mississippi.
"In going forward to build off what has been achieved, you have to recognize that the achievements themselves bring new necessity; you have to be anticipating that and working to lay the basis to transform new necessity into new freedom (which will itself involve new necessity)."
We ARE building a movement to fight the attacks on abortion, as part of fighting for the liberation of women and all humanity! We ARE preparing the ground, preparing the people, and preparing the vanguard–and getting ready for the time when millions can be led to go for revolution. We ARE fighting to win!
Keep the Larger Objective Firmly in Mind
BA goes on to make one of the most important points that he continually returns to, in the Freedom/Necessity paper and overall. "Another important factor contributing to the tendency to bow down to necessity is losing sight of the larger objective that this is all part of. There is not going to be a seizure of power on the basis of what was achieved through the 411 program. [This refers to the April 11, 2011 program on the occasion of the publication of BAsics that he is drawing on to make some points].... Things have to go a lot further than any particular event, or any particular movement or struggle, so how do we get things to go further? Proceeding on that basis, you are better able to handle the solid core/elasticity dialectic. This involves a combination of the freedom/necessity dialectic with whether we are really continually going back to the largest strategic perspective and looking at things in regard to that, and figuring out how to struggle through to transform necessity into freedom and make things go further to advance toward the goal it all has to contribute to."
With respect to many who are not on our side now and even oppose us and the ride, we have to have the orientation of both, on the one hand, the BA Invitation (welcoming all to unite and fight against oppression from their perspectives and not turn away if this leads them to see the need for revolution and communism), including getting out very broadly to many strata of people. And, on the other hand, the Contended Question around BA (because of what BA stands for—revolution, communism to liberate all humanity and the Boxing Gloves (a reference to another paper by BA, "Putting on our Boxing Gloves–and Other Key Methods, Principles and Objectives"). The reference to boxing gloves refers to the need for polemics and other forms of intense political struggle with contending programs, ideologies. and world views.).
How much freedom we will be able to wrench out of the necessity we face, both what necessity exists now and what new necessity will be posed as things change from the actions of the state, the antis and other class forces' actions and our actions, will be determined to a large extent by how well we, the communists, grasp and apply this scientific method BA is fighting for (and crucially keeping in mind the overall strategic objectives of revolution and communism), lead others with it and enable them to take it up as their own. Leadership is crucial. Pathways through a jungle, or in this case, through some disgusting swamp (to mix metaphors and landscapes), do not appear obvious. They have to be hacked out with a scientific method. That is how we will be able to identify, in the midst of the swirl of constantly changing reality, pathways to achieve the objectives of the ARFR and the larger strategic objectives of revolution and communism.
One More Thought
Lenny Wolff wrote a "Postscript to 'Mississippi Freedom Summer–Deep and Important Lessons." In it, he told of the important ways the Freedom Summer experience changed the lives of the volunteers, that many of them said in various ways that this was the most important thing they had done in their lives. Lenny Wolff captured this, referring to what one volunteer said, "...in the process of subordinating himself, subordinating his own interests to something larger, a whole world opened up. In the course of doing that, something powerful and important happened to the people who did it." (A footnote. One of those Freedom Summer volunteers shown at the end of the film is Susan Brownmiller, who signed the statement published in a major Texas newspaper on August 4, "Emergency in Texas. Stop Forced Motherhood. Abortion on Demand and Without Apology.")
I recommend people read "Mississippi Freedom Summer—Deep and Important Lessons" and the "Postscript to 'Mississippi Freedom Summer–Deep and Important Lessons,'" and the BA quote that is included BAsics 5:23.
I'm saying this to say that we should not underestimate the very powerful impact that this ARFR will have on the current riders, the riders we will recruit to join as we go and the many thousands we will reach through our actions, media, etc. We should anticipate and plan for bringing this process being described by Lenny Wolff as far along as possible to the point of changing what people plan to do with their lives and that includes making leaps in the process of becoming revolutionaries and communists. In BAsics 5:23, BA says, "And there is nothing greater your life can be about than contributing whatever you can to the revolutionary transformation of society and the world, to put an end to all systems and relations of oppression and exploitation and all the unnecessary suffering and destruction that goes along with them."
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