Building a Movement Around This Film—
An Organizers’ Notebook

[A] young Black man broke in at this point and posed that, while he thought the intent of this (and other) immigrant rights organizations, including developing an emergency “hotline” and “underground railroad,” were important and laudable, BA’s point in the talk was that this regime is absorbing these individual acts of resistance as it moves forward with its overall agenda of suppression. “We have to understand that we are confronting the most powerful military in the world and a regime that is increasingly prepared to wield that military against the people.” The regime’s war on California came up in this light. The regime, acting through its various arms, is out to crush the resistance that has been concentrated in California—through the open terror of the ICE raids, the legal maneuvers of Jeff Sessions and the media war Trump has unleashed. “He wants to crush California and use that as a lesson for anyone else about the futility of resistance.”

The young man wanted to circle back to BA’s analysis of “what’s the matter with liberals,” the Great Tautological Fallacy that the United States is a force for good in the world and the point BA makes that a lot of these people are gambling that if they don’t rock the boat, they and their loved ones might escape the horrors of this regime. This is part of what drives him crazy—seeing folks, especially white people—around him who are genuinely progressive but who are unwilling to step beyond a certain line. They may (or may not) show up at the “March for Our Lives” rally but are unwilling to act at the violence being brought down on the immigrant community.

He also wanted people to think about how BA had taken the talk back to the importance of Refuse Fascism and the need to reach out broadly (while at the same time doing that based on BA’s “communist principles”). He thought this was a very important point to end on because he doesn’t think this is what characterizes progressive groups and individuals who seem to be more concerned with knocking down one another than confronting this regime.

He added that he was a little apprehensive coming to the film screening because he had assumed BA would have this same sectarian approach. But this young man said that as BA laid out his arguments for communism, his approach had been exactly the opposite of the sectarianism he expected and he found this compelling and challenging to some preconceived assumptions he had brought into the room.

―Correspondence to Revolution on film showing at an “exurb,”
about a half-hour from major city

The conversation changed and people started to talk about what was going on all around them and we were off and running together.

The person who had invited us immediately went through what she knew about the history of Korea and how the U.S. actually was the reason why there were two Koreas in the first place, and how people are lied to about the Korean War and how people were killed and women raped by the U.S. military. And she said that she loved the piece on the Confederacy—that she learned a lot from the way that was broken down. Another woman described how in a class she was taking, it became clear that we really have to be coming from the interests of all of humanity, and there are really opposing moralities involved here when people actually justify the dehumanizing of other people. There was some discussion on the need for a whole different morality—objections to the fact that this has come to mean an ugly morality imposed on people by this system and perhaps this was inherent in the whole concept of morality itself—and our view about the need for a radically different morality that flows from working to get to a world free of exploitation and oppression. Someone said they hope all of their meetings are like this.

—Taking BA to Campus: Reports from the Field, Late February

One student responded to watching the full talk, “These are things I feel and think but can’t talk about with people because they’re so entrenched into the way things are.” He said, appreciatively of BA in the talk, that “Now is a moment when you have to tell the truth to people.” Another person said, also appreciatively: “He put the problem right in front of your face; no tiptoeing around.”

—“Now is a moment when you have to tell the truth to people”—Vignettes from Los Angeles on taking out BA’s THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!

A middle school history teacher from the Bronx said this about the film: “He makes you face and recognize America’s past, that you can’t get away from slavery and the injustices done to Black people. He explains how we became the nation we are in a way that I never experienced before... and that we have to face that history.”

A librarian from Queens said: “One of the problems we have in understanding what’s going on and with the terrible direction things have been going in, with Trump and Pence, is that there is so much focus on individuals. But Avakian explains and keeps focusing your attention on the system that enabled the ascension of this regime.”

—(Unpublished Correspondence to Revolution) Some Reflections Off the Showings at Revolution Books, NYC of BA’s THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!

One person was very excited about the film. He said BA made so many important points, like the GTF (Great Tautological Fallacy), and as he was trying to wrap his mind about one point, BA was onto the next, that there was so much packed into the talk. We wholeheartedly agreed and encouraged him to go back and watch the film again, including all the Q&As. He was very glad to hear that it was online and he could watch it at his own pace.

—Film Showing at Church Provokes Discussion and Debate: “There was so much packed into the talk.”

The discussion was kicked off by an older college student who said, “I agree with everything he had to say.” She felt Trump does pose a great danger, and the Democrats are no answer. She felt people needed to be educated to the real situation and that the film could bring that out to them. She added that the root cause of all the misery whites had brought to the Caribbean was greed for money and land. And that the spread of disease had played a role in the devastation of the indigenous people.

—Digging in, Deep and Wide, in an Immigrant Community

Watching the film after this discussion, this student very much appreciated the part about the “GTF.” They don’t necessarily see America as the force for bad that it is, but they appreciated BA calling out this tautology that gets people supporting horrible things. The film also got them thinking about what fascism really is. And in this film and the Q&As that they watched the next day, they appreciated the work BA does on the various things along with the “GTF” that hold people back from sustained, determined struggle. Since we talked she has viewed all the Q&As and wants to talk more.

—Correspondence to Revolution on college showing

A woman we’ve known for some time, who lost her son to police murder, loved the film. She was really pumped up off watching it and at one point in the midst was saying, “Black people don’t know this and need to.” This was in response to the GTF... She is very frustrated that Black people are not doing more around this and generally are so quiet.... She also commented, “Black people need to get that this is about everyone—people are suffering everywhere. That is what they need to be about.” After the film she spoke to how BA is teaching people how we got to this situation and what slavery has to do with where we are today. She was recently with a bunch of other families of victims of police murder and was frustrated that people were relying on politicians and struggled with them about this. She said she taught them the chant: “1, 2, 3, 4, Slavery, Genocide and War. 5, 6, 7, 8, America was never great!” and everyone loved it. She was enlisted in the promotion of the film, especially on social media. She is also getting out cards.

—“Now is a moment when you have to tell the truth to people”—Vignettes from Los Angeles on taking out BA’s THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!

There was a lot more back and forth, but one thing that came up at the end was the question: “What is it going to take for people in the room to take up Refuse Fascism?” When we posed this question the response was the two big “hows”—how do we plan on mobilizing millions into the street around this program and how would this lead to getting rid of this regime? Here we dug into some of the understanding and previous experience of RF—running the original Call to Act in the New York Times and the Washington Post, learning from the experience of ACTUP, wading into events like the March 24th “March for Our Lives” with an understanding that there is a real basis and necessity for the youth to take this up. We also spoke frankly about how Refuse Fascism had set out to have November 4th 2017 kick off, in a very concrete fashion, the push to get millions into the street, how much it had accomplished in bringing 4,000 people into the street, sometimes in the face of armed thugs, but how it had also fallen short of our stated goal.

―Correspondence to Revolution on film showing at an “exurb,”
about a half-hour from major city

A Haitian activist jumped into the conversation as the film ended by saying: “I was out in the streets against Duvalier. We have to do the same thing with Trump.”

—Correspondence to Revolution

One church member commented that “Rarely have I seen the term Christian fundamentalist used, and who Trump’s base is, these elements of Christian fundamentalists. I agree that white nationalism is the basis of this fascism and is rooted in Christian fundamentalism that further creates deep divisions in this nation, and that it was already there. Black preachers who are successful and in the spotlight have not disavowed any of it. I stand on shoulders of others such as Malcolm X who was religious and turned his life around, and Nat Turner. Communists are atheists; what role [is there] for people of faith to contribute to this movement?”

—Film Showing at Church Provokes Discussion and Debate: “There was so much packed into the talk.”

Several people raised their fears about how fast the moves towards consolidation of fascism are moving compared to the understanding and willingness of people to act to stop the whole regime. A Refuse Fascism member spoke of what had just happened in the past week, “Pompeo, who said he hates Muslims, is now going to be the head of the State Department. He said he wants to wage war on North Korea. Bannon is going around Europe advocating white supremacy. This is very dangerous. BA is talking about the world, about humanity.”

One person said, “A lot of us were aware of what’s going on, but we are always waiting for something to happen. I’m at the point now where I am overwhelmed by how much this is all caving in on us. I believe we can do something. We need to educate people about history. We need to gather as many people as we can and put this [film] in front of people. Not enough people know how destructive capitalism has been. The poor people and Black and Latino people get the message that it’s our fault, the system is always demonizing the victims. They say ‘Western Civilization is the best... the history of the U.S. is all about Anglo-Saxons.’ They blame the immigrants and Black people, they talk about people from “shithole countries” are not as good as white people. The oppressed people are used to hearing that if you are in jail or poor, you must not be very smart. People need to hear this history about why things are the way they are.”

—Correspondence to Revolution

There have been a number of experiences where the BA film was shown with Barack Obama’s explanation of fascism at the Economic Club of Chicago in November 2017. After watching both, people were led to compare and contrast not only the differing explanations and programs, but especially the difference in epistemologies. For Obama, the history of the U.S. is one of “competing narratives”—in a talk of 1,200 words, one speaker pointed out, he used the word “narrative” a dozen times and the word truth just once, and then in a way to illustrate narrow-mindedness on the part of someone who thought “he knew the truth.” This led to discussion of the epistemological method of BA, the contrast of seeking truth through evidence and tracing the underlying dynamics versus reducing the analysis of both history and the present to arbitrary narratives, and the reasons BA dug deeply into the real history. In an audience of 35 people, with many different levels of acquaintance with BA’s body of work, there was real digging into this—with one audience member making the point that BA takes you to the underlying architecture of things. The dynamism of capitalism and the possibility of revolution also came up for questions and discussion, with people taken both to the larger answers that BA has brought forward but also back to the film itself and the topic at hand. Without turning this particular compare-and-contrast into a gimmick, there is a real need to draw people to this epistemological stance and the underlying method at work in the speech.

—Correspondence to Revolution

One person posed that many people believe that the checks and balances of the system and the laws and the courts will prevent fascism. She said that the point that BA makes about “do you want order or justice” is very important. “Slavery and genocide have happened here, and it was legal. We have to challenge people with the fact that the laws served slavery and genocide and the rape of enslaved women and then Jim Crow. What do we do if unjust laws are in place? Do you stand up to stop it or just go along because it’s legal?”

—Correspondence to Revolution

And then reality hit about March 5 and the end of DACA. One person talked about the raids and would you believe that ICE actually went to the Grove—a huge popular and high-end shopping mall in the middle of LA—what the fuck was that? And another person said they got a text in the middle of the night that someone she knew got picked up, and another talked about her neighbors back home who are undocumented. Then people also talked about the political repression—that the administration has threatened arrests if people just stand in a certain area or carry signs that will be construed as weapons when the UC Regents meet later this month about tuition hikes—how this is part of this fascism that we are talking about. And then someone talked about the sixth extinction and the environmental crises and really these are the terms today.

—Taking BA to Campus: Reports from the Field, Late February

People also expressed appreciation overall for BA and his thorough method of walking through the history that led to this regime’s ascendancy, including exposing some of how the U.S. has carried out its great crimes. One person expressed concerns about why this film, and Refuse Fascism, is not more known in the mainstream, and why don’t youth in society know about it and have not taken it up. They also wanted to know if it really would be possible to get Trump/Pence out without a revolution.

—At a Meeting of an African Immigrant Organization in the Bronx

In building for the screenings on campus we took out a setup with a TV on a cart to show people clips. At one point we got a group of about five people conversing about the political situation. There was debate about whether this was fascism, and someone argued that the people are fascist but that the institutions of democracy will hold out, and that [we] have to prevent them from getting to a point where they’re a real problem. Others didn’t recognize this as a leap. We played them the clip about the Republican Party and the Confederacy and people commented on the depth of white supremacy in this country and the fact that people have come out of the swamps who promote this very openly. Someone was speaking to the Democrats not putting up enough of an opposition and we played the Democrats clip which people said they appreciated but didn’t speak to much. I think we need much more of this—people watching the clips and sparking up a debate.

—Correspondence to Revolution

[A student] was also very honest about the desire to go to law school and how being arrested might impact that. I played him the clip on “Order or justice?” and he said afterward, “That’s right. What law am I going to be dealing with anyway if we all sit back?” I also played him the clip on the roots of the Republican Party in the Confederacy; he said he didn’t realize there was a slow trajectory toward fascism and hadn’t recognized the element of Christian fascism and what the implications of that were. Said he would promote the talk among his friends but wanted to watch it first and said he could meet with a professor he knows to talk about a showing of the film.

—Correspondence to Revolution

He shared with them that he “was a Berner but I’ve lost all hope in the system. I work with people who vote, don’t brush them aside or not work with them. From my own perspective, [the] system [was] built the way it is, not built for us. At the Democratic National Convention, when Bernie did not walk out, that was the moment for the revolution and it didn’t happen. They robbed us, stomped us down—once again. I voted for Jimmy Carter, but I have evolved. I agree with what BA says about the system, we can’t fix it or work within it.” He went on to challenge people in the room: “Look, if we don’t drive out this regime and work for that, all the hard work you are doing to stop the different things like the attacks on health care, the criminalizing of calling for boycotts vs. Israel, we will be rolled over,” emphasizing humanity and the planet.

—Film Showing at Church Provokes Discussion and Debate: “There was so much packed into the talk.”

The college student took things back to the need to act, stressing that the action had to be through the ballot box because while people were open to voting for a socialist (she meant Bernie Sanders), they weren’t ready to get behind a communist and into revolution. She also raised that Trump, while dangerous, was on the way out; that he’d be gone by the end of the year, either because of Mueller’s investigation or by the mobilization around gun control being spearheaded by the kids in Florida. And again, that what was needed was building an anti-capitalist third party for the election in 2020.

This sparked off an exchange over differences. We posed whether Trump, who said he wouldn’t accept the results of the 2016 election if he lost, would pack up and leave because Mueller’s investigation went badly for him or the elections in 2018 didn’t go his way. One guy said we can’t even be sure about there being another election—and that Trump has threatened to nuke North Korea, and if he does, we don’t know what will happen.

—Digging in, Deep and Wide, in an Immigrant Community

The people in the group had a lot of heart and they said that people had to come out on campus for 11 minutes of silence for the 11 million immigrants. And yes, let’s organize a film screening. One person offered to bring the pizza and everyone said they would call on everyone they knew and their floor at the dorm where we would be doing the showing. They agreed, it’s almost midterms at their college, but this is important even if only they show up and start to really understand all of this in the way we need to. They said they would start a whole movie night—called An Act of Urgency. And talked about other movies they would show. And we returned to the questions of morality—the need to bring a new morality to this situation and challenge people. The theme of a very visible and powerful action on March 1 was What Would It Take for You to Give 11 minutes for 11 Million Undocumented. People said they needed to know the facts—that it really helped to know the facts, and we talked about the existence of this movement, Refuse Fascism, and the calls they put out with all of the facts. We said we would forward them the orientation from RF and plans—and they made plans to get this all up on social media, make flyers, and get the word out about the screening of the film and the demonstration.

—Taking BA to Campus: Reports from the Field, Late February

One woman said, “I see more people waking up, people who see the problem, who are saying this is ‘ethnic cleansing and fascism’—this was said by speakers at an ACLU rally yesterday for refugee children separated from parents in detention. More people aren’t afraid to speak out now. But people don’t know what else to hang onto to stop this beside elections. People fighting around immigration are talking about registering people to vote, but I said to them, ‘yeah, but what did you get with Obama, more deportations. We need to do something different.’ We have to show them it will take millions in the street. I envision huge rallies, bigger than the women’s march, every Saturday like in South Korea. We need to jump into huge demonstrations. We don’t have enough time to educate everyone. We have to go forward in solidarity with people who are suffering. I want to hear BA talk about how we can have a different America, I want to see his plan for a better world.”

―Correspondence to Revolution

Then people wanted to know what Revolution Club was all about, so we showed them HOW WE CAN WIN and explained why we are followers of Bob Avakian, who has developed a new synthesis of communism and that communism is the scientific method applied to knowing and changing the world. One person really wanted a BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! T-shirt. We explained that people who wear this shirt agree with the Revolution Club’s six Points of Attention. She read the points aloud and said—damn, I could be about that, and then raised her own thoughts on what kind of revolution we needed. We resolved to get into that very important discussion soon.

—Taking BA to Campus: Reports from the Field, Late February

One student who is the child of immigrants asked how this revolution would deal with all the individualism in this society—that people are motivated by their individual interests. This led to a discussion that this is not “human nature” but a changing “human nature” and ideas which arise on the basis of and serve the functioning of capitalism. These ideas are pumped at people day in and day out. But another world is possible. In summing up the experience of past socialist revolutions, BA has made the scientific breakthroughs which can enable us to transform the relations between people and the ideas that reinforce those relations as we are transforming the world. Looking at this, the CNSRNA should be read by all. This student left eager to read THE NEW COMMUNISM.

—Correspondence to Revolution on college showing

Several people expressed curiosity as to what BA meant by revolution. One person commented, “Bernie voted for every war. I oppose war and violence all over the world. Humanity’s got a huge problem and needs revolution but has to affect consciousness. I am concerned with all injustices. Electoral process is corrupted, doesn’t matter who runs, nothing will change. I am concerned with BA’s concept of revolution; as he said, in order to revolt, it is a serious matter requiring sacrifices, and you have to have a significant majority.”

—Film Showing at Church Provokes Discussion and Debate: “There was so much packed into the talk.”

One middle-aged African-American, a radical nationalist, remarked [about BA], “Who is this guy, John Brown 3.0?”

The role of Christian fascism tends to be newer to many people. Not that they are unaware of this. But BA’s analysis of the Christian fascist phenomenon and program, its traction and the backing it has from sections of the ruling class, its role in cementing a fascist movement, and how it has been a defining element of the transformation of the Republican Party into a fascist party—has been eye-opening for some in the audiences. At store showings in NYC, this has touched off discussions of what is different between mainstream Christianity and reactionary Christian fundamentalism—and some debate about Christianity and the Judeo-Christian Bible, as well as about religion overall. We’ve turned people on to BA’s Dialogue with Cornel West on “Revolution and Religion” and Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World.

—(Unpublished Correspondence to Revolution) Some Reflections Off the Showings at Revolution Books, NYC of BA’s THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!

“The discussion went back and forth between responses to the clips they saw, making plans for a screening to watch the full talk, and making plans to organize a demonstration on March 1, 11 minutes of silence for the 11 million immigrants being targeted by the Trump/Pence regime. They got into struggle over identity politics, the situation we’re facing, people drawing from what they understand about this situation, and all sharing their agonizing and fears. They returned to discussion of the talk throughout this, and also talked more about the mission of the Revolution Club: making an actual revolution to get rid of this whole system, and talked about who BA is and the work he’s doing.”

—Taking BA to Campus: Reports from the Field, Late February

People wanted to keep talking, even as it was time to lock the doors on the hall. People took Refuse Fascism stickers, posters, and material with them and some wanted to dig deeper into the vision of BA. One person bought a copy of Bob Avakian’s THE NEW COMMUNISM and another got the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, written by BA, and several got print issues of Revolution newspaper. Some hungered to continue what began at this screening and are exploring hosting follow-up screenings/discussions.

—At a Meeting of an African Immigrant Organization in the Bronx

People began to talk about others they could show the film to and about influential people and important institutions that needed to be approached to show the film. We talked about how to follow up on these ideas. And people got material from the Revolution Books table to get more into BA and the revolutionary movement he leads, including BA’s book THE NEW COMMUNISM; HOW WE CAN WIN—How We Can Really Make Revolution, from the Central Committee of the RCP; DVDs of the BA talk on fascism and the Question and Answer session; DVDs of REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between Cornel West and Bob Avakian; and Revolution newspaper.

—Digging in, Deep and Wide, in an Immigrant Community