I recently went to an event where a popular progressive writer was speaking to reach people attending with this revolution. I was planning to speak from the floor—engaging the content being discussed, and struggling for revolution to impact the whole scene. This wasn't possible, but in addition to a number of other discussions I had, I sought out an important and thoughtful writer. We had a relatively brief but sharp and substantive exchange that I want to share with the readers of revcom.

I introduced myself, and he said he had some familiarity with the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian (BA) and has read some of his work over the years. I asked if he has seen Bob Avakian's recent analysis—that the rulers of this system are more divided since the Civil War, and this makes the revolution we need more possible. I acknowledged that the revolutionary forces right now are too small, which is what we're urgently working to transform. I gave him We Are the Revcoms and the Declaration, We Need and We Demand: A Whole New Way to Live, A Fundamentally Different System. He thanked me for the materials and said he could actually see what I was saying. He referenced the book by China Miéville on the Russian Revolution, October. He drew from the book that at the time when the Tsar was relying on the most brutal reactionary forces was actually a reflection of underlying weakness and divides among the rulers. I had read the book and said that I agreed; however, if it hadn't been for the singular role that Lenin played—keeping his sights laser focused on the seizure of power and able to draw the dividing lines at every point in line with what was needed for that seizure of power—then there would've been no Russian Revolution. He thought about it and said, “Yeah, that's true.”

I continued: Today, Bob Avakian is playing the role that Lenin played then. At the same time, he's learned from Lenin's secondary shortcomings, and broken with any idea that the ends justify the means. He answered simply, “OK, that's an interesting point.” I argued that now is the time to urgently get into all this, and talk with us further. I also told him about the Interviews that were done last year on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less—Show! with BA. He gave me his card to send him the links and while he said he was heading out of town right then, he does want to talk.

This is just one small example of the many, many ways we need to be struggling sharply for people throughout society—in the neighborhoods, college campuses, intellectual and cultural scenes—to seriously and substantively engage the whole of the new communism that BA has developed, and themselves be part of spreading this.