Over the past few months, small teams in Houston and Austin, Texas, have distributed and posted over 5,800 copies of We Are The Revcoms. We’ve also distributed over 1,900 copies of We Need And We Demand Declaration pamphlets, and put up over 400 posters and stickers of various kinds (We Need And We Demand, BA Interviews, The RNL Show) and raised a little over $2,000. 

We’ve learned how receptive many people of different experiences and backgrounds are to the We Are the Revcoms Declaration, and how, in conjunction with the other materials, it can awaken hope and higher aspirations among people. Many people today are disturbed by, and some are questioning, “how things are” in society, and to an extent, the world. But they don’t know how it can change. Responses we’ve gotten to these materials have ranged from curiosity, to, as one woman put it, “now we have something to fight for”; from a man who immediately downloaded the Constitution for the New Socialist Society in North America onto his phone, to the woman who asked why hasn’t she heard about this Constitution before. But we know transforming these stirrings into a growing revolutionary force will take a lot of ideological struggle and broader repolarization. And in Austin, there has been some organized opposition in the form of tearing down or defacing material on S. Congress Ave., that seems to be from forces affiliated with the fascist Alex Jones.

A Radical Shift from the Current Trajectory Is Needed

We realized that the trajectory that we were on was not going to accomplish what is required in this moment in these rare times. We have to make a much bigger impact. We drew from material on the website revcom.us, particularly from the videos and articles by BA, and the videos on saturation. We collectively grappled over what we were doing, and how to contribute more to the national effort to put revolution on the map this year. Key to this has been continuing to come back to and evaluate our work in relation to the following quote by BA:

Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond.  Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.

We began to realize that we need to saturate key areas to break open the question of revolution, and that struggling for blocs of people to become part of the forces for revolution is crucial. We also realized that we need to develop a conscious, coherent (and flexible) plan, and not just go from thing to thing and hope it all adds up. Part of the struggle was around what is the importance of plans and having measurable goals—of materials gotten up and out, of showings of the BA Interviews, and of developing organization and collectivities. And to develop plans that correspond to what is objectively necessary and possible in these times, and not be paralyzed by our small forces, or bogged down in making complicated “preparations” and then not getting out to the masses of people. 

Some of the questions we’ve all been grappling with for a while, like the strategic importance of fundraising, and how to build networks for revolution, and some new questions on how to both saturate in key areas while remaining attuned to changing situations and building organization on different levels through this effort—all of this is in the mix.

We picked two areas to saturate based on an assessment of the strategic importance of these sections of people from a national perspective. One neighborhood is an historic concentration of Black people, and the second is a prominent university campus. Along with that, a team will continue in their work with shopkeepers throughout the city and contribute to building networks for revolution, as well as taking the effort to put revolution on the map this year beyond the most focused areas of concentration and saturation. The seemingly never-ending heat has been a problem, but we’ve developed plans for the next four weekends to feature “Saturation Sundays.”

Along with the concentrations mentioned above, we’re planning mobilizations at major cultural and political events in the fall—including the Texas Tribune Festival and Austin City Limits (ACL) Music Festival—which could have far-reaching impact. We didn’t do well at ACL last year, and need to figure out how to have a much bigger impact this time. And we’re on the lookout for others. We are also working on sending a team to the U.S.-Mexico border. 

One question we keep coming back to is on involving and organizing people and not to be limited in our thinking that this means that masses will all just join in with what we’re doing. We are beginning to develop ways for masses new to this to begin to take this up in their own ways—recruiting for a postering team or getting out bundles or bags of posters and materials (with donations) for people to put up and take out on their own. Then we’ve encouraged them to correspond with revcom.us or through social media their thoughts, photos and videos. One thing that we’ve learned is how impactful it is for people when they see themselves as part of a nationwide effort, of something bigger than themselves that is making a real difference. We’re still working on the different ways for people to stay connected to the forces for revolution as it grows.

Part of this means “putting the problems confronting the revolution” to people, and working together to address them. One aspect of how we’re addressing this: we’re organizing a Zoom for people just meeting the revolution, for next weekend. Hopefully this will include people from cities outside Houston and Austin (as well as those places, of course). The point is to work to bring people into this effort, aiming for a big impact.

Our goal is to have 1,000 to 2,000 posters up by Labor Day and 30,000 materials posted or distributed by Thanksgiving. We are aiming for 10 out-in-the-street showings of sections from the BA Interviews and three more formal showings of the interviews by Thanksgiving. A small team of a few people has also been working on plans for fundraising, and the first project is to have a booth at a flea market next weekend. 

So, many big questions remain. Right now, the battle for saturation is key, and while the need to continue “saturating” will continue, achieving some real gains in it over the next few weeks is crucial to making further advances in putting revolution on the map through the end of the summer and into the fall.