This report is about broad outreach at a mass outdoor market in a progressive neighborhood.

A recent summation of the experience at the market revealed some important potential of masses being drawn toward this revolution, including an increased number of donors. But it also revealed ongoing problems of being satisfied with getting some positive responses and not proceeding from the overall goal of finding the on-ramps for bringing people on the spot into seeing themselves as part of this revolution and acting in various organized ways to begin putting this revolution on the map.

The central objective and focus of all our work, as put forward by Bob Avakian in Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution is:

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.

So we called a meeting of people who have been involved in broad outings this summer. The idea was to step back to the basic orientation, what are “we” (in the big sense) aiming to do, what is our fundamental objective, what is the strategic process of making revolution as laid out in Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points. And how are we doing in relation to THAT? And what do we need to transform in our approach to accomplish that?

In order to have a scientific summation you need to have a clear scientific approach to what the outing is aiming to accomplish, how to do that, and clear measurements of how we are doing in relation to that BEFOREHAND—so that we are clear in advance what is framing our orientation. Every time we go out we are on a MISSION. It counts. And we need to wring every possible lesson from it—in what ways did we impact or not and in what ways were we able to bring masses into the process of putting revolution on the map?

It was clear from the reports from the market and also an outing to a showing and panel discussion of Oppenheimer at a theater that there were not just shortcomings in ways we were able to bring masses into the process of putting revolution on the map besides donating (not to downplay donating at all, it is very important, but it has to be seen as part of a whole process), but not a clear focus on challenging people and bringing forward this revolutionary people now and the ways to do that (i.e., BA’s “What the Hell Are You Doing?” meme).

An important discussion that developed out of examining this was getting into the process described in the 7 Key Points, in particular the question of involving people in the process in an organized way and then getting into and struggling over why this is necessary; why it is possible, what is the process, and what will replace this system. One of the “Game-Changer” articles (“THIS Is A ‘Game-Changer’: The Bob Avakian Interviews,” Parts 1, 2, 3, 4) makes the point that we have to proceed from what we can potentially unleash, through ferocious struggle, not from what’s on the surface (either in terms of our small forces, or the sentiments of the decent people as is).

Several people brought in the “Thoughts on Bob Avakian’s Analysis That This Is a Rare Time When Revolution Is More Possible” article. That it pinpointed their own view, seeing the horrors (and uniting with people against the horrors) and thinking that would lead to a linear process where these horrors would somehow jolt people into taking up the revolution. But this can only happen through fierce struggle to repolarize for REVOLUTION, and take up the mass demand of the “We Need and We Demand” Declaration in their millions. And this depends on the revcoms making revolution as the only solution a societal question and demand, and wrenching blocs of people out of the hold of the system.

The article says, “And the prospects for revolution hinge to a great extent on whether the conscious forces for this revolution not only carry out consistent revolutionary work and struggle, but more specifically whether they recognize—and on that basis act boldly and with scientifically grounded determination, to take full advantage of—these crucial turning points and all-too-rare opportunities.”

The recent article from BA on “Revolution: Major Turning Points and Rare Opportunities” shows the relationship between the objective situation and the understanding and action of the revolutionary forces. The whole third section of the  "Game-Changer" series, and the section from "Thoughts" “Imagine what we could open up now if we understood and acted on this rare time,” were very relevant and liberating. 

We discussed a couple particular examples of the situation at the market this week which illustrate the problem: three people told us they considered themselves communists, but each went off without the most important thing—understanding that BA’s new communism IS what real communism is in today’s world and it IS the only scientific approach and strategy that can liberate humanity when taken up by masses of people. And it is essential for them to watch the BA Interviews to learn about this. Anyone who has watched the Interviews knows that this is a transformative experience. And especially for people who are FED UP and can’t stand the world the way it is.

These people went away without a direct organizational connection. We can hope that they will follow the guidance of the “We Are the Revcoms” broadsheet back page and watch the Interviews and subscribe to The RNL Show and the revcom.us website, but we did not put this challenge to them directly and that opportunity is lost for now and this was not even identified as a problem in the report.

One of these people who identified as a communist came to our table at the market with a friend. She said she knew who the revcoms were because she did a search on the internet two years ago to find the real revolutionaries and found that the revcoms were the only ones who were working for an actual revolution. The comrade who engaged them had in mind challenging them on the spot to get involved now with the revolution, but posed this very narrowly as a specific task of coming back the next week to staff the table and when they said this wouldn’t fit their schedules, that was the end of it. The opportunity was lost. The comrade summed up, “I didn’t really learn much and could have done more to start to get into, or at least point their attention to and stress the role of the Proclamation and Declaration since they had to get going.”

Another young couple took the handouts and looked at the displays and said immediately, “We ARE communists.” He said he started out with a tech job working for “capitalists” who he said especially as COVID unfolded, he could see were pigs, just pigs. Their employees had hours cut and could barely pay rent while the big bosses commiserated with each other that they could only keep two of their three luxury vacation homes. He said he began to research capitalist critiques, even study some Marx. When he met and married his wife, during the pandemic, they began talking much more deeply about the state of the world and the cause of so much misery and suffering. He said she was a big motivator of digging into these questions more deeply. For example, she told him that all these parties, Democrats and Republicans, are war criminals. She repeated, “They are all war criminals—of the highest order!” He related a conversation he had with his parents. He said, “My parents are super-liberals. Super-super liberals. Just last night I was talking to my parents where I tried to get it through their heads that all these things they hate, all these outrages they are so against, that none of these things can be ended as long as capitalism remains intact. I told them that what they needed to understand is that all these things stem from the capitalist system! I keep telling them this! They can’t hear it though.” The couple said that they had to leave to meet someone a block away and would come right back. I tried to get them to donate or at least to sign the contact sheet before they left but they said, no, don’t worry, we’re coming right back. They did not come back though.

These people identified themselves as communists, but this applies to anybody who tells us they can’t stand the way the world is or says “you are right” and means it. When they tell us this it is a stop-the-show moment when we have to directly reach into their hearts and minds and pose compellingly to them that given the situation we face and the actual possibility for a revolution and the need for millions of people to take up the demand to overthrow this system and bring in a new liberating world, they cannot stand on the sidelines, humanity needs them to become part of the revolutionary process now. And we will get into their questions and differences, etc. from that vantage point. The new meme with BA’s “What the Hell Are You Doing!” is right to the point.

They need to leave on a MISSION, with the basic tools to take this up and out into the world: the Proclamation, the “We Need and We Demand” Declaration, signing up for The RNL Show, watching the BA Interviews, an organized connection with the Revolution Club and ways to report back to us what they learned and what they did.

There was one positive experience with this approach: An African American young man took a bundle of broadsheets, agreeing that “We have to end all these horrors from nuclear war, to exploitation in the neighborhoods of the oppressed, to cluster bombs, to Trump escalating a fascist agenda.” His friend is interested in the Revolution Club, and said he will watch the Bob Avakian Interviews, but wouldn’t leave his contact information, saying he wanted to first study a little bit what we gave him. The comrade emphasized to him that it’s an urgent situation that he and people like him need to act on. He agreed that it IS urgent.

For more on people’s responses at the market, see the snapshot.

Note: This once-a-week market has developed into a whole scene—way beyond the farmer’s market. The neighborhood is generally known as a progressive area, and through the summer an “informal” market has grown up next to the farmer’s market where all kinds of people (artists, craftspeople, etc.) are setting up. According to a neighborhood newsletter 7-12,000 people, with a lot of diverse young people, come through. People bring their dogs, their kids, meet their friends there and it is a very relaxed, communal, and peaceful scene. We can’t think of any other place in the city (except Millennium Park downtown) where so many people gather informally to hang out (by informally we mean it’s free to be there).

So it’s a great place for us to be. Lots of young people, progressive people, mostly white but all nationalities, including the vendors. And for the rest of the summer it’s a place people will be able to find us every week.

The very nature of this free, unregulated gathering has caused controversy—with some people saying it’s unfair that these people don’t have to pay or have a license or have insurance (which the farmer’s market vendors must have) and they say they are worried about too many bikes and cars and people might get injured. They have called on the police to give the vendors tickets which hasn’t happened yet. Many others love it (including some of the vendors in the official market, because it brings more people to them) and love the grassroots character, and say this is just what is needed to bring neighbors together after the pandemic. The alderman has “investigated” and let things be so far.

POSTSCRIPT: Today, the head of market told all the informal vendors that this is the last week this will be allowed in unregulated form and that only 40 entities will be allowed starting next week and people will need to sign up and be chosen to be part of the 40.