The madness that is life under the system of capitalism-imperialism ran at flood level last week. In the space of five days, we witnessed:

• the indictment of a former president, followed by barely veiled threats of civil war from his well-armed supporters;
• the expulsion of two Black state representatives in Tennessee for voicing support for thousands of young people in Nashville who were opposing school murders caused in part by the widespread availability of semi-automatic weapons;
• and a decision by a federal judge in Texas that would go even further in ripping the right to abortion away from women, including in so-called “blue states,” and instituting a Christian-fascist theocracy.

All this went on as the war in Ukraine—with Russia on one side and the U.S./NATO alliance on the other—became even more intense and more dangerous… as refugees turned away at the border were burned to death in Mexico… and as the environment continued to be marked by one catastrophe after another.

The insane drives of this system make life an unbearable hell for billions every day. Those same dynamics endanger the whole of humanity. This system cannot be reformed; it must be overthrown and fully uprooted.

Bob Avakian has put it like this:

We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to dominate the world and to determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible. 

Why Such a Revolution Is Possible

Let’s look at one element of the above examples: the intensifying conflict between the fascist section of the rulers of this country, headquartered in the Republican Party, and those who cling to the way things have been done in the past, grouped around the Democrats. Trump’s arraignment for trial in New York and the threats from the fascists that followed, the outrages in Tennessee, and the Dark Ages assault from the Texas federal judge sharply underline what Bob Avakian, BA, said a year and a half ago:

Things are not as they were in the past, and the reality is this: The profound divisions, within the ruling class, and in the society overall, cannot be smoothed over—they are only going to become deeper and sharper, more acute and antagonistic. Here is the fundamental truth that needs to be clearly and deeply understood: These divisions

cannot be resolved within the framework that has existed, and has held things together, for nearly 150 years, since shortly after the end of the Civil War which led to the abolition of slavery—they cannot be resolved on the basis of the capitalist “democracy” that has been the “normal” means of capitalist rule (dictatorship) for so long.

Yet during those same five days, liberals touted a few polls and a victorious election or two to claim that Republicans are fearful that they will lose the next presidential race (see for example Michelle Goldberg, “The Abortion Ban Backlash Is Starting to Freak Out Republicans”). These liberal commentators try to blind people to what is actually going on: whatever struggles may be taking place from within the fascists of the Republican Party, they are using the considerable powers they already possess in the courts and state legislatures to lock down as many repressive laws and practices as they can, tearing apart and rewriting the rule of law—and they are heavily arming themselves.

Quoting again from BA, in the same talk:

As this situation develops, and the ruling class is more and more unable to rule in the old way, society and daily life for masses of people, from different parts of society, can become increasingly unsettled and chaotic, with frequent “disruptions” of the “normal” way things have been.

And as “the normal way” society has been ruled is failing to hold things together—and society is increasingly being ripped apart—this can shake people’s belief that “the way things have always been” is the only way things can be. It can make people more open to questioning—in a real sense it can force people to question—the way things have been, and whether they have to stay that way. And this is all the more likely to happen if the revolutionary forces are out among the people shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening, and why, and bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way.

This is a crucial part of how a revolutionary situation could be brought into being—a situation where it becomes possible to actually bring down this system.

BA goes on though to warn that:

On the other hand, “left to itself”—that is, if the current character and dynamics of all this remain on the same course they are now on—this situation, the divisions characterizing it, and the outcome resulting from it are almost certainly going to become even more terribly negative. So, all this must be radically changed, in what is a relatively brief, “compressed” period of time—not just weeks or months, but also not decades. If things have not already fully erupted before then, the scheduled presidential election of 2024 is very likely to be a critical focal point and turning point, through which the fascist Republicans will attempt to gain and lock down power over society, and put an end to any possibility of a future “transfer of power” away from them.

May 1 and the Need to Shine a Light

This understanding needs to become the collective property of everyone who gets involved in building May 1. This is why revolution has become more possible—despite how things may appear on the surface. And it is understanding and working on these volatile contradictions that make it possible for a small force—acting as a force—to have an impact throughout society. Going over this and discussing it should help all of us, newer and more experienced, to see even more sharply the need to be challenging, and the way to be challenging, people to step into this process. There is shaping up, as BA says toward the end of his third interview on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, a “real chance” to do this—NOT a guarantee but a chance—but that depends on what we do.

The revcoms and those who manifest with them on May 1 must be like a powerful magnetic pole that draws people who hunger for a different way. May 1 has to be a bold announcement that the revcoms are moving now to organize YOU into a movement for a REAL revolution. This requires challenging people now in many different ways.

Building the Revolution Clubs: A Crucial Instrument of Revolution and a Crucial Means Through Which to Build May 1

Achieving a powerful May 1 means that people need to be going out, beginning now, to boldly challenge many different kinds of people in many different kinds of places to commit to coming out on the 1st to declare, “We Refuse to Accept This System's Future!”

And it means building the Revolution Clubs. People need a place to be able to grapple with why we need a revolution, what this revolution is all about, and the future society it aims to bring into being. They need a place where they can thrash through the many questions and challenges that will arise… a place where they can contribute their ideas and creativity. They need a place where they can begin finding out about and discussing the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. They need a place where people practice the morality that we’ll be practicing and spreading in the new revolutionary society, as crystallized in the Six Points of Attention of the Revolution Club—and this morality should be part of what spurs people to make revolution to overthrow this system and bring something much better into being, where these principles in the Six Points of Attention can be applied as the standard for society as a whole. People need a way that they can act together with others, feeling their potential strength, instead of being off on their own, agonized and atomized. And yes, the clubs should be where people new and old can take, and are struggled with to take, responsibility for going out to people and fighting to make May 1 a high-impact day and for mobilizing as many people as possible.

One important task of these clubs should be fundraising. Contributing funds enables many people to support and participate in the revolution in many different ways and at many different levels. One idea for May 1 is to hold dinners the week before which can be festive occasions that raise money, build community and develop consciousness.

Going Forward

Through all the activity of the coming month, we need to be deepening our grip on the actual character of the reality we face. We need to be using the tools brought forward by BA to understand the world and talk with each other about how to understand—and how to respond to—the kinds of events that we saw this past week. The clubs should be organizing group watchings of The Revolution, Nothing Less! YouTube show, viewings of The Bob Avakian Interviews, and getting into key articles on the revcom.us website.

We’ll end this editorial as Andy Zee ended his commentary on March 30:

Without you and many more like you doing this NOW, there will not be an emancipating future, but precisely the opposite. AND, history has shown… it can become too late. Just as there is a moment now of just months and a few years to try to stop and reverse the destruction of the earth’s climate, so too is there a moment when revolution is more possible that could be lost and on the other hand so much gained if we put this revolution on the map now. Let’s make May 1st 2023 an accelerant to getting ready for revolution.

Be a part of liberating humanity. Be a part of a serious force that has the vision, the science, the strategy and the heart, to organize for a real revolution now to bring about a radically new world.

Be a part of International May Day 2023.