You have camped out on university grounds demanding divestment and an overall end to the U.S.-Israeli war and have struck a real blow for a better world. You have defied slanders, suspensions, arrests and outright brutality to stand up against the U.S.-Israel genocidal war against, and oppression of, the Palestinian people. 

You have done this at a time when the Palestinian people in Gaza face a more dangerous situation than ever: massive famine and the immediate threat of an Israeli assault on the city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians are now penned in. Even bolder and broader struggle will be needed now and in the weeks ahead. 

At the same time, there are influential forces within this movement who are attacking and even trying to suppress the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, or the Revcoms. To be blunt, this is outrageous—an attempt at suppression and censorship from within the movement, and one that does nothing but keep people’s horizons locked into the confines of the current system and what it will allow.

Some of the leaders say “revolution is an ‘outside agenda’”—that’s just wrong. Revolution is a larger agenda. Revolution is the only way that people can actually get free of this madness. Anything short of revolution will leave intact tomorrow the oppression, misery and degradation that you so righteously fight today. 

Revolutionaries bring out the crucial truth that the horrors and outrages are not the result of bad policies or bad people but of a system of capitalism-imperialism. 

Why is Biden, and basically the entire government and ruling class of the U.S., supporting Israel in carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people, before the whole world? Here is the answer to that crucial question:

This is not because of “the power of the Jewish lobby”—or because of some ignorant, ridiculous and outrageous notion that “Jews are controlling everything.” It is because Israel plays a “special role” as a heavily armed bastion of support for U.S. imperialism in a strategically important part of the world (the “Middle East”). And Israel has been a key force in the commission of atrocities which have helped to maintain the oppressive rule of U.S. imperialism in many other parts of the world.

That was from Bob Avakian. Which brings up another outrageous thing: why do some people react as if they were frightened of confronting a different—and yes, much more radical—analysis and program? Rather than listen to what you’ve been told by others, who may say the word revolution but are strongly repelled by the idea of an actual revolution, in this time, why don’t you check him out for yourself?

How Long Must This Terrible Oppression Go On?

The U.S.-Israeli genocidal war on the Palestinian people is a heart-staggering horror. Period. But as you know it is hardly the first or only genocidal war waged by America. Maybe your parents fought against the U.S. war on Iraq, that took a million lives. Maybe your grandparents fought against the U.S. war on Vietnam—that killed another three million human beings. Do you want your children to be standing where you are today in 20 years, opposing the next war? How many millions more must be slaughtered by this system before we overthrow it?

You are recognizing your responsibility to stop the U.S.-backed genocide of the Palestinian people. As we unite in this struggle, what about our even greater responsibility to the people of Palestine and indeed to people everywhere to rid the world of the monstrous system of U.S. capitalism-imperialism entirely?

This is what must be discussed, debated, and prepared for now—together, as we are building the struggle. And not as some far off ideal or fuzzy aspiration. Revolution is possible in this time.

And let’s be real. Revolution won’t happen through voting, it won’t happen through mutual aid or word-changing. And it won’t even happen through liberation struggles that only go part way and end up with new oppressors in place of, and in collaboration with, the old—which is what happened in Algeria, Mozambique, South Africa, Nicaragua and way too many other anti-colonial or anti-imperialist struggles. 

And yes, we mean a “physical revolution” of millions and millions, led by an organized vanguard. By revolution we mean nothing less than overthrowing this whole system—defeating, disarming and dismantling the murderous armed power and other institutions that enforce this system—completely abolishing this whole system and replacing it with something radically different and much better, a new society built on an entirely different foundation. (See A DECLARATION, A CALL TO GET ORGANIZED NOW FOR A REAL REVOLUTION at www.revcom.us)

Don’t say “it’s not possible,” or “that’s something for later.” Listen to the revolutionary leader and thinker Bob Avakian’s series of audio dispatches, REAL REVOLUTION, IN THIS TIME: WHAT THE POWERS-THAT-BE DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW. You’ll learn what the system is and why it can’t be reformed. You’ll hear why the ruling class is united in supporting the genocide in Gaza, how to understand the complex questions surrounding it, and what the solution actually is. And you’ll hear not only how we could really win a revolution but how that could happen right in this time we are living now. 

This is serious, and we need to be serious. Are you really not gonna go there because someone called it that anti-communist scare word “cult”?

The time is now to both escalate the struggle to end this horror AND to struggle with each other over what must be done to end the source of this horror: the system of U.S. capitalism-imperialism. 

Signed,

The Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity