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Articles in this issue (scroll down or click to read article below):

  • In This Issue… October 2, 2023
  • BOB AVAKIAN: A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Bob Avakian (BA) is the most important political thinker and leader in the world today.

  • 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

  • From the Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists)

    REVOLUTIONBUILDING UP THE BASIS TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING, WITH A REAL CHANCE TO WIN:STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH
  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part One

  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 2: Build a NATIONAL Movement

  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 3: Key Relationships: Getting the Dynamics Right

  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part Four: Once More on Important Relations and Dynamics

  • U.S. CONSTITUTION: AN EXPLOITERS’ VISION OF FREEDOM—ADDED NOTES (AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION)
  • From The RNL Show:

    Bob Avakian on Why He Wrote the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America
  • REVOLUTION: MAJOR TURNING POINTS AND RARE OPPORTUNITIES

    Or... Why did Lenin talk about World War 1 as a “stage manager” of revolution?...

    And why did Mao say, We should thank Japan for invading China?

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 1: We Are Serious

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 3: Civil War and Revolution

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 5: Winning and Winning

  • Organizing for an Actual Revolution:7 Key Points
  • ALLEGIANCE
  • ALLEGIANCE: A Special RNL Show Dispatch
  • STATE OF EMERGENCY:CHAINS ON PEOPLEWHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE

    A message from Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism

  • VIDEO:

    STATE OF EMERGENCY: CHAINS ON PEOPLE WHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE, By Bob Avakian
  • Thoughts on Reading: “State of Emergency: Chains on People Who Desperately Need to Be Free”
  • Building Networks and Centers of Distribution—for Revolution

    from a team in Houston

  • What is that? Who said that? Say what?
  • Killer Mike, Ice Cube,

    WHY CAPITALIST PROGRAMS and BOURGEOIS ASPIRATIONS CANNOT LEAD TO LIBERATIONandWHY WE NEED A REAL REVOLUTION
  • PUTTING AN END TO EXPLOITATION,AND ALL OPPRESSION
  • EXPLOITATION: WHAT IT IS, HOW TO PUT AN END TO IT by Bob Avakian

    (produced by The RNL Show)

  • EXPLOITATION: WHAT IT IS,HOW TO PUT AN END TO IT
  • THE TRIALS OF FASCIST DONALD TRUMP,AND THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THIS WHOLE SYSTEM

    Or: Don’t Be Played for Suckers by Trump’s Posturing, or the Democrats’ Posing as Defenders of Justice—We Need a Revolution and a Fundamentally Different and Far Better System

  • CAPITALISTS, ANTI-COMMUNISTS:BLATANT HYPOCRISY,GLARING CONTRADICTION
  • GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERRORAND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS

    Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.

  • VIDEO:

    Bob Avakian on the Poisonous Notion of “The Ends Justify the Means”
  • SUPREME COURT:CHRISTIAN FASCISTSSTEALING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD
  • AMERICA: Truly a Model —of DEPRAVED RACIST GENOCIDE

    How can any decent person deny that we need a revolution to overthrow this system?!

  • The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show Podcast!!

    A PODCAST for a time when revolution has become more possible...

  • The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, 
    September 29, 2023, Episode 167

    The Future's at Stake: The Framework, Leadership & Struggle For a Whole New Emancipating Way to Live
  • SCIENTIFIC COMMUNIST THEORYAND THE PROBLEM WITH “MASS LINE”
  • ANTI-SCIENTIFIC “ANTI-AUTHORITARIANISM”Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism
  • Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences
  • VIDEO:

    Why Have You Never Given Up On Revolution? Bob Avakian Answers
  • VIDEO:

    A REFLECTION ON BOB AVAKIAN'S LEADERSHIP
  • Three reasons why you should buy your ticket to the Screening of Selections from The BA Interviews on October 17 at the Hudson Theaters:
  • ANNOUNCING:

    A Special Screening of Selections from The Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show

    Tuesday, October 17, 7:30 pm

  • VIDEO:

    Andy Zee: Winning a Revolution to Overthrow This System... Winning to Emancipate All of Humanity
  • A Letter to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Who Will Be Spreading Allegiance
  • VIDEO:

    Rafael Kadaris debates College Republicans at UCLA
  • Three Big Takeaways from Trump’s Violent Threat Against Mark Milley, Former Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Military
  • U.S./China Faceoff IntensifiesDon't Accept Their Future, It's Time to Get Organized for an Actual Revolution!
  • From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now

    “The Hair of Women,” by Rafael Jesús González
  • Thoughts from a Revcom:

    Going Back to the Works by Bob Avakian and “Rare Time”
  • Correspondence from a reader:

    Road Trip
  • From Atash/Fire #143

    Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of CommunismBourgeois Democracy Means Class Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie 

    Part 1

  • Sermons from the Priests of Transitional Justice

    by Somayeh Kargar

  • VIDEO:

    Sunsara Taylor Talks About the One Year Anniversary of Iran’s Jina Uprising
  • The Courageous Uprising in Iran...One Year Anniversary
  • On the Anniversary of Jina Uprising in Iran:

    Revolution, Nothing Less for Iran and Everywhere

    Statement by the Communist Party of Iran (MLM) – Cpimlm.org

  • From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now

    Sights and Sounds of Jina Uprising Anniversary Actions Worldwide
  • In Memory of Mahsa (Jina) Amini and For the Emancipation of All Women in the World
  • Revolution Books Berkeley

    An Evening of Poetry for the Mahsa Jina Amini Uprising and the Heroic Political Prisoners in Iran
  • From Atash/Fire #142, September 2023
    Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist (cpimlm.org)

    A Revolution Is Impossible Without a Revolutionary War to Overthrow the Ruling Government
  • VIDEO:

    Raymond Lotta Kicking off the Fall Speaking Tour at Revolution Books NYC, September 19

    The Communist Revolution So Badly Needed... 
    vs. the Anti-Communist Brainwash You're Getting

  • Pop Quiz
    Everything You've Been Told about Communism IS WRONG

    CAPITALISM IS A FAILURE,COMMUNIST REVOLUTION IS THE SOLUTION

    Think you know about communism and capitalism? Think the U.S. Constitution is the highest ideal for a just society? Then take this quiz... and think again.

  • ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR... QUACKERY AND CONSPIRACY...UNCONVENTIONAL IDEAS AND A SCIENTIFIC APPROACHTo Debate or Not to Debate—That Is a Question of Principle and Method
  • Fall 2023—News from Donors

    Donating to:  PUT REVOLUTION ON THE MAP IN 2023!
  • Donate to: PUT REVOLUTION ON THE MAP IN 2023!
  • “WOKE” IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCEin the political, intellectual, artistic and ethical life of society
  • VIDEO:

    “Woke” Lunacy Vs. Real Revolution — Sunsara Taylor Speaks at UCLA
  • VIDEO:

    “Woke” Lunacy vs. Real Revolution

    A talk by Rafael Kadaris, with Q&A, at Revolution Books, NYC

  • From Sunsara Taylor:Donate to "‘Woke’ Lunacy vs. Real Revolution" Campus Speaking Tour
  • Revolution Club, Chicago

    We're Recruiting!
  • “America at least has done some good around the world”? Take on that b.s. with sharp agitation on the truth about U.S. imperialism…
  • From Revolution Club Chicago

    DEFEND THE REVOLUTION CLUB CHICAGO

    The Revolution Club Chicago stomped on & burned the US flag at fascist lynch mob instigator Jason Aldean's concert!

  • For Your Reference: Agitation from Bob Avakian on the Criminal Character of This System 
  • A World in Flames: Imperialist Bloodbath in Ukraine Expands, War Preparations in East Asia Intensify
  • War in Ukraine: Frequently Asked Questions
  • Piercing the Lies, Digging Beneath the SurfaceThe Larger Dynamics of the World Imperialist System Driving the War in Ukraine...And a Lesson from When There Was a Genuinely Socialist Soviet Union
  • Video:

    Bootlicker of the Week: KRS-One… or should we say KRS-Five-O
  • IMPORTANT NOTICE:Nominations Now Open for Bootlickers Hall of Shame
  • LIBERALS... LIAR LIAR

    In honor of Daniel Ellsberg: who was willing and determined to face, to speak—and to urge others to speak out about—crucial truths about the crimes of this American empire and the dangers it poses to the people of the world and the very existence of humanity

  • About Bill Maher—A Further Observation on American ChauvinismAnd Parasitic Individualism
  • VIDEO:

    Bob Avakian: State Power in the Hands of the Right People Is a Great Thing
  • ARTICLE:

    In This Issue… October 2, 2023

    Welcome to the October 2, 2023 issue of Revolution.

    We strive to ground all the coverage on this website in the science, strategy and vision brought forward by Bob Avakian, BA, the most important thinker and leader in the world today. The method and approach developed by BA enables us to analyze the underlying dynamics and driving forces of events, to go up against and lay bare the false paths that are out there, and to lay the foundations of the revolution humanity so urgently needs. The race against time we face is one of bringing forward millions for revolution in the next few years to meet the challenge of making revolution in these times. The keys to this are laid out by BA in a number of critical works, especially 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, and now, in the recent Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on YouTube. Without grounding yourself in and returning to these works, along with other critical works for this whole period, you won’t really know what’s going on or why—with all the horrors today—revolution is actually more possible. And you won’t know how to go to work on realizing that possibility. 

    Table of Contents:

    NEW: 
    From the Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists):
    REVOLUTION
    BUILDING UP THE BASIS TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING, WITH A REAL CHANCE TO WIN: STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH

    Major Declaration from the Revcoms:    
    WE NEED AND WE DEMAND:    
    A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE,    
    A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM    
    In the name of the people… In the name of humanity…    
    We Declare and Demand:    
    The Existing Capitalist-Imperialist System And Institutions Of Government In This Country Must Be Abolished And Dismantled—And Replaced By A New, Socialist System Based On The CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA

    WE ARE THE REVCOMS: WE ARE WORKING FOR A REAL REVOLUTION AND A WHOLE NEW, EMANCIPATING WAY TO LIVE

    Up Close and Personal With   
    Bob Avakian   
    Heart and Soul & Hard-Core   
    For Revolution   
    A Rare Appearance on   
    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show

    A Message to Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World: THIS Is a “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews (Part 1/Part 2/Part 3/Part 4)

    Two Systems. Two Constitutions. Two Futures.

    REVOLUTION: MAJOR TURNING POINTS AND RARE OPPORTUNITIES  
    Or... Why did Lenin talk about World War 1 as a “stage manager” of revolution?...  
    And why did Mao say, We should thank Japan for invading China? by Bob Avakian

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN, by Bob Avakian    
    Part One: We Are Serious    
    Part Two: A Scientifically Based Strategy    
    Part Three: Civil War and Revolution    
    Part Four: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution    
    Part Five: Winning and Winning    
    PDF of pamphlet with all five parts [new]

    Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points 

    ALLEGIANCE 

    State of Emergency

    Posters: What is that? Who said that? Say what? Provoke. Inspire. Drive people to the BA Interviews on The RNL Show 

    Bob Avakian on Exploitation

    THE TRIALS OF FASCIST DONALD TRUMP, AND THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THE WHOLE SYSTEM   
    Or, Don’t Be Played for Suckers by Trump’s Posturing, or the Democrats’ Posing as Defenders of Justice—We Need a Revolution and a Fundamentally Different and Far Better System
    by Bob Avakian

    CAPITALISTS, ANTI-COMMUNISTS: BLATANT HYPOCRISY, GLARING CONTRADICTION, by Bob Avakian    
    Listen to the audio of this piece by Bob Avakian

    GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS, by Bob Avakian (download PDF)

    Video: Bob Avakian on the Poisonous Notion of “The Ends Justify the Means” 

    SUPREME COURT: CHRISTIAN FASCISTS STEALING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD, by Bob Avakian

    AMERICA: Truly a Model—of DEPRAVED RACIST GENOCIDE, by Bob Avakian

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show

    SCIENTIFIC COMMUNIST THEORY AND THE PROBLEM WITH “MASS LINE”, by Bob Avakian

    ANTI-SCIENTIFIC “ANTI-AUTHORITARIANISM”: Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism, by Bob Avakian (Download PDF pamphlet)

    Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences, by Ardea Skybreak

    Bob Avakian on why he has never given up—and a response

    A Special Screening of Selections from The Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show [new]
    Tuesday, October 17, 7:30 pm
    The Hudson Theaters, Hollywood, CA

    Featured

    The Courageous Uprising in Iran—One Year Anniversary

    The Communist Revolution so Badly Needed… vs. the Anti-Communist Brainwash You’re Getting

    Raising Funds for the Revolution

    “Woke” Is a Destructive Force

    The Revolution Club

    No Nuclear War! It’s This System, not Humanity, That Needs to Become Extinct!

    Bootlickers Gallery

    From Bob Avakian

    Capitalism-Imperialism Is Destroying the Planet... Only Revolution Gives Humanity a Real Chance to Save It

     

  • ARTICLE:

    BOB AVAKIAN: A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—
    A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Bob Avakian (BA) is the most important political thinker and leader in the world today.

    Bob Avakian is completely different than the endless stream of bourgeois politicians who are put forward as “leaders,” whose goal is to maintain one variation or another of this system of capitalism-imperialism that is founded on and perpetuates itself through cruel and literally life-stealing exploitation, murderous oppression, and massive destruction, in all parts of the world. BA is a revolutionary who bases himself on the scientific understanding that this system must finally be overthrown through an organized struggle involving millions of people, and replaced with a system that is oriented to and capable of meeting the most fundamental needs of humanity and enabling humanity to become fit caretakers of the earth.

    Bob Avakian is the architect of a whole new framework of human emancipation, the new synthesis of communism, which is popularly referred to as the "new communism."

    BA is the author of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, an inspiring application of the new communism—a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for a new socialist society, whose fundamental goal is to bring about a world without classes and class distinctions, a world without exploitation and oppression, and without the destructive divisions and antagonisms among people: a communist world.

    Ardea Skybreak, a scientist with professional training in ecology and evolutionary biology, and a follower of Bob Avakian, speaks to the importance of what he has brought forward:

    Bob Avakian ... on the basis of decades of hard work [has been] developing a whole body of work—theory to advance the science of communism, to advance the science of revolution, to more deeply explain where the problems come from, what the strategy is for getting out of this mess, what the methods and approaches should be to stay on track and actually build a better world, to build a society that most human beings would want to live in. (From Science and Revolution, On the Importance of Science and the Application of Science to Society, the New Synthesis of Communism and the Leadership of Bob Avakian, An Interview with Ardea Skybreak)

    BA is a leader who is firmly convinced, on the basis of a consistently scientific method and approach, that the goal must be nothing less than all-out revolution, and who at the same time has emphasized:

    the new communism thoroughly repudiates and is determined to root out of the communist movement the poisonous notion, and practice, that “the ends justifies the means.” It is a bedrock principle of the new communism that the “means” of this movement must flow from and be consistent with the fundamental “ends” of abolishing all exploitation and oppression through revolution led on a scientific basis. (From Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary)

    As a revolutionary leader, BA also embodies this rare combination: someone who has been able to develop scientific theory on a world-class level, while at the same time having a deep understanding of and visceral connection with the most oppressed, and a highly developed ability to “break down” complex theory and make it broadly accessible.

    A leader like this has never before existed in the history of this country, and this leadership is of tremendous importance for the emancipation of all humanity.

    What is urgently needed now is for continually growing numbers of people—in the thousands, and ultimately millions—to become conscious and active followers of BA, building the revolutionary movement, based on the new communism, for which BA provides this unprecedented leadership.

    Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America cover 240

     

    "BA is the author of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, an inspiring application of the new communism—a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for a new socialist society, whose fundamental goal is to bring about a world without classes and class distinctions, a world without exploitation and oppression, and without the destructive divisions and antagonisms among people: a communist world."

    Click to read and download (PDF)

    Download poster and leaflet:

  • ARTICLE:

    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

    In the course of this talk, I will be referring to, and digging further into, key points that are put forward in two very important documents which are featured on our website revcom.us: A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized Now For A Real Revolution; and an article of mine, following up on that “Declaration and Call”: This Is A Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So, And How To Seize On This Rare Opportunity. So, for everyone getting into this talk, everyone who cares about the crucial questions it is speaking to, it is also important to take up (or return to) and get deeply into those documents as well—and to go regularly to revcom.us, and watch the weekly YouTube show Revolution—Nothing Less, both of which sharply illustrate why a real revolution is urgently needed, and is possible, what are the goals of this revolution, and how to be part of building for this revolution. What I will be speaking to here is, as the title says, a necessary foundation and a basic roadmap for this revolution.

    One other point: I am going to say what needs to be said about the way things are, why they are that way, where things are headed, and what needs to be done to radically change this in a positive way—and, as part of that, I am going to bluntly speak some truth that is bound to offend some people. I do this because the stakes in all this are so high, and (to refer to a line from Bob Dylan) the hour is getting late, and there is no time to speak falsely now. But I do this, not out of a sense that people are so deeply caught up in, that they cannot break with, ways of thinking and acting which serve to perpetuate their own oppression and degradation, and that of others as well. No, I am doing this precisely out of the understanding that masses of people not only need to, but can, make a profound break with this—that they can radically change themselves as part of, and in the process of, radically changing the world, in an emancipating way.

    So, let’s get to it.

    Bob Avakian

     

    BOB AVAKIAN:
    A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Learn more about Bob Avakian and the new communism
    A DECLARATION, A CALL TO GET ORGANIZED NOW FOR A REAL REVOLUTION

     

    cover of pamphlet Bob Avakian: This Is A Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So And How To Seize On This Rare Opportunity

     

    Here is the heart of the matter: Many people—including someone like Martin Luther King—have argued that attempting to carry out a revolution to overthrow this system is suicidal, particularly for Black people in this country—when, in fact, Black people, and masses of other oppressed and exploited people, profoundly and desperately need this revolution. The reality is that such a revolution can succeed, but this is possible, particularly up against powerful ruling forces, like in this country, only in rare times and circumstances. And here is a very important truth: This is one of those rare times and circumstances.

    This rare time must not be wasted, squandered, thrown away. Rather, revolution must be actively prepared for and vigorously, consistently worked for—now, and in an ongoing wayto build up the scientifically oriented and powerfully organized forces for, and to prepare the ground for, this revolution.

    And that is why we revolutionary communists say:

    [E]veryone who can’t stand this world the way it is ... who is sick and tired of so many people being treated as less than human ... who knows that the claim of “liberty and justice for all” is a cruel lie ... who is righteously enraged that injustice and inequality go on, and on, and on, despite false promises and honeyed words from people in power (or those seeking power) ... everyone who agonizes about where things are headed and the fact that to be young now means being denied a decent future, or any future at all ... everyone who has ever dreamed about something much better, or even wondered whether that is possible ... everyone who hungers for a world without oppression, exploitation, poverty, and destruction of the environment ... everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: You need to be part of this revolution.

    We’re talking about a real revolution, not playing around with a few changes that leave this system in place and in power, while benefitting only a small number. As the “Declaration and Call” makes very clear:

    A revolution means a force of millions, drawn from many different parts of society and organized for an all-out fight to overthrow this system and replace it with a radically different and much better economic and political system, a socialist system, based on meeting the needs of the people and carrying forward the fight for a communist world where there will finally be an end, everywhere, to the exploitation, oppression, and destruction of the environment that is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism. Anything less than this revolution will completely fail to deal with the root of all the problems or lead to the actual solution. [Emphasis added here.]

    So let’s get more deeply into why this is one of those rare times and circumstances when this revolution is possible, and what must be done for there to be a real chance for this revolution to actually succeed.

    First, let’s get clear on these BASIC TRUTHS:

    We live under a system—the system of capitalism-imperialism (capitalism is an economic and political system of exploitation and oppression, and imperialism refers to the worldwide nature of this system).

    It is this system which is the basic cause of the tremendous suffering that people, all over the world, are subjected to; and this system poses a growing threat to the very existence of humanity, in the way that this system is rapidly destroying the global environment, and in the danger of war between nuclear-armed capitalist-imperialist powers, such as the U.S. and China.

    All this is reality, and no one can escape this reality. Either we radically change it, in a positive way, or everything will be changed in a very negative way.

    To be very clear once more: Changing it in a positive way means making revolution—a real revolution, to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism and replace it with a radically different and emancipating system. For it is also a basic truth that: In today’s world, to fundamentally change society, you must seize power—overthrow the existing state power and establish a new state power.

    And here is another very important truth from the “Declaration and Call”:

    We have seen the potential for revolution powerfully demonstrated in the summer of last year (2020) when millions of people, of all races and genders, all over this country, and all around the world, rose up together against racist oppression and police murder. We have seen this potential in the mass outpourings of women, in countries all over the world, refusing to put up with being abused and degraded. This potential is also revealed in the deep distress being expressed, by scientists and millions of ordinary people, about the continually worsening climate crisis and the threat this poses to the future of humanity—a crisis this system cannot solve, but can only make worse.

    As we have also seen, when millions of people do take to the streets—and, especially when they do this not just for a day or so, expressing their feelings and then going home, with things returning quickly to “normal,” but when they do this with real determination and in a sustained way—this can change the “political atmosphere and alignment” in society as a whole, compelling every section of society, and every major ruling institution, to respond to this. To again cite a powerful example, this was the case with the massive uprising in the summer of 2020.

    But, as important as it is, millions taking to the streets, even in a sustained militant way, cannot by itself lead to fundamental change—which can only happen if the system that they are rebelling against is actually brought down.

    There have been many situations in different countries where a huge part of society has rebelled, even taking to the streets for weeks and months, but the ruling institutions, and in particular the police and military, did not “break apart,” and the people were not prepared to take the struggle to the next level—so there was no fundamental change. There have also been disastrous outcomes when people rising up in a mass revolt have mistakenly believed that, simply because their cause is just, the armed forces of the existing system will sympathize and join with them—when in fact those armed forces continued in their role as violent enforcers of the existing system and sooner or later acted to forcefully suppress the people.

    No, the existing oppressive system must be overthrown—the institutions of violent suppression of this system must finally be broken apart, defeated and dismantled by an organized revolutionary force. That is what is necessary for things to go beyond just mass protest, however militant and determined, and become a real revolution.

    Speaking specifically of this country, even in a situation where millions of people are taking to the streets, in a sustained way, in determined rebellion against oppression and injustice, and even with some among this system’s armed forces sympathizing and identifying with this, it is very unlikely that this, in itself, would lead to those armed forces splitting apart and a significant part of them joining with the people rising up in this way. (This is all the more true of the police, whose ranks are filled with hardcore right-wing brutes.)

    It is a fact that one of the objectives of the revolution—and what would be a necessary part of the strategy of the revolutionary forces—would be to win over significant parts of armed forces that start out opposing the revolution. But the possibility of this, and the way in which it could be achieved, would depend on how the revolutionary process actually unfolded.

    Later, toward the end of this talk, I will speak to this more directly, and get into some key aspects of the doctrine and strategic approach that would need to be applied by the revolutionary forces in order to have a real chance to win, when the necessary conditions for the all-out revolutionary fight had been brought into being—including the approach to winning over forces from the opposing side, in the course of that all-out fight. And, as part of that, I will talk about how, in an actual civil war, fought between opposing sections of society, things could develop in such a way that the armed forces that had been the backbone of state power, enforcing the existing capitalist-imperialist system, would split apart in the context of such a civil war—and what would be the implications of that for carrying revolution to a successful outcome.

    But, before that, it is important to get into this fundamental question: What are the necessary conditions for a revolution? In basic terms, they are:

    A crisis in society and government so deep and so disruptive of the “usual way of things,” that those who have ruled over us, for so long, can no longer do so in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept.

    A revolutionary people in the millions and millions, with their “allegiance” to this system broken, and their determination to fight for a more just society greater than their fear of the violent repression of this system.

    An organized revolutionary force—made up of continually growing numbers of people, from among the most oppressed but also from many other parts of society—a force which is grounded in, and is working systematically to apply, the most scientific approach to building for and then carrying out revolution, and which is increasingly looked to by masses of people to lead them to bring about the radical change that is urgently needed.

    To get into this further, let’s start by focusing on the first of these conditions.

    There is some important historical experience to learn from—situations where a ruling class was no longer able to rule in the “normal way” that people had been conditioned to accept, and a real possibility arose of putting an end to the existing system, even one which had been so powerfully entrenched that such a profound change had long seemed impossible. This has happened especially when the ruling class, or a section of the ruling class, of that system no longer believes in, and more or less openly abandons, what had been the “cohering norms”—the regulating set of beliefs and processes—of that system.

    An example of this kind of thing—which involved a significant change, even though it was not brought about by a real revolution—is the collapse of the Soviet Union in the years 1989-91. The Soviet Union was the world’s first socialist state, brought into being through the Russian Revolution of 1917. The truth, however, is that capitalism had actually been restored in the Soviet Union, in the mid-1950s—even as it continued for some time to maintain the façade of “socialism.” But then, in the 1980s, “reforms” were instituted that began to unravel this whole thing, and finally sections of the ruling class abandoned the pretense of socialism, and the country underwent a transformation to an openly capitalist society, dropping even its outward identity as the “USSR” (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The same kind of thing happened in some Eastern European countries that had been under the effective domination of the Soviet Union—countries where there were massive uprisings, the ruling structures split apart, and the result was a change from disguised capitalism to open capitalism—a major change, even if not a real revolution.

    This, again, is part of a more general phenomenon where major change, and even a real revolution, can become possible (or more possible) not simply when there is a deep crisis in society, and not just when the ruling forces are seriously divided, but when they actually split apart, and the old way of ruling can no longer hold. Another example of this kind of thing is the creation of the Soviet Union itself, resulting from the Russian Revolution. This occurred during World War 1, in which millions of Russian people died and the masses of people overall suffered tremendous hardship. In this critical situation, the ruling forces of that country split, resulting first in the overthrow of the long-entrenched rule of absolute monarchs (the Tsars), but with an opening created for a revolution that overthrew the exploiting classes as a whole, including the bourgeois forces that were attempting to consolidate capitalist rule without the Tsars.

    Or, to take another important example, this time from the history of this country: Why did so many Black people (nearly two hundred thousand) join the Union Army fighting against the southern Confederacy during the Civil War in the 1860s? Because the country, and those who ruled it, had split apart, and masses of Black people could sense that, in this situation, there was a real possibility of putting an end to their enslaved condition, which did happen as a result of that Civil War.

    How does this kind of thing apply to this country now? As is becoming more clear every day, there are deep, and continually deepening, divisions not only in this country overall but among the ruling powers of this system. And, as I will get into more fully in a little while, one part of those ruling powers, represented by the Republican Party, no longer believes in or feels bound by what have been the “cohering norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. This is leading, and will increasingly lead, to further, deepening divisions and bitter clashes throughout society, as well as “at the top.” All the ruling institutions of this system will be increasingly affected by this. The polarization will continue to sharpen, with forces grouped around and led by the Republican Party becoming even more aggressive in insisting on imposing, including by violent means, their vision of what “makes America great,” with all the very real horrors, on top of horrors, that this involves.

    All this in itself will have contradictory effects—some definitely negative, but some positive, or with positive potential. And, as this unfolds, this profound truth will be more and more forcefully demonstrated: The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means.

    With all this, what is urgently needed, what is possible—and what must be actively, tirelessly worked for, in order for there to truly be a positive outcome to all this—is a fundamentally different alignment in the country as a whole: a Repolarization that is favorable for, and brings forward the necessary forces for, Revolution—a real revolution to overthrow this system, and bring into being a radically different and much better system.

    But why, and how, could it be possible to bring about such a repolarization for a real revolution?

    This is because of something that is very different, in a very profound way, from what has been, for generations, the “normal situation” in this country. I spoke to how this has come about, in the following from “Rare Time”:

    Even though “democracy, with liberty and justice for all” is a cruel lie, this lie has been crucial for the rulers of this country to keep things together under this system—and especially to keep people who are oppressed under this system believing in the possibility of making this system more just. This is why both ruling class parties generally agreed, for a long time, to work within the same framework for ruling this country—they agreed to accept the results of elections and bring about “the peaceful transfer of power” between the different representatives of this same system, whether Democrat or Republican.

    With changing conditions in this country, and in the world as a whole, over the time since the end of World War 2 (75 years ago), it has been necessary for the ruling class, in order to maintain “order and stability” in this country, to make certain concessions to the struggle against white supremacy, male supremacy, and some other oppressive relations, while at the same time insisting that this is all part of “creating a more perfect union” and “further perfecting the great democracy that has always existed in this country.” This has also been necessary in order for the rulers of this country to continue promoting it as “the leader of the free world,” which they say must remain the dominant power in the world—but which, in reality, is the most oppressive and destructive power, plundering masses of people as well as the earth.

    But a section of the ruling capitalist class, represented by the Republican Party, has all along resisted even these partial concessions to the fight against oppression, and has become convinced that these changes have now gone too far, that they threaten to destroy what has held this country together and enabled it to dominate the world.

    The Republicans have become a fascist party—a party based on open and aggressive white supremacy, male supremacy and other oppressive relations—a party convinced that only it deserves to rule, moving to manipulate elections and suppress votes in order to gain and hold onto power, refusing to accept the outcome of elections it does not win, determined to gut and pervert “the rule of law,” trample on people’s rights, and adopt what amounts to an undisguised capitalist dictatorship, ready to use violence not only against masses of people but also against its rivals in the ruling class.

    These Republicans have mobilized a significant section of people who believe, with an intense, irrational passion, that white supremacy, male supremacy, and other oppressive relations (as well as unrestrained plunder of the environment) must be firmly upheld and enforced. They have been driven to a state of vicious insanity, embracing all kinds of lunatic conspiracy theories, along with a crazed Christian fundamentalism, as a response to the threat they see to their entitled (or “god-ordained”) position and their insistence that further concessions to the struggle against oppression will destroy what has “made America great.”

    Every day, and in a thousand ways, the reality screams out that there is no living together with this fascist lunacy—and no one should want to! There is no way that any decent person should want to live in the society, and world, that these fascists are determined, that they are willing to kill, to bring into being.

    As I wrote in my New Year’s Statement, this January (2021):

    Biden and the Democrats cannot “bring the country together,” as they falsely claim, because there can be no “reconciliation” with these fascists—whose “grievances” are based on fanatical resentment against any limitation on white supremacy, male supremacy, xenophobia (hatred of foreigners), rabid American chauvinism, and the unrestrained plundering of the environment, and are increasingly expressed in literally lunatic terms. There can be no “reconciliation” with this, other than on the terms of these fascists, with all the terrible implications and consequences of that!

    Early in his campaign for president, Biden bragged about how, as a senator, he was able to work with white supremacist, southern segregationists! Now, he is still trying to work with the blatant white supremacists and outright fascists of the Republican Party. But, try as he might, they are not willing to work with him—except on their terms.

    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.

    And:

    This rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people.

    It is extremely important to deeply understand this:

    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.

    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.

    With the Republicans’ continuation of the Big Lie that the last (2020) presidential election was stolen from Trump, their moves to suppress votes, and their whole orientation that, in any case, with regard to the 2024 presidential election (assuming there is one), the only acceptable outcome is that they are declared and confirmed as the winner—all this has made clear that they will allow no “peaceful transfer of power” in government, unless it results in their coming to power. Growing numbers of fascist-oriented people in this country are prepared to use violence in pursuit of their perverse notion of “making America great again”—and the Republican leadership is ready to resort to this, if they cannot come to power otherwise. Already Republican elected officials, including members of Congress, are whipping up sentiments in favor of such violence and supporting fascist mobs who have engaged in this violence.

    In the situation of the 2020 presidential election, defeating and ousting Trump through that election was possible, and was important to do, as a tactical move to prevent the further consolidation of fascist rule right then. Even with that electoral defeat, however, Trump and his supporters nearly succeeded in pulling off a coup that would have resulted in his remaining in power, in defiance of the outcome of the election and the “peaceful transfer of power” from one section of the ruling class to another. And things have moved, and are continuing to rapidly move, beyond the situation that existed with that 2020 election and in its immediate aftermath.

    Further, this system’s electoral process itself works against the kind of fundamental change that is now urgently needed. Among other things, it lowers people’s horizons, restricting “realistic choices” to what is possible within the confines of this system and conditioning people to view and approach things on the terms of this system. Continuing to vote for Democrats, and attempting, through the electoral process, to prevent a successful Republican-fascist seizure and consolidation of power, will very likely fail, and more fundamentally will contribute to the continuation of things on the disastrous course they are now on, with terrible consequences for the billions of people on this planet—for humanity as a whole.

    As I emphasized in my New Year’s Statement:

    The electoral defeat of the Trump/Pence regime only “buys some time”—both in relation to the imminent danger posed by the fascism this regime represents, and more fundamentally in terms of the potentially existential crisis humanity is increasingly facing as a consequence of being bound to the dynamics of this system of capitalism-imperialism. But, in essential terms, time is not on the side of the struggle for a better future for humanity.

    Time, and with it the current momentum of things toward a disastrous outcome, is moving on. The time that still does exist must not be squandered in what would, especially now, be meaningless maneuvering within the framework of this system and its elections. This time must be seized, with the necessary urgency, to build toward the only resolution that can avoid that disaster, and wrench something truly positive out of all this: an actual revolution.

    Through the rest of this talk, I am going to speak more fully to what needs to be done in order for there to be the basis to actually make this revolution; and toward the end of this talk, I will turn directly to the basic approach to waging the all-out fight for revolution, with a real chance to win. But here a crucial truth needs to be emphasized: 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.

    The basic way to do this is laid out in the “Declaration and Call.” First of all:

    We need to urgently change the situation where not nearly enough people know about this revolution and are with it. We need to get this revolution, and its leadership, known everywhere. We need to challenge and seriously struggle with people right around us, and all over the country, to do something that, yes, requires real heart and will make a positive difference for real—become part of this revolution, and follow this revolutionary leadership. We need to organize more and more people into the ranks of the revolution.

    So what does it mean to go to work now to organize people into this revolution? As the “Declaration and Call” explains:

    Organizing people into this revolution means reaching out to all sorts of people—not just where there are protests and rebellions against oppression and injustice, but everywhere throughout society—spreading the word about revolution and getting people together (in real life and online) to grapple with why an actual revolution is necessary, what such a revolution involves, and what kind of society this is aiming for. This will enable people who are new to the revolution to themselves become organizers for this revolution and to recruit more and more people to do the same. On this basis, and through the growing ranks of the revolution acting together as an increasingly powerful force, it will be possible to attract and organize the necessary numbers, and build up the necessary strength, to be in the position to do what needs to be done.

    We need to struggle hard with people to take up the orientation and strategy, the values and goals, for this revolution, and dedicate themselves to working for this revolution, while we unite growing numbers to fight the abuse, brutality and destruction perpetrated by this system, and through all this get thousands and then millions of people prepared and steeled to do away with this system that brings so much hell to people. We need to wield this growing revolutionary force to stand up to this system and its murderous enforcers and to change the whole “terrain” (the political, social and cultural situation and “atmosphere”) throughout society, in order to weaken the hold of this system over people, win people away from acting to strengthen and enforce this system, and create the best possible conditions for this revolution to succeed.

    Along with that, this basic understanding and approach needs to be consistently applied:

    An important principle and method in organizing people into the revolution is the understanding that, while revolution requires serious commitment, people’s level of commitment will, at any given time, “essentially correspond to and [be] grounded in what aspirations have been awakened, or brought forward [in them], and what they are coming to understand is required in relation to that,” and this commitment “should proceed from what they themselves have been won (yes, won through struggle, even at times sharp struggle) to see as a necessary and essential contribution to the revolution.” People can start with basic tasks that they can readily carry out and feel confident doing which make a real contribution to building the revolution, and can learn to take on more responsibility as they gain more experience and a deeper understanding. The important thing is that they are part of the process of building the revolution, together with others. These principles and methods should be kept clearly in mind and applied at all stages of people’s involvement with the revolution, to enable them to continue advancing in understanding and commitment.

    (That is from Part II of my speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution.)

    As the “Declaration and Call” makes clear, in order to win masses of people to revolution, there is a tremendous amount of struggle that needs to go on, not just against the system that is the source of the horrors that people are continually subjected to, but also against ways of thinking and acting among the people that actually “internalize,” and serve to perpetuate, this system and the ways of thinking it promotes, with its monstrously oppressive relations and putrid values—ways of thinking and acting that work against the repolarization that is urgently needed to have a real chance at seizing on this rare opportunity to make revolution.

    In Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis, I pointed to the characterization of the current polarization by the fascist former Republican congressman Steve King—that there is a lot of talk about another civil war, and one side (the fascist side) is heavily armed (with 8 trillion bullets) while the other (“woke”) side can’t decide which bathroom to use. Even as this involves some real distortion, and definite slander against trans people, there is a demented insight, and too much of the truth, in this observation by that fascist King. And, if this polarization remains essentially unchanged, it will have even worse implications, as things develop and further intensify.

    Very much related to and an expression of this, is the reality that today, particularly among the middle classes, things are still way too much in line with the words of the poet Yeats: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” It is fascists who have declared “this is war!”—who viscerally feel that the way things are going is completely intolerable to them, is an existential threat to a way of life and a country that they believe is worth being part of. And, in their demented minds, the government (or government that is in the hands of, or strongly influenced by, the Democrats) is working to continue things on this course, and is therefore completely illegitimate. At the same time, among what can rightly be called “decent people,” who are opposed to these fascists, there is way too much obliviousness, ignorance and ignore-ance—or even continuing denial—of what is going on, way too much being lulled by a sleepy sense that the way things are going is favorable to how they want things to go, or at least that “things will work out” in a way that is in accord with their inclinations. Or, to the degree that there is a recognition that this is not the case (for example, with the accelerating environmental crisis), this has led far too much to defeatism, cynicism, and passivity.

    But that is not all there is to the problem. As I also noted in Hope For Humanity:

    [A]nother element of this that we can’t overlook is that, while a lot of what [Steve] King describes applies in a certain demented way, particularly to progressive or so-called “woke” middle class people, there is another kind of problem with regard to more basic oppressed people, and in particular the youth—a big problem that their guns are now aimed at each other ... this is something that needs to be radically transformed in building a movement for an actual revolution.

    I will have more to say that relates to this, later. But here it is important to call attention to what has been, so far at least, the “soft” treatment of those who took part in the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol and Trump’s attempted coup—the low level charges and lenient sentences being handed down in the court cases around this, as well as the fact that there has been no move to indict Trump and other top fascist political figures. This calls to mind the way things were handled in Germany, with the rise of the NAZI fascist movement there, headed by Hitler. In the 1920s, Hitler led what came to be called the “Beer Hall Putsch”—a clumsy attempt to come to power through a poorly organized coup that lacked the necessary planning and support. But Hitler in particular was treated very leniently, and this “Beer Hall Putsch” became in effect a dress rehearsal for the later seizure and consolidation of power by the NAZIs, the crushing of any effective opposition, and all the horrific NAZI atrocities that followed. (The parallel is captured in what some people today have put forward regarding the coup attempt by Trump and his supporters in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and in particular the storming of the Capitol on January 6: “What do you call a failed coup? A dress rehearsal!”)

    Meanwhile, what is the situation “on the other side of the divide,” and particularly among people who claim to be “woke”? It must be bluntly said that “woke” is becoming a joke—a bad joke. The slogan we revcoms have raised, “You Think You’re Woke But You’re Sleepwalking Through A Nightmare,” captures something very important. But it needs to be added that this “wokeness,” with its evading of and diversion from the real struggle that needs to be waged, and its substituting of “word changing” and “cancel culture” in place of this struggle, is actually contributing to and furthering this nightmare.

    A ridiculous, and outrageous, example of this is the ACLU’s butchering of a statement by former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg about a woman’s right to abortion: The ACLU actually replaced “woman” with “person” (and “she/her” with “they/their”)! This is part of a larger phenomenon which, in the name of trans rights, actually pushes in the direction of erasing women, conceptually. But rhetorically erasing the concept of women does not, and cannot, erase the reality of the existence, and the horrific oppression, of billions of women in this real world. What it actually does is undermine the massive, militant struggle that is urgently needed against the mounting attacks on, and the further fastening of the chains of oppression on, the half of humanity that is female.

    If the ACLU, and others, who have done good things in the past, continue on this course, they will undermine much of the good they have done, and much they could still do, and need to do.

    Do these “woke” and “progressive” people really believe that a focus on changing terms (nouns, pronouns, etc.) will actually lead to changing the world, in a positive way?

    Do they really believe that calling oppression “agency” makes it less oppressive (for example, when women are caught up in prostitution and pornography, does calling this “agency” on their part make this something other than horrific oppression to which those women are subjected, and which does great harm to all women)?

    Do they really think that having more “inclusion” of oppressed people in the dominant institutions and the structures of power of this system of capitalism-imperialism will actually change the fundamentally, and horrifically, oppressive nature of this system? (The First Black President... First female Vice-President... First Asian... First Latinx... First Gay... First Trans... First... SAME SYSTEM!)

    Or is the deeper problem that these “progressive” and “woke” people have just given up on, or never really thought about, working for change that would actually lead to ending oppression?

    With regard to “woke folk”—and in particular the whole “cancel culture” thing—it needs be said: Masses of people are being brutalized and savaged, the world is burning (literally as well as figuratively) and you are preoccupied with changing the faces of those who preside over these horrors, and spitting on people if they don’t use nouns and pronouns that you approve of, or in some other way violate the constantly mutating standards of “wokeness.”

    This ties in with the discussion in Breakthroughs of a certain attitude and approach—“striking a pose to intimidate”—that was sharply criticized by Mao Zedong (the leader of the Chinese revolution, and what was a revolutionary socialist state in China until his death in 1976, whose “little red book” of quotations was widely read by people all over the world, including Black people, youth of all nationalities, and others in the U.S.). “Striking a pose to intimidate,” Mao made clear, is useless against the enemy, and does real harm among the people. As I pointed out in Breakthroughs:

    [I]dentity politics, and in particular the posturing that all too often accompanies it, is only “useful” among people who will be intimidated by this, and in fact such intimidation does a great deal of harm. That’s what Mao meant when he said this kind of thing does great harm among the people. Intimidating people rather than winning them to a scientific understanding of reality, and what needs to be done about it, can only do harm among the people, and it’s absolutely useless against those who have real power.

    Along with this, it has to be said that there is too much of people being absorbed in “trauma culture”—where any insult or affront, or challenge to one’s cherished beliefs, is treated as actual trauma, and any real trauma that is suffered becomes a motivation to turn inward to focus on individual “self-care.”

    In Hope For Humanity, I emphasized this:

    The trauma that results from directly suffering horrific forms of oppression and degradation is very real, and no one should deny or underestimate that—but, instead of an individual “turning inwards,” this needs to be transformed into anger and determination to be part of a collective struggle to put an end to all the atrocities, everywhere, whose fundamental source and cause is this system of capitalism-imperialism.

    But, along with “trauma culture”—and I am going to call this out, even though it may “overlap” with some of what is asserted by fascists, coming from a completely opposite place and with completely opposite objectives—it is too much the case that, despite often ill-founded, ridiculous and even cartoonish references to “badass” this and that, too many people are being encouraged and conditioned to be “soft crybabies”!

    Here I have to say: Enough of “woke folk” who act as if it is actually oppressed people (or, as they like to say, the “marginalized”) who are fragile beings constantly in need of the protection of “safe spaces,” lest they fall apart at the mere appearance of a “triggering” phenomenon. And since when are universities and other institutions supposed to be places where you are “safe”—not just from physical violence of one kind or another, and from overtly threatening or clearly degrading verbal assaults, but from ideas, statements, etc., that simply make you uncomfortable?! How are you going to “change the world” if you are in danger of falling apart at things like that? Again, from Hope For Humanity:

    [I]n any real struggle to deal with any real oppression, up against powerful enforcers of that oppression, you are going to have to face the prospect of real sacrifice, including the prospect of being physically attacked. And if you think that you can carve out little safe enclaves, and that this is somehow going to lead to any kind of significant change in society, you are full of illusions and delusions.

    To add to the problem, this is often accompanied by attempts to sideline and silence others who, according to this scheme of things, occupy a “privileged” and not a “marginalized,” status.

    This is all an expression of extremely lowered sights—with a marked tendency to identify the “enemy” as people who may have more “privilege,” rather than the system of capitalism-imperialism, its fundamental relations, and its institutions of authority and power, which embody and enforce the terrible exploitation and oppression that masses of people here, and literally billions of people around the world, are subjected to.

    Here again we are back to Mao’s point about striking a pose to intimidate—that it is useless against the actual enemy and does real harm among the people.

    All this represents the influence of forces proceeding from a bourgeois (or petty bourgeois) outlook and aspirations—seeking a re-arrangement which will provide them (and perhaps some others like them) with a better position within this horrific system of oppression, and trying to force opposition to injustice into the framework and in the service of this objective.

    So, once again, with all this in mind, and with regard to the society overall, what is profoundly and urgently needed is repolarization—for revolution: winning growing numbers of people away from support for either side in the division among the ruling powers that are seeking to maintain and enforce this system, in one form or another, away from those promoting deadly illusions and self-serving goals which are dead-end, non-solutions for the masses of people.

    This goes back to the first of the three conditions for revolution—the deep divisions among the ruling powers—and more particularly that, with the conflicts among the ruling forces increasingly becoming really deep and sharp, masses of people respond to this not by falling in behind one side or the other of the oppressive rulers—not by acting in ways that serve to perpetuate and reinforce the oppressive rule of this system—but by taking advantage of this situation to build up the forces for revolution.

    It is true that there are a lot of very bad things connected with the present polarization and the whole trajectory things are on, and this could lead to something really terrible; but it is also true, and of profound importance, that it is possible that we could wrench something really positive out of it—revolution, to put an end to this system and bring something much better into being. But, once more, this requires recognizing the situation, and the current trajectory of things, for what they are—and responding in a way and on a level that is commensurate with this, is in accordance with the profound stakes involved—acting to change things, urgently, toward the goal of getting rid of this whole system, and replacing it with something radically different and much better.

    The reality now is that the fascist section of the ruling class, represented by and concentrated in the Republican Party, is actively and aggressively engaged in a “two-pronged” move to achieve and consolidate fascist rule. These “two prongs” are: corrupting and controlling the electoral process and key government institutions; and the threat and use of violence, including through the mobilization of violent mobs. These fascists are, for now, relying mainly on the first, but with the second (violence) as an “accompaniment” to this—which could become their main means, if that proves necessary for them. In any case, if they succeed, the full power of the government—including the executive power of the presidency, the courts and legal apparatus, the prisons, as well as the police and the military—will be wielded to crush any effective opposition to fascist rule and to forcefully impose its program of “restoring” America to its mythological “greatness” on the basis of aggressive white supremacy, crude and brutal male supremacy and suppression of LGBT people, xenophobia (hatred and persecution of foreigners and immigrants, particularly from what Trump infamously referred to as “shithole countries”), forceful assertion and chauvinistic trumpeting of American dominance and “the superiority of western civilization,” along with willful rejection of science and the scientific method, especially where it would interfere with unrestrained plunder of the environment, as well as people.

    Given the nature, objectives and actions of the fascists, there is the real possibility of actual civil war. But given the nature, objectives and actions of the “mainstream” section of the ruling class (as represented by the Democratic Party and media such as MSNBC, the New York Times and CNN), and given the current situation with those, from different parts of society, who tend to support, and politically tail behind, this “mainstream” section of the ruling class, it is possible that the fascists could achieve and consolidate power without a civil war, but with all the terrible consequences that would follow this fascist consolidation of power. Or, as emphasized in the “Declaration and Call,” in what would amount to a one-sided civil war, these fascists could carry out a slaughter of those they hate, including Black people and other people of color, “illegal immigrants,” “uppity women” and those who don’t conform to “traditional” sexual and gender relations and “norms.”

    In any case, it is a deadly serious reality that these fascists are determined to crush—as violently as necessary—anyone and anything, anywhere in society, that stands in the way of implementing their horrific objectives.

    This puts an exclamation point on what the “Declaration and Call” says immediately after this:

    This situation needs to be radically changed, to where there are masses of people prepared to defeat these fascists and to do so as part of getting rid of this whole system, which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates.

    The Democrats will never, and can never, fight these fascists in the way they need to be fought, because that requires getting into the real nature of this system, and bringing out the fact that these fascists, as grotesque as they are, are in fact a grotesque expression of the very system that the Democrats themselves are an expression of, and are working to perpetuate. Most fundamentally: The purpose and aim cannot be simply to defeat these fascists, as an end in itself, with the orientation of somehow returning things to the “normal” way this horrific system of capitalism-imperialism has operated for more than a century.

    This is not the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, when the goal of those fighting against injustice was to abolish slavery, and—in terms of who ruled society—the only possible positive outcome was the consolidation and strengthening of the rule of the rising capitalist class centered in the North. That time is now long gone. And this system of capitalism, which has developed into a system of worldwide exploitation and oppression, capitalism-imperialism, is long outmoded—long past its expiration date, long past any circumstances where it could play any positive role. The goal now must precisely be getting rid of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism.

    The character of a new civil war would have significantly different features from that previous civil war of 1861-65, where one geographic part of the country, the southern Confederacy, attempted to secede and form a separate country in that territory. Today, the forces of fascism among the population are again concentrated in the South, as well as in rural areas throughout the country; but, in the South and throughout the country, they are closely connected, geographically, with sections of the population that are opposed to this fascism. Any new civil war would be fought between opposing forces that would be in close proximity to each other—in a real sense intertwined geographically—around the country. This would have both advantages and disadvantages for the people on the positive side of such a civil war, and this would need to be taken into account in their approach to fighting that civil war.

    (The “Red States/Blue States” picture, which is constantly presented in the mainstream media, is very misleading in terms of the geographic and political divisions in the country. It does not present an accurate picture of population concentration—of which sections of the people are actually concentrated where, and in what numbers, within the existing states. Of particular importance, it downplays the concentration of people in this country as a whole in urban areas, including the suburbs around the inner city cores, and the concentration of masses of oppressed people especially in those inner city cores. It downplays the strong opposition to the fascists that exists among large numbers of people in the urban areas. This mainstream presentation of things is meant to reinforce the sense that the only possibility is the continuation of this system of capitalism-imperialism, and the only choice is between the two parties representing the ruling class of this system: the “red” Republican Party or the “blue” Democratic Party. And, by the way, with the color red historically associated with communism, the “appropriation” of this color in association with the fascist Republican Party is an abomination!)

    The current polarization, even on the positive side, among those opposed to the fascists, is not what is needed, and will not meet the profound and urgent challenge of these times. For the reasons discussed in this talk, there can be no real and lasting defeat of these fascists on the terms of the Democrats, on the terms of what have been, for generations, the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. Fundamentally, there can be no resolution to this, under this system, which will be in the interests of the masses of people, not just in this country but in the world as a whole. Once more, what is urgently needed is a very different polarization than what exists today—a repolarization—for revolution.

    And, once again as well—without being absolute about this—there is a limited time frame within which this repolarization must be achieved. If things continue as they are, with the fascist offensive by the Republican Party and its base becoming even more aggressive and powerful, then it is very likely that their “two-pronged offensive” will succeed, that they will utilize the changes they are forcing through state governments and key parts of the federal government, in particular the courts, to regain and consolidate control of the country as a whole, move forward with a vengeance to implement their fascist program, and forcefully suppress, as violently as necessary, any effective opposition.

    The urgency of this situation—and the urgent need for repolarization, for revolution—must be clearly understood, and forcefully conveyed to masses of people. This must be done in a compelling way, without hype (and there is no need for hype to describe the critical situation and urgent stakes). While it is crucially important to unite with people in rising up against the terrible injustices and outrages constantly perpetrated by this system, and to continually bring alive the possibility of a radically different and emancipating alternative, once again it needs to be stressed: It is necessary to wage a tireless struggle to break people out of the ways of thinking, and acting, that in fact keep them chained to this system and contribute to perpetuating this system, in one form or another.

    Fatalism, and defeatism—the belief that nothing can be done to change the terrible situation and bleak future humanity is now facing, that no positive radical change is possible—this way of thinking itself must be defeated, overcome both through sharp struggle and by bringing alive and popularizing the possibility for a radically different and better world, through revolution, which is grounded in a scientific, materialist approach to and understanding of the real world and the actual possibility for its positive radical transformation. Overall—and above all in terms of the basic masses, the bitterly oppressed people who must become the backbone of this revolution—overcoming this defeatism, and bringing about the necessary repolarization, must be carried out, and can only be achieved, through a powerful combination of fierce ideological struggle among the people, to win growing numbers to a scientific understanding of the situation we face and the actual solution to this, together with determined resistance against this oppressive system—all of which must be led to contribute to building up the forces and creating the political alignment necessary for revolution.

    While masses of people urgently need this revolution, it is all too true that, right now, the great majority of them are thinking in a lot of wrong ways. To put things straight-up, they don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses! This needs to be radically changed—and can be, but only through a tremendous amount of sharp struggle. As I have said before (in “Rare Time”):

    It is the responsibility of everyone who recognizes the profound need for revolution—and the rare possibility in a time like this to actually make revolution—to wage a tireless, and at times fierce, struggle to win more and more people to make a radical rupture with the confining and degrading terms of this system, and to take up, and act on, the revolutionary orientation and motivation that is put forward in the “Declaration and Call.”

    Instead of “staying in your lane,” and “going for self,” while this system is moving to even more decisively crush any hope for a world worth living in, people need to be looking at the bigger picture, focusing on the greater interests of humanity and the possibility for a far better world—and acting to make this a reality.

    Instead of finding excuses to go along with the way things have been, standing apart from (or even bad-mouthing) the revolution, people need to get with this revolution, and not throw away the rare opportunity to be part of bringing something much better into being.

    Instead of lashing out with individual acts of frustration, or attempts to take on this system with small, isolated forces that have no chance of succeeding, people need to pour their anger, and their hatred for injustice, into building a movement of millions that could have a real chance to defeat this system and make a real revolution.

    Instead of fighting and killing each other, what people need to be doing now is uniting to defend each other—opposing all unjust violence, not launching attacks on anyone but at the same time not allowing the police or “civilian” fascist thugs to wantonly brutalize and murder people. And people need to do this as part of building up the forces for revolution.

    Instead of snarking and sniping at each other, and being divided by “identities,” people should be working to unite everyone, from every part of society, who can be united in the fight against oppression and injustice, with the goal of putting an end to this system that is the source of this oppression and injustice.

    Instead of being a tail on the Democratic donkey—with its attempt to keep this monstrous system going, and to deal with the growing fascist danger, by relying on the “normal procedures” of this system and doomed efforts to “heal the divisions” that are deepening every day—people need to work for the revolution that is urgently needed, and deal with the fascist danger as part of doing that.

    Running through much of the situation today is the problem of individualism—“going for self” regardless of the effect on other people, and on humanity as a whole—which is encouraged and expressed in extreme forms in this particular society at this time, and is often combined and intertwined with a lack of hope for anything better in this world. Again, from Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis:

    Lack of real hope for a better life in this world is a heavy chain weighing down, suffocating and deeply scarring the masses of humanity, including the youth who are concentrated in the ghettos and barrios of this country as well as its overflowing torture chamber prisons. And the extreme individualism promoted throughout this society, the obsessive focus on “the self,” has reinforced the heavy lid on the sights of people, obscuring their ability to recognize the possibility of a radically different and better world, beyond the narrow and confining limits of this system, with all its very real horrors.

    Along with other negative trends, there is the way that people’s sense that the world is fucked up beyond repair, and things are just going to keep going to hell, leads them to just try to get what they can for themselves now, before it’s too late. So people need hope—not hype but real hope that is based on a scientific method and approach to understanding the world as it actually is and the possibility of changing it, in the way it can be changed, to bring a radically different and much better world into being, through a real revolution. They need the scientifically based sweeping vision, and concrete blueprint, for a radically different and emancipating society that is set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have authored.

    They need the fundamental approach to understanding reality, and the basis and possibility for radically changing it, that is concentrated in the following:

    [T]he systems that characterize the societies that people live in ... are historically evolved. This means that changes in human society are based, and can only be based, on transforming what already exists in that society, on the foundation of the forces of production that have been developed at any given time [the land and raw materials, factories and other production facilities, machinery and other technology, and the people, with their knowledge and abilities].

    And even revolutionary changes—a radical leap from one system to another—can only proceed on the basis of transforming what exists. This cannot be done by coming up with ideas or notions about how society “ought” to be, if those ideas or notions have no basis in the existing reality.

    What is crucially important to understand is that the basis now exists to enable the billions of people on this planet to have the means for a decent life, worthy of human beings—a life that is continually being enriched, not just materially but socially, intellectually and culturally. But, at the same time, the way human society has developed under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism has led to a highly “lopsided” world, where billions of people in the world live in horrific conditions of oppression and misery, with millions of children in the Third World dying each year from starvation and preventable diseases....

    It is the productive forces that have been developed under the capitalist-imperialist system that actually provide the material basis to move beyond all this. But, at the same time, it is this system, with its mode of production based on exploitative relations of production, that is the direct barrier to making this a reality—is a chain on the masses of people throughout the world, and on humanity overall.

    That is from the article Why The World Is So Messed Up, And What Can Be Done to Radically Change This—A Basic Scientific Understanding. As I pointed out in that article: The resolution to this howling contradiction between what are now the conditions of the masses of humanity, and what is actually possible—the only resolution that is in the interests of those masses, and ultimately all of humanity—is through the revolution to overthrow this system and replace it with a socialist system on the road to a communist world. Bringing this fundamental understanding to people is crucial, in order for them to really have hope, on a scientific foundation.

    But the fact is that there is not only a lack of hope among many, but also a lack of searching—for an understanding of why the world is so messed up, and can anything be done to really change this. This needs to be strongly and deeply challenged, through the promotion of broad debate about these literally life and death matters, and a tremendous amount of struggle over the big question: what is the fundamental problem humanity is facing, and what is the solution?—or, put in basic terms, reform vs. revolution, working within this system, or overthrowing it and replacing it with a radically different system. This needs to be vigorously taken up and fiercely debated and struggled out among people in all parts of society—including students, academics and other intellectuals, people in the arts and the professions, as well as people with only a limited formal education—all of whom can be, and need to be, seriously engaged with these vital and urgent questions.

    To return to the current lack of searching: this is linked in many cases with self-absorbed individualism, either blindly and blithely oblivious or virulently poisonous. Once more from Hope For Humanity:

    Individualism is a significant factor and “unifying element” in much of the negative trends that play a major role in keeping people from recognizing the reality and depth of the horrors continually brought about by this system—and recognizing the urgent need to act, together with others, to abolish and uproot all this, at its very source.

    And:

    [T]he terrible suffering of the masses of humanity and the urgent challenges facing humanity as a whole as a result of the escalating destruction of the environment by this system of capitalism-imperialism as well as the possibility of nuclear conflagration that continues to loom as an existential threat over humanity—all this cannot be seriously addressed, let alone actually solved, by each person pursuing their particular individual interests, and in fact people acting in this way constitutes a major obstacle to bringing about the necessary solution.

    This individualism, in turn, is based, to a very significant extent, in parasitism—living in this country that is sitting atop the imperialist food chain, deriving benefits from the exploitation and misery of millions and billions of people worldwide. This applies not just to the section of people in this country that is really well off, but also to the large number who are scrambling to make it through the day, the week, or the month: for them in particular there is a kind of toxic combination of having to struggle and scrounge to get through, and at the same time benefitting to some degree from imperialist parasitism. The effect of all this is to make it seem possible, and/or to seem necessary, to ignore what is going on in the larger world. But, in reality, there is, and increasingly there will be, no ignoring what is happening in that larger world, and no avoiding the consequences of failing to confront and radically transform this.

    Yes, it is true: YOLO. But, since you only live once, you should make it count for something—something much bigger than yourself—being part of an historic revolution to free all oppressed people, and bring in a new day for all humanity, with whole new horizons of freedom and life with meaning for human beings, way beyond what is possible now, when we are still forced to live under this monstrosity of a system which denies a decent life to billions of people on this planet and has no decent future, or no future at all, for those of the younger generations.

    Parasitic individualism needs to be directly, sharply, and deeply challenged, as it is a major obstacle in the way of people seeking out the answers to the profound and accelerating crisis and potential catastrophe that people, not just in this country but in the world as a whole, are facing (whether or not they recognize, or acknowledge, it). And this individualism prevents people from acting together, as a revolutionary force, to wrench something positive out of all this ongoing madness.

    In both immediate and overall strategic terms, very much bound up with challenging this parasitic individualism is waging substantial, determined, relentless struggle against American chauvinism—the disgusting notion that America and Americans are better and more important than everybody else. As I have pointed out before, this is a poison infecting people broadly in this country, even among the bitterly oppressed; and a positive, revolutionary resolution to the current course of things cannot be brought about unless masses of people break with this American chauvinism. One of the main, and most ugly, manifestations of this American chauvinism is the sickening support, even among large numbers of “progressive” and “woke” people, for the U.S. military—with all this nauseating “thank you for your service”—a “service” which consists of horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity in enforcing the interests and objectives of the most exploitative, oppressive, and destructive social force in the world: U.S. capitalist imperialism. Combating this, and winning people to reject and repudiate this—among all sectors of society—is crucial now, and has definite strategic implications, in building for and then carrying out the revolution that is urgently needed.

    So people need to be jolted awake, to reality—to the reality of this system of capitalism-imperialism, the reality of where things are heading right now, with terrible consequences if things continue on this course—and the reality of the possibility, and the urgent need, to wrench something positive out of this, through a real revolution.

    Another important dimension of the straight-up, hardcore struggle that needs to be waged with people, including bitterly oppressed people, is spoken to in the following in Part 3 of my New Year’s Statement:

    Given the tight connection between militant patriarchy and fascism, it is not surprising that some (though clearly a minority of) Black and Latino men have been drawn to support for Trump, despite his overt white supremacy. (This includes some who are or have been prominent in rap music. While there have been positive forces and elements in rap and Hip Hop overall, what has been increasingly promoted is a culture that is full of, not to say dominated by, misogynistic degradation of women, as well as admiration for the kind of hustler gangsterism that is one of Trump’s defining “qualities.”) It is also not surprising that even significant numbers of women (mainly white women but also some Latina and other women of color) have been drawn to this fascism, as the phenomenon of the oppressed clinging to “tradition’s chains” that oppress them is unfortunately all too common.

    There must be determined struggle against the “macho” bullshit of all too many Black and Latino men—a “warrior mentality” of the wrong kind, which also characterizes far too many Native American men, in their own particular way, with their utterly misplaced, and frankly perverse, pride in being part of the same U.S. military that carried out the genocide against these original peoples in America. There must also be sharp struggle against the ways that, among the other half of humanity, which is female, the phenomenon of the oppressed acting in ways that oppress them not only involves clinging to highly oppressive patriarchal religious tradition but also takes the form of aggressively reveling in and flaunting what is objectively highly demeaning “sexualization” and commodification of sex. This is actively promoted among Black and Latina women—and is a definite negative trend in popular culture, including Hip Hop. It is also noteworthy that, as surprising as it might seem when looked at superficially, this self-degrading hyper-sexualization often goes hand-in-hand with its “mirror opposite”: religious obscurantism—a fundamentalist form of religion that blocks, obscures the light of reason. There is also a similar phenomenon among gang members, where gang-banging and other acts of degradation and self-degradation are combined with a heavy religious obscurantism, in one form or another.

    To far too great a degree, the “education” that masses of basic people get—and in particular the “education” that tends to “stick”—comes through religious institutions, and the promotion of obscurantist religion. This is a real problem, a significant part of why far too many basic oppressed people are susceptible to anti-scientific thinking, including crazy conspiracy theories.

    This “religious impulse” continues to exert a significant influence—is a significant phenomenon—among many in the Black middle class as well, including many who acquire a more “cosmopolitan” education, even at the more “elite” universities.

    All this is promoted and reinforced by the continually propagated notion that the very identity of Black people is somehow inextricably bound up with religion and religious institutions, in particular the Christian Black Church (the idea that this religion and Black identity are so tightly and essentially woven together, that they cannot be separated) and that, without religion and the Black Church, Black people could not survive, or thrive, in racist America. But, for the masses of Black people, “thriving” within this monstrous system is impossible—and merely surviving, while still being terribly oppressed, tormented, tortured and repeatedly brutalized and murdered, under this system, cannot be, and is not, the most that can be hoped for, or achieved.

    It is true that, although Christianity in particular was imposed on Black people by the slave system, the Black Church has at times, and to a degree, played a positive role in the struggle of Black people; but it is also true that it has placed very definite constraints on this struggle, channeling and limiting it within the confines of this very system that is the source of the oppression and suffering to which Black people have been subjected throughout the history of this country.

    As another dimension of this problem, especially with the undermining and outright gutting of public schools, particularly in the inner cities, in the realm of athletics—one of the very few arenas in which a few basic Black people can attain wealth and prestige—there is the fact that significant numbers of Black athletes now go through private Christian fundamentalist schools for their basic “education” (in fact, mis-education). And then, even as they take stands in support of struggles against injustice, many of these athletes also utilize their “platform” to promote the religious obscurantism with which they have been indoctrinated—which contributes to the situation where masses of people, who are influenced by these prominent figures, are vulnerable to all kinds of distortions of reality.

    We have witnessed statements and actions by influential Black celebrities, in sports as well as the arts, which reflect and encourage anti-scientific ways of thinking, including disinformation about and discouraging people from getting the vaccines against COVID, when Black people (and other people of color) are dying at higher rates than others from COVID, and the vaccines have been proven safe and very effective against serious illness and death from COVID. This spreading of anti-scientific disinformation is very harmful, both in its immediate effects, and in strategic terms.

    Yes, it is true that, in the history of this country, Black people have been the victims of horrific medical experiments, and still today they are subjected to discrimination, and at times uncaring and even harmful treatment, in the realm of health care. And, yes, it is true that Black people have been, and continue to be, subjected to vicious and often murderous oppression at the hands of government authorities. But all that is certainly true of Native Americans as well. Yet they have a much higher rate of vaccination against COVID. What they do not seem to have among them, at least not as a significant factor, is the phenomenon of prominent and influential people spreading anti-scientific disinformation about the vaccines and active discouragement from getting vaccinated.

    With regard to vaccines, and dealing with COVID generally, as with all social problems and their solutions, what is needed is an evidence-based scientific approach.

    Besides the great harm it does to people who are hit hardest by COVID, and to the overall efforts to “get on top of” this COVID pandemic, another very damaging effect of this anti-scientific, anti-vaccine disinformation is that it plays directly into the hands of the white supremacist fascists, who have been quick to pick up on, praise and promote this. As I have said about this:

    What a terrible situation where some Black people and other oppressed people can actually find themselves in the same place as those fascists who regard them as inferior sub-humans and want to deny them basic rights, lock them up permanently, or outright exterminate them!

    To a great degree, this spreading of harmful, even deadly disinformation is also an expression of rampant individualism—the notion that “it is my right, and an expression of my personal freedom, to do whatever I want, and no authority should be allowed to restrict that.” As I have also pointed out:

    This is nonsense—very harmful nonsense! Individual freedom is not absolute—as almost everyone will agree when this is posed to them in terms that do not run up against their individualism. For example, few will argue that someone should have the freedom to drive 100 miles an hour through a school zone when children are crossing the street. And any reasonable person will agree that it is not okay for white supremacists to lynch Black people—or for the police to wantonly murder Black people—simply because they feel like it—because they see it as an expression of their “individual freedom” (and “personal choice”)....

    It would be impossible to live in any society where “individual freedom” (or “personal choice”) were absolute. The question is: Are expressions of individual freedom, or restrictions on individual freedom, good or bad—do they make for a better, or worse, society?

    On the part of at least some of these Black celebrities, this irresponsible spreading of anti-scientific nonsense is also part of self-promotion—is an expression of the dominant culture overall, where opinions are “re-branded” as “my truth” and are put forward as being the same as (just as good as, or perhaps even better, than) facts, and people seek to build a following by spouting opinions, including many which are wildly in conflict with reality.

    But, again, the influence of religion, and especially crudely anti-scientific obscurantist religion, is also a significant factor in these harmful positions taken by some influential Black celebrities. In the absence of, and especially in opposition to, a scientific approach, people are left groping in the dark, unable to determine what is actually represented by different forces and where different paths will lead. Any rebellion in these circumstances is rebelling blindly, believing that you are striking out against things that oppress you (and others like you), when in fact you are playing into the hands of, and actually strengthening, the most vicious oppressors and ultimately the whole system of oppression.

    The religious obscurantism that is far too widespread among the basic masses is another chain of oppression on them, which needs to be vigorously and resolutely struggled against.

    And, while it needs to be recognized that there are many religious people who play a positive role in the fight against many injustices and forms of oppression, and it is important to unite with them in this fight, it is also important to struggle against the religious outlook in general. Why? Because putting an end to injustice and oppression, and uprooting the basis for all this, requires a revolution led by a powerful and growing force of people who are grounded in a scientific method and approach, in particular the scientific method and approach of the new communism.

    What is said in the book BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian is a fundamental truth—and there is a need to unsparingly drive home this truth: “Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.” (This is BAsics 4:1.) And the religious outlook and approach—with its misplaced belief in the ultimately decisive role of non-existent supernatural beings and forces—is an obstacle to applying a consistently scientific method to confront reality as it actually is, and transform it in an emancipating way.

    To put things in deliberately provocative terms: It’s time to leave that “god stuff” alone—that will never lead anybody to get free. We need a lot less of this “god talk” and a lot more talk, and action, for revolution—real revolution.

    Some people may not like my saying all this, but I’m going to say it anyway, because I’m not here to please people, or to make them feel better about their enslaved and degraded position—I’m here to bring them a scientific method and approach to making revolution, in order to free themselves and all humanity, and I’m here to tell them the truth about everything that stands in the way of that.

    And one big reason why I say what I say, regardless of whether some people like it or not, is because Black people, who have so long been subjected to the most horrific oppression under this system, can and must play a decisive and tremendously powerful role in bringing about the revolution that will not only put an end to their oppression, but will strike a powerful blow for ending all oppression, of everyone, everywhere. As I have stated before:

    There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

    But this can happen only as growing numbers of Black people, together with others, take up a scientific, not a religious, viewpoint, method and approach.

    So, am I saying that there is no place in this revolution for people who continue to hold religious beliefs? No. It is an objective fact, which needs to be understood, that many people who take part in this revolution will still hold religious beliefs, of one kind or another—and of course religious people who want to be part of this revolution should be welcomed into the broad ranks of the revolution. The casting off of religious belief by masses of people must be a conscious, voluntary act, which will advance in tempo with the overall development of the revolutionary process and the transformation of society, and the world, toward the goal of ending all oppression and exploitation, all division of society into masters and slaves. But, again, there must be a leading force, and a growing force of the revolution that is solid core/hardcore based on a scientific, not a religious viewpoint, method and approach, and there must be generous-minded but consistent, determined, compelling struggle, waged broadly—sharply posing the need for people to take up the scientific viewpoint, method and approach of the new communism, in opposition to everything that is an obstacle to that, including belief in gods or other supernatural forces which in reality do not exist, and religious tradition which upholds oppressive relations.

    Here is another profound truth: Even with all the ways that the heavy chains of hundreds, and thousands, of years of oppressive tradition weigh down on the masses of people—and place a heavy burden particularly on the half of humanity that is female—there is a deep yearning to be free of all this, which not only leads to imaginary hopes of supernatural salvation but also erupts in unrestrained fury right in this real world. And that fury needs to be fully called forth, given a scientific, revolutionary expression—focused toward the emancipation of all the oppressed and exploited of the world, and ultimately all humanity—directed to fighting against the fundamental source of all the suffering: this system of capitalism-imperialism, with its suffocating and brutal, patriarchal male supremacy, along with all its other outrages. This takes on even more powerful meaning and urgent importance in the current situation in this country (and others), where the forceful assertion of raw misogyny (hatred of women) and patriarchal subjugation of women is becoming more blatant and unbridled, focused to a significant degree now in the escalating moves to even further deny women control over their own lives and their very bodies, with the right to abortion, and even birth control, being brought under mounting attack. Right now, this slogan and call needs to be taken up broadly and made a powerful material force: Break the Chains, Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Revolution!

    In relation to all this, these observations of mine, from a number of years ago now, not only have great importance in general and at all times, but are especially important now:

    The religious fundamentalists, of various kinds, make a point of recruiting in the prisons, and they come with a heavy ideological message.... It is not at all the case that people can only “lose their religion” by replacing it with another religion in some form. But there does have to be another explanation about the world and existence and why this is the way it is, and how it could be different.... If you want to rupture people out of shit, not only stuff that lands them in prison, but the daily shit they are caught up in, in the society, you have to have a really strong hardcore ideological thing to bring to them.... [I]t has to be coherent and systematic. It has to explain the world—and in our case we can actually explain it in a scientific way. That’s an advantage of communism over religion, even though religion has certain short-term advantages.... But we have the advantage of actually being able to make reality make sense for people. That’s a very powerful thing.

    We should not underestimate the importance, not only with prisoners but in general, of doing a lot of ideological work to really enable people to see the world in a wholly different way—really the way it is. To take the pieces of this puzzle that are all out of whack and don’t fit together—it’s like looking through a weird kaleidoscope the way most people see reality. And then it’s misinterpreted for them by all these different bourgeois and reactionary ideologies and programs, and so on, including various religious views. But communist ideology and its application to the world is a way of taking reality and having it make sense for people.

    At the same time, winning basic people, and in particular the youth, to revolution also requires making further critical breakthroughs in what I have called the “George Jackson question”—the problem sharply posed by George Jackson, a prisoner who became a militant revolutionary associated with the Black Panther Party during the upsurge of the 1960s, and who grappled deeply with the question of revolutionary possibility, before he was assassinated by the authorities. To a slave who does not expect to live beyond tomorrow, Jackson said, the idea of gradual change, and revolution in some far-off future, has no meaning and no appeal.

    This takes on particular and special meaning in a rare time like this—a time when revolution could actually be possible, exactly not in some vague far-off future, but through the swirl of the sharpening events and conflicts that are happening right in this present time.

    Here, again, is the decisive question of how much the organized forces of revolution are built up and have an impact on all this, in the direction of the revolution that is so urgently needed.

    To appeal to masses of people, and in particular basic youth, the revolution must become a growing, organized, disciplined, bold and fearless force which, through its scientifically based method, its sweeping vision, its emancipating program and goals, and its actions, is an increasingly powerful pole that will attract these youth—and fighters for revolution from all parts of society.

    There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, in working for this revolution: powerfully spreading the word about this revolution, challenging people to get into this revolution, recruiting and organizing them into this revolution—going up against and breaking through all the bullshit that people are caught up in that goes against their own real interests—doing the work that needs to be done to transform people’s thinking, and their actions—standing up against the forces oppressing the people, waging the fight that needs to be waged against the atrocities of this system—doing all this to get ready, and to have the basis, to wage the all-out fight to finally overthrow this system, as soon as the necessary conditions for that have been brought into being.

    And, as the revolution grows in this way: There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, to stand up against the fascists, and any other oppressive force, in their moves to threaten and intimidate, brutalize and even murder people. Let me make clear that I am not calling for launching unprovoked and unjustified attacks on anybody; but there is a right, and a need—and there is the responsibilityto defend the people who are oppressed and brutalized under this system, and those who represent and stand for what is right, and are being attacked because of that.

    In the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—which are basic principles that the Revolution Clubs, a key form of organization for this revolution, base themselves on and fight for—the final point is this:

    We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.

    Yes, this is something very serious: going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way. And, yes, a big part of this is overcoming how people who are already messed over, in so many ways, by this system, get caught up in yet another way this system messes them up: fighting and killing each other. This needs to stop.

    But it doesn’t need to just stop. People who have been caught up in this need to become part of something really positive—they need to become part of the forces for the revolution that is so urgently needed now.

    The frustration and anger that so many feel, especially so many basic youth, because they can sense that life under this system has nothing good for them—that, from the time they are born, they are locked down and surrounded by forces that regard and treat them as alien objects of fear and hatred—and that those with power look at them as scum who deserve nothing more than a boot up the ass and a bullet in the brain—this frustration and anger needs to be redirected to fighting the system that treats them this way, and has robbed them, and so many like them throughout the world, of a decent life and a decent future, or any future at all.

    Once more, there is plenty that calls, urgently, for great courage and boldness in doing what needs to be done: to be part of rising up against this system and getting ready to go all the way with revolution as soon as the time is right—and, as an important part of that, supporting, and defending, people who are constantly being subjected to unjust attacks on their rights and their very being.

    There are the continuing attacks on people and movements that are rebelling against racist oppression.

    There are threats against, and physical attacks on, health care officials and providers, local government officials (and their families!), as well as employees in stores, and so on, when they are advocating and implementing much-needed and life-saving measures, such as mask and vaccination mandates to deal with the continuing COVID pandemic. There are attacks on school board members not only for adopting these basic health measures but also for things like approving the teaching of some truth about the white supremacy that has always existed in this country, or allowing rights for trans people.

    There are the threats, harassment and attacks on women seeking abortions, and on clinics and medical personnel working to provide those abortions, along with the escalating assault on the right to abortion by the Republican-fascist party, and those it has placed in the courts.

    There are brutal and often murderous attacks on LGBT people.

    There are continuing moves, including with the threat or use of violence, to once again prevent Black people and other oppressed people from even exercising what are supposed to be basic rights, such as voting. (With a scientific method and approach, it is both possible, and important, to actively oppose attempts to deny people the right to vote, and at the same time win people to see that their efforts need to go, not into voting for representatives of this system that is oppressing them, but working to build up the basis to overthrow this whole system.)

    All these attacks on people and their rights need to be powerfully opposed, and people on the good side of this need to be actively protected and defended, where they are assaulted with threats and even outright physical attacks.

    There is the need to prevent the police from brutalizing and just coldly murdering people. Let us remember what was said by some people who witnessed, and even recorded, the slow-motion vicious execution of George Floyd: They agonized over whether they should have done more, should have acted to stop this blatant assassination of a defenseless Black man. Now, again, what I am pointing to is consistent with point 6 of the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—and, in what I am saying here, I am not calling for launching an attack on anyone. But there is no right for anyone, including police, to just murder someone—and there is a right and responsibility to defend and protect people from unjust attacks on their rights, and on their very lives.

    Imagine if, in these different kinds of situations, there were a force of hardcore revolutionaries, including basic youth, whose presence in a disciplined and organized formation made clear that no unjust attacks on people would be tolerated. But this must not just be imagined—it must be developed as one important part of the overall process of preparing for, and building the organized forces for, revolution.

    This must be taken up in a serious, scientific way—not attempting, at any given point, to do what there is not yet the basis to do, but actively working to bring into being the conditions where what was not possible before becomes possible, as the organized ranks of revolution continue to grow and become steeled as a disciplined force. Taken up in this way, this can increasingly have dynamic effect—with “reverberations” and impact far beyond the immediate situation, attracting more people to this revolution... which, in turn, will make it possible to have even greater impact... and attract even larger forces.

    All this is an important part of the overall approach that I have laid out in the course of this talk, which will enable what are today the small organized forces of this revolution to continue to grow—increasingly by leaps and bounds—in numbers, organized strength, and impact on society as a whole. This is what more and more people must be challenged, and enabled, to become part of.

    This brings up another important dimension of working for revolution—and opposing the fascists as part of doing that: It is necessary to sharply expose and oppose—and fight to politically and practically overcome—the reality that for white supremacists and fascists generally the Second Amendment, the “right to bear arms,” has been regularly upheld and given the backing of the law and the courts, and the support of the police and other institutions of the state; while for Black people, other oppressed people, and generally those opposing the oppression and injustice of this system, the “right to bear arms,” even in self-defense, has been actively opposed and suppressed.

    This is made graphically clear in the book by Carol Anderson focusing on the Second Amendment—The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. This book contains (yet more!) searing exposure of the depraved violence visited upon Black people throughout the history of this country, and speaks to how the “right to bear arms” has never applied to Black people, and instead there has been the perverse “right to kill” Black people, on the part of the powers-that-be and racist whites generally. This cannot be allowed to continue!

    And it is not just around what is represented by “the Second Amendment” that a determined fight must be waged, but around the many ways in which the approach to rights that are supposedly guaranteed to people is applied in a highly unequal way, so that oppressed people, and those acting against the oppressive relations of this system, constantly find their rights attacked, “abridged,” or outright denied and suppressed. In waging this fight, it is important to recognize and, to the degree possible, take advantage of this contradiction: In reality, under this system of capitalism-imperialism, rights and liberties are determined, and limited, in accordance with what serves the interests of this system and its ruling class; but, we are constantly told that, under this system, there is “liberty and justice for all,” and the rulers of this system, or at least some of them, feel it is important to maintain this myth. Again, to the degree possible, this contradiction must be seized on, in waging the fight to defeat attempts by the enforcers of this system to violate what are supposed to be basic rights, in their moves to suppress people rising up against this system and its profound injustice.

    But, most fundamentally, this fight must be waged with full awareness, a scientifically grounded understanding, of the essential nature of this system, with the orientation and goal of working toward the overthrow of this system and the dismantling of its relations and institutions of vicious exploitation and blood-soaked oppression and repression.

    Once again, in order to make all this a reality, as this revolution is being brought to growing numbers of basic youth, and others, and they are being challenged to get into it, they need to be struggled with, hard, to get rid of the ways of thinking and acting that keep this system going. People need to “get their head right,” get their head out of their ass, and take up the scientific method and approach of the new communism to understanding reality, and transforming reality in a fundamental way, through revolution. This means not being just out for yourself, or those you can identify with in a narrow way (whoever that may be), but becoming revolutionaries in the fullest sense—revolutionary communists, emancipators of all humanity—becoming part of the organized and disciplined forces for this revolution, and nothing less.

    As we say, to “everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: You need to be part of this revolution.”

    So, on the foundation of everything that has been said so far, and in moving to the conclusion of this talk, it is worthwhile returning to, reviewing, and elaborating briefly on some key aspects of these big questions: Why this is one of those rare times and circumstances when revolution becomes possible, even in a powerful country like this, and how to seize on this rare opportunity to actually make this revolution.

    * There is the sharpening conflict at the top, and throughout the country, with society and the “ruling norms” of this system being torn apart, driven especially by the relentless offensive of the fascist forces. Yes, as the “Declaration and Call” makes clear, there are a lot of bad things connected with this, and it could lead to something really terrible; but, if it is seized on and correctly worked on by growing organized forces of revolution, guided by the scientific method and approach of the new communism, it is also possible that we could wrench something really positive out of this—revolution, to put an end to this system and bring something much better into being.

    * Bringing into being a revolutionary people in the millions—with an organized force of thousands at the core, leading these millions—is the key objective and necessary focus of revolutionary work now, in preparing to go for all-out revolution, with a real chance to win, as soon as the conditions for that have been brought into being.

    And here is another very important requirement in all this. In order for there to be the necessary force of thousands, able to lead millions—and more particularly in order to defeat the vicious repression that is bound to be brought down on a seriously developing revolutionary force, including the ability to replace leaders who are killed or imprisoned by the repressive force of the existing state power:

    It is a matter of strategic importance to develop a large core of experienced and tested leaders—not just “tens” but at least hundreds of such leaders, on all levels—firmly grounded in the line, above all the scientific method and approach of [the new communism], and capable, on that basis, of taking initiative to lead, including in situations of sharpening contradictions and the intensification of repression and even attempts at violent suppression by the powers-that-be, throughout the process of advancing the “three prepares” [prepare the ground, prepare the people, prepare the vanguard leadership for revolution]; and then, when the conditions come into being, this core of tested leaders needs to be capable of giving direction to thousands, and in turn millions, to fight all-out, in a unified way, for the seizure of power. Whether or not such a cadre of leaders—in the hundreds, at least—is developed, will have a significant bearing on whether or not all the work we are doing now is really preparing for revolution, and whether there is a real chance of winning when the time comes.

    (That is a crucial point I have emphasized in the book The New Communism, Part IV, “The Leadership We Need.”)

    This development of hundreds of such leaders must be carried out in the crucible of intense struggle in the tumultuous time before us, as a crucial part of bringing forward the thousands to lead millions. And, as the work of building for revolution is developing, these hundreds, together with the thousands they are leading, must be forged into a disciplined vanguard force, capable of leading the overall revolutionary process of preparing for and then, when the time is right, carrying out the all-out fight for the seizure of power.

    * Transforming the people is decisive in order for there to be a positive outcome to all this—and transforming the thinking of masses of people is crucial, is pivotal, in doing this.

    * At the same time, there is real importance to fighting the power—building powerful, massive resistance to the continuing atrocities of this system—and actively defending, and opposing moves to intimidate, and attack, those who are targeted by “official” enforcers of this oppressive system and “civilian” fascist forces.

    * The key, the most decisive thing: All this must be for revolution: carried out to build toward, and get in position to have a real chance to win, an all-out fight for revolution, as soon as the conditions for that have been brought into being.

    Once more: 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.

    And then, once this revolutionary force is brought into being, everything would be focused on how to actually fight to win.

    At that point, this force of millions would need to be mobilized and wielded in such a way as to make clear that it is going for a complete, revolutionary change—that it will not back down from this goal and accept anything less. In this way, it would constitute a powerful pole attracting and drawing forward even broader numbers of people from all parts of society—and it would pose a definite challenge and call to people everywhere in society, including in all the existing institutions of this system, to come over to the side of this revolution.

    And, through the swirl of this intense process, concrete work would need to be carried out to organize, train and prepare the initial fighting forces for the revolution, while actively, vigorously combating and defeating attempts to violently suppress this.

    Here, again, is something that is crucial to understand, something that is a hallmark of a serious, scientific approach to fighting to win, when the time comes: No matter how much the situation in society overall is changed, and no matter how much even the most powerful institutions of violent repression of this system are affected by this, with significant splits very likely occurring among them, the revolution will still be confronted with powerful armed forces of counter-revolution, from among sections of the official institutions, along with fascist “civilian forces” aligned with them. And it would be extremely unlikely that, particularly at the beginning phase, the revolutionary fighting forces would be able to confront and defeat those armed forces of counter-revolution by directly and frontally taking on anything close to their full force. That is why, in the doctrine and strategic orientation that has been developed to enable the revolutionary forces to fight to win, when the time is right, it is stressed that:

    [T]he revolutionary forces would need to fight only on favorable terms and avoid decisive encounters, which would determine the outcome of the whole thing, until the balance of forces had shifted overwhelmingly in favor of the revolution.

    This doctrine and strategic orientation is spoken to in some depth and spelled out more fully in my speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Could Really Make Revolution, with additional thinking provided in my article A Real Revolution—A Real Chance To Win, Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution, both of which can be found at revcom.us. This sets the basic groundwork for how, when the necessary conditions have been brought into being, a revolutionary force, mobilizing masses of people, could actually approach the overthrow of this system in such a way as to effectively neutralize and eventually overcome what would almost certainly be, at the outset, the overwhelming power of the armed forces seeking to defeat and pulverize this attempt at the revolutionary seizure of power. It speaks to how, when the revolutionary situation has been ripened, revolutionary fighting forces, with the backbone drawn especially from youth who have been won hardcore to this revolution, could be organized and trained, and provided with the means to engage and defeat forces of counter-revolution in encounters, beginning on a small scale, which would be favorable for the revolutionary forces—and how, on that basis and through the course of doing that, they could grow in strength and win over growing numbers among those who had been part of the counter-revolutionary forces, and then finally defeat the remaining forces of counter-revolution.

    At the same time, the development of this basic doctrine and strategic approach is an ongoing process. And throughout this period of preparing the ground, preparing masses of people and preparing the leading forces for this revolution, this basic doctrine and strategic approach for the all-out fight must be continually developed and made more “operational” in conception—that is, it must be further elaborated and further concretized, particularly in terms of what will constitute the actual pathways to victory—and, flowing from and serving that, what should be the specific nature and features of the encounters with the other side, particularly in the beginning phases, and (as far as possible) overall.

    As spoken to earlier, a big factor in regard to all this is the real possibility of civil war between opposing sections of society, and how this could impact the key institutions of state power of this system. If such a civil war were to erupt—or even if the deepening divisions in society were moving more directly toward such a civil war—this could have a profound effect on such institutions, with the real prospect of splits among them, and even the splitting apart of such institutions, with some parts siding with the fascists and others with those on the side opposed to the fascists.

    This possibility is something that the basic doctrine and strategic approach for the revolutionary fighting forces would need to take into account and encompass. But, in order for the revolutionary forces to win over, and incorporate into their ranks, significant numbers from among the ruling and repressive institutions of this system, and to do so in a way that would actually maintain the emancipating character of the revolutionary forces, and strengthen them on that basis, it would be necessary for the revolutionary ranks to be tempered and steeled, not just in terms of fighting capacity but in terms of their fundamental ideological and political orientation, as fighters for the emancipation of humanity.

    Here again is the very important point that

    This is not the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, when the goal of those fighting against injustice was to abolish slavery.... The goal now must precisely be getting rid of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism.... which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates, here and throughout the world.

    So, in the event of, and in the context of, a new civil war, the approach of the revolutionary forces, led by the new communism, would be to carry out the necessary political work, in combination with the actual fighting, to develop such a civil war into a revolution to achieve the goal of getting rid of this whole system, and replacing it with a radically different and emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    Above all, right now, this further emphasizes the crucial importance of working actively, boldly and tirelessly for the necessary political repolarization in society as a whole, and among all sectors of society, in a direction favorable for all-the-way revolution.

    In this same light, it is also necessary to take into account how a revolution in this country would have important international dimensions and interconnections. First of all, this revolution would of course not be bound by the present territory and borders of this country, which have been forged through wars of conquest and genocide. This revolution will inevitably be influenced by, and will in turn significantly influence, what is happening in countries to the south (and north) of it, with which the USA has historically been closely interconnected, and which in many cases it has dominated and plundered.

    And more generally, there will be the ways in which this revolution will be viewed, and responded to, by different forces, far beyond the present borders of this country. A serious fight for revolution in this countrythis country—would have the effect of a powerful political earthquake, sending seismic shockwaves throughout the world. It is true that one reaction to this would be that oppressive governments and forces throughout the world would see this as a serious threat to their position and objectives, and there is a real possibility that there could be moves by some of these forces to aid, or join in, attempts to crush such a revolution. At the same time, such a revolution would shake awake and provide a powerful positive shock to literally billions of people everywhere, shattering the sense that no alternative to this terrible world is possible. Overall, it would almost certainly contribute, in a very significant way, to a repolarization on a global scale.

    All this would need to be taken into account by the leading forces of this revolution, as an important part of its strategic orientation and objectives.

    In all this, and in everything I have spoken to in the course of this talk, this fundamental principle stands out: Revolution is a very serious matter, and it must be approached seriously and in a consistently scientific way.

    In Conclusion: Everyone who really wants to see the world changed, in a profoundly positive, emancipating way, and everyone who thinks about whether this is actually possible, or wishes it could be, needs to seriously engage what has been spoken to here, take up the scientific revolutionary orientation, method and approach of the new communism; become part of, and work tirelessly to build up, the organized forces for this revolution whose goal is nothing less than the emancipation of all oppressed people, everywhere, and ultimately all of humanity, from the horrors of this system and from any way in which people are exploited, oppressed, degraded and treated as less than human.

    To return to this crucial and urgent truth:

    This is one of those rare times and circumstances when revolution becomes possible, not just because this system is always a horror, but because the crisis and deep divisions in society now can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means.

    There is a great challenge that must be met, and a tremendous amount of work and struggle that must be carried out, with scientifically grounded determination and boldness, in order to make possible the emancipating revolutionary resolution.

    There is no guarantee of achieving all this, but there is a real possibility. And what we do—what all those who want to see a world and a future worth living in, where human beings everywhere can truly flourish in the fullness of their humanity—what we all do can make a tremendous difference in what the outcome of all this will be.

    There is the possibility, there is the challenge.

    Dare to become part of the forces for this historic revolution. Dare to work resolutely to make this a reality. Dare to struggle, dare to win.

    Announcing New work by BA, SOMETHING TERRIBLE, OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING:

     

    Bob Avakian

     

    BOB AVAKIAN:
    A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Learn more about Bob Avakian and the new communism

    A DECLARATION, A CALL TO GET ORGANIZED NOW FOR A REAL REVOLUTION

     


    cover of pamphlet Bob Avakian: This Is A Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So And How To Seize On This Rare Opportunity

     

  • ARTICLE:

    From the Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists)

    REVOLUTION

    BUILDING UP THE BASIS TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING, 
    WITH A REAL CHANCE TO WIN:
    STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH

    If you dont understand why we need a revolution, and how that revolution could be possible, then you dont know what you need to know.

    Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.(Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism).

    We Are Serious: We Are Working for a Real Revolution and a Whole New, Emancipating Way to Live.

    We are applying the scientific analysis and the strategic approach in the major work by Bob Avakian, Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating, which can be found at revcom.us. Here is the heart of what is brought to light in that work. 

    First of all: We live under a systemthe system of capitalism-imperialism (capitalism is an economic and political system of exploitation and oppression, and imperialism refers to the worldwide nature of this system). It is this system which is the basic cause of the tremendous suffering that people, all over the world, are subjected to; and this system poses a growing threat to the very existence of humanity, in the way that this system is rapidly destroying the global environment, and in the danger of war between the U.S. and its rivals in Russia and Chinaall nuclear-armed capitalist-imperialist powers.

    All this is reality, and no one can escape this reality. Either we radically change it, in a positive way, or everything will be changed in a very negative way. Changing it in a positive way means making revolutiona real revolution, to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism and replace it with a radically different and emancipating system, a whole new way of organizing society.

    And this is crucially important: This is a rare time when a revolution to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism, and bring something much better into being, is not only urgently necessary but is more possibleand this rare time must not be squandered (wasted, thrown away) but must be actively seized on to build up the basis and the forces for revolution, and then carry the revolution through.

    With all the chaos and madness in the worldwith this systems accelerating destruction of the environment and the way it is heightening the danger of nuclear war that could wipe out human life as we know it... with all the craziness in this country, continually disrupting the normal way things have been... with one part of society and one governing party (the Republicans) now made up of fascists determined to crush any opposition to them and their blatantly racist, anti-immigrant, woman-hating, anti-LGBTQ, environment-plundering program and anti-scientific lunacy, that they claim will make America great again... with the other ruling class party (the Democrats) seeking to maintain this horrific system in the traditional form in which it has existed for generations, and has caused so much suffering for the masses of humanity, while the Biden Democratic administration is adopting policies that accelerate the destruction of the environment and acting in ways that heighten the danger of nuclear war... and, very importantly, with these ruling powers deeply divided among themselves, and those divisions becoming sharper all the time, so that they can no longer rule in a unified waywith all this, things that have gone on in more or less the same way for years, and decades, can suddenly and dramatically change, in months or even weeks.

    All this is heading toward, and could soon become, an all-out crisis in this country, with the very nature of society, and how it is governed, being directly battled out in a way that hasnt happened since the Civil War in the 1860s. This could lead to something even more terrible than normal life under this systemmaking life even more unbearable, or even impossible, for the masses of people everywherebut there is also this very important positive potential: In this situation, the forces for the revolution that is urgently needed could grow, quickly, from small numbers to thousands, and then millions, and get in position to go for the whole thingIF the revolutionaries have been getting out the message broadly among the people, shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening and why, bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way, and struggling with people to break with all their wrong ways of thinking and get with the revolution.

    And that is what we are determined to do. 

    Here is how we are working to make this real. And if you can’t stand this world the way it is and where it is now headed, then YOU need to become part of working to make this real—to seize on this “rare time” to put an end to this capitalist-imperialist system that we are now forced to live under, with all its madness and destruction, and bring something much better into being, for people everywhere and for future generations.

    1. A Fundamental Point of Orientation, and Practical Guidance: 

    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.

    Think of the millions of people, of all races and genders, who rose up with righteous anger, all over the country, in 2020, when the murder of George Floyd by a heartless pig was just too much—something which was not an “isolated incident” but a concentration of the way the police in this country continually carry out cold-blooded murder of people, especially Black people, Latinos, and Native Americans. This uprising in 2020 was powerful and inspiring (so powerful that even some big-time capitalist exploiters and ruling class politicians had to “take a knee” pretending to be with the massive protests!). But there was a big problem: people were divided and pitted against each other by “identity politics” and misled into a dead-end by completely unrealistic demands like “defund” or “abolish” the police—which could never happen under this system. Many became discouraged, disoriented and demoralized, when murder by police kept happening, over and over again, with the fascist Republicans calling for even more brutal action by police, while Biden and the Democrats doubled down on funding the police and backing them in violently “serving and protecting” this system of murderous oppression. The real lesson is not that nothing can change but that we need a revolution to get rid of this whole system. 

    Think what could be possible if millions were mobilized into the streets again—not just to express their anger, but with the understanding and determination to do what needs to be done to really put an end to police terror and murder, to white supremacy, male supremacy and gender oppression, and to all the inequality, discrimination, exploitation, plunder and destruction of people and the environment that is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism—to put an end to all this in the only way it can be done: by putting an end to this system itself, and bringing something much better into being.

    2. In the circumstances of all-out crisis, when the whole direction of society is being called into question, there would be different trends and organized forces seeking to take things in different directions. There would be the fascist Republicans, aiming to seize (or consolidate) power, in order to bring about a more blatant form of oppressive and murderous rule, without the usual disguise of “democracy, with liberty and justice for all.” There would be those, like the leaders of the Democratic Party, trying to maintain (or restore) this monstrous system of oppression in its more “traditional” form. There would be masses of people in favor of some kind of basic change in a positive direction, but with different ideas about what that would mean. And there would likely be some organized forces claiming to be aiming for some kind of “progressive” change—even some calling themselves “revolutionaries” or “socialists”—when in fact their programs would only reinforce, and keep people locked into, the existing system.

    The people who are won, in increasingly greater numbers, to the actual revolution that is urgently needed, must be led to have a clear understanding of the need, and be in position, to wage a powerful struggle to determine the whole direction of things in the midst of such an acute crisis, in order to carry things forward toward the only real positive solution: a truly emancipating revolution.

    EVERYTHING THAT IS DONE, FROM HERE FORWARD, MUST BE ORIENTED TO CREATING THE BASIS FOR THIS.

    3. We are working every day to win growing numbers of people to understand the urgent need and possibility for revolution and to become an organized force that can shake up the whole country—waking people up and changing the way they think about things... working continually to gather forces and build up the organized strength of the revolution... working to powerfully impact the development of things in such a way that a situation can come about where there could be an all-out fight for revolution, with a real chance to win.

    In all that we are doing, all the struggle we are waging, we are applying the overall approach of Fight the Power, and Transform the People—for Revolution, with the aim of achieving the three prepares: prepare the ground (the situation in society), prepare masses of people, and prepare the leadership, for the all-out revolutionary struggle.

    We are uniting with and mobilizing people to stand up against the injustices and outrages constantly perpetrated by this system, defending people from attacks on their rights and their lives, and waging fierce struggle to break people out of the bullshit ways of thinking and acting that they are caught up in, winning them to become revolutionary emancipators of humanity. 

    With “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” as the basic guide, and utilizing the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show and the website revcom.us as key resources, we are organizing people to grapple with why an actual revolution is urgently necessary and more possible now, what such a revolution involves, and what kind of society this is aiming for—involving them in the process of building for revolution, in an organized way, and enabling people in parts of the country where the revolution does not yet have an organized presence to link up with others and become part of this revolution. (This is spoken to further in Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points, which can be found at revcom.us.)

    We are spreading far and wide the inspiring vision of how much better life could be, for the great majority of people, if millions of people got behind this revolution and carried it through—making it possible to restructure all of society on a completely different foundation, with a radically different economic system (mode of production) and emancipating relations among people, as spelled out very concretely in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, written by Bob Avakian. 

    In an all-around way, and especially in broadly promoting what are truly extraordinary Interviews with Bob Avakian on The RNL Show, we are doing the necessary work and waging the necessary struggle so that masses of people know about and get with the leadership we have in Bob Avakian: learning about the inspiring vision and concrete blueprint for a radically different, emancipating society he has brought forward, following the concrete guidance he is providing, taking up and applying the scientific method and approach of the new communism he has developed, in order to really make revolution and finally get free. Bob Avakian is completely different than the endless stream of bourgeois (capitalist) “leaders” who are put forward, and others who cannot see, or will not look, beyond the confines of this horrific system. He is hard-core for revolution, with a largeness of mind, generosity of spirit, and lively sense of humor—all of which shines through in these Interviews.

    Through actively taking part in the tremendous radical upsurge of the 1960s and being strongly influenced by the Black Panther Party and other revolutionary forces in that time—especially what was at that time a revolutionary, socialist China—Bob Avakian became a determined revolutionary communist; and he has continued to dedicate his life and devote his efforts to developing a scientifically based theory, strategy and program for revolution whose fundamental goal is freeing people everywhere from every form of oppression. He embodies this rare combination: someone who has been able to develop scientific theory on a world-class level, while at the same time having a deep understanding of and visceral connection with the most oppressed, and a highly developed ability to “break down” complex theory and make it broadly accessible.

    A leader like this has never before existed in the history of this country. Having a leader like this is a rare and precious thing for the masses of people who are so terribly oppressed under this system. It is a powerful positive factor for the revolution that is urgently needed, with the goal of ending all oppression and finally bringing about the emancipation of humanity as a whole.

    4. We have issued a bold Declaration, WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM, which raises this demand: 

    The Existing Capitalist-Imperialist System And Institutions Of Government In This Country Must Be Abolished And Dismantled—And Replaced By A New, Socialist System Based On The CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA.

    That Declaration provides a basic summary of fundamental principles and specific goals of the revolution and the new society and way of living we are working for, as set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. The Declaration needs to be very broadly distributed and popularized, among millions of people, in all parts of the country, now and throughout the development toward a full-out crisis. It needs to be driven home very clearly how the new socialist Constitution provides the foundation, the framework and practical guidelines for a radically new, emancipating system, really enabling and empowering the masses of people to move to abolish inequality and discrimination, oppression and exploitation, and to provide powerful support for revolutionary struggles throughout the world striving for the same goal, while also moving quickly, systematically and effectively, to address the already acute and fast accelerating environmental crisis, with the aim of bringing into being a world where humanity can truly be fit caretakers of the Earth.

    5. As a crucial part of the three prepares, the revolutionary communist leadership for the revolution, based on the new communism, must be greatly strengthened, with the Revolutionary Communist Party systematically built up as the overall leadership, with a growing core of strategic commanders of the revolution and the expanding ranks of the Party clearly oriented, prepared and organized to lead the whole revolutionary process.

    6. Throughout the period leading to an all-out crisis, mass organization for defense against unjust attacks on people’s rights and their lives, by oppressive and murderous thugs, in and out of government, must be built up, throughout the country, on the basis of the Points of Attention for the Revolution, which you can also find at revcom.us. This mass organization for defense needs to be developed as part of the overall process of carrying out the three prepares.

    In order to achieve the fundamental goal of sweeping away this system of capitalism-imperialism and replacing it with a new socialist system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, as things clearly approach an all-out crisis, with millions won to the revolution, it will be necessary and critically important to transform this mass defense organization—and to steel, strengthen and rapidly expand its ranks—so that it is developed as a disciplined revolutionary force, throughout the country, that is oriented, prepared and led to strategically defeat the armed enforcers of this system, as well as fascist thugs and other murderous reactionaries, who are attempting to violently crush the revolution.

    All this is based on the understanding that the fundamental source of violence in the world is the system of capitalism-imperialism; that by far the greatest perpetrators of unjust violence are the ruling classes of the capitalist-imperialist powers, most of all in this country—and that the fundamental reason why the abolition of this system cannot be achieved peacefully is because of the nature of this system itself, and the fact that those who rule it would never allow their system to be swept away without attempting to violently suppress and crush any such attempt. 

    A serious, scientific approach to how such a disciplined revolutionary force could actually succeed in defeating the unjust violence of this system’s armed enforcers (and others seeking to crush the revolution) is spoken to in a series of articles by Bob Avakian, REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN, also available at revcom.us. What is put forward in these articles needs to be broadly promoted, discussed and debated, among masses of people.

    7. Large parts of the major institutions of armed enforcement of the currently ruling system are made up of people drawn from the bitterly oppressed in this country. With the immediate approach of an all-out crisis, an appeal should be made to those who have been part of these institutions to join with the masses of people in the struggle to achieve this fundamental and urgently needed demand: to dismantle the existing system and institutions of government—to be replaced by the implementation of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    To those who have been part of the system of government which is to be abolished and replaced: an offer of amnesty should then be made, except for those who have been the key decision-makers and those who have been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    8. At the same time, it will be important to continually increase and more powerfully organize the broader ranks of the millions demanding the dismantling of the existing system and institutions of government and the implementation of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. This revolutionary people, of millions, would need to be mobilized and wielded in such a way as to make clear that it is going for a complete, revolutionary change—that it will not back down from this goal and accept anything less. In this way, it would constitute a powerful pole attracting and drawing forward even broader numbers of people from all parts of society—and it would pose a definite challenge and call to people everywhere in society, including in all the existing institutions of this system, to come over to the side of the revolution.

    This will also strengthen the basis to provide powerful support for, and to continually expand, the organized, disciplined revolutionary force oriented to bring about the victory of the revolution through strategically defeating the unjust violence of the ruling institutions and armed enforcers of this system, as well as fascist thugs and other murderous reactionaries.

    9. This overall strategic approach must also be sharply posed directly against the BEB (Bourgeois Electoral Bullshit) of this capitalist-imperialist system, and in particular the BEB leading into the 2024 presidential election—all of which serves to keep people chained to this system. Here is a crucially important guideline from Bob Avakian that has special significance now: When conflicts among the different sections of the bourgeois (capitalist) ruling class become so deep and hostile that they are no longer able to rule in the “normal way” they have for generations, “that is a sign of extremely deep and acute cracks and fissures in the entire established order; and such a situation must be seized by the oppressed not to side with one section of the bourgeoisie against another ... but instead to rise in revolutionary struggle to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie altogether.”

    10. Popularizing the strategy is an important part of carrying out the strategy. The strategic orientation and practical approach outlined here needs to be boldly put forward and broadly popularized, among masses of people, now and throughout the process of carrying out the three prepares: making clear that this is aimed at achieving the profoundly, and urgently, needed revolution, fundamentally through the mobilization of millions and millions of people around this basic demand: to dismantle the existing system and institutions of government—to be replaced by the implementation of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    Popularizing this, now and in an ongoing way, throughout the period of working to achieve these objectives, will strengthen the basis for masses of people to see, concretely, that there is a definite strategic orientation and practical approach to bringing about the necessary revolution, and what their role can be, and needs to be, in all this. It will strengthen the basis to engage in more focused struggle with people about the possibility—as well as the urgent need, and the truly emancipating potential—of this revolution.

    ACTIVELY CARRY OUT THIS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH TO SEIZE ON THIS RARE TIME WHEN REVOLUTION IS MORE POSSIBLE!

    BUILD UP THE ORGANIZED FORCE OF THOUSANDS, AND THEN MILLIONS, OF REVOLUTIONARY EMANCIPATORS OF HUMANITY PREPARED TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING!

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part One

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We will be posting edited excerpts from this letter over the next few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    What is concentrated in these interviews is objectively a game-changer: there simply is no one and nothing else like this, and any decent, honest and intellectually curious person who cares about the state of the world and watches this will be transformed, even as those newer to things will of course not immediately become revcoms, and will have plenty of questions, things they don’t understand and things they understand wrongly.

    But in the process of and alongside thinking about why and how to project these interviews out in society in a big way, anyone who is part of these efforts should take some time—whether they are brand new... or have heard this before and think they already have a deep grasp of this point—to truly and seriously reflect upon what is contained and concentrated in these interviews and what it would mean for the prospects for revolution in this rare time in history to SUCCEED in creating a climate in which these BA interviews and BA himself increasingly make a big societal splash and become known to and a huge reference point for first hundreds, then thousands and ultimately millions—with increasing waves of these people getting deeply into these interviews and into BA and stepping forward into the movement for revolution that he is leading.

    Really being anchored in the above will lead to all kinds of good, exciting, and compelling ideas and to really thinking big in a way commensurate with what and who it is that we’re projecting.

    Part 1: Some Important Principles and Points of Orientation

    These points are informed by the understanding that our forces are currently very small... but also not non-existent. Along these lines, we wrangled, brainstormed and shuttled back and forth between two planes of conception in our thinking:  

    *Pursuing a thought experiment in which the two of us arrived in a new city, were the only two people who had heard of BA and these interviews and were seeking to make as big and broad a splash as possible as quickly as possible... and

    *Stepping out of this thought experiment back into a reality in which we are not, in fact, literally starting from scratch and do have forces, ties and factors to work with, even if starting out they are small in number.

    With this in mind, here are some key principles and points of orientation that we discussed, and that should inform brainstorming, ideas and efforts to break through on making these interviews a huge deal in society.

    Point 1: Strategic confidence and radical simplicity

    Once again, think about these interviews and what it was like to watch them.

    Like, really actually think about that for a moment...

    Think about who and what they feature... what these interviews talk about and how they talk about it... think about their substance... their style... think about how they inspired and moved you... how they challenged you... what they illuminated... what they made you think and what they made you feel.

    Think honestly about whether you have ever seen and heard anything else like this...

    Now, with that still fresh in your mind...

    Think about someone who doesn’t want to watch these interviews. Who makes snarky, dismissive comments... or who does watch the interviews and is “unimpressed.”

    Think what that says about that person’s worldview and priorities.

    Now: Why the hell would we want to be in any way defensive or deferential towards... waste time with... or kiss the ass of people like that?!

    That is what is meant by strategic confidence. That is the attitude we need to be going out with if we are going to break through... it means we go out into the world, whether on the ground or online, knowing that who and what we have and are working to connect people with is special... is vital... is decisive... and that, to paraphrase an old saying, if you don’t know... you better ask somebody!

    No, this doesn’t mean we write people off or give up on them permanently if they don’t immediately respond well—or respond in contradictory ways... but it does mean that we don’t take any nonsense from people who don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.

    In fact, this kind of strategic confidence on our part is essential for people to be able to transform and get off the bullshit they’re on.

    Existing revcom forces really grasping and applying the above points about strategic confidence—what it means, why it’s essential, and how to apply it—is critical methodologically and epistemologically in its own right; and is also of paramount importance in terms of being able to make advances and accumulate forces for revolution in an accelerated way. Therefore, further discussion, struggle, ruptures and clarity on this point within our existing forces would seem very important. 

    To be blunt: Masses will not really take us seriously, will not be called forth into this revolution and will not be unleashed to transform in the ways that are necessary, unless we do comprehend, project and apply strategic confidence in the ways discussed here.

    Conversely, our forces—including the newer people we are calling forth and accumulating along the way—will get much less discouraged and disoriented by bullshit, attacks, snark, etc. if we are internalizing, applying and projecting this strategic confidence... which will create the basis for telescoped further advances in dialectical relation with the unfolding of events in the world.

    Again, if there is disagreement, discomfort or lack of clarity on these points about strategic confidence—and what this means—among our existing forces, this should be: unearthed, explored, struggled over and transformed. 

    Radical simplicity, meanwhile, is closely related to strategic confidence and flows from it. Radical simplicity means that without in any way watering things down, there is a need to put forward some simple, clearly distilled, easy-to-grasp points about what this interview is... why people need to get into it and contribute to making it a huge societal phenomenon... and why that matters.

    And then, of course, we can and must bring plenty of substance behind that radical simplicity to back it up, which we are more than capable of doing. But there is an importance to getting a good dialectic going between the simplicity and the complexity and to having some key forms where we hit people with the simplicity in a compelling way.

    As one example, in building for the Dialogue between Bob Avakian and Cornel West in 2014, it proved to be an important turning point in our promotion when—a few weeks out from the event—we settled on a few (it might have been three) very succinct and simple points for why this event was so significant and historic and why people couldn’t and shouldn’t miss it. It has been a few years, so I don’t remember the exact phrasing of these points now, but I think it was something along the lines of: you can’t miss this event because of the chance to see this leader (BA), these speakers (BA and CW) and this subject matter—REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight For Emancipation and the Role of Religion: A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST and BOB AVAKIAN.

    We think there is an important role for some similar short, succinct and provocative points for why these interviews are must see, can’t miss, and must spread.

    The points emphasized in the promotional palm cards for the interviews would at the very least provide some good initial ideas, inspiration and material for developing these succinct, radically simple promotional points.

    This kind of radical simplicity infused with strategic confidence—rather than being a substitute for more in-depth explanation of things—can rather help to more quickly distinguish between masses who are or could be fairly quickly won to be seriously interested vs. those who should not be given up on but are at the moment not serious, while also calling forward the more serious masses and creating the basis to work and struggle with them in more depth while avoiding getting bogged down with and by those who are not serious.

    A couple of final thoughts for now on this point about radical simplicity: There is a radical simplicity of this interview at this moment in history and in the world.

    If we really fully understand the point from the interview about how humanity can no longer afford to allow this system and this ruling class to be in power—that this is actually an existential question for humanity, and that it’s not just that “things are really bad and getting worse” but that humanity is truly confronted acutely with the choice between “something terrible OR something truly emancipating,” then there is important radical simplicity flowing from this in terms of the fact that now is the time to bring forward something truly emancipating and making these BA interviews a huge social phenomenon that can play a massive role in relation to that.

    So this is how our people should feel—and project—the urgency in their bones of this interview and the need to project it throughout society in a huge way.

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 2: Build a NATIONAL Movement

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We are posting edited excerpts from this letter over a few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    While our forces are small, the movement for revolution is a national movement. So our small forces should be carrying out work in a way that comprehends this fact—that we are a national movement seeking to have major national influence and impact.

    Think about it: our goal, and what everything we’re doing is working towards, is not to make revolution in one neighborhood or one city. It’s to make revolution in this country as a critical step in ultimately carrying that revolution forward throughout the entire world.

    So, rather than revcom forces thinking in provincial ways—“I’m in Chicago, here’s what’s happening here... that person or event is in L.A., that’s what’s happening there,” there needs to be more conscious thinking, coordination and dynamic synergy that is linking together ideas, plans and practice in different areas throughout the country where the revcoms already have—or need to have, but don’t yet have and are working to create—a presence.

    There needs to be the orientation: Maximize, amplify and magnify every strength... every positive development... all of the forces, even if small, that we do have.

    The dynamic of working consciously with a national perspective, striving to link together our ideas and our work in different areas throughout the country is an important part of how the above orientation can be implemented.

    This way, revolutionary work that initially small revcom forces are doing in one area is not cut off and isolated from the larger, national picture and movement of which it is a part. Relatedly—and importantly—revcom forces themselves, including newer people we are bringing forward, do not feel as isolated because they are not just thinking about what they are doing in one particular area or city but the whole larger canvas it is contributing to.

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, the revcom.us website, and social media work more generally (@therevcoms) can and should all play an important role in the dynamic of sewing together and illuminating the connections between the threads in different areas as part of a coherent national mission.

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    Here is a hypothetical example of the above points in action: Maybe one of the masses from a neighborhood of the oppressed in, say, Chicago, is baking and selling pies in order to raise funds to promote the BA interviews in a big way. Instead of just looking at this as an important but small-scale initiative that one person in one neighborhood in Chicago is doing, let’s be thinking about how to explicitly link this with efforts in other cities and areas as part of a national whole...

    So, first of all, maybe the masses who are doing this in Chicago do a simple post on social media about the BA interviews and why they felt inspired by them, what they are doing to promote them and why... 

    and then The RNL Show does a brief segment highlighting this fundraising initiative, perhaps briefly interviewing the masses involved in it about why the interviews inspired them to raise funds for it and a simple explanation of the steps they are taking to raise funds and why and how it’s been going, how they feel being part of all this...  

    and then the show calls on people in neighborhoods in other areas throughout the country to do something similar, to post on social media, linking to the BA interviews and explaining why they were inspired to raise funds for them and what steps they are taking to do so...

    and then to send a brief video to The RNL Show with permission for The RNL Show to broadcast it showing them baking pies (or whatever specific fundraising step they are taking) and talking about how the BA interviews and the efforts of the masses in Chicago to raise funds to promote them in turn inspired them to do the same in the cities/areas where they live... 

    and then The RNL Show could call on students and artists... as well as those with more means such as professors, medical professionals, lawyers, and others in various spheres of society with more means throughout the country to take a lesson and take heart from what the masses in Chicago and other neighborhoods of the oppressed throughout the country are doing, and get their friends and colleagues together to watch the BA interviews... and each give donations that match... or double... or triple... the funds raised in these neighborhood fundraising initiatives... and to post on social media talk about how they were inspired and moved by the BA interviews and by the masses in Chicago and others who launched similar fundraising initiatives to promote those interviews...       

    and then The RNL Show could feature segments showing people from these strata doing and talking about all of the above...

    This is just an example. But the key point of the example is that with a conscious national orientation, what started asand by itself would have remainedsmall forces in one area doing one initiative can quickly mushroom into something connected to a much larger and coherent national mission that multiplies and generates continuouslypotentially even exponentially—growing momentum

    That example—and the underlying principles and orientation it illustrates—certainly applies specifically to promotion of the BA interviews. And it also applies to our revolutionary work more generally.

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 3: Key Relationships: Getting the Dynamics Right

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We are posting edited excerpts from this letter over a few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    Individual Clips and the Totality of the Interviews

    It is very important to correctly grasp the relationship between individual clips, excerpts and portions of the BA interviews... and the totality of the interviews.

    Individual clips and excerpts can play a very important role in introducing people to this leader, these interviews, and inspiring them to watch the whole thing.

    In addition, there are many clips and excerpts that can play a particularly important role in terms of ideological struggle around major questions weighing on the basic masses or broader strata of people. There are many examples that come to mind, but a few that particularly come to mind are:

    A) Different segments in which BA is speaking directly to/struggling with the oppressed masses who need to be the backbone of this revolution in a simultaneously deeply scientific, visceral and personal way to get out of the shit they are caught up in and get with this revolution.

    B) The segment that opens Part 2 on Ukraine/American chauvinism (to shorthand here).

    C) Segments polemicizing in a very frontal and sharp way against various manifestations of wokeness.

    Again, those are just three important examples of many that could be highlighted here.

    Go HERE for clips from the BA interviews.

    So, that’s on the one hand—there is an important role for excerpts, segments, teasers, etc... and also a potentially important role for nationally coordinated efforts to promote certain segments. For instance, there might be certain weeks where forces in different parts of the country are working to promote certain clips and sending in reports to The RNL Show in real time or as close to that as possible of experiences, lessons, reactions and controversies, so that—once again—these different experiences in different places are connected with each other and linked to a coherent larger national picture and movement.

    On the other hand, there is also an extremely important power, dynamism, breadth, momentum and magnetism to the totality of these interviews that is very important not to lose or inadvertently de-emphasize in the effort to highlight shorter excerpts.

    Otherwise said: segments or excerpts of the interviews should supplement, not substitute for, leading people to watch the full set of three interviews.

    There may be a spontaneity of (or a pull toward) compartmentalizing and separating the particular from the whole that may need to be guarded and struggled against here—including because it’s spontaneously “easier” to get people in this climate and culture to watch something shorter than something longer.

    In my view, it’s not a problem if some people are initially watching individual excerpts or segments, but we definitely need to get a dynamic going where increasing numbers of people are watching and immersing themselves in the full sweep of these interviews.

    Not Proceeding from What We “Know” We Can Do, but What We Can Potentially Unleash

    To really make the breakthroughs we need to make from a starting point of small forces... in relation to projecting and promoting these interviews, and more generally—we need to be thinking not just in terms of what our existing forces can accomplish and who we can bring forward... rather, we need to think of what we can unleash those we are bringing forward to do and how those new forces can themselves accumulate forces for revolution.

    Therefore, we need to be poised and geared towards working to quickly cohere the people who are initially drawn forward and attracted by these interviews. We need to have small groups that we are forging and leading initially who are discussing the interviews together and then are going out to broadly spread them and create their own watch parties/study and discussion groups and inviting many others to join them.

    This way, we’re bringing in and cohering people around us; they are part of what we’re doing; and we’re unleashing them to go out and themselves bring forward newer people: they’re part of forces we’re accumulating but also part of accumulating forces themselves.

    To be able to do this and have it stick...

    Orient People to Understand and Refute the Bullshit by Going on the Offensive

    There will be a need to orient newer people from the start about bullshit, slander, attacks, etc. that they are going to run into... why... what this represents... and the need for and radically simple ways to have backbone, moral clarity, principle, critical thinking, courage and integrity in the face of this rather than cowing or disappearing in the face of utter bullshit. And if people run into shit they’re confused by, ASK US and let’s talk about it instead of disappearing.

    Very, very important: In regards to the above, there should be an approach of orienting on—and from—the OFFENSIVE. NOT the defensive.

    A three-paragraph template/example of how to orient from the offensive, with strategic confidence and radical simplicity:

    You may have a bunch of questions as you get into things. And that’s not only fine, it’s important. It means you’re taking things seriously and thinking critically. And you’re not expected to understand everything all at once, right away. But you also know enough based on what you just saw and heard to know some essential things about BA and these interviews, what this is, and what it’s not... You know enough to understand and begin envisioning the difference it would make if this person and these interviews got out to thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people and became a phenomenon in society that people were discussing, debating, and thinking deeply about.

    “Now, when you go out and spread the word about this, you’re going to find that some people respond well and love these interviews and love BA, and some people run a bunch of bullshit and hate BA... and in both cases, it’s for the same simple reason: because BA is about everything you just saw in this interview, about completely breaking out of the confines and framework of the way the world is today and radically, fundamentally changing the world through making revolution... he’s about the emancipation not of one identity group, but all of humanity... and some people love this and are attracted by that vision, and some people hate it and feel threatened by it... It’s really as simple as that.

    “So yeah, besides encountering people who are excited about these interviews and about BA, you’re going to run into people who hate this, who make snarky comments or personal attacks on BA or who say this is a cult. And that’s where you have to have some honesty, courage and integrity to think for yourself. You might have a bunch of questions, but you know those kind of nasty attacks are bullshit and have nothing to do with changing the world. You just saw these interviews [or a portion of it] yourself. Did this seem like a cult leader to you?!?! Did this seem like a robotic, dogmatic person who is trying to brainwash you? Or did it seem like a deeply scientific person, critical thinker and flat-out nice person with a strong sense of humor who has dedicated his whole life for decades to taking up big, complex questions as part of making revolution and transforming the entire world? Anybody who watches this interview honestly and is not completely steeped in prejudice knows it’s the second one. So you need to have the honesty and courage to tell the haters that they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about and that they’re spreading lies and poison that have nothing to do with changing the world and that you’re not fooled by them... and then come back and talk to us about the shit we ran into and we can get more into it.”

    * In short: Orient people about the shit they’re going to run into, and do that, yes, by preparing them for what they are going to encounter and why and reinforcing that it is harmful lies and complete bullshit... but also, as a key part of that and even more fundamentally... orient people by bringing them back to, and leading them to anchor themselves in, what they just saw that is the polar opposite of the bullshit, lies and slander that they are going to hear...

    This relates to Sunsara Taylor’s point in a recent episode of The RNL Show about how these interviews provide some of the most most powerful refutations of the lies and slanders, etc.

    This also sets critically important terms about what is and isn’t understandable and acceptable...

    Furthermore, this relates to simple and complex: You (including newer people) know enough to know why this needs to get out there in a huge way and the difference that could make... and that these lies and slanders are completely at odds with what you just saw and experienced... Now, if you have questions about WHY people say this kind of bullshit and where that comes from, we can get into that—the lines and wrong ways of thinking that people have about leadership, about communist leaders in particular...

    But you don’t have to be able to answer every question to know that this needs to get out there and people slandering this are full of shit.

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part Four: Once More on Important Relations and Dynamics

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new Interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We are posting edited excerpts from this letter over a few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    In different ways and on different levels, we need to be correctly grasping the dialectic—the back-and-forth, reinforcing relationship—between the particular and the overall... and between different features of our revolutionary work. 

    To raise a few particular examples for further, ongoing reflection and discussion—including by the Revolution Clubs and those more broadly working to promote the BA Interviews... how do we understand the back-and-forth, reinforcing relationship between:  

    • On the ground promotion and social media promotion?
    • Winning over prominent, influential people—including those with huge audiences and social media/online followings—and  generating momentum among the broader masses of different strata?
    • Broad promotion of the BA Interviews and fierce ideological struggle to break people out of the wrong lines and frameworks they are in?  

    Initial thoughts on above point: We need to get these Interviews out in a huge way in front of a lot of people. But we also need to break through on the “ignore-ance” among the not insignificant numbers of people who have already seen the Interviews or who do know about BA. We need to break through the dynamic of people literally or figuratively—online or on the ground—“giving a thumbs-up” and walking away without further engagement. 

    We need to create a sense of social compulsion among blocs of people to watch this...

    And stirring up controversy and fierce ideological struggle is essential to creating this sense of social compulsion.

    See also:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World
    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews
  • ARTICLE:

    U.S. CONSTITUTION: AN EXPLOITERS’ VISION OF FREEDOM—ADDED NOTES (AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION)

    Brief Introduction:

    The following article by Bob Avakian was originally published in 1987. We are republishing it now, because it remains highly relevant in terms of understanding the basic nature of this system we live under—the system of capitalism-imperialism—and the role of the U.S. Constitution as the legal and political basis for this system of ruthless exploitation, murderous oppression and massive destruction. In this republished version, Bob Avakian has provided some Added Notes at the end of the article, to further clarify important points.

    * * * * *

    James Madison, who was the main author of the Constitution of the United States, was also an upholder of slavery and the interests of the slaveowners in the United States. Madison, the fourth president of the United States, not only wrote strongly in defense of the Constitution, he also strongly defended the part of the Constitution that declared the slaves to be only three-fifths human beings (that provided for the slaves to be counted this way for the purposes of deciding on representation and taxation of the states—Article I, Section 2, 3 of the Constitution).

    In writing this defense, Madison praised "the compromising expedient of the Constitution" which treats the slaves as "inhabitants, but as debased by servitude below the equal level of free inhabitants; which regards the slave as divested of two-fifths of the man." Madison explained: "The true state of the case is that they partake of both these qualities: being considered by our laws, in some respects, as persons, and in other respects as property.... This is in fact their true character. It is the character bestowed on them by the laws under which they live; and it will not be denied that these are the proper criterion." Madison got to the heart of the matter, the essence of what the U.S. Constitution is all about, when in the course of upholding the decision to treat slaves as three-fifths human beings he agrees with the following principle: "Government is instituted no less for protection of the property than of the persons of individuals."1 Property rights—that is the basis on which outright slavery as well as other forms of exploitation, discrimination, and oppression have been consistently upheld. And over the 200 years that this Constitution has been in force, down to today, despite the formal rights of persons it proclaims, and even though the Constitution has been amended to outlaw slavery where one person actually owns another as property, the U.S. Constitution has always remained a document that upholds and gives legal authority to a system in which the masses of people, or their ability to work, have been used as wealth-creating property for the profit of the few.

    The abolition of slavery through the Civil War meant the elimination of one form of exploitation and the further development and extension of other forms of exploitation. As I wrote in Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?, "despite the efforts of abolitionists and the resistance and revolts of the slaves themselves—and their heroic fighting in the Civil War itself—it was not fought by the Union government in the North, and its president, Lincoln, for the purpose of abolishing the atrocity of slavery in some moral sense.... The Civil War arose out of the conflict between two modes of production, the slave system in the South and the capitalist system centered in the North; this erupted into open antagonism, warfare, when it was no longer possible for these two modes of production to co-exist within the same country."2 The victory of the North over the South in the U.S. Civil War represented the victory of the capitalist system over the slave system. It represented the triumph of the capitalist form of using people as a means of creating wealth. Under a system of outright slavery, the slave is literally the property of the slaveowner. Under capitalism, slavery becomes wage-slavery: The exploited class of workers is not owned by the exploiting class of capitalists (the owners of factories, land, etc.), but the workers are in a position where they must sell their ability to work to a capitalist in order to earn a wage. Capitalism needs a mass of workers that is "free," in a two-fold sense: They must be "free" of all means to live (all means of production), except their ability to work; and they must not be bound to a particular owner, a particular site, a particular guild, etc.—they must be "free" to do whatever work is demanded of them, they must be "free" to move from place to place, and "free" to be hired and fired according to the needs of capital! If they cannot enrich a capitalist through working, then the workers cannot work, they cannot earn a wage. But even if they cannot find a capitalist to exploit their labor, even if they are unemployed, they still remain under the domination of the capitalist class and of the process of capitalist accumulation of wealth—the proletarians (the workers) are dependent on the capitalist class and the capitalist system for their very lives, so long as the capitalist system rules. It is this rule, this system of exploitation, that the U.S. Constitution has upheld and enforced, all the more so after outright slavery was abolished through the Civil War.

    But here is another very important fact: In the concrete conditions of the U.S. coming out of the Civil War, and for some time afterward, wage-slavery was not the only major form of exploitation in force in the U.S. Up until very recently (until the 1950s), millions of Black people were exploited like serfs on Southern plantations, working as sharecroppers and tenant farmers to enrich big landowners (and bankers and other capitalists). A whole system of laws—commonly known as Jim Crow laws—were enforced to maintain this relationship of exploitation and oppression: Black people throughout the South—and really throughout the whole country—were subjected to the open discrimination, brutality, and terror that such laws allowed and encouraged. All this, too, was upheld and enforced by the Constitution and its interpretation and application by the highest political and legal authorities in the U.S. And, over the past several decades, when the great majority of Black people have been uprooted from the land in the South and have moved into the cities of the North (and South), they have still been discriminated against, forcibly segregated, and continually subjected to brutality and terror even while some formal civil rights have been extended to them.

    Once again, this is in accordance with the interests of the ruling capitalist class and capitalist system. It is consistent with the principle enunciated by James Madison: Governments must protect the property no less than the persons of individuals. In fact, what Madison obviously meant—and what the reality of the U.S. has clearly been—is that the government must protect the property of white people, especially the wealthy white people, more than the rights of Black people. It must never be forgotten that for most of their history in what is now the United States of America Black people were the property of white people, particularly wealthy plantation owners. Even after this outright slavery was abolished, Black people have never been allowed to achieve equality with whites: they have been held down, maintained as an oppressed nation, and denied the right of self-determination. Capitalism cannot exist without the oppression of nations, and this is all the more so when capitalism develops into its highest stage: monopoly capitalism-imperialism. If the history of the United States has demonstrated anything, it has demonstrated this.

    The Heritage They Won’t Renounce

    The ruling class of the U.S. today—above all the U.S. imperialists, the large-scale capitalists and international exploiters who dominate the U.S. and most of the world—are indeed, as they proclaim, the direct and worthy descendants of their “Founding Fathers.” And this is why the ruling class and its political representatives, while they feel obliged to say that they are opposed to slavery today (at least in the U.S. itself), solemnly praise and celebrate slave owners and upholders of slavery who were so prominent among the “Founding Fathers” and played so central a part in the establishment of the system in the U.S.: men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

    These imperialists will never admit that their “Founding Fathers” established a system of government that, in its very foundation, is based on oppression and exploitation. They will never admit that their Constitution is the legal instrument for enforcing that exploitation and oppression. They cannot admit this, any more than they can admit their much-vaunted wealth and power has been established and built up by stealing land and resources from the native peoples (and Mexico) through extortion and outright murderous means; by trading in human flesh and harnessing human beings in slave labor; by pitilessly exploiting immigrants in their millions as wage-slaves; by robbing and plundering throughout the world, particularly Latin America, Africa, and Asia (what today is generally called the Third World). They cannot acknowledge that, while the forms of slavery have changed, the U.S. has, from the beginning and down to today, remained a society where enslavement, in one form or another, has been at the very heart of the economic system and the very basis of the political structure.

    There are many (including even Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall) who argue that, because of the upholding of slavery in the Constitution—and other injustices, such as excluding women from voting, and the treatment of the Indians—the Constitution was not such a great document when it was written, but it has been made great through the history of the U.S. and the struggles to create a more perfect Union and a more perfect Constitution. In other words, the Constitution may have had defects in some important ways when it was originally conceived, but the miracle of it is that the Constitution has within it provisions for changing and improving it—for extending democracy and rights to those previously excluded. And, some will add, while the Constitution upholds property rights, it also upholds individual and civil rights (even the statement from Madison cited at the beginning of this article stresses that, some might argue). Let’s look more deeply at these questions.

    Extension of the Constitution … Extension of Bourgeois Domination

    The extension of constitutional rights and protections to those previously excluded from them has gone together, in an overall way, with the extension of bourgeois (capitalist) relations and their dominance throughout the U.S. And, at the same time, it has gone hand-in-hand with the continuation of the oppression of Black people, of Native Americans, of Latinos and immigrants from Latin America (and elsewhere), of the oppression of women, and other forms of oppression and exploitation. All this is not in contradiction to but is consistent with the fundamental principles on which the Constitution is based and the way in which it treats the relationship between the rights of property and the rights of individuals.*

    It is noteworthy that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (echoing the 5th Amendment) has as its pivotal point the provision that no State may “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.” Especially in the period since World War 2, this amendment has been used as a major part of the basis to extend civil rights for Black people, for women, and for others discriminated against. Yet this amendment was passed right after the Civil War, in 1866; and for many decades this amendment was not used to combat racial or sexual discrimination. Instead, “For many years the Supreme Court applied the due-process clause mainly to protect business interests against state regulatory legislation.”3 It was only beginning after World War 1, and more fully after World War 2, that the 14th Amendment was applied in a significant way to the questions of racial and sexual discrimination. Thus, “in a long series of cases” beginning in 1925, the Supreme Court “gradually expanded its definition of due process so as to include most of the guarantees of personal liberties in the Federal Bill of Rights and has protected them from state impairment. A similar development occurred with respect to the equal-protection clause.”4 These changes in Supreme Court decisions were part of larger changes in ruling-class policy. But these resulted not from some brilliant new legal insight, nor from some sudden flash of moral awakening within the ruling class. Rather, they resulted from the changed situation of Black people in U.S. society and, more decisively, from the situation and needs of the ruling imperialists.

    As noted earlier, the masses of Black people have undergone a dramatic change in their particular conditions of existence—and of oppression—in the U.S. This began during and immediately after World War 1 but developed fully during and after World War 2. Demand for labor in war production and other strategic industry, followed after World War 2 by sweeping changes in Southern agriculture—called forth by technological changes and international economic competition—drove millions and millions of Black people from the rural South to the urban ghettos of the North and South, and into the most exploited sections of the proletariat. At the same time, the U.S. imperialists emerged not only victorious but greatly strengthened from world war that devastated those countries which were much more directly and centrally involved. So, after World War 2 U.S. imperialism was everywhere, scooping up the former colonial possessions of the prior colonial powers and establishing U.S. neocolonial domination in the name of freedom and (usually) in the guise of allowing formal independence. In this situation, it was not so necessary—nor was it so helpful—to openly and blatantly treat Black people as “second-class citizens” in the U.S. itself. So, over the period of the next several decades, concessions were made to civil rights demands and struggles at the same time as deception, vicious repression, and the promotion of “loyal and responsible Negro leaders” were carried out to keep things firmly under the control of the ruling class and in the service of its larger interests. Similarly, recent decades have seen political and legal changes that have brought certain extensions of formal rights to women and certain concessions to their battle against oppression. These have corresponded to significant changes in society and the world, including the fact that in only a small percentage of U.S. families is it any longer the case that the family is supported by just the man working. But, again, these concessions have been confined within limits that fundamentally conform to the interests and needs of the ruling class in the face of changing conditions in the U.S. and the world.

    Would anyone dare say that, because of these changes and concessions, inequality and injustice have been eliminated in the U.S.? The fact is, none of this has in any way eliminated, or come close to eliminating, discrimination against Black people, their overall conditions of oppression, their status as an oppressed nation. Nor have the ruling imperialists ceased to oppress the Native Americans—they have never even stopped trying to cheat and rob them of valuable land and resources. Nor have these imperialists ceased to discriminate against and viciously exploit other national minorities and immigrants. Nor, despite the constitutional amendment (the 19th, in 1919) giving them the right to vote and other concessions to “women’s rights,” have women been granted equality—there has been no end to the subjugation and degradation they have been subjected to: The oppression of women remains a foundation stone of U.S. society, as indeed it must so long as a system of class domination and exploitation is in force. Today, 200 years after the U.S. Constitution first took effect, and after all the changes and amendments, no one can seriously and reasonably argue that the various kinds of oppression that I have spoken to here do not exist or are only a minor aspect of the situation. No one can seriously and reasonably argue that they are not a basic and deeply rooted feature of American society.

    The reason for this is rooted in the very reality and nature of the economic system in the U.S. and the political system that upholds and enforces this economic system, including the Constitution as the legal “cement” of the political structure. The fundamental reason why the “extension” of constitutional rights to those previously excluded from them has not put an end to exploitation, inequality, and oppression is this: The essence of the capitalist economic system is not the competition of commodity owners, all vying equally in the marketplace (equal opportunity for all). The essence is the exploitation of labor as wage-labor, the command by capital over labor power (the ability to do work) as a commodity—a unique commodity—that creates wealth through its use.** (As a dockworker told me years ago: No one gets rich working; the only way to get rich is by making other people work for you.) And the essence of the political structure that goes along with and protects this capitalist economic system is not freedom and democracy for all, regardless of wealth and social position. The essence is the dictatorship of the bourgeois class—its monopoly of political power and armed force—over those it dominates in the economic system, especially the proletariat. Thus, the right to vote and other formal rights for the proletariat and other oppressed masses are in no way in fundamental opposition to the economic and political system of capitalism and bourgeois dictatorship.

    Bourgeois Democracy—Bourgeois Dictatorship

    Bourgeois democracy presents itself as classless democracy: It proclaims equality for all. Thus, the U.S. Constitution does not say that different classes of people shall have unequal wealth and power; rather, it sets forth a charter that appears to treat everyone the same, regardless of wealth and social status. Yet there never has been, and never could be, a capitalist society without tremendous differences in wealth and power, without fundamental class divisions and antagonisms. In fact, a capitalist society without these things is not even conceivable. And in reality, democracy in capitalist society can only be bourgeois democracy. This means there is democracy—equal political rights and the power to make fundamental decisions—only among the capitalist class, the ruling class. For the rest, and for the proletariat especially, bourgeois democracy means dictatorship: It means being ruled over by the capitalists, even while being allowed to vote and even while being governed by a Constitution that sets forth laws that are said to be applied, equally, to all. How can this be?

    First, as for voting, as I pointed out in Democracy: Can’t We Do Better Than That?:

    On the most obvious level, to be a serious candidate for any major office in a country like the U.S. requires millions of dollars—a personal fortune or, more often, the backing of people with that kind of money. Beyond that, to become known and be taken seriously depends on favorable exposure in the mass media (favorable at least in the sense that you are presented as within the framework of responsible—that is, acceptable politics)…. By the time “the people express their will through voting,” both the candidates they have to choose among and the “issues” that deserve “serious consideration” have been selected out by someone else: the ruling class….

    Further, and even more fundamentally, to “get anywhere” once elected—both to advance one’s own career and to “get anything done”—it is necessary to fit into the established mold and work within the established structures.5

    But that is not all:

    If, however, the electoral process in bourgeois society does not represent the exercise of sovereignty by the people, it generally does play an important role in maintaining the sovereignty—the dictatorship—of the bourgeoisie and the continuation of capitalist society. This very electoral process itself tends to cover over the basic class relations—and class antagonisms—in society, and serves to give formal, institutionalized expression to the political participation of atomized individuals in the perpetuation of the status quo. This process not only reduces people to isolated individuals but at the same time reduces them to a passive position politically and defines the essence of politics as such atomized passivity—as each person, individually, in isolation from everyone else, giving his/her approval to this or to that option, all of which options have been formulated and presented by an active power standing above these atomized masses of “citizens.”… [T]he very acceptance of the electoral process as the quintessential political act reinforces acceptance of the established order and works against any radical rupture with, to say nothing of the actual overturning of, that order.6

    And let us remember that one of the main reasons for which the U.S. Constitution was “ordained and established,” as proclaimed in its “Preamble,” was to prevent social upheaval and the overturning of the order upheld by that Constitution—to “insure domestic tranquility.”

    The same can be said of the other aspects of bourgeois democracy and the kind of rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution (including its “Bill of Rights”): They have the purpose and function of reinforcing the rule of the bourgeoisie and keeping political activity within limits acceptable to the bourgeoisie. Thus, “the much-vaunted freedom of expression in the ‘democratic countries’ is not in opposition to but is encompassed by and confined within the actual exercise of dictatorship by the bourgeoisie. This is for two basic reasons—because the ruling class has a monopoly on the means of molding public opinion and because its monopoly of armed force puts it in a position to suppress, as violently as necessary, any expression of ideas, as well as any action, that poses a serious challenge to the established order.”7 The history of the U.S., like the history of all other “democratic” bourgeois dictatorships, is full of graphic illustrations of just how true the above-quoted statement is!

    Formal equality—the treatment of all persons as equal, and specifically as “equal before the law,” without regard to wealth or social position—in bourgeois society actually covers over the relationship of complete subordination, exploitation, and oppression to which the proletariat and masses of people are subjected. If a small group—the capitalist class—controls the important means of creating wealth, then in reality they have the power of life and death over those who control little or none of these. To have such power over other people is, in essence, to hold them in an enslaved condition, whether or not the chains are literal and visible. In such a situation—which is the fundamental condition of capitalist society—how can there be anything but profound inequality economically, socially, and politically? And with such a fundamental division, with such fundamental inequality, there can never be anything but exploitation, oppression, domination, and dictatorship.

    With regard to the law, this will manifest itself in two main ways. First, those who dominate society economically will dominate in deciding, through the political structure, what the laws will be. They will insure that the laws serve their interests. And second, the actual application and enforcement of the law will discriminate in favor of those with wealth and power and against those without them—and even more so against oppressed nationalities, women, and others who are “the last of the last” in society. Everyday life in any capitalist society proves this over and over. Thus, once again, as with the right to vote and other constitutional rights in a bourgeois-democratic republic, formal equality before the law expresses itself, in reality, as profound inequality—and more—as something confined within and conforming to bourgeois domination and dictatorship.

    The basic difference between the bourgeoisie’s view of freedom and democracy on the one hand, and the striving of oppressed masses for an end to oppressive conditions on the other hand, is sharply drawn in recent events in Haiti, the Philippines, and South Korea. The oppressed masses (and students and other revolutionary intellectuals) want some kind of fundamental change in the social system and a breaking of the chains of imperialist domination in their countries. But the bourgeois opposition leaders and parties want only the recognition of bourgeois-democratic provisions and procedures—with elections the highest expression of political activity. Most of all, they want the sharing of power more broadly and “equally” among the upper classes—really, they want their chance to hold the reins of power—while leaving the social system and imperialist domination intact. As for the imperialists, where they become convinced of the need for change in such situations, they make every effort to keep it confined within the framework of imperialist domination and bourgeois rule. Indeed, they try to use such situations to strengthen and perhaps “refine” the apparatus of bourgeois politics—and, above all, of repression—in the countries involved.

    This brings us to a most fundamental point that is so often ignored or glossed over in discussions and debates about democracy in countries like the U.S.: The fact is that even the extent to which rights are allowed to the nonruling classes in imperialist countries depends on a situation where, in large parts of the world under imperialist domination, the masses of people are subjected to much more open and murderous repression. In short,

    The platform of democracy in the imperialist countries (worm-eaten as it is) rests on fascist terror in the oppressed nations: the real guarantors of bourgeois democracy in the U.S. are not the constitutional scholar and the Supreme Court justice, but the Brazilian torturer, the South African cop, and the Israeli pilot; the true defenders of the democratic tradition are not on the portraits in the halls of the Western capitols, but are Marcos, Mobutu, and the dozens of generals from Turkey to Taiwan, from South Korea to South America, all put and maintained in power and backed up by the military force of the U.S. and its imperialist partners.8,***

    But, at the same time, the imperialist rulers and ardent worshippers of bourgeois democracy go to great lengths to try to cover over, or explain away, the brutal repression “at home” that is so essential to the functioning of the system and the maintenance of the established order:

    For there is vicious repression and state terror carried out continually—and not only in times of serious crisis or social upheaval—in the imperialist countries; it is carried out specifically against those who do not support but oppose the established order, or who simply cannot be counted on to be pacified by the normal workings of the imperialist system—those whose conditions are desperate and whose life situation is explosive anyway.

    In the U.S. the hundreds of police shootings of oppressed people, particularly Blacks and other minority nationalities, every year; the fact that jails are overwhelmingly filled with poor people, the greatest number again being Black and other minority nationalities—it is an amazing but true statistic that one out of every thirteen Black people in the U.S. will be arrested each year (and Blacks are incarcerated eight and one-half times as frequently as whites)!—and the widespread use of drugs, surgical techniques, and other means to repress and terrorize prisoners (as well as an astounding number of people not in jail, including allegedly recalcitrant children); the use of welfare and other so-called social service agencies to harass and control poor people down to the most intimate details of their personal lives; this, and much more, is part of the daily life experience of millions of people in the major imperialist countries. Along with all this, of course, is the use of the state apparatus for direct political repression….

    In times of severe crisis and social strain, of course, all this is carried out more intensively and extensively…. Already, right now in the U.S., to cite one important aspect of this, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, “illegal” and “legal,” are being subjected to a campaign of terror—including raids at their places of work and homes, the sudden and forcible separation of parents from children, and the deportation of large numbers of refugees back to the waiting arms of death squads and other government assassins in countries like El Salvador. The same kind of thing is also being directed against immigrants in France, West Germany, England, and other imperialist democracies.

    Through all this, while overt political repression by the state is in one sense the clearest indication of the class content of democracy—in the imperialist countries as well as elsewhere—in another sense the daily, and often seemingly arbitrary, terror carried out against the lower strata in these imperialist countries concentrates the connection between the normal workings of the system and the political (that is, class) nature of the state.9

    A New and Far Greater Vision of Freedom

    In the course of this article so far, in speaking to some essential questions concerning the U.S. Constitution and the system it upholds, I have answered some of the main arguments made in defense of this Constitution and this system, including the argument that the Constitution, if not perfect, is perfectible—that it can be continually improved and the rights it establishes can be extended to those previously excluded. Before concluding, I want to briefly address some of the other main arguments made on behalf of—or in defense of—this Constitution and the principles and vision it embodies.

    “This Constitution establishes a law of the land that is applicable to all—it establishes a government of laws, not of people.” This is closely linked to the principle of “equality before the law.” What is meant by “a government of laws, not of people” is that no one is “above the law” and that what is allowed and what is forbidden are set forth before all, in one set of regulations binding on everyone, and this can be changed only through the procedures established for making such changes. A “government of people” refers to a notion of a government where it is the will and the word of certain people—a king, a despot, a small group of tyrants, etc.—that determine what is allowed and what is forbidden, and where this can and will change according to the dictates and the whims of such rulers: There is no common and clearly spelled-out standard binding on all, even on the political leaders and the powerful and influential in society.

    Like all principles of bourgeois democracy, this notion of “a government of laws, not of people” misses and obscures the essential question. First of all,

    “the rule of law” can be part of a dictatorship, of one kind or another, and in the most general sense it always is—even where it may appear that power is exercised without or above the law, laws (in the sense of a systematized code that people in society are obliged to conform to, whether written or unwritten) will still exist and play a part in enforcing the rule of the dominant class. Conversely, all states, all dictatorships, include laws in one form or another.10

    Most fundamentally, the question is: What is the character and the class content of the laws, what system do they uphold and enforce, which class interests do they represent—of which class dictatorship, bourgeois or proletarian, are they the expression and instrument—and toward what end are they contributing—the maintenance of class division and domination, exploitation and oppression, or the final elimination of class divisions, of all oppressive social divisions, and of social antagonisms? In short, the essential question is not “a government of laws vs. a government of people,” it is which people—which class—rules, and what laws are in force, in the service of what ends?

    “‘We The People,’ that is the heart of this Constitution and the genius of this Constitution: It establishes a government of, by and for all the people.” As a matter of historical fact, this opening phrase of the Constitution, “We the people of the United States,” was not the product of some lofty desire by the “framers” of the Constitution to set forth some universal principle of popular sovereignty. It was the product of their desire to overcome the problem of States posing their own sovereignty against that of the Federal Government—and the desire to avoid the specific problem of not knowing which States would ratify the Constitution: “The Preamble of the Articles of Confederation had named all the states in order from north to south. How was the [Constitutional] Convention to enumerate the participating states without knowing which would ratify? In a brilliant flash of inspiration, the Convention began with the words, ‘We the People of the United States…do ordain and establish this Constitution….’”11

    More importantly, the larger historical context and the actual content of this proclamation—“We The People”—must be made clear. The founding of the United States of America as an independent country represented not just the breaking away from domination by a foreign power. It also meant breaking away from a form of government that vested great power in the person of the monarchy—even while it ultimately served the interests of the bourgeoisie and the landed “nobility.” In general, the rights and the restrictions of power established in the Constitution of the newly founded United States revolved around preventing arbitrary rule by despots and the concentration of too much power in one person or one part of the government. The “separation of powers” and the “checks and balances” of different branches of government was seen as a way of insuring that the government would serve the interests of the capitalist class and (at that time) the slaveowners as a whole. It is in this light that “We the people of the United States,” in the “Preamble” of the Constitution, must be understood. Obviously, “We the people of the United States” did not include all those who were expressly excluded from the process of selecting the government and endorsing the Constitution. For, “Even on the most obvious level, how could the government of the newly formed United States, for example, be considered to have derived its powers ‘from the consent of the governed’ when, at the time of the formation of the United States of America, a majority of the people ‘governed’—included slaves, Indians, women, men who did not meet various property requirements, and others—did not even have the right to vote…to say nothing of the real power to govern and determine the direction of society?”12

    Bourgeois ruling classes generally speak in the name of the people, all the people. From their standpoint, it may make a certain amount of sense: They do, after all, rule over the masses of people. But from a more basic and more objective standpoint, their claim to represent all the people is a deception. If it was a deception at the time of the founding of the United States and the adoption of its Constitution, it is all the more so now. For now the rule of the capitalists is in fundamental antagonism with the interests of the great majority of people, not just in a particular country, but all over the world. Now the decisive question is not overcoming economic and political obstacles to the development of capitalism and its corresponding political system. The time when that was on the historical agenda is long since passed. What is now on the historical agenda is the overthrow of capitalism and the final elimination of all systems of exploitation, all oppressive social relations, all class distinctions, through the revolution of the exploited class under capitalism, the proletariat.

    To get a very stark sense of just how historically conditioned—how long since outmoded and completely reactionary—are the interests and the paramount concerns of the "Founding Fathers" and their descendants, the ruling imperialists of today, let us consider the fact that, in writing their Constitution, Madison and others "For theoretical inspiration...leaned heavily on Locke and on Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. Both writers had insisted on the need for separation of powers in order to prevent tyranny; in Montesquieu's view even the representatives of the people in the legislature could not be trusted with unlimited power."13 In reading over Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws I could not help but be struck by how thoroughly his frame of reference is that of a bygone age and his outlook that of exploiting classes whose period of historical ascendancy is long since past. As a glaring illustration, consider the following:

    If I had to justify our right to enslave Negroes, this is what I would say: Since the peoples of Europe have exterminated those of America, they have had to enslave those of Africa in order to use them to clear and cultivate such a vast expanse of land.

    Sugar would be too expensive if it weren't harvested by slaves.

    Those in question are black from the tip of their toes to the top of their heads; and their noses so flattened that it is almost impossible to feel sorry for them.

    It is inconceivable that God, who is a very wise being, could have placed a soul, especially a good soul, in an all-black body....

    One proof of the fact that Negroes don't have any common sense is that they get more excited about a string of glass beads than about gold, which, in civilized countries, is so dearly prized.

    It is impossible that these people are men; because if we thought of them as men, one would begin to think that we ourselves are not Christians.14,****

    Let the "Founding Fathers" and their descendants draw theoretical inspiration from the likes of Montesquieu! Let them defend slavery and modern-day exploitation on the ground of property rights, taking their lead from the likes of James Madison, the main author of the Constitution. As for the proletariat, our goal is "Marx's view of the complete abolition of bourgeois property relations—and all relations in which human beings confront each other as owners (or non-owners) of property rather than through conscious and voluntary association."15

    For the exploiting classes, and in a system under their rule, the "bottom line" is to reduce the masses of people to mere wealth-creating property—and today, under the domination of the imperialists, the greatest of all exploiters, the mass of humanity is treated as merely a means to amass even greater wealth and power in the hands of, and for the profit of, so few. And at what cost! This cost must be measured in massive human suffering, degradation, and destruction. Imagine the even greater cost in human suffering, degradation, and destruction that will have to be paid unless and until the oppressed and exploited victims of this system, who are the great majority of humanity, rise up and overthrow this system and finally put an end to all social relations of exploitation and oppression.

    In conclusion, The Constitution of the United States is an exploiters' vision of freedom. It is a charter for a society based on exploitation, on slavery in one form or another. The rights and freedoms it proclaims are subordinate to and in the service of the system of exploitation it upholds. This Constitution has been and continues to be applied in accordance with this vision and with the interests of the ruling class of this system: In its application it has become more and more fully the instrument of bourgeois domination, dictatorship, oppression, conquest, and plunder.

    Our answer is clear to those who argue: Even if The Constitution of the United States is not perfect, it is the best that has been devised—it sets a standard to be striven for. Our answer is: Why should we aim so low, when we have The Communist Manifesto to set a far higher standard of what humanity can strive for—and is capable of achieving—a far greater vision of freedom.*****

     

    NOTES

    1. Quotes from James Madison are from the Federalist Paper No. 54 in The Federalist Papers (New York: New American Library, 1961), pp. 336-341, especially pp. 339 and 337. [back]

    2. Bob Avakian, Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? (Chicago: Banner Press, 1986), pp. 110-11. [back]

    3. Edward Conrad Smith, editor, The Constitution of the United States with Case Summaries (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1979), p. 18. All citations in this article are from the essay “The Origins of the Constitution.” [back]

    4. Ibid., pp. 18-19. [back]

    5. Avakian, Democracy, p. 69. [back]

    6. Ibid, p. 70. [back]

    7. Ibid, p. 71. [back]

    8. Lenny Wolff, The Science of Revolution: An Introduction (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1983), p. 184. [back]

    9. Avakian, Democracy, pp. 137-39. [back]

    10. Ibid., pp. 233-34. [back]

    11. Smith, Constitution of the U.S., p. 12. [back]

    12. Avakian, Democracy, p. 100. [back]

    13. Smith, Constitution of the U.S., p. 13. [back]

    14. Charles Montesquieu, De L'Esprit Des Lois, Paris: Garnier, 1927, livre 15, chapitre 5, "De L'Esclavage Des Negres" (The Spirit of the Laws, book 15, chapter 5, "On the Enslavement of Negroes"), my translation. [back]

    15. Avakian, Democracy, p. 212. [back]

    Added Notes by the Author, Spring 2023

    * A major factor underlying this “extension of constitutional rights and protections to those previously excluded from them” has—especially since the second half of the 20th century—been the increasing globalization of the capitalist-imperialist economy, a worldwide system of exploitation ensnaring literally billions of people, and in particular super-exploitation of masses of people, including more than 150 million children, in the Third World of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The relationship of this worldwide exploitation, and super-exploitation, to the situation in the U.S. itself—particularly with regard to the economic structure and social and class relations within this country—is analyzed in depth in the paper by Raymond Lotta Imperialist Parasitism and Class-Social Recomposition in the U.S. From the 1970s to Today: An Exploration of Trends and Changes, which is available at revcom.us. The political dimensions of this are explored in my article Imperialist Parasitism and “Democracy”: Why So Many Liberals and Progressives Are Shameless Supporters of “Their” Imperialism (also available at revcom.us), where the following is made clear:

    [T]his imperialist plunder provides the material basis for a certain stability, at least in “normal times” in the imperialist “home country” (with the U.S. a prime example of this). This relative stability, in turn, makes it possible for the ruling class to allow a certain amount of dissent and political protest—so long as this remains within the confines of, or at least does not significantly threaten, the “law and order” that serves and enforces the fundamental interests of this ruling class.

    At the same time, as sharply demonstrated in mass uprisings which do call into question that “law and order” and/or defy allegiance to the imperialist interests of this system—such as the mass outpouring against police terror in 2020, and urban rebellions and mass opposition to the Vietnam war in the 1960s—the rulers of this country will frequently respond to such opposition with severe repression and murderous retribution.  For example, the city of Wilmington, in Biden’s home state of Delaware, was placed under martial law for months during the 1960s upsurge against the oppression of Black people, and a number of members of the Black Panther Party, most prominently Fred Hampton, were murdered by police, along with many Black people taking part in urban uprisings in that period, while militant mass resistance against the Vietnam war and rebellions among middle class youth and students were in some cases subjected to a vicious, and at times murderous, response by police and National Guard troops.

    It should never be forgotten, or overlooked, that the “law and order” that enforces this relative stability has included the regular murder of Black people, as well as Latinos, by police—resulting in the fact that the number of Black people who have been killed by police in the years since 1960 is greater than the thousands of Black people who were lynched during the period of Jim Crow segregation and Ku Klux Klan terror, before the 1960s. It should also not be overlooked that the U.S. has the highest rate of mass incarceration of any country in the world, with Black people and Latinos particularly subjected to this mass incarceration. [back]

    ** The point here, as emphasized in my work Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, is that the essence of the capitalist economy, and the source of capitalist “wealth” and “economic growth,” is not a bunch of capitalist entrepreneurs and their “innovation,” or their “entrepreneurial genius.” It is the exploitation by the capitalists (the bourgeoisie) of wage-workers (the proletariat). This is different than the question of what is the driving force compelling the capitalists to continue to intensify the exploitation of the proletariat and to continually find new means of doing so. As also pointed out in Breakthroughs:

    Engels, in Anti-Dühring, discussed the motion of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism between socialized production and private appropriation. He pointed out that the working out of this contradiction assumes two different forms of motion that go into the dynamic process of this fundamental contradiction’s motion. Those two forms of motion are, on the one hand, the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat that it exploits, and the other form of motion that Engels identified, importantly, is the contradiction between organization and anarchy, the organization of production on the level of, say, an enterprise—which may be highly organized, with lots of calculations going into it, market estimates and all kinds of things, and may be very tightly organized in terms of how the actual process of production is carried out on the level of the particular capitalist corporation, and so on—while, at the same time, this is in contradiction to the anarchy of production and of exchange in the society as a whole (or today in the world as a whole, today more than ever in the world as a whole). So you have these two forms of motion—and I’ll come back later to a crucial distinguishing aspect of the new communism: the importance of identifying the second form of motion of this fundamental contradiction, that is, the anarchy/organization contradiction, or the driving force of anarchy, as overall the principal and most essential form of the motion of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism....

    In this regard, in the article “On the ‘Driving Force of Anarchy’ and the Dynamics of Change,” Raymond Lotta cited this statement of mine:

    It is the anarchy of capitalist production which is, in fact, the driving or motive force of this process [of capitalist production], even though the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and proletariat is an integral part of the contradiction between socialized production and private appropriation. While the exploitation of labor-power is the form by and through which surplus value is created and appropriated, it is the anarchic relations between capitalist producers, and not the mere existence of propertyless proletarians or the class contradiction as such, that drives these producers to exploit the working class on an historically more intensive and extensive scale. This motive force of anarchy is an expression of the fact that the capitalist mode of production represents the full development of commodity production and the law of value.

    And then there is this very important passage:

    Were it not the case that these capitalist commodity producers are separated from each other and yet linked by the operation of the law of value they would not face the same compulsion to exploit the proletariat—the class contradiction between bourgeoisie and proletariat could be mitigated. It is the inner compulsion of capital to expand which accounts for the historically unprecedented dynamism of this mode of production, a process which continually transforms value relations and which leads to crisis.

    (Breakthroughs is available at revcom.us; and the article by Raymond Lotta referred to here, “On the ‘Driving Force of Anarchy’ and the Dynamics of Change,” can be found in the online theoretical journal Demarcations, Issue Number 3.) [back]

    *** As noted in “Imperialist Parasitism and ‘Democracy’: Why So Many Liberals and Progressives Are Shameless Supporters of ‘Their’ Imperialism”:

    Some of the mass murderers in other countries who today play such a crucial role in serving the interests of U.S. imperialism throughout the world, and in making possible the maintenance of bourgeois democracy in this country itself (worm-eaten as it is indeed), are the same as they were 40 years ago, and some are different—but the essential reality remains that the “platform of democracy” in this country rests on fascist terror, along with ruthless exploitation, in the oppressed nations of the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia). [back]

    **** In relation to this statement by Montesquieu—and more generally his views on slavery—I am reproducing here the following “A Note from Bob Avakian: On Montesquieu, Slavery and the U.S. Constitution,” which appeared in Revolution #037, March 5, 2006, posted at revcom.us:

    Recently, Revolution ran an excerpt from a pamphlet I wrote, which was originally published in 1987, U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom. In that excerpt, there is a quote from De L'Esprit Des Lois (or, in English, "The Spirit of the Laws") by Charles Montesquieu, an 18th–century French philosopher, who was one of the sources of inspiration for the U.S. Constitution, and in particular the theory of the separation of powers that is incorporated in that Constitution. The quote from this work of Montesquieu's, which was published in 1748, is one in which he recites an extreme and grotesquely racist justification for "the enslavement of the Negroes." In relation to this, it is not infrequently argued that Montesquieu was being ironic here, and deliberately overstating this argument, in order to, in effect, polemicize against the enslavement of African people, and that in general Montesquieu's writings express opposition to slavery. But the reality is not so simple as this, nor does this reflect what Montesquieu was essentially seeking to do in this part of "The Spirit of the Laws." It can be said that in "The Spirit of the Laws" Montesquieu's position is one of general opposition to slavery, and he indicates that slavery is not appropriate in countries like France; but, at the same time, he speaks to various circumstances in which he believes slavery can be justified or reasonable. For example, he argues that in the parts of the world, in particular the southern regions, where the climate is warmer, this climate makes people lazy (indolent), and slavery may be justified in order to get them to work (and he argues that in a despotic country, where people's political rights are already repressed, slavery may not be worse for people in that condition).

    This, and the general discussion of slavery that makes up this part (book 15) of "The Spirit of the Laws," is included in a broader discussion by Montesquieu on the nature of different societies and governments in different countries and parts of the world (this is found not only in book 15 but also books 14 and 16 of "The Spirit of the Laws") in which Montesquieu argues that geography and in particular climate plays a big part in determining the nature of different peoples and the character of their society and governing system. And it is important to understand that, although in this discussion Montesquieu makes logical refutation of certain arguments, including certain defenses of slavery, this is not a polemic for or against slavery, or other forms of government, and its character is not that of moral argumentation, so much as it is an attempt to explain why various practices, and various forms of society and government, have existed (and in some cases continue to exist) in various places.

    Another way to put this is that what Montesquieu is doing, in these parts of "The Spirit of the Laws" (and generally in this work), is attempting to make a kind of materialist analysis of these phenomena, including slavery in many places where it has existed—although it must be emphasized that this is not a thoroughly scientific, dialectical materialism but instead a rather crude and vulgar materialism which is marked, and marred, by a considerable amount of determinism: it is a kind of mechanical materialism that argues for a direct and straight-line (linear) connection between things like geography and climate and the character of society and government. It is a kind of materialism that does not adequately and accurately characterize the real motive forces in the development of human society, and in fact this kind of vulgar materialism has often been used to justify various forms of oppression, including colonial and imperialist domination. While we can, and should, recognize that, in the circumstances and time in which he wrote—about 250 years ago—there are aspects of what Montesquieu was seeking to do that were new and represented a break with the suffocating and obfuscating feudal outlook and conventions, it is very important to understand how Montesquieu's outlook and method were marked, and limited, by the social, and international, relations of which they were ultimately an expression: relations in which one part of society, and of the world, dominates and exploits others. And that is the basic point that was being emphasized in relation to Montesquieu and the U.S. Constitution, in the pamphlet U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom.

    With regard to the specific passage that was cited in U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom, "on the enslavement of the Negroes," there is, in fact, some reason to accept that Montesquieu does not actually agree with the justification for this enslavement that he summarizes, and that he is actually subjecting this kind of justification to some ironic and satirical treatment. A reasonable interpretation of Montesquieu's arguments, as he goes on in this part of "The Spirit of the Laws" (book 15), is that this kind of argument, about the non-human character of the Negroes, is not a valid argument, not one that actually justifies this enslavement. But then he does go on to explore the question of what might actually be reasonable justifications, in certain circumstances, for slavery; and, as spoken to above, he finds such justifications in situations such as those where there is a despotic government, or where—as he concludes, through an application of vulgar and determinist materialism—the warm climate makes people lazy and unwilling, on their own initiative, to work.

    Thus, in looking into and reflecting on this further, I would say that, while it is important to understand the complexity and nuance of what Montesquieu writes here—and it can be said that the way in which I cited Montesquieu in writing this pamphlet on the U.S. Constitution does not really or fully do that—it is not the case that what Montesquieu was doing here was actually making a case against the enslavement of the Negroes, or against slavery in general. Once again, it is important to keep in mind the fact that, although he was opposed to slavery on general principle, and declared that it was a good thing that it had been eliminated in his home country, France, and more generally in Europe, Montesquieu did not think slavery was wrong, or without justification, in all circumstances. And it also seems that Montesquieu did not hesitate to invest in companies involved in the slave trade. In this, there is a parallel with John Locke, the English philosopher and political theorist, who, as I pointed out in this same pamphlet (U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom), was also a major influence in the conception of the U.S. Constitution. As I wrote in Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? (p. 29):

    "In sum, the society of which Locke was a theoretical exponent, as well as a practical political partisan, was a society based on wage-slavery and capitalist exploitation. And it is not surprising that, while he was opposed to slavery in England itself, he not only defended the institution of slavery, under certain circumstances, in the Second Treatise, but turned a not insignificant profit himself in the slave trade and helped to draw up the charter for a government headed by a slave-owning aristocracy in one of the American colonies. For as Marx sarcastically summarized: ‘The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.’" [back]

    ***** In the years since the writing of this article, I have devoted considerable work to the development of what is meant by this “far greater vision of freedom”—what it would mean “in real life.” One very important result of this is the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which provides both a sweeping vision and a concrete blueprint for a radically different and emancipating society and world. This Constitution is available at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From The RNL Show:

    Bob Avakian on Why He Wrote the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America

    From The RNL Show, Episode 156

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: MAJOR TURNING POINTS AND RARE OPPORTUNITIES

    Or... Why did Lenin talk about World War 1 as a “stage manager” of revolution?...

    And why did Mao say, We should thank Japan for invading China?

    Let’s begin with this: In the most fundamental sense, communist revolutions do not come about simply as a result of the revolutionary work and struggle of the communists.

    Why am I raising this? To argue that what communists do is unimportant?! No—obviously not. It is of definite and vital importance for communists to work consistently, and struggle vigorously, with determination and creativity, to win masses of people to see the need for and become actively involved in preparing for and then carrying out the overthrow of the oppressive system, in order to bring into being a radically different and emancipating system. (And clearly revolutions could not come about as a result of the revolutionaries carrying out something other than consistent revolutionary work and struggle.)

    But revolutions do not proceed in a straight line—and it is crucial to grasp, and act decisively in relation to, those rare times when a profound, qualitative change in the situation opens up the possibility for major advance for revolution, perhaps even the possibility of carrying things all the way to the overthrow of the existing system and the establishment of a radically different and much better system.

    This possibility may not be, and generally is not, immediately apparent, and on the contrary what is often more readily seen on the surface is the way in which, in the short term, the situation is worsening.

    The point is that all this can only be correctly grasped, and acted on, with a consistently scientific method and approach.

    One of the most important things that such a scientific method and approach makes clear is this: Revolutions are made possible, in the most fundamental sense, as a result of the intensification of the contradictions of the oppressive system, leading to crucial turning points, providing rare opportunities for major revolutionary advance, even potentially opening the way for the victory of the revolution. 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.

    Of course, the role of communists is not to wait around passively for such crucial turning points and rare opportunities. On the contrary—and this is a basic point of orientation in the new communism which I have brought forward—communists must continually work to maximize the development toward, and accumulate forces for, the revolution that is needed: applying the approach of hastening while awaiting the necessary conditions that make it possible to go all out in the fight for revolution, with a real chance to win. And then, when the necessary conditions have come into being, it is of crucial importance to act decisively—to lead masses of people, in their millions, to actually seize power.

    But simply going along carrying out “routine” work in the name of revolution, actually lacking any revolutionary orientation and sense of urgency—“tolling the bell” timelessly, like monks in a monastery, paying no attention to the larger developments in the world, and in particular the way the fundamental contradictions of the ruling system are becoming much more acutely posed than in “normal times”—this will result in failure to grasp the potential this opens up for revolutionary advance and will lead to throwing away the rare opportunity.

    The successful communist-led revolutions, first in Russia and then in China, during the first half of the last century, illustrate these crucial lessons. (Even though the socialist systems that were established through revolution, first in Russia/the Soviet Union and then in China, were eventually overturned and capitalism restored in both countries, the essential points I have emphasized here are highlighted by the experiences of these revolutions in leading masses of people in overthrowing the oppressive old order and establishing a new, revolutionary society and government.)

    Russia: World War 1 as a “Stage Manager” of Revolution

    For the Russian revolution, it was World War 1, beginning in 1914, that greatly heightened the contradictions of the capitalist-imperialist system overall and in a particularly acute way within Russia. (This was a war between rival imperialist powers for the dominant position in the world, and in particular the domination and exploitation of vast colonial empires especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.) As this war unfolded over several years, and intensified the contradictions that led to the war, it made the objective basis and possibility for revolution more favorable, although this possibility had to be firmly grasped and actively worked on—and the opportunity to overthrow the old order had to be decisively seized, when that opportunity arose toward the end of this war. 

    But it is worth noting that for some time before the start of World War 1, and then during much of that war, the Russian communists (the Bolsheviks) were severely weakened—with their leader Lenin and some other leading figures in exile, desperately hanging on in extremely difficult circumstances (with some comrades living, and even dying, on the streets). This difficult situation was to a large degree the result of the defeat of a revolutionary uprising in Russia in the decade before the start of World War 1 and the severe repression that followed that defeat. In those circumstances, many former supporters, or intellectual sympathizers, of the revolution adopted “philosophical” rationalizations for turning away from Marxism, and more than a few people within the ranks of the Bolsheviks retreated into self-indulgent individualism. Further, for much of World War 1, because the Bolsheviks took and maintained the principled stand of refusing to support their own imperialist ruling class in that war—while exposing and denouncing the war overall as imperialist—they were very unpopular among large sections of the Russian people, who especially at the start of the war were swept up in patriotic fervor in support of Russia’s involvement in the war.

    But as the war dragged on, with the Russian ruling class continuing to be actively involved in this war that was causing enormous casualties for the Russian troops and terrible suffering for the masses of people in Russia, the Bolsheviks were able to increasingly win growing numbers of people and organize them into a powerful revolutionary force—including a section of the government armed forces that came over to the side of the revolution—and in the latter part of 1917 this revolutionary force succeeded in seizing power as the contradictions continued to intensify, largely as a result of the continuation of the war and the way it concentrated the underlying contradictions of the system of capitalism-imperialism.

    That is what Lenin meant when he said that this war, with all of its massive destruction and terrible suffering, was a “stage manager” of revolution. But this did not happen “automatically” as a result of the mounting horrors of the war. There would have been no revolution in Russia then if the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, had not, first of all, maintained a principled stand in opposition to the war—going against the powerful tide of patriotic fervor at the beginning and for a good part of the war. Beyond that, there would have been no revolution in 1917 if Lenin had not provided decisive leadership in making the scientific analysis of the ways in which this war was greatly heightening the contradictions of the capitalist-imperialist system, overall and in a particularly acute way in Russia—or if the Bolsheviks had failed to apply this analysis and seize on the rare situation toward the end of the war when, as Lenin also put it, years and even decades of “normal times” became concentrated in months or even weeks of intensified contradictions and accelerated developments.

    The Chinese Revolution and the Japanese Invasion and Occupation of China

    In the late 1920s, after the slaughter of large numbers of Chinese Communists by reactionary forces headed by Chiang Kai-shek in Chinese urban areas, Mao Zedong led in making a crucial leap for the Chinese revolution: he headed a force of revolutionaries, recruited especially from among desperate sections of Chinese youth, to retreat into remote mountains and launch an armed struggle—a people’s war—against the oppressive and murderous government headed by Chiang Kai-shek (backed by “western” imperialists, including the U.S.). For several years, this people’s war succeeded in establishing and extending revolutionary base areas in the Chinese countryside and defeating successive attempts of the counter-revolutionary forces to suppress and liquidate these base areas and the revolutionary forces leading them. But, finally, in the mid-1930s, the Chiang Kai-shek government adopted new military strategy and tactics, which succeeded in forcing the revolutionaries to abandon the base areas and embark on what became known as the Long March, covering thousands of miles and ending up with the establishment of a new base area centered in Yenan in the interior of China.

    Particularly with the eventual victory of the Chinese revolution—with the final defeat of Chiang Kai-shek’s forces and the establishment of nationwide revolutionary political power in 1949—the Long March has come to be seen as a great revolutionary achievement. And it was. But it is also the case that, although this Long March did make possible a new and crucial stage in the Chinese revolution, the great majority of the revolutionary forces that embarked on this Long March—numbering in the tens and tens of thousands—died in the course of it. And it is entirely possible that not only those massive numbers of revolutionary fighters, but the revolution itself, could have been killed off—at least for a whole period of time—as a result of having to abandon the original base areas and carry out the tortuous Long March.

    As it turned out, even with the great losses, a significant force survived the Long March, and this force—having fought many battles and overcome many hardships—was further tempered and steeled. Then, as a result of the invasion and occupation of large parts of China by Japanese imperialism, it became both necessary and possible to rally broad sections of the Chinese people in opposition to this invasion and occupation. And the need for the broadest possible resistance against the Japanese occupation, as well as the weakened position of Chiang Kai-shek’s government as a result of this occupation, established both the necessity and the basis to enter into a united front with this Chiang Kai-shek government to fight the Japanese invaders. (Because of “the reality on the ground” Chiang Kai-shek was forced to agree to this united front, even though, during the course of the war of resistance against Japan, Chiang continued his attempts to wipe out the communist-led forces, while giving up more and more ground to the Japanese.)

    The result of all this was that, through the course of World War 2—which began in 1939 and finally ended in 1945 with the defeat of Japan and its allies, including Nazi Germany—the revolutionary forces in China led by Mao grew in numbers and strength; and, after a relatively brief interlude of attempted but failed negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek, through three more years of people’s war the revolution succeeded in thoroughly defeating the reactionary forces of the old order in 1949, capturing power throughout the Chinese mainland and forcing Chiang Kai-shek to flee to the island of Taiwan.

    As was the case with World War 1, this second world war came about because of the intensification of the basic contradictions of the system of capitalism-imperialism. But the course of World War 2, including the Japanese occupation of China and the war of resistance waged against that occupation, in which the revolutionary forces led by Mao played a decisive role—all this resulted in a major change in the power relations within China, in a direction more favorable for the revolution; and this prepared much of the ground for the fight for the final victory of the revolution in 1949. In a real sense, the Japanese invasion and occupation of China constituted a kind of “fulcrum,” shifting the terms of the revolutionary struggle and providing the objective basis for a crucial advance of the revolution, after the devastating setback (the need to abandon the initial base areas of the revolution) which made necessary the Long March, with not only its real achievements but also its great losses.

    This is what Mao meant when he said that Japan should be thanked for invading China. Obviously, Mao was not unaware of, or unconcerned about, the terrible atrocities which Japan’s occupation forces imposed on the Chinese people. His point was that the Japanese invasion and occupation, with all the destruction and suffering it brought for hundreds of millions of Chinese people, and for the Chinese nation as a whole, ended up contributing, in a major way, to the eventual victory of the Chinese revolution, and with it the possibility of uprooting the fundamental and overall causes of the horrific exploitation and oppression to which the masses of Chinese people had been subjected not just for years and decades but for centuries and millennia.

    Mao’s ironic statement—we should thank Japan for invading—reflects the reality that the invasion and occupation of China by Japanese imperialism ended up contributing, in a major way, to the success of the Chinese revolution. But this revolution could not have succeeded if those leading it, and in particular Mao, had not grasped and acted in accordance with the changing objective conditions brought about by the Japanese invasion and occupation, particularly as this took place in the overall context of World War 2—and then the qualitatively changed conditions again, within China and in the world as a whole, with the end of World War 2, in which Japan was defeated and its occupation of China ended.

    Crucial Lessons for This Rare Time When Revolution Has Become—More—Possible

    Of course, no one can say with certainty that the Chinese revolution could not have eventually succeeded even if Japan had not invaded (or that there could never have been a communist-led revolution in Russia without World War 1). As Mao also emphasized, Marxists are not fortune-tellers. Marxism—communism—is a continually developing science, which proceeds on the basis of analyzing a continually changing objective reality.

    The point, once again, is that revolutions do not proceed in a straight line, but through many twists and turns, including setbacks and defeats, sometimes very serious setbacks and defeats, along the way. The actual process is in line with another statement by Mao, which applies to even a successful revolution—that it is a matter of fighting and failing, repeatedly, until victory is finally achieved. And, all along the way, there is a need to apply a scientific method and approach to learn not only from advances, and from what prove to be correct policies, but also from mistakes, difficulties, setbacks and defeats, to continually make a scientific analysis of the constantly changing situation, and to recognize and seize on openings for advance, especially situations where there are profound, qualitative changes in the objective situation providing the potential for major advance, even perhaps the victory of the revolution.

    Through the application of this scientific method and approach, it can be, and has been, firmly established that there is a basis and a possibility—not a certainty or “inevitability” but an actual basis and possibility—for revolution aiming for a communist world to ultimately triumph. And even while today the conditions in the U.S. and the world are vastly different than they were during the different phases of the Chinese revolution, in the first half of the last century, or the Russian revolution in 1917—and revolution in this country obviously will not and cannot come about as some kind of “copy” of either of those revolutions—especially in these tumultuous times now, the possibility of an actual revolution is real, yes right in this powerful imperialist USA. But this possibility cannot be grasped without the scientific method and approach of communism, as it has been further developed with the new communism. And a revolution will not, and cannot, be brought about without applying this method and approach to continually make, and act on, a scientific assessment of the constantly, and now rapidly, changing objective reality—including the daunting challenges and vexing difficulties, but most fundamentally the development of the contradictions of the system of capitalism-imperialism and the consequences of this, on a world level as well as within this country itself.

    This scientific approach is especially crucial in those times when the contradictions of this system are changing in a major way—and, above all, those rare times when, as Lenin noted, years and decades of “normal times” become concentrated in months or even weeks, when contradictions are repeatedly intensified and changes rapidly accelerated, heightening the prospect of great disaster for humanity but also the possibility of wrenching a radically different and far better future, through revolution.

    This is one of those rare times.

    Why? As explained in Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points,

    Brutal and murderous white supremacy, male supremacy, and other oppressive relations, the deepening crisis in society and the world overall, including the constant wars and the continuing destruction of the environment: all this cannot ultimately be resolved, in any positive way, within the confines of the system that rules in this country and dominates in the world as a whole—the system of capitalism-imperialism. Under the rule of this system, all this will only get worse. The deepening divisions within this country now, from top to bottom, mean that those who have ruled in this country for so long (the capitalist-imperialist ruling class) can no longer rule, as a “unified force,” in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept—with a system of government that has an outer shell of “democracy” to cover over the fact that it is an actual capitalist dictatorship at its core, relying fundamentally on the armed force of the institutions of “official violence,” the police and the military. Because of big changes in this country and the world overall, one part of the ruling class, represented by the Republican Party, has become fascist: they no longer believe in or feel bound by what have been the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. And the other section of the ruling class, represented by the Democratic Party, has no real answer to this—except trying to maintain the “normal way” that the oppressive rule of this system has been enforced for hundreds of years, while the fascists are determined to tear up those “norms” and rule through more openly and aggressively oppressive means, without the traditional disguise of supposed “democracy for all.”

    The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means, or radically emancipating revolutionary means. And this resolution could quite possibly happen, one way or the other, within the next few years. This rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people. In a situation like this, things that have basically remained the same, for decades, can radically change in a very short period of time. This rare time must not be wasted— it must be seized on to have a real fighting chance to bring about a truly emancipating revolutionary resolution, and not be subjected to a terrible, reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive resolution.1

    This, once more, requires resolutely “going against the tide” of spontaneous mass sentiments, including the stubborn tendency of many to remain stuck in the well-worn rut of relying on “the way things have always been,” even as that “way” is being profoundly disrupted and shattered by the intensifying, and even potentially existential, “earthquakes” erupting in this country and the world overall. As I have emphasized before, people—masses of people, in different parts of society—need to be shaken awake, through sharp, and at times fierce, struggle to get them to confront the very real horrors shaping up on the near horizon but also the real possibility for a revolutionary way forward out of this madness. This means breaking with the dominant relations and ways of thinking of this putrid system of capitalism-imperialism, including its quicksand trap of elections to choose between the Democrat and Republican representatives of the ruling class of this system.

    The following, which I wrote years ago now, has greatly heightened and urgent meaning today:

    Indeed, if and when conflicts among different sections of the ruling class reach the point where they are beginning to assume antagonistic proportions themselves, that is a sign of extremely deep and acute cracks and fissures in the entire established order; and such a situation must be seized by the oppressed not to side with one section of the bourgeoisie against another—thus helping the ruling class to “repair” the rupturing old order and reinforce its dictatorship, in one form or another—but instead to rise in revolutionary struggle to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie altogether.2

    Masses of people: all those who suffer so horribly in the “normal times” of living under the rule of this system of capitalism-imperialism...all those who hunger for a more just world and a future worth living in, but whose future will be something truly terrible if things are allowed to continue on the terms set by this system... Masses of people, in continually growing numbers, must be made aware of the meaning and implications of this rare time, including through fierce struggle as necessary to win them to raise their sights and recognize not only the necessity but the possibility to seize on this rare time to make revolution and wrench something really positive, yes something truly emancipating, out of this rare time.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points is available at revcom.us. A fuller analysis of why this is a rare time when revolution becomes more possible, even in a powerful imperialist country like the U.S., is contained in the major work by Bob Avakian 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, which is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    2. This statement by Bob Avakian is from his book Democracy: Can’t We Do Better Than That? (published by Banner Press, 1986); emphasis added. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 1: We Are Serious

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction:

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]3

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.4 (Emphasis added.)

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following is the first in a series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.5

     This part one contains an excerpt from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” (which is available at revcom.us); and then an excerpt from a presentation to a gathering of revcoms (revolutionary communists) in 2022.

    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.

    And then, once this revolutionary force is brought into being, everything would be focused on how to actually fight to win.

    At that point, this force of millions would need to be mobilized and wielded in such a way as to make clear that it is going for a complete, revolutionary change—that it will not back down from this goal and accept anything less. In this way, it would constitute a powerful pole attracting and drawing forward even broader numbers of people from all parts of society—and it would pose a definite challenge and call to people everywhere in society, including in all the existing institutions of this system, to come over to the side of this revolution.

     

     

    Something Terrible or Something Truly Emancipating - Square, wo "NEW"

     

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    As I said in the Dialogue with Cornel West: It is important that we are right, and righteous—it is important that we stand with the wretched of the Earth and stand up against their oppression—but we have to win. We have to actually shatter the rule of this monstrous system, and bring something radically different and much better into being. Or else, we will at best “fight the good fight” but the horrors will continue, and get even worse.6

    The sixth point of the Points of Attention for the Revolution says this: “We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.”7

    I have highlighted the words “Because we are serious” in order to emphasize that this Point of Attention is not a declaration of some idealist pacifist notion that the struggle against this system can and must always remain non-violent. First of all, while we are against all violence against the people and among the people, and at this stage we do not initiate (and we do not encourage others to initiate) violence, at the same time we strongly recognize and uphold the right of people to defend themselves against unjust attacks. And, more strategically, we scientifically understand that: the fundamental source of violence in the world is this system of capitalism-imperialism, that by far the greatest perpetrators of unjust violence are the ruling classes of the capitalist-imperialist powers, most of all this country—and that the fundamental reason why the abolition of this system cannot be achieved peacefully is, once again, because of the nature of this system itself, and the fact that those who rule in it would never allow their system to be swept away without attempting to violently suppress and crush any such attempt.

    This is what it means that we are serious about all this.

    It is with this understanding, and this orientation, that we have to very seriously approach the question of how to actually win—win in the more immediate fight, historically speaking, to seize power—and win in a way that lays the basis for winning in the largest sense, with the goal of uprooting all oppression and exploitation, all over the world, bringing into being a communist world in which human beings can truly thrive with the fullest expression of their humanity.

     

    Next >>

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-Imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. A film and the text of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Actually Make Revolution are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN. This film of the Dialogue is also available at revcom.us/BA's Collected Works. [back]

    5. The Points of Attention for the Revolution are available as well at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction: 

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]1

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.2 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically-based determination, for this revolution.

    The following excerpt from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution is the second in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.3

     

    Let’s begin with the statement from HOW WE CAN WIN that everything we are doing is “aiming for something very definite—a revolutionary situation: Where the system and its ruling powers are in a serious crisis” and “millions and millions of people refuse to be ruled in the old way—and are willing and determined to put everything on the line to bring down this system and bring into being a new society and government that will be based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North AmericaThat is the time to go all-out to win. That is what we need to be actively working for and preparing for now.”4 Key components and signs of a revolutionary crisis are that the violence used “to enforce this system is seen by large parts of society for what it is—murderous and illegitimate” and that “the conflicts among the ruling forces become really deep and sharp—and masses of people respond to this not by falling in behind one side or the other of the oppressive rulers, but by taking advantage of this situation to build up the forces for revolution.” This underlines the great importance of ongoing work and compelling struggle to break people away from the “hold” of the political operatives and media mouthpieces of this system.

    I will speak more fully to how we need to be actively preparing now for a revolutionary situation. But, first, in order to have the fullest sense of this, we need to work back from that situation and what would be required then—how the all-out fight would need to be waged—to have a real chance to defeat the powerful, violent forces of this system. Here again, it is crucially important to approach things in a serious and scientific way. This is what is done in “On the Possibility of Revolution,” which (as noted in HOW WE CAN WIN) “sets forth the foundation—the strategic conception and doctrine—for how to fight with a real chance of winning,” once the necessary conditions have been brought into being. “On the Possibility of Revolution” (which is available at revcom.us) is an important document that deserves serious study.5 Here, I am going to examine some of the key points that are gone into in depth in “On the Possibility of Revolution” and are summarized in a more concentrated way in HOW WE CAN WIN.

    A big problem for the revolution is what could be called the “encirclement and suppression” of the people at the base of society who are subjected to one injury and insult after another under this system, and who yearn for an end to all this madness, but who are, in a certain sense, “surrounded” in the society at large by sections of people who do not directly suffer the same daily outrages. To put it simply, there are large numbers of poor and bitterly oppressed people in this country, but there is also a big middle class. Although much of this middle class is not doing as well economically as in the past, there is still a big gap between the middle class and the people at the base of society, and this big divide is one of the main reasons why people—even people who say they would like to see a revolution, but who just look at things on the surface and do not analyze the situation scientifically—say that revolution is not possible. And it is something that the ruling class, and its institutions of repression and control, have seized on, in their efforts to isolate and contain, as brutally as they deem necessary, those whom they most viciously oppress and who represent potentially the greatest threat to their system. This is something these ruling powers would seek to do in an even more systematic and greatly intensified way in a situation where they were confronted by an organized revolutionary struggle aimed at overthrowing their whole system. It is one of the main obstacles the revolutionary forces would need to overcome in order to have a real chance of winning. Not only the strategic approach and basic operational principles, but also certain particular tactical measures of the revolutionary forces—including concentrating forces to repeatedly break through and break down the other side’s physical encirclement of areas of revolutionary strength—would need to be developed and applied to address this major contradiction once the all-out struggle were underway. But confronting this basic problem cannot be left until the time when the all-out struggle is raging. This is something I spoke to in very plain and stark terms in THE NEW COMMUNISM, where I emphasized that we need to “transform this situation so that, when the time comes, it’s not going to be the case that they can easily contain this revolution to those sections of the people that they’d... just as soon kill off anyway.”6 And, as is also emphasized in Part 2 of Birds Cannot Give Birth to Crocodiles, But Humanity Can Soar Beyond the Horizon: “political and ideological work with this contradiction in mind would need to be carried out during the whole period before the emergence of the necessary conditions and... [the all-out] struggle is launched.”7 The more this work is carried out, from here forward, the more the revolutionary forces would be able to counter and defeat the military “encirclement and suppression” of the strongholds of the revolution when the time came for the all-out fight.

    As I put it in THE NEW COMMUNISM, a defining contradiction of this all-out fight is the fact that, at the start, the other side “would likely still be very powerful in military terms, although weak, and in crisis, politically”; while the revolutionary side “would be weak, at the beginning, in military terms, but strong, and on the rise, and having a great deal of initiative, politically, which then would have to be transformed into initiative militarily.” The operational principles and stratagems that are outlined in the final part of HOW WE CAN WIN, speaking specifically to “How We Could Defeat Them,” are particular applications of the approach to dealing with this contradiction.

    An overall principle that flows from this contradiction is the fact that, once underway, the all-out fight would need to be protracted but also finite. “Protracted” means drawn out—it would not be a situation where the outcome, if it were favorable for the revolution, could be decided in a very short period of time. “Finite” means having definite limits—not extended indefinitely. Given that, at the beginning, the balance of power would almost certainly be heavily in favor of the forces of counter-revolution (the forces of the old ruling class and those fighting with it to defeat the revolution) in terms of their military organization and experience, as well as their armaments, the revolutionary forces would need to draw out (protract) the conflict for a certain period, in order to transform the situation into one in which they could overcome those strategic disadvantages. At the same time, because this all-out fight should only be launched by the revolutionary forces in a situation marked by a deep and acute revolutionary crisis and a revolutionary people in the millions and millions, if it were protracted over too long a period, without the revolution advancing in a fairly limited period of time toward the situation where it began to have the upper hand, then the advantages of a revolutionary situation would tend to be lost, the overall initiative would return to the counter-revolution, and the allegiance of significant sections of society, including in the middle classes, that was lost by the old ruling class, would be regained to a degree that could spell defeat for the revolution. This touches on a very important point of strategic orientation: When it comes down to it, what happens on the battlefield will be decisive in determining the outcome but, for the revolutionary forces, one of the key objectives of the fighting would be to demoralize and disintegrate the ranks of the other side, both their actual fighting forces and their broader “civilian support,” leading to further loss of allegiance and of initiative on the counter-revolutionary side; and, to the degree this succeeded, it would be a key element in shifting the balance of forces in favor of the revolution. The all-out struggle will not just mean going up against the institutional forces of the old ruling class but will also involve “a civil war between two sections of the people,” requiring the revolution to both defeat and disintegrate but also, as far as possible, win over parts of the armed forces among the population that started out on the other side....

    To begin, “backbone forces”—especially youth strongly committed to and actively involved in the revolution—would need to be transformed “into organized fighting forces in key strategic areas” and provided with the necessary training and equipment. Doing this would depend on the recognition that the revolutionary situation is clearly emerging. On the one hand, trying to do this before the immediate approach of a revolutionary situation would almost certainly lead to this effort being easily targeted and quickly crushed. On the other side of things, once a revolutionary situation were at hand, the shattering of the “normal conditions” and “normal functioning” of the system that such a situation would involve, would make it possible not to easily and smoothly organize, train, and equip fighting forces for the revolution, but to wrench, out of the intensifying situation, the basis for doing this. The point is that doing this, without being wiped out, would be a process of very intense struggle, but the dramatically new situation would provide the possibility for waging, and winning, this beginning struggle.

    Similarly, providing for the basic logistical needs of this revolutionary fighting force, to enable it to initiate the all-out fight, without being immediately crushed, and then to quickly regroup and once again take the initiative and maintain momentum overall, without being “fixed” and annihilated, would also involve intense struggle, and would require defeating enemy blockades and attacks and penetration directed against strongholds of the revolution and focused on locating and destroying those who make up the revolutionary fighting forces and their logistical sources. All this would require “misdirection” and surprise in operations. And all this would depend on millions more, beyond the backbone fighting forces, being organized concretely as “reserves” and as networks of support and supply for these fighting forces, and the willingness and ability of these “reserves” to “absorb” and protect the fighting forces and their equipment and logistical supplies, and enable them to repeatedly regroup and seize the initiative. This would also require continual “calibration” of the size of fighting units and their operations, at any given time, to enable these fighting units, upon completion of an engagement, to “melt back into” the larger revolutionary “reserves,” while at the same time the conditions are being created to allow them to remain active, in training and in initiating further engagements with the enemy.

    The approach of capturing equipment from the enemy is important for any revolutionary force which starts out facing an enemy with an overwhelming advantage in destructive power and, for some time, a much greater capacity to produce more of this. But HOW WE CAN WIN also emphasizes that utilizing equipment captured from the enemy must be done in ways that “fit the fighting strategy of the revolution.” Not all equipment that might be captured from the other side would be usable by the revolutionary forces—to try to use some captured equipment could put requirements on the logistical capabilities of the revolution that could not be met or sustained, and/or propel the revolutionary forces into fighting in ways that would run counter to the strategy the revolution would need to follow, and/or violate the basic principles and goals for which the revolution is being fought. It has everything to do with what the revolution is all about in the first place, as well as whether or not it has a real chance of succeeding, that HOW WE CAN WIN emphasizes that the revolutionary fighting forces must, “Always conduct operations and act in ways that are in line with the emancipating outlook and goals of the revolution.” Still, in addition to developing means to enlist masses of people in creating equipment the revolutionary forces could utilize, ways could be developed to utilize a great deal of equipment captured from the enemy that are consistent with the strategic orientation, the ways of fighting, and the goals of the revolution. All this would be vital for the advance and ultimate success of the revolution.

    As stressed in HOW WE CAN WIN, the revolutionary forces would need to fight only on favorable terms and avoid decisive encounters, which would determine the outcome of the whole thing, until the balance of forces had shifted overwhelmingly in favor of the revolution. This flows from what has been discussed regarding the overwhelmingly superior destructive force of the counter-revolution at the start of the all-out fight. What is also very important to underline is that this is not merely a question of orientation and intent on the part of the revolutionary forces. Given its overwhelming superiority of force, for some time the enemy would continually seek precisely to force the revolutionaries into situations where they would either be compelled to fight decisive battles that they were bound to lose, or they would have to surrender outright—leading to the total defeat of the revolution, or putting it well on the road to defeat. The point is that being able to avoid potentially disastrous decisive encounters with the enemy would itself be a matter of intense struggle, including that the revolutionary forces could often find themselves having to wage a determined struggle just to avoid being trapped in a situation where they would have to fight such a decisive encounter, or surrender. This is why HOW WE CAN WIN speaks of actively avoiding unfavorable decisive encounters and fighting only on favorable terms. It is why it also emphasizes that, even when the “balance of forces” has shifted in favor of the revolution, it would still be necessary, when conducting operations aimed at achieving final victory, to continue to “calibrate” those operations, “so that decisive encounters are still avoided until the forces of the old order have been brought to the brink of total defeat”—which would then be the time to “fully, finally, rout and dismantle the remaining enemy forces.”

    And it is because of the same concerns that HOW WE CAN WIN, while speaking to the importance of building up political and logistical bases of support for the revolution, at the same time stresses that the revolutionary forces should “not attempt to openly control and govern territory, until the necessary ‘favorable balance of forces’ has been created.” To attempt to do so prematurely would make this territory, the people within it, and the revolutionary forces defending and governing it, highly vulnerable to attack from an enemy that, again, would have overwhelming destructive power; and it would put the revolutionaries in the position of having the responsibility—and what, under the circumstances, would be an unsupportable burden—to meet the basic requirements of a functioning society, and the people within it. The point, the goal, is to carry forward the fight to thoroughly defeat, and dismantle, the forces of the old order, and on that basis to bring into being a new, revolutionary state that can embark on the thorough transformation of society with the ultimate aim of overcoming and eliminating all relations of exploitation and oppression, everywhere in the world.

    This ultimate aim and internationalist orientation of the revolution is also why HOW WE CAN WIN speaks to the need for the revolutionary forces in this country to correctly handle the relation between the all-out fight, when the time comes, and the situation—including the character and level of revolutionary struggle—in countries to the south (and the north). As we know, this country was created through and amidst warfare; and, as I spoke to earlier, it has continually expanded its territory and extended the reach of its empire through armed conquest, enslavement and other forms of extreme exploitation. In carrying out the fight to overthrow the violent rule of this system, both as a matter of orientation and principle, and in terms of strengthening the basis for succeeding, it will be crucial to refuse to be bound by the borders that have been established and the walls that have been erected through the murder and marauding of the ruling capitalist-imperialists of this country, but instead to actively unite with peoples to the south, and the north, in the struggle against this capitalist-imperialist monster, and advance the revolution overall, in this part of the world and in the world as a whole.

    In contrast to the revolutionary forces, the forces of the old order, especially when faced with the prospect that their oppressive system could actually be overthrown and dismantled, would resort to all kinds of barbarity to preserve this system. As it is put in “On the Possibility of Revolution”:

    It is not that the imperialists would hold back from bringing down terrible destructive force against the revolutionaries and the masses of people who supported them—given their reactionary nature, it would be necessary to reckon with the fact that the imperialists would do this—but the decisive question would be whether, through doing this, the imperialists would be able to isolate and destroy the organized forces of the revolution; or whether, on the contrary, these barbaric actions of the imperialists would deepen the hatred of growing numbers of people for the imperialists, stiffen the resolve of those already supporting the revolutionary side, and win more of the people to sympathize with, and to actively support, the revolutionary cause....

    “Decapitating” the leadership of the revolution, and destroying or crippling the means of coordination and overall direction for the revolutionary forces, would also be one of the major objectives of the counter-revolution. HOW WE CAN WIN correctly emphasizes the importance of “Relying on mass support, the intelligence this provides for the revolution and the denial of intelligence to the enemy, [to] counter the enemy’s efforts to find, fix and annihilate revolutionary leadership and key fighting units” and the importance of combining “strategic direction and coordination for the fight as a whole, with decentralized actions and initiative by local units and leaders.” Here again stands out the importance of all the work, from here forward, to build the revolution, among masses of people in many different parts of society. But it has to be squarely faced that, when it comes down to it, even with broad and deep mass support, protecting leadership, in particular the top leading core of the revolution, maintaining overall coordination and strategic direction, and being able to rapidly replace leaders and forces that are lost, is, and will remain, a serious challenge; and this, too, must be actively prepared for and struggled for, including by bringing forward growing ranks of revolutionary leadership now, who are trained and tempered through the combination of being actively involved in building the revolution and becoming more and more deeply grounded in the scientific outlook and methods of communism as it has been further developed with the new communism.

    This brings us back to the decisive point that everything that has been spoken to in terms of how we could defeat them, when the time comes, “depends on winning millions to revolution in the period that leads up to the ripening of a revolutionary situation.”....

    Here, it could be helpful to look at the similarities, and the differences, between the revolutionary process in a country like this and, on the other hand, what has happened in some Third World countries where conditions have allowed the revolutionaries to wage an armed struggle from the beginning of the revolutionary process—to start by fighting battles against small parts of the enemy forces, and to wage war over a long period of time, to wear down the enemy and build up their own forces, with the aim of reaching the point where the “balance of forces” has shifted in their favor, and they can then fight larger-scale battles to finally defeat the forces of the old order. This does have some things in common with how the all-out fight would be waged in a country like this, once the conditions for that had been brought into being. But there are important differences. In this kind of country, an armed struggle would not—should not—be launched until a revolutionary situation had been brought into being in society overall, and then this struggle, while having a certain aspect of being protracted, would also be considerably shorter (more finite) than the overall process of protracted revolutionary wars that have been carried out in Third World countries. In a country like this, there needs to be a process of political, ideological, and organizational work to carry out those “3 Prepares,” to hasten the development of things toward the revolutionary situation, when it would then become possible to launch an all-out struggle with a real chance of winning, through a somewhat protracted but also finite process. [The “3 Prepares" are: prepare the ground (the situation in society overall), prepare the people, and prepare the vanguard leadership for the revolution.]

    To summarize briefly: Third World revolutionary wars—armed struggle from the beginning, over a whole protracted period, to create the basis for the final decisive battles; revolution in a country like this—a process of political, ideological, and organizational work to hasten and prepare for the development of a revolutionary situation, whereupon the all-out fight could be launched, and carried out over a somewhat protracted but also finite period.

    In both types of situations, there is an aspect of “awaiting” as well as “hastening.” Even where revolutionaries in Third World countries have been able to wage warfare from the beginning, they have had to wait for, while actively fighting to bring into being, the situation where they can successfully fight large-scale decisive battles (and in some cases things have become protracted to the point of being bogged down, without any prospect of success). In both situations, everything the revolutionaries are doing needs to be aimed at getting to the point where they can go all-out to finally defeat and dismantle the violent enforcers of the old oppressive system; but the paths and the processes are different because of the different conditions. The point is that everything we are doing, at all times, is part of making revolution—actively working, according to a strategic approach and plan, to move things, as fast as possible, toward the time when it will be possible for millions to fight, all-out, with a real chance to win.

    So, with this understanding and orientation, how do we go about hastening while awaiting? The means for doing this is concentrated in the formulation: “Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution.” Let’s start with the aim of all this—Revolution. In BAsics 3:1, I put it like this: “Let’s get down to basics: We need a revolution. Anything else, in the final analysis, is bullshit.8 That is another simple and basic truth. We need to go to people—not just one or two people, not just a small number of people, but masses of people, reaching all over the country, in every part of society—straight up with revolution—instead of just letting “where they are at” set the terms, and trying to somehow “bring in” some idea about revolution within that limited framework. As BAsics 3:1 goes on to say: We do need to unite with people in all sorts of struggles short of revolution; but it is frankly ridiculous to think that something short of revolution could solve all the monumental problems and monstrous outrages that people face under this system. On the basis of going to people straight up with revolution, then, coming from that place, we need to unite with people in fighting injustice and oppression, and struggle to win more and more people to see the need and the possibility for revolution, and to get with this....

    This goes back to the important contradiction that millions and millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of those “5 STOPS,” but in terms of understanding where all these outrages come from and what is necessary to really put a stop to them, most of the same people don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses. So, while uniting with and working to bring forward still greater numbers of people in protesting and resisting the atrocities of this system, there is a need for sharp struggle to win them to confront and grasp the fact that, in fundamental terms, this system is the source of all these horrors, and it cannot be reformed but must be overthrown.

    This is revolutionary work that must be carried out, by continually growing numbers of people organized into the ranks of the revolution and acting together in accordance with a common strategic orientation and plan. This must be done consistently, including in more “normal” times (whatever those are), and it is of heightened importance “with every ‘jolt’ in society—every crisis, every new outrage, where many people question and resist what they normally accept...."

    HOW WE CAN WIN emphasizes that: “The organized forces and the leadership of this revolution must become the ‘authority’ that growing numbers of people look to and follow—not the lying politicians and media of this oppressive system—not those who front for the oppressors and preach about ‘reconciliation’ with this system—not those who turn people against each other when they need to be uniting for this revolution...."

    Revolution IS possible—and we have to go to work to make it real. So let me end with what is powerfully stated in the conclusion of HOW WE CAN WIN:

    All this depends on winning millions to revolution in the period that leads up to the ripening of a revolutionary situation. The chance to defeat them, when the time comes—the chance to be rid of this system and to bring something far better into being—has everything to do with what we do now. Everyone who hungers for a radically different world, free of exploitation and oppression and all the needless suffering caused by this system, needs to work now with a fired determination to make this happen, so we will have a real chance to win.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The text and film of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolutiona speech by Bob Avakian in 2018, is available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. From the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA: How We Can Win—How We Can Really Make Revolution, which is available at revcom.us. [back]

    5. On the Possibility of Revolution, Letter from a Reader... and ResponseRevolution #102, September 23, 2007, is available at revcom.us. [back]

    6. Bob Avakian, THE NEW COMMUNISM, The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation (Insight Press, Chicago, 2016). [back]

    7. Birds Cannot Give Birth to Crocodiles, But Humanity Can Soar Beyond the Horizon, Part 1 and Part 2, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us. [back]

    8. BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian (RCP Publications, Chicago, 2011). [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 3: Civil War and Revolution

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction: 

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]1

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.2 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following, from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating3 is the third in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.4

    Something Terrible Or Something Truly Emancipating

     

    What are the necessary conditions for a revolution? In basic terms, they are:

    A crisis in society and government so deep and so disruptive of the “usual way of things,” that those who have ruled over us, for so long, can no longer do so in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept.

    A revolutionary people in the millions and millions, with their “allegiance” to this system broken, and their determination to fight for a more just society greater than their fear of the violent repression of this system.

    An organized revolutionary force—made up of continually growing numbers of people, from among the most oppressed but also from many other parts of society—a force which is grounded in, and is working systematically to apply, the most scientific approach to building for and then carrying out revolution, and which is increasingly looked to by masses of people to lead them to bring about the radical change that is urgently needed....

    The reality now is that the fascist section of the ruling class, represented by and concentrated in the Republican Party, is actively and aggressively engaged in a “two-pronged” move to achieve and consolidate fascist rule. These “two prongs” are: corrupting and controlling the electoral process and key government institutions; and the threat and use of violence, including through the mobilization of violent mobs. These fascists are, for now, relying mainly on the first, but with the second (violence) as an “accompaniment” to this—which could become their main means, if that proves necessary for them. In any case, if they succeed, the full power of the government—including the executive power of the presidency, the courts and legal apparatus, the prisons, as well as the police and the military—will be wielded to crush any effective opposition to fascist rule and to forcefully impose its program of “restoring” America to its mythological “greatness” on the basis of aggressive white supremacy, crude and brutal male supremacy and suppression of LGBT people, xenophobia (hatred and persecution of foreigners and immigrants, particularly from what Trump infamously referred to as “shithole countries”), forceful assertion and chauvinistic trumpeting of American dominance and “the superiority of western civilization,” along with willful rejection of science and the scientific method, especially where it would interfere with unrestrained plunder of the environment, as well as people.

    Given the nature, objectives and actions of the fascists, there is the real possibility of actual civil war. But given the nature, objectives and actions of the “mainstream” section of the ruling class (as represented by the Democratic Party and media such as MSNBC, the New York Times and CNN), and given the current situation with those, from different parts of society, who tend to support, and politically tail behind, this “mainstream” section of the ruling class, it is possible that the fascists could achieve and consolidate power without a civil war, but with all the terrible consequences that would follow this fascist consolidation of power. Or, as emphasized in the “Declaration and Call,” in what would amount to a one-sided civil war, these fascists could carry out a slaughter of those they hate, including Black people and other people of color, “illegal immigrants,” “uppity women” and those who don’t conform to “traditional” sexual and gender relations and “norms.”

    In any case, it is a deadly serious reality that these fascists are determined to crush—as violently as necessary—anyone and anything, anywhere in society, that stands in the way of implementing their horrific objectives.

    This puts an exclamation point on what the “Declaration and Call” says immediately after this:

    This situation needs to be radically changed, to where there are masses of people prepared to defeat these fascists and to do so as part of getting rid of this whole system, which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates. ...5

    This is not the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, when the goal of those fighting against injustice was to abolish slavery, and—in terms of who ruled society—the only possible positive outcome was the consolidation and strengthening of the rule of the rising capitalist class centered in the North. That time is now long gone. And this system of capitalism, which has developed into a system of worldwide exploitation and oppression, capitalism-imperialism, is long outmoded—long past its expiration date, long past any circumstances where it could play any positive role. The goal now must precisely be getting rid of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism

    The character of a new civil war would have significantly different features from that previous civil war of 1861-65, where one geographic part of the country, the southern Confederacy, attempted to secede and form a separate country in that territory. Today, the forces of fascism among the population are again concentrated in the South, as well as in rural areas throughout the country; but, in the South and throughout the country, they are closely connected, geographically, with sections of the population that are opposed to this fascism. Any new civil war would be fought between opposing forces that would be in close proximity to each other—in a real sense intertwined geographically—around the country. This would have both advantages and disadvantages for the people on the positive side of such a civil war, and this would need to be taken into account in their approach to fighting that civil war.

    (The “Red States/Blue States” picture, which is constantly presented in the mainstream media, is very misleading in terms of the geographic and political divisions in the country. It does not present an accurate picture of population concentration—of which sections of the people are actually concentrated where, and in what numbers, within the existing states. Of particular importance, it downplays the concentration of people in this country as a whole in urban areas, including the suburbs around the inner city cores, and the concentration of masses of oppressed people especially in those inner city cores. It downplays the strong opposition to the fascists that exists among large numbers of people in the urban areas. This mainstream presentation of things is meant to reinforce the sense that the only possibility is the continuation of this system of capitalism-imperialism, and the only choice is between the two parties representing the ruling class of this system: the “red” Republican Party or the “blue” Democratic Party. And, by the way, with the color red historically associated with communism, the “appropriation” of this color in association with the fascist Republican Party is an abomination!)

    The current polarization, even on the positive side, among those opposed to the fascists, is not what is needed, and will not meet the profound and urgent challenge of these times. For the reasons discussed in this talk, there can be no real and lasting defeat of these fascists on the terms of the Democrats, on the terms of what have been, for generations, the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. Fundamentally, there can be no resolution to this, under this system, which will be in the interests of the masses of people, not just in this country but in the world as a whole. Once more, what is urgently needed is a very different polarization than what exists today—a repolarization—for revolution.

    And, once again as well—without being absolute about this—there is a limited time frame within which this repolarization must be achieved. If things continue as they are, with the fascist offensive by the Republican Party and its base becoming even more aggressive and powerful, then it is very likely that their “two-pronged offensive” will succeed, that they will utilize the changes they are forcing through state governments and key parts of the federal government, in particular the courts, to regain and consolidate control of the country as a whole, move forward with a vengeance to implement their fascist program, and forcefully suppress, as violently as necessary, any effective opposition.

    The urgency of this situation—and the urgent need for repolarization, for revolution—must be clearly understood, and forcefully conveyed to masses of people. This must be done in a compelling way, without hype (and there is no need for hype to describe the critical situation and urgent stakes). While it is crucially important to unite with people in rising up against the terrible injustices and outrages constantly perpetrated by this system, and to continually bring alive the possibility of a radically different and emancipating alternative, once again it needs to be stressed: It is necessary to wage a tireless struggle to break people out of the ways of thinking, and acting, that in fact keep them chained to this system and contribute to perpetuating this system, in one form or another.

    Fatalism, and defeatism—the belief that nothing can be done to change the terrible situation and bleak future humanity is now facing, that no positive radical change is possible—this way of thinking itself must be defeated, overcome both through sharp struggle and by bringing alive and popularizing the possibility for a radically different and better world, through revolution, which is grounded in a scientific, materialist approach to and understanding of the real world and the actual possibility for its positive radical transformation. Overall—and above all in terms of the basic masses, the bitterly oppressed people who must become the backbone of this revolution—overcoming this defeatism, and bringing about the necessary repolarization, must be carried out, and can only be achieved, through a powerful combination of fierce ideological struggle among the people, to win growing numbers to a scientific understanding of the situation we face and the actual solution to this, together with determined resistance against this oppressive system—all of which must be led to contribute to building up the forces and creating the political alignment necessary for revolution....

    So, in the event of, and in the context of, a new civil war, the approach of the revolutionary forces, led by the new communism, would be to carry out the necessary political work, in combination with the actual fighting, to develop such a civil war into a revolution to achieve the goal of getting rid of this whole system, and replacing it with a radically different and emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are: 

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The text and film of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, a speech by Bob Avakian in 2018, are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. 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, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us [back]

    4. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    5. From The Revcoms: A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized Now For A Real Revolution is available at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction: 

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]1

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.2 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following, from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating3 is the fourth in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.4

    Something Terrible Or Something Truly Emancipating

     

    Winning basic people, and in particular the youth, to revolution also requires making further critical breakthroughs in what I have called the “George Jackson question”—the problem sharply posed by George Jackson, a prisoner who became a militant revolutionary associated with the Black Panther Party during the upsurge of the 1960s, and who grappled deeply with the question of revolutionary possibility, before he was assassinated by the authorities. To a slave who does not expect to live beyond tomorrow, Jackson said, the idea of gradual change, and revolution in some far-off future, has no meaning and no appeal.

    This takes on particular and special meaning in a rare time like this—a time when revolution could actually be possible, exactly not in some vague far-off future, but through the swirl of the sharpening events and conflicts that are happening right in this present time.

    Here, again, is the decisive question of how much the organized forces of revolution are built up and have an impact on all this, in the direction of the revolution that is so urgently needed.

    To appeal to masses of people, and in particular basic youth, the revolution must become a growing, organized, disciplined, bold and fearless force which, through its scientifically based method, its sweeping vision, its emancipating program and goals, and its actions, is an increasingly powerful pole that will attract these youth—and fighters for revolution from all parts of society.

    There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, in working for this revolution: powerfully spreading the word about this revolution, challenging people to get into this revolution, recruiting and organizing them into this revolution—going up against and breaking through all the bullshit that people are caught up in that goes against their own real interests—doing the work that needs to be done to transform people’s thinking, and their actions—standing up against the forces oppressing the people, waging the fight that needs to be waged against the atrocities of this system—doing all this to get ready, and to have the basis, to wage the all-out fight to finally overthrow this system, as soon as the necessary conditions for that have been brought into being.

    And, as the revolution grows in this way: There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, to stand up against the fascists, and any other oppressive force, in their moves to threaten and intimidate, brutalize and even murder people. Let me make clear that I am not calling for launching unprovoked and unjustified attacks on anybody; but there is a right, and a need—and there is the responsibility—to defend the people who are oppressed and brutalized under this system, and those who represent and stand for what is right, and are being attacked because of that.

    In the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—which are basic principles that the Revolution Clubs, a key form of organization for this revolution, base themselves on and fight for—the final point is this:

    We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.5

    Yes, this is something very serious: going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way. And, yes, a big part of this is overcoming how people who are already messed over, in so many ways, by this system, get caught up in yet another way this system messes them up: fighting and killing each other. This needs to stop.

    But it doesn’t need to just stop. People who have been caught up in this need to become part of something really positive—they need to become part of the forces for the revolution that is so urgently needed now.

    The frustration and anger that so many feel, especially so many basic youth, because they can sense that life under this system has nothing good for them—that, from the time they are born, they are locked down and surrounded by forces that regard and treat them as alien objects of fear and hatred—and that those with power look at them as scum who deserve nothing more than a boot up the ass and a bullet in the brain—this frustration and anger needs to be redirected to fighting the system that treats them this way, and has robbed them, and so many like them throughout the world, of a decent life and a decent future, or any future at all.

    Once more, there is plenty that calls, urgently, for great courage and boldness in doing what needs to be done: to be part of rising up against this system and getting ready to go all the way with revolution as soon as the time is right—and, as an important part of that, supporting, and defending, people who are constantly being subjected to unjust attacks on their rights and their very being.

    There are the continuing attacks on people and movements that are rebelling against racist oppression....

    There are attacks on school board members not only for adopting ... basic health measures but also for things like approving the teaching of some truth about the white supremacy that has always existed in this country, or allowing rights for trans people.

    There are the threats, harassment and attacks on women seeking abortions, and on clinics and medical personnel working to provide those abortions, along with the escalating assault on the right to abortion by the Republican-fascist party, and those it has placed in the courts.

    There are brutal and often murderous attacks on LGBT people.

    There are continuing moves, including with the threat or use of violence, to once again prevent Black people and other oppressed people from even exercising what are supposed to be basic rights, such as voting. (With a scientific method and approach, it is both possible, and important, to actively oppose attempts to deny people the right to vote, and at the same time win people to see that their efforts need to go, not into voting for representatives of this system that is oppressing them, but working to build up the basis to overthrow this whole system.)

    All these attacks on people and their rights need to be powerfully opposed, and people on the good side of this need to be actively protected and defended, where they are assaulted with threats and even outright physical attacks.

    There is the need to prevent the police from brutalizing and just coldly murdering people. Let us remember what was said by some people who witnessed, and even recorded, the slow-motion vicious execution of George Floyd: They agonized over whether they should have done more, should have acted to stop this blatant assassination of a defenseless Black man. Now, again, what I am pointing to is consistent with point 6 of the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—and, in what I am saying here, I am not calling for launching an attack on anyone. But there is no right for anyone, including police, to just murder someone—and there is a right and responsibility to defend and protect people from unjust attacks on their rights, and on their very lives.

    Imagine if, in these different kinds of situations, there were a force of hardcore revolutionaries, including basic youth, whose presence in a disciplined and organized formation made clear that no unjust attacks on people would be tolerated. But this must not just be imagined—it must be developed as one important part of the overall process of preparing for, and building the organized forces for, revolution.

    This must be taken up in a serious, scientific way—not attempting, at any given point, to do what there is not yet the basis to do, but actively working to bring into being the conditions where what was not possible before becomes possible, as the organized ranks of revolution continue to grow and become steeled as a disciplined force. Taken up in this way, this can increasingly have dynamic effect—with “reverberations” and impact far beyond the immediate situation, attracting more people to this revolution... which, in turn, will make it possible to have even greater impact... and attract even larger forces.

    All this is an important part of the overall approach that I have laid out in the course of this talk, which will enable what are today the small organized forces of this revolution to continue to grow—increasingly by leaps and bounds—in numbers, organized strength, and impact on society as a whole. This is what more and more people must be challenged, and enabled, to become part of.

    This brings up another important dimension of working for revolution—and opposing the fascists as part of doing that: It is necessary to sharply expose and oppose—and fight to politically and practically overcome—the reality that for white supremacists and fascists generally the Second Amendment, the “right to bear arms,” has been regularly upheld and given the backing of the law and the courts, and the support of the police and other institutions of the state; while for Black people, other oppressed people, and generally those opposing the oppression and injustice of this system, the “right to bear arms,” even in self-defense, has been actively opposed and suppressed.

    This is made graphically clear in the book by Carol Anderson focusing on the Second Amendment—The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. This book contains (yet more!) searing exposure of the depraved violence visited upon Black people throughout the history of this country, and speaks to how the “right to bear arms” has never applied to Black people, and instead there has been the perverse “right to kill” Black people, on the part of the powers-that-be and racist whites generally. This cannot be allowed to continue!

    And it is not just around what is represented by “the Second Amendment” that a determined fight must be waged, but around the many ways in which the approach to rights that are supposedly guaranteed to people is applied in a highly unequal way, so that oppressed people, and those acting against the oppressive relations of this system, constantly find their rights attacked, “abridged,” or outright denied and suppressed. In waging this fight, it is important to recognize and, to the degree possible, take advantage of this contradiction: In reality, under this system of capitalism-imperialism, rights and liberties are determined, and limited, in accordance with what serves the interests of this system and its ruling class; but, we are constantly told that, under this system, there is “liberty and justice for all,” and the rulers of this system, or at least some of them, feel it is important to maintain this myth. Again, to the degree possible, this contradiction must be seized on, in waging the fight to defeat attempts by the enforcers of this system to violate what are supposed to be basic rights, in their moves to suppress people rising up against this system and its profound injustice.

    But, most fundamentally, this fight must be waged with full awareness, a scientifically grounded understanding, of the essential nature of this system, with the orientation and goal of working toward the overthrow of this system and the dismantling of its relations and institutions of vicious exploitation and blood-soaked oppression and repression.

    Once again, in order to make all this a reality, as this revolution is being brought to growing numbers of basic youth, and others, and they are being challenged to get into it, they need to be struggled with, hard, to get rid of the ways of thinking and acting that keep this system going. People need to “get their head right,” get their head out of their ass, and take up the scientific method and approach of the new communism to understanding reality, and transforming reality in a fundamental way, through revolution. This means not being just out for yourself, or those you can identify with in a narrow way (whoever that may be), but becoming revolutionaries in the fullest sense—revolutionary communists, emancipators of all humanity—becoming part of the organized and disciplined forces for this revolution, and nothing less.

    As we say, to “everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: You need to be part of this revolution.”

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization

    of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The text and film of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolutiona speech by Bob Avakian in 2018, are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. 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, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    5. The six Points of Attention for the Revolution are available as well at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 5: Winning and Winning

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction:

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]6

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.7 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following excerpt from a presentation to a gathering of revcoms (revolutionary communists) in 2022 is the final installment in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.8 The first part of this excerpt was previously posted at revcom.us in part one of this series.

    Something Terrible Or Something Truly Emancipating

     

    As I said in the Dialogue with Cornel West: It is important that we are right, and righteous—it is important that we stand with the wretched of the earth and stand up against their oppression—but we have to win. We have to actually shatter the rule of this monstrous system, and bring something radically different and much better into being. Or else, we will at best “fight the good fight” but the horrors will continue, and get even worse.9

    The sixth point of the Points of Attention for the Revolution says this: “We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.”10

    I have highlighted the words “Because we are serious” in order to emphasize that this Point of Attention is not a declaration of some idealist pacifist notion that the struggle against this system can and must always remain non-violent. First of all, while we are against all violence against the people and among the people, and at this stage we do not initiate (and we do not encourage others to initiate) violence, at the same time we strongly recognize and uphold the right of people to defend themselves against unjust attacks. And, more strategically, we scientifically understand that: the fundamental source of violence in the world is this system of capitalism-imperialism, that by far the greatest perpetrators of unjust violence are the ruling classes of the capitalist-imperialist powers, most of all this country—and that the fundamental reason why the abolition of this system cannot be achieved peacefully is, once again, because of the nature of this system itself, and the fact that those who rule in it would never allow their system to be swept away without attempting to violently suppress and crush any such attempt.

    This is what it means that we are serious about all this.

    It is with this understanding, and this orientation, that we have to very seriously approach the question of how to actually win—win in the more immediate fight, historically speaking, to seize power—and win in a way that lays the basis for winning in the largest sense, with the goal of uprooting all oppression and exploitation, all over the world, bringing into being a communist world in which human beings can truly thrive with the fullest expression of their humanity.

    This approach to “winning—and winning”—is an application of the principle that “the new communism thoroughly repudiates and is determined to root out of the communist movement the poisonous notion, and practice, that ‘the ends justify the means.’ It is a bedrock principle of the new communism that the ‘means’ of this movement must flow from and be consistent with the fundamental ‘ends’ of abolishing all exploitation and oppression through revolution led on a scientific basis.”11

    So, let’s get into how we could, and would need to, go about winning, when the conditions for that have been brought into being. The necessary strategic approach to this flows from the scientific understanding that the revolutionary forces could not win any contest in which they frontally took on the full force of a unified and cohesive existing state power. (I’m going to pause so people can think about this...)

    The following, from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating,” speaks to this:

    Here, again, is something that is crucial to understand, something that is a hallmark of a serious, scientific approach to fighting to win, when the time comes: No matter how much the situation in society overall is changed, and no matter how much even the most powerful institutions of violent repression of this system are affected by this, with significant splits very likely occurring among them, the revolution will still be confronted with powerful armed forces of counter-revolution, from among sections of the official institutions, along with fascist “civilian forces” aligned with them. And it would be extremely unlikely that, particularly at the beginning phase, the revolutionary fighting forces would be able to confront and defeat those armed forces of counter-revolution by directly and frontally taking on anything close to their full force. That is why, in the doctrine and strategic orientation that has been developed to enable the revolutionary forces to fight to win, when the time is right, it is stressed that:

    [T]he revolutionary forces would need to fight only on favorable terms and avoid decisive encounters, which would determine the outcome of the whole thing, until the balance of forces had shifted overwhelmingly in favor of the revolution.12

    This doctrine and strategic orientation is spoken to in some depth and spelled out more fully in... Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, with additional thinking provided in my article “A Real Revolution—A Real Chance To Win, Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution” (which also can be found at revcom.us). This sets the basic groundwork for how, when the necessary conditions have been brought into being, a revolutionary force, mobilizing masses of people, could actually approach the overthrow of this system in such a way as to effectively neutralize and eventually overcome what would almost certainly be, at the outset, the overwhelming power of the armed forces seeking to defeat and pulverize this attempt at the revolutionary seizure of power. It speaks to how, when the revolutionary situation has been ripened, revolutionary fighting forces, with the backbone drawn especially from youth who have been won hardcore to this revolution, could be organized and trained, and provided with the means to engage and defeat forces of counter-revolution in encounters, beginning on a small scale, which would be favorable for the revolutionary forces—and how, on that basis and through the course of doing that, they could grow in strength and win over growing numbers among those who had been part of the counter-revolutionary forces, and then finally defeat the remaining forces of counter-revolution.

    In Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, I cited this important statement:

    Rupert Smith, a British military officer and strategist, has noted that an insurrectionary force that is "defining the parameters of the conflict" has “by default presented an alternative force and power.” [Let’s stop and reflect on what that means.] This means that, if a revolutionary force is to a large degree determining the character of the conflict, it will be seen not as a bunch of “outlaws” but as a legitimate force contending against the old order; and this relates to why it is so important that the initial actions of the revolutionary fighting forces, accompanied by a bold declaration to the world, “make clear that there is an organized force determined to defeat the forces of the old order and bring into being a new, revolutionary system.” This would play a crucial part in demolishing the “superstitious awe” that people have toward the existing system, the nearly religious belief that this is the best, or at least the only, way that things could be, and that the power of this system is unchallengeable; it would further undermine the “legitimacy” and “authority” of the old order and its ruling class and the allegiance to it of broad sections of the population, and lay more of a basis for winning over even broader sections, including from within the fighting forces of the other side.

    The approach of seeking and achieving victories, in more limited encounters, has as one of its key objectives the creation of an overall situation in which there will be increasing disintegration of the opposing side, and the defection of significant parts of that opposing side to the revolutionary side. This will be an important part of the process of bringing about a qualitative change in the “balance of forces,” to where the revolutionaries have gained the upper hand—a position from which they could then carry out the final defeat of the counter-revolution.

    The following (from the article “A Real Revolution—A Real Chance To Win, Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution”) stresses this:

    There would need to be an added emphasis on the need for the all-out revolutionary fight to be country-wide in scope, from the beginning, or very quickly after the start, for the revolutionary forces to have organized strongholds of support in many different parts of the country—and to have the ability to act simultaneously, or in quick succession, in many different parts of the country (to effect a “popcorn” phenomenon of actions breaking out repeatedly and in quick succession all over the country)—in order to effectively counter the “encirclement and suppression” of the revolution by the counter-revolution, and in particular the ability of the counter-revolution to not only concentrate forces against but to actually occupy the areas that constitute the strongholds of support for the revolution (even while those strongholds are not yet being openly controlled and administered by the revolution), particularly in the early stages of this all-out fight.

    This “popcorn” approach, keeping the enemy off balance, could also contribute to the disintegration of and defection from the other side.

    To quote again from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    [A]nother point emphasized by Rupert Smith is important: it is not absolute force but “utility of force” that matters—not what any state, or other armed force, may have in its arsenal, but what it can actually utilize to its advantage in an armed conflict. One of the key operational principles of the revolutionary forces would be to wage the fight in such a way as to prevent the forces of the old order from being able to use their worst destructive power in a way that would be to their military as well as political advantage. At the same time, in the face of the barbaric actions that the old ruling forces would still carry out, it would be crucial for the revolutionary forces to “turn the barbaric actions of the enemy against him—to win greater forces for the revolution, including those who come over from the ranks of the enemy.”

    Here it is worth repeating this crucial point:

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.

    (And does it need to be said again that we must be bringing this scientific outlook and method to people?)

    At the same time, “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” emphasizes that the development of the basic doctrine and strategic approach for this all-out fight is an ongoing process. And that

    [T]hroughout this period of preparing the ground, preparing masses of people and preparing the leading forces for this revolution, this basic doctrine and strategic approach for the all-out fight must be continually developed and made more “operational” in conception—that is, it must be further elaborated and further concretized, particularly in terms of what will constitute the actual pathways to victory—and, flowing from and serving that, what should be the specific nature and features of the encounters with the other side, particularly in the beginning phases, and (as far as possible) overall.

    As spoken to earlier, a big factor in regard to all this is the real possibility of civil war between opposing sections of society, and how this could impact the key institutions of state power of this system. If such a civil war were to erupt—or even if the deepening divisions in society were moving more directly toward such a civil war—this could have a profound effect on such institutions, with the real prospect of splits among them, and even the possibility of the splitting apart of such institutions, with some parts siding with the fascists and others with those on the side opposed to the fascists.

    This possibility is something that the basic doctrine and strategic approach for the revolutionary fighting forces would need to take into account and encompass. But, in order for the revolutionary forces to win over, and incorporate into their ranks, significant numbers from among the ruling and repressive institutions of this system, and to do so in a way that would actually maintain the emancipating character of the revolutionary forces, and strengthen them on that basis, it would be necessary for the revolutionary ranks to be tempered and steeled, not just in terms of fighting capacity [which is obviously very important] but in terms of their fundamental ideological and political orientation, as fighters for the emancipation of humanity.

    Otherwise, even if you win over forces from the other side, given how they’ve been conditioned and trained, that could end up setting the terms of things on a very bad basis and lead to defeat in one form or another (either outright defeat at the hands of the enemy, or defeat in the sense that, even if military victory were somehow achieved, the way that was done would not lead to a radically new and better system, where the ongoing transformation of society, and ultimately the whole world, to uproot all exploitation and oppression, could be carried out).

    Here is something else to take into account: What matters, as the all-out showdown approaches, is not only the size (in the millions) of the revolutionary people, but also its “composition,” involving masses of the most oppressed, especially youth, as well as large numbers of people from other sections of society; how that “composition” of the revolutionary people would relate to the composition of the opposing forces; and how, in turn, this relates to major social contradictions in the larger society (for example, racial, sexual and gender oppression).

    To be more concrete, to break this down further: Out of their own interests, the rulers of this country have been compelled to draw large numbers of people from the ranks of the oppressed into their military, including women, Black people and Latinos. To the degree that these ranks would see, in the masses of revolutionary people, “people like themselves,” this would strengthen the potential ability of the revolutionary forces to disintegrate the forces seeking to suppress them and to cause significant defections from their ranks to the ranks of the revolution.

    Of course, as pointed out in “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating,” this factor (the composition of the revolutionary people, in relation to that of the opposing forces) will not “automatically” translate into support for—and even defection over to—the side of the revolution; but this is a potentially favorable factor that would need to be consciously and concretely built on through the course of the all-out fight. And the potential for this would likely be even greater in the context of an actual civil war, with once again “the real prospect of splits,” among the institutions of violent enforcement of this system, “and even the splitting apart of such institutions, with some parts siding with the fascists and others with those on the side opposed to the fascists.”

    In this connection, here is another crucial point: We, the revcoms and continually growing masses of people we are leading, must come to the fore in waging the fight against the fascists and do so on a revolutionary basis, not as defenders of bourgeois-democratic imperialism. This will have everything to do with the potential for a repolarization more favorable for the revolution, including in the actual all-out fight.

    Through all this, it will be of great importance to be firmly based on, keep constantly in mind, and consistently apply the fundamental internationalist orientation and approach that is an essential part of the new communism. As I called attention to in “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating”:

    This revolution will inevitably be influenced by, and will in turn significantly influence, what is happening in countries to the south (and north) of it, with which the USA has historically been closely interconnected, and which in many cases it has dominated and plundered.

    (And here I want to mention a very important new book that has been published by the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico: La Esperanza Revolucionaria [Revolutionary Hope],13 which has also been translated into English by, and is available at, revcom.us.)

    “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” goes on to make this important point:

    And more generally, there will be the ways in which this revolution will be viewed, and responded to, by different forces, far beyond the present borders of this country. A serious fight for revolution in this countrythis country—would have the effect of a powerful political earthquake, sending seismic shockwaves throughout the world. It is true that one reaction to this would be that oppressive governments and forces throughout the world would see this as a serious threat to their position and objectives, and there is a real possibility that there could be moves by some of these forces to aid, or join in, attempts to crush such a revolution. At the same time, such a revolution would shake awake and provide a powerful positive shock to literally billions of people everywhere, shattering the sense that there is no alternative to this terrible world. Overall, it would almost certainly contribute, in a very significant way, to a repolarization on a global scale. [Think about the effect, even on people who are now drawn to very bad trends, like Islamic fundamentalism. All of a sudden, things are completely different in the world—here is a real revolutionary, emancipatory struggle, with a prospect of actually winning, taking place in this country. Think of the effect on hundreds of millions of youth as well as on others throughout the world.]

    All this would need to be taken into account by the leading forces of this revolution, as an important part of its strategic orientation and objectives.

    Everything Depends on Bringing Forward a Revolutionary People

    Having examined in some depth, and in a broad framework, the necessary foundation and basic roadmap for the revolution that is (more) possible—and urgently needed—now, we are back once more to this decisive point:

    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.14

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization

    of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The film and text of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Actually Make Revolution are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN. This film of the Dialogue is available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    5. The Points of Attention for the Revolution are available at revcom.us. [back]

    6. This is from Breakthroughs, The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, by Bob Avakian, that is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    7. 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, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us. The statement quoted here can be found in Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution; this statement originally appeared in From the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA: How We Can Win—How We Can Really Make Revolution, which is available at revom.us. [back]

    8. La Esperanza Revolucionaria [Revolutionary Hope] available at revcom.us. [back]

    9. This is from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating.” [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    Organizing for an Actual Revolution:

    7 Key Points

    Everyone who can’t stand this world, the way it is, needs to be challenged to be part of the revolution that is the way out of this madness. And people need to know there is an actual strategy for making this revolution, based on the key points of the “foundation” and “roadmap” for this revolution in the work by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian: “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating.” The following is the basic means for carrying out this strategy, so that the currently small forces for the revolution that is urgently needed can grow in numbers and strength, quickly in a concentrated way, and become the powerful force that is needed to lead this revolution. Spreading and popularizing these Key Points is also an important part of carrying out this strategy.

    1   Set forth, and explain, in the following basic terms, why this is a “rare time” when revolution becomes (more) possible, even in a powerful country like this:

    Brutal and murderous white supremacy, male supremacy, and other oppressive relations, the deepening crisis in society and the world overall, including the constant wars and the continuing destruction of the environment: all this cannot ultimately be resolved, in any positive way, within the confines of the system that rules in this country and dominates in the world as a whole—the system of capitalism-imperialism. Under the rule of this system, all this will only get worse. The deepening divisions within this country now, from top to bottom, mean that those who have ruled in this country for so long (the capitalist-imperialist ruling class) can no longer rule, as a “unified force,” in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept—with a system of government that has an outer shell of “democracy” to cover over the fact that it is an actual capitalist dictatorship at its core, relying fundamentally on the armed force of the institutions of “official violence,” the police and the military. Because of big changes in this country and the world overall, one part of the ruling class, represented by the Republican Party, has become fascist: they no longer believe in or feel bound by what have been the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. And the other section of the ruling class, represented by the Democratic Party, has no real answer to this—except trying to maintain the “normal way” that the oppressive rule of this system has been enforced for hundreds of years, while the fascists are determined to tear up those “norms” and rule through more openly and aggressively oppressive means, without the traditional disguise of supposed “democracy for all.”

    The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means, or radically emancipating revolutionary means. And this resolution could quite possibly happen, one way or the other, within the next few years. This rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people. In a situation like this, things that have basically remained the same, for decades, can radically change in a very short period of time. This rare time must not be wasted—it must be seized on to have a real fighting chance to bring about a truly emancipating revolutionary resolution, and not be subjected to a terrible, reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive resolution.

    2   With the recognition of this rare time when revolution becomes (more) possible: wield the forces for revolution now to impact masses of people, in all parts of society—bringing to people the message of revolution, especially in short, powerful and popular forms, both online and “in real life”—setting forth why this revolution is necessary, and is possible, and how to be part of working to make it a reality. In hard-hitting, compelling ways, carry out ferocious struggle against ways of thinking that keep people chained to this system, winning growing numbers to break with all that, while also mobilizing masses of people to fight against injustices and outrages that are continually committed under this system and to stand up against the forces that perpetrate and enforce these injustices and outrages. Spread far and wide the inspiring vision of how much better life could be, for the great majority of people, if millions of people got behind this revolution and carried it through—making it possible to restructure all of society on a completely different foundation, with a radically different economic system (mode of production) and emancipating relations among people, as spelled out very concretely in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian.

    3   With “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” as the basic guide, and utilizing the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show and the website revcom.us as key resources, organize people who are drawn to this to grapple with why an actual revolution is necessary, what such a revolution involves, and what kind of society this is aiming for. Involve them in the process of building for revolution, in an organized way—in being part of carrying out point 2. Enable people in parts of the country where the revolution does not yet have an organized presence to link up with others and become part of this revolution.

    4   Through this process, build up the forces of revolution, first in the hundreds, in areas all over the country, and weld them together as an organized force. Develop and train revolutionary leaders, on the basis of the scientific method and approach of the new communism that has been developed by Bob Avakian.

    5   Wield these organized forces to repeat points 1-4 on an increasingly larger scale—reaching much greater numbers of people, in all parts of society, organizing thousands into the process of building for this revolution, while developing and training growing numbers of high-level revolutionary leaders. Powerfully impact society as a whole, awakening and influencing millions toward revolution. Keep clearly in mind, constantly popularize, and act on the understanding that:

    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.

    6   Once this revolutionary force is brought into being, with a continually growing core of tested and steeled revolutionary leaders, and the crisis in society and the divisions, from top to bottom, are reaching a breaking point: everything would then be focused on how to actually organize and wield this revolutionary force to fight to win—to actually defeat the forces seeking to crush the revolution. This will mean carrying out the basic approach for how this could actually be done that is set forth in “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating.”

    7   Continually popularize these Key Points, while actively carrying them out, and involving more and more people, in an organized way, in doing so.

  • ARTICLE:

    ALLEGIANCE

    NO, to this Republic of the so-called “United States” of America, with its blood soaked red, white, and blue rag, and the system for which it stands—the economic and political system of capitalism-imperialism.

    A Republic whose “National Anthem” was written by a slave owner (Oh, oh say can you see... all the sla-a-ver-y...)!

    A Republic deeply divided, under the rule of oppressors, with liberty and justice denied.

    A Republic founded on slavery and genocidal robbery: keeping millions of Black people in chains for generations... killing off huge numbers of Native Americans and stealing their land... waging a war that ripped off half of Mexico, greatly expanding slavery.

    A system that, from the start and down to today, has been grounded in heartless exploitation, using and abusing masses of people to create wealth for the few, with violent white supremacy, male supremacy, and gender oppression built into and enforced by this system... plundering people in all parts of the world... destroying the environment, and waging unjust war after war, even to the point of threatening the very existence of humanity... killing off hope for a decent future, or any future at all.

    YES, TO A RADICALLY DIFFERENT REPUBLIC AND MUCH BETTER SYSTEMa new socialist republic, a system which will move to abolish and uproot all this madness and give the highest expression to people’s humanity, and a future corresponding to people’s highest aspirations.

    To PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, IN EVERY PART OF SOCIETY: The cause we should be dedicated to, and the allegiance we should hold, is represented NOT by the U.S. CONSTITUTION—a document written by and serving the interests of slave-owning and capitalist exploiters, from the founding of this country down to today... a document that elevates “property” and the “right” to enslave and exploit above and against the life and liberty of billions of people, here and throughout the world... a document that for nearly 100 years institutionalized owning Black people as property... a document that has been repeatedly used, and is used today, to “legalize” inequality, injustice, and oppression, with whole groups of people treated as “second class” and less than fully human. WE CAN DO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS!

    THE CAUSE WE NEED TO BE DEDICATED TO IS REVOLUTION: To abolish and uproot this system we are now forced to live under and bring into being a new system based on the CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA—which provides a sweeping vision, a firm foundation, and concrete blueprint for a radically different and emancipating society and world, with the abolition of all inequality, oppression, and exploitation.

    WE ARE THE REVCOMS (REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNISTS): working every day for the revolution that is urgently needed to bring down this system of capitalism-imperialism and bring into being a fundamentally different and far better systemworking to spread this revolution everywhere, organizing thousands and then millions into the ranks of this revolution, so that there is a real chance to win.

    TO PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, IN EVERY PART OF SOCIETY: JOIN US—as revolutionary emancipators of humanity, NOT murderous enforcers, or mindless accomplices, of the injustice, degradation, and devastation of this system of capitalism-imperialism and its terrible consequences for humanity.

    A CHALLENGE: If anyone wants to claim that what we have said here is not right, then let them have the courage to put that on the line, directly up against us and the knowledge we are bringing... and it will become even more clear that what we say is the truth—a powerful truth that people need to know about and take up.

     

  • ARTICLE:

    ALLEGIANCE: A Special RNL Show Dispatch

    Read and share the pledge; get posters
  • ARTICLE:

    STATE OF EMERGENCY:

    CHAINS ON PEOPLE

    WHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE

    A message from Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism

    Audio URL

    STATE OF EMERGENCY. Masses of people are demoralized and disoriented: robbed of real hope... chasing after deadly illusions... desperately clinging to things that are not real... indulging in trivial pursuits while stubbornly refusing to face the biggest reality... striving to turn degradation into capital... bitterly divided and beefing over bullshit... trying to make a mark by mocking and even murdering each other.

    Chain, Chain, Chain—Chain of Foolishness

    Today so many are caught up in the “3M & P.”

    What is the “3M &P”? ME, me, me... MONEY, money, money... MISOGYNY and PATRIARCHY.

    All ways of thinking and acting that reflect and reinforce this system of capitalism-imperialism that so viciously oppresses people, here and all over the world. All constantly promoted and pumped out in the “popular culture,” including in Hip Hop. (How this came to dominate Hip Hop—and how it has actually perverted this creative art form, which could be and should be a powerful voice for liberation—that is another story, which has everything to do with how things are ultimately controlled by the ruling powers that dominate overall in this sick system of capitalism-imperialism.)

    These are real chains on people—especially those most terribly, murderously oppressed under this system.

    Misogyny: Hating women and subjecting them to degradation in countless ways.

    Patriarchy: Relations in which men are regarded as superior to women, and hold power over them, while LGBT people are treated as illegitimate and objects of hatred, abuse and scorn.

    Then there is the BEB. What is BEB? Bourgeois Electoral Bullshit: the ridiculous idea that you change this system that viciously preys on you—and millions and billions of people like you, in this country and all over the world—by voting for this group or that group of bourgeois (capitalist) vultures.

    And what is another big chain on people—supposedly easing but really perpetuating the pain of feeling hopeless and powerless to put an end to the suffering that so many are afflicted by today? 

    Religion.

    What is religion? Organized promotion of the belief that things have been created and are controlled by one or another god, which in reality does not exist and has been invented by people—with so many taught to believe that, if things are the way they are, it is “the will” of this supposed god.

    As I have written before: “while upholding people’s right to religion—and uniting with religious people who take positive stands in the fight against oppression—it is crucially important to consistently and resolutely struggle for a scientific, not a religious, method and approach to reality, and wage a fierce, relentless fight against anti-scientific poison spread among the masses of people in the name of religion.”*

    Learn to live in chains—bow down to those enforcing the chains, boast about and sing praises to the chains... or break all the chains.

    That is the choice.

    GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS. Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed, by Bob Avakian

     

    I know some people don’t like it when I say all this. But I am going to say it anyway, because as a revolutionary dedicated to the emancipation of humanity from every chain that holds people down, I recognize the responsibility to tell people the truth, even if it offends some, at first. And all you who also know this is true: you need to say it too—say it loud.

    It is time, and long past time, to break these mental chains, to get in position to break all the chains of the modern-day slavery of this system of capitalism-imperialism. It is time to take up the scientific outlook, method, strategy and program, morality and values that can lead people to finally get free: the new communism. It is time to become revolutionary emancipators of humanity.

    Hard truth, liberating truth.

    __________

    * The statement quoted above (indicated by the *) is from “GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS...Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.” That article, and other important works by Bob Avakian—including those speaking to why this is a “rare time” when a real revolution has become more possible—can be found at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    VIDEO:

    STATE OF EMERGENCY: CHAINS ON PEOPLE WHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE, By Bob Avakian

    from The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, Episode 164

  • ARTICLE:

    Thoughts on Reading: “State of Emergency: Chains on People Who Desperately Need to Be Free”

    New York City, saturation at Caribbean Day Parade, Revolution Books tent.

     

    New York City, Caribbean Day Parade    Photo: revcom.us

    When I first read this article by Bob Avakian (BA), the title really hit me. State of Emergency. BA is identifying NOW as a state of emergency and the particular focus is the chains on people’s thinking—the really ugly ways of looking at the world and other people, the outlook of “trying to make a mark by mocking and even murdering each other.”

    Just as BA talks about how people who “stubbornly [refuse] to face the biggest reality” must be struggled with, those of us who are fighting to make revolution cannot stubbornly refuse to face and figure out how to transform the reality of how people are thinking, and we must also struggle with each other to do so. 

    State of Emergency. This means that those of us who see that have to step up and do what people need. If there were a flood, we wouldn’t be informing people that they are waist deep in polluted water. We would be fighting like hell with them that they have to “get in the boat” and maybe have to leave their cat behind. We would be struggling with them that they can’t see it yet but the levees are likely to be breached upriver and it is going to get worse. But if they actually understand what is going on, there is a way out. Their lives are going to change dramatically and they can either climb into their attic, clinging to a dark future hoping they can survive the rising waters or they can begin to consider a whole different future, which will involve them doing things, with other people, they never thought possible.

    We cannot just “appreciate” this article, we have to apply it.

    SAY IT LOUD!

    BA says: “I know some people don’t like it when I say all this. But I am going to say it anyway, because as a revolutionary dedicated to the emancipation of humanity from every chain that holds people down, I recognize the responsibility to tell people the truth, even if it offends some, at first. And all you who also know this is true: you need to say it too—say it loud.” Are we fully recognizing our responsibility to “say it loud”? I didn’t even absorb this until the video on the RNL Show. It really cried out SAY IT LOUD!!” “And all you who also know this is true: you need to say it too—say it loud.”

    That is not a recommendation, that is a challenge!

    People, good people, who are very open to what we are saying about needing a revolution (“I agree with everything you are saying!”) often end the conversation—(note “conversation” not “struggle”)—with “I do what I can, I vote.” Do we say that is a ridiculous idea? Do we call it out as BEB —bourgeois electoral bullshit—just choosing this or that group of capitalist vultures, waiting to gloat over how they played you once again? Or do we essentially try and “talk them out of it” and think that if we “expose” each little example of how “voting doesn’t work” then people’s thinking will be “shaken up” and they will be convinced that we need revolution. Let’s learn from BA’s method and approach on this. He cuts to the heart of this—that this “ridiculous notion” of voting changing anything is bullshit, and more than that, this way of thinking is a real chain, binding  them to the very system that oppresses them.  

    The Need to SAY IT LOUD to Tens of Thousands of People

    Monday, Labor Day, was the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn. It is an annual event which has drawn more than a million people in recent years. The masses are overwhelmingly from the English speaking Caribbean or have their roots there, with a small but significant section from Haiti. The music is loud and the mood is festive. Dancing, food and revelry. It is a joyful celebration of West Indian culture and peoples. Not surprisingly, the parade itself is led with various incarnations of the repressive arms of the state—the politicians, the police, the correction officers—and then come the floats and finally the individual fabulous elaborate costumes of feathers and fabric which people spend all year preparing.

    The revcoms in the form of Revolution Books and the Revolution Club seized this opportunity—with all of its challenges!—to reach out to these strategically critical sections of people—immigrants, basic masses, artisans, professionals, social activists and many others—tourists, progressive white people, etc.,—drawn to this parade. In thinking this past week about our experience at the parade I was measuring what we did, and didn’t do, against what was being modeled in this article. The point is not to bemoan what we did wrong, but to scientifically examine what actually needed to be done, why we did not do it, and on that basis to unleash our scientific imaginations to do what actually does need to be done as we fight to repolarize for revolution right now, and to rethink what we are actually striving to do. In short, to really dig into how this repolarization we talk about actually happens.

    New York City Revolution comes to Caribbean Day Parade, man reads Declaration.

     

    New York City, Caribbean Day Parade    Photo: revcom.us

    Thousands of people streamed by our tables and our agitators for hours during the afternoon—the overwhelming majority of them “indulging in trivial pursuits while stubbornly refusing to face the biggest reality.” As I said above, most of them were either directly from the Caribbean or had roots there. We analyzed ahead of time that the experience and history this audience had would be a “positive factor,” a reason the people would potentially respond favorably to our message of revolution and a whole different future. In retrospect, this was nothing but tailing spontaneity—and going right up against the correct analysis of the article about where the masses are “really at” today.

    We focused on challenging people to get with and step into the revolution, but in spite of our “good intentions” it remained abstract and general because we didn’t struggle hard against the ways people are actually thinking. We did agitation about the horrors of this system, that we need a revolution to get rid of the source of those horrors, and we now have a rare time when that is more possible. And we said that we have the strategy, plan, leadership and blueprint for a whole different system—a new, emancipating way to live—and you need to be part of that. We chanted about break the chains, don’t live with and sing praises to the chains.

    But we didn’t apply the analysis of this article! We didn’t do what we really needed to do: “bring it home,” offend some people, get under their skin! “Say it loud!” Not just go after religion in general but what if we had called out the crosses around way, way, way too many people’s necks, challenging people to not bow their heads down to some imaginary being—which only strengthens the degradation and suffering people actually experience in THIS world. Why do they have that symbol of death and oppression on their chest? WHY are they singing praises—on their knees!—to the chains every Sunday morning when they should be taking up a scientific method, breaking all the chains if they want to be free, if they want people like them all over the world to be free?

    And we needed to apply that same “State of Emergency” approach to the other chains BA identifies—the ME, me, me and the MONEY, money, money—MISOGYNY and PATRIARCHY. We should have taken up sharply how Jay-Z and Beyonce with their “billionaire” poison are tightening the fake gold chains around people’s necks. We needed to be prepared to really go after the bourgeois politicians—Chuck Schumer in person, floats for Mayor Eric “Black Giuliani” Adams, and Governor Kathy Hochul—parading by as exhibit #1 of BEB—bourgeois election bullshit. They are the living personification of the “bourgeois (capitalist) vultures” preying on the masses, and playing the masses here and all over the world. We needed to figure out how to put that ugly reality to people so that it was undeniable.

    And we have to put forward very boldly that there is another future, far more liberating future, that is possible, that THEY need to be a part of fighting for, and there is a force which is organizing for that future, which THEY need to be a part of. What if we had planned to “represent” for that force, even with small numbers, gathered our forces, and with the bold determination of "We Are The Revcoms!"—marched in formation next to the parade declaring our intentions and challenging the masses, chanting creative and lively slogans which concentrate the last paragraph of this article: “It is time, and long past time, to break these mental chains, to get in position to break all the chains of the modern-day slavery of this system of capitalism-imperialism. It is time to take up the scientific outlook, method, strategy and program, morality and values that can lead people to finally get free: the new communism. It is time to become revolutionary emancipators of humanity. Hard truth, liberating truth.”   

    It would have taken real struggle to do this—struggle ahead of time and at the parade both… and struggle with each other as well as the masses. But even with all the crowds, the noise, the partying, there was the potential for some to say “Who are those people?” We would have been working to solve a different contradiction than just trying to “be heard” or “getting the word out” to thousands of people. We would have been working on how do we actually recognize that this is a State of Emergency, and that we need to crack the “chains on people who desperately need to be free” in the way this article is leading us to do. And this would have involved struggle with each other to break the chains in our own thinking that idealize the oppressed.

    And what if we had handed out the flyer of BA’s article to people, as part of carrying it out, and challenged them to get into the article and the leader?

    We Need, We Demand: A Whole New Way to Live, A Fundamentally Different System

     

    BA’s Leadership

    Another chain which BA doesn’t speak to directly in this article is the chain of refusing to engage BA because “he is white,” because “he is one leader,” because “he is a man.” In fact, there is plenty of material in other articles BA has written, and plenty of analysis for why all of this is another deadly chain, destined to keep people in thrall to the system that is the source of all of this bullshit. We not only need to take this on, raise it to people when they don’t pose it spontaneously. We need to call bullshit on this straight up and sharply and in a few words talk about what this leader has done that no other leader in this country has ever done, and no other leader is doing in the world today! BA is providing the precious and unique analysis that means there is a strategy for making this revolution and the masses need to know about that! They not only need to know about BA, but they need to become followers of this communist leader if humanity even has a chance to have a different future than a destroyed planet, continuing enslavement of women through forced motherhood, fascists in and out of uniform gunning down Black and Brown people in the streets, at supermarkets, in churches, LGBTQ people and immigrants being denied their very humanity, the bloody history of this country with slavery and murderous wars against Native peoples and Mexico being whitewashed. People can cling to their ridiculous “sensitivities” about leaders, or leaders that “don’t look like them” and face that future or they can raise up their heads up from looking at their fucking phones and think about humanity and what emancipating humanity will take—taking up and following the scientific leadership of BA.

    And here too, what if we had taken “BIPOC Leadership: There Is No Such Thing” to this parade? 

    No other leader is challenging people to actually raise their heads to become emancipators of humanity, not get lost and swallowed up in their own petty grievances and dreams of revenge. And all of those of us who do appreciate that, and all those further who can be won to that, have to take very seriously the "decapitation" strategy of the capitalist-imperialists and protect, defend, and promote BA with the content and orientation in the article Bob Avakian A Radically Different Leader—A Whole New Framework for Human Emancipation.

    Let’s get to work!

    We are faced with the necessity of internalizing and applying BA’s method and approach of sharply and ‘frontally’ going after the very harmful ways people are thinking—right now. BA says in the BA Interviews on The RNL Show that things are best understood by comparing them to their opposites. So let’s pose some opposites:

    • We can’t just “educate” people and hope that as things get worse people will gravitate spontaneously to revolution. We have to really fight with what they are thinking and how they are thinking or way too many of them will cling to the values and the ways of thinking of this system, and the fascists will maintain their momentum and win some of them over as they are also working on repolarizing all of society, but for fascism, and right now they have the initiative. They are proving that yes, people do change, and not always for the best! State of Emergency!
    • We cannot be satisfied with “we tried our best.” The stakes are too high. We have to fight to win, not just not to lose. We are already in a very telescoped and intense objective situation. As we say, we can’t afford wasted trips down the court. BA has modeled some very sharp and biting agitation which gets at the reality of what people are actually thinking. So let’s get in there and go after these chains! Let’s actually be the force put forward in "We Are the Revcoms." And pose the truly liberating future that is in "We Need and We Demand: A Whole New Way to Live, A Fundamentally Different System."
    • We cannot read the articles BA is writing, get very excited about them, and then set them aside to think about later. No! We have to in “real time” really dig into this. What is actually being said here? Why? What is it being posed against? How do we take what is being posedvery sharply!in this article and apply it? And how do we take it directly out to masses of people and struggle with them over the content? This is guidance the leader of the revolution is giving us and we either turn away from it or we take it upthere is no middle ground.
    card we are the revcoms

     

  • ARTICLE:

    Building Networks and Centers of Distribution—for Revolution

    from a team in Houston

    As part of our efforts to Put Revolution on the Map in 2023 through “Operation Saturation, a small team here has been getting out the We Need and We Demand declaration and the We Are the Revcoms proclamation broadly through stores, laundromats, and other businesses in areas of this city where many people who catch the most hell in this system live—both immigrants and people born in the U.S. We are working towards developing embryonic networks of support for the revolution, and centers of distribution of revolutionary material. There are some indications that this is taking hold in a beginning but potentially significant way: People tell us they have run into the Declaration, Proclamation, and posters in multiple places, and a good number of people are themselves taking the materials to get out to others, and donating funds for the revolution.

    Houston, distribution stand for We Need We Demand at restaurant

     

    Houston, distribution stand for We Need We Demand at a restaurant.   

    Over the past week, 11 businesses have joined the effort to distribute the Declaration and the Proclamation, including three small restaurants, five convenience stores, two barber shops and a laundromat that put up posters and took copies for their customers. Some of these places also donated and a few have become regular sustainers. A good number of other places, from vape stores to dollar stores to auto parts places have also allowed us to leave the materials on their counters.

    This effort at saturation has tapped into a latent well of anger and questioning. Many people, when they see and think for a moment about what the Declaration and the Proclamation say, have said to us that the world should not be the way it is now. Some begin to think about revolution. Some have struggled with friends not to accept the way things are. Some have said they are already reaching out to others about the need for a big change. A growing number have taken bundles to distribute and donated small amounts of money to the revolution. Some have said they will spread the word online. A few are giving ways to get back with them.

    As this happens, people’s questions get sharpened up. There is debate about this revolution, whether it can really happen, and what it’s about. Controversy gets stirred up around religion, global warming, LGBTQ rights, etc. Underneath what seems on the surface to be indifference, many people are thinking about and deeply feeling the contradictions roiling through society. They have strong opinions, and when they see the Declaration, it often strikes a chord and unleashes their desires for change.

    Many people welcome the overall demands of the Declaration, including the six points from the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. Most are also heavily influenced by religion and other non-scientific thinking. At the same time, many have a broadness of mind and some curiosity about the world, and are concerned about war, climate change, U.S. aggression in the world and other issues expressed in the “5 STOPS.

    WE NEED AND WE DEMAND A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT FUTURE

     

    poster WE ARE THE REVCOMS

     

    Palmcard Front - BA Interview (Color)

     

    Bringing People REAL Revolution and the New Communism

    Getting people to watch the Bob Avakian (BA) Interviews is key. We had experiences where even initial and brief viewings of BA made a big difference. One Black woman who had already given a dollar and taken a bundle to distribute, including a few in Spanish for people she works with, gave another 50 cents after watching the Break Out of the Trap clip. A youth who had seen the Declaration challenged us about how we know what's true. He didn’t think people around this revolution really knew how people were suffering because they hadn’t lived it. We stressed that this was based on science. We read the first paragraph of the Declaration, “In the name of the people…” out loud, and played BA’s interview clip on "Woke" Is a Joke, a Bad Joke. While he didn’t take a bundle, a number of other people standing nearby and listening took materials for themselves and to get out to others. Millions of people need to see these videos!

    We also learned how important it is for people to get to the six points from the Constitution concentrated in the Declaration, and to make clear that we are living in a rare time when revolution is more possible, that there is a strategy concentrated in Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution, and we have the leadership of Bob Avakian (BA) and the revcoms… and to challenge people that this can't happen without you!

    Houston, Operation Saturation, We Need We Demand on light post.

     

    Houston   

    “Battling for the Walls”

    Restaurants and laundromats are both real centers of the community, and have potential to spread things broader. We are beginning to make connections with some owners and staff at different small businesses. Some welcome the materials on a regular basis, and let posters go up in their shops. Some have donated funds, and a few have become sustainers.

    Even when people have significant disagreement about revolution, exposure of what is going on in the world, as captured in the first paragraphs of the Declaration, has won several of them to allow us to post it in their stores. This is very much a part of the “battle for the walls,” which is going on more broadly in this community. At some places, through back-and-forth struggle, we have established a continued presence. Others have told us to leave. All this involves struggle, which is ongoing.

    A number of youths who go into these places are beginning to be challenged—and some inspired by—this revolution. This is particularly true of young women. A couple of new employees at one place followed us out the door to get their own copies to learn what the revolution had to say. A young Chicana was listening while we talked with another person at an auto parts store. When it finished, she went in the back and returned with $3 for the revolution. She took five packets for herself, and let us leave more for the customers.

    A Middle Eastern store worker was really excited by the materials. He watched some of BA’s videos and said he really likes what BA says and how he thinks, but raised several important questions: 1) You can't make revolution here, it needs to happen in poorer countries first; 2) How many people do you have? It's not enough; 3) It takes a very long time to do this.

    We pointed out the part in We Are the Revcoms with the analysis of how deeply the rulers are divided, and what that means for the possibility of revolution and how revolutions don't gradually develop, but are a dramatic break with the way things have been. We read the point about Fight the Power, and Transform the People, For Revolution… and BA's internationalism, concentrated in the quotes from BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, “Internationalism—The Whole World Comes First,” "American Lives Are Not More Important Than Other People’s Lives," as well as Why do people come here from all over the world? He liked all of that, opened the window barrier so we could talk better, and gave a small donation ($2).

    Another business owner, who previously said he was too busy to be bothered, recently looked at some of the materials, then let us leave them in his store. He told us that most of his customers can't read. So, we talked about how he could direct people to the RNL YouTube channel. We are going to return with a poster for The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show mounted on a card for near the cash register so people can access the revolution through that.

    There is still a lot to learn from all this, and how to accelerate it. But all this is adding to the mix where some stores, laundromats, restaurants, and other businesses in deeply oppressed, impoverished, and police patrolled parts of town are beginning to play a role as centers of struggle, debate, support and links to the revolution humanity desperately needs.

  • ARTICLE:

    Killer Mike, Ice Cube,

    WHY CAPITALIST PROGRAMS and BOURGEOIS ASPIRATIONS 
    CANNOT LEAD TO LIBERATION

    and

    WHY WE NEED A REAL REVOLUTION

    To begin, in order to have the necessary foundation for what I am going to get into here, let’s get clear on some basic things. First, what is meant by bourgeoisie? It is another way of saying (it is a French word that means) the capitalist class. What do I mean by “class”? A “class” of people is a part of society that is defined by its position within the relations in that society, and in particular its position and role in the economy. So what is the capitalist class? As I pointed out in articles about exploitation, the capitalist class is a small part of society that dominates the rest of society on the basis of exploiting people—capitalists use the labor of other people to accumulate wealth for themselves.1 The capitalist class rules capitalist society as a whole, as a result of its dominant role in the economy.

    And then there is the petty (or petite) bourgeoisie. This literally means the “small” bourgeoisie, but it actually refers to the middle class—small-scale business people, people with degrees in higher education, people in the arts, teachers and preachers and others who occupy a middle position between the big-time exploiters (the ruling capitalist class) and the proletarians, the mass of people exploited by the capitalists.2

    With that as a foundation, let’s get into the heart of the matter. 

    In a recent article, I sharply called out chains on people who desperately need to be free, including the obsessive pursuit of money, and misogyny—hating women and subjecting them to degradation in countless ways. I talked about how all this is “constantly promoted and pumped out in the ‘popular culture,’ including in Hip Hop.” (I also referred to how this garbage has perverted this creative art form of Hip Hop, which could be, and should be, a powerful voice for liberation, but has been turned into something else under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism.)3

    In a guest appearance, as himself, in a recent episode of the fictional Showtime program Billions, the rapper and actor Killer Mike provided yet another striking example of exactly the profound problem I was pointing to. First of all, in a discussion with the character Mike Prince, a billionaire financial parasite, Killer Mike is not even ashamed to say that he “likes” strip clubs—which are a concentrated expression of the sexual degradation of women.

    Then, in the same discussion with the Prince character, Killer Mike goes on to demand that Prince (who is running for president) invest in some Black banks. (Prince promises to do that, and in turn Killer Mike promises to endorse Prince.) As portrayed in this program, Killer Mike is thinking and talking like a parasitic financier himself. And, importantly, as I explained in another article, in the capitalist system banks are institutions that make money on the basis of the exploitation of masses of people. The following applies to banks as well as all other capitalist enterprises: 

    Here is the most fundamental point: the source of the wealth that these different capitalists accumulate is the exploitation of people who are forced to work for one or another capitalist (or capitalist corporation, etc.) in the process of producing the things that people use.”4

    As opposed to what is put forward continually in this country, including through movies and television programs like Billions: “It is the labor of those exploited by the capitalists—and not the ‘brilliance’ or ‘entrepreneurial genius’ of the capitalists—that actually creates the wealth that the capitalists appropriate (take for their own profit and use).”5

    At the same time, capitalism is not only based on ruthless exploitation of masses of people, but this is driven by cutthroat competition among the capitalists themselves. The capitalists who win out in this competition are those who most effectively and ruthlessly exploit people. They either do this, or face the prospect of being eaten up or driven under by other capitalists. And, for the masses of people exploited by the capitalists, this means that the capitalists will continually drive them harder, or throw them out on the street, in accordance with the needs of the capitalists who are themselves driven by the relentless competition among capitalists. This is why, despite what a few individual capitalists might want to do, there is, and there can be, no such thing as “compassionate capitalism.”

    As Killer Mike insists, Black banks are no doubt subject to discrimination, like Black people in general—and such discrimination should be opposed—but they are nevertheless capitalist institutions, resting on mass exploitation and driven by the basic laws of capitalist economics.

    Apparently, the idea voiced by Killer Mike is that building up Black banks (and the Black bourgeoisie overall) will somehow lead to a significant improvement for the masses of Black people. This is a tired-out notion, propagated by the bourgeoisie and its representatives everywhere—that promoting its interests will serve the interests of the people more broadly. In fact, as I will get into further, the interests of the bourgeoisie, of any nation, are fundamentally different than the interests of the masses of people.

    But, before getting into this overall point more fully, it is necessary to point out that the whole Atlanta Hip Hop scene, out of which Killer Mike has emerged, is a cesspool in which rap music is intertwined with drug trafficking and the degradation of women, including through strip clubs. But the problem is not limited to Killer Mike and the Atlanta Hip Hop scene. In the context of the last (2020) presidential election, the rapper/actor Ice Cube came up with a program for Black capitalism and flirted with the idea of supporting the openly, blatantly racist Donald Trump, who expressed “interest” in this capitalist scheme.

    All this is a sharp illustration of the point I made in Breakthroughs, speaking to the situation among the masses of Black people and other oppressed people:

    [T]here is the phenomenon that in the realm of culture, for example, a certain, relatively small but influential, section of people has managed to rise from within these masses to basically a bourgeois position.... [T]his includes people who have not only utilized the realm of culture but also in some cases the realm of crime to wrench out a position in which they become quite wealthy, and then they invest in lines of cosmetics and clothes, and so on—they become real bourgeois, even as many of them are part of an oppressed nation or people. And they have the corresponding outlook to a very significant degree.6

    That “corresponding outlook” is not one which can lead the masses of Black people, or the masses of people overall, to get free.

    Why Bourgeois and Petty Bourgeois Programs and Aspirations Cannot Lead to Real Liberation

    It is important to keep in mind that the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie are classes of people not only in this country overall, but more particularly within the oppressed Black nation in this country. On the one hand, these classes of Black people are subjected, in various ways, to the prejudicial and discriminatory treatment that is directed against Black people as a whole in this white supremacist society; and, despite their economic and social position, people within the Black petite bourgeoisie, and even the Black bourgeoisie, can still become the victims of brutality and murder by the police, enforcing the oppressive relations of this system as a whole. On the other hand, the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie occupy positions above the masses of Black people—and, to varying degrees, they have privileged positions in the society overall, even with the discrimination they are subjected to—and their spontaneous outlook is fundamentally an expression of their class positions.7

    Along with the promotion of Black capitalism as the supposed “salvation” for Black people, there is the widespread promotion of “wokeness,” including by sections of the Black petite bourgeoisie (for example, many Black people in academia and the media). As we revcoms (revolutionary communists) have called attention to:

    “Woke” once meant righteous awareness of racial oppression but has long since morphed into fanatical lunacy and vicious mob mentality. A bloodlust to target and tear into individuals, while cowardly ducking, and often, actively obstructing the real and needed fight against the system, especially its overthrow through an actual revolution!

    And this “wokeness” involves

    Bizarre and capricious rules enforced by cancel culture threats. Puffed-up unscientific claims to “represent the marginalized.” Insisting that people “stay in their lanes” in fighting oppression. “Woke” lunacy manifests much that is harmful with the capitalist-imperialist system and its dominant culture, furthering the nightmare of humanity!8

    This is another expression of how, today, much of the outlook, and the actions, of the supposedly “progressive” petite bourgeoisie, including much of the Black petite bourgeoisie, is actually very harmful—opposed to and obstructing a real fight for the emancipation of Black people and all oppressed people.

    In the mainstream media, through the bourgeois electoral system, and in many other ways, representatives of the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie—and many representatives of this system of capitalism-imperialism overall—try to present things as if these more privileged classes of Black people are “role models” for Black people as a whole (and people more generally), and what these classes are striving for is supposedly the way to overcome discrimination and inequality. But the truth is this: The goals and aspirations of the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie cannot lead to the liberation of the masses of Black people—or oppressed people in general—for this basic reason: they do not see beyond, and are not striving to get beyond, this system of capitalism-imperialism, which mercilessly exploits and murderously oppresses masses of people, here and all over the world. Instead they are striving to get in on and get more for themselves out of this monstrous system (even if this is sometimes accompanied by the claim that improving their position will do good for, and improve the position of, the masses of Black people). But the fact is that this will not, and cannot, change the oppressed condition of the masses of Black people, and other oppressed people. It will not even change the fact that, despite their more privileged position, the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie, as part of the oppressed Black nation, will still be subjected to, and will not be able to fully escape, the discrimination and brutality that Black people as a whole are subjected to under this system, which has white supremacy built into it. To do away with all that, requires doing away with this system of capitalism-imperialism, through an actual revolution.

    There is also a current among the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie—for example, with someone like Farrakhan—to be seeking to establish a separate Black country, with themselves as the ruling class of that country. In this regard, there are important matters of understanding and principle. First, the right of self-determination of the oppressed Black nation, including the right to form a separate country, must be upheld—and is upheld in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have written (this Constitution is available at revcom.us). At the same time, a separate Black country ruled by a Black bourgeoisie and operating according to the principles of capitalism could only function by exploiting the masses of Black people. And, as a capitalist country in a world dominated by the system of capitalism-imperialism and the major capitalist-imperialist powers, such a Black capitalist country could only occupy a subordinate and dominated position within that overall world system.

    All these are basic reasons why, despite their pretensions, the bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie, of any nation or country, cannot lead to the liberation of the masses of people, with the ending of all relations of exploitation and oppression. And, once again, the representatives of these classes are not even aiming to put an end to all relations of exploitation and oppression, but rather to establish, or improve, their position within such relations.

    Real Liberation—A Truly Emancipating Revolution            

    Karl Marx, the founder of communism, emphasized this very important point: The political and intellectual representatives of every class claim that the particular interests of the class they are part of, also represent the general interests of the people and the society overall. But the reality is that there is only one class whose interests—not in a narrow sense, but in the largest and most fundamental sense—represent the interests of the masses of humanity and ultimately humanity as a whole. That class is the proletariatof all races, nations and countries—the exploited class of people under this system of capitalism-imperialism, which can only put an end to its exploited condition by abolishing this system of capitalism-imperialism and uprooting all relations of exploitation and oppression, everywhere.9

    Once more, building up the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie has not, will not, and cannot do away with discrimination, inequality and oppression—it will not and cannot do away with the situation of Black people as a whole as an oppressed people. This oppression cannot be done away with under this system for the basic reason that white supremacy is built into this system and into every part of this country—in employment, education, housing, and so on—and all this is enforced by the ruling institutions, including the murderous police and other violent enforcers of this system.

    It is both possible and important to win significant sections of the petite bourgeoisie to the revolution that is urgently needed to do away with exploitation and all oppression—and this definitely applies to the petite bourgeoisie, and even some among the bourgeoisie, of the oppressed Black nation. But these classes, and the interests they represent as such, can never lead a revolution that will be in the interests of the masses of oppressed and exploited Black people, and oppressed and exploited people overall.

    Once again this is because the spontaneous outlook, goals, aspirations and the strivings of these classes is to get a better place for themselves within this system of capitalism-imperialism, which is the fundamental source and cause of this exploitation and oppression—and abolishing this exploitation and oppression is impossible without abolishing this system.

    At the same time, a very important point in relation to all this is that people can, and do, take up the outlook and goals that correspond to the interests of a class other than the class to which those people belong. Right now, for example, it is unfortunately the case that among the exploited class of proletarians (and the oppressed overall) in this country (and others), masses of people have been conditioned to take up, and have taken up, the outlook and values of this putrid system of capitalism-imperialism. On the other hand, it is also true that, while the ruling class of this system will remain determined to maintain this system, through the most murderous and destructive means, masses of people—not only among the proletariat, but among other sections of society—can be won to recognize the urgent need, and the possibility, for the revolution to overthrow this system and bring something much better into being. Human beings are thinking beings, and as such people broadly can come to recognize that the only way to be rid of the madness and agony of living under this system—the only way to a future worth living for the masses of humanity, and ultimately for humanity as a whole—is to take up and carry through this revolution. But, especially given the heavy weight of this capitalist-imperialist system, and the ways it works to shape people, masses of people can be won to this only if those who do recognize the need for this revolution wage ferocious struggle to break people broadly out of the bullshit ways that this system has conditioned them to think and act, and win them to become conscious revolutionary emancipators of humanity, aiming for nothing less than ending, and uprooting, all exploitation and oppression, all over the world.

    To sum up and conclude with this crucial point: A truly emancipating revolution—actually aiming for the abolition of all exploitation and oppression—can only be, and must be, led by the growing ranks of revolutionary communists, representing the fundamental and largest interests of the exploited class under capitalism, the proletariat, in overthrowing this system of capitalism-imperialism and bringing into being a radically different and much better system—with a fundamentally different economic foundation (mode of production), and emancipating political institutions, social relations and culture—as set forth in both a sweeping and concrete way in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    _______________

    NOTES by Bob Avakian.

    The following refer to articles and other works of mine (except for #8, which was written by a writing group of revcoms). These works are all available at revcom.us.

    1. “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End To It”; and “Putting an End to Exploitation, and All Oppression.” [back]

    2. There is discussion of the position and role of different sections of the petite bourgeoisie in Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary. [back]

    3. “State of Emergency: Chains on People Who Desperately Need to Be Free, A message from Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism.” A video based on a recording I made of this article is also available as part of the YouTube The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show (episode #164). [back]

    4. “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End to It,” footnote 2. That footnote also makes the following important points:

    Besides those who are directly involved in exploiting people in the process of producing the wealth of the capitalist system, there are also other capitalist exploiters. For example, there are the banks and other financial institutions that make profit through loans to the corporations and other businesses that directly exploit people. (These loans have to be repaid, with an additional amount of money—the “interest.”) Plus, often these financial institutions themselves invest in the corporations that are directly exploiting people. And, in turn, large-scale corporations also become involved in financial transactions. Finance capital becomes woven together with capital directly used to exploit people in the process of production. There are also merchant capitalists—for example, those who sell clothing, or food and other basic necessities. And then there are those who invest in the stock market—but that just amounts to a kind of gambling—betting on which capitalist enterprises will be more successful in exploiting people. [back]

    5. “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End to It” (emphasis added). [back]

    6. Breakthroughs. [back]

    7. There is the fact that, even with the systematic discrimination and inequality that Black people as a whole are subjected to under this system, they still share, to different degrees, in the parasitic spoils of the American empire—the way American capitalism-imperialism feasts off the exploitation of people around the world, especially in the Third World of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. (A parasite lives off—and literally or in effect sucks the blood of—other living beings. American capitalism-imperialism is a highly parasitic empire, whose functioning and accumulation of wealth and power is based on viciously exploiting people all over the world, including by super-exploiting huge numbers of children in the Third World.) Everyone in this parasitic USA receives some of the “benefits” (the spoils) of this worldwide exploitation, although this is distributed among different classes of people in a highly unequal way. The Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie, because of their position within the economic and social structure of this country, receive substantially more of these spoils than the people on the bottom of society, including masses of Black people, whose conditions of systematic and brutal oppression and deprivation far outweigh any spoils they receive as a result of living in this parasitic country. [back]

    8. A Seven Point Indictment: “WOKE” IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE in the political, intellectual, artistic and ethical life of society. [back]

    9. This important point from Marx is discussed in Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis, Breaking with Individualism, Parasitism and American Chauvinism, in the section “Particular Interests and General Interests—Differing Class Interests and the Highest Interests of Humanity.” This is available at revcom.us in the section BA’s Collected Works. (The work by Marx being discussed is The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.) [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    PUTTING AN END TO EXPLOITATION,
    AND ALL OPPRESSION

    In a previous article, I analyzed what exploitation is, how exploitation is the basis of the capitalist system, and how exploitation can be ended by “making revolution to overthrow this system, and replacing it with a fundamentally different and far better system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.1 Here I am going to examine further some key dimensions of this.

    Economic systems (modes of production) that are based on exploitation are ones in which part of the labor of those who are exploited is remunerated (paid for, in some form), while another part of that labor is not remunerated (is unpaid), and the wealth created by that unpaid labor is appropriated (taken) by a force standing above and in effect dictating to those who are compelled to work under these conditions.

    Capitalism and Slavery

    Capitalism is not the only system based on exploitation. But it is a system in which the exploitation is not immediately clear. It is a system in which it appears on the surface that the labor is “paid in full”—that an “equal exchange” has taken place between the capitalist and the workers the capitalist exploits: the capitalist pays the workers a wage, and they carry out work for the capitalist. But, in fact, as in all systems of exploitation, part of the labor of the workers exploited under capitalism is paid and part is unpaid: the wage of the workers is equal to only a part of the value (wealth) they create while working for the capitalist, and the rest of the value created by their labor goes to the capitalist.

    Slavery is the opposite of capitalism in this regard: Under the slave system, it appears on the surface that all of the labor of the slaves is “unpaid,” because they are generally not paid in money. But the reality is that the slaves are “paid” in the fact that, with all the terrible cruelty of the slave system, the slave-owners do provide the slaves with the bare minimum requirements of life, such as some form of shelter, food, clothing, etc. If the slave-owners did not do this, then the slaves would quickly be unable to work, and the slave-owners would go bankrupt. What especially distinguishes slavery, as the horrific system it is, is not that the labor of the slaves is entirely “unpaid,” but that the slaves are literally the property of the slave-owners, with everything that involves—the terrible atrocities continually visited upon the slaves by the slave-owners—including mass rape, selling children away from their parents, whipping and other brutal punishment of slaves, not only for revolting against the slave-owners but for the mere attempt to escape, or simply for failing to meet constantly expanding demands on their labor (for example, how much cotton they are required to pick daily).

    Obviously, for the slaves, there is nothing good about the slave system—it is an absolute horror.

    To review: In both of these systems—the capitalist system and the slave system—those who carry out the labor that produces things are exploited, but in the one case (capitalism) it appears that the labor is entirely paid, with a wage, in a seemingly “equal exchange,” while in the other case (slavery) the appearance is that all the labor is unpaid. But, with the very real differences between these systems of exploitation, in both cases the labor is partly paid, and partly unpaid.

    This is the essential and defining feature of a system of exploitation: those who are exploited are compelled, by one means or another, to carry out labor that creates wealth beyond what is necessary for their survival and ability to work—and that wealth goes not to them, or for their benefit, but to the class of people that stands above and in effect dictates to them.2

    The essence of exploitation is not that people are compelled to work hard. Nor is it simply that they produce a surplus through unpaid labor. It is that they are compelled to do this under conditions that are oppressive and alienating: because those they work for have the power of life and death over them, in one form or another... because they have no say in what the purpose of their labor is, nor how the wealth they create is used, and for whose benefit... and because the appropriation, by exploiters, of the wealth that is created strengthens the position of those exploiters over those who are forced to work for them.

    Under slavery, the slave-owners’ power of life and death over the slaves is obvious. Under capitalism this power of life and death is less blatant and extreme, but it exists in a real sense because the exploited class of wage-workers (the proletariat) is in a position where they can only survive (can only acquire the means to live) by working for, and being exploited by, one capitalist or another—and those capitalists will continually drive them harder, or throw them out on the street, in accordance with the needs of the capitalists who are themselves driven by the relentless competition among capitalists. (The existence of significant numbers of people who cannot be profitably exploited, and are therefore unemployed, is a constant feature of capitalism; and the constant threat of unemployment strengthens the hand of the capitalists over the workers they do employ, and exploit.)

    Putting an End to Exploitation and Oppression

    To end exploitation, it is necessary to end the conditions on which exploitation rests. And this requires the radical, thorough transformation of society, and ultimately the world, as a whole. It requires, as the first great leap, overthrowing the economic and political system of capitalism, and bringing about its replacement by a socialist system, which will move to abolish the basis for exploitation. In the fundamental realm of the economy (the mode of production), this requires expropriating the capitalist exploiters: ending the capitalists’ ownership and control of the means of production (land, raw materials, factories, machinery and other technology used in production), converting these means of production into the common property of society, utilized by the socialist government, in a planned way, in the interests of the masses of people who have created these means of production, through their collective labor (even as that labor had been carried out under conditions of exploitation by capitalists).3

    But, as much as this is a crucial—and, in a real sense, historic—step, it is just the beginning. It is still the case that, for society to function, and to meet the needs of the people (basic material needs, but also political, social, intellectual and cultural needs) on a continually expanding basis, it is necessary for productive labor to be carried out, as the foundation for all this. To eliminate exploitation, it is necessary to transform the character of that labor. It must become labor that is not exploitative and not alienating for those who carry it out.

    There is a profound, fundamental difference between being driven to work hard by a force standing above you—in a real sense dictating to you—and on the other hand working hard together with loved ones, friends, and comrades to accomplish goals that you have arrived at and agreed upon in common. Many people have experienced this difference in their everyday lives. Expanded to the level of a country, and ultimately the whole world, this is the profound, fundamental difference between living under a system based on exploitation, such as capitalism, and living in a system whose goal is to eliminate exploitation, and all the oppressive relations that go along with exploitation.

    To achieve this historic transformation, the character of labor and the relations in which that labor is carried out (the relations of production) must be transformed, along with (and as the foundation for) transforming the character of the society as a whole. For any society to continue functioning, a surplus must be produced—beyond what people need to fulfill the essential requirements of life. A fundamental difference between an exploitative and non-exploitative system is in how that surplus is created, how it is utilized, and how decisions about this are made.

    In socialist society, people are guaranteed employment, and in that sense the individual struggle for survival has become a thing of the past—is no longer something that people have to be concerned with or worry about. But, beyond that, the surplus created in this socialist society must be utilized to continually expand the basis to fulfill the all-around needs of the people, including in the realms of education, culture, and so on; to deal with natural disasters and act as caretakers of the environment; to defend the socialist country from attack—and, crucially, to provide an expanding material foundation for the struggle to eliminate and uproot relations of oppression within the country and to support revolutionary struggle in the world overall—while also providing for future generations. So, once again, the decisive question is: how, under what conditions, is that surplus produced, and for what purposes is it utilized?

    To move beyond a system based on exploitation, not only must private ownership of the means of production by competing capitalists be eliminated, and replaced by socialized ownership by society as a whole, but oppressive divisions characteristic of the old, exploitative society must be overcome. This includes the division between mental and manual labor—the unequal relations between those whose labor is essentially intellectual (mental labor) and those who carry out labor that is essentially physical (manual labor). It also includes oppressive racial, sexual and gender relations, and other divisions which contain the basis for oppression and antagonism between different parts of society. All this is built into capitalism, and other systems based on exploitation. And all this must be transformed, in order for exploitation to be ended. At the same time, the masses of people must take part, in an increasingly conscious way, in determining the goals, and in the planning to meet the goals, in the development of the economy and the society overall, not only with the particular country in mind but with the fundamental orientation of contributing to the transformation of the world as a whole, toward the ultimate goal of communism, with the abolition of all exploitation and oppression everywhere.

    All this is the basis on which the labor that is carried out as the foundation for society becomes not alienating and exploitative, but instead contributes to emancipation on a fundamentally voluntary and increasingly conscious basis. Once again, what is involved is the profound difference between being compelled to work for a force standing above and dictating to you—which is the situation under capitalism and all systems of exploitation—and, on the other hand, working together with others to develop, in a continually expanding way, the material/economic basis to achieve goals which have been decided upon in common, and which continually expand human beings’ freedom from the mere struggle for survival, as well as from oppressive relations—a freedom that is increasingly brought about in socialist society, and achieved in even fuller dimensions once communism has been brought into being, on a world scale.4

    The basic orientation, and concrete guidelines, for bringing into being a society, and ultimately a whole world, where this can be made a reality, are set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.5

    Everyone who hungers for, or dreams about, a world where human beings will no longer be exploited and oppressed—but instead can truly thrive, in the fullest of their humanity—needs to be consciously, actively, tirelessly working for the emancipating revolution that can make this a reality. And, for reasons I have analyzed in a number of works, this is a “rare time” when this revolution is not only urgently necessary but also more possible—and this “rare time” must not be wasted and thrown away but seized on, with conscious determination to bring about this emancipating revolution.6

    ****

    Notes, Further Explanations and Points to Explore

    by Bob Avakian

    1. The article, “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End to It,” is available at revcom.us. [back]

    2. Karl Marx, the founder of communism, pointed out that in the feudal system the relation between paid and unpaid labor is more clear: In this system, serfs carry out labor on land that is owned by feudal lords; a large part of what the serfs produce goes to the feudal lord, while the serfs are allowed to keep only a small part for their very basic needs. The sharecropping system that existed in the southern United States for more or less a century after the Civil War—in which masses of Black people (and some poor whites) were viciously exploited—was essentially a form of this feudal system. But, once more, this feudal system of exploitation, in which the relation between paid and unpaid labor is more obvious, has in common with all systems of exploitation that part of the labor of those who are exploited is paid, in one form or another, and part is unpaid, and the value created by that unpaid part is appropriated by a force standing above, and in a real sense dictating to, those who are forced to labor under these conditions. [back]

    3. In Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, I discuss the role of labor in creating the means of production. Breakthroughs is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    4 & 5. An observation on the following :

    Once again, what is involved is the profound difference between being compelled to work for a force standing above and dictating to you—which is the situation under capitalism and all systems of exploitation—and, on the other hand, working together with others to develop, in a continually expanding way, the material/economic basis to achieve goals which have been decided upon in common, and which continually expand human beings’ freedom from the mere struggle for survival, as well as from oppressive relations—a freedom that is increasingly brought about in socialist society, and achieved in even fuller dimensions once communism has been brought into being, on a world scale.

    Where it is said that the goals “have been decided upon in common,” this refers to an overall process which involves, on the one hand, mass forms for people to directly discuss and debate these goals, and how to achieve them, and elections at various levels of society, up to the central government level, through which people have input into the big questions regarding the development of the economy and the society overall. While some of this will take place at the level of the basic economic units and institutions of society (for example, schools as well as places of work), it will all feed into the different levels of government, up to the central government for the society as a whole. It is through this overall process—and not at the level of particular factories or other workplaces or institutions—that the ultimate decisions will be made concerning the goals, and the means for achieving the goals, with regard to the development of the economy and the society as a whole. While input from the basic levels of society is a necessary and crucial part of this process, if decision making is left at the level of particular economic units or other particular parts of society—rather than being ultimately determined by the institutions of government for the society as a whole, drawing on input from throughout society—then the result will be that the needs and interests of the different particular parts of society will come into conflict with each other, the larger common interests of people will be undermined, and society will be drawn back in the direction of reverting to a system based on exploitation.

    What is needed is an overall plan for the goals, and the means of achieving the goals, for the society as a whole, with all the different parts of society having a significant degree of input, and taking significant initiative, within this overall framework and plan. And the standard for this plan to embody and promote relations that are not exploitative, but emancipating, is that they contribute to continually expanding human beings’ freedom from the mere struggle for survival, as well as from oppressive relations.

    Once more: The basic orientation, and concrete guidelines, for bringing into being a society, and ultimately a whole world, where this can be made a reality, are set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which is available at revcom.us. [back to 4] [back to 5]

    6. See, for example,  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, which is available at revcom.us. [back]

    Finally: Food for thought, and further exploration. Another important requirement for advancing to a communist world—moving entirely beyond capitalism, and all relations of exploitation and oppression—is that the productive capacity of society has developed, on a non-exploitative basis, to the point where the essential needs of people for a decent life, and the overall needs of society, can be met without most people having to spend most of their waking hours in physical labor, and they are freed to take part in many other dimensions of work and life. Along with this, income inequality among the people must be eliminated and surpassed, with money no longer playing a role in the relations among people—a situation where money no longer determines or influences the production and exchange of things in society, and in fact money has been eliminated altogether in the functioning of society. What the necessary conditions are, and how society can function, in a way that enables human beings to live in a world where money has no role and has been eliminated, along with relations of inequality and oppression... where people’s needs can be met, on a continually expanding basis, without money, and without the need for people to calculate in the miserly terms of money relations... how society can function according to the communist principle “from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs,” where people contribute to society voluntarily, free from concern as to whether their needs will be met, and in turn people receive what they need for a decent life, without any exchange of money: All this involves complex questions, which are definitely worth digging into, even as this is beyond the scope of this particular article.

  • ARTICLE:

    EXPLOITATION: WHAT IT IS, HOW TO PUT AN END TO IT by Bob Avakian

    (produced by The RNL Show)

  • ARTICLE:

    EXPLOITATION: WHAT IT IS,
    HOW TO PUT AN END TO IT

    In a recent report, about revolutionary work in Chicago, one of the people there drawn to the revolution indicated that he did not know what the word “exploitation” means. Because this word “exploitation” describes something very basic about the system of capitalism that we are now forced to live under, and because many people do not have a clear understanding of this, it is important to explain what is meant by “exploitation.”

    In the most general sense, to “exploit” means “to take advantage.”  More specifically, it can mean taking advantage of—using—other people. And in terms of a scientific understanding with regard to the economy, “exploitation” refers to a situation where one person, or a group of people, accumulates capitalist wealth that is created by the labor of others. Capitalism is a system in which a relatively small number of people, the capitalists, own and control the major means of production (factories, land, raw materials, machinery and other technology, and so on), and are therefore in a position to force other people, who do not own or control means of production, to work for them. It is the labor of those exploited by the capitalists—and not the “brilliance” or “entrepreneurial genius” of the capitalists—that actually creates the wealth that the capitalists appropriate (take for their own profit and use)

    Once again, the capitalists are in a position to appropriate wealth that is produced by others, whom they exploit, because the capitalists own and control the major means of production—means of production which themselves were created through the labor of people exploited by capitalists. (For example, in a capitalist-owned factory, the machinery that people work on was produced by people, in other factories, working on raw materials to create that machinery; and those raw materials, in turn, were mined by people also working under conditions of capitalist exploitation.)1

    Under the capitalist system, there is always a “surplus population”—people who are unemployed because they cannot be profitably exploited. (And the existence of people in this position is something which the capitalists take advantage of in exploiting those they do employ—“if you don’t want this job at the wage I am paying you, there are plenty of other people out there who are desperate for work...”)

    Today, this system of capitalism has developed into a highly globalized system of exploitation, capitalism-imperialism, in which a relatively small number of capitalists own and control means of production on a massive scale and appropriate huge amounts of capitalist wealth, on the basis of exploiting billions of people throughout the world, including hundreds of millions of women and more than 150 million children who are most viciously exploited (super-exploited), especially in the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia).2

    Once again, these billions of people are in a position where they can be viciously exploited because they do not own means of production (many of them, particularly in Third World countries, are people whose families previously owned small parcels of land on which they farmed, but they have been forced off the land, no longer able to survive by farming, in large part because of the domination of the politics and the economy of their countries by capitalists centered in imperialist countries like the U.S.).

    It is this system of capitalism-imperialism that is the root cause of all the horrendous, unnecessary suffering and madness that people throughout the world are subjected to, and the growing threat to the very existence of human beings as a whole.

    To get rid of exploitation—and all the oppression that goes along with it—it is necessary to get rid of the system of capitalism-imperialism. And that means making revolution to overthrow this system, and replacing it with a fundamentally different and far better system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    What this revolution and this radically new system are all about... why this revolution is possible... and how to carry out this revolution—all this is made clear in a number of works of mine, and others, at revcom.us, including the proclamation WE ARE THE REVCOMS, and the declaration from the revcoms WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM, as well as the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. This is also brought alive on the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show.

    And here is the challenge:

    Everyone who can’t stand this world the way it is... who is sick and tired of so many people being treated as less than human... who knows that the claim of “liberty and justice for all” is a cruel lie... who is righteously enraged that injustice and inequality go on, and on, and on, despite false promises and honeyed words from people in power (or those seeking power)... everyone who agonizes about where things are headed and the fact that to be young now means being denied a decent future, or any future at all... everyone who has ever dreamed about something much better, or even wondered whether that is possible... everyone who hungers for a world without oppression, exploitation, poverty, and destruction of the environment... everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: YOU need to be part of this revolution.

    Especially at a time like this—a time when big things are up in the world, affecting the whole future of humanity...when those big-time exploiters and oppressors who rule over us in this country are bitterly divided among themselves and increasingly unable to hold things together as a “unified” ruling class...when there is not just an urgent need but a real possibility to seize on this situation to overthrow them altogether—if you are NOT getting with the revcoms (revolutionary communists) who are working every day for this revolution, if you are not part of working to bring about this revolution, then what the hell are you doing?!3

     

    ********************

    Notes, by Bob Avakian.

    1. The bitter effects of being part of the exploited class—the proletariat—under the capitalist system is something people experience in their everyday life. In the book The New Communism, I spoke to this:

    You may be on the bottom of society—either you have no job and you’re scuffling the way you can, or you get a job and somebody exploits you. And to get that job, you have to go and sell yourself. That’s what you do. You go in for a job interview and they say, “Well, now, let’s get into your history,” and all that. Sometimes they want you to piss in a bottle, and sometimes they want to know everything about your personal history, they want to know if you have ever been arrested, or do you have a felony conviction. And you can’t say, “What the fuck, just give me the job, goddamn it, I’m hungry!” You’re out the door. You can’t even more politely say, “Excuse me, but that’s kind of a personal question, don’t you think?” No, because the person interviewing you is...working for the people who own the means of production, and you don’t own any, so you’re in a powerless position, because if you don’t satisfy them, they don’t hire you. (This is from “Introduction and Orientation, Foolish Victims of Deceit, and Self-Deceit,” pages 31-32, in The New Communism.)

    As for the foundation of the capitalist system, this was built up with a lot of violence. For example, in Europe, several centuries ago, large numbers of peasants (small-scale farmers) were driven off their land and forced into the position of proletarians, having to sell their labor power (their ability to work) to capitalists developing in the cities on the basis of their role as merchants, as the heads of early manufacturing associations, as money-lenders, etc. In the Americas, huge numbers of the original inhabitants, who had managed to survive the wars and disease brought by European invaders, were forced to labor, often under literally life-stealing conditions, to enrich exploiters who came to the Americas from Spain and other countries. And, let us not forget, the foundation for the wealth of this capitalist country—the “good ole USA”—was, to a very large extent, based on slave labor.

    As Karl Marx, the founder of communism, pointed out, with biting irony: The “rosy dawn” of capitalism was marked by the enslavement of massive numbers of Africans; literally working to death conquered people in South America forced to mine precious metals; and other monstrous means of accumulating wealth.

    It is a fact that some of the earlier societies in the Americas—such as the Inca empire in South America and the Aztecs in Mexico—were themselves based on exploitation of masses of people by the ruling classes in those societies; and it is true that there was slavery within Africa itself for some time before the invasion of that continent by European exploiters. But all this took on much greater and more horrific dimensions, beginning several centuries ago, with the conquest and colonization of these continents, the development of the international slave trade and the relentless machinery of capitalist exploitation, through which generation after generation of people, in the millions and millions, have been ruthlessly used up and killed off, quickly or more slowly, in the manic capitalist quest, and merciless competition among capitalists, for profit and more profit. [back]

    2. Besides those who are directly involved in exploiting people in the process of producing the wealth of the capitalist system, there are also other capitalist exploiters. For example, there are the banks and other financial institutions that make profit through loans to the corporations and other businesses that directly exploit people. (These loans have to be repaid, with an additional amount of money—the “interest.”)   Plus, often these financial institutions themselves invest in the corporations that are directly exploiting people. And, in turn, large-scale corporations also become involved in financial transactions. Finance capital becomes woven together with capital directly used to exploit people in the process of production. There are also merchant capitalists—for example, those who sell clothing, or food and other basic necessities. And then there are those who invest in the stock market—but that just amounts to a kind of gambling—betting on which capitalist enterprises will be more successful in exploiting people.

    Here is the most fundamental point: the source of the wealth that these different capitalists accumulate is the exploitation of people who are forced to work for one or another capitalist (or capitalist corporation, etc.) in the process of producing the things that people use. [back]

    3. Why this is a rare time when revolution, even in a powerful imperialist country like the U.S., becomes more possible, is examined in a number of works of mine, and others, at revcom.us, including Revolution: Major Turning Points And Rare Opportunities, as well as  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; and Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points. And, again, this is also brought alive on the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    THE TRIALS OF FASCIST DONALD TRUMP,
    AND THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THIS WHOLE SYSTEM

    Or: Don’t Be Played for Suckers by Trump’s Posturing, or the Democrats’ Posing as Defenders of Justice—We Need a Revolution and a Fundamentally Different and Far Better System

    As I am writing this, Donald Trump is facing multiple criminal indictments and impending trials, relating to his attempt to pull off a coup and remain in power after he lost the 2020 election, and other accusations of serious crimes.

    Beyond just Trump’s hardcore supporters, some people—who look at things only in partial ways and on the surface—have fallen for the claim, loudly declared by Trump himself, that he is the victim of unjust prosecution, or persecution.1 This includes some among those bitterly oppressed under this system, who have been taken in by the superficial appearance that, since Trump is being gone after by people running the government, then there is something to identify with in Trump’s situation, even something to admire and respect in how Trump is defiantly denouncing these criminal charges and those bringing them. 

    In this regard, it is important to consider that Trump’s posturing—including his attempt to strike a “mad dog” pose in his mug shot in his “booking” for his trial in Atlanta—seems to be aimed at appealing not only to his openly and aggressively racist “base” but also to others who should know better, including Black and Latino men (Trump apparently calculates that at least some of them will be impressed by his macho posturing).

    This adds an additional dimension to why it is important to be clear about what it is that Trump actually represents, and what is actually going on with these indictments of him.

    On a certain level, there is the fact that, as I have pointed out before—and as I will get into further here—Donald Trump Isn’t “Tough,” He’s a Bloated Bag of Fascist Feces.2

    But it is necessary to go deeper, to get to the basics and the essence of the matter.

    First of all, Trump is a representative of the ruling class of this life-stealing, soul-crushing system of U.S. capitalism-imperialism, and he has the backing of a powerful section of that ruling class.

    Second, and more particularly, he is a fascist—a representative of the fascist section of that ruling class. And let’s be clear on what this means. In a recent article at revcom.us, the point is emphasized that Trump, and others pushing things toward outright fascist rule in this country, have

    unleashed an organized and armed social base of millions who believe they’re on a “mission from god” to impose an agenda of open white supremacy, the patriarchal subordination of women and the purging of LGBTQ people from public life, anti-immigrant terror and anti-scientific lunacy. To accomplish this, they need to and are itching to “blow up” the normal operation of political rule of this system.3

    Now, some people are so twisted in their thinking that they actually recognize what Trump represents—or at least that he is an open, blatant racist—but then they take the stance that it is somehow better to go with a known racist, like Trump, than with people who pretend not to be racist but actually are, like the leaders of the Democratic Party. This is an expression of a pitifully narrow vision and lowered sights—the failure to see beyond the confines of this system of capitalism-imperialism, and a failure even to conceive of things beyond a situation where the choice is between blatant and “disguised” racists. More specifically, this kind of thinking fails to understand that when a leading politician of one of the two ruling class parties (in this case, the Republicans) trumpets blatant racism, that is not just a matter of their “personal opinion” or “personal bias.” It is an open declaration of the intent to make that racism, and everything that is bound up with it, official government policywith the forceful backing of the full power of the state (the police, armed forces, courts, prisons, and so on), as well as racist “militias” and other armed fascist goons (the modern-day equivalents of the Ku Klux Klan and the lynch mobs of the era of open, “legalized” segregation and “second class status” for Black people). Among other things, this is why these fascists are determined to eliminate from public education even limited reference to the real history of this country, including the horrific nature and effects of slavery, the consequences of this, and the continuation of racist oppression, down to today.

    The fact is that Trump is not simply an “open” racist. As I put it in a series of articles in 2020, he is a genocidal racist, who would be more than willing not only to continue incarcerating, but to actually kill off, huge numbers of Black people, and other people of color, whom he clearly regards as less than human.4

    It also has to be said that the notion that it is somehow “better” to go with “open” racists is, at least in some cases, not only a reflection of gross ignorance but also what must be called out as foul ambition: the striving to somehow get in position to escape the consequences of this overt racism and get in on the “goodies” of this system, which rest not only on murderous oppression of Black people, and others, in this country but on vicious exploitation, and super-exploitation, of literally billions of people, here and all over the world, including more than 150 million children in the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia). 

    What Is Really Going on with the Trials of Donald Trump and Conflicts “at the Top”

    In basic terms, the fascist section of the ruling class, represented by Trump and the Republican Party, is determined to tear up the “traditional norms” through which this country has been governed since shortly after the end of the Civil War in 1865, including the “peaceful transfer of power”—which in reality is the “peaceful transfer of power” between the different sections of the ruling class, through elections (with the winners in elections taking office, and the losers accepting the results). Tearing up these “norms”—while moving to take over, and utilize for their fascist program, key government institutions, including local school boards, election boards, state governments, the “intelligence” agencies and armed forces, as well as courts at every level, up to the Supreme Court—all this is crucial for the fascists in instituting unchallenged rule by them and eliminating even the appearance of allowing certain “civil and legal rights” that have been won through determined struggle against racist, sexist and gender oppression and other injustices.

    (The article at revcom.us to which I referred earlier gives a number of examples of the offensive by the fascists to tear up the “norms” of this oppressive system, including the move toward impeaching Joe Biden—in part as “payback” for the Democrats twice impeaching Trump when he was president, and in a larger sense as part of the Republican offensive to seize and consolidate a fascist form of rule in the country as a whole.)

    On the other side (that is, with the opposing section of the ruling class, generally represented by the Democratic Party) the determination is that maintaining the “traditional norms” and the way of ruling the country that has been carried out for generations—and making certain partial moves for “inclusion” and “diversity,” while continuing the illusion of “liberty and justice for all”—is the best way to maintain the stability of capitalist rule at home and to pursue the “national” (that is, imperialist) interests of the U.S. ruling class in the international arena. This section of the ruling class is firmly convinced that tearing up these “norms,” and openly reversing the partial concessions to the struggle against injustice, will seriously threaten the stability of American capitalist-imperialist rule “at home” and undermine its position internationally at a time when it is facing a serious challenge to its domination in the world, not only from Russia, as concentrated now in the war in Ukraine, but even more so from the rising power China (which still pretends to be “socialist,” with rule by a so-called “communist” party, but has long since become an actual capitalist-imperialist country).

    For the Democratic Party, and the section of the U.S. ruling class that it basically represents, it is necessary and vitally important to maintain, and to loudly propagate, the notion of the U.S. as a “shining city on the hill,” a great experiment in democracy, and (as they never tire of repeating) “the leader of the free world.” This is why, for example, Joe Biden has made a point of declaring that the U.S. has been a shining light of freedom and inspiration to the world for over 200 years.

    The answer to this is powerfully expressed in the following statement:

    Go search where you may, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

    This was said by Frederick Douglass, former slave and determined abolitionist, in 1852, but this statement by Douglass boldly speaks the truth about this country right down to today, with the continuing massive crimes committed under this system, within this country and all over the world. 

    (In “AMERICA: Truly a Model—of DEPRAVED RACIST GENOCIDE, in light of the horrors perpetrated against Black people throughout the history of this country, I called attention to this blunt truth: “In terms of depravity, you can’t find anything Hitler and the Nazis did that was worse than this.” I challenge anyone who wishes to dispute this, to read that article, and other material at revcom.us exposing an endless chain of atrocities that have marked this country, from its beginning and throughout its history. And, in A Final Note, at the end of this article, I provide further exposure and analysis of some of the monstrous crimes of this “leader of the free world,” from its founding down to today.)

    Democrats and Republicans: Back to the Past, Destroying the Future

    Someone recently made an important and insightful observation: The Democrats, as well as the Republicans, each in their own way, are trying to restore a situation that existed in the past, while they both represent a deadly serious threat to the future of humanity.

    The fascist Republicans want, and are determined to bring about—with whatever violence they deem necessary—a return to the situation that had long existed in this country, before and even for some time after World War 2, where inequality was institutionalized and openly enforced, including racial, sexual and gender discrimination and oppression.

    For their part, the Democrats want a return to the situation where U.S. imperialism was the clear and essentially unchallenged dominant power in the world. (This is a situation which existed at the end of, and for a short time after, World War 2, which ended in 1945, and then again for a while after the disintegration and demise of the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist in the early 1990s.) And along with the way the policies of the Democrats, as well as the Republicans, and the ongoing functioning of this whole system, is destroying the environment at a rapidly accelerating pace, these Democratic Party imperialists are willing to risk the future and very existence of humanity in their determination to beat back the challenge to U.S. world domination, from a rising capitalist-imperialist China in particular. It is revealing, for example, that the last two presidential candidates of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, are open and aggressive war-mongers. Among other crimes, both Biden and Clinton supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, an international war crime, based on crude lies—an invasion that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and massive destruction and dislocation in Iraq, and unleashed a maelstrom of death and destruction in that part of the world. And now, Biden as president is aggressively pursuing, and continually escalating, U.S. involvement in a proxy war with Russian imperialism in Ukraine, while also actively preparing for war with China.5

    The two impeachments of Trump pursued by the Democrats while they controlled the House of Representatives reflect their basic differences with and serious concerns about Trump’s role and policies as president.

    The most recent impeachment of Trump followed after, and held Trump responsible for, the massive attack by his supporters on Congress as it met, on January 6, 2021, to officially certify Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. This attack on Congress was part of an attempted coup by Trump, with the aim of overturning the results of that 2020 presidential election and remaining in power in defiance of those results. The Democrats’ opposition to this, and impeachment of Trump over this, clearly involves the great concern of the Democrats to maintain the “traditional norms” of this system—in particular the “peaceful transfer of power” between different sections of the ruling class—along with the illusion of “democracy, with liberty and justice for all”: camouflage covering over the actual dictatorship (the monopoly of political power and “legitimate” armed force and violence) exercised by the capitalist-imperialist ruling class.

    The previous (first) impeachment of Trump, which began at the end of 2019, centered on the charge that, in order to undermine Joe Biden—who was probably going to be (and turned out to be) Trump’s Democratic Party opponent in the 2020 election—Trump was sabotaging military aid to Ukraine, which was then involved in a more limited war with pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine (which, with the Russian invasion in 2022, has increasingly become a major war in which the U.S., headed by the Biden administration, is ever more deeply involved). Along with the particular question of what Trump was doing as president in relation to Ukraine, there was the concern, particularly among the section of the ruling class represented by the Democratic Party, that Trump was undermining NATO and other military and political “alliances” that are headed by the U.S. One of the main focuses of Biden—overall and as concentrated in the war in Ukraine—is to “repair,” fortify, and expand such alliances.

    (Also, one of the major criminal indictments that Trump is now facing involves “endangering national security”—that is, U.S. imperialist interests and domination internationally—by illegally hanging onto and carelessly handling “classified” documents that relate to this so-called “national security.”) 

    It is important to understand that both sections of the ruling class of this capitalist-imperialist country agree on taking whatever extreme measures might be necessary in the attempt to keep China from surpassing the U.S. as the world’s most powerful imperialist country. But these opposing sections of the U.S. ruling class are deeply divided not only over how to rule the U.S. itself, but also how to achieve the perverse goal of maintaining the USA as “Number One”—number one exploiter, oppressor and plunderer in the world. The fascists (or at least some of them) believe that being involved in a lot of formal alliances with other (lesser) countries may restrict the freedom of U.S. imperialism to act—including with unrestrained violence and destruction—to enforce its interests, anywhere in the world. And, more specifically, at least many of these fascists strongly feel that the proxy war that the U.S., with Biden’s lead, is waging against Russia in Ukraine is a distraction from the necessary focus on opposing China and using whatever means may be necessary to prevent China from surpassing the U.S. as the world’s dominant imperialist power, militarily as well as economically. And these fascists see the war in Ukraine strengthening the ties of Russia with China, making the opposition to U.S. domination more powerful. On the other hand, Biden—and those allied with him in the ruling class—are waging, and continually increasing U.S. involvement in, a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine (using Ukrainians as “cannon fodder” in this war) because this part of the U.S. ruling class is convinced that delivering a defeat to and weakening Russia, and its ability to challenge U.S. dominance, is important in its own right and will also drive a wedge between Russia and China.

    It should not have to be said that these kinds of concerns, on either side, have nothing to do with the fundamental interests of the masses of people in this country, and in the world as a whole. But, if it does need to be said, the following is very important as a fundamental orientation and guideline:

    The interests, objectives, and grand designs of the imperialists are not our interests—they are not the interests of the great majority of people in the U.S. nor of the overwhelming majority of people in the world as a whole. And the difficulties the imperialists have gotten themselves into in pursuit of these interests must be seen, and responded to, not from the point of view of the imperialists and their interests, but from the point of view of the great majority of humanity and the basic and urgent need of humanity for a different and better world, for another way.6

    The Trials of Donald Trump, the Profound Conflicts This Reflects, and a Rare Time When Revolution Becomes More Possible

    Returning directly to the current trials of Donald Trump, as can be seen in what I have shined a light on here, what these trials represent is a certain concentration of the larger, overall conflict between the two sections of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class in this country—a conflict and struggle reflecting bitter and profound antagonisms between them, with each side increasingly feeling that what is represented by the other side is an existential threat and potentially fatal blow to the very nature and role of this capitalist-imperialist country and its position as the dominant power in the world. These divisions within this ruling class will continue to deepen and sharpen, with the result that they are increasingly unable to rule in a “unified way.” 

    As I have analyzed in depth and repeatedly emphasized, all this—what is happening within this country as well as in the larger world arena—is now heading toward, and could definitely lead to, something even more terrible than “normal life” under this system. But it is also very important to recognize that this also holds the potential for something truly emancipating—an actual revolution to overthrow this system, in this most powerful capitalist-imperialist country, and bring into being a radically different and far better system—a potential which has the possibility to become a reality IF the revolutionaries have been getting out the message broadly among the people, shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening and why, bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way, and struggling with people to break with all their wrong ways of thinking and get with the revolution.

    It is crucially important to recognize the very real danger represented by Trump and the fascist section of the ruling class—and its “base” of lunatic racists, women-hating and LGBT-hating, anti-immigrant, and anti-scientific lunatics, itching for a new civil war—but it is also crucially important to recognize two basic things: 1) This fascism is not somehow “alien” to the “virtuous” nature of this “democratic leader of the free world,” but is an outgrowth of the fetid soil of this country—arising out of its putrid internal nature and historical development—as well as a response to the challenge to its dominant position in the world. Put another way, this fascism is an extreme expression of the vicious exploitation... the virulent, violent white supremacy, male supremacy and patriarchy... and the grotesque “American supremacy”—all of which is poured into the foundation and deeply embedded in the dominant relations, institutions, and culture of this country. These are the relations, institutions, and culture of a system that is completely putrid and outmoded, long since past its expiration date, spreading dangerous poison everywhere from its rotting core, and posing a very real threat to the future and very existence of humanity. And 2) The situation today “needs to be radically changed, to where there are masses of people prepared to defeat these fascists and to do so as part of getting rid of this whole system, which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates.”7

    To conclude, this must quickly become the basic understanding that masses of people, first in the thousands, and then in the millions, are won to take up, and act on, to make an urgently needed emancipating revolution a powerful reality:

    When conflicts among the different sections of the bourgeois (capitalist) ruling class become so deep and hostile that they are no longer able to rule in the “normal way” they have for generations, “that is a sign of extremely deep and acute cracks and fissures in the entire established order; and such a situation must be seized by the oppressed not to side with one section of the bourgeoisie against another... but instead to rise in revolutionary struggle to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie altogether.”8

    _______________

    NOTES, by Bob Avakian

    1. There is a certain similarity between some people who are drawn to supporting Trump and various figures who have endorsed and aided the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, out of a misguided belief that Kennedy represents some kind of positive opposition to “the establishment” (or the “established order”) when in fact Kennedy’s “opposition” is well within the framework of the existing system of capitalism-imperialism, and at the same time it is marked by anti-scientific lunacy, particularly but not only in opposition to safe, effective, and life-saving vaccines. There are, of course, differences between right-wing and “left-wing” populism. The right-wing variation generally is marked by hatred for intellectual elites, especially as these “intellectual elites” are seen to be giving undeserved benefits to “inferior people,” at the expense of “law abiding, hard-working, patriotic Americans.” The “left” variation of populism is likely to be characterized by opposition to corporate elites, or more generally to the super-rich (“the billionaire class”), with demands like a more “equitable” distribution of wealth under this system.

    Yet, it remains true that there is a significant area of overlap between right-wing and supposedly left-wing “populism.” Both include political forces and tendencies marked by a kind of irrational opposition to certain powerful figures and forces—whether the government (or parts of it) and “intellectual elites,” or big corporations and financial institutions—an opposition which lacks any scientifically-based understanding of the system in which all this is grounded, and an opposition marked by a big dose of “don’t tread on me” individualism, which rests on, and reeks of, the parasitism of American capitalist-imperialism (the fact that this country, as the dominant capitalist-imperialist power in the world, feasts off the exploitation and oppression of literally billions of people throughout the world, including the more than 150 million children who are super-exploited particularly in the Third World of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia). 

    In relation to all this, it is crucially important to understand that the problem is not this or that financial or government institution, or the Democratic or Republican Party “establishments,” as such, but the system of capitalism-imperialism itself, which all of these different institutions and centers of power are part of, even with their different particular interests and roles and different approaches to maintaining and enforcing this system.[ back]

    2. The article “Donald Trump Isn’t ‘Tough,’ He’s a Bloated Bag of Fascist Feces is available at revcom.us.[ back]

    3. If You’re Hoping ‘It Will Work Out All Right In the End,’ You Better Read This: Three Ways Fascism Has Just Moved Closer. This article is also available at revcom.us.[ back]

    4. Donald Trump—Genocidal Racist, available at revcom.us. [ back]

    5. Go to revcom.us for extensive writings from Bob Avakian on this U.S. proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, including: The War in Ukraine and the Interests of Humanity: A Scientific Revolutionary Approach vs. Harmful Confusion and Chauvinist Delusion; "Don't Worry About Nuclear War—If There Is One, Russia Will Lose!" The Dangerous Demagoguery of Timothy Snyder on Behalf of U.S. Imperialism and Its Proxy War in Ukraine;  Ukraine: World War 3 Is the Real Danger, Not a Repeat of World War 2.[ back]

    6. BAsics, 3:8 (BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, RCP Publications). [ back]

    7. This statement is cited in Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating. It was first put forward in From The Revcoms (Revcom.us): A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized Now For A Real Revolution, also available at revcom.us. Emphasis added.[ back]

    8. This is part of the important statement soon to be published at revcom.us, From The Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists), Revolution, Building Up The Basis To Go For The Whole Thing, With A Real Chance To Win: Strategic Orientation And Practical Approach[ back]

    A FINAL NOTE: On the Real Nature and Monstrous Crimes of This Country

    The American Crime series, at revcom.us, analyzes 100 of the worst crimes of this country, since its founding and down to today—a list that speaks not just to “isolated incidents” of wrongdoing but a whole pattern of atrocities, repeated over and over again, reflecting the essential nature of this country—a list that will continue to grow until a revolution overthrows and uproots the system of capitalism-imperialism that rules in this country and replaces it with a radically different and far better system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have written.

    Concentrating much of the monstrous crimes of this country and its ruling class, there is the fact that this Republic of the so-called “United States” of America is:

    A Republic whose “National Anthem” was written by a slave owner (Oh, oh say can you see... all the sla-a-ver-y...)!....

    A Republic founded on slavery and genocidal robbery: keeping millions of Black people in chains for generations... killing off huge numbers of Native Americans and stealing their land... waging a war that ripped off half of Mexico, greatly expanding slavery.... 

    A system that, from the start and down to today, has been grounded in heartless exploitation, using and abusing masses of people to create wealth for the few, with violent white supremacy, male supremacy and gender oppression built into and enforced by this system... plundering people in all parts of the world... destroying the environment, and waging unjust war after war, even to the point of threatening the very existence of humanity... killing off hope for a decent future, or any future at all.

    (This is part of an important statement from the revcoms, Allegiance, which is available at revcom.us.)

    The USA is a country in which a woman is assaulted/beaten every 9 seconds. It is a country where huge numbers of women are raped and otherwise sexually assaulted every year; a country where the right to abortion has been ripped away from women, with the assertion of male supremacist control over their bodies, and their very being, constituting, in a very real sense, a form of female enslavement. This is a country in which LGBT people are discriminated against, persecuted, bullied, vilified and abused, brutalized and outright murdered.

    This is a system in which more than 40 million women are ensnared and enslaved in international sex trafficking and the so called “sex industry”; a system where hundreds of millions of women are cruelly exploited as a key part of the “supply chains” of the world economy and the overall capitalist-imperialist system, in which the U.S. has for decades been the dominant power.

    And there is the massive unjust violence perpetrated by U.S. imperialism in the “international arena”:

    In addition to the continuing crimes against humanity carried out by the U.S., just since World War 2, including the U.S. slaughter of millions of civilians in Vietnam, and before that in Korea, and the bloody coups it has engineered in Indonesia, Iran and elsewhere, in the period from 1846 to the present the U.S. has intervened in South and Central American countries—militarily, through CIA coups, or in other ways—at least 100 times, at the cost of literally hundreds of thousands of deaths and endless misery for the people of those countries. 

    (This is from my article “Shameless American Chauvinism: ‘Anti-Authoritarianism’ as a ‘Cover’ for Supporting U.S. Imperialism,” which is also available at revcom.us.) 

    And there is the fact that the U.S. is (up till now, at least) the only country to actually use nuclear weapons, with its atomic bombing of two Japanese cities at the end of World War 2, instantly incinerating hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians and subjecting many others to slow agonizing deaths from the effects of radiation. And then, in more recent times, there has been the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, built on blatant lies—and now the proxy war in Ukraine, along with active preparation for war with China, with the growing danger of nuclear annihilation.

    All this under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

    As for the claim by Biden (and the section of the ruling class that he represents) that the U.S. is engaged in an historic struggle, within this country itself and throughout the world, of “democracy” vs. “anti-democratic authoritarianism,” in “Anti-Scientific ‘Anti-Authoritarianism’ Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism,” I provided the following list of some of the countries where, just since World War 2, the U.S. has been allied with—and in many cases has installed, through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—oppressive governments that are “authoritarian” (that would have to be considered “authoritarian,” according to the “logic” of the “theorists” of “authoritarianism”):  

    Chile... Brazil... Haiti... Cuba (before the 1959 revolution)... El Salvador... Nicaragua... Guatemala... Honduras... Panama... the Dominican Republic... Greece… Poland... Indonesia... the Philippines... South Korea... South Vietnam... China (before the victory of the revolution in 1949)... Iran... Iraq... Turkey... Israel.

    Again, this is only a partial list of the “authoritarian” governments backed—and often installed through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—by the U.S. imperialists, just since World War 2.

    Beneath the outward appearance of “respectability” (and even the aura of “solemn dignity”) that surrounds many of the “leaders” of this country, there is the reality of the truly perverse, demented mentality that someone is required to have—or is compelled to acquire—in order to serve as top functionaries of this system. Besides the facts and analysis I have already provided clearly illustrating this basic point, there is the following, serving as a reminder that, for not only murderous but truly ghoulish mentality, you can look not only at Donald Trump, or other fascist Republicans, but also at someone like Hillary Clinton. As pointed out in a recent article at revcom.us (an updated version of American Crime Case #35: The 2011 U.S.-NATO War on Libya) in 2011, as Secretary of State in the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton was among the strongest and loudest advocates of the U.S./NATO bombing of the North African country of Libya, which led to the ouster of the government headed by Muammar Qaddafi, and at the same time the deaths of thousands of Libyans. The end of Qaddafi’s rule also led to widespread chaos and civil conflict within Libya, which has continued in various forms down to today—and which has greatly magnified the death and devastation that has resulted from recent massive flooding in Libya.

    As that revcom.us article points out, when the forces opposed to Qadaffi—benefitting from the months of U.S./NATO bombing of Qaddafi’s forces—finally captured, tortured, and murdered Qaddafi himself, Clinton laughed on TV, saying, “We came, we saw, he died.” But those who captured and killed Qaddafi did not just torture him in some vague sense: They sodomized him, in an especially brutal way. It is with knowledge of this, that Clinton gleefully made the ghoulish declaration: “We came, we saw, he died.” 

    And then there is Barack Obama himself, whose election as “the first Black president” is supposed to be regarded as a great achievement and “proof” that this country is continuing to advance toward “a more perfect union.” The following provides some, but only some, of the truth about the actual role of Obama, as the chief executive of this truly monstrous capitalist-imperialist power, and more fundamentally the truth about the nature of this country and this system as a whole.

    In 2012, Barack Obama spoke these words while praising the U.S. military for its role in Vietnam:

    [O]ne of the most painful chapters in our history was Vietnam—most particularly, how we treated our troops who served there.... [Y]ou wrote one of the most extraordinary stories of bravery and integrity in the annals of military history.  
    (Barack Obama, May 28, 2012, part of the Vietnam War Commemoration)

    There was, and there is, nothing “heroic” about the U.S. military. On the contrary, it is—without the slightest exaggeration—a machinery of massive, and unspeakable, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and its actions in Vietnam constitute a systematic concentration of this, with a level of destructiveness and depravity that is almost unfathomable:

    the slaughter of millions of Vietnamese civilians, with incessant bombing and shelling, including of schools, hospitals, dams and other crucial infrastructure, and widespread use of napalm, white phosphorous, Agent Orange, and millions of anti-personnel weapons, burning to death and maiming huge numbers of children and others;

    ruining the livelihood of millions of Vietnamese—destroying large parts of the soil and livestock so essential for the people in rural Vietnam;

    torture of people held as prisoners—including large numbers of civilians—male, female, old and young, including the very young;

    mutilating the bodies and wearing as “trophies” body parts of Vietnamese killed; mass rape of Vietnamese women and girls.

    All this, and more, by the U.S. military and its “heroic” soldiers.

    Included in the “American Crime” series is the account of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, in which U.S. soldiers wantonly murdered over 500 civilians, almost all of them old people, non-combatant women and children. And it is a well-documented fact that this massacre was not some kind of exception, or aberration, but represented the essential approach and means of the American war machine in Vietnam, fueled ideologically by a perverse, poisonous combination of ignorant, irrational anti-communism, American chauvinism, and grotesque racism and misogyny which regarded and treated the Vietnamese people as subhuman “gooks” and “slopes,” and females the lowest of all.

    This is the actual history of the U.S. role in Vietnam, which in the twisted minds of the heads of state of U.S. imperialism, such as Barack Obama, is considered, and praised, as “one of the most extraordinary stories of bravery and integrity in the annals of military history.”

    This not only reveals the thoroughly corrupt mentality of Obama—and anyone who would preside over this truly monstrous system—but it is also the case that Obama is here willfully, and viciously, rewriting history: He turns upside down the actual role of these “troops” in Vietnam. He complains that the “troops” who carried out these atrocities in Vietnam were not “thanked” for their “service” of horrific war crimes, but instead these war crimes were, rightly and righteously, condemned by masses of people in this country.

    And Obama fails (or refuses) to mention the fact that many of these troops (and former troops) came to openly rebel against what they were ordered to do in Vietnam and became an important part of the massive opposition to the U.S. role in that war. In opposition to what Obama perversely hails as heroic, that rebellion of U.S. troops against the government and the system that was encouraging and commanding them to carry out almost unbelievably horrific atrocities—that kind of rebellion is truly something to honor and encourage.

  • ARTICLE:

    CAPITALISTS, ANTI-COMMUNISTS:

    BLATANT HYPOCRISY,

    GLARING CONTRADICTION

    The representatives of the system that rules in this country are, and always have been, full of blatant hypocrisy and glaring contradiction. And so are others who slander—or simply refuse to seriously engage—communism, and in particular the new communism.

    Just a few striking examples:

    * The “founding fathers” of this country (and, yes they were “fathers”—men) proclaimed, in their Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal.” Yet many of these founding fathers—including the author of that Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson—were slave-owners. And four of the first five presidents of this “United States of America” were slave-owners.

    * These “founding fathers” led a War of Independence, declaring their determination to break free of the tyranny of the English monarchy, and they adopted as a fundamental principle their opposition to monarchies. Yet their political descendants today continually slobber over the British Royal Family, and all its ridiculous, pompous ceremony. This is a seemingly trivial but actually telling illustration of the fact that this system of capitalism-imperialism is profoundly outmoded—long past its expiration date, long past the time when it could be a positive force in the world.

    * Powerful political functionaries of this system, such as Joe Biden, repeatedly declare that this country has, since its founding, been a shining beacon of freedom for the world, and that today it is engaged in a world historic struggle of democracy vs. “autocracy.” Yet this country murderously oppresses people at home and has repeatedly installed and continues to support murderously oppressive regimes all over the world. In the words of the former slave and determined abolitionist Frederick Douglass, “for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival”—words which were spoken in 1852 but powerfully express the truth about this country, right down to today. This is another illustration of the fact that the guiding principle of Biden, and the rest, is not devotion to “democracy” but whatever they think advances the interests of U.S. capitalist imperialism, with all its horrific oppression and terrible destruction, of the environment and of people throughout the world.

    * In the dominant media serving this system, communists are continually slandered as worshipping a LEADER as an essentially religious icon. Yet these same media praise, in the most solemn terms, the Catholic Pope—who, according to official Catholic doctrine, is declared infallible (always right, not even capable of being wrong) in matters of faith and morals. Imagine if we declared that leaders of the communist movement are, as a result of the position they occupy, infallible in matters of politics and ideology!

    * We revolutionary communists, who actually base ourselves on a scientific method and approach to understanding and transforming reality—the new communism—are all too commonly dismissed as a “cult,” with myself as the “cult leader.” Yet, along with this ridiculous slander, there is the fact that the rulers of this country, and others who uphold the same basic positions, would never condemn Christianity as a cult, when it could legitimately be considered as such. Christianity’s exalted leader, Jesus, demanded the devotion of his followers in terms that we revolutionary communists would never apply:

    Whoever loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. (From the Bible, Matthew 10: 37-39)

    * Recently I wrote an article speaking to the reason why it would not do any good, but instead real harm, to debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr and his anti-scientific lunacy about vaccines (and other subjects); and why, on the other hand it is important to seriously engage many unconventional ideas and theories, including the new communism (“Robert F. Kennedy Jr... Quackery and Conspiracy... Unconventional Ideas and a Scientific Approach—To Debate or Not to Debate, That Is a Question of Principle and Method”). Yet the problem remains that far too many who claim to believe in the importance of airing and debating opposing viewpoints about important questions, especially when it is possible to do so in a rational framework, violate their own proclaimed principles and adopt shoddy methods in refusing to seriously engage the new communism, and instead stubbornly cling to the position that was crudely expressed in this response by an academic to my article: “RFK may be a quack, but so is anyone who calls himself a communist”a statement which ironically provides a striking example of exactly the smug, unthinking dismissal of communism that is all too common, among academics and others.

    Blatant hypocrisy, glaring contradiction.

    As I wrote in that article:

    Perhaps, along with the influence of the widely propagated disinformation about communism, one of the reasons why some people refuse engagement on this subject is because they know that they don’t actually have any substantial knowledge about communism and they lack a sound basis for their negative judgment about it. And some seem to have at least an inchoate sense (and fear) that such engagement will force them to give up what seem to be comforting prejudices—that serious engagement about communism will demonstrate precisely that the widely held, “everybody knows” judgment that communism has been a horror will be shown to be a vicious slander fundamentally out of keeping with reality; and that the new communism, in its indictment of this system of capitalism-imperialism and its vision, both sweeping and concrete, for a radically different and better world, represents something profoundly positive, something truly emancipating, that needs to be actively and urgently taken up and applied in the world.

    For many people, this requires facing seemingly inconvenient but actually liberating truths—and “moving out of one’s comfort zone.” Does it have to be said that this is not a legitimate reason or justification for a failure, or refusal, to seriously engage the new communism? Falling back on “flat earth” negative verdicts about communism, without serious engagement, particularly of the new communism, will not make such verdicts valid. It will not eliminate, but will contribute to perpetuating, the great harm done by such invalid verdicts. It will not erase the reality that, on the one hand, under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism—with its enforcement of horrific relations of exploitation and oppression, its accelerating destruction of the environment and its heightening danger of nuclear war—humanity is being dragged toward real disaster; and, on the other hand, that the new communism represents the only way out of this madness, toward a world and a future worthy of human beings and giving expression to humanity’s highest aspirations.*

     

    * This article (“Robert F. Kennedy Jr... Quackery and Conspiracy... Unconventional Ideas and a Scientific Approach—To Debate or Not to Debate, That Is a Question of Principle and Method”) is available at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR
    AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS

    Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.

    Recently, a report on carrying out revolutionary work in Harlem referred to the fact that some people there were coming out with a lot of “Anti-LGBTQ bullshit”—like “god gave men a penis and women a vagina, so that’s how it should be.”

    It is heartbreaking, and infuriating, to hear this “Anti-LGBTQ bullshit” from people, like those in Harlem quoted above, who have been so terribly oppressed under this system and should be uniting with others who have also been discriminated against, brutalized and terrorized, and whose very right to exist is being viciously attacked.

    This emphasizes the fact that, while upholding people’s right to religion—and uniting with religious people who take positive stands in the fight against oppression—it is crucially important to consistently and resolutely struggle for a scientific, not a religious, method and approach to reality, and wage a fierce, relentless fight against anti-scientific poison spread among the masses of people in the name of religion.

    To speak directly to this garbage that “god gave men a penis and women a vagina, so that’s how it should be,” it has to be said that, if some “god” had designed the human body, then that god would be a terrible designer. To give a sharp example: Why is the human body constructed in such a way that people can choke while eating food? If a “god” actually existed, that god could have “designed” the human body so that choking could not happen; and if a god had “designed” the human body the way it is, with this possibility of choking, that god would be a sick and twisted sadist.

    The fact is this: Human beings are not the product of “design,” or “creation,” by some god—they are the result of natural evolutionThe book by Ardea Skybreak The Science Of Evolution And The Myth Of Creationism—Knowing What’s Real And Why It Matters provides a substantial and lively explanation of the theory of evolution and refutation of the anti-scientific claims of Biblical “creationism.” Everyone who wants to get a real understanding of crucial things about reality, and the scientific method for understanding reality, would greatly benefit from reading this book.14

    Human society and its development is also not the result of some “design”—or the expression of the “will”—of some god. It is the result of human beings’ interaction with each other, and with the rest of nature, to meet their basic requirements of life and provide for future generations. Change in human society comes about through the actions of human beings—and major changes, in the whole way society is organized, come about through revolutions which overthrow the old order, and bring into being a new way of organizing society. (In a number of works, including Breakthroughs, I have explained, in basic terms, the dynamics that are involved in the development and revolutionary transformation of human society.15) And here it has to be said that the “terrible designs” of the supposed god of Christianity are not limited to the human body: they involve a whole long list of very real horrors that this “god” of the Christian scriptures advocates and insists upon. As I point out in the book AWAY WITH ALL GODS! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, the Bible, in both the old and new testaments—and the “Judeo-Christian” tradition overall—advocates and insists upon all kinds of horrors, including slavery, and violent oppression of women and gay people. (The advocacy of cruel and violent oppression is also found in the Qur’an of Islam.16)

    A Scientific, Revolutionary Approach

    Throughout human history, with the many different ways that society has been organized, there have been different expressions of human sexuality, both heterosexual (involving people of the opposite sex) and same sex. The question, with regard to all this, is what is the character of the relations involved: are they an expression of equality and genuine affection, involving mutual pleasure on that basis, or do they involve inequality, domination and oppression, reflecting and contributing to degrading relations in society overall?

    Worshiping some supposed (but actually non-existent) god, and following the scriptures of one religion or another, will never lead to ending all the madness people are put through in this world. To do that requires taking up a scientific method and approach—the scientific method and approach of communism, as this has been further developed with the new communism that has resulted from years and decades of work I have carried out, learning from the previous experience of communist revolution, and human experience more broadly. This brings to light that the development of human society has arrived at a place where, through communist revolution, it is possible to bring into being new, emancipating relations among human beings, all over the world—a new way of organizing society that will make it possible to meet the essential requirements of a decent life for human beings, on a continually expanding basis, without any discrimination, inequality, oppression or exploitation, including in the intimate relations among human beings.

    To everyone who hates the way people are treated under this system of capitalism-imperialism... everyone who really wants to see an end to the madness that people here and all over the world are subjected to, and the growing threat to the very existence of humanity, through the destruction of the environment and the danger of nuclear war between the U.S. imperialists and their imperialist rivals in Russia and China... everyone who wants to be part of bringing into being a way of living, and a future, worthy of human beings—YOU need to become part of, and to work actively to help build, the organized forces for this urgently needed revolution.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The Science Of Evolution And The Myth Of Creationism—Knowing What’s Real And Why It Matters is available through Insight Press, Chicago, Illinois. [back]

    2. Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary is available at revcom.us. [back]

    3. A summary of the horrific oppression advocated and insisted upon in new and old testaments of the Bible is found in the section “The Bible, Taken Literally, Is a Horror,” in “Part One: Where Did God Come From... And Who Says We Need God?” in AWAY WITH ALL GODS! Unchaining The Mind And Radically Changing The World (published by Insight Press, Chicago, 2008). And Part Two of this book, “Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—Rooted In The Past, Standing In the Way of the Future,” as well as Part Three, “Religion—a Heavy, Heavy Chain” show how horrific oppression is upheld and advocated not only in the scriptures of the “Judeo-Christian” tradition but also in the Qur’an of Islam. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    VIDEO:

    Bob Avakian on the Poisonous Notion of “The Ends Justify the Means”

  • ARTICLE:

    SUPREME COURT:
    CHRISTIAN FASCISTS
    STEALING IN THE NAME OF THE LORD

    Some time ago, there was an R&B song “Stealing in the Name of the Lord.”  And that is exactly what, in this time, the Christian Fascist majority on the Supreme Court is doing: using religion as a weapon to rob people of basic rights.

    In its last session, this Supreme Court rendered a number of outrageous decisions, including the reversal of affirmative action in education, signaling a determination to roll back any concession to the struggle against the whole history of horrific oppression, and the continuing systematic discrimination, against Black people in particular.   Here I want to call attention to the Supreme Court decision upholding the “right” of a web designer to carry out anti-LGBT discrimination—and more specifically the “logic” of this decision.

    As sharply exposed in a recent article at revcom.us (Supreme Court Upholds Anti-LGBT Discrimination as “Free Speech”: An Assault on the Humanity of LGBT People, a New Link in a Chain of Christian Fascist Theocracy), this Supreme Court ruling upheld this “right” to discriminate by agreeing with the web designer who appealed to the Supreme Court supposedly on the basis that her right to free speech was violated because a state law prohibited her from discriminating against LGBT people.  What is really at issue is that this web designer is a Christian fundamentalist who regards things like gay marriage as a “sin,” an “abomination” and therefore performing a service for such a marriage is against her religion.  That is the “free speech” of this web designer that was supposedly being violated. 

    Not only is this Supreme Court decision horrific in itself, but think about its larger implications: If, according to the Supreme Court, it is “legal” to discriminate on the basis of “religious freedom”—or the right of “free speech” to express “religious opinions” makes it legal to discriminate against whole groups of people—this could apply to a whole range of people against whom it is now “okay” to discriminate.  Once again, as for generations before the civil rights movement, owners of public places (such as hotels, restaurants, stores, swimming pools, and so on) and people selling or renting their homes could “legally” refuse to serve or sell or rent to Black people—if this refusal were done in the name of their religion (or the “right” of “free speech” to express their religion by refusing to serve people)!  Clerks in the relevant government offices could refuse to issue marriage licenses to inter-racial couples.  And so on.

    The same kind of “logic” would apply to discrimination against women, since the Bible and the “Judeo-Christian” scriptures generally, as well as those of Islam, are themselves blatantly patriarchal, placing women in a clearly unequal and oppressed position.  And, let us not forget, it is this same Supreme Court which, just over a year ago, ripped away the right to abortion.

    The terrible implications of this are far-reaching.  All done in the service of fundamentalist religion:  Christian Fascism.

    We need a radically different and much better Constitution, for a radically different and much better system.  And we have it:  the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. This Constitution will guarantee religious freedom, but NOT the “right” to oppress people in the name of religion.  Here is what it says:

    The right to religious belief and religious practice shall not be denied or abridged, except in the case of violation of the law and through due process of law.  At the same time, religion and religious practice may not be used to carry out exploitation and to accumulate private capital, in violation of the law, or to engage in violation of the law in some other way; nor may religious persons, groups, or institutions be granted rights or privileges which do not apply to people in this Republic in general.*

    Here, in this radically new Constitution, the  right to religion is clearly upheld, but not the use of religion to exploit others, in violation of the law—and not some special “religious rights or privileges” to violate this new socialist Constitution’s clear and firm stand against discrimination and oppression based on nationality and race, sex and gender.

    It is time, and long past time, to be rid of this capitalist-imperialist system, which has produced this Supreme Court; time to move beyond the U.S. Constitution, which has been interpreted throughout the ugly history of this country, and is being interpreted today, to cast whole sections of people into “second class” statusIt is time for a revolution, to overthrow this oppressive system and replace it with a radically different and far better, emancipating system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    *******

    * This passage on religion in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is found in Article III, Section 2, part 3F.  The way in which this Constitution presents a sweeping vision and specific measures to abolish and uproot discrimination and oppression based on nationality and race, sex and gender, is found in the Preamble of this Constitution and addressed further in a number of Articles in this Constitution, in particular Article II and Article III, Sections 3 and 4. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    AMERICA: Truly a Model —
    of DEPRAVED RACIST GENOCIDE

    How can any decent person deny that we need a revolution to overthrow this system?!

    This is an excerpt from a talk given by Bob Avakian last year to a gathering of revcoms, which he has edited for publication.

    There is a very sharp conflict now within this country over whether the history of slavery can even be talked about in any real way, with white supremacist fascists attacking and attempting to prevent any serious discussion of this, and especially its actual horrors, with public education a particular focus of this conflict. Sometimes these people will actually say that slavery was not that bad!—or they will insist: “Oh, slavery, that was a long time ago. I had nothing to do with that. That’s long gone. That’s all over. That has nothing to do with what’s going on now. Quit complaining about things that have long been done and over with.” But when you’re talking about this country, as horrific as slavery actually was, it is not a matter of slavery as just some ancient history.

    In 2003, I began the speech Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About talking about the “postcards of the hanging,” referring to an opening line in a song by Bob Dylan. Think about the real history of this country. Think about what was going on for nearly 100 years, after the end of the Civil War and the very brief period of Reconstruction, when there was an attempt to actually allow Black people to win some rights—which was then completely overturned and reversed with the birth of the Ku Klux Klan and systematic terror in the South, which the entire ruling class of the country went along with, and institutionalized, as part of a “compromise” that they made in the 1870s. Think about what this means: For nearly 100 years, not only were thousands of Black people lynched, but at many of these lynchings there were mass gatherings of white people, in a picnic and celebratory atmosphere. And then, when the bodies were hung and often burned, many of these white people would go and cut off body parts of the person who’d been lynched as souvenirs, in a carnival atmosphere.

    Is this what Biden means when he says America has been an inspiration to the world? (He recently said that America has been an inspiration to the world for over 200 years—which includes the time of slavery, with all its very real horrors, as well as Jim Crow segregation, Ku Klux Klan terror and the thousands of lynchings to which I have referred here.)

    And that's not all. Photographs were taken and postcards were made and sold all over the country—postcards of the lynchings. Think about what that says.

    In terms of depravity, you can’t find anything Hitler and the Nazis did that was worse than this. You had the Nazi Dr. Mengele who went to the concentration camps and performed grotesque experiments on the bodies of the Jews who were imprisoned there. And that’s horrible. That’s part of one of the worst atrocities in the history of humanity, the whole Holocaust (the systematic slaughter of millions of Jews by the Nazis). But, again in terms of depravity, even after slavery, what was going on for nearly 100 years in this country is no less horrific—it belongs in the same category with the Nazi atrocities—while all the time we are being told that “this is the greatest country in the world, this is the leader of the free world, this is an inspiration to people all over the world.”

    And the treatment of Black people in particular in the United States, as well as the whole eugenics thing that arose in this country—where you had the idea put forward that people who were declared “inferior” in one way or another, including disabled people, should not be allowed to reproduce, because it dragged down the human population—that eugenics and that genocidal racism in the United States was a model for what the Nazis did, particularly with the Jews. Just think about that, while we’re being told what a great inspiration this country has been… apparently it was a great inspiration to the Nazis.

    And that’s still not all. Even with the ending of the Jim Crow system of segregation and systematic discrimination that was centered in the South but actually existed throughout this country for nearly 100 years—even with the ending of that overt legal segregation and discrimination, with all its terror—there is the continuing horrific oppression of Black people, as well as other people of color.

    Today, instead of the Ku Klux Klan in their white robes and hoods, it’s the police in blue (although some of them may still be in the Ku Klux Klan) who carry out the murder of Black people over and over again, as well as Latinos and Native Americans. It is a fact that since 1960 more Black people have been murdered by police than the thousands who were lynched in the time after the Civil War up until 1960. And this, along with mass incarceration, particularly of Black people and Latinos as well, is a concentration of their overall oppression.

    Finally, beginning in the 1960s there has been society-wide opposition to all this racist atrocity—opposition in which masses of Black people were joined by large numbers of white people, and others, especially youth. But, despite such massive opposition—which has repeatedly been demonstrated, once again in a huge way in 2020—the racist oppression and terror, yes of genocidal dimensions, goes on and on. Why? Because it is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism, which rules in this country and dominates in the world as a whole.

    This is the reality of a country and a system that we’re told to celebrate as a great inspiration. And it is only part of the horrors of this system—as much as it is, in a real sense, a concentration of those horrors.

    How can any decent person deny that we need a revolution to overthrow this system?!

    *********

    For an even more extensive presentation of Bob Avakian’s powerful exposure of this system, the bankruptcy of attempts to reform it, and the urgent need to overthrow it through a real revolution, as well as an “up close and personal” discussion of his development and role as a revolutionary leader, go to the Bob Avakian Interviews on the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show.

     

  • ARTICLE:

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show Podcast!!

    A PODCAST for a time when revolution has become more possible...

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show podcast begins on Monday, September 11, 2023. Look for it wherever you stream your podcasts. Listen, and spread the word.

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show podcast

     

    A podcast for a time when revolution has become more possible...   

    Every week The RNL Show exposes and digs deep into the roots of the problems that the people here and around the world face and it brings to life the solution through a real revolution to emancipate humanity.

    The RNL Show brings people the revolutionary leadership of Bob Avakian and the understanding of why revolution is necessary, possible and what the goals of the revolution are.

    The RNL Show is a show to rear a new generation and a movement for revolution at a moment when the future of humanity is at stake.

  • ARTICLE:

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, 
    September 29, 2023, Episode 167

    The Future's at Stake: The Framework, Leadership & Struggle For a Whole New Emancipating Way to Live

  • ARTICLE:

    SCIENTIFIC COMMUNIST THEORY

    AND THE PROBLEM WITH “MASS LINE”

    Mao’s Contributions to Communist Theory and Human Emancipation Are Truly Profound—
    But the “Mass Line” Is Wrong

    The Chinese revolution, and in particular the revolutionary upsurge of the Cultural Revolution in China (a revolution within socialist society itself!) and the role of Mao Zedong as the leader of that Cultural Revolution, in the 1960s and into the early 1970s, had a major positive impact on masses of people around the world. This included large numbers of oppressed people and educated youth in the U.S. The Red Book of quotations from Mao was in the hands of literally millions of people in countries all over the world, including in the U.S., as well as providing basic revolutionary orientation for the masses of people in China itself.

    (I am speaking of the actual role of Mao and the essential emancipating character of the Cultural Revolution in China, not the crude distortions of this by people speaking out of gross ignorance and those anti-communist political functionaries engaging in deliberate and systematic distortion. A serious, scientific analysis of the necessity, the objectives, and the course of the Cultural Revolution in China—including the contradictions it was seeking to address and the contradictions characterizing the process of this Cultural Revolution—can be found in works of mine, and others, at revcom.us.)

    Mao’s further development of communist theory was expressed in a number of dimensions, most of all in the understanding of the danger and basis for revolution to be reversed and capitalism restored in a socialist country—and the means for combating this, which was given concrete expression in the Cultural Revolution.

    One significant aspect of Mao’s thought (and a chapter in the Red Book) was what Mao referred to as the “mass line.” This was taken up as a significant tool by those of us who, in those times, became not just revolutionary-minded in some general sense but revolutionary communists inspired and influenced above all by the Cultural Revolution in China. Yet, as has become clear in the decades since then, this concept of “mass line” is not correct and actually runs counter to Mao’s overall adherence to, and further development of, communist theory.

    As I have learned in a continually deepening way, communist theory must be taken up and applied as a scientific method and approach to understanding and transforming reality. It must continually develop as the larger world continues to develop and change—and this must involve the ongoing interrogation of communist theory itself, in light of the accumulation of experience and knowledge, not just in the realm of revolutionary practice but in the broader dimensions of human endeavor, including the natural as well as the social sciences, the realm of art and culture, and so on. As part of this process—beginning after the defeat of the Cultural Revolution and the ending of the revolution overall in China, and the restoration of capitalism there after the death of Mao in 1976—I have been engaged in and leading a process of subjecting communist theory to critical scientific interrogation, including my own previous understanding of this theory in its development beginning with Marx (and Engels) and carried forward by Lenin and then Mao. The result has been the development of a new synthesis of communism—popularly referred to as the new communism—which is a continuation of, but also represents a qualitative leap beyond, and in some important ways a break with, communist theory as it had been previously developed. This has involved criticism and ultimately rejection of the “mass line” as a basic method and a means for carrying forward the communist revolution.

    What Is Wrong with the “Mass Line”

    In examining here how the “mass line” does not represent a correct, scientific method and approach to revolutionary strategy and policy, I am going to focus on the concentrated representation of Mao’s thinking about “mass line” in the Red Book of quotations from Mao.

    In the chapter on the “mass line” in the Red Book, there are points of orientation that are definitely correct and important—for example, arguments against standing aloof from and having contempt for the masses of people, and criticism of attempting to carry out lines and policies without involving the masses. But the basic method of the “mass line” is contained in the following from Mao:

    In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily "from the masses, to the masses." This means: take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action. Then once again concentrate ideas from the masses and once again go to the masses so that the ideas are persevered in and carried through. And so on, over and over again in an endless spiral, with the ideas becoming more correct, more vital and richer each time. Such is the Marxist theory of knowledge.

    But, in fact, this is not the Marxist theory of knowledge. This theory of knowledge—as it was developed in the first place by Marx (working together with Engels), and has been further developed since—has drawn from a much wider range of experience and knowledge than “the ideas of the masses.” (And, in different works of Mao, addressing questions other than the “mass line,” he puts forward a more correct presentation of the actual communist theory of knowledge.) And, as I wrote in Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary (which is also available at revcom.us and as an e-book): The application of the “mass line” was not actually how Mao proceeded in a basic sense in developing lines, policies, and strategies in carrying forward the revolutionary struggle. That was mainly done by Mao on a scientific basis, and not by drawing from and then concentrating the ideas of the masses and returning that to them. It was done by Mao by analyzing the contradictions that had to be confronted and transformed—to quote Breakthroughs, it was done by “determining which contradictions were essential to concentrate on at a given time.”

    (In a Note below, I have listed some of the major decisions by Mao regarding strategy and policy, during the course of the Chinese revolution—before and after the seizure of nationwide power in 1949—that were arrived at not through the application of the “mass line,” but on the basis of the method and approach that I have summarized in Breakthroughs, as cited here. And I have spoken not only to correct lines and policies that Mao led in adopting and applying, but also some secondary but significant erroneous lines and policies.)

    To emphasize once more this important point, the “mass line”—“take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action”—is not the means for arriving at a correct line (strategy, policy, etc.). This, again, is because taking the ideas of the masses as the starting point of lines and policies—and even a process of “concentrating” the ideas of the masses (“through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas”)—is too narrow a source of knowledge and too limited a process for arriving at a correct understanding of what needs to be done to advance the revolution and overcome the obstacles to that advance.

    Here, I have to say that for some time I myself tried to render “more profound” what Mao says about the “mass line” by reinterpreting this to mean something like applying the scientific method of communism in a broad sense to concentrate what is correct in the ideas of the masses... there was just no help for it. No matter how you twist and turn it, the fact remains that the ideas of the masses—and even the most “advanced” ideas of the masses—are just too narrow a source, and “concentrating the ideas of the masses” too limited a process, for arriving at correct line and policy.

    Tailing, Instead of Struggling Against, Backward Ideas Among the Masses

    The following statement by Mao concentrates the essential problem with the “mass line:”

    Twenty-four years of experience tell us that the right task, policy and style of work invariably conform with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably strengthen our ties with the masses, and the wrong task, policy and style of work invariably disagree with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably alienate us from the masses.

    This statement—and this does get to the heart of the matter—is wrong, in terms of the theory of knowledge it puts forward and specifically in its basic assertion that “the demands of the masses at a given time and place” are the standard and criterion for whether lines and policies are correct (or not). It is one thing, it is important, to be aware and mindful of the sentiments of the masses (including the fact that those sentiments will not be “uniform” and static: different people among “the masses” will have different sentiments, and the sentiments of masses may significantly change with changing conditions). It is another thing—it is not a correct approach—to make the sentiments (or “demands”) of the masses the basis for communist policy at any given time.

    The reality is that, under this capitalist-imperialist system (or any system of exploitation and oppression), the sentiments and demands of masses are to a very large extent shaped by the operation of this system—its economic system of exploitation, its social relations of oppression, and the political institutions and dominant culture that constantly and massively rationalize and reinforce this exploitation and oppression. (Even in socialist society, it will be the case that among the masses there will be ideas which still reflect, to varying degrees, the influence of exploitative and oppressive relations, which it is not possible to entirely eliminate within socialist society, and which will continue to characterize much of the world during what will be a protracted process of advancing to communism throughout the world.)

    It is not hard to see how “taking the ideas of the masses” as the starting point for communist strategy, policy, etc.—and operating according to the standard that “the right task, policy and style of work invariably conform with the demands of the masses at a given time and place”—can easily lead to tailing very wrong ideas and “demands” that masses of people may have at any given time. More than a few communists have fallen precisely into this kind of tailing by applying the “mass line.” In opposition to that, one reason why it is important to be aware and mindful of the sentiments of the masses is that this is necessary in order to effectively struggle against sentiments and demands of (at least many of) the masses, in different situations—rather than simply seeking to “concentrate” the ideas of the masses at any given point. And here it is important to emphasize that it is possible to determine, and act in accordance with, what are the real objective interests of the masses of people—in particular situations and overall in fundamental terms—not by tailing the masses, but by making a scientific analysis, and applying that scientific analysis.

    Resolving a Critical Contradiction—Between the Erroneous Concept of “Mass Line” and the Actual Basis for Advancing Communist Revolution

    It is fortunate that applying the “mass line” is not how Mao actually developed the decisive lines—strategy, policy, etc.—in leading the Chinese revolution to victory in 1949 and then carrying forward the revolution, in the conditions of the new socialist society, reaching its highest peak in the Cultural Revolution, before this was reversed after Mao’s death in 1976. As emphasized above, in citing Breakthroughs, this was done by Mao by analyzing the contradictions that had to be confronted and transformed—by “determining which contradictions were essential to concentrate on at a given time.”

    Yet, there is a critical contradiction here, between the actual method and approach Mao applied in developing line and policy, and what he puts forward in the “mass line” as the basis for doing this. This contradiction needs to be resolved—and can only be positively resolved—by adopting and systematically applying a scientific method and approach to understanding and transforming reality, in the development and application of a communist line (including strategy and policy at any given time), in opposition to the incorrect method and approach of “mass line.”

    And this transformation of reality will include, as a very significant aspect, waging ideological struggle to transform wrong ways of thinking among masses of people, winning them to a revolutionary outlook and objectives, based on the scientific approach to reality which, in the main, has characterized communism from its beginning, and which has been further developed, in a more consistently scientific way, with the new communism.

    *****

    An Important Note

    As alluded to above, the following are (some of the) major decisions—correct and important decisions—regarding strategy, policy, etc., that were adopted by Mao, in the course of the Chinese revolution, not through the application of the “mass line,” but by analyzing the contradictions that had to be confronted and transformed—by “determining which contradictions were essential to concentrate on at a given time.”

    * Initiating the revolutionary armed struggle in the late 1920s against the ruling forces concentrated in the Kuomintang government, headed by Chiang Kai-shek (and backed by the major “western” imperialists).

    * In the mid-1930s, in the context of the invasion and occupation of China by Japanese imperialism, the shift from fighting against the Kuomintang to the United Front with the Kuomintang against Japan.

    * The decision to negotiate with the Kuomintang at the end of WW 2, in 1945... and the resumption of people’s war—now directed against the Kuomintang—after the breakdown of those negotiations.

    * The decision to enter the Korean War in 1950, after the invading imperialist forces, led by the U.S., were occupying parts of North Korea and advancing toward the Chinese border with North Korea (and the commander of those imperialist forces, MacArthur, was threatening to directly attack China).

    * The initiation and the course of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and early 1970s.

    Once again, none of these—and other major decisions, involving the adoption (and changing) of strategy and policies—were based on the mass line, but on an analysis, and ranking, of contradictions.

    At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that, although in the main and overwhelmingly through the course of the Chinese revolution—both before and after the achievement of nationwide victory in 1949—the lines and policies adopted with Mao’s leadership were correct and led to crucial advances for the revolution, a sharp example where that was not the case is the policy adopted by China in the early 1970s which could be characterized as an “opening to the West.” This involved not simply the establishment of relations with the U.S., in order to make use of contradictions between the U.S. and its main rival at that time, the Soviet Union. In reality the Chinese approach to international relations and developments, in this period, flowed from an incorrect analysis that the Soviet Union was then the main enemy of the people of the world. There was a definite tendency to evaluate and approach things internationally in terms of how they contributed, or not, to opposing the Soviet Union’s goals and moves in the international arena. (Since the 1950s, the Soviet Union had no longer been a socialist country but had become a capitalist-imperialist power, even as it continued, for some time, to present itself as socialist. Mao and the Chinese Communist Party he led very correctly and importantly analyzed that the Soviet Union had become “social imperialist”—socialist in name but imperialist in fact—but it was not correct, and did real damage, to single out the Soviet Union as the main enemy of the people of the world, and to act—and encourage others to act—in line with this ill-founded analysis.)

    One of the most harmful dimensions of this was the support given by China to terribly oppressive governments in the Third World, such as the regime of torture headed by the Shah of Iran and the Marcos regime in the Philippines (a country where, ironically, Maoist revolutionaries were then waging an armed struggle against that very regime).

    These serious errors were a reflection and expression both of real necessity—not least the actual threat of a major attack on China by the Soviet Union—but also of nationalist tendencies on Mao’s part (tendencies to evaluate things principally in terms of their effect on China) which were posed, secondarily but significantly, against Mao’s overall communist/internationalist orientation.

    In my Memoir (From Ike to Mao and Beyond), I recount a situation where, in the course of a visit to China in 1974, I (together with another person who was part of that visit) raised criticism and waged struggle with representatives of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party over these very wrong and harmful policies. And, beginning with Conquer the World and Advancing the World Revolutionary Movement: Questions of Strategic Orientation in the 1980s, I have made a critical analysis of this wrong policy. (Conquer The World? The International Proletariat Must and Will and Advancing the World Revolutionary Movement: Questions of Strategic Orientation are both available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works.)

    At the same time, this necessary, scientifically-based criticism has been made in the context of the equally scientifically-based analysis that even while this very wrong policy was being carried out and did real harm, in the first part of the 1970s, Mao and those following his leadership in the Chinese Communist Party did continue to support various revolutionary struggles in different parts of the world during that time, while also giving leadership to the Cultural Revolution within China itself—which, as I have spoken to here, was not only an unprecedented revolutionary movement of masses of people in China itself but was a profound inspiration to literally hundreds of millions of oppressed and revolutionary-minded people throughout the world.

    Once more, despite these significant errors, in the main and overwhelmingly, through the course of the Chinese revolution—both before and after the achievement of nationwide victory in 1949—the lines and policies adopted with Mao’s leadership were correct and led to crucial advances for the revolution in China while making crucial contributions to this revolution in the world as a whole. As emphasized at the beginning, as an overall assessment it is true that Mao’s contributions to communist theory and human emancipation are truly profound.

  • ARTICLE:

    ANTI-SCIENTIFIC “ANTI-AUTHORITARIANISM”

    Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism

    In a previous article I examined how the misleading concept of “authoritarianism,” like the closely related “theory” of “totalitarianism,” is an anti-scientific “theory” which serves American imperialist interests and promotes American chauvinism (the sickening belief in the superiority of Americans and “the American way of life”).* As analyzed in that previous article, this “theory” of “authoritarianism” has been wielded on behalf of U.S. imperialism in its contention with its imperialist rival China, and in the service of U.S. rivalry with Russian imperialism as focused now in the war in Ukraine. Here, I am going to speak further to the actual meaning and purpose of the “theory” of “authoritarianism.”

    First, there is the fact that the concept of “authoritarianism,” in itself

    has no particular ideological, political or social content, and in fact serves to cover over or obscure actual social, political and ideological content.... speaking of “authoritarianism,” without reference to the actual ideology and political and social content of the “authoritarians,” allows for the pretense that “extremists” of the “right” and the “left” are essentially the same.*

    The “theory” of “authoritarianism” divorces the exercise of political power from the fundamental nature of the society in question, and in particular the foundation of that society in its economic system (the mode of production) and the corresponding social relations (for example, racial, sex and gender relations). With this wrong-headed approach, ignoring (or covering over) the fundamental nature of the society, it is impossible to come to any real understanding of how that society actually operates, how and by whom it is ruled, why that is the way things are, and what could be done to change this in a positive way.

    “Authoritarianism” and Bourgeois (Capitalist) Dictatorship

    What the “theoreticians” of “authoritarianism” mean by this term is that there is a small group (or sometimes they imply that it is just one person, for example Putin in Russia) that dictates to everybody else in society. But to the degree that the concept of “authoritarianism” could be understood to have any real meaning, it is essentially this: a restricted group of representatives of the ruling class exercises state power while excluding other representatives of this ruling class from effective participation in the exercise of that state power.

    The word “state” here (in the formulation “state power”) does not refer to the kind of geographical and political units that exist in the United States (such as the states of California, New York, Texas and Florida). It refers to the key institutions of government that represent the concentrated power of the ruling class, and in particular its monopoly of “legitimate” armed force and violence. “Legitimate” armed force and violence means armed force and violence that is exercised by official institutions, like the police and the military—institutions to which the Constitution and the laws give the right to utilize armed force and commit violent acts in the interests of the existing system and as authorized and ordered by the political representatives of this system, such as the president (or other officials, at various levels of government, with the ability to legally authorize the use of violence). In this country, where the existing and dominating system is capitalism-imperialism, the political representatives and the governing institutions—especially the institutions of state power—are instruments of this system of capitalism-imperialism; and, in the international arena, they represent and seek to enforce the interests of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class of this country.

    State power exercised in an “authoritarian” way is a particular form of the dictatorship of the ruling class. Understanding this is crucial in order to see what is really the essence of the difference between the “democratic” form of bourgeois dictatorship that has generally existed in this country and, on the other hand, the fascist bourgeois dictatorship that the Republican Party is now actively seeking to bring about, with itself as the decisive force in this fascist bourgeois dictatorship, and its rivals in the ruling class (in the Democratic Party) excluded from effective participation in this dictatorship. As also analyzed in the earlier article on “authoritarianism” to which I have referred here, this fascism involves “a very definite content: hatred and violent suppression of Black people and other people of color, immigrants, women and LGBT people, unrestrained plunder of the environment, grotesque American chauvinism, crude anti-intellectualism and anti-scientific lunacy.”

    To be very clear, the oppression of Black and other people of color, immigrants, women and LGBT people, and plunder of the environment, as well as wars of aggression and crimes against humanity: All this is built into and required by this system of capitalism-imperialism. All of its representatives are American chauvinists. All of them will ignore, or crudely distort, science and scientifically grounded truths in pursuing and enforcing the interests of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class of this country. The difference is that the “bourgeois-democratic” functionaries of this system (as represented by the Democratic Party) recognize the need for certain limited concessions to the struggle against these different forms of oppression, a certain language of “inclusion,” and a certain adherence to rational thinking—up to a point—while the fanatical passion and goal of the fascists is forcefully imposing a situation where there is no such pretense of “inclusion” and there is undisguised and unrestrained enforcement of all this oppression and madness.

    To get a fuller understanding of all this, the following from the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is very important:

    Regardless of differences, even very great and qualitative differences, in their political structures, institutions and guiding principles, all states have a definite social content and class character: they are an expression of the prevailing social relations, and most fundamentally the economic relations (relations of production), which have a decisive and ultimately determining role in regard to how the particular society functions and is organized. The state serves to protect and expand those relations and to enforce the interests of the social group—the ruling class—which holds the dominant position in society, as a result of its role in the economy, and in particular its ownership and control of the major means of production (including land, raw materials and other resources, technology and physical structures such as factories, and so on). In capitalist society, it is the capitalist class which holds this dominant position: the government structures and processes—and above all the organs of the state as an instrument of class rule and suppression (the armed forces, police, courts and prisons, the executive power, and the bureaucracies)—are controlled by this capitalist class as a means of exercising its rule over society and its repression of forces whose interests are in significant opposition to, and/or which resist, its rule. In short, all states are an instrument of dictatorship—of a monopoly of political power, concentrated as a monopoly of “legitimate” armed force and violence—exercised by, and in the interests of, one class or another. Any democracy which is practiced in this situation is democracy on the terms of, and fundamentally serving the interests of, the ruling class and its exercise of dictatorship.**

    With regard to the exercise of state power—dictatorship—by the bourgeois (capitalist) ruling class, the criticism of “authoritarianism” by “bourgeois democrats” actually amounts to this argument:

    Bourgeois dictatorship is better exercised by having political structures and processes that allow for participation of representatives of the capitalist class broadly in the exercise of this dictatorship (in the U.S., Democratic Party as well as Republican Party representatives of the ruling class), rather than restricting the effective exercise of this dictatorship to a smaller group within the ruling class. And the argument:

    This bourgeois dictatorship is also better exercised through maintaining “bourgeois democracy”—democracy on the terms of, and restricted within the confines of, rule by the capitalist class—where people are allowed to vote, so long as the choices for which they can vote are strictly limited to those representing the interests of the capitalist ruling class, and where people are allowed certain other rights, so long as the exercise of those rights does not threaten the interests of this ruling class.

    Socialist State Power—Radically Different and Emancipating

    The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America makes clear that, in fundamental opposition to the dictatorship of the capitalist class, socialist state power, the dictatorship of the proletariat,

    in its essential character and its basic principles, structures, institutions and political processes ... must give expression to and serve the fundamental interests of the proletariat, a class whose exploitation is the engine of the accumulation of capitalist wealth and the functioning of capitalist society and whose emancipation from its exploited condition can only be brought about through the communist revolution, with its goal of abolishing all relations of exploitation and oppression and achieving the emancipation of humanity as a whole.**

    At the same time, through the work I have done over decades summing up the previous experience of the communist movement and socialist society in the Soviet Union and China (before capitalism was restored in the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s and in China after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976), and by learning from a broad range of human experience, a new communism has been brought forward, which is a continuation of, but also represents a qualitative leap beyond, and in some important ways a break with, communist theory as it had been previously developed. As applied to socialist society, this involves an emphasis on the importance of dissent, intellectual and artistic ferment, and protection of the rights of the people, particularly against government abuse, within the framework of, and as an important part of, the exercise of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is an application of the principle and method of “solid core, with a lot of elasticity”—which, as set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, means that

    on the one hand, there must be a continually expanding force in society, with the revolutionary communist party as its leading element, which is firmly convinced of the need to advance to communism and deeply committed to carrying forward this struggle, through all the difficulties and obstacles; and, on the basis of and at the same time as continually strengthening this “solid core,” there must be provision and scope for a wide diversity of thinking and activity, among people throughout society, “going off in many different directions,” grappling and experimenting with many diverse ideas and programs and fields of endeavor—and once again all this must be “embraced” by the vanguard party and the “solid core” in an overall sense and enabled to contribute, through many divergent paths, to the advance along a broad road toward the goal of communism.**

    This principle and method of “solid core, with a lot of elasticity” is applied throughout the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, with regard to all the governing institutions and important spheres of society including education, science, culture, and the media. The following statement of mine, about the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, is profoundly true and crucially important:

    It is a fact that, nowhere else, in any actual or proposed founding or guiding document of any government, is there anything like not only the protection but the provision for dissent and intellectual and cultural ferment that is embodied in this Constitution, while this has, as its solid core, a grounding in the socialist transformation of the economy, with the goal of abolishing all exploitation, and the corresponding transformation of the social relations and political institutions, to uproot all oppression, and the promotion, through the educational system and in society as a whole, of an approach that will “enable people to pursue the truth wherever it leads, with a spirit of critical thinking and scientific curiosity, and in this way to continually learn about the world and be better able to contribute to changing it in accordance with the fundamental interests of humanity.”***

    Of course, with regard to the exercise of political power by the representatives of this radically different system of socialism—that is, the exercise of socialist state power, the dictatorship of the proletariat—bourgeois “theoreticians” of all stripes are opposed to that revolutionary state power in any form, for the basic reason that this socialist state power empowers and gives institutionalized backing to the masses of people to uproot the relations of exploitation and oppression on which the capitalist system rests.

    This socialist state power aims for the emancipation of humanity as a whole, in every part of the world, from all relations of exploitation and oppression, with the achievement of communism throughout the world—whereupon the need and basis for any part of humanity to exploit, oppress and exercise dictatorship over any other part, will have been eliminated and abolished, and a world community of freely associating human beings will replace the profound divisions, with their horrific consequences, that now characterize the world, under the domination of the system of capitalism-imperialism.

    ****

    A Final Point: The U.S. Imperialists Are World-Class Hypocrites, and Big Time Backers of “Authoritarianism” When It Serves Their Interests

    In the original article exposing the anti-scientific nature of the “theory” of “authoritarianism,” and its use in the service of U.S. imperialism, I made the point that “the U.S. is today, and has historically been, allied with many ‘authoritarian’ governments throughout the world (and, in fact, has forcibly installed such governments in many countries).”*

    The following is a list of some of the countries where, just since World War 2, the U.S. has indeed been allied with—and in many cases has installed, through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—governments that are “authoritarian” (that would have to be considered “authoritarian,” according to the “logic” of the “theorists” of “authoritarianism”):

    • Chile
    • Brazil
    • Haiti
    • Cuba (before the 1959 revolution)
    • El Salvador
    • Nicaragua
    • Guatemala
    • Honduras
    • Panama
    • The Dominican Republic
    • Greece
    • Poland
    • Indonesia
    • The Philippines
    • South Korea
    • South Vietnam
    • China (before the victory of the revolution in 1949)
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Turkey
    • Israel

    Again, this is only a partial list of the “authoritarian” governments backed—and often installed through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—by the U.S. imperialists, just since World War 2.

    World-class hypocrites, world-ravaging oppressors.

     

    NOTES

    * The article by Bob Avakian, “Shameless American Chauvinism: ‘Anti-Authoritarianism’ as a ‘Cover’ for Supporting U.S. Imperialism, with an ADDED NOTE by Bob Avakian, Spring 2023, is available at www.revcom.us. In the article “Bob Avakian on Impeachment, Crimes Against Humanity, Liberals and Lies, Provocative and Profound Truths” (also available at www.revcom.us), Bob Avakian speaks to the “theory” of “totalitarianism” and how it, too, promotes, anti-scientific thinking particularly in the service of U.S. imperialism.

    ** The quotes from the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America are from the Preamble of this Constitution. This Constitution, written by Bob Avakian, is also available at www.revcom.us.

    *** This statement by Bob Avakian, on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, originally appeared in NEW YEAR’S STATEMENT BY BOB AVAKIAN, A New Year, The Urgent Need For A Radically New World—For The Emancipation Of All Humanity, January 2021, which is also available at www.revcom.us.

  • ARTICLE:

    Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences

    Updated

    EDITORS' NOTE: The theory of evolution—how and why very primitive one-celled organisms gave rise to the wondrous variety of life we have today and, as part of that, how we humans came into being—is one of the greatest and most important achievements of human knowledge. It is a joy to understand and an extremely important part of knowing—and changing—the world. Ardea Skybreak’s The Science of Evolution and The Myth of Creationism: Knowing What’s Real and Why It Matters goes deeply into this in a way that is both very accessible and captures the awe that comes from understanding how life came to be. 

    In addition, there is no better introduction to the scientific method—a method that enables people to get to the truth. This method can and must be applied to all natural processes and spheres of activity, including human society, to grasp how things came into being and how they can change. At a time when the scientific method is under attack from all sides—from Christian-fascist lunatics to woke post-modernists, not to mention liberal relativists—this book is more important than ever.

    Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences

    From The Science of Evolution and The Myth of Creationism Knowing What's Real and Why It Matters (pp. 216-18)

    The philosopher Robert Pennock, who has written a very useful and interesting book showing what’s wrong with the Intelligent Design and other creationist arguments from both a scientific and philosophical/methodological perspective (The Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism) makes the point that the “Intelligent Design” Creationists (IDCs), in their attack against “scientific naturalism,” fall into classic “postmodernist” deconstructionist misinterpretations of the work of Thomas Kuhn. Thomas Kuhn was an influential philosopher and historian of science who argued, starting in the 1960s, that the way scientists choose what conceptual and theoretical framework (what “paradigm”) they should apply in framing their scientific questions and in seeking to resolve scientific puzzles is necessarily heavily influenced by subjective factors, including prevailing social norms and conventions. Unfortunately, some people misinterpreted that to mean that therefore there is no objective scientific truth at all, that all truth is necessarily subjective and therefore that any one scientist’s theory is pretty much as good as any other’s.

    As Pennock points out, Kuhn himself didn’t agree with that and tried to point out that this is not at all what he meant to say, and that scientific truths themselves are objective (not subjective), and truth itself is not relative—he clarified that he simply meant that scientists are necessarily influenced by subjective factors, even in the choosing of what kind of conceptual framework and method they use to try to get at the objective truth of things. Nevertheless, despite Kuhn’s protestations, it is, according to Pennock, that initial misinterpretation of Kuhn’s views which seemed to spread widely throughout academic circles, where it went on to influence the development of “deconstructionism” in literary circles. Deconstructionism refers to a method of reading and discussing texts that emphasizes the multiplicity of possible readings and interpretations of any given text and the subjective influences which any reader (as well as any author) can bring into any text. For the deconstructionist there can therefore be many possible “truthful” interpretations of any one text or work of art (“your truth” can be different from “my truth” in deconstructionist approaches).

    The so-called “post-modernist” deconstructionists took this even further, basically arguing that there is no such thing as “objective” truth, because the fact that each person brings their own subjective interpretations to things makes it impossible to ever know anything other than through this distorted subjective lens. As Pennock points out, the post-modernist deconstructionists argue that when people think something is true “it is only because one or another particular group—because of their position, prestige or power—has been able to establish and enforce their own view.” In such a view all truth is relative, and “power relations” determine what we call truth at any given time. (For more on this see Pennock’s Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism.)

    By contrast, the method of dialectical and historical materialism (which is the viewpoint and method upheld and applied by communists) agrees that subjective influences (including social values and conventions and class-influenced outlooks and methods, especially when concentrated in the hands of people wielding power) can and do distort perceptions of the actual truth of things and that it is important to recognize and identify these subjective distortions; but that doesn’t mean that all truth is relative or that it is not possible to discover the actual objective truth about the way things really are in nature and society. The notion that all truth is relative is a recipe for idealist paralysis that just gives up on trying to deeply understand how reality really is (independently of people’s notions of it) and how people might consciously attempt to affect that reality.

    To get at the objective truth of things, what is required is the application of a consciously and consistently scientific method which repeatedly grapples with objective reality and tests and transforms it to see whether or not it conforms to predictions we make about how it actually is at any given point, and in what ways it may be changing and developing. Yes we do all bring our subjective influences and outlooks to the task; but the actual truth of things (in actual objective reality) is there, whether we interact with it or not, and regardless of any of our subjective opinions and preconceived notions. In contrast to subjective idealism or other forms of philosophical idealism (which includes beliefs in a supernatural realm existing above and beyond the sphere of actual material reality), it is science—a scientific outlook and method—which we must apply if we want to find out the actual truth of things. 

    Unfortunately, as Pennock explains, postmodernist relativism tends to view science itself as just another “narrative and interpretive activity” (much like the writing of literary texts or other artistic pursuits) and these relativists conclude from this that scientific truths “are not objective but are constructed by power relations and prejudices.” Here again, two things are being confused, or “jumbled together”: the reality that human beings bring subjective outlooks and interpretations to everything they do, including in science, and that we should try to consciously sort these out; and, on the other hand, the basic fact that objective reality does exist independently of human beings and that by becoming more fully conscious of what constitutes a genuine scientific method and aware of methodological errors to avoid, human beings can actually zero in more and more closely (even if never perfectly) on the actual truth of things. How could we ever make concrete scientific advances and transform reality in line with our intended objectives (as in the development of antibiotics, to use just one example) if objective reality didn’t really exist and if human beings were totally powerless to determine with a fair degree of confidence the objective truth corresponding to that actual reality?

    The more traditional “scientific Creationists” try to argue as if they believe it’s OK to use the usual methods of scientific investigation because when you do that you can come up with “evidence” that evolution didn’t happen, so therefore the story of a Creator god told in Genesis must be right. In reality, they don’t apply a genuinely scientific method, nor do they have any legitimate scientific evidence that could possibly support their viewpoint (they mainly make up absurd claims based on nothing, such as the idea that the order of the fossils in different rock layers represents the order in which different animals drowned during the Biblical Flood!). They mainly try to make people take their word for it that evolution isn’t a solidly supported theory in the hopes that people will allow them to propose their religious alternative in the science classrooms. But they’d still like people to believe that their creationist views are compatible with modern scientific methods.

    But a number of the Intelligent Design Creationists are actually even more fundamentally anti-science than some of their Biblical literalist brethren, even though this may not always be immediately obvious. However if you study what they say and write, you will see that some of them at least (especially Phillip Johnson and his followers) actually want to overthrow the whole way science is usually done! They want scientific knowledge to somehow be attained “through” religion, and therefore they want scientific methods to reflect this goal by incorporating the idea of God right into the pursuit of science—the replacement of the methods of standard “naturalistic science” with “theistic science” (science driven by God) is the openly stated goal of at least their preeminent ideologue, Phillip Johnson. And they want access to the science classrooms of high schools and even universities in order to accomplish this stupendous “paradigm shift.”

    BAsics-1-25-559-en.jpg

     

    The philosopher Robert Pennock makes a convincing case for the notion that this new breed of Creationists have been very much influenced by postmodernist relativism.*

    Phillip Johnson himself is a law professor who identifies himself as a “postmodernist deconstructionist” and denies that natural science can get to the actual objective truth of anything. He sees the theory of evolution as just one subjectively interpreted story, which happened to become dominant since Darwin’s time simply because the scientific community managed to politically suppress the teaching of alternative theories such as the theory of divine design. He calls on people to free themselves from the supposed tyranny of naturalistic science and its materialist rules of evidence. He argues that we can’t get at the truth of things through “naturalistic” science—that this can only be done in the end through knowing God. “Truth” in his view does exist, but it is only the truth of divine revelation!

    It is important to realize that this is what the Intelligent Design Creationists want to smuggle into the science classrooms, to be given “equal weight” with the theory of evolution, a scientific theory which, unlike “Intelligent Design,” has been repeatedly tested and verified (over and over and over again!) through concrete scientific observations and experiments. It is completely unconscionable to allow the obviously religious theory of “Intelligent Design” (which has never produced even a single legitimate scientific research article in a single legitimate peer-reviewed scientific journal) to be taught to our children as science. Today, the proponents of “Intelligent Design” (supported by people in positions of highest authority, right up to the president) have succeeded in confusing many people into thinking that the theory of evolution is on shaky ground and is controversial in the scientific community (when nothing could be further from the truth!); they have successfully lobbied to get some textbooks rewritten to reflect their crackpot theory; they have rammed their program through some school boards; they have launched lawsuits to try to undermine the separation of church and state; and, increasingly, they are succeeding in getting the mainstream media to grant them legitimacy and treat their theory as if it were serious science. But none of this changes the simple fact that “Intelligent Design” is not and has never been science. It is religion. And any political successes its proponents may achieve in connection with the advance of a reactionary social agenda cannot change the fact that Intelligent Design does not have a shred of scientific credibility.

     _____________________

    * The article “Marxism and the Enlightenment,” by RCP Chairman Bob Avakian, also contains a very interesting and relevant discussion of this and related questions. [This article appeared in the Revolutionary Worker #1029 (December 2, 2001), and is posted at revcom.us; and it has been included in the book Observations on Art and Culture, Science and Philosophy by Bob Avakian (Insight Press, 2005)] [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    VIDEO:

    A REFLECTION ON BOB AVAKIAN'S LEADERSHIP

    Atlas Winfrey on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, Episode 164

  • ARTICLE:

    Three reasons why you should buy your ticket to the Screening of Selections from The BA Interviews on October 17 at the Hudson Theaters:

    The Hudson Theaters

    6539 Santa Monica Blvd.
    Hollywood, CA
    $20 general admission/$10 students or low income

    BUY TICKETS HERE

    Sponsored by The Bob Avakian Institute and the Revolution Club, LA
    Discussion with The RNL Show Co-Hosts Sunsara Taylor and Andy Zee
    Moderated by David Zeiger, filmmaker: Sir! No Sir!

    [1] Humanity confronts the devastation of the earth’s climate... Humanity faces the greatest threat of a nuclear war in at least half a century... and, things are coming to a head in this society by the 2024 presidential election, if not sooner, with the direct danger of all out fascism.

    Times Like These Demand a Revolutionary Answer.

    Isn’t this a time to come together to engage Bob Avakian, who has analyzed and developed a way out this madness with a vision and plan for a radically new society?

    [2] Bob Avakian (BA) is completely different than the endless stream of bourgeois (capitalist) “leaders” who are put forward, and others who cannot see, or will not look, beyond the confines of this horrific system. He is hard-core for revolution, with a largeness of mind, generosity of spirit, and lively sense of humor—all of which shine through in these Interviews.

    If you haven’t seen these interviews, but think you don’t need to, you really don’t know what you need to know.

    [3] This program at the Hudson Theater is a special opportunity. This is a chance to come together with others, to deeply engage a wide range of people—coming from different backgrounds and perspectives but who, like you, are agonized about the future. This is a chance to seriously discuss and debate why the revolution for the society concentrated in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America authored by Bob Avakian is the way out of the madness that is today and the horrors that loom. 

    Buy your ticket now for Tuesday night October 17!

  • ARTICLE:

    ANNOUNCING:

    A Special Screening of Selections from The Bob Avakian Interviews on 
    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show

    Tuesday, October 17, 7:30 pm

    The Hudson Theaters

    6539 Santa Monica Blvd.
    Hollywood, CA
    $20 general admission/$10 students or low income

    BUY TICKETS HERE

    Sponsored by The Bob Avakian Institute and the Revolution Club, LA
    Discussion with The RNL Show Co-Hosts Sunsara Taylor and Andy Zee
    Moderated by David Zeiger, filmmaker: Sir! No Sir!

    The major new document from the revcoms, REVOLUTION: Building Up the Basis to Go for the Whole Thing, with a Real Chance to Win, Strategic Orientation and Practical Approach, lays out what time it is, and why there’s an urgent need—and basis—for the force for revolution to be built, growing from small to large. As part of what needs to be done now, it says:

    We are spreading far and wide the inspiring vision of how much better life could be, for the great majority of people, if millions of people got behind this revolution and carried it through—making it possible to restructure all of society on a completely different foundation, with a radically different economic system (mode of production) and emancipating relations among people, as spelled out very concretely in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, written by Bob Avakian.

    In an all-around way, and especially in broadly promoting what are truly extraordinary interviews with Bob Avakian on The RNL Show, we are doing the necessary work and waging the necessary struggle so that masses of people know about and get with the leadership we have in Bob Avakian: learning about the inspiring vision and concrete blueprint for a radically different, emancipating society he has brought forward, following the concrete guidance he is providing, taking up and applying the scientific method and approach of the new communism he has developed, in order to really make revolution and finally get free.

    Bob Avakian, and the Interviews he gave on The RNL Show last year are a tremendous resource to impact society with this revolution, and to bring forward the necessary forces for this revolution. This should be integrated into everything the revcoms do. For this revolution to meet the tremendous challenges before us, and for this to be a revolution worth fighting for—BA and these Interviews have to ground the Revolution Clubs in all we’re doing, and in the whole of our revolutionary strategy.

    This is why we’re excited to announce a special screening of Selections from The Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on Tuesday, October 17, 7:30 pm at The Hudson Theaters in Hollywood, California, co-sponsored by The Bob Avakian Institute and the Revolution Club, LA.

    Here are three reasons why you should buy your ticket and invite others to come to this important event. And these three reasons should be used widely and systematically—to reach into people’s hearts, raise their sights and challenge them to be there on October 17.

    As part of making the case that “the times demand revolutionary answers,” some people may feel an immediate appreciation for what BA brings alive in these answers, they may feel a connection and want to go deeper. With others, we may need to wage some sharper struggle:

    Bob Avakian (BA) has developed a deep analysis of why we’re in the situation we’re in, how this situation is rapidly moving to something terrible... but also holds greater potential for an actual revolution to bring about a radically new and far better system.

    How could, in this situation, anyone shut their eyes, close their ears, and throw away their conscience and not have the curiosity and the conscience to watch, listen, and engage what BA has brought forward?

    We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. And it is a scientific fact that humanity does not have to live this way—a whole different way to organize society, a whole better world, is possible.”—Bob Avakian, The Bob Avakian Interviews

  • ARTICLE:

    A Letter to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Who Will Be Spreading Allegiance

    Updated

    ALLEGIANCE Headline

     

    @therevcoms

    Update (10/2/2023): This week, the revcoms should reach all over with the sharp, strategic challenge concentrated in ALLEGIANCE. We’ll write more next week on what we’re learning in taking this up across the country.

    One example to learn from: As we wrote last week, we have to find the ways to make “real the CHALLENGE at the end of Allegiance:”

    If anyone wants to claim that what we have said here is not right, then let them have the courage to put that on the line, directly up against us and the knowledge we are bringing… and it will become even more clear that what we say is the truth—a powerful truth that people need to know about and take up.

    And that we have to “bring our A game” when we do.

    We should be fighting for debate, bringing others into the debate, constantly challenging and figuring out ways to embarrass those who defend their blood-soaked flag. 

    Here’s a great example from last week where Rafael Kadaris, correspondent for The RNL—Revolution Nothing Less!—Show, got a debate going at UCLA with the President of the “College Republicans of America.”

    To send reports or questions, write to GetOrganizedforRevolutionTour@gmail.com

    Last week revcoms in a number of cities began to spread the powerful new piece Allegiance. Comrades should review last week’s editorial here on this to reground in just how strategic this piece is to the repolarization for revolution that we are urgently working towards… changing how people in this society are thinking and acting.

    Here’s what we learned:

    Point 1. 

    Allegiance polarizes. Taking this out to high schools in particular—and we are talking about inner-city high schools made up largely of oppressed people—things quickly divided out. And guess what? Those students who voiced reactionary ideas were louder, better organized and on the offensive. Is anyone surprised? In addition to all the other ways this system works on people’s thinking, the ruling class has made a special effort to implant Army-run ROTC programs into areas of the oppressed. These programs indoctrinate students, drill them, and build them up as a special set within the school (with special days where ROTC students wear their uniforms, etc.).

    Was that reactionary response the whole story? No. There were some students, faculty and parents who were interested and some were somewhat supportive. But on the whole they were not willing to step out, and many of them said, “But there’s nothing we can do.” Again, are we surprised? Without bold and scientific leadership unafraid to go up against the reactionaries… without some exposure to real arguments that puncture the reactionaries… without a sense that there is a movement, even if small, that has a firm grip on the truth and the scientific method and a way to learn more… and without being sharply challenged, with a sense of the stakes of this moment and what we actually have going for us (including the scientific fact that there is a radically different way the world can be and the positive vision and the leadership of Bob Avakian (BA), who brought forward that vision and the strategy to realize it) and how unconscionable it is to sit on the sidelines when something could actually be done… the minority of people who may be more spontaneously with this, in one way or another, are going to have a very rough time of it and almost certainly feel isolated.

    On the other hand, with leadership, substance, and the scientific method… with an organization to back it up… and with sharp challenge and struggle to all the passivity and wait-and-see mentality… it can be and needs to be a whole different story. Which leads to the second point.

    ALLEGIANCE — A Special RNL Show Dispatch

    Point 2. 

    This polarization around Allegiance can provide important openings… IF we go to work on it to REpolarize… for revolution. That means going back more than once, and going back with substance, science and enthusiasm. Most of all, it means making real the CHALLENGE at the end of Allegiance:

    If anyone wants to claim that what we have said here is not right, then let them have the courage to put that on the line, directly up against us and the knowledge we are bringing… and it will become even more clear that what we say is the truth—a powerful truth that people need to know about and take up.

    It may and almost certainly will require humor, imagination, shock, boldness and in general creativity to force reactionaries to respond to the challenge. But let’s remember—all the qualities we just mentioned are luckily in big supply right in the text of Allegiance itself! Which leads to this guideline:

    Use. The. Text. In fact, keep taking the struggles you get into back to the text. And most of all, insist on the challenge. 

    One final strong suggestion, and a big plus: everywhere you go with Allegiance, use the provocations on The BA Interviews—especially the provocation that states “How’d you go from being a proud American to opposing everything America stands for?” Let people—no, encourage people to—“meet” this incredible leader for themselves right from the jump, and begin getting into him.

    Point 3. 

    Bring your “A game.”

    If you make a challenge, you gotta back it up with substance and science. Steep yourself in the new article by Bob Avakian, THE TRIALS OF FASCIST DONALD TRUMP, AND THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THIS WHOLE SYSTEM, and especially in A FINAL NOTE: On the Real Nature and Monstrous Crimes of This Country before you go out there, as well as the American Crime series. Study BA to see how he marshals the substance to make the key points. Use posters and graphics. And make sure that you watch Raymond Lotta’s new talk, The Communist Revolution So Badly Needed… vs. the Anti-Communist Brainwash Your’re Getting, now up on the website of Revolution Books, to go against the lies that people get drilled in about communism.

    Again, keep in mind: we are repolarizing for something positive. We are fighting for and aiming to win people to say “YES! TO A RADICALLY DIFFERENT REPUBLIC AND MUCH BETTER SYSTEM—a new socialist republic, a system which will move to abolish and uproot all this madness and give the highest expression to people’s humanity, and a future corresponding to people’s highest aspirations.” Display and use the centerspread from WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE BETTER WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM.

    One final note: As for the religious fanatics (many of them Christian fascists) who often seem to show up the day after we do this, every time the revcoms go out… at least one person needs to have their Bible with them, with the juicy quotes from the Bible itself from Away With All Gods! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World and God, The Original Fascist marked with post-it notes—to take on both the Bible thumpers, and the youth and others, with actual Biblical text that makes its murderous, reactionary character undeniable.

  • ARTICLE:

    VIDEO:

    Rafael Kadaris debates College Republicans at UCLA

  • ARTICLE:

    Three Big Takeaways from Trump’s Violent Threat Against Mark Milley, Former Head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Military

    On Friday, September 22, former president Donald Trump strongly implied that the top military officer in the U.S. at the time, Mark Milley, deserved to be put to death. Trump was responding to the fact that Milley had notified his Chinese counterpart that things were “stable” within the U.S. two days after Trump’s attempted coup on January 6.6

    Trump and Milley looking angry

     

    Donald Trump and Mark Milley in Washington, DC on January 8, 2020, two days after Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election in a fascist coup.   

    Trump wrote on his social media platform that this was “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH.” Yet where were the headlines on Saturday or Sunday of last week blaring out “FORMER PRESIDENT AND CURRENT FAVORITE FOR REPUBLICAN NOMINATION IMPLIES CURRENT ARMY HEAD SHOULD BE EXECUTED”?

    Nowhere. In fact, it was not until three days later that The Atlantic—which had the week before published a long article gushing over Milley (and we’ll have more to say on Milley’s “long record of service” later in this article)—broke the news on this in a major way and this began to get significant coverage.

    There are three points of strategic significance concentrated in this story. One, the splits among the rulers are growing more intense and more “normalized” at the same time. Two, these splits will reach into every institution. And three, it is essential that—for the interests of humanity, we not mistake these splits to mean that the masses should “choose sides” between the two factions of the rulers. 

    Before getting into this, it’s important to understand that this situation is still unfolding—the potential for this to develop into a crisis of even greater significance still exists.

    ALLEGIANCE Headline

     

    ONE: The splits among the rulers of this country are both growing much more acute and becoming more normalized at the same time.

    Two things immediately stand out. This was—yet again—unprecedented. Think about it: a former president and leading presidential candidate says that the head of the army would have been executed in the past, with the clear implication that he should be executed now! That’s one thing, and it’s amazing enough. The second thing is the fact that for a few days after Trump said this, there was very little reaction to it, which graphically shows both how much extremely grave threats within the ruling class itself have become normalized—and, perhaps, how little at least a section of the rulers want to highlight these threats. 

    When Biden finally did speak on this, it was six days later, at a ceremony honoring former Republican senator and “war hero”7  John McCain. And none of the top four Republicans who are vying with Trump have said anything yet.

    Whether this normalization is intentional, or just the result of people—including decision-makers in the ruling class—getting so used to this kind of madness that they had hardly noticed—is hard to say. But the effect is, at least for now, to keep “the decent people” whom these decision-makers view as “their base” quiet and passive.

    American Crime Ad for whole series with image of U.S. airstrike in Gaza.

     

    TWO: These splits will reach into every ruling institution as a revolutionary situation develops.

    Here a point made by Bob Avakian (BA) is extremely relevant and points to one of the reasons revolution is actually more possible in these times, even though it may not appear that way on the surface. In an unpublished talk WE DON’T HAVE TO LIVE THIS WAY—AND WE HAVE A REAL CHANCE NOW FOR SOMETHING MUCH BETTER… A Rare Time When Revolution Is (More) Possible: The Scientific Basis, and the Scientifically-Grounded Work to Make This Real, Bob Avakian made the point that:

    As is becoming more clear every day, there are deep, and continually deepening, divisions not only in this country overall but among the ruling powers of this system. And, as I will get