In late August 2023, the Revolution Club Chicago, on very short notice, pulled together a group of longtime friends of the club, progressive and radical people from different movements and a significant number of newer people to a venue in Hyde Park where the decision to take on fascist lynch mob instigator Jason Aldean and his howling hordes of MAGA maniacs was announced. With revolutionary potential and anticipation thick in the air, Lenny Wolff led a lively program and discussion digging into the historic Interviews done on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show with Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation, the new communism.

At a RARE time in history when a REAL revolution to overthrow the murderous system of capitalism-imperialism becomes MORE possible within the most monstrous empire in the history of humanity, this event, full of interest and participation, served as a timely beacon for humanity where people from different backgrounds and experiences came together, inspired by the leadership of the most important political thinker and leader in the world today, BA, to wrestle scientifically with the biggest questions facing humanity today.

Fast forward to early October 2023, in the aftermath of having pierced the superstructure through fearlessly confronting wannabe thug Jason Aldean and his lunatic fans, having incinerated multiple American rags both at the gates of his Tinley Park concert AND in the small Tennessee town where his civil war rallying cry, “Try That in a Small Town” was filmed, the Revolution Club Chicago again held a program involving agonizing masses hungry for answers and a way out of the madness that consumes the world today. 

This inspiring gathering, which involved many new people, began after a short period of comradely engagement among the audience as they sat down to break bread and chitchat. As the program began, the chatter ceased and all eyes focused on the front of the room, where veteran revolutionary Lenny Wolff, along with leaders of the Revolution Club Chicago, Leo and Lapis, welcomed the energized crowd and introduced the agenda.

On the docket were two extremely important clips from the historic interviews done with Bob Avakian (BA), author and architect of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic In North America, which, with its sweeping vision, provides the concrete blueprint and firm foundation for a radically different and much better society. As BA addressed the strategy for how the small revolutionary communist forces of today could grow exponentially, the audience was captivated, listening intently, eager to discover the answer to this very pressing question which weighs heavily on the minds of many. Following said clip was a short interview with Leo and Lapis, leaders involved in the revolutionary act of resistance taking on fascist goon Jason Aldean and his lynch mob anthem, where they fought hard to connect and convey the strategy for making revolution to this bold and defiant action that reached millions around the world.

Soon after, others involved in this important action proudly and powerfully shared with the attentive crowd their different experiences and reasons behind their decision to unite with the call put forth by the revcoms:
NO MORE LYNCH MOBS IN AND OUT OF UNIFORM!
NO MORE STANDING BY WHILE GOOD OL' BOYS PREPARE FOR CIVIL WAR!
WE NEED AND WE DEMAND A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE!
WE NEED TO AND WE ARE GETTING ORGANIZED FOR A REAL REVOLUTION!

Before the conclusion of the first half of the program, a roaring applause filled every corner of the venue, which was followed by a short session of intermingling that provided temporary relief from the accumulating heat.

After the break, the overwhelming majority of the audience returned to their seats patiently awaiting the climax of the night, Bob Avakian's message to those who catch the worst hell under this system, the hard-core youth, speaking both to their role in this revolution and how to win them to become emancipators of humanity.

Fiery emotions filled the hearts and eyes of the people, having experienced firsthand BA's heart and soul, hard-core and unmatched revolutionary leadership, and his scientific and unwavering determination to emancipate humanity. Deeply touched and impacted by BA's humanity and fierce struggle, a cascade of anguish and anger was unleashed among the people. The discussions that followed were characterized by passionate engagement, encouraging compassion and ideological struggle.

Some people spoke directly to the questions raised by the hosts in relation to the clip from the BA Interviews, most exploded with raw emotion having been provoked by their tremendous leader, breaking down emotional barriers, and detailing stories of suffering at the hands of this system, with rage-filled conviction to see this nightmare that is capitalism-imperialism abolished and cast into the dust bins of history.

One woman new to the revolution, whose son was murdered by the police in 2013, powerfully declared at the top of her lungs: “Kids are afraid of going outside! We need an end to racism and police brutality! BLM... where are the resources that people gave to that?! They were just out to make a dollar! OVERTHROW THIS MOTHERFUCKING SYSTEM!!! OVERTHROW THIS MOTHERFUCKING SYSTEM!!!” 

As the program drew to a close, people hugged and chatted as they trickled out of the building. This event was a microcosm of the tremendous potential that is suppressed by the system we are currently forced to live under, capitalism-imperialism, with the catalyst for transforming the flickering flames inside the masses of oppressed and exploited people into raging fires being BA's leadership, his extraordinary ability to break down complex scientific theory while maintaining his ever-deepening visceral connection with the wretched of the Earth. 

From the beginning and throughout this program, the revolutionary communists framed this event in and struggled hard to make clear the unreformability of the system of capitalism-imperialism, the rare time we are currently living in, and the centrality of the leadership of BA in actually making revolution, even as we welcomed and united with the righteous anger and exposure of what this system of capitalism-imperialism forces the masses in the audience, and around the world, to endure.

We continuously returned people to this and at different times struggled very hard, but in a good way, with the audience where in fact a major sub-theme of the evening was the need to struggle hard with each other and with the masses.

One member of the Revolution Club Chicago helped to drive home the major point of the need to struggle like hell with people to get into and to get with the outstanding work and leadership of Bob Avakian, BA, and to themselves spread and struggle like hell with everyone who hungers for a better world without oppression and exploitation to get with the revcoms NOW. In this, he gave the example of a comrade having ferociously struggled with him to skip work and attend the Jason Aldean protest, which was right and resulted in his making and presenting the sign that challenged millions of people around the world to get into the Bob Avakian Interviews. 

In the end, the revcoms fought hard to apply the scientific method of the new communism, weaving throughout the entirety of the event the urgent and critical need for funds, including revolutionary sustainers. With other club members throwing into the discussion and reinforcing the crucial role that sharp struggle played in their transformation to become emancipators of humanity as well as historian and writer Paul Street making an important contribution in directly linking the Jason Aldean protest, which he courageously attended, to the looming threat of a fascist theocracy through a genocidal civil war. Through this process, the masses’ scientific understanding of objective reality was deepened, their righteous resolve to see the unnecessary suffering in the world ended steeled, and at the end of the night the revolution gained two new sustainers.

There is still much to learn from this experience both in the positives and the negatives, the advances and the shortcomings, and the new necessity and freedom that was created. One thing that can concretely be taken away from this experience is the central role that BA must play as we fight to prepare the ground, prepare the people and prepare the vanguard for this revolution and the tremendous advantage humanity has in BA's leadership.

As the band Outernational recently put it in their new song “Last Class”:

I'm coming from the bottom! I'm coming from behind! I'm looking all around, I've been seeing all the signs! I'm all across the planet! I'm deep inside the future!... Don't take offense, take note, listen carefully! The last class is history!

WE ARE THE REVCOMS, revolutionary communists, we are working for a real revolution and a whole new, emancipating way to live! To everyone who can't stand the world the way it is... who is sick and tired of so many people being treated as less than human... WE NEED AND WE DEMAND A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM!

We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and to determine the destiny of humanity! And it is a scientific fact that humanity does not have to live this way!

WATCH THE BOB AVAKIAN INTERVIEWS, HEART AND SOUL AND HARDCORE FOR REVOLUTION!

Watch The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on YouTube every Thursday at 5 pm PDT/7 pm CDT/8 pm EDT!

Go to the website revcom.us regularly, spread the liberating future that is possible... struggle HARD with and win masses of people to this revolution everywhere you go... donate generously and become a sustainer of this nationwide movement for a real revolution!

DEAR FELLOW AND FUTURE EMANCIPATORS... ÁNIMO!
GET WITH BA AND THE REVCOMS AND GIVE YOUR HEART FOR HUMANITY!