I’m a retired teachers’ aide who made a $20 donation to the $100,000 fund drive.  After watching Andy Zee’s May 1^st editorial on The RNL Show, I wanted to contribute to a brighter future.  I’ve donated before to the revcoms because funds are necessary to keep the work going.

Now for the $25,000 challenge, I got some more shirts that say Forced Motherhood is Female Enslavement to raise funds.  I was helping a friend with his yard sale, so I brought the shirts there.  I met several people who were very interested but didn’t buy any, and also got a lecture from a woman who said, “Don’t you know that aborted fetuses are used for medical purposes?”.  I said I didn’t, and later talked to a friend who told me about these lies from the Christian fascist anti-abortion crowd.  The woman had also said that we females know what to do not to get pregnant, so I knew she wasn’t in favor of women being full human beings.  I pointed out to her that most women who want abortions already have kids.

Next I took the shirts to my neighborhood Trader Joe’s where I figured there would be interest.  In just an hour I sold 3 shirts @ $20 each, and got a $20 donation from a woman who didn’t want a shirt but wanted to know what the funds were for.  I told her it’s for women’s rights and for revolution, and handed her (and the others) the May 1^st flyer.

Another day I joined a team at the huge annual book fair in town, and though I thought the crowd was kind of conservative, I sold another shirt, plus got two $10 donations from men and a $3 donation from a young woman.  I also ran into a Jehovah’s Witness who told me how in the bible abortion is not acceptable.  I told her I’m a Buddhist and that’s about cause and effect.

I’d like to challenge everyone to grab some of these important conversation-starting shirts to raise funds and to spread the word.  Now I’m thinking of going to some bus stops in front of schools to reach young people who need to be part of this.

A few supporters of the revcoms in Cleveland raised $360 for the May 1st fund drive yesterday selling cake slices, brownies, and cookies at small businesses in strip malls. This is a desperately poor, largely Black city. Throughout the Black community there are small strip malls where lots of people have individual shops or stalls in a shared shop to do braiding, haircuts or nails together with smoke shops, phone stores, and small clothing stores. It’s one of the ways people have found to support their families since steel and auto industries basically left. About one-third of them have crosses and Bible quotes featured on the walls. We canvassed a lot of them, 30 or 40. We had been to many of the same shops before and many remembered learning about the RNL Show. They were glad to see us again and glad to be reminded to watch the RNL Show.  Those who had asked us to leave flyers for the $100,000 drive were all out and wanted May 1st flyers.

There’s a lot of general attraction to the need for revolution—people expressing a deep sense of anger and frustration that this society is just not working, that despite all the protests, Black people are still being killed by the police and the kids are killing each other, even as many are still stuck in looking to the system itself or to God to try to fix things. Knowing as we do, that it is this system, founded on white supremacy and the exploitation of people all over the planet, that is the source of all this horrific oppression people face, we brought out how the system cannot be reformed. We need revolution to defeat this whole system and replace it with one that is about ending all oppression and exploitation. That’s why Revolutionary May 1st is so important—it’s about letting people know that a force is being organized to make this revolution and we are asking people to contribute and be part of that. On this basis, a number of people who were reluctant at first bought baked goods and made plans to watch the RNL Show. 

A few people didn’t want pastries because they are diabetic, but contributed saying something like “For revolution? We surely need one!” Others are more consciously looking for an actual revolution: “I managed to get myself out of the projects, found a job that I could live on. But lots of people still stuck killing each other! Over colors! I’ve seen how the cops stop every effort for a gang truce and target anybody who gets it together. Me and my friends talk about how we could change all this. But we can’t figure out a way to win. I’m gonna try to get them together to watch this show!”

We raised a lot more money in one day this time. A lot of the reason was one guy in a bar who liked the announcement for May Day but didn’t say much. The bartenders introduced us as soon as we asked if it was OK to sell things there. He bought $130 worth of pastries, gave them to everybody in the bar and asked us to come back every month—which we will! We stayed and talked with people there for a few minutes. A good minority asked for flyers and palm cards.   

All these people hoping for a better world but not knowing their hopes really can become reality!  In thinking about how to increase the numbers who actually go to the RNL Show—and in this way start learning about and becoming part of the revolution—we plan to poster outside all these areas for both May First and the RNL Show, as well as get back to those who gave us their phone numbers.

Making the substance of the May 1st editorial the common property and foundation for building for the holiday

In developing our plans for May 1st, we started with a discussion of the May 1st editorial, and plans to make the substance of it the common property of, and foundation for, all those who will be building for it—supporters as well as new people we meet. All of this is taking place in the midst of sharpening contradictions, and we talked about the need to lead with May 1st (its politics and goals) in acting on them—whether it be the intensifying crisis at the border or the accelerating war on women with the Mifepristone ban, just to name a couple. Not only is a better world possible, there is a force, the revcoms, preparing to seize on this rare time, and organizing now to make revolution—people need to be challenged to join with that to put revolution on the map.

Our plans center on the eve of May 1st, April 30, when we are planning a fundraising picnic with a similar vision of the idea spoken to in the May 1st editorial (“One idea for May 1st is to hold dinners the week before which can be festive occasions that raise money, build community and develop consciousness.”). This would both culminate the weeks of outreach, struggle and fundraising leading into May 1st as well as solidify a force to go out on May 1st itself to broadly take out, through banners and flyers, the message from the revcoms.

We envision the picnic to be festive, and politically compelling. This would include showing different clips from the BA interviews and others, along with playing music and music videos that capture both the stakes and the possibilities for a better world for all of humanity. And there will be fundraising. We are tossing around different ideas for fundraising at the picnic—donating to take the Texas and American crimes quizzes, having people donate to stand on the American and Russian flags, or donate to take a swing at a pinata.

Leading up to May 1st, we have plans for various forms of fundraising and mass distribution of the May Day flyer. This would include broad flyering at public events and on the streets, setting up tables at spring festivals to sell T-shirts and other things, and building on the advances we made during the $100,000 fund drive with people in the local stores who actively took up the fund drive. Plans are to both further develop the work at stores where people have donated, as well as to broaden out into the neighborhoods beyond where this work has been done. An important element of this will be getting out the May 1st editorial to donors, challenging people around its content and motivating them to become more active in putting revolution on the map.  Along with the May 1st flyer, there will be popularization of the Points of Attention which is important in its own right as well as building awareness of the Revolution Clubs. There are also plans for getting out to the street corners with large banners or signs with the May 1st slogans to get out the flyer and raise money. Along with all of that, some of the sustainers are working on developing collective projects that they can take up. One idea so far is for a bake sale. 

As part of the process of bringing people together to contribute to the movement to put revolution on the map, we want to prepare a banner with the main slogan on it and take it out broadly for people to write messages to the revcoms on it, and then send the banner to the Revolution Tour in LA. We also will be working to pull together a temporary ad hoc May Day committee including new people we meet to further develop plans, and reach out and raise money for May 1st. If we can pull it together, their first meeting will be discussing the May 1st editorial and developing plans on that basis.