There were enough deserts to open a small bakery.  Plates overflowed with food.  People came from different parts of a hyper segregated city to enjoy each other and the program.  The program for the night opened with a clip from the 3-part BA interviews on the importance of having a poetic spirit to lead a revolution and the program ended with an illustrated video of BA painting a picture of what if the world could be radically different.

In between there was poetry and music. The MC, Leo from the Revolution Club, continually brought it back to the serious purpose of the night combined with a playful humor which knit together the audience as did the fund pitch.  Videos included Bella Now, from Outernational and Shekib Mosadeq, calling for freeing Iran’s political prisoners and a 12-year-old Palestinian rapping to end the horrors of life under Israeli occupation.  Members of the Revolution Club and community people were drawn to the open mic.  Poems about Tyre Nichols, one given as Tyre skateboarded silently on the screen, celebrated in skateboarder’s terms arced into ‘time to revolution up’...raw anger expressed over yet another youth’s life snuffed out by pigs ...  the rare time when revolution becomes more possible ... immigrants braving the harrowing journey fists held high.  Other participants offered their poems thoughtfully picked to be in the spirit of revolution, i.e., one called “Revolutionary Love” (inspired by Cornel West) and another “Bound” by a young man who travels the city to participate in Open Mics.

The “fun” in the fund-raising was also brought by a percussionist and a bassist, both professional musicians.  The drum kit, made from pans and tin food cartons, various recyclable items and very portable, was dubbed “the snack master 500" by the percussionist.  A highlight of the night was Godfather, also a professional performer, who the MC noted “you might recognize him—he is one of the flashier people in the room” which was the understatement of the night.   Adorned in gold and black sequined attire, Godfather said how happy he was to be part of promotion of BA and the revolution then rocked “My Girl” and the Spinners “I’ll Be Around” and ended with a soulful and rousing rendition of “Mississippi Boy” accompanied by the bass and “the snackmaster 500”.  The nightcap was the percussionist and bassist leading a raucous and as one participant put it “good but chaotic” drum circle, as various noisemakers and percussion instruments, were passed out so everyone could be part of making music.

While there some new people in attendance we wish there had been more. Everyone left with a packet of materials which included, among other things, palm cards for the BA interviews, an invite to a planning zoom for International Women's Day and the Fund Drive flier announcing the upcoming Livestream, Hopefully everyone there was inspired to take up the call to go all out this week and bring many more new people into the Livestream next Sunday to meet, and even surpass, the $100,000 goal to promote the BA interviews, fund the RNL show, the revcom website, the National Revolution Tour----to put revolution on the map in 2023.

At first some were skeptical that we could really organize this and that we could sell enough tickets to make it successful.  But, our friend argued, there are lots and lots of people who hate all the terrible stuff happening and don't know that there's something they can do about it. They need to know we need revolution and that they should be part of the revolution. 

So, after some struggle over this and some effort to figure out a plan for how we could actually do it, we set out with new resolve to sell tickets for prepared dinners—fried perch or BBQ wings with mac & cheese, baked beans, coleslaw and bread—to be delivered to home or work one afternoon after the scheduled January 8 Livestream. 

We sold tickets by going out to barber shops, beauty salons & other small businesses, calling/texting people met over the course of years and reaching out to people in a couple of small, friendly organizations, as well as friends and family.  Everybody we reached out to learned that this was part of the national fund drive raising $100,000 to put revolution on the map in 2023, got palm cards for the Interviews, and were encouraged to watch and share them. Many people were interested, and we saw some people take out their phones and go to the Interviews right on the spot. People were surprised and respected the audacity of raising $100,000 to put real revolution on the map NOW—AND that we were contributing to that effort by making and selling home-cooked dinners. There are lots of people here who sell dinners out of their home to support themselves—nobody else is selling them to make revolution!

A fair number of people contributed to help the effort, some without even wanting dinners, including a couple of contributions of $100 or more. Most of the people who bought tickets and/or contributed were people we already knew, but for most of them it was their first time contributing funds to the revcoms.  

One woman who came to a gathering to watch the Livestream was someone we reconnected with after not seeing her for about 20 years. Turns out she has had a food truck and a lot of experience cooking in volume. She volunteered to help cook and contributed wings.  Now, we had two people with actual experience in food service!  It mattered. Someone else volunteered their full-size kitchen for the day for doing the cooking. It mattered. Lots of attention was paid to the quality and quantity of the meals. We were making food for the revolution—we wanted it to be good! Spirits were high and lifted higher as we began to cook to the rhythm of Revolution Rhyme and Gil Scott Heron and began talking and thinking about the kind of future society the revolution can bring forward. The whole thing has been a lot of work and a lot of fun.

Overall, it was a real success. We raised $884 for the Fund Drive after expenses. We're still learning a lot and expect to learn a lot more. Just yesterday we learned that a family member of a victim of police murder who we have known for years has been watching the RNL show and loves it—which led her to contribute $100 to this effort. We will send Thanks & Welcome to the Revolution notes to everyone who got dinners, let them know what was raised, ask if they have gone to the Interviews and what they thought of the food. We're already talking about doing another one.

It was a very cold day here in the Midwest, but a very important time to get out into the world with the Bob Avakian Interviews and the $35,000 Holiday Fund Drive.  We set up a table at a grocery store in the Black community and at a winter festival in a progressive entertainment area.  We had the interviews playing at the table and distributed palm cards and fliers for the fund drive.  While many didn’t stop due to the cold, a lot of people, particularly in the Black community, took the materials and expressed a lot of interest and initial unity.  One volunteer was boldly asking EVERYONE to contribute—and people responded.  We raised $58 this way, including from people who came back to the table and donated on their way out of the store. Some made comments like: “There is so much fucked up that revolution does seem like the only way, let me check this out.” 

We’ve raised $350 so far from efforts on the streets, including selling beanies and t-shirts with slogans for the revolution.  Much more is needed to help make the $35,000 goal by January 2. 

Some of us got together last night to talk how we can make some big advances—in raising a lot more funds and through that connecting more people with the revolution. First, we listened to clips of the BA Interviews and shared our thoughts and the responses of people on the streets who had heard them.  We had some enthusiastic wrangling over how we can contribute as much as possible and what difference it makes to succeed. We’ve taken out the drive to many people through emails and promoting clips of the interview but more is needed. We talked about strategic confidence and the need to put the call for funds right out front with people we meet.  

We came up with a list of projects and are putting out the word for volunteers to step forward and help:

• Getting out to barbershops and beauty parlors with fliers and palm cards and a call for funds
• Making and selling bake goods and lining up orders for a dinner sale in January
• Phone-banking to get back to contacts we’ve made over the years, including follow-up with people we met at a recent lecture by revolutionary artist Dread Scott
• Looking for a venue where people can gather to watch, eat and donate for the January 8 Livestream

One woman reached through phone-banking hadn’t ever been to revcom.us or seen the RNL show, but based on texting her with a clip of the interview and then following up with a phone call, she said, "This makes me very happy, it gives me hope" and volunteered to help cook dinners to raise funds.

Watching the new Interviews with Bob Avakian is inspiring and challenging people, including people in and around the Revolution Club—changing how they understand the world and bringing forward deep appreciation for this person and this rare and necessary leadership for real revolution. With the call for a fundraising effort to put revolution on the map and to reach thousands and then millions with these Interviews, the Revolution Club in LA enthusiastically pulled together to discuss this and make plans. The plans were simple and featured a way for people to be involved and a way to bring people together—a fundraising festival and tamale sale at the Revolution Club Organizing Center, with a follow-up tamale sale the next day in a South Central neighborhood where a couple of club members live. We had a follow-up call during the week and watched together and discussed the fantastic segment of The RNL Show with the Revolution Club in Chicago responding to a clip from the Bob Avakian Interviews, where he speaks to the hard-core youth and those catching the hardest hell. This further inspired and unleashed people.

The tamales were an anchor of the whole plan—involving people in making them, getting orders, selling them. We planned to make 300 tamales. But, right as this was about to take off, the person with expertise in making tamales who had volunteered to make half of them tested positive for COVID and could no longer do it (she is doing fine)! Before she got sick, she had worked with someone from the Revolution Tour to put together a tutorial video so others would be able to help. With this video, people who had never made tamales before threw in to fill the need, making 200 tamales. A restaurant owner who has donated previously to support the revolution was told about this project and the contradiction of the tamale-maker falling ill and decided to donate 100 tamales to contribute to involving more people and raising much-needed funds!

One woman who has never made tamales in her life and culturally didn’t grow up with them, gave money to buy ingredients, threw a whole day into making them, and proudly came and helped to host the fundraising festival. Others who weren’t able to help make them donated for ingredients or passed out flyers to get the word out. One person came early to take charge of vision and setup for the festival and was part of hosting it throughout the day. She also donated an incredible array of earrings she’d bought from a friend who made them. She commented the festival was a celebration of the new friends we’ve made throughout this year and a way of looking forward to continuing our efforts in the coming year. A man who was planning to help with the tamale-making had a death in his family and couldn’t do all of what he planned to do, but is enthusiastically hosting the tamale sale in the neighborhood and getting the word out to his neighbors.

The Revolution Tour worked to get the word out about the fundraising weekend and the Interviews—on the trains throughout South Central and especially the area of the organizing center and the neighborhood of the tamale sale, kicking up debate and controversies and drawing forward serious interest in the Interviews. Different people invited friends, family and people who have started watching the Interviews.

At the festival, people ate tamales and drank champurrado together, with music, colorful strings of lights, and a great vibe. People from different walks of life met each other and talked about big questions up in the world while kids colored and sang songs. We watched portions of the Interviews and people broke up in different groupings to talk. A musician came and played a few songs on the saxophone.

In one grouping, a Latin American woman who has only been in the country a short while and met the revolution very recently had watched part of the first interview on her own and then the last question at the festival. The discussion was serious and warm—ranging over big questions of strategy, goal, and method. In another grouping, two Black men watched the segment of the Interview where BA speaks to the hard-core youth. One responded that he is impressed with Bob Avakian and that the young people need to know him. The other guy, younger, said BA is speaking to things he knows from his life, for example knowing people caught up in bad shit but you know their heart and know a better side to them.

This part of the Interview also resonated with others, including the woman who threw in to make tamales. She talked about how people try to get out of the life and get pulled back into it, like the story in the Chicago segment about Lanzo. She wrestled with whether people can change—saying people should change, but there’s a lot of stuff in the way. Some people want to change and some don’t, but they have to have leadership. When asked what she would want to say to people around the country about why she put so much work into this fundraiser and why it was important to her, she said the young people need to stop killing each other and they need leadership.