We formed a team to reach out to librarians at the national American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago to bring the understanding, challenge and invitation that’s concentrated in the WE ARE THE REVCOMS Proclamation: “We are working for a real revolution and a whole new way to live. You need to be part of this revolution, and your library patrons need to know about and have access to this revolution through the works of Bob Avakian (BA), revcom.us and The RNL Show.”

Eighteen thousand librarians attended the convention from all over the country, plus 6,000 exhibitors. Librarians serve every community from huge cities to tiny towns and rural areas, including Native American reservations. They serve every stratum of people from academics and students to homeless people and little children and are an important resource for many. In general, they are people who read, are open-minded and support critical thinking.

This was a unique opportunity to take the revolution out to this critical group of people who have been in the crosshairs of the fascist agenda aimed at eradicating anything that stands in the way of undisguised patriarchy, white supremacy, xenophobia, etc. Fascist attacks have included efforts to ban any book that refers to the true history of this country based on slavery and genocide, as well as any mention of LGBTQ people, especially targeting trans people and drag queens for daring to just be themselves in real life or even fiction. There have been violent protests against schools and libraries and attempted and successful takeovers of library boards and school libraries. Librarians have been on the front lines of standing up to these attacks and defending “the right to read.”

We made signs (see picture) with the front page of the proclamation and “WELCOME LIBRARIANS” at the top and wore bright green “No Book Bans!” stickers and the rainbow stickers “In Defense of LGBTQ Rights and Lives—Fight the Power & Transform the People for Revolution” so they could see at a distance to show that we stood with them and not against them. It turned out this was important—a number of people said when they saw people with signs, they were worried it was hostile people, until they saw what the signs and stickers said.

Because of the setup of the convention center with little access to attendees from the outside and tight security inside, we sought out the librarians at two accessible major hotels where some of the events were held and where attendees got on and off buses to the convention center.

As people passed by we emphasized that radical change IS coming, either horribly reactionary or radically emancipating and that we were reaching out because people need to know that there is a way out. When people stopped to talk we pointed out that the way out of this mess requires a real revolution to dismantle this system and replace it with a radically better system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America written by Bob Avakian. We showed them the Constitution, including a QR code that took them to its webpage. Whenever a longer conversation happened, we showed the back page of the broadsheet, and what a resource it is for them, their library patrons and students. While all of us had donation cans and everyone got the “Donate” flyer, fundraising on the spot was a weakness in terms of being an immediate and important way that people can act on their support and appreciation and contribute to the revolution.

There were also volunteers getting out flyers for Insight Press, which publishes important works by BA, and had information for how to order these books as well as how to access them free online. Several librarians expressed appreciation for the free access for their library patrons.

We met librarians from all over the country. In general, people were very receptive and at least half took the broadsheet even as they were rushing by. We encountered people on subsequent days who had read it and engaged further.

Our experience shows the value of taking the WE ARE THE REVCOMS broadsheet to your local library.

Here are some examples of what we learned:

Quite a few librarians were up front with their views, displaying them on their T-shirts. A young tattooed librarian who had a ring in her nose had a black jean jacket with “Live to Read. Read to Live” embroidered on it. Another T-shirt said, “Books open minds, hearts and doors.” Another, a young man, had a shirt with just the word “Librarians” across the front but the letters were in the Pride rainbow colors. Others had shirts and buttons proclaiming against book banning.

Two different African American women librarians from the deep South who had read the broadsheet the day before said they really agreed and took bundles to take back to their libraries. When asked what she liked about it, one said, “My people worked harder than anyone to make America live up to its promise. But this is not going to work!” The second one, when asked what she agreed with said, “That we need a revolution! In 1954, the high court said Mississippi must desegregate their schools. Forthwith! Nearly 70 years later, people are still waiting. I have to agree we need a different way!”

A young woman told us, “I read that already! I went on your page! I went to your TikTok. It’s great!” I showed her the resource back page of the WE ARE THE REVCOMS broadsheet, and she said excitedly, “That’s her!” pointing to the picture of Sunsara Taylor (along with Andy Zee and Bob Avakian) in the section on The Bob Avakian Interviews. “She’s the one I was watching on your channel!”

Many people said they were under attack. Two librarians from the South recognized that their home state is a fascist laboratory. A teacher from the West Coast said that teachers are under attack too, and brought up a fascist attack on a school in one city. They agreed that there seemed to be no solution within this system.

We talked to a librarian from a university town in the rural South who said they have been fighting fascists (his words) and book bans for over three years and it’s getting worse. He initially said that the only power people had was to vote. When challenged about legislatures that think any election they lose is illegitimate, he thought for a minute. He then spoke about how MLK stressed working within the system and how Malcolm X said you could not get change from within the system. He said he now thinks Malcolm may be right.

An illustration of how these jolts are shaking people’s belief in the system: one librarian after grabbing a proclamation leaned in and whispered, “Do you think librarians are just sitting at a desk all day? They are plotting revolution.” She scooted off before we could engage her further.

A Palestinian man said he just retired after 50 years as a librarian in a rural state. He said it had been a challenge to be bringing critical thought and an accurate vision of reality as a librarian all those years. Hearing about the “rare time” and that this means we may get an opening for revolution if we seize the time, he said, “I really hope there is an opening.”

A woman who got the broadsheet the day before paused in the doorway of the bus and said to the revcom supporters standing close by, “I laud your commitment! I do. I compliment all of you on your commitment!” One of us said, “Well, what about you? We need you to get involved. We need your commitment.” She laughed and gave thumbs up, agreeing to look for us tomorrow to discuss that. The bus doors closed.

An older librarian said he was originally from Turkey. “I’m a communist myself, or I was when I was young.” I told him a little about BA and the new synthesis of communism that he has developed, showing the back page, the BA Interviews. He then went on a rant so loud that a few people asked is everything OK. He literally started yelling about how these countries, all of them, the U.S., France, England (he named more in Europe) will join in a search of an area the size of Connecticut in the north Atlantic for the missing Titan submersible which was a charade anyway since the Navy knew immediately that the thing imploded. But at that very same time these same countries allowed hundreds of migrants to drown off Greece, every last woman on board was lost. I quoted BA, “We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to dominate the world and to determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible.” He said, “I agree but I am too angry—so end of conversation!”  

Two young librarians who live in a small town in the South told us that laws are being passed in their area that mandate that all library cards of anyone 17 years of age and under will be cancelled. Then the parent of each child that wants a new library card must sign that they will be personally responsible for any and all material their child takes out. If the parent won’t sign, no library card. They said many titles are under attack. Lots of their books are getting stripped from the shelves. The librarians have spoken out to no avail. They say they will keep on standing up but feel they are losing these battles.

Another librarian told us that many titles are under attack and book bans are in various stages of enactment. She said the worst part is that the librarians are under attack for resisting the book bans and attacks on many titles, and the librarians get called “groomers” who are doing children harm. I made the historical point about Nazi Germany from the “Stop the Fascist Attacks and Demonization of LGBTQ People” flyer and she replied, “I’m Jewish! You don’t have to tell me about it!”

A librarian who used to work at a library in a suburb of a major Midwestern city and still knows most of the staff there said the library was completely shut down. She said, “Well, some of them just want to quit! I mean they tell me things like, ‘Hey, I wasn’t expecting when I became a librarian that I would be wondering if I need to take a weapon to work with me.’ I mean librarians are facing violence!”

An African American writer of books for young readers who had a book event at the convention took time to talk after taking the broadsheet. She readily took the broadsheet and was looking it over as soon as it was in her hands. She said she was “very glad someone is trying to do something about the situation we’re in.”

An African American young man said “Revolution! Yeah, I want that!” He was a presenter at the convention, he said. He said the future we face is frightening and “I agree that we need a deeper change.”

As I was standing there with my sign, “Welcome Librarians” above my head, a woman came out of the hotel and gave me a big hug, saying, “Thank you so much!” She briefly explained, “Last night, Judy Blume spoke at the convention about how her book Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret was mercilessly attacked from every side! So thanks so much to you guys for coming out here and doing this!"

In the four days, the team got out almost 700 “We Are the Revcoms” proclamations. The volunteers handing out the Insight Press flyer got out about 260 flyers.