They Have No Answer on Immigration...
The REVOLUTION Does!

April 29, 2019 | revcom.us

In their own perverted way, the representatives of this system—from Trump “all the way” to Bernie Sanders—have hit on a truth. They all say that this system of theirs faces a massive crisis over immigration. In that they are right. Where they are wrong and/or lying is that:

1. It is their system that has caused, and made worse, this crisis;
2. Their system has no answers to it;
3. The revolution does.

We’ll get to that answer—the solution to the “crisis”—in a minute. But first, let’s be clear on the problem. Imperialism is a system where a handful of “advanced” capitalist countries in Europe, North America, and parts of Asia dominate and exploit the whole rest of the world. The capitalists and then the imperialists have plundered the resources and people of South and Central America, Asia, and Africa for five centuries. These international gangsters have ripped apart the societies and deformed and dominated the economies of people after people, country after country. Constant wars and occupations—almost all of which can be laid at the doorsteps of the imperialist powers—create yet further misery. To top it all, the destruction of the environment (overwhelmingly the fault of these imperialist powers and the U.S. in particular) gives rise to massive drought and makes many of these countries unable to grow food and other necessities.

Because of all this, tens of millions of human beings in these countries cannot survive and are desperately seeking a haven in the countries that are responsible for their suffering. Tomorrow it will be hundreds of millions; and after that billions. Think about it.

And think about what YOU would do in their situation. Starvation or the threat of death by government or gang violence makes people take risks. Just around the Mexico-U.S. border, hundreds of people die every single year in the desert, seeking to evade the heartless border patrols.

Inflaming, Distorting, and Concealing: All in a Day’s Work for Representatives of this System

And what do the representatives of this system have to say?

The fascist Trump blames the immigrants themselves. He whips his base into a frenzy of hatred against them. He fans the flames of white supremacy still higher and “weaponizes” it for his whole fascist program.

The liberals may differ on the optics and they have some actual differences, but what is most striking is what they share with Trump. Remember, Obama set the record for deportations and told everybody after the elections that he and Trump were “on the same team.” He “worked with” Central American countries to stop immigrants before they even got to the border.

This week, the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman said he too wants a wall; but he wants to let in “high IQ” immigrants. He puts the liberal logic out there very plainly: “[I]n an era when more and more countries will fracture under environmental, population, criminal and technological stresses, we simply cannot take everyone who shows up at our border.” Friedman conceals the fact these “stresses” are caused by imperialism. And he doesn’t dare spell out the consequences of his conclusion: that the huge majority of people who are kept out of the U.S. should shut up and literally drop dead, so that the “gated communities” of the imperialist countries continue to gorge themselves with a clear conscience.

Bullshit from Bernie, or BS from BS

And then there’s the so-called radical Bernie Sanders. In his epic pander session on FOX News, Sanders said, “We need border security, of course we do. Who argues with that? That goes without saying. I happen to believe that there are more cost-effective ways to do that than simply building a wall.”

Who argues with that? WE argue with that. Take that first sentence—just who the hell is the “we” BS refers to? “We” the privileged Americans who consume 25 percent of the world’s resources with just 5 percent of its people; or we the more than seven billion on this planet?

“Border security?” Give us a break, BS—tell it to the Native Americans and Mexicans whose land the U.S. ripped off through force; tell it to the Vietnamese, the Iraqis, the Afghans and the masses in the dozens of other countries that the U.S. has invaded.

In Iowa last year, Sanders went further, answering a question on “open borders”: “[I]f your point is you open the borders, my God, you know, there’s a lot of poverty in this world, and you’re gonna have people from all over the world. And I don’t think that’s something we can do at this point. We can’t do it.” The American chauvinism, willful ignorance, and selfishness just drips from his every sentence.

So: from right to so-called left and all stops in between, every single one of these representatives ends up in the same place: let millions die, either from starvation or death in the deserts or on the sea.

There IS an Answer

But the revolution does have an answer. It’s in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, by Bob Avakian. The Constitution goes through the history of immigration in the USA and the way in which today “great numbers of immigrants ... were driven to the U.S., many of whom were not able to secure legal entry and consequently were forced to live in the shadows and remain vulnerable to extreme exploitation as well as to discrimination and to violence and terror carried out by the state and by mobs encouraged by reactionary policies, actions and statements of the government and government officials,” and how this was used to make things even worse. The Constitution goes on to lay out the rules of citizenship—that anyone residing in the territory of the new socialist republic at the time of its founding will be citizens, except for those who led the counter-revolution or committed war crimes and/or other crimes against humanity. And there are procedures outlined for people seeking residency, asylum, and citizenship.

But the main point is this:

“The orientation of the New Socialist Republic in North America is to welcome immigrants from all over the world who have a sincere desire to contribute to the goals and objectives of this Republic...” [emphasis added]. The rules to facilitate this on the right basis are then laid out, but the basic orientation is clear—and it is not miles apart but a whole world away from what the imperialist representatives, even the most “radical” among them, stand for.

Coming from that understanding, revolutionaries must join with others in fierce and determined resistance to the outrages now happening, and this can have a powerful effect on how millions see what is possible. In doing so, and in going to people who are either passive or confused in the face of this, the movement for revolution must clearly make the point:

Either live with what will be continued and worsening persecution of people who have been driven from their homelands by this criminal system, shutting your eyes and ears against the bones and tears of your fellow human beings; or, MAKE REVOLUTION.

The choice—and the responsibility—is yours.

The demonization, criminalization and deportations of immigrants.

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“You Think You’re Woke...
But You’re Sleepwalking Through A Nightmare —

This System Cannot Be Reformed, It Must Be Overthrown!”

The Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour

Read about the Tour stepping up and stepping out »

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April 28, 2019 | revcom.us

This is the text of the flyer being passed out at the Revolutionary picnic in Los Angeles on Sunday, April 28—and beyond.

The Plan to Advance the Revolution in MAY

Welcome to the National Get Organized for an Actual Revolution Tour.

If you want to radically change the world... if you want to make revolution... then you are in the right place. Here are some questions and answers.

What problem is the National Revolution Tour trying to solve?

We need a revolution. Any other solution will just keep the same horrors going on. And we have a lot of what we need to make revolution. We have the science, the strategy and really great leadership in Bob Avakian (BA). But we don’t have nearly enough people to really make this revolution known and growing.

We need to organize thousands of people in this next year, from different places and backgrounds. And, millions of people need to know that there is a movement for an actual revolution. To get this going we need to spread the word of this revolution—in big ways and small. When people see the signs of the revolution and the people with the T-shirts representing, that starts to make the possibility of an actual revolution real for millions of people.

This past month, we’ve been learning better how to do this. The Points of Attention are one big way that people learn what this revolution is really all about, start to change what they are about, and get organized. We need to keep doing that. And we need to do more.

How will we go to the next level?

This next month the National Get Organized for an Actual Revolution Tour has a plan.

First, we’ll keep spreading the Points of Attention, the “5 STOPS,” and the new “No More Generations” poster everywhere. We can do this wherever we go.

But we also have plans to do five other big things, which are at the end of this flyer.

At the end of the month, we want to come out with three accomplishments:

1) real impact by the revolution not just in LA but all over the country.

2) many new people organized into the revolution, doing things big and small, including forming and joining Revolution Clubs.

3) real organization in LA with people who are committed on different levels as they move forward in their understanding, continuing to spread the word about the Tour and revolution in many different ways.

The revolution needs everyone who wants a different world—your ideas, your work, your struggle. Together, we can change everything.

A letter from Andy Zee

The Points of Attention: A Doorway and Guide to Making Revolution

April 23, 2019 | revcom.us

Dear Revcom,

Greetings from the Get Organized for an Actual Revolution Tour. Last week I had an opportunity to speak with members of the Tour and the Los Angeles Revolution Club about the special effort to make an impact with and to organize new people into the movement for revolution with a special focus on the Revolution Club’s “Points of Attention for the Revolution (POAs).” People found that this informal talk sharpened up the radical difference the POAs could make in organizing people into the revolution. Since this talk, the Tour has been going out applying and experimenting with this different approach. We thought that it would be helpful to others around the country if I reconstructed this informal presentation. I will do my best to recall what I said.

So here goes:

This two-week effort to highlight and focus work around the POAs has two purposes:

1. A radical re-orientation for how we are organizing people into the revolution right from the start of meeting them. This is a big change from what has been the working conception and practice of organizing people into the Revolution Clubs. So, we should recognize that over the next 12 days going out with the POAs in a concentrated way has, as one objective, transforming how we (the Tour) and the Revolution Clubs step to the masses.

2. And second, through this period we need to change the situation where we turn heads to revolution, to people getting involved with the effort to spread the POAs—impact society with them—and through which we make real breakthroughs in accumulating forces for revolution now, organizing people in new and basic ways.

I want to expand a bit more on the point of radical re-orientation or reset on organizing masses into the revolution. Think about how much a departure this is from what has been Club practice, to be oriented and have a way to go out and organize people from the outset of meeting them. Right after making the basic case for why we need a revolution and that we have the way and the leadership to do so, then as a key part of our “pitch,” we should put forth and give the people a living sense of the right process and basis of unity for them to be a part of the movement for revolution: to get organized and to organize themselves.

This process comprehends the understanding that people don’t go from zero to 60 miles an hour all at once. It comprehends that people act on what they come to understand through a process that involves learning while changing the world—initially through their spreading the word... Again, a process whereby people are out spreading word of, and in that way representing for, the revolution while they are getting deeper into what it’s all about themselves.

And, they should tell people that! The POAs provide a means for people to help solve a big problem for humanity—that most people don’t know there is another way we could live, that there is a way and leadership for a revolution for a radically new world, and that the forces for revolution need to grow now if there is to be a revolution. We are involving them in solving that problem. More, the POAs are a concentration of what the Rev Clubs are (or should be)—these are the principles we uphold and live by today and they embody the world we are fighting for.

The POAs embody a great deal of scientific understanding—they embody a great deal of the new communism and the character and leadership of BA. The Points of Attention are a basic concentration of the principles, methods, and goals of this revolution. The struggle by masses of people to live by and fight for these principles will also serve to “establish” revolution as a different pole in society, causing word of it to spread. It will be an impetus and a means by which people link up, form groups and networks, and get organized into the revolution. The popularization and engagement with the POAs will be an important link in a mass process whereby people change themselves towards becoming emancipators of humanity.

The Points of Attention are a pathway to BA—to the leadership we have in Bob Avakian, to the guidance from his body of work. As people dig into and apply these principles right away they will want and need to know more. In particular, BAsics and the films of BA are an essential “starter kit” for people seeking to change the world and get with the revolution. BAsics is the handbook of the movement for revolution. The film of the speech by BA in the summer of 2018 Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution is foundational to all we are doing right now concentrated in the Tour. The book of the interview with Ardea Skybreak, 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 provides an incredible course in understanding the import and method and approach of BA. In drawing attention to these works it is not my point to undercut or drown the power in the simplicity of the POAs by “piling on the books.” But rather to provoke everyone here to think about how with these POAs as the basic departure and a reference point through which people get into the revolution, there will be a felt need to go deeper, to seek out the science, strategy, and leadership that we have in BA—the ideological and political framework and understanding—the tools—to develop their understanding and to train them to be leaders to win others to the same process.

With this let’s get into what Bob Avakian says in the speech, “Why We Need... and How We Can...”

Spreading the word, particularly as this is done together with others in a planned, systematic way, can be an important step in joining the organized ranks of the revolution and taking part in the process of building the revolution. A crucial next step in making this revolution real is that “Thousands need to get organized into the ranks of the revolution now, while millions are being influenced in favor of this revolution.” Getting organized into the ranks of the revolution means acting together with others in a unified way, as an organized force, guided by the strategic plan and leadership for the revolution, building the revolution among broader masses of people, while also getting deeper into the principles, methods, and goals of this revolution, the basics of which are concentrated in the “Points of Attention for the Revolution.” A key form of revolutionary organization are the Revolution Clubs, which live by, propagate, and fight for the “Points of Attention.” The core of the Revolution Clubs are people deeply committed to revolution who closely follow the leadership of the Revolutionary Communist Party, which has the basis, in the new communism, to provide overall leadership for the revolution; but the Revolution Clubs also need to reach out to and involve growing numbers of people who are new to the revolution. The Revolution Clubs are a means through which “people can take part in and powerfully represent for the revolution in an organized way, as they learn more about the revolution and advance toward joining the Party.”

Networks of people, working together to spread the word about and organize people into the revolution, need to be built, and expanded, in all parts of the country—and linked together. In areas where the Party and the Revolution Clubs have not yet established an organized presence, or in circumstances where people have not yet come into direct contact with this organized presence of the revolution but have become aware of the core principles and goals of the revolution, they should reach out to and involve others they can draw forward around those core principles and goals; they should link up with the central leadership of the revolution for assistance and direction in organizing a Revolution Club among the people they are bringing into the revolution, on the basis of the “Points of Attention for the Revolution,” which are included in the pamphlet HOW WE CAN WIN, and are posted at revcom.us. A crucial “connecting link” in all this is the Party’s website revcom.us and newspaper Revolution, which “sharply expose the crimes of this system, scientifically analyze why it cannot be reformed, and give guidance and direction for people to work in a unified way for revolution.” In everything we do, it needs to be clearly kept in mind, and boldly put forward to people, that, whatever part of the country we are in, and whatever the size of our forces at any given time, we are doing all this as part of a national movement, together with people in other parts of the country, aiming to impact all of society and building a revolution to overthrow the whole system, with the whole world in mind.

I have bolded two sections of these paragraphs to reflect the attention I drew to these sentences during the presentation even as I emphasized that these are not separate points from what BA is describing, but to underscore that even as people in the Tour and Club have had this speech for several months, the role of the POAs as described by BA has been overlooked by all of us.

I underscore this here because when the two-week POA focus for the Tour was announced there were tendencies to see the POAs only as a way to appeal to people’s desire for a just world—a statement of morality divorced from revolution. As important as it is that the POAs draw forward people’s often suppressed hatred for the way masses of people are set against each other in this society, the POAs are more than that, they are a crucial pivot in the whole process of making revolution. They are core principles of the revolution—polemical statements of what this revolution is for and what not: Point #1: for the emancipation of humanity, not personal gain... and each of the six sets forth an important ideological dividing line. The POAs set forth the methods of the revolution—guidelines for how we relate to and struggle with each other and critically in Point #5: on searching for and fighting for the truth. And, the POAs concentrate key goals of the revolution—the emancipation of humanity in Point #1 and that as it says in Point #6 since we are serious about aiming for an actual revolution to overthrow the system, “at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.”

Everything we are doing is aiming for “the time when the masses of people can be led to go for revolution, all out, with a real chance to win.” For this to happen we need to Prepare the Ground—change the way different forces are aligned today: putting this revolution on the map as a pole, an alternate authority in neighborhoods, schools and nationwide. If people knew of these Points of Attention, if they knew there was an actual force all across the country who were living by and fighting for these principles, wouldn’t that go a ways to preparing the ground? 

We need to Prepare the People. How? In one important aspect—by bringing forward thousands of people who are living by and fighting for these POAs—while many more people are appreciative of, looking towards, and supporting those who are today doing so. Recall what BA said in the film REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! about the “church ladies” appreciating someone doing something about these youth out here. And, if there is an organized force around the Points Of Attention—in clubs and networks all across the country—then we will have taken a serious step forward in Preparing the Vanguard, in bringing forward the organized force with the principles, methods and goal that could be forged into a vanguard party to organize an actual revolution and win.

The POAs are not something separate from the strategy for revolution. A key part of the strategy is captured in the slogan, Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution.

Have you noticed that POA # 2 begins: “We fight for a world where ALL the chains are broken.” Or, that POA # 3 begins with: “We fight for a world without borders, and for equality among different peoples, cultures and languages.” And, that the substance of all six POAs is what guides us today in transforming the people—which fundamentally means changing their thinking—and do constitute a great deal of what we are fighting for in this revolution: POA #1: “...the emancipation of humanity...”

The POAs are not a pipe dream, or some utopic scheme to get followers. This revolution for the new communism is real. We have been going out among the masses of people from Sacramento to UCLA to most recently the streets of South Central LA at the corner of Crenshaw and Slauson where Nipsey Hussle was gunned down in front of his clothing store. Everywhere we go, we are bringing alive for people that their lives and the things they care about can NOT fundamentally be solved under this system—even as today they largely don’t know this, or why it is so.  In fact, they have been systematically indoctrinated by the media, the educational system, the culture, as well as the way in which this system sets people against each other, on a world scale; they are locked within frameworks that they need to break from. 

To make this come alive and be sharply present in people’s thinking we bring them 5 STOPS—five horrific forms of oppression that this system can not eliminate, that can not be reformed away. This provides the material basis for making revolution including that people do care about one or all of these 5 STOPS.

These 5 STOPS present TWO CHOICES to the people: Either live with this and the oppression will go on and on, or, as BA says in the speech, Make Revolution.  And, if you want to be a part of making revolution, you need to spread the word of the revolution and GET ORGANIZED—and the 6 POINTS OF ATTENTION provide the principles by which you can do that.

So, as one of the people from the Tour put it: We have 5 STOPS, 2 CHOICES, AND 6 POINTS OF ATTENTION. Easy to remember and concentrating the path to getting organized for revolution.

We can recognize that this is vastly different than what has been common practice in the Rev Clubs. The Tour has been going out to provoke people out of the frameworks they have been living in—whether elections, the dog eat dog of entrepreneurialism (legit or not), intersectionality, etc... We have been putting forth problem and solution, leading with BAsics 3:1 and how that presents two choices: live with this system or make revolution. But, then while we may say what’s missing is you, the agitation and how we are oriented towards involving people does not break down the divide where people say, “I’ll check it out,” or, “I admire your dedication, it's good you are doing this,” and then we just get their contact information or invite them to an event. Our agitation, our “pitch,” has not given people a way in, a way to take this up and run with it.  

Instead, we have had a model where to get with this movement people have to be a full time activist on short notice.  More, they feel they have to know a lot about revolution and communism to be a part of this. If you think for five minutes about this, with this method and approach we will at best aggregate scores of hundreds of people, one by one. This will not a revolution make. Actually, it is antithetical—opposed—to the revolution we need where people are working on the problems of the revolution including organizing for it!

The point is not that we don’t have to lead. But, rather lead how? The POAs provide a way right from when we meet people for them to get into what this is all about, what it’s for and how to think about it. It provides a way for people to go out to others with these POAs and discuss them. We should find the right ways to lead and assist—being sure people have the tools they need from the website or in print to go deeper. In this way we should develop networks of people and beginning Revolution Clubs. People need to be connected to BA right from the start—giving them the science and understanding they need. We should be connected to learn from their questions and to guide them. A measure of how we are doing is whether and how people respond to calls that the revolution makes—such as for this POA picnic on April 28.

As people take up the POAs and start getting them around, linking up and talking with others about them, and forming beginning organization, what do they need to understand in a basic way? They should be getting a real living sense of the strategy for revolution, the critical importance of advancing through lively ideological struggle, including having a sense of how to do battle with the backwardness from different sections of the people such as posturing opportunists (see the fire extinguisher award to Al Sharpton)—even coming to see how sometimes these people assume the words of revolution. New people really need to be able to increasingly recognize bullshit wherever they encounter it, and use their developing networks, or groups of like-minded people, to regularly discuss and sum up these encounters, and advances forged through them, all as part of building scientific revolutionary “muscle”! 

We have work to do ourselves to incorporate all of this into our agitation and beginning encounters with people and into our work overall. There is a lot of thinking and experimentation we need to do. All of it aimed at getting to a situation where millions can be led to go for revolution, all-out, with a real chance to win.

What Resonates with You in the Points of Attention for the Revolution?

May 7, 2019 | revcom.us

The National Revolution Tour and the Revolution Club have been going out broadly, from the neighborhoods to the campuses and elsewhere, getting out the Points of Attention. On this page are videos and written testimonials from different people when asked, “What resonates with you in the Points of Attention for the Revolution?” Those who agree with these points and aspire to live by them should join and build the Revolution Club, now. When people spread the Points of Attention, they are spreading the revolution and being part of helping to build up the revolutionary organization of the people.

You Think You Are Woke...
But You Are Sleepwalking Through A Nightmare

Get Organized for An ACTUAL Revolution to Emancipate All Humanity

Updated November 10, 2019 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Noche Diaz Presenting the Lifetime Fire Extinguisher Award to Al Sharpton at the Sacramento, CA State Capitol.

From a Mental Health Professional and Supporter of the Revolution...

Step Up to My $1000 Challenge to Support the National Revolution Tour

Updated May 1, 2019 | revcom.us

I will double your donation to the National Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour, up to $1,000, received by May 4. The National Get Organized for an Actual Revolution Tour goal: to spread the word and bring people into the process of building for an actual revolution.

I have searched my heart and soul, and either I choose to accept to live in a world based on heinous brutality and crimes against humanity in the US and around the world, or I stand up and fight for revolution. It is through studying the scientific work of Bob Avakian, that I am convinced that the only way out of this hell, is through a revolution that digs up this system's rotten roots and brings into being a whole new system that is not built on exploitation, but on the needs of the people and the highest aspirations of humanity.

I weep when I hear about the children in cages at the border with Mexico. I am enraged when time and time again, the lives of Black and Brown people are stolen by murdering pigs with no repercussions; and how the youth in the ghettos are pitted against one another to kill for a spot on the corner that is not theirs anyway. I am horrified when I imagine what it is like to be a Palestinian, forced to live, and barely survive, in an open air prison in Gaza. I am shocked when we can see and feel the actual climate disruption causing death and destruction all over the planet and there are no viable plans to stop it. I stand with my sisters who have been sexually harassed, beaten and raped every minute in this patriarchy. I grieve with the LGBT community as they are targeted through actions of hate or die at alarming rates through suicide. I have come to understand through years of delving into the work of BA, that these things are the result of the workings of capitalism and imperialism.

This kind of world is intolerable to me and it should be to you! If you REALLY get into this revolution, you will learn that the world does NOT have to be this way.

If you contribute to support this tour, you can help make it possible for hundreds and thousands of people to have the opportunity to learn about what this revolution is all about, what difference it can make in the world, and how we can win.

I am inspired by what the revolutionaries on the tour are doing. I loved that Noche Diaz presented a fire extinguisher award to Al Sharpton as a symbol that he plays the role of “extinguishing the fire” of outrage and desire to stand up to the powers that be and pulling them back into the system that causes needless suffering in the first place.

It was powerful that a white male comrade was kicked out of a “safe space” because he read a poem written about sexual trauma against women. There are no safe spaces in the world we live in and the team came back standing firm against intersectionality with the message that this would not lead to emancipation. The revolutionaries are out front at the Bernie Sanders rallies going up against the Bullshit of the democrats and solutions that will lead nowhere.

This Tour urgently needs our contributions to stay on the road -- for travel costs; lodging; printing costs; supplies; food; reading materials and more. This revolution is the only hope for a world without borders; a world where people can live in dignity no matter their race or gender or whom they love; a world where the planet is protected; where there are no wars for empire; and a world in which life is worth living.

Join me in donating to make this possible. Do it now, before May 4 and double your impact with my dollar for dollar match!

With warm thanks,

A Mental Health Professional and Supporter of the Revolution

Donate to the Tour:

Donations accepted here via PayPal and credit cards.

Word version of this letter, for sending out or printing

From NYC: When People Step Out...

From a member of the National Revolution Tour currently in New York

April 25, 2019 | revcom.us

I wanted to share a few thoughts... in terms of this historic objective problem, it seems that putting the problems of the revolution to masses of people from the beginning is something that we need, I feel, to transform further, in our orientation, agitation, overall approach. We have gotten sharper in our agitation (although it’s a continuous work in progress), and we’ve had experiences of challenging and inspiring people and beginning ways in which people have stepped forward. In part it was because our agitation sharpened up (the 2 choices, the Points of Attention for the Revolution(POAs) and “the bridge to a different world is revolution” point), for example at the high school, instead of agitating while students just passed us by, we started challenging the students, asking them questions in the form of a provocation and challenge (especially once we wielded more the POAs): do you want to live in a world where women are treated like human beings? (And other variations on this) And demanding students stop and answer these questions. This, along with “5 STOPS” visuals, creates a situation where yes still too many students just keep walking but some actually stop and answer the questions posed, and still others (a minority) stop to talk, engage, struggle, etc.

One particular youth (I’ll call him Benny) stopped and got on the bullhorn (after hearing some of the things we’d been saying, the challenges posed to students, etc.) to challenge his peers, “stop thinking about video games, sex, this is about your future...” Benny on the phone said he had originally stopped because he has personal experience with the things we were saying, he said (I’m paraphrasing) women are not treated right, I have friends who are women who are mistreated and disrespected, also immigrants... He also said he agreed with the BEB newspaper about the “crimes against humanity” from those in power. I’m leaving out much of our conversation (again, mainly the basics of the 2 choices, POAs and his role in solving the problems of the revolution) but the point is that I did pose to him the problems of the revolution, that people don’t know about this and spreading the POAs is (at least one way) how we’re going at this problem, and how all this is part of making revolution. He took extras to pass out on the bus he takes after school.

Last week we planned (and did) a speak out twice at the park where many of the students go thru after school, so I posed to him the importance of letting others know, which he did. Wednesday and Thursday he came by for several minutes and brought a friend here and a friend there. And Thursday in particular he got on the bullhorn and called over friends walking by to come over (friends that were either mocking him or maybe more questioning what the hell was he doing standing with “us”). But Benny was not seeing a separation between “us vs them” when he got on the bullhorn and read POA 2 and 5, he took the first steps in breaking down some of the barriers... but how to go further is the challenge.

To back track, two of the people asking him “Benny what the hell are you doing?” were these young women who passed by, but he called them over and then one of them ended up getting on the bullhorn and started chanting “viva la revolución” and then something in Spanish along the lines of men think they have the right to disrespect women but NO! women have rights...and she ended with “everyone in the world have rights.”

And there’s been experiences of other high school students initially stepping into this thru taking materials (extra POAs to put up, or putting on “The System Has No Future...” sticker, donating some money for these materials). And we are following up this week with a plan to go out with Benny and maybe others in the areas they live or areas they want to go (this is something we put to Benny) to get POAs up (this week is spring break for high schools). After summing this up we also started to read quotes from BAsics together with the POAs as part of people connecting up, straight up with Bob Avakian (BA) and his leadership. A key part of the plan is to engage the students with BA, this spring break and when they get back to school. I’ve gotten the link to BA videos to Benny and other students.

The main point is that we need to be putting the problems of the revolution to people; we should be provoking, challenging and inspiring and parallel to that has to be putting the problems before people where they see they have a role to play and that this very positive transformation of society cannot be done without them and lots more people like them getting involved, in an organized way, and helping to spread this and helping to organize lots of like-minded people into this! Relatedly, we (myself included) don’t enough emphasize the last part of that sentence, the organizing “lots of like-minded people into this!” I’ve been more focused on asking people to spread this and why this is meaningful revolutionary work (which it is!). But the challenge needs to be put to people, and people inspired to do so, to go out and get lots more people into this revolution. This is something I’d like to think through more.

***

Here I’m just ruminating more broadly although sparked by a few things on my mind (which I’ll speak to briefly below). Our problem is still too much not leading and working together with many others to lead many more others, etc.; but as this transforms, and I feel as part of getting to that transformation, our approach to people needs to be one where ideas and suggestions are not readily dismissed and build plenty of room for people to make mistakes and learn and understand (and lead in a way that comprehends) that people (those whose aspirations has been awakened and see the need to take this up) will come with all kinds of ideas (good ones and even seemingly quirky ones or that actually are quirky or worse).

We should comprehend that people will also make mistakes and that this “process” will be messy, in fact very messy most of the time and not neat. And we should not dismiss ideas just because they seem like we’ve done them before but be open to people taking this up based on what has been inspired and awakened in them (meaning on the basis of going back to the 2 choices, POAs, the point that “the bridge to that better world is revolution” and the role they play to make this happen) and then lead this process, not just one on one but with masses of people, summing up and continually going back with them.

How to apply solid core with lots of elasticity based on the solid core? This is something worth grappling with and ruminating with further, among ourselves in the Revolution Club and those coming forward, and more broadly. As more and more people step into the revolution, and aspirations awakened, many ideas will be flowing and so how not to tail and how not to shut down things? I’ve noticed among the Revolution Club sometimes we do that, we shut things down too quickly among ourselves and with others. But the contradiction is that while some of us have been around longer and know some things, the reality is that this is uncharted road and we must remain open to things (including to ideas people have) and approach things with science and imagination. We need more experimentation, etc. The point is that we are solving problems in the real world, and reality is very complex, but that’s what we are doing and must lead many more people, in fact thousands and thousands to do exactly that.

I was recounting the story of struggling with some high school students where I challenged them to take up the POAs, distribute them but also wield them, if they see a woman being harassed or someone being made fun of because of their language other than English, use the POAs and say no that doesn’t go here, we’re part of a movement for a real revolution that’s fighting for a world where all the chains are broken, all that degrading stuff doesn’t go here (something like that). Relatedly several Revolution Club members made a video posted on FB about “what if” we’d had the POAs back in high school, when youth have to deal with so much of the degrading culture and so suffocated with the idea that there is nothing you can do or that there is no alternative to this system of capitalism/imperialism. This was good, and we need more of this; and especially we need all kinds of initiative taken that’s aiming to and grappling with (among other things) breaking down this “us versus them” contradiction.

As an aside, the question of “revenge” versus emancipation has been coming up recently in discussions with the Revolution Club and more broadly. A member of the Revolution Club told a story and recounted the advice his older brother gave him back in the day, if someone does something to you then “do what they do to you but twice as hard.” Another person pointed out in a discussion about how common revenge is as a unifying approach in many countries and really around the world. And nobody else on the planet speaks more sharply to this then Bob Avakian in many of his works and it’s something we should wield more often, among many of the people we encounter (from the different strata since this is a question up and down all strata even if it takes different expressions). I’d be surprised if this hasn’t been a big question in L.A. with the murder of the rapper and the different gangs and others who’ve come out. The striving to unite right now is very positive... but how do we not let things “re-assert” themselves given this system really has no future for the youth and that the Nipsey model (the entrepreneurial model) won’t lead to liberation. Again, I was really glad to see the clips from REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! and from Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About where BA goes deep at this!

And we do have to keep coming back to what is the material basis for doing what we’re setting out to do with this National Revolution Tour as key to building this movement for revolution, making revolution and getting to a radically different world. Going back to the excerpt “The Five STOPS” from Bob Avakian’s speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution, And How We Can Really Make Revolution and keep grounding ourselves and others in the entire film and Q&As is key in all this.

Briefly (but relatedly), I teamed up with someone recently and went around to talk to people who work in this important part of town. He put on the BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! T-shirt as we talked with and handed out the POAs and the BEB [“Bourgeois Electoral Bullshit”] newspaper. Most discussions were brief but positive. One important lesson here is that the person I teamed up with was really grappling with this “us versus them” contradiction, he couldn’t understand why not many more people were getting with this. His ideas on approach had lots of insight, mixed in with other things I didn’t necessarily fully agree with.

But the main thing I’m trying to highlight is that aspirations were awakened through his engagement with videos and other materials from the National Revolution Tour (for example the video of Noche Diaz calling out Al Sharpton’s role in always trying to put out and extinguish the righteous anger of the masses of people every time there is a cold blooded murder by the police of Black and Brown people) and other things as well. He was deep and grappling on a problem that we need to solve, how to bring many people forward into the movement for revolution. And while in the main people we talked to responded positively, there was one occasion that was not so positive. We got into how do you deal with people who don’t want to hear it, even getting nasty about not wanting to hear it. I told him we shouldn’t and don’t take nonsense from people and it’s important to come back sharply ideologically, “ok you wanna keep them mental shackles and keep the world as it is, ok then, go on then, we got nothing to say to you.” Bob Avakian goes into this in a sharp way in the speech REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!

Other deep questions came up as we summed up, having to do with the strategic approach to revolution, what about certain sections of the middle class, can they be won to revolution and how? How about “friendly neutrality”? He said, “this is my first time going out with this, so I’m bound to learn new things!” But another main lesson I wanted to draw was that as people take this up, they’re bound to run into opposition and a lot of bullshit. And as people run into difficulties it’s important that we fight to not let assert the strong almost gravitational pull towards the “us versus them” divide—that because there is bound to be negative experiences in taking this out that perhaps I can’t do this and maybe I’ll stay over here supporting from afar and you (revcoms) be over there. We have to challenge the notion that those stepping into this, taking those initial steps, (the many people that need to step into this from all kinds of backgrounds) couldn’t do this. Again, what is the material basis to do what we’re setting out to do? Continually coming back to this and grounding and re-grounding more and more people in this (in BA's scientific method and approach) will be fundamental in making some breakthroughs.

Sharp Struggle, Wide Embrace

Updated April 27, 2019 | revcom.us

From a member of the National Revolution Tour:

There is so much richness and texture to report on and I don’t have much time.

A few patterns to point to from the neighborhood and then I’ll get into some more specifics. First, among people in the life, going to Hoover Park seemed out of the question to people because of the beef between sets. This came up a number of times in different ways. Second, there are others we’ve now had a number of discussions with (in particular, the guys drinking in front of a local store) for whom coming is more of an ideological question of whether they’ll step into the revolution and let themselves hope. Third, we met a number of younger people in the neighborhood who are not in the life who fell out in different ways. These are important people to reach because they are influenced by the same circumstances but with different levels of openness. Finally, there are a couple people we are more actively “working with” who are taking responsibility for the revolution in different ways, reporting back, etc.

In all this, there are some very deep things being joined and opened up... for some, in the first discussions we are having... others from some of the repeated discussions. A lot of this is still very centered on whether the problem is the people, or the system. We have been getting up the new “no more generations” poster and used it in a couple important exchanges joining this question.

Also, we met with the person who runs an Afrocentric community center nearby. It’s used as a meeting place with local programming and arts projects. This was a place someone in the neighborhood suggested we go check out. I got a call back and a few of us went over to meet with the person who runs it. The director is familiar with BA from hearing him on Michael Slate’s show. He’s revolutionary minded even as he thinks you have to use “every tool at your disposal to make real change.” He said BA resonates with him and he can’t think of anything he’s ever said he disagrees with. We talked with him about the Tour, our mission, played the trailer of the new speech and gave him the text for it which he was interested in reading. He wanted to know how we all got involved in the revolution and we talked about this... it was a pretty rich discussion overall. He also wanted to know the response we’ve been getting from the neighborhood, our work, etc. And all three of us talked about this more.

We did put the different problems to him in terms of the overall mission of the Tour, but also asked his thinking on the terrain. He was somewhat reticent about this but did talk about how people are tired and, he thinks, ready to hear a serious argument for real change. He said that stepping out with our message in the way we are should separate the wheat from the chaff in a good way. We talked about wanting to show the BA speech at his center. He’s interested and we’re going to go through the process to apply for this.

He was glad we reached out and thanked us several times for what we’re doing. This is someone we should be working with going forward as well and we did invite him to the picnic.

We also went into a nearby school where it looked like a lot of students were getting out early and we passed out a bunch of flyers. Unlike other high schools, most of the students took them. At the Burger King later, when we sat down to have lunch, we talked to four of these kids who read the POAs out loud to each other (while doing an Instagram Live) and were excited about this. They kept saying, “hell yes.” We got their info to send them a BA video to watch and post.

I had a very heavy/important discussion with one student on the corner which I think is worth walking through in detail. He was standing with about 4 or 5 guys and seemed to be the leader of the group. He and they were kind of fucking around but took the flyers. We said what we were about—on a National Tour to organize for an actual revolution to overthrow this system—and he looked over the flyer while we pointed to the POAs and told him what they were. He saw the info about the picnic, and said, “Hell naw, I ain’t going over there, that’s enemy territory.” Even though I knew what he meant, I asked what he meant. He kind of laughed and said more to his friends more than me, “My parents told me all about that.” And he named the other set with an insulting nickname. I said, “Really, enemies huh? Let me ask you, what do those enemies look like?” His friends were still more messing around, laughing, rolling up the flyers. He got serious and said, “They look like me.” I asked, “So you think they control that territory over there?” He said, “No, I don’t think so.” I asked him who he thought controlled it and he said, “The government does.” I said he was right about that, and then asked who controlled the ground he was standing on, and he said, “Yeah, the government does.”

I did some agitation about how this system has people pitted against each other, but really who are the real criminals, their armies marauding all over the world, their bombs tearing children apart limb from limb, their pig police running roughshod through these neighborhoods, tearing babies from their parents at the border... the motherfuckers who run this system are the criminals and they are perfectly happy to have oppressed people fighting and killing each other, it helps them because they want to kill you off anyway. His friends had stopped listening and kind of walked away telling him they had to catch the bus. But he was intent and told them to chill, they’d catch the next bus anyway. He said he knew something about the government. His aunt told him about how they made all their money off of slavery. I said he was right about that and that same shit continues in different form today.

He responded, “Yeah, I know all that shit, but fuck it, I got to take care of me and my family, I got to get my money. I got to get up out of here and take care of myself, my people.”

First, I said, be real, most likely this system won’t let you make shit. Just a tiny handful make it up and out. But even more fundamentally, let me ask, you’re saying you want to get rich. Where do you think wealth comes from anyway? He answered, “From the government too?” I said not really, it comes from fucking over people just like you all over the world. I pulled out my phone and asked if he knew what prevented the phone from overheating in his hand. He said he didn’t know and I explained about the mineral coltan. That it comes from different parts of the world, including the Congo. That there have been resource wars raging in the Congo for years which have, in part, resulted in millions of women being raped. That there are kids his age and younger working in those mines. That’s where wealth comes from. Then those minerals and other raw materials get shipped to China where millions of people slave away in sweatshops working 18-hour days going blind from working so long with such small things, breathing all these toxins and shit. That’s where wealth comes from.

I put it back to him, is that what you want to be part of? Saying fuck it, and becoming like the criminals that run this system. He said quietly, “I don’t know.”

I then pulled out the new poster we made with BAsics 1:13, told him briefly who BA is and had him read the quote. He read it out loud and then I asked him to look at the pictures, which he did. I asked what he thought. He stood there quiet for a minute and said, “Damn, this picture hurts my heart.” Looking at the picture of the Syrian child washed up on the beach, drowned to death. I told him that America was responsible for that, they were part of the war, destroying the country that his family was fleeing from to survive. He stayed looking at it, and I told him he was as responsible for that child and his family as he was for his own family. He just answered, “Yeah, that’s true.”

I pointed to the pictures again and said, “Look man, all this shit is not necessary and it all comes from the system that we are organizing to take down. This is something you need to step into and be part of. The world could be a whole different way but we have to fight for that.” He seemed unsure and I said more about why he needed to be at the picnic on Sunday and asked if getting a ride from the neighborhood would help. He said he wasn’t sure and seemed like he was moving to head out at that point. I said I wanted to leave him with a question and challenge from BA, the same person who said that quote he read. I said that Bob Avakian says: we have two basic choices... either live with this nightmare of a system, condemn future generations to more of this or worse... if they have a future at all... or make revolution. I asked then, which will you choose? He was quiet, and said, “That’s serious. I have to think about it.” I told him he did and that I wanted to send him a link that gets more into what kind of world is possible. He gave me his number and I told him to keep the poster, I also gave him an extra flyer for his aunt.

I sent him the “What Ifs” clip and I’m going to call him later this afternoon to see if he watched it, also want to send him the one on the Corcoran SHU and talk with him about a ride.

I also spoke with a crew of guys that were getting on the bus (seemed like they were a little older than high school, or were cutting). A couple of them had skateboards and were getting high. The main kid I talked to, who was more interested and said, “I feel what you’re saying,” was wearing a Scarface T-shirt. He also said the main thing he wanted to do was get up out of here, live in the hills with a family and a white picket fence. He talked about hating all the gang divides, he’s not in the life but still gets checked everywhere he goes. “I hate people asking, ‘where you from?’ It ain’t your fucking business and anyway, I’m not into all that.” Their bus was about to come so they didn’t want to watch a BA clip but I did some brief agitation (referencing BA) about the Scarface mentality. The guy who was talking to me was torn because he could see what he was saying was selfish but also had questions about whether it was possible to defeat them. His friends stayed fucking around even when the bus came, but he got a bit more serious and gave me his number to send him the clip.

Other people in our team also talked to a 24-year-old kid from the neighborhood who was not in the life. He got a flyer and turned back around to get more, he said, “Give me some more of those, I’ve got some people who I want to share this with.” He lives in the area and said he thinks a lot about revolution. He mentioned knowing about a Black nationalist group that was active a few years ago, that he’s been thinking about the old Black Panther Party and revolution. He said, “I try to tell people they need to be aware and informed about what’s going on, but people don’t want to listen. They’re not interested, think it doesn’t concern them, but they need to hear this.” Someone on the Tour used the posters with him to show quotes from BA, illustrating what we’re up against that people are resigning themselves to this but here’s BA saying, “No, no more!” Talked more about who BA is, what he came out of and the work he’s done... but also what we don’t have in terms of the thousands of people taking this, what we’re doing with the National Tour and the need for him to step into this. (The person who had this discussion should fill this out more... there were important things, including he said you have to have food but really people need to get down with the content of what you’re doing.) We got his info and he took some materials. This was important.

We talked briefly to a Black woman, in her 30s/40s who read the POAs aloud and stopped at #4 on the point on we “do not tolerate revenge among the people.” She said, “Wow, making a revolution without revenge. That’s going to be hard. A lot of people are going to want revenge.” Unfortunately, she had to move her car at that moment and couldn’t talk much more but I did say this was a question the leader of the revolution, Bob Avakian, has done a lot of wrangling with. In opening the conversation, I told her about the Tour and she said she was surprised when I talked about what is missing are the people. She said she would think that a lot of people would be getting with this now because so many people are tired. She gave me her info to send a BA clip and she took a few flyers to get to people she knows and said she is interested in coming Sunday.

A few other people like this, people who were in a hurry, but interested.

We also talked for a while (perhaps too long) with some of the drinking guys, both some of the older folks and some of the younger folks more in the life. As I said above, some stubbornness among the younger dudes (in their 30s or so) about leaving their neighborhood, about the possibility of revolution, etc. We struggled over the POAs, including #3: “We fight for a world without borders...” Mainly this is about the imperialist borders, but also includes these bullshit borders among oppressed people here. Among the older dudes up the block, a lot of struggle about why they need to step into this. Talked to one guy who came up and said, “I want that book you all had yesterday.” I showed him BAsics and he wanted to get it. He spent 27 years in prison, and said he reads. He argued for religion and personal responsibility but also knows we need real change. He got BAsics and said he would give $10 on the 1st.

Importantly, talked with the guy who I wrote about yesterday. He came over to where we were to get BAsics and brought his $10. He also had been thinking about other people we should reach and told me about this meeting that he knows about with progressive Black nationalist forces. He said he would look into it more and see if he could get me a contact number. He also said that he’d taken a picture of the picnic flyer and sent it to a couple friends, one of whom wrote back, “Wonderful.” He can’t come because of work but he said that he would follow up with them. He also wrote that he’s begun reading BAsics. And then this morning wrote that he distributed the flyers about the picnic with the POAs on the other side.

This is someone who was more reticent to consider himself a part of the revolution but is actively working with the revolution and thinking about the problems we are facing and how to solve them. This is an important example of the process of people working on the problems of the revolution, an essential form of organizing people into the revolution.

Also, we’re trying to meet this morning with the guy who took the flyers out to the rap concert to interview him and he’s working on a statement for the picnic. He’s also figuring out how to bring speakers he has to the picnic.

There is more to report but this is already quite late...

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This System Has No Future For the Youth... But the Revolution Does

From BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! Bob Avakian Live. Watch the whole film at revolutiontalk.net

What People Are Saying about the Tour

Updated May 13, 2019 | revcom.us

"Collectively" Making Banana Pudding (!)

April 27, 2019 | revcom.us

From someone who is part of the National Revolution Tour

We met a woman who wants to be a part of the revolution. She’s on disability and is going to make banana pudding for the picnic, but does not have the resources or ingredients to make it. So we put the problems to others that we’ve been meeting. We put it to one guy who ran into the grocery store where we were talking to him and brought the aluminum foil. We went to another grocery store and got out the POAs, putting the challenge of the two choices to people. We also brought out a sign with the list of ingredients she needed to make the pudding, and small flyers of the ingredients. We were only out for about an hour, but somebody donated twenty dollars, and another person set down his grocery bags next to us after we talked to him and went back into the store and brought out some sugar and eggs.

There was also a guy next to us who was set up, who worked with a nonprofit for animals. As soon as we came up, he asked what we were about. I showed him the sign of the POAs and told him that were organizing for an actual revolution to put an end to the 5 Stops and that we have two choices, and that we have the leadership and the science, but what’s missing is people like you. When I showed him the Constitution he laughed and said, “Oh my gosh, you guys are for real!” He told us that he was a DACA person from South Korea, and went on talking about the gangs and the oppression of women and how much he admires strong women for what they have to go through. He told us he makes music and poetry so I posed to him, “Do you want to write a poem based on the Points of Attention and come read it at the picnic?” He said, “I knew you were going to ask me that!” And enthusiastically agreed to. After he packed up his stand he came up and stood with us and held the sign of the POAs. He also took part in making a video on suggestions on how to make a pitch to people for donations which we put up on Instagram.

Message from Chicago to South Central, L.A.

April 29, 2019 | revcom.us

Dozens of people on the South and West sides of Chicago signed a banner this week sending a message to LA on the eve of the Revolutionary Picnic with the National Revolution Tour there. “From Chicago to South Central L.A., It’s Time to Unite to Fight for Revolution and a Whole Better Way and Stop Fighting Each Other.” It was mainly signed by young people—a lot of highs schoolers—but also people of all ages.

The Revolution Club took this banner out together with the Points of Attention for the Revolution and a display of the 5 STOPS that show this system’s crimes against humanity and why we need a revolution. We decided to make this banner and take it out to people after talking with comrades from the tour who suggested this after summing up that people in South Central who have been moved by Nipsey Hussle’s death are also talking about the violence among the people in Chicago. We know that Nipsey’s death is resonating with people in Chicago who know about the pain and loss and heartache of killings among the people. And there is an additional sense of loss that Nipsey was someone who had tried to get out of that kind of violence and do something seen as positive for the people.

We workshopped what should be on the banner, and came up with something that was grounded in the Points of Attention for the Revolution and which put the question of “stop fighting each other” in the context of the what people actually DO need to do, which is come together to make revolution so we can get rid of this system and get humanity out of this mess. We thought it was important to say not only “fight for revolution,” but also “and a whole better way” because there IS another way the world can be and another way people can be right now as they fight for that. And the lack of people being able to see any way out is part of why people are so stuck in going along with the way things are.

In taking this out to people, though, there was struggle in our crew over a tendency to approach people to sign the banner on the basis of their spontaneous feelings about the death of Nipsey and the violence among the people versus engaging people on the actual message of the banner and the Points of Attention. There was definitely a lot of spontaneous feeling that the banner tapped into, which was not all bad, and there were a lot of written messages about stopping the violence and love for Nipsey. But we were also able to bring forward the question of revolution and a whole better way and this was lofting up what was being projected by the whole scene where people were coming and looking at the 5 STOPS, reading and talking about the Points of Attention for the Revolution, and signing the banner, including getting a sense that this is part of a national movement organizing for revolution.

In all this, we were struggling overall to transform our approach to actually organizing masses of people for revolution, and organizing people right when they encounter us. This was something that was going through changes from one outing to the next, on the basis of studying and discussing the letter from Andy Zee and reports from the tour.

In our first day of outings with the banner, we went to two high schools and then we hung the banner on the outside of the Revolution Club Organizing Center and stopped people passing by. Among some of the students who were more engaged on the whole message, there was a real appreciation for something that was about bringing people together to fight for a better world. One student after reading the POAs asked us to write his message on the banner, “come together, stop the hatred.” Another read the POAs and responded to #3 about fighting for a world without borders by saying “We need to build a new world, not a wall.”

At the same time, they didn’t initially engage too deeply with what was meant by “revolution” and this became more sharply posed as being very different from their spontaneous thinking as the discussions went deeper. One said only people in the government can do something about what is happening with those 5 STOPS, another said she was going to join the Navy after high school so she could have a better start out in the world. And another said she was working on stopping police mistreatment of people by working with a group that is meeting with the police to tell them what they need to change. With all these students we challenged these ideas with the reality shown in the display of the 5 STOPS (and with one student we also shared with her quote 1:24 from BAsics). We talked with them about the need to make an actual revolution to put an end to the system that gives rise to all this hell for humanity, and we told them there is a way they can be part of working to make that revolution, by taking up and spreading the POAs. All three of those students did take extras of the POAs to share with others and gave us ways to follow up with them.

In between those outings and the next time we went out with the banner, we had a meeting of the Revolution Club where we read and discussed the letter from Andy Zee, “The Points of Attention: A Doorway and Guide to Making Revolution.” Everyone had to confront what Andy said in that letter, that we need a “radical re-orientation” to how we approach organizing people. There were a couple rounds of discussion, with people working together on identifying what is the different approach being called for and how does it look different to do that than what we have been doing.

A few things started to get clearer. One is that when people meet us, they think they need to be full-time activists, or have to know a lot more about the revolution before they can get involved. And WE have too much been thinking that too and reinforcing that idea instead of breaking it down! In contrast to that, the POAs actually provide a way for people to start organizing for revolution right away. Not only can people take copies of the POAs and spread them around, but more fundamentally people can get a basic understanding of what the revolution is about and use the POAs to start to fight for it even as they are learning more. A good example was someone in the club who had gone out on his own to put up the POAs in an area he’s familiar with and described arguing with someone over Point #1. The person was asking “what’s in this revolution for me?” And the comrade was using what’s in Point #1 to argue against that whole way of thinking. This person has been in the Club for awhile already, but it’s easy to see how any new person could do the same thing.

Another thing that was getting clearer is that people need to be able to get into Bob Avakian, the leader of the revolution and the architect of the new communism, right away and know that getting further into BA is how they can go deeper into what the revolution is all about. We summed up we tell people about BA, but have not been using the wealth of video clips that could get people into BA right on the spot. And we took note of what the tour has been doing, which is immediately texting people links of BA videos as the first step to follow-up.

Some people said that organizing on the spot meant giving people tasks and getting their numbers, which unfortunately is too much what we have done when we’ve talked about “organizing.” This is in contrast to people actually engaging what the revolution is about in contrast to the ways they are thinking about what the problem and solution is, confronting the challenge of what they are going to do in relation to what humanity needs, and being brought into working on the problems of the revolution. A key problem we have to put to people is that while we have the leadership, science, and strategy to make this revolution, we don’t have the thousands like you getting organized, and you can be part of going to work on changing that now.

Finally, the basic pathway to organizing people that was outlined in Andy Zee’s letter helped to simplify what it looks like to start organizing people when we meet them, presenting to people the 5 STOPS, 2 Choices (either live with all this hell for humanity and subject the next generations to the same or worse, or make revolution), and 6 Points of Attention.

When we went back out with the banner, one of the places we went to was a neighborhood where a few weeks ago six people, including two children, were injured in a drive-by shooting during a baby shower. One person we talked to was someone we had talked with before and he’s drawn to what we’re talking about, but had a different idea of what we meant by actual revolution, and the more he got clear, the more questions he had. We had the banner displayed and an older man had come up and talked with us and signed it and he read the Points of Attention out loud. The younger guy said he thought #4 was a contradiction, how are we going to tell people not to take revenge when revolution is about revenge? We all talked together some about this, that it is precisely that the revolution is NOT about revenge, and the difference between overthrowing the system that’s oppressing the people, defeating and dismantling their institutions of repression vs. doing to your oppressors what has been done to you. This was part of the process of him getting clearer on what we meant by revolution. Then there was an interesting exchange where the younger guy was basically saying he admired us for what we’re doing and he wanted to learn more. The people in our crew recognized this as being part of the wall we need to break down (between the people who need to be organized and the people who are already revolutionaries) and all threw in to help each other address this. One person asked him how he saw his own role in contributing to making revolution. Another talked about how you don’t have to know everything to get started, you can learn as you go. We watched the video clip from BA on the revolution and the gangs, which also helped to break this down. Then we talked a few minutes more, fleshing out the vision of how a movement for revolution gets organized in all kinds of ways all over the country by people like him spreading the word and organizing others. We reminded him what he had gotten out of the POAs and showed him how he could start with that understanding as he keeps digging into BA. He said he could and would do that.

I’m attaching a letter written by a newer member of the Revolution Club who is also summing up what he is learning and how we are going at these things. One last point here is that the banner did objectively put forward a different pole everywhere we took it, and it was meaningful for people to sign it, including getting an introduction to the fact that there are forces getting organized for revolution across the country and by signing the banner they are contributing to that. At the same time, there was much more potential for people to actually get organized in relation to this banner than what we did with it—engaging more deeply the message of the banner together with the POAs and getting a much more living sense of how it contributes to developing a national movement for actual revolution.

From a Revolution Club Member: Fighting for the Right Approach

So in getting out the POAs for the last week there’s been a lot of development; I say week because I thought it was enough to just get people to get the POAs and pass them out, but how is that organizing people and on what basis?

I do think reading the letter from Andy Zee was really helpful to concentrate on 5 Stops, 2 Choices and 6 Points of Attention (5-2-6).

So we’re out in a neighborhood getting out the POAs up on poles and out to some of the people. People like one older guy read all the POAs and said he liked it, liked how it was about equality and we spoke on how it wasn’t enough of that in society today mostly point 2 and point 3 and he offered to take some the POAs to get out in the area and to talk to others. But my reflection back on this is: We didn’t organize him on the basis of revolution, we organized him on the basis of the difference it would make for others to see these good things. We didn’t know what he thought about a revolution to overthrow this system and the science, strategy and the leadership we have in BA.

Another guy we talked to read the POAs his initial thoughts were “These are actually pretty good,” around point 2 and “Trump has no respect for women and he’s a racist” so we’re struggling with him on what’s the problem and he says, “The youth don’t have structure and discipline so they should have re-initiate the draft,” Me and a comrade start going at how fucked up that is and called out what the Army does to people. The guy brings up his experience in “Vietnam and being effected by Agent Orange.” He wanted some flyers to get out to people, which he kind of did on the spot saying “Hey brother, check this out” to different cars.

Afterwards we summed up, which helped me refocus and sharpen my approach for the next location. I was too focused on (just) getting out the POAs and too content with people just taking flyers and not organizing on the basis of (5-2-6).

So I headed back out with this refocused approach. I talked to a guy who seen the big POA poster we had out and gave him the (POA) flyer and asked him what he thought. He said, “I 100% agree with all of these points, how can I be a part of this?” I wanted to know what he agreed with and dig more into things, the guy talked about “the inequality of points 2 and 3” and said nobody is talking about all of humanity. I said, “You’re right nobody is talking about the highest interest of humanity.” He wants be part of getting the POAs out as part of making revolution. I also put the problems of the revolution to him where enough people don’t know this and aren’t thinking about revolution, the leadership, science and strategy for how to make a revolution; we worked through some of his thoughts together. Solutions that aren’t solutions and he agreed he didn’t “know how far someone could get trying to make revolution but I want a change like this.” He took copies of the POAs with ideas of where he would get them out to and said he would talk to his friends and was interested in coming to the potluck on Sunday. Being able to go back to the 5-2-6 helped and not just letting him take flyers but actually organizing him I thought went better than earlier and seeing the difference between the two.

Revolution, Intellectuals and the Beginning of a New Approach

April 29, 2019 | revcom.us

From a member of the National Revolution Tour:

As part of the National Tour for Revolution, we have been meeting professors on campuses. While too soon to draw firm conclusions, these very initial observations are worth sharing:

* THE 2 CHOICES, A RADICALLY DIFFERENT APPROACH: As someone who has been involved in this movement for a while, what was striking was the radically different approach to the professors—proceeding straight up with revolution, the 2 choices resulting from BAsics 3:1, what we do have in the strengths of the revolution and what we don’t have in people we need, involving them and getting their thinking on the problems of the revolution in this context. This is a different framework and approach than anything in the past and it opens up an entirely different conversation with very different questions, unleashing a different process on different terms. Proceeding from this, and the 5 Stops setting forth the need and basis for revolution set terms on what is objective, and what is objectively needed, versus remnants of “our thing.”

*A RELATIVE OPENNESS, SERIOUSNESS AND THE ATTRACTIVENESS OF THE NATIONAL TOUR: In this process, a couple of factors on relative openness come into sharper relief. To be clear: this is a relatively small sample, and somewhat "self-selecting" in who were intrigued by and "turned their faces" toward the National Revolution Tour, but still worth noting.

First, most are shocked and horrified by the moment, and where things are headed, with everything Trump represents, and a dawning realization that nothing fundamentally good—or lasting—came off Obama. Compounding all this, global warming is a major factor, a real sense of the scale and scope of potential devastation, the systemic nature of this versus “small problem/solution” being proffered and nothing remotely commensurate. Second, with all the contradictions, like heightened “individualism” among students, a few sense a perceptible shift in how students are looking at things. Concentrating this is a comment, “You don’t see it on the surface yet, but if there is a moment to organize for a revolution, this is it,” talking about a very perceptible shift in mood among the students’ “instinctual response to capitalism,” saying it’s much more “of course, capitalism is bad” and “a beginning openness” to alternatives that she has “not seen in decades of teaching and interacting with students.” Third, there is a genuine curiosity, to varying degrees and in different ways, about Bob Avakian (BA), the revolution, and the National Tour to organize for an ACTUAL revolution, the last being a compelling factor in actually meeting.

Given the leading approach, BA comes into sharper relief, including around the positive alternative concentrated in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, the strategy for revolution and the overarching framework of the new communism. A few asked up front “tell me about Bob Avakian” and had a lot of serious and substantive follow-ups. Others who had some familiarity wanted to learn more about the new communism, with probing questions.

They were all intrigued by the tour, what it is doing, especially on “crossing the tracks” as one put it, and that even while we were on campus, we were out at Nipsey Hussle’s funeral and neighborhood. Most really wanted to know, “what was your message, how was it received, etc.” This was very attractive to them, and some would go on to comment on how insulating the campus is, etc.

In different ways, the bankruptcy of other solutions and frameworks, among the more thoughtful, was starkly evident. When I mentioned what Bernie Sanders had said about the border and immigrants, one of the professors put his head in his hands. I said all that this means and reveals is “they have NO ANSWER,” and he said, “I know, but it’s still distressing to hear it being said so baldly.” Another said the Green New Deal is lying to people about what it will take in radically changing U.S. consumption patterns. On identity politics and intersectionality, one professor commented that this “just reflects back the world we live in.” When we pointed out the harm, he readily agreed, especially the focus on “me, me, me.” Another ranted on “oppression Olympics,” it’s about “who is going to be a winner,” and “this is a debate long overdue,” “I am really glad you guys are finally taking this on.” Others were more reserved, seeing how this challenge to a dominant framework on campus plays out.

Some “immediate” follow-up questions on the necessity, viability and strategy of making revolution revolved around whether we can actually win, given their strengths in repression and weaponry; on how do you go about transforming people’s thinking en masse when “they” have control over mass media and the internet; and can you consciously work towards a revolutionary situation like the sixties or does it just emerge spontaneously. Those who were serious were intrigued to watch the film from BA on why we need an actual revolution, and how we can really win, and to learn more, even while some initial answers were provided, that they found serious and provocative. One thing I further realized is that the intangibility of “seriousness” counts for a lot, not posturing but plainspoken about what we DO and what we DON’T have goes a long way... especially, that there are principles, there is strategy and then there is need for people, to go to work on and solve these problems, applying the overall strategy. I mentioned the “tech wizards” example from BA’s speech, the real need from the perspective of making revolution, and this had a good effect.

When I posed the question of “how do we crack this campus,” attracting and cohering students, people, and “what stands in the way,” there were many who commented on “individualism,” further exacerbated with social media, and people not feeling in any way “part of the collective.” Identifying this puts it much more in the collective realm for grappling, as part of building this movement for revolution.

* MOVING FORWARD: While too many of these have begun as individual meetings, WE have to figure out how to forge “NETWORKS” with COLLECTIVE forms, contributing to the aims and objectives of the tour. We are in the beginning phases of unleashing a process, what we have not done ever before with this approach or in any consistent fashion, and there is the need to lead this as part of an overall COLLECTIVE process.

Baking for Revolution

April 29, 2019 | revcom.us

From members of the Revolution Club in one area:

As the national Get Organized for an Actual Revolution Tour hit the ground in Los Angeles, in this area we worked to bring to life a fundraising idea that could broadly project the tour and the need to support it, involve people in taking this up and donating, contribute to developing networks of support, and actually raise money. We decided to do a community bake sale in a particular neighborhood, while also reaching out and involving people more broadly than that neighborhood.

First we started reaching out to all the businesses in the neighborhood and asked them if they would want to host a bake sale table, which means setting up a table inside the business during a high-traffic time where people could get information about the Revolution Tour and make donations. Then, two people who are excited about the tour and wanting to support it came to see the livestream of the LA launch and we pulled them together afterwards to make a plan. They both bake and had said this is a way they could help, so they signed up to make some baked goods. A Revolution Club member volunteered to design an image for the flyer. She created artwork, we sent it around to everyone involved to get feedback, she and another comrade worked together to make a couple changes, and soon we had a simple flyer.

Teams of two kept reaching out to businesses—talking with employees, managers, owners about the tour going around the country to meet the need of breaking through the mental shackles and organizing people for an actual revolution. We talked with them briefly about the 5 STOPS as to why we need an actual revolution—not voting or other dead-end “solutions”—and told them we have the leadership, strategy and science to make an emancipating revolution. Several expressed interest, and finally we had one location pinned down for the date we were aiming for. We did phone calling to contacts about baking and donating to support the tour, and kept reaching out to businesses. We also started thinking about other ways people could help to sell baked goods and widen out people finding out about and supporting the tour, like taking baked goods to work or getting orders from friends and relatives. We put up the flyers all over the area advertising the bake sale and the baked goods and calling on people to support the national Revolution Tour, with a couple sentences about the tour. In everything, we brought out to people what the tour is about, how it is part of working to make the revolution we need, and the needs of the revolution and the tour that they can help meet.

As it got closer to the date, we were short on bakers and some of the leaders of the project ended up doing some of the baking themselves, which wasn’t exactly what we had in mind because part of the point was to involve new people in meaningful ways to contribute. At the same time, a number of other people did also take part in the baking, some newly involved, others who are members of the Revolution Club or longtime supporters of the revolution. People recruited their family members to help out. One member of the Revolution Club recruited his two brothers to help him bake loaves of chocolate banana bread. The wife of another Revolution Club member contributed a carrot cake.

Starting in the morning, a couple people gathered the cakes and breads and cut everything into slices, priced at $3 a slice. Then we worked to bring everything together and continue reaching out to everyone we could. At a restaurant, two of us set up a table inside for about two hours. It was really cool because it was a different way for people to be introduced to and invited into the revolution. We had a display with information about the bake sale and tour and we were able to talk to a lot of the customers who were waiting for their food orders from the restaurant. There were discussions and some debates about what is the problem and solution. And we were able to talk more deeply with the restaurant owner about what the revolution is about. Several people had seen the Revolution Club around before and knew of it, but this was the first time they actually engaged with what it is about. We raised $23 there, which by itself is not that much, but was meaningful in relation to how it was raised and because it was put together with other things happening at the same time.

At another business, the owner invited us in to sell baked goods to his employees and customers. Our team there gave everyone flyers about the tour and sold something like $40 worth of baked goods. Then we connected up with a longtime supporter who lives nearby and he helped go around to businesses he knows and sell a few baked goods on the spot.

Throughout that day and the next day, people took part in the bake sale in a variety of ways. A woman who has been supportive of the revolution for a couple of years took a box full of the baked goods and sold them all to coworkers at her job. Other supporters worked out stopping by to pick up baked goods and make donations. One Revolution Club member bought baked goods to take to a social gathering he was attending, another took a box to sell to people at a family gathering. People stopped in off the street to donate or just to find out more about the revolution.

All together we raised a little over $300 for the tour. We actively involved about a dozen people who are not Revolution Club members. In most cases, this was a change in their relationship to the revolution, giving people a way to meaningfully contribute to making revolution and bringing them in on the mission of the tour. And we did this in a way that many more people got introduced to the revolution and the tour and were able to contribute to it on the spot, as well as having some impact in the neighborhood where socially and collectively people were finding out about the tour and the need to support it—including that people they know are part of doing that. This was a beginning, with the idea being to periodically do these bake sales, involving more people as we go.

Our immediate follow-up was to let the people involved know how much money we raised together and give them a sense of how people were involved in making this happen. We are now reaching out and involving some of those same people and businesses in reading and popularizing the Points of Attention for the Revolution.

You Can’t Change the World If You Don’t Know the BAsics

April 29, 2019 | revcom.us

Every week, revcom.us features one quote from BAsics, by Bob Avakian, the handbook for revolution. We encourage Revolution Clubs and other readers, everywhere, to take the time to discuss the quote—the whole quote—and to write us at revolution.reports@yahoo.com with accounts of these discussions, or thoughts provoked in yourself by reading the quote.