Revolution #241, July 31, 2011
Part 2: BUILDING THE MOVEMENT FOR REVOLUTION
Editors' Note: The following is the tenth excerpt from Part 2 of a recent talk by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, which is being serialized in this paper. Previous excerpts appeared in Revolution #232 to #240. This has been edited, and footnotes have been added, for publication. The entire talk is available at revcom.us.
Accumulating Forces for Revolution
In that framework, let's talk more about the strategic orientation and the actual content of "hastening while awaiting," and specifically let's turn to the question of, as the Chinese communists once put it in a very important and helpful formulation: accumulating forces for revolution. Or, as we have also formulated it, drawing from Lenin as well: preparing minds and organizing forces—for what?—for revolution: working consciously in anticipation of—and, once again, to actively influence things toward—a major qualitative change, with the ripening of a revolutionary situation and the emergence of a revolutionary people, in the millions and millions; working to affect, continually and repeatedly, the "political terrain" and dynamics so that the forces and factors favorable to revolution are increasingly strengthened—even in the face of, and in opposition to, heightening repression and the fostering and supporting of counter-revolutionary forces by the ruling class, or sections of it (a phenomenon we are now witnessing on a significant level, and which has serious implications which I will return to later, before the conclusion of this talk).
"Some Principles for Building a Movement for Revolution,"1 which frequently appears in Revolution newspaper, does speak in a concentrated way to much of what is involved in this process, and it is worthwhile going over this briefly, in its different aspects and overall in their interconnection, in light of the orientation I have been emphasizing.
Let's start with the first paragraph of "Some Principles for Building a Movement for Revolution":
"At every point, we must be searching out the key concentrations of social contradictions and the methods and forms which can strengthen the political consciousness of the masses, as well as their fighting capacity and organization in carrying out political resistance against the crimes of this system; which can increasingly bring the necessity, and the possibility, of a radically different world to life for growing numbers of people; and which can strengthen the understanding and determination of the advanced, revolutionary-minded masses in particular to take up our strategic objectives not merely as far-off and essentially abstract goals (or ideals) but as things to be actively striven for and built toward."
This itself concentrates a great deal, in terms of strategic orientation, and I want to emphasize particularly the last part: "strengthen[ing] the understanding and determination of the advanced, revolutionary-minded masses in particular to take up our strategic objectives not merely as far-off and essentially abstract goals (or ideals) but as things to be actively striven for and built toward." This has everything to do with whether we are actively influencing and working to shape the political terrain and the overall conditions as much as possible, at any given time, or whether we are merely passively awaiting.
To go on to the second part of "Some Principles for Building a Movement for Revolution":
"The objective and orientation must be to carry out work which, together with the development of the objective situation, can transform the political terrain, so that the legitimacy of the established order, and the right and ability of the ruling class to rule, is called into question, in an acute and active sense, throughout society; so that resistance to this system becomes increasingly broad, deep and determined; so that the 'pole' and the organized vanguard force of revolutionary communism is greatly strengthened; and so that, at the decisive time, this advanced force is able to lead the struggle of millions, and tens of millions, to make revolution."
Think of what is being put forward, in a very concentrated way, here: the transforming of "the political terrain, so that the legitimacy of the established order, and the right and ability of the ruling class to rule, is called into question," not just in a general sense but "in an acute and active sense, throughout society"; the importance of doing this "so that resistance to the system becomes increasingly broad, deep and determined; so that the 'pole' and the organized vanguard force of revolutionary communism is greatly strengthened." And then the conclusion, pointing to what this is all building for: "so that, at the decisive time, this advanced force is able to lead the struggle of millions, and tens of millions, to make revolution."
Enriched What Is To Be Done-ism
This is really what "Enriched What Is To Be Done-ism"2 is all about: a means for building, precisely, a movement for revolution. In What Is To Be Done? Lenin spoke to the need to reveal how all the outrages and injustices that people do abhor, and which they do rebel against in various ways (or talk about even in whispers perhaps), are rooted in the same system; to bring forward our communist aims and convictions, and to show that there is a basis to bring into being a radically different world; to illustrate how and why different strata react the way they do to different events, more or less spontaneously (and, again, without being reductionist about that) and what therefore are the driving forces of revolution and what is the strategy for rallying broader forces to that revolution, as well as what is, of necessity, the character and nature of that revolution: why is a certain kind of struggle and a certain kind of revolutionary process leading to the abolition of the existing state—and, yes, the establishment of a radically different state—why is that the road to actual emancipation? Why do you need a vanguard, and what is the role of that vanguard? How does this vanguard relate to the overall revolutionary process and to different sections of the masses who, in one way or another, are part of that process? These are decisive questions spoken to by Lenin in What Is To Be Done?
To this we have added some elements, or given additional emphasis to certain elements, including the importance of putting the questions and problems of the revolution before the masses, drawing them into struggling with this and contributing to the process of developing the answers to this, in practice as well as in theoretical conception. This is the reason we have used the formulation "Enriched What Is To Be Done-ism." And, once again, all this is about "hastening while awaiting." It's not about something else. It's not an academic exercise. It's about carrying out what is concentrated in "Some Principles for Building a Movement for Revolution." It's about preparing minds and organizing forces—accumulating forces—for revolution.
To be continued
1. Bob Avakian, "Some Principles for Building a Movement for Revolution," Revolution #202 (May 17, 2010). [back]
2. The formulation of "Enriched What Is To Be Done-ism" is discussed in a number of recent works by Bob Avakian, including "Unresolved Contradictions, Driving Forces for Revolution," in the section headed "Resistance and Building a Movement for Revolution." This talk is available online at revcom.us/avakian/driving. Also see the talk "Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity," Part 2, which is available online at revcom.us/avakian/makingrevolution2, as well as in Revolution and Communism: A Foundation and Strategic Orientation, a Revolution pamphlet, May 1, 2008. [back]