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Articles in this issue (scroll down or click to read article below):

  • In This Issue… May 13, 2024
  • Follow Bob Avakian (BA) on social media!
  • Genocide Joe Lies, Palestinians Die, as Israeli Invasion Turns Rafah into a Death Camp
  • War Crimes Enabled and Whited Out by USA State Department
  • VIDEO:

    Interview with Alan Goodman on the Situation In Rafah
  • Torture Chambers of the “Most Moral Army in the World”
  • The “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act”—Banning Opposition to Zionism, Crushing Academic Freedom
  • A Roundup: Campus Protests Continue Despite the Repression No Graduation as Usual Amidst a Genocide
  • From Aurora Roja, voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico:

    Mexico: Encampment at UNAM Against U.S. Imperialism-Backed Israeli-State Genocide and In Solidarity with University Students Protesting in the United States
  • VIDEO:

    Two Revcoms—Arrested at UCLA—Speak Out About the Anti-Genocide Student Uprising & Repression
  • Revcom Carl Dix to deliver message to Eric Adams, Monday, May 13,  12 noon, City Hall: “You and the blood-soaked U.S. flag are what's 'disgusting!'”
  • Check It Out:

    @Macklemore Music Video: Hind’s Hall
  • Houston: Taking “Which Side Are You On” to Graduation Ceremonies
  • Black Active Duty Airman Murdered by Florida Pig Inside His Own Home
  • Immigrants and the Border: Republi-fascists and Democrats Move Towards Greater Repression, Fiercer Conflict
  • The Persecution of Immigrants, and the “American Three-Step” 
  • Updated: May 13

    ALERT! Pack the Courtroom! DEMAND: Drop the Charges on Elise “Luna” Kelder Fighting for Abortion Rights Should Not Be a Crime!
  • Raymond Lotta Talk Provokes Spirited Discussion

    Bringing the New Communism to Berklee College of Music
  • Sights & Sounds

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024
  • Revolutionary Internationalist May DayForging a Collective Spirit, Fighting for a Whole New Way to Live and a Fundamentally Different System, and Bringing a New Dimension to the Struggle Against the Genocide
  • Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024 — Excerpts from Speeches in Los Angeles  
  • From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC)

    Amidst Theocrats’ Executions RampageGlobal Outcry Grows: Free Toomaj and All Iran’s Political Prisoners
  • VIDEO

    Rafah Under Siege... Biden's BS... Students Resist Repression... WE NEED REVOLUTION: EMANCIPATE HUMANITY

    Episode 196 of The RNL — Revolution, Nothing Less! — Show

  • From the Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists)

    REVOLUTIONBUILDING UP THE BASIS TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING, WITH A REAL CHANCE TO WIN:STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH
  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part One

  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 2: Build a NATIONAL Movement

  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 3: Key Relationships: Getting the Dynamics Right

  • A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part Four: Once More on Important Relations and Dynamics

  • Real Revolution, In This Time:What the Powers-That-Be Don't Want You to Know

    A series of social media dispatches from Bob Avakian

  • 2024 SCENARIOS (A SKETCH), AND THE CHALLENGES
  • U.S. CONSTITUTION: AN EXPLOITERS’ VISION OF FREEDOM—ADDED NOTES (AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION)
  • From The RNL Show:

    Bob Avakian on Why He Wrote the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America
  • SOMETHING TERRIBLE,OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING:Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions,The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed

    A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution

  • REVOLUTION IS POSSIBLETHIS RARE TIME MUST BE SEIZED

    Important excerpts from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating”*

  • REVOLUTION: MAJOR TURNING POINTS AND RARE OPPORTUNITIES

    Or... Why did Lenin talk about World War 1 as a “stage manager” of revolution?...

    And why did Mao say, We should thank Japan for invading China?

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 1: We Are Serious

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 3: Civil War and Revolution

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution

  • REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 5: Winning and Winning

  • Organizing for an Actual Revolution:7 Key Points
  • BOB AVAKIAN: A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Bob Avakian (BA) is the most important political thinker and leader in the world today.

  • BASKETBALL AND BIG QUESTIONS

    The Caitlin Clark Controversy—Greats, “Greatest of All Time,” White Stars in a “Black Sport,” Racism and the Fight Against it, and the Kind of World We Should Strive to Have

  • THE REVCOM CORPS for the Emancipation of Humanity - A Zine
  • Resource Page on the Genocidal Assault on Palestine — And Israel as an Enforcer of Imperialism
  • A special feature page:

    One Side Is Right—One Side Is Wrong, Criminally WRONG!
  • To all our readers, to all those who hunger for a better world
  • The BIG Problem with Netflix 3 Body Problem: Anti-Communist Distortion and Fatalism in a World That Cries Out for the New Communist Revolution
  • Setting the Record Straight on Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism and the Important Difference Between the Two
  • The Revcoms Called Out Timothy Snyder's Lies About Communism...Now Yale Wants to Shut Down the Needed Debate...Unchain Your Mind, Join the Revolution for a Whole New World
  • Full Announcement:

    THE RAYMOND LOTTA FALL CAMPUS SPEAKING TOURYou’ve Been Lied To! The First Communist Revolutions Were Liberating...The NEW Communist Revolution Will Be Far Better
  • Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024 We Need and We Demand Revolution For A Whole New Way To Live, A Fundamentally Different SystemStop the U.S./Israeli Genocide of Palestinians NOW!Stop Capitalism-Imperialism from Stealing Our Future!
  • On Democratic Centralism Scientifically Understanding, and Changing the World

    From 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 
    An Interview with Ardea Skybreak 

  • From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC)

    Mobilizations Worldwide Demand NO Execution and Free Toomaj Salehi 
  • From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now

    Iran’s Theocrats Launch New Offensive in a War on Hijab-free Women Amid Escalating War with Zionist Israel
  • From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC)

    Environmentalist Prisoners Freed in Iran—Continue the Struggle to Free Them All
  • From Atash/Fire #144, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of CommunismThe Reality of Democracy and the Ideal of Democracy

    Part 2

  • From Atash/Fire #143 

    Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of CommunismBourgeois Democracy Means Class Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie 

    Part 1

  • From Atash/Fire #145, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism Democracy and Freedom of Expression—The Economic Base Is the Decisive Factor!

    Part 3       

  • From Atash/Fire #146, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism What Is Social Democracy and Why Is It a Capitalist Dictatorship?

    Part 4 

  • From Atash/Fire #147, journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of CommunismRevisionist Democracy: Socialism in Name, Capitalism in Essence

    Part 5 

  • From Atash/Fire #148, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    THE REALITY OF COMMUNISMTotalitarianism: A Yardstick That Cannot Measure Reality 

    Part 6

  • From Atash/Fire #149, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of CommunismPracticing Democracy, Practicing Compromise with the Status Quo

    Part 7

  • The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show Podcast!!

    A PODCAST for a time when revolution has become more possible...

  • What is that? Who said that? Say what?
  • ALLEGIANCE
  • ALLEGIANCE: A Special RNL Show Dispatch
  • BOB AVAKIAN FOR THE LIBERATION OF BLACK PEOPLEAND THE EMANCIPATION OF ALL HUMANITY
  • American Crime Case #12: The 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the Destruction of Black Wall Street
  • RACIAL OPPRESSIONCAN BE ENDED—BUT NOT UNDER THIS SYSTEM
  • A Resource Page:

    The Oppression of Black People & the Revolutionary Struggle to End All Oppression
  • Minstrels for Trump
  • IMPORTANT NOTICE:Nominations Now Open for Bootlickers Hall of Shame
  • Rich and Lively Engagement About “‘Woke’ Lunacy vs. Real Revolution” at Two Universities in North Carolina

    A Letter from a Professor 

  • “Woke” Lunacy vs. Real Revolution National Tour Hits Houston
  • “WOKE” IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCEin the political, intellectual, artistic and ethical life of society
  • VIDEO:

    “Woke” Lunacy Vs. Real Revolution — Sunsara Taylor Speaks at UCLA
  • PUTTING AN END TO EXPLOITATION,AND ALL OPPRESSION
  • EXPLOITATION: WHAT IT IS,HOW TO PUT AN END TO IT
  • Killer Mike, Ice Cube,

    WHY CAPITALIST PROGRAMS and BOURGEOIS ASPIRATIONS CANNOT LEAD TO LIBERATIONandWHY WE NEED A REAL REVOLUTION
  • THE TRIALS OF FASCIST DONALD TRUMP,AND THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THIS WHOLE SYSTEM

    Or: Don’t Be Played for Suckers by Trump’s Posturing, or the Democrats’ Posing as Defenders of Justice—We Need a Revolution and a Fundamentally Different and Far Better System

  • CAPITALISTS, ANTI-COMMUNISTS:BLATANT HYPOCRISY,GLARING CONTRADICTION
  • GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERRORAND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS

    Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.

  • STATE OF EMERGENCY:CHAINS ON PEOPLEWHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE

    A message from Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism

  • VIDEO:

    STATE OF EMERGENCY: CHAINS ON PEOPLE WHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE, By Bob Avakian
  • A point in response to the (all too common) carping—especially from among people in “the educated middle class”—about our “promotion of one leader”:
  • “Cult”—An Ignorant and Cowardly Slander
  • Bob Avakian Speaks to “Cult”: A Ridiculous, Ignorant, and Irresponsible Accusation

    We Are Applying a Scientific Method and Approach to Understanding, and Transforming, the World To Emancipate Humanity

  • SCIENTIFIC COMMUNIST THEORYAND THE PROBLEM WITH “MASS LINE”
  • ANTI-SCIENTIFIC “ANTI-AUTHORITARIANISM”Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism
  • Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences
  • Translated into English, by revcom.us, from the blog Aurora Roja, of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico:

    REVOLUTIONARY HOPE

    New Possibilities Are Opening Up for Liberatory Revolution In the Midst of Acute Crises and Upheavals of the Capitalist System — It Is Urgent to Organize the Fight For Revolution

    Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico

  • ARTICLE:

    In This Issue… May 13, 2024

    Table of Contents 

    NEW This Week:  

    Bob Avakian on Social Media
    Palestine
    Featured

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024

    Repression, Resistance and the Potential for Revolution in Iran

    Latest episode of The RNLRevolution, Nothing Less!—Show on YouTube:
    [video] Rafah Under Siege... Biden's BS... Students Resist Repression... WE NEED REVOLUTION: EMANCIPATE HUMANITY

     

    Also Available at Revcom.us Home Page

    From the Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists):
    REVOLUTION
    BUILDING UP THE BASIS TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING, WITH A REAL CHANCE TO WIN
    STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH
    Read/PDF for pamphlet version

    A major declaration from the revcoms:
    WE NEED AND WE DEMAND:
    A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE,
    A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM 
    In the name of the people… In the name of humanity…
    We Declare and Demand:
    The Existing Capitalist-Imperialist System And Institutions Of Government In This Country Must Be Abolished And Dismantled—And Replaced By A New, Socialist System Based On The CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA

    WE ARE THE REVCOMS (REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNISTS): WE ARE WORKING FOR A REAL REVOLUTION AND A WHOLE NEW, EMANCIPATING WAY TO LIVE
    Read the text of proclamation issued May 1, 2023
    Get PDFs of the broadsheet for printing: Cover/Back/Centerfold

    Climate Devastation... Nuclear War Threatened... The Direct Danger of All-Out Fascism... Times Like These Demand a Revolutionary Answer
    THE BOB AVAKIAN INTERVIEWS
    on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show 

    Bob Avakian on Social Media

    2024 SCENARIOS (A SKETCH), AND THE CHALLENGES, by Bob Avakian, Revolutionary Leader, Author of the New Communism

    Two Systems. Two Constitutions. Two Futures.

    SOMETHING TERRIBLE, OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING:
    Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War
    And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed
    A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution
    by Bob Avakian, Revolutionary Leader, Author of the New Communism

    REVOLUTION: MAJOR TURNING POINTS AND RARE OPPORTUNITIES
    Or... Why did Lenin talk about World War 1 as a “stage manager” of revolution?...
    And why did Mao say, We should thank Japan for invading China? by Bob Avakian

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN, by Bob Avakian
    Part One: We Are Serious
    Part Two: A Scientifically Based Strategy
    Part Three: Civil War and Revolution
    Part Four: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution
    Part Five: Winning and Winning
    PDF of pamphlet with all five parts

    Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points 

    BOB AVAKIAN: A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION
    Bob Avakian (BA) is the most important political thinker and leader in the world today.

    New compilation from The Bob Avakian Institute: Israel and Palestine, the Middle East and U.S. Imperialism, the Revolution Humanity Needs: A selection of writings from Bob Avakian
    Available at The Bob Avakian Institute

    BASKETBALL AND BIG QUESTIONS
    The Caitlin Clark Controversy
    Greats, "Greatest of all Time,"
    White Stars in a "Black Sport,"
    Racism and the Fight Against It,
    And the Kind of World We Should Strive to Have
    by Bob Avakian—
    revolutionary leader,
    author and architect of the new communism,
    and a passionate fan of basketball

    THE REVCOM CORPS
    For The Emancipation Of Humanity
    "WE ARE WORKING FOR A REAL REVOLUTION AND A WHOLE NEW EMANCIPATING WAY TO LIVE"

    Stop the U.S.-Backed Israeli Genocidal War Against Palestine!
    The Palestinian People Must Be Free!

    Down With the Racist Apartheid State of Israel and Its Master, U.S. Imperialism!

    Stop the Repression, Censorship and Blacklisting of Pro-Palestinian Voices!

    From the Imperialist USA to Palestine The People Need Real Revolution Based on the New Communism!

    Featured
    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024

    On Democratic Centralism Scientifically Understanding, and Changing the World
    From 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. An Interview with Ardea Skybreak

    Repression, Resistance and the Potential for Revolution in Iran

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show

    Featured from Bob Avakian

    Posters: What is that? Who said that? Say what? Provoke. Inspire. Drive people to Bob Avakian on social media: @BobAvakianOfficial and the BA Interviews on The RNL Show 

    ALLEGIANCE 

    "There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth." Bob Avakian, BAsics 1:1

    Bootlickers Gallery

    “Woke” Is a Destructive Force

    These two articles by Bob Avakian on exploitation—and putting an end to exploitation and oppression— contain a very concentrated and popularized understanding of basic essentials as to what this capitalist-imperialist system actually is, and what it actually rests on, why it has to be overthrown and replaced by a socialist system aiming for a communist world, and what are essential elements of that new society and world.

    Killer Mike, Ice Cube, WHY CAPITALIST PROGRAMS and BOURGEOIS ASPIRATIONS CANNOT LEAD TO LIBERATION and WHY WE NEED A REAL REVOLUTION 

    THE TRIALS OF FASCIST DONALD TRUMP, AND THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THIS WHOLE SYSTEM
    Or, Don’t Be Played for Suckers by Trump’s Posturing, or the Democrats’ Posing as Defenders of Justice—We Need a Revolution and a Fundamentally Different and Far Better System, by Bob Avakian

    CAPITALISTS, ANTI-COMMUNISTS: BLATANT HYPOCRISY, GLARING CONTRADICTION, by Bob Avakian
    Listen to the audio of this piece by Bob Avakian

    GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS, by Bob Avakian (download PDF)

    State of Emergency

    A point in response to the (all too common) carping—especially from among people in "the educated middle class"—about our "promotion of one leader"

    "Cult"—An Ignorant and Cowardly Slander

    Bob Avakian Speaks to "Cult": A Ridiculous, Ignorant and Irresponsible Accusation

    SCIENTIFIC COMMUNIST THEORY AND THE PROBLEM WITH “MASS LINE,” by Bob Avakian

    ANTI-SCIENTIFIC “ANTI-AUTHORITARIANISM”: Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism, by Bob Avakian (Download PDF pamphlet)

    Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences, by Ardea Skybreak

    Revolutionary Hope/La esperanza revolucionaria, Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico

  • ARTICLE:

    Follow Bob Avakian (BA) on social media!

    Updated

    REVOLUTION 37: Mindless Anti-Communism and Mindless Accusations of “Cult”: Brainwashing to Shut Down Critical Thinking and Fundamental Opposition to this Monstrous System.

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 36: More Big Lies From Genocide Joe Biden.

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 35: Ending Apartheid as Part of Ending All Oppression—South Africa is Not a “Model.”
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 34: Why Israel actually built up Hamas.
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 33: The powerful positive experience of the 1960s movement—the crucial importance of uniting broadly against injustice and atrocity, with open-minded engagement of different ideas and programs...

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 32: “Outside Agitators”!—The Cry of Lynch Mob Southern Segregationists— Echoed Today by College Administrators, Politicians of the Ruling Class and its Media Mouthpieces.

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 31: More disgusting hypocrisy: The biggest bigots, the blatantly racist Trumpite fascists, are now posturing as opponents of anti-Jewish bigotry!

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 30: Brutal Repression and Blatant Hypocrisy from the Powers-That-Be

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 29: Capitalism, “brand,” “ownership” and the putrid culture of a parasitic empire.

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTON 28: An answer to typically lazy and dishonest “snark”
    The "Notes on Political Economy" BA mentions in this dispatch is available here.
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 27: The Fight for Free Speech, as a Crucial Part of Fighting to Put an End to Terrible Injustice and Atrocity—And to the System That is the Source of These Outrages
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 26: Crime and Anti-Immigrant Racism
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 25: High Level Basketball, Opposition to Racism and Other Injustice...And Bigotry in the Name of Religion—Or, Does Dawn Staley Really Want To Be Known As “Taliban Dawn?”

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 24: Is America a racist country?

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 23:  Truth is...Truth

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 22: The Communist Revolution and the Radical Change in Supposedly Unchanging “Human Nature.”

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 21: There is no such thing as "human nature."

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 20: Haiti—Horrible Suffering, More Horrific Crimes by U.S. Imperialism.

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 19: Yes, a radically different and much better world really is possible!

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 18:  The U.S.—moving toward a "more perfect union?"

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 17: American Exceptionalism:  further exposing the reality behind the myth

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 16: Fairy Tales and Real Monsters: America, the myth... and the reality

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 15: AMERICA: Truly a Model of DEPRAVED RACIST GENOCIDE

    Read more
    Close

    Break The Chains—Unleash The Fury Of Women As A Mighty Force For Revolution! A Special Message
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 14: What is really to blame for women dying with their children trying to cross the border?
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 13: "The Super Bowl—and super bad ways of thinking and acting, doing real harm"
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 12: Madness—and getting beyond all this madness
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 11: "... the overall developing situation... and revolution..."
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 10: "Yes, a revolution, to overthrow this system... could win."
    Read more
    Close

    A Special Message: F*CK Snoop Dogg!
    Read more
    Close

    Breaking News

    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 9: "For a revolution to succeed... there must be three basic conditions"
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 8:  "Revolution... it could happen... right here and right in this time..."
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 7: Why is the U.S. supporting Israel's genocidal slaughter of Palestinians?
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 6: Answering the arguments... that try to "justify" the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 5: Israel and Palestine: a terrible ironic twist of history
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 4: “Why should I care about Palestine when we've got problems here?”
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 3: "USA... number one imperialist oppressor"
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 2: When has the USA been a "great" country?
    Read more
    Close

    REVOLUTION 1: "...those of you who are not afraid of the truth..."
    Read more
    Close

    As BA says in his first social media post, REVOLUTION — NUMBER ONE:
    “...those of you who are not afraid of the truth:
    get ready for messages coming at you...”

    Hear the truth that BA is bringing. Spread the word in real life, and online.
    Get people to follow BA on any and all platforms. Dig into serious discussion and debate... and stay tuned!

    Substack, Instagram, Facebook, X, Telegram, Threads, TikTok, WhatsApp and YouTube

    Download and print these flyers and pamphlets of social media posts:
    REAL REVOLUTION, IN THIS TIME: What the Powers-That-Be Don't Want You to Know.  @BAOfficial REVOLUTION 1-11
    REVOLUTION 17: Further exposing the reality behind the myth of “American exceptionalism”: the ridiculous and outrageous notion that there is something exceptionally good about this country and its “great American democracy”
    REVOLUTION #21 and #22: “There is no such thing as human nature” and 
    “The Communist Revolution and the Radical Change in Supposedly Unchanging ‘Human Nature’”
    REVOLUTION 27: The Fight for Free Speech, as a Crucial Part of Fighting to Put an End to Terrible Injustice and Atrocity—And to the System That is the Source of These Outrages
     REVOLUTION 30: Brutal Repression and Blatant Hypocrisy from the Powers-That-Be
    REVOLUTION 31: More disgusting hypocrisy: The biggest bigots, the blatantly racist Trumpite fascists, are now posturing as opponents of anti-Jewish bigotry...
    REVOLUTION 32: “Outside Agitators”!—The Cry of Lynch Mob Southern Segregationists— Echoed Today by College Administrators, Politicians of the Ruling Class and its Media Mouthpieces.
    REVOLUTION 33: The powerful positive experience of the 1960s movement—the crucial importance of uniting broadly against injustice and atrocity, with open-minded engagement of different ideas and programs, and principled debate over differences.
    REVOLUTION 34: Why Israel actually built up Hamas
    Spread the word about @bobavakianofficial with these flyers:
    Spread these designs from a revcom volunteer. Feel free to make other designs and provocations and send to getorganizedforrevolutiontour@gmail.com.
    See all designs >>
  • ARTICLE:

    Genocide Joe Lies, Palestinians Die, as 
    Israeli Invasion Turns Rafah into a Death Camp

    As you read this, Israel, backed by the U.S., with U.S.-supplied weapons, is carrying out—in the words of its own powerful finance minister—the “annihilation” of the city of Rafah and the almost million and a half desperate people driven there by seven months of genocidal slaughter. Doing it NOW.

    Look up annihilation. It means: Obliteration. Extinction. Extermination. 

    As Israel’s strangulation of Rafah, as its bombing, missile and tank attacks intensified over the past few days, Biden “threatened” to block some weapons going into Israel “IF” Israel invaded Rafah. The “threat” from Biden had zero substantial impact on Israel’s ability to annihilate Rafah. (We will get back to this threat later in this article.) 

    But the Israeli invasion of Rafah IS happening. And getting worse by the hour.

    Palestinians inspect residential building in Rafah destroyed by Israeli airstrike, May 7, 2024.

     

    Residential building in Rafah destroyed by Israeli airstrike, May 7, 2024.    Photo: AP

    May 5 and 6: Israel Chokes Off Desperately Needed Aid

    On May 5, Israel closed the Kerem Shalom border crossing from Israel into Gaza. Kerem Shalom was already crippled by chronic shutdowns by handfuls of Israeli “protesters” who are allowed to block aid shipments by the Israeli military. But it is the only high-capacity truck route into Gaza. 

    Israel blamed shutting down the border crossing on a Hamas rocket attack that reportedly killed four on-duty Israeli soldiers on the Israel-Gaza border. They were not in the vicinity of the border crossing. Closing Kerem Shalom had no military impact on Hamas, but it radically cut down on aid getting in to desperate, starving people in Gaza. Despite claims by Israel that the crossing has been re-opened, the UN relief agency for Gaza reports that “humanitarian aid like food and medicines has not been allowed through the crossing.”

    The next day, Israel bombarded the neighborhood near the Rafah crossing from Egypt. And sent tanks to seize the border crossing itself. The Rafah crossing has remained shut ever since.

    Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, May 6, 2024.

     

    Israeli airstrike on buildings near the separating wall between Egypt and Rafah, May 6, 2024.    Photo: AP

    With both crossings essentially shut down, there has been no meaningful food, water or fuel aid getting into Gaza for days! Starving people will die. People fleeing for their lives have no fuel. Hospitals, those that had remained functional to treat emergencies, have been forced to shut down.

    Destroying Rafah’s Hospitals in Preparation for a Genocidal Invasion

    Over a million people from throughout Gaza had fled to Rafah by late April. Driven from their homes by Israeli bombs, tanks, and assassins. Heading on foot, by bike, piled into cars or in donkey carts seeking the one city in Gaza with the least amount of destruction, and the closest thing to a functional medical care system.

    In April, as Israel repeatedly declared it would soon invade Rafah, the Israeli military targeted all medical facilities in Rafah in preparation for massacring people. A downloadable report from Doctors Without Borders documented that Israel destroyed all medical facilities in Rafah through military attacks on healthcare facilities, denial of fuel and medical supplies, and blocking humanitarian aid.

    How is that anything but methodical preparation to qualitatively ramp up what is already a straight-up genocide?

    Turning a City of Refugees into a Death Camp

    On May 4, Israel gave 110,000 people in the east side of Rafah hours to flee for their lives, warning if they did not, they would be in an area hit with “extreme force.” Only hours later, Israel launched a massive wave of missile attacks. 

    With thick smoke filling the sky at times, loud booms of exploding bombs and missiles, even people not in the “warning zone” began fleeing. Others stayed put, because they had no resources to move, no transportation and nowhere to go. Or, as an act of defiance—that if they were going to die, they were not going to flee to where they were going to be killed out of sight.

    Then on May 11, Israel ordered Palestinians in more areas of Rafah to evacuate and head to what is a non-existent “expanded humanitarian area.” Khitam Al-Khatib, who had at least 10 of her relatives killed by an Israeli airstrike on a family house earlier that day, told the Reuters news agency, “They threw fliers on Rafah and said, from Rafah to al-Zawayda is safe, people should evacuate there, and they did, and what has become of them? Dismembered bodies? There is no safe place in Gaza." 

    Palestinians flee before Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, May 9, 2024.

     

    Palestinians flee before Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah, May 9, 2024.    Photo: AP/Abdel Kareem Hana

    Al-Zawayda is a small town in central Gaza, already packed with refugees. It is a 13-mile walk from Rafah, impossible for people weakened, starving, sick, dragging their belongings.

    By May 10, news agencies were reporting dozens of Israeli bomb attacks throughout Gaza, and that Israeli tanks captured the main road dividing Rafah's eastern and western sections, effectively encircling the eastern side of the city.

    Israeli bombardments and ground assaults have caused vast destruction to apartments, hospitals, schools and refugee centers across several cities outside of Rafah over the past few days. In the midst of chaos, panic, isolation, destruction, and death, the death toll in Rafah and throughout Gaza is certainly rising by the hour. And the Israeli government insists this is only the beginning of the long-threatened invasion of Rafah! By May 12, the New York Times reported 300,000 people had fled Rafah.

    Some of the thousands of displaced Palestinians ordered to leave Rafah, camp in central Gaza, May 7, 2024.

     

    Some of the thousands of displaced Palestinians ordered to leave Rafah, camp in central Gaza, May 7, 2024.    Photo: AP

    Genocide Joe “Threatens” Israel “IF” It Invades Rafah!

    On May 8, the U.S. State Department said it had paused some shipments of American weapons to Israel. The next day, in a rare interview on CNN, Biden threatened to cut off weapons shipments to Israel… if (!) Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Netan-nazi) orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.

    First, the claim, and Biden’s “threat,” are basically bullshit. The pause only applied to shipment of an additional 1,800 of the 2,000-pound bombs that have left Gaza’s cities in ruins, and have been consistently used by Israel to destroy residential districts. These bombs, central to Israel’s genocidal slaughter that destroyed Gaza City and Khan Younis, kill people within a thousand feet of where they land. Plus, Biden’s order reportedly “pauses” sending a smaller number of smaller bombs. 

    But arms have continued to flow into Israel from the U.S. On May 10, U.S. officials told NBC News that the Biden administration continued to send military assistance to Israel since halting a shipment of bombs. 

    And focus on this: Biden claimed in his interview that “I made it clear that if they [Israel] go into Rafah—they haven’t gone in Rafah yet—if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities.” This was after Israel had destroyed Rafah’s healthcare capacity in preparation for an invasion. It was after a hundred thousand people were fleeing Israel’s initial bombing of Rafah. And no sooner had the words left Biden’s lying, babbling lips than Israel’s invasion of Rafah began escalating day by day.

    All military experts say that Israel currently has enough U.S.-supplied bombs, missiles, tanks and tank shells, and guns to massacre the people of Rafah many times over. And the terror resulting from Israel’s bombing has already driven more than 300,000 people out of the city.

    At a May 9 press conference, a reporter persistently asked State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller why every time the Biden administration talks about an invasion of Rafah they use the word if an invasion takes place, as if that is “something that hasn’t happened yet.” 

    Miller replied, with sick, genocidal cynicism, “I wouldn’t say every time.”

    Biden, and the U.S.: Stuck with, and Sticking by, Israel’s Genocidal Slaughter 

    We promised to get back to what is behind Biden’s threats to hit pause on some military aid to Israel. At most, this will put a crimp in Israel’s tactics in invading Rafah. Israel has already caused death, destruction, terror, and driven out a large section of the civilian population without using 2,000-pound bombs.

    But the conflict between Israel and Biden is real. Biden’s threats, symbolic though they are, carry weight in significant sections of Israeli society that are getting alienated from the war, and the lack of any priority being put on freeing Israeli hostages held by Hamas. And the words of a U.S. president carry weight with sections of Israel’s rulers. And as such, were taken as a provocation by Israel’s powerful and openly genocidal National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Ben-Gvir lashed back, posting on social media, “Hamas [heart] Biden.” 

    Biden’s insistence that Israel carry out an invasion of Rafah that avoids bombing the entire city to rubble is aimed not just at the Israeli government. It is an attempt to put some distance between the U.S. and Israel in public opinion here in the U.S., and around the world. With this phony gesture on the one hand and his speech essentially accusing campus anti-war protesters of anti-Semitism on the other, Biden is both trying to defuse those protests while also isolating a movement which threatens to break the allegiance of key sections of people to this system and could spread.

    And Biden is speaking to a global audience, trying to put some distance between the U.S. and Israel’s most egregious crimes. Outrage at Israel’s genocidal massacre in Gaza throws a wrench into getting U.S. allies like Saudi Arabia to commit more openly and publicly to a regional anti-Iran alliance with Israel. As Israel, and with it the U.S., is more openly exposed for what it is—a genocidal apartheid regime—cracks and conflict have the potential to open up with countries the U.S. dominates. Colombia, the closest U.S. ally in South America, broke diplomatic relations with Israel. Turkey, the closest U.S. ally among majority Muslim countries, momentarily banned commerce with Israel. 

    But where else is the U.S. going to turn for a reliable, highly armed, and loyal enforcer in a region that is a crossroads for global commerce and the most important source of oil that literally makes imperialism run? Along with its nuclear weapons and highly militarized society, Israel remains the only country in the region where most people do not hate the United States. 

    In his social media messages, revolutionary leader, author of the new communism Bob Avakian zeroes in on the question at the heart of understanding the actual relationship between the U.S. and Israel: 

    Why is Biden, and basically the entire government and ruling class of the U.S., supporting Israel in carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people, before the whole world? Here is the answer to that crucial question:

    This is not because of “the power of the Jewish lobby”—or because of some ignorant, ridiculous and outrageous notion that “Jews are controlling everything.” It is because Israel plays a “special role” as a heavily armed bastion of support for U.S. imperialism in a strategically important part of the world (the “Middle East”). And Israel has been a key force in the commission of atrocities which have helped to maintain the oppressive rule of U.S. imperialism in many other parts of the world.

    And BA goes on to conclude that social media post with this:

    It’s the system! This system of capitalism-imperialism that embodies and enforces white supremacy, patriarchal male supremacy and other brutal oppression— this system resting on ruthless life-stealing exploitation of masses of people in this country and literally billions of people worldwide, including more than 150 million children—all enforced with massive violence and destruction, of people and the environment, posing a very real threat to the future and the existence of humanity.

    This system that needs to be overthrown at the soonest possible time, through an actual revolution.

    Alan Goodman reports for revcom.us and has a long history of activism and writing. exposing and opposing the role that Israel plays within the system of capitalism-imperialism.

    Over a Million People Driven to Rafah by Israeli War Crimes 

    At the beginning of May, there were one and a half million people crammed into the city of Rafah. Before that, the population of Rafah was 250,000. Why are they there?

    Well over a million Palestinians, almost half the surviving population of Gaza, were driven to Rafah by Israel’s horrific destruction of Gaza’s major cities, hospitals, schools, shelters, water supply, food production and distribution. Along with the nearly 35,000 Palestinians counted as dead from Israeli bombs, missiles, and bullets since October 7, 10,000 bodies are estimated to be buried in the rubble of buildings destroyed by those missiles and bombs.

    What drove them to Rafah? Seven months of…

    • Israel pummeling Gaza’s two largest cities to rubble with hundreds of U.S.-supplied 2,000-pound bombs, weapons of mass destruction, mass murder, and terror that can kill or wound people more than 1,000 feet away from the “target”
    • Israeli imposed starvation and famine—mothers are not getting sufficient caloric intake to produce milk for their babies, children are suffering irreversible developmental disabilities, and people are dying every day for lack of food
    • A healthcare system destroyed systematically, on purpose, by Israel
    • Palestinian people in Gaza repeatedly being ordered by Israel to flee into so-called “safe zones” where they are targeted with Israeli military strikes

    All these things have been repeatedly documented in mainstream (U.S. ruling class) media, by human rights organizations, and by on-the-ground testimony by the victims. 

  • ARTICLE:

    War Crimes Enabled and Whited Out by USA State Department

    Smoke fills the sky in Gaza Strip after Israeli airstrike, November 16, 2023.

     

    Gaza Strip after Israeli airstrike, November 16, 2023.    Photo: AP

    On May 10, the U.S. State Department issued a report claiming Israel was not breaking international law with weapons supplied by the U.S. How did they justify that? The report itself is not available at this point, but the New York Times and other sources have been able to summarize it. 

    On April 29, revcom.us reported on how, under pressure from the world outrage, the U.S. government went into a three-step-coverup shuffle to shut down investigation into and cover up how and why Israel dumped hundreds of bodies into mass graves next to two hospitals it bombed, invaded, shot up, and ransacked in Gaza. Then the U.S. was scrambling to bury the truth, much as Israel scrambled to bury Palestinian victims of its genocidal rampage in Gaza in shallow graves.

    Here, once again, the U.S. has a three-step-coverup hustle to cover up Israel’s crimes:

    1. The State Department report acknowledged that there was massive evidence that Israel was carrying out war crimes but claimed those crimes cannot be fully documented because Israel is covering them up.
    2. The State Department insisted that the U.S. has shared “concerns” with Israel and that Israel kind of, sort of, could be interpreted as agreeing to think about those concerns.
    3. Finally, simply ignore and bury actual documented, specific proof that Israel is carrying out war crimes and keep pumping in weapons. Before the State Department’s whitewash, a carefully documented independent report pointed to “scores of specific incidents for which it believes there is compelling and credible evidence of violations of international humanitarian law” by Israel, using U.S. weapons, in the first three months of this year. (See below for excerpts from that report.)

    The Independent Task Force included experts like Josh Paul, a former State Department official who in October resigned in protest over U.S. military support for Israel. When the State Department release their whitewashed report, Paul said, “Once again, the Biden Administration has stared the facts in the face—and then pulled the curtains shut.”

    The Independent Task Force report documents examples of how Israel systematically targets civilians, with no possible explanation that the resulting massacres had anything to do with targeting Hamas or any other military target. The following are excerpts (some explanations in brackets from revcom.us):

    Our aggregate [combined] analysis of credible reports involving U.S-provided weapons by Israeli forces indicates a context of systematic disregard for fundamental principles of international law, including recurrent attacks launched despite foreseeably disproportionate harm to civilians and civilian objects, wide area attacks without prior warnings in some of the most densely populated residential neighborhoods in the world, direct attacks on civilians or otherwise protected persons (e.g. police and civil defense personnel), and attacks against civilian objects, including those indispensable for the survival of the civilian population. 

    Further, Israeli intelligence sources cited by credible media reports indicate that these patterns of unlawful attacks reflect reliance on an unyielding and unconditioned supply of U.S. weapons, relaxed rules of engagement, application of collective punishment, and the use of artificial intelligence technology to generate thousands of targets (including civilian police and civil defense personnel), at maximum speed and with minimal human oversight. Specific examples of such violations described in detail in this paper include, but are not limited to: 

    • A 9 October 2023 Israel Defense Forces (IDF) [this is the official name Israel gives its genocidal military] strike on Jabalia refugee camp that destroyed several multi-story buildings, killing at least 39 people, for which the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (UN OHCHR) found no specific military objective and no reports of advance warnings.
    Palestinians remove bodies from bombed refugee camp at Jebaliya, October 9, 2023.

     

    Palestinians remove bodies from bombed refugee camp at Jabalia, October 9, 2023.    Photo: AP

    • A 10 October 2023 IDF airstrike that completely destroyed a building in the Sheikh Radwan district, killing at least 40 civilians. Amnesty International found that a Hamas member had been residing on one of the floors of the building, but that he was not present at the time of the airstrike. 
    • A 10 October 2023 IDF airstrike on a home in Deir al-Balah that killed 21 members of the al-Najjar family as well as three neighbors. Amnesty International did not find any indication that there were any legitimate military targets present. 
    An Israeli airstrike on one residential building in Deiral-Balah in central Gaza killed at least 17 people including four children, February 24, 2024.

     

    An Israeli airstrike on one residential building in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza killed at least 17 people including four children, February 24, 2024.    Photo: Screen grab from AP news video

    • An 13 October 2023 Israeli tank strike in Lebanon that killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, severely wounded AFP photographer Christina Assi, and injured five other reporters. Subsequent investigations found no legitimate military target present. 
    • A 31 October 2023 IDF airstrike on a six-story apartment building near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza that killed at least 106 civilians, including 54 children. Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity of the building at the time of the attack, and Israeli authorities provided no justification for the attack. 
    • A 3 November 2023 IDF airstrike on a marked ambulance just outside of Gaza City’s al-Shifa hospital. No evidence of misuse to commit acts harmful to the enemy was found, and no warning was issued prior to the attack. 
    Palestinians walk through the destruction near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, April 1, 2024

     

    Palestinians walk through the destruction near Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, April 1, 2024    Photo: AP

    • A 24 December 2023 IDF airstrikes that destroyed several buildings in Al Maghazi refugee camp, killing at least 68 people. An Israeli military official told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster that “[t]he type of munition did not match the nature of the attack, causing extensive collateral damage which could have been avoided.”

    Read the entire report: Report of the Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel

  • ARTICLE:

    Torture Chambers of the “Most Moral Army in the World”

    Israeli truck in Gaza packed with Palestinian detainees, bound and blindfolded, December 8, 2023.

     

    Israeli truck in Gaza packed with Palestinian detainees, bound and blindfolded, December 8, 2023.    Photo: AP

    Benjamin Netanyahu (aka Netan-Nazi) calls Israel’s military the “most moral army in the world.” The “most moral army”??? Go here, here and here to see what this “most moral army” has been up to in Gaza. When you see the huge civilian death toll, including 15,000 children, it should come as no surprise to learn that they are torturing their prisoners. 

    Since the start of Israel’s assault on Gaza in early October, the Israeli “Defense” Force (IDF) has captured thousands of men and women and thrown them into concentration camps, subjecting them to degradation, inhumane violence, and death. An Israeli law officially allows the IDF to detain people without any official charges or proof for 45 days, on the mere accusation that they are “unlawful combatants” (or “terrorists”), and that detention can be extended indefinitely

    The camps they are held in are shrouded in secrecy by Israel, but there are reports that at least 27 Palestinian detainees have died in captivity.

    A leaked photograph of the detention facility at the Sde Teiman desert camp

     

    A leaked photograph of the detention facility at the Sde Teiman desert camp, which holds Palestinians detained during Israel’s invasion of Gaza, shows a blindfolded man with his arms above his head. (Photo obtained and released by CNN)    Screengrab

    One of those military concentration camps is Sde Teiman, located in Israel’s Negev desert. A May 10 CNN report recounted what Israeli whistleblowers who worked at the camp revealed:

    They paint a picture of a facility where doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from constant handcuffing; of medical procedures sometimes performed by underqualified medics earning it a reputation for being “a paradise for interns”; and where the air is filled with the smell of neglected wounds left to rot…

    “They stripped them down of anything that resembles human beings,” said one whistleblower, who worked as a medic at the facility’s field hospital. 

    “(The beatings) were not done to gather intelligence. They were done out of revenge,” said another whistleblower. “It was punishment for what they (the Palestinians) did on October 7 and punishment for behavior in the camp.”

    One former Sde Teiman prisoner is Dr. Mohammed al-Ran, who had headed up the surgical unit at Indonesia Hospital, one of the first Gaza hospitals shut down or destroyed in the Israeli invasion. When IDF troops grabbed him, “He was stripped down to his underwear, blindfolded and his wrists tied, then dumped in the back of a truck where, he said, the near-naked detainees were piled on top of one another as they were shuttled to a detention camp in the middle of the desert.” CNN notes that Dr. al-Ran’s account is “consistent with those of dozens of others collected by CNN recounting the conditions of arrest in Gaza.” The doctor’s account is also supported by many images depicting mass arrests published on social media from Israeli soldiers who bragged about and celebrated the dehumanization they took part in. As CNN points out, “Many of those images show captive Gazans, their wrists or ankles tied by cables, in their underwear and blindfolded.”

    As a whistleblower revealed, “We were told they [the prisoners] were not allowed to move. They should sit upright. They’re not allowed to talk. Not allowed to peek under their blindfold.” Prisoners who commit an “offense”—like speaking to other prisoners—are forced to keep their arms raised for an hour, sometimes with hands tied to the fence so they would not come out of the torture stress position. Punishment is ramped up for prisoners who are accused of repeatedly violating the ban against speaking and moving: 

    Israeli guards would sometimes take a prisoner to an area outside the enclosure and beat him aggressively, according to two whistleblowers and [Dr.] al-Ran. A whistleblower who worked as a guard said he saw a man emerge from a beating with his teeth, and some bones, apparently broken. 

    That whistleblower and al-Ran also described a routine search when the guards would unleash large dogs on sleeping detainees, lobbing a sound grenade at the enclosure as troops barged in. Al-Ran called this “the nightly torture.”…

    The same whistleblower recounted the search in the same harrowing detail. “It was a special unit of the military police that did the so-called search,” said the source. “But really it was an excuse to hit them. It was a terrifying situation.”

    “There was a lot of screaming and dogs barking.” 

    If all this sounds horrifically familiar… dogs unleashed on helpless prisoners was also among the utterly despicable acts carried out by American troops at the Abu Ghraib torture chamber during the U.S. war in Iraq in the early 2000s.

    Another kind of torture is carried out at the so-called “field hospital” at Sde Teiman. One whistleblower told CNN:

    “I was asked to learn how to do things on the patients, performing minor medical procedures that are totally outside my expertise,” he said, adding that this was frequently done without anesthesia. 

    “If they complained about pain, they would be given paracetamol,” he said, using another name for acetaminophen…

    The same whistleblower also said he witnessed an amputation performed on a man who had sustained injuries caused by the constant zip-tying of his wrists. The account tallied with details of a letter authored by a doctor working at Sde Teiman published by Ha’aretz in April.

    That doctor wrote in the letter that all prisoners at the Sde Teiman camp hospital are “handcuffed by all four limbs, regardless of how dangerous they are deemed. They are blindfolded and fed through a straw.” He wrote, “Just this week, two prisoners had their legs amputated due to handcuff injuries, which unfortunately is a routine event."

    “Most moral army in the world”?? No! This is a military of degrading domination, torture, war crimes and dehumanization—fighting with shamelessly immoral means for reactionary ends. As revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has pointed out, “It is an important truth that any military is a reflection of the system for which it is fighting.” The Israeli military reflects and concentrates the Zionist (Jewish supremacist), apartheid state of Israel that it is fighting for—armed and backed by Genocide Joe and all the blood-soaked U.S. imperialists.

  • ARTICLE:

    The “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act”—Banning Opposition to Zionism, Crushing Academic Freedom

    On May 1, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed (320 for, 91 against) the so-called “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act” (the “AAA”). If passed by the Senate, this will mark a major leap in state censorship of criticism of Israel and will set a dangerous precedent more generally. This bill—and the whole repressive move against students and intellectuals of which this is a part—must be opposed and defeated.

    There is real anti-Semitism throughout this society, and all decent people should oppose it. But this bill is not about stopping that. It's about trying to compel universities to suppress righteous protest against Israel, and against the genocidal war it is waging right now in Gaza. The AAA aims to do this by codifying (writing into federal law) the big lie that anti-Zionism is the same as anti-Semitism.

    Is this an exaggeration? No, it is not.

    REVOLUTION 36: More Big Lies From Genocide Joe Biden.
    Follow Bob Avakian (BA) on social media.

    The heart of the AAA is the “adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's [IHRA] definition of antisemitism for the enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws regarding education programs.” Under AAA, college administrators would be obligated by federal law to combat and suppress any speech or action on their campuses that falls under the IHRA’s definition. If they failed to do this, they could lose federal funding, which on average makes up about 14 percent of U.S. college funding—so that’s a big club over their heads!

    But IHRA dramatically expands the definition of anti-Semitism so that it not only includes bigotry towards Jewish people or the Jewish religion but now also includes political opposition to a Jewish state, such as calling out the racist nature of Zionist rule or drawing comparisons between Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the German Nazis' treatment of Jewish people during World War 2. 

    Specifically, the IHRA definition brands the following types of political speech or protest as anti-Semitic: 

    “[C]laiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”

    And

    “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”

    But the truth is, Israel is a racist, Jewish-supremacist state, and it is currently carrying out a genocidal war. 

    It is a basic truth, proven many times over, that Israel was founded in the land of Palestine where a large majority of the population was, and had been for many centuries, Palestinian.1

    It is a basic truth, proven many times over, that to make it a Jewish state, the Zionists drove out a minimum of 700,000 Palestinian people and that Israel has denied these exiled Palestinians the right to return to their homeland ever since. As Bob Avakian lays it out in Revolution #6, “In establishing the state of Israel, in 1948, Israeli forces systematically destroyed hundreds of Palestinian villages, murdering thousands, raping women in large numbers, driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.”

    It is a basic truth, proven many times over and documented by major human rights organizations like Amnesty InternationalHuman Rights Watch, and B’Tselem (the main Israeli human rights group)—that Israel is an “apartheid state,” and was closely tied to and supported the white supremacist apartheid regime in South Africa when it was in power.2

    And it is a basic truth, proven many times over every day, that the U.S.-backed Israeli war on Gaza has openly—and successfully—aimed to make Gaza unlivable and to drive the population to the edge of starvation. The similarities to what the Nazis did to Jewish people in the ghettos and concentration camps during World War 2 are all too painfully obvious.

    A 10-year-old Palestinian boy, Yazan al-Kafarna, in hospital bed in Rafah, died due to what his doctor said was extreme muscle wastage caused primarily by a lack of food.

     

    A 10-year-old Palestinian boy, Yazan al-Kafarna, died due to what his doctor said was extreme muscle wastage caused primarily by a lack of food, March 3, 2024.    Photo: AP

    Malnourished 15-year-old boy rescued from Auschwitz, circa 1940.

     

    Malnourished 15-year-old boy rescued from Auschwitz, circa 1940.   

    But if the AAA is enacted, would professors be allowed to teach or even discuss such facts? Would they be allowed to assign books by respected scholars, Jewish and Palestinian, who have documented all this? Or would they find themselves accused of hate speech for doing that? And would administrators stand by them and defend their right to teach the truth—and risk losing massive funding for their institutions? Or would they seek to censor and shut down these “forbidden” ideas before the federal government even got involved? 

    And the same questions go for allowing student organizations, protests and even panel discussions that sharply criticized Israel.3

    For the U.S. rulers—the capitalist-imperialist class—this proposed law is a thinly disguised way to exercise their dictatorship, suppressing and punishing ideas that threaten the fundamental interests of their system, no matter how true those ideas may be.

    There is a world of difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. As Bob Avakian lays out in his social media message Revolution #36

    “the security of Israel” relies on and is enforced through the continual vicious oppression and outright slaughter of masses of Palestinian people, including huge numbers of children. Protest against this is not “anti-Semitism”: As voiced by many Jews who are actively taking part in these protests, opposition to this genocide perpetrated by Israel is in the best tradition of the declaration “Never Again”—never again shall the kinds of terrible atrocities and horrific genocide of Jews perpetrated by the Hitlerite Nazis, during World War 2, be allowed to take place, against any people—and it is all the more outrageous when genocide is perpetrated by Israel in the name of “the safety of the Jewish people.”

    Bob Avakian on the Middle East

     

    The immediate aim of the “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act” is clearly to suffocate the mass movement on hundreds of campuses against the genocide in Gaza. But it would also set an extremely toxic precedent for shutting down radical or revolutionary political speech, discussion and protest on campuses. 

    Since passing the House, significant opposition to the AAA has emerged among some liberal Democrats and some MAGA fascists. Marjorie Taylor Greene worries that the AAA “could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.” In other words, she is concerned that this could cramp the ability of the Christian fascists to promote their brand of anti-Semitism—the claim that “the Jews killed Christ,” which has been used for centuries to justify horrific pogroms. (“Pogroms” were mob attacks by Christians on Jewish communities in Europe in which thousands were killed, women raped, villages burned to the ground.) 

    And, on the very positive side, a “Statement from Concerned Jewish Faculty Against Antisemitism” was published—signed by over 1,100 Jewish faculty so far—strongly opposing “any effort to codify into federal law a definition of antisemitism that conflates antisemitism with criticism of the state of Israel.”

    So it is not clear if this particular bill will end up being enacted as law or not. But the fact that it has gotten this far and has a serious chance indicates the degree to which the U.S. ruling class is willing to use state power to ban “dangerous ideas,” even when they are obviously true. They find the truths that people are spreading dangerous enough to drop their mask of “democracy” and “freedom of speech” and come right out with the fist of dictatorship.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1.  Moshe Dayan, one of the founders of Israel, stated: “There is not a single place built in this country [Israel] that did not have a former Arab population.” See “Take the Quiz! Israel, Perception and Reality, Pt. 1,” revcom.us, updated Nov. 12, 2023.  [back]

    2.  Apartheid is a form of severe, institutionalized system of oppression and discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity. Under international law it is classified as “a crime against humanity.” See “Does Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians Rise to the Level of Apartheid?,” Human Rights Watch, December 5, 2023. Also see “Take the Quiz! Israel, Perception and Reality, Pt. 2,” revcom.us, updated Nov. 12, 2023.  [back]

    3.  A lot of this kind of repression and censorship is already going on at many schools, much of it driven by the congressional interrogation of three university presidents in December 2023 that led to two of them losing their jobs for failing to effectively crush student protest. Now this new bill would essentially make that “obligation” to repress “the law of the land.”  [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    A Roundup: Campus Protests Continue Despite the Repression 

    No Graduation as Usual Amidst a Genocide

    College campuses continue to be the site of determined resistance to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocidal slaughter of Palestinian people. While most of the Gaza Solidarity Encampments that cropped up across the country have been violently shut down, creative and courageous protests continue to spread. And students are continuing to demand their schools divest from Israel financially, and demand an end to the genocide happening now. At many campuses faculty members have stepped forward to support the protests, speaking out against the violent assaults on their students.

    As we wrote last week, “These college students, especially from 'elite' universities, are going up against their own government on a matter of strategic importance to the ruling class—the state of Israel as a military outpost for U.S. capitalism-imperialism in the strategic region of the Middle East. This is forcing many others to sit up and take notice, to question what they are going along with and to challenge long-held fundamental assumptions about the nature of this system, and their responsibility to the world.”

    This has been met with slander and lies from Genocide Joe Biden and other leading representatives of this system, and a violent nationwide crackdown. Police have been called in to more than 80 campuses, and more than 2,800 protesters— mainly students—have been arrested at demonstrations or on campuses. Some of these protests have also been violently attacked by pro-Israel and MAGA fascist mobs.

    System Moves to Break Up Protest Encampments, Arrest Students

    Here's a roundup of just some of the protests that have spread this week, and the intensifying repression against them:

    ** University of Chicago: On Monday, April 29, when students first put up a tent encampment on the quad, the university administration took a hands-off approach. The school is well known for being an advocate for “free speech, and the right to protest.” But by the end of the week, it became clear that the school was going to bring down the hammer when the university president issued a letter declaring that the encampment “cannot continue.” Four days later, the university police in riot helmets marched onto campus and tore down the encampment, as students continued to protest outside. “They started very, very quickly ripping and throwing the barricades that were protecting the camp,” one faculty member who had been at the encampment to protect students said. “They started destroying the tents and throwing them.”

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    At DePaul University, Chicago, entrances are blocked and people are linking arms to protect encampment from anticipated Zionist counter protesters, May 12, 2024.

     

    At DePaul University, Chicago, entrances are blocked and people are linking arms to protect encampment from anticipated Zionist counter protesters, May 12, 2024.     Photo: Special to revcom.us

    ** University of Massachusetts Amherst: On May 7, police raided the encampment students had set up—for the second time. Students ended the first one voluntarily on April 30, but this time they’d refused to leave.  "It was a militarized zone—that's all I can explain it as. It was not our campus. It was not a safe place," a leader in the campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine said. "They keep calling it a riot and it simply was not a riot until the cops came and made it to be a riot. And even then, we were being peaceful." Police arrested more than 130 demonstrators. The next day hundreds turned out to protest the attack. This brutal crackdown prompted Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Colson Whitehead to cancel his planned commencement speech: “[C]alling the cops on peaceful protesters is a shameful act,” he said. “I have to withdraw as your commencement speaker. I give all my best wishes and congratulations to the class of ’24 and pray for the safety of the Palestinian people, the return of the hostages, and an end to this terrible war.”

    University of Massachusetts, cops destroy encampment, make arrests, May 7, 2024.

     

    University of Massachusetts, Amherst, cops destroy encampment, make arrests, May 7, 2024.    Photo: Website screen grab

    ** University of Virginia in Charlottesville: On Saturday, May 4, riot police armed with M4 military carbines and chemical-gas launchers stormed the protest encampment. “We were able to hold our ground until they started to spray huge clouds of chemicals at close range,” one protester said. “When we ran back into the encampment to flush out our eyes and our throats, it was when we were separated and on the ground that they started to beat me down with their shields, drag my body by my clothes, and they sprayed us at close range with the chemicals. I saw the can close to my face. I had a friend who they ripped her goggles off and sprayed her. They took us somewhere where they had no medics and no water, while we screamed in pain. They detained 26 of us for almost nine hours with the chemicals still burning on our skins. I’m now banned from campus. This is the same campus that knew that men with rifles, Nazis, white supremacists were coming [for the fascist “Unite the Right” rally in 2017], and did not stop them. And none of those white supremacists are banned from campus.” 

    Cops with riot shields viciously dismantle encampment for Palestine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, May 4, 2024.

     

    Cops with riot shields viciously dismantle encampment for Palestine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, May 4, 2024.    Photo: Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP

    ** Harvard University: On May 10, more than 200 students, faculty, and staff rallied in Harvard Yard in the center of campus. They were protesting the University’s decision to put 20 students on involuntary leave because they had been taking part in the Gaza solidarity encampment which was started on April 24. Students righteously refused this “deal” of taking down their encampment in exchange for not being forced to take this “involuntary leave.” Students marched around campus, stopping at various halls and renaming them in honor of Palestinians murdered by Israel—Sidra Hassouna, a seven-year-old girl who was killed in an airstrike; Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist assassinated in the West Bank two years ago; and Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed alongside her family, as well as medics who tried to save her, in Gaza.

    ** University of Pennsylvania: Early in the morning of Friday, May 10, police in riot gear cleared the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, arresting 33 people. In defiance of the administration’s order to disband, the encampment had been there for more than two weeks. During this time the encampment had tripled in size, with dozens of tents set up on College Green. The crackdown came after Democratic governor Josh Shapiro demanded the university “restore order and safety on campus.” Some students have received punitive suspensions which bar them from campus, commencement, university housing and dining halls and employment by the university, services, housing and jobs many students depend on.

    University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia students lock arms as police approach to clear the pro-Palestinian encampment, May 10, 2024.

     

    University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia students lock arms as police approach to clear the pro-Palestinian encampment, May 10, 2024.    Photo: Jessica Griffin/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP

    ** George Washington University, Washington, DCOn May 8, police used pepper spray against students to break up their encampment that had been in place since April 26. Thirty-three were brutally arrested. This attack took place the night before the DC mayor was due to testify before Congress about the city’s response to GWU’s encampment. Following the crackdown, the hearing was canceled.

    Metropolitan police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and arrested demonstrators, May 8, 2024.

     

    Metropolitan police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and arrested demonstrators, May 8, 2024.    Photo: Sage Russell/GW Hatchet via AP

    ** Princeton University: More than a dozen students have been on a water-only hunger strike since Friday, May 3. This came after the April 25 arrest of 13 students who were occupying a building on campus. This past Friday, more than a dozen faculty members joined for a one-day fast in solidarity with the students. The students say they will continue their hunger strike until their demands are met: no charges brought against the students who were arrested and what they call a “serious meeting” with the administration for them to divest from Israel. The administration has yet to take any of this seriously and one student said in response, “If they want to let us starve, then they’re welcome to do that...”

    ** State University of New York (SUNY) New Paltz: On May 2, police violently raided a student encampment, attacking with batons and dogs, the day after it had been set up. “Police raided us for over three hours,” a protester said. “They knocked my friend unconscious. He had a concussion. They knocked an 82-year-old woman unconscious. All of my friends have bruises. They have red marks on their hands from the zip ties. And then, afterwards, they bulldozed all of our things.” Some 133 students and others were arrested.

    ** New York: On May 7, in New York City, a rabid Zionist drove his car into a protest called by Columbia University students, injuring and hospitalizing one. The NYPD then arrested the driver along with two of the victims for banging their hands on the hood of his car! The driver was charged with second-degree assault. No charges were filed against the two protesters.

    ** UCLA: On Monday, May 6, 44 people, mainly students, were arrested for “conspiracy to commit burglary” for allegedly planning to occupy Moore Hall on the campus in protest of the genocide in Gaza. This included two members of the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity. Arrests included journalists and legal observers. After, there was a brief sit-in in one of the campus buildings and several hundred students participated in a march around campus.4

    UCLA faculty and staff members march on the school campus in support of students protesting for Palestine, May 9, 2024.

     

    UCLA faculty and staff members march on the school campus in support of students protesting for Palestine, May 9, 2024.    Photo: AP/Jae C. Hong)

    2 Revcoms—Arrested at UCLA—Speak Out About the Anti-Genocide Student Uprising & Repression

    Gaza solidarity encampments are spreading across Europe

    Anti-Genocide Upsurge Disrupts Commencement Ceremonies

    Commencement ceremonies at colleges and universities across the country—from the University of Southern California to Columbia University in New York—have been canceled, altered, scaled back, or moved, all in an effort to avoid protests against Israel’s U.S.-backed genocide in Gaza, now unfolding horrifically in Rafah. Some schools have encouraged students to go home early. Despite these efforts, protests have broken out at commencement ceremonies across the country.

    ** University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill: On Saturday, May 11, students protested outside campus buildings. Red paint was splattered on one. When the chancellor finished speaking at the graduation, students carrying two large Palestinian flags moved up the center aisle as many in the crowd booed and chanted “USA, USA.” Police hustled the protesters out. National Students for Justice in Palestine posted: “Today is UNC’s graduation commencement and students have established an encampment at the famous bell tower, where many graduates will want to take their graduation photos.” This was posted on the chancellor’s door.

    ** Duke University: On Sunday, May 12, dozens of students walked out of Duke’s graduation ceremony chanting “free Palestine,” as its commencement speaker— rabidly pro-Israel actor and comedian Jerry Seinfeld—was being introduced. Some waved Palestinian flags, while others who remained booed. This was contentious and many others cheered. Seinfeld has supported Israel’s Gaza genocide and his wife helped bankroll the Zionist mob which violently attacked students at UCLA on May 1. 

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    ** University of California, Berkeley: in a raucous scene, hundreds of graduates stood up and chanted in protest throughout the commencement. One group, which grew to 500 students, gathered in a section behind the main stage, chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, the occupation has got to go” and “UC divest.” Palestinian flags were waved in the crowd. Students at the UC Berkeley Law School commencement formed the words “UC DIVEST” with their shirts in protest. One protester said, “I felt like it was necessary” because the university had not done enough. 

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     UC Berkeley Law School graduates wear T-shirts that read "UC DIVEST" during commencement, May 10, 2024.

     

    UC Berkeley Law School graduates wear T-shirts that read "UC DIVEST" during commencement, May 10, 2024.    Photo: Jessica Christian/San Francisco Chronicle via AP

    **Asna Tabassum, the USC valedictorian whose speech was cancelled because she spoke out against the genocide of the Palestinian people submitted her speech to the school newspaper, the Daily Trojan:

    USC 2024 Valedictorian Asna Tabassum in her graduation dress and sash.

     

    USC 2024 Valedictorian Asna Tabassum in her graduation dress and sash.    Photo: Alessandro Tasso

    USC Valedictorian Asna Tabassum shared what would have been her speech to the USC graduation

     

    USC Valedictorian Asna Tabassum shared what would have been her speech to the USC graduation, with the text blacked out to show she was silenced.   

    The main USC graduation was also cancelled, though each school had their own smaller ceremony. At her graduation, where she did not speak, she was given a long standing ovation by fellow students.

    ** Virginia Commonwealth University: Some 60 students rose and walked out of the graduation ceremony when the fascist governor Glen Youngkin was about to begin his address. The students were protesting Youngkin’s support for police assaults on pro-Palestinian protests on Virginia campuses, as well as his reactionary opposition to LGBTQ+ rights and a proposed “racial literacy” requirement in schools.

    Students for Palestine confront cops at Virginia Commonwealth University, April 30, 2024

     

    Students for Palestine confront cops at Virginia Commonwealth University, April 30, 2024    Photo: Mike Kropf/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP

    ** Other graduation protests included University of Texas, Dallas and Northeastern Law School. At Northeastern, one student held up a banner that said “No Graduation in Gaza,” and others held up their hands covered in red paint to symbolize the school's complicity with genocide.

    UT Dallas graduates walk out during their president's speech at graduation, in solidarity with Gaza's lost class of 2024, and in protest of the school's complicity in Israel's bombardment and siege on Gaza. All power to the graduates, and all power to the student movement. DISCLOSE, DIVEST, WE WILL NOT STOP WE WILL NOT REST

    “No Graduation in Gaza”: On May 10, 2024, graduating law students at Northeastern University School of Law (NUSL) protested during their commencement ceremony to advocate for an end to the genocide in Gaza.  They highlighted Israel’s destruction of schools and universities in Palestine and Northeastern University’s complicity in the ongoing genocide 

    Faculty Members Step Forward

    At campuses across the country, faculty members have stepped forward to support and defend the students and to speak out against the genocide in Gaza. 

    On May 8, faculty members at the New School in New York City set up the “Refaat Alareer Faculty Solidarity Encampment” inside the lobby. It was named for the Palestinian writer, poet and professor Refaat Alareer who was killed on December 7, 2023 in Gaza by an Israeli airstrike. The faculty set up their encampment in the same lobby which students had occupied and been forcibly evicted from by the NYPD the week before. This is the first faculty encampment in the country and now New York City’s only remaining encampment.

    One part-time professor said, “...we could not stand on the sidelines any longer. What we’re doing here is calling for all faculty across the country to step up, to risk more and to escalate, because we have to get all war profiteers out of our universities.”

    UT Austin faculty and staff have held silent demonstrations calling for an end to the war in Gaza. Faculty at UCLA have intervened to protect student protesters and held a march last week in unity with the students. Professors at Columbia University have taken part in protest encampments and are speaking out against the university’s repression. At Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis, Dartmouth, and Northwestern University, faculty have stepped in to protect students. After 57 students were arrested at the University of Texas at Austin, more than 500 faculty expressed no confidence in President Jay Hartzell.

    “This moment has actually brought faculty together in a way I’ve never experienced in 20 years on campus. I’ve found myself working closely with colleagues I’d never met before,” Columbia University history professor Nara Milanich told The Intercept. “People have dropped everything to support students and respond to this moment.”

    Faculties joined together “across ranks, schools, disciplines, and ideologies in outrage and collectivity” in a way one professor hadn’t seen before: “faculty walkoutsdissent from permanent law school professors, condemnation from scientists around the world, and even mass global academic boycotts against the school.”

    A Politically Explosive Situation

    As the statement from the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity says:

    Right now, three things must happen:

    [1] The resistance to the genocide in Gaza must spread—on the campuses and throughout all of society!

    [2] Defend ALL anti-genocide students & protesters! Do NOT let them divide & demonize a movement with right on our side!

    [3] Everyone who seriously agonizes about the future and wants to see a world without the unjust brutality we are witnessing in Gaza, and in this illegitimate repression, needs to dig in seriously to the source of all this: the system of capitalism-imperialism. And dig into the solution to it: a real revolution. The Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity invites and urges you to do this... talking with us more deeply and joining. Find out about the strategy, vision, plan and leadership for this revolution. Bring the spirit of defiance and your desire to get to a world where these kinds of crimes never happen again to anyone! With this whole system in crisis and society being ripped apart, the revolution that's needed to overthrow this system could happen not just in some far off place and time, but right here and right in this time we are living in.

    In his social media message REVOLUTION #27, Bob Avakian exposes the real reason speech and protest are being viciously repressed, particularly on college campuses: 

    …because fundamental interests of U.S. capitalism-imperialism are at stake. Because Israel plays a “special role” as a heavily armed bastion of support for U.S. imperialism in a strategically important part of the world (the “Middle East”). And Israel has been a key force in the commission of atrocities which have helped to maintain the oppressive rule of U.S. imperialism in many other parts of the world.

    And this repression is happening because representatives of the ruling class in this country have a definite sense that if youth especially at “elite” universities begin to seriously question and act against what this system is doing—if the system “loses the allegiance” of large numbers of those students—that can be a big factor in creating a real crisis for the system as a whole, as happened in the 1960s: a crisis that, now more than ever, this system really cannot afford, when the whole country is already being torn apart by deep divisions, with bitter clashes right among the ruling powers. So, at the same time as they are bitterly divided, the ruling powers of this country are firmly united in their determination to punish and intimidate especially students at elite universities who have stepped forward to protest the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians. The ruling class is desperate to prevent opposition to its fundamental interests from spreading and involving masses of people, from all parts of society.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. Protests and repression are taking place at many other campuses, including the Rhode Island School of Design where students held an “All Eyes on Rafah” rally on May 6 and occupied the school’s main administrative building. On May 7, police shut down an encampment at the Fashion Institute of Technology, arresting some 50 protesters. On May 6, riot police officers dismantled a pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of California, San Diego and arrested dozens. On May 8, police also took down Gaza solidarity encampment at the University of Houston and arrested two students, as part of Texas’ crack down on campus protests across the stateThe “Free Palestine” University encampment at Johns Hopkins University is continuing as are protests at nearby colleges in the Baltimore Maryland area. On May 6, Somerville high school students in Cambridge, Massachusetts walked out of class in solidarity MIT’s encampment. [back]

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    From Aurora Roja, voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico:

    Mexico: Encampment at UNAM Against U.S. Imperialism-Backed Israeli-State Genocide and In Solidarity with University Students Protesting in the United States

    Revcom.us editors’ note: This article originally appeared in Spanish on the blog Aurora Roja, voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico. The translation into English is by revcom.us volunteers. A PDF of the Spanish is available at: CampamentoPorPalestina.pdf

    Tents began to be set up at noon next to the administration building of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on Thursday, May 2, beginning the campout of the Interuniversity and Popular Assembly in Solidarity with Palestine. This action joins and becomes part of the international student protest and mobilization to demand “Stop the Israeli Zionist Genocide Against the Palestinian People in Gaza!” They also called out the repression and express their solidarity with the encampments in universities in the United States and other countries.

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    In a statement, they very correctly proclaim that “We are almost seven months from the genocide perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people as a continuation of a campaign of extermination that began more than 70 years ago, the root of which is the colonial and racist character of the illegitimate state of Israel.”

    Israel is a theocratic state, founded and perpetuated by massacring and oppressing Palestinians and stealing their land. Although there are various positions in the movement against this genocide, the position of the revolutionary communists is that a revolution is needed to establish one single secular state in the historic territory of Palestine, with equal rights for Palestinians, Jews and others. This fight is primarily against the Zionist state and U.S. imperialism, but Hamas is also a reactionary force, which seeks to establish a repressive Islamic theocratic state, just as Iran is now. At the same time, we must emphatically insist that anti-Zionism is NOT anti-Semitism, as demonstrated by the prominent role that many Jewish students in the U.S. have played in the struggle against genocide in Gaza.

    The encampment’s declaration also demands “an end to the genocide that has murdered more than 40,000 Palestinian people... Our compañeros on the other side of the Río Bravo / Grande have shaken the imperialist government of Joe Biden, who, together with the university authorities, has unleashed a violent onslaught with hundreds of expulsions and brutal repression by police forces…” (The official count is more than 34,500 dead as of May 3, but many more remain buried under the rubble). In fact, as of this writing, there have been more than 2,200 arrests at many universities in the United States, including cases of violent attacks with rubber bullets, stun grenades, pepper spray, and tear gas, ripping off the “democratic” mask of the government and universities, which operate in the interests of the U.S. capitalist-imperialist ruling class.

    The demands of the UNAM encampment include “Stop Genocide and End the Zionist Occupation; Break Mexico’s Diplomatic Relations with Israel”—something that [Mexican] President López Obrador [AMLO] has refused to do due to the subordination of the Mexican state to the interests of U.S. imperialism. He says he is “neutral” about the “conflict” in Gaza. It is totally unacceptable to be “neutral” about the ongoing genocide! AMLO refuses to condemn the genocide, limiting himself to so-called spaces for “peace.”

    Another very important demand of the encampment is “that the Mexican armed forces stop being trained by the Israeli army,” and could also include that they stop using Israeli software such as Pegasus to spy on government opponents. The truth is that Israel is not only an essential bastion for advancing the interests of the U.S. empire in the Middle East, but it also does its dirty work in many other parts of the world, including Latin America. The encampment also demands “an end to the university’s collaboration with companies that openly support Zionism, such as HP, Google and IBM.” The UNAM, acting in the service of the ruling classes, has refused to officially respond to this demand. On the contrary, in its statement about the encampment, the UNAM slipped in points to justify potential repressive measures in the future, declaring that “there are also those who disagree and may feel offended” by the encampment.

    At the beginning of the encampment, the group of young university students, professors, university workers, organizations, and others had the Palestinian keffiyeh on their shoulders or covering their heads, others waved Palestinian flags while the tents were set up. The media interviewed some people or took photos. A moment that caught everyone’s attention was when a Palestinian flag was placed on top of a lamp post, and there was no shortage of shouts of “Free Palestine! Free, free Palestine!” and other slogans.

    Some people began to arrive with some groceries and some money that they donated so that the encampment can sustain itself in its resistance and struggle.

    There was also repudiation of the bourgeois electoral parties when some young people arrived with canvas banners that they collected of the “electoral garbage” of the electoral parties and then they reused them to paint slogans in favor of the Palestinian people, set up tents or caricature the images of the bourgeois candidates.

    A contingent from the Department of Political and Social Sciences (FCPyS) marched in amidst chants and slogans to join the encampment. Thus, little by little, the participants in the encampment grew, until today there are more than 60 tents. In an assembly of the students, the regulations and security measures that will have to be taken up for collective care among all participants were announced. And the different committees met separately so that there was coordination of the tasks and activities in the encampment. There will be press conferences, security patrols, brigades, cultural activities, some workshops, and food preparation.

    Much, much solidarity and encouragement are expressed aimed at exposing the atrocious genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people by Israeli Zionism, financed and backed by U.S. imperialism to reinforce its watchdog in that region of the Middle East and other parts of the world.

    And they demand that the repression, in some cases brutal, stop against the students who bravely resist in the encampments in the universities in the United States, that all detained students and others be released immediately, and that the students expelled or with some punishment be reinstated in their classes. The same for other students from other universities in other countries who have set up encampments.

    In the United States, the revolutionary communists—the Revcoms—have joined these encampments and are doing everything they can to take advantage of this rare moment when a revolution in the U.S. becomes more possible, as put forward and developed by Bob Avakian. They are bringing this real revolution to these university students and to the entire society. As Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader and architect of the new communism, points out:

    ... [the] representatives of the ruling class in this country have a definite sense that if youth especially at “elite” universities begin to seriously question and act against what this system is doing—if the system “loses the allegiance” of large numbers of those students—that can be a big factor in creating a real crisis for the system as a whole, as happened in the 1960s: a crisis that, now more than ever, this system really cannot afford, when the whole country is already being torn apart by deep divisions, with bitter clashes right among the ruling powers. So, at the same time as they are bitterly divided, the ruling powers of this country are firmly united in their determination to punish and intimidate especially students at elite universities who have stepped forward to protest the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians. The ruling class is desperate to prevent opposition to its fundamental interests from spreading and involving masses of people, from all parts of society.

    Stop the U.S.-Backed Israeli Genocidal War Against Palestine!

    The Palestinian People Must Be Free!

    Down With the Racist Apartheid State of Israel and Its Master, U.S. Imperialism!

    In Palestine, the U.S., Mexico, and all over the world, people need a real revolution based on the New Communism!

     

    Aurora Roja
    Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico
    aurora-roja.blogspot.com | auroraroja.mx@gmail.com
    May 5, 2024

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    Revcom Carl Dix to deliver message to Eric Adams, Monday, May 13,  12 noon, City Hall: “You and the blood-soaked U.S. flag are what's 'disgusting!'”

    Editors’ note: The following is a press release from the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, NYC.

    Carl Dix speaking about the code the RevComCorps lives by.

     

    Carl Dix    Photo: revcom.us

    What: Protest/Speakout/Photo Op 
    When: Monday, May 13, 12 Noon 
    Where: City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge area at Centre Street/Park Row

    After sending the NYPD onto the campuses at Columbia University and the City College of New York in full stormtrooper mode, Eric Adams said, as a proud American, he was “disgusted” by the way protesters disrespected the U.S. flag. And he declared: “We’re not going to surrender our way of life to anyone.”

    The students who stood up on their campuses and said no to the mass murder, destruction of hospitals and schools and enforced starvation in Gaza are right. Standing up against the U.S.-Israeli genocide is not Anti-Semitic. And it is inspiring to see them continuing to protest in the face of arrests, suspensions, and lies about being manipulated by “outside agitators.”

    Mayor Adams, YOU are disgusting, and you should get ready to be disgusted again.

    This American way of life you are so proud of was founded on slavery and genocide and is today a global empire based on wars and plunder. The war your uncle died fighting was a genocidal war fought to drown the liberation struggle of the Vietnamese people in blood. And today America is financing, arming and giving diplomatic cover for the genocidal war Israel is carrying out in Gaza. This is disgusting.

    At noon on Monday, May 13 at the City Hall/Brooklyn Bridge area at Centre Street/Park Row, Carl Dix and the RevCom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity will lay bare the truly depraved way of life Eric "Black Giuliani” Adams finds so precious and why it's long past time for this way of life to be gotten rid of thru revolution and how the chance of a lifetime to overthrow this rotten system needs to be grabbed hold of by all of us who refuse to accept this terrible future it has in store for humanity.

    We will address why Adams and the others responsible for the brutal crackdown on the students protesting the U.S.-Israeli genocide in Gaza are wrong and how this crackdown exposes the vulnerability of this system. It is disgusting you all have revived the ghosts of 1960s segregationist sheriffs like Alabama’s Bull Connor to try to justify your criminal actions.

    And we will demonstrate for Eric Adams the proper way to treat the American flag.

  • ARTICLE:

    Check It Out:

    @Macklemore Music Video: Hind’s Hall

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    Houston: Taking “Which Side Are You On” to Graduation Ceremonies

    On May 9 and 10 a small crew of revcom supporters took the leaflet Which Side Are YOU On? to commencement events at the University of Houston (UH), UH law school, and Texas Southern University (TSU). We distributed about 850 leaflets at the two schools to parents, grandparents, and siblings of graduating students. UH has one of the most diverse student bodies in the country. TSU is an historically Black college in 3rd Ward, one of the oldest ghettoes in the city.

    For several weeks there had been a daytime occupation in a central area of the UH student center. The week before graduation, an outside encampment had been set up. It was attacked by police and shut down within hours. Students took their fight to hold a spirited impromptu demonstration at police headquarters. During the graduation ceremony at UH, at least one graduate proudly unfurled a banner as she stepped to the podium. (UH authorities removed it from the video of the graduation.) 

    UH Graduation protest

     

    We challenged people with the flyer’s call for “three things [that] must happen”:  spreading the resistance to the genocide, defending the students under attack for doing so, and digging deeply into the source of all this, and the revolutionary solution. We received a wide range of responses from “ignore-ance” to "Thank you for doing this" to “Yes, we’re all human!” At the law school especially, we encountered a lot more Zionists, a lot of “fuck yous,” and we got out way fewer flyers relative to the numbers of people. But at the main UH ceremony, especially some younger folks took small stacks of leaflets to distribute.

    meme square Building up the Basis

     

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    Black Active Duty Airman Murdered by Florida Pig Inside His Own Home

    On May 3, Roger Fortson, a 23-year-old Black man, went to answer a knock on the door of his apartment in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. He was alone, on a FaceTime call with his girlfriend. Picking up a handgun he legally owned and holding it pointed at the floor, Fortson opened the door to an armed sheriff’s deputy. The pig just uttered two words, “step back,” and suddenly fired his weapon at Fortson. Roger Fortson died at the hospital from his wounds.

    Roger Fortson, 23 years old, killed in his home by Miami cops, May 3, 2024.

     

    Roger Fortson, 23 years old, killed in his home by Fort Walton Beach, Florida cops   

    The sheriffs held back the pig’s body cam footage for a week, releasing it only after the family and their attorney held a press conference to condemn the killing and refute the police lies about what actually happened. The footage shows the deputy knock twice on the door, saying “Sheriff’s office, open the door,” and then move to the side so he can’t be seen through the peephole. Just a fraction of a second after Roger Fortson opens the door—again, with his gun clearly pointed down—the pig unloads six bullets into Fortson’s chest. Only after Roger crumples to the floor does the pig first shout “drop the gun.” Fortson can be heard saying, “It’s over there,” and “I don’t have it.” And then we hear, I can't breathe, I can't breathe”echoing the anguished words of Eric Garner in 2014... George Floyd in 2020... Frank Tyson in 2024... and too many more choked to death by the murdering police of this system.

    Roger Fortson was an airman, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force. He had recently been injured while stationed in Kuwait. For millions of youths in this country, especially Black and Latino youth, this system of capitalism-imperialism has no future except hustling to survive in the streets, constantly in danger of being brutalized or murdered by police… or you can join the armed forces of that same oppressive system, which are brutalizing and killing people just like you around the world in service of the oppressors and exploiters that rule this system. As what happened to Roger Fortson shows, even if you go that second route, you can still have your life viciously stolen by the police under this system that is woven through with white supremacy. 

    The sheriff’s official statement claimed that their deputy was responding to a “call of a disturbance in progress” at the apartment complex and fired his gun “in self-defense.” In other words, Roger Fortson was the one to blame for his own fatal shooting! At the press conference, Roger’s mother, Chantemekki Fortson, clutched his picture and said, “To the sheriff’s department that took my gift… I need you guys to tell the truth about my son. I need you to get his reputation right.”

    At a press conference, the family supports Chantemekki Fortson with a picture of her son, Roger Fortson, killed at his apartment by Florida cops, May 3, 2024.

     

    At a press conference, the family supports Chantemekki Fortson with a picture of her son, Roger Fortson, killed at his apartment by Florida cops, May 3, 2024.     Photo: AP

    In fact, there was no disturbance, no crime of any kind, at Roger Fortson’s apartment. The pig went to the wrong apartment, the family and their attorney maintain. The police body cam footage shows Fortson with a gun but not threatening anyone, as he opens the door. There is another video, from Roger’s FaceTime call with his girlfriend. She confirmed that Roger was in fact alone, talking with her, when he heard a knock on the door. He asked who was at the door but didn’t get a response. A few minutes later, he heard a louder knock but didn’t see anyone when he looked through the peephole, according to her account. She said he was concerned and retrieved his gun before opening the door—and getting shot. As Fortson is heard on the FaceTime video gasping, “I can’t breathe,” the murdering pig tells him, “Do not move. Stop movin’.” 

    To those who may raise, “Well, but he had a gun…,” a simple question: doesn’t the “highest law of the land,” the U.S. Constitution, include the Second Amendment and the supposed “right to bear arms”? But in fact, the “right to bear arms” has never really applied to Black people throughout the history of the USA. One of the defining marks of this so-called “land of the free” is the depraved, repeated violence against Black people—from slavery to decades of lynchings under Jim Crow to police acting as modern-day KKK today to terrorize and murder. The reality in this country, as revolutionary leader Bob Avakian (BA) noted, is 

    that for white supremacists and fascists generally the Second Amendment, the “right to bear arms,” has been regularly upheld and given the backing of the law and the courts, and the support of the police and other institutions of the state; while for Black people, other oppressed people, and generally those opposing the oppression and injustice of this system, the “right to bear arms,” even in self-defense, has been actively opposed and suppressed.

    To everyone outraged by yet another murder of a Black man by the pig enforcers of this system that rules over us… all who are asking, “How long must this nightmare go on?” Find out about and connect with the force that is building now for an actual revolution, in this time, that will bring an end to system that is the source of this and other horrors facing the people, and bring in a fundamentally different system and a whole new way to live. Get with the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, and dig into and take up the revolutionary leadership of Bob Avakian.

    Bob Avakian on the right to defend people under attack

    In Something Terrible, or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed:

    All these attacks on people and their rights need to be powerfully opposed, and people on the good side of this need to be actively protected and defended, where they are assaulted with threats and even outright physical attacks.

    There is the need to prevent the police from brutalizing and just coldly murdering people. Let us remember what was said by some people who witnessed, and even recorded, the slow-motion vicious execution of George Floyd: They agonized over whether they should have done more, should have acted to stop this blatant assassination of a defenseless Black man. Now, again, what I am pointing to is consistent with point 6 of the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—and, in what I am saying here, I am not calling for launching an attack on anyone. But there is no right for anyone, including police, to just murder someone—and there is a right and responsibility to defend and protect people from unjust attacks on their rights, and on their very lives.

    Imagine if, in these different kinds of situations, there were a force of hardcore revolutionaries, including basic youth, whose presence in a disciplined and organized formation made clear that no unjust attacks on people would be tolerated. But this must not just be imagined—it must be developed as one important part of the overall process of preparing for, and building the organized forces for, revolution.

    Something Terrible or Something Truly Emancipating - Square, wo "NEW"

     

  • ARTICLE:

    Immigrants and the Border: Republi-fascists and Democrats Move Towards Greater Repression, Fiercer Conflict

    National Guard apprehends migrants on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, March 21, 2024.

     

    National Guard apprehends migrants on the Rio Grande in El Paso, Texas, March 21, 2024.    Photo: AP

    Two developments last week indicate the ever-more repressive direction both Democrats and Republi-fascists are moving in their assaults on immigrants. While they differ in how—and how viciously—to attack and demonize immigrants, they are both criminalizing and attacking people fleeing desperate conditions for the basic ability to survive.

    El Paso County, Texas is on the U.S.-Mexico border. Its District Attorney, Bill Hicks, announced that he is taking cases of “misdemeanor riot” against hundreds of immigrants to a Grand Jury for indictments—a legal move that is “unheard of.” The Texas National Guard has set up barbed wire barriers along the border, in defiance of the federal government. In March, they arrested immigrants trying to get past the barriers so they could apply for asylum in the U.S. (which is legal). Charges against the immigrants were dismissed by a judge. Hicks’s outrageous retaliatory move is perfectly in synch with a law (SB4) pushed by Greg Abbott, Texas’s Christian fascist governor, that will enable every cop in the state to detain and arrest anyone they suspect of being in the country “illegally.” Hicks is giving a taste of what SB4 could mean even before it has been approved in the court system. 

    Meanwhile Trump, the Fascist-in-Chief, has vowed to initiate a “record-setting deportation operation” on “day one” of his presidency if he returns to office. (See the Revolution article “Texas Anti-Immigrant Law Would Enable Every Pig in the State To Demand, ‘Show Me Your Papers’” for a further examination of SB4.)

    Right around the time Hicks made his announcement, Joe Biden’s administration announced that it is proposing its own change to asylum policy—enabling the federal government to “fast-track deportations.” Several media reports indicate that Biden is seeking ways to go much further—to “shut down the border,” if migration reaches a certain threshold, and prevent new asylum claims—while maintaining a cover of legality and “playing by the rules.”

    The Republi-fascists have made the question of immigration a battering ram for their larger fascist agenda. They use it to whip up vicious anti-immigrant xenophobia (fear and hatred of “foreigners”) and hysteria about the “danger” of America becoming a majority minority country while using it as a wedge among oppressed people, especially by mobilizing some Black people and even native-born Latinos against immigrants on the basis of ugly American chauvinism. They use straight-up nazi language against immigrants promising to “take America back” from the “vermin invading our country.” 

    Meanwhile, the Democrats are trying to maintain the lie that America is a “country of immigrants,” where people can come from around the world for “prosperity and a decent life.” They still try to put forward a multicultural model as a way to incorporate “minorities” into the system—all the better to exercise control. But without all the vicious language, their program has the same effect as the fascists. Biden doesn't whip up the same anti-immigrant hysteria, but he has still deported more people than Trump did in the years' previous, he is continuing to build Trump's wall, and he is now shredding the entire asylum process.

    The divisions and differences among the rulers of this system are coming to a head—over how to best run and cohere their exploitative and oppressive system of capitalism-imperialism. The revolutionary leader Bob Avakian talks about the opening this provides, and what must—and must not be—done.

    Everything will very likely be coming to a head and coming up for grabs this year, 2024, with the presidential election this year a sharp focus of the fight between the dominating ruling class parties—Democrats and Republicans—a fight that is very likely to break all out of the bounds of the “normal way” they exercise power over the people, and keep their whole murderous system going.

    This kind of deep division—and especially this bitter antagonism among the powers-that-be—has not been seen in this country since the time of the Civil War way back in the 1860s.

    This is not a time to be siding with one group of oppressors or another. This is a rare time—a very rare opening—a chance that may come only once in a lifetime—a chance to take advantage of the deep divisions among the ruling oppressors and go after their whole system, with the aim of bringing the whole thing down, and putting something much better in its place.

    This rare time must not be squandered—wasted and thrown awayIt must be actively and urgently seized on—to bring about a truly emancipating revolution. (From social media message Revolution Number Eight, @BobAvakianOfficial)

    STOP! The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization of the Border!
    We Need and We Demand: A Whole New Way to Live, a Fundamentally Different System
    Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America

     

    Excerpt from the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America:
    Article II. Section 3. H. Immigrants, Citizenship and Asylum.
    Authored by Bob Avakian
    Adopted by the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

    “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...”

    from Article II. Section 3. H. (linked above)

    For background on the strategic role the exploitation of immigrants plays in the U.S. economy and the implications of that, see "Imperialist Parasitism and Class-Social Recomposition in the U.S. From the 1970s to Today: An Exploration of Trends and Changes” by Raymond Lotta. In particular, see the section "VII. FOREIGN-BORN WORKERS IN THE U.S. ECONOMY; THE “BRAIN DRAIN” FROM THE GLOBAL SOUTH."

  • ARTICLE:

    The Persecution of Immigrants, and the “American Three-Step” 

    For years the U.S.-Mexico border has been engulfed in a huge, intensifying crisis. Politicians of both parties routinely make trips to the border, pose for pictures with Border Patrol pigs, and blare that the situation is “out of control.” They blame immigrants for the fentanyl epidemic, for violent crime, and other social problems in the U.S. 

    They act as if the U.S. has no responsibility for what is driving millions of people to the U.S. But let’s look at a case study and see what leads people to risk life and limb to get here.

    A Brief Indictment of U.S. Imperialism—The Case of El Salvador

    Victims of guerrilla attack on village of El Mozote, 1981.

     

    After Archibishop Romero, who had called on an end to the U.S. aid to the Salvadoran military, was gunned down in 1981, civil war broke out. Genocidal repression against poor farmers in El Salvador’s rural areas was a major focus of the U.S.-directed war against guerrilla forces backed by the Soviet Union, which was at the time a powerful imperialist rival of the U.S. worldwide. On December 11, 1981, a U.S. trained and armed battalion entered the northern village of El Mozote, ostensibly to search for guerrillas. They found none. Nevertheless, they executed more than 800 civilians, including children.   

    In 1970, there were just under 20,000 Salvadorans living in the U.S. By 2021, there were 2.5 million. What happened in those 50 years that made so many people leave their homeland? Did they just decide they’d like a change of scenery? 

    Beginning in the early years of the 20th century, the U.S. turned much of El Salvador into a gigantic plantation. Millions of peasants were ruthlessly exploited and driven from their land; much of the verdant landscape, and the water sources of the country, were poisoned. The traditional agriculture that had sustained life for El Salvador’s peasantry was destroyed. Vast wealth was accumulated by imperialist corporations and financial institutions centered in the U.S. (The book Coffeeland by Augustine Sedgwick exposes this in detail.) The vast majority of El Salvador’s population lived in extreme poverty, and faced fierce repression from its military and police. 

    In 1980 guerilla groups opposed to the government coalesced into the Farabundo Marti Liberation Front. A civil war soon erupted. Horrifying violence was routinely inflicted upon the people by military and police forces funded, trained, and advised by the U.S. Nuns and a prominent bishop were executed; demonstrators were shot down; entire villages of indigenous people were massacred, their wells poisoned, their fields destroyed. The U.S. response to this slaughter? It increased its support of El Salvador’s military and police. 

    In this period many Salvadorans fled El Salvador for cities in the U.S., especially Los Angeles. Left with no way to make a living, in a strange land speaking a strange language, and in many cases traumatized by U.S.-backed violence in their country, many of the youth turned to gangs as a means of survival. But in the late 1990s, the U.S. began deporting large numbers of Salvadoran youth back to their devastated and impoverished homeland, in the name of the “war on gangs.” Terrible violence among the people in San Salvador and other cities skyrocketed. Then, in 2019, Nayib Bukele, a fascist closely aligned with the U.S. Republican Party, became president of El Salvador. He soon implemented a series of lockdowns and mass arrests to impose a fascist order upon the country. (The book Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by Jonathan Blitzer examines much of this history).

    The American Three-Step

    This kind of relentless persecution of people and shattering of societies has gone on  throughout Latin America—and the entire world—and it is a long-standing hallmark of U.S. capitalism-imperialism. You could call it “the American three-step”—and it is a big part of what has made the U.S. what it is… and large parts of the rest of the world what they are.

    Step One—Plunder and Impoverish

    The U.S. plunders a country’s resourcesits agriculture, its land, its industry, its finances, its peopleand floods its markets with more cheaply produced U.S. goods, especially agricultural goods. This disrupts the country’s economy, drives people into already overcrowded and impoverished cities, and generally creates chaos and makes life unlivable for millions.

    Step Two—Invasion and Domination 

    If people question and challenge the U.S. presence in their country, if they go on strike, protest, maybe even rebel against U.S. domination… the U.S. may invade it. In any case, it will make sure to dominate, control, and totally corrupt the government, especially the army and police, and use them to viciously suppress the people. If social relations break down and people turn on each other, death squads are organized, gangs allowed to flourish, and a reign of ever-present violence and fear among people created. 

    Step Three—Demonization, Death, and Deportation 

    When millions of people and their families can no longer bear to live in the hell imposed by the U.S., when they are driven to seek refuge in the U.S.—they are demonized, insulted, degraded, and called criminals; they die by the thousands in deserts, rivers, and high seas; they encounter a hyper-militarized war zone known as “the border,” a place where impoverished, desperate people are treated as “the enemy” by heavily armed robo-cops. And for most of those who somehow make it through—super-exploitation, brutalization by police, and mass incarceration awaits them. Terror hangs over their lives with the threat (and frequently the reality) of deportation. 

    Think we’re exaggerating? Read articles from Revolution’s “American Crime” series linked below for examples of some of the violence and repression that U.S. capitalism-imperialism has imposed on countries to its south for over a century. 

    Revcoms Declaration: We Need and We Demand...

     

    And get with the Revolution that can put an end to the system responsible for it.

    Now I can just hear these reactionary fools saying, “Well, Bob, answer me this. If this country is so terrible, why do people come here from all over the world? Why are so many people trying to get in, not get out?” … Why? I’ll tell you why. Because you have fucked up the rest of the world even worse than what you have done in this country. You have made it impossible for many people to live in their own countries as part of gaining your riches and power.   

                                                                     
     Bob Avakian, BAsics 1:14

  • ARTICLE:

    Updated: May 13

    ALERT! Pack the Courtroom! 

    DEMAND: Drop the Charges on Elise “Luna” Kelder 

    Fighting for Abortion Rights Should Not Be a Crime!

    Updated

    Tweet URL

    Pack the courtroom on May 13, 2024, at 8 am at Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, 210 W. Temple St, Dept. 51, in Los Angeles. 

    Luna is a member of the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, LA, and former leader of the LA Chapter of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights. She is being prosecuted for protesting against the overturning of abortion rights in 2022, calling out the fact that FORCED MOTHERHOOD IS FEMALE ENSLAVEMENT. She was arrested twice for participating in two bold and righteous nonviolent acts of civil disobedience before and after the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, demanding: “OVERTURN ROE? HELL NO!” She was arrested in June of 2022 at the Summit of Americas where Biden was speaking and in a bold civil disobedience action at LA City Hall in July 2022, where four women chained themselves to City Hall after washable red paint was poured down the steps.

    Luna being arrested at Los Angeles City Hall, July 6, 2022.

     

    Luna Hernandez is arrested at Los Angeles City Hall, July 6, 2022.   

    Luna is the only person from those protests now facing criminal charges—four misdemeanors! On May 8, there will be a hearing on a motion to dismiss all charges against Luna as she is being selectively prosecuted based on her political affiliation (a “Murgia motion”). This is an important political battle in the courtroom and everyone who cares about fighting for the right to abortion should be in the house!

    What you are needed for NOW:

    • Pack the courtroom, MAY 13 at 8 am, Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, 210 W. Temple St., Dept. 51
    • Call the LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto—(213) 978-8100—and demand that all charges be dropped on Elise “Luna” Kelder, a member of the Revcoms and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights leader.
    • DONATE for legal fees, and to spread the word everywhere about this case and to get the charges dropped.

    For more backstory read here.

    The “Murgia motion” that will be argued in court is a motion to dismiss all four misdemeanor charges against Luna on the grounds of selective prosecution based on her political affiliations. Luna was the only revcom, of the four women who participated in the City Hall action in July of 2022, and is the only one who is being prosecuted. 

    What Luna did was right and righteous and should not be criminalized! Look at the situation in society today: 

    * Roe has been overturned and a case in Idaho is being heard over whether or not women should be left to die if they come to the emergency room with a miscarriage or a botched abortion, making it so that it would be written into law that the life of a fetus is more precious than the life of a woman, and that her life does not matter. 

    * In Arizona, a law from the Civil War era of the 1860s, where women were subordinate in every sphere of society, was dragged out to justify the outright banning of abortion and criminal prosecution of any woman who receives one. That law was just repealed, but Arizona and many other states are reviving old laws or passing new ones that basically ban abortion outright with very few exceptions. 

    Luna stood up to prevent this Christian fascist nightmare where women are being slammed back to the dark ages and she is being prosecuted by a so-called “pro-choice” LA city attorney for doing so AND for being a revolutionary and a communist. 

    This must not go down and the charges must be dismissed and dropped. 

    Be there in the courtroom to show support for Luna and demand that NO ONE should be prosecuted for standing up for the lives of women and girls, because forced motherhood IS FEMALE ENSLAVEMENT. Spread the word about this court date. 

    Meme with slogans: Forced Motherhood Is Female Enslavement! Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!

     

  • ARTICLE:

    Raymond Lotta Talk Provokes Spirited Discussion

    Bringing the New Communism to Berklee College of Music

    On April 25, Raymond Lotta spoke at Berklee College of Music in Boston on “The New Communist Revolution So Badly Needed… vs. the Anti-Communist Brainwash You’re Getting.” The college is a major music education institution noted for its serious approach to jazz, rock, and other popular idioms—and attracts creative and independent minded students. 

    Two freshmen students organized the event. They had discovered Bob Avakian (BA), the new communism, and Raymond Lotta's “setting the record straight” project about the first wave of communist revolution through meeting some Boston revcom supporters on the street. Then they dived deeply into revcom.us. The two students were eager to open up discussion on campus about the past and future of communist revolution. They designed flyers and posted announcements, and set up a new campus socialist club to facilitate getting a room. 

    With little lead time but taking a lot of initiative, they were able to draw a diverse audience of some 20 people that included students and several faculty members from Berklee, a graduating senior from nearby Emerson College (where a Gaza encampment had just been set up), and some community people. 

    The New Communist Revolution So Badly Needed... and the Anti-Communist Brainwash

    Lotta began his presentation with a snapshot of the catastrophic state of a world that cries out for the new communist revolution. He illustrated how the anti-communist brainwash seeps into every pore of intellectual, political, and cultural life—keeping people ideologically locked into this system, capitalism-imperialism, in ways you're not even aware of. Lotta gave examples from popular culture (like the Netflix series 3 Body Problem) as well as from supposedly state of the art “scholarship” on communism that traffics in outrageous lies and distortions. 

    Lotta gave special focus to getting at the truth of the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, a “second revolution” within socialist society, led by Mao Zedong. He spoke to the Cultural Revolution's actual objectives to prevent the restoration of capitalism and further revolutionize society—and to do this through methods and means that would not only enable the masses of people to raise their understanding of the contradictions and challenges involved in getting to a communist world without exploitation and oppression... BUT ALSO to transform their own thinking, to break with old ideas and customs that reinforce self-first, privilege, and passivity. 

    Raymond spoke about the incredibly liberatory changes brought about in education, science, the arts, health care, and new forms of governance and management. And he got into the Cultural Revolution's shortcomings and problems, some quite serious—and how the new communism developed by Bob Avakian, learning from but going beyond this experience, provides a whole new framework for making truly emancipating revolution in today's world. 

    Wide-Ranging and Provocative Questions

    The audience was deeply engaged with the talk. Just about everyone stayed for the Q&A, and people raised extremely thoughtful questions that led to some rich back and forth. It is perhaps a barometer of the times that most of the questions and comments focused on issues of making and sustaining revolution: 

    *How does one prevent the dictatorship of the proletariat from becoming a fascist dictatorship?

    *What is the role in socialist society of certain types of movements, like queer liberation, that might not have achieved their goals of equality in today's society? 

    *What are the different means of spreading world revolution from a new socialist country guided by the new communism?

    *If the new society must defend itself, how does it prevent its army from becoming like the army of this society?

    *What were some of the experiences of the Chinese revolution, particularly the Cultural Revolution, in addressing environmental issues—and how would we be doing this today?

    In the course of the discussion, Raymond got into how BA has identified the contradiction between defending the new socialist state and promoting the world revolution, and how the socialist state must first and foremost be a base area for spreading the world revolution. He pointed to and gave examples of problems in approach of the first socialist states, putting defense of the socialist state first. In illustrating different forms of material and ideological support for advancing world revolution, Raymond gave a lively example of how, in the spirit of internationalism during the Cultural Revolution, Mao initiated a major, fast-track medical effort to develop a new treatment for malaria to aid the Vietnamese liberation fighters in the jungles taking on U.S. imperialism. 

    Raymond introduced the audience to the Points of Attention for the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, which were read aloud. These Points show what the revolution stands for and give people a living sense of the new society that the revolution aims to bring into being—and how we live and struggle today in building this revolution. 

    Raymond also got into the ways in which, as BA has put it, “unresolved contradictions” (like the full emancipation of women and the question raised about gender-nonconforming people) can be “driving forces” to advance the revolution in socialist society. The student who had asked about queer liberation said they “really appreciated being able to have this kind of open conversation about an issue so personal to me.” 

    One of the professors at the program writes on environmental issues—and Raymond elaborated on Maoist China's initial but profoundly important efforts to incorporate environmental protection and repair into socialist planning. And then spoke of the leap in understanding and approach represented by the new communism and the principles of socialist sustainable development.

    As people were leaving, the two student organizers, excited by the evening, announced that Raymond's talk was the first of more such events to come. And one of them commented that he “could see better why we need the new communism.” More programs on campuses like this one are sorely needed.

    Book Cover-You Don't Know What You Think You "Know" About... The Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation

     

     

    BRING RAYMOND LOTTA TO SPEAK ON YOUR CAMPUS!
    We call on professors, departments, student organizations and others to sponsor formal talks by Raymond Lotta; to host debates; to bring him into classrooms and brown-bag lunches.

    For more information and to set up speaking engagements, contact: revbooksnyc@yahoo.com, 212.691.3345.

  • ARTICLE:

    Sights & Sounds

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024

    Los Angeles Revcom Corps march in South Central LA May Day 2024.

     

    Los Angeles Revcom Corps march in South Central LA to celebrate Revolutionary Internationalist May Day.     Photo: revcom.us

    We Need and We Demand 
    Revolution For 
    A Whole New Way To Live, 
    A Fundamentally Different System

    Stop the U.S./Israeli Genocide of Palestinians NOW!

    Stop Capitalism-Imperialism from Stealing Our Future!

    Los Angeles

    Los Angeles 2024 May Day picnic

     

    Los Angeles 2024 May Day picnic    @therevcoms

    Sixty people of different nationalities gathered in Jim Gilliam Park in South Central Los Angeles for a Rally, March, and Picnic to celebrate Revolutionary Internationalist May Day. The day pulsed with revolutionary determination. Fueled by the courage and resistance of college students standing up to vicious repression in solidarity with people of Gaza, there was a profound sense that we are in the midst of a defining moment for a generation. The Revcom speakers went deep with people on preparing now for a real revolution.  People listened and watched Bob Avakian on a large screen TV, from the The BA Interviews on The RNL Show, speaking to the youth who catch the hardest hell. After marching through the neighborhood, the REVCOM CORPS for the Emancipation of Humanity led the crowd in a call and response of the Points of Attention for the Revolution while holding aloft banners signed by the masses of people in South Central LA in support of the people of Gaza.  The Celebration ended with moving calls to Stop the Execution of the Revolutionary Rapper Toomaj Salehi and the playing of his song Battlefield. 

    New York City

    Revcom Corps marches  in Harlem, NYC May Day, May 4, 2024.

     

    Revcom Corps marches  in Harlem, NYC May Day, May 4, 2024.   

    After a short, defiant and colorful march through Harlem from Revolution Books, about 60 people—including those attracted by the march, others brand new to the revolution as well as those who have been building for May Day—gathered to celebrate Revolutionary Internationalist May Day in Marcus Garvey Park. People listened intently to the speeches, and there was lively back and forth during the organizing meeting.

    The Revcom Corps marches in Harlem on Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024.

     

    The Revcom Corps marches in Harlem for Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024.    Photo: revcom.us

    New York City May Day march, banner signed by Haitians, May 4, 2024.

     

    New York City, Haitian banner in May Day march through Harlem, May 4, 2024.    Photo: Special to revcom.us

    New York City, support for Iranian political prisoner Toomaj, in May Day march, May 4, 2024.

     

    New York City, support for Toomaj in May Day celebration, May 4, 2024.    Photo: revcom.us

    New York, Revolution Books table set up in a park at Revolutionary Internationalist May Day.

     

    Revolution Books book table is set up in Marcus Garvey Park at the New York Revolutionary Internationalist May Day celebration.     Photo: revcom.us

    Chicago

    Chicago march on May Day, May 4, 2024.

     

    Chicago march on May Day, May 4, 2024.    Photo: Special to revcom.us

    The Revcom Corps led a revolutionary internationalist rally at Millennium Park in downtown Chicago. Besides speeches from the Revcom Corps and a solidarity statement from Cleveland about the banner saying “From Palestine to Cleveland, We Need Real Revolution! Hands Off the Brave Students! Hands Off Gaza!,” message number 30 from @BobAvakianOfficial and music from Iranian rebel rapper Toomaj was played over the sound system, and statements from actively retired priest Bob Bossie and a diaspora Iranian youth about Toomaj were read. A march then headed to the Art Institute—a major cultural institution on busy Michigan Ave.—to stand with the defiant protest of students who had set up a pro-Palestinian encampment there and bring the message: “We need and we demand revolution for a whole new way to live, a fundamentally different system!”

    Revcom Corps member arrested in Chicago at pro-Palestinian encampment at the Art Institute of Chicago.

     

    Revcom Corps member arrested at pro-Palestinian encampment at the Art Institute of Chicago.    Photo: via Instagram.com/therevcoms 

    San Francisco Bay Area

    San Francisco, May Day agitation, May 4, 2024.

     

    San Francisco, May Day, May 4, 2024.    Photo: Special to revcom.us

    The Revcom Corps, Bay Area, rallied in pouring rain at 24th and Mission St. in the SF Mission District. Then there was a gathering at a nearby taqueria, with speeches from the Revcom Corps and a statement delivered from the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran's Political Prisoners Now against the death sentence handed down on rebel rapper Toomaj Salehi.

    San Francisco RevCom Corps, May Day 2024.

     

    San Francisco RevCom Corps, May Day 2024.    Photo: Special to revcom.us

    Texas

    Houson, Texas, Revolutionary May Day, signing banner, May 4, 2024.

     

    Houson, Texas, Revolutionary May Day, May 1, 2024.    Photo: revcom.us

    Houston. This beautiful Revolutionary Internationalist May Day banner circulated from neighborhoods of the oppressed in Houston, to the University of Texas and a protest against the genocide in Gaza this weekend, to Eagle Pass and the U.S. Mexico border—bringing together people from different backgrounds, experiences, and walks of life, but who share a common humanity, and, whether they are aware of it or not, a common fight to make revolution and overthrow capitalism imperialism. 

    Houson, Texas, Revolutionary May Day, banner, May 1, 2024.

     

    Houston, Texas, Revolutionary May Day, banner, May 1, 2024.    Photo: revcom.us

    Eagle Pass, Texas. A crew of revcoms travelled to Eagle Pass on April 27, on the U.S.-Mexico border. Eagle Pass is ground zero of "Operation Lone Star", a deadly fascist assault on immigrants. Standing in front of the infamous "border wall", they burned American flags and delivered a statement for Revolutionary Internationalist May Day in Spanish and English.

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day

    Forging a Collective Spirit, Fighting for a Whole New Way to Live and a Fundamentally Different System, and Bringing a New Dimension to the Struggle Against the Genocide

    A Reflection from Annie Day

    On May 4 and 5, across the country, the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity stepped out for Revolutionary Internationalist May Day to declare:

    We Need and We Demand:
    Revolution For A Whole New Way To Live, A Fundamentally Different System
    Stop the U.S./Israeli Genocide of Palestinians NOW!
    Stop Capitalism-Imperialism from Stealing Our Future!

    The May Day rallies this year were not that large in numbers, but very large in revolutionary spirit and confidence. In New York City, the joyous and defiant march went through Harlem picking up a couple dozen people on the way. In the Bay Area, comrades rallied in the Mission District in San Francisco. In Chicago and Texas, revcoms connected with marches and protests to demand an end to the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians—with members of the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity in Chicago getting arrested for standing with students at the School of the Art Institute and forging ties in a night spent together in lockup. In Los Angeles, the march went through a South Central neighborhood, with a revolutionary rally in a park before and after. In both NY and LA, people ate meals together—with food donated by vendors, restaurants and supporters from all over the world.

    There’s more to learn about the impact of these May Day marches, and the work across the country that went into building for them...  Read more 

  • ARTICLE:

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day

    Forging a Collective Spirit, Fighting for a Whole New Way to Live and a Fundamentally Different System, and Bringing a New Dimension to the Struggle Against the Genocide

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024
    clip from the The RNL — Revolution, Nothing Less! — Show

    On May 4 and 5, across the country, the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity stepped out for Revolutionary Internationalist May Day to declare:

    We Need and We Demand:
    Revolution For A Whole New Way To Live, A Fundamentally Different System
    Stop the U.S./Israeli Genocide of Palestinians NOW!
    Stop Capitalism-Imperialism from Stealing Our Future!

    The May Day rallies this year were not that large in numbers, but very large in revolutionary spirit and confidence. In New York City, the joyous and defiant march went through Harlem picking up a couple dozen people on the way. In the Bay Area, comrades rallied in the Mission District in San Francisco. In Chicago and Texas, revcoms connected with marches and protests to demand an end to the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians—with members of the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity in Chicago getting arrested for standing with students at the School of the Art Institute and forging ties in a night spent together in lockup. In Los Angeles, the march went through a South Central neighborhood, with a revolutionary rally in a park before and after. In both NY and LA, people ate meals together—with food donated by vendors, restaurants and supporters from all over the world.

    There’s more to learn about the impact of these May Day marches, and the work across the country that went into building for them, but there are two things I want to appreciate about what we began:

    1. A highlight of the event in LA was when a group of people just stepping into the Revcom Corps stood on stage and led the crowd with a call and response of the Points of Attention for the Revolution. As the participants and the crowd began, there was some shyness... but as they went on, they got louder, speaking with more conviction, pride and determination. This was infectious and inspiring and impacted the audience.

    These Points of Attention (POA) represent an alternate code to the degrading and oppressive ways this system has people thinking and acting. These POA go up against all that—with an incredibly uplifting vision of the world we’re fighting for and contributing to forging a force for the revolution needed to bring that world into being.

    In the days leading up to May Day, people who were part of this had been wrangling collectively with these POA and struggling with each other about not falling into bullshit and petty divides among the people. People were grappling with, and even agonizing over, how to break with the ideology of this system—being in something for oneself or one’s ego in opposition to “represent(ing) the highest interests of humanity: revolution and communism.” And why it matters to struggle with the masses of people to transform themselves as a decisive part of preparing the force and the people for a real revolution. This was collective—with people struggling with each other, and going through changes themselves, over “for whom and for what:” for oneself? Or for the emancipation of all humanity and the revolution needed for that emancipation?

    In LA, where people came on stage to recite them, the conviction coming from the stage grew the whole way through and it found an echo in a growing enthusiastic following and participation from the crowd. The leaders of the Revcom Corps led the call and response with seriousness and passion moving their Corps members, who collectively inspired the crowd. When recited call and response, in a group, the effect can be magnetic. In New York, where the POA were done in English and Spanish, there was a similar powerful effect.

    Spoken out loud, together, in the face of all the degrading, competitive, and narrow ways that people are conditioned to go through the world, these Points of Attention resonate in a profound way for the members of the Corps and for all who see and hear them. They are forging the conscious conviction and determination to become leaders—to be part of the Revcom (a revolutionary new communist) Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity.

    2. One of the powerful aspects of May Day nationally were the banners that the Revcom Corps brought to various protests that were signed by hundreds of people in the neighborhoods of the oppressed. In LA, members of the Revcom Corps held the banners—in Spanish and English—which read: From South Central to Palestine: We Need REVOLUTION—Nothing Less! Hands off the brave students. Hands off Gaza.

    When we marched through a South Central neighborhood chanting, “one side is right, one side is wrong, stand up for Gaza, take this system down!” some people from the neighborhood joined and many others put their heads out their windows cheering and chanting along. We tapped into an outrage among people about what the U.S. is doing to the people of Gaza, and real inspiration about what the students at these elite colleges are standing up for and sacrificing. This needs to be learned from and taken further—with connections made among different strata, which this system tries to keep apart.

    In New York, people came who had been inspired by the spirit of the students but who also saw the need to “bring more” to this struggle, in different ways. People who had been getting to know the revcoms over the past months came out, as did some who were “coming back into things.”

    In Chicago, students flooding into political life welcomed the revcoms into their defiant stand and when they were arrested, many joined in discussion in jail that night, struggling over all kinds of questions.

    This week, if there are any universities or colleges in session in your area: organize people from these neighborhoods to go out with the revcoms to the campuses! Take the stand of the college students and the revcoms out to high schools.

    What I’m writing here isn’t complete. I’ve also heard about people being provoked by this to want to go deeper into what this revolution is about. Off of watching the clip we played from The Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL Show, one person said they wanted to know more about how Bob Avakian came to be the revolutionary leader that he is. Another person was inspired by the new communism and the role it can play in the world—breaking through the high-tech imperialism up against Dark Ages Islamic fundamentalism. I’m eager to learn more about what else happened, and what else there is to learn. If there are more lessons to sum up from your experience around May Day, please write to us at getorganizedforrevolutiontour@gmail.com

  • ARTICLE:

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024 — Excerpts from Speeches in Los Angeles

     

     

  • ARTICLE:

    From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC)

    Amidst Theocrats’ Executions Rampage
    Global Outcry Grows: Free Toomaj and All Iran’s Political Prisoners

    Revcom.us editors’ note: We received the following from the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC).

    Tweet URL

    Executions Surge in Iran 

    As the deadline for an appeal of the death sentence of rebel rapper Toomaj Salehi looms,5  Iran’s Islamic Republic (IRI) continues a surge in executions with a reported 40 prisoners being executed by hanging in just the first 10 days of May. The World Coalition against the Death Penalty estimates there are 5,000 prisoners “currently under the death sentence” for various offenses under Iran’s draconian Sharia law.

    Graphic from Iran Human Rights Monitor, every 6 hours one prisoner is executed in Iran.

     

    Graphic: Iran HRM   

    Weeks before the execution order for Toomaj, Amnesty International alerted:

    The number of executions in 2023… marks a 48% increase from 2022 and a 172% increase from 2021. Iran’s killing spree is continuing into 2024.... Execution numbers recorded by Amnesty International are minimum figures and the organization believes the real number is higher.6

    Many of the executions are for “drug-related” charges which are supposedly prohibited by international legal standards as these disproportionately consist of the poor and ethnic minorities, e.g., in Iran, the Baluch are about 5% of the population but are 20-30% of those executed in recent years.7 

    Yet the evidence indicates that the IRI is using executions as revenge against political dissidents including targeting the most beloved and defiant voices such as outstanding rap artist Toomaj. He is a representative and example of the uncompromising Woman, Life, Freedom uprising of and for women. The executions surge coincides with other ultra-repressive measures, such as the recent “Noor Plan” using police/vigilante violence, even using drones and facial recognition tools to demonize, brutalize and terrorize Iran’s women and their supporters.8 

    The historic Woman, Life, Freedom uprising (2022-2023) had won the support of millions around the world as it rocked all of society in Iran and set the misogynistic mullah regime back on its heels. The ever-intensifying repression since then serves to bolster the regime’s damaged legitimacy, to reassert social control and as warning against further resistance, especially among women and youth rebels. If the IRI gets away with an unopposed murder of Toomaj, it can open the floodgates to kill off many more (e.g., those lesser known). His execution order is in itself an outrage but also a live threat to all political prisoners there. A commensurate response to this is needed by the world’s lovers of justice, art and Iran’s heroic “best of the best” resisters who refuse to be victims and model prisoners.

    Rising Resistance Faces Off with Execution Surge

    There are many posts on social media of widespread graffiti by youth and others across Iran against the execution of Toomaj and against forced hijab. There are many forces, including political prisoners, issuing statements and protests by the Iranian Diaspora as we reported on last week.

    In several of Iran’s prisons, the courageous “no to executions” Black Tuesday weekly hunger strike is now into its 15th week. There have been protests of various sizes against execution, including one in Lordegan where a doctor held up a sign against executions of political prisoners and was jailed. Many took the opportunity of the widespread actions and concern about Toomaj to hold posters and spread information about him, but also other less well-known political prisoners on death row. 

    Clockwise from top left: Toomaj Salehi, Mojahed Kourkour, Abbas Deris, Reza Resaei.

     

    Clockwise from top left: Toomaj Salehi, Mojahed Kourkour, Abbas Deris, Reza Resaei. These four are facing imminent execution stemming from their participation in protests in 2022 and 2019.     Graphic: Posted on Burn the Cage IG and widely on social media

    More than 100 figures from the worlds of music, culture and human rights activism—including Coldplay, Sting and Margaret Atwood—have signed an Index on Censorship statement calling for Toomaj’s immediate, unconditional release. 

    Tweet URL

    This has been echoed by many artists, activists and revolutionaries around the world, including on May Day 2024 and in viral posts of thousands on social media. Quemar La Jaula held a “Day of Culture for the Life of Rebel Rapper Toomaj Salehi” in Medellín, Colombia on May 11. They have been subtitling music videos in Spanish to bring Toomaj’s searing lyrics to the Spanish speaking audience. 

    All this is heightening the stakes for the IRI which has responded by doubling down on repression and executions. Last week, the IRI even confirmed the sentence of world-renowned film director Mohammad Rasoulof to 8 years in prison and flogging (whipping!) after he refused to withdraw his latest film from the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. It also arrested other rappers, Danial Moghaddam and Wafa Ahmadpour, holding them in solitary for posting a protest video “Be Ready.” The attacks on artists are part of suppressing a whole society’s ability to dream.

    U.S. and Iran Are Both Gangsters but the U.S. Is the O.G.

    In the context of the extremely fraught and dangerous situation in the Middle East, where the genocidal assault on Gaza escalates with Israel’s invasion of Rafah, a yet relatively small but growing number of voices inside Iran and in the Iranian Diaspora are fighting to link their struggle against the executions of Iran’s oppressive theocratic regime with the struggle to stop the U.S./Israeli genocide in Gaza. A statement from a group in the Iranian Diaspora @NoToExecutionCampaign, posted a call for Iranians broadly to stand against Israel’s genocide in Palestine, and for 

    …all liberators … to combine the protests of ‘no to execution’ and ‘no to Islamic Republic’ with ‘no to war’ so that both sides do not commit crimes against humanity, i.e., neither the Islamic Republic and its proxy groups in the region nor the Israeli criminal regime should take advantage of this strategic situation. (excerpted and translated by IEC volunteers)

    Immediately upon learning of Toomaj’s execution order, our campaign jumped into the fray with our statement to Defend the life of Toomaj with its clarifying political demands. 

    Many of the IEC’s Emergency Appeal signers (e.g., Noam Chomsky, Raymond Lotta, etc.) are well versed in the original genocidal history of the U.S. and why the IEC demands are on point. Now, as the U.S. imperialists and IRI traffic in pointing fingers at each other’s crimes to score political points, it is at the expense of real lives of the people in Iran, Gaza and around the world as to who is the supposed “liberator.” The IEC statement makes clear that we—the people of the world—are the ones we must mobilize in our own interests to act now and not look to or rely on these oppressive regimes and their institutions or mouthpieces.

    Over 100 people have signed on to the IEC statement on defending the life of Toomaj. This includes people or groups from Canada, Bangladesh, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Colombia, Iceland, Ireland, and France. It includes individuals from organizations (for identification by individual signers only) like Veterans for Peace, MAWO-Mobilization Against War and Occupation (Canada), an Amnesty International chapter member in the U.S., Zanan Group of Northern California, The Dogdoge Collective (Bangladesh), Bangladesh Students Federation and Bangladesh Students Front. Some notable renowned voices of conscience include author/playwright Ariel Dorfman, Mothers of Khavaran’s Mansoureh Behkish and poets Farnaz Fatemi, Rafael J. Gonzalez and D.L. Lang, as well as Ron Jacobs (Counterpunch), Jamileh Davoudi (Journalist, and Zanan Group of Northern California), Jennifer Moore (University of New Mexico Law School), and Gregory "Joey" Johnson (flag burner and Revcom Corps).

    We call on everyone to continue sharing our statement and urging others to sign it as part of advancing the struggle to defend Toomaj’s life in the coming tense days and to free ALL Iran’s political prisoners

    “Execute Us Instead of Toomaj,” say 500+ Veterans & Their Families in Iran

    On May 1, 2024, a letter to Iran's regime was posted by hundreds of veterans of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. The signers included family members of soldiers who died in that war. The horrific suffering from this U.S.-funded war9 is repeatedly cited by the Islamic Republic as a reason the population should sacrifice to support it—which makes this statement all the more damaging to them. Below is an excerpt translated by IEC volunteers of the Telegram post which continues to collect signatures, up to about 500 as of May 9 (translator additions in brackets, emphasis added).

    A government that is responsible for poverty and inequality, corruption, inefficiency, unemployment, inflation, water and resource management crisis, air and soil pollution, brain drain and loss of human capital, and tens of crises and super-crises, sends the armed forces to the streets every day to intimidate and terrorize. Instead of the trial of the corrupt and the land-grabbers, we witness the disgraceful death sentence for a young protesting artist.
    O rulers, come and execute us instead of Toomaj…..Empty the pepper spray on our faces, as we have a long history of inhaling mustard gas. Aim the bullets at us, as we have [experienced] Saddam’s shrapnel and arrows. Arrest us for keeping silent on all these atrocities and the desecration of our youth and girls. Finally, we warn you before it is too late to stop threatening and intimidating the youth and disturbing the public’s mind every day, do not lead the country to collapse.”

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. For details on the development of Toomaj’s case, see IEC’s #FreeToomaj Resource page. [back]

    2. Iran executes 853 people in eight-year high amid relentless repression and renewed ‘war on drugs, Amnesty.org, April 4, 2024. [back]

    3. Ibid. [back]

    4. Iran’s Theocrats Launch New Offensive in a War on Hijab-free Women amid Escalating War with Zionist Israel, FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNow.org, April 24, 2024. [back]

    5. In 1980, as part of a strategic approach to weakening the IRI, the U.S. gave Iraq’s Saddam Hussein a green light to invade Iran, and then worked to turn the Iran-Iraq War into an eight-year bloodbath. U.S. allies supplied Iraq with billions in weapons and material that Hussein turned into chemical weapons, which he used on Iranians as well as Iraqi Kurds. The U.S. also supplied Iran and played both sides against each other to prevent either from winning. When the war ended, an estimated one million Iraqis and Iranians had been killed.

    Larry Everest, Oil, Power & Empire: Iraq and the U.S. Global Agenda, Chapter 4—“Arming Iraq, Double-Dealing Death in the Gulf”  [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    VIDEO

    Rafah Under Siege... Biden's BS... Students Resist Repression... 

    WE NEED REVOLUTION: EMANCIPATE HUMANITY

    Episode 196 of The RNL — Revolution, Nothing Less! — Show

  • ARTICLE:

    From the Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists)

    REVOLUTION

    BUILDING UP THE BASIS TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING, 
    WITH A REAL CHANCE TO WIN:
    STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH

    If you don’t understand why we need a revolution, and how that revolution could be possible, then you dont know what you need to know.

    Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.(Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism).

    We Are Serious: We Are Working for a Real Revolution and a Whole New, Emancipating Way to Live.

    We are applying the scientific analysis and the strategic approach in the major work by Bob Avakian, Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating, which can be found at revcom.us. Here is the heart of what is brought to light in that work. 

    First of all: We live under a systemthe system of capitalism-imperialism (capitalism is an economic and political system of exploitation and oppression, and imperialism refers to the worldwide nature of this system). It is this system which is the basic cause of the tremendous suffering that people, all over the world, are subjected to; and this system poses a growing threat to the very existence of humanity, in the way that this system is rapidly destroying the global environment, and in the danger of war between the U.S. and its rivals in Russia and Chinaall nuclear-armed capitalist-imperialist powers.

    All this is reality, and no one can escape this reality. Either we radically change it, in a positive way, or everything will be changed in a very negative way. Changing it in a positive way means making revolutiona real revolution, to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism and replace it with a radically different and emancipating system, a whole new way of organizing society.

    And this is crucially important: This is a rare time when a revolution to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism, and bring something much better into being, is not only urgently necessary but is more possibleand this rare time must not be squandered (wasted, thrown away) but must be actively seized on to build up the basis and the forces for revolution, and then carry the revolution through.

    With all the chaos and madness in the worldwith this systems accelerating destruction of the environment and the way it is heightening the danger of nuclear war that could wipe out human life as we know it... with all the craziness in this country, continually disrupting the normal way things have been... with one part of society and one governing party (the Republicans) now made up of fascists determined to crush any opposition to them and their blatantly racist, anti-immigrant, woman-hating, anti-LGBTQ, environment-plundering program and anti-scientific lunacy, that they claim will make America great again... with the other ruling class party (the Democrats) seeking to maintain this horrific system in the traditional form in which it has existed for generations, and has caused so much suffering for the masses of humanity, while the Biden Democratic administration is adopting policies that accelerate the destruction of the environment and acting in ways that heighten the danger of nuclear war... and, very importantly, with these ruling powers deeply divided among themselves, and those divisions becoming sharper all the time, so that they can no longer rule in a unified waywith all this, things that have gone on in more or less the same way for years, and decades, can suddenly and dramatically change, in months or even weeks.

    All this is heading toward, and could soon become, an all-out crisis in this country, with the very nature of society, and how it is governed, being directly battled out in a way that hasnt happened since the Civil War in the 1860s. This could lead to something even more terrible than normal life under this systemmaking life even more unbearable, or even impossible, for the masses of people everywherebut there is also this very important positive potential: In this situation, the forces for the revolution that is urgently needed could grow, quickly, from small numbers to thousands, and then millions, and get in position to go for the whole thingIF the revolutionaries have been getting out the message broadly among the people, shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening and why, bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way, and struggling with people to break with all their wrong ways of thinking and get with the revolution.

    And that is what we are determined to do. 

    Here is how we are working to make this real. And if you can’t stand this world the way it is and where it is now headed, then YOU need to become part of working to make this real—to seize on this “rare time” to put an end to this capitalist-imperialist system that we are now forced to live under, with all its madness and destruction, and bring something much better into being, for people everywhere and for future generations.

    1. A Fundamental Point of Orientation, and Practical Guidance: 

    Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond. Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.

    Think of the millions of people, of all races and genders, who rose up with righteous anger, all over the country, in 2020, when the murder of George Floyd by a heartless pig was just too much—something which was not an “isolated incident” but a concentration of the way the police in this country continually carry out cold-blooded murder of people, especially Black people, Latinos, and Native Americans. This uprising in 2020 was powerful and inspiring (so powerful that even some big-time capitalist exploiters and ruling class politicians had to “take a knee” pretending to be with the massive protests!). But there was a big problem: people were divided and pitted against each other by “identity politics” and misled into a dead-end by completely unrealistic demands like “defund” or “abolish” the police—which could never happen under this system. Many became discouraged, disoriented and demoralized, when murder by police kept happening, over and over again, with the fascist Republicans calling for even more brutal action by police, while Biden and the Democrats doubled down on funding the police and backing them in violently “serving and protecting” this system of murderous oppression. The real lesson is not that nothing can change but that we need a revolution to get rid of this whole system. 

    Think what could be possible if millions were mobilized into the streets again—not just to express their anger, but with the understanding and determination to do what needs to be done to really put an end to police terror and murder, to white supremacy, male supremacy and gender oppression, and to all the inequality, discrimination, exploitation, plunder and destruction of people and the environment that is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism—to put an end to all this in the only way it can be done: by putting an end to this system itself, and bringing something much better into being.

    2. In the circumstances of all-out crisis, when the whole direction of society is being called into question, there would be different trends and organized forces seeking to take things in different directions. There would be the fascist Republicans, aiming to seize (or consolidate) power, in order to bring about a more blatant form of oppressive and murderous rule, without the usual disguise of “democracy, with liberty and justice for all.” There would be those, like the leaders of the Democratic Party, trying to maintain (or restore) this monstrous system of oppression in its more “traditional” form. There would be masses of people in favor of some kind of basic change in a positive direction, but with different ideas about what that would mean. And there would likely be some organized forces claiming to be aiming for some kind of “progressive” change—even some calling themselves “revolutionaries” or “socialists”—when in fact their programs would only reinforce, and keep people locked into, the existing system.

    The people who are won, in increasingly greater numbers, to the actual revolution that is urgently needed, must be led to have a clear understanding of the need, and be in position, to wage a powerful struggle to determine the whole direction of things in the midst of such an acute crisis, in order to carry things forward toward the only real positive solution: a truly emancipating revolution.

    EVERYTHING THAT IS DONE, FROM HERE FORWARD, MUST BE ORIENTED TO CREATING THE BASIS FOR THIS.

    3. We are working every day to win growing numbers of people to understand the urgent need and possibility for revolution and to become an organized force that can shake up the whole country—waking people up and changing the way they think about things... working continually to gather forces and build up the organized strength of the revolution... working to powerfully impact the development of things in such a way that a situation can come about where there could be an all-out fight for revolution, with a real chance to win.

    In all that we are doing, all the struggle we are waging, we are applying the overall approach of Fight the Power, and Transform the People—for Revolution, with the aim of achieving the three prepares: prepare the ground (the situation in society), prepare masses of people, and prepare the leadership, for the all-out revolutionary struggle.

    We are uniting with and mobilizing people to stand up against the injustices and outrages constantly perpetrated by this system, defending people from attacks on their rights and their lives, and waging fierce struggle to break people out of the bullshit ways of thinking and acting that they are caught up in, winning them to become revolutionary emancipators of humanity. 

    With “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” as the basic guide, and utilizing the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show and the website revcom.us as key resources, we are organizing people to grapple with why an actual revolution is urgently necessary and more possible now, what such a revolution involves, and what kind of society this is aiming for—involving them in the process of building for revolution, in an organized way, and enabling people in parts of the country where the revolution does not yet have an organized presence to link up with others and become part of this revolution. (This is spoken to further in Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points, which can be found at revcom.us.)

    We are spreading far and wide the inspiring vision of how much better life could be, for the great majority of people, if millions of people got behind this revolution and carried it through—making it possible to restructure all of society on a completely different foundation, with a radically different economic system (mode of production) and emancipating relations among people, as spelled out very concretely in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, written by Bob Avakian. 

    In an all-around way, and especially in broadly promoting what are truly extraordinary Interviews with Bob Avakian on The RNL Show, we are doing the necessary work and waging the necessary struggle so that masses of people know about and get with the leadership we have in Bob Avakian: learning about the inspiring vision and concrete blueprint for a radically different, emancipating society he has brought forward, following the concrete guidance he is providing, taking up and applying the scientific method and approach of the new communism he has developed, in order to really make revolution and finally get free. Bob Avakian is completely different than the endless stream of bourgeois (capitalist) “leaders” who are put forward, and others who cannot see, or will not look, beyond the confines of this horrific system. He is hard-core for revolution, with a largeness of mind, generosity of spirit, and lively sense of humor—all of which shines through in these Interviews.

    Through actively taking part in the tremendous radical upsurge of the 1960s and being strongly influenced by the Black Panther Party and other revolutionary forces in that time—especially what was at that time a revolutionary, socialist China—Bob Avakian became a determined revolutionary communist; and he has continued to dedicate his life and devote his efforts to developing a scientifically based theory, strategy and program for revolution whose fundamental goal is freeing people everywhere from every form of oppression. He embodies this rare combination: someone who has been able to develop scientific theory on a world-class level, while at the same time having a deep understanding of and visceral connection with the most oppressed, and a highly developed ability to “break down” complex theory and make it broadly accessible.

    A leader like this has never before existed in the history of this country. Having a leader like this is a rare and precious thing for the masses of people who are so terribly oppressed under this system. It is a powerful positive factor for the revolution that is urgently needed, with the goal of ending all oppression and finally bringing about the emancipation of humanity as a whole.

    4. We have issued a bold Declaration, WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM, which raises this demand: 

    The Existing Capitalist-Imperialist System And Institutions Of Government In This Country Must Be Abolished And Dismantled—And Replaced By A New, Socialist System Based On The CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA.

    That Declaration provides a basic summary of fundamental principles and specific goals of the revolution and the new society and way of living we are working for, as set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. The Declaration needs to be very broadly distributed and popularized, among millions of people, in all parts of the country, now and throughout the development toward a full-out crisis. It needs to be driven home very clearly how the new socialist Constitution provides the foundation, the framework and practical guidelines for a radically new, emancipating system, really enabling and empowering the masses of people to move to abolish inequality and discrimination, oppression and exploitation, and to provide powerful support for revolutionary struggles throughout the world striving for the same goal, while also moving quickly, systematically and effectively, to address the already acute and fast accelerating environmental crisis, with the aim of bringing into being a world where humanity can truly be fit caretakers of the Earth.

    5. As a crucial part of the three prepares, the revolutionary communist leadership for the revolution, based on the new communism, must be greatly strengthened, with the Revolutionary Communist Party systematically built up as the overall leadership, with a growing core of strategic commanders of the revolution and the expanding ranks of the Party clearly oriented, prepared and organized to lead the whole revolutionary process.

    6. Throughout the period leading to an all-out crisis, mass organization for defense against unjust attacks on people’s rights and their lives, by oppressive and murderous thugs, in and out of government, must be built up, throughout the country, on the basis of the Points of Attention for the Revolution, which you can also find at revcom.us. This mass organization for defense needs to be developed as part of the overall process of carrying out the three prepares.

    In order to achieve the fundamental goal of sweeping away this system of capitalism-imperialism and replacing it with a new socialist system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, as things clearly approach an all-out crisis, with millions won to the revolution, it will be necessary and critically important to transform this mass defense organization—and to steel, strengthen and rapidly expand its ranks—so that it is developed as a disciplined revolutionary force, throughout the country, that is oriented, prepared and led to strategically defeat the armed enforcers of this system, as well as fascist thugs and other murderous reactionaries, who are attempting to violently crush the revolution.

    All this is based on the understanding that the fundamental source of violence in the world is the system of capitalism-imperialism; that by far the greatest perpetrators of unjust violence are the ruling classes of the capitalist-imperialist powers, most of all in this country—and that the fundamental reason why the abolition of this system cannot be achieved peacefully is because of the nature of this system itself, and the fact that those who rule it would never allow their system to be swept away without attempting to violently suppress and crush any such attempt. 

    A serious, scientific approach to how such a disciplined revolutionary force could actually succeed in defeating the unjust violence of this system’s armed enforcers (and others seeking to crush the revolution) is spoken to in a series of articles by Bob Avakian, REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN, also available at revcom.us. What is put forward in these articles needs to be broadly promoted, discussed and debated, among masses of people.

    7. Large parts of the major institutions of armed enforcement of the currently ruling system are made up of people drawn from the bitterly oppressed in this country. With the immediate approach of an all-out crisis, an appeal should be made to those who have been part of these institutions to join with the masses of people in the struggle to achieve this fundamental and urgently needed demand: to dismantle the existing system and institutions of government—to be replaced by the implementation of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    To those who have been part of the system of government which is to be abolished and replaced: an offer of amnesty should then be made, except for those who have been the key decision-makers and those who have been responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

    8. At the same time, it will be important to continually increase and more powerfully organize the broader ranks of the millions demanding the dismantling of the existing system and institutions of government and the implementation of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. This revolutionary people, of millions, would need to be mobilized and wielded in such a way as to make clear that it is going for a complete, revolutionary change—that it will not back down from this goal and accept anything less. In this way, it would constitute a powerful pole attracting and drawing forward even broader numbers of people from all parts of society—and it would pose a definite challenge and call to people everywhere in society, including in all the existing institutions of this system, to come over to the side of the revolution.

    This will also strengthen the basis to provide powerful support for, and to continually expand, the organized, disciplined revolutionary force oriented to bring about the victory of the revolution through strategically defeating the unjust violence of the ruling institutions and armed enforcers of this system, as well as fascist thugs and other murderous reactionaries.

    9. This overall strategic approach must also be sharply posed directly against the BEB (Bourgeois Electoral Bullshit) of this capitalist-imperialist system, and in particular the BEB leading into the 2024 presidential election—all of which serves to keep people chained to this system. Here is a crucially important guideline from Bob Avakian that has special significance now: When conflicts among the different sections of the bourgeois (capitalist) ruling class become so deep and hostile that they are no longer able to rule in the “normal way” they have for generations, “that is a sign of extremely deep and acute cracks and fissures in the entire established order; and such a situation must be seized by the oppressed not to side with one section of the bourgeoisie against another ... but instead to rise in revolutionary struggle to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie altogether.”

    10. Popularizing the strategy is an important part of carrying out the strategy. The strategic orientation and practical approach outlined here needs to be boldly put forward and broadly popularized, among masses of people, now and throughout the process of carrying out the three prepares: making clear that this is aimed at achieving the profoundly, and urgently, needed revolution, fundamentally through the mobilization of millions and millions of people around this basic demand: to dismantle the existing system and institutions of government—to be replaced by the implementation of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    Popularizing this, now and in an ongoing way, throughout the period of working to achieve these objectives, will strengthen the basis for masses of people to see, concretely, that there is a definite strategic orientation and practical approach to bringing about the necessary revolution, and what their role can be, and needs to be, in all this. It will strengthen the basis to engage in more focused struggle with people about the possibility—as well as the urgent need, and the truly emancipating potential—of this revolution.

    ACTIVELY CARRY OUT THIS STRATEGIC ORIENTATION AND PRACTICAL APPROACH TO SEIZE ON THIS RARE TIME WHEN REVOLUTION IS MORE POSSIBLE!

    BUILD UP THE ORGANIZED FORCE OF THOUSANDS, AND THEN MILLIONS, OF REVOLUTIONARY EMANCIPATORS OF HUMANITY PREPARED TO GO FOR THE WHOLE THING!

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part One

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We will be posting edited excerpts from this letter over the next few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    What is concentrated in these interviews is objectively a game-changer: there simply is no one and nothing else like this, and any decent, honest and intellectually curious person who cares about the state of the world and watches this will be transformed, even as those newer to things will of course not immediately become revcoms, and will have plenty of questions, things they don’t understand and things they understand wrongly.

    But in the process of and alongside thinking about why and how to project these interviews out in society in a big way, anyone who is part of these efforts should take some time—whether they are brand new... or have heard this before and think they already have a deep grasp of this point—to truly and seriously reflect upon what is contained and concentrated in these interviews and what it would mean for the prospects for revolution in this rare time in history to SUCCEED in creating a climate in which these BA interviews and BA himself increasingly make a big societal splash and become known to and a huge reference point for first hundreds, then thousands and ultimately millions—with increasing waves of these people getting deeply into these interviews and into BA and stepping forward into the movement for revolution that he is leading.

    Really being anchored in the above will lead to all kinds of good, exciting, and compelling ideas and to really thinking big in a way commensurate with what and who it is that we’re projecting.

    Part 1: Some Important Principles and Points of Orientation

    These points are informed by the understanding that our forces are currently very small... but also not non-existent. Along these lines, we wrangled, brainstormed and shuttled back and forth between two planes of conception in our thinking:  

    *Pursuing a thought experiment in which the two of us arrived in a new city, were the only two people who had heard of BA and these interviews and were seeking to make as big and broad a splash as possible as quickly as possible... and

    *Stepping out of this thought experiment back into a reality in which we are not, in fact, literally starting from scratch and do have forces, ties and factors to work with, even if starting out they are small in number.

    With this in mind, here are some key principles and points of orientation that we discussed, and that should inform brainstorming, ideas and efforts to break through on making these interviews a huge deal in society.

    Point 1: Strategic confidence and radical simplicity

    Once again, think about these interviews and what it was like to watch them.

    Like, really actually think about that for a moment...

    Think about who and what they feature... what these interviews talk about and how they talk about it... think about their substance... their style... think about how they inspired and moved you... how they challenged you... what they illuminated... what they made you think and what they made you feel.

    Think honestly about whether you have ever seen and heard anything else like this...

    Now, with that still fresh in your mind...

    Think about someone who doesn’t want to watch these interviews. Who makes snarky, dismissive comments... or who does watch the interviews and is “unimpressed.”

    Think what that says about that person’s worldview and priorities.

    Now: Why the hell would we want to be in any way defensive or deferential towards... waste time with... or kiss the ass of people like that?!

    That is what is meant by strategic confidence. That is the attitude we need to be going out with if we are going to break through... it means we go out into the world, whether on the ground or online, knowing that who and what we have and are working to connect people with is special... is vital... is decisive... and that, to paraphrase an old saying, if you don’t know... you better ask somebody!

    No, this doesn’t mean we write people off or give up on them permanently if they don’t immediately respond well—or respond in contradictory ways... but it does mean that we don’t take any nonsense from people who don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about.

    In fact, this kind of strategic confidence on our part is essential for people to be able to transform and get off the bullshit they’re on.

    Existing revcom forces really grasping and applying the above points about strategic confidence—what it means, why it’s essential, and how to apply it—is critical methodologically and epistemologically in its own right; and is also of paramount importance in terms of being able to make advances and accumulate forces for revolution in an accelerated way. Therefore, further discussion, struggle, ruptures and clarity on this point within our existing forces would seem very important. 

    To be blunt: Masses will not really take us seriously, will not be called forth into this revolution and will not be unleashed to transform in the ways that are necessary, unless we do comprehend, project and apply strategic confidence in the ways discussed here.

    Conversely, our forces—including the newer people we are calling forth and accumulating along the way—will get much less discouraged and disoriented by bullshit, attacks, snark, etc. if we are internalizing, applying and projecting this strategic confidence... which will create the basis for telescoped further advances in dialectical relation with the unfolding of events in the world.

    Again, if there is disagreement, discomfort or lack of clarity on these points about strategic confidence—and what this means—among our existing forces, this should be: unearthed, explored, struggled over and transformed. 

    Radical simplicity, meanwhile, is closely related to strategic confidence and flows from it. Radical simplicity means that without in any way watering things down, there is a need to put forward some simple, clearly distilled, easy-to-grasp points about what this interview is... why people need to get into it and contribute to making it a huge societal phenomenon... and why that matters.

    And then, of course, we can and must bring plenty of substance behind that radical simplicity to back it up, which we are more than capable of doing. But there is an importance to getting a good dialectic going between the simplicity and the complexity and to having some key forms where we hit people with the simplicity in a compelling way.

    As one example, in building for the Dialogue between Bob Avakian and Cornel West in 2014, it proved to be an important turning point in our promotion when—a few weeks out from the event—we settled on a few (it might have been three) very succinct and simple points for why this event was so significant and historic and why people couldn’t and shouldn’t miss it. It has been a few years, so I don’t remember the exact phrasing of these points now, but I think it was something along the lines of: you can’t miss this event because of the chance to see this leader (BA), these speakers (BA and CW) and this subject matter—REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight For Emancipation and the Role of Religion: A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST and BOB AVAKIAN.

    We think there is an important role for some similar short, succinct and provocative points for why these interviews are must see, can’t miss, and must spread.

    The points emphasized in the promotional palm cards for the interviews would at the very least provide some good initial ideas, inspiration and material for developing these succinct, radically simple promotional points.

    This kind of radical simplicity infused with strategic confidence—rather than being a substitute for more in-depth explanation of things—can rather help to more quickly distinguish between masses who are or could be fairly quickly won to be seriously interested vs. those who should not be given up on but are at the moment not serious, while also calling forward the more serious masses and creating the basis to work and struggle with them in more depth while avoiding getting bogged down with and by those who are not serious.

    A couple of final thoughts for now on this point about radical simplicity: There is a radical simplicity of this interview at this moment in history and in the world.

    If we really fully understand the point from the interview about how humanity can no longer afford to allow this system and this ruling class to be in power—that this is actually an existential question for humanity, and that it’s not just that “things are really bad and getting worse” but that humanity is truly confronted acutely with the choice between “something terrible OR something truly emancipating,” then there is important radical simplicity flowing from this in terms of the fact that now is the time to bring forward something truly emancipating and making these BA interviews a huge social phenomenon that can play a massive role in relation to that.

    So this is how our people should feel—and project—the urgency in their bones of this interview and the need to project it throughout society in a huge way.

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 2: Build a NATIONAL Movement

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We are posting edited excerpts from this letter over a few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    While our forces are small, the movement for revolution is a national movement. So our small forces should be carrying out work in a way that comprehends this fact—that we are a national movement seeking to have major national influence and impact.

    Think about it: our goal, and what everything we’re doing is working towards, is not to make revolution in one neighborhood or one city. It’s to make revolution in this country as a critical step in ultimately carrying that revolution forward throughout the entire world.

    So, rather than revcom forces thinking in provincial ways—“I’m in Chicago, here’s what’s happening here... that person or event is in L.A., that’s what’s happening there,” there needs to be more conscious thinking, coordination and dynamic synergy that is linking together ideas, plans and practice in different areas throughout the country where the revcoms already have—or need to have, but don’t yet have and are working to create—a presence.

    There needs to be the orientation: Maximize, amplify and magnify every strength... every positive development... all of the forces, even if small, that we do have.

    The dynamic of working consciously with a national perspective, striving to link together our ideas and our work in different areas throughout the country is an important part of how the above orientation can be implemented.

    This way, revolutionary work that initially small revcom forces are doing in one area is not cut off and isolated from the larger, national picture and movement of which it is a part. Relatedly—and importantly—revcom forces themselves, including newer people we are bringing forward, do not feel as isolated because they are not just thinking about what they are doing in one particular area or city but the whole larger canvas it is contributing to.

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, the revcom.us website, and social media work more generally (@therevcoms) can and should all play an important role in the dynamic of sewing together and illuminating the connections between the threads in different areas as part of a coherent national mission.

    sticker RNL show

     

    Email: therevcoms@gmail.com   

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    DM @therevcoms   

    Here is a hypothetical example of the above points in action: Maybe one of the masses from a neighborhood of the oppressed in, say, Chicago, is baking and selling pies in order to raise funds to promote the BA interviews in a big way. Instead of just looking at this as an important but small-scale initiative that one person in one neighborhood in Chicago is doing, let’s be thinking about how to explicitly link this with efforts in other cities and areas as part of a national whole...

    So, first of all, maybe the masses who are doing this in Chicago do a simple post on social media about the BA interviews and why they felt inspired by them, what they are doing to promote them and why... 

    and then The RNL Show does a brief segment highlighting this fundraising initiative, perhaps briefly interviewing the masses involved in it about why the interviews inspired them to raise funds for it and a simple explanation of the steps they are taking to raise funds and why and how it’s been going, how they feel being part of all this...  

    and then the show calls on people in neighborhoods in other areas throughout the country to do something similar, to post on social media, linking to the BA interviews and explaining why they were inspired to raise funds for them and what steps they are taking to do so...

    and then to send a brief video to The RNL Show with permission for The RNL Show to broadcast it showing them baking pies (or whatever specific fundraising step they are taking) and talking about how the BA interviews and the efforts of the masses in Chicago to raise funds to promote them in turn inspired them to do the same in the cities/areas where they live... 

    and then The RNL Show could call on students and artists... as well as those with more means such as professors, medical professionals, lawyers, and others in various spheres of society with more means throughout the country to take a lesson and take heart from what the masses in Chicago and other neighborhoods of the oppressed throughout the country are doing, and get their friends and colleagues together to watch the BA interviews... and each give donations that match... or double... or triple... the funds raised in these neighborhood fundraising initiatives... and to post on social media talk about how they were inspired and moved by the BA interviews and by the masses in Chicago and others who launched similar fundraising initiatives to promote those interviews...       

    and then The RNL Show could feature segments showing people from these strata doing and talking about all of the above...

    This is just an example. But the key point of the example is that with a conscious national orientation, what started asand by itself would have remainedsmall forces in one area doing one initiative can quickly mushroom into something connected to a much larger and coherent national mission that multiplies and generates continuouslypotentially even exponentially—growing momentum

    That example—and the underlying principles and orientation it illustrates—certainly applies specifically to promotion of the BA interviews. And it also applies to our revolutionary work more generally.

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part 3: Key Relationships: Getting the Dynamics Right

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We are posting edited excerpts from this letter over a few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    Individual Clips and the Totality of the Interviews

    It is very important to correctly grasp the relationship between individual clips, excerpts and portions of the BA interviews... and the totality of the interviews.

    Individual clips and excerpts can play a very important role in introducing people to this leader, these interviews, and inspiring them to watch the whole thing.

    In addition, there are many clips and excerpts that can play a particularly important role in terms of ideological struggle around major questions weighing on the basic masses or broader strata of people. There are many examples that come to mind, but a few that particularly come to mind are:

    A) Different segments in which BA is speaking directly to/struggling with the oppressed masses who need to be the backbone of this revolution in a simultaneously deeply scientific, visceral and personal way to get out of the shit they are caught up in and get with this revolution.

    B) The segment that opens Part 2 on Ukraine/American chauvinism (to shorthand here).

    C) Segments polemicizing in a very frontal and sharp way against various manifestations of wokeness.

    Again, those are just three important examples of many that could be highlighted here.

    Go HERE for clips from the BA interviews.

    So, that’s on the one hand—there is an important role for excerpts, segments, teasers, etc... and also a potentially important role for nationally coordinated efforts to promote certain segments. For instance, there might be certain weeks where forces in different parts of the country are working to promote certain clips and sending in reports to The RNL Show in real time or as close to that as possible of experiences, lessons, reactions and controversies, so that—once again—these different experiences in different places are connected with each other and linked to a coherent larger national picture and movement.

    On the other hand, there is also an extremely important power, dynamism, breadth, momentum and magnetism to the totality of these interviews that is very important not to lose or inadvertently de-emphasize in the effort to highlight shorter excerpts.

    Otherwise said: segments or excerpts of the interviews should supplement, not substitute for, leading people to watch the full set of three interviews.

    There may be a spontaneity of (or a pull toward) compartmentalizing and separating the particular from the whole that may need to be guarded and struggled against here—including because it’s spontaneously “easier” to get people in this climate and culture to watch something shorter than something longer.

    In my view, it’s not a problem if some people are initially watching individual excerpts or segments, but we definitely need to get a dynamic going where increasing numbers of people are watching and immersing themselves in the full sweep of these interviews.

    Not Proceeding from What We “Know” We Can Do, but What We Can Potentially Unleash

    To really make the breakthroughs we need to make from a starting point of small forces... in relation to projecting and promoting these interviews, and more generally—we need to be thinking not just in terms of what our existing forces can accomplish and who we can bring forward... rather, we need to think of what we can unleash those we are bringing forward to do and how those new forces can themselves accumulate forces for revolution.

    Therefore, we need to be poised and geared towards working to quickly cohere the people who are initially drawn forward and attracted by these interviews. We need to have small groups that we are forging and leading initially who are discussing the interviews together and then are going out to broadly spread them and create their own watch parties/study and discussion groups and inviting many others to join them.

    This way, we’re bringing in and cohering people around us; they are part of what we’re doing; and we’re unleashing them to go out and themselves bring forward newer people: they’re part of forces we’re accumulating but also part of accumulating forces themselves.

    To be able to do this and have it stick...

    Orient People to Understand and Refute the Bullshit by Going on the Offensive

    There will be a need to orient newer people from the start about bullshit, slander, attacks, etc. that they are going to run into... why... what this represents... and the need for and radically simple ways to have backbone, moral clarity, principle, critical thinking, courage and integrity in the face of this rather than cowing or disappearing in the face of utter bullshit. And if people run into shit they’re confused by, ASK US and let’s talk about it instead of disappearing.

    Very, very important: In regards to the above, there should be an approach of orienting on—and from—the OFFENSIVE. NOT the defensive.

    A three-paragraph template/example of how to orient from the offensive, with strategic confidence and radical simplicity:

    You may have a bunch of questions as you get into things. And that’s not only fine, it’s important. It means you’re taking things seriously and thinking critically. And you’re not expected to understand everything all at once, right away. But you also know enough based on what you just saw and heard to know some essential things about BA and these interviews, what this is, and what it’s not... You know enough to understand and begin envisioning the difference it would make if this person and these interviews got out to thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people and became a phenomenon in society that people were discussing, debating, and thinking deeply about.

    “Now, when you go out and spread the word about this, you’re going to find that some people respond well and love these interviews and love BA, and some people run a bunch of bullshit and hate BA... and in both cases, it’s for the same simple reason: because BA is about everything you just saw in this interview, about completely breaking out of the confines and framework of the way the world is today and radically, fundamentally changing the world through making revolution... he’s about the emancipation not of one identity group, but all of humanity... and some people love this and are attracted by that vision, and some people hate it and feel threatened by it... It’s really as simple as that.

    “So yeah, besides encountering people who are excited about these interviews and about BA, you’re going to run into people who hate this, who make snarky comments or personal attacks on BA or who say this is a cult. And that’s where you have to have some honesty, courage and integrity to think for yourself. You might have a bunch of questions, but you know those kind of nasty attacks are bullshit and have nothing to do with changing the world. You just saw these interviews [or a portion of it] yourself. Did this seem like a cult leader to you?!?! Did this seem like a robotic, dogmatic person who is trying to brainwash you? Or did it seem like a deeply scientific person, critical thinker and flat-out nice person with a strong sense of humor who has dedicated his whole life for decades to taking up big, complex questions as part of making revolution and transforming the entire world? Anybody who watches this interview honestly and is not completely steeped in prejudice knows it’s the second one. So you need to have the honesty and courage to tell the haters that they don’t know what the hell they’re talking about and that they’re spreading lies and poison that have nothing to do with changing the world and that you’re not fooled by them... and then come back and talk to us about the shit we ran into and we can get more into it.”

    * In short: Orient people about the shit they’re going to run into, and do that, yes, by preparing them for what they are going to encounter and why and reinforcing that it is harmful lies and complete bullshit... but also, as a key part of that and even more fundamentally... orient people by bringing them back to, and leading them to anchor themselves in, what they just saw that is the polar opposite of the bullshit, lies and slander that they are going to hear...

    This relates to Sunsara Taylor’s point in a recent episode of The RNL Show about how these interviews provide some of the most most powerful refutations of the lies and slanders, etc.

    This also sets critically important terms about what is and isn’t understandable and acceptable...

    Furthermore, this relates to simple and complex: You (including newer people) know enough to know why this needs to get out there in a huge way and the difference that could make... and that these lies and slanders are completely at odds with what you just saw and experienced... Now, if you have questions about WHY people say this kind of bullshit and where that comes from, we can get into that—the lines and wrong ways of thinking that people have about leadership, about communist leaders in particular...

    But you don’t have to be able to answer every question to know that this needs to get out there and people slandering this are full of shit.

  • ARTICLE:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World

    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews

    Part Four: Once More on Important Relations and Dynamics

    Editors’ note: Revcom.us recently received a valuable contribution from two readers on how to go out and turn the new Interviews with Bob Avakian, BA, into the societal game-changers they can—and urgently need to—be. We are posting edited excerpts from this letter over a few weeks. We urge all our readers to write us with your thoughts on this and how we can meet this crucial goal, and your experience—positive and negative—in doing so.

    In different ways and on different levels, we need to be correctly grasping the dialectic—the back-and-forth, reinforcing relationship—between the particular and the overall... and between different features of our revolutionary work. 

    To raise a few particular examples for further, ongoing reflection and discussion—including by the Revolution Clubs and those more broadly working to promote the BA Interviews... how do we understand the back-and-forth, reinforcing relationship between:  

    • On the ground promotion and social media promotion?
    • Winning over prominent, influential people—including those with huge audiences and social media/online followings—and  generating momentum among the broader masses of different strata?
    • Broad promotion of the BA Interviews and fierce ideological struggle to break people out of the wrong lines and frameworks they are in?  

    Initial thoughts on above point: We need to get these Interviews out in a huge way in front of a lot of people. But we also need to break through on the “ignore-ance” among the not insignificant numbers of people who have already seen the Interviews or who do know about BA. We need to break through the dynamic of people literally or figuratively—online or on the ground—“giving a thumbs-up” and walking away without further engagement. 

    We need to create a sense of social compulsion among blocs of people to watch this...

    And stirring up controversy and fierce ideological struggle is essential to creating this sense of social compulsion.

    See also:

    A Message to the Revcoms and Everyone Else Yearning for a Better World
    THIS Is A “Game-Changer”: The Bob Avakian Interviews
  • ARTICLE:

    Real Revolution, In This Time:
    What the Powers-That-Be Don't Want You to Know

    A series of social media dispatches from Bob Avakian

    Updated

    Bob Avakian Official on youtube recently made a playlist of BA's social media dispatches 1-11 with the title: "Real Revolution, In This Time: What the Powers-That-Be Don't Want You to Know."

    This is an hour-plus audio from the revolutionary leader who has brought forward a framework for human emancipation, for a whole new way to live.  This series provides a powerful introduction that speaks to the basic and urgent questions of why we need this revolution (with extensive exposure of the crimes of this system, right down to today), why this revolution is possible in this ‘rare time,’ and how this revolution could actually succeed (how we could win). 

    They are also a companion to The Bob Avakian Interviews on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show which take you into the heart and soul and hard-core-for-revolution understanding of this this leader, and the future that is possible.

    Finally, to get alerted as soon as a new social media post is up from Bob Avakian, subscribe to his newsletter on substack.  You can also get the full text of his posts there!

    Leaflet to spread word of @BobAvakianOfficial broadly:

    BA is coming to you straight up, bringing truth the powers-that-be don’t want you to have—truth you need to know—the truth about the revolution we need now: Why is revolution necessary?  Why and how is it actually possible—not in some far off time, but right in this time—with society being ripped apart and the rulers more sharply divided than they've been since the Civil War?  Could we really win?  What is this revolution aiming for?

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  • ARTICLE:

    2024 SCENARIOS (A SKETCH), AND THE CHALLENGES

    Looking ahead, over the course of this year—and specifically as things are very likely to be focused, to a very great extent, in relation to the 2024 election—the following are (not the only possible but are realistically possible) scenarios that need to be anticipated, not in some abstract sense but specifically in terms of the necessity and challenges we will face as things unfold, from the standpoint of the urgently needed repolarization for revolution.

    * The Democrats win the presidential election—and the Republicans refuse to accept the results, with everything that would imply.

    * The Republicans win—“legitimately,” or at least in a way that is ruled “legal.” This is probably the worst-case scenario. In one important dimension, it would pose very sharply the need for overcoming the spontaneity, among significant numbers of people opposed to the Republi-fascists that “nothing can be done” (“what can you do?”). At the same time, along with mass discontent, there would very likely be “spontaneous” mass outpouring of opposition, and the phenomenon spoken to in Revolution—Building Up The Basis To Go For The Whole Thing, With A Real Chance To Win: Strategic Orientation And Practical Approach (and cited shortly below here) of different organized forces in the field, seeking to take things in different directions.

    *There is no election—with all the tumult, chaos, etc., that would accompany this scenario.

    Once again, in relation to all of these (and other possible) scenarios, the challenge will be repolarization—for revolution. (In this regard, it is important to cast away illusions and keep in mind that, especially if the Republi-fascists do win the election, there would be people whom you might expect to be opposed to the fascists who would instead actually rally to their camp—including some basic oppressed people—and this emphasizes from yet another angle the crucial importance of repolarization, for revolution, through ferocious ideological struggle, as well as concrete action, all along the way, as well as specifically in those particular circumstances.)

    This gives particular focus and emphasis to the following (from point 2) in Revolution—Building Up The Basis To Go For The Whole Thing, With A Real Chance To Win: Strategic Orientation And Practical Approach:

    In the circumstances of all-out crisis, when the whole direction of society is being called into question, there would be different trends and organized forces seeking to take things in different directions.  There would be the fascist Republicans, aiming to seize (or consolidate) power, in order to bring about a more blatant form of oppressive and murderous rule, without the usual disguise of “democracy, with liberty and justice for all.” There would be those, like the leaders of the Democratic Party, trying to maintain (or restore) this monstrous system of oppression in its more “traditional” form. There would be masses of people in favor of some kind of basic change in a positive direction, but with different ideas about what that would mean. And there would likely be some organized forces claiming to be aiming for some kind of “progressive” change—even some calling themselves “revolutionaries” or “socialists”—when in fact their programs would only reinforce, and keep people locked into, the existing system.

    The people who are won to revolution, in increasingly greater numbers, must be led to have a clear understanding of the need, and be in position, to wage a powerful struggle to determine the whole direction of things in the midst of such an acute crisis, in order to carry things forward toward the only real positive solution: an actual, truly emancipating revolution.

    EVERYTHING THAT IS DONE, FROM HERE FORWARD, MUST BE ORIENTED TO CREATING THE BASIS FOR THIS.

    This also underscores the crucial importance of the following:

    Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond.  Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.

    It does need to be understood that, even if at the beginning of a crisis represented by one of the above scenarios (and/or possibly some others), there is not yet a revolutionary people in the millions, the challenge and responsibility we must strive to meet in those circumstances is to bring such a revolutionary people into being, through the “intense swirl” of the crisis: to take responsibility precisely to repolarize—for revolution—in such intense circumstances. And the following statement from Lenin (part of fuller observations by Lenin cited below) not only applies overall to the kind of situation we are in now, but would especially apply when everything is coming to a head: “people learn in a week more than they do in a year of ordinary, somnolent [sleepy] life.” 

    This speaks to the possibility of winning masses, yes even millions, of people to revolution in a very “telescoped” way, in the circumstances of rapidly intensifying contradictions, when the whole direction of society is being immediately and sharply contested—even when, in immediate terms, the defining contestation is among forces none of which is revolutionary—and even when winning masses of people to revolution had seemed like a remote possibility, or even outright impossibility, shortly before that.

    However, this—it needs to be firmly understood and constantly kept in mind—does not in any way reduce the great need and urgent importance of bringing forward a revolutionary people, in the millions, as soon as possible, in order to be in the best possible position to influence the course of events as things continue to intensify, and likely make leap after leap in the intensification of the crisis. In more blunt terms, this is NOT an “invitation” to the rationalization: “Well, if we don’t bring forward a revolutionary people, first in the thousands and then in the millions, leading into a situation where the whole direction of society is ‘up,’ at least we can try to do so once there is that situation.” NO! and again NO! There is an urgent need to be making the breakthroughs that can result in bringing forward such a revolutionary people before and leading into a situation where “everything is on the line”—or the chances of being able to “determine the whole direction of things” toward a positive, revolutionary resolution, will be greatly diminished.

    The point is that everything, from here forward, must be oriented toward actually achieving this (bringing forward such a revolutionary people, first in the thousands and then in the millions, in a very “telescoped” period, before and leading into a situation where “everything is on the line”). If, despite all our efforts, we do not succeed in meeting this crucial objective, then—and only then—the emphasis must shift to doing so as everything is “on the line,” all with the orientation of getting into position to go for the whole thing, with a real chance to win.

    *****

    The following from Lenin, in Lessons Of The Revolution (summer, 1917) has important bearing on this, and more generally with regard to the understanding of—and the challenges, and possibilities posed by—“rare time”:

    Every revolution means a sharp turn in the lives of a vast number of people. Unless the time is ripe for such a turn, no real revolution can take place. And just as any turn in the life of an individual teaches him a great deal and brings rich experience and great emotional stress, so a revolution teaches an entire people very rich and valuable lessons in a short space of time.

    During a revolution, millions and tens of millions of people learn in a week more than they do in a year of ordinary, somnolent [sleepy] life. For at the time of a sharp turn in the life of an entire people it becomes particularly clear what aims the various classes of the people are pursuing, what strength they possess, and what methods they use. 

    As important and definitely relevant as these statements by Lenin are, they must not be understood in mechanical terms. For example, the revolution in China followed a significantly different path than the one in Russia. At the same time, with regard to that revolution in China there is applicability to what Lenin writes here, including the basic point that “Every revolution means a sharp turn in the lives of a vast number of people.” Notably, the invasion and occupation of China by Japanese imperialism was certainly “a sharp turn in the lives of a vast number of people.” Again, the point is to understand this in a living, and not a mechanical, way.

    This also applies to the last part of this statement by Lenin: As a point of general understanding, and one of particular and acute relevance to our situation now, this part of this statement by Lenin should not be interpreted to mean that “the aims the various classes of the people are pursuing,” etc., will become clear spontaneously, but rather that there is far more basis than in “normal times” to make this clear through scientific analysis—and agitation as well as propaganda based on this scientific analysis—which especially in such times (times, in fact, like these) must be penetrating and compelling, and increasingly accessible to broad masses of people.

    With those caveats, however, this statement by Lenin remains very important and highly relevant.

     

  • ARTICLE:

    U.S. CONSTITUTION: AN EXPLOITERS’ VISION OF FREEDOM—ADDED NOTES (AND BRIEF INTRODUCTION)

    Brief Introduction:

    The following article by Bob Avakian was originally published in 1987. We are republishing it now, because it remains highly relevant in terms of understanding the basic nature of this system we live under—the system of capitalism-imperialism—and the role of the U.S. Constitution as the legal and political basis for this system of ruthless exploitation, murderous oppression and massive destruction. In this republished version, Bob Avakian has provided some Added Notes at the end of the article, to further clarify important points.

    * * * * *

    James Madison, who was the main author of the Constitution of the United States, was also an upholder of slavery and the interests of the slaveowners in the United States. Madison, the fourth president of the United States, not only wrote strongly in defense of the Constitution, he also strongly defended the part of the Constitution that declared the slaves to be only three-fifths human beings (that provided for the slaves to be counted this way for the purposes of deciding on representation and taxation of the states—Article I, Section 2, 3 of the Constitution).

    In writing this defense, Madison praised "the compromising expedient of the Constitution" which treats the slaves as "inhabitants, but as debased by servitude below the equal level of free inhabitants; which regards the slave as divested of two-fifths of the man." Madison explained: "The true state of the case is that they partake of both these qualities: being considered by our laws, in some respects, as persons, and in other respects as property.... This is in fact their true character. It is the character bestowed on them by the laws under which they live; and it will not be denied that these are the proper criterion." Madison got to the heart of the matter, the essence of what the U.S. Constitution is all about, when in the course of upholding the decision to treat slaves as three-fifths human beings he agrees with the following principle: "Government is instituted no less for protection of the property than of the persons of individuals."1 Property rights—that is the basis on which outright slavery as well as other forms of exploitation, discrimination, and oppression have been consistently upheld. And over the 200 years that this Constitution has been in force, down to today, despite the formal rights of persons it proclaims, and even though the Constitution has been amended to outlaw slavery where one person actually owns another as property, the U.S. Constitution has always remained a document that upholds and gives legal authority to a system in which the masses of people, or their ability to work, have been used as wealth-creating property for the profit of the few.

    The abolition of slavery through the Civil War meant the elimination of one form of exploitation and the further development and extension of other forms of exploitation. As I wrote in Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?, "despite the efforts of abolitionists and the resistance and revolts of the slaves themselves—and their heroic fighting in the Civil War itself—it was not fought by the Union government in the North, and its president, Lincoln, for the purpose of abolishing the atrocity of slavery in some moral sense.... The Civil War arose out of the conflict between two modes of production, the slave system in the South and the capitalist system centered in the North; this erupted into open antagonism, warfare, when it was no longer possible for these two modes of production to co-exist within the same country."2 The victory of the North over the South in the U.S. Civil War represented the victory of the capitalist system over the slave system. It represented the triumph of the capitalist form of using people as a means of creating wealth. Under a system of outright slavery, the slave is literally the property of the slaveowner. Under capitalism, slavery becomes wage-slavery: The exploited class of workers is not owned by the exploiting class of capitalists (the owners of factories, land, etc.), but the workers are in a position where they must sell their ability to work to a capitalist in order to earn a wage. Capitalism needs a mass of workers that is "free," in a two-fold sense: They must be "free" of all means to live (all means of production), except their ability to work; and they must not be bound to a particular owner, a particular site, a particular guild, etc.—they must be "free" to do whatever work is demanded of them, they must be "free" to move from place to place, and "free" to be hired and fired according to the needs of capital! If they cannot enrich a capitalist through working, then the workers cannot work, they cannot earn a wage. But even if they cannot find a capitalist to exploit their labor, even if they are unemployed, they still remain under the domination of the capitalist class and of the process of capitalist accumulation of wealth—the proletarians (the workers) are dependent on the capitalist class and the capitalist system for their very lives, so long as the capitalist system rules. It is this rule, this system of exploitation, that the U.S. Constitution has upheld and enforced, all the more so after outright slavery was abolished through the Civil War.

    But here is another very important fact: In the concrete conditions of the U.S. coming out of the Civil War, and for some time afterward, wage-slavery was not the only major form of exploitation in force in the U.S. Up until very recently (until the 1950s), millions of Black people were exploited like serfs on Southern plantations, working as sharecroppers and tenant farmers to enrich big landowners (and bankers and other capitalists). A whole system of laws—commonly known as Jim Crow laws—were enforced to maintain this relationship of exploitation and oppression: Black people throughout the South—and really throughout the whole country—were subjected to the open discrimination, brutality, and terror that such laws allowed and encouraged. All this, too, was upheld and enforced by the Constitution and its interpretation and application by the highest political and legal authorities in the U.S. And, over the past several decades, when the great majority of Black people have been uprooted from the land in the South and have moved into the cities of the North (and South), they have still been discriminated against, forcibly segregated, and continually subjected to brutality and terror even while some formal civil rights have been extended to them.

    Once again, this is in accordance with the interests of the ruling capitalist class and capitalist system. It is consistent with the principle enunciated by James Madison: Governments must protect the property no less than the persons of individuals. In fact, what Madison obviously meant—and what the reality of the U.S. has clearly been—is that the government must protect the property of white people, especially the wealthy white people, more than the rights of Black people. It must never be forgotten that for most of their history in what is now the United States of America Black people were the property of white people, particularly wealthy plantation owners. Even after this outright slavery was abolished, Black people have never been allowed to achieve equality with whites: they have been held down, maintained as an oppressed nation, and denied the right of self-determination. Capitalism cannot exist without the oppression of nations, and this is all the more so when capitalism develops into its highest stage: monopoly capitalism-imperialism. If the history of the United States has demonstrated anything, it has demonstrated this.

    The Heritage They Won’t Renounce

    The ruling class of the U.S. today—above all the U.S. imperialists, the large-scale capitalists and international exploiters who dominate the U.S. and most of the world—are indeed, as they proclaim, the direct and worthy descendants of their “Founding Fathers.” And this is why the ruling class and its political representatives, while they feel obliged to say that they are opposed to slavery today (at least in the U.S. itself), solemnly praise and celebrate slave owners and upholders of slavery who were so prominent among the “Founding Fathers” and played so central a part in the establishment of the system in the U.S.: men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

    These imperialists will never admit that their “Founding Fathers” established a system of government that, in its very foundation, is based on oppression and exploitation. They will never admit that their Constitution is the legal instrument for enforcing that exploitation and oppression. They cannot admit this, any more than they can admit their much-vaunted wealth and power has been established and built up by stealing land and resources from the native peoples (and Mexico) through extortion and outright murderous means; by trading in human flesh and harnessing human beings in slave labor; by pitilessly exploiting immigrants in their millions as wage-slaves; by robbing and plundering throughout the world, particularly Latin America, Africa, and Asia (what today is generally called the Third World). They cannot acknowledge that, while the forms of slavery have changed, the U.S. has, from the beginning and down to today, remained a society where enslavement, in one form or another, has been at the very heart of the economic system and the very basis of the political structure.

    There are many (including even Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall) who argue that, because of the upholding of slavery in the Constitution—and other injustices, such as excluding women from voting, and the treatment of the Indians—the Constitution was not such a great document when it was written, but it has been made great through the history of the U.S. and the struggles to create a more perfect Union and a more perfect Constitution. In other words, the Constitution may have had defects in some important ways when it was originally conceived, but the miracle of it is that the Constitution has within it provisions for changing and improving it—for extending democracy and rights to those previously excluded. And, some will add, while the Constitution upholds property rights, it also upholds individual and civil rights (even the statement from Madison cited at the beginning of this article stresses that, some might argue). Let’s look more deeply at these questions.

    Extension of the Constitution … Extension of Bourgeois Domination

    The extension of constitutional rights and protections to those previously excluded from them has gone together, in an overall way, with the extension of bourgeois (capitalist) relations and their dominance throughout the U.S. And, at the same time, it has gone hand-in-hand with the continuation of the oppression of Black people, of Native Americans, of Latinos and immigrants from Latin America (and elsewhere), of the oppression of women, and other forms of oppression and exploitation. All this is not in contradiction to but is consistent with the fundamental principles on which the Constitution is based and the way in which it treats the relationship between the rights of property and the rights of individuals.*

    It is noteworthy that the 14th Amendment to the Constitution (echoing the 5th Amendment) has as its pivotal point the provision that no State may “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law.” Especially in the period since World War 2, this amendment has been used as a major part of the basis to extend civil rights for Black people, for women, and for others discriminated against. Yet this amendment was passed right after the Civil War, in 1866; and for many decades this amendment was not used to combat racial or sexual discrimination. Instead, “For many years the Supreme Court applied the due-process clause mainly to protect business interests against state regulatory legislation.”3 It was only beginning after World War 1, and more fully after World War 2, that the 14th Amendment was applied in a significant way to the questions of racial and sexual discrimination. Thus, “in a long series of cases” beginning in 1925, the Supreme Court “gradually expanded its definition of due process so as to include most of the guarantees of personal liberties in the Federal Bill of Rights and has protected them from state impairment. A similar development occurred with respect to the equal-protection clause.”4 These changes in Supreme Court decisions were part of larger changes in ruling-class policy. But these resulted not from some brilliant new legal insight, nor from some sudden flash of moral awakening within the ruling class. Rather, they resulted from the changed situation of Black people in U.S. society and, more decisively, from the situation and needs of the ruling imperialists.

    As noted earlier, the masses of Black people have undergone a dramatic change in their particular conditions of existence—and of oppression—in the U.S. This began during and immediately after World War 1 but developed fully during and after World War 2. Demand for labor in war production and other strategic industry, followed after World War 2 by sweeping changes in Southern agriculture—called forth by technological changes and international economic competition—drove millions and millions of Black people from the rural South to the urban ghettos of the North and South, and into the most exploited sections of the proletariat. At the same time, the U.S. imperialists emerged not only victorious but greatly strengthened from world war that devastated those countries which were much more directly and centrally involved. So, after World War 2 U.S. imperialism was everywhere, scooping up the former colonial possessions of the prior colonial powers and establishing U.S. neocolonial domination in the name of freedom and (usually) in the guise of allowing formal independence. In this situation, it was not so necessary—nor was it so helpful—to openly and blatantly treat Black people as “second-class citizens” in the U.S. itself. So, over the period of the next several decades, concessions were made to civil rights demands and struggles at the same time as deception, vicious repression, and the promotion of “loyal and responsible Negro leaders” were carried out to keep things firmly under the control of the ruling class and in the service of its larger interests. Similarly, recent decades have seen political and legal changes that have brought certain extensions of formal rights to women and certain concessions to their battle against oppression. These have corresponded to significant changes in society and the world, including the fact that in only a small percentage of U.S. families is it any longer the case that the family is supported by just the man working. But, again, these concessions have been confined within limits that fundamentally conform to the interests and needs of the ruling class in the face of changing conditions in the U.S. and the world.

    Would anyone dare say that, because of these changes and concessions, inequality and injustice have been eliminated in the U.S.? The fact is, none of this has in any way eliminated, or come close to eliminating, discrimination against Black people, their overall conditions of oppression, their status as an oppressed nation. Nor have the ruling imperialists ceased to oppress the Native Americans—they have never even stopped trying to cheat and rob them of valuable land and resources. Nor have these imperialists ceased to discriminate against and viciously exploit other national minorities and immigrants. Nor, despite the constitutional amendment (the 19th, in 1919) giving them the right to vote and other concessions to “women’s rights,” have women been granted equality—there has been no end to the subjugation and degradation they have been subjected to: The oppression of women remains a foundation stone of U.S. society, as indeed it must so long as a system of class domination and exploitation is in force. Today, 200 years after the U.S. Constitution first took effect, and after all the changes and amendments, no one can seriously and reasonably argue that the various kinds of oppression that I have spoken to here do not exist or are only a minor aspect of the situation. No one can seriously and reasonably argue that they are not a basic and deeply rooted feature of American society.

    The reason for this is rooted in the very reality and nature of the economic system in the U.S. and the political system that upholds and enforces this economic system, including the Constitution as the legal “cement” of the political structure. The fundamental reason why the “extension” of constitutional rights to those previously excluded from them has not put an end to exploitation, inequality, and oppression is this: The essence of the capitalist economic system is not the competition of commodity owners, all vying equally in the marketplace (equal opportunity for all). The essence is the exploitation of labor as wage-labor, the command by capital over labor power (the ability to do work) as a commodity—a unique commodity—that creates wealth through its use.** (As a dockworker told me years ago: No one gets rich working; the only way to get rich is by making other people work for you.) And the essence of the political structure that goes along with and protects this capitalist economic system is not freedom and democracy for all, regardless of wealth and social position. The essence is the dictatorship of the bourgeois class—its monopoly of political power and armed force—over those it dominates in the economic system, especially the proletariat. Thus, the right to vote and other formal rights for the proletariat and other oppressed masses are in no way in fundamental opposition to the economic and political system of capitalism and bourgeois dictatorship.

    Bourgeois Democracy—Bourgeois Dictatorship

    Bourgeois democracy presents itself as classless democracy: It proclaims equality for all. Thus, the U.S. Constitution does not say that different classes of people shall have unequal wealth and power; rather, it sets forth a charter that appears to treat everyone the same, regardless of wealth and social status. Yet there never has been, and never could be, a capitalist society without tremendous differences in wealth and power, without fundamental class divisions and antagonisms. In fact, a capitalist society without these things is not even conceivable. And in reality, democracy in capitalist society can only be bourgeois democracy. This means there is democracy—equal political rights and the power to make fundamental decisions—only among the capitalist class, the ruling class. For the rest, and for the proletariat especially, bourgeois democracy means dictatorship: It means being ruled over by the capitalists, even while being allowed to vote and even while being governed by a Constitution that sets forth laws that are said to be applied, equally, to all. How can this be?

    First, as for voting, as I pointed out in Democracy: Can’t We Do Better Than That?:

    On the most obvious level, to be a serious candidate for any major office in a country like the U.S. requires millions of dollars—a personal fortune or, more often, the backing of people with that kind of money. Beyond that, to become known and be taken seriously depends on favorable exposure in the mass media (favorable at least in the sense that you are presented as within the framework of responsible—that is, acceptable politics)…. By the time “the people express their will through voting,” both the candidates they have to choose among and the “issues” that deserve “serious consideration” have been selected out by someone else: the ruling class….

    Further, and even more fundamentally, to “get anywhere” once elected—both to advance one’s own career and to “get anything done”—it is necessary to fit into the established mold and work within the established structures.5

    But that is not all:

    If, however, the electoral process in bourgeois society does not represent the exercise of sovereignty by the people, it generally does play an important role in maintaining the sovereignty—the dictatorship—of the bourgeoisie and the continuation of capitalist society. This very electoral process itself tends to cover over the basic class relations—and class antagonisms—in society, and serves to give formal, institutionalized expression to the political participation of atomized individuals in the perpetuation of the status quo. This process not only reduces people to isolated individuals but at the same time reduces them to a passive position politically and defines the essence of politics as such atomized passivity—as each person, individually, in isolation from everyone else, giving his/her approval to this or to that option, all of which options have been formulated and presented by an active power standing above these atomized masses of “citizens.”… [T]he very acceptance of the electoral process as the quintessential political act reinforces acceptance of the established order and works against any radical rupture with, to say nothing of the actual overturning of, that order.6

    And let us remember that one of the main reasons for which the U.S. Constitution was “ordained and established,” as proclaimed in its “Preamble,” was to prevent social upheaval and the overturning of the order upheld by that Constitution—to “insure domestic tranquility.”

    The same can be said of the other aspects of bourgeois democracy and the kind of rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution (including its “Bill of Rights”): They have the purpose and function of reinforcing the rule of the bourgeoisie and keeping political activity within limits acceptable to the bourgeoisie. Thus, “the much-vaunted freedom of expression in the ‘democratic countries’ is not in opposition to but is encompassed by and confined within the actual exercise of dictatorship by the bourgeoisie. This is for two basic reasons—because the ruling class has a monopoly on the means of molding public opinion and because its monopoly of armed force puts it in a position to suppress, as violently as necessary, any expression of ideas, as well as any action, that poses a serious challenge to the established order.”7 The history of the U.S., like the history of all other “democratic” bourgeois dictatorships, is full of graphic illustrations of just how true the above-quoted statement is!

    Formal equality—the treatment of all persons as equal, and specifically as “equal before the law,” without regard to wealth or social position—in bourgeois society actually covers over the relationship of complete subordination, exploitation, and oppression to which the proletariat and masses of people are subjected. If a small group—the capitalist class—controls the important means of creating wealth, then in reality they have the power of life and death over those who control little or none of these. To have such power over other people is, in essence, to hold them in an enslaved condition, whether or not the chains are literal and visible. In such a situation—which is the fundamental condition of capitalist society—how can there be anything but profound inequality economically, socially, and politically? And with such a fundamental division, with such fundamental inequality, there can never be anything but exploitation, oppression, domination, and dictatorship.

    With regard to the law, this will manifest itself in two main ways. First, those who dominate society economically will dominate in deciding, through the political structure, what the laws will be. They will insure that the laws serve their interests. And second, the actual application and enforcement of the law will discriminate in favor of those with wealth and power and against those without them—and even more so against oppressed nationalities, women, and others who are “the last of the last” in society. Everyday life in any capitalist society proves this over and over. Thus, once again, as with the right to vote and other constitutional rights in a bourgeois-democratic republic, formal equality before the law expresses itself, in reality, as profound inequality—and more—as something confined within and conforming to bourgeois domination and dictatorship.

    The basic difference between the bourgeoisie’s view of freedom and democracy on the one hand, and the striving of oppressed masses for an end to oppressive conditions on the other hand, is sharply drawn in recent events in Haiti, the Philippines, and South Korea. The oppressed masses (and students and other revolutionary intellectuals) want some kind of fundamental change in the social system and a breaking of the chains of imperialist domination in their countries. But the bourgeois opposition leaders and parties want only the recognition of bourgeois-democratic provisions and procedures—with elections the highest expression of political activity. Most of all, they want the sharing of power more broadly and “equally” among the upper classes—really, they want their chance to hold the reins of power—while leaving the social system and imperialist domination intact. As for the imperialists, where they become convinced of the need for change in such situations, they make every effort to keep it confined within the framework of imperialist domination and bourgeois rule. Indeed, they try to use such situations to strengthen and perhaps “refine” the apparatus of bourgeois politics—and, above all, of repression—in the countries involved.

    This brings us to a most fundamental point that is so often ignored or glossed over in discussions and debates about democracy in countries like the U.S.: The fact is that even the extent to which rights are allowed to the nonruling classes in imperialist countries depends on a situation where, in large parts of the world under imperialist domination, the masses of people are subjected to much more open and murderous repression. In short,

    The platform of democracy in the imperialist countries (worm-eaten as it is) rests on fascist terror in the oppressed nations: the real guarantors of bourgeois democracy in the U.S. are not the constitutional scholar and the Supreme Court justice, but the Brazilian torturer, the South African cop, and the Israeli pilot; the true defenders of the democratic tradition are not on the portraits in the halls of the Western capitols, but are Marcos, Mobutu, and the dozens of generals from Turkey to Taiwan, from South Korea to South America, all put and maintained in power and backed up by the military force of the U.S. and its imperialist partners.8,***

    But, at the same time, the imperialist rulers and ardent worshippers of bourgeois democracy go to great lengths to try to cover over, or explain away, the brutal repression “at home” that is so essential to the functioning of the system and the maintenance of the established order:

    For there is vicious repression and state terror carried out continually—and not only in times of serious crisis or social upheaval—in the imperialist countries; it is carried out specifically against those who do not support but oppose the established order, or who simply cannot be counted on to be pacified by the normal workings of the imperialist system—those whose conditions are desperate and whose life situation is explosive anyway.

    In the U.S. the hundreds of police shootings of oppressed people, particularly Blacks and other minority nationalities, every year; the fact that jails are overwhelmingly filled with poor people, the greatest number again being Black and other minority nationalities—it is an amazing but true statistic that one out of every thirteen Black people in the U.S. will be arrested each year (and Blacks are incarcerated eight and one-half times as frequently as whites)!—and the widespread use of drugs, surgical techniques, and other means to repress and terrorize prisoners (as well as an astounding number of people not in jail, including allegedly recalcitrant children); the use of welfare and other so-called social service agencies to harass and control poor people down to the most intimate details of their personal lives; this, and much more, is part of the daily life experience of millions of people in the major imperialist countries. Along with all this, of course, is the use of the state apparatus for direct political repression….

    In times of severe crisis and social strain, of course, all this is carried out more intensively and extensively…. Already, right now in the U.S., to cite one important aspect of this, hundreds of thousands of immigrants, “illegal” and “legal,” are being subjected to a campaign of terror—including raids at their places of work and homes, the sudden and forcible separation of parents from children, and the deportation of large numbers of refugees back to the waiting arms of death squads and other government assassins in countries like El Salvador. The same kind of thing is also being directed against immigrants in France, West Germany, England, and other imperialist democracies.

    Through all this, while overt political repression by the state is in one sense the clearest indication of the class content of democracy—in the imperialist countries as well as elsewhere—in another sense the daily, and often seemingly arbitrary, terror carried out against the lower strata in these imperialist countries concentrates the connection between the normal workings of the system and the political (that is, class) nature of the state.9

    A New and Far Greater Vision of Freedom

    In the course of this article so far, in speaking to some essential questions concerning the U.S. Constitution and the system it upholds, I have answered some of the main arguments made in defense of this Constitution and this system, including the argument that the Constitution, if not perfect, is perfectible—that it can be continually improved and the rights it establishes can be extended to those previously excluded. Before concluding, I want to briefly address some of the other main arguments made on behalf of—or in defense of—this Constitution and the principles and vision it embodies.

    “This Constitution establishes a law of the land that is applicable to all—it establishes a government of laws, not of people.” This is closely linked to the principle of “equality before the law.” What is meant by “a government of laws, not of people” is that no one is “above the law” and that what is allowed and what is forbidden are set forth before all, in one set of regulations binding on everyone, and this can be changed only through the procedures established for making such changes. A “government of people” refers to a notion of a government where it is the will and the word of certain people—a king, a despot, a small group of tyrants, etc.—that determine what is allowed and what is forbidden, and where this can and will change according to the dictates and the whims of such rulers: There is no common and clearly spelled-out standard binding on all, even on the political leaders and the powerful and influential in society.

    Like all principles of bourgeois democracy, this notion of “a government of laws, not of people” misses and obscures the essential question. First of all,

    “the rule of law” can be part of a dictatorship, of one kind or another, and in the most general sense it always is—even where it may appear that power is exercised without or above the law, laws (in the sense of a systematized code that people in society are obliged to conform to, whether written or unwritten) will still exist and play a part in enforcing the rule of the dominant class. Conversely, all states, all dictatorships, include laws in one form or another.10

    Most fundamentally, the question is: What is the character and the class content of the laws, what system do they uphold and enforce, which class interests do they represent—of which class dictatorship, bourgeois or proletarian, are they the expression and instrument—and toward what end are they contributing—the maintenance of class division and domination, exploitation and oppression, or the final elimination of class divisions, of all oppressive social divisions, and of social antagonisms? In short, the essential question is not “a government of laws vs. a government of people,” it is which people—which class—rules, and what laws are in force, in the service of what ends?

    “‘We The People,’ that is the heart of this Constitution and the genius of this Constitution: It establishes a government of, by and for all the people.” As a matter of historical fact, this opening phrase of the Constitution, “We the people of the United States,” was not the product of some lofty desire by the “framers” of the Constitution to set forth some universal principle of popular sovereignty. It was the product of their desire to overcome the problem of States posing their own sovereignty against that of the Federal Government—and the desire to avoid the specific problem of not knowing which States would ratify the Constitution: “The Preamble of the Articles of Confederation had named all the states in order from north to south. How was the [Constitutional] Convention to enumerate the participating states without knowing which would ratify? In a brilliant flash of inspiration, the Convention began with the words, ‘We the People of the United States…do ordain and establish this Constitution….’”11

    More importantly, the larger historical context and the actual content of this proclamation—“We The People”—must be made clear. The founding of the United States of America as an independent country represented not just the breaking away from domination by a foreign power. It also meant breaking away from a form of government that vested great power in the person of the monarchy—even while it ultimately served the interests of the bourgeoisie and the landed “nobility.” In general, the rights and the restrictions of power established in the Constitution of the newly founded United States revolved around preventing arbitrary rule by despots and the concentration of too much power in one person or one part of the government. The “separation of powers” and the “checks and balances” of different branches of government was seen as a way of insuring that the government would serve the interests of the capitalist class and (at that time) the slaveowners as a whole. It is in this light that “We the people of the United States,” in the “Preamble” of the Constitution, must be understood. Obviously, “We the people of the United States” did not include all those who were expressly excluded from the process of selecting the government and endorsing the Constitution. For, “Even on the most obvious level, how could the government of the newly formed United States, for example, be considered to have derived its powers ‘from the consent of the governed’ when, at the time of the formation of the United States of America, a majority of the people ‘governed’—included slaves, Indians, women, men who did not meet various property requirements, and others—did not even have the right to vote…to say nothing of the real power to govern and determine the direction of society?”12

    Bourgeois ruling classes generally speak in the name of the people, all the people. From their standpoint, it may make a certain amount of sense: They do, after all, rule over the masses of people. But from a more basic and more objective standpoint, their claim to represent all the people is a deception. If it was a deception at the time of the founding of the United States and the adoption of its Constitution, it is all the more so now. For now the rule of the capitalists is in fundamental antagonism with the interests of the great majority of people, not just in a particular country, but all over the world. Now the decisive question is not overcoming economic and political obstacles to the development of capitalism and its corresponding political system. The time when that was on the historical agenda is long since passed. What is now on the historical agenda is the overthrow of capitalism and the final elimination of all systems of exploitation, all oppressive social relations, all class distinctions, through the revolution of the exploited class under capitalism, the proletariat.

    To get a very stark sense of just how historically conditioned—how long since outmoded and completely reactionary—are the interests and the paramount concerns of the "Founding Fathers" and their descendants, the ruling imperialists of today, let us consider the fact that, in writing their Constitution, Madison and others "For theoretical inspiration...leaned heavily on Locke and on Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws. Both writers had insisted on the need for separation of powers in order to prevent tyranny; in Montesquieu's view even the representatives of the people in the legislature could not be trusted with unlimited power."13 In reading over Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws I could not help but be struck by how thoroughly his frame of reference is that of a bygone age and his outlook that of exploiting classes whose period of historical ascendancy is long since past. As a glaring illustration, consider the following:

    If I had to justify our right to enslave Negroes, this is what I would say: Since the peoples of Europe have exterminated those of America, they have had to enslave those of Africa in order to use them to clear and cultivate such a vast expanse of land.

    Sugar would be too expensive if it weren't harvested by slaves.

    Those in question are black from the tip of their toes to the top of their heads; and their noses so flattened that it is almost impossible to feel sorry for them.

    It is inconceivable that God, who is a very wise being, could have placed a soul, especially a good soul, in an all-black body....

    One proof of the fact that Negroes don't have any common sense is that they get more excited about a string of glass beads than about gold, which, in civilized countries, is so dearly prized.

    It is impossible that these people are men; because if we thought of them as men, one would begin to think that we ourselves are not Christians.14,****

    Let the "Founding Fathers" and their descendants draw theoretical inspiration from the likes of Montesquieu! Let them defend slavery and modern-day exploitation on the ground of property rights, taking their lead from the likes of James Madison, the main author of the Constitution. As for the proletariat, our goal is "Marx's view of the complete abolition of bourgeois property relations—and all relations in which human beings confront each other as owners (or non-owners) of property rather than through conscious and voluntary association."15

    For the exploiting classes, and in a system under their rule, the "bottom line" is to reduce the masses of people to mere wealth-creating property—and today, under the domination of the imperialists, the greatest of all exploiters, the mass of humanity is treated as merely a means to amass even greater wealth and power in the hands of, and for the profit of, so few. And at what cost! This cost must be measured in massive human suffering, degradation, and destruction. Imagine the even greater cost in human suffering, degradation, and destruction that will have to be paid unless and until the oppressed and exploited victims of this system, who are the great majority of humanity, rise up and overthrow this system and finally put an end to all social relations of exploitation and oppression.

    In conclusion, The Constitution of the United States is an exploiters' vision of freedom. It is a charter for a society based on exploitation, on slavery in one form or another. The rights and freedoms it proclaims are subordinate to and in the service of the system of exploitation it upholds. This Constitution has been and continues to be applied in accordance with this vision and with the interests of the ruling class of this system: In its application it has become more and more fully the instrument of bourgeois domination, dictatorship, oppression, conquest, and plunder.

    Our answer is clear to those who argue: Even if The Constitution of the United States is not perfect, it is the best that has been devised—it sets a standard to be striven for. Our answer is: Why should we aim so low, when we have The Communist Manifesto to set a far higher standard of what humanity can strive for—and is capable of achieving—a far greater vision of freedom.*****

     

    NOTES

    1. Quotes from James Madison are from the Federalist Paper No. 54 in The Federalist Papers (New York: New American Library, 1961), pp. 336-341, especially pp. 339 and 337. [back]

    2. Bob Avakian, Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? (Chicago: Banner Press, 1986), pp. 110-11. [back]

    3. Edward Conrad Smith, editor, The Constitution of the United States with Case Summaries (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1979), p. 18. All citations in this article are from the essay “The Origins of the Constitution.” [back]

    4. Ibid., pp. 18-19. [back]

    5. Avakian, Democracy, p. 69. [back]

    6. Ibid, p. 70. [back]

    7. Ibid, p. 71. [back]

    8. Lenny Wolff, The Science of Revolution: An Introduction (Chicago: RCP Publications, 1983), p. 184. [back]

    9. Avakian, Democracy, pp. 137-39. [back]

    10. Ibid., pp. 233-34. [back]

    11. Smith, Constitution of the U.S., p. 12. [back]

    12. Avakian, Democracy, p. 100. [back]

    13. Smith, Constitution of the U.S., p. 13. [back]

    14. Charles Montesquieu, De L'Esprit Des Lois, Paris: Garnier, 1927, livre 15, chapitre 5, "De L'Esclavage Des Negres" (The Spirit of the Laws, book 15, chapter 5, "On the Enslavement of Negroes"), my translation. [back]

    15. Avakian, Democracy, p. 212. [back]

    Added Notes by the Author, Spring 2023

    * A major factor underlying this “extension of constitutional rights and protections to those previously excluded from them” has—especially since the second half of the 20th century—been the increasing globalization of the capitalist-imperialist economy, a worldwide system of exploitation ensnaring literally billions of people, and in particular super-exploitation of masses of people, including more than 150 million children, in the Third World of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. The relationship of this worldwide exploitation, and super-exploitation, to the situation in the U.S. itself—particularly with regard to the economic structure and social and class relations within this country—is analyzed in depth in the paper by Raymond Lotta Imperialist Parasitism and Class-Social Recomposition in the U.S. From the 1970s to Today: An Exploration of Trends and Changes, which is available at revcom.us. The political dimensions of this are explored in my article Imperialist Parasitism and “Democracy”: Why So Many Liberals and Progressives Are Shameless Supporters of “Their” Imperialism (also available at revcom.us), where the following is made clear:

    [T]his imperialist plunder provides the material basis for a certain stability, at least in “normal times” in the imperialist “home country” (with the U.S. a prime example of this). This relative stability, in turn, makes it possible for the ruling class to allow a certain amount of dissent and political protest—so long as this remains within the confines of, or at least does not significantly threaten, the “law and order” that serves and enforces the fundamental interests of this ruling class.

    At the same time, as sharply demonstrated in mass uprisings which do call into question that “law and order” and/or defy allegiance to the imperialist interests of this system—such as the mass outpouring against police terror in 2020, and urban rebellions and mass opposition to the Vietnam war in the 1960s—the rulers of this country will frequently respond to such opposition with severe repression and murderous retribution.  For example, the city of Wilmington, in Biden’s home state of Delaware, was placed under martial law for months during the 1960s upsurge against the oppression of Black people, and a number of members of the Black Panther Party, most prominently Fred Hampton, were murdered by police, along with many Black people taking part in urban uprisings in that period, while militant mass resistance against the Vietnam war and rebellions among middle class youth and students were in some cases subjected to a vicious, and at times murderous, response by police and National Guard troops.

    It should never be forgotten, or overlooked, that the “law and order” that enforces this relative stability has included the regular murder of Black people, as well as Latinos, by police—resulting in the fact that the number of Black people who have been killed by police in the years since 1960 is greater than the thousands of Black people who were lynched during the period of Jim Crow segregation and Ku Klux Klan terror, before the 1960s. It should also not be overlooked that the U.S. has the highest rate of mass incarceration of any country in the world, with Black people and Latinos particularly subjected to this mass incarceration. [back]

    ** The point here, as emphasized in my work Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, is that the essence of the capitalist economy, and the source of capitalist “wealth” and “economic growth,” is not a bunch of capitalist entrepreneurs and their “innovation,” or their “entrepreneurial genius.” It is the exploitation by the capitalists (the bourgeoisie) of wage-workers (the proletariat). This is different than the question of what is the driving force compelling the capitalists to continue to intensify the exploitation of the proletariat and to continually find new means of doing so. As also pointed out in Breakthroughs:

    Engels, in Anti-Dühring, discussed the motion of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism between socialized production and private appropriation. He pointed out that the working out of this contradiction assumes two different forms of motion that go into the dynamic process of this fundamental contradiction’s motion. Those two forms of motion are, on the one hand, the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat that it exploits, and the other form of motion that Engels identified, importantly, is the contradiction between organization and anarchy, the organization of production on the level of, say, an enterprise—which may be highly organized, with lots of calculations going into it, market estimates and all kinds of things, and may be very tightly organized in terms of how the actual process of production is carried out on the level of the particular capitalist corporation, and so on—while, at the same time, this is in contradiction to the anarchy of production and of exchange in the society as a whole (or today in the world as a whole, today more than ever in the world as a whole). So you have these two forms of motion—and I’ll come back later to a crucial distinguishing aspect of the new communism: the importance of identifying the second form of motion of this fundamental contradiction, that is, the anarchy/organization contradiction, or the driving force of anarchy, as overall the principal and most essential form of the motion of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism....

    In this regard, in the article “On the ‘Driving Force of Anarchy’ and the Dynamics of Change,” Raymond Lotta cited this statement of mine:

    It is the anarchy of capitalist production which is, in fact, the driving or motive force of this process [of capitalist production], even though the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and proletariat is an integral part of the contradiction between socialized production and private appropriation. While the exploitation of labor-power is the form by and through which surplus value is created and appropriated, it is the anarchic relations between capitalist producers, and not the mere existence of propertyless proletarians or the class contradiction as such, that drives these producers to exploit the working class on an historically more intensive and extensive scale. This motive force of anarchy is an expression of the fact that the capitalist mode of production represents the full development of commodity production and the law of value.

    And then there is this very important passage:

    Were it not the case that these capitalist commodity producers are separated from each other and yet linked by the operation of the law of value they would not face the same compulsion to exploit the proletariat—the class contradiction between bourgeoisie and proletariat could be mitigated. It is the inner compulsion of capital to expand which accounts for the historically unprecedented dynamism of this mode of production, a process which continually transforms value relations and which leads to crisis.

    (Breakthroughs is available at revcom.us; and the article by Raymond Lotta referred to here, “On the ‘Driving Force of Anarchy’ and the Dynamics of Change,” can be found in the online theoretical journal Demarcations, Issue Number 3.) [back]

    *** As noted in “Imperialist Parasitism and ‘Democracy’: Why So Many Liberals and Progressives Are Shameless Supporters of ‘Their’ Imperialism”:

    Some of the mass murderers in other countries who today play such a crucial role in serving the interests of U.S. imperialism throughout the world, and in making possible the maintenance of bourgeois democracy in this country itself (worm-eaten as it is indeed), are the same as they were 40 years ago, and some are different—but the essential reality remains that the “platform of democracy” in this country rests on fascist terror, along with ruthless exploitation, in the oppressed nations of the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia). [back]

    **** In relation to this statement by Montesquieu—and more generally his views on slavery—I am reproducing here the following “A Note from Bob Avakian: On Montesquieu, Slavery and the U.S. Constitution,” which appeared in Revolution #037, March 5, 2006, posted at revcom.us:

    Recently, Revolution ran an excerpt from a pamphlet I wrote, which was originally published in 1987, U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom. In that excerpt, there is a quote from De L'Esprit Des Lois (or, in English, "The Spirit of the Laws") by Charles Montesquieu, an 18th–century French philosopher, who was one of the sources of inspiration for the U.S. Constitution, and in particular the theory of the separation of powers that is incorporated in that Constitution. The quote from this work of Montesquieu's, which was published in 1748, is one in which he recites an extreme and grotesquely racist justification for "the enslavement of the Negroes." In relation to this, it is not infrequently argued that Montesquieu was being ironic here, and deliberately overstating this argument, in order to, in effect, polemicize against the enslavement of African people, and that in general Montesquieu's writings express opposition to slavery. But the reality is not so simple as this, nor does this reflect what Montesquieu was essentially seeking to do in this part of "The Spirit of the Laws." It can be said that in "The Spirit of the Laws" Montesquieu's position is one of general opposition to slavery, and he indicates that slavery is not appropriate in countries like France; but, at the same time, he speaks to various circumstances in which he believes slavery can be justified or reasonable. For example, he argues that in the parts of the world, in particular the southern regions, where the climate is warmer, this climate makes people lazy (indolent), and slavery may be justified in order to get them to work (and he argues that in a despotic country, where people's political rights are already repressed, slavery may not be worse for people in that condition).

    This, and the general discussion of slavery that makes up this part (book 15) of "The Spirit of the Laws," is included in a broader discussion by Montesquieu on the nature of different societies and governments in different countries and parts of the world (this is found not only in book 15 but also books 14 and 16 of "The Spirit of the Laws") in which Montesquieu argues that geography and in particular climate plays a big part in determining the nature of different peoples and the character of their society and governing system. And it is important to understand that, although in this discussion Montesquieu makes logical refutation of certain arguments, including certain defenses of slavery, this is not a polemic for or against slavery, or other forms of government, and its character is not that of moral argumentation, so much as it is an attempt to explain why various practices, and various forms of society and government, have existed (and in some cases continue to exist) in various places.

    Another way to put this is that what Montesquieu is doing, in these parts of "The Spirit of the Laws" (and generally in this work), is attempting to make a kind of materialist analysis of these phenomena, including slavery in many places where it has existed—although it must be emphasized that this is not a thoroughly scientific, dialectical materialism but instead a rather crude and vulgar materialism which is marked, and marred, by a considerable amount of determinism: it is a kind of mechanical materialism that argues for a direct and straight-line (linear) connection between things like geography and climate and the character of society and government. It is a kind of materialism that does not adequately and accurately characterize the real motive forces in the development of human society, and in fact this kind of vulgar materialism has often been used to justify various forms of oppression, including colonial and imperialist domination. While we can, and should, recognize that, in the circumstances and time in which he wrote—about 250 years ago—there are aspects of what Montesquieu was seeking to do that were new and represented a break with the suffocating and obfuscating feudal outlook and conventions, it is very important to understand how Montesquieu's outlook and method were marked, and limited, by the social, and international, relations of which they were ultimately an expression: relations in which one part of society, and of the world, dominates and exploits others. And that is the basic point that was being emphasized in relation to Montesquieu and the U.S. Constitution, in the pamphlet U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom.

    With regard to the specific passage that was cited in U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom, "on the enslavement of the Negroes," there is, in fact, some reason to accept that Montesquieu does not actually agree with the justification for this enslavement that he summarizes, and that he is actually subjecting this kind of justification to some ironic and satirical treatment. A reasonable interpretation of Montesquieu's arguments, as he goes on in this part of "The Spirit of the Laws" (book 15), is that this kind of argument, about the non-human character of the Negroes, is not a valid argument, not one that actually justifies this enslavement. But then he does go on to explore the question of what might actually be reasonable justifications, in certain circumstances, for slavery; and, as spoken to above, he finds such justifications in situations such as those where there is a despotic government, or where—as he concludes, through an application of vulgar and determinist materialism—the warm climate makes people lazy and unwilling, on their own initiative, to work.

    Thus, in looking into and reflecting on this further, I would say that, while it is important to understand the complexity and nuance of what Montesquieu writes here—and it can be said that the way in which I cited Montesquieu in writing this pamphlet on the U.S. Constitution does not really or fully do that—it is not the case that what Montesquieu was doing here was actually making a case against the enslavement of the Negroes, or against slavery in general. Once again, it is important to keep in mind the fact that, although he was opposed to slavery on general principle, and declared that it was a good thing that it had been eliminated in his home country, France, and more generally in Europe, Montesquieu did not think slavery was wrong, or without justification, in all circumstances. And it also seems that Montesquieu did not hesitate to invest in companies involved in the slave trade. In this, there is a parallel with John Locke, the English philosopher and political theorist, who, as I pointed out in this same pamphlet (U.S. Constitution: An Exploiters' Vision of Freedom), was also a major influence in the conception of the U.S. Constitution. As I wrote in Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? (p. 29):

    "In sum, the society of which Locke was a theoretical exponent, as well as a practical political partisan, was a society based on wage-slavery and capitalist exploitation. And it is not surprising that, while he was opposed to slavery in England itself, he not only defended the institution of slavery, under certain circumstances, in the Second Treatise, but turned a not insignificant profit himself in the slave trade and helped to draw up the charter for a government headed by a slave-owning aristocracy in one of the American colonies. For as Marx sarcastically summarized: ‘The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.’" [back]

    ***** In the years since the writing of this article, I have devoted considerable work to the development of what is meant by this “far greater vision of freedom”—what it would mean “in real life.” One very important result of this is the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which provides both a sweeping vision and a concrete blueprint for a radically different and emancipating society and world. This Constitution is available at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From The RNL Show:

    Bob Avakian on Why He Wrote the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America

    From The RNL Show, Episode 156

  • ARTICLE:

    SOMETHING TERRIBLE,
    OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING:

    Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions,
    The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—

    And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed

    A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution

    In the course of this talk, I will be referring to, and digging further into, key points that are put forward in two very important documents which are featured on our website revcom.us: A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized Now For A Real Revolution; and an article of mine, following up on that “Declaration and Call”: This Is A Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So, And How To Seize On This Rare Opportunity. So, for everyone getting into this talk, everyone who cares about the crucial questions it is speaking to, it is also important to take up (or return to) and get deeply into those documents as well—and to go regularly to revcom.us, and watch the weekly YouTube show Revolution—Nothing Less, both of which sharply illustrate why a real revolution is urgently needed, and is possible, what are the goals of this revolution, and how to be part of building for this revolution. What I will be speaking to here is, as the title says, a necessary foundation and a basic roadmap for this revolution.

    One other point: I am going to say what needs to be said about the way things are, why they are that way, where things are headed, and what needs to be done to radically change this in a positive way—and, as part of that, I am going to bluntly speak some truth that is bound to offend some people. I do this because the stakes in all this are so high, and (to refer to a line from Bob Dylan) the hour is getting late, and there is no time to speak falsely now. But I do this, not out of a sense that people are so deeply caught up in, that they cannot break with, ways of thinking and acting which serve to perpetuate their own oppression and degradation, and that of others as well. No, I am doing this precisely out of the understanding that masses of people not only need to, but can, make a profound break with this—that they can radically change themselves as part of, and in the process of, radically changing the world, in an emancipating way.

    So, let’s get to it.

    Bob Avakian

     

    BOB AVAKIAN:
    A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Learn more about Bob Avakian and the new communism
    A DECLARATION, A CALL TO GET ORGANIZED NOW FOR A REAL REVOLUTION

     

    cover of pamphlet Bob Avakian: This Is A Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So And How To Seize On This Rare Opportunity

     

    Here is the heart of the matter: Many people—including someone like Martin Luther King—have argued that attempting to carry out a revolution to overthrow this system is suicidal, particularly for Black people in this country—when, in fact, Black people, and masses of other oppressed and exploited people, profoundly and desperately need this revolution. The reality is that such a revolution can succeed, but this is possible, particularly up against powerful ruling forces, like in this country, only in rare times and circumstances. And here is a very important truth: This is one of those rare times and circumstances.

    This rare time must not be wasted, squandered, thrown away. Rather, revolution must be actively prepared for and vigorously, consistently worked for—now, and in an ongoing wayto build up the scientifically oriented and powerfully organized forces for, and to prepare the ground for, this revolution.

    And that is why we revolutionary communists say:

    [E]veryone who can’t stand this world the way it is ... who is sick and tired of so many people being treated as less than human ... who knows that the claim of “liberty and justice for all” is a cruel lie ... who is righteously enraged that injustice and inequality go on, and on, and on, despite false promises and honeyed words from people in power (or those seeking power) ... everyone who agonizes about where things are headed and the fact that to be young now means being denied a decent future, or any future at all ... everyone who has ever dreamed about something much better, or even wondered whether that is possible ... everyone who hungers for a world without oppression, exploitation, poverty, and destruction of the environment ... everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: You need to be part of this revolution.

    We’re talking about a real revolution, not playing around with a few changes that leave this system in place and in power, while benefitting only a small number. As the “Declaration and Call” makes very clear:

    A revolution means a force of millions, drawn from many different parts of society and organized for an all-out fight to overthrow this system and replace it with a radically different and much better economic and political system, a socialist system, based on meeting the needs of the people and carrying forward the fight for a communist world where there will finally be an end, everywhere, to the exploitation, oppression, and destruction of the environment that is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism. Anything less than this revolution will completely fail to deal with the root of all the problems or lead to the actual solution. [Emphasis added here.]

    So let’s get more deeply into why this is one of those rare times and circumstances when this revolution is possible, and what must be done for there to be a real chance for this revolution to actually succeed.

    First, let’s get clear on these BASIC TRUTHS:

    We live under a system—the system of capitalism-imperialism (capitalism is an economic and political system of exploitation and oppression, and imperialism refers to the worldwide nature of this system).

    It is this system which is the basic cause of the tremendous suffering that people, all over the world, are subjected to; and this system poses a growing threat to the very existence of humanity, in the way that this system is rapidly destroying the global environment, and in the danger of war between nuclear-armed capitalist-imperialist powers, such as the U.S. and China.

    All this is reality, and no one can escape this reality. Either we radically change it, in a positive way, or everything will be changed in a very negative way.

    To be very clear once more: Changing it in a positive way means making revolution—a real revolution, to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism and replace it with a radically different and emancipating system. For it is also a basic truth that: In today’s world, to fundamentally change society, you must seize power—overthrow the existing state power and establish a new state power.

    And here is another very important truth from the “Declaration and Call”:

    We have seen the potential for revolution powerfully demonstrated in the summer of last year (2020) when millions of people, of all races and genders, all over this country, and all around the world, rose up together against racist oppression and police murder. We have seen this potential in the mass outpourings of women, in countries all over the world, refusing to put up with being abused and degraded. This potential is also revealed in the deep distress being expressed, by scientists and millions of ordinary people, about the continually worsening climate crisis and the threat this poses to the future of humanity—a crisis this system cannot solve, but can only make worse.

    As we have also seen, when millions of people do take to the streets—and, especially when they do this not just for a day or so, expressing their feelings and then going home, with things returning quickly to “normal,” but when they do this with real determination and in a sustained way—this can change the “political atmosphere and alignment” in society as a whole, compelling every section of society, and every major ruling institution, to respond to this. To again cite a powerful example, this was the case with the massive uprising in the summer of 2020.

    But, as important as it is, millions taking to the streets, even in a sustained militant way, cannot by itself lead to fundamental change—which can only happen if the system that they are rebelling against is actually brought down.

    There have been many situations in different countries where a huge part of society has rebelled, even taking to the streets for weeks and months, but the ruling institutions, and in particular the police and military, did not “break apart,” and the people were not prepared to take the struggle to the next level—so there was no fundamental change. There have also been disastrous outcomes when people rising up in a mass revolt have mistakenly believed that, simply because their cause is just, the armed forces of the existing system will sympathize and join with them—when in fact those armed forces continued in their role as violent enforcers of the existing system and sooner or later acted to forcefully suppress the people.

    No, the existing oppressive system must be overthrown—the institutions of violent suppression of this system must finally be broken apart, defeated and dismantled by an organized revolutionary force. That is what is necessary for things to go beyond just mass protest, however militant and determined, and become a real revolution.

    Speaking specifically of this country, even in a situation where millions of people are taking to the streets, in a sustained way, in determined rebellion against oppression and injustice, and even with some among this system’s armed forces sympathizing and identifying with this, it is very unlikely that this, in itself, would lead to those armed forces splitting apart and a significant part of them joining with the people rising up in this way. (This is all the more true of the police, whose ranks are filled with hardcore right-wing brutes.)

    It is a fact that one of the objectives of the revolution—and what would be a necessary part of the strategy of the revolutionary forces—would be to win over significant parts of armed forces that start out opposing the revolution. But the possibility of this, and the way in which it could be achieved, would depend on how the revolutionary process actually unfolded.

    Later, toward the end of this talk, I will speak to this more directly, and get into some key aspects of the doctrine and strategic approach that would need to be applied by the revolutionary forces in order to have a real chance to win, when the necessary conditions for the all-out revolutionary fight had been brought into being—including the approach to winning over forces from the opposing side, in the course of that all-out fight. And, as part of that, I will talk about how, in an actual civil war, fought between opposing sections of society, things could develop in such a way that the armed forces that had been the backbone of state power, enforcing the existing capitalist-imperialist system, would split apart in the context of such a civil war—and what would be the implications of that for carrying revolution to a successful outcome.

    But, before that, it is important to get into this fundamental question: What are the necessary conditions for a revolution? In basic terms, they are:

    A crisis in society and government so deep and so disruptive of the “usual way of things,” that those who have ruled over us, for so long, can no longer do so in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept.

    A revolutionary people in the millions and millions, with their “allegiance” to this system broken, and their determination to fight for a more just society greater than their fear of the violent repression of this system.

    An organized revolutionary force—made up of continually growing numbers of people, from among the most oppressed but also from many other parts of society—a force which is grounded in, and is working systematically to apply, the most scientific approach to building for and then carrying out revolution, and which is increasingly looked to by masses of people to lead them to bring about the radical change that is urgently needed.

    To get into this further, let’s start by focusing on the first of these conditions.

    There is some important historical experience to learn from—situations where a ruling class was no longer able to rule in the “normal way” that people had been conditioned to accept, and a real possibility arose of putting an end to the existing system, even one which had been so powerfully entrenched that such a profound change had long seemed impossible. This has happened especially when the ruling class, or a section of the ruling class, of that system no longer believes in, and more or less openly abandons, what had been the “cohering norms”—the regulating set of beliefs and processes—of that system.

    An example of this kind of thing—which involved a significant change, even though it was not brought about by a real revolution—is the collapse of the Soviet Union in the years 1989-91. The Soviet Union was the world’s first socialist state, brought into being through the Russian Revolution of 1917. The truth, however, is that capitalism had actually been restored in the Soviet Union, in the mid-1950s—even as it continued for some time to maintain the façade of “socialism.” But then, in the 1980s, “reforms” were instituted that began to unravel this whole thing, and finally sections of the ruling class abandoned the pretense of socialism, and the country underwent a transformation to an openly capitalist society, dropping even its outward identity as the “USSR” (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The same kind of thing happened in some Eastern European countries that had been under the effective domination of the Soviet Union—countries where there were massive uprisings, the ruling structures split apart, and the result was a change from disguised capitalism to open capitalism—a major change, even if not a real revolution.

    This, again, is part of a more general phenomenon where major change, and even a real revolution, can become possible (or more possible) not simply when there is a deep crisis in society, and not just when the ruling forces are seriously divided, but when they actually split apart, and the old way of ruling can no longer hold. Another example of this kind of thing is the creation of the Soviet Union itself, resulting from the Russian Revolution. This occurred during World War 1, in which millions of Russian people died and the masses of people overall suffered tremendous hardship. In this critical situation, the ruling forces of that country split, resulting first in the overthrow of the long-entrenched rule of absolute monarchs (the Tsars), but with an opening created for a revolution that overthrew the exploiting classes as a whole, including the bourgeois forces that were attempting to consolidate capitalist rule without the Tsars.

    Or, to take another important example, this time from the history of this country: Why did so many Black people (nearly two hundred thousand) join the Union Army fighting against the southern Confederacy during the Civil War in the 1860s? Because the country, and those who ruled it, had split apart, and masses of Black people could sense that, in this situation, there was a real possibility of putting an end to their enslaved condition, which did happen as a result of that Civil War.

    How does this kind of thing apply to this country now? As is becoming more clear every day, there are deep, and continually deepening, divisions not only in this country overall but among the ruling powers of this system. And, as I will get into more fully in a little while, one part of those ruling powers, represented by the Republican Party, no longer believes in or feels bound by what have been the “cohering norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. This is leading, and will increasingly lead, to further, deepening divisions and bitter clashes throughout society, as well as “at the top.” All the ruling institutions of this system will be increasingly affected by this. The polarization will continue to sharpen, with forces grouped around and led by the Republican Party becoming even more aggressive in insisting on imposing, including by violent means, their vision of what “makes America great,” with all the very real horrors, on top of horrors, that this involves.

    All this in itself will have contradictory effects—some definitely negative, but some positive, or with positive potential. And, as this unfolds, this profound truth will be more and more forcefully demonstrated: The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means.

    With all this, what is urgently needed, what is possible—and what must be actively, tirelessly worked for, in order for there to truly be a positive outcome to all this—is a fundamentally different alignment in the country as a whole: a Repolarization that is favorable for, and brings forward the necessary forces for, Revolution—a real revolution to overthrow this system, and bring into being a radically different and much better system.

    But why, and how, could it be possible to bring about such a repolarization for a real revolution?

    This is because of something that is very different, in a very profound way, from what has been, for generations, the “normal situation” in this country. I spoke to how this has come about, in the following from “Rare Time”:

    Even though “democracy, with liberty and justice for all” is a cruel lie, this lie has been crucial for the rulers of this country to keep things together under this system—and especially to keep people who are oppressed under this system believing in the possibility of making this system more just. This is why both ruling class parties generally agreed, for a long time, to work within the same framework for ruling this country—they agreed to accept the results of elections and bring about “the peaceful transfer of power” between the different representatives of this same system, whether Democrat or Republican.

    With changing conditions in this country, and in the world as a whole, over the time since the end of World War 2 (75 years ago), it has been necessary for the ruling class, in order to maintain “order and stability” in this country, to make certain concessions to the struggle against white supremacy, male supremacy, and some other oppressive relations, while at the same time insisting that this is all part of “creating a more perfect union” and “further perfecting the great democracy that has always existed in this country.” This has also been necessary in order for the rulers of this country to continue promoting it as “the leader of the free world,” which they say must remain the dominant power in the world—but which, in reality, is the most oppressive and destructive power, plundering masses of people as well as the earth.

    But a section of the ruling capitalist class, represented by the Republican Party, has all along resisted even these partial concessions to the fight against oppression, and has become convinced that these changes have now gone too far, that they threaten to destroy what has held this country together and enabled it to dominate the world.

    The Republicans have become a fascist party—a party based on open and aggressive white supremacy, male supremacy and other oppressive relations—a party convinced that only it deserves to rule, moving to manipulate elections and suppress votes in order to gain and hold onto power, refusing to accept the outcome of elections it does not win, determined to gut and pervert “the rule of law,” trample on people’s rights, and adopt what amounts to an undisguised capitalist dictatorship, ready to use violence not only against masses of people but also against its rivals in the ruling class.

    These Republicans have mobilized a significant section of people who believe, with an intense, irrational passion, that white supremacy, male supremacy, and other oppressive relations (as well as unrestrained plunder of the environment) must be firmly upheld and enforced. They have been driven to a state of vicious insanity, embracing all kinds of lunatic conspiracy theories, along with a crazed Christian fundamentalism, as a response to the threat they see to their entitled (or “god-ordained”) position and their insistence that further concessions to the struggle against oppression will destroy what has “made America great.”

    Every day, and in a thousand ways, the reality screams out that there is no living together with this fascist lunacy—and no one should want to! There is no way that any decent person should want to live in the society, and world, that these fascists are determined, that they are willing to kill, to bring into being.

    As I wrote in my New Year’s Statement, this January (2021):

    Biden and the Democrats cannot “bring the country together,” as they falsely claim, because there can be no “reconciliation” with these fascists—whose “grievances” are based on fanatical resentment against any limitation on white supremacy, male supremacy, xenophobia (hatred of foreigners), rabid American chauvinism, and the unrestrained plundering of the environment, and are increasingly expressed in literally lunatic terms. There can be no “reconciliation” with this, other than on the terms of these fascists, with all the terrible implications and consequences of that!

    Early in his campaign for president, Biden bragged about how, as a senator, he was able to work with white supremacist, southern segregationists! Now, he is still trying to work with the blatant white supremacists and outright fascists of the Republican Party. But, try as he might, they are not willing to work with him—except on their terms.

    Things are not as they were in the past, and the reality is this: The profound divisions, within the ruling class, and in the society overall, cannot be smoothed over—they are only going to become deeper and sharper, more acute and antagonistic. Here is the fundamental truth that needs to be clearly and deeply understood: These divisions

    cannot be resolved within the framework that has existed, and has held things together, for nearly 150 years, since shortly after the end of the Civil War which led to the abolition of slavery—they cannot be resolved on the basis of the capitalist “democracy” that has been the “normal” means of capitalist rule (dictatorship) for so long.

    And:

    This rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people.

    It is extremely important to deeply understand this:

    As this situation develops, and the ruling class is more and more unable to rule in the old way, society and daily life for masses of people, from different parts of society, can become increasingly unsettled and chaotic, with frequent “disruptions” of the “normal” way things have been.

    And as “the normal way” society has been ruled is failing to hold things together—and society is increasingly being ripped apart—this can shake people’s belief that “the way things have always been” is the only way things can be. It can make people more open to questioning—in a real sense it can force people to question—the way things have been, and whether they have to stay that way. And this is all the more likely to happen if the revolutionary forces are out among the people shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening, and why, and bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way.

    This is a crucial part of how a revolutionary situation could be brought into being—a situation where it becomes possible to actually bring down this system.

    On the other hand, “left to itself”—that is, if the current character and dynamics of all this remain on the same course they are now on—this situation, the divisions characterizing it, and the outcome resulting from it are almost certainly going to become even more terribly negative. So, all this must be radically changed, in what is a relatively brief, “compressed” period of time—not just weeks or months, but also not decades. If things have not already fully erupted before then, the scheduled presidential election of 2024 is very likely to be a critical focal point and turning point, through which the fascist Republicans will attempt to gain and lock down power over society, and put an end to any possibility of a future “transfer of power” away from them.

    With the Republicans’ continuation of the Big Lie that the last (2020) presidential election was stolen from Trump, their moves to suppress votes, and their whole orientation that, in any case, with regard to the 2024 presidential election (assuming there is one), the only acceptable outcome is that they are declared and confirmed as the winner—all this has made clear that they will allow no “peaceful transfer of power” in government, unless it results in their coming to power. Growing numbers of fascist-oriented people in this country are prepared to use violence in pursuit of their perverse notion of “making America great again”—and the Republican leadership is ready to resort to this, if they cannot come to power otherwise. Already Republican elected officials, including members of Congress, are whipping up sentiments in favor of such violence and supporting fascist mobs who have engaged in this violence.

    In the situation of the 2020 presidential election, defeating and ousting Trump through that election was possible, and was important to do, as a tactical move to prevent the further consolidation of fascist rule right then. Even with that electoral defeat, however, Trump and his supporters nearly succeeded in pulling off a coup that would have resulted in his remaining in power, in defiance of the outcome of the election and the “peaceful transfer of power” from one section of the ruling class to another. And things have moved, and are continuing to rapidly move, beyond the situation that existed with that 2020 election and in its immediate aftermath.

    Further, this system’s electoral process itself works against the kind of fundamental change that is now urgently needed. Among other things, it lowers people’s horizons, restricting “realistic choices” to what is possible within the confines of this system and conditioning people to view and approach things on the terms of this system. Continuing to vote for Democrats, and attempting, through the electoral process, to prevent a successful Republican-fascist seizure and consolidation of power, will very likely fail, and more fundamentally will contribute to the continuation of things on the disastrous course they are now on, with terrible consequences for the billions of people on this planet—for humanity as a whole.

    As I emphasized in my New Year’s Statement:

    The electoral defeat of the Trump/Pence regime only “buys some time”—both in relation to the imminent danger posed by the fascism this regime represents, and more fundamentally in terms of the potentially existential crisis humanity is increasingly facing as a consequence of being bound to the dynamics of this system of capitalism-imperialism. But, in essential terms, time is not on the side of the struggle for a better future for humanity.

    Time, and with it the current momentum of things toward a disastrous outcome, is moving on. The time that still does exist must not be squandered in what would, especially now, be meaningless maneuvering within the framework of this system and its elections. This time must be seized, with the necessary urgency, to build toward the only resolution that can avoid that disaster, and wrench something truly positive out of all this: an actual revolution.

    Through the rest of this talk, I am going to speak more fully to what needs to be done in order for there to be the basis to actually make this revolution; and toward the end of this talk, I will turn directly to the basic approach to waging the all-out fight for revolution, with a real chance to win. But here a crucial truth needs to be emphasized: Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond. Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.

    The basic way to do this is laid out in the “Declaration and Call.” First of all:

    We need to urgently change the situation where not nearly enough people know about this revolution and are with it. We need to get this revolution, and its leadership, known everywhere. We need to challenge and seriously struggle with people right around us, and all over the country, to do something that, yes, requires real heart and will make a positive difference for real—become part of this revolution, and follow this revolutionary leadership. We need to organize more and more people into the ranks of the revolution.

    So what does it mean to go to work now to organize people into this revolution? As the “Declaration and Call” explains:

    Organizing people into this revolution means reaching out to all sorts of people—not just where there are protests and rebellions against oppression and injustice, but everywhere throughout society—spreading the word about revolution and getting people together (in real life and online) to grapple with why an actual revolution is necessary, what such a revolution involves, and what kind of society this is aiming for. This will enable people who are new to the revolution to themselves become organizers for this revolution and to recruit more and more people to do the same. On this basis, and through the growing ranks of the revolution acting together as an increasingly powerful force, it will be possible to attract and organize the necessary numbers, and build up the necessary strength, to be in the position to do what needs to be done.

    We need to struggle hard with people to take up the orientation and strategy, the values and goals, for this revolution, and dedicate themselves to working for this revolution, while we unite growing numbers to fight the abuse, brutality and destruction perpetrated by this system, and through all this get thousands and then millions of people prepared and steeled to do away with this system that brings so much hell to people. We need to wield this growing revolutionary force to stand up to this system and its murderous enforcers and to change the whole “terrain” (the political, social and cultural situation and “atmosphere”) throughout society, in order to weaken the hold of this system over people, win people away from acting to strengthen and enforce this system, and create the best possible conditions for this revolution to succeed.

    Along with that, this basic understanding and approach needs to be consistently applied:

    An important principle and method in organizing people into the revolution is the understanding that, while revolution requires serious commitment, people’s level of commitment will, at any given time, “essentially correspond to and [be] grounded in what aspirations have been awakened, or brought forward [in them], and what they are coming to understand is required in relation to that,” and this commitment “should proceed from what they themselves have been won (yes, won through struggle, even at times sharp struggle) to see as a necessary and essential contribution to the revolution.” People can start with basic tasks that they can readily carry out and feel confident doing which make a real contribution to building the revolution, and can learn to take on more responsibility as they gain more experience and a deeper understanding. The important thing is that they are part of the process of building the revolution, together with others. These principles and methods should be kept clearly in mind and applied at all stages of people’s involvement with the revolution, to enable them to continue advancing in understanding and commitment.

    (That is from Part II of my speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution.)

    As the “Declaration and Call” makes clear, in order to win masses of people to revolution, there is a tremendous amount of struggle that needs to go on, not just against the system that is the source of the horrors that people are continually subjected to, but also against ways of thinking and acting among the people that actually “internalize,” and serve to perpetuate, this system and the ways of thinking it promotes, with its monstrously oppressive relations and putrid values—ways of thinking and acting that work against the repolarization that is urgently needed to have a real chance at seizing on this rare opportunity to make revolution.

    In Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis, I pointed to the characterization of the current polarization by the fascist former Republican congressman Steve King—that there is a lot of talk about another civil war, and one side (the fascist side) is heavily armed (with 8 trillion bullets) while the other (“woke”) side can’t decide which bathroom to use. Even as this involves some real distortion, and definite slander against trans people, there is a demented insight, and too much of the truth, in this observation by that fascist King. And, if this polarization remains essentially unchanged, it will have even worse implications, as things develop and further intensify.

    Very much related to and an expression of this, is the reality that today, particularly among the middle classes, things are still way too much in line with the words of the poet Yeats: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” It is fascists who have declared “this is war!”—who viscerally feel that the way things are going is completely intolerable to them, is an existential threat to a way of life and a country that they believe is worth being part of. And, in their demented minds, the government (or government that is in the hands of, or strongly influenced by, the Democrats) is working to continue things on this course, and is therefore completely illegitimate. At the same time, among what can rightly be called “decent people,” who are opposed to these fascists, there is way too much obliviousness, ignorance and ignore-ance—or even continuing denial—of what is going on, way too much being lulled by a sleepy sense that the way things are going is favorable to how they want things to go, or at least that “things will work out” in a way that is in accord with their inclinations. Or, to the degree that there is a recognition that this is not the case (for example, with the accelerating environmental crisis), this has led far too much to defeatism, cynicism, and passivity.

    But that is not all there is to the problem. As I also noted in Hope For Humanity:

    [A]nother element of this that we can’t overlook is that, while a lot of what [Steve] King describes applies in a certain demented way, particularly to progressive or so-called “woke” middle class people, there is another kind of problem with regard to more basic oppressed people, and in particular the youth—a big problem that their guns are now aimed at each other ... this is something that needs to be radically transformed in building a movement for an actual revolution.

    I will have more to say that relates to this, later. But here it is important to call attention to what has been, so far at least, the “soft” treatment of those who took part in the January 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol and Trump’s attempted coup—the low level charges and lenient sentences being handed down in the court cases around this, as well as the fact that there has been no move to indict Trump and other top fascist political figures. This calls to mind the way things were handled in Germany, with the rise of the NAZI fascist movement there, headed by Hitler. In the 1920s, Hitler led what came to be called the “Beer Hall Putsch”—a clumsy attempt to come to power through a poorly organized coup that lacked the necessary planning and support. But Hitler in particular was treated very leniently, and this “Beer Hall Putsch” became in effect a dress rehearsal for the later seizure and consolidation of power by the NAZIs, the crushing of any effective opposition, and all the horrific NAZI atrocities that followed. (The parallel is captured in what some people today have put forward regarding the coup attempt by Trump and his supporters in the aftermath of the 2020 election, and in particular the storming of the Capitol on January 6: “What do you call a failed coup? A dress rehearsal!”)

    Meanwhile, what is the situation “on the other side of the divide,” and particularly among people who claim to be “woke”? It must be bluntly said that “woke” is becoming a joke—a bad joke. The slogan we revcoms have raised, “You Think You’re Woke But You’re Sleepwalking Through A Nightmare,” captures something very important. But it needs to be added that this “wokeness,” with its evading of and diversion from the real struggle that needs to be waged, and its substituting of “word changing” and “cancel culture” in place of this struggle, is actually contributing to and furthering this nightmare.

    A ridiculous, and outrageous, example of this is the ACLU’s butchering of a statement by former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg about a woman’s right to abortion: The ACLU actually replaced “woman” with “person” (and “she/her” with “they/their”)! This is part of a larger phenomenon which, in the name of trans rights, actually pushes in the direction of erasing women, conceptually. But rhetorically erasing the concept of women does not, and cannot, erase the reality of the existence, and the horrific oppression, of billions of women in this real world. What it actually does is undermine the massive, militant struggle that is urgently needed against the mounting attacks on, and the further fastening of the chains of oppression on, the half of humanity that is female.

    If the ACLU, and others, who have done good things in the past, continue on this course, they will undermine much of the good they have done, and much they could still do, and need to do.

    Do these “woke” and “progressive” people really believe that a focus on changing terms (nouns, pronouns, etc.) will actually lead to changing the world, in a positive way?

    Do they really believe that calling oppression “agency” makes it less oppressive (for example, when women are caught up in prostitution and pornography, does calling this “agency” on their part make this something other than horrific oppression to which those women are subjected, and which does great harm to all women)?

    Do they really think that having more “inclusion” of oppressed people in the dominant institutions and the structures of power of this system of capitalism-imperialism will actually change the fundamentally, and horrifically, oppressive nature of this system? (The First Black President... First female Vice-President... First Asian... First Latinx... First Gay... First Trans... First... SAME SYSTEM!)

    Or is the deeper problem that these “progressive” and “woke” people have just given up on, or never really thought about, working for change that would actually lead to ending oppression?

    With regard to “woke folk”—and in particular the whole “cancel culture” thing—it needs be said: Masses of people are being brutalized and savaged, the world is burning (literally as well as figuratively) and you are preoccupied with changing the faces of those who preside over these horrors, and spitting on people if they don’t use nouns and pronouns that you approve of, or in some other way violate the constantly mutating standards of “wokeness.”

    This ties in with the discussion in Breakthroughs of a certain attitude and approach—“striking a pose to intimidate”—that was sharply criticized by Mao Zedong (the leader of the Chinese revolution, and what was a revolutionary socialist state in China until his death in 1976, whose “little red book” of quotations was widely read by people all over the world, including Black people, youth of all nationalities, and others in the U.S.). “Striking a pose to intimidate,” Mao made clear, is useless against the enemy, and does real harm among the people. As I pointed out in Breakthroughs:

    [I]dentity politics, and in particular the posturing that all too often accompanies it, is only “useful” among people who will be intimidated by this, and in fact such intimidation does a great deal of harm. That’s what Mao meant when he said this kind of thing does great harm among the people. Intimidating people rather than winning them to a scientific understanding of reality, and what needs to be done about it, can only do harm among the people, and it’s absolutely useless against those who have real power.

    Along with this, it has to be said that there is too much of people being absorbed in “trauma culture”—where any insult or affront, or challenge to one’s cherished beliefs, is treated as actual trauma, and any real trauma that is suffered becomes a motivation to turn inward to focus on individual “self-care.”

    In Hope For Humanity, I emphasized this:

    The trauma that results from directly suffering horrific forms of oppression and degradation is very real, and no one should deny or underestimate that—but, instead of an individual “turning inwards,” this needs to be transformed into anger and determination to be part of a collective struggle to put an end to all the atrocities, everywhere, whose fundamental source and cause is this system of capitalism-imperialism.

    But, along with “trauma culture”—and I am going to call this out, even though it may “overlap” with some of what is asserted by fascists, coming from a completely opposite place and with completely opposite objectives—it is too much the case that, despite often ill-founded, ridiculous and even cartoonish references to “badass” this and that, too many people are being encouraged and conditioned to be “soft crybabies”!

    Here I have to say: Enough of “woke folk” who act as if it is actually oppressed people (or, as they like to say, the “marginalized”) who are fragile beings constantly in need of the protection of “safe spaces,” lest they fall apart at the mere appearance of a “triggering” phenomenon. And since when are universities and other institutions supposed to be places where you are “safe”—not just from physical violence of one kind or another, and from overtly threatening or clearly degrading verbal assaults, but from ideas, statements, etc., that simply make you uncomfortable?! How are you going to “change the world” if you are in danger of falling apart at things like that? Again, from Hope For Humanity:

    [I]n any real struggle to deal with any real oppression, up against powerful enforcers of that oppression, you are going to have to face the prospect of real sacrifice, including the prospect of being physically attacked. And if you think that you can carve out little safe enclaves, and that this is somehow going to lead to any kind of significant change in society, you are full of illusions and delusions.

    To add to the problem, this is often accompanied by attempts to sideline and silence others who, according to this scheme of things, occupy a “privileged” and not a “marginalized,” status.

    This is all an expression of extremely lowered sights—with a marked tendency to identify the “enemy” as people who may have more “privilege,” rather than the system of capitalism-imperialism, its fundamental relations, and its institutions of authority and power, which embody and enforce the terrible exploitation and oppression that masses of people here, and literally billions of people around the world, are subjected to.

    Here again we are back to Mao’s point about striking a pose to intimidate—that it is useless against the actual enemy and does real harm among the people.

    All this represents the influence of forces proceeding from a bourgeois (or petty bourgeois) outlook and aspirations—seeking a re-arrangement which will provide them (and perhaps some others like them) with a better position within this horrific system of oppression, and trying to force opposition to injustice into the framework and in the service of this objective.

    So, once again, with all this in mind, and with regard to the society overall, what is profoundly and urgently needed is repolarization—for revolution: winning growing numbers of people away from support for either side in the division among the ruling powers that are seeking to maintain and enforce this system, in one form or another, away from those promoting deadly illusions and self-serving goals which are dead-end, non-solutions for the masses of people.

    This goes back to the first of the three conditions for revolution—the deep divisions among the ruling powers—and more particularly that, with the conflicts among the ruling forces increasingly becoming really deep and sharp, masses of people respond to this not by falling in behind one side or the other of the oppressive rulers—not by acting in ways that serve to perpetuate and reinforce the oppressive rule of this system—but by taking advantage of this situation to build up the forces for revolution.

    It is true that there are a lot of very bad things connected with the present polarization and the whole trajectory things are on, and this could lead to something really terrible; but it is also true, and of profound importance, that it is possible that we could wrench something really positive out of it—revolution, to put an end to this system and bring something much better into being. But, once more, this requires recognizing the situation, and the current trajectory of things, for what they are—and responding in a way and on a level that is commensurate with this, is in accordance with the profound stakes involved—acting to change things, urgently, toward the goal of getting rid of this whole system, and replacing it with something radically different and much better.

    The reality now is that the fascist section of the ruling class, represented by and concentrated in the Republican Party, is actively and aggressively engaged in a “two-pronged” move to achieve and consolidate fascist rule. These “two prongs” are: corrupting and controlling the electoral process and key government institutions; and the threat and use of violence, including through the mobilization of violent mobs. These fascists are, for now, relying mainly on the first, but with the second (violence) as an “accompaniment” to this—which could become their main means, if that proves necessary for them. In any case, if they succeed, the full power of the government—including the executive power of the presidency, the courts and legal apparatus, the prisons, as well as the police and the military—will be wielded to crush any effective opposition to fascist rule and to forcefully impose its program of “restoring” America to its mythological “greatness” on the basis of aggressive white supremacy, crude and brutal male supremacy and suppression of LGBT people, xenophobia (hatred and persecution of foreigners and immigrants, particularly from what Trump infamously referred to as “shithole countries”), forceful assertion and chauvinistic trumpeting of American dominance and “the superiority of western civilization,” along with willful rejection of science and the scientific method, especially where it would interfere with unrestrained plunder of the environment, as well as people.

    Given the nature, objectives and actions of the fascists, there is the real possibility of actual civil war. But given the nature, objectives and actions of the “mainstream” section of the ruling class (as represented by the Democratic Party and media such as MSNBC, the New York Times and CNN), and given the current situation with those, from different parts of society, who tend to support, and politically tail behind, this “mainstream” section of the ruling class, it is possible that the fascists could achieve and consolidate power without a civil war, but with all the terrible consequences that would follow this fascist consolidation of power. Or, as emphasized in the “Declaration and Call,” in what would amount to a one-sided civil war, these fascists could carry out a slaughter of those they hate, including Black people and other people of color, “illegal immigrants,” “uppity women” and those who don’t conform to “traditional” sexual and gender relations and “norms.”

    In any case, it is a deadly serious reality that these fascists are determined to crush—as violently as necessary—anyone and anything, anywhere in society, that stands in the way of implementing their horrific objectives.

    This puts an exclamation point on what the “Declaration and Call” says immediately after this:

    This situation needs to be radically changed, to where there are masses of people prepared to defeat these fascists and to do so as part of getting rid of this whole system, which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates.

    The Democrats will never, and can never, fight these fascists in the way they need to be fought, because that requires getting into the real nature of this system, and bringing out the fact that these fascists, as grotesque as they are, are in fact a grotesque expression of the very system that the Democrats themselves are an expression of, and are working to perpetuate. Most fundamentally: The purpose and aim cannot be simply to defeat these fascists, as an end in itself, with the orientation of somehow returning things to the “normal” way this horrific system of capitalism-imperialism has operated for more than a century.

    This is not the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, when the goal of those fighting against injustice was to abolish slavery, and—in terms of who ruled society—the only possible positive outcome was the consolidation and strengthening of the rule of the rising capitalist class centered in the North. That time is now long gone. And this system of capitalism, which has developed into a system of worldwide exploitation and oppression, capitalism-imperialism, is long outmoded—long past its expiration date, long past any circumstances where it could play any positive role. The goal now must precisely be getting rid of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism.

    The character of a new civil war would have significantly different features from that previous civil war of 1861-65, where one geographic part of the country, the southern Confederacy, attempted to secede and form a separate country in that territory. Today, the forces of fascism among the population are again concentrated in the South, as well as in rural areas throughout the country; but, in the South and throughout the country, they are closely connected, geographically, with sections of the population that are opposed to this fascism. Any new civil war would be fought between opposing forces that would be in close proximity to each other—in a real sense intertwined geographically—around the country. This would have both advantages and disadvantages for the people on the positive side of such a civil war, and this would need to be taken into account in their approach to fighting that civil war.

    (The “Red States/Blue States” picture, which is constantly presented in the mainstream media, is very misleading in terms of the geographic and political divisions in the country. It does not present an accurate picture of population concentration—of which sections of the people are actually concentrated where, and in what numbers, within the existing states. Of particular importance, it downplays the concentration of people in this country as a whole in urban areas, including the suburbs around the inner city cores, and the concentration of masses of oppressed people especially in those inner city cores. It downplays the strong opposition to the fascists that exists among large numbers of people in the urban areas. This mainstream presentation of things is meant to reinforce the sense that the only possibility is the continuation of this system of capitalism-imperialism, and the only choice is between the two parties representing the ruling class of this system: the “red” Republican Party or the “blue” Democratic Party. And, by the way, with the color red historically associated with communism, the “appropriation” of this color in association with the fascist Republican Party is an abomination!)

    The current polarization, even on the positive side, among those opposed to the fascists, is not what is needed, and will not meet the profound and urgent challenge of these times. For the reasons discussed in this talk, there can be no real and lasting defeat of these fascists on the terms of the Democrats, on the terms of what have been, for generations, the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. Fundamentally, there can be no resolution to this, under this system, which will be in the interests of the masses of people, not just in this country but in the world as a whole. Once more, what is urgently needed is a very different polarization than what exists today—a repolarization—for revolution.

    And, once again as well—without being absolute about this—there is a limited time frame within which this repolarization must be achieved. If things continue as they are, with the fascist offensive by the Republican Party and its base becoming even more aggressive and powerful, then it is very likely that their “two-pronged offensive” will succeed, that they will utilize the changes they are forcing through state governments and key parts of the federal government, in particular the courts, to regain and consolidate control of the country as a whole, move forward with a vengeance to implement their fascist program, and forcefully suppress, as violently as necessary, any effective opposition.

    The urgency of this situation—and the urgent need for repolarization, for revolution—must be clearly understood, and forcefully conveyed to masses of people. This must be done in a compelling way, without hype (and there is no need for hype to describe the critical situation and urgent stakes). While it is crucially important to unite with people in rising up against the terrible injustices and outrages constantly perpetrated by this system, and to continually bring alive the possibility of a radically different and emancipating alternative, once again it needs to be stressed: It is necessary to wage a tireless struggle to break people out of the ways of thinking, and acting, that in fact keep them chained to this system and contribute to perpetuating this system, in one form or another.

    Fatalism, and defeatism—the belief that nothing can be done to change the terrible situation and bleak future humanity is now facing, that no positive radical change is possible—this way of thinking itself must be defeated, overcome both through sharp struggle and by bringing alive and popularizing the possibility for a radically different and better world, through revolution, which is grounded in a scientific, materialist approach to and understanding of the real world and the actual possibility for its positive radical transformation. Overall—and above all in terms of the basic masses, the bitterly oppressed people who must become the backbone of this revolution—overcoming this defeatism, and bringing about the necessary repolarization, must be carried out, and can only be achieved, through a powerful combination of fierce ideological struggle among the people, to win growing numbers to a scientific understanding of the situation we face and the actual solution to this, together with determined resistance against this oppressive system—all of which must be led to contribute to building up the forces and creating the political alignment necessary for revolution.

    While masses of people urgently need this revolution, it is all too true that, right now, the great majority of them are thinking in a lot of wrong ways. To put things straight-up, they don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses! This needs to be radically changed—and can be, but only through a tremendous amount of sharp struggle. As I have said before (in “Rare Time”):

    It is the responsibility of everyone who recognizes the profound need for revolution—and the rare possibility in a time like this to actually make revolution—to wage a tireless, and at times fierce, struggle to win more and more people to make a radical rupture with the confining and degrading terms of this system, and to take up, and act on, the revolutionary orientation and motivation that is put forward in the “Declaration and Call.”

    Instead of “staying in your lane,” and “going for self,” while this system is moving to even more decisively crush any hope for a world worth living in, people need to be looking at the bigger picture, focusing on the greater interests of humanity and the possibility for a far better world—and acting to make this a reality.

    Instead of finding excuses to go along with the way things have been, standing apart from (or even bad-mouthing) the revolution, people need to get with this revolution, and not throw away the rare opportunity to be part of bringing something much better into being.

    Instead of lashing out with individual acts of frustration, or attempts to take on this system with small, isolated forces that have no chance of succeeding, people need to pour their anger, and their hatred for injustice, into building a movement of millions that could have a real chance to defeat this system and make a real revolution.

    Instead of fighting and killing each other, what people need to be doing now is uniting to defend each other—opposing all unjust violence, not launching attacks on anyone but at the same time not allowing the police or “civilian” fascist thugs to wantonly brutalize and murder people. And people need to do this as part of building up the forces for revolution.

    Instead of snarking and sniping at each other, and being divided by “identities,” people should be working to unite everyone, from every part of society, who can be united in the fight against oppression and injustice, with the goal of putting an end to this system that is the source of this oppression and injustice.

    Instead of being a tail on the Democratic donkey—with its attempt to keep this monstrous system going, and to deal with the growing fascist danger, by relying on the “normal procedures” of this system and doomed efforts to “heal the divisions” that are deepening every day—people need to work for the revolution that is urgently needed, and deal with the fascist danger as part of doing that.

    Running through much of the situation today is the problem of individualism—“going for self” regardless of the effect on other people, and on humanity as a whole—which is encouraged and expressed in extreme forms in this particular society at this time, and is often combined and intertwined with a lack of hope for anything better in this world. Again, from Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis:

    Lack of real hope for a better life in this world is a heavy chain weighing down, suffocating and deeply scarring the masses of humanity, including the youth who are concentrated in the ghettos and barrios of this country as well as its overflowing torture chamber prisons. And the extreme individualism promoted throughout this society, the obsessive focus on “the self,” has reinforced the heavy lid on the sights of people, obscuring their ability to recognize the possibility of a radically different and better world, beyond the narrow and confining limits of this system, with all its very real horrors.

    Along with other negative trends, there is the way that people’s sense that the world is fucked up beyond repair, and things are just going to keep going to hell, leads them to just try to get what they can for themselves now, before it’s too late. So people need hope—not hype but real hope that is based on a scientific method and approach to understanding the world as it actually is and the possibility of changing it, in the way it can be changed, to bring a radically different and much better world into being, through a real revolution. They need the scientifically based sweeping vision, and concrete blueprint, for a radically different and emancipating society that is set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have authored.

    They need the fundamental approach to understanding reality, and the basis and possibility for radically changing it, that is concentrated in the following:

    [T]he systems that characterize the societies that people live in ... are historically evolved. This means that changes in human society are based, and can only be based, on transforming what already exists in that society, on the foundation of the forces of production that have been developed at any given time [the land and raw materials, factories and other production facilities, machinery and other technology, and the people, with their knowledge and abilities].

    And even revolutionary changes—a radical leap from one system to another—can only proceed on the basis of transforming what exists. This cannot be done by coming up with ideas or notions about how society “ought” to be, if those ideas or notions have no basis in the existing reality.

    What is crucially important to understand is that the basis now exists to enable the billions of people on this planet to have the means for a decent life, worthy of human beings—a life that is continually being enriched, not just materially but socially, intellectually and culturally. But, at the same time, the way human society has developed under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism has led to a highly “lopsided” world, where billions of people in the world live in horrific conditions of oppression and misery, with millions of children in the Third World dying each year from starvation and preventable diseases....

    It is the productive forces that have been developed under the capitalist-imperialist system that actually provide the material basis to move beyond all this. But, at the same time, it is this system, with its mode of production based on exploitative relations of production, that is the direct barrier to making this a reality—is a chain on the masses of people throughout the world, and on humanity overall.

    That is from the article Why The World Is So Messed Up, And What Can Be Done to Radically Change This—A Basic Scientific Understanding. As I pointed out in that article: The resolution to this howling contradiction between what are now the conditions of the masses of humanity, and what is actually possible—the only resolution that is in the interests of those masses, and ultimately all of humanity—is through the revolution to overthrow this system and replace it with a socialist system on the road to a communist world. Bringing this fundamental understanding to people is crucial, in order for them to really have hope, on a scientific foundation.

    But the fact is that there is not only a lack of hope among many, but also a lack of searching—for an understanding of why the world is so messed up, and can anything be done to really change this. This needs to be strongly and deeply challenged, through the promotion of broad debate about these literally life and death matters, and a tremendous amount of struggle over the big question: what is the fundamental problem humanity is facing, and what is the solution?—or, put in basic terms, reform vs. revolution, working within this system, or overthrowing it and replacing it with a radically different system. This needs to be vigorously taken up and fiercely debated and struggled out among people in all parts of society—including students, academics and other intellectuals, people in the arts and the professions, as well as people with only a limited formal education—all of whom can be, and need to be, seriously engaged with these vital and urgent questions.

    To return to the current lack of searching: this is linked in many cases with self-absorbed individualism, either blindly and blithely oblivious or virulently poisonous. Once more from Hope For Humanity:

    Individualism is a significant factor and “unifying element” in much of the negative trends that play a major role in keeping people from recognizing the reality and depth of the horrors continually brought about by this system—and recognizing the urgent need to act, together with others, to abolish and uproot all this, at its very source.

    And:

    [T]he terrible suffering of the masses of humanity and the urgent challenges facing humanity as a whole as a result of the escalating destruction of the environment by this system of capitalism-imperialism as well as the possibility of nuclear conflagration that continues to loom as an existential threat over humanity—all this cannot be seriously addressed, let alone actually solved, by each person pursuing their particular individual interests, and in fact people acting in this way constitutes a major obstacle to bringing about the necessary solution.

    This individualism, in turn, is based, to a very significant extent, in parasitism—living in this country that is sitting atop the imperialist food chain, deriving benefits from the exploitation and misery of millions and billions of people worldwide. This applies not just to the section of people in this country that is really well off, but also to the large number who are scrambling to make it through the day, the week, or the month: for them in particular there is a kind of toxic combination of having to struggle and scrounge to get through, and at the same time benefitting to some degree from imperialist parasitism. The effect of all this is to make it seem possible, and/or to seem necessary, to ignore what is going on in the larger world. But, in reality, there is, and increasingly there will be, no ignoring what is happening in that larger world, and no avoiding the consequences of failing to confront and radically transform this.

    Yes, it is true: YOLO. But, since you only live once, you should make it count for something—something much bigger than yourself—being part of an historic revolution to free all oppressed people, and bring in a new day for all humanity, with whole new horizons of freedom and life with meaning for human beings, way beyond what is possible now, when we are still forced to live under this monstrosity of a system which denies a decent life to billions of people on this planet and has no decent future, or no future at all, for those of the younger generations.

    Parasitic individualism needs to be directly, sharply, and deeply challenged, as it is a major obstacle in the way of people seeking out the answers to the profound and accelerating crisis and potential catastrophe that people, not just in this country but in the world as a whole, are facing (whether or not they recognize, or acknowledge, it). And this individualism prevents people from acting together, as a revolutionary force, to wrench something positive out of all this ongoing madness.

    In both immediate and overall strategic terms, very much bound up with challenging this parasitic individualism is waging substantial, determined, relentless struggle against American chauvinism—the disgusting notion that America and Americans are better and more important than everybody else. As I have pointed out before, this is a poison infecting people broadly in this country, even among the bitterly oppressed; and a positive, revolutionary resolution to the current course of things cannot be brought about unless masses of people break with this American chauvinism. One of the main, and most ugly, manifestations of this American chauvinism is the sickening support, even among large numbers of “progressive” and “woke” people, for the U.S. military—with all this nauseating “thank you for your service”—a “service” which consists of horrific war crimes and crimes against humanity in enforcing the interests and objectives of the most exploitative, oppressive, and destructive social force in the world: U.S. capitalist imperialism. Combating this, and winning people to reject and repudiate this—among all sectors of society—is crucial now, and has definite strategic implications, in building for and then carrying out the revolution that is urgently needed.

    So people need to be jolted awake, to reality—to the reality of this system of capitalism-imperialism, the reality of where things are heading right now, with terrible consequences if things continue on this course—and the reality of the possibility, and the urgent need, to wrench something positive out of this, through a real revolution.

    Another important dimension of the straight-up, hardcore struggle that needs to be waged with people, including bitterly oppressed people, is spoken to in the following in Part 3 of my New Year’s Statement:

    Given the tight connection between militant patriarchy and fascism, it is not surprising that some (though clearly a minority of) Black and Latino men have been drawn to support for Trump, despite his overt white supremacy. (This includes some who are or have been prominent in rap music. While there have been positive forces and elements in rap and Hip Hop overall, what has been increasingly promoted is a culture that is full of, not to say dominated by, misogynistic degradation of women, as well as admiration for the kind of hustler gangsterism that is one of Trump’s defining “qualities.”) It is also not surprising that even significant numbers of women (mainly white women but also some Latina and other women of color) have been drawn to this fascism, as the phenomenon of the oppressed clinging to “tradition’s chains” that oppress them is unfortunately all too common.

    There must be determined struggle against the “macho” bullshit of all too many Black and Latino men—a “warrior mentality” of the wrong kind, which also characterizes far too many Native American men, in their own particular way, with their utterly misplaced, and frankly perverse, pride in being part of the same U.S. military that carried out the genocide against these original peoples in America. There must also be sharp struggle against the ways that, among the other half of humanity, which is female, the phenomenon of the oppressed acting in ways that oppress them not only involves clinging to highly oppressive patriarchal religious tradition but also takes the form of aggressively reveling in and flaunting what is objectively highly demeaning “sexualization” and commodification of sex. This is actively promoted among Black and Latina women—and is a definite negative trend in popular culture, including Hip Hop. It is also noteworthy that, as surprising as it might seem when looked at superficially, this self-degrading hyper-sexualization often goes hand-in-hand with its “mirror opposite”: religious obscurantism—a fundamentalist form of religion that blocks, obscures the light of reason. There is also a similar phenomenon among gang members, where gang-banging and other acts of degradation and self-degradation are combined with a heavy religious obscurantism, in one form or another.

    To far too great a degree, the “education” that masses of basic people get—and in particular the “education” that tends to “stick”—comes through religious institutions, and the promotion of obscurantist religion. This is a real problem, a significant part of why far too many basic oppressed people are susceptible to anti-scientific thinking, including crazy conspiracy theories.

    This “religious impulse” continues to exert a significant influence—is a significant phenomenon—among many in the Black middle class as well, including many who acquire a more “cosmopolitan” education, even at the more “elite” universities.

    All this is promoted and reinforced by the continually propagated notion that the very identity of Black people is somehow inextricably bound up with religion and religious institutions, in particular the Christian Black Church (the idea that this religion and Black identity are so tightly and essentially woven together, that they cannot be separated) and that, without religion and the Black Church, Black people could not survive, or thrive, in racist America. But, for the masses of Black people, “thriving” within this monstrous system is impossible—and merely surviving, while still being terribly oppressed, tormented, tortured and repeatedly brutalized and murdered, under this system, cannot be, and is not, the most that can be hoped for, or achieved.

    It is true that, although Christianity in particular was imposed on Black people by the slave system, the Black Church has at times, and to a degree, played a positive role in the struggle of Black people; but it is also true that it has placed very definite constraints on this struggle, channeling and limiting it within the confines of this very system that is the source of the oppression and suffering to which Black people have been subjected throughout the history of this country.

    As another dimension of this problem, especially with the undermining and outright gutting of public schools, particularly in the inner cities, in the realm of athletics—one of the very few arenas in which a few basic Black people can attain wealth and prestige—there is the fact that significant numbers of Black athletes now go through private Christian fundamentalist schools for their basic “education” (in fact, mis-education). And then, even as they take stands in support of struggles against injustice, many of these athletes also utilize their “platform” to promote the religious obscurantism with which they have been indoctrinated—which contributes to the situation where masses of people, who are influenced by these prominent figures, are vulnerable to all kinds of distortions of reality.

    We have witnessed statements and actions by influential Black celebrities, in sports as well as the arts, which reflect and encourage anti-scientific ways of thinking, including disinformation about and discouraging people from getting the vaccines against COVID, when Black people (and other people of color) are dying at higher rates than others from COVID, and the vaccines have been proven safe and very effective against serious illness and death from COVID. This spreading of anti-scientific disinformation is very harmful, both in its immediate effects, and in strategic terms.

    Yes, it is true that, in the history of this country, Black people have been the victims of horrific medical experiments, and still today they are subjected to discrimination, and at times uncaring and even harmful treatment, in the realm of health care. And, yes, it is true that Black people have been, and continue to be, subjected to vicious and often murderous oppression at the hands of government authorities. But all that is certainly true of Native Americans as well. Yet they have a much higher rate of vaccination against COVID. What they do not seem to have among them, at least not as a significant factor, is the phenomenon of prominent and influential people spreading anti-scientific disinformation about the vaccines and active discouragement from getting vaccinated.

    With regard to vaccines, and dealing with COVID generally, as with all social problems and their solutions, what is needed is an evidence-based scientific approach.

    Besides the great harm it does to people who are hit hardest by COVID, and to the overall efforts to “get on top of” this COVID pandemic, another very damaging effect of this anti-scientific, anti-vaccine disinformation is that it plays directly into the hands of the white supremacist fascists, who have been quick to pick up on, praise and promote this. As I have said about this:

    What a terrible situation where some Black people and other oppressed people can actually find themselves in the same place as those fascists who regard them as inferior sub-humans and want to deny them basic rights, lock them up permanently, or outright exterminate them!

    To a great degree, this spreading of harmful, even deadly disinformation is also an expression of rampant individualism—the notion that “it is my right, and an expression of my personal freedom, to do whatever I want, and no authority should be allowed to restrict that.” As I have also pointed out:

    This is nonsense—very harmful nonsense! Individual freedom is not absolute—as almost everyone will agree when this is posed to them in terms that do not run up against their individualism. For example, few will argue that someone should have the freedom to drive 100 miles an hour through a school zone when children are crossing the street. And any reasonable person will agree that it is not okay for white supremacists to lynch Black people—or for the police to wantonly murder Black people—simply because they feel like it—because they see it as an expression of their “individual freedom” (and “personal choice”)....

    It would be impossible to live in any society where “individual freedom” (or “personal choice”) were absolute. The question is: Are expressions of individual freedom, or restrictions on individual freedom, good or bad—do they make for a better, or worse, society?

    On the part of at least some of these Black celebrities, this irresponsible spreading of anti-scientific nonsense is also part of self-promotion—is an expression of the dominant culture overall, where opinions are “re-branded” as “my truth” and are put forward as being the same as (just as good as, or perhaps even better, than) facts, and people seek to build a following by spouting opinions, including many which are wildly in conflict with reality.

    But, again, the influence of religion, and especially crudely anti-scientific obscurantist religion, is also a significant factor in these harmful positions taken by some influential Black celebrities. In the absence of, and especially in opposition to, a scientific approach, people are left groping in the dark, unable to determine what is actually represented by different forces and where different paths will lead. Any rebellion in these circumstances is rebelling blindly, believing that you are striking out against things that oppress you (and others like you), when in fact you are playing into the hands of, and actually strengthening, the most vicious oppressors and ultimately the whole system of oppression.

    The religious obscurantism that is far too widespread among the basic masses is another chain of oppression on them, which needs to be vigorously and resolutely struggled against.

    And, while it needs to be recognized that there are many religious people who play a positive role in the fight against many injustices and forms of oppression, and it is important to unite with them in this fight, it is also important to struggle against the religious outlook in general. Why? Because putting an end to injustice and oppression, and uprooting the basis for all this, requires a revolution led by a powerful and growing force of people who are grounded in a scientific method and approach, in particular the scientific method and approach of the new communism.

    What is said in the book BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian is a fundamental truth—and there is a need to unsparingly drive home this truth: “Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.” (This is BAsics 4:1.) And the religious outlook and approach—with its misplaced belief in the ultimately decisive role of non-existent supernatural beings and forces—is an obstacle to applying a consistently scientific method to confront reality as it actually is, and transform it in an emancipating way.

    To put things in deliberately provocative terms: It’s time to leave that “god stuff” alone—that will never lead anybody to get free. We need a lot less of this “god talk” and a lot more talk, and action, for revolution—real revolution.

    Some people may not like my saying all this, but I’m going to say it anyway, because I’m not here to please people, or to make them feel better about their enslaved and degraded position—I’m here to bring them a scientific method and approach to making revolution, in order to free themselves and all humanity, and I’m here to tell them the truth about everything that stands in the way of that.

    And one big reason why I say what I say, regardless of whether some people like it or not, is because Black people, who have so long been subjected to the most horrific oppression under this system, can and must play a decisive and tremendously powerful role in bringing about the revolution that will not only put an end to their oppression, but will strike a powerful blow for ending all oppression, of everyone, everywhere. As I have stated before:

    There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

    But this can happen only as growing numbers of Black people, together with others, take up a scientific, not a religious, viewpoint, method and approach.

    So, am I saying that there is no place in this revolution for people who continue to hold religious beliefs? No. It is an objective fact, which needs to be understood, that many people who take part in this revolution will still hold religious beliefs, of one kind or another—and of course religious people who want to be part of this revolution should be welcomed into the broad ranks of the revolution. The casting off of religious belief by masses of people must be a conscious, voluntary act, which will advance in tempo with the overall development of the revolutionary process and the transformation of society, and the world, toward the goal of ending all oppression and exploitation, all division of society into masters and slaves. But, again, there must be a leading force, and a growing force of the revolution that is solid core/hardcore based on a scientific, not a religious viewpoint, method and approach, and there must be generous-minded but consistent, determined, compelling struggle, waged broadly—sharply posing the need for people to take up the scientific viewpoint, method and approach of the new communism, in opposition to everything that is an obstacle to that, including belief in gods or other supernatural forces which in reality do not exist, and religious tradition which upholds oppressive relations.

    Here is another profound truth: Even with all the ways that the heavy chains of hundreds, and thousands, of years of oppressive tradition weigh down on the masses of people—and place a heavy burden particularly on the half of humanity that is female—there is a deep yearning to be free of all this, which not only leads to imaginary hopes of supernatural salvation but also erupts in unrestrained fury right in this real world. And that fury needs to be fully called forth, given a scientific, revolutionary expression—focused toward the emancipation of all the oppressed and exploited of the world, and ultimately all humanity—directed to fighting against the fundamental source of all the suffering: this system of capitalism-imperialism, with its suffocating and brutal, patriarchal male supremacy, along with all its other outrages. This takes on even more powerful meaning and urgent importance in the current situation in this country (and others), where the forceful assertion of raw misogyny (hatred of women) and patriarchal subjugation of women is becoming more blatant and unbridled, focused to a significant degree now in the escalating moves to even further deny women control over their own lives and their very bodies, with the right to abortion, and even birth control, being brought under mounting attack. Right now, this slogan and call needs to be taken up broadly and made a powerful material force: Break the Chains, Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Revolution!

    In relation to all this, these observations of mine, from a number of years ago now, not only have great importance in general and at all times, but are especially important now:

    The religious fundamentalists, of various kinds, make a point of recruiting in the prisons, and they come with a heavy ideological message.... It is not at all the case that people can only “lose their religion” by replacing it with another religion in some form. But there does have to be another explanation about the world and existence and why this is the way it is, and how it could be different.... If you want to rupture people out of shit, not only stuff that lands them in prison, but the daily shit they are caught up in, in the society, you have to have a really strong hardcore ideological thing to bring to them.... [I]t has to be coherent and systematic. It has to explain the world—and in our case we can actually explain it in a scientific way. That’s an advantage of communism over religion, even though religion has certain short-term advantages.... But we have the advantage of actually being able to make reality make sense for people. That’s a very powerful thing.

    We should not underestimate the importance, not only with prisoners but in general, of doing a lot of ideological work to really enable people to see the world in a wholly different way—really the way it is. To take the pieces of this puzzle that are all out of whack and don’t fit together—it’s like looking through a weird kaleidoscope the way most people see reality. And then it’s misinterpreted for them by all these different bourgeois and reactionary ideologies and programs, and so on, including various religious views. But communist ideology and its application to the world is a way of taking reality and having it make sense for people.

    At the same time, winning basic people, and in particular the youth, to revolution also requires making further critical breakthroughs in what I have called the “George Jackson question”—the problem sharply posed by George Jackson, a prisoner who became a militant revolutionary associated with the Black Panther Party during the upsurge of the 1960s, and who grappled deeply with the question of revolutionary possibility, before he was assassinated by the authorities. To a slave who does not expect to live beyond tomorrow, Jackson said, the idea of gradual change, and revolution in some far-off future, has no meaning and no appeal.

    This takes on particular and special meaning in a rare time like this—a time when revolution could actually be possible, exactly not in some vague far-off future, but through the swirl of the sharpening events and conflicts that are happening right in this present time.

    Here, again, is the decisive question of how much the organized forces of revolution are built up and have an impact on all this, in the direction of the revolution that is so urgently needed.

    To appeal to masses of people, and in particular basic youth, the revolution must become a growing, organized, disciplined, bold and fearless force which, through its scientifically based method, its sweeping vision, its emancipating program and goals, and its actions, is an increasingly powerful pole that will attract these youth—and fighters for revolution from all parts of society.

    There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, in working for this revolution: powerfully spreading the word about this revolution, challenging people to get into this revolution, recruiting and organizing them into this revolution—going up against and breaking through all the bullshit that people are caught up in that goes against their own real interests—doing the work that needs to be done to transform people’s thinking, and their actions—standing up against the forces oppressing the people, waging the fight that needs to be waged against the atrocities of this system—doing all this to get ready, and to have the basis, to wage the all-out fight to finally overthrow this system, as soon as the necessary conditions for that have been brought into being.

    And, as the revolution grows in this way: There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, to stand up against the fascists, and any other oppressive force, in their moves to threaten and intimidate, brutalize and even murder people. Let me make clear that I am not calling for launching unprovoked and unjustified attacks on anybody; but there is a right, and a need—and there is the responsibilityto defend the people who are oppressed and brutalized under this system, and those who represent and stand for what is right, and are being attacked because of that.

    In the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—which are basic principles that the Revolution Clubs, a key form of organization for this revolution, base themselves on and fight for—the final point is this:

    We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.

    Yes, this is something very serious: going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way. And, yes, a big part of this is overcoming how people who are already messed over, in so many ways, by this system, get caught up in yet another way this system messes them up: fighting and killing each other. This needs to stop.

    But it doesn’t need to just stop. People who have been caught up in this need to become part of something really positive—they need to become part of the forces for the revolution that is so urgently needed now.

    The frustration and anger that so many feel, especially so many basic youth, because they can sense that life under this system has nothing good for them—that, from the time they are born, they are locked down and surrounded by forces that regard and treat them as alien objects of fear and hatred—and that those with power look at them as scum who deserve nothing more than a boot up the ass and a bullet in the brain—this frustration and anger needs to be redirected to fighting the system that treats them this way, and has robbed them, and so many like them throughout the world, of a decent life and a decent future, or any future at all.

    Once more, there is plenty that calls, urgently, for great courage and boldness in doing what needs to be done: to be part of rising up against this system and getting ready to go all the way with revolution as soon as the time is right—and, as an important part of that, supporting, and defending, people who are constantly being subjected to unjust attacks on their rights and their very being.

    There are the continuing attacks on people and movements that are rebelling against racist oppression.

    There are threats against, and physical attacks on, health care officials and providers, local government officials (and their families!), as well as employees in stores, and so on, when they are advocating and implementing much-needed and life-saving measures, such as mask and vaccination mandates to deal with the continuing COVID pandemic. There are attacks on school board members not only for adopting these basic health measures but also for things like approving the teaching of some truth about the white supremacy that has always existed in this country, or allowing rights for trans people.

    There are the threats, harassment and attacks on women seeking abortions, and on clinics and medical personnel working to provide those abortions, along with the escalating assault on the right to abortion by the Republican-fascist party, and those it has placed in the courts.

    There are brutal and often murderous attacks on LGBT people.

    There are continuing moves, including with the threat or use of violence, to once again prevent Black people and other oppressed people from even exercising what are supposed to be basic rights, such as voting. (With a scientific method and approach, it is both possible, and important, to actively oppose attempts to deny people the right to vote, and at the same time win people to see that their efforts need to go, not into voting for representatives of this system that is oppressing them, but working to build up the basis to overthrow this whole system.)

    All these attacks on people and their rights need to be powerfully opposed, and people on the good side of this need to be actively protected and defended, where they are assaulted with threats and even outright physical attacks.

    There is the need to prevent the police from brutalizing and just coldly murdering people. Let us remember what was said by some people who witnessed, and even recorded, the slow-motion vicious execution of George Floyd: They agonized over whether they should have done more, should have acted to stop this blatant assassination of a defenseless Black man. Now, again, what I am pointing to is consistent with point 6 of the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—and, in what I am saying here, I am not calling for launching an attack on anyone. But there is no right for anyone, including police, to just murder someone—and there is a right and responsibility to defend and protect people from unjust attacks on their rights, and on their very lives.

    Imagine if, in these different kinds of situations, there were a force of hardcore revolutionaries, including basic youth, whose presence in a disciplined and organized formation made clear that no unjust attacks on people would be tolerated. But this must not just be imagined—it must be developed as one important part of the overall process of preparing for, and building the organized forces for, revolution.

    This must be taken up in a serious, scientific way—not attempting, at any given point, to do what there is not yet the basis to do, but actively working to bring into being the conditions where what was not possible before becomes possible, as the organized ranks of revolution continue to grow and become steeled as a disciplined force. Taken up in this way, this can increasingly have dynamic effect—with “reverberations” and impact far beyond the immediate situation, attracting more people to this revolution... which, in turn, will make it possible to have even greater impact... and attract even larger forces.

    All this is an important part of the overall approach that I have laid out in the course of this talk, which will enable what are today the small organized forces of this revolution to continue to grow—increasingly by leaps and bounds—in numbers, organized strength, and impact on society as a whole. This is what more and more people must be challenged, and enabled, to become part of.

    This brings up another important dimension of working for revolution—and opposing the fascists as part of doing that: It is necessary to sharply expose and oppose—and fight to politically and practically overcome—the reality that for white supremacists and fascists generally the Second Amendment, the “right to bear arms,” has been regularly upheld and given the backing of the law and the courts, and the support of the police and other institutions of the state; while for Black people, other oppressed people, and generally those opposing the oppression and injustice of this system, the “right to bear arms,” even in self-defense, has been actively opposed and suppressed.

    This is made graphically clear in the book by Carol Anderson focusing on the Second Amendment—The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. This book contains (yet more!) searing exposure of the depraved violence visited upon Black people throughout the history of this country, and speaks to how the “right to bear arms” has never applied to Black people, and instead there has been the perverse “right to kill” Black people, on the part of the powers-that-be and racist whites generally. This cannot be allowed to continue!

    And it is not just around what is represented by “the Second Amendment” that a determined fight must be waged, but around the many ways in which the approach to rights that are supposedly guaranteed to people is applied in a highly unequal way, so that oppressed people, and those acting against the oppressive relations of this system, constantly find their rights attacked, “abridged,” or outright denied and suppressed. In waging this fight, it is important to recognize and, to the degree possible, take advantage of this contradiction: In reality, under this system of capitalism-imperialism, rights and liberties are determined, and limited, in accordance with what serves the interests of this system and its ruling class; but, we are constantly told that, under this system, there is “liberty and justice for all,” and the rulers of this system, or at least some of them, feel it is important to maintain this myth. Again, to the degree possible, this contradiction must be seized on, in waging the fight to defeat attempts by the enforcers of this system to violate what are supposed to be basic rights, in their moves to suppress people rising up against this system and its profound injustice.

    But, most fundamentally, this fight must be waged with full awareness, a scientifically grounded understanding, of the essential nature of this system, with the orientation and goal of working toward the overthrow of this system and the dismantling of its relations and institutions of vicious exploitation and blood-soaked oppression and repression.

    Once again, in order to make all this a reality, as this revolution is being brought to growing numbers of basic youth, and others, and they are being challenged to get into it, they need to be struggled with, hard, to get rid of the ways of thinking and acting that keep this system going. People need to “get their head right,” get their head out of their ass, and take up the scientific method and approach of the new communism to understanding reality, and transforming reality in a fundamental way, through revolution. This means not being just out for yourself, or those you can identify with in a narrow way (whoever that may be), but becoming revolutionaries in the fullest sense—revolutionary communists, emancipators of all humanity—becoming part of the organized and disciplined forces for this revolution, and nothing less.

    As we say, to “everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: You need to be part of this revolution.”

    So, on the foundation of everything that has been said so far, and in moving to the conclusion of this talk, it is worthwhile returning to, reviewing, and elaborating briefly on some key aspects of these big questions: Why this is one of those rare times and circumstances when revolution becomes possible, even in a powerful country like this, and how to seize on this rare opportunity to actually make this revolution.

    * There is the sharpening conflict at the top, and throughout the country, with society and the “ruling norms” of this system being torn apart, driven especially by the relentless offensive of the fascist forces. Yes, as the “Declaration and Call” makes clear, there are a lot of bad things connected with this, and it could lead to something really terrible; but, if it is seized on and correctly worked on by growing organized forces of revolution, guided by the scientific method and approach of the new communism, it is also possible that we could wrench something really positive out of this—revolution, to put an end to this system and bring something much better into being.

    * Bringing into being a revolutionary people in the millions—with an organized force of thousands at the core, leading these millions—is the key objective and necessary focus of revolutionary work now, in preparing to go for all-out revolution, with a real chance to win, as soon as the conditions for that have been brought into being.

    And here is another very important requirement in all this. In order for there to be the necessary force of thousands, able to lead millions—and more particularly in order to defeat the vicious repression that is bound to be brought down on a seriously developing revolutionary force, including the ability to replace leaders who are killed or imprisoned by the repressive force of the existing state power:

    It is a matter of strategic importance to develop a large core of experienced and tested leaders—not just “tens” but at least hundreds of such leaders, on all levels—firmly grounded in the line, above all the scientific method and approach of [the new communism], and capable, on that basis, of taking initiative to lead, including in situations of sharpening contradictions and the intensification of repression and even attempts at violent suppression by the powers-that-be, throughout the process of advancing the “three prepares” [prepare the ground, prepare the people, prepare the vanguard leadership for revolution]; and then, when the conditions come into being, this core of tested leaders needs to be capable of giving direction to thousands, and in turn millions, to fight all-out, in a unified way, for the seizure of power. Whether or not such a cadre of leaders—in the hundreds, at least—is developed, will have a significant bearing on whether or not all the work we are doing now is really preparing for revolution, and whether there is a real chance of winning when the time comes.

    (That is a crucial point I have emphasized in the book The New Communism, Part IV, “The Leadership We Need.”)

    This development of hundreds of such leaders must be carried out in the crucible of intense struggle in the tumultuous time before us, as a crucial part of bringing forward the thousands to lead millions. And, as the work of building for revolution is developing, these hundreds, together with the thousands they are leading, must be forged into a disciplined vanguard force, capable of leading the overall revolutionary process of preparing for and then, when the time is right, carrying out the all-out fight for the seizure of power.

    * Transforming the people is decisive in order for there to be a positive outcome to all this—and transforming the thinking of masses of people is crucial, is pivotal, in doing this.

    * At the same time, there is real importance to fighting the power—building powerful, massive resistance to the continuing atrocities of this system—and actively defending, and opposing moves to intimidate, and attack, those who are targeted by “official” enforcers of this oppressive system and “civilian” fascist forces.

    * The key, the most decisive thing: All this must be for revolution: carried out to build toward, and get in position to have a real chance to win, an all-out fight for revolution, as soon as the conditions for that have been brought into being.

    Once more: Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond. Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.

    And then, once this revolutionary force is brought into being, everything would be focused on how to actually fight to win.

    At that point, this force of millions would need to be mobilized and wielded in such a way as to make clear that it is going for a complete, revolutionary change—that it will not back down from this goal and accept anything less. In this way, it would constitute a powerful pole attracting and drawing forward even broader numbers of people from all parts of society—and it would pose a definite challenge and call to people everywhere in society, including in all the existing institutions of this system, to come over to the side of this revolution.

    And, through the swirl of this intense process, concrete work would need to be carried out to organize, train and prepare the initial fighting forces for the revolution, while actively, vigorously combating and defeating attempts to violently suppress this.

    Here, again, is something that is crucial to understand, something that is a hallmark of a serious, scientific approach to fighting to win, when the time comes: No matter how much the situation in society overall is changed, and no matter how much even the most powerful institutions of violent repression of this system are affected by this, with significant splits very likely occurring among them, the revolution will still be confronted with powerful armed forces of counter-revolution, from among sections of the official institutions, along with fascist “civilian forces” aligned with them. And it would be extremely unlikely that, particularly at the beginning phase, the revolutionary fighting forces would be able to confront and defeat those armed forces of counter-revolution by directly and frontally taking on anything close to their full force. That is why, in the doctrine and strategic orientation that has been developed to enable the revolutionary forces to fight to win, when the time is right, it is stressed that:

    [T]he revolutionary forces would need to fight only on favorable terms and avoid decisive encounters, which would determine the outcome of the whole thing, until the balance of forces had shifted overwhelmingly in favor of the revolution.

    This doctrine and strategic orientation is spoken to in some depth and spelled out more fully in my speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Could Really Make Revolution, with additional thinking provided in my article A Real Revolution—A Real Chance To Win, Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution, both of which can be found at revcom.us. This sets the basic groundwork for how, when the necessary conditions have been brought into being, a revolutionary force, mobilizing masses of people, could actually approach the overthrow of this system in such a way as to effectively neutralize and eventually overcome what would almost certainly be, at the outset, the overwhelming power of the armed forces seeking to defeat and pulverize this attempt at the revolutionary seizure of power. It speaks to how, when the revolutionary situation has been ripened, revolutionary fighting forces, with the backbone drawn especially from youth who have been won hardcore to this revolution, could be organized and trained, and provided with the means to engage and defeat forces of counter-revolution in encounters, beginning on a small scale, which would be favorable for the revolutionary forces—and how, on that basis and through the course of doing that, they could grow in strength and win over growing numbers among those who had been part of the counter-revolutionary forces, and then finally defeat the remaining forces of counter-revolution.

    At the same time, the development of this basic doctrine and strategic approach is an ongoing process. And throughout this period of preparing the ground, preparing masses of people and preparing the leading forces for this revolution, this basic doctrine and strategic approach for the all-out fight must be continually developed and made more “operational” in conception—that is, it must be further elaborated and further concretized, particularly in terms of what will constitute the actual pathways to victory—and, flowing from and serving that, what should be the specific nature and features of the encounters with the other side, particularly in the beginning phases, and (as far as possible) overall.

    As spoken to earlier, a big factor in regard to all this is the real possibility of civil war between opposing sections of society, and how this could impact the key institutions of state power of this system. If such a civil war were to erupt—or even if the deepening divisions in society were moving more directly toward such a civil war—this could have a profound effect on such institutions, with the real prospect of splits among them, and even the splitting apart of such institutions, with some parts siding with the fascists and others with those on the side opposed to the fascists.

    This possibility is something that the basic doctrine and strategic approach for the revolutionary fighting forces would need to take into account and encompass. But, in order for the revolutionary forces to win over, and incorporate into their ranks, significant numbers from among the ruling and repressive institutions of this system, and to do so in a way that would actually maintain the emancipating character of the revolutionary forces, and strengthen them on that basis, it would be necessary for the revolutionary ranks to be tempered and steeled, not just in terms of fighting capacity but in terms of their fundamental ideological and political orientation, as fighters for the emancipation of humanity.

    Here again is the very important point that

    This is not the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, when the goal of those fighting against injustice was to abolish slavery.... The goal now must precisely be getting rid of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism.... which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates, here and throughout the world.

    So, in the event of, and in the context of, a new civil war, the approach of the revolutionary forces, led by the new communism, would be to carry out the necessary political work, in combination with the actual fighting, to develop such a civil war into a revolution to achieve the goal of getting rid of this whole system, and replacing it with a radically different and emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    Above all, right now, this further emphasizes the crucial importance of working actively, boldly and tirelessly for the necessary political repolarization in society as a whole, and among all sectors of society, in a direction favorable for all-the-way revolution.

    In this same light, it is also necessary to take into account how a revolution in this country would have important international dimensions and interconnections. First of all, this revolution would of course not be bound by the present territory and borders of this country, which have been forged through wars of conquest and genocide. This revolution will inevitably be influenced by, and will in turn significantly influence, what is happening in countries to the south (and north) of it, with which the USA has historically been closely interconnected, and which in many cases it has dominated and plundered.

    And more generally, there will be the ways in which this revolution will be viewed, and responded to, by different forces, far beyond the present borders of this country. A serious fight for revolution in this countrythis country—would have the effect of a powerful political earthquake, sending seismic shockwaves throughout the world. It is true that one reaction to this would be that oppressive governments and forces throughout the world would see this as a serious threat to their position and objectives, and there is a real possibility that there could be moves by some of these forces to aid, or join in, attempts to crush such a revolution. At the same time, such a revolution would shake awake and provide a powerful positive shock to literally billions of people everywhere, shattering the sense that no alternative to this terrible world is possible. Overall, it would almost certainly contribute, in a very significant way, to a repolarization on a global scale.

    All this would need to be taken into account by the leading forces of this revolution, as an important part of its strategic orientation and objectives.

    In all this, and in everything I have spoken to in the course of this talk, this fundamental principle stands out: Revolution is a very serious matter, and it must be approached seriously and in a consistently scientific way.

    In Conclusion: Everyone who really wants to see the world changed, in a profoundly positive, emancipating way, and everyone who thinks about whether this is actually possible, or wishes it could be, needs to seriously engage what has been spoken to here, take up the scientific revolutionary orientation, method and approach of the new communism; become part of, and work tirelessly to build up, the organized forces for this revolution whose goal is nothing less than the emancipation of all oppressed people, everywhere, and ultimately all of humanity, from the horrors of this system and from any way in which people are exploited, oppressed, degraded and treated as less than human.

    To return to this crucial and urgent truth:

    This is one of those rare times and circumstances when revolution becomes possible, not just because this system is always a horror, but because the crisis and deep divisions in society now can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means.

    There is a great challenge that must be met, and a tremendous amount of work and struggle that must be carried out, with scientifically grounded determination and boldness, in order to make possible the emancipating revolutionary resolution.

    There is no guarantee of achieving all this, but there is a real possibility. And what we do—what all those who want to see a world and a future worth living in, where human beings everywhere can truly flourish in the fullness of their humanity—what we all do can make a tremendous difference in what the outcome of all this will be.

    There is the possibility, there is the challenge.

    Dare to become part of the forces for this historic revolution. Dare to work resolutely to make this a reality. Dare to struggle, dare to win.

    Announcing New work by BA, SOMETHING TERRIBLE, OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING:

     

    Bob Avakian

     

    BOB AVAKIAN:
    A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Learn more about Bob Avakian and the new communism

    A DECLARATION, A CALL TO GET ORGANIZED NOW FOR A REAL REVOLUTION

     


    cover of pamphlet Bob Avakian: This Is A Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So And How To Seize On This Rare Opportunity

     

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION IS POSSIBLE
    THIS RARE TIME MUST BE SEIZED

    Important excerpts from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating”*

    The reality is that such a revolution can succeed, but this is possible, particularly up against powerful ruling forces, like in this country, only in rare times and circumstances. And here is a very important truth: This is one of those rare times and circumstances.

    This rare time must not be wasted, squandered, thrown away. Rather, revolution must be actively prepared for and vigorously, consistently worked for—now, and in an ongoing way—to build up the scientifically oriented and powerfully organized forces for, and to prepare the ground for, this revolution.

    And that is why we revolutionary communists say:

    [E]veryone who can’t stand this world the way it is ... who is sick and tired of so many people being treated as less than human ... who knows that the claim of “liberty and justice for all” is a cruel lie ... who is righteously enraged that injustice and inequality go on, and on, and on, despite false promises and honeyed words from people in power (or those seeking power) ... everyone who agonizes about where things are headed and the fact that to be young now means being denied a decent future, or any future at all ... everyone who has ever dreamed about something much better, or even wondered whether that is possible ... everyone who hungers for a world without oppression, exploitation, poverty, and destruction of the environment ... everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: You need to be part of this revolution....

    We’re talking about a real revolution, not playing around with a few changes that leave this system in place and in power, while benefitting only a small number. As the “Declaration and Call” makes very clear:

    A revolution means a force of millions, drawn from many different parts of society and organized for an all-out fight to overthrow this system and replace it with a radically different and much better economic and political system, a socialist system, based on meeting the needs of the people and carrying forward the fight for a communist world where there will finally be an end, everywhere, to the exploitation, oppression, and destruction of the environment that is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism. Anything less than this revolution will completely fail to deal with the root of all the problems or lead to the actual solution....1

    There is some important historical experience to learn from—situations where a ruling class was no longer able to rule in the “normal way” that people had been conditioned to accept, and a real possibility arose of putting an end to the existing system, even one which had been so powerfully entrenched that such a profound change had long seemed impossible. This has happened especially when the ruling class, or a section of the ruling class, of that system no longer believes in, and more or less openly abandons, what had been the “cohering norms”—the regulating set of beliefs and processes—of that system....

    As is becoming more clear every day, there are deep, and continually deepening, divisions not only in this country overall but among the ruling powers of this system....One part of those ruling powers, represented by the Republican Party, no longer believes in or feels bound by what have been the “cohering norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. This is leading, and will increasingly lead, to further, deepening divisions and bitter clashes throughout society, as well as “at the top.” All the ruling institutions of this system will be increasingly affected by this. The polarization will continue to sharpen, with forces grouped around and led by the Republican Party becoming even more aggressive in insisting on imposing, including by violent means, their vision of what “makes America great,” with all the very real horrors, on top of horrors, that this involves.

    All this in itself will have contradictory effects—some definitely negative, but some positive, or with positive potential. And, as this unfolds, this profound truth will be more and more forcefully demonstrated: The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means.

    With all this, what is urgently needed, what is possible—and what must be actively, tirelessly worked for, in order for there to truly be a positive outcome to all this—is a fundamentally different alignment in the country as a whole: a Repolarization that is favorable for, and brings forward the necessary forces for, Revolution—a real revolution to overthrow this system, and bring into being a radically different and much better system....

    Things are not as they were in the past, and the reality is this:  The profound divisions, within the ruling class, and in the society overall, cannot be smoothed over—they are only going to become deeper and sharper, more acute and antagonistic. Here is the fundamental truth that needs to be clearly and deeply understood: These divisions

    cannot be resolved within the framework that has existed, and has held things together, for nearly 150 years, since shortly after the end of the Civil War which led to the abolition of slavery—they cannot be resolved on the basis of the capitalist “democracy” that has been the “normal” means of capitalist rule (dictatorship) for so long.

    And:

    This rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people.

    It is extremely important to deeply understand this:

    As this situation develops, and the ruling class is more and more unable to rule in the old way, society and daily life for masses of people, from different parts of society, can become increasingly unsettled and chaotic, with frequent “disruptions” of the “normal” way things have been.

    And as “the normal way” society has been ruled is failing to hold things together—and society is increasingly being ripped apart—this can shake people’s belief that “the way things have always been” is the only way things can be. It can make people more open to questioning—in a real sense it can force people to question—the way things have been, and whether they have to stay that way. And this is all the more likely to happen if the revolutionary forces are out among the people shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening, and why, and bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way.

    This is a crucial part of how a revolutionary situation could be brought into being—a situation where it becomes possible to actually bring down this system.

    On the other hand, “left to itself”—that is, if the current character and dynamics of all this remain on the same course they are now on—this situation, the divisions characterizing it, and the outcome resulting from it are almost certainly going to become even more terribly negative. So, all this must be radically changed, in what is a relatively brief, “compressed” period of time—not just weeks or months, but also not decades. If things have not already fully erupted before then, the scheduled presidential election of 2024 is very likely to be a critical focal point and turning point, through which the fascist Republicans will attempt to gain and lock down power over society, and put an end to any possibility of a future “transfer of power” away from them.

    With the Republicans’ continuation of the Big Lie that the last (2020) presidential election was stolen from Trump, their moves to suppress votes, and their whole orientation that, in any case, with regard to the 2024 presidential election (assuming there is one), the only acceptable outcome is that they are declared and confirmed as the winner—all this has made clear that they will allow no “peaceful transfer of power” in government, unless it results in their coming to power. Growing numbers of fascist-oriented people in this country are prepared to use violence in pursuit of their perverse notion of “making America great again”—and the Republican leadership is ready to resort to this, if they cannot come to power otherwise. Already Republican elected officials, including members of Congress, are whipping up sentiments in favor of such violence and supporting fascist mobs who have engaged in this violence.

    In the situation of the 2020 presidential election, defeating and ousting Trump through that election was possible, and was important to do, as a tactical move to prevent the further consolidation of fascist rule right then. Even with that electoral defeat, however, Trump and his supporters nearly succeeded in pulling off a coup that would have resulted in his remaining in power, in defiance of the outcome of the election and the “peaceful transfer of power” from one section of the ruling class to another. And things have moved, and are continuing to rapidly move, beyond the situation that existed with that 2020 election and in its immediate aftermath.

    Further, this system’s electoral process itself works against the kind of fundamental change that is now urgently needed. Among other things, it lowers people’s horizons, restricting “realistic choices” to what is possible within the confines of this system and conditioning people to view and approach things on the terms of this system. Continuing to vote for Democrats, and attempting, through the electoral process, to prevent a successful Republican-fascist seizure and consolidation of power, will very likely fail, and more fundamentally will contribute to the continuation of things on the disastrous course they are now on, with terrible consequences for the billions of people on this planet—for humanity as a whole. 

    As I emphasized in my [2021] New Year’s Statement:

    The electoral defeat of the Trump/Pence regime only “buys some time”—both in relation to the imminent danger posed by the fascism this regime represents, and more fundamentally in terms of the potentially existential crisis humanity is increasingly facing as a consequence of being bound to the dynamics of this system of capitalism-imperialism. But, in essential terms, time is not on the side of the struggle for a better future for humanity. 2

    Time, and with it the current momentum of things toward a disastrous outcome, is moving on. The time that still does exist must not be squandered in what would, especially now, be meaningless maneuvering within the framework of this system and its elections. This time must be seized, with the necessary urgency, to build toward the only resolution that can avoid that disaster, and wrench something truly positive out of all this: an actual revolution....

    Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond. Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force. 

    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    As the “Declaration and Call” makes clear, in order to win masses of people to revolution, there is a tremendous amount of struggle that needs to go on, not just against the system that is the source of the horrors that people are continually subjected to, but also against ways of thinking and acting among the people that actually “internalize,” and serve to perpetuate, this system and the ways of thinking it promotes, with its monstrously oppressive relations and putrid values—ways of thinking and acting that work against the repolarization that is urgently needed to have a real chance at seizing on this rare opportunity to make revolution.

    In Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis, I pointed to the characterization of the current polarization by the fascist former Republican congressman Steve King—that there is a lot of talk about another civil war, and one side (the fascist side) is heavily armed (with 8 trillion bullets) while the other (“woke”) side can’t decide which bathroom to use.3 Even as this involves some real distortion, and definite slander against trans people, there is a demented insight, and too much of the truth, in this observation by that fascist King. And, if this polarization remains essentially unchanged, it will have even worse implications, as things develop and further intensify.

    Very much related to and an expression of this, is the reality that today, particularly among the middle classes, things are still way too much in line with the words of the poet Yeats: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” It is fascists who have declared “this is war!”—who viscerally feel that the way things are going is completely intolerable to them, is an existential threat to a way of life and a country that they believe is worth being part of. And, in their demented minds, the government (or government that is in the hands of, or strongly influenced by, the Democrats) is working to continue things on this course, and is therefore completely illegitimate. At the same time, among what can rightly be called “decent people,” who are opposed to these fascists, there is way too much obliviousness, ignorance and ignore-ance—or even continuing denial—of what is going on, way too much being lulled by a sleepy sense that the way things are going is favorable to how they want things to go, or at least that “things will work out” in a way that is in accord with their inclinations. Or, to the degree that there is a recognition that this is not the case (for example, with the accelerating environmental crisis), this has led far too much to defeatism, cynicism, and passivity.

    But that is not all there is to the problem. As I also noted in Hope For Humanity:

    [A]nother element of this that we can’t overlook is that, while a lot of what [Steve] King describes applies in a certain demented way, particularly to progressive or so-called “woke” middle class people, there is another kind of problem with regard to more basic oppressed people, and in particular the youth—a big problem that their guns are now aimed at each other ... this is something that needs to be radically transformed in building a movement for an actual revolution.

     

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: MAJOR TURNING POINTS AND RARE OPPORTUNITIES

    Or... Why did Lenin talk about World War 1 as a “stage manager” of revolution?...

    And why did Mao say, We should thank Japan for invading China?

    Let’s begin with this: In the most fundamental sense, communist revolutions do not come about simply as a result of the revolutionary work and struggle of the communists.

    Why am I raising this? To argue that what communists do is unimportant?! No—obviously not. It is of definite and vital importance for communists to work consistently, and struggle vigorously, with determination and creativity, to win masses of people to see the need for and become actively involved in preparing for and then carrying out the overthrow of the oppressive system, in order to bring into being a radically different and emancipating system. (And clearly revolutions could not come about as a result of the revolutionaries carrying out something other than consistent revolutionary work and struggle.)

    But revolutions do not proceed in a straight line—and it is crucial to grasp, and act decisively in relation to, those rare times when a profound, qualitative change in the situation opens up the possibility for major advance for revolution, perhaps even the possibility of carrying things all the way to the overthrow of the existing system and the establishment of a radically different and much better system.

    This possibility may not be, and generally is not, immediately apparent, and on the contrary what is often more readily seen on the surface is the way in which, in the short term, the situation is worsening.

    The point is that all this can only be correctly grasped, and acted on, with a consistently scientific method and approach.

    One of the most important things that such a scientific method and approach makes clear is this: Revolutions are made possible, in the most fundamental sense, as a result of the intensification of the contradictions of the oppressive system, leading to crucial turning points, providing rare opportunities for major revolutionary advance, even potentially opening the way for the victory of the revolution. And the prospects for revolution hinge to a great extent on whether the conscious forces for this revolution not only carry out consistent revolutionary work and struggle, but more specifically whether they recognize—and on that basis act boldly and with scientifically grounded determination, to take full advantage of—these crucial turning points and all-too-rare opportunities.

    Of course, the role of communists is not to wait around passively for such crucial turning points and rare opportunities. On the contrary—and this is a basic point of orientation in the new communism which I have brought forward—communists must continually work to maximize the development toward, and accumulate forces for, the revolution that is needed: applying the approach of hastening while awaiting the necessary conditions that make it possible to go all out in the fight for revolution, with a real chance to win. And then, when the necessary conditions have come into being, it is of crucial importance to act decisively—to lead masses of people, in their millions, to actually seize power.

    But simply going along carrying out “routine” work in the name of revolution, actually lacking any revolutionary orientation and sense of urgency—“tolling the bell” timelessly, like monks in a monastery, paying no attention to the larger developments in the world, and in particular the way the fundamental contradictions of the ruling system are becoming much more acutely posed than in “normal times”—this will result in failure to grasp the potential this opens up for revolutionary advance and will lead to throwing away the rare opportunity.

    The successful communist-led revolutions, first in Russia and then in China, during the first half of the last century, illustrate these crucial lessons. (Even though the socialist systems that were established through revolution, first in Russia/the Soviet Union and then in China, were eventually overturned and capitalism restored in both countries, the essential points I have emphasized here are highlighted by the experiences of these revolutions in leading masses of people in overthrowing the oppressive old order and establishing a new, revolutionary society and government.)

    Russia: World War 1 as a “Stage Manager” of Revolution

    For the Russian revolution, it was World War 1, beginning in 1914, that greatly heightened the contradictions of the capitalist-imperialist system overall and in a particularly acute way within Russia. (This was a war between rival imperialist powers for the dominant position in the world, and in particular the domination and exploitation of vast colonial empires especially in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.) As this war unfolded over several years, and intensified the contradictions that led to the war, it made the objective basis and possibility for revolution more favorable, although this possibility had to be firmly grasped and actively worked on—and the opportunity to overthrow the old order had to be decisively seized, when that opportunity arose toward the end of this war. 

    But it is worth noting that for some time before the start of World War 1, and then during much of that war, the Russian communists (the Bolsheviks) were severely weakened—with their leader Lenin and some other leading figures in exile, desperately hanging on in extremely difficult circumstances (with some comrades living, and even dying, on the streets). This difficult situation was to a large degree the result of the defeat of a revolutionary uprising in Russia in the decade before the start of World War 1 and the severe repression that followed that defeat. In those circumstances, many former supporters, or intellectual sympathizers, of the revolution adopted “philosophical” rationalizations for turning away from Marxism, and more than a few people within the ranks of the Bolsheviks retreated into self-indulgent individualism. Further, for much of World War 1, because the Bolsheviks took and maintained the principled stand of refusing to support their own imperialist ruling class in that war—while exposing and denouncing the war overall as imperialist—they were very unpopular among large sections of the Russian people, who especially at the start of the war were swept up in patriotic fervor in support of Russia’s involvement in the war.

    But as the war dragged on, with the Russian ruling class continuing to be actively involved in this war that was causing enormous casualties for the Russian troops and terrible suffering for the masses of people in Russia, the Bolsheviks were able to increasingly win growing numbers of people and organize them into a powerful revolutionary force—including a section of the government armed forces that came over to the side of the revolution—and in the latter part of 1917 this revolutionary force succeeded in seizing power as the contradictions continued to intensify, largely as a result of the continuation of the war and the way it concentrated the underlying contradictions of the system of capitalism-imperialism.

    That is what Lenin meant when he said that this war, with all of its massive destruction and terrible suffering, was a “stage manager” of revolution. But this did not happen “automatically” as a result of the mounting horrors of the war. There would have been no revolution in Russia then if the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin, had not, first of all, maintained a principled stand in opposition to the war—going against the powerful tide of patriotic fervor at the beginning and for a good part of the war. Beyond that, there would have been no revolution in 1917 if Lenin had not provided decisive leadership in making the scientific analysis of the ways in which this war was greatly heightening the contradictions of the capitalist-imperialist system, overall and in a particularly acute way in Russia—or if the Bolsheviks had failed to apply this analysis and seize on the rare situation toward the end of the war when, as Lenin also put it, years and even decades of “normal times” became concentrated in months or even weeks of intensified contradictions and accelerated developments.

    The Chinese Revolution and the Japanese Invasion and Occupation of China

    In the late 1920s, after the slaughter of large numbers of Chinese Communists by reactionary forces headed by Chiang Kai-shek in Chinese urban areas, Mao Zedong led in making a crucial leap for the Chinese revolution: he headed a force of revolutionaries, recruited especially from among desperate sections of Chinese youth, to retreat into remote mountains and launch an armed struggle—a people’s war—against the oppressive and murderous government headed by Chiang Kai-shek (backed by “western” imperialists, including the U.S.). For several years, this people’s war succeeded in establishing and extending revolutionary base areas in the Chinese countryside and defeating successive attempts of the counter-revolutionary forces to suppress and liquidate these base areas and the revolutionary forces leading them. But, finally, in the mid-1930s, the Chiang Kai-shek government adopted new military strategy and tactics, which succeeded in forcing the revolutionaries to abandon the base areas and embark on what became known as the Long March, covering thousands of miles and ending up with the establishment of a new base area centered in Yenan in the interior of China.

    Particularly with the eventual victory of the Chinese revolution—with the final defeat of Chiang Kai-shek’s forces and the establishment of nationwide revolutionary political power in 1949—the Long March has come to be seen as a great revolutionary achievement. And it was. But it is also the case that, although this Long March did make possible a new and crucial stage in the Chinese revolution, the great majority of the revolutionary forces that embarked on this Long March—numbering in the tens and tens of thousands—died in the course of it. And it is entirely possible that not only those massive numbers of revolutionary fighters, but the revolution itself, could have been killed off—at least for a whole period of time—as a result of having to abandon the original base areas and carry out the tortuous Long March.

    As it turned out, even with the great losses, a significant force survived the Long March, and this force—having fought many battles and overcome many hardships—was further tempered and steeled. Then, as a result of the invasion and occupation of large parts of China by Japanese imperialism, it became both necessary and possible to rally broad sections of the Chinese people in opposition to this invasion and occupation. And the need for the broadest possible resistance against the Japanese occupation, as well as the weakened position of Chiang Kai-shek’s government as a result of this occupation, established both the necessity and the basis to enter into a united front with this Chiang Kai-shek government to fight the Japanese invaders. (Because of “the reality on the ground” Chiang Kai-shek was forced to agree to this united front, even though, during the course of the war of resistance against Japan, Chiang continued his attempts to wipe out the communist-led forces, while giving up more and more ground to the Japanese.)

    The result of all this was that, through the course of World War 2—which began in 1939 and finally ended in 1945 with the defeat of Japan and its allies, including Nazi Germany—the revolutionary forces in China led by Mao grew in numbers and strength; and, after a relatively brief interlude of attempted but failed negotiations with Chiang Kai-shek, through three more years of people’s war the revolution succeeded in thoroughly defeating the reactionary forces of the old order in 1949, capturing power throughout the Chinese mainland and forcing Chiang Kai-shek to flee to the island of Taiwan.

    As was the case with World War 1, this second world war came about because of the intensification of the basic contradictions of the system of capitalism-imperialism. But the course of World War 2, including the Japanese occupation of China and the war of resistance waged against that occupation, in which the revolutionary forces led by Mao played a decisive role—all this resulted in a major change in the power relations within China, in a direction more favorable for the revolution; and this prepared much of the ground for the fight for the final victory of the revolution in 1949. In a real sense, the Japanese invasion and occupation of China constituted a kind of “fulcrum,” shifting the terms of the revolutionary struggle and providing the objective basis for a crucial advance of the revolution, after the devastating setback (the need to abandon the initial base areas of the revolution) which made necessary the Long March, with not only its real achievements but also its great losses.

    This is what Mao meant when he said that Japan should be thanked for invading China. Obviously, Mao was not unaware of, or unconcerned about, the terrible atrocities which Japan’s occupation forces imposed on the Chinese people. His point was that the Japanese invasion and occupation, with all the destruction and suffering it brought for hundreds of millions of Chinese people, and for the Chinese nation as a whole, ended up contributing, in a major way, to the eventual victory of the Chinese revolution, and with it the possibility of uprooting the fundamental and overall causes of the horrific exploitation and oppression to which the masses of Chinese people had been subjected not just for years and decades but for centuries and millennia.

    Mao’s ironic statement—we should thank Japan for invading—reflects the reality that the invasion and occupation of China by Japanese imperialism ended up contributing, in a major way, to the success of the Chinese revolution. But this revolution could not have succeeded if those leading it, and in particular Mao, had not grasped and acted in accordance with the changing objective conditions brought about by the Japanese invasion and occupation, particularly as this took place in the overall context of World War 2—and then the qualitatively changed conditions again, within China and in the world as a whole, with the end of World War 2, in which Japan was defeated and its occupation of China ended.

    Crucial Lessons for This Rare Time When Revolution Has Become—More—Possible

    Of course, no one can say with certainty that the Chinese revolution could not have eventually succeeded even if Japan had not invaded (or that there could never have been a communist-led revolution in Russia without World War 1). As Mao also emphasized, Marxists are not fortune-tellers. Marxism—communism—is a continually developing science, which proceeds on the basis of analyzing a continually changing objective reality.

    The point, once again, is that revolutions do not proceed in a straight line, but through many twists and turns, including setbacks and defeats, sometimes very serious setbacks and defeats, along the way. The actual process is in line with another statement by Mao, which applies to even a successful revolution—that it is a matter of fighting and failing, repeatedly, until victory is finally achieved. And, all along the way, there is a need to apply a scientific method and approach to learn not only from advances, and from what prove to be correct policies, but also from mistakes, difficulties, setbacks and defeats, to continually make a scientific analysis of the constantly changing situation, and to recognize and seize on openings for advance, especially situations where there are profound, qualitative changes in the objective situation providing the potential for major advance, even perhaps the victory of the revolution.

    Through the application of this scientific method and approach, it can be, and has been, firmly established that there is a basis and a possibility—not a certainty or “inevitability” but an actual basis and possibility—for revolution aiming for a communist world to ultimately triumph. And even while today the conditions in the U.S. and the world are vastly different than they were during the different phases of the Chinese revolution, in the first half of the last century, or the Russian revolution in 1917—and revolution in this country obviously will not and cannot come about as some kind of “copy” of either of those revolutions—especially in these tumultuous times now, the possibility of an actual revolution is real, yes right in this powerful imperialist USA. But this possibility cannot be grasped without the scientific method and approach of communism, as it has been further developed with the new communism. And a revolution will not, and cannot, be brought about without applying this method and approach to continually make, and act on, a scientific assessment of the constantly, and now rapidly, changing objective reality—including the daunting challenges and vexing difficulties, but most fundamentally the development of the contradictions of the system of capitalism-imperialism and the consequences of this, on a world level as well as within this country itself.

    This scientific approach is especially crucial in those times when the contradictions of this system are changing in a major way—and, above all, those rare times when, as Lenin noted, years and decades of “normal times” become concentrated in months or even weeks, when contradictions are repeatedly intensified and changes rapidly accelerated, heightening the prospect of great disaster for humanity but also the possibility of wrenching a radically different and far better future, through revolution.

    This is one of those rare times.

    Why? As explained in Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points,

    Brutal and murderous white supremacy, male supremacy, and other oppressive relations, the deepening crisis in society and the world overall, including the constant wars and the continuing destruction of the environment: all this cannot ultimately be resolved, in any positive way, within the confines of the system that rules in this country and dominates in the world as a whole—the system of capitalism-imperialism. Under the rule of this system, all this will only get worse. The deepening divisions within this country now, from top to bottom, mean that those who have ruled in this country for so long (the capitalist-imperialist ruling class) can no longer rule, as a “unified force,” in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept—with a system of government that has an outer shell of “democracy” to cover over the fact that it is an actual capitalist dictatorship at its core, relying fundamentally on the armed force of the institutions of “official violence,” the police and the military. Because of big changes in this country and the world overall, one part of the ruling class, represented by the Republican Party, has become fascist: they no longer believe in or feel bound by what have been the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. And the other section of the ruling class, represented by the Democratic Party, has no real answer to this—except trying to maintain the “normal way” that the oppressive rule of this system has been enforced for hundreds of years, while the fascists are determined to tear up those “norms” and rule through more openly and aggressively oppressive means, without the traditional disguise of supposed “democracy for all.”

    The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means, or radically emancipating revolutionary means. And this resolution could quite possibly happen, one way or the other, within the next few years. This rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people. In a situation like this, things that have basically remained the same, for decades, can radically change in a very short period of time. This rare time must not be wasted— it must be seized on to have a real fighting chance to bring about a truly emancipating revolutionary resolution, and not be subjected to a terrible, reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive resolution.5

    This, once more, requires resolutely “going against the tide” of spontaneous mass sentiments, including the stubborn tendency of many to remain stuck in the well-worn rut of relying on “the way things have always been,” even as that “way” is being profoundly disrupted and shattered by the intensifying, and even potentially existential, “earthquakes” erupting in this country and the world overall. As I have emphasized before, people—masses of people, in different parts of society—need to be shaken awake, through sharp, and at times fierce, struggle to get them to confront the very real horrors shaping up on the near horizon but also the real possibility for a revolutionary way forward out of this madness. This means breaking with the dominant relations and ways of thinking of this putrid system of capitalism-imperialism, including its quicksand trap of elections to choose between the Democrat and Republican representatives of the ruling class of this system.

    The following, which I wrote years ago now, has greatly heightened and urgent meaning today:

    Indeed, if and when conflicts among different sections of the ruling class reach the point where they are beginning to assume antagonistic proportions themselves, that is a sign of extremely deep and acute cracks and fissures in the entire established order; and such a situation must be seized by the oppressed not to side with one section of the bourgeoisie against another—thus helping the ruling class to “repair” the rupturing old order and reinforce its dictatorship, in one form or another—but instead to rise in revolutionary struggle to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie altogether.6

    Masses of people: all those who suffer so horribly in the “normal times” of living under the rule of this system of capitalism-imperialism...all those who hunger for a more just world and a future worth living in, but whose future will be something truly terrible if things are allowed to continue on the terms set by this system... Masses of people, in continually growing numbers, must be made aware of the meaning and implications of this rare time, including through fierce struggle as necessary to win them to raise their sights and recognize not only the necessity but the possibility to seize on this rare time to make revolution and wrench something really positive, yes something truly emancipating, out of this rare time.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points is available at revcom.us. A fuller analysis of why this is a rare time when revolution becomes more possible, even in a powerful imperialist country like the U.S., is contained in the major work by Bob Avakian Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution, which is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    2. This statement by Bob Avakian is from his book Democracy: Can’t We Do Better Than That? (published by Banner Press, 1986); emphasis added. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 1: We Are Serious

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction:

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]5

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.6 (Emphasis added.)

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following is the first in a series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.7

     This part one contains an excerpt from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” (which is available at revcom.us); and then an excerpt from a presentation to a gathering of revcoms (revolutionary communists) in 2022.

    Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond. Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.

    And then, once this revolutionary force is brought into being, everything would be focused on how to actually fight to win.

    At that point, this force of millions would need to be mobilized and wielded in such a way as to make clear that it is going for a complete, revolutionary change—that it will not back down from this goal and accept anything less. In this way, it would constitute a powerful pole attracting and drawing forward even broader numbers of people from all parts of society—and it would pose a definite challenge and call to people everywhere in society, including in all the existing institutions of this system, to come over to the side of this revolution.

     

     

    Something Terrible or Something Truly Emancipating - Square, wo "NEW"

     

    ~~~~~~~~~~

    As I said in the Dialogue with Cornel West: It is important that we are right, and righteous—it is important that we stand with the wretched of the Earth and stand up against their oppression—but we have to win. We have to actually shatter the rule of this monstrous system, and bring something radically different and much better into being. Or else, we will at best “fight the good fight” but the horrors will continue, and get even worse.8

    The sixth point of the Points of Attention for the Revolution says this: “We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.”9

    I have highlighted the words “Because we are serious” in order to emphasize that this Point of Attention is not a declaration of some idealist pacifist notion that the struggle against this system can and must always remain non-violent. First of all, while we are against all violence against the people and among the people, and at this stage we do not initiate (and we do not encourage others to initiate) violence, at the same time we strongly recognize and uphold the right of people to defend themselves against unjust attacks. And, more strategically, we scientifically understand that: the fundamental source of violence in the world is this system of capitalism-imperialism, that by far the greatest perpetrators of unjust violence are the ruling classes of the capitalist-imperialist powers, most of all this country—and that the fundamental reason why the abolition of this system cannot be achieved peacefully is, once again, because of the nature of this system itself, and the fact that those who rule in it would never allow their system to be swept away without attempting to violently suppress and crush any such attempt.

    This is what it means that we are serious about all this.

    It is with this understanding, and this orientation, that we have to very seriously approach the question of how to actually win—win in the more immediate fight, historically speaking, to seize power—and win in a way that lays the basis for winning in the largest sense, with the goal of uprooting all oppression and exploitation, all over the world, bringing into being a communist world in which human beings can truly thrive with the fullest expression of their humanity.

     

    Next >>

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-Imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. A film and the text of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Actually Make Revolution are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN. This film of the Dialogue is also available at revcom.us/BA's Collected Works. [back]

    5. The Points of Attention for the Revolution are available as well at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction: 

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]6

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.7 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically-based determination, for this revolution.

    The following excerpt from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution is the second in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.8

     

    Let’s begin with the statement from HOW WE CAN WIN that everything we are doing is “aiming for something very definite—a revolutionary situation: Where the system and its ruling powers are in a serious crisis” and “millions and millions of people refuse to be ruled in the old way—and are willing and determined to put everything on the line to bring down this system and bring into being a new society and government that will be based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North AmericaThat is the time to go all-out to win. That is what we need to be actively working for and preparing for now.”9 Key components and signs of a revolutionary crisis are that the violence used “to enforce this system is seen by large parts of society for what it is—murderous and illegitimate” and that “the conflicts among the ruling forces become really deep and sharp—and masses of people respond to this not by falling in behind one side or the other of the oppressive rulers, but by taking advantage of this situation to build up the forces for revolution.” This underlines the great importance of ongoing work and compelling struggle to break people away from the “hold” of the political operatives and media mouthpieces of this system.

    I will speak more fully to how we need to be actively preparing now for a revolutionary situation. But, first, in order to have the fullest sense of this, we need to work back from that situation and what would be required then—how the all-out fight would need to be waged—to have a real chance to defeat the powerful, violent forces of this system. Here again, it is crucially important to approach things in a serious and scientific way. This is what is done in “On the Possibility of Revolution,” which (as noted in HOW WE CAN WIN) “sets forth the foundation—the strategic conception and doctrine—for how to fight with a real chance of winning,” once the necessary conditions have been brought into being. “On the Possibility of Revolution” (which is available at revcom.us) is an important document that deserves serious study.10 Here, I am going to examine some of the key points that are gone into in depth in “On the Possibility of Revolution” and are summarized in a more concentrated way in HOW WE CAN WIN.

    A big problem for the revolution is what could be called the “encirclement and suppression” of the people at the base of society who are subjected to one injury and insult after another under this system, and who yearn for an end to all this madness, but who are, in a certain sense, “surrounded” in the society at large by sections of people who do not directly suffer the same daily outrages. To put it simply, there are large numbers of poor and bitterly oppressed people in this country, but there is also a big middle class. Although much of this middle class is not doing as well economically as in the past, there is still a big gap between the middle class and the people at the base of society, and this big divide is one of the main reasons why people—even people who say they would like to see a revolution, but who just look at things on the surface and do not analyze the situation scientifically—say that revolution is not possible. And it is something that the ruling class, and its institutions of repression and control, have seized on, in their efforts to isolate and contain, as brutally as they deem necessary, those whom they most viciously oppress and who represent potentially the greatest threat to their system. This is something these ruling powers would seek to do in an even more systematic and greatly intensified way in a situation where they were confronted by an organized revolutionary struggle aimed at overthrowing their whole system. It is one of the main obstacles the revolutionary forces would need to overcome in order to have a real chance of winning. Not only the strategic approach and basic operational principles, but also certain particular tactical measures of the revolutionary forces—including concentrating forces to repeatedly break through and break down the other side’s physical encirclement of areas of revolutionary strength—would need to be developed and applied to address this major contradiction once the all-out struggle were underway. But confronting this basic problem cannot be left until the time when the all-out struggle is raging. This is something I spoke to in very plain and stark terms in THE NEW COMMUNISM, where I emphasized that we need to “transform this situation so that, when the time comes, it’s not going to be the case that they can easily contain this revolution to those sections of the people that they’d... just as soon kill off anyway.”11 And, as is also emphasized in Part 2 of Birds Cannot Give Birth to Crocodiles, But Humanity Can Soar Beyond the Horizon: “political and ideological work with this contradiction in mind would need to be carried out during the whole period before the emergence of the necessary conditions and... [the all-out] struggle is launched.”12 The more this work is carried out, from here forward, the more the revolutionary forces would be able to counter and defeat the military “encirclement and suppression” of the strongholds of the revolution when the time came for the all-out fight.

    As I put it in THE NEW COMMUNISM, a defining contradiction of this all-out fight is the fact that, at the start, the other side “would likely still be very powerful in military terms, although weak, and in crisis, politically”; while the revolutionary side “would be weak, at the beginning, in military terms, but strong, and on the rise, and having a great deal of initiative, politically, which then would have to be transformed into initiative militarily.” The operational principles and stratagems that are outlined in the final part of HOW WE CAN WIN, speaking specifically to “How We Could Defeat Them,” are particular applications of the approach to dealing with this contradiction.

    An overall principle that flows from this contradiction is the fact that, once underway, the all-out fight would need to be protracted but also finite. “Protracted” means drawn out—it would not be a situation where the outcome, if it were favorable for the revolution, could be decided in a very short period of time. “Finite” means having definite limits—not extended indefinitely. Given that, at the beginning, the balance of power would almost certainly be heavily in favor of the forces of counter-revolution (the forces of the old ruling class and those fighting with it to defeat the revolution) in terms of their military organization and experience, as well as their armaments, the revolutionary forces would need to draw out (protract) the conflict for a certain period, in order to transform the situation into one in which they could overcome those strategic disadvantages. At the same time, because this all-out fight should only be launched by the revolutionary forces in a situation marked by a deep and acute revolutionary crisis and a revolutionary people in the millions and millions, if it were protracted over too long a period, without the revolution advancing in a fairly limited period of time toward the situation where it began to have the upper hand, then the advantages of a revolutionary situation would tend to be lost, the overall initiative would return to the counter-revolution, and the allegiance of significant sections of society, including in the middle classes, that was lost by the old ruling class, would be regained to a degree that could spell defeat for the revolution. This touches on a very important point of strategic orientation: When it comes down to it, what happens on the battlefield will be decisive in determining the outcome but, for the revolutionary forces, one of the key objectives of the fighting would be to demoralize and disintegrate the ranks of the other side, both their actual fighting forces and their broader “civilian support,” leading to further loss of allegiance and of initiative on the counter-revolutionary side; and, to the degree this succeeded, it would be a key element in shifting the balance of forces in favor of the revolution. The all-out struggle will not just mean going up against the institutional forces of the old ruling class but will also involve “a civil war between two sections of the people,” requiring the revolution to both defeat and disintegrate but also, as far as possible, win over parts of the armed forces among the population that started out on the other side....

    To begin, “backbone forces”—especially youth strongly committed to and actively involved in the revolution—would need to be transformed “into organized fighting forces in key strategic areas” and provided with the necessary training and equipment. Doing this would depend on the recognition that the revolutionary situation is clearly emerging. On the one hand, trying to do this before the immediate approach of a revolutionary situation would almost certainly lead to this effort being easily targeted and quickly crushed. On the other side of things, once a revolutionary situation were at hand, the shattering of the “normal conditions” and “normal functioning” of the system that such a situation would involve, would make it possible not to easily and smoothly organize, train, and equip fighting forces for the revolution, but to wrench, out of the intensifying situation, the basis for doing this. The point is that doing this, without being wiped out, would be a process of very intense struggle, but the dramatically new situation would provide the possibility for waging, and winning, this beginning struggle.

    Similarly, providing for the basic logistical needs of this revolutionary fighting force, to enable it to initiate the all-out fight, without being immediately crushed, and then to quickly regroup and once again take the initiative and maintain momentum overall, without being “fixed” and annihilated, would also involve intense struggle, and would require defeating enemy blockades and attacks and penetration directed against strongholds of the revolution and focused on locating and destroying those who make up the revolutionary fighting forces and their logistical sources. All this would require “misdirection” and surprise in operations. And all this would depend on millions more, beyond the backbone fighting forces, being organized concretely as “reserves” and as networks of support and supply for these fighting forces, and the willingness and ability of these “reserves” to “absorb” and protect the fighting forces and their equipment and logistical supplies, and enable them to repeatedly regroup and seize the initiative. This would also require continual “calibration” of the size of fighting units and their operations, at any given time, to enable these fighting units, upon completion of an engagement, to “melt back into” the larger revolutionary “reserves,” while at the same time the conditions are being created to allow them to remain active, in training and in initiating further engagements with the enemy.

    The approach of capturing equipment from the enemy is important for any revolutionary force which starts out facing an enemy with an overwhelming advantage in destructive power and, for some time, a much greater capacity to produce more of this. But HOW WE CAN WIN also emphasizes that utilizing equipment captured from the enemy must be done in ways that “fit the fighting strategy of the revolution.” Not all equipment that might be captured from the other side would be usable by the revolutionary forces—to try to use some captured equipment could put requirements on the logistical capabilities of the revolution that could not be met or sustained, and/or propel the revolutionary forces into fighting in ways that would run counter to the strategy the revolution would need to follow, and/or violate the basic principles and goals for which the revolution is being fought. It has everything to do with what the revolution is all about in the first place, as well as whether or not it has a real chance of succeeding, that HOW WE CAN WIN emphasizes that the revolutionary fighting forces must, “Always conduct operations and act in ways that are in line with the emancipating outlook and goals of the revolution.” Still, in addition to developing means to enlist masses of people in creating equipment the revolutionary forces could utilize, ways could be developed to utilize a great deal of equipment captured from the enemy that are consistent with the strategic orientation, the ways of fighting, and the goals of the revolution. All this would be vital for the advance and ultimate success of the revolution.

    As stressed in HOW WE CAN WIN, the revolutionary forces would need to fight only on favorable terms and avoid decisive encounters, which would determine the outcome of the whole thing, until the balance of forces had shifted overwhelmingly in favor of the revolution. This flows from what has been discussed regarding the overwhelmingly superior destructive force of the counter-revolution at the start of the all-out fight. What is also very important to underline is that this is not merely a question of orientation and intent on the part of the revolutionary forces. Given its overwhelming superiority of force, for some time the enemy would continually seek precisely to force the revolutionaries into situations where they would either be compelled to fight decisive battles that they were bound to lose, or they would have to surrender outright—leading to the total defeat of the revolution, or putting it well on the road to defeat. The point is that being able to avoid potentially disastrous decisive encounters with the enemy would itself be a matter of intense struggle, including that the revolutionary forces could often find themselves having to wage a determined struggle just to avoid being trapped in a situation where they would have to fight such a decisive encounter, or surrender. This is why HOW WE CAN WIN speaks of actively avoiding unfavorable decisive encounters and fighting only on favorable terms. It is why it also emphasizes that, even when the “balance of forces” has shifted in favor of the revolution, it would still be necessary, when conducting operations aimed at achieving final victory, to continue to “calibrate” those operations, “so that decisive encounters are still avoided until the forces of the old order have been brought to the brink of total defeat”—which would then be the time to “fully, finally, rout and dismantle the remaining enemy forces.”

    And it is because of the same concerns that HOW WE CAN WIN, while speaking to the importance of building up political and logistical bases of support for the revolution, at the same time stresses that the revolutionary forces should “not attempt to openly control and govern territory, until the necessary ‘favorable balance of forces’ has been created.” To attempt to do so prematurely would make this territory, the people within it, and the revolutionary forces defending and governing it, highly vulnerable to attack from an enemy that, again, would have overwhelming destructive power; and it would put the revolutionaries in the position of having the responsibility—and what, under the circumstances, would be an unsupportable burden—to meet the basic requirements of a functioning society, and the people within it. The point, the goal, is to carry forward the fight to thoroughly defeat, and dismantle, the forces of the old order, and on that basis to bring into being a new, revolutionary state that can embark on the thorough transformation of society with the ultimate aim of overcoming and eliminating all relations of exploitation and oppression, everywhere in the world.

    This ultimate aim and internationalist orientation of the revolution is also why HOW WE CAN WIN speaks to the need for the revolutionary forces in this country to correctly handle the relation between the all-out fight, when the time comes, and the situation—including the character and level of revolutionary struggle—in countries to the south (and the north). As we know, this country was created through and amidst warfare; and, as I spoke to earlier, it has continually expanded its territory and extended the reach of its empire through armed conquest, enslavement and other forms of extreme exploitation. In carrying out the fight to overthrow the violent rule of this system, both as a matter of orientation and principle, and in terms of strengthening the basis for succeeding, it will be crucial to refuse to be bound by the borders that have been established and the walls that have been erected through the murder and marauding of the ruling capitalist-imperialists of this country, but instead to actively unite with peoples to the south, and the north, in the struggle against this capitalist-imperialist monster, and advance the revolution overall, in this part of the world and in the world as a whole.

    In contrast to the revolutionary forces, the forces of the old order, especially when faced with the prospect that their oppressive system could actually be overthrown and dismantled, would resort to all kinds of barbarity to preserve this system. As it is put in “On the Possibility of Revolution”:

    It is not that the imperialists would hold back from bringing down terrible destructive force against the revolutionaries and the masses of people who supported them—given their reactionary nature, it would be necessary to reckon with the fact that the imperialists would do this—but the decisive question would be whether, through doing this, the imperialists would be able to isolate and destroy the organized forces of the revolution; or whether, on the contrary, these barbaric actions of the imperialists would deepen the hatred of growing numbers of people for the imperialists, stiffen the resolve of those already supporting the revolutionary side, and win more of the people to sympathize with, and to actively support, the revolutionary cause....

    “Decapitating” the leadership of the revolution, and destroying or crippling the means of coordination and overall direction for the revolutionary forces, would also be one of the major objectives of the counter-revolution. HOW WE CAN WIN correctly emphasizes the importance of “Relying on mass support, the intelligence this provides for the revolution and the denial of intelligence to the enemy, [to] counter the enemy’s efforts to find, fix and annihilate revolutionary leadership and key fighting units” and the importance of combining “strategic direction and coordination for the fight as a whole, with decentralized actions and initiative by local units and leaders.” Here again stands out the importance of all the work, from here forward, to build the revolution, among masses of people in many different parts of society. But it has to be squarely faced that, when it comes down to it, even with broad and deep mass support, protecting leadership, in particular the top leading core of the revolution, maintaining overall coordination and strategic direction, and being able to rapidly replace leaders and forces that are lost, is, and will remain, a serious challenge; and this, too, must be actively prepared for and struggled for, including by bringing forward growing ranks of revolutionary leadership now, who are trained and tempered through the combination of being actively involved in building the revolution and becoming more and more deeply grounded in the scientific outlook and methods of communism as it has been further developed with the new communism.

    This brings us back to the decisive point that everything that has been spoken to in terms of how we could defeat them, when the time comes, “depends on winning millions to revolution in the period that leads up to the ripening of a revolutionary situation.”....

    Here, it could be helpful to look at the similarities, and the differences, between the revolutionary process in a country like this and, on the other hand, what has happened in some Third World countries where conditions have allowed the revolutionaries to wage an armed struggle from the beginning of the revolutionary process—to start by fighting battles against small parts of the enemy forces, and to wage war over a long period of time, to wear down the enemy and build up their own forces, with the aim of reaching the point where the “balance of forces” has shifted in their favor, and they can then fight larger-scale battles to finally defeat the forces of the old order. This does have some things in common with how the all-out fight would be waged in a country like this, once the conditions for that had been brought into being. But there are important differences. In this kind of country, an armed struggle would not—should not—be launched until a revolutionary situation had been brought into being in society overall, and then this struggle, while having a certain aspect of being protracted, would also be considerably shorter (more finite) than the overall process of protracted revolutionary wars that have been carried out in Third World countries. In a country like this, there needs to be a process of political, ideological, and organizational work to carry out those “3 Prepares,” to hasten the development of things toward the revolutionary situation, when it would then become possible to launch an all-out struggle with a real chance of winning, through a somewhat protracted but also finite process. [The “3 Prepares" are: prepare the ground (the situation in society overall), prepare the people, and prepare the vanguard leadership for the revolution.]

    To summarize briefly: Third World revolutionary wars—armed struggle from the beginning, over a whole protracted period, to create the basis for the final decisive battles; revolution in a country like this—a process of political, ideological, and organizational work to hasten and prepare for the development of a revolutionary situation, whereupon the all-out fight could be launched, and carried out over a somewhat protracted but also finite period.

    In both types of situations, there is an aspect of “awaiting” as well as “hastening.” Even where revolutionaries in Third World countries have been able to wage warfare from the beginning, they have had to wait for, while actively fighting to bring into being, the situation where they can successfully fight large-scale decisive battles (and in some cases things have become protracted to the point of being bogged down, without any prospect of success). In both situations, everything the revolutionaries are doing needs to be aimed at getting to the point where they can go all-out to finally defeat and dismantle the violent enforcers of the old oppressive system; but the paths and the processes are different because of the different conditions. The point is that everything we are doing, at all times, is part of making revolution—actively working, according to a strategic approach and plan, to move things, as fast as possible, toward the time when it will be possible for millions to fight, all-out, with a real chance to win.

    So, with this understanding and orientation, how do we go about hastening while awaiting? The means for doing this is concentrated in the formulation: “Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution.” Let’s start with the aim of all this—Revolution. In BAsics 3:1, I put it like this: “Let’s get down to basics: We need a revolution. Anything else, in the final analysis, is bullshit.13 That is another simple and basic truth. We need to go to people—not just one or two people, not just a small number of people, but masses of people, reaching all over the country, in every part of society—straight up with revolution—instead of just letting “where they are at” set the terms, and trying to somehow “bring in” some idea about revolution within that limited framework. As BAsics 3:1 goes on to say: We do need to unite with people in all sorts of struggles short of revolution; but it is frankly ridiculous to think that something short of revolution could solve all the monumental problems and monstrous outrages that people face under this system. On the basis of going to people straight up with revolution, then, coming from that place, we need to unite with people in fighting injustice and oppression, and struggle to win more and more people to see the need and the possibility for revolution, and to get with this....

    This goes back to the important contradiction that millions and millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of those “5 STOPS,” but in terms of understanding where all these outrages come from and what is necessary to really put a stop to them, most of the same people don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses. So, while uniting with and working to bring forward still greater numbers of people in protesting and resisting the atrocities of this system, there is a need for sharp struggle to win them to confront and grasp the fact that, in fundamental terms, this system is the source of all these horrors, and it cannot be reformed but must be overthrown.

    This is revolutionary work that must be carried out, by continually growing numbers of people organized into the ranks of the revolution and acting together in accordance with a common strategic orientation and plan. This must be done consistently, including in more “normal” times (whatever those are), and it is of heightened importance “with every ‘jolt’ in society—every crisis, every new outrage, where many people question and resist what they normally accept...."

    HOW WE CAN WIN emphasizes that: “The organized forces and the leadership of this revolution must become the ‘authority’ that growing numbers of people look to and follow—not the lying politicians and media of this oppressive system—not those who front for the oppressors and preach about ‘reconciliation’ with this system—not those who turn people against each other when they need to be uniting for this revolution...."

    Revolution IS possible—and we have to go to work to make it real. So let me end with what is powerfully stated in the conclusion of HOW WE CAN WIN:

    All this depends on winning millions to revolution in the period that leads up to the ripening of a revolutionary situation. The chance to defeat them, when the time comes—the chance to be rid of this system and to bring something far better into being—has everything to do with what we do now. Everyone who hungers for a radically different world, free of exploitation and oppression and all the needless suffering caused by this system, needs to work now with a fired determination to make this happen, so we will have a real chance to win.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The text and film of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolutiona speech by Bob Avakian in 2018, is available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. From the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA: How We Can Win—How We Can Really Make Revolution, which is available at revcom.us. [back]

    5. On the Possibility of Revolution, Letter from a Reader... and ResponseRevolution #102, September 23, 2007, is available at revcom.us. [back]

    6. Bob Avakian, THE NEW COMMUNISM, The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation (Insight Press, Chicago, 2016). [back]

    7. Birds Cannot Give Birth to Crocodiles, But Humanity Can Soar Beyond the Horizon, Part 1 and Part 2, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us. [back]

    8. BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian (RCP Publications, Chicago, 2011). [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 3: Civil War and Revolution

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction: 

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]23

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.24 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following, from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating25 is the third in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.26

    Something Terrible Or Something Truly Emancipating

     

    What are the necessary conditions for a revolution? In basic terms, they are:

    A crisis in society and government so deep and so disruptive of the “usual way of things,” that those who have ruled over us, for so long, can no longer do so in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept.

    A revolutionary people in the millions and millions, with their “allegiance” to this system broken, and their determination to fight for a more just society greater than their fear of the violent repression of this system.

    An organized revolutionary force—made up of continually growing numbers of people, from among the most oppressed but also from many other parts of society—a force which is grounded in, and is working systematically to apply, the most scientific approach to building for and then carrying out revolution, and which is increasingly looked to by masses of people to lead them to bring about the radical change that is urgently needed....

    The reality now is that the fascist section of the ruling class, represented by and concentrated in the Republican Party, is actively and aggressively engaged in a “two-pronged” move to achieve and consolidate fascist rule. These “two prongs” are: corrupting and controlling the electoral process and key government institutions; and the threat and use of violence, including through the mobilization of violent mobs. These fascists are, for now, relying mainly on the first, but with the second (violence) as an “accompaniment” to this—which could become their main means, if that proves necessary for them. In any case, if they succeed, the full power of the government—including the executive power of the presidency, the courts and legal apparatus, the prisons, as well as the police and the military—will be wielded to crush any effective opposition to fascist rule and to forcefully impose its program of “restoring” America to its mythological “greatness” on the basis of aggressive white supremacy, crude and brutal male supremacy and suppression of LGBT people, xenophobia (hatred and persecution of foreigners and immigrants, particularly from what Trump infamously referred to as “shithole countries”), forceful assertion and chauvinistic trumpeting of American dominance and “the superiority of western civilization,” along with willful rejection of science and the scientific method, especially where it would interfere with unrestrained plunder of the environment, as well as people.

    Given the nature, objectives and actions of the fascists, there is the real possibility of actual civil war. But given the nature, objectives and actions of the “mainstream” section of the ruling class (as represented by the Democratic Party and media such as MSNBC, the New York Times and CNN), and given the current situation with those, from different parts of society, who tend to support, and politically tail behind, this “mainstream” section of the ruling class, it is possible that the fascists could achieve and consolidate power without a civil war, but with all the terrible consequences that would follow this fascist consolidation of power. Or, as emphasized in the “Declaration and Call,” in what would amount to a one-sided civil war, these fascists could carry out a slaughter of those they hate, including Black people and other people of color, “illegal immigrants,” “uppity women” and those who don’t conform to “traditional” sexual and gender relations and “norms.”

    In any case, it is a deadly serious reality that these fascists are determined to crush—as violently as necessary—anyone and anything, anywhere in society, that stands in the way of implementing their horrific objectives.

    This puts an exclamation point on what the “Declaration and Call” says immediately after this:

    This situation needs to be radically changed, to where there are masses of people prepared to defeat these fascists and to do so as part of getting rid of this whole system, which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates. ...27

    This is not the time of the Civil War in the 1860s, when the goal of those fighting against injustice was to abolish slavery, and—in terms of who ruled society—the only possible positive outcome was the consolidation and strengthening of the rule of the rising capitalist class centered in the North. That time is now long gone. And this system of capitalism, which has developed into a system of worldwide exploitation and oppression, capitalism-imperialism, is long outmoded—long past its expiration date, long past any circumstances where it could play any positive role. The goal now must precisely be getting rid of this whole system of capitalism-imperialism

    The character of a new civil war would have significantly different features from that previous civil war of 1861-65, where one geographic part of the country, the southern Confederacy, attempted to secede and form a separate country in that territory. Today, the forces of fascism among the population are again concentrated in the South, as well as in rural areas throughout the country; but, in the South and throughout the country, they are closely connected, geographically, with sections of the population that are opposed to this fascism. Any new civil war would be fought between opposing forces that would be in close proximity to each other—in a real sense intertwined geographically—around the country. This would have both advantages and disadvantages for the people on the positive side of such a civil war, and this would need to be taken into account in their approach to fighting that civil war.

    (The “Red States/Blue States” picture, which is constantly presented in the mainstream media, is very misleading in terms of the geographic and political divisions in the country. It does not present an accurate picture of population concentration—of which sections of the people are actually concentrated where, and in what numbers, within the existing states. Of particular importance, it downplays the concentration of people in this country as a whole in urban areas, including the suburbs around the inner city cores, and the concentration of masses of oppressed people especially in those inner city cores. It downplays the strong opposition to the fascists that exists among large numbers of people in the urban areas. This mainstream presentation of things is meant to reinforce the sense that the only possibility is the continuation of this system of capitalism-imperialism, and the only choice is between the two parties representing the ruling class of this system: the “red” Republican Party or the “blue” Democratic Party. And, by the way, with the color red historically associated with communism, the “appropriation” of this color in association with the fascist Republican Party is an abomination!)

    The current polarization, even on the positive side, among those opposed to the fascists, is not what is needed, and will not meet the profound and urgent challenge of these times. For the reasons discussed in this talk, there can be no real and lasting defeat of these fascists on the terms of the Democrats, on the terms of what have been, for generations, the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. Fundamentally, there can be no resolution to this, under this system, which will be in the interests of the masses of people, not just in this country but in the world as a whole. Once more, what is urgently needed is a very different polarization than what exists today—a repolarization—for revolution.

    And, once again as well—without being absolute about this—there is a limited time frame within which this repolarization must be achieved. If things continue as they are, with the fascist offensive by the Republican Party and its base becoming even more aggressive and powerful, then it is very likely that their “two-pronged offensive” will succeed, that they will utilize the changes they are forcing through state governments and key parts of the federal government, in particular the courts, to regain and consolidate control of the country as a whole, move forward with a vengeance to implement their fascist program, and forcefully suppress, as violently as necessary, any effective opposition.

    The urgency of this situation—and the urgent need for repolarization, for revolution—must be clearly understood, and forcefully conveyed to masses of people. This must be done in a compelling way, without hype (and there is no need for hype to describe the critical situation and urgent stakes). While it is crucially important to unite with people in rising up against the terrible injustices and outrages constantly perpetrated by this system, and to continually bring alive the possibility of a radically different and emancipating alternative, once again it needs to be stressed: It is necessary to wage a tireless struggle to break people out of the ways of thinking, and acting, that in fact keep them chained to this system and contribute to perpetuating this system, in one form or another.

    Fatalism, and defeatism—the belief that nothing can be done to change the terrible situation and bleak future humanity is now facing, that no positive radical change is possible—this way of thinking itself must be defeated, overcome both through sharp struggle and by bringing alive and popularizing the possibility for a radically different and better world, through revolution, which is grounded in a scientific, materialist approach to and understanding of the real world and the actual possibility for its positive radical transformation. Overall—and above all in terms of the basic masses, the bitterly oppressed people who must become the backbone of this revolution—overcoming this defeatism, and bringing about the necessary repolarization, must be carried out, and can only be achieved, through a powerful combination of fierce ideological struggle among the people, to win growing numbers to a scientific understanding of the situation we face and the actual solution to this, together with determined resistance against this oppressive system—all of which must be led to contribute to building up the forces and creating the political alignment necessary for revolution....

    So, in the event of, and in the context of, a new civil war, the approach of the revolutionary forces, led by the new communism, would be to carry out the necessary political work, in combination with the actual fighting, to develop such a civil war into a revolution to achieve the goal of getting rid of this whole system, and replacing it with a radically different and emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are: 

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The text and film of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, a speech by Bob Avakian in 2018, are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us [back]

    4. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    5. From The Revcoms: A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized Now For A Real Revolution is available at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction: 

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]1

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.2 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following, from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating3 is the fourth in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.4

    Something Terrible Or Something Truly Emancipating

     

    Winning basic people, and in particular the youth, to revolution also requires making further critical breakthroughs in what I have called the “George Jackson question”—the problem sharply posed by George Jackson, a prisoner who became a militant revolutionary associated with the Black Panther Party during the upsurge of the 1960s, and who grappled deeply with the question of revolutionary possibility, before he was assassinated by the authorities. To a slave who does not expect to live beyond tomorrow, Jackson said, the idea of gradual change, and revolution in some far-off future, has no meaning and no appeal.

    This takes on particular and special meaning in a rare time like this—a time when revolution could actually be possible, exactly not in some vague far-off future, but through the swirl of the sharpening events and conflicts that are happening right in this present time.

    Here, again, is the decisive question of how much the organized forces of revolution are built up and have an impact on all this, in the direction of the revolution that is so urgently needed.

    To appeal to masses of people, and in particular basic youth, the revolution must become a growing, organized, disciplined, bold and fearless force which, through its scientifically based method, its sweeping vision, its emancipating program and goals, and its actions, is an increasingly powerful pole that will attract these youth—and fighters for revolution from all parts of society.

    There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, in working for this revolution: powerfully spreading the word about this revolution, challenging people to get into this revolution, recruiting and organizing them into this revolution—going up against and breaking through all the bullshit that people are caught up in that goes against their own real interests—doing the work that needs to be done to transform people’s thinking, and their actions—standing up against the forces oppressing the people, waging the fight that needs to be waged against the atrocities of this system—doing all this to get ready, and to have the basis, to wage the all-out fight to finally overthrow this system, as soon as the necessary conditions for that have been brought into being.

    And, as the revolution grows in this way: There is plenty that needs to be done, and urgently, which requires real boldness and heart, to stand up against the fascists, and any other oppressive force, in their moves to threaten and intimidate, brutalize and even murder people. Let me make clear that I am not calling for launching unprovoked and unjustified attacks on anybody; but there is a right, and a need—and there is the responsibility—to defend the people who are oppressed and brutalized under this system, and those who represent and stand for what is right, and are being attacked because of that.

    In the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—which are basic principles that the Revolution Clubs, a key form of organization for this revolution, base themselves on and fight for—the final point is this:

    We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.5

    Yes, this is something very serious: going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way. And, yes, a big part of this is overcoming how people who are already messed over, in so many ways, by this system, get caught up in yet another way this system messes them up: fighting and killing each other. This needs to stop.

    But it doesn’t need to just stop. People who have been caught up in this need to become part of something really positive—they need to become part of the forces for the revolution that is so urgently needed now.

    The frustration and anger that so many feel, especially so many basic youth, because they can sense that life under this system has nothing good for them—that, from the time they are born, they are locked down and surrounded by forces that regard and treat them as alien objects of fear and hatred—and that those with power look at them as scum who deserve nothing more than a boot up the ass and a bullet in the brain—this frustration and anger needs to be redirected to fighting the system that treats them this way, and has robbed them, and so many like them throughout the world, of a decent life and a decent future, or any future at all.

    Once more, there is plenty that calls, urgently, for great courage and boldness in doing what needs to be done: to be part of rising up against this system and getting ready to go all the way with revolution as soon as the time is right—and, as an important part of that, supporting, and defending, people who are constantly being subjected to unjust attacks on their rights and their very being.

    There are the continuing attacks on people and movements that are rebelling against racist oppression....

    There are attacks on school board members not only for adopting ... basic health measures but also for things like approving the teaching of some truth about the white supremacy that has always existed in this country, or allowing rights for trans people.

    There are the threats, harassment and attacks on women seeking abortions, and on clinics and medical personnel working to provide those abortions, along with the escalating assault on the right to abortion by the Republican-fascist party, and those it has placed in the courts.

    There are brutal and often murderous attacks on LGBT people.

    There are continuing moves, including with the threat or use of violence, to once again prevent Black people and other oppressed people from even exercising what are supposed to be basic rights, such as voting. (With a scientific method and approach, it is both possible, and important, to actively oppose attempts to deny people the right to vote, and at the same time win people to see that their efforts need to go, not into voting for representatives of this system that is oppressing them, but working to build up the basis to overthrow this whole system.)

    All these attacks on people and their rights need to be powerfully opposed, and people on the good side of this need to be actively protected and defended, where they are assaulted with threats and even outright physical attacks.

    There is the need to prevent the police from brutalizing and just coldly murdering people. Let us remember what was said by some people who witnessed, and even recorded, the slow-motion vicious execution of George Floyd: They agonized over whether they should have done more, should have acted to stop this blatant assassination of a defenseless Black man. Now, again, what I am pointing to is consistent with point 6 of the six Points of Attention for the Revolution—and, in what I am saying here, I am not calling for launching an attack on anyone. But there is no right for anyone, including police, to just murder someone—and there is a right and responsibility to defend and protect people from unjust attacks on their rights, and on their very lives.

    Imagine if, in these different kinds of situations, there were a force of hardcore revolutionaries, including basic youth, whose presence in a disciplined and organized formation made clear that no unjust attacks on people would be tolerated. But this must not just be imagined—it must be developed as one important part of the overall process of preparing for, and building the organized forces for, revolution.

    This must be taken up in a serious, scientific way—not attempting, at any given point, to do what there is not yet the basis to do, but actively working to bring into being the conditions where what was not possible before becomes possible, as the organized ranks of revolution continue to grow and become steeled as a disciplined force. Taken up in this way, this can increasingly have dynamic effect—with “reverberations” and impact far beyond the immediate situation, attracting more people to this revolution... which, in turn, will make it possible to have even greater impact... and attract even larger forces.

    All this is an important part of the overall approach that I have laid out in the course of this talk, which will enable what are today the small organized forces of this revolution to continue to grow—increasingly by leaps and bounds—in numbers, organized strength, and impact on society as a whole. This is what more and more people must be challenged, and enabled, to become part of.

    This brings up another important dimension of working for revolution—and opposing the fascists as part of doing that: It is necessary to sharply expose and oppose—and fight to politically and practically overcome—the reality that for white supremacists and fascists generally the Second Amendment, the “right to bear arms,” has been regularly upheld and given the backing of the law and the courts, and the support of the police and other institutions of the state; while for Black people, other oppressed people, and generally those opposing the oppression and injustice of this system, the “right to bear arms,” even in self-defense, has been actively opposed and suppressed.

    This is made graphically clear in the book by Carol Anderson focusing on the Second Amendment—The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America. This book contains (yet more!) searing exposure of the depraved violence visited upon Black people throughout the history of this country, and speaks to how the “right to bear arms” has never applied to Black people, and instead there has been the perverse “right to kill” Black people, on the part of the powers-that-be and racist whites generally. This cannot be allowed to continue!

    And it is not just around what is represented by “the Second Amendment” that a determined fight must be waged, but around the many ways in which the approach to rights that are supposedly guaranteed to people is applied in a highly unequal way, so that oppressed people, and those acting against the oppressive relations of this system, constantly find their rights attacked, “abridged,” or outright denied and suppressed. In waging this fight, it is important to recognize and, to the degree possible, take advantage of this contradiction: In reality, under this system of capitalism-imperialism, rights and liberties are determined, and limited, in accordance with what serves the interests of this system and its ruling class; but, we are constantly told that, under this system, there is “liberty and justice for all,” and the rulers of this system, or at least some of them, feel it is important to maintain this myth. Again, to the degree possible, this contradiction must be seized on, in waging the fight to defeat attempts by the enforcers of this system to violate what are supposed to be basic rights, in their moves to suppress people rising up against this system and its profound injustice.

    But, most fundamentally, this fight must be waged with full awareness, a scientifically grounded understanding, of the essential nature of this system, with the orientation and goal of working toward the overthrow of this system and the dismantling of its relations and institutions of vicious exploitation and blood-soaked oppression and repression.

    Once again, in order to make all this a reality, as this revolution is being brought to growing numbers of basic youth, and others, and they are being challenged to get into it, they need to be struggled with, hard, to get rid of the ways of thinking and acting that keep this system going. People need to “get their head right,” get their head out of their ass, and take up the scientific method and approach of the new communism to understanding reality, and transforming reality in a fundamental way, through revolution. This means not being just out for yourself, or those you can identify with in a narrow way (whoever that may be), but becoming revolutionaries in the fullest sense—revolutionary communists, emancipators of all humanity—becoming part of the organized and disciplined forces for this revolution, and nothing less.

    As we say, to “everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: You need to be part of this revolution.”

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization

    of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The text and film of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolutiona speech by Bob Avakian in 2018, are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    5. The six Points of Attention for the Revolution are available as well at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN

    Part 5: Winning and Winning

    "REVOLUTION: A REAL CHANCE TO WIN" is being published in a series. Part 1: We Are Serious was published July 31, 2023. Part 2: A Scientifically Based Strategy was published August 7, 2023. Part 3: Civil War and Revolution was published August 14, 2023. Part 4: Hard Core Youth and the Revolution was published August 21, 2023. Part 5: Winning and Winning was published August 28, 2023.

    Introduction:

    Some people have argued that an attempt to make an actual revolution, to overthrow the ruling system of capitalism-imperialism in this country, up against the powerful armed forces of this system, would be suicidal. This is something I spoke to, a number of years ago now, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    Many people, including many who say they would like to see a radical change in society, insist that revolution is not possible because “they” are too powerful, and “people are too messed up.” Well, it is true that, shaped as they are by this system, the masses of people, in any part of society, don’t know shit and have their heads up their asses, when it comes to an understanding of how things really are, why they are the way they are, and what could and should be done about this. But this stands in sharp contradiction to another important truth—that millions of people really do care about one or more, and many care about all, of the “5 STOPS.” This is a contradiction that we have to go to work on, to move masses of people in the direction of the revolution that is needed to finally put a stop to those “5 STOPS” and the horrific conditions to which the masses of humanity are constantly subjected. [The 5 STOPS refers to five major social contradictions and forms of oppression and devastation that are built into this system of capitalism-imperialism and which can only be eliminated through a revolution to overthrow this system.]12

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.13 [emphasis added here]

    This series of five articles speaks more fully to why such a revolution is not only urgently necessary now but why, with the right scientific approach, such a revolution could in fact have a real chance to succeed—and why anyone who really wants to see a radically different world, without all the horrors that are continually brought about, and the even greater horrors for humanity that are now threatened, by this system of capitalism-imperialism needs to be actively involved in working tirelessly, with scientifically based determination, for this revolution.

    The following excerpt from a presentation to a gathering of revcoms (revolutionary communists) in 2022 is the final installment in this series of selections from my talks and writings speaking to how to go about carrying out a revolution in this country, mobilizing millions of people, with the goal of actually defeating the violent enforcers of this system of capitalism-imperialism, abolishing this system altogether, and bringing into being a radically different, emancipating system based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.14 The first part of this excerpt was previously posted at revcom.us in part one of this series.

    Something Terrible Or Something Truly Emancipating

     

    As I said in the Dialogue with Cornel West: It is important that we are right, and righteous—it is important that we stand with the wretched of the earth and stand up against their oppression—but we have to win. We have to actually shatter the rule of this monstrous system, and bring something radically different and much better into being. Or else, we will at best “fight the good fight” but the horrors will continue, and get even worse.15

    The sixth point of the Points of Attention for the Revolution says this: “We are going for an actual overthrow of this system and a whole better way beyond the destructive, vicious conflicts of today between the people. Because we are serious, at this stage we do not initiate violence and we oppose all violence against the people and among the people.”16

    I have highlighted the words “Because we are serious” in order to emphasize that this Point of Attention is not a declaration of some idealist pacifist notion that the struggle against this system can and must always remain non-violent. First of all, while we are against all violence against the people and among the people, and at this stage we do not initiate (and we do not encourage others to initiate) violence, at the same time we strongly recognize and uphold the right of people to defend themselves against unjust attacks. And, more strategically, we scientifically understand that: the fundamental source of violence in the world is this system of capitalism-imperialism, that by far the greatest perpetrators of unjust violence are the ruling classes of the capitalist-imperialist powers, most of all this country—and that the fundamental reason why the abolition of this system cannot be achieved peacefully is, once again, because of the nature of this system itself, and the fact that those who rule in it would never allow their system to be swept away without attempting to violently suppress and crush any such attempt.

    This is what it means that we are serious about all this.

    It is with this understanding, and this orientation, that we have to very seriously approach the question of how to actually win—win in the more immediate fight, historically speaking, to seize power—and win in a way that lays the basis for winning in the largest sense, with the goal of uprooting all oppression and exploitation, all over the world, bringing into being a communist world in which human beings can truly thrive with the fullest expression of their humanity.

    This approach to “winning—and winning”—is an application of the principle that “the new communism thoroughly repudiates and is determined to root out of the communist movement the poisonous notion, and practice, that ‘the ends justify the means.’ It is a bedrock principle of the new communism that the ‘means’ of this movement must flow from and be consistent with the fundamental ‘ends’ of abolishing all exploitation and oppression through revolution led on a scientific basis.”17

    So, let’s get into how we could, and would need to, go about winning, when the conditions for that have been brought into being. The necessary strategic approach to this flows from the scientific understanding that the revolutionary forces could not win any contest in which they frontally took on the full force of a unified and cohesive existing state power. (I’m going to pause so people can think about this...)

    The following, from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating,” speaks to this:

    Here, again, is something that is crucial to understand, something that is a hallmark of a serious, scientific approach to fighting to win, when the time comes: No matter how much the situation in society overall is changed, and no matter how much even the most powerful institutions of violent repression of this system are affected by this, with significant splits very likely occurring among them, the revolution will still be confronted with powerful armed forces of counter-revolution, from among sections of the official institutions, along with fascist “civilian forces” aligned with them. And it would be extremely unlikely that, particularly at the beginning phase, the revolutionary fighting forces would be able to confront and defeat those armed forces of counter-revolution by directly and frontally taking on anything close to their full force. That is why, in the doctrine and strategic orientation that has been developed to enable the revolutionary forces to fight to win, when the time is right, it is stressed that:

    [T]he revolutionary forces would need to fight only on favorable terms and avoid decisive encounters, which would determine the outcome of the whole thing, until the balance of forces had shifted overwhelmingly in favor of the revolution.18

    This doctrine and strategic orientation is spoken to in some depth and spelled out more fully in... Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, with additional thinking provided in my article “A Real Revolution—A Real Chance To Win, Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution” (which also can be found at revcom.us). This sets the basic groundwork for how, when the necessary conditions have been brought into being, a revolutionary force, mobilizing masses of people, could actually approach the overthrow of this system in such a way as to effectively neutralize and eventually overcome what would almost certainly be, at the outset, the overwhelming power of the armed forces seeking to defeat and pulverize this attempt at the revolutionary seizure of power. It speaks to how, when the revolutionary situation has been ripened, revolutionary fighting forces, with the backbone drawn especially from youth who have been won hardcore to this revolution, could be organized and trained, and provided with the means to engage and defeat forces of counter-revolution in encounters, beginning on a small scale, which would be favorable for the revolutionary forces—and how, on that basis and through the course of doing that, they could grow in strength and win over growing numbers among those who had been part of the counter-revolutionary forces, and then finally defeat the remaining forces of counter-revolution.

    In Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, I cited this important statement:

    Rupert Smith, a British military officer and strategist, has noted that an insurrectionary force that is "defining the parameters of the conflict" has “by default presented an alternative force and power.” [Let’s stop and reflect on what that means.] This means that, if a revolutionary force is to a large degree determining the character of the conflict, it will be seen not as a bunch of “outlaws” but as a legitimate force contending against the old order; and this relates to why it is so important that the initial actions of the revolutionary fighting forces, accompanied by a bold declaration to the world, “make clear that there is an organized force determined to defeat the forces of the old order and bring into being a new, revolutionary system.” This would play a crucial part in demolishing the “superstitious awe” that people have toward the existing system, the nearly religious belief that this is the best, or at least the only, way that things could be, and that the power of this system is unchallengeable; it would further undermine the “legitimacy” and “authority” of the old order and its ruling class and the allegiance to it of broad sections of the population, and lay more of a basis for winning over even broader sections, including from within the fighting forces of the other side.

    The approach of seeking and achieving victories, in more limited encounters, has as one of its key objectives the creation of an overall situation in which there will be increasing disintegration of the opposing side, and the defection of significant parts of that opposing side to the revolutionary side. This will be an important part of the process of bringing about a qualitative change in the “balance of forces,” to where the revolutionaries have gained the upper hand—a position from which they could then carry out the final defeat of the counter-revolution.

    The following (from the article “A Real Revolution—A Real Chance To Win, Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution”) stresses this:

    There would need to be an added emphasis on the need for the all-out revolutionary fight to be country-wide in scope, from the beginning, or very quickly after the start, for the revolutionary forces to have organized strongholds of support in many different parts of the country—and to have the ability to act simultaneously, or in quick succession, in many different parts of the country (to effect a “popcorn” phenomenon of actions breaking out repeatedly and in quick succession all over the country)—in order to effectively counter the “encirclement and suppression” of the revolution by the counter-revolution, and in particular the ability of the counter-revolution to not only concentrate forces against but to actually occupy the areas that constitute the strongholds of support for the revolution (even while those strongholds are not yet being openly controlled and administered by the revolution), particularly in the early stages of this all-out fight.

    This “popcorn” approach, keeping the enemy off balance, could also contribute to the disintegration of and defection from the other side.

    To quote again from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution:

    [A]nother point emphasized by Rupert Smith is important: it is not absolute force but “utility of force” that matters—not what any state, or other armed force, may have in its arsenal, but what it can actually utilize to its advantage in an armed conflict. One of the key operational principles of the revolutionary forces would be to wage the fight in such a way as to prevent the forces of the old order from being able to use their worst destructive power in a way that would be to their military as well as political advantage. At the same time, in the face of the barbaric actions that the old ruling forces would still carry out, it would be crucial for the revolutionary forces to “turn the barbaric actions of the enemy against him—to win greater forces for the revolution, including those who come over from the ranks of the enemy.”

    Here it is worth repeating this crucial point:

    It is also true that the ruling powers of this system, with the machinery of death and destruction they wield to enforce this system, are indeed very powerful. But a big part of people’s difficulty in imagining that we could actually defeat them is the inability to conceive of a situation that is radically different than the “normal” functioning of this system, a situation where, for large parts of society, the “hold” of the ruling class over people—its ability to control, manipulate, and intimidate them—is broken, or greatly weakened. Fundamentally, people cannot imagine this because they are not approaching things with a scientific outlook and method.

    (And does it need to be said again that we must be bringing this scientific outlook and method to people?)

    At the same time, “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” emphasizes that the development of the basic doctrine and strategic approach for this all-out fight is an ongoing process. And that

    [T]hroughout this period of preparing the ground, preparing masses of people and preparing the leading forces for this revolution, this basic doctrine and strategic approach for the all-out fight must be continually developed and made more “operational” in conception—that is, it must be further elaborated and further concretized, particularly in terms of what will constitute the actual pathways to victory—and, flowing from and serving that, what should be the specific nature and features of the encounters with the other side, particularly in the beginning phases, and (as far as possible) overall.

    As spoken to earlier, a big factor in regard to all this is the real possibility of civil war between opposing sections of society, and how this could impact the key institutions of state power of this system. If such a civil war were to erupt—or even if the deepening divisions in society were moving more directly toward such a civil war—this could have a profound effect on such institutions, with the real prospect of splits among them, and even the possibility of the splitting apart of such institutions, with some parts siding with the fascists and others with those on the side opposed to the fascists.

    This possibility is something that the basic doctrine and strategic approach for the revolutionary fighting forces would need to take into account and encompass. But, in order for the revolutionary forces to win over, and incorporate into their ranks, significant numbers from among the ruling and repressive institutions of this system, and to do so in a way that would actually maintain the emancipating character of the revolutionary forces, and strengthen them on that basis, it would be necessary for the revolutionary ranks to be tempered and steeled, not just in terms of fighting capacity [which is obviously very important] but in terms of their fundamental ideological and political orientation, as fighters for the emancipation of humanity.

    Otherwise, even if you win over forces from the other side, given how they’ve been conditioned and trained, that could end up setting the terms of things on a very bad basis and lead to defeat in one form or another (either outright defeat at the hands of the enemy, or defeat in the sense that, even if military victory were somehow achieved, the way that was done would not lead to a radically new and better system, where the ongoing transformation of society, and ultimately the whole world, to uproot all exploitation and oppression, could be carried out).

    Here is something else to take into account: What matters, as the all-out showdown approaches, is not only the size (in the millions) of the revolutionary people, but also its “composition,” involving masses of the most oppressed, especially youth, as well as large numbers of people from other sections of society; how that “composition” of the revolutionary people would relate to the composition of the opposing forces; and how, in turn, this relates to major social contradictions in the larger society (for example, racial, sexual and gender oppression).

    To be more concrete, to break this down further: Out of their own interests, the rulers of this country have been compelled to draw large numbers of people from the ranks of the oppressed into their military, including women, Black people and Latinos. To the degree that these ranks would see, in the masses of revolutionary people, “people like themselves,” this would strengthen the potential ability of the revolutionary forces to disintegrate the forces seeking to suppress them and to cause significant defections from their ranks to the ranks of the revolution.

    Of course, as pointed out in “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating,” this factor (the composition of the revolutionary people, in relation to that of the opposing forces) will not “automatically” translate into support for—and even defection over to—the side of the revolution; but this is a potentially favorable factor that would need to be consciously and concretely built on through the course of the all-out fight. And the potential for this would likely be even greater in the context of an actual civil war, with once again “the real prospect of splits,” among the institutions of violent enforcement of this system, “and even the splitting apart of such institutions, with some parts siding with the fascists and others with those on the side opposed to the fascists.”

    In this connection, here is another crucial point: We, the revcoms and continually growing masses of people we are leading, must come to the fore in waging the fight against the fascists and do so on a revolutionary basis, not as defenders of bourgeois-democratic imperialism. This will have everything to do with the potential for a repolarization more favorable for the revolution, including in the actual all-out fight.

    Through all this, it will be of great importance to be firmly based on, keep constantly in mind, and consistently apply the fundamental internationalist orientation and approach that is an essential part of the new communism. As I called attention to in “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating”:

    This revolution will inevitably be influenced by, and will in turn significantly influence, what is happening in countries to the south (and north) of it, with which the USA has historically been closely interconnected, and which in many cases it has dominated and plundered.

    (And here I want to mention a very important new book that has been published by the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico: La Esperanza Revolucionaria [Revolutionary Hope],19 which has also been translated into English by, and is available at, revcom.us.)

    “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” goes on to make this important point:

    And more generally, there will be the ways in which this revolution will be viewed, and responded to, by different forces, far beyond the present borders of this country. A serious fight for revolution in this countrythis country—would have the effect of a powerful political earthquake, sending seismic shockwaves throughout the world. It is true that one reaction to this would be that oppressive governments and forces throughout the world would see this as a serious threat to their position and objectives, and there is a real possibility that there could be moves by some of these forces to aid, or join in, attempts to crush such a revolution. At the same time, such a revolution would shake awake and provide a powerful positive shock to literally billions of people everywhere, shattering the sense that there is no alternative to this terrible world. Overall, it would almost certainly contribute, in a very significant way, to a repolarization on a global scale. [Think about the effect, even on people who are now drawn to very bad trends, like Islamic fundamentalism. All of a sudden, things are completely different in the world—here is a real revolutionary, emancipatory struggle, with a prospect of actually winning, taking place in this country. Think of the effect on hundreds of millions of youth as well as on others throughout the world.]

    All this would need to be taken into account by the leading forces of this revolution, as an important part of its strategic orientation and objectives.

    Everything Depends on Bringing Forward a Revolutionary People

    Having examined in some depth, and in a broad framework, the necessary foundation and basic roadmap for the revolution that is (more) possible—and urgently needed—now, we are back once more to this decisive point:

    Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond. Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.20

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The 5 STOPS are:

    STOP Genocidal Persecution, Mass Incarceration, Police Brutality and Murder of Black and Brown People!

    STOP The Patriarchal Degradation, Dehumanization, and Subjugation of All Women Everywhere, and All Oppression Based on Gender and Sexual Orientation!

    STOP Wars of Empire, Armies of Occupation, and Crimes Against Humanity!

    STOP The Demonization, Criminalization and Deportations of Immigrants and the Militarization

    of the Border!

    STOP Capitalism-imperialism from Destroying Our Planet! [back]

    2. The film and text of Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Actually Make Revolution are available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    3. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion; A Dialogue Between CORNEL WEST & BOB AVAKIAN. This film of the Dialogue is available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works. [back]

    5. The Points of Attention for the Revolution are available at revcom.us. [back]

    6. This is from Breakthroughs, The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, by Bob Avakian, that is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    7. Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution, by Bob Avakian is available at revcom.us. The statement quoted here can be found in Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution; this statement originally appeared in From the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA: How We Can Win—How We Can Really Make Revolution, which is available at revom.us. [back]

    8. La Esperanza Revolucionaria [Revolutionary Hope] available at revcom.us. [back]

    9. This is from “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating.” [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    Organizing for an Actual Revolution:

    7 Key Points

    Everyone who can’t stand this world, the way it is, needs to be challenged to be part of the revolution that is the way out of this madness. And people need to know there is an actual strategy for making this revolution, based on the key points of the “foundation” and “roadmap” for this revolution in the work by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian: “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating.” The following is the basic means for carrying out this strategy, so that the currently small forces for the revolution that is urgently needed can grow in numbers and strength, quickly in a concentrated way, and become the powerful force that is needed to lead this revolution. Spreading and popularizing these Key Points is also an important part of carrying out this strategy.

    1   Set forth, and explain, in the following basic terms, why this is a “rare time” when revolution becomes (more) possible, even in a powerful country like this:

    Brutal and murderous white supremacy, male supremacy, and other oppressive relations, the deepening crisis in society and the world overall, including the constant wars and the continuing destruction of the environment: all this cannot ultimately be resolved, in any positive way, within the confines of the system that rules in this country and dominates in the world as a whole—the system of capitalism-imperialism. Under the rule of this system, all this will only get worse. The deepening divisions within this country now, from top to bottom, mean that those who have ruled in this country for so long (the capitalist-imperialist ruling class) can no longer rule, as a “unified force,” in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept—with a system of government that has an outer shell of “democracy” to cover over the fact that it is an actual capitalist dictatorship at its core, relying fundamentally on the armed force of the institutions of “official violence,” the police and the military. Because of big changes in this country and the world overall, one part of the ruling class, represented by the Republican Party, has become fascist: they no longer believe in or feel bound by what have been the “norms” of “democratic” capitalist rule in this country. And the other section of the ruling class, represented by the Democratic Party, has no real answer to this—except trying to maintain the “normal way” that the oppressive rule of this system has been enforced for hundreds of years, while the fascists are determined to tear up those “norms” and rule through more openly and aggressively oppressive means, without the traditional disguise of supposed “democracy for all.”

    The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means, or radically emancipating revolutionary means. And this resolution could quite possibly happen, one way or the other, within the next few years. This rare situation, with the deepening and sharpening conflicts among the ruling powers, and in the society overall, provides a stronger basis and greater openings to break the hold of this system over masses of people. In a situation like this, things that have basically remained the same, for decades, can radically change in a very short period of time. This rare time must not be wasted—it must be seized on to have a real fighting chance to bring about a truly emancipating revolutionary resolution, and not be subjected to a terrible, reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive resolution.

    2   With the recognition of this rare time when revolution becomes (more) possible: wield the forces for revolution now to impact masses of people, in all parts of society—bringing to people the message of revolution, especially in short, powerful and popular forms, both online and “in real life”—setting forth why this revolution is necessary, and is possible, and how to be part of working to make it a reality. In hard-hitting, compelling ways, carry out ferocious struggle against ways of thinking that keep people chained to this system, winning growing numbers to break with all that, while also mobilizing masses of people to fight against injustices and outrages that are continually committed under this system and to stand up against the forces that perpetrate and enforce these injustices and outrages. Spread far and wide the inspiring vision of how much better life could be, for the great majority of people, if millions of people got behind this revolution and carried it through—making it possible to restructure all of society on a completely different foundation, with a radically different economic system (mode of production) and emancipating relations among people, as spelled out very concretely in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian.

    3   With “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating” as the basic guide, and utilizing the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show and the website revcom.us as key resources, organize people who are drawn to this to grapple with why an actual revolution is necessary, what such a revolution involves, and what kind of society this is aiming for. Involve them in the process of building for revolution, in an organized way—in being part of carrying out point 2. Enable people in parts of the country where the revolution does not yet have an organized presence to link up with others and become part of this revolution.

    4   Through this process, build up the forces of revolution, first in the hundreds, in areas all over the country, and weld them together as an organized force. Develop and train revolutionary leaders, on the basis of the scientific method and approach of the new communism that has been developed by Bob Avakian.

    5   Wield these organized forces to repeat points 1-4 on an increasingly larger scale—reaching much greater numbers of people, in all parts of society, organizing thousands into the process of building for this revolution, while developing and training growing numbers of high-level revolutionary leaders. Powerfully impact society as a whole, awakening and influencing millions toward revolution. Keep clearly in mind, constantly popularize, and act on the understanding that:

    Everything depends on bringing forward a revolutionary people, from among the most bitterly oppressed, and all parts of society, first in the thousands and then in the millions, as a powerful revolutionary force, organized from the start and consistently with a country-wide perspective, impacting all of society and changing the terms of how masses of people see things and how every institution has to respond. Everything must be focused now on actually bringing forward and organizing this revolutionary force.

    6   Once this revolutionary force is brought into being, with a continually growing core of tested and steeled revolutionary leaders, and the crisis in society and the divisions, from top to bottom, are reaching a breaking point: everything would then be focused on how to actually organize and wield this revolutionary force to fight to win—to actually defeat the forces seeking to crush the revolution. This will mean carrying out the basic approach for how this could actually be done that is set forth in “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating.”

    7   Continually popularize these Key Points, while actively carrying them out, and involving more and more people, in an organized way, in doing so.

  • ARTICLE:

    BOB AVAKIAN: A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—
    A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION

    Bob Avakian (BA) is the most important political thinker and leader in the world today.

    Bob Avakian is completely different than the endless stream of bourgeois politicians who are put forward as “leaders,” whose goal is to maintain one variation or another of this system of capitalism-imperialism that is founded on and perpetuates itself through cruel and literally life-stealing exploitation, murderous oppression, and massive destruction, in all parts of the world. BA is a revolutionary who bases himself on the scientific understanding that this system must finally be overthrown through an organized struggle involving millions of people, and replaced with a system that is oriented to and capable of meeting the most fundamental needs of humanity and enabling humanity to become fit caretakers of the earth.

    Bob Avakian is the architect of a whole new framework of human emancipation, the new synthesis of communism, which is popularly referred to as the "new communism."

    BA is the author of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, an inspiring application of the new communism—a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for a new socialist society, whose fundamental goal is to bring about a world without classes and class distinctions, a world without exploitation and oppression, and without the destructive divisions and antagonisms among people: a communist world.

    Ardea Skybreak, a scientist with professional training in ecology and evolutionary biology, and a follower of Bob Avakian, speaks to the importance of what he has brought forward:

    Bob Avakian ... on the basis of decades of hard work [has been] developing a whole body of work—theory to advance the science of communism, to advance the science of revolution, to more deeply explain where the problems come from, what the strategy is for getting out of this mess, what the methods and approaches should be to stay on track and actually build a better world, to build a society that most human beings would want to live in. (From 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, An Interview with Ardea Skybreak)

    BA is a leader who is firmly convinced, on the basis of a consistently scientific method and approach, that the goal must be nothing less than all-out revolution, and who at the same time has emphasized:

    the new communism thoroughly repudiates and is determined to root out of the communist movement the poisonous notion, and practice, that “the ends justifies the means.” It is a bedrock principle of the new communism that the “means” of this movement must flow from and be consistent with the fundamental “ends” of abolishing all exploitation and oppression through revolution led on a scientific basis. (From Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary)

    As a revolutionary leader, BA also embodies this rare combination: someone who has been able to develop scientific theory on a world-class level, while at the same time having a deep understanding of and visceral connection with the most oppressed, and a highly developed ability to “break down” complex theory and make it broadly accessible.

    A leader like this has never before existed in the history of this country, and this leadership is of tremendous importance for the emancipation of all humanity.

    What is urgently needed now is for continually growing numbers of people—in the thousands, and ultimately millions—to become conscious and active followers of BA, building the revolutionary movement, based on the new communism, for which BA provides this unprecedented leadership.

    Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America cover 240

     

    "BA is the author of the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, an inspiring application of the new communism—a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for a new socialist society, whose fundamental goal is to bring about a world without classes and class distinctions, a world without exploitation and oppression, and without the destructive divisions and antagonisms among people: a communist world."

    Click to read and download (PDF)

    Download poster and leaflet:

  • ARTICLE:

    BASKETBALL AND BIG QUESTIONS

    The Caitlin Clark Controversy—Greats, “Greatest of All Time,” White Stars in a “Black Sport,” Racism and the Fight Against it, and the Kind of World We Should Strive to Have

    Part 1: Caitlin Clark—A Special, Outstanding Basketball Player 

    The men’s and women’s college (NCAA) basketball championships have just concluded.

    The men’s championship was won, for the second straight year, by the University of Connecticut (UConn). 

    Of greater interest—mainly for positive reasons, but unfortunately also for negative ones—is the women’s championship, which was won by South Carolina, finishing up an undefeated season with a win over Iowa and its superstar player, Caitlin Clark, in the championship game.

    In a social media message, Number Twenty-Five, @BobAvakianOfficial, I discuss some of the negative, as well as positive, dimensions of this championship, particularly as this relates to the South Carolina coach, Dawn Staley. Here, I am focusing on the basketball achievements of Caitlin Clark, and the controversy around this.

    This is going to be in two parts. In Part 1, I am going to speak to why Caitlin Clark is deserving of the recognition and promotion she gets as an outstanding basketball player.

    Caitlin Clark (22) dribbles the ball for Iowa in a college basketball game against Colorado in the NCAA Tournament in Albany, N.Y., March 30, 2024.

     

    Caitlin Clark (22) dribbles the ball for Iowa in a college basketball game against Colorado in the NCAA Tournament in Albany, N.Y., March 30, 2024.    Photo: AP

    While, overall, there is recognition that Clark is a truly outstanding basketball player, there is also some “hating”—“backlash” and “backbiting”—against Clark, which involves petty, ridiculous, and even blatantly false arguments. But there are also larger questions bound up with this, including the fact that Clark, who is white, is a superstar in a sport that is identified with and dominated by Black people, in terms of who plays and excels in the game (even while most of the coaches—and nearly all of the administrators of the game at the college level, and the owners and top executives of the professional leagues and the television networks that profit from the games—are white). In Part 2, I will speak more directly and deeply to this. 

    Before getting into what makes Clark truly outstanding as a basketball player, let me get this out of the way: I am not going to be talking about what the politics of different individuals may be, including Clark. It is safe to say that neither she, nor any of the others I will be talking about here, agree with me about the need for revolution to sweep away this system of capitalism-imperialism, and bring into being a radically different and much better system. What I am focusing on here is aesthetics: the appreciation of beauty and artistry—which, in many different areas of life, including sports, enrich human existence, and which should be part of any society that people would want to live in. But aesthetics cannot be entirely separated from politics: how people appreciate beauty, or don’t—even what they think is beautiful, and not—is influenced by the larger society and world in which people live, how this affects people, and how they respond to that.

    So, let’s get into it.

    I’ll start with this, as background: When it comes to sports, my greatest love is basketball, which I played for many decades, since I was very young. Although, in my senior year in high school (at Berkeley High), I was the quarterback of the football team, and I spent a lot of time on playground basketball courts, all year round, I did not play on the high school basketball team because I couldn’t get along with the coach, who was a Christian fundamentalist and a racist. I did play in recreational leagues and church leagues (yes I, a revolutionary communist atheist, was raised in a religious family—though not a fundamentalist religious family—and I attended church in my youth, up through high school).

    One of my fondest memories of basketball in high school was a summer league game I played in, against a team led by Paul Silas, who later became a Hall of Fame college basketball player and spent many years in the professional NBA. The team I was on lost that summer league game, badly, but I managed to score 16 points—something which still gives me a warm feeling. I was a huge fan of the great basketball teams of McClymonds High School, in West Oakland, whose star then was Paul Silas. (I enthusiastically rooted for the McClymonds teams—except when they played against my high school!) So, this made my accomplishment in that summer league game all the more special to me.

    Besides playing a lot of basketball, from the time I was five years old I have watched a tremendous number of games. And, if you are willing and eager to learn, as I have been, you can learn a great deal, not only if you play the game yourself but even just from watching and listening to players, coaches, commentators, and others with knowledge of the game (you can learn even when you disagree with their analysis, as I often do).

    Which brings me back to Caitlin Clark. Having finished her fourth and final year playing for the University of Iowa, Clark is about to enter the women’s professional league (the WNBA). During her time as a college player, she set a number of incredible records. To cite just one dimension of this, Clark is now the all-time leading scorer in both women’s and men’s NCAA college basketball.

    There has been a lot of discussion, and some heated debate, about whether Clark should be considered the “GOAT” (Greatest of All Time) in women’s basketball. Some—including some who should know better—have argued that Clark cannot be considered the greatest of all time, because her Iowa team did not win a championship (or, multiple championships). This is a ridiculous standard for greatness, since basketball is a team sport, and whether a team can win a championship depends on the team as a whole, and not on any one player, no matter how great that one player might be. The fact is that, in her final two years, Clark led her Iowa team to the women’s championship game. Even though they lost both times, it was a remarkable accomplishment for Iowa to reach those championship games, something that was overwhelmingly due to Clark.

    I also have to say that I think this whole “GOAT” discussion is the wrong way to look at things. After all, time (as in Greatest of All Time) continues to move on; as time moves on, conditions change, and in every field of human endeavor, people continue to come forward and build on what has come before. Just as it is often said that records (such as records for most points in basketball) “are meant to be broken,” so, too, the overall performance of even the greatest player in a particular era is very likely to be surpassed by someone who comes along later.

    The most meaningful and important question is how to evaluate someone in relation to their time and circumstances, and do they introduce new elements, or a new combination of elements, into the game—or, in any case, do they in some way set a new, higher standard that others can strive to equal or surpass?

    The answer, with regard to Clark, is definitely yes. And, although I think Greatest of All Time is not a valid standard, I do think it is possible to say that someone is the greatest in their time—and the greatest up to their time. A very strong case can be made to say that about Clark.

    Some of this can be measured in a “quantitative” way—in terms of statistics. For example, Clark was not only the top scorer in NCAA women’s basketball this year (averaging nearly 32 points a game); she was also the leader in assists (passing the ball in a way that directly sets up a teammate to score), with 9 assists a game, while also averaging about 7 rebounds a game (getting the ball after a shot is missed by the other team, or your own team). In NCAA women’s basketball, Clark was the leader in both scoring and assists this season, as well as the previous season. In her four years at Iowa, she scored nearly 4,000 points, and she is the only college player, man or woman, who has scored more than 3,000 points while also having more than 1,000 assists (and the only one with more than 3,000 points, 1,000 assists, and 850 rebounds). And, as is often unnoticed (or even denied), she is also a very good defensive player, including in the dimension of stealing the ball (taking it away from opponents).

    All these are definitely impressive particular facts. But, as truly impressive as they are, they don’t tell the full story. Clark’s greatness is much more a matter of “quality”—the overall way she plays the game. With Clark, there is that phenomenon where “the whole is greater than the sum of the parts”: her impact on the game overall is more than what would be seen just from adding up individual parts of her game, as outstanding as they are.

    The way that Clark stands out is not just that she is a prolific scorer who can make shots from almost anywhere past mid-court—including shots at great distance, not only from just outside the three-point line (a little more than 20 feet from the basket) but from 30 or even 35 feet—which causes announcers of games, commentators, etc., to repeatedly exclaim things like, “This is unbelievable, the consistency with which she does this has never been seen in the women’s game before!”—and so on. (For those having a hard time picturing this, I strongly urge you to check out Clark’s basketball highlights on the internet.) This extraordinary ability of hers makes it much more difficult to guard her, since she is also very skilled at “putting the ball on the floor” (dribbling the ball toward the basket) and scoring in that way, or setting up teammates to score.

    It is not just the fact that Clark repeatedly makes “clutch shots,” when the game, or the momentum of the game, is on the line.

    It is not only that she is incredibly skilled at passing the ball to teammates, making great pass after great pass, from all over the court, including extremely accurate long passes with a lot of “zip” on them.

    She has a remarkable “court sense” and “court vision”—with the ability to see where not only her teammates but also the opposing players are, at any given time, including when play is moving fast—which, among other things, is a key to her great passing. She “sees the game” and “commands the court” in a way that is truly exceptional.

    Most basketball players, even the really good ones, see and react to things in what might be called a “two-dimensional” way: things happen, or they make things happen, and then they do things in response to that. Clark does that, too, but there is also this very rare quality to her game: an additional dimension, where, far beyond other players, she anticipates what is going to happen, on the court overall, before it actually happens, and she acts on that basis. Kind of like the difference between very high-level chess players, on the one hand, and a grandmaster on the other.

    It is commonly observed that one measure of a really good, or truly great, basketball player is that they are not only outstanding individually but they also “make their teammates better.” With Clark it is not just that she makes them better at what they do, but her role in the game and just her presence on the court—and the way this forces the opposing team to react—create openings for her teammates. Even things her teammates appear to be doing “on their own” are made more possible by the presence of Clark and her impact on the game, and the attention that the opposing team has to pay to her. In what might seem like a subtle phenomenon, when Clark has the ball and is making things happen, there is just a “different rhythm,” which affects the whole game, including how it positively affects her teammates and things they are able to do—things they have greater difficulty doing when they attempt to do them just on their own initiative. (For example, her teammates make some shots, even some difficult shots, they might otherwise miss, when the “rhythm” of the game is being set by what Clark is doing.)

    This is not a matter of a one-woman team. But, much more than with any other team and its best player, Clark’s teammates’ contributions revolve around, and are made more possible by, what Clark herself does (and her mere presence on the court, with the problems that creates for the opposing team). The fact that, two years in a row, Iowa made it all the way to the championship game is, as I have emphasized, overwhelmingly due to Clark, including in the way her role significantly increases the contributions of her teammates. In a truly extraordinary way, Clark leads her team, and brilliantly orchestrates their play, to a level far beyond what it would be without her.

    That, among other things, is the answer to absurd arguments attempting to evaluate Clark’s greatness by whether or not her team has won a championship. The truth of this was ironically demonstrated in this year’s championship game. The South Carolina team was “deeper” (had more skilled players) and was significantly bigger and physically wore down Iowa, including Clark, who had to exert extraordinary efforts just to keep her team in what was a close game until the very end.

    Probably the biggest factor in the South Carolina win was the great number of rebounds they got off their own missed shots (offensive rebounds); and there is the fact that, at least in some cases, a South Carolina player got an offensive rebound by actually committing a foul that was not called—“going over the back” of an Iowa player who had gotten herself in a better position to get the rebound than her South Carolina opponent. But, not all of South Carolina’s offensive rebounds were secured in this way; and it is a matter of speculation whether it would have changed the outcome of the game if the South Carolina players were called for fouls more times when they did go “over the back” to get an offensive rebound. (There were also a couple of instances where avoidable mistakes and missed opportunities by Iowa late in the game prevented it from having a chance to overcome a narrow South Carolina lead and perhaps actually win the game; but discussing that here would involve getting into details, beyond what is helpful.) 

    In any case, there remains the fact that South Carolina, while not having anyone close to the level of Clark, had many talented players and was “deeper” overall—could play more people without any significant drop off in ability—and that, along with the significantly greater size of South Carolina’s team overall, was key in their wearing down Iowa and winning.

    While giving due credit to South Carolina, the point here is that all this further emphasizes the fact that it was overwhelmingly due to Clark that Iowa was not only in this championship game but actually had a chance to win, even while finally falling short.

    In terms of its societal impact, it is noteworthy that this women’s championship game drew a record-setting television audience (as well as a full arena). In fact, the television audience for this game was larger than for the men’s championship game. This was partly due to the fact that South Carolina was an exciting team that was undefeated going into this game, but was largely due to the attention Clark has, through her play, drawn to the women’s game. Any game that Clark plays in draws tremendous crowds. And there is a lot of publicity—and, yes, what might be called “hype”—around her game. Except, it is not actually “hype”: she is really that good.

    This is the end of Part 1. Next, I will get more directly and deeply into the controversy around Caitlin Clark and larger questions bound up with this.

    *****

    Part 2: The Controversy Around Caitlin Clark

    As I noted in Part 1, there has been a certain amount of “hating”—“backlash” and “backbiting”—against Clark and the way she is built up. Some of this involves not only petty but obviously false and ridiculous claims. For example, some people have tried to disrespect and diminish her scoring achievements by insisting that the reason she scores so much is that she takes 40 shots a game (it is actually a little over 20). Or, the argument has been made that the reason she has broken scoring records is because of the extra year of eligibility granted to college players because of COVID, so supposedly Clark has played five years in college, instead of the usual four (in fact, this was her fourth year). And so on.

    Some of this “backlash” involves claims that Clark and her team get special, favorable treatment from the officials. Having watched Clark’s games many times, I can say this: While there have been particular situations where a “call” by officials went in her favor (or that of her team) when it should not have, there have also been many situations where the opposite is true—and, as a general phenomenon, the “defense” that opposing teams play against Clark pretty regularly involves fouls that are often not called: bumping and grabbing her, in the attempt to keep her from getting herself in a good position to score, or to set up teammates to score.

    One sharp example of how some people try to find ways to diminish Clark’s achievements was seen in the semifinal game of the NCAA championship tournament between Iowa and the University of Connecticut (UConn). With only a few seconds remaining in that game, UConn had the ball while trailing Iowa by a single point, and a UConn player was called for an offensive foul, giving the ball to Iowa, and essentially sealing a win for Iowa. Right away, the internet and television commentary was full of ill-founded complaints about how this call was wrong, or should not have been made—with the implication (or outright statement) that the game was “rigged” in favor of Clark and Iowa.

    The truth is that this was an obvious foul by the UConn player—something that anybody looking with an informed and objective eye could have clearly seen in the replay that was shown on TV at the time (and was available via the internet). As for the idea that calls like this should not be made when a game is being decided in the final seconds—frequently expressed with statements like “the players, and not the referees, should determine the outcome of the game”—the fact is that the players are supposed to determine the outcome of the game within the framework of definite rules. If the rules should somehow not be applied in the final seconds, if the game is “on the line,” then why have rules at all?

    Now, it could be legitimately argued that, if a foul is really a very minor one, and does not actually affect the course of the game, then especially when the game is “on the line” in the final seconds, it is right not to call such a foul. But, in this case, the foul by the UConn player was not minor or incidental: It was a clear-cut foul that did affect the game, in particular the ability of a key Iowa defensive player to play defense, precisely when the game was “on the line.” To have not called that foul would actually have given an unfair advantage to UConn.

    As can be seen in an objective evaluation of this situation, and in many other ways, the relevant question that comes through in all this is: What are the real reasons for the “hating” and “backlash” against Clark? Why can’t some people—especially people who claim to be, and in many cases actually are, basketball fans—just fully take in and enjoy the beauty of what Clark does on the basketball court? 

    Part of the answer, no doubt, is the whole “tear down” thing. (Why so many people love to tear down others, including those who are successful in one field or another—that is something I’m not going to get into here, beyond noting that this is a big part of the whole poisonous culture in this country.)

    There is also the rather glaring fact that some—though far from all—women’s basketball players and former players, who have gotten acclaim for their accomplishments, have allowed themselves to sink into petty and rather ugly jealousy over the fact that Clark is simply a better player than they are (or were). This was clearly evident in the remarks of some “commentators” during the course of the women’s NCAA tournament and in particular the “Final Four” semifinals and the final game.

    At the same time, there is the phenomenon that should not be ignored and needs to be spoken to directly: the fact that Clark is white in a sport that is identified with and dominated by Black people (in terms of who plays and excels at the game). In this regard, it needs to be noted, first of all, that for the most part, Black players and former players, coaches, commentators, etc., have expressed real appreciation for Clark’s game and the way it has called attention to women’s basketball in a far greater way than previously, while at the same time Clark has played a decisive role in elevating the level of the women’s game overall. This includes Dawn Staley, the celebrated coach of the South Carolina team, which beat Iowa in the championship game. (Once more, in a social media message, Number Twenty-Five, @BobAvakianOfficial, I discuss some of the negative, as well as positive, dimensions of this championship, particularly as this relates to Staley.)

    Yet, some people seem to believe that there is an injustice in the fact that Clark, who is white, is being talked about as possibly the greatest in an arena (women’s basketball) which is identified with Black people and in which there are many very good Black players. And it should be noted that, while some of this backlash is being voiced by certain Black people, more than a little of it is coming from white people who are apparently trying, in wrong ways, to establish their anti-racism—or are simply posturing as “woke” opponents of racism—adopting narrow and petty positions, which don’t do any service to Black people and the actual fight against racism.

    This was expressed rather crudely in an article in USA Today, whose headline proclaims: “Women’s basketball needs faces of future to be Black. Enter JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo.” (Hidalgo was the key player on the Notre Dame team, which was defeated early in the NCAA championship tournament; Watkins was the star of the USC team which lost later, in the “Elite Eight” round, just before the “Final Four.”) Along with other significant problems with this USA Today article, it mixes up different questions.

    First, is it important for Black women to get credit and be respected for their achievements that are truly admirable in basketball (and more generally)? Should any prejudice or discrimination in this regard be strongly opposed and overcome? And is recognition of this important, particularly for young Black girls and Black kids generally? The answer to these questions is definitely yes. Speaking specifically of women’s basketball, Black players are not the only ones who have paved the way, setting the foundation for those who are now getting a lot of acclaim, including Clark, but they have had a very significant role in laying that foundation.

    The other important question is this: With what standard should achievement be evaluated and appreciated—according to what people have actually done, or according to their “identity”?

    The answer to that question is that actual achievement has to be evaluated on the objective basis of what people actually have accomplished, without regard to their “identity.” If someone has a really serious illness, should they be treated by the very best doctor they can find—whatever that doctor’s “identity”—or should this decision be based on the “identity” of the doctor? (Yes, the fact that a doctor might be of the same “identity” as a patient—and have shared many of the same significant experiences—is relevant, as part of the picture; but, even taking that into account, in fundamental terms the decision about treatment by a doctor should be based on the overall knowledge and skill of the doctor, whatever their “identity.”)

    With regard to JuJu Watkins and Hannah Hidalgo, having seen each of them play, I can say this: Watkins in particular shows the ability to be a big-time scorer as well as very good all-around player. Hidalgo is definitely good but, at this point at least, she is not on the same level as Watkins. (There are also other very good young women basketball players who have shown the potential to be great—for example, MiLaysia Fulwiley, on the South Carolina team, who, along with Watkins and Hidalgo, was a first-year college player this season.) But, again, at this point at least, none is on the same level—or in the same category—as Clark and the way she has elevated the women’s game.

    (Especially for people familiar with basketball, this should help illustrate this assessment of mine. When I try to think of someone to compare Watkins to—man or woman, college or pro—Kevin Durant comes to mind: an NBA all-star, a relentless offensive player, who is very difficult to keep from scoring, and who contributes in a number of other ways. As for whom to compare Clark to... I can’t think of anybody, because the “total package” of her game is new and unique—it is, literally, incomparable.)

    This is my definite assessment, which is based on an appreciation of accomplishment in basketball, especially when it is played at its best and most creative—and is not based on “identity politics” or other factors like “promoting players in order to market the game.” Of course, some people might disagree with this assessment of mine. But, in any case, the point is that this question—of how good different people are—should be approached and determined according to an objective evaluation of the level they have actually attained, and not some other standard. And if Watkins, or Hidalgo—or both of them (or someone else)—were to rise to the level that Clark has achieved, that would not be because of statistics (points scored, and so on) but, as with Clark herself, the all-around quality of what they do and its overall impact on the game.

    I believe I have clearly made the case that Clark definitely deserves the acclaim she has gotten as a truly outstanding basketball player. Now, to the degree that some people’s desire to build up Clark is because she is white—rather than simply because of how outstanding she actually is—then that is clearly wrong, it is an expression of the dominant racism in this country, and it should be very strongly opposed. But that does not justify an attitude of resentment against Clark, or a desire to deny or diminish her accomplishments, because she is white in an arena where Black people have generally set the standard.

    On one level, although this resentment against Clark is not justified, it is understandable: The fact is that, right down to today, even with the accomplishments and attainment of prominence by more than a few Black people, inequality remains a major factor in American society, and it is the case that, because of this discrimination, it is still difficult for Black people to carve out places in this country where they can achieve success, as measured by the standards of this society. Basketball is one of a few such places—and now, here comes this white woman, Caitlin Clark, being so prominent in basketball. This reminds me of a routine by Richard Pryor, where he only half-jokingly said that he wished Jerry West weren’t so good at basketball! (West, a white Hall of Fame player, originally from West Virginia, became a prominent star in college and then the professional NBA in the late 1950s into the 1970s.)

    With regard to Caitlin Clark, it is a fact that she pays respect to the great women’s players who have come before her, and she very passionately talks about how her hero and model when she was coming up was Maya Moore, a great Black basketball player who was a college and professional star. And Clark, who makes a point of saying that she wants her success to be an inspiration to young boys as well as girls, clearly has in mind all kids, and definitely not just white ones!

    Still, there is the fact that, through no fault of her own, Clark’s success and fame seems to be, for some, a reminder that Black people are still held back and held down in so many ways. As I have emphasized before, even “middle class” Black people cannot escape the racism, discrimination, brutality and murder by police that is directed against Black people as a whole in this country—in fact, no Black person, no matter how “highly placed,” can fully escape this. And, after all, basketball is an arena where, for a long time, Black people were excluded from playing in the dominant leagues, even as many excelled at the game; it was only a few decades ago that they finally succeeded in essentially breaking through that barrier, and have come to set the terms of how the game is played.

    But here is a striking irony: Resentment against Clark for excelling, in a sport where Black people have come to set the terms, fails to give full recognition and appreciation to the style of play and standards that have been established by Black people, which Clark has drawn from and built upon in developing her game!

    Some might argue: Well, given that Black people have established this position in basketball, they should not feel threatened if now and then a white player comes along who is at the top of the game. And, as I have noted, for the most part among Black players, and former players, etc., there has been real appreciation for Clark’s game and accomplishments. But the fact remains that, no matter what their position, Black people can never feel “safe and secure” in this country where, at every level, white supremacy is built into the structures and functioning of the system—a white supremacy which is systematically, and often violently, asserted and enforced. (Since 1960, the number of Black people killed by police is greater than the thousands who were lynched during the whole time of open segregation and Ku Klux Klan terror after the Civil War. Even “conservative” Black people cannot actually escape this racism—and the fact that they, too, might become victims of police brutality and murder—while they are busy insisting that this is not a racist country, or that racist oppression is not that big a deal!)

    The answer to the very real outrage of racist oppression should not be to see it as some kind of injustice when someone white excels in an arena in which Black people have, finally, been able to set the standard. Here, I am reminded of the situation, several decades ago, when the prominent Black NBA player Isiah Thomas expressed agreement with the comment that, if Larry Bird were Black, he would be regarded as just another good player, instead of being built up as a great player. The truth is that Bird was a great player—and as one Black sports commentator observed: Thomas picked the wrong white boy to make the point that, in an overall way, white people are unjustly elevated above Black people. (It is true that Bird was seen by some as a “great white hope”—something which should have no place in basketball, or anywhere else—but that is a different question than how good Bird actually was.)

    The answer to discrimination and oppression overall is not to respond with narrowed vision and small-minded, petty revenge, especially against those who are not the cause of that oppression. The answer is to fight against discrimination and oppression, wherever it exists, and to do so with the largeness of mind that seeks to put an end to the murderous oppression and merciless exploitation to which masses of people—literally billions of people, throughout the world—are subjected. The answer to all this is to get rid of—sweep away—this whole system that has this oppression built into it, and replace this with a system where white supremacy, male supremacy, and so many other outrages of this system of capitalism-imperialism, will be abolished and uprooted and will continue to exist only in museums of ancient history.

    With that in mind, what is crucially important is the fact that (as I have spoken to in previous articles and social media messages) this is a rare time when the revolution that could make all this possible is not only urgently necessary but could actually be brought about.

    And, just as all of us who want to see a better world, without all these outrages, need to be actively, urgently working for this revolution, at the same time we (and people generally) should not fail to appreciate the beauty that comes through in many different areas of life, in both nature and human society, whatever and whoever is the source of that beauty.

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    Resource Page on the Genocidal Assault on Palestine — And Israel as an Enforcer of Imperialism

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    Boy injured from Israeli airstrike outside the entrance of the al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, November 3, 2023.    Photo: AP

    Stop the U.S.-Backed Israeli Genocidal War Against Palestine! The Palestinian People Must Be Free!  

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    To put it in basic terms, Israel is a colonial-settler state which was imposed on the region of the Middle East, at the cost of great suffering for the Palestinian people (and the people of the region more broadly), Israel could not have come into being without the backing of imperialism, and it acts not only in its own interests but as an armed garrison and instrument of enforcement for U.S. imperialism.

     

    After the Holocaust, the worst thing that has happened to Jewish people is the state of Israel.

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    Why is the U.S. supporting Israel's genocide of Palestinians?

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    Israel and Palestine: a terrible ironic twist of history

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    Bastion of Enlightenment… or Enforcer for Imperialism:

    The Case of ISRAEL

    The state of Israel is projected to the world as an outpost of democracy and tolerance in a sea of hostile, intolerant Islam bent on its destruction. To be considered a credible mainstream voice in U.S. politics, academia, or the media, one must present Israel as a front line of defense against Jihad, and a critical fortress defending "our way of life."

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    ISRAEL: A Colonial Project Since The Beginning... An Enforcer For U.S. Imperialism Today

    Dead-End Paths and Shackles:

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    Why is Biden, and basically the entire government and ruling class of the U.S., supporting Israel in carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people, before the whole world? This is not because of “the power of the Jewish lobby”—or because of some ignorant, ridiculous and outrageous notion that “Jews are controlling everything.” It is because Israel plays a “special role” as a heavily armed bastion of support for U.S. imperialism in a strategically important part of the world (the “Middle East”). And Israel has been a key force in the commission of atrocities which have helped to maintain the oppressive rule of U.S. imperialism in many other parts of the world.
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    One Side Is Right—One Side Is Wrong, Criminally WRONG!

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    Columbia University pro-Palestinian students defend occupied Hind Hall, April 30, 2024.

     

    Columbia University pro-Palestinian students defend occupied Hamilton Hall, April 30, 2024.    Photo: AP

    From the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, May 1, 2024

    One Side Is Right—
    One Side Is Wrong, Criminally WRONG!

    Protesting the Genocide in Gaza is RIGHT!
    Assaulting, Arresting, Suspending and Expelling Brave Students and Protesters is WRONG!
    We Need and We Demand A Whole New Way to Live, A Fundamentally Different System!!

    The students, faculty and others protesting the genocide of Palestinians are RIGHT!

    No one should tolerate what Israel is doing to Gaza—with the full backing of Biden and the entire ruling class of the U.S. Babies murdered and orphaned. Hospitals targeted. Whole families laid waste and buried in the rubble of their own homes. THIS IS GENOCIDE! The thousands of students, faculty and others across this country putting their bodies, their careers, and their whole selves on the line are right to do so! They have inspired the world and set a standard of moral courage.

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    UC Berkeley Law School graduates wear T-shirts that read “UC DIVEST” during the UC Berkeley Law School commencement in Berkeley, California, May 10, 2024.   

    The violent attacks, arrests, suspensions, expulsions on those courageously standing up for Gaza are WRONG!

    Across the country, police unleashed massive violence against righteous protesters. At Columbia University and CCNY, nearly 300 arrested. At UCLA, police stood back as Zionist thugs and fascists violently rampaged the peaceful pro-Palestinian encampment. As of Sunday, May 5, the number of total arrests of students and protesters on campuses is more than 2,300. Then, the authorities used this violence to carry out further repression. Now, the fascists in Congress are dragging even more college administrators into their witch-hunt hearings, fueling an intensifying crackdown, really a Nazification of the American universities.

    All this repression is ILLEGITIMATE. Not only is it aimed at those standing up for justice—it is in gross violation of the much vaunted claims of this country as a bastion of “freedom and democracy,” “free speech” and “academic freedom.”

    Metropolitan police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and arrested demonstrators, May 8, 2024.

     

    Metropolitan police cleared a pro-Palestinian tent encampment at George Washington University and arrested demonstrators, May 8, 2024.    Photo: Sage Russell/GW Hatchet via AP

    Cops with riot shields viciously dismantle encampment for Palestine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, May 4, 2024.

     

    Cops with riot shields viciously dismantle encampment for Palestine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, May 4, 2024.    Photo: Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP

    What is being revealed through the U.S.'s continued backing of Israel's genocide in Gaza and through this massive illegitimate force and repression against righteous protesters is the actual nature of the system we live under: A DICTATORSHIP OF CAPITALISM-IMPERIALISM. For more on this—and why a revolution that overthrows this system is both needed & possible—see below.

    Right now, three things must happen:

    [1] The resistance to the genocide in Gaza must spread—on the campuses and throughout all of society!

    [2] Defend ALL anti-genocide students & protesters! Do NOT let them divide & demonize a movement with right on our side!

    [3] Everyone who seriously agonizes about the future and wants to see a world without the unjust brutality we are witnessing in Gaza, and in this illegitimate repression, needs to dig in seriously to the source of all this: the system of capitalism-imperialism. And dig into the solution to it: a real revolution. The Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity invites and urges you to do this by reading below in this flyer, talking with us more deeply and joining. Find out about the strategy, vision, plan and leadership for this revolution. Bring the spirit of defiance and your desire to get to a world where these kinds of crimes never happen again to anyone! With this whole system in crisis and society being ripped apart, the revolution that's needed to overthrow this system could happen not just in some far off place and time, but right here and right in this time we are living in.

    Why is this happening? And what must be done?

    In regard to why, the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian, BA, has said that:

    fundamental interests of U.S. capitalism-imperialism are at stake. Because Israel plays a “special role” as a heavily armed bastion of support for U.S. imperialism in a strategically important part of the world (the “Middle East”). And Israel has been a key force in the commission of atrocities which have helped to maintain the oppressive rule of U.S. imperialism in many other parts of the world.

    And this repression is happening because representatives of the ruling class in this country have a definite sense that if youth especially at “elite” universities begin to seriously question and act against what this system is doing—if the system “loses the allegiance” of large numbers of those students—that can be a big factor in creating a real crisis for the system as a whole, as happened in the 1960s: a crisis that, now more than ever, this system really cannot afford, when the whole country is already being torn apart by deep divisions, with bitter clashes right among the ruling powers. So, at the same time as they are bitterly divided, the ruling powers of this country are firmly united in their determination to punish and intimidate especially students at elite universities who have stepped forward to protest the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians. The ruling class is desperate to prevent opposition to its fundamental interests from spreading and involving masses of people, from all parts of society…

    What must be done? Again, from Bob Avakian:

    The fact that sixty years [after the 1960’s] there is once again a need for this kind of massive opposition to the vicious repression of people protesting profound injustice and horrific, genocidal atrocity—this highlights sharply the fact that there is the even more fundamental need for a revolution to finally abolish this whole system of capitalism-imperialism, its actual repressive dictatorship over people in this country, and its massive war crimes and crimes against humanity all over the globe!

    Download this statement as a PDF.
    Listen to Bob Avakian

     

    Listen to the full dispatch (#27) from Bob Avakian quoted above, and hear more truths the powers-that-be don’t want you to know about REAL REVOLUTION, IN THIS TIME, follow @BobAvakianOfficial on all social media platforms.

    Start with this playlist to hear why we need a revolution and how it's possible.

    From NYC to UCLA Students Fight Genocide in Gaza and Stand Up Against Vicious Repression
    The RNL — Revolution, Nothing Less! — Show

    "Rafael Kadaris leads the RevComs at the front gates of Columbia University chanting “STOP THE SUPPRESSION OF PRO-PALESTINIAN STUDENTS,” and was illegitimately arrested within minutes with no warning." —@therevcoms

    Carl Dix calls out NYC pig mayor Eric "Bull Connor" Adams.

    Across the U.S., Defiant Protests & Encampments Against U.S.-Israeli Genocide Met With Vicious, Mass Repression, Sparking More Protest

    May 13, 2024

    Students and Faculty Continue Protests in the Face of Repression 
    No Graduation as Usual While U.S./Israeli Genocide Escalates 

    College campuses continue to be the site of determined resistance to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocidal slaughter of Palestinian people. While most of the Gaza Solidarity Encampments that cropped up across the country have been violently shut down, creative and courageous protests continue to spread. And students are continuing to demand their schools divest from Israel financially, and demand an end to the genocide happening now. At many campuses faculty members have stepped forward to support the protests, speaking out against the violent assaults on their students.

    As we wrote last week, “These college students, especially from 'elite' universities, are going up against their own government on a matter of strategic importance to the ruling class—the state of Israel as a military outpost for U.S. capitalism-imperialism in the strategic region of the Middle East. This is forcing many others to sit up and take notice, to question what they are going along with and to challenge long-held fundamental assumptions about the nature of this system, and their responsibility to the world.”

    This has been met with slander and lies from Genocide Joe Biden and other leading representatives of this system, and a violent nationwide crackdown. Police have been called in to more than 80 campuses, and more than 2,800 protesters— mainly students—have been arrested at demonstrations or on campuses. These protests have also been violently attacked by pro-Israel and MAGA fascist mobs. ... Read more

    Cops with riot shields viciously dismantle encampment for Palestine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, May 4, 2024.

     

    Cops with riot shields viciously dismantle encampment for Palestine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, May 4, 2024.    Photo: Cal Cary/The Daily Progress via AP

    Columbia University PhD Students Walk Out in Protest for Gaza at Graduation

    Earlier News

    May 6, 2024

    Student Uprising to Demand an End to the U.S./Israeli Genocidal Slaughter of Palestinians Met With Violence, Mass Arrests and Slander.

    Students Respond: “We will not stop, we will not rest!” 

    Over the past week, the student uprising to stop the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians has spread and grown stronger, while the repression against it has intensified. Protests have spread to more than one hundred campuses in the U.S. and two dozen other countries. The backbone of this movement is thousands of college students, including at “elite” universities, who are putting their futures and their bodies on the line for what they rightly see as a moral responsibility to demand that their campus divest funding from the state of Israel, and to end their complicity with the terror being brought down on the Palestinian people.

    There have been more than 2,300 arrests on campuses, students have been met with tear gas, rubber bullets, solidarity encampments have been cleared. This was backed up and encouraged by the political leaders of both parties, who slander the protesters as “anti-Semitic,” “violent,” “outside agitators” and even “terrorists.”

    Why is this repression coming down so hard on student protesters demanding an end to genocide? ... Read more

    Pro-Palestinian students in front of Tulane University in New Orleans, April 29, 2024.

     

    Pro-Palestinian students in front of Tulane University in New Orleans, April 29, 2024.    Photo: Chris Granger/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP

    LAPD advance on pro-Palestinian students on the UCLA campus, Los Angeles, May 2, 2024.

     

    LAPD advance on pro-Palestinian students on the UCLA campus, Los Angeles, May 2, 2024.    Photo: AP

    Many other campuses have been scenes of very intense struggle, including the following: 

    Dozens of NYPD forcibly enter Hind Hall to evict pro-Palestinian Columbia students April 30, 2024.

    Dozens of NYPD forcibly enter Hamilton Hall to evict pro-Palestinian Columbia students April 30, 2024.    Photo: AP

    Columbia & CCNY—New York City:  On Tuesday night, April 30, Mayor Eric Adams, (aka "the Black Giuliani"), the NYPD, and campus administrators launched a massive police assault on pro-Palestine encampments at Columbia University and the City College of New York (CCNY), arresting 119 at Columbia and 173 at CCNY. 
    The Columbia administration had warned students they had to abandon their non-violent encampment, and President Shafik “invited” the NYPD back onto campus (after claiming she wouldn’t) and has since called on them to “have a presence" (i.e. occupy) the campus till May 17.  The students stood firm and early Tuesday morning one group seized and occupied Hamilton Hall. 
    Hours later hundreds of pigs in full riot gear descended on the Columbia campus, forcibly preventing any of the campus journalists from witnessing what was going down. They then tore down and removed the encampment, and broke into Hamilton Hall and arrested everyone there, as hundreds of students and supporters stood just outside campus shouting support for the protesters. 
    UCLA Daily Bruin with picture of counter-protester with aerosol can spraying encampment for Palestine, April 30, 2024.

    UCLA Daily Bruin shows a counter-protester with aerosol can spraying encampment for Palestine, April 30, 2024.   

    UCLA, Los Angeles:  On Tuesday, April 30, the UCLA administration declared the campus Palestinian Solidarity Encampment illegal, warning students they could be suspended or expelled.  The students, faculty and community members who make up the encampment called the declaration cowardly and refused to disband. Around 11pm that night, this non-violent encampment was violently attacked by some 200 Zionists and fascist thugs.  As police and university officials stood back and did nothing for two hours, these goons attacked the encampment with sticks, bear spray, smoke bombs, fireworks, even wooden pallets, trying to destroy it.  Members of the encampment and their supporters fought back bravely and the camp is still standing. 
    Encampment for Gaza at School of the Art Institute in Chicago, May 4, 2024.

    Encampment for Gaza at School of the Art Institute in Chicago, May 4, 2024.    Photo: @loveandstrugglephotos via Instagram

    69 Protesters Arrested at Pro-Palestine Student Encampment at Chicago Art Institute, Including Members of Revcom Corps for Emancipation of Humanity
    Students at the School of the Art Institute (SAIC) set up a pro-Palestine encampment Saturday morning, May 4, at the Art Institute of Chicago. The Art Institute is a major institution and tourist attraction located on busy Michigan Ave. and SAIC is adjacent to it. There were about 20 tents and 40 students in the encampment originally. The demand of the encampment was expressed in a chant heard throughout the day: “Disclose, divest! We will not stop, we will not rest!” ... Read more

    Racist mob assaults pro-Palestinian protestors at Old Miss May 3, 2024
    University of Mississippi: On Thursday, May 2, 30 to 40 or so pro-Palestinian protesters who gathered in the Quad on the campus of the University of Mississippi were set upon by a large mob of mostly male, white, racist, MAGA “counter-protesters.” These goons were waving American flags and screaming sexual threats at the women protesters. As a Black woman protester defiantly approached them, they began screaming “lock her up” and one of these racist morons jumped up and down and hooted like a monkey. 
    But that’s not the half of it! This despicable attack at UM was then celebrated by top fascists....  Read more
    Pro-Palestinian students a the University of Wisconsin, Madison protest the war in Palestine April 30, 2024.

    Pro-Palestinian students a the University of Wisconsin, Madison protest the war in Palestine April 30, 2024.    Photo: Samantha Madar/Wisconsin State Journal via AP

    University of Wisconsin—Madison: May 1, university and city cops attacked and cleared a campus encampment, destroying people’s belongings and the tents that had been set up two days before. Thirty-four people were arrested, including at least two professors; a Palestinian professor was pinned to the ground by cops and had a gash on his head from being hit by a police shield. A student protester said, “All of this is to show that our chancellor, our administration would rather attack the UW-Madison community directly, then listen to our demands to ask that they simply end their complicity in an ongoing genocide.” Cops and administrators claimed that the attack had nothing to do with suppressing protest, it’s just that the university “does not allow camping or camping equipment on university property.” 
    Within two hours, protesters had established a new encampment with over a dozen tents. 
    Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Texas, Austin are confronted by police, April 24, 2024.

    Pro-Palestinian protesters at the University of Texas are confronted by police, April 24, 2024.    Photo: AP

    University of Texas–Austin: On April 29, police attacked peaceful protesters with pepper spray and flash-bang explosivesarresting 79. This followed the arrest of 57 protesters on April 24. Arrestees were held for more than 24 hours while a large crowd rallied and chanted outside the jail waiting for them. Protest on campus continued on April 30. 

    Georgia State Patrol detain a protester at a Pro-Palestinian protest at Emory University, April 25, 2024.

    Georgia State Patrol cuff a protester at a pro-Palestinian protest at Emory University, April 25, 2024.    Photo: AP

    Emory University–AtlantaOn April 25, Atlanta cops and Georgia State Patrol savagely attacked a campus protest, brutalizing students, professors and others with pepper balls and tasers, arresting 28. Fascist Governor Kemp, Emory officials, and the local (Black, Democratic) congressman all spouted similar lies that the protesters were actually “outside agitators,” “terrorists,” “violent” and “anti-Semitic.” On April 29, 200 faculty and others staged a walkout and rally demanding the president of Emory step down. 
    Pro-Palestinian protesters stand off with police on the campus of California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, April 22, 2024.

    California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, April 22, 2024.     Photo: Andrew Goff/Lost Coast Outpost via AP

    California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt (a rural county in Northern California): On the night of April 29, 300 cops in riot gear faced off against a large crowd of protesters, chanting “End the blockade! Break the siege! Stop the U.S. war machine!” These demonstrators were protecting administration buildings that other protesters had occupied. On April 22 the University had declared the whole campus closed in an effort to suffocate protests, and cops had tried but failed to disperse protesters on April 26. This time, the cops waited six hours for the crowd to thin, then at 3:00 am they attacked the occupied buildings, arresting 31 (including a local radio reporter and a professor). Fifty people rallied at the jail to support them, and bail was quickly raised through fundraising on social media. 
    Students inside the encampment protest on University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, April 29, 2024.

    Students inside the encampment protest on University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, April 29, 2024.    Photo: AP

    University of North Carolina–Chapel HillApril 30, early a.m.: Thirty-six protesters were arrested when police broke up an encampment. Other protesters attempted to block the police vehicles by standing in front of them. A Duke student described her arrest: "[The police] were very violent, very rough. I'm not a big person, and I had two grown men grab me very viciously... it was not kindly done." 
    PalestineIsEverywhere.com, screen grab of website

     

    As of the evening of May 12, the website PalestineIsEverywhere.com reports:

    • There have been 160 campus encampments and 219 solidarity actions in 27 countries.
    • The U.S. has seen protests in at least 36 states plus Washington, DC.
    • At least 44 U.S. encampments have been attacked by police, and over 2,600 people arrested.
    • In addition to the U.S., protests have taken place in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Occupied Palestine, South Africa, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Yemen.

    ***

    As we go to press, news continues to come in of police reportedly preparing to attack students or new encampments and protests springing up at other campuses across the country.
  • ARTICLE:

    To all our readers, to all those who hunger for a better world

    We are in a time, right now—a time for you to be part of seizing—where what you do can make a huge difference, for this generation and future generations.

    Thousands of college students are standing up to demand an end to the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinian people. Over 2,300 have been arrested. They have been brutalized, slandered and demonized.

    But they have not backed down. In the face of repression, student protests have come back stronger and more determined.

    A Potential “Game Changer”

    In a rare time when revolution to overthrow capitalism-imperialism is more possible, this holds the potential for, and is showing signs of, something of “generational significance.”

    These college students, especially from “elite” universities, are going up against their own government on a matter of strategic importance to the ruling class—the state of Israel as a military outpost for U.S. capitalism-imperialism in the strategic region of the Middle East. This is forcing many others to sit up and take notice, to question what they are going along with and to challenge long-held fundamental assumptions about the nature of this system, and their responsibility to the world.

    Millions—on the campuses and throughout society—are open to thinking about the biggest questions... and rethinking what they've understood. As a student said the other day to a member of the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity, “I used to think your call for revolution was extreme, but right now, it makes so much sense.” 

    All while the actual nature of this system is being exposed: in the American-made bombs dropped on innocent Palestinians and in the hammer of dictatorship being brought down on the students putting their bodies on the line to demand this genocide end.

    By taking up and spreading revolutionary analysis of WHY this is happening and what can be done, and by donating to doing that, you are giving people what they don’t have: the most radical, the most truth-seeking and truth-telling, the most revolutionary analysis on the planet, from Bob Avakian: the truth that the powers-that-be don’t want you—or anyone else—to know.

    Again, in a rare time when the revolution that humanity needs to end oppression is more possible, this whole uprising from the students has “game-changing” potential impact for the repolarization that's needed to make revolution.

    Everyone reading this: 

    1  Stay closely tuned to the up-to-the-minute messages, commentary and analysis from the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian @BobAvakianOfficial. Spread these all over, breaking open deep discussion and debate about what he's saying and what people need to understand and act on now.

    2  Unite with and strengthen the protests demanding an end to the U.S./Israeli genocide of Palestinians—reaching this into all of society. To those who catch the hardest hell under this system: come with the revcoms onto the campuses. The people that this system tries to keep divided need to come together.

    3  Listen to and spread The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on youtube.com/therevcoms.

    4  Donate to the revcoms. And join the Revcom Corps for the Emancipation of Humanity—bringing an understanding that the problem is this system of capitalism-imperialism, and the solution lies in making an actual revolution to overthrow this system—a revolution which is possible, not in some far-off distant time, but in this time.

    As the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian said in his social media message Revolution #8:

    This is not a time to be siding with one group of oppressors or another. This is a rare time—a very rare opening—a chance that may come only once in a lifetime—a chance to take advantage of the deep divisions among the ruling oppressors and go after their whole system, with the aim of bringing the whole thing down, and putting something much better in its place.

    This rare time must not be squandered—wasted and thrown away. It must be actively and urgently seized on—to bring about a truly emancipating revolution.

    With everything very likely coming to a head and coming up for grabs soon, the outcome of this rare time can’t be left to the brutal enforcers of this system, in one camp or another—or to any force which cannot, or will not, look beyond and lead people beyond the confines of an oppressive system, in one form or another. There must be—and there can be—an organized force of thousands, in a position to lead millions, to take this where it needs to go—to an actual, emancipating revolution.

    With such an organized revolutionary force, it is possible to have a growing impact on all of society, changing the terms of how masses of people see things, and how every institution has to respond.

    With thousands organized into the ranks of the revolution, millions can be won to revolution; and with millions won to revolution, there could be a real possibility for this revolution to win.

  • ARTICLE:

    The BIG Problem with Netflix 3 Body Problem: Anti-Communist Distortion and Fatalism in a World That Cries Out for the New Communist Revolution

    Editors’ Note: This is a slightly edited version of the talk given on April 14, 2024 at Revolution Books, NYC

    Watch a video of Raymond Lotta's speech and discussion with audience at Revolution Books, NYC

    Some of you here may know about the science-fiction series 3 Body Problem, and may be watching it. Some of you may not be familiar with it. But all of you should know two things. 

    First, this show is a major cultural phenomenon—being watched by millions around the world. 

    Second, through the medium of story-telling, it is a major ideological assault on communism... on Mao Zedong, who was the greatest revolutionary of the mid-20th century... and on the Cultural Revolution of 1966-76, an overwhelmingly liberatory and unprecedented episode in the history of communist revolution, indeed in the history of humanity. 

    Now I realize that's a mouthful. I'm going to break this down in my talk. But the reason I'm giving this talk is that the stakes are so high. 

    Look, we face a dire state of emergency: genocide in Gaza... women stripped of the right to abortion... fascism on a rampage... the climate crisis careening towards catastrophe... the growing danger of world war, of nuclear war. The system we live under, the system that rules over you, capitalism-imperialism, is the cause of this—with the U.S. the #1 oppressor and plunderer in the world. 

    But there is a way out of this horror: a revolution guided by the new communism developed by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian. A revolution to emancipate humanity and protect the planet. A revolution to change everything! This revolution is not only so badly needed. It is also more possible—with the rulers at each other's throats and society being torn apart. 

    Yet no sooner do you hear that word “communism,” than you start thinking: “isn't communism long dead, something that everyone knows is a failure.” Isn't it a system of “mass control,” “mass conformity,” and “senseless violence” that promises a paradise but leads to nightmare? 

    Well, that's not what you independently think and know, it's what you've been trained to think and know... what's been drilled into your head by this system—by its “experts” and ideologues, through its media and highly promoted memoirs. All telling you, warning you, that you cannot get beyond capitalism... that if you try, it'll be a disaster. Long live selfishness, inequality, and exploitation. 

    This is the anti-communist brainwash you're getting. It seeps into every pore of intellectual, political, and cultural life. Keeping you ideologically locked into this system, in ways you're not even aware of.

    The Big Problem with 3 Body Problem

    Which brings us to Exhibit A: the Netflix series 3 Body Problem that began streaming in late March. It's a science fiction story based on a hugely popular, contemporary Chinese novel. The Netflix adaptation introduces you to several young scientists in astrophysics and nanotechnology, working in London. Their sophisticated research centers are receiving nonsensical results that overturn a decade of carefully collected data. Around the same time, a number of scientists commit suicide for no apparent reason. Other strange things happen—like stars one night getting brighter, and then flickering on and off; apparently, an outer worldly force is trying to get humanity's attention. There's a lot of spectacle here from the creators of Game of Thrones.

    But what I'm focusing on here, and what is key to the story-line—setting it in motion and an ongoing theme—is the Cultural Revolution in China. Not the Cultural Revolution as it really was in its main and overwhelmingly positive and profoundly liberatory aspect. But a vicious, anti-communist misrepresentation that not only serves as a thematic anchor of the series but reinforces the official bourgeois narrative of the Cultural Revolution.

    The opening scene of 3 Body Problem takes place on an outdoor stage emblazoned with revolutionary banners. An astrophysicist is forcibly seated at the center, hounded by young followers of Mao. They are accusing him of subscribing to “bourgeois and imperialist science”: Einstein and the theory of relativity; and  theory of the Big Bang, about the start of the universe in its present configuration. He is told he must recant, because the Big Bang explanation is said to allow for the existence of God. He refuses. The physicist's wife denounces him. His interrogators grow more violent and beat him repeatedly. The assembled crowd cheers all this on. 

    The physicist's daughter, herself a brilliant scientist, is in that crowd. She watches in horror as her father is tormented and then killed. She becomes a central character in the saga. To protect herself from prison and worse—and this is a vicious caricature of the Cultural Revolution as a massive lock-up—she agrees to become part of a top secret scientific project in Maoist China. Researchers are working on sending signals to extraterrestrial species. In taking up this post in this remote region, she witnesses what the film falsely portrays as a Maoist war on nature in order to develop the economy. 

    She assumes major research responsibility in this secret government project. And she ultimately makes contact with extra-terrestrials. And then makes a fateful decision that invites an alien invasion to colonize Earth. Why? To save humanity from its destructive impulses, the worst of which—we are told—were in full display during the Cultural Revolution. This is the fatalism of 3 Body Problem—there is no hope for humanity.

    You, the viewer, are left with this bogus and lurid picture of the Cultural Revolution—as a decade-long campaign of fanatical mob terror, as anti-intellectual and anti-science, as utterly heedless towards the environment. Taking this film as a source of knowledge about the Cultural Revolution would be equivalent to trying understand the U.S. Civil War and the radical period of Reconstruction following the Civil War according to the racist film Birth of a Nation, which utterly distorts those events as the unmitigated horror of freed slaves wreaking havoc on society. 

    BAsics 4-10

     

    ***

    Now I  am a follower of the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian. Over the last four decades and more, he has developed the new communism. He has summed up the experience of the first stage of communist revolution—the Russian Revolution of 1917-56 and the Chinese Revolution of 1949-76. He has drawn from diverse spheres of human endeavor and understanding—and analyzed the great changes that have taken place in the world. There are different dimensions to this new communism. 

    But at its core is the search for the truth—a consistently and thoroughly scientific approach to reality. This scientific approach means engaging with all of reality... learning from all spheres of life... fostering intellectual-cultural ferment... and learning from diverse political and ideological streams and perspectives, even those opposed to socialism but which may be getting at important aspects of truth. 

    Avakian has put it provocatively: all truths will help us get to communism—to a world without exploitation and oppression, to a world community of humanity of freely cooperating human beings, no longer divided into classes and marked by antagonistic social conflict. All truths will help us get to communism—even truths about the experience of socialist revolution “that make us cringe.” Truth is objective, what corresponds to reality. And getting at the truth requires identifying the main and defining features and trends of a phenomenon—so that we can understand and evaluate it. 

    The point of this scientific approach to understanding reality in the fullest and deepest possible ways... is to transform reality in the most profound and revolutionary way.

    REVOLUTION 23:  Truth is...Truth

    Follow Bob Avakian (BA) on social media 

    Getting at the truth of the Cultural Revolution means recognizing its liberatory aims, methods, and achievements—which were its overwhelmingly main aspects. But also confronting the shortcomings and problems, even quite serious ones, of the Cultural Revolution. 

    And being thoroughly truthful and evidence-based requires asking and investigating whether there might be some truth to the portrayal in 3 Body Problem of how struggle was conducted during the Cultural Revolution. Is there anything to its depiction of the ways certain scientific theories were received and assessed during the Cultural Revolution? Even a grain of truth in this sea of lies about the Cultural Revolution. The new communism demands this of us. It has everything to do with how, on the basis of the new communism, we can make a qualitatively more emancipating revolution in today's world.

    I mentioned the first stage of communist revolution. The Russian revolution of 1917-1956 and the Chinese revolution of 1949-76 were the first and historic attempts to create societies free from exploitation and oppression. They accomplished incredibly inspiring things against enormous odds. They faced unremitting pressure and threat from imperialism—including, in the case of the socialist Soviet Union, massive, genocidal military onslaught by fascist-imperialist Germany. Within a year of the victory of the Chinese revolution in 1949, the U.S. imperialists were moving up the Korean peninsula and threatening nuclear strikes against China. 

    For all these difficulties and challenges, the first stage of communist revolution opened a whole new chapter in human history. The Soviet Union and revolutionary China created the world's first planned socialist economies that served the needs of people, not the enrichment of the few. These revolutions took the emancipation of women as a fundamental point of orientation. In the case of Mao and the Cultural Revolution, society was “sprung into the air” and revolutionized in ways unheard of in human history. The formerly oppressed and exploited were empowered to take ever greater responsibility for the direction of society.

    But these revolutions were also constrained by problems in the method and approach guiding them. The new communism, while upholding and building on the first stage of communist revolution, also ruptures in important ways with aspects of previous communist theory and practice. Importantly, it decisively breaks with the poisonous notion that the “ends justify the means,” which has infected the communist movement. The means and methods of revolution must flow from and serve the goal of getting to a world without exploitation and oppression.

    The Truth of the Cultural Revolution

    With this foundation, I want to turn to the Cultural Revolution, to its historical backdrop and lessons.

    In 1949, the Chinese revolution, mobilizing millions under Mao's leadership, came to power. It drove out foreign imperialism. It shattered the old oppressive economic and social order in which landlords despotically ruled over peasants in the countryside and a corrupt capitalism led to horrific exploitation and destitution in the cities. The revolution put an end to that. 

    It carried out the most extensive land reform in history. It established a new socialist state power and economy geared to meeting basic needs of the people. Under Mao's leadership, the revolution forged new liberatory institutions and new cooperative and collective relations among people. It carried out literacy and health campaigns, and waged struggle against the deeply-entrenched subordination of women. In 1949, China, a country of 500 million had only 12,000 doctors trained in modern medicine! By 1965, there were over 200,000. 

    But even as the revolution progressed, Mao analyzed that China was still a society marked by social inequalities and differences. For instance, there still existed a wide gap between economic-social conditions in the countryside and higher development in the cities. There was still a division of labor in society where the majority of people were mainly engaged in manual labor, while a minority was mainly engaged in the realm of ideas and administrative activity. There were still differences in income, and it was still necessary to use money. These things can't be eliminated overnight. But they must be restricted and transformed to get to a world without oppression. And there are the vestiges of the culture, ways of thinking, and values of the old society.

    Mao went further. He analyzed that these inequalities and social differences generate new privileged forces, including a new bourgeois-capitalist class within socialist society. And its power center was at the top levels of the communist party, and at the highest levels of the socialist state. Why was this where their power resided, and where they had the leverage to influence the direction of society? Because the communist party is the leading political institution in socialist society—and the socialist state economy is the heart of the new economic system. 

    These new privileged forces, these “capitalist roaders” as Mao described them, aimed to take China down the capitalist road. Mao and the revolutionary forces represented and fought for the socialist road: to deepen and carry forward the revolution to overcome these inequalities and differences. But the capitalist roaders had tremendous strength and influence in the Communist Party, at the highest levels of governance, and in the military. 

    They pushed a program of putting the economy on a profit-based footing, of telling workers to keep their noses to the grindstone—don't look up to the larger issues of society and the world... this in the name of creating a more “efficient socialism” that would raise living standards. They fought to put the educational system on an ever-more elitist foundation—in the name of creating a more expert-based society. And they implemented these kinds of policies where they had sufficient control and influence. By 1965, they had positioned themselves and were maneuvering to seize power in society as a whole. 

    This was the real-world backdrop of the Cultural Revolution launched by Mao in 1966! (The anti-communist brainwash keeps you totally ignorant of this!) Mao analyzed that a “second revolution” was needed: to prevent the restoration of capitalism, and to keep China on the socialist road, to further revolutionize society and contribute to the advance of the world revolution. 

    China, Cultural Revolution, young people

     

    Chinese Red Guard, 1966: Mao turned to young people, with their rebellious and questioning spirit, to spark the Cultural Revolution. In the schools, these radical youth formed into Red Guards, inspiring revolutionary initiative and creativity.   

    The communist party had grown stale and calcified. So Mao turned to young people, with their rebellious and questioning spirit, to spark this “second revolution.” In the schools—which not only transmit knowledge but values and attitudes—these radical youth formed into Red Guards and challenged educational authority that promoted knowledge as a means of self-advancement at the expense of social good and social transformation, that quashed revolutionary initiative and creativity. 

    The Red Guards went into factories to stir up critical thinking among workers, calling on them to examine the content of management and organization of the workplace—and to resist oppressive authority. They promoted study of Mao's writings. They went into the countryside to open peasants' eyes to, and draw peasants into, this great struggle between the capitalist and socialist road.

    Poster featuring workers in a factory studying and discussing revolutionary theory. 

     

    Poster featuring workers in a factory studying and discussing revolutionary theory.    

    In reflecting on the Cultural Revolution, Mao explained that he was searching for a way to expose our “dark aspects” from below. To prevent the restoration of capitalism—NOT through purges, arrests, and executions BUT by awakening and mobilizing tens and hundreds of millions of workers, peasants, students, and professionals to take part in political and ideological struggle to overthrow these capitalist roaders—and to carry the revolution forward into all spheres and institutions of society—including the vanguard communist party. And to do this through methods and means that would not only enable the masses of people to raise their understanding of the contradictions and challenges involved in getting to a communist world without exploitation and oppression... BUT ALSO to transform their own thinking, to break with old ideas and customs that reinforce self-first, privilege, and passivity. 

    The principle of “serve the people” was promoted, and became a measure for evaluating how society was functioning.

    Methods of Struggle

    No, this was not vindictive “mob terror” as 3 Body Problem and the bourgeois-imperialist accounts of the Cultural Revolution would have you believe. Let's look at the main forms of struggle of the Cultural Revolution:

    —There was mass debateover policy and the direction of society. In all kinds of public forums at all levels of society, through newspapers (in Beijing there were over 900 new newspapers) and what were called “big-character” posters—handwritten posters displaying large Chinese characters that were used as a means of protest, political messaging, and popular communication. These were means through which people expressed themselves freely—arguing over the big questions of this struggle over the road forward for revolutionary China. Try that at Columbia University today, where the university is banning students from posting pro-Palestine signs in their dorms—not to mention the repression of student protest.

    Big Character Poster

     

    People gathering to discuss a "big-character poster." These posters were popular means of free expression, protest, and political messaging during the Cultural Revolution contributing to the atmosphere of broad debate over policy and direction of society.   

    China, during Cultural Revolution: People gathering to discuss a "big-character poster."

     

    —There was mass political mobilization: demonstrations, strikes, and protests. Even uprisings, such as what happened in Shanghai in early 1967, when revolutionary workers rose up to politically challenge and overthrow the capitalist roaders who ruled the city. What followed was further debate and experimentation—which with Maoist leadership led to  the development of new revolutionary-participatory forms of governance and administration. 

    —And there was mass criticism that took place in public gatherings and assemblies—criticism of high-ranking authorities promoting capitalist-style policies and programs. And also criticism more broadly of administrators and professionals with important responsibility who came under the influence of bourgeois-elitist outlook and had grown detached from basic people. No authority at any level was exempt from criticism. 

    All of what I am describing is what I mean when I say that the Cultural Revolution was “springing society into the air.” This was the deepest-going revolution in human history. And it resulted in pathbreaking transformations and new innovative practices: 

    There was the forging of new revolutionary committees of political power and administration. There was the inauguration of the “barefoot doctors” movement—educated youth from the cities and peasants who trained to provide preventive medicine in the countryside—some one million trained during the Cultural Revolution, and this contributed to the most egalitarian, needs-based public health system in the world at the time. (Shanghai in the early 1970s, by the way, had a lower infant mortality rate than New York City.) 

    In the years of the Cultural Revolution, some 1 million young peasants and young people from the cities were trained as "barefoot doctors" providing basic healthcare in the countryside.

     

    In the years of the Cultural Revolution, some 1 million young peasants and young people from the cities were trained as "barefoot doctors" providing basic healthcare in the countryside.   

    China during Cultural Revolution

     

    There was the creation of new revolutionary art, ambitious undertakings like the revolutionary reinvention of Chinese opera and ballet—combining traditional and Western forms and techniques with bold, new narratives, like that of the Red Detachment of Women, that put strong, independent women front and center, challenging patriarchal custom and belief. There was the practice of “open-door” scientific research, in which scientists and technical personnel went to factories and the countryside to share knowledge with, and to conduct scientific experiment alongside, workers and peasants—and to learn from peasants. 

    Image from the innovative revolutionary ballet and opera "Red Detachment of Women." This work and others contributed towards radicalizing the discourse of women's liberation during the Cultural Revolution.

     

    Image from the innovative revolutionary ballet and opera "Red Detachment of Women." This work and others contributed towards radicalizing the discourse of women's liberation during the Cultural Revolution.   

    What about the claims of mass violence and ugly attacks on people and their work? Is that opening scene of 3 Body Problem, with the astrophysicist being publicly shamed and beaten, an accurate reflection of the main character and spirit of the Cultural Revolution? No, it's a gross distortion. The methods of struggle that I mentioned earlier (mass debate, criticism, and political mobilization) were clearly spelled out in official and widely publicized documents, including this guidance, which I am directly quoting: “Where there is debate, it should be conducted by reasoning and not by force.”

    Now acts of violence and beatings, and incidents of public humiliation, did occur during the Cultural Revolution. But here is what the evidence shows:

    *This was not the main trend of the Cultural Revolution, and it was assuredly NOT the orientation of Mao. 
    *When things went in a violent and vengeful direction, Mao and the revolutionary forces condemned and criticized such trends through statements, directives, editorials, and “on-the-ground” interventions, such as a team of workers dispatched to a university in Beijing where Red Guard student groups took up arms against each other.
    *Finally, much of the violence fanned during the Cultural Revolution was actually instigated by the capitalist roaders, especially for the purpose of discrediting Mao and the Cultural Revolution. 

    There's an important methodological point for all of us here to grapple with. Revolutions and great upsurges are complex phenomena. Any appraisal of a period of history, or mass movement, must examine its main elements and features that define its essential nature. Take a current example: the student movement in solidarity with Palestinian people and opposing the genocide in Gaza. The backers and supporters of apartheid Israel argue that this movement is antisemitic. Well, that's reactionary nonsense. Are there elements of antisemitism among some involved in this struggle? Yes, but that's utterly secondary and minor—not what defines and propels this righteous struggle overall. 

    The Question of Science

    I want to return to the issue of science and that scene at the beginning of 3 Body Problem where Einstein's theory of relativity and the Big Bang theory are excoriated as bourgeois and imperialist. Is there any truth to this depiction? There is. And this brings us back to Bob Avakian's insistence on a thoroughly scientific approach to understanding and changing the world. Avakian has emphasized that “the truth... is truth.” But there was not this correct understanding during the Cultural Revolution. In one of the major circulars guiding the Cultural Revolution, it is stated that the bourgeoisie has its truth, and the proletariat has its truth. This is profoundly wrong. 

    Again, “truth... is truth” no matter who says it. The notion of “class truth” is scientifically wrong, because there's only one world and one reality. It's also an obstacle, as Bob Avakian emphasizes, to getting beyond a world where “might makes right”—where what is accepted as “true” is based on who has the power and authority to declare and enforce it—rather than to what actually corresponds to reality. Scientific theories cannot be evaluated on the basis of the politics, class position, gender (or other) identity of their proponents. 

    In terms of Einstein and relativity, and the Big Bang—criticism was launched during the Cultural Revolution. That criticism was not based on deep engagement with these theories but on ideological and philosophical suspicions and dogmatic approaches to Marxism. This led some forces of the Cultural Revolution to dismiss these theories out of hand. Why? Because Einstein's ideas might be used to promote relativism about time and space (that they don't objectively exist). Or, in the case of the Big Bang... some declared it erroneous because the theory opens the door to a possible argument for an absolute beginning of the universe... and that could be used to justify the existence of a non-material god. This was not consistent with a deep scientific understanding of the Big Bang theory. 

    There's more to understand about what was happening. But the influence of this kind of thinking was not only a fetter on the Cultural Revolution, but to what it's going to take to get to communism. So that's some initial reflection on that aspect of the Cultural Revolution.

    But using that criterion of identifying the main and defining character of an historical phenomenon, we can determine that the Cultural Revolution was not anti-science. For the record, revolutionary China was undertaking high-energy physics research. During the Cultural Revolution, scientists synthesized the protein for insulin, satellite and computer technology advanced. 

    At the same time, science was popularized throughout society. Basic primers educated peasants and workers, and challenged superstition. Technical and research institutes, and related factories, would invite people from the neighborhoods to observe and learn from the work being done. In the rural areas, where professional scientists conducted experiments and education alongside peasants—the experience and practical knowledge of peasants was brought into the mix and process of further deepening understanding and further developing sustainable agricultural practices. All this as part of breaking down that ages-old division between mental and manual labor. 

    The Environment: An Upside-Down Distortion

    As for the issue of the Cultural Revolution and the environment—and how 3 Body Problem would have you believe that Mao was waging a war on nature to accelerate economic development, no matter the environmental consequences. This is obscenely wrong. In the first episode, you see forests being cleared. A young official gives the daughter of the astrophysicist who had been killed a copy of Rachel Carson's famous 1962 book Silent Spring. The book exposed the tremendous environmental and health harm caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. The audience watching 3 Body Problem is led to think that the West was acknowledging and seriously acting on environmental issues... while this was a taboo topic in Maoist China.

    To which I can only say to the Netflix creators of 3 Body Problem... how dare you!?!

    In 1961, the year before Silent Spring came out, the U.S. imperialists initiated the most massive and the deadliest campaign of chemical warfare in human history. This was in Vietnam, where the U.S. military, working with major U.S. chemical companies, sprayed herbicides, like Agent Orange, on vast swaths of the countryside. They destroyed some five million acres of forest and food crops, poisoning rivers and canals. It went on for 10 years, until 1971, leaving hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese with birth defects and cancers. All this as part of the U.S.'s genocidal war against the Vietnamese people. 

    Meanwhile, during the Cultural Revolution, socialist China was coming to new realization of environmental dangers and changed some harmful practices they had previously carried out. Campaigns to plant new forests and reforest other areas were launched. More broadly, there was a new awareness and discourse of economic development that was compatible with environmental protection. Environmental and public health goals were incorporated into local and national economic planning. The revolution gained new knowledge from environmental efforts in other parts of the world. 

    The Defeat of the Cultural Revolution and the Road Forward NOW: The New Communism

    But this kind of learning and experimentation—and it was happening in other spheres of society—was cut short in October 1976, a month after Mao died. From 1973-76, Mao and his revolutionary followers had been leading masses in waging a new  phase of political and ideological struggle against the capitalist roaders. This was against the backdrop of intensifying war threats against China by the social-imperialist Soviet Union. In this complicated situation, the capitalist roaders were gaining strength. 

    In October 1976, these capitalist roaders carried out a reactionary coup. They suppressed the revolutionary forces and set out to systematically restructure Chinese society and economy along capitalist lines. China has become a major capitalist-imperialist power. This terrible defeat marked the end of the first stage of communist revolution and its high point, the Cultural Revolution. 

    But we are not back to square one. Far from it. The new communism forged by Bob Avakian makes possible a new stage of communist revolution—a qualitatively more emancipating revolution.

    Let me come back for a moment to the fatalistic thematic of 3 Body Problem. This series is telling us that humanity is doomed. An alien invasion is coming in 400 years, but the characters argue whether it's even worth stopping this invasion for future generations—because humanity is so irredeemable. The problem is incurable human nature. And it's the Cultural Revolution—which, again, was an incredible breakthrough for humanity—which, in this grotesquely distorted telling, sets this particular doom-loop in motion. 

    3 Body Problem lets imperialism, U.S. imperialism, off the hook. All its crimes, all its environmental destruction. All that is possible, in the story, is to entrust our fate to a top-secret authority... of the imperialist system!

    But there is hope for humanity... hope on a scientific basis. We have something that has never existed before in the history of humanity, with the new communism developed by Bob Avakian. 

    In summing up the first stage of communist revolution, even the best of that stage, Bob Avakian has pointed to an historic contradiction. Communism is in the highest interests of the masses of people. But not all of them want it at any given time. You can't resolve that contradiction by force-marching them to communism with a gun to their backs. That is, through intimidation and over-reliance on physical and social coercion. You have to be winning people to the cause of and struggle to achieve communism. On the other hand, you need to hold on to power, while ensuring that this power is worth holding on to. For more on this, I urge readers to go to three works by Bob Avakian: The New Communism, particularly Part II; Breakthroughs, particularly pages 17 through 41, and 57 through 74; and the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North  America.

    The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America authored by Bob Avakian embodies the solution to this historic problem. It not only protects dissent (even dissent opposed to socialism) and intellectual and cultural ferment—but promotes that in a way that has never existed in this society—indeed on a scale unseen in human history. In the context of a society that is aiming to end all exploitation and oppression. All this is crucial towards understanding and changing the world—and creating a society that people would want to live in, and could flourish in. 

    You have to repeatedly win people to fight to stay on the socialist road—relying on evidence, contestation, and debate between different programs and platforms... and critical thinking. And this Constitution also contains provisions for contested elections, in which it would even be possible to vote socialism out of power. But it has safeguards that would make that very difficult. Because, again, communism is in the highest interests of world humanity. 

    I want to end where I began. The world is a horror. We face truly existential threats in the danger of nuclear war and global warming. But this is also a time of heightened revolutionary possibility.

    The document “WE ARE THE REVCOMS” explains: “This is also a 'rare time' when the capitalist-imperialists who rule over us, in this country, are deeply divided in a way they have not been since the Civil War in the 1860s, and the country is being ripped apart, with one section moving toward an outright fascist form of rule, with the other fighting for the horrific way things have been. They cannot resolve these deep divisions, and 'hold the country together' on the basis of the 'normal way' this system has operated—and, in any case, that 'normal way' is full of oppression, destruction, and the real danger of wiping out humanity. For these reasons, this revolution we are working for is urgently necessary and more possible.

    This rare time is an historic opportunity—not a guarantee—but a real chance to leap into a whole new world. And the revcoms, followers of Bob Avakian, are seizing on and working on this rare opening to make revolution. 

    Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal)

    Authored by Bob Avakian, and adopted by the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, 2010

    Going Forward to the Emancipation of All Humanity

    As I have pointed out on this tour: Yes, the anti-communist brainwash is pervasive, and confuses and disorients people—our current “Exhibit A” being 3 Body Problem. Yes, we have to struggle hard for the truth, and raise people's sights. But we also have a lot going for us. The productive capacity, the technology, the knowledge, the interconnectedness of world humanity open up incredible potential to solve material and social problems and act on the environmental emergency—but only on the basis of a “fundamentally different system.” 

    We have the rare and unique leadership of Bob Avakian who has rescued the communist project and taken it higher—and who is giving ongoing leadership to this revolution. We have the strategy to make revolution and in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America we have the vision and blueprint for a liberatory socialist society. This revolution is in the interests of the billions in all parts of the world who are denied a decent life and a future worth living, or any future of all.

    To those of you here today, to those of you watching this video, to all who yearn for a radically different and far better world: there is nothing more urgent and nothing more meaningful that you can be doing with your lives... than becoming part of, spreading, and contributing to this revolution to emancipate humanity and protect the planet. 

    Something Terrible or Something Truly Emancipating - Square, wo "NEW"

     

  • ARTICLE:

    Setting the Record Straight on Anti-Zionism, Anti-Semitism and the Important Difference Between the Two

    Updated

    Editors' Note, April 29, 2024: We are republishing this article from 2019 which refutes the LIE being used now to attack the protests against the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people as "anti-Semitic."

    The ruling class media and mainstream political spokespeople consistently conflate the legitimate and correct opposition to the state of Israel and the ideology of Zionism with anti-Semitism and hatred of Jewish people. At the same time, there is a rising tide worldwide of anti-Semitism—also strongly backed by sections of the ruling classes—which is a danger in its own right and perniciously influences the thinking of masses of people.

    To set the record straight on this:

    1) The state of Israel was founded by European Jews who migrated to the Middle East and settled on land that had been historically and continuously occupied by another people, the Palestinians. This movement was from the beginning conceived of and openly advertised by its main founder as a colonial project. At least half a million Palestinians were driven out of their land in a war of ethnic cleansing that included a substantial number of significant massacres. The new Israeli state received substantial support from various great powers, both in the period leading up to its founding and subsequently, and today occupies the role of the critical regional enforcer for U.S. imperialist interests. It is on this basis that people and institutions—including REVCOM—maintain that Israel is an illegitimate settler state. This view is not only utterly legitimate, it is objectively true and irrefutable. Attempts to label such a view as anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish, etc. and to suppress those who adhere to it are cowardly and dangerous; it is the use of power to suppress truth and forbid debate over that truth. Such attempts must be opposed, and all those who come under fire for either adhering to that view or supporting the movement to boycott, divest from and sanction Israel6 (a movement which actually stops short of that view) should be supported.

    2) Anti-Semitism—views that in one way or another demonize and dehumanize the Jewish people as a people—has absolutely no truth or validity, should not be “up for debate,” and must be exposed for the reactionary poison that it is. Such views have led to or justified genocidal acts for several thousand years, including but not limited to the Nazi murder of six million Jewish people, and until very recently were “stock in trade” of most European ruling-class institutions, including the Catholic Church. Those who today proffer such views—from Alex Jones7 to Louis Farrakhan to David Icke to ISIS, etc.—generally do so as part of a profoundly reactionary and often straight-up fascist discourse and program, and those views and programs must also be firmly opposed. As for oppressed people who fall for the lie that “the Jews” were responsible for the slave trade or today “control everything” behind the scenes: you are being played for fools and suckers, while the real enemy—the capitalist-imperialist system—is let off the hook.

    For background on the nature and role of Israel see the special Revolution/revcom.us issue: The Case of Israel: Bastion of Enlightenment or Enforcer for Imperialism?

    Also available as Pamphlet (PDF)   

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The mainstream of the boycott, divestment, sanction (BDS) movement does not uphold the position that the state of Israel as a whole is illegitimate, but holds that the Israeli “settlements” (armed outposts) in the West Bank and Jerusalem—the territories occupied by Israel after a further war of expansion in 1967—are illegitimate. Even this is too much, however, for the imperialists and the supporters of Israel. [back]

    2. It must also be noted that anti-Semitic views, especially in code words and “dog whistles,” have been part of Donald Trump’s approach for a long time—including his infamous characterization that there were “good people” on the side of the neo-Nazis and KKK attack dogs in Charlottesville who were, among other things, chanting openly anti-Semitic slogans. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    The Revcoms Called Out Timothy Snyder's Lies About Communism...
    Now Yale Wants to Shut Down the Needed Debate...
    Unchain Your Mind, Join the Revolution for a Whole New World

    Updated

    On Thursday February 29, Raymond Lotta and a group of Revcoms (revolutionary communists) marched into Timothy Snyder's “Hitler, Stalin, and Us” class announcing “No class as usual today, we are in a state of emergency.”

    • Why Timothy Snyder? Because he is a high-profile anti-communist ideologue who traffics in lies and slanders about communism.  Because he uses his “expert” credentials to drum up support for the U.S.'s proxy war with imperialist rival Russia. The U.S. is using the military forces and civilians of Ukraine as cannon fodder in the name of a crusade of democracy (really, U.S. imperialism) v. tyranny (Russian imperialism). A proxy war that could escalate to world war and nuclear war!
    • Why now? Because the world is a horror: genocide in Gaza backed by the U.S....women stripped of the right to abortion... “made-in-America” fascism on a rampage...the climate crisis careening towards catastrophe. These and other extreme crises are rapidly intensifying. And the direction and future of the planet hang in the balance. So, yes, a state of emergency.

    BUT THERE IS A WAY OUT: to make a real revolution to overthrow this system—a liberatory revolution guided by the new communism developed by Bob Avakian. A revolution more needed and more possible!

    • So, again, why Timothy Snyder? Because by slandering communism and prettifying U.S. imperialism, Snyder is locking people into this system of capitalism-imperialism, It is a system in which America is #1—with its supply chains of misery and exploitation and history's most monstrous military machine of death and destruction. What country has carried out more invasions and coups, is the only one to drop nuclear bombs, and has plundered our planet's resources more than any other? The U.S.! Still, Timothy Snyder promotes the “official” narrative that this system, for all its flaws, is the best of all possible worlds...the world to preserve and “perfect.”

    Brainwashing 101: Two Examples of Snyder's Lies and Distortions

    • Snyder claims the socialist Soviet Union under Stalin and fascist-capitalist Germany under Hitler were twin “totalitarian” regimes. This is as ridiculous as it is baseless. Hitler murdered 6 million Jews...the socialist Soviet Union during World War 2 protected and saved the lives of 1.5 million East European Jews in those parts of the Soviet Union not occupied by the Nazis.
    • Snyder claims that the famine in Ukraine of 1932-33 was an act of deliberate starvation by Stalin. The evidence shows otherwise. This famine—which also affected other parts of the Soviet Union, not just Ukraine—was principally caused by drought and plant disease that resulted in two years of crop failures. And the Soviet government reduced grain exports and provided millions of tons of food as famine relief. Such historical experience must be truthfully examined, so we can do even better in future revolutions, not lied about to scare people away from revolution.

    Have the Courage to Engage the New Communism and Leadership of Bob Avakian...Step Into Revolution

    Bob Avakian has analyzed the overwhelmingly positive achievements but also the problems, including serious problems, even grievous errors under Stalin, of the first socialist revolutions in the Soviet Union (1917-56) and China (1949-76). He has developed the new communism—a whole new framework for human emancipation. It ruptures decisively with the poisonous notion that the “ends justifies the means.” Avakian has written a Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America that, in the framework of a society moving to end all exploitation and oppression, protects and promotes dissent and intellectual-cultural ferment on a scale unseen in human society. 

    No, We Did NOT “Force Evacuation” of Snyder's Class; We Challenged Him to Debate These Issues

    The Yale Daily News claims that we forced an “evacuation” (a word that implies some sort of threat). No, we announced “no class as usual,” not “no class.” The whole purpose of our dramatic intervention was: a) to jolt people awake about the horrific nature of this system, and why revolution is needed now; and b) to boldly challenge Snyder to debate. He decided to duck the issues, including why he has not condemned U.S. support for Israel's genocide in Gaza. 

    Yale Does Its Part to Close Off This Critical Debate...and Critical Thinking!

    Professor Snyder called security on us, who arrived in the midst of our engaging some of these issues with several students from the class. We were told that while Yale is an “open campus,” we broke certain rules. And vague restrictions have been threatened against the revcoms. Let's be clear. Yale is not protecting Snyder's classroom integrity, but his lies. Yale is not acting to ensure robust intellectual debate and the search for the truth, but impeding it. If Yale goes forward in suppressing this debate, it will be acting to keep the lid on people's capacity to conceive of a world beyond capitalism—and the real possibility of a revolution to put an end to all exploitation and oppression.

    Be Part of This Debate...Resist the Brainwash... Dare to be Part of the Revolution to Change Everything


    Bring Raymond Lotta To Your Campus This Semester: The New Communist Revolution So Badly Needed v. The Anti-Communist Brainwash You're Getting! 
    Contact: revbooksnyc@yahoo.com

    Learn More:

    Get in Touch with the Revcoms: @therevcoms, @revcomcorps_nyc, and revcomcorpsnyc@gmail.com

    Raymond Lotta is an advocate for the new communism developed by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian. He is a political economist who has written and lectured extensively on the history of the socialist revolutions in the 20th century. He has also analyzed developments and changes in the world capitalist economy, and the roots of the ecological crisis and the need for socialist sustainable development. He’s the spokesperson for Revolution Books in New York City. 

  • ARTICLE:

    Full Announcement:

    THE RAYMOND LOTTA FALL CAMPUS SPEAKING TOUR

    You’ve Been Lied To! The First Communist Revolutions Were Liberating...

    The NEW Communist Revolution Will Be Far Better

    Updated

    Raymond Lotta

     

    Raymond Lotta   

    Raymond Lotta is opening up great debate about the past and future of communist revolution, and the future of humanity. At a time when the abject failure of capitalism to deal with the climate, with war, with immigration, with gender and racial equality stands out... in a world where 160 million child laborers form an essential part of capitalism’s global supply chains ... at a time, in short, in which humanity’s need for an emancipating revolution cries out as never before … communism has been ruled off the agenda.

    But wait... doesn’t everyone know that these revolutions were no good? That they were “utopian projects” that turned into “totalitarian nightmares.” Well, that’s what people think they know—when in fact it’s what’s been drilled into people’s heads by this system’s “experts” and “scholars of communism,” its ideologues, and reinforced by highly promoted memoirs of hardship and suffering (like understanding the Civil War through the lens of the Confederacy).

    This “verdict” that communism has been a disaster is built on distortions and slanders, and has become a kind of unquestioned and institutionalized “conventional wisdom”—including and especially in academia, where critical thinking shuts down when it comes to this question. This puts a lid on people’s capacity to conceive of a world beyond capitalism—at a time when revolution is so urgently needed... and more possible.

    Yet because of the work done by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian, there is not only a way to scientifically understand both the great strengths as well as the errors, even grievous errors, of the first two socialist revolutions—in the Soviet Union 1917-56 and in China 1949-76—but also a way to go beyond them to a qualitatively more emancipating future. 

    Communism is the scientific analysis of, and method of analyzing, human society and its development and transformation. It is the theory guiding the living struggle to achieve a communist world without exploitation and oppression and the division of society into classes. The very development of human society makes it possible to get beyond a world of scarcity and antagonistic social conflict. Bob Avakian has summed up the previous experience of the communist movement and of the Soviet and Chinese revolutions, and he has drawn from a broad range of human experience. In doing so, he has brought forward the new communism, which is a continuation of but also represents a leap beyond and, in some important ways, a break with previous communist theory

    A core feature of the new communism is the repudiation of the poisonous notion that the “ends justify the means.” The communist revolution’s means and morality must flow from, be consistent with, and serve the struggle to achieve a world in which human beings can truly flourish. Further, the new communism emphasizes the great importance in socialist society of intellectual and cultural ferment, and not only the protection but the promotion of dissent, including opposition to socialism.

    Basing himself on the new communism, Raymond Lotta is rescuing from distortion the truth of the first communist revolutions. These were the most significant revolutions humanity has seen. They involved hundreds of millions in creating something utterly new and liberatory. They established the first planned socialist economies to meet social need; they made the liberation of women and overcoming national-ethnic oppression touchstone goals and real-life objectives; and they inspired and aided struggles of oppressed humanity.

    These first communist revolutions have been subjected to more slander than any other events in history... bar none! Hardly a surprise, as we live in a capitalist-imperialist world of savage exploitation, grotesque inequality, and the commodification of everything... and whose ideologues never cease reminding us that this is the best and only of all possible worlds.

    The Raymond Lotta campus tour will put before people the real history, the great and unprecedented accomplishments of the first communist revolutions; their problems; and how we can go much further and do much better in making revolution in today’s world. He will refute lies about Mao and the Cultural Revolution. He will expose the nonsensical equating of Stalin with Hitler conveyed by notions of “totalitarianism” put forward by liberal anticommunist writers like Timothy Snyder, as well as Hannah Arendt.

    The stakes could not be higher. The U.S. and Russian imperialists are risking world war, nuclear war, over Ukraine—and the U.S. is ramping up war threats against imperialist China. The climate crisis is racing towards global catastrophe. Fascism is on a rampage. At the same time, the rulers of the system are bitterly divided, in a way they haven’t been since the Civil War, and are increasingly unable to rule in a unified way. This actually makes it more possible to make revolution. A revolution guided by the new communism to abolish this system and its horrors... a revolution to change everything! 

    BRING RAYMOND LOTTA TO SPEAK ON YOUR CAMPUS!
    We call on professors, departments, student organizations and others to sponsor formal talks by Raymond Lotta; to host debates; to bring him into classrooms and brown-bag lunches.

    For more information and to set up speaking engagements, contact: revbooksnyc@yahoo.com, 212.691.3345.

    Raymond Lotta is a political economist, writer for revcom.us, and an advocate for the new communism developed by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian. Lotta has written widely on the Russian and Chinese revolutions, socialist planning, imperialist globalization, the environmental emergency, and principles of socialist sustainable development. A series of interviews with him at revcom.us provides a comprehensive overview of the first communist revolutions: You Don’t Know What You Think You “Know” About…The Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation: Its History and Our Future.

  • ARTICLE:

    Revolutionary Internationalist May Day 2024 

    We Need and We Demand 
    Revolution For 
    A Whole New Way To Live, 
    A Fundamentally Different System

    Stop the U.S./Israeli Genocide of Palestinians NOW!

    Stop Capitalism-Imperialism from Stealing Our Future!

    Updated

    See national plans with location, date and time (in formation). If you want to organize something where you are, email getorganizedforrevolutiontour@gmail.com or DM @therevcoms.

    The madness of this system of capitalism-imperialism cannot be fixed or reformed. From the heartless U.S./Israeli slaughter and starvation of Palestinians… to the threats of nuclear annihilation... from the city streets, hell-hole prisons and police who terrorize and kill Black and Brown people... to the denial of women's right to abortion and attacks on LGBTQ people...

    The problem is the system of capitalism-imperialism.

    When the parasitic luxury of some rests on a world where whole countries are turned into sweatshops… a world of child labor and sexual slavery… a world where millions of migrants and refugees are driven to risk everything to cross borders—only to then be demonized and hunted like animals:

    This system must be overthrown.

    When this system has poisoned the air and water, destroying the environment...  when its rulers threaten nuclear war… and the very future of humanity is in real danger:

    We need and we demand a whole new way to live, a fundamentally different system!

    Some say that nothing can change and it's out of our hands. 

    NO!

    On May Day 2024, we declare: We will dare to fight and win a future worthy of our children and all of humanity.

    In powerful social media messages, the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has done what nobody in this country has ever done before. He breaks down for everyone why we need a real revolution and how this revolution can be made—not in some far-off time, but right in this time. Listen to these messages at @BobAvakianOfficial on all social media platforms.

    Bob Avakian says:

    With thousands organized into the ranks of the revolution, millions can be won to revolution; and with millions won to revolution, there could be a real possibility for this revolution to win.

    Be one of those thousands needed NOW! Join The REVCOM CORPS for the Emancipation of Humanity, and become a part of making this revolution known as a growing, organized, disciplined, bold, and fearless force. Learn about the revolution while spreading the word that there is a way to change the world.

    If you have the heart to fight for something worth fighting for, 

    Be There May Day 2024!

     

    National Plans (in formation, stay tuned for updates)

    Los Angeles

    Rally and Picnic
    Sunday May 5, 1 p.m.
    Jim Gilliam Park
    4000 South La Brea Avenue

    @revcomcorps_LA
    (323) 671-9839
    RevcomCorpsLA@gmail.com

    San Francisco Bay Area

    Rally
    Saturday, May 4, 1:00 pm
    24th St. and Mission St., 
    San Francisco. 

    Celebration 
    May 4, 4:00pm, 
    Taqueria San Jose, 2830 Mission St., San Francisco

    @RevcomCorps_Bay
    RevcomCorps.Bay@gmail.com
    (510) 244-3336

    Texas 

    Houston, May 1, 4:00 p.m.
    Corner of Cullen and Reed (Sunnyside) rally/speakout, signing banner to take to Eagle Pass

    Eagle Pass, Saturday, April 27, 3:00 p.m.
    Declaration for Revolutionary Internationalist May Day from the U.S./Mexico border

    @txrevcoms

    Chicago

    Rally and March
    Noon Saturday May 4th
    Wrigley Square, Millennium Park
    Michigan and Randolph

    @RevcomCorpsChi
    (312) 804-9121

    New York City

    Gather & March in Harlem
    Saturday, May 4, 2 pm
    Beginning in front of Revolution Books
    132 St & Malcolm X Blvd., Harlem

    Saturday, May 4, 3 PM Rally & Picnic
    Marcus Garvey Park, 122nd & Mt. Morris Park West

    @RevComCorpsNYC
    (917) 969-2146

    If you want to organize something where you are, email getorganizedforrevolutiontour@gmail.com or DM @therevcoms.

    Poster - Los Angeles
    Poster - National, with space for local information
    Put the information for local event at top on front and bottom on back (see Los Angeles poster for model).
    National Flyer (8.5"x14)
  • ARTICLE:

    On Democratic Centralism 
    Scientifically Understanding, and Changing the World

    From 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 
    An Interview with Ardea Skybreak 

    Editors’ note: In the early part of 2015, over a number of days, Revolution conducted a wide-ranging interview with Ardea Skybreak. A scientist with professional training in ecology and evolutionary biology, and an advocate of the new synthesis of communism brought forward by Bob Avakian (BA). Skybreak is the author of, among other works, The Science of Evolution and the Myth of Creationism: Knowing What’s Real and Why It Matters, and Of Primeval Steps and Future Leaps: An Essay on the Emergence of Human Beings, the Source of Women’s Oppression, and the Road to Emancipation. This interview was first published online at www.revcom.us.

    Science and Revolution by Ardea Skybreak book cover

     

    Question: And what does it mean to have a party that’s based on the leadership of BA and this framework of the new synthesis?

    Ardea Skybreak: Well, a party is obviously made up of a lot of individual human beings, and not all of them see eye to eye on everything or understand things the same way or function all at the same level. And, as I said before, I think there’s a tremendous “gap” between Bob Avakian and pretty much everyone else. He’s like “miles ahead of even the best of the rest,” as someone once said, in terms of people in the RCP [Revolutionary Communist Party] as well as people outside the Party. That’s just objective fact. But OK, we can work with that—first of all we can learn to more deeply value and appreciate what it is that BA has developed—that he has come to concentrate and that he is constantly modeling for others—which objectively puts him so far ahead of the rest of the pack, so to speak. We can do our best to learn from him, in particular by closely studying his whole method and approach to things. And we can work to at least significantly “narrow” the gap, in an ongoing way, including by having a good attitude about being led and learning from advanced leadership, and by actively contributing ourselves to continual grappling with the new synthesis and how to apply its key principles and methods in an ongoing way to further developing and advancing the movement for revolution.

    People should understand better both what it means to be willing to lead, and what it means to be willing to be led. It should be a two-way street of mutual and inter-dependent responsibilities and the furthest thing from a passive or one-sided process. Being provided leadership, if it’s good leadership, doesn’t mean  that  you’re just being bossed around or given orders all the time! [laughs] That’s not leadership. Good leadership consists primarily in training people in overall orientation and method and approach, and in this way giving them the tools to contribute as much as possible themselves to the advance of the overall larger process and objectives, and to in turn train others to do the same.

    And again, a revolutionary party has to function as a unified body, which is why there’s a concept, democratic centralism, that people can read about in the Constitution of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Democratic centralism is not just a question of people following orders or being disciplined, although it is that, too, for instance in relation to things like carrying out assignments and responsibilities. But, democratic centralism involves much more than that. Democratic centralism is, most fundamentally, a scientific concept about epistemological discipline. It doesn’t mean that people are slavish. But it means that when analyses and syntheses are developed at leading levels, and strategies and methods for a particular period of work and for prioritizing things are being developed, then the Party as a whole should function as a unified body to take this out to the best of their ability into the world. Like good scientists who are working in a coordinated and disciplined way on a scientific project. In this case, they’re working on the project of transforming society, transforming the thinking of blocs of people, of fighting the power around egregious outrages, all in a disciplined and unified way along with the broadest numbers of people that can be united to do so, and doing all this in a coherent way. And then, if Party members have differences and don’t agree with certain things, they have a responsibility to raise their questions or disagreements, in a systematic way, through the appropriate channels. This, too, is part of the scientific method and process.

    You function in a united, unified way, but then internally people discuss and wrangle and debate and raise questions or disagreements and modifications, and so on, so that there is actually a genuinely collective process. You know, there’s that formulation of the RCP, that the Party’s collectivity is its strength. It is of course being given centralized guidance: Guidance is being provided regularly to the Party and to the people around the Party who are interested in learning about this guidance and orientation. So, yes, the Party is being guided, it is being led. It is being guided by BA, including through his works, and it is being guided through the website revcom.us, through Party documents, and so on. So there’s definitely guidance, there’s definitely leadership, being provided. At the same time, people are not—and should not be—passive. People in the Party, at every level, as well as people outside the Party, should definitely be raising their own thinking, their questions, their disagreements, but in a substantial way, and in an appropriate manner. In a manner that will likely contribute in a positive way to the overall process. This doesn’t mean  that  you have to have a whole deep analysis of something before you can raise a question or possible disagreement, but whatever you raise should at least be with the right spirit. What I mean by saying that this should be raised in a substantial way and with the right spirit, is that it should not consist of a bunch of “nyaa-nyaa, crotchety-crotchety, complain-complain, I don’t like this, I don’t like that.” You know what I mean? That doesn’t get anybody anywhere. Even if it’s a simple question or a simple disagreement, it should be raised in the spirit that we’re all trying to get to a better world, and that’s what we should all be doing together.

    That’s why, once again, I feel that in the Dialogue,1 Bob Avakian and Cornel West set a good example that other people should follow. They have some substantial disagreements, which they made clear. But they also identified substantial points of unity, and manifested a sort of joint moral conscience, in terms of fighting oppression. And so they could find the way to work together while still talking to each other and talking to the general public about what some of their differences are, and challenging people to grapple with that, not being afraid of seeing people grapple with that.

    Question: So the Party enables people to collectively, in a unified way, apply the new synthesis of communism to reality, to grapple over that new synthesis and its application, and to further develop it.

    AS: Right. Like a good team of scientists, with BA in the position of team leader, overall team leader, and with other people playing their roles to the best of their abilities, in accordance with their experience and understanding, and with the development of their ability to grasp and apply the scientific method. It’s very much as if you were trying to solve a huge scientific problem in the natural sciences—for instance, if you were trying to find a vaccine for Ebola, or trying to cure cancer, or trying to figure out how to turn back global warming, or trying to stop the deforestation of rain forests—and, in order to increase your chances of succeeding, you set about organizing and unifying a whole bunch of scientists to work together, at different levels, with different abilities, different levels of experience, but all united in their willingness to: work coherently together, using the best possible scientific methods; study and build off of the accumulated knowledge in their field so far; bring their own creativity and initiative to bear; and follow the lead of a team leader, who is best able to provide overall guidance and direction for the project as a whole, and who has demonstrated, and models for others, an especially advanced and developed level of knowledge, expertise, and methods relevant to the particular field, and to the problem to be solved.

    Well, in the “field” of applying scientific methods to “solving the problem” of emancipating all of humanity from the bone- and soul-crushing system of capitalism-imperialism, the person today who is best imbued with these qualities and most able to assume the responsibilities of team leader is clearly BA. Again, this isn’t just my personal opinion—I believe this is a clearly demonstrable fact. There’s simply nobody else today working at quite this level. So we should consider ourselves lucky to be able to work with, to take guidance from, the person who happens to currently be “the most advanced expert  in the field,” and we should take full advantage of his overall guidance and leadership if we are serious about making revolution, in the right ways, and with a real chance of succeeding.

    But everyone does need to pitch in. Look, you go out into the world and you’re trying to transform material reality, you’re trying to transform society, and of course sometimes you’re not sure what you’re doing, or you run into obstacles or you start going off track, or whatever. But you can learn from all that, too. Don’t step over it. If you do go off track, or if you run into problems, don’t just try to skirt it, ignore it, finesse it or just move on to the next thing. Instead, leave your ego out of it [laughs] and confront it, face it, figure it out. There are bound to be lots of problems and lots of mistakes made, and the problems you are having are probably shared by quite a few others. So let’s just talk about it, let’s collectively learn from it, in order to keep getting better at what we need to do.

    And if, on the other hand, people are doing things that are making breakthroughs, are making advances, don’t keep this to yourself either. Don’t just think, “Oh, how cool!” and then keep it to yourself. Report on what you are encountering, on what you are learning out in society, on what is actually advancing things and connecting with things. Because there will be important insights and new experiences that come from every level, including from people at the base of the Party and from the people outside the Party who work closely with the Party. But knowledge of this needs to be shared. You don’t want to squander any of that.

    So, again, there’s the responsibilities of leadership and the responsibilities of the led, at whatever level. The responsibility of leadership at every level is to lead. The responsibility of the led is to take leadership, to follow leadership, with the orientation of not being slavish but of fighting oppression and working towards the emancipation of humanity. And, in the course of taking leadership, learn to be a leader yourself and spread that leadership and that revolutionary consciousness and organization throughout society.

    Question: So, with the Party there’s a basis for this new synthesis to become a material force in the world in a way that wouldn’t be possible without this Party.

    AS: Yeah, without an organized party, without an organized revolutionary movement, it would just end up being small numbers of people talking to each other behind walls.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. This is referring to the 2014 dialogue between Bob Avakian and Cornel West, REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC)

    Mobilizations Worldwide Demand NO Execution and Free Toomaj Salehi 

    Revcom.us editors’ note: We received the following from the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC).

    Screenshot of Toomaj from Mehdoone Jange (Battlefield) video

     

    Screenshot of Toomaj from Mehdoone Jange (Battlefield) video. Click to watch.   

    Here is the battlefield, whatever color you are. Come. Something is missing without you…. Don’t call us [just] rebels. We came for revolution.…We come into the streets like ghosts and become a nightmare for government, We see the light after this hell. Neither suppression, nor laws nor gallows can stop us.—Lyrics from Mehdoone Jange (Battlefield), by Toomaj Salehi21 

    Actions to defend the life of Iran’s rebel rapper Toomaj Salehi have erupted around the world since April 24, when Iran’s theocrats sentenced the beloved rebel rapper to execution by hanging. From numerous courageous actions in Iran, to marches in cities worldwide that drew many thousands from the Iranian Diaspora, to artists and arts organizations in many countries publicly issuing statements and calling for action against his execution, people have responded to this threat to Toomaj’s life. Some rappers and other musicians among the youth of many countries, including the U.S., have begun to see Toomaj as their own, with some dedicating performances to Toomaj.

    That tens of thousands have mobilized in just a week is testimony to how much Toomaj is loved, and what he represents—and importantly, to the urgency to do much more in the coming days. Prison authorities have prohibited all contact with Toomaj from lawyers or family, even confiscating the phone cards of his wardmates. This is happening as Iran’s Islamic Republic has ratcheted up its execution machine, hanging 63 in the last two weeks of April—one every five hours. And it is only days until the May 13 deadline for filing an appeal of the verdict, after which the IRI could expedite execution.

    The videos and accounts below give an initial and partial glimpse of the unfolding fight to Free Toomaj. The videos and links below can also be viewed on the IEC website’s FreeToomaj page.

    Broad and Brave Actions Inside Iran

    In Iran, where merely distributing flyers or spraying graffiti can bring long prison terms or brutality at the hands of police and paramilitary forces, a wave of resistance—especially among the youth—has taken shape. Many posts on social media show youth walking through traffic with posters of Toomaj held high, or graffiti appearing on walls in many cities, or leaflets passing from hand to hand and put on car windshields. At social gatherings and protests, people took up chants to “free Toomaj,” including the crowd at a soccer game and retirees at a pension protest in the ethnic-Arab city of Ahwaz. A student organization in Isfahan posts on Instagram videos of nightly chants at a set hour that echo from building to building. Two university students were reportedly arrested for sitting in at the music hall.

    People from across sections of society have issued collective demands and statements. “We consider it our moral and human duty to continue our strike and protest to remove the noose from the necks of Toomaj and all the nameless prisoners who do not have Toomaj’s fame, but like him have been sentenced to death in violation of their fundamental rights,” reads part of a statement from ten prisoners in Ghezal Hezar Prison who organized a weekly Tuesday hunger strike against executions. Fourteen political prisoners signed a statement from Tehran’s notorious Evin prison. Statements of condemnation came from a wide cross section of society: 460 Iran-Iraq war veterans and their families; 70 Kurdish families, the parents of Jina Mahsa Amini, and other family members of protesters executed or killed, including the Mothers of Laleh Park (Mourning Mothers), organizations of musicians, teachers, writers and others.

    Graphic: 300+ Iranian musicians signed a statement for Toomaj.

     

    300+ Iranian musicians signed a statement for Toomaj.    Graphic: Center for Human Rights in Iran on X

    Outrage on the International Stage

    News about Toomaj’s sentence got out very widely in the U.S. entertainment industry, with a statement from the Grammy Recording Academy, articles in Rolling Stone, Variety, XXL, Deadline, IMDB, and a few hip hop podcasts and shows. Hip hop artist/activist Meek Mill tweeted to his 11 million followers, and hip hop entrepreneur Kevin Liles posted on Instagram, “Hip-hop isn’t just under attack in America. The criminalization of our music and culture is global, and we need to stand up together.”

    Author-playwright Ariel Dorfman joined many others in signing the IEC’s call to “Defend the Life of Rebel Rapper Toomaj Salehi,” and sent the IEC a verse for Toomaj that said in part, 

    To the Court that has condemned Toomaj to death, I say: 
    Think deeply about what you are doing and reverse your sentence.
    I say: think deeply about how you believe you are killing his songs and
    giving them more light, more eternity, and reverse your sentence. 

    48 prominent artists and intellectuals initiated a collective Op-Ed in France’s newspaper of record, LeMonde, demanding that France’s president Macron act to stop Toomaj’s execution. The op-ed included Academy Award winning illustrator Marjane Sartrapi and actresses Catherine DeNeuve and Golshifteh Farahani. Scores more quickly signed on. Dozens of other prominent figures are speaking out on social media, or in collective statements, such as signers of the IEC’s Emergency Appeal Cornel West and Shirin Ebadi (Nobel Peace Prize laureate). Cornel West issued an urgent statement on Instagram that read: I strongly condemned the death sentence for my brother Toomaj Salehi—a hip hop artist telling the truth about the repression in Iran! We must be morally consistent in our prophetic witness!”

    A growing number of musicians are bringing Toomaj to their audiences across borders, including Italian singers-songwriters Tananai and Ermal Meta, Afghan musician Shekib Mosadeq, and Miles Solay from the band Outernational. Others are issuing Toomaj tribute videos and pulling together multi-artist performances.

    International Marches and Actions

    Demonstrations to protest Toomaj’s execution called by Iranians in the Diaspora, were held in many cities worldwide the weekend of April 27-28. Toomaj contingents also joined May 1 marches in many cities. Thousands marched in Toronto, Canada and Paris, France; hundreds in San Francisco and Los Angeles, California and in several cities in Germany, Italy and Australia. There were also many smaller marches or rallies in other countries. 

    Especially inspiring were the actions taken by activists and revolutionaries of Quemar La Jaula in Colombia, South America. People plastered posters on walls in the city of Cali, passed out flyers and held conversations with people on the street about the importance of defending an artist who speaks a different language and lives halfway across the planet.

    Tweet URL

    A contingent of Quemar La Jaula supporters joined the May 1 revolutionary marches called by @Comrevco in several cities, including Bogotá and Cartagena.

    Tweet URL

    In a message to the IEC from activists and revolutionaries in Colombia, they wrote:

    Toomaj and the Iranian fighters are our people. The voice of Toomaj is our voice against the reactionaries, against the brutal system. The world needs to know about the courageous fighters in Iran, USA and Colombia and so on. We need a real different new world, and for that, we must defend the people who fight against this capitalist-imperialist system in every corner of the world.

    Imperialists & Flunkies Cry Crocodile Tears

    The U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan was quick to condemn the IRI’s execution verdict… as if that would make people forget the constant scenes of U.S. police beating and arresting university students who were peacefully protesting a U.S.-sponsored and financed Zionist genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, pro-U.S./Israel reactionaries like “Prince” Reza Pahlavi, son of the deposed U.S. puppet Shah of Iran, and U.S. mouthpieces like Masih Alinejad were also in permanent tweet mode about Toomaj—working to exploit the situation for their U.S. imperialist masters. This is while Iran’s theocrats are working to exploit the campus protests in the U.S. for themselves—running numerous official news articles in support of “freedom of expression” of the students even as they plan to execute a world-class rapper for the same! All this highlights why we say both Iran’s regime and the U.S. imperialist are reactionaries. There is continuing importance to popularizing the IEC’s demands on freeing ALL of Iran’s political prisoners with urgency: We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW! We say to the U.S government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS! 

    Continue to sign and share our statement for Toomaj. In addition to issuing and signing statements, some suggestions for what you can do now may include: 

    *Get Toomaj’s songs played on the radio and at pro-Palestine encampments. (See Toomaj’s videos with English subtitles on the IEC website.)

    *Make a group video to post (cc to the IEC) with your colleagues modeled after https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-news/iran-protest-executions-stopexecutionsiniran-hollywood-movement-1235292024/

    *For those with the reach, social stature, and resources, consider organizing a global, online emergency town hall, panel, and concert with prominent artists and activists.

    Act Now! Defend the Life of Rebel Rapper Toomaj Salehi!

     

    Act Now! Defend the Life of Rebel Rapper Toomaj Salehi!    Credit: International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran's Political Prisoners Now

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. Watch our playlist with this and other Toomaj music videos subtitled in English on www.FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNow.org/featured/free-toomaj [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now

    Iran’s Theocrats Launch New Offensive in a War on Hijab-free Women Amid Escalating War with Zionist Israel

    Revcom.us editors’ note: We received the following from the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC).

    As a woman in Iran, I could be killed by an Israeli rocket or a morality police baton. 

    There have been many social media posts from women in Iran like this one paraphrased above since April 13. That was the day when the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) launched a nationwide crackdown to enforce hijab/headscarf laws and the very same day it launched a barrage of missiles against Israel (a response to Israel’s attack on Iran’s embassy compound in Syria on April 1). 

    The hashtag #war_against_women (or #war_on_women) in Farsi often linked thousands of posts and reposts exposing violent assaults by Iranian morality police and paramilitaries on young women for being unveiled. Often readers say they are reminded of the historic 2022 Women, Life, Freedom uprising provoked by the murder of Mahsa Gina Amini by Iran’s morality police. As the terrifying videos reveal, women in Iran are now heinously assaulted by MOBS of police or vigilantes, often armed with guns and clubs or tasers. These attackers are mainly men but also many brutal women enforcers covered from head to toe in black cloaks. 

    Hundreds of women have been arrested and imprisoned for refusing to submit to their dominated status designated by the forced hijab that acts as both emblem and enforcement of the bloodcurdling misogyny that is built into the very foundation of the Sharia law that socially coheres and legally rules Iran.

    Tweet URL

    “Only posting videos of the violent arrests and arrests of women in Iran...”
    #War_against_women #woman_life_freedom

    Tweet URL

    “Tehran is the scene of war, the brutal attack of government agents on women continues in every neighborhood and street.”

    This new war on women is named the Noor (“Light”) Project – a sick irony for what is in reality the “Dark Ages Nightmare” Project. The subordinate status of women was enshrined in the law when the IRI, with the help of the U.S. and other Western powers, highjacked the popular revolution against the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran in 1979, but Project Noor is a dramatic leap in the 45-year-long brutal enforcement of the Islamic dress code in Iran. 

    Millions of women have been defiant of this law, especially since the 2022 Gina uprising which had included many men supporting and participating. Since then, the morality police and their hated vans had reduced their public presence on the streets, though they never disbanded and hijab enforcers and vigilantes continued to roam. For example, in October 2023, 16-year-old Armita Geravand lost her life after an encounter on the metro with one of the religious fanatic female hijab-enforcers. But as of April 13, these fanatics are now off the leash and have gone wild with vengeance against any woman showing an iota of independence. This all-around war on women includes seizure of exorbitant fines from bank accounts of the hijab-rebels, impounding their cards in traffic stops, and the threat of taking away their jobs or social services.

    On April 3, 2024, even as Iran was likely preparing their response to the Israeli attack two days earlier, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei gave a speech designed to mobilize and unleash the IRI’s fanatical religious social base, basically declaring hijab-rebels to be unpatriotic “foreign agents” or their dupes (a reference to U.S./Israel and Western imperialism):

    In terms of Islamic law, hijab is a definite Islamic law. That is, women are obliged to cover themselves except for their face and hands. This is something that cannot be ignored… Compliance with the law is compulsory for all individuals. Regardless of whether or not they personally believe in the Islamic law, the law must be obeyed… In this matter that is currently discussed in this country—the issue of hijab—foreign interference was clear and evident.

    The timing of the speech and the synchronization of these events signaled that, in time of war, any kind of rebellion cannot, must not, and would not, be tolerated. Patriotism and patriarchy are twins—foundational and mutually re-enforcing elements that fuel Iran’s war efforts, and do not distract from each other. To terrorize and batten down the entire home front, they must forcefully put defiant women (back) in their place. The independent news outlet Akhbar-Rooz wrote on April 19, 2024 (translated to English by IEC volunteers):

    The government's campaign against women in the street is accompanied by such an extent, brutality and violence that many observers and activists describe it as “unprecedented.” According to some reports, on the first day of this street campaign, in addition to a lot of violence, around 500 women were arrested. The Islamic government has launched its massive war against women in a ‘semi-war’ situation and all the attention, especially at the international level, is focused on the disastrous end of the hostilities between Israel and the Islamic Republic, so that this massive repression is done in silence every day.8 

    Morality police agents’ staging area in Tehran’s City Theater, published on Akhbar-Rooz.com.

     

    Morality police agents’ staging area in Tehran’s City Theater.    Photo: Published on Akhbar-Rooz.com.

    Some universities now require women to pass through gates equipped with facial recognition technology and prevent them from entering if they do not comply with the mandatory veiling Islamic dress code. Also, restaurants and all other businesses have been threatened with closure if they serve unveiled women or offer them services.

    Widespread Outrage and Resistance Begins to Grow

    Outrage by people from all walks of life inside and outside Iran, especially on social media, has been widespread, even as resistance to this crackdown (as reported so far) has often been sporadic and individual. There are notable incidents such as the report of a crowd who intervened on April 13 in the Kurdish city of Kermanshah, preventing the arrest of a woman. Graffiti against the crackdown has also been widespread in streets and some universities. 

    In this screenshot from a video by @Women.revolution, young women give the finger to the official poster on metro walls warning of the compulsory hijab requirement.

     

    In this screenshot from a video by @Women.revolution, young women give the finger to the official poster on metro walls warning of the compulsory hijab requirement.    Photo: screen grab @Women.revolution

    In a recent comment released from Evin Prison and posted on her social media, 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi aptly observes that “Desperate to mask its crumbling legitimacy and failing authority, the Islamic Republic has transformed the streets into a battleground against women and youth, wielding fear and intimidation as weapons."

    Pro-U.S. Mouthpieces and Toadies on Display

    In the middle of this tense internal and external situation, there is a flurry of propaganda from U.S. toadies polishing off their resumes on U.S. imperialist news channels, looking to replace the mullahs while keeping the economic system intact via West-sponsored “regime change” in Iran. This while the mask of the U.S. being the “leader of the free world” and “model of democracy” is being ripped off as the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza enters month 7—and by the many U.S. vetoes of UN resolutions for ceasefire or recognition of Palestine as a state.

    The longtime pro-U.S. mouthpiece Masih Alinejad told CNN during the Iranian drone/missile strike that “this should be a tipping point for democracy countries to use this opportunity to have a united alliance against the Islamic Republic” and warned Israel that a weak response to Iran would “embolden Iran to come back more strongly.” She claimed that “millions of Iranians” celebrated Israel’s attack on Iran’s embassy compound, calling it Israeli “self-defense” to kill “the main creators of chaos in the region.” Then, in a later Fox News interview which highlighted the arrest of 100+ Columbia students protesting the U.S. support for Israel’s genocide, she derided the students for “supporting Hamas” (never mentioning the death of 33,000+ Palestinians) and said that in Iran, they would never get out of prison. 

    Self-anointed “Prince” Reza Pahlavi, son of the U.S.-backed dictator Shah who fled Iran in 1979, was on Fox “News” gleefully calling for “regime change,” more sanctions and “outside help” dealing with the Iran-Israel conflict. Reza Pahlavi and his wife had fawned all over the Zionist regime during their visit in April 2023, promising a return to friendly relations between Iran and Israel if he is put in power. 

    In the context of the fraught situation in Iran, both the heightened danger of a widening regional war between Iran and U.S./Israel, and the intense war against women on the streets of Iran, the demands of the IEC for the appropriate political terms to free Iran’s political prisoners ring out with more urgency than ever.

    The governments of the U.S. and Iran act from their national interests. And, in this instance, we the people of the U.S. and Iran, along with the people of the world, have OUR shared interests, as part of getting to a better world: to unite to defend the political prisoners of Iran. In the U.S., we have a special responsibility to unite very broadly against this vile repression by the IRI, and to actively oppose any war moves by the U.S. government that would bring even more unbearable suffering to the people of Iran.

    We demand of the Islamic Republic of Iran: FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS NOW!
    We say to the U.S. government: NO THREATS OR WAR MOVES AGAINST IRAN, LIFT U.S. SANCTIONS!

    —From the IEC's "Emergency Appeal" to free political prisoners.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. “The brutality against women has provoked concern from some officials”, Akhar-rooz.com, April 19, 2024. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC)

    Environmentalist Prisoners Freed in Iran—Continue the Struggle to Free Them All

    Revcom.us editors’ note: We received the following from the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners Now (IEC).

    The exit gates of Evin Prison in Iran were a scene of joy on April 8 and 9, as the last four of a group of environmentalists were released9 after spending a hellish six years behind bars for their efforts to track the Asiatic cheetah, one of the most endangered big cats on earth. 

    During those six years, people worldwide had fought for their unjust conviction for “espionage” and “collaboration with hostile countries” to be overturned, notably Scholars at Risk, Concerned Scientists, and celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio.

    Iran prisoner Niloufar Bayani walks out of Evin Prison, April 8, 2024.

     

    Niloufar Bayani walks out of Evin Prison, wearing the hat of her wardmate Golrokh Iraee as a reminder of those still behind bars. (Golrokh joked that at least her hat was released.)    Photo: Ghazzal Abdollahi on X

    Seven of the nine formerly imprisoned Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF) team.

     

    Seven of the nine formerly imprisoned Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation (PWHF) team. L-R: Abdolreza Kouhpayeh, Houman Jokar*, Sepideh Kashani*, Sam Rajabi, Niloufar Bayani*, Amirhossein Khaleghi, Taher Ghadirian* (*indicates released on April 8-9). (US-British-Iranian Morad Tahbaz was released to the US in 2023. PWHF head Kavous Seyed Emami died in custody just after his arrest.)     Photo: Social Media

    In particular Niloufar Bayani, an environmental scientist born in Iran who studied in the U.S. and Canada, had played a role of bringing a broader worldview to people inside and outside the prison walls. This is a role also played by many other political prisoners in Iran from diverse political perspectives.10

    Mariam Claren, daughter of political prisoner Nahid Taghavi, wrote on free.nahid (translated from German by IEC volunteers): 

    The joy about the release of the environmentalists is huge. After my mom was arrested, this was the first case I read about. In January 2018, the group, including Niloufar Bayani and Sepideh Kashani, were arrested. One of the environmentalists, Kavous Seyed Emami, died after 2 weeks in custody under mysterious circumstances. The others were detained for more than 2 years in the 2A high-security area, tortured, threatened…. 

    When my mother was transferred to the women's unit after 7 months of isolation in May 2021, it was Niloufar Bayani who provided her first aid. Yes, first aid is needed after isolation. Can barely walk, stand, hair falling out, skin sores. The case of the environmentalists is one of the biggest crimes of the regime, which we will never forget. 6 years of their lives were stolen. 6 years when they couldn't guard the animals, the rivers, the plants. #niloufarbayani #freenahid #freepoliticalprisoners #protectingearth

    In 2018, the year of the PWHF team’s arrest, Iran arrested a total of 63 or more environmental activists and researchers, showing how much Iran’s theocratic regime, for all its medieval ideology, is deeply invested in the modern capitalist economy of the international fossil fuel industry, with all the destruction it is bringing to Iran and the world—and how determined they are to squash all opposition to that.

    Niloufar Bayani wrote to the judge in her trial (in which none of the defendants were allowed lawyers and not a single piece of evidence was presented):

    All my confessions regarding espionage or engaging in other criminal activities were dictated and induced under the most severe mental and psychological torture, along with physical and sexual threats during at least 1,200 hours of interrogation… daily threats of execution, 8 months of total isolation in solitary confinement with long interrogations lasting 9 to 12 hours day and night, interrogations blindfolded while standing or spinning, or in a sit-and-stand situation, insulting the prisoner and her family members, and humiliation in different ways, e.g. forcing her to mimic sounds of wild animals. … What completed my psychological collapse was that I was suddenly shown a photo of Dr. Seyed-Emami’s corpse in the morgue as his family stood by. They [the interrogators] told me: That will be the fate of you and all of your colleagues and family members unless you write whatever we want.11

    Similarly, her co-defendant Houman Jokar was brutally beaten, sustaining a head injury, and then paraded covered in blood in front of his wife, Sepideh Kashani, to try to force her to confess according to their script.

    Caring About “the Universe and Everything in It”

    In stark contrast to her vicious theocratic captors, Niloufar Bayani was described by a colleague to National Geographic in this way: 

    Her interest in conserving at-risk species reflects a moral compass that she followed closely: She cared about the universe and everything that was in it.

    This stands out in a scholarly paper that Bayani wrote while in prison, “Climate Literacy in the Land of Oil,”12 published by her colleagues through Scholars at Risk. In it she interviews other women political prisoners in Evin about their knowledge and attitudes toward climate change. Here is an excerpt:

    When asked if interviewees saw a link between the oil and gas industry and climate change, the most common response was an unsure “I don’t know.” ...

    This is the country with the world’s third-largest oil and second-largest natural gas reserve holder in 2021, an economy mostly dependent on its national oil and gas sector, major oil fields operations in multiple provinces and extensive off-shore drilling, and at the same time a place where impacts of climate change are so severely felt by every individual and the increasing intensity of the effects (droughts, dust storms, floods, etc.) are combined with high vulnerability to disasters. Here, only 6 out of 25 sociopolitical activists could identify a relationship between these two matters, painting a grim picture of the future.…

    Are we even ready to point out the faults in the economic sector that our country so heavily relies on?

    She notes as to the righteous protests in Iran, when it relates to environmental destruction (severe desertification, lack of water, oil industry pollution, etc.), often results in a narrow viewpoint (“not in my backyard” as a demand). Local groups would turn against each other in the desperate struggle for water and resources. People tend to completely miss the links to greenhouse gas emissions and its global effects. After documenting this “grim picture” of the state of consciousness among her fellow political prisoners, Niloufar worked to change this by leading classes on climate change inside Evin women’s ward. As a result, 20 political prisoners wrote an open letter on the climate emergency published in Radio Zamaneh.

    “As possible as a rare blue butterfly in a notorious prison”

    Bayani’s paper ends with a poetic soliloquy titled “Hope.” She is a scientist; she does not close her eyes to the terrible threats to the survival of the environment and all its extraordinary species. Whatever her political and ideological perspective, her sense of hope bases itself on a genuine resistance in Iran, not on placing illusory hope in heavenly or oppressive authorities. 

    The sudden visit of a small blue butterfly in the prison yard distracts me from my dystopian thoughts. It has been a long time since I’ve last seen such colors, radiant blue with purple shades. Its beauty is doubled by the bland background of asphalt and bricks. It must be a rare species. Its presence has calmed down my anxiety. It reminds me that rare does not mean impossible. Mahsa Amini’s death was one of such rare moments. As tragic as it was, her death became a scream as colorful and lively as my rare visitor; a uniting force that brought together unprecedented energy, power and resistance, to defend her unjust death. It brought the issue of women to the center of demands for justice and freedom. Many taboos were broken, particularly Hijab. Lines were crossed that will never be uncrossed again. The vibrancy of the uprising tells us that we have the capacity to become more aware and to see the injustice and the intersection of critical issues; those of women, minorities, workers, and environment, and to act while there is still time. As I follow the swift movements of my visitor, my mind is pulled towards a possibility: a colorful surge of people from all corners of the world coming together and demanding a future in which the climate of our planet does not imperil our existence, or that of other species. I come to think that it is possible. As possible as the first encounter with a rare blue butterfly in a notorious prison.

    Free Them All NOW

    The release of this group of environmentalists is indeed a joyful moment in the struggle to free Iran’s political prisoners. Yet there is a need for heightened vigilance as this is taking place with Iran’s fascist theocracy intensifying repression (e.g., increased executions and multi-leveled attacks on women who are hijab rebels). And as we write, there are ever louder war drums being beaten by Iran, Israel and the U.S. The threat to widen their military clashes will surely bring more suffering and death to the people of that region, with potential dire consequences for the planet’s people and its ecology. In the spirit of people seeing the global effect of all this, it is worth noting that the U.S. is the biggest threat to the environment even in “ordinary times” and more so with any war where its military is involved.13

    For people who live in the U.S., there is a special responsibility to continue the struggle to free all of Iran’s political prisoners, and to demand that the U.S. government stop any war threats or attacks against Iran. Join us.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1.  Each year, the Islamic Republic of Iran traditionally pardons large numbers of prisoners on the last day of Ramadan in an attempt to cast a "benevolent" aura around their oppressive Islamic fundamentalist regime. Another important release was of political prisoner Arash Johari, workers’ rights activist and signatory of the 9-prisoner letter on Gaza.  [back]

    2.  See “Letter from 9 political prisoners: “Our Responsibility Concerning the Suffering of Others,” FreeIransPoliticalPrisonersNow.org, November 26, 2023.  [back]

    3.  “1200 Hours of Torture, Sexual Threats and Forced Confessions,” Iranwire.com, March 2, 2020.  [back]

    4.  “Climate Literacy in the Land of Oil,” Scholars at Risk, June 2023.  [back]

    5.  “US military is world’s single largest consumer of oil, and as a result, one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter,” energyindemand.com, June 22, 2019.  [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From Atash/Fire #144, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism

    The Reality of Democracy and the Ideal of Democracy

    Part 2

    Editors’ note: The article below is posted in Farsi in Atash/Fire journal #144, November 2023 at cpimlm.org. It was translated to English by revcom.us volunteers. Translators’ notations are in brackets. Part 1 of the article in English was posted at revcom.us October 2, 2023.

    The main source of this series of articles is Bob Avakian's book Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? and his other works on democracy/dictatorship.

    In Part 1 of this series, we discussed how every democracy and state has a class content and to talk about democracy without talking about its class content is meaningless. We also said that bourgeois democracy is in fact the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie established on the basis of capitalism, namely capitalist oppression and exploitation (and specifically capitalism-imperialism). And, we said that democracy is actually only practiced within the ranks of the ruling class, while dictatorship is exercised over the oppressed class or classes. Military force is the concentrated expression of the domination of one class over another: the military represents the monopoly of the exercise of force by the ruling class, and all other institutions, including parliament [or Congress] and elections, are secondary or subordinate to it, and can even be dispensed with, when necessary. (Despite this, people generally identify democracy with [a parliament and elections].)

    In short, the state apparatus—especially the armed forces, but also the courts and legal system, the administrative bureaucracy, etc.—is in the hands of one class, a class that dominates the economic relations of the society. Even the ideas and values engendered by this state, ideas such as “equality,” correspond to the needs of this economic infrastructure, and all individual rights are conferred and restricted by the framework of this system. Thus, the state apparatus of bourgeois democracy is not and cannot be neutral, nor can any other state (including the democratic state/socialist dictatorship).

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

     

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

    2014 edition
    (originally published 1986)
    by Bob Avakian
    Price: $10.95
    Format: Paperback
    Order from:   RCP Publications
    PO Box 804956, Chicago, IL 60680-4111
    rcppublications@gmail.com
     
    With an Introduction by Raymond Lotta:
    “A Landmark Work of Heightened Relevance”

    In Part 2, we will examine existing illusions about democracy and also look at the arguments of theorists who try to reconcile the stark contradiction of the reality of democracy with the ideal of democracy.

    These illusions play an important role in the practice of turning a blind eye to the crimes against humanity committed by bourgeois democracies—which today include the destruction of the environment. All Western democracies unconditionally defended the Israeli army's genocidal war against the people of Gaza. They regard Hamas's October 7, 2023 attacks on Israeli civilians as an obstacle to democracy—one which requires the murder of 2.5 million of the human beings on planet Earth, using technology that is far more advanced than the Auschwitz crematoriums!

    One of the illusions, when confronted with the undeniable realities of democracy, is the belief that [democracy] can be perfected, that it is an ideal that we have not yet achieved, but must keep moving toward. This is one of the arguments used by democracy advocates when confronted with the undeniable crimes of the major bourgeois democracies. Yes, they say, a lot of terrible things have been done in the name of democracy, but despite all its flaws, democracy is still the best possible form of government. This way of thinking is particularly popular among people in countries ruled by violently repressive authoritarian regimes (such as Iran, under both the [Shah] Pahlavi regime and the Islamic Republic).

    During the Jina uprising [in Iran], we witnessed a tendency among many young people to idealize democracy. For example, listen to the words of [the late] Sarina Esmailzadeh, who compares the situation in Iran and Ethiopia to that of Los Angeles in the U.S., and concludes that achieving “Los Angeles” is the ideal to strive for.14 But, this superficial glance can never reveal that Iran/Ethiopia and Los Angeles are two sides of the same coin. Here, we put “Los Angeles” in quotation marks, because the city of Los Angeles itself contains stunning poles of poverty and wealth, as can be seen in the contrast between its handful of gated communities that are home to a minority with legendary wealth, and the miles of encampments of homeless people along its roadsides. Or, to take another example, the slogan raised in Baluchistan [a province of Iran], “Neither Monarchy nor Theocracy! [We demand] Democracy and Equality!” proposes democracy as an alternative to decades of oppression and exploitation by the Shah and the sheikhs [mullahs].

    These examples illustrate people’s spontaneous tendencies to reach for such a solution when they are under the enormous pressure of authoritarian and fascist/religious governments such as the Islamic Republic that exercises absolute extra-legal power—and to superficially compare their own oppression and exploitation with “the other side of the world” in Europe and the U.S.

    But, in addition to this unscientific spontaneous tendency that keeps people from understanding the reality of the problem, there are others whose theorizing “justifies” this deadly, unscientific attitude, and uses instrumentalist logic to analyze history for their own benefit. They even promise that the struggle for democracy is merely a “first step” in overthrowing the Islamic Republic, and by relying on it higher goals can be achieved “later.”

    The Concept of Permanent Expansion and Improvement of Democracy

    One of the arguments that democracy, even if not perfect, is at least perfect-able and expandable, is based on the [mis] understanding of the history of the development of democracy from antiquity to the present, as a straight line from the Greek city-state to the democratic states of today, and [in the process] have expanded to include sections of society that were previously excluded or discriminated against—slaves, women, the poor, etc. And from this, they conclude that today we should stay on the same historical trajectory, expanding democracy to include countries that are not yet democratic, and in democratic countries we should try to extend democratic rights to immigrants, queers and other excluded populations, and integrate them into bourgeois society. But unfortunately, this understanding of the historical evolution of human societies is contrary to dialectical materialism: in other words, it is unscientific and contrary to reality.

    These types of arguments are not new. They were first put forward by French democrat Alexis de Tocqueville in the 19th century. “[T]he scene is now changed,” he writes. “Gradually the distinctions of rank are done away with; the barriers that once severed mankind are falling; property is divided, power is shared by many, the light of intelligence spreads, and the capacities of all classes tend towards equality. Society becomes democratic, and the empire of democracy is slowly and peaceably introduced into institutions and customs.”15

    This pretty picture has a “small” flaw: It is not true at all—it wasn't true then, nor is it true now! What happened with the dissolution of feudalism after the bourgeois revolutions was not the extension of democracy without class distinction, but the extension of the fundamental relations of capitalist exploitation replacing the relations of feudal exploitation. [It was] not an expression of the ever more broadly expanded sovereignty of the people regardless of social status, but democratic processes as an expression and necessary component of supremacy of the bourgeoisie’s dictatorship over the proletariat and other oppressed people for the ultimate purpose of ensuring and enforcing its domination over the basic economic system (capitalism, and later, the system of capitalism-imperialism, or global capitalism).

    However, it must be borne in mind that, to an extent, the “change of scene” was itself the result of a leap in human social organization through bourgeois revolutions, which in turn, arose as a result of the development of the productive forces coming into antagonistic contradiction with the feudal mode of production. [This leap] radically changed the political superstructure and its economic underpinnings, and was never a gradual and straight-line process.

    So, what makes the notion of “improving democracy” so important to the democratic worldview? As Bob Avakian writes, the democratic intellectual,

    …wants the existing social system but without its worst excesses, with room for reform and for accommodating the demands of the oppressed so long as they do not threaten to spring the established order into the air and overturn all existing social relations.16

    But regardless of the desires and aspirations of this [middle] strata, the reality is that this type of democracy (and all varieties of democracy under the capitalist system) cannot exist without [going to] violent “excesses,” without brutal exploitation, crisis, war and environmental destruction. If, at certain points in time and in some imperialist countries, an expansion of certain rights has been achieved—for example in the position of women—this has not been due to the expanding nature of democracy, nor even simply as a result of the struggle of women and groups to gain more rights. This view of the problem assumes that it was democracy which created this “possibility of struggle.” When applied to the countries of the global South, this same view reaches the chauvinist conclusion that the reason they have not achieved democracy and greater rights has been that they have not fought hard enough! While certain rights were expanded, this was primarily due to the privileged position of these countries in the imperialist capitalist system that allowed an economic and political stability based on the exploitation of the rest of the world, this is not something that has been or ever will be possible in democracies of the global South—from India to Brazil to Iran.

    Looking at the larger context, we see that the danger of revolutions and the existence of socialist countries in the world have had a significant impact, putting pressure on the governing bodies of [major] democracies to give some rights within the framework of their system—so that people would not see their backwardness compared to [real] socialism. A negative example of this is that, despite large popular protests such as Black Lives Matter, there has been no improvement in the situation of Black people in the U.S. On the contrary, under the pressure of the system's crises on a global scale, Republican-led fascism has gained strength, and they have launched systematic attacks against rights previously granted, which they intend to repeal.

    The Contradiction Between the Ideal of Democracy and the Reality of Democracy

    One of the roots of this problem, despite all the above-mentioned facts, [is that] most people still consider "pure democracy" as the ideal, even though the ideal of democracy is controverted by the actual practice of “the democracies.” On the one hand, we are inundated with the writings of democracy theoreticians, who present both the universal and eternal principles, and the professions of the bourgeois oppressors who rule in the name of democracy. And on the other hand, we have the reality of life under the rule of these democracies and in the world where, for decades, they have held the top positions. While this contradiction is an important source for exposing the system and for struggling against it, [the contradiction] is itself a recurrent source of illusions about the “perfectability” of the democratic system, or the “actual realization” of democratic ideals not yet realized.

    One result of this is that radical variants of bourgeois democracy constantly arise, one after another, among opponents of the system, and even socialist tendencies that include the idealization of democracy as a central component. The socialist state is also a democracy/class dictatorship [of the proletariat]. However, if this democracy does not move towards the dissolution of the state and classes (i.e., towards the dissolution of itself), and does not advance towards a communist world, if it sees socialism as an end in itself, it will surely lose its socialist character. (We'll discuss this issue in future articles.)

    THE NEW COMMUNISM: The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation

    This book consists of the major opening day presentation given by Bob Avakian to a conference held in the summer of 2015 which was attended by members and supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Available at revcom.us. (Insight Press, 2016). Excerpts from the book are also available on revcom.us.

    As we mentioned, the distortion and lopsidedness of the world (i.e., the division of the world into imperialist countries and countries dominated by imperialism), and the advent of the era of imperialism that resulted from the globalization of capitalism, is a powerful material force fueling illusions about improving democracy and idealizing it. This contradiction finds an important political role in the world, within the framework of this distortion to shape thoughts and even oppositions and struggles. The political and ideological consequences of imperialism in this case have been multilayered and multifaceted. On the one hand, “normal times (which have existed for decades) in imperialist countries, have given rise to the “aristocracy” of a section of the proletariat—a strata of workers whose conditions are not desperate, who bargain for expanded democratic rights rather than for radical change. On the other hand, in countries dominated by imperialism, where conditions are constantly desperate, people generally want revolutionary change, [but] their hopes and dreams are shaped and colored by the position and privileges of the first group. This has led to a prominent tendency in imperialist countries towards social democracy in the sphere of politics and ideology, and towards bourgeois-democratic nationalism in the dominated countries.

    Fundamentally, this political and ideological tendency reflects the outlook of small-scale capitalists and proprietors, whose ideal of democracy is a state in which wealth and power is not concentrated in the hands of the few. [Such concentration of wealth] is seen as a form of corruption or a violation of a democracy that once was practiced, or at least was attempted. The petty-bourgeois ideal of democracy does not mean that all, or even most, of those who put this view forward are themselves small-scale proprietors, or are merely looking out for their own interests. [This outlook] coincides with the thinking of intellectuals who understand that when wealth and power are consolidated in the hands of a few, it will inevitably be misused. This class wants to revert back from the era of imperialist monopolies to the era of early capitalism. But they lack the understanding that it was precisely the functioning and dynamics of primitive capitalism that led to the development of monopolies, that imperialism grew from the foundations of capitalism itself.

    Another aspect of this problem is that the petty bourgeoisie sees self-styled “pure democracy” as being beyond classes. It sees its own interests as being the interests of all classes. Therefore it sees regulated capitalism, in which each person is able to exercise “direct democracy” in his or her own sphere, as being to the benefit of everyone! Such notions of freedom, equality and rights correspond to the position of small commodity producers.

    What is central to this worldview? It is the ideal of individual sovereignty—of “controlling one’s own space”—that reflects the atomization of people whose identity as commodity owners is at the same time subject to the dictates of capital and the driving forces of capital accumulation. That is, this ideal in reality is unattainable by the majority of the world’s people (though the majority themselves don't think so).

    So the problem is not that “real democracy,” “real human rights,” or “real equality” has not yet been implemented anywhere, but as Bob Avakian pointed out, talking about democracy without talking about its class content is meaningless and worse. He writes that even if all these bourgeois ideals and principles were implemented, [to paraphrase BA]

    The result would be the same as it is today. That is, a minority would use any opportunity to be able to exploit the majority, and in order to ensure this exploitation, it would use force directly to maintain these relations, as well as employing enforcers, and using divide and rule policies. That is, if the principle of equal opportunities for all is fully and consistently applied, no other result will be achieved. In other words, we would have nothing, but the bourgeois society we have now, which includes social inequalities and exploitation of the proletariat. In order to achieve another result that includes the abolition of social inequality along with the abolition of exploitation, it is necessary to go beyond the ideals and principles of bourgeois society and those material conditions that are its expression, and overthrow it. It is necessary to overthrow the bourgeois state and get beyond what Marx called “the narrow horizon of bourgeois right” (equal opportunity for all) and all the economic and other social relations that reflect and enable it.

    It is past time to let the dead bury their dead, as Marx put it, including, and indeed especially, in the idealization of democracy.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1.  In a video, Sarina talked about her dreams saying  “I know that in the world, there's an Ethiopia and a Los Angeles, and because I am a perfectionist, I prefer Los Angeles."  She was 16 when she was killed by the Islamic Republic's mercenaries.  [back]

    2.  Alexis de Tocqueville, “Author’s Introduction” to Democracy in America (New York: Vintage Books), ed. Phillips Bradley, Vol. 1, p. 9.  [back]

    3.  Bob Avakian, Democracy, Can't We Do Better Than That?, p. 85, English edition.  [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From Atash/Fire #143 

    Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism

    Bourgeois Democracy Means Class Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie 

    Part 1

    Editors’ note: This article below is posted in Farsi in Atash/Fire journal #143, October 2023 at cpimlm.org. It was translated by revcom.us volunteers.

    Starting with this issue of Atash/Fire journal, in the column “The Reality of Communism,” we will discuss democracy in a series of articles that draws on the work of Bob Avakian, and especially Avakian’s Democracy: Can’t We Do Better Than That? (1986). The point is this: without breaking with political illusions and big lies, we can never make revolution and build a fundamentally different society for the majority of the [world’s] population, in the service of the emancipation of humanity. One of these illusions is the illusion of democracy.

    “[D]emocracy is form of government. Democracy is a type of state power, and no government is at all neutral. At its core, every state has a class, and democracy is not free of class nature.” –Atash/Fire journal #143, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, October 2023

     

    Democracy: Can’t We Do Better Than That? (Banner Press, 1986).   

    It is equally important to break with bourgeois democracy as an ideal and the alternative to the theocratic fascist regime of the Islamic Republic of Iran [IRI], as it is to break the chains of the IRI’s intellectual enslavement to religion. In fact, in order to solve all our social problems and sufferings, including overthrowing the IRI, we must ask through what mode of production55 is this regime committing its crimes? In other words, “‘Through which mode of production will any social problem be addressed?’ ... ‘is the most fundamental thing ... because, in a fundamental sense, anything you’re doing in society is shaped and ultimately limited by whatever the economic system is (which, again, is another way of saying ‘the mode of production’).” (Bob Avakian. The New Communism, “Part 1—Through Which Mode of Production?” pgs 48-57).

    Today, when the issue of an alternative to the IRI has been raised seriously among a wide range [of people], all organizations, parties and programs from the left to the right are presenting “democracy” as an alternative. Although he avoids discussing the republic or the monarchy, [pro-U.S.] Reza Pahlavi talks about democracy with certainty. The [pro-U.S. fascists] MEK ( People’s Mujahideen-e-Khalq) speaks of a democratic republic. Even sections of the IRI, such as Mehdi Nasiri, have proposed secular democracy as an alternative after the “transition from the Islamic Republic” or [its] “collapse.”56 But none of them utters even one word about what relationship this “democracy” has to the socio-economic relations of capitalism. Everyone refers to it as an “ideal,” with no roots in the economic underpinnings of society. Meanwhile, the reactionary and opportunistic attacks on “Western democracy” by [Supreme Leader] Khamenei and other Islamic fundamentalists are used as an argument in defense of bourgeois democracy, and as proof of its “legitimacy.” The common thread of raising the banner of “democracy” can be seen even among the left and feminist groupings and parties that call themselves communists, and in statements such as the Charter of Twenty Organizations57. This emphasizes the importance and necessity of clarifying the content of democracy.

    What Is Democracy?

    First of all, democracy is a form of government. Democracy is a type of state power, and no government is at all neutral. At its core, every state has a class, and democracy is not free of class nature. In BAsics 1:22, Bob Avakian wrote, “In a world marked by deep class divisions and social inequality, to talk about ‘democracy’—without talking about the class nature of that democracy or which class it serves—is meaningless, and worse. So long as society is divided into classes, there can be no ‘democracy for all’: one class or another will rule, and it will uphold and promote that kind of democracy which serves its interests and goals. The question is: which class will rule and whether its rule and its system of democracy will serve the continuation, or the eventual abolition, of class divisions and the corresponding relations of exploitation, and oppression and inequality.”

    From the time of Aristotle and Plato down to the present day, theorists of democracy have sought to define universal and eternal principles for democracy, i.e., for the state and class structure that are historically conditioned and determined. By “historically conditioned and defined,” democracy is a social institution that arose in a specific historical context, in response to the needs of the exploitative classes. It does not exist outside of time and place, outside of a class-social framework and it cannot be invented as some eternal and classless principle, and any attempt to do so can only result in perpetuating class society and writing off the fundamental question of whether humanity can go beyond class society, the state and democracy.

    Although today's democracy, that is, bourgeois democracy in the era of capitalism-imperialism’s worldwide dominance, is different from early models of democracy in Greece and Rome during the era of slavery, they have an important feature in common. Under slavery, democracy was also used by the state to impose a class dictatorship on the exploited classes. Just as democracy of that time guaranteed the right to exploit, today the right of the capitalist to exploit the [proletariat] is within bounds, as is capitalist competition for the world and the exploitation of the world's people, the right to enslave women as an integral part of the capitalist social system, and the right to exploit nature to the point of extinction. It works. Throughout history, with the growth of the productive forces58, the method of exploitation shifted away from direct exploitation of the producer (of a slave or peasant) [by an individual slaveowner or landowner to whom the laborer legally "belonged"]. Thus, in proportion to the shift in the economic infrastructure from slavery to feudalism and later to capitalism, the institution of the state at the heart of the political superstructure also changed.

    Slavery-democracy and bourgeois-democracy, therefore, are types of class states which regulate the right to exploit the unprivileged class(es) that do not own the means of production.

    What distinguishes bourgeois democracy from the democracy of antiquity is that bourgeois democracy arose out of bourgeois revolutions, especially the French Revolution, and in opposition to the power of the church, the monarchy, and the hereditary privilege in the era of feudalism. The values, laws, and political superstructure theorized and applied to the new capitalist era by these revolutions corresponded to the economic underpinnings of the new mode of production, which served the interests of the bourgeoisie. Individualism was applauded against feudal collectivism and equality against hereditary privilege. [Peasants, slaves and serfs] were removed from the land and from owning land, turning them into ”free” workers—where what they “own” is their generalized “ability to work” as opposed to the labor required to produce a particular thing. They became “free” to alienate their labor, exchange it in the marketplace, thereby handing it over to the owners of the means of production.

    Thus, bourgeois democracy is not the distribution of “equal” rights. Rather, it is a social foundation, a complex organization of the practice of class dictatorship, to preserve the capitalist mode of production and its corresponding class and social relations, and culture.

    Theorizing Bourgeois Democracy

    In preparation for the birth and consolidation of capitalist society, many bourgeois theorists theorized about bourgeois democracy. Their theories of democracy were based on an “ideal” bourgeois society—in which atomized individuals act as separate units, according to a classless and immutable “human nature” within the confines and in accordance with commodity relations and production of commodities, making decisions for themselves and even for society on the basis of individual votes.

    However, in a society where the labor power of [a person] is exchanged for commodities, there is unremitting competition for everyone to surpass the other, and in any society where such competition and commodity relations exist, there is necessarily a division of society into unequal classes. That is, the same social framework that unceasingly forces each individual to compete for advantage over one another, divides society into unequal classes.

    Bourgeois democracy replaced the feudal divine-right laws that had been based on the “god-given” superiority and privileges of a small number of people in proportion to the majority of society, with social laws based on the formal equality of individuals before the law. This break with feudalism was revolutionary in its own time, but it perpetuated class society in a different form (the form of capitalism), and a formal equality before the law that guaranteed economic and social inequality [in reality]. Today, [bourgeois democracy] has become archaic and obsolete, an obstacle that must be overcome. It will never be able to transform society from what it is into something better. Humanity needs to get beyond the class system—for the oppressed and exploited majority of society, and for the emancipation of our species.

    THE NEW COMMUNISM: The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation

    This book consists of the major opening day presentation given by Bob Avakian to a conference held in the summer of 2015 which was attended by members and supporters of the Revolutionary Communist Party. Available at revcom.us. (Insight Press, 2016). Excerpts from the book are also available on revcom.us.

    The Form and Content of Legal Equality

    The form and content of equality before the law is entirely consistent with the capitalist mode of production. The basis for legal equality is not the equality of [the right to] work, but equality [in the marketplace] for the exchange of human labor power. The functioning of the capitalist mode of production always leaves out a large segment of the population. Therefore, the law of equality [to exchange] human labor power does not extend to equality of the stomach and equality to stay alive.

    When the advent of widespread commodity production and exchange (i.e. the capitalist system) became dominant in societies, it became possible to have an equal exchange of unequal [types of] human labor power. The means of [accumulating] wealth were concentrated in the hands of a few. The majority were separated from the means of production and, in order to live, had to sell and give their labor to the owners of the means of production. Under capitalism, the value of human labor is no longer measured by the concrete activity used to produce a certain product. Instead, [labor] is measured by the required average amount of labor time required in a society (and today, in the world at large), for the production of any given product: i.e., the socially necessary labor time. Exchange is not just a trade in the market, but a methodology that permeates everything and even dominates the worldview of [people]. Thus, the bourgeois view of equality cannot be separated from its source—the social and class relations [of capitalism].

    In a society founded on bourgeois relations of production, there is an irreconcilable conflict between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. It is impossible for the superstructure (including laws and courts, police and military, bureaucracy and the whole state apparatus as well as ideas, values, ethics, etc.) not to support or strengthen the relations of production and the division of labor that characterize this society and inevitably is synonymous with it. [The superstructure] exists to support the exploitation and oppression of masses of people, and use widespread violence against them, in order to defend this system and the interests of its ruling class.

    Democracy and Elections

    Many [people] separate democracy from its class content and [think its essence is] literally majority rule. They try to prove that bourgeois democracy is the rule of the majority by pointing to how majority rule gets manifested in elections. However, every democratic process should be evaluated in relation to the dominant socioeconomic relations in society. An election is not an impartial arbitrator that mediates between classes and [political] parties representing different classes. Elections in bourgeois democracy are controlled by the bourgeoisie and under no circumstances are they a means of basic decision-making. In fact, the primary purpose of the elections is to give the imprint of “popular authority” to the system, the policies and actions of the ruling class, and to divert, restrict and control the political activities of the masses of the people. The electoral process itself tends to conceal the main class relations and class antagonisms in society, and to portray [elections] as expression of an institution that allows atomized individuals in society to engage in formal political participation to strengthen the status quo. This process not only reduces people to isolated individuals, but also reduces them to a passive political position and defines the essence of politics as atomized passivity: individuals can individually vote for one or the other option, while all options are formulated and presented by an active force above the atomized mass of “citizens.”

    Democracy and Violence

    Many have the illusion that democracy is a form of government beyond classes and therefore beyond violence. The political philosophy of capitalist democracy is [based on its state apparatus having a] a monopoly on violence. That is, it recognizes that violence is the [sole] right of the military forces of the state and its security apparatus. Bourgeois democracies were the first governments to use nuclear bombs to dominate the world. In a world ruled by these capitalist-imperialist democracies, hundreds of thousands of people die every day from hunger and related causes, and every day the number of child laborers and displaced migrants at the borders increases. Officially, the position of slave is imposed on women, half of the world's population. And all this is done under the deceptive banner of “equality” and “equal rights before the law.”

    Here is how [the late] Zandiyad Amir Hassanpour described the history of “Western” democracy and its performance in the countries of the “East” (countries dominated by imperialism):

    “Democracy theorists such as Michael Ignatieff (a journalist, university professor, and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada), have argued that in the fight against terrorism, democracy can be stopped, civil liberties can be suspended, and torture can be used. ... The U.S. [track] record in the 10 years since the invasion of Iraq [is that of] brutal torture of prisoners, arrests and abductions of dissidents, international traffic arrests, secret prisons abroad, civil liberties trampled on by law, all of which were justified [by these democracy theorists]. Even if one adds up every one of the West’s cornerstones of democracy that were created by fighting against their [own] citizens, killing [people in the] colonies, enslaving the people of Africa, and imposing two World Wars and dozens of other wars on the world’s people, the [track] record of the democracies of the East would not shine any brighter. ... Unlike in the United States, India’s democratic system, which was born in the process of campaigning, against occupation, genocide, genocidal slavery, and racial apartheid, and was founded with ideas and practices of nonviolence, independence, and decolonization at its heart. ... But sixty-three years after independence, slavery and feudal relations and flaws persist, and with it, newer forms of violence have turned the lives of the people of this subcontinent into hell: trafficking, men and women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation, and the removal of organs, slave labor, forced labor and bonded labor, fetal killing (girls), infanticide (girls); violence against more than 40 million widows, the ‘world’s hungriest country’ with 230 million malnourished people, the highest percentage of children (48%) [suffering from malnutrition], and the deaths of two million children a year from starvation (6,000 per day).”59

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. “[N]ot only that things get produced but how they get produced. What relations do people enter into in carrying out the production of things? In other words, we’re back to the relations of production, what relations people enter into in producing and distributing and transporting these things. Another way to say that, once again, is what’s the mode of production through which all this is done? That sets the basic terms for everything that happens in society.” (Bob Avakian, The New Communism, Part 1, “Through Which Mode of Production,” page 53, excerpt and italics by Atash/Fire.) [back]

    2.  Mahdi Nasiri. The Islamic Republic's Narrative Is Over. [back]

    3.  Charter of Minimum Demands by 20 independent civil and trade union associations in Iran, February 16, 2023.  [back]

    4.  Productive forces are the set of means of production and knowledge of the producers. For example, self-exploration, spindle, land, factory, machinery, and knowledge related to the production by these tools. The productive forces of the feudal period were very low from the level of growth, but in the capitalist era, the direct producer (the worker) works with a variety of advanced means of production. The level of growth of these productive forces determines the relations of production. The relations of production include the three components of 1) ownership of the means of production, 2) the division of labor among those [involved] men in the process of production, and 3) how wealth is distributed among them. They form the “economic foundation” of society. And the political superstructure, which consists of government, culture and ideology, must more or less conform to the character of the economic underpinnings so that this complex [web of production] can spin and operate.  [back]

    5.  “Democracy and Violence,” Amir Hassanpour, Atash/Fire Journal, No. 105-106, March 2011, pp. 79-85.  [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From Atash/Fire #145, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism 

    Democracy and Freedom of Expression—The Economic Base Is the Decisive Factor!

    Part 3       

    Editors’ note: The article below is posted in Farsi in Atash/Fire journal #145, December 2023 at cpimlm.org. It was translated by revcom.us volunteers. Bracketed words/phrases are added by translators for clarification. Part 1 and Part 2 were previously posted at revcom.us.

    The main source of these series of articles is the book, Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? by Bob Avakian, and his other works on democracy/dictatorship. 

    In the previous sections, we discussed how in essence, bourgeois democracy is bourgeois dictatorship. We also examined how the contradiction between the ideal of democracy and its reality is the source of many petty-bourgeois illusions and theories for reforming and expanding bourgeois democracy, and that the limits of any state and its overall superstructure, including a democracy, is determined by its economic base. In this section, we will discuss why and how the economic underpinnings of any social system determines the content and parameters of [its] “rights,” and in particular how it shapes “freedom of expression,”  which is one of the most celebrated and admired features of bourgeois democracy. Finally we will show that to get beyond the narrow horizon of  “bourgeois right,” there is no way other than the revolutionary overthrow of the ruling class, and building a radically different [kind of] dictatorship/democracy.

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

     

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

    2014 edition
    (originally published 1986)
    by Bob Avakian
    Price: $10.95
    Format: Paperback
    Order from:   RCP Publications
    PO Box 804956, Chicago, IL 60680-4111
    rcppublications@gmail.com
     
    With an Introduction by Raymond Lotta:
    “A Landmark Work of Heightened Relevance”

    The most fundamental problem is that in every social system (e.g., the capitalist system or the socialist system), the political superstructure must serve its underlying economic base. This is not a mere theoretical abstraction, but has concrete meaning. That is, policies and actions that are against or undermine the economic infrastructure will lead to disorder, chaos and disruption of the entire system. If the laws (which are part of the political superstructure) conflict with fundamental property relations, the economic base will totally disintegrate, and society (regardless of whether the social system is capitalist or socialist) will not be able to function. 

    Imagine, for example, that the basic necessities of life continue to be produced as they are now produced in capitalist society—that is, the vast majority are produced by workers who sell their labor power in exchange for wages in factories [or farmland] owned by capitalists, with the capitalists selling the products which they [privately] own and control. Then, imagine in those circumstances, passing a law that says no one has to pay for their necessities and everyone can take [whatever and] as much as they need from what is produced! The fact that this seems absurd, and absolutely cannot be implemented, is the expression of one fundamental reality: the production relations (i.e., economic infrastructure) of society [sets the basic terms for] the ideological and political superstructure, including its laws.

    But not all theories that conflict with capitalism’s economic base are as clearly unrealistic as this example. For example, there are many theories of bourgeois democracy that envision a fair distribution of wealth, or even the equal distribution of the means of production [land, machines, factories, etc.]. They say, for example, that everyone can be given a piece of farmland to work, and if anybody starts getting way ahead of anybody else, the surplus can be taxed and redistributed equally again! But the problem is that commodity production and exchange will, on the basis of this very capitalist mode of production, inevitably lead to inequality and the polarization of society, even if you start working with an equal share of the means of production. In addition, there is the fact that equal farmland can never be absolutely equal, because some land is more fertile, or is closer to water, or has a better location, etc.—the products of these lands must be placed on the market in competition with other products, and [with] farmers from other countries. In this way, the law of value connects all these separate producers through the market, and imposes a certain standard of quality and efficiency on them. In the end, sooner or later, inequality will develop between these producers which, with government intervention to enforce equality [of ownership], will deepen divisions in society to the point where some will take up arms and rise up against the government that is preventing them from expanding production!

    If a government wants to prevent this process from leading to inequality, it must stop production for the world market, which is again unrealistic and impractical within the framework of the capitalist system. So it doesn't matter how good you are, or how much your policies and laws are made to promote equality. As long as you function within the framework of capitalist commodity production and exchange, and transform labor power into commodities, you will generate inequality.

    That is why, in the “real world,” namely in capitalist society, it is perfectly legal for a company to refuse to hire people on the grounds that it would not be profitable to employ them, even if that would cause the hunger and homelessness for people who are unemployed (and perhaps for their families). If these unemployed and homeless people occupy some place, or take food and clothes from a store without paying, they will be punished by the state’s [enforcement] apparatus—because, they have acted counter to the workings of the economic infrastructure of capitalism. That is why it is legal to evict people who are unable to make their rent or their mortgage payments. A power or water or gas company can cut off your electricity and water and gas if you don't pay the bills, and it's perfectly legal.

    These laws, which serve and conform to the principle of private property and the commodity exchange [in] production, are not just laws that relate to the financial and economic arena, nor do they directly reflect the mode of production. Rather, some laws are related to maintaining the political, cultural and military superstructure, and these, in turn, serve to protect and enhance the underlying relations of production. For example, the much-lauded freedom of expression in “democratic countries” is not in contradiction with the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, but rather exists within and is limited by that framework, for two reasons. One is that the ruling class dominates and monopolizes the shaping of public opinion. For this reason, what Marx and Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto is more true than ever today: “the ruling ideas of every age, or every society, are ever the ideas of the ruling class.” Second, the ruling class dominates and controls the armed forces and uses them to crush ideas and practices that pose a serious threat to their system.

    This is happening right before our eyes today. Israel’s war against Palestine has led to acute polarization around the world. Millions of people cannot remain indifferent to the massacre of more than 11,000 people in just 40 days, and the streets and universities have become places of protest. But the reaction of the “bourgeois democracies” has not been to recognize freedom of expression by supporters of Palestine, but bans—from slogans to rallies, from carrying a Palestinian flag to the wearing a keffiyeh10—while the media and virtual networks widely distort or delete news and opinions of supporters of Palestine. They do this with such zeal, because Israel is an important ally for Western democracies, and not defending it means turning their backs to the fundamental interests of their system.

    They call Hamas a “terrorist” group, but neither Israel nor anyone who serves the interests of U.S. imperialism is labeled a “terrorist.” Although the media's silence has decreased, due to some extent to the polarization of society around the Palestinian issue and the intensification of divisions in the ruling class, the media has not yet been able to publicly address the question of whether the U.S. has a right to condemn “terrorism” at all, given the war crimes and brutal practices of the U.S. around the world. The control and management of the media by the ruling class, as we see in these examples, is an important aspect of the all-round exercise of dictatorship of the bourgeoisie in the superstructure of capitalist society. Liberty and equality for all do not exist, not in the sphere of political thought, nor in social relations, nor in the underlying economic relations. In all these areas, there is only class rule. Times like these reveal the bourgeois dictatorship concealed within the right to free speech.

    Within the framework of bourgeois democracy/dictatorship, the concept of free speech itself is also influenced by the economic base, commodity production and exchange, and the concept of a “marketplace of ideas” is an expression of capitalist property relations. One of the theorists of bourgeois rights, John Stuart Milldefended freedom of speech for everyone, including for unpopular opinions, saying that the arguments of any theory should be heard—not only from its opponents, but also from the best defenders of that idea. This statement can be divided into two: on the one hand, what John Stuart Mill advocates is the right of individuals to own intellectual property.11 Thomas Jefferson (the father of American democracy), regarded ownership of ideas and opinions as a form of private property, and the protection of property in any form as the most important duty of a government. 

     

    In the marketplace of ideas, freedom of speech means that everyone is the owner of their ideas. If they have a new idea, they must “register” it in a way that benefits themselves (such as patenting an invention) before going public with the idea, lest it be “stolen.” And after it is made public, it must “compete” with other ideas for the best price (even if this value is not directly financial). In this process, the only thing that doesn't matter is whether the idea serves to get a better understanding of the truth, to better understand the world, and to change it for the benefit of the majority of people. This is how ideas become nothing more than the property of their owners, so that challenging them in any way by comparing it to objective reality is considered an attack on the creator of the idea, because what matters is not the truth, but “my idea.”12

    On the other hand, what John Stuart Mill defends as freedom of speech is also very important from the communist point of view, and is a vital part of the process of deeper understanding of truth by the people and by communists themselves. The truth, related to a level of material reality (whether in society or in nature), is constantly moving and developing, and is impossible to know without dialogue and debate over opposing ideas—and with the best defenders of those ideas. Contention of opposing ideas generates a great deal of energy in society for discovery of the truth, in which correct ideas can again prove themselves, or rectify their flaws. Yes, everyone must be free—from oppression and from the bondage of private ownership of thoughts and ideas—to express their opinions. But this is not freedom for just a few individuals. More than anything, the broad masses of people must be free, through this process, to arrive at the truth about things and about the world, in its varied and deeper aspects, and be empowered to seek scientific knowledge and discover truth. Only in such a way can people come to truly run and be leaders of society.

    The other aspect of the problem is that the “unlimited freedom of expression” in John Stuart Mill's theory never actually existed. Even if there is no policy to outlaw specific ideas, not all ideas and outlooks in the world can be reflected equally in the media and publications due to objective constraints on time and resources. In actuality, what happens in capitalist class society is that sets of ideas that are in accord with the interests of the ruling class compete, while it is claimed there is no leadership in this process. But the programme in socialist society, taking into account objective limitations, is to project a wide range of varied and contradictory ideas. This process is led in such a way as to serve arriving at the truth at the highest possible level, rather than in a way that at any particular juncture would benefit the state, or even the communist party. Whatever is true is ultimately in the interests of the proletariat.

    Needless to say, although all laws and civil rights in bourgeois democracies are based on consolidating and stabilizing the dictatorship of the ruling class, the same laws are also interpreted, altered, and used against people by the police, the courts, and by the authorities in general. For example, it is not just in the Islamic Republic that “freedom of assembly” is recognized in the constitution13 but trampled in practice. During the Jina uprising, hundreds of people were murdered or blinded, and thousands of others were arrested. In the U.S., the law recognizes the same right for a Black man to carry a weapon and use it in self-defense as for a white man. But, if a Black man with a gun comes face to face with a cop, he is very likely to lose his life, and his death-by-cop will most likely be considered “justifiable homicide.” Repression, whether in the form of suppressing ideas or in the form of [physical] suppression by security or military forces, demonstrates the existence of class dictatorship, and the backbone core of this class dictatorship is its army and military forces. For this reason, there can be no such thing as a “peaceful revolution.”

    Revolution means the transformation of the economic base and the superstructure of society; this requires the replacement of the ruling class with another class. No era in history has seen a ruling class voluntarily “relinquish” its position to the class that wants to abolish it. Revolution means the replacement of one ruling class by another class. This is also necessary for the revolution of this era, the communist revolution. But the goal of a proletarian revolution, contrary to the goal of the bourgeois revolutions of 18th century, is to abolish all exploitative relations, all oppressive divisions of labor, and all political institutions and [traditional] ideas that represent the division of society into classes.14

    Despite all that has been exposed about the true nature of bourgeois democracy/dictatorship, the root of all the oppression, exploitation and war and genocide we experience today, is not separate from the material/underlying foundations of “democratic rights” and the horizons of bourgeois democracy. There is not and never has been anywhere, democracy for all, freedom of expression for all, and equality between the exploiters and the exploited. Within the system of capitalism-imperialism, we can never have a better world than what we have right now. But now, with a real revolution, it is possible to live in a totally different system. Yet to the majority of people in the world, revolution is still something alien, and many prefer to be busy fighting to achieve more and better “democratic rights,” even as climate change and the threat of nuclear war seriously threaten the existence of humanity.

    In the next issue, we will discuss that, although we will have a much superior type of democracy/dictatorship in socialist society, and a qualitatively different type of freedom, it will not be an expansion of, or improvement on, bourgeois democracy/dictatorship.

    Endnote from translators:

    For a basic explanation of the following scientific terms in the text—1) means of production 2) commodity production 3) law of value—please see “Commodities & Capitalism—and the Terrible Consequences of This System, A Basic Explanation,” by Bob Avakian.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. For example, in regards to the ban in France: https://www.radiofarda.com/a/32635987.html [back]

    2. On intellectual property, Bob Avakian, 2008. Chapter on “Freedom of Conscience as Private Property, ‘The Free Market Place of Ideas’—and a Radically Different and Far More Unfettered Search for Truth.” [back]

    3. Ibid. [back]

    4. According to the 27th principle of Iran’s constitution, “The formation of gatherings and marches without carrying weapons is allowed, provided that it does not disturb the principles of Islam.” [back]

    5. Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? Bob Avakian, Banner Press, 1986. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From Atash/Fire #146, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism 

    What Is Social Democracy and Why Is It a Capitalist Dictatorship?

    Part 4 

    Editors’ note: The article below is posted in Farsi in Atash/Fire journal #146, January 2024 at cpimlm.org. It was translated into English by revcom.us volunteers. Bracketed words/phrases, and some of the footnotes, are added by translators for clarification. Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 were previously posted at revcom.us.

    The main source of this series of articles is Bob Avakian's book Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? and his other works on democracy/dictatorship.

    In previous issues of this series, we discussed examples of bourgeois democracies. In this issue we will discuss social democracy. After World War II, social democracy, also known as the “welfare state,” prevailed in most Western European countries. Social democracies have tried to portray themselves as different from bourgeois democracy of the kind that prevails in the U.S. Although social democracies have some important differences from other types of bourgeois state dictatorships, their similarities are more fundamental: social democratic states are bourgeois dictatorships.

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

     

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

    2014 edition
    (originally published 1986)
    by Bob Avakian
    Price: $10.95
    Format: Paperback
    Order from:   RCP Publications
    PO Box 804956, Chicago, IL 60680-4111
    rcppublications@gmail.com
     
    With an Introduction by Raymond Lotta:
    “A Landmark Work of Heightened Relevance”

    In this article, through analyzing these similarities and differences and examining the views of the defenders of social democracy, we show how democracy/dictatorship under socialism is qualitatively different from these models and from any expansion or improvement of bourgeois democracy/dictatorship. At the end, we will take a look at Karl Popper's social democratic theory.

    Social Democracy

    Today, defenders of social democracy as a desirable model for Iran's future are an active force on the political scene, and this idea has great influence among intellectuals. These intellectuals completely separate the history of democracy in Iran from the larger historical context of Iran's integration into the framework of global capitalism (capitalist imperialism). Like the other countries of the “global South,” Iran is a country “under the domination of imperialism.” It is subordinate to the requirements of capital accumulation in the “central” countries (the metropole) and, internally, its [development] is lopsided and fragmented.

    The development of capitalism in Iran has gone through various turning points, each of which was dependent on major changes in the global capitalist system. (For further discussion refer to the chapter on economics of the Manifesto and Program of the Communist Revolution in Iran-2017.) The defenders of social democracy in Iran reject this decisive fact. As a result, their “solution” for Iranto “extend” to Iran the political superstructure that prevails in the imperialist capitalist countries of the Westis futile and impossible to implement in Iran.

    Bob Avakian explains in his book Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?, the tendency of social democrats can be divided into two groups: one of these focuses on various reformist schemes to achieve “economic democracy” in Europe (the so-called social democrat defenders of the welfare state). Those in this first group, who became partners-in-power inside their own bourgeois states, emphasize that democracy is impossible without economic justice. Therefore, the distribution of imperialist plunder among wider sections of the population is at the center of their program. In relation to democracy, the practice and essential role of this group has been to defend and advocate for bourgeois society and its traditions in the West—against the challenge of Soviet social imperialism in the past, and now against genuine revolution and revolutionary communism.

    The other group of social democrats tries to distinguish themselves from the usual cheerleaders for Western imperialism by presenting their views on democracy with a more radical, and even “Marxist,” formulation. But, in the final analysis, their attempts to make Marxism align with bourgeois democracy are futile, as well.

    Let's look at some of the views of Iranian supporters of social democracy. One of the most well-know names among these intellectuals is Mohammad Reza Nikfar. During the Jina uprising, he theorized and idealized how this type of democracy could counter theocratic and monarchic rule. “Ultimately, there are no more than two ways to deal with the current chaos and disarray: an integration [of the populist movement with the existing system] based on equality and participation, or consolidation based on authoritarian power, repression and control. This is a choice between the honor and dignity of [being] a citizen versus the historical degradation and indignity of [being] a peasant.”8 Apart from the fact that the historical conditions of degradation and subjugation of the Iranian people have not been so “selective” as all that, we must emphasize that Nikfar’s ideal of equality and citizen participation—the essence of the bourgeois democratic ideal—has already failed.

    Because Nikfar ignores the larger context of Iran's integration into the global capitalist system (though he is well aware of its history), he cannot factually and scientifically explain why all bourgeois-democratic efforts have failed in Iran, and continue to fail. There are two world-historical obstacles: first, in an imperialist world, bourgeois democracy cannot be extended to the countries it dominates (especially of the kind of “welfare state” specific to a handful of countries). To do so would require radical changes in the relationship between the countries of the “Global North” and the “Global South,” and any such attempt would disrupt the internal cohesion of the imperialist countries (aside from the fact that bourgeois democracy in these countries itself is today threatened by fascist forces).

    What makes social democracy—and bourgeois democracy more generally—possible in those very few countries is their plunder of countries in the “Global South.” Dictatorial regimes [in the dominated countries] are synonymous with the relative prosperity and domestic political stability needed for the existence of bourgeois democracy in the imperialist countries.

    Second, although a large part of what was considered the “communist movement” in Iran thinks that the era of bourgeois revolutions in the “Global South” is still ongoing, the reality is that the era of bourgeois revolutions has ended. This kind of thinking—that the bourgeois revolution has not yet been “exhausted” because it has yet to become “pure” in the “Global North” and because the “Global South” has not yet benefited from the many blessings it has conferred on the “Global North”—can be seen in the ideas formulated by the likes of Habermas,9 and are fostered by many intellectuals of the “Global South.”

    However, any problem that remained unresolved in the era of bourgeois revolutions can no longer be solved within that same framework, because in practice (and not in fantasy), that framework has become the globalized framework of capitalist imperialism. And today in particular, any attempt at bourgeois democracy turns into an outpost for imperialism, which ultimately contributes to the spread of the influence of Islamic fundamentalism (and elsewhere, Christian fundamentalism), as an alternative. Simply put, to solve all the “leftovers from the past,” such as the horrible return to dark-age ideology and more traditional social relations, requires the two radical ruptures that Marx emphasized, breaking with traditional property relations and breaking with traditional ideas.

    In order to validate his political theory of social democracy, Nikfar turns an important fact upside down. He writes: "The duality of situations in the world result from discrimination which leads to the duality of position and to the conditions that are a result of exploitation. Discrimination precedes exploitation, from an analytical and logical standpoint, and also from a historical standpoint.10 But in reality, unlike what exists in someone's mind, the relation between discrimination and exploitation is the other way around. Not necessarily in a one-to-one way, but in a complex relationship, exploitation “ultimately” lays the foundation for a system that is an inseparable part of all forms of oppression and discrimination.

    The relationship between discrimination and exploitation is multifaceted and multilayered. When Marx formulated the “4 Alls,”11 he explained their inner and dialectical relationships. He also clarified which is primary and their interval [what proceeds from what]. By turning this reality upside down (saying that discrimination precedes exploitation), Nikfar concludes that it is possible to solve the problem of discrimination within the framework of capitalism, and sees no need for a revolution with the aim of crushing the capitalist system and replacing it with a socialist system working to abolish the “4 Alls.”

    Other defenders of social democracy also see such a revolution as unrealistic. For example, Mehrdad Darvishpour, borrowing from Frederic Jamison,12 writes that “defending the achievements of the welfare state—rather than romantic and unrealistic declarations about the abolition of classes and abolition of wage labor—is the important task of Left forces today.”13 He considers the project of social democracy to be “integrating the defense of democracy with social justice, the defense of the environment, gender equality and the elimination of discrimination (including combating racism and ethnic discriminations)” that “has stood opposed to classical Left projects, such as the negative expropriation of private property and the establishment of state socialism.”

    But expropriation of private ownership of the means of production and the establishment of socialism (proletarian democracy/dictatorship), which he calls a “classical” project, is a vital requirement for creating a material basis for social justice and for ending discrimination and protecting the environment. Because in reality, despite what anyone thinks, the source of these problems is the actual workings and dynamics of capitalism. Although it is a necessity for socialism, today and in the future, to rupture with the practices of early socialism in the Soviet Union and China (as Bob Avakian did by summing up the first wave of communist revolutions and laying the foundations of the new communism), this never was and never will be possible with a social democratic outlook. Expecting to achieve the “4 Alls” within a bourgeois democracy, by something called “intertwining,” is not realistic, but utopian—something we revolutionary communists are accused of.

    Of course, Darvishpour writes that his pet project, “both from the point of view of making progress and [to maintain] it in the long-term, is a far more effective way to simultaneously defend and expand the public welfare.”

    Similarly, Faraj Sarkohi, in a program called “The Necessity of Social Democracy in Iran,”14asserts that “the survival of society, its sustainable development, and even the growth of capital in it cannot be based on discrimination.” In his statements, we see a more honest example of social democracy and its purpose: to make capitalism rational! This project attempts to prove to the capitalist system and its uncontrollable driving force of “expand or die,” that it will be more effective and sustainable to take into account the rights of women, blacks, immigrants and the environment. He intends to use the capitalist mode of production based on the exploitation of labor power, but make profits “more fair,” and thereby reduce the oppression that is woven into this system.

    Occasionally, he borrows sayings from Marxist literature, like “the final goal is to eliminate exploitation.” But how does he intend to achieve this goal? By “simultaneous emphasis on socialism and on democracy, and implementing them step by step, until the majority of the workers become conscious” (according to Faraj Sarkohi). This type of analysis and his proposals are examples of separating the political superstructure from society’s economic base.

    One of the most important theorists of this kind of error is Agnes Heller.15 In her collection of essays, she—like other theorists of the Budapest school—sought a democratic socialism that would be the opposite of what Bob Avakian calls the “mechanical and economist socialism” of the Soviet bloc. But instead of rupturing with it, she gets caught up in idealism. She misconstrues the relationship between society’s economic base and its political and ideological superstructure. This ultimately leads her to regard democracy as an ideal that can be grafted onto either a capitalist economic infrastructure or a socialist one!

    Agnes Heller writes, “[T]he same democratic principles, to the extent that they are formal principles, can serve as fundamental principles in the constitution of either a capitalist or a socialist society,” and adds: “formal democracy, indeed, can be transformed into socialist democracy without undergoing the slightest modification. The principles of formal democracy prescribe how to proceed in dealing with the affairs of society, how to find solutions to problems, but in no way do they impose a limit on the content of various social aspirations.” (Emphasis added by Atash)

    In contrast to the idealist fantasy of Agnes Heller, Avakian emphasizes:

    ….[D]emocracy, as a set of formal principles, cannot be made to service socialism as well as capitalism “without undergoing the slightest modification”.... to repeat the most basic point, democracy under socialism must undergo a qualitative, radical transformation from what it was under capitalism—it must be inverted—so that democracy is practiced among the ranks of the new ruling class, the proletariat, while dictatorship is exercised by the proletariat over the former ruling class, the bourgeoisie.

    Without the two radical ruptures Marx and Engels spoke of as decisive… without the uphill battle that must be waged for it after socialism is first established… there is no socialism, let alone the ultimate achievement of communism. What are needed in the political realm are principles that reflect this and serve the struggle to overcome the resistance of the overthrown bourgeoisie (and newborn bourgeois class forces) and to enable the masses of people to become masters of society in every sphere…. what is needed is the application of democracy (and dictatorship) with an open, explicit, class content, and not the principles of formal democracy “without the slightest modification.”16

    Karl Popper

    Another of the social democratic theorists is Karl Popper (a philosopher of Austrian descent). He laid out his theory, a critique of Marxism, in his well-known book The Open Society and Its Enemies.17 Popper's criticism of Marxism is that it takes an “essentialist” approach to capitalist exploitation and the state, because it doesn’t consider them to be reformable. In the 1990s, the reformist wing of the Islamic Republic zealously promoted Popper's theory and this book. In fact, it became a major theoretical prop of their policy of “reforms” and was used to mobilize a section of the intellectual community around a belief in the “reformability of the Islamic Republic.”

    According to Popper, the Marxist theory—that any form of state, without exception, represents the dictatorship of this or that class, and that even the most “democratic” of them is in fact a class dictatorship—is an “essentialist” theory. In his view, it is possible for a state to exist that is not a dictatorship. Popper sees democracy and dictatorship as two different planets, saying that where democracy is there is no dictatorship and vice versa. One of his important criteria for a state to be “democratic” and “non-dictatorial” is that people can “vote out” their political leaders. In a very important critique of Popper's comments, Bob Avakian responds:

    …the people can “dismiss” (vote out of office) particular politicians, they cannot by this means—or any means, other than revolution—"dismiss” the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) which in reality rules society, which exerts control over the electoral process itself, and which in any case dominates the political decision-making process, and, most essentially, exercises a monopoly of “legitimate” armed force… no serious—and certainly no genuinely scientific—analysis of the dynamics of political power and of the political decision-making process in “democratic” countries, such as the U.S., can lead to any other conclusion than that all this is, in reality, completely monopolized and dominated by the ruling class of capitalist-imperialists, and that others, besides this ruling class, are effectively excluded from the exercise of political power and meaningful political decision-making, notwithstanding the participation of the populace in elections.18

    Ultimately, Popper's solution is this: instead of asking “what class is ruling,” Marxists should ask “how to contain it”! But there is no experience to show that the masses of people can “contain” the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, which has a security and military apparatus. The existence of such illusions (which have always been promoted by the ruling class) have always dealt irreparable blows to the opponents of capitalism and to freedom fighters on the path to liberation.

    Popper's “solution” to capitalist exploitation is also to “contain” it. He opposes the “unlimited freedom of capitalism,” saying: “Under an unbridled capitalist system, the economically strongest person is free to bully the economically weak and steal his freedom.... We must demand that the policy of unlimited economic freedom be replaced by state-planned economic intervention.”19

    Here we are up against a theoretical bait-and-switch, in which Popper shifts words around to distort the nature of capital. As Raymond Lotta writes, “Capital is a social relation and a process, whose essence is indeed the domination by alien, antagonistic interests over labor.” (Raymond Lotta, America in Decline.)20 And the bourgeois state (whether its form is social-democratic or liberal-democratic or fascist), is vital to the imposition of this [social] relation. Without it, the bourgeoisie can never dominate the labor force. No demand can stop “unbridled capitalism,” because the law of “expand or die” is the “intrinsic” law of capitalism, and physical violence the inevitable result: even to the extent of causing devastating wars and the destruction of the environment.

    All the countries that the Iranian social democrats present as “examples” and “models” of social democracy—including the Scandinavian countries—are imperialist capitalist countries that as a result of the plunder and super-exploitation of the “Global South,” to some extent and for a period of time, are able to provide welfare and certain political rights in order to secure their own headquarters.

    But today, we are seeing these same countries take off their “democratic” gloves and openly show their fascist iron fist. And it is astonishing to see so many of our social-democratic intellectuals adopt a deafening silence toward Israel's genocidal crime against the Palestinian people—that is much like their deafening silence about the massacre of political prisoners in 1988 [in Iran]!

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1.  Radio Zamaneh, “The Dignity Movement”, Nikfar, Mohammad Reza, May 17, 1401 [From 2011 through July, 2023 Mohammad Reza Nikfar was Radio Zamaneh’s editor-in-chief. He continues to work closely with Radio Zameneh, and to write and teach.].  [back]

    2.  Jürgen Habermas is a prominent 20th century social-political theorist. For decades he has been a major figure in the Frankfurt School, which is known for revising the revolutionary heart out of socialism. One of his most widely read books is The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society, a detailed social history of the development of the bourgeois public sphere from its origins in the 18th century salons up through modern, capital-driven mass media. His writings have been translated into more than 40 languages. Sources: Wikipedia and Library of Congress. [footnote added by translators] [back]

    3.  Website Critique of Political Economy "belonging, not belonging," Nikfar, Mohammad Reza.  [back]

    4.  Bob Avakian: "To review: Marx said specifically the dictatorship of the proletariat is the transition to the abolition of all class distinctions, of all the production relations on which those class distinctions rest, of all the social relations that correspond to those production relations, and the revolutionization of all the ideas that correspond to those social relations."  [back]

    5.  Frederic Jamison is a "Western" Marxist, in the tradition of the Frankfurt School. He is best known for his critique of post-modernism, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism (1991) and his research on critical theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/  [footnote added by translators] [back]

    6.  “In Defense of Social Policy of the Social Democratic Welfare State” by Mehrdad Darvishpour, 2022. [Darvishpour is an Iranian-Swedish sociologist, and a Stockholm activist.)] [back]

    7.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14s95RjRjE&list=PLWDzMTmOOMFr3gwPQg5KTLP_Qd2bgRD6L, 09 May 2023.  [back]

    8.  Agnes Heller, [quoted in Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? Chapter 6: “Bourgeois Socialism and Bourgeois Democracy.”] Bob Avakian, 1986.  [back]

    9.  Ibid.  [back]

    10.  The Open Society and Its Enemies, Karl Popper, 1945. Its Persian translation by Ezatollah Fouladvand was published in 2005.  [back]

    11.  Avakian. “Making Revolution and Emancipating Humanity, Part 1.” In the section titled “Marxism as a Science—Refuting Karl Popper: Marxism’s 'falsifiability,' Popper’s falsehoods, and a scientific approach.2007.  [back]

    12.  The Open Society and Its Enemies, Volume II in English pp. 124-125.  [back]

    13. "Capital is a social relation and process whose essence is the domination of labor power by alien, antagonistic interests and the reproduction and expanded reproduction of that relation. The most fundamental law of the capitalist mode of production is the law of value and production of surplus value. The most important production relation of capitalism is the relation of capital to labor. And exploitation of wage-labor is the basis of the creation and appropriation of surplus value." From "On the 'Driving Force of Anarchy' and the Dynamics of Change—A Sharp Debate and Urgent Polemic: The Struggle for a Radically Different World and the Struggle for a Scientific Approach to Reality," by Raymond Lotta [footnote by translators] [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From Atash/Fire #147, journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism

    Revisionist Democracy: 
    Socialism in Name, Capitalism in Essence

    Part 5 

    Editors’ note: The article below is posted in Farsi in Atash/Fire journal #147, February 2024 at cpimlm.org. It was translated into English by revcom.us volunteers. Bracketed words/phrases, and some of the footnotes, are added by translators for clarification. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 were previously posted at revcom.us.

    In Part 4 we wrote about social democracy and the welfare state, the dominant form of bourgeois democracy in the capitalist-imperialist countries of Northern Europe. Alongside these, we must include “revisionist democracy,” which was the form of rule in countries where there had been communist revolutions and socialism — which were later reversed, and capitalism restored. Two prominent examples are the form of ruling state in the Soviet Union between the restoration of capitalism in 1956 and its collapse in 1991, and the form of ruling state in China from the restoration of capitalism in 1976 until now.78 

    Before the restoration of capitalism and their transformation into capitalist-imperialist countries, both had a history of socialist rule (proletarian dictatorship/democracy). Once they became capitalist countries, the class content of the state and its form [of rule] changed. But because of their socialist histories, they repurposed some of the features of the socialist era into the new capitalist system and the necessity that it faced. This is why “revisionist democracy” is the most fitting name for this model. 

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

     

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

    2014 edition
    (originally published 1986)
    by Bob Avakian
    Price: $10.95
    Format: Paperback
    Order from:   RCP Publications
    PO Box 804956, Chicago, IL 60680-4111
    rcppublications@gmail.com
     
    With an Introduction by Raymond Lotta:
    “A Landmark Work of Heightened Relevance”

    These revisionist democracies, much like the social democracies, try to portray themselves as different from bourgeois democracies of the type that prevails in the U.S. And in fact, [they do] have some differences. But what makes it important to examine this model is not just the experience of the Soviet Union and China. This is the model aspired to by “left” trends around the world, in Iran, and even by some parties that have the word “communist” in their name — some of which will be discussed below. In this article, we examine the differences between revisionist democracy and other types of bourgeois democracy, and finally what they share in how they exercise bourgeois dictatorship.

    Revisionist democracy, which at one time was seen mainly in the theory and practice of defenders of Soviet social imperialism (after 1956) is promoted today by the defenders of capitalist-imperialist China as “socialist democracy with Chinese characteristics.” These revisionist democracies have obvious differences with the U.S. model. For example, Soviet revisionist democracy lacked any institutionalized decision-making by the masses, such as the [sham] U.S. elections. In China today, mass expressions of discontent over civil liberties are much less likely than in Europe and the United States, despite the fact that in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (Article 35), citizens’ freedom of expression, press, assembly, marches and demonstrations are officially recognized. 

    Pointing to these differences, opponents rule these [revisionist democracies] out-of-bounds, beyond the scope of democracy. Meanwhile, to the contrary, their proponents view them as far more democratic than the “Western” democracies. Both sides fail to get to the essence of these [revisionist Soviet and Chinese] states and their democracies. By “essence” we mean that, before its collapse in 1990, the Soviet Union had the characteristics of an imperialist capitalist state, and after the collapse it simply discarded its “socialist” mask. Today, Russia is the principal heir of that capitalist-imperialist country. And, despite the fact that China’s form of state differs from those in imperialist capitalist countries such as the U.S. and Western Europe, its “essence” is that of a capitalist-imperialist country. 

    It should be noted that the reasons for these differences are both the fact that the Western capitalist-imperialist countries have a more massive share of plunder from the Third Word, and thus greater “freedom” to grant more rights to their citizens, as well as historical differences (the path that produced bourgeois democratic institutions such as elections and civil society in Europe and the United States differs from historical developments in Russia and China). Revisionist democracies advertise their superiority, saying that workers and the masses are drawn into participation in administration of social and economic life to a much more extensive degree than are workers and the masses in the West. This, they say, is because “in China, electoral democracy goes hand in hand with council democracy.” When the Chinese imperialists refer to “electoral democracy,” they mean their national elections — where one billion people have a direct vote to elect nearly 2.6 million delegates for the “National People's Congress,” or legislative assembly, and “council democracy” refers to the institution of the “Conference of Chinese People’s Councils.” 

    It is also claimed that along with these elections, there is a “democratic meritocracy.” According to Daniel A. Bell, in his book The China Model,79 this model doesn’t suffer from the weaknesses of “everyone has a vote” democracy, which makes it morally preferable and politically more stable! He then elaborates on the much more “democratic” process of electing, for example, the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (which should be read as the “Communist Party of Imperialist Capitalists Disguised as Communists” in China), which consists of several steps: a vote [on candidates] by lower officials, a publicly supervised written exam on questions of political economy and political philosophy, an oral exam in the presence of the secretary-general’s cadres and staff members and inspection of that candidate’s record for any sign of corruption. The final decision is made by vote of a committee of 12 ministers. According to Bell, all this ensures that those who are democratically elected are worthy of elected office, but in Western democracies — which consider themselves to be the democratic antithesis of autocratic Russia and China — such a process does not exist. Of course, this claim is also untrue. In the imperialist states of the West, just as in all bourgeois dictatorships/democracies, individuals who enter the state, security and military apparatus at the local and national levels must work their way through training and testing channels for years. Upon reaching a certain level, if they were to act contrary to the fundamental principles and functioning of the capitalist system, the system would give them the boot. 

    Thus, the class content of both forms — bourgeois democracy and revisionist democracy — is bourgeois dictatorship. The Chinese people work under appalling conditions of wage slavery, to enrich Chinese capitalists and their international partners. China's economic infrastructure is exploitative, not only in the general sense (capitalist appropriation of surplus-value). The “super-exploitative” conditions [e.g., sweatshops] that are characteristic of “Third World” countries exist on a wide scale in China. Moreover, China is an imperialist capitalist country which carries out brutal exploitation and plunder across three continents (Asia, Africa, and Latin America), from Indonesia and Vietnam, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan... to Nigeria, Congo, Venezuela, Colombia, etc. 

    Chinese democracy, like all imperialist democracies, is democracy for the capitalist class, and dictatorship against those who the capitalist class oppresses and exploits. What is different about China’s democracy is that its rulers cloak its essential character in the mantle of China's socialist past. But, its true nature is quite clear in the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, Article 13, which says: a citizen’s legal right to own private property cannot be violated.

    Thus, contrary to popular belief, the Chinese bourgeoisie does believe in democracy, no more and no less than its counterparts and rivals in the West. But due to their specific necessity and histories, they employ a specific form of democracy which makes it more possible for them to exercise capitalist class dictatorship (the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie) in their specific conditions.

    In the Soviet Union after the restoration of capitalism (1956), the imperialist bourgeoisie was unable to grant Russian workers the same wage level as their counterparts in the U.S. and the imperialist countries in the West, as much leeway to stray from the official line, or as much laissez faire for small businesses. Instead, they emphasized lifetime employment, healthcare, meeting the basic living requirements, and “involvement” of the masses of people in the functioning of economic and social life, especially through the trade union apparatus, which itself functioned as part of the state machinery, keeping the workers in line. Also, there was autonomy for the governments of the Asian republics [within the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)], etc. All of these differences were, and are, used by the defenders of Soviet social-imperialism as proof of the superiority of revisionist democracy over bourgeois democracy. In Iran specifically, this includes [both non-revolutionary] Tudeh Party and Fedayeen Khalq (Majority) and their spinoff groups and individuals.

    In examining the Soviet model of revisionist democracy, Bob Avakian looked at one of the major Soviet research works called the Political Economy of Revolution, and its chapter on democracy. The author of this research, K. Zarodov, writes, “Bourgeois ideologists claim that socialist reconstruction is nothing more than the antithesis to democracy. By fair means and foul, they belittle and even discount the role played by the revolutionary forces of the working class, the Communists’ fight to exert and extend the peoples’ democratic rights and freedoms.”80 (Emphasis by Atash.

    For this author — like revisionist Soviet theorists generally — democracy under socialism is simply the full assertion and extension of democracy under capitalism. Instead of demonstrating the historical limits of bourgeois democracy and its ideals (as discussed in previous articles), they want to act as the true champions of these ideals and to make them last forever.

    The “Left” Party in Iran — composed of the union of the Fedayeen Khalq (Majority), the United People's Fedayeen Organization in Iran,81 and other left activists — reflects exactly this attitude in its documents. The [“Left”] Party writes that “socialism is intertwined with democracy,” so it considers its duty to be “deepening and expanding participation in representative democracy and various forms of direct democracy, including self-governance and self-management.” In the documents of this [“Left”] Party, we see that socialism has been reduced to a series of “socialist values,” and those values are nothing more than those that are packaged into the capitalist system: “including peace, freedom, equality, social justice, solidarity, democracy, equality of rights for women and me, ... and other values upholding human rights, democratic redistribution, etc.” The bourgeois opposition parties of the Islamic Republic, including the [pro-U.S. Reza] Pahlavi trend, paste together more or less of these words as their “alternative” goals, without saying what mode of production will form the underlying infrastructure: the capitalist or the socialist mode of production.

    And where they do talk about economics, like all bourgeois theorists, they talk about shapes and formats without clarifying the class content of that economy. For example, the “Left” Party writes: “Mixed economy — the state, the cooperative and the private — is the appropriate form to organize the country's economic system.”82 But a mixture of all these forms already exist in all imperialist capitalist and dependent capitalist countries, such as Iran, Turkey, etc. 

    All these sleights of hand are meant to signify that, in order to be formally recognized, we will stay within capitalism, and recognize equal rights under the banner of “democratic socialism” on the basis of exploitation — which is at the heart of the deep and pervasive inequality in today’s societies, and inevitably generates deep social inequalities. This is phony socialism! 

    Real socialism is the result of a revolution that overthrows the capitalist state in all its forms (liberal democracy, social democracy, revisionist democracy, Islamic democracy, etc.), and establishes a state whose existential necessity is the abolition of class distinctions, the abolition of the relations of production that produce these distinctions, the abolition of all social relations that correspond to capitalist production relations, and the abolition of all the ideas which serve the rule of the exploiting classes [“4 Alls”], in order to open the way for all humanity to move towards the international communist society, and to finally relegate the state itself (democracy/dictatorship) to the Museum of History.

    Socialist democracy exists to serve this orientation, namely the abolition of the above-mentioned “4 Alls,” and to achieve these ends it will exercise dictatorship against the process of restoration of capitalist dictatorship. In this way, the socialist state, like the capitalist state, is both a democracy and a class dictatorship. And it is precisely this orientation that is decisive for the preservation of the socialist character of society, not the “more complete exercise and extension of rights and democracy,” as claimed by the “Left” Party and godfather of the process as theory, K. Zarodov.

    Zarodov and the many other defenders of revisionist democracy are trying to merge two things that are in fact locked in struggle with each other. [Revolutionary leader] Bob Avakian explains that there is a unity between the socialist democracy/dictatorship and the advance to communism (where there will be no class rule and no democracy/dictatorship). There is a unity, but it is a unity of opposites. And in the final analysis, the most important aspect of this relationship is the struggle between them, socialism must move towards the establishment of communism (which can only be realized on a world scale) and the “withering away” of the state (even the socialist state). And this requires eradicating all the material, political and ideological conditions that make exploitation and class division possible in the world as well as the existence of states (both bourgeois and socialist). 

    It is clear that no need for any state also means no need for democracy, and that the eradication of all conditions for the division of society into classes will lead to the “withering away” of democracy itself. This is not an objective that can be achieved by “democratizing working conditions” or by expanding democratic rights.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The Soviet Union was a real socialist society from 1917 when Lenin led the first communist revolution, and China was a true socialist country from 1949 when Mao led the communist revolution there. For more, see the Interview with Raymond Lotta at revcom.us, “You Don't Know What You Think You ‘Know’ About... The Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation: Its History and Our Future. [back]

    2. The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy, Daniel A. Bell, 2016 [back]

    3. K. Zarodov, The Political Economy of Revolution (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1981)as quoted by Bob Avakian in Democracy, Can’t We Do Better Than That? (Banner Press, 1986, pages 155-157).  [back]

    4. The United People's Fedayeen Organization in Iran is another of many factions of the original “Organization of Iranian People's Fadai Guerrillas” which existed from 1971 until 1980. [back]

    5. Charter of the Left Party of Iran (Fadaiyan Khalq) [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From Atash/Fire #148, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    THE REALITY OF COMMUNISM

    Totalitarianism: 
    A Yardstick That Cannot Measure Reality 

    Part 6

    Editors’ note: The article below is posted in Farsi in Atash/Fire journal #148, March 2024, at cpimlm.org. It was translated into English by revcom.us volunteers.  Bracketed words/phrases, and some of the footnotes are added by translators for clarification.  Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4 and Part 5 are also posted at revcom.us.

    March 5, 2024

    The main source of this series of articles is Bob Avakian's book Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? and his other works on democracy/dictatorship. 

    One of the most widely used and popular concepts on Iran's political scene today is “totalism” or “totalitarianism,” a theory developed by Hannah Arendt. This concept is widely used by opposition forces on the Right and the Left, though with different intent and understanding, to describe the Islamic Republic of Iran [IRI]. The most well-intentioned often assume that totalitarianism is an extreme form of tyranny and despotism, where the state is about controlling society down to the most personal aspects of an individual’s life. But some deliberately use this ideological weapon to misrepresent the only radical solution that has emerged outside the framework of the imperialist-capitalist system (i.e. communist revolution). They define the only, and binary, alternatives as “democracy” (including “good” bourgeois autocracies) vs. totalitarianism when the real choice is between two different kinds of future. [It is either] to perpetuate this very same system of capitalist oppression and exploitation, with all the horrors it visits on the majority of the world's people, and today—through destruction of the environment and nuclear war [threatening] life on planet Earth and all of humanity—vs. getting rid of this system and establishing a fundamentally different type of state (class democracy/dictatorship) in order to move towards a world that has no private ownership of the means of production, no class or social distinctions, and with no [need for the] state.

    Therefore, it is important to take a closer look at the concept or theory of totalitarianism, although it is difficult to call it a theory due to its lack of logic and internal coherence, in order to understand not only how the term is used, its analysis of the problem that the IRI represents, and what it says must be done to solve that problem. Because if the problem is that the IRI is totalitarian, [then] the solution would be to create the “normal democracy” that a wide spectrum of the opposition goes on and on about. But if our analysis of the nature of the IRI is consistent with reality, we will recognize that it is not only a theocratic fascist state, but also that it is completely interwoven with a capitalist infrastructure [that is] dependent on the world imperialist capitalist system. Therefore, the solution can be nothing less than overthrowing the IRI, with the goal of establishing a socialist state and society. So let's take a look at what totalitarianism is and why our problem with the IRI’s regime is not something called totalitarianism.

    Any concept or theory, including totalitarianism, cannot be understood without taking into consideration the historical and global social context from which it emerged. So, we must get clear on these two points: 1) the [historical] period in which this theory was developed, and 2) that this theory is a distortion of reality that serves the interests of a specific class and its specific political goals. Further, there never has been a state that could be explained by “totalitarianism.” All examples of states alleged to be totalitarian were, in reality, either one of the various types of imperialist-capitalist regimes—fascist or autocratic with a socialist mask—or genuine socialist states (the Soviet Union 1917-1956 and China 1949-1976).

    Here is how [revolutionary leader] Bob Avakian describes the actual content and political role of the theory of totalitarianism:

    This theory was developed in the context of World War 2, including the events of the late 1930s leading up to it and above all the situation that arose in its aftermath. It was not widely promoted (or the Soviet Union was not targeted in the same way as it is now) during the period 1941-45, when the [socialist] Soviet Union was allied with the “Western democracies” against the fascist Axis (that is German, Italian, and Japanese imperialism and their allies). It was after the war that this theory was fully fertilized and blossomed forth. For the Soviet Union—and what was then a large and potentially very powerful socialist camp under its leadership—had emerged as the direct antagonist to imperialism in the West. (This became all the more the case, and this socialist camp was seen as all the more dangerous, after the victory of the Chinese Revolution in 1949.)15

    Subsequently, in the 1980s when the Soviet social-imperialist bloc was the serious rival of the Western imperialists, the concept (or accusation) of totalitarianism was one of the main ideological weapons in the Western imperialist arsenal that they deployed in the conflict. And still, whenever [inter-imperialist] conflict escalates—for example, in the war between Russia and NATO in Ukraine—they justify their actions with this ideological weapon [of totalitarianism].

    Totalitarianism presents itself as a new “yardstick” that goes beyond the distinction of Left and Right. Indeed, Arendt is not unique in [her refusal] to recognize these fundamental distinctions. She relies on some superficial similarities between Hitler's Germany and the Soviet Union under Stalin's leadership to invent a “new theory of the state.” According to Arendt, there is a new kind of state, the “totalitarian state,” which is not only different from democracy, but even different from the openly dictatorial states (reactionaries, autocrats, etc.) that have existed up ’til now. In this new theory, the state is unmoored from classes, from the specific social division that the state is an extension of, and from the production relations that the state must ultimately serve and reproduce. 

    The totalitarian “yardstick” is used to propagate the very enormous lie that fascist and communist governments are the same (!) and simultaneously serves as an apology for the many not-so-democratic “free world” regimes in the U.S. imperialist camp that are not considered to be totalitarian! For example, Saudi Arabia's [Mohammed] bin Salman is never considered totalitarian, even though he ordered the dismemberment of [Jamal] Khashoggi, a critic and journalist! Nor is Israel! (Although Arendt was against certain crimes the Israeli government committed, neither she nor other anti-totalitarians ever called Israel totalitarian.) And of course, this yardstick serves to prettify and distract attention from the criminal nature of Western imperialist democracies. Regardless of how much they are intertwined with racism, patriarchy, warmongering and environmental destruction, when confronted with the specter of communism we must bow down to them! 

    The same concept of the state, one that completely separates the political superstructure from the economic infrastructure, is used by Iranian intellectuals in their analysis of the IRI to reduce it to merely a totalitarian regime, without bothering to explain the differences between this regime and other reactionary and despotic regimes. According to U.S. government documents, apparently ever since the IRI signed a twenty-five-year agreement with China, they have considered it to be totalitarian.16 Before that, dating back to 1979 and even before, they were treated as little more than regional reactionary Islamists—and occasionally as U.S. allies in the fight against the threat of communism. 

    Ultimately, this yardstick of totalitarianism is not only inaccurate but also lacks the ability to measure the fundamental attribute of the state: that it is a dictatorship of one class over other classes. The concept of “totalitarianism” is nothing more than a political tool for drawing a line of demarcation between the camps of the friends and enemies of the U.S.

    But, apart from the specific political aims of totalitarianism which many are unaware of, why is this concept actually out of sync with reality and therefore unscientific?

    [C]entral to the whole outlook and methodology of the antitotalitarian theorists is the recasting and reinterpretation of events according to the a priori notions of their theory. This is a Procrustean outlook and methodology: anything which does not fit the theory, and any event of world history which does not conform to and confirm its assumptions, is bent and mutilated to make it fit. These theorists are every bit as fanatical about this as the totalitarians portrayed in their writings.17

    Arendt, for example, asks why the masses of people in Germany, and even a section of the intelligentsia, supported Hitler (and a similar question is posed about the support given to [Iran’s Ayatollah Ali] Khomeini in 1978 by sections of the masses and by the intellectuals). Instead of examining the real dynamics of the rise of fascism from within the capitalist system—that it was grounded in the defeat of Germany in World War I, the changed conditions of people in a defeated imperialist country and its many political and social dimensions, including the limitations of other forces on the scene—Arendt blames the masses (“the alliance of the mob with the elite”) and flying in the face of all facts to the contrary, she declares the end of imperialism!

    There are a lot of similarities between this and the blame-game targeting proponents of [Iran’s revolution in] 1979. There is a lot of complexity to the effect of several decades of [Shah Mohammed Reza] Pahlavi’s pro-Western rule on the life of the Iranian people, the global situation, domestic repression, and ultimately on the functioning of the imperialist capitalist system whose internal dynamics gave rise to reactionary alternatives like Islamic fundamentalism. It is far easier to attribute all of it to the stupidity of the masses and intellectuals, and to Khomeini being totalitarian!

    Arendt writes: 

    [W]e are indeed at the end of the bourgeois era of profit and power, as well as at the end of imperialism and expansion. The aggressiveness of totalitarianism springs not from lust for power, and if it feverishly seeks to expand, it does so neither for expansion’s sake nor for profit, but only for ideological reasons: to make the world consistent, to prove that its respective supersense has been right.18

    The basis of this theory is precisely that totalitarianism has its own unique dynamics and does not function according to the dynamics of imperialism! So, too bad about the facts of World War II, which show that it was fought among imperialist countries over the re-division of the world, especially for advantage over strategic regions. Further, the ruling capitalist class always uses ideology to govern and justify its actions, and to expand its spheres of influence. U.S. imperialism epitomizes this practice, carrying out wars and military interventions around the world in the name of “exporting democracy.” If this is not for expansion and profit, if imperialism has ended, why don’t Arendt and others in her school of thought conclude that the U.S. is a totalitarian state because of such lust for power? 

    But some people just cannot see that claims about totalitarianism are completely contrary to reality, that in every case this theory is applied in a way that is thoroughly contradictory! For example, Mehdi Khalaji says that imperialism has never existed in Iran (yet at this very moment, the IRI exists within the imperialist system—not itself an imperialist country but is dependent on the capitalist system of imperialism). In Khalaji’s opinion, a Shiite state is not necessarily a totalitarian one! From this we should conclude that the only state that necessarily and certainly is totalitarian—and therefore must be avoided—is a socialist state.

    In addition to the non-scientific methodology, another anti-scientific aspect of totalitarianism is its false theory that human nature is unchangeable. Arendt goes so far as to call Darwin's theory of evolution invalid! Discounting the possibility of changing human thinking and social behavior is in fact to oppose the possibility of changing the world—a world full of exploitation, oppression of one human being by another, hostile relationships between people, and destructive wars—which leads to acceptance of all these horrors. According to Arendt and her cohort of Iranians, from Touraj Atabaki to Mehdi Khalaji and Bahareh Hedayat19,the goal of totalitarian systems is to create a ‘new man’! But changing everything winds up destroying everything!” And, according to Arendt, not only is the totalitarian project of making “a new type of man” a bad thing, but for the thinking of humans to change as a result of change to external conditions will lead to an instability and inconsistency, which she sees as a conspicuous characteristic of the “totalitarian personality” or mentality!20

    The reality is that the human species is very adaptable and [can change] as conditions—and above all social systems—change. People are able to make enormous changes in their outlook, beliefs, and even in their feelings... For those who have no interest in the status quo, this is very liberating. But for those like Arendt, the mere attempt at change is frightening. And this includes any kind of change, even to achieve equality of opportunity and education. Arendt wrote that, 

    Nineteenth-century positivism and progressivism perverted this purpose of human equality when they set out to demonstrate what cannot be demonstrated, namely, that men are equal by nature and different only by history and circumstances, so that they can be equalized not by rights, but by circumstances and education.21

    Bob Avakian replies: 

    Here Arendt reveals both the bourgeois—and more specifically, bourgeois-democratic—essence of her outlook, and at the same time the reactionary essence of the bourgeois-democratic ideal in this era: the notion, and insistence, that on the one hand equality is the highest principle but that on the other hand human “equality is an equality of rights only."22

    For antitotalitarians, it does not matter that for the IRI the “new type man” is steeped in religion, male supremacy/patriarchy, oppressive social hierarchies and exploitative economic relations — and that the transformed human being of the future socialist society hates all of this, and this change is part of dismantling those oppressive, exploitative social relations and the corresponding dark-ages ways of thinking. As Marx put it, circumstances are changed by men, meaning that s/he can change her/himself. For the antitotalitarians, all that matters is that the old human—the atomized individual that capitalism created a few hundred years ago by uprooting peasants from the land and destroying feudal collectives, a commodity owner (whose commodity is his labor power)—should be kept just as he is, with his highest contribution to society [in] a vote for a section of the ruling class. But let the same vote go to the fascist faction of the ruling class like Hitler, Trump or Erdogan, it sends the antitotalitarians into crisis, so they put the blame on the masses for misusing their “right to vote.” 

    Paradoxically, according to some including Khalaji, what is key to combating totalitarianism and the “new-type man” is self-motivation and self-awareness! It is as if those who Arendt calls “self-contained and unique” are living in a vacuum, and can consciously choose their own social and production relations; as if they live in no particular political, ideological and economic-social system with no dominant class, no ruling ideology that influences society and gives direction to their spontaneity. According to this line of thought, all that is out there are isolated individuals. Whereas in their same ideal bourgeois-democratic countries, people from an early age are constantly and continually inundated with misinformation. Through their comprehensive educational system, the media, and by other means they lie to people about every important issue in current political events, world affairs, and world history. They systematically inculcate their own misleading and upside-down view of the world in the minds of the masses. And they accomplish this not through extreme and bizarre practices like those portrayed in 1984, George Orwell’s [fictional] totalitarian society, but through the “normal” and democratic functioning of the bourgeois-democratic society and state.

    At times, the concept of totalitarianism is used so randomly that it would astonish Arendt herself, should she hear them. Reza Kazemzadeh, for example, believes that totalitarian governments are created to combat individuality and a private life. “In the last century,” he writes, “all totalitarian regimes were collectivist and group-oriented systems... from fascism and Nazism in Europe, to ‘people’s democracies’ in the communist Soviet Union and China. All of them were based on the principle of prioritizing collective interests over individual rights. Apparently, there is an organic connection between being group-oriented and totalitarianism, such that in the official ideology of these systems, an individual finds meaning and receives official recognition only within the framework of the group and in their assigned role within the collective."23

    Elementary social history shows that the conflict between the individual and society is present in all types of society. But the problem is that this contradiction becomes antagonistic in class societies such as capitalism (no matter whether the capitalist class governs with fascism or with liberal democracy) because, in the existing social division of labor, the majority of society must serve the interests of the minority class that stands over and against them and their collective interests. And on the contrary, in socialist society, the individuality and individual talents of this majority flourish a million times more. But under capitalism, the majority of workers in society are treated like “nobodies” and often as merely “surplus [labor]”—not as full human beings with amazing talents, leaving us with only these “collective” and “individual” interests versus those “collective” and “individual” interests! 

    On the subject of the totalitarianism of the IRI, Kazemzadeh writes, “Home and family are the only places in our society that are significantly resistant to an assortment of direct and continuous interferences by the government.” Yes, the family (!) despite the fact that, even within the framework of this capitalist system, families are often feudal hierarchies. The family household is one of the main vehicles for inculcating ruling class ideology and for controlling and suppressing a large share of society—especially women and their “individuality.” This has nothing to do with the "eye of big brother" and the totalitarianism of the IRI. Rather, it is part of how all states function in the imperialist capitalist system, where male-supremacy/patriarchal relations are rooted in the family. 

    Extreme individualism of the Ayn Rand variety does not save a society from totalitarianism. Instead, it divides society into millions of hostile and competing cells, each of which sees the other as an obstacle to its own freedom and prosperity. Such an outlook is the basis for liberal democracy and for its justification of imperialist rivalries and wars. It is also the basis for fascist solutions of making war on the “other.”

    And, it can only exist if we close our eyes to the common interests of the whole of Humanity which, objectively, has the ability to advance beyond this system of oppression and exploitation.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. Bob Avakian. Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?, pgs. 170-171. [back]

    2. Iran and China, the Totalitarian Twins, U.S. Department of State, July 20, 2020. [back]

    3. Avakian. Democracy…., pg. 170.  [back]

    4. Hannah Arendt, Totalitarianism, cited on pg. 175 of Avakian, Democracy…. [back]

    5. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulP09gkCt7ghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6mlDBCTQ6ohttps://iranwire.com/fa/features/124516-Bahareh-Hedayt-Ma-Liberalha-kajai-Midan-Bartanzi-Stadhayim/. See also Lilly Babayi and Somayeh Kargar, “On Which Side Of History Do We Stand?” RadioZamineh.com [back]

    6. Arendt, Totalitarianism, p. 39.  [back]

    7. Arendt, Totalitarianism, p. 186. [back]

    8. Avakian, Democracy…, pgs. 186-187. [back]

    9. https://www.radiofarda.com/a/f3_privatelife_totalitarian_regime_Iran/2082829.html [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    From Atash/Fire #149, Journal of the Communist Party of Iran, Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

    The Reality of Communism

    Practicing Democracy, Practicing Compromise with the Status Quo

    Part 7

    Editors’ note: This article below is posted in Farsi in Atash/Fire journal #149, April 2024, at cpimlm.org. It was translated by revcom.us volunteers.  Bracketed words/phrases, and some of the footnotes were added by translators for clarification.  Part 1, Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 5 and Part 6 are also posted at revcom.us. 

    The main source of this series of articles is Bob Avakian's book Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? (1986) and his other works on democracy/dictatorship. 

    One regularly hears the slogans “transition to democracy” and “practice democracy” from a wide range of forces, both from those in opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and from those within the regime. We hear that “democracy is not an end point but a process,” or that “a democracy requires people who have practiced democracy.” [In February 2024] the BBC Persian podcast Pargar produced “Transition to Democracy,”13 a series of roundtables which focused on several countries, including Chile, Malaysia, Korea and Turkey. It seems that there is a widespread assumption that “our” problem in Iran is that we have not practiced democracy. So the question gets posed as: how can we transition to democracy or get to practice democracy?

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

     

    Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That?

    2014 edition
    (originally published 1986)
    by Bob Avakian
    Price: $10.95
    Format: Paperback
    Order from:   RCP Publications
    PO Box 804956, Chicago, IL 60680-4111
    rcppublications@gmail.com
     
    With an Introduction by Raymond Lotta:
    “A Landmark Work of Heightened Relevance”

    In this article, we will show that “transition to democracy” is a notion intended for countries like Iran, which are dominated by the imperialist bourgeoisie. Asserting that the countries of the Global South are still in a “transition” or “practice” stage of democracy is, on the one hand, an attempt to justify the lopsidedness in the world and the great gulf between imperialist countries of the Global North and countries of the Global South. On the other hand, it portrays imperialist interventions and their installation of authoritarian governments as a part of this transition. In this article, we examine the economics and politics of these “transitions,” and then return to the [scientific] understanding of the fundamental nature of “democracy”: democracy/bourgeois dictatorship or democracy/proletarian dictatorship.

    One of the emphasized features and factors of the transition to democracy is the reduction of state intervention in the economy or the development of a "free market" economy. For example, [professor] Mohsen Ranani says, “Turning control over to market forces is a democratic development. In most democratic countries we see that economic freedom was a necessary condition for political freedom, but the opposite is not true.”14  Similarly, [economist] Hassan Mansour says that in Chile, the neoliberal economic policies of Pinochet and his fascist military dictatorship paved the way for democracy! Even after Pinochet's departure [by means of] a referendum, the “Chicago Boys” (American-trained capitalist economists) continued the same economic program in Chile during three subsequent governments. On the one hand, this program brought significant economic growth to Chile for a while. On the other hand, the massive privatization produced an astonishing economic inequality, and had a long-term negative impact on health care, education and retirement, which ultimately produced economic crises. In South Korea, privatization [of public enterprises] and development of  the free market economy with American investment in the 1980s—after killing the communists and purging all dissidents under the guise of fighting communism—is said to have been the starting point for their transition to democracy! What is not said, though, is that South Korea was turned into a country of extreme class polarization.  The lives of a few affluent parasites are built upon the destruction of the lives of the many, as is portrayed so well in the film Parasite.15 

    The [BBC Pargar] program described Malaysia and Turkey as on the trajectory to democracy, despite the rise of Islamism there—because of the Islamists' adaptation to a market economy! This claim is made despite the brutal repression of the Gezi Park environmental movement [in Turkey], the arrest of journalists opposed to [Turkey’s president] Erdogan, the removal of opposition professors from universities, Erdogan's criminal military operations in Kurdistan and all of Erdogan’s Islamic and anti-women laws. These Islamist [regimes] are integrated within the [global] market economy.

    The same is true of the IRI and the Islamist capitalist strata that came to power in 1979. Specifically, they began the process of capitalist globalization when they implemented the IMF [International Monetary Fund] and World Bank mandates on “structural adjustments” to the letter. 

    So why do many people exclude Iran from their assessment of this democratization process?

    To answer this question, we need to look beyond differences in this or that detail of legal and parliamentary systems. What occurred in all the countries cited as successful examples of democratic transition was not the wished-for development of a [free] market, but intensifying integration into the world capitalist system, particularly following World War II with the U.S. victory over the loser-imperialist countries, and [later] when the imperialist world was in contention with the Soviet Socialist Bloc (before the restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s) and with China (from the mid-1950s until the restoration of capitalism in China in 1976).

    Turkey practiced democracy by joining the NATO military alliance and by cracking down on Kurds, Armenians and LGBT people! South Korea became an independent and "democratic" state while occupied by the U.S. military! (About 30,000 U.S. troops are still in South Korea). Malaysia, according to Azadeh Pourzand [February 24 segment of Pargar], practices democracy with the help of U.S. imperialist policy due to its legacy of colonialism! And Chile [practiced democracy] by staging a bloody U.S. coup against an Allende government that had demanded independence from U.S. imperialism. Iran isn’t part of this “democratic” grouping—not because of the depth and extent of its crimes against the Iranian people—but because Iran is not an ally of U.S. imperialism.

    Another reason the idea of a transition to democracy seems to have such wide appeal is the notion of “painless progress,” which is in sync with the ideological outlook of the petty bourgeoisie. [This class] likes to think it can progress toward the achievement of an “ideal” future without uprooting the ruling system, by making only gradual changes to the rules of the existing system which operates within the framework of capitalism. When reality proves otherwise, they become frustrated, [reject] the possibility of making change, and give up on revolution, because revolution requires sacrifice, including from them! Popular illusions about democracy are part of a phenomenon where people continually limit themselves to the narrow horizon of what is offered to them by the global ruling class. Because even though such solutions are obsolete and represent nothing positive in the final analysis, they are relatively politically safe, at least so far, because they rely on the world's “democratic” powers.

    Moreover, what is called practicing democracy is, in fact, practicing tolerance and compromise between oppressed people and the oppressive ruling class. That is why Mohsen Renani says, “In country A, when people riot and the police beat them with batons, they flee and disperse. In country B, when people riot and are beaten by police, they take out knives or guns and attack the police.” Clearly, Country A is a more democratic country than Country B, because its people have learned the skill of retreat, because “the skill of retreat is the skill of stopping violence.” This argument is made not only by intellectual posers, who use this sleight-of-hand to reverse the essence of organized violence against the people at the hands of the ruling class by their police and military forces. Many democratic intellectuals are so entrapped in the framework of ideas produced by the capitalist system that compromising with the status quo seems acceptable to them and they reject the revolt of the people against their conditions of oppression and exploitation, and label it as undemocratic.  

    Interestingly, a predecessor for this upside-down view of things exists in an important founding document of bourgeois democracy—the U.S. Declaration of Independence. There, too, [there is a reversal of] truth and lies, right and wrong, victim and criminal, the just and unjust war in the relations between indigenous people [in North America] and the Europeans who established the United States on a foundation of massacres, plunder and the theft of indigenous lands. It is in this sense that the strategy of “transitional justice” plays an important role in the transition to democracy, by facilitating a compromise between the survivors and the criminals. In Chile after Pinochet, despite instituting some fact-finding commissions, even Pinochet himself was not punished for his crimes, and so far neither the survivors nor historical memory has been studied to assess the scale of those crimes. 

    This is the same “forgive and forget” of [crown prince] Reza Pahlavi,16  who constantly busies himself with giving the green light to the criminals of the IRI. This is a process that is integral to the project of “Transition to Democracy” that is being promoted—instead of a real revolution—by even people like Narges Mohammadi. Although revolution does not mean revenge, it [also] does not mean leaving the security-military structure of the state intact and integrating it into the new government. This is how the bourgeois form of democracy is practiced. Do we want such a democracy? Do we want to practice democracy by welcoming the criminals of previous regimes?

    The creation of a strong and independent “civil society” that includes the media, social activists and intellectuals, and is separate from the state, is another feature of practicing democracy that generally originates in the  middle class. This is why it is argued that, in order to have a civil society, one must build up the middle class, and to build up the middle class one must develop capitalism. By this reasoning then, it is the growth of capitalism that will guarantee democracy, and the reason that Iran lacks a strong civil society is the underdevelopment of capitalism and its small middle class!  To the contrary, in the dominated countries of the Global South it is not separation from the world capitalist system and its structures—but the functioning and dynamics of capitalist growth that leads to the shrinking of the middle classes, which leads to restricting  political and civil liberties, and even leads to violating fundamental human rights. According to [Pargar series participants] however, calling any of these countries a “democracy” is not a mistake because, despite the violation of many fundamental human rights—from the repression of women and LGBTQ, to arrests, to the widespread purges of political opponents—this is the essence of bourgeois democracy/dictatorship. In other words, [democracy] is based on inequality and the oppression of a broad section of the people, on exploitative relations based in capitalism. What is wrong is to not speak about the nature of this democracy: for whom does it exist? What class system does it serve? Another error, when the ugliness of bourgeois democracy is revealed, is to resort to the futile argument that “this is not yet pure democracy,” and the “pure” is “yet to come.”

    Bob Avakian writes that democracy

    … is in itself a recurrent—and seemingly “infinite”—source of illusions about the “perfectibility” of the democratic system, or the "actual realization" of democratic ideals—in short, for democratic prejudice and delusion…. 

    There is, of course, a powerful material basis for this in the objective world conditions in this era, particularly the basic division between a handful of imperialist states and the vast number of oppressed nations dominated by imperialism.17 

    For this exact reason, the bourgeoisie [of oppressed nations] beats the drum of “transition to democracy,” which implies that one cannot have a democracy in these colonies all at once, and therefore must have military dictatorships or autocratic governments for a while, with the illusion that they will one day achieve a real democracy like the imperialist countries. But that day will never come unless those countries themselves become imperialist states, as a result of wars and massive dislocations in global political, economic, and security structures. 

    This kind of theorizing, like the concept of "developing countries," is based on the belief that there is a process of development or democratization in the world where some of the countries are merely ahead of others who are still behind! It does not recognize that the gap between imperialist countries and dominated countries is a necessary and logical consequence of the functioning of globalized capitalism, where a handful of countries with democracy and prosperity could only exist on the basis of the extreme oppression and exploitation of many [people] in other countries. Historically speaking, it is a fact that whenever the position of the ruling classes in Iran and the imperialists were weakened, democracy became semi-dominant and people's freedom increased, for example between the 1920s and the 1950s (before the U.S. 1953 coup)! The unfinished book Imperfect Democracy, written by the Organization of Communist Revolutionaries (later "Union of Communists of Iran"), deals with the main role of the imperialists in this backwardness and repression.

    But if we look at Iran in terms of the characteristics of the bourgeois democracy we have addressed here, a certain basic democracy has been practiced in Iran. The formation of a modern nation-state in Iran created a bourgeois democracy/dictatorship that has a hundred years of history, with a constitution, a military and security institutions. Elections existed under the [Shah Mohammad] Pahlavi regime, and have become even more widespread in the Islamic Republic. Over this period, various “wings of the ruling class" have ruled with peaceful transitions [of power following elections], and at the same time the voice of workers and peasants, the masses in general, and particularly women and national minorities have been suppressed, humiliated and subjugated.

    Indeed, what has not existed has been a real solution to break the cycle of these comings and goings of the governments of the exploiting classes in the various forms of the monarchy and the IRI, i.e., the New Socialist Republic and the establishment of the democracy/dictatorship of the proletariat, when the state itself will [exist only during] the process of transition to a communist world. But that transition can never be achieved under this system or by replicating the relations of production, the political superstructure, the social relations and values of this system. 

    Does this mean that the communist view of democracy is an entirely negative one? Bob Avakian replies:

    No, it is a dialectical materialist one. Concretely, this means that the communists recognize that democracy is not an end in itself but a means to an end; that it is part of the superstructure, and conforms to and serves a particular economic base; that it arises in certain historical conditions and is generally associated with the bourgeois epoch; that it never exists in abstract or “pure” form but always has a definite class character and is conditioned by the fundamental relation between classes; and that it has a distinctive character and role in the transition from capitalist society and the bourgeois epoch to the epoch of world communism, and will wither away with the achievement of communism.18 [italics added in Farsi original]  

    Practicing for this socialist democracy, beginning today, means transforming the thinking of the people in the service of the revolution to overthrow the existing state and establishing a socialist democracy—not by practicing compromise with the exploiting class. 

    The fundamental rights of the people in the New Socialist Republic will be discussed in future issues [of Atash/Fire Journal].

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. BBC Persian podcast, “Pargar” held a series on the "Transition to Democracy: Chile, South Korea, Turkey and Malaysia.” Guests: journalist Habib Hosseinifard, and economist Hassan Mansour. 

    February 3, 2024, “Chile in the Transition to Democracy”   

    February 10, 2024, “South Korea: Labyrinthine Transition to Democracy” 

    February 24, 2024, “Malaysia, the Reasons for the Stability of its Democracy”  [back]

    2. Transition to Democracy in Iran Today,” Mohsen Renani's Interview with Iran Farda Monthly. [back]

    3. Parasite, Bong Joon-ho, 2019. [back]

    4. Prince Reza Pahlavi in a meeting with a number of Republicans: “The end of the line will be whether the armed forces stand with the people or the regime; my red line is revenge!” [back]

    5. Bob Avakian, Democracy, Can’t We Do Better Than That? Chapter 3, “Illusions of Democracy,” pg. 86. 1986, Banner Press. [back]

    6. Ibid, Chapter 7 “Democracy and the Communist Revolution,” pg. 215. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show Podcast!!

    A PODCAST for a time when revolution has become more possible...

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show podcast begins on Monday, September 11, 2023. Look for it wherever you stream your podcasts. Listen, and spread the word.

    The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show podcast

     

    A podcast for a time when revolution has become more possible...   

    Every week The RNL Show exposes and digs deep into the roots of the problems that the people here and around the world face and it brings to life the solution through a real revolution to emancipate humanity.

    The RNL Show brings people the revolutionary leadership of Bob Avakian and the understanding of why revolution is necessary, possible and what the goals of the revolution are.

    The RNL Show is a show to rear a new generation and a movement for revolution at a moment when the future of humanity is at stake.

  • ARTICLE:

    ALLEGIANCE

    NO, to this Republic of the so-called “United States” of America, with its blood soaked red, white, and blue rag, and the system for which it stands—the economic and political system of capitalism-imperialism.

    A Republic whose “National Anthem” was written by a slave owner (Oh, oh say can you see... all the sla-a-ver-y...)!

    A Republic deeply divided, under the rule of oppressors, with liberty and justice denied.

    A Republic founded on slavery and genocidal robbery: keeping millions of Black people in chains for generations... killing off huge numbers of Native Americans and stealing their land... waging a war that ripped off half of Mexico, greatly expanding slavery.

    A system that, from the start and down to today, has been grounded in heartless exploitation, using and abusing masses of people to create wealth for the few, with violent white supremacy, male supremacy, and gender oppression built into and enforced by this system... plundering people in all parts of the world... destroying the environment, and waging unjust war after war, even to the point of threatening the very existence of humanity... killing off hope for a decent future, or any future at all.

    YES, TO A RADICALLY DIFFERENT REPUBLIC AND MUCH BETTER SYSTEMa new socialist republic, a system which will move to abolish and uproot all this madness and give the highest expression to people’s humanity, and a future corresponding to people’s highest aspirations.

    To PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, IN EVERY PART OF SOCIETY: The cause we should be dedicated to, and the allegiance we should hold, is represented NOT by the U.S. CONSTITUTION—a document written by and serving the interests of slave-owning and capitalist exploiters, from the founding of this country down to today... a document that elevates “property” and the “right” to enslave and exploit above and against the life and liberty of billions of people, here and throughout the world... a document that for nearly 100 years institutionalized owning Black people as property... a document that has been repeatedly used, and is used today, to “legalize” inequality, injustice, and oppression, with whole groups of people treated as “second class” and less than fully human. WE CAN DO MUCH BETTER THAN THIS!

    THE CAUSE WE NEED TO BE DEDICATED TO IS REVOLUTION: To abolish and uproot this system we are now forced to live under and bring into being a new system based on the CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW SOCIALIST REPUBLIC IN NORTH AMERICA—which provides a sweeping vision, a firm foundation, and concrete blueprint for a radically different and emancipating society and world, with the abolition of all inequality, oppression, and exploitation.

    WE ARE THE REVCOMS (REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNISTS): working every day for the revolution that is urgently needed to bring down this system of capitalism-imperialism and bring into being a fundamentally different and far better systemworking to spread this revolution everywhere, organizing thousands and then millions into the ranks of this revolution, so that there is a real chance to win.

    TO PEOPLE EVERYWHERE, IN EVERY PART OF SOCIETY: JOIN US—as revolutionary emancipators of humanity, NOT murderous enforcers, or mindless accomplices, of the injustice, degradation, and devastation of this system of capitalism-imperialism and its terrible consequences for humanity.

    A CHALLENGE: If anyone wants to claim that what we have said here is not right, then let them have the courage to put that on the line, directly up against us and the knowledge we are bringing... and it will become even more clear that what we say is the truth—a powerful truth that people need to know about and take up.

     

  • ARTICLE:

    ALLEGIANCE: A Special RNL Show Dispatch

    Read and share the pledge; get posters
  • ARTICLE:

    BOB AVAKIAN FOR THE LIBERATION OF BLACK PEOPLE
    AND THE EMANCIPATION OF ALL HUMANITY

    Bob Avakian for the liberation of Black people

     

    WATCH THIS VIDEO   

    One of the things that comes through most powerfully in Bob Avakian’s memoir1 is that a profound hatred for the oppression of Black people has been a defining part of Bob Avakian’s life from the time, as a teenager, he learned about the lives of the Black people with whom he developed deep ties of friendship. Never feeling that, because he is white, “it is not his place” to be involved in the struggle against this oppression—but, on the contrary, determined to contribute whatever he could to this struggle—Bob Avakian (BA), from the time he worked closely with the Black Panther Party in its revolutionary days in the 1960s, has made the liberation of Black people a defining part of his life’s commitment and work. As he developed as a revolutionary communist, and emerged as the foremost revolutionary leader and thinker in the world, this commitment has become even deeper and has been strongly interwoven with a dedication to the emancipation of all humanity from every form of oppression and exploitation.

    As BA has written about his life’s work:

    Why was I doing the work I was doing? Once again, we’re back to for whom and for what. I wasn’t doing this work for myself. When I was young, in middle school and then even more so in high school, my life got changed in a very major way by coming into contact with people that I hadn’t really known that much before, in particular Black people. I started learning about their situation and how that relates to what goes on in this society as a whole. I was drawn to the culture—not just the music and the art overall, but the whole way of going through the world—of the Black people who became my friends, and the world they introduced me to. And I came to the point of recognizing: these are my people. Now, I knew they had a different life experience than I did. But these are my people—I don’t see a separation—it’s not like there are some other people “over there” who are going through all this and somehow that’s removed from me. These are my people. And then I began to recognize more deeply what people were being put through, the oppression they were constantly subjected to, the horrors of daily life as well as the bigger ways in which the system came down on them. And as I went further through life and began to approach the question of what needs to be done about this, and was introduced to taking up a scientific approach to this, I realized that my people were more than this. I realized that my people were Chicanos and other Latinos and other oppressed people in the U.S.; they were people in Vietnam and China; they were women...they were the oppressed and exploited of the world...and through some struggle, and having to cast off some wrong thinking, I have learned that they are LGBT people as well.

    These are my people, the oppressed and exploited people of the world. They are suffering terribly, and something has to be done about this. So it is necessary to dig in and systematically take up the science that can show the way to put an end to all this, and bring something much better into being. You have to persevere and keep struggling to go forward in this way. And when you run into new problems or setbacks, you have to go more deeply into this, rather than putting it aside and giving up.

    So this is why I’ve been doing the work that I’ve been doing.2

    memoir-front.jpg

     

    Bob Avakian grew up in Berkeley, California. Unable, because of a life-threatening illness, to be directly involved in struggles taking place against racial oppression for several years after graduating from high school in 1961, BA nevertheless closely followed and strongly supported the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, and at the same time was influenced by and supportive of the militant stand and role of Malcolm X. This was reflected in an article that BA wrote at the age of 19 in 1962 supporting the struggle of Black people. (This article was submitted to the liberal magazine Saturday Review. Although the article was not published, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Norman Cousins, personally replied—indicating that, although the magazine had chosen not to publish this article, he recognized that the article spoke, in a strikingly compelling way, to very important questions.)

    Having recovered from his illness, in 1964, BA became actively involved in the Free Speech Movement at the University of California in Berkeley, where he was a student. The central issue of this movement was the right of students to carry out activity on the campus in support of the civil rights movement. BA was among the 800 who were arrested during the occupation of the university administration building, which was the high point of the movement and led to winning its demands.

    As the civil rights movement increasingly gave way to a more militant Black liberation movement in the second half of the 1960s, BA was strongly influenced by this. He left the university and dedicated his life to working for radical change. As a result of direct contact and discussions with Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the founders of the Black Panther Party, and getting to know Eldridge Cleaver (who also became a leader of the BPP), BA worked closely with the Black Panther Party from its earliest days and at the height of its revolutionary role and influence.

    In 1967, BA attended rallies, and spoke at one of the rallies, held by the BPP in North Richmond to protest the killing there of Denzil Dowell, part of the long and continuing chain of murders of Black people by police.

    In 1968, when Huey Newton was facing murder charges as a result of a shoot-out with Oakland cops, BA spoke—along with a number of key figures in the Black liberation movement, including Stokely Carmichael, Rap Brown, James Forman, and leaders of the Black Panther Party— at a Free Huey rally held in the Oakland auditorium on the occasion of Huey Newton’s birthday.

    BA worked tirelessly to build support, including among white people, for the demand to “Free Huey!” At a “Free Huey” rally at the courthouse in Oakland where Huey Newton’s trial was being held, BA was arrested for “desecrating” (burning) the American flag.

    During this time, at the invitation of BPP leaders, BA wrote a number of articles for the Black Panther newspaper.

    At a rally of thousands, led by the Black Panther Party, on May First, 1969, BA spoke of the need for revolution and called on white people in particular to more actively take part in movements for revolutionary change in the U.S., and to support such movements throughout the world.

    By the beginning of the 1970s, millions of people in this country were in favor of some kind of revolutionary change, but they faced profound challenges. How could this revolution be made—or was it even possible to make a revolution here, up against such powerful forces of oppression and repression? Which were the key forces that had to be mobilized to have a real chance to carry out such a revolution? What kind of leadership was needed, and what methods and approaches should that leadership be based on? The difficulties in confronting and seeking the answers to these hard questions, combined with brutal and often murderous repression by the powers-that-be, led many revolutionary organizations, including the Black Panther Party, to split and end up departing from the road that could lead to real revolution.

    By this time, partly because of the influence of the Black Panther Party, which had popularized the “Red Book” of quotations from the Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, BA had become convinced not only that revolution was necessary, and was possible, but that it had to be led by a vanguard force that based itself on the scientific method and approach of communism, as it had been developed initially by Karl Marx, then further developed by V.I. Lenin, the leader of the Russian Revolution in the early part of the 20th century, and then in turn further developed by Mao, who led the Chinese revolution and the new, socialist society in China, until his death in 1976. BA led in the formation of the Revolutionary Union at the end of the 1960s, with the aim of working toward the establishment of the vanguard party of revolution, based on the science of communism. During the first part of the 1970s, BA was both the practical leader and the leading theoretician of the Revolutionary Union, writing much of the essays and polemics for its theoretical journal Red Papers. This included major articles, particularly in Red Papers 5 and 6, that involved groundbreaking scientific materialist analysis of the situation of Black people, historically and down to the present—how and why their particular conditions of oppression had changed, from the time of slavery to the present era, and how this objectively put Black people in a potentially powerful position to be a driving force not only for their own liberation but for the communist revolution whose fundamental aim is the abolition of all oppression and exploitation. These articles included powerful polemics, arguing against positions and programs that would not lead to, but would actually work against, this liberation and the revolutionary transformation of the world as a whole.

    In 1975, with BA’s leadership, the Revolutionary Communist Party was founded, with the aim of being the vanguard force for the revolution that was, and continues to be, profoundly necessary. Over the decades since then, BA has fought to keep that Party on the revolutionary road and to bring forward new revolutionary forces to revitalize and strengthen the vanguard forces for the revolution that is now, all the more urgently, required. While continuing to provide practical guidance to the revolutionary forces, BA, through summing up the experience (positive and negative) of the communist movement, and drawing from a broad range of human experience, has brought forward a new synthesis of communism (also referred to as the new communism) which, most decisively, has established communism on an even more consistently scientific basis. As BA’s Official Biography explains, the new communism “is a continuation of, but also represents a qualitative leap beyond, and in some important ways a break with, communist theory as it had been previously developed. It provides the basis—the science, the strategy, and the leadership—for an actual revolution and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation.”3

    A defining part of this new communism is the emphasis it gives to the struggle for the liberation of Black people, and the relation of this to the ending of all oppression. And this has continued to stand out in BA’s leadership role and work over the decades, up to the present.  At revcom.us there is a special section, Bob Avakian on The Oppression of Black People & the Revolutionary Struggle to End All Oppressionwhich contains clips from films and selections from the writings of BA on this question. The following are just a few examples of important works and leadership by Bob Avakian, over the past few decades, that speak to this decisive question.

    The book Reflections, Sketches & Provocations, written by Bob Avakian during the 1980s, contains a number of commentaries, speaking in a number of dimensions to the oppression of Black people and the struggle against this oppression, including support for rebellions following the murder of Black people by police. This book begins with the essay “Hill Street Bullshit, Richard Pryor Routines, and the Real Deal,” which powerfully exposes how terror against Black people, and other oppressed people, is “part of the job” of the police—and is “a reward” for carrying out the role of maintaining the “law and order” that keeps the oppressed in their desperate and miserable conditions. Going deeper, it speaks to how this is rooted in this system of capitalism-imperialism, which has had this oppression built into it from the very beginning.

    In the 1990s, BA raised the idea that there should be a day, every year, when people mobilized to protest police brutality, mass incarceration and repression by the government. This proposal was taken up and a broad coalition, including family members of people killed by police, was formed to initiate, in 1996, the National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. At its height, over the next decade, this National Day of Protest, held every October 22nd, rallied thousands of people in dozens of cities across the country. And activities by people who have been part of this coalition have continued since then.

    During the past two decades, BA has given a number of filmed speeches, and written articles, essays and books, in which the liberation of Black people and its crucial relation to the communist revolution, aiming for the emancipation of all humanity, has been a major question.

    BA’s 2003 speech Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About, begins with a searing exposure and condemnation of lynching, and speaks to the horrific reality of slavery and the oppression of Black people down to today, including the continual murder of Black people by police.3

    In 2006, BA gave a series of 7 Talks, in which once again the oppression of Black people, and the struggle for their liberation, is a major theme. One of these 7 Talks, Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy, begins by speaking to the experience of Black people in this country; and the question of slavery and the overall oppression of Black people is, of course, a major part of this talk. It is in Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy that the following is clearly stated:

    There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth.

    (This is also the very first statement in BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, the handbook for revolution.)3

    At the beginning of BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less!, in 2012, this point is stated emphatically:

    Let’s start with just one great crime of this system: police murder—after murder—after murder—of Black people and Latinos, especially youth.3

    This is part of the powerful exposure in this speech of the role that continuing murders by police play in enforcing this monstrous system of exploitation and oppression, the system of capitalism-imperialism.

    At the beginning of his October 2017 speech The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go! In the Name of Humanity, We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America, A Better World IS Possible,  BA speaks powerfully to the horrors of slavery in this country—including the rape by slavemasters of huge numbers of enslaved women. This speech shows how the murderous oppression of Black people, continuing down to today, is one of the main roots of the fascism that has come to power in this country with the Trump/Pence regime; and, in this speech, BA repeatedly returns to the critical importance of the fight against this oppression.3

    BA’s 2018 speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution begins this way:

    In 2012 in Revolution—Nothing Less! I talked about the outrageous murder of Ramarley Graham earlier that same year—shot down in his own house in the Bronx by the New York City police. He was only 18 years old. Do I have to tell you what “race” he was?! His mother kept saying: “This has to STOP!” And his father repeated over and over: "WHY did they kill my son?! WHY did they kill my son?!" New York cops then loudly rallied around their fellow pig who murdered Ramarley in cold blood, viciously taunting Ramarley's family and loved ones, demonstrating yet one more time the ugly truth that, in the way this country has been built, and for the powers-that-be in this country, the humanity of Black people has never counted for anything—they have never been valued as human beings, but only as things to be exploited, oppressed, and repressed. Six years later, and with cold-blooded murders by police continuing in an unbroken chain, I will say again what I said then: How many more times does this have to happen? How many more times do the tears and the cries of anguish and anger have to pour forth from the wounded hearts of people?! How many more times, when another of these outrageous murders is perpetrated by the police, do we have to hear those words that pour gasoline on the already burning wounds: “justifiable homicide, justified use of force” by police?! How many more?!3

    In that 2018 speech, BA not only powerfully exposes once again the horrific oppression that this system of capitalism-imperialism inflicts on Black people, and on other oppressed people in this country and throughout the world, and the grave danger this system poses to the very future of humanity; he also lays out in this speech (and in a more recent article A Real Revolution—A Real Chance To Win, Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution3) the strategic approach that could make it possible for this system to be finally overthrown through a revolution in which millions and millions of people are led to fight to put an end to this system and bring a radically different and much better system into being.

    In the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by BA, a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for that radically different and much better system is set forth. And the principles and means for finally putting an end, at long last, to the oppression of Black people is a major part of that Constitution.3

    This year (2020), BA has written as many as 30 articles in which this decisive question—the oppression, and the struggle for the liberation, of Black people—is a recurring subject.3

    In the speeches and writings of BA overall, there is not only powerful, penetrating exposure and uncompromising condemnation of brutal and murderous oppression but, even more importantly, there is scientific analysis of how all this is rooted in this system of capitalism-imperialism and of the need, the possibility, and the means for making revolution to overthrow this system and finally put an end to all the outrageous and unnecessary suffering that the masses of humanity are continually subjected to under this system.

    ***

    It is a very precious thing for the oppressed of the earth when they have a leader whose life is dedicated to their emancipation, and who has the determination, and the scientific method, developed over decades, to point the way, and continue to carve out the path, to achieving that emancipation. BA is such a leader. As emphasized in the article Bob Avakian: A Radically Different Leader—A Whole New Framework For Human Emancipation:

    As a revolutionary leader, BA also embodies this rare combination: someone who has been able to develop scientific theory on a world-class level, while at the same time having a deep understanding of and visceral connection with the most oppressed, and a highly developed ability to “break down” complex theory and make it broadly accessible.3

    One of the things that most distinguishes BA’s role as a revolutionary leader is his willingness—indeed, his insistence—on telling people the truth, even when they may not want to hear it. This comes through in the way BA exposes and refutes unscientific ways of thinking—all kinds of “conspiracy” theories and superstitious ideas—that lead people, including the most bitterly oppressed people, away from understanding the world as it actually is, and keep them from seeing not just the need, but the possibility, of radically changing the world, in a way that will lead to ending oppression. A big problem that BA has taken on, straight-up, is the role of religion as a mental chain on the masses of Black people, and other oppressed people, and the need to break this chain in order to most powerfully wage the struggle to finally be free of all oppression. BA has repeatedly emphasized that, in order to end oppression, “you have to want revolution badly enough to be scientific about it.”

    Science means judging whether something is true, or not, by whether there is evidence that it actually corresponds to reality—and not believing something because it makes you feel good to believe it, or not refusing to believe something because it makes you uncomfortable. In the article Conspiracy Theories, Fascist “Certitude,” Liberal Paralysis, Or A Scientific Approach To Changing The World, BA has spoken directly to this problem:

    many of the basic masses, who are bitterly oppressed under this system, also are suspicious of and even are inclined to reject science and scientifically-grounded analysis. But this also leaves you vulnerable to all kinds of unfounded “conspiracy theories” and other wrong and harmful ideas, including the notion that nothing people do will make a difference because “it’s all in god’s hands.”3

    In the 2014 Dialogue with Cornel West (REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion), which took place during the upsurge of protest and rebellion in response to the murder of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, while speaking to the importance of uniting people broadly in the struggle against oppression, including people who hold religious views, BA also emphasized that the revolution that is needed to finally put an end to oppression must be led with a scientific, not a religious, outlook and method.3

    From the start of the article Bob Avakian On Emancipation From Mental Slavery And All Oppression, written this year (2020), BA does not hold back in speaking to these critical questions:

    In 1863, mid-way in the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln finally issued the Emancipation Proclamation and, as a result of the Civil War, Black people were formally freed from literal, physical slavery. But today the question is: When, and how, will Black people finally be free from all forms of slavery and oppression? And this poses straight-up this big question:

    When will Black people finally emancipate themselves from the mental slavery of religion?!....

    Once more, the question is sharply posed: How can Black people be finally and fully emancipated from centuries of oppression, and how does this relate to ending all oppression, of all people, everywhere?

    The answer is that the possibility of this is real, but it can happen only on the basis of a scientific approach to changing the world and the scientifically-grounded understanding that this oppression is rooted in and caused by the system of capitalism-imperialism—the same system that is viciously exploiting and murderously oppressing people not just in this country but all over the world and is plundering the natural environmentand that this system must and can be overthrown through an actual revolution and replaced by a radically different and far better system: socialism, whose final goal is a communist world, without any oppression or exploitation of anyone, anywhere.3

    ***

    From his early years, forging close personal ties with Black people and increasingly learning about their lived experience, to his development as this rare leader who has brought forth the most advanced scientific revolutionary theory with the new communism—a defining part of the life and work of Bob Avakian has been the liberation of Black people from centuries of oppression, and the understanding of how this relates to, and is a crucial driving force in, the communist revolution to finally abolish every form of oppression and exploitation, everywhere.

    BA himself has expressed this in the following poetically powerful statement:

    There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

     

    Bob Avakian (BA) is the most important political thinker and leader in the world today.

    Get Into BA »


    1. From Ike to Mao and Beyond, My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary CommunistA Memoir by Bob AvakianInsight Press, 2005. [back]

    2. Bob Avakian, THE NEW COMMUNISM: The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation, Insight Press, first printing, 2016, pp. 321-22. In addition to THE NEW COMMUNISM, in other recent works by BA—in particular Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summaryand Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis, Breaking with Individualism, Parasitism and American Chauvinism—the oppression and the struggle for the liberation of Black people, and its relation to the emancipation of humanity as a whole, is a prominent subject. These works are available at revcom.us.  [back]

    3. All of these works are available at revcom.us. (Information about how to acquire the print and e-book editions of BAsics can be found at revcom.us. Audio of the 7 Talks is available in BA’s Collected Works at revcom.us; and Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy has been published in a print edition, the text of which can also be found in BA’s Collected Works at revcom.us.)

    The film of the Dialogue between Cornel West and Bob Avakian, REVOLUTION AND RELIGION: The Fight for Emancipation and the Role of Religion, is also available in BA’s Collected Works at revcom.us.

    The article Conspiracy Theories, Fascist “Certitude,” Liberal Paralysis, Or A Scientific Approach To Changing The World (longer and shorter versions) is available at revcom.us as well.

    The importance of Bob Avakian as a revolutionary leader, who has further developed communism as a consistently scientific method and approach, is a central theme in 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, An Interview with Ardea Skybreak. Ardea Skybreak is a scientist with professional training in ecology and evolutionary biology, who is also the author of the important book THE SCIENCE OF EVOLUTION AND THE MYTH OF CREATIONISM, Knowing What’s Real And Why It Matters. Each of these books by Ardea Skybreak is published by Insight Press, and the Interview with Ardea Skybreak (SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION) is also available at revcom.us

    The following articles, written by Bob Avakian this year (2020), which speak to the oppression of Black people and the struggle to end this oppression, are available as well at revcom.us:

    Donald Trump—Genocidal Racist (Parts 1-10) 

    Racial Oppression Can Be Ended—But Not Under This System

    Police And Prisons: Reformist Illusions And The Revolutionary Solution

    Anything But The Truth—Bob Avakian Exposes Lies, Distortions, Distractions and Evasions About the Murderous Oppression of Black People

    Lynching, Murder By Police—Damn This Whole System! We Don’t Have To Live This Way!

    Bob Avakian On Emancipation From Mental Slavery And All Oppression

    Colin Kaepernick, LeBron James And The Whole Truth

    Donald Trump Isn’t “Tough,” He’s A Bloated Bag Of Fascist Feces

    Bloated Bag Of Fascist Feces Trump Isn’t “Tough”—Part 2: Who Really Has Heart?

    Trump And Pigs: A Racist Love Affair

    Fucker Carlson, Fascist “Fox News” And The Broadcast Of White Supremacy

    Bob Avakian on Black Trump Supporters: What If Jews Had Supported Hitler?!

    Bob Avakian On: A Beautiful Uprising: Right And Wrong, Methods And Principles

    On Statues, Monuments, And Celebrating—Or Ending—Oppression

    Fascists Today And The Confederacy: A Direct Line, A Direct Connection Between All The Oppression

    Patriarchy And Male Supremacy, Or Revolution And Ending All Oppression

    Sounding Like Southern Segregationists: It’s Not Just Trump—It’s Democrats Too

    Bob Avakian Brings Out the Truth: Barack Obama Says Police Murdering Black People Should Not Be Normal—Unless He’s President

    Bob Avakian On Ugly Words & Phrases

    Bob Avakian On Tulsa Racist Mobs

    A Real Revolution--A Real Chance To Win: Further Developing the Strategy for Revolution

    [back]

     

  • ARTICLE:

    American Crime Case #12: The 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the Destruction of Black Wall Street

    Bob Avakian has written that one of three things that has “to happen in order for there to be real and lasting change for the better: People have to fully confront the actual history of this country and its role in the world up to today, and the terrible consequences of this.” (See “3 Things that have to happen in order for there to be real and lasting change for the better.”)

    In that light, and in that spirit, “American Crime” is a regular feature of revcom.us. Each installment focuses on one of the 100 worst crimes committed by the U.S. rulers—out of countless bloody crimes they have carried out against people around the world, from the founding of the U.S. to the present day.

    See all the articles in this series.

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    Systematic killing, looting, and burning of the entire district of Greenwood during Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921.

    Oklahoma’s statehood in 1907 coincided with the discovery of oil, and the boom years that followed saw its population grow from 10,000 in 1910 to 100,000 a decade later. This included a significant number of Black people, looking for a better life, and hoping to escape the worst of Jim Crow Mississippi, Georgia, and other states of the Old South. In 1921, Tulsa was strictly segregated; Black people could work in town, but all Black residents were required to live and shop in the Greenwood District of Northern Tulsa. In time, Greenwood’s segregated economy, self-contained and self-sufficient, was so successful that it became known nationally as the “Black Wall Street.” About 11,000 Black residents lived in the Greenwood neighborhood. Black-owned grocery stores, banks, libraries, hotels, restaurants, movie theaters, and more lined Greenwood Avenue.

    THE CRIME

    On May 30, 1921, Dick Rowland, a 19-year-old Black shoe shiner working downtown, entered the elevator of the only building with a restroom Blacks could use in the area. Sarah Page, a white 17-year-old, was the elevator operator. When the door closed, Page cried out, and Rowland ran off. The most common explanation is that Rowland just stepped on Page’s foot. But Rowland was alleged—without evidence—to have assaulted Page. He was arrested the next morning and held in a jail cell above City Hall.

    That afternoon, the Tulsa Tribune ran the headline “Nab Negro for Attacking Girl in Elevator,” suggesting that Page had been raped, and editorialized: “To Lynch Negro Tonight.” Within an hour of the paper hitting the streets a lynch mob in the hundreds descended on the courthouse.

    Word spread throughout Greenwood that whites were storming the courthouse and Rowland was in danger. After debating how to respond, at 9 pm a group of 25 armed Black men, some veterans of World War 1, drove to the courthouse determined to stop the lynching. They got out with their rifles and shotguns, and offered their support to the local authorities. Their offer was refused, and they left.

    But the white mob was incensed, and grew into the thousands in no time as word spread, more and more coming with weapons. At 10 pm a group of 75 Black men returned to the courthouse after new rumors that a lynching was imminent. They marched single file to the courthouse steps. Again, their offer of help to protect Rowland was refused. A white man approached an armed Black army veteran and demanded he turn over his gun. A fight broke out, and a gun went off.

    Historian and author Scott Ellsworth wrote: “While the first shot fired at the court house may have been unintentional, those that followed were not. Almost immediately, members of the white mob—and possibly some law enforcement officers—opened fire on the African American men, who returned volleys of their own. The initial gunplay lasted only a few seconds, but when it was over, as many as a dozen men, both black and white, lay dead or wounded. Out numbered more than twenty-to-one, the black men began a retreating fight toward the African American district, with armed whites in close pursuit.”1

    “They tried to kill all the black folks they could see,” a survivor, George Monroe, recalled in the 1999 documentary The Night Tulsa Burned.

    Shortly after the fighting broke out at the courthouse, a large number of whites—many who’d been part of the lynch mob—gathered outside police headquarters nearby. There, as many as 500 white men and boys were sworn in as “Special Deputies” and told to “Get a gun and get a nigger.” Weapons were passed out by other deputies from a sporting goods store across the street. White rioters began firing on Blacks and setting fire to Black-owned homes and businesses late into the night.

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    A black man being burned on a bed of lumber during the Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921. Photo: Unsourced Archive

    “Tuesday night, May 31, was the riot, and Wednesday morning, by day break, was the invasion.” (Unidentified observer to a reporter)

    As dawn approached, thousands of armed whites—some estimated as many as 10,000—gathered in three locations on the edges of Greenwood. A siren sounded at daybreak, and the mobs of white terrorists launched their invasion.

    These armed white mobs included over 150 Tulsa police. They set about systematically killing, looting, and burning the entire district of Greenwood, block by block. Armed whites broke into Black homes and businesses and forced the people outside, where they were led away at gunpoint to internment centers set up by the authorities. Anyone who resisted was shot. If guns were found inside, the occupant was shot. The homes and businesses were looted, then set on fire with torches and oil-soaked rags. House by house, block by block, Greenwood was demolished. Airplanes were used to shoot Black people from the air and drop kerosene bombs on buildings, setting them ablaze.

    Tulsa-1921-600px.jpg

     

    House by house, block by block, Greenwood, Tulsa was demolished.

    Throughout this assault, Black Tulsans, while tremendously outnumbered, fought back. Riflemen took positions atop the belfry of a newly built church to temporarily halt the advance of the white invasion. But the church was burned to the ground. These attempts at resistance could not be maintained because the deputized police and the National Guard units arrested 6,000 Greenwood residents. Black Tulsans did not go down without a fight, but they were out-gunned and out-numbered. “Survivors recounted black bodies loaded on trains and dumped off bridges into the Arkansas River and, most frequently, tossed into mass graves.”2

    By noon on June 1, these white mobs had murdered more than 300 Black Tulsa residents. They had turned 40 square blocks of Greenwood into a scorched wasteland. This included 1,256 homes destroyed, along with virtually every other structure—including churches, schools, businesses, even a hospital and library. “Not one of these criminal acts was then or ever has been prosecuted or punished by government at any level, municipal, county, state, or federal.” (Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921)

    Mt.-Zion-Baptist-Church-Tulsa-Historical-Society-and-Museum-600px.jpg

     

    Mt. Zion Baptist Church burns during Tulsa Race Massacre, 1921. Photo: Historical Society and Museum

    After order was restored, the Black people who’d been detained were released, but only if signed for by a white person, who also had to agree to accept responsibility for that detainee’s subsequent behavior. More than 10,000 residents were left homeless. Thousands of Black Tulsans spent the winter living in tents. Many left for good, having had enough of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

    THE CRIMINALS

    The racist mobs of thousands of white Tulsans were directly responsible for the horror inflicted on the people of Greenwood.

    The Tulsa police chief and Tulsa deputies had a direct hand in arming, deputizing, and directing the mobs from the very start of the killing of Black Tulsans.

    The Tulsa city officials played a decisive role by refusing to take any action to stop the racial massacre. And shortly afterwards, these same officials passed a zoning ordinance that made it too expensive for the Greenwood residents to rebuild their homes.

    The local units of the National Guard, by arresting every Black resident of Tulsa they could find and taking them into “protective custody,” left Greenwood property unprotected and aided the “special deputies” who came to burn it. The after-action reports by the local guardsmen show they saw their job not as protecting the people of Greenwood, but putting down the supposed “Negro uprising.”

    The Oklahoma State Troopers did not arrive from Oklahoma City until the annihilation of Greenwood was over; arriving earlier could have prevented some of the worst crimes from taking place.

    The governor of Oklahoma, from the very start, treated the events in Tulsa as a Black “insurrection.”

    The extent of the Ku Klux Klan’s involvement and possible lead role in this heinous act of terror hasn’t been proved, but “Tulsa’s atmosphere reeked with a Klan-like stench that oozed through the robes of the Hooded Order.” (Tulsa Race Riot report.) At that time many of the city’s most prominent men were Klansmen, including the lawyer assigned to represent Dick Rowland. Photographs of the Tulsa massacre were made into postcards, including a close-up of a charred Black body; and another of the Greenwood District in ruins.

    BAsics 3-2 English

     

    THE ALIBI

    The blame for the Tulsa Massacre was, from the very start, fully put on Greenwood’s Black residents—calling it a “Negro Uprising,” or “Insurrection.” A grand jury investigation organized by Oklahoma’s governor in the days after the massacre concluded:

    We find that the recent race riot was the direct result of an effort on the part of a certain group of colored men who appeared at the court house on the night of May 31, 1921, for the purpose of protecting one Dick Rowland ...There was no mob spirit among the whites, no talk of lynching and no arms. The assembly was quiet until the arrival of armed Negroes, which precipitated and was the direct cause of the entire affair.

    THE REAL MOTIVE

    The economic success of the people of Black Tulsa—including home, business, and land ownership—fueled resentment, fear, and jealousy within the white community. Many of Greenwood’s Black residents were living more successful lives than white Tulsans. In a community, and a country, where white supremacy was taken for granted—and counted on—the success of the people of Greenwood was seen as a provocation.

    The Tulsa Massacre, and the 1919 “Red Summer” of anti-Black violence that preceded it (see American Crime Case #15), took place at a time when the U.S. rulers needed to maintain the brutal oppression of Black people and white supremacy under changing conditions. The beginning of the Great Migration saw Black people leaving the rural South to find work in the cities of the North. Among them were Black veterans of World War 1, returning with a defiant spirit and less willingness to put up with open Jim Crow degradation and terror. Those in power faced the “need” for Black people to be beaten into submission through terror, their defiant spirit suppressed, and white people (including oppressed white people) enlisted to serve and identify with the exploitative, white supremacist order.

     

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    Resources:

     


    1. “The Tulsa Race Riot,” by Dr. Scott Ellsworth, an essay in Tulsa Race Riot: A Report by the Oklahoma Commission to Study the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.  [back]

    2. Washington Post, September 18, 2018.  [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    RACIAL OPPRESSION
    CAN BE ENDED—
    BUT NOT UNDER THIS SYSTEM

    Everywhere we go, and in everything we do, we revcoms boldly put forward: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!

    This is not just a slogan—though it is a very good and very important slogan. It is the concentrated statement of a very profound truth, which is also captured in our slogan: This System Cannot Be Reformed—It Must Be Overthrown!

    But what do we mean in saying that this system cannot be reformed, and why is that true? In Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, I speak to the “5 STOPS”—deep and defining contradictions of this system—and all the terrible suffering to which this system of capitalism-imperialism subjects the masses of humanity, and why all this cannot be ended under this system.1 Here I am going to focus on the systematic and murderous oppression of Black people, and racial oppression overall—which has been sharply exposed with the outpouring of outrage sparked by the murder of George Floyd—and discuss the basic reasons why this oppression cannot be eliminated under this system, but can (only) be ended through revolution.

    The continuing terror and murder carried out by the police particularly against Black people (as well as Latinos and Native Americans) is not fundamentally because the police are racist—although, speaking of the police overall, that is certainly true. The fact that the police are racist is itself an expression and a function of the fact that terror and murder against Black people (and other people of color) is required by this system—is necessary in order to maintain the “order” of this all-around oppressive system—and this would be much more difficult to carry out if the police were not racist.

    The Fundamental Causes of This Oppression

    But, going deeper, why is this terror and murder necessary for this system, in order to ensure its “order” and its ongoing functioning? The answer is that, from the beginning of this country, white supremacy has been poured into the foundation and built into the institutions and the ongoing functioning of this system. Specifically with regard to Black people, the centuries of oppression they have suffered—from slavery days to the days of Jim Crow segregation and Ku Klux Klan terror, to the present time, with the continuing systematic discrimination against Black people, in every part of society (employment, housing, education, health care, and on and on)—all this has resulted in a situation where masses of Black people today, and in particular youth, have been robbed of a means for a decent life, with many maintained in conditions of desperate poverty and deprivation. This, again, is not simply because those who are in the seats of power and deciding government policy are racist (though that is true of most of them). It is fundamentally because of the nature of the system itself and the historically-evolved requirements and dynamics of this system of capitalism-imperialism.

    Now, that is a big mouthful (“the nature of the system itself and the historically-evolved requirements and dynamics of this system of capitalism-imperialism”), so let’s break it down. This country was founded on the enslavement of masses of African people, as well as the genocidal subjugation of Native Americans and theft of their land (and its further development involved the conquest of huge parts of Mexico, reducing people of Mexican origin to second-class status as well). This required the propagation of racism to “justify” all the horrific oppression. Then, when the Civil War broke out over the question of slavery, and even when slavery was abolished as a result of that Civil War, given that white supremacy had been, and remained, such a crucial part of the “glue” holding the country together, the only way to “put it back together,” on the foundation of the capitalist system, was to once again forcefully assert white supremacy. That is why, very soon after the end of the Civil War, Black people were subjected to the system of Jim Crow segregation (backed up by systematic terror, punctuated by repeated lynchings), while the genocidal aggression against and theft of the land of Native Americans was stepped up, and immigrants from Mexico were subjected to ongoing discrimination and violence by the enforcers of this system.

    Generations later, during World War 2, because of the needs of the rulers of this country in waging that war, large numbers of Black people were able to migrate to the North and get jobs in industries that served the war effort. And then, largely as a result of the fact that the U.S. was on the winning side of that war—and the fact that the war was not fought on its territory and it experienced no damage to its industrial facilities and infrastructure—there was an expansion of the economy in this country after the war. In this situation, significant numbers of Black people were able to continue getting employment in large numbers, including some better-paying jobs in factories (making steel, cars, and so on).

    But, at the same time, because of the white supremacy built into the system over centuries—and the fact that really moving to overcome this would tear apart the fabric of the system and crack its very foundation—Black people continued to be subjected to systematic discrimination, including in employment (with “last hired and first fired” an accurate description of the situation of Black people with regard to employment). To cite another ugly example, government policy with regard to housing involved conscious, deliberate discrimination: after World War 2, loans were given to white people to enable them to buy their own homes, and increasingly move to the suburbs, while this was denied to Black veterans (and others) and instead Black people were piled into segregated housing projects in the inner cities. And this was part of the continuing systematic segregation and discrimination to which Black people were subjected.

    As a result of the Civil Rights movement and then the more radical Black liberation movement in the 1960s, some concessions were made, and there has been an increase in the number of “Black faces in high places” and a growth of the Black middle class, although their situation is far more precarious than that of white middle class people (something which was cruelly demonstrated in the 2008 crisis, which resulted in large numbers of Black people losing their homes and much, if not all, of any savings they had). And, in more recent times, huge numbers of factories and other sources of jobs for people in the inner city have closed down, often moving their operations elsewhere—particularly to countries in the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia) where the desperate situation of masses of people, including children, has left them vulnerable to being super-exploited, at near-starvation wages.

    All this, together with increased automation and “cybernation” of production, when combined with the ongoing segregation and discrimination built into this system, has led to a situation where huge numbers of Black people, and especially youth, have, for generations now, not only been unemployed but are left with no prospect of meaningful employment in the regular (“formal”) economy.

    The “Toxic Combination” of Capitalism and Racism

    Here we see the “toxic combination” of systematic, historically-evolved segregation and discrimination, enforced with brutal violence by the powers-that-be, together with the basic functioning and requirements of the capitalist economy—which involves the greater and greater concentration not just of wealth, but of the means of production (technology, factories and other physical structures, sources of raw materials, and so on) in the possession and under the control of large-scale capitalist enterprises and financial institutions, which are locked in cut-throat competition with each other, not just within a particular country but increasingly on a global scale, and are therefore driven to ruthlessly exploit people and constantly search for ways to even more viciously super-exploit large numbers of desperate people, including children, in a worldwide network of sweatshops. (For example, cell phones and computers depend on the mineral coltan which is mined under horrific conditions by people, including large numbers of children, in the Congo in Africa; and a large part of the clothes that are bought in the U.S. are produced by huge numbers of women working in horrific conditions in the Asian country of Bangladesh.)

    In this situation, and especially with the growth of the international drug trade, and its deep penetration into the U.S., many of those, in particular youth, who found themselves locked out of the “formal economy,” have turned to drug-dealing, as well as other criminal activity—something which has been encouraged by government policy that has actually resulted in the movement of large amounts of drugs into the inner city, even as the authorities seize on this situation to carry out systematic repression against the youth in particular, with such things as “stop and frisk.” The result of all this has been a huge increase in mass incarceration, as well as the continual murder of large numbers of “minority” youth by police.

    At the same time, the way that the U.S. has continued to dominate Mexico, as well as other parts of Latin America, and to distort the economies, corrupt the governments and bring ruin to the social relations among the people in those countries—all this has resulted in large numbers of people being forced to flee those countries and migrate to the U.S., where they are vulnerable to being viciously exploited in factories and farmlands, and other parts of the economy of this country. And large numbers of the younger generations of these immigrants have also formed (or joined existing) gangs and become involved in the drug trade and related crime.

    More recently, however, in at least many of the inner-city neighborhoods, for a number of reasons—including the fact that the “crack epidemic” had taken a terrible toll on people—there has been a decrease in the trade in cocaine and the high profits this brought for the relatively small number of “higher-ups” in the drug trade hierarchy. For a period, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s, given their desolation and desperation, the drug trade was a “major employer” of youth in the inner cities, female as well as male, and a major source of at least a basic income for many (even if the promise of “getting rich” remained an illusion for most). Now, even this source of employment and income—as perverse and harmful as it is—has dried up or greatly diminished for many. This has further added to the miserable situation of massive numbers of inner-city youth in particular who have no future—under this system—no future but prison, an early death or a life of desperate hustling, in one form or another, in the attempt to survive and care for loved ones.

    All this cannot be changed—cannot be transformed and overcome—within the confines of this system. Despite what any politician (“liberal” or outright fascist like Trump) may say, there is no way that this system could “reverse itself,” bring large parts of industry back to the inner city and provide meaningful employment, with “a living wage” for all those it is now depriving of this. Even if the government had the “political will” to try to do this, doing so (with the employment of millions of formerly unemployed or “underemployed” people at a “living wage”) would seriously undermine the competitive positions of American capitalists in the global economy. And, if they attempted to do this while at the same time trying to seriously overcome the whole historically-evolved relations of white supremacy, this would completely disrupt the social “cohesion” that “holds this country together,” with white supremacy a crucial part of this.

    It is one thing for “good-hearted people”—and in particular many white people—to say (and sincerely mean) that it is wrong for the police to just wantonly, cruelly murder people, and to mobilize in protest against this. But imagine what would happen if, under this system and with the way its economy functions, the government tried to adopt policies that would deal with the long-term unemployment of Black people in the inner cities, who have not only been denied jobs but also the training for the jobs that do exist—imagine what the reaction would be of many white people who would in fact lose their better-off positions as a result of these policies. Imagine what would happen if these kinds of policies were applied not just to employment, but to education, and on down the line. (We have already seen the “backlash” that was fostered in response to even minimal efforts to implement “affirmative action” programs in employment and education.)

    Again, this is not simply a matter that “white people are racist.” Many are racist, although many do not want to be. But the deeper problem is that given the basic way the capitalist economy works, and how everyone is encouraged to be “out for yourself”—and, more fundamentally, the fact that people are actually driven and compelled to compete with each other in every significant part of life, including employment and education—it would actually create destructive chaos and conflict among the people, and tear apart the “cohesion” of the society, to try to really and fully undo and overcome the reality and effects of centuries of racist oppression—under this system.

    This most definitely and emphatically is NOT an argument for holding back from struggling against every form of discrimination, inequality and oppression in every part of society. Fighting back against oppression, and wrenching concessions from the powers-that-be, is very important—in enabling masses of people to feel their own strength in standing up and standing together in opposing oppression, and drawing people from all parts of society to join in this struggle—rather than feeling isolated, beaten down and hopeless. And it is important in contributing to the ability of masses of people to gain the understanding and build up the organization necessary for the final all-out struggle to bring down the whole oppressive system. But that is just the point—as important as these mass struggles are, if they are not built toward, and do not finally get to the point of, taking on the whole system, with the aim of bringing it down, and bringing something much better into being, then, as I have emphasized before, even where concessions are won, “so long as this system remains in power, there will be powerful forces who will move to attack and undermine, and seek to reverse, even these partial gains,” and people will remain oppressed and once more weighed down with a feeling of demoralization, as they are once again divided and pitted against each other.2

    The basic and crucial point is that the fight against racial oppression (and all oppression) must not remain confined within the limits of this system, and instead must be carried out and carried forward as part of the overall struggle toward the goal of abolishing this system. The fact that this oppression cannot be abolished under this system is not a reason for giving up in despair—it is a compelling reason why this system must be and can be abolishedand it is the fundamental basis for why people can be won to wage the revolutionary struggle to finally bring it down!

    All this is why there will not be any real and meaningful move by the powers-that-be (and any of its politicians and political parties) to overcome the centuries-long experience and legacy of brutal racist oppression and the situation it has led to today, where millions and millions of Black youth and other youth of color have no prospect of a decent future—under this system.

    As I have pointed out before: “So what does this system do with youth that have no future and no prospects? It contains them.... contains them violently.”3

    And all this is why there is systemic and systematic police terror directed at Black people and other people of color. It is why this is brought down not only on the youth (and others) in the inner cities, but why it can and does lead to harassment, brutality and murder of any Black person, anywhere, even those with more education and status in society. If the system needs the police to “violently contain” the masses of people in the inner cities—and it does—then this is bound to “spill over” and be applied to Black people, and other people of color, more generally. The police have neither the interests, nor the ability, nor the will to make distinctions between “good” ....... (fill in the blank as to what racist terms they use) and “bad” ones. And, beyond that, the “random” nature of the brutality and murder makes it all the more effective in terrorizing people—making everyone, even the “better off,” feel, correctly, that they could be a target of this.

    There IS a Solution: Revolution and a Radically New and Different World

    It is for all these reasons that racist oppression will continue so long as people are living under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism. It is not only right but crucially important to rise up and wage a determined fight against this, but it is also crucial to recognize that this racist oppression will never be, can never be, eliminated under this system—and, to finally put an end to it, we need a radically different system.

    We need a radically different economic system—a socialist economic system (mode of production) that is geared to and proceeds by developing and utilizing the means of production collectively, to meet the needs of the masses of people, materially (for employment, food, housing, health care, and so on) as well as their needs intellectually and culturally, and to provide them with the means not only to live a life worthy of human beings, but also to scientifically understand the basis and need, and to more and more consciously take part in, carrying forward the transformation of society to finally and completely eliminate all relations of oppression and exploitation, and to support that struggle throughout the world. And, as one of its highest priorities and goals, this will involve the determined struggle to overcome and finally eliminate racial oppression in every aspect of society.

    The radically different socialist economy (mode of production) will provide the foundation on which the ongoing process of uprooting racial oppression, and all oppression, can be waged on favorable ground, and can finally succeed in overcoming all this. The following from my work Breakthroughs speaks to this key relation and process:

    Ultimately, the mode of production sets the foundation and the limits of change, in terms of how you address any social problem, such as the oppression of women, or the oppression of Black people or Latinos, or the contradiction between mental work and manual work, or the situation with the environment, or the situation of immigrants, and so on. While all those things have reality and dynamics in their own right, and aren’t reducible to the economic system, they all take place within the framework and within the fundamental dynamics of that economic system; and that economic system, that mode of production, sets the foundation and the ultimate limits of change in regard to all those social questions. So, if you want to get rid of all these different forms of oppression, you have to address them in their own right, but you also have to fundamentally change the economic system to give you the ability to be able to carry through those changes in fundamental terms. To put it another way: You have to have an economic system that doesn’t prevent you from making those changes, and instead not only allows but provides a favorable foundation for making those changes.4

    The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America provides a sweeping vision and concrete blueprint for such a radically different economic system, and for government institutions, laws and a legal system, as well as an approach to education, science, art and culture that go along with this mode of production and contribute to its continual development, opening the way to finally eliminating all oppression and exploitation.5 And in Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution (as well as other works of mine) the basic strategy is spelled out for carrying out the revolution that will make it possible to apply this Constitution in working to bring about a world free of all the unnecessary suffering and madness to which the masses of humanity are subjected under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism.

    This is why, and this is how, racial oppression, and all the oppression, which is built into this system of capitalism-imperialism, can be ended—but only through a revolution to abolish this system.

    This is why we continue to emphasize this basic truth: we have two choices: either, live with all this—and condemn future generations to the same, or worse, if they have a future at all—or, make revolution!

    This is why we continue to boldly raise the slogan: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!

     

    1. The text and video of this speech by Bob Avakian (Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution) is available at revcom.us. [back]

    2. The statement quoted in this part of this article is from Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution. [back]

    3. Bob Avakian On Police Brutality And Murder: Consent Decrees Won’t Stop This—We Need A Revolution! This excerpt from a Question and Answer Session with Bob Avakian, after his presentation in 2018 in Chicago of the speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    4. This statement is contained in Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, by Bob Avakian, which is available at revcom.us. It originally appeared in the book by Bob Avakian, The New Communism: The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation, Insight Press, 2016. Italics in the original. [back]

    5. The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian, is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy cover

     

    The New Communism

     

    Read THE NEW COMMUNISM

    The science, the strategy, the leadership for an actual revolution, and a radically new society on the road to real emancipation

    by Bob Avakian

    Download PDF of book

  • ARTICLE:

    A Resource Page:

    The Oppression of Black People & the Revolutionary Struggle to End All Oppression

    Updated

    Bob Avakian on The Oppression of Black People & the Revolutionary Struggle to End All Oppression

     

    There is the potential for something of unprecedented beauty to arise out of unspeakable ugliness: Black people playing a crucial role in putting an end, at long last, to this system which has, for so long, not just exploited but dehumanized, terrorized and tormented them in a thousand ways—putting an end to this in the only way it can be done—by fighting to emancipate humanity, to put an end to the long night in which human society has been divided into masters and slaves, and the masses of humanity have been lashed, beaten, raped, slaughtered, shackled and shrouded in ignorance and misery.

    Bob Avakian

    an illustrated excerpt from the film
    THE TRUMP/PENCE REGIME MUST GO!
    In The Name of Humanity,
    We REFUSE To Accept a Fascist America
    A Better World 
    IS Possible
    A Talk by Bob Avakian

    Watch the entire film here

    The Oppression of Black People and Other People of Color, by Bob Avakian, an excerpt

    Watch the whole speech here

    What will it take for masses of white people to break from white supremacy? A Q&A with Bob Avakian

    Watch the whole speech here

    WATCHING FRUITVALE STATION WITH BOB AVAKIAN

    This article was originally published in 2014. We believe that it is particularly timely now to either return to this or, for those who have not read it before, to read it for the first time.

    Download printable PDF

    BOB AVAKIAN FOR THE LIBERATION OF BLACK PEOPLE
    AND THE EMANCIPATION OF ALL HUMANITY

    One of the things that comes through most powerfully in Bob Avakian’s memoir is that a profound hatred for the oppression of Black people has been a defining part of Bob Avakian’s life from the time, as a teenager, he learned about the lives of the Black people with whom he developed deep ties of friendship. Never feeling that, because he is white, “it is not his place” to be involved in the struggle against this oppression—but, on the contrary, determined to contribute whatever he could to this struggle—Bob Avakian (BA), from the time he worked closely with the Black Panther Party in its revolutionary days in the 1960s, has made the liberation of Black people a defining part of his life’s commitment and work. As he developed as a revolutionary communist, and emerged as the foremost revolutionary leader and thinker in the world, this commitment has become even deeper and has been strongly interwoven with a dedication to the emancipation of all humanity from every form of oppression and exploitation.

    Read the entire article.

    Historic Pieces from Bob Avakian during the Beautiful Rising in the wake of George Floyd's murder by the police

    The Revolutionary Potential of the Masses and the Responsibility of the Vanguard

    One of the things that I see, something that I haven't lost sight of, is this: I see all the strength of the ruling class, but I also see all the way through all this shit, all the contradictions in society—I actually see a force in this society that, if it were developed into a revolutionary people, actually could have a go at it, could have a real chance of making a revolution, or being the backbone force of a revolution, when the conditions were ripe. I see a force of millions and millions and millions—youth and others—for whom this system is a horror: It isn't going to take some cataclysmic crisis for this system to be fucking over them. The ruling class, ironically, sees them too. It is those who once had but have lost—or those who never had—a revolutionary perspective...it is they who can't see this.

    Read more
    The New Communism

     

    From “Part III. The Strategic Approach to An Actual Revolution,” an excerpt from the section: 

    National Liberation and Proletarian Revolution
    Learn more about the book.
    BAsics cover 600

    BAsics from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian   

    There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth.
    Bob Avakian, BAsics 1:1
    The Oppression of Black People & the Revolutionary Struggle to End All Oppression

     

    Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy cover

     

    Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy

     

    Read online

    Listen to MP3 audio:
    Part 1Part 2Part 3

    American Crimes — The Ugly History of This Country

    From the revcom.us series American Crime:

    American-Crimes-logo-350-en.jpg

     

    Read the entire American Crime series

    There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth.

    BAsics 1:1

    ~~~~~

    There is a semi-official narrative about the history and the “greatness” of America, which says that this greatness of America lies in the freedom and ingenuity of its people, and above all in a system that gives encouragement and reward to these qualities. Now, in opposition to this semi-official narrative about the greatness of America, the reality is that—to return to one fundamental aspect of all this—slavery has been an indispensable part of the foundation for the “freedom and prosperity” of the USA. The combination of freedom and prosperity is, as we know, still today, and in some ways today more than ever, proclaimed as the unique quality and the special destiny and mission of the United States and its role in the world. And this stands in stark contradiction to the fact that without slavery, none of this—not even the bourgeois-democratic freedoms, let alone the prosperity—would have been possible, not only in the southern United States but in the North as well, in the country as a whole and in its development and emergence as a world economic and military power.

    BAsics 1:8

    ~~~~~

    Determination decides who makes it out of the ghetto—now there is a tired old cliché, at its worst, on every level. This is like looking at millions of people being put through a meatgrinder and instead of focusing on the fact that the great majority are chewed to pieces, concentrating instead on the few who slip through in one piece and then on top of it all, using this to say that “the meatgrinder works”!

    BAsics 1:11

    ~~~~~

    If you want to talk about who owes whom—if you keep in mind everything the capitalists (as well as the slaveowners) have accumulated through all the labor Black people have carried out in this country and the privileges that have been passed out to people on that basis—there wouldn’t even be a U.S. imperialism as there is today if it weren’t for the exploitation of Black people under this system. Not that the exploitation of Black people is the whole of it—there has been a lot of other people exploited, both in the U.S. and internationally, by this ruling class. But there wouldn’t be a U.S. imperialism in the way there is today if it weren’t for the exploitation of Black people under slavery and then after slavery in the sharecropping system and in the plants and other workplaces in a kind of caste-like oppression in the cities.

    BAsics 1:12

    ~~~~~

    No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that.

    BAsics 1:13

    ~~~~~

    The Black people, the youth, with their pants hanging down around their knees, their hats on backwards, their swagger, much of which I admire, weren’t the ones who picked the jobs up and took them out of the ghetto. The people filling the prisons, the people in the gangs weren’t the ones who took the jobs and moved them away. They were not the ones who, when Black people went chasing jobs, relocated them over the decades, discriminated against them, brought the police out to harass them and made it very difficult for them to get a job and keep a job under those circumstances.

    None of that was done by the masses whom Bill Cosby so cheaply chooses to attack in this way. These were conditions that were caused by the dynamics of capitalist accumulation in its international dimension as well as within the country and by conscious policies of ruling class politicians in line with this.

    BAsics 1:18

    ~~~~~

    The role of the police is not to serve and protect the people. It is to serve and protect the system that rules over the people. To enforce the relations of exploitation and oppression, the conditions of poverty, misery and degradation into which the system has cast people and is determined to keep people in. The law and order the police are about, with all of their brutality and murder, is the law and the order that enforces all this oppression and madness.

    BAsics 1:24

    ~~~~~

    An Appeal to Those the System Has Cast Off

    Here I am speaking not only to prisoners but to those whose life is lived on the desperate edge, whether or not they find some work; to those without work or even homes; to all those the system and its enforcers treat as so much human waste material.

    Raise your sights above the degradation and madness, the muck and demoralization, above the individual battle to survive and to “be somebody” on the terms of the imperialists—of fouler, more monstrous criminals than mythology has ever invented or jails ever held. Become a part of the human saviors of humanity: the gravediggers of this system and the bearers of the future communist society.

    This is not just talk or an attempt to make poetry here: there are great tasks to be fulfilled, great struggles to be carried out, and yes great sacrifices to be made to accomplish all this. But there is a world to save—and to win—and in that process those the system has counted as nothing can count for a great deal. They represent a great reserve force that must become an active force for the proletarian revolution.

    BAsics 3:16

    Editor’s note: Tyisha Miller was a 19-year-old African-American woman shot dead by Riverside, California police in 1998. Miller had been passed out in her car, resulting from a seizure, when police claimed that she suddenly awoke and had a gun; they fired 23 times at her, hitting her at least 12 times, and murdering her. Bob Avakian addressed this.

    If you can’t handle this situation differently than this, then get the fuck out of the way. Not only out of the way of this situation, but get off the earth. Get out of the way of the masses of people. Because, you know, we could have handled this situation any number of ways that would have resulted in a much better outcome. And frankly, if we had state power and we were faced with a similar situation, we would sooner have one of our own people’s police killed than go wantonly murder one of the masses. That’s what you’re supposed to do if you’re actually trying to be a servant of the people. You go there and you put your own life on the line, rather than just wantonly murder one of the people. Fuck all this “serve and protect” bullshit! If they were there to serve and protect, they would have found any way but the way they did it to handle this scene. They could have and would have found a solution that was much better than this. This is the way the proletariat, when it’s been in power has handled—and would again handle—this kind of thing, valuing the lives of the masses of people. As opposed to the bourgeoisie in power, where the role of their police is to terrorize the masses, including wantonly murdering them, murdering them without provocation, without necessity, because exactly the more arbitrary the terror is, the more broadly it affects the masses. And that’s one of the reasons why they like to engage in, and have as one of their main functions to engage in, wanton and arbitrary terror against the masses of people.

    BAsics 2:16

    ~~~~~

    People say: “You mean to tell me that these youth running around selling drugs and killing each other, and caught up in all kinds of other stuff, can be a backbone of this revolutionary state power in the future?” Yes—but not as they are now, and not without struggle. They weren’t always selling drugs and killing each other, and the rest of it—and they don’t have to be into all that in the future. Ask yourself: how does it happen that you go from beautiful children to supposedly “irredeemable monsters” in a few years? It’s because of the system, and what it does to people—not because of “unchanging and unchangeable human nature.”

    BAsics 3:17

    ~~~~~

    Even with very real changes in the situation of Black people, as part of the larger changes in the society (and the world) overall—including a growth of the “middle class” among Black people, an increase in college graduates and people in higher paying and prestigious professions, with a few holding powerful positions within the ruling political structures, even to the extent now of a “Black president”—the situation of Black people, and in particular that of millions and millions who are trapped in the oppressive and highly repressive conditions of the inner city ghettos, remains a very acute and profound contradiction for the American imperialist system as a whole and for its ruling class—something which has the potential to erupt totally out of the framework in which they can contain it.

    BAsics 3:18

    ~~~~~

    There will never be a revolutionary movement in this country that doesn’t fully unleash and give expression to the sometimes openly expressed, sometimes expressed in partial ways, sometimes expressed in wrong ways, but deeply, deeply felt desire to be rid of these long centuries of oppression [of Black people]. There’s never gonna be a revolution in this country, and there never should be, that doesn’t make that one key foundation of what it’s all about.

    BAsics 3:19

    ~~~~~

    Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.

    BAsics 4:1

    ~~~~~

    During that time and on the way back after the game I was sitting with some Black friends of mine on the football team, and we got into this whole deep conversation about why is there so much racism in this country, why is there so much prejudice and where does it come from, and can it ever change, and how could it change? This was mainly them talking and me listening. And I remember that very, very deeply—I learned a lot more in that one hour than I learned in hours of classroom time, even from some of the better teachers.

    BAsics 4:23

    ~~~~~

    The “Bible Belt” in the U.S. is also the Lynching Belt.

    BAsics 5:5

    ~~~~~

    Do Black people need to take responsibility?
    Responsibility for what?

    Responsibility for REVOLUTION—DEFINITELY! We all need to take responsibility for making revolution—to emancipate all of humanity from this whole system of oppression.

    BAsics 5:21

  • ARTICLE:

    Minstrels for Trump

    Bootlicking rappers Kodak Black, Waka Flocka Flame, Azealia Banks, Lil Pump, Benny the Butcher, Sexyy Red and more are shucking and jiving for Donald Trump. These clowns come dirt cheap. All they needed was a get out of jail free card and some COVID checks from massa. They’re willing to be Trump’s minstrels, while lining the masses of Black people up for his genocidal slaughter. 

    They front like Trump is hard. Bullshit! 

    As the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian (BA) said, “Donald Trump isn’t ‘tough,’ he’s a bloated bag of fascist feces.”

    If you’ve had it with all this enslaving foolishness, this degradation and self-degradation, the leader you need to check out is Bob Avakian (BA). In calling out this “State of Emergency: Chains on People Who Desperately Need to Be Free,” BA says straight up:

    Learn to live in chains—bow down to those enforcing the chains, boast about and sing praises to the chains... or break all the chains.

    That is the choice.

    STATE OF EMERGENCY: CHAINS ON PEOPLE WHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE — A Message from Bob Avakian

  • ARTICLE:

    IMPORTANT NOTICE:

    Nominations Now Open for Bootlickers Hall of Shame

    banner bootlickers gallery Snyder

     

    You’ve seen the bootlickers. Some of them are teachers, preachers, writers and wannabe politicians scrambling to justify and normalize the everyday murderous exploitation of the system. They get boosted especially in those times when the outrage cries out and masses of people threaten to erupt in struggle. We don't mean the ones who really stand with the people, but the posers who really just want “a place at the table” of this rotten system. Sometimes you can catch these bootlickers online, doing podcasts or guesting on shows or tweeting out their bullshit. Some of them get on MSNBC or CNN. They claim to be “progressive,” or even “radical.” They come in every “race,” nationality, and gender, to bolster their credibility with different sections of the people. And they all have one thing in common:

    They are fronting for the capitalist-imperialists who really control things. They provide the rulers with cover and credibility for whatever foul shit they are up to, giving “progressive” excuses to normalize and cover for their crimes. They do their best to mislead, confuse, stupefy masses of people and otherwise serve the capitalist-imperialist system.

    They need to be called out for what they are: BOOTLICKERS!

    And we’re calling on you to help do it. If you have an example of an egregious, consistent bootlicker, send it in to us at Revolution Reports (revolution.reports@yahoo.com). We’ll put a portrait of that bootlicker, along with examples, and report on whatever crimes they are covering up, on the wall of our online Bootlickers’ Hall of Shame. Send the link or the clip of the bootlicker in question, and give a little report on the crime that they are covering for (or provide links to it), etc. If you want to, you can compose the nomination yourself; but if you don’t want to do all that, just provide us the links and information and we’ll do our best.

  • ARTICLE:

    Rich and Lively Engagement About “‘Woke’ Lunacy vs. Real Revolution” at Two Universities in North Carolina

    A Letter from a Professor 

    I recently hosted, and helped build for, Rafael Kadaris’s “’Woke’ Lunacy vs. Real Revolution” campus tour at two North Carolina universities: UNC Greensboro and North Carolina State. Each talk was attended by about twenty people and followed by a rich and lively question and answer session. 

    Rafael Kadaris at Revolution Books NYC

     

    Rafael Kadaris at Revolution Books, NYC   

    The promotion and preparation for these talks came right in the midst of Israel’s genocidal bombardment of Gaza. This horror has served as a “jolt” which is disrupting the “normal routine” on campuses and society generally and has the potential to awaken large sections of society. At such a moment, this tour is as important and timely as ever. It is “woke” identity politics which has hegemony among the decent people right now. This “wokeness” presents itself as the solution to oppression, while it in fact disarms, demobilizes, and diverts people from a scientific understanding of the cause of this oppression, and the revolution required to end it. 

    So, not only is this tour and campaign—taking on “woke” from the perspective of the new communism—absolutely essential to making revolution in these times, but it is very relevant in terms of how people understand and act on what’s unfolding in Israel and Gaza right now. As Rafael addressed in his talk, the state of Israel is the logical extension of “woke” identity politics: Oppressed people who pit their interests against the interests of all oppressed humanity, and who are willing to collaborate with the powers-that-be for a slice of the pie. Further, why is it that so many “woke” so-called “leftists” refuse to criticize Hamas? Rafael also got into this in his talk: One reason is the ridiculous, harmful notion that you cannot criticize or speak about something if you’re not directly experiencing it. So, with that as backdrop, I want to talk a little bit about the experience of building for, and participating in, this campus tour, share some of my initial summation, and encourage you to bring this tour to your area.

    I want to start by giving a sense of the events themselves. While neither talk was as well-attended as we’d hoped, the people who came were very engaged. During Rafael’s speech, the audiences at both schools were largely rapt and immersed. Students and others asked substantive questions—about the relationship between communism and human nature, about Bob Avakian’s new communism, of whether things such as safe spaces can play a positive role among the oppressed, how it could be possible to make revolution in a society where so many people support capitalism, and much more. While Rafael fielded most of the questions, I helped facilitate the engagement with the audiences, and weighed in on some of them. In response to a group of students’ questions about why the revcoms make such a big deal about Bob Avakian (BA), and the relationship between his leadership and the initiative of his followers, I challenged them to do the work of seriously engaging BA and the breakthroughs of the new communism, and on that basis decide for themselves whether to become a critically thinking follower of BA. After the Q&A ended at both schools, several students stuck around to engage further with Rafael and I, and a number of them expressed interest in watching the BA Interviews together. 

    There is nothing remotely like this “Woke” Lunacy vs. Real Revolution Tour on campuses right now. Virtually no one is taking on “woke” identity politics from the left (besides a few crusty “class reductionist” reformists) and certainly not from the vantage point of total revolution and emancipation. There are many on college campuses who hate aspects of this suffocating cancel culture, and who grumble about how it shuts down critical thinking and intellectual engagement, but there is no one taking it on frontally, excavating its philosophical roots, its noxious methods, and its poisonous effects other than Bob Avakian and the revcoms. This is both because there is a tremendous amount of intimidation and fear of the wokesters; AND because even those who vehemently dislike aspects of it are still trapped within the “deadly dance” between “wokeness” and fascism—what Bob Avakian has called the new two outmodeds—and share much of “woke’s” ideological framework. 

    Bring this tour to a campus in your area! Pass out and post flyers on “Woke” Lunacy vs. Real Revolution, or the 7-point indictment. Go out with a big, provocative display. Talk to professors and students about hosting this event. Raise funds. Stir up some controversy and intrigue. We were able to do this with very limited time, resources, and people. It matters to project this tour, and all the big questions it opens up, onto campuses around the country. There will be no revolution without masses of students and intellectuals whose allegiance to this system has been ruptured, and who become emancipators of humanity. And that will NOT happen without frontally, boldly, and substantively taking on this “woke” identity politics madness! Check out the “’Woke’ v Rev” resource webpage for materials, contact information, and guidance. 

  • ARTICLE:

    “Woke” Lunacy vs. Real Revolution National Tour Hits Houston

    For the seventh stop of the “Woke” Lunacy vs. Real Revolution national campus speaking tour, Rafael Kadaris led a lively evening at the University of Houston on November 8, giving students something they’ve never heard before and fielding their questions with science and passion. Twenty-one students and 30 people altogether attended the talk.

    For days leading up to this event, a team of revcom supporters was out on campus spreading the word and attracting attention from all demographics on this vibrantly diverse campus. Many people took the flyers and stopped to talk, intrigued by our title and shaken up by the genocide in Gaza and the other horrors in the world. This was not, for the most part, a case of people staring into their phones, thinking they’ve heard it all, or being so steeped in woke-ism that they missed the “real revolution” part. Students stopped because they were challenged by the flyer and a large display of the 7 Indictments on “Woke,” and they were curious about who we were and what we were bringing.

    A diverse group of students did come and listen with rapt attention. For 45 minutes they were nodding, taking notes, and showing a willingness—and even an eagerness—to be challenged. Rafael started with a deep provocation on the state of Israel, the genocide in Gaza, the reactionary character of Hamas and the refusal of so much of the “left” to criticize Hamas as a very stark and heartbreaking illustration of the logical extension of “woke” lunacy. He took us on a journey through the dregs of identity politics to the vision of what is possible in a new socialist society. He held up the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, written by Bob Avakian, and asked the audience to imagine a world, with very concrete examples ranging from education to healthcare to the climate, where we could actually go to work on meeting the needs of humanity instead of the needs of profit.

    Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal)

    Authored by Bob Avakian, and adopted by the Central Committee of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, 2010

    Then, for the next hour and a half, students asked questions in a really vigorous and rapid-fire discussion, exactly the kind of energy and ferment we need on a larger scale. The first questions asked for more clarity on what we mean by a real revolution, and why we were pitting the question of pronouns against the global problems—can’t we do both. At the end of that back and forth, the student said that maybe it could be understood as a mismatch of energy—which showed a real wrangling and engagement with the contradiction.

    Someone who identified himself as part of the left asked whether the “woke” lunacy really had that much power. He saw it as more fringe. Rafael talked about the outsized influence this framework has on the decent people—the very people who should be rising up in resistance to injustice and especially the accelerating fascist threat but are instead paralyzed into inaction by this framework.

    There was a cluster of questions about voting: 1) Do we take a stance on voting while waiting for the revolutionary conditions to develop if that can mitigate some of the harm for oppressed communities? 2) What’s the next steps after we have millions of people who agree with the revcoms? Since we’re not going to make revolution in the next few years, do we vote in the meantime? 3) If we know elections aren’t how things are decided and we’re not going to vote anyway, would it be worthwhile to do a protest vote for a third party? 4) What do you think of Bernie Sanders? Each question helped open up the discussion on elections and the nature of this system and its unreformability in different ways. Rafael gave substantial answers to all of them in ways that were very clarifying and challenged people to break out of the terms of this system and see how getting with this revolution, spreading this revolution, can put us in position to really win when things come to a head, potentially very soon. The whole question of how much is up in the air right now and how fast things can change was a key part of answering these questions. In the answers, the uprisings of 2020 against the police murder of George Floyd, and the situation in Egypt in 2010, were offered as examples of how fast things can change, but why rising up alone cannot end the oppression that is fundamentally caused by this system. People need to consider, too, the tremendously positive factor that we do have—the leadership of BA.

    Bob Avakian: Woke is a Joke, a Bad Joke
    From The Bob Avakian Interviews

    One student raised his staunch defense of capitalism, saying that profit is just a measure of the market value of an idea or product and the “entrepreneurs” are risk-takers that should be compensated and rewarded for that. Rafael’s answer began with resetting the terms in a big way: The biggest risk these capitalists are taking is with the future of humanity. Underlying the argument the capitalist-defender was making was that it’s only entrepreneurs, not all of humanity, that has this creative potential. There was a substantive back and forth with some fierce struggle—and another student chimed in saying that this person’s defense of capitalism is the same way people defended slavery.

    In some ways, there was simplicity to how this evening came together. We found out how to get a room, we made flyers, we made a plan to saturate and agitate, and we pushed against objective conditions to get an audience. We have the goods. We have the substance. We have something students are not going to hear anywhere else. So bring this tour to your campus!

    "Woke" Lunacy vs REAL REVOLUTION-headline from leaflet

     

  • ARTICLE:

    “WOKE” IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE
    in the political, intellectual, artistic and ethical life of society

    Bizarre and capricious rules enforced by cancel culture threats. Puffed-up unscientific claims to “represent the marginalized.” Insisting that people “stay in their lanes” in fighting oppression. “Woke” lunacy manifests much that is harmful with the capitalist-imperialist system and its dominant culture, furthering the nightmare of humanity!

    “Woke” once meant righteous awareness of racial oppression but has long since morphed into fanatical lunacy and vicious mob mentality. A bloodlust to target and tear into individuals, while cowardly ducking, and often, actively obstructing the real and needed fight against the system, especially its overthrow through an actual revolution!

    Woke Lunacy and the fascist steamroller moving through society are in a deadly dance, mutually opposing, while fueling and feeding off the other. Fascism is by far the greater danger, but in this dynamic, brazen white supremacy and misogyny feast on and defeat the brittle bravado of “woke.”

    At a time of unprecedented change—as the “powers that be” clash and as cohering norms of the U.S. are ripping—there is a much greater chance to bring this whole oppressive edifice down. We have a chance to aim for something radically different; we have a responsibility to fight for something actually liberating. We must seize this chance and rise to this responsibility.

    Out of love for humanity and the planet, out of a profound respect for truth and science, and out of a necessary revolutionary determination for the emancipation of all of humanity, we will defend and debate the following, in the public square and in public discourse:

    ***

    Woke Lunacy: Insisting there is no objective reality; each person “owns” their “truth”

    Woke Lunacy denies an objective reality, while at the same time brutishly dictating which parts of reality people of different “identities” are allowed to discuss or act upon. If objective reality is just a “white European” or “masculinist” construct, try crossing the interstate at rush hour without getting hit by the reality of speeding cars.

    Truth is not a composite of “narratives.” Truth is what corresponds to objective reality. This can be determined through scientific, evidence-based methods. Direct lived experiences can contribute to this process, but science, and the scientific method, is decisive for determining what is true—and acting on that basis to radically change the world.

    2  Woke Lunacy: An obliterating obsession with changing words—and an ugly erasure of women

    Woke Lunacy does not differentiate between malicious, neutral, or benign intent. The ritual humiliations of well-meaning people for using “wrong” words are the petty power plays of schoolyard bullies. Word changing is no substitute for WORLD changing.

    Nowhere is this more destructive than the erasure of women. Increasingly relentless and vicious attacks on trans people must be vigorously fought! But the substitution of dehumanizing non-synonyms like “people with uteruses” and “chest-feeders” for the word “woman,” ostensibly for “trans-inclusivity,” does harm. In the face of the greatest assault on women’s lives in generations—the overturning of the right to abortion—the woke establishment’s refusal to even use the word “woman” muddied the heart of this attack, blunted its danger and demobilized resistance. This strengthens the Christian fascist crusade to cement forced motherhood and traditional gender roles.

    3  Woke Lunacy: “Me, Me, Me”—cocooned in an American Empire that savages the world

    The one privilege wokesters rarely call out is American privilege. Indeed, many want all they can get of that privilege.

    The woke mob tweets their accusations of “privilege” and “colonization” from cell phones brought to them by the blood and tears of children in Congo, mining for the cobalt those phones require. To those whose horizons don’t extend beyond mere “inclusion” and “equality” within the most blood-soaked empire ever known, we dedicate these lyrics from Bob Dylan: “We looted and we plundered on distant shores. Why is my share not equal to yours?”

    4  Woke Lunacy: Hiding from reality with “trigger warnings,” “safe spaces,” and “trauma culture”

    Terrible things happen to people under this system. Exposing this is not “trauma porn.” Everyone needs to learn about and confront the barbaric history of slavery and white supremacy and the continuing reality of racial oppression.

    Acting as if oppressed people are fragile beings who will fall apart at a “triggering” phenomenon is the hallmark of condescending saviors. Trauma from this system is real and harrowing, but needs to, and can, be directed towards fighting the source of oppression and injustice.

    The best things to happen in college are intellectual challenges, debate and critical thinking, learning about the world… standing up for a great cause even at the risk of one’s safety, and radically changing the world with revolutionary joy.

    5  Woke Lunacy: Firestorms of woke-mob “cancel culture” to tear down individuals

    Instead of righteous struggle to expose and transform oppressive institutions, woke culture unleashes cruel witch hunts to destroy the reputations, careers, and lives of people. This is revenge, not justice. Woke Lunacy judges people by a single mistake, or even a mere accusation, rather than by the arc of their lives. Imagine if this criterion were applied to all of you!

    The world of woke invokes the Red Queen of Alice in Wonderland, “Sentence first—verdict afterwards.” Rule of law, presumption of innocence, and evidence out the window. With regard to centuries of horrific sexual assault, what is sorely needed is an atmosphere where women can come forward, be taken seriously, and where there is due process, all as part of getting to a radically different world.

    6  Woke Lunacy: Accusations of “appropriation” to censor artistic expression

    Identity hustlers have turned censoring art into an art form of its own. Cancelling authors, blacklisting fiction, covering murals, censoring art because the creator is of the “wrong” identity—or because it's not “their” story to tell. Woke Lunacy treats the diverse fluorescence of cultures and struggles of our planet as property to be owned and commodified, miserly guarded against “appropriation.If art and fiction were restricted to direct experience alone, would there be any left?

    7  Woke Lunacy: Insisting all follow “BIPOC leadership”—when there is no such thing!

    Who is “BIPOC leadership,” pray tell? AOC? Kamala Harris? Candace Owens? Clarence Thomas? When children in Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan were afraid to look at a clear blue sky because of Obama’s drones raining down bombs and terror, do you think they gave a fuck that he was the first Black president?

    Leaders should be evaluated not based on “identity,” but on whether they are correctly identifying the source of the problem, pointing the pathways to getting humanity free, and bringing forward others who can do the same.

    ***

    In the words of Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader and author of the new communism:

    Instead of “staying in your lane,” and “going for self,” while this system is moving to even more decisively crush any hope for a world worth living in, people need to be looking at the bigger picture, focusing on the greater interests of humanity and the possibility for a far better world—and acting to make this a reality....

    Instead of snarking and sniping at each other, and being divided by “identities,” people should be working to unite everyone, from every part of society, who can be united in the fight against oppression and injustice, with the goal of putting an end to this system that is the source of this oppression and injustice.

     

    Watch: youtube.com/therevcoms
    Read: www.revcom.us
    Follow: @therevcoms

  • ARTICLE:

    PUTTING AN END TO EXPLOITATION,
    AND ALL OPPRESSION

    In a previous article, I analyzed what exploitation is, how exploitation is the basis of the capitalist system, and how exploitation can be ended by “making revolution to overthrow this system, and replacing it with a fundamentally different and far better system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.1 Here I am going to examine further some key dimensions of this.

    Economic systems (modes of production) that are based on exploitation are ones in which part of the labor of those who are exploited is remunerated (paid for, in some form), while another part of that labor is not remunerated (is unpaid), and the wealth created by that unpaid labor is appropriated (taken) by a force standing above and in effect dictating to those who are compelled to work under these conditions.

    Capitalism and Slavery

    Capitalism is not the only system based on exploitation. But it is a system in which the exploitation is not immediately clear. It is a system in which it appears on the surface that the labor is “paid in full”—that an “equal exchange” has taken place between the capitalist and the workers the capitalist exploits: the capitalist pays the workers a wage, and they carry out work for the capitalist. But, in fact, as in all systems of exploitation, part of the labor of the workers exploited under capitalism is paid and part is unpaid: the wage of the workers is equal to only a part of the value (wealth) they create while working for the capitalist, and the rest of the value created by their labor goes to the capitalist.

    Slavery is the opposite of capitalism in this regard: Under the slave system, it appears on the surface that all of the labor of the slaves is “unpaid,” because they are generally not paid in money. But the reality is that the slaves are “paid” in the fact that, with all the terrible cruelty of the slave system, the slave-owners do provide the slaves with the bare minimum requirements of life, such as some form of shelter, food, clothing, etc. If the slave-owners did not do this, then the slaves would quickly be unable to work, and the slave-owners would go bankrupt. What especially distinguishes slavery, as the horrific system it is, is not that the labor of the slaves is entirely “unpaid,” but that the slaves are literally the property of the slave-owners, with everything that involves—the terrible atrocities continually visited upon the slaves by the slave-owners—including mass rape, selling children away from their parents, whipping and other brutal punishment of slaves, not only for revolting against the slave-owners but for the mere attempt to escape, or simply for failing to meet constantly expanding demands on their labor (for example, how much cotton they are required to pick daily).

    Obviously, for the slaves, there is nothing good about the slave system—it is an absolute horror.

    To review: In both of these systems—the capitalist system and the slave system—those who carry out the labor that produces things are exploited, but in the one case (capitalism) it appears that the labor is entirely paid, with a wage, in a seemingly “equal exchange,” while in the other case (slavery) the appearance is that all the labor is unpaid. But, with the very real differences between these systems of exploitation, in both cases the labor is partly paid, and partly unpaid.

    This is the essential and defining feature of a system of exploitation: those who are exploited are compelled, by one means or another, to carry out labor that creates wealth beyond what is necessary for their survival and ability to work—and that wealth goes not to them, or for their benefit, but to the class of people that stands above and in effect dictates to them.2

    The essence of exploitation is not that people are compelled to work hard. Nor is it simply that they produce a surplus through unpaid labor. It is that they are compelled to do this under conditions that are oppressive and alienating: because those they work for have the power of life and death over them, in one form or another... because they have no say in what the purpose of their labor is, nor how the wealth they create is used, and for whose benefit... and because the appropriation, by exploiters, of the wealth that is created strengthens the position of those exploiters over those who are forced to work for them.

    Under slavery, the slave-owners’ power of life and death over the slaves is obvious. Under capitalism this power of life and death is less blatant and extreme, but it exists in a real sense because the exploited class of wage-workers (the proletariat) is in a position where they can only survive (can only acquire the means to live) by working for, and being exploited by, one capitalist or another—and those capitalists will continually drive them harder, or throw them out on the street, in accordance with the needs of the capitalists who are themselves driven by the relentless competition among capitalists. (The existence of significant numbers of people who cannot be profitably exploited, and are therefore unemployed, is a constant feature of capitalism; and the constant threat of unemployment strengthens the hand of the capitalists over the workers they do employ, and exploit.)

    Putting an End to Exploitation and Oppression

    To end exploitation, it is necessary to end the conditions on which exploitation rests. And this requires the radical, thorough transformation of society, and ultimately the world, as a whole. It requires, as the first great leap, overthrowing the economic and political system of capitalism, and bringing about its replacement by a socialist system, which will move to abolish the basis for exploitation. In the fundamental realm of the economy (the mode of production), this requires expropriating the capitalist exploiters: ending the capitalists’ ownership and control of the means of production (land, raw materials, factories, machinery and other technology used in production), converting these means of production into the common property of society, utilized by the socialist government, in a planned way, in the interests of the masses of people who have created these means of production, through their collective labor (even as that labor had been carried out under conditions of exploitation by capitalists).3

    But, as much as this is a crucial—and, in a real sense, historic—step, it is just the beginning. It is still the case that, for society to function, and to meet the needs of the people (basic material needs, but also political, social, intellectual and cultural needs) on a continually expanding basis, it is necessary for productive labor to be carried out, as the foundation for all this. To eliminate exploitation, it is necessary to transform the character of that labor. It must become labor that is not exploitative and not alienating for those who carry it out.

    There is a profound, fundamental difference between being driven to work hard by a force standing above you—in a real sense dictating to you—and on the other hand working hard together with loved ones, friends, and comrades to accomplish goals that you have arrived at and agreed upon in common. Many people have experienced this difference in their everyday lives. Expanded to the level of a country, and ultimately the whole world, this is the profound, fundamental difference between living under a system based on exploitation, such as capitalism, and living in a system whose goal is to eliminate exploitation, and all the oppressive relations that go along with exploitation.

    To achieve this historic transformation, the character of labor and the relations in which that labor is carried out (the relations of production) must be transformed, along with (and as the foundation for) transforming the character of the society as a whole. For any society to continue functioning, a surplus must be produced—beyond what people need to fulfill the essential requirements of life. A fundamental difference between an exploitative and non-exploitative system is in how that surplus is created, how it is utilized, and how decisions about this are made.

    In socialist society, people are guaranteed employment, and in that sense the individual struggle for survival has become a thing of the past—is no longer something that people have to be concerned with or worry about. But, beyond that, the surplus created in this socialist society must be utilized to continually expand the basis to fulfill the all-around needs of the people, including in the realms of education, culture, and so on; to deal with natural disasters and act as caretakers of the environment; to defend the socialist country from attack—and, crucially, to provide an expanding material foundation for the struggle to eliminate and uproot relations of oppression within the country and to support revolutionary struggle in the world overall—while also providing for future generations. So, once again, the decisive question is: how, under what conditions, is that surplus produced, and for what purposes is it utilized?

    To move beyond a system based on exploitation, not only must private ownership of the means of production by competing capitalists be eliminated, and replaced by socialized ownership by society as a whole, but oppressive divisions characteristic of the old, exploitative society must be overcome. This includes the division between mental and manual labor—the unequal relations between those whose labor is essentially intellectual (mental labor) and those who carry out labor that is essentially physical (manual labor). It also includes oppressive racial, sexual and gender relations, and other divisions which contain the basis for oppression and antagonism between different parts of society. All this is built into capitalism, and other systems based on exploitation. And all this must be transformed, in order for exploitation to be ended. At the same time, the masses of people must take part, in an increasingly conscious way, in determining the goals, and in the planning to meet the goals, in the development of the economy and the society overall, not only with the particular country in mind but with the fundamental orientation of contributing to the transformation of the world as a whole, toward the ultimate goal of communism, with the abolition of all exploitation and oppression everywhere.

    All this is the basis on which the labor that is carried out as the foundation for society becomes not alienating and exploitative, but instead contributes to emancipation on a fundamentally voluntary and increasingly conscious basis. Once again, what is involved is the profound difference between being compelled to work for a force standing above and dictating to you—which is the situation under capitalism and all systems of exploitation—and, on the other hand, working together with others to develop, in a continually expanding way, the material/economic basis to achieve goals which have been decided upon in common, and which continually expand human beings’ freedom from the mere struggle for survival, as well as from oppressive relations—a freedom that is increasingly brought about in socialist society, and achieved in even fuller dimensions once communism has been brought into being, on a world scale.4

    The basic orientation, and concrete guidelines, for bringing into being a society, and ultimately a whole world, where this can be made a reality, are set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.5

    Everyone who hungers for, or dreams about, a world where human beings will no longer be exploited and oppressed—but instead can truly thrive, in the fullest of their humanity—needs to be consciously, actively, tirelessly working for the emancipating revolution that can make this a reality. And, for reasons I have analyzed in a number of works, this is a “rare time” when this revolution is not only urgently necessary but also more possible—and this “rare time” must not be wasted and thrown away but seized on, with conscious determination to bring about this emancipating revolution.6

    ****

    Notes, Further Explanations and Points to Explore

    by Bob Avakian

    1. The article, “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End to It,” is available at revcom.us. [back]

    2. Karl Marx, the founder of communism, pointed out that in the feudal system the relation between paid and unpaid labor is more clear: In this system, serfs carry out labor on land that is owned by feudal lords; a large part of what the serfs produce goes to the feudal lord, while the serfs are allowed to keep only a small part for their very basic needs. The sharecropping system that existed in the southern United States for more or less a century after the Civil War—in which masses of Black people (and some poor whites) were viciously exploited—was essentially a form of this feudal system. But, once more, this feudal system of exploitation, in which the relation between paid and unpaid labor is more obvious, has in common with all systems of exploitation that part of the labor of those who are exploited is paid, in one form or another, and part is unpaid, and the value created by that unpaid part is appropriated by a force standing above, and in a real sense dictating to, those who are forced to labor under these conditions. [back]

    3. In Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary, I discuss the role of labor in creating the means of production. Breakthroughs is also available at revcom.us. [back]

    4 & 5. An observation on the following :

    Once again, what is involved is the profound difference between being compelled to work for a force standing above and dictating to you—which is the situation under capitalism and all systems of exploitation—and, on the other hand, working together with others to develop, in a continually expanding way, the material/economic basis to achieve goals which have been decided upon in common, and which continually expand human beings’ freedom from the mere struggle for survival, as well as from oppressive relations—a freedom that is increasingly brought about in socialist society, and achieved in even fuller dimensions once communism has been brought into being, on a world scale.

    Where it is said that the goals “have been decided upon in common,” this refers to an overall process which involves, on the one hand, mass forms for people to directly discuss and debate these goals, and how to achieve them, and elections at various levels of society, up to the central government level, through which people have input into the big questions regarding the development of the economy and the society overall. While some of this will take place at the level of the basic economic units and institutions of society (for example, schools as well as places of work), it will all feed into the different levels of government, up to the central government for the society as a whole. It is through this overall process—and not at the level of particular factories or other workplaces or institutions—that the ultimate decisions will be made concerning the goals, and the means for achieving the goals, with regard to the development of the economy and the society as a whole. While input from the basic levels of society is a necessary and crucial part of this process, if decision making is left at the level of particular economic units or other particular parts of society—rather than being ultimately determined by the institutions of government for the society as a whole, drawing on input from throughout society—then the result will be that the needs and interests of the different particular parts of society will come into conflict with each other, the larger common interests of people will be undermined, and society will be drawn back in the direction of reverting to a system based on exploitation.

    What is needed is an overall plan for the goals, and the means of achieving the goals, for the society as a whole, with all the different parts of society having a significant degree of input, and taking significant initiative, within this overall framework and plan. And the standard for this plan to embody and promote relations that are not exploitative, but emancipating, is that they contribute to continually expanding human beings’ freedom from the mere struggle for survival, as well as from oppressive relations.

    Once more: The basic orientation, and concrete guidelines, for bringing into being a society, and ultimately a whole world, where this can be made a reality, are set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which is available at revcom.us. [back to 4] [back to 5]

    6. See, for example,  Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution, which is available at revcom.us. [back]

    Finally: Food for thought, and further exploration. Another important requirement for advancing to a communist world—moving entirely beyond capitalism, and all relations of exploitation and oppression—is that the productive capacity of society has developed, on a non-exploitative basis, to the point where the essential needs of people for a decent life, and the overall needs of society, can be met without most people having to spend most of their waking hours in physical labor, and they are freed to take part in many other dimensions of work and life. Along with this, income inequality among the people must be eliminated and surpassed, with money no longer playing a role in the relations among people—a situation where money no longer determines or influences the production and exchange of things in society, and in fact money has been eliminated altogether in the functioning of society. What the necessary conditions are, and how society can function, in a way that enables human beings to live in a world where money has no role and has been eliminated, along with relations of inequality and oppression... where people’s needs can be met, on a continually expanding basis, without money, and without the need for people to calculate in the miserly terms of money relations... how society can function according to the communist principle “from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs,” where people contribute to society voluntarily, free from concern as to whether their needs will be met, and in turn people receive what they need for a decent life, without any exchange of money: All this involves complex questions, which are definitely worth digging into, even as this is beyond the scope of this particular article.

  • ARTICLE:

    EXPLOITATION: WHAT IT IS,
    HOW TO PUT AN END TO IT

    In a recent report, about revolutionary work in Chicago, one of the people there drawn to the revolution indicated that he did not know what the word “exploitation” means. Because this word “exploitation” describes something very basic about the system of capitalism that we are now forced to live under, and because many people do not have a clear understanding of this, it is important to explain what is meant by “exploitation.”

    In the most general sense, to “exploit” means “to take advantage.”  More specifically, it can mean taking advantage of—using—other people. And in terms of a scientific understanding with regard to the economy, “exploitation” refers to a situation where one person, or a group of people, accumulates capitalist wealth that is created by the labor of others. Capitalism is a system in which a relatively small number of people, the capitalists, own and control the major means of production (factories, land, raw materials, machinery and other technology, and so on), and are therefore in a position to force other people, who do not own or control means of production, to work for them. It is the labor of those exploited by the capitalists—and not the “brilliance” or “entrepreneurial genius” of the capitalists—that actually creates the wealth that the capitalists appropriate (take for their own profit and use)

    Once again, the capitalists are in a position to appropriate wealth that is produced by others, whom they exploit, because the capitalists own and control the major means of production—means of production which themselves were created through the labor of people exploited by capitalists. (For example, in a capitalist-owned factory, the machinery that people work on was produced by people, in other factories, working on raw materials to create that machinery; and those raw materials, in turn, were mined by people also working under conditions of capitalist exploitation.)1

    Under the capitalist system, there is always a “surplus population”—people who are unemployed because they cannot be profitably exploited. (And the existence of people in this position is something which the capitalists take advantage of in exploiting those they do employ—“if you don’t want this job at the wage I am paying you, there are plenty of other people out there who are desperate for work...”)

    Today, this system of capitalism has developed into a highly globalized system of exploitation, capitalism-imperialism, in which a relatively small number of capitalists own and control means of production on a massive scale and appropriate huge amounts of capitalist wealth, on the basis of exploiting billions of people throughout the world, including hundreds of millions of women and more than 150 million children who are most viciously exploited (super-exploited), especially in the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia).2

    Once again, these billions of people are in a position where they can be viciously exploited because they do not own means of production (many of them, particularly in Third World countries, are people whose families previously owned small parcels of land on which they farmed, but they have been forced off the land, no longer able to survive by farming, in large part because of the domination of the politics and the economy of their countries by capitalists centered in imperialist countries like the U.S.).

    It is this system of capitalism-imperialism that is the root cause of all the horrendous, unnecessary suffering and madness that people throughout the world are subjected to, and the growing threat to the very existence of human beings as a whole.

    To get rid of exploitation—and all the oppression that goes along with it—it is necessary to get rid of the system of capitalism-imperialism. And that means making revolution to overthrow this system, and replacing it with a fundamentally different and far better system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    What this revolution and this radically new system are all about... why this revolution is possible... and how to carry out this revolution—all this is made clear in a number of works of mine, and others, at revcom.us, including the proclamation WE ARE THE REVCOMS, and the declaration from the revcoms WE NEED AND WE DEMAND: A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE, A FUNDAMENTALLY DIFFERENT SYSTEM, as well as the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. This is also brought alive on the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show.

    And here is the challenge:

    Everyone who can’t stand this world the way it is... who is sick and tired of so many people being treated as less than human... who knows that the claim of “liberty and justice for all” is a cruel lie... who is righteously enraged that injustice and inequality go on, and on, and on, despite false promises and honeyed words from people in power (or those seeking power)... everyone who agonizes about where things are headed and the fact that to be young now means being denied a decent future, or any future at all... everyone who has ever dreamed about something much better, or even wondered whether that is possible... everyone who hungers for a world without oppression, exploitation, poverty, and destruction of the environment... everyone who has the heart to fight for something that is really worth fighting for: YOU need to be part of this revolution.

    Especially at a time like this—a time when big things are up in the world, affecting the whole future of humanity...when those big-time exploiters and oppressors who rule over us in this country are bitterly divided among themselves and increasingly unable to hold things together as a “unified” ruling class...when there is not just an urgent need but a real possibility to seize on this situation to overthrow them altogether—if you are NOT getting with the revcoms (revolutionary communists) who are working every day for this revolution, if you are not part of working to bring about this revolution, then what the hell are you doing?!3

     

    ********************

    Notes, by Bob Avakian.

    1. The bitter effects of being part of the exploited class—the proletariat—under the capitalist system is something people experience in their everyday life. In the book The New Communism, I spoke to this:

    You may be on the bottom of society—either you have no job and you’re scuffling the way you can, or you get a job and somebody exploits you. And to get that job, you have to go and sell yourself. That’s what you do. You go in for a job interview and they say, “Well, now, let’s get into your history,” and all that. Sometimes they want you to piss in a bottle, and sometimes they want to know everything about your personal history, they want to know if you have ever been arrested, or do you have a felony conviction. And you can’t say, “What the fuck, just give me the job, goddamn it, I’m hungry!” You’re out the door. You can’t even more politely say, “Excuse me, but that’s kind of a personal question, don’t you think?” No, because the person interviewing you is...working for the people who own the means of production, and you don’t own any, so you’re in a powerless position, because if you don’t satisfy them, they don’t hire you. (This is from “Introduction and Orientation, Foolish Victims of Deceit, and Self-Deceit,” pages 31-32, in The New Communism.)

    As for the foundation of the capitalist system, this was built up with a lot of violence. For example, in Europe, several centuries ago, large numbers of peasants (small-scale farmers) were driven off their land and forced into the position of proletarians, having to sell their labor power (their ability to work) to capitalists developing in the cities on the basis of their role as merchants, as the heads of early manufacturing associations, as money-lenders, etc. In the Americas, huge numbers of the original inhabitants, who had managed to survive the wars and disease brought by European invaders, were forced to labor, often under literally life-stealing conditions, to enrich exploiters who came to the Americas from Spain and other countries. And, let us not forget, the foundation for the wealth of this capitalist country—the “good ole USA”—was, to a very large extent, based on slave labor.

    As Karl Marx, the founder of communism, pointed out, with biting irony: The “rosy dawn” of capitalism was marked by the enslavement of massive numbers of Africans; literally working to death conquered people in South America forced to mine precious metals; and other monstrous means of accumulating wealth.

    It is a fact that some of the earlier societies in the Americas—such as the Inca empire in South America and the Aztecs in Mexico—were themselves based on exploitation of masses of people by the ruling classes in those societies; and it is true that there was slavery within Africa itself for some time before the invasion of that continent by European exploiters. But all this took on much greater and more horrific dimensions, beginning several centuries ago, with the conquest and colonization of these continents, the development of the international slave trade and the relentless machinery of capitalist exploitation, through which generation after generation of people, in the millions and millions, have been ruthlessly used up and killed off, quickly or more slowly, in the manic capitalist quest, and merciless competition among capitalists, for profit and more profit. [back]

    2. Besides those who are directly involved in exploiting people in the process of producing the wealth of the capitalist system, there are also other capitalist exploiters. For example, there are the banks and other financial institutions that make profit through loans to the corporations and other businesses that directly exploit people. (These loans have to be repaid, with an additional amount of money—the “interest.”)   Plus, often these financial institutions themselves invest in the corporations that are directly exploiting people. And, in turn, large-scale corporations also become involved in financial transactions. Finance capital becomes woven together with capital directly used to exploit people in the process of production. There are also merchant capitalists—for example, those who sell clothing, or food and other basic necessities. And then there are those who invest in the stock market—but that just amounts to a kind of gambling—betting on which capitalist enterprises will be more successful in exploiting people.

    Here is the most fundamental point: the source of the wealth that these different capitalists accumulate is the exploitation of people who are forced to work for one or another capitalist (or capitalist corporation, etc.) in the process of producing the things that people use. [back]

    3. Why this is a rare time when revolution, even in a powerful imperialist country like the U.S., becomes more possible, is examined in a number of works of mine, and others, at revcom.us, including Revolution: Major Turning Points And Rare Opportunities, as well as  Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating:  Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution; and Organizing for an Actual Revolution: 7 Key Points. And, again, this is also brought alive on the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    Killer Mike, Ice Cube,

    WHY CAPITALIST PROGRAMS and BOURGEOIS ASPIRATIONS 
    CANNOT LEAD TO LIBERATION

    and

    WHY WE NEED A REAL REVOLUTION

    To begin, in order to have the necessary foundation for what I am going to get into here, let’s get clear on some basic things. First, what is meant by bourgeoisie? It is another way of saying (it is a French word that means) the capitalist class. What do I mean by “class”? A “class” of people is a part of society that is defined by its position within the relations in that society, and in particular its position and role in the economy. So what is the capitalist class? As I pointed out in articles about exploitation, the capitalist class is a small part of society that dominates the rest of society on the basis of exploiting people—capitalists use the labor of other people to accumulate wealth for themselves.1 The capitalist class rules capitalist society as a whole, as a result of its dominant role in the economy.

    And then there is the petty (or petite) bourgeoisie. This literally means the “small” bourgeoisie, but it actually refers to the middle class—small-scale business people, people with degrees in higher education, people in the arts, teachers and preachers and others who occupy a middle position between the big-time exploiters (the ruling capitalist class) and the proletarians, the mass of people exploited by the capitalists.2

    With that as a foundation, let’s get into the heart of the matter. 

    In a recent article, I sharply called out chains on people who desperately need to be free, including the obsessive pursuit of money, and misogyny—hating women and subjecting them to degradation in countless ways. I talked about how all this is “constantly promoted and pumped out in the ‘popular culture,’ including in Hip Hop.” (I also referred to how this garbage has perverted this creative art form of Hip Hop, which could be, and should be, a powerful voice for liberation, but has been turned into something else under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism.)3

    In a guest appearance, as himself, in a recent episode of the fictional Showtime program Billions, the rapper and actor Killer Mike provided yet another striking example of exactly the profound problem I was pointing to. First of all, in a discussion with the character Mike Prince, a billionaire financial parasite, Killer Mike is not even ashamed to say that he “likes” strip clubs—which are a concentrated expression of the sexual degradation of women.

    Then, in the same discussion with the Prince character, Killer Mike goes on to demand that Prince (who is running for president) invest in some Black banks. (Prince promises to do that, and in turn Killer Mike promises to endorse Prince.) As portrayed in this program, Killer Mike is thinking and talking like a parasitic financier himself. And, importantly, as I explained in another article, in the capitalist system banks are institutions that make money on the basis of the exploitation of masses of people. The following applies to banks as well as all other capitalist enterprises: 

    Here is the most fundamental point: the source of the wealth that these different capitalists accumulate is the exploitation of people who are forced to work for one or another capitalist (or capitalist corporation, etc.) in the process of producing the things that people use.”4

    As opposed to what is put forward continually in this country, including through movies and television programs like Billions: “It is the labor of those exploited by the capitalists—and not the ‘brilliance’ or ‘entrepreneurial genius’ of the capitalists—that actually creates the wealth that the capitalists appropriate (take for their own profit and use).”5

    At the same time, capitalism is not only based on ruthless exploitation of masses of people, but this is driven by cutthroat competition among the capitalists themselves. The capitalists who win out in this competition are those who most effectively and ruthlessly exploit people. They either do this, or face the prospect of being eaten up or driven under by other capitalists. And, for the masses of people exploited by the capitalists, this means that the capitalists will continually drive them harder, or throw them out on the street, in accordance with the needs of the capitalists who are themselves driven by the relentless competition among capitalists. This is why, despite what a few individual capitalists might want to do, there is, and there can be, no such thing as “compassionate capitalism.”

    As Killer Mike insists, Black banks are no doubt subject to discrimination, like Black people in general—and such discrimination should be opposed—but they are nevertheless capitalist institutions, resting on mass exploitation and driven by the basic laws of capitalist economics.

    Apparently, the idea voiced by Killer Mike is that building up Black banks (and the Black bourgeoisie overall) will somehow lead to a significant improvement for the masses of Black people. This is a tired-out notion, propagated by the bourgeoisie and its representatives everywhere—that promoting its interests will serve the interests of the people more broadly. In fact, as I will get into further, the interests of the bourgeoisie, of any nation, are fundamentally different than the interests of the masses of people.

    But, before getting into this overall point more fully, it is necessary to point out that the whole Atlanta Hip Hop scene, out of which Killer Mike has emerged, is a cesspool in which rap music is intertwined with drug trafficking and the degradation of women, including through strip clubs. But the problem is not limited to Killer Mike and the Atlanta Hip Hop scene. In the context of the last (2020) presidential election, the rapper/actor Ice Cube came up with a program for Black capitalism and flirted with the idea of supporting the openly, blatantly racist Donald Trump, who expressed “interest” in this capitalist scheme.

    All this is a sharp illustration of the point I made in Breakthroughs, speaking to the situation among the masses of Black people and other oppressed people:

    [T]here is the phenomenon that in the realm of culture, for example, a certain, relatively small but influential, section of people has managed to rise from within these masses to basically a bourgeois position.... [T]his includes people who have not only utilized the realm of culture but also in some cases the realm of crime to wrench out a position in which they become quite wealthy, and then they invest in lines of cosmetics and clothes, and so on—they become real bourgeois, even as many of them are part of an oppressed nation or people. And they have the corresponding outlook to a very significant degree.6

    That “corresponding outlook” is not one which can lead the masses of Black people, or the masses of people overall, to get free.

    Why Bourgeois and Petty Bourgeois Programs and Aspirations Cannot Lead to Real Liberation

    It is important to keep in mind that the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie are classes of people not only in this country overall, but more particularly within the oppressed Black nation in this country. On the one hand, these classes of Black people are subjected, in various ways, to the prejudicial and discriminatory treatment that is directed against Black people as a whole in this white supremacist society; and, despite their economic and social position, people within the Black petite bourgeoisie, and even the Black bourgeoisie, can still become the victims of brutality and murder by the police, enforcing the oppressive relations of this system as a whole. On the other hand, the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie occupy positions above the masses of Black people—and, to varying degrees, they have privileged positions in the society overall, even with the discrimination they are subjected to—and their spontaneous outlook is fundamentally an expression of their class positions.7

    Along with the promotion of Black capitalism as the supposed “salvation” for Black people, there is the widespread promotion of “wokeness,” including by sections of the Black petite bourgeoisie (for example, many Black people in academia and the media). As we revcoms (revolutionary communists) have called attention to:

    “Woke” once meant righteous awareness of racial oppression but has long since morphed into fanatical lunacy and vicious mob mentality. A bloodlust to target and tear into individuals, while cowardly ducking, and often, actively obstructing the real and needed fight against the system, especially its overthrow through an actual revolution!

    And this “wokeness” involves

    Bizarre and capricious rules enforced by cancel culture threats. Puffed-up unscientific claims to “represent the marginalized.” Insisting that people “stay in their lanes” in fighting oppression. “Woke” lunacy manifests much that is harmful with the capitalist-imperialist system and its dominant culture, furthering the nightmare of humanity!8

    This is another expression of how, today, much of the outlook, and the actions, of the supposedly “progressive” petite bourgeoisie, including much of the Black petite bourgeoisie, is actually very harmful—opposed to and obstructing a real fight for the emancipation of Black people and all oppressed people.

    In the mainstream media, through the bourgeois electoral system, and in many other ways, representatives of the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie—and many representatives of this system of capitalism-imperialism overall—try to present things as if these more privileged classes of Black people are “role models” for Black people as a whole (and people more generally), and what these classes are striving for is supposedly the way to overcome discrimination and inequality. But the truth is this: The goals and aspirations of the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie cannot lead to the liberation of the masses of Black people—or oppressed people in general—for this basic reason: they do not see beyond, and are not striving to get beyond, this system of capitalism-imperialism, which mercilessly exploits and murderously oppresses masses of people, here and all over the world. Instead they are striving to get in on and get more for themselves out of this monstrous system (even if this is sometimes accompanied by the claim that improving their position will do good for, and improve the position of, the masses of Black people). But the fact is that this will not, and cannot, change the oppressed condition of the masses of Black people, and other oppressed people. It will not even change the fact that, despite their more privileged position, the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie, as part of the oppressed Black nation, will still be subjected to, and will not be able to fully escape, the discrimination and brutality that Black people as a whole are subjected to under this system, which has white supremacy built into it. To do away with all that, requires doing away with this system of capitalism-imperialism, through an actual revolution.

    There is also a current among the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie—for example, with someone like Farrakhan—to be seeking to establish a separate Black country, with themselves as the ruling class of that country. In this regard, there are important matters of understanding and principle. First, the right of self-determination of the oppressed Black nation, including the right to form a separate country, must be upheld—and is upheld in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have written (this Constitution is available at revcom.us). At the same time, a separate Black country ruled by a Black bourgeoisie and operating according to the principles of capitalism could only function by exploiting the masses of Black people. And, as a capitalist country in a world dominated by the system of capitalism-imperialism and the major capitalist-imperialist powers, such a Black capitalist country could only occupy a subordinate and dominated position within that overall world system.

    All these are basic reasons why, despite their pretensions, the bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie, of any nation or country, cannot lead to the liberation of the masses of people, with the ending of all relations of exploitation and oppression. And, once again, the representatives of these classes are not even aiming to put an end to all relations of exploitation and oppression, but rather to establish, or improve, their position within such relations.

    Real Liberation—A Truly Emancipating Revolution            

    Karl Marx, the founder of communism, emphasized this very important point: The political and intellectual representatives of every class claim that the particular interests of the class they are part of, also represent the general interests of the people and the society overall. But the reality is that there is only one class whose interests—not in a narrow sense, but in the largest and most fundamental sense—represent the interests of the masses of humanity and ultimately humanity as a whole. That class is the proletariatof all races, nations and countries—the exploited class of people under this system of capitalism-imperialism, which can only put an end to its exploited condition by abolishing this system of capitalism-imperialism and uprooting all relations of exploitation and oppression, everywhere.9

    Once more, building up the Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie has not, will not, and cannot do away with discrimination, inequality and oppression—it will not and cannot do away with the situation of Black people as a whole as an oppressed people. This oppression cannot be done away with under this system for the basic reason that white supremacy is built into this system and into every part of this country—in employment, education, housing, and so on—and all this is enforced by the ruling institutions, including the murderous police and other violent enforcers of this system.

    It is both possible and important to win significant sections of the petite bourgeoisie to the revolution that is urgently needed to do away with exploitation and all oppression—and this definitely applies to the petite bourgeoisie, and even some among the bourgeoisie, of the oppressed Black nation. But these classes, and the interests they represent as such, can never lead a revolution that will be in the interests of the masses of oppressed and exploited Black people, and oppressed and exploited people overall.

    Once again this is because the spontaneous outlook, goals, aspirations and the strivings of these classes is to get a better place for themselves within this system of capitalism-imperialism, which is the fundamental source and cause of this exploitation and oppression—and abolishing this exploitation and oppression is impossible without abolishing this system.

    At the same time, a very important point in relation to all this is that people can, and do, take up the outlook and goals that correspond to the interests of a class other than the class to which those people belong. Right now, for example, it is unfortunately the case that among the exploited class of proletarians (and the oppressed overall) in this country (and others), masses of people have been conditioned to take up, and have taken up, the outlook and values of this putrid system of capitalism-imperialism. On the other hand, it is also true that, while the ruling class of this system will remain determined to maintain this system, through the most murderous and destructive means, masses of people—not only among the proletariat, but among other sections of society—can be won to recognize the urgent need, and the possibility, for the revolution to overthrow this system and bring something much better into being. Human beings are thinking beings, and as such people broadly can come to recognize that the only way to be rid of the madness and agony of living under this system—the only way to a future worth living for the masses of humanity, and ultimately for humanity as a whole—is to take up and carry through this revolution. But, especially given the heavy weight of this capitalist-imperialist system, and the ways it works to shape people, masses of people can be won to this only if those who do recognize the need for this revolution wage ferocious struggle to break people broadly out of the bullshit ways that this system has conditioned them to think and act, and win them to become conscious revolutionary emancipators of humanity, aiming for nothing less than ending, and uprooting, all exploitation and oppression, all over the world.

    To sum up and conclude with this crucial point: A truly emancipating revolution—actually aiming for the abolition of all exploitation and oppression—can only be, and must be, led by the growing ranks of revolutionary communists, representing the fundamental and largest interests of the exploited class under capitalism, the proletariat, in overthrowing this system of capitalism-imperialism and bringing into being a radically different and much better system—with a fundamentally different economic foundation (mode of production), and emancipating political institutions, social relations and culture—as set forth in both a sweeping and concrete way in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America.

    _______________

    NOTES by Bob Avakian.

    The following refer to articles and other works of mine (except for #8, which was written by a writing group of revcoms). These works are all available at revcom.us.

    1. “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End To It”; and “Putting an End to Exploitation, and All Oppression.” [back]

    2. There is discussion of the position and role of different sections of the petite bourgeoisie in Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary. [back]

    3. “State of Emergency: Chains on People Who Desperately Need to Be Free, A message from Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism.” A video based on a recording I made of this article is also available as part of the YouTube The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show (episode #164). [back]

    4. “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End to It,” footnote 2. That footnote also makes the following important points:

    Besides those who are directly involved in exploiting people in the process of producing the wealth of the capitalist system, there are also other capitalist exploiters. For example, there are the banks and other financial institutions that make profit through loans to the corporations and other businesses that directly exploit people. (These loans have to be repaid, with an additional amount of money—the “interest.”) Plus, often these financial institutions themselves invest in the corporations that are directly exploiting people. And, in turn, large-scale corporations also become involved in financial transactions. Finance capital becomes woven together with capital directly used to exploit people in the process of production. There are also merchant capitalists—for example, those who sell clothing, or food and other basic necessities. And then there are those who invest in the stock market—but that just amounts to a kind of gambling—betting on which capitalist enterprises will be more successful in exploiting people. [back]

    5. “Exploitation: What It Is, How to Put an End to It” (emphasis added). [back]

    6. Breakthroughs. [back]

    7. There is the fact that, even with the systematic discrimination and inequality that Black people as a whole are subjected to under this system, they still share, to different degrees, in the parasitic spoils of the American empire—the way American capitalism-imperialism feasts off the exploitation of people around the world, especially in the Third World of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia. (A parasite lives off—and literally or in effect sucks the blood of—other living beings. American capitalism-imperialism is a highly parasitic empire, whose functioning and accumulation of wealth and power is based on viciously exploiting people all over the world, including by super-exploiting huge numbers of children in the Third World.) Everyone in this parasitic USA receives some of the “benefits” (the spoils) of this worldwide exploitation, although this is distributed among different classes of people in a highly unequal way. The Black bourgeoisie and petite bourgeoisie, because of their position within the economic and social structure of this country, receive substantially more of these spoils than the people on the bottom of society, including masses of Black people, whose conditions of systematic and brutal oppression and deprivation far outweigh any spoils they receive as a result of living in this parasitic country. [back]

    8. A Seven Point Indictment: “WOKE” IS A DESTRUCTIVE FORCE in the political, intellectual, artistic and ethical life of society. [back]

    9. This important point from Marx is discussed in Hope For Humanity On A Scientific Basis, Breaking with Individualism, Parasitism and American Chauvinism, in the section “Particular Interests and General Interests—Differing Class Interests and the Highest Interests of Humanity.” This is available at revcom.us in the section BA’s Collected Works. (The work by Marx being discussed is The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte.) [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    THE TRIALS OF FASCIST DONALD TRUMP,
    AND THE CRIMINAL NATURE OF THIS WHOLE SYSTEM

    Or: Don’t Be Played for Suckers by Trump’s Posturing, or the Democrats’ Posing as Defenders of Justice—We Need a Revolution and a Fundamentally Different and Far Better System

    As I am writing this, Donald Trump is facing multiple criminal indictments and impending trials, relating to his attempt to pull off a coup and remain in power after he lost the 2020 election, and other accusations of serious crimes.

    Beyond just Trump’s hardcore supporters, some people—who look at things only in partial ways and on the surface—have fallen for the claim, loudly declared by Trump himself, that he is the victim of unjust prosecution, or persecution.1 This includes some among those bitterly oppressed under this system, who have been taken in by the superficial appearance that, since Trump is being gone after by people running the government, then there is something to identify with in Trump’s situation, even something to admire and respect in how Trump is defiantly denouncing these criminal charges and those bringing them. 

    In this regard, it is important to consider that Trump’s posturing—including his attempt to strike a “mad dog” pose in his mug shot in his “booking” for his trial in Atlanta—seems to be aimed at appealing not only to his openly and aggressively racist “base” but also to others who should know better, including Black and Latino men (Trump apparently calculates that at least some of them will be impressed by his macho posturing).

    This adds an additional dimension to why it is important to be clear about what it is that Trump actually represents, and what is actually going on with these indictments of him.

    On a certain level, there is the fact that, as I have pointed out before—and as I will get into further here—Donald Trump Isn’t “Tough,” He’s a Bloated Bag of Fascist Feces.2

    But it is necessary to go deeper, to get to the basics and the essence of the matter.

    First of all, Trump is a representative of the ruling class of this life-stealing, soul-crushing system of U.S. capitalism-imperialism, and he has the backing of a powerful section of that ruling class.

    Second, and more particularly, he is a fascist—a representative of the fascist section of that ruling class. And let’s be clear on what this means. In a recent article at revcom.us, the point is emphasized that Trump, and others pushing things toward outright fascist rule in this country, have

    unleashed an organized and armed social base of millions who believe they’re on a “mission from god” to impose an agenda of open white supremacy, the patriarchal subordination of women and the purging of LGBTQ people from public life, anti-immigrant terror and anti-scientific lunacy. To accomplish this, they need to and are itching to “blow up” the normal operation of political rule of this system.3

    Now, some people are so twisted in their thinking that they actually recognize what Trump represents—or at least that he is an open, blatant racist—but then they take the stance that it is somehow better to go with a known racist, like Trump, than with people who pretend not to be racist but actually are, like the leaders of the Democratic Party. This is an expression of a pitifully narrow vision and lowered sights—the failure to see beyond the confines of this system of capitalism-imperialism, and a failure even to conceive of things beyond a situation where the choice is between blatant and “disguised” racists. More specifically, this kind of thinking fails to understand that when a leading politician of one of the two ruling class parties (in this case, the Republicans) trumpets blatant racism, that is not just a matter of their “personal opinion” or “personal bias.” It is an open declaration of the intent to make that racism, and everything that is bound up with it, official government policywith the forceful backing of the full power of the state (the police, armed forces, courts, prisons, and so on), as well as racist “militias” and other armed fascist goons (the modern-day equivalents of the Ku Klux Klan and the lynch mobs of the era of open, “legalized” segregation and “second class status” for Black people). Among other things, this is why these fascists are determined to eliminate from public education even limited reference to the real history of this country, including the horrific nature and effects of slavery, the consequences of this, and the continuation of racist oppression, down to today.

    The fact is that Trump is not simply an “open” racist. As I put it in a series of articles in 2020, he is a genocidal racist, who would be more than willing not only to continue incarcerating, but to actually kill off, huge numbers of Black people, and other people of color, whom he clearly regards as less than human.4

    It also has to be said that the notion that it is somehow “better” to go with “open” racists is, at least in some cases, not only a reflection of gross ignorance but also what must be called out as foul ambition: the striving to somehow get in position to escape the consequences of this overt racism and get in on the “goodies” of this system, which rest not only on murderous oppression of Black people, and others, in this country but on vicious exploitation, and super-exploitation, of literally billions of people, here and all over the world, including more than 150 million children in the Third World (Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia). 

    What Is Really Going on with the Trials of Donald Trump and Conflicts “at the Top”

    In basic terms, the fascist section of the ruling class, represented by Trump and the Republican Party, is determined to tear up the “traditional norms” through which this country has been governed since shortly after the end of the Civil War in 1865, including the “peaceful transfer of power”—which in reality is the “peaceful transfer of power” between the different sections of the ruling class, through elections (with the winners in elections taking office, and the losers accepting the results). Tearing up these “norms”—while moving to take over, and utilize for their fascist program, key government institutions, including local school boards, election boards, state governments, the “intelligence” agencies and armed forces, as well as courts at every level, up to the Supreme Court—all this is crucial for the fascists in instituting unchallenged rule by them and eliminating even the appearance of allowing certain “civil and legal rights” that have been won through determined struggle against racist, sexist and gender oppression and other injustices.

    (The article at revcom.us to which I referred earlier gives a number of examples of the offensive by the fascists to tear up the “norms” of this oppressive system, including the move toward impeaching Joe Biden—in part as “payback” for the Democrats twice impeaching Trump when he was president, and in a larger sense as part of the Republican offensive to seize and consolidate a fascist form of rule in the country as a whole.)

    On the other side (that is, with the opposing section of the ruling class, generally represented by the Democratic Party) the determination is that maintaining the “traditional norms” and the way of ruling the country that has been carried out for generations—and making certain partial moves for “inclusion” and “diversity,” while continuing the illusion of “liberty and justice for all”—is the best way to maintain the stability of capitalist rule at home and to pursue the “national” (that is, imperialist) interests of the U.S. ruling class in the international arena. This section of the ruling class is firmly convinced that tearing up these “norms,” and openly reversing the partial concessions to the struggle against injustice, will seriously threaten the stability of American capitalist-imperialist rule “at home” and undermine its position internationally at a time when it is facing a serious challenge to its domination in the world, not only from Russia, as concentrated now in the war in Ukraine, but even more so from the rising power China (which still pretends to be “socialist,” with rule by a so-called “communist” party, but has long since become an actual capitalist-imperialist country).

    For the Democratic Party, and the section of the U.S. ruling class that it basically represents, it is necessary and vitally important to maintain, and to loudly propagate, the notion of the U.S. as a “shining city on the hill,” a great experiment in democracy, and (as they never tire of repeating) “the leader of the free world.” This is why, for example, Joe Biden has made a point of declaring that the U.S. has been a shining light of freedom and inspiration to the world for over 200 years.

    The answer to this is powerfully expressed in the following statement:

    Go search where you may, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

    This was said by Frederick Douglass, former slave and determined abolitionist, in 1852, but this statement by Douglass boldly speaks the truth about this country right down to today, with the continuing massive crimes committed under this system, within this country and all over the world. 

    (In “AMERICA: Truly a Model—of DEPRAVED RACIST GENOCIDE, in light of the horrors perpetrated against Black people throughout the history of this country, I called attention to this blunt truth: “In terms of depravity, you can’t find anything Hitler and the Nazis did that was worse than this.” I challenge anyone who wishes to dispute this, to read that article, and other material at revcom.us exposing an endless chain of atrocities that have marked this country, from its beginning and throughout its history. And, in A Final Note, at the end of this article, I provide further exposure and analysis of some of the monstrous crimes of this “leader of the free world,” from its founding down to today.)

    Democrats and Republicans: Back to the Past, Destroying the Future

    Someone recently made an important and insightful observation: The Democrats, as well as the Republicans, each in their own way, are trying to restore a situation that existed in the past, while they both represent a deadly serious threat to the future of humanity.

    The fascist Republicans want, and are determined to bring about—with whatever violence they deem necessary—a return to the situation that had long existed in this country, before and even for some time after World War 2, where inequality was institutionalized and openly enforced, including racial, sexual and gender discrimination and oppression.

    For their part, the Democrats want a return to the situation where U.S. imperialism was the clear and essentially unchallenged dominant power in the world. (This is a situation which existed at the end of, and for a short time after, World War 2, which ended in 1945, and then again for a while after the disintegration and demise of the Soviet Union, which ceased to exist in the early 1990s.) And along with the way the policies of the Democrats, as well as the Republicans, and the ongoing functioning of this whole system, is destroying the environment at a rapidly accelerating pace, these Democratic Party imperialists are willing to risk the future and very existence of humanity in their determination to beat back the challenge to U.S. world domination, from a rising capitalist-imperialist China in particular. It is revealing, for example, that the last two presidential candidates of the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, are open and aggressive war-mongers. Among other crimes, both Biden and Clinton supported the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, an international war crime, based on crude lies—an invasion that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and massive destruction and dislocation in Iraq, and unleashed a maelstrom of death and destruction in that part of the world. And now, Biden as president is aggressively pursuing, and continually escalating, U.S. involvement in a proxy war with Russian imperialism in Ukraine, while also actively preparing for war with China.5

    The two impeachments of Trump pursued by the Democrats while they controlled the House of Representatives reflect their basic differences with and serious concerns about Trump’s role and policies as president.

    The most recent impeachment of Trump followed after, and held Trump responsible for, the massive attack by his supporters on Congress as it met, on January 6, 2021, to officially certify Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. This attack on Congress was part of an attempted coup by Trump, with the aim of overturning the results of that 2020 presidential election and remaining in power in defiance of those results. The Democrats’ opposition to this, and impeachment of Trump over this, clearly involves the great concern of the Democrats to maintain the “traditional norms” of this system—in particular the “peaceful transfer of power” between different sections of the ruling class—along with the illusion of “democracy, with liberty and justice for all”: camouflage covering over the actual dictatorship (the monopoly of political power and “legitimate” armed force and violence) exercised by the capitalist-imperialist ruling class.

    The previous (first) impeachment of Trump, which began at the end of 2019, centered on the charge that, in order to undermine Joe Biden—who was probably going to be (and turned out to be) Trump’s Democratic Party opponent in the 2020 election—Trump was sabotaging military aid to Ukraine, which was then involved in a more limited war with pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine (which, with the Russian invasion in 2022, has increasingly become a major war in which the U.S., headed by the Biden administration, is ever more deeply involved). Along with the particular question of what Trump was doing as president in relation to Ukraine, there was the concern, particularly among the section of the ruling class represented by the Democratic Party, that Trump was undermining NATO and other military and political “alliances” that are headed by the U.S. One of the main focuses of Biden—overall and as concentrated in the war in Ukraine—is to “repair,” fortify, and expand such alliances.

    (Also, one of the major criminal indictments that Trump is now facing involves “endangering national security”—that is, U.S. imperialist interests and domination internationally—by illegally hanging onto and carelessly handling “classified” documents that relate to this so-called “national security.”) 

    It is important to understand that both sections of the ruling class of this capitalist-imperialist country agree on taking whatever extreme measures might be necessary in the attempt to keep China from surpassing the U.S. as the world’s most powerful imperialist country. But these opposing sections of the U.S. ruling class are deeply divided not only over how to rule the U.S. itself, but also how to achieve the perverse goal of maintaining the USA as “Number One”—number one exploiter, oppressor and plunderer in the world. The fascists (or at least some of them) believe that being involved in a lot of formal alliances with other (lesser) countries may restrict the freedom of U.S. imperialism to act—including with unrestrained violence and destruction—to enforce its interests, anywhere in the world. And, more specifically, at least many of these fascists strongly feel that the proxy war that the U.S., with Biden’s lead, is waging against Russia in Ukraine is a distraction from the necessary focus on opposing China and using whatever means may be necessary to prevent China from surpassing the U.S. as the world’s dominant imperialist power, militarily as well as economically. And these fascists see the war in Ukraine strengthening the ties of Russia with China, making the opposition to U.S. domination more powerful. On the other hand, Biden—and those allied with him in the ruling class—are waging, and continually increasing U.S. involvement in, a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine (using Ukrainians as “cannon fodder” in this war) because this part of the U.S. ruling class is convinced that delivering a defeat to and weakening Russia, and its ability to challenge U.S. dominance, is important in its own right and will also drive a wedge between Russia and China.

    It should not have to be said that these kinds of concerns, on either side, have nothing to do with the fundamental interests of the masses of people in this country, and in the world as a whole. But, if it does need to be said, the following is very important as a fundamental orientation and guideline:

    The interests, objectives, and grand designs of the imperialists are not our interests—they are not the interests of the great majority of people in the U.S. nor of the overwhelming majority of people in the world as a whole. And the difficulties the imperialists have gotten themselves into in pursuit of these interests must be seen, and responded to, not from the point of view of the imperialists and their interests, but from the point of view of the great majority of humanity and the basic and urgent need of humanity for a different and better world, for another way.6

    The Trials of Donald Trump, the Profound Conflicts This Reflects, and a Rare Time When Revolution Becomes More Possible

    Returning directly to the current trials of Donald Trump, as can be seen in what I have shined a light on here, what these trials represent is a certain concentration of the larger, overall conflict between the two sections of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class in this country—a conflict and struggle reflecting bitter and profound antagonisms between them, with each side increasingly feeling that what is represented by the other side is an existential threat and potentially fatal blow to the very nature and role of this capitalist-imperialist country and its position as the dominant power in the world. These divisions within this ruling class will continue to deepen and sharpen, with the result that they are increasingly unable to rule in a “unified way.” 

    As I have analyzed in depth and repeatedly emphasized, all this—what is happening within this country as well as in the larger world arena—is now heading toward, and could definitely lead to, something even more terrible than “normal life” under this system. But it is also very important to recognize that this also holds the potential for something truly emancipating—an actual revolution to overthrow this system, in this most powerful capitalist-imperialist country, and bring into being a radically different and far better system—a potential which has the possibility to become a reality IF the revolutionaries have been getting out the message broadly among the people, shining a light on the deeper reality of what is happening and why, bringing out that there IS an alternative to living this way, and struggling with people to break with all their wrong ways of thinking and get with the revolution.

    It is crucially important to recognize the very real danger represented by Trump and the fascist section of the ruling class—and its “base” of lunatic racists, women-hating and LGBT-hating, anti-immigrant, and anti-scientific lunatics, itching for a new civil war—but it is also crucially important to recognize two basic things: 1) This fascism is not somehow “alien” to the “virtuous” nature of this “democratic leader of the free world,” but is an outgrowth of the fetid soil of this country—arising out of its putrid internal nature and historical development—as well as a response to the challenge to its dominant position in the world. Put another way, this fascism is an extreme expression of the vicious exploitation... the virulent, violent white supremacy, male supremacy and patriarchy... and the grotesque “American supremacy”—all of which is poured into the foundation and deeply embedded in the dominant relations, institutions, and culture of this country. These are the relations, institutions, and culture of a system that is completely putrid and outmoded, long since past its expiration date, spreading dangerous poison everywhere from its rotting core, and posing a very real threat to the future and very existence of humanity. And 2) The situation today “needs to be radically changed, to where there are masses of people prepared to defeat these fascists and to do so as part of getting rid of this whole system, which has bred these fascists, along with all the other horrors it continually perpetrates.”7

    To conclude, this must quickly become the basic understanding that masses of people, first in the thousands, and then in the millions, are won to take up, and act on, to make an urgently needed emancipating revolution a powerful reality:

    When conflicts among the different sections of the bourgeois (capitalist) ruling class become so deep and hostile that they are no longer able to rule in the “normal way” they have for generations, “that is a sign of extremely deep and acute cracks and fissures in the entire established order; and such a situation must be seized by the oppressed not to side with one section of the bourgeoisie against another... but instead to rise in revolutionary struggle to overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie altogether.”8

    _______________

    NOTES, by Bob Avakian

    1. There is a certain similarity between some people who are drawn to supporting Trump and various figures who have endorsed and aided the presidential campaign of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, out of a misguided belief that Kennedy represents some kind of positive opposition to “the establishment” (or the “established order”) when in fact Kennedy’s “opposition” is well within the framework of the existing system of capitalism-imperialism, and at the same time it is marked by anti-scientific lunacy, particularly but not only in opposition to safe, effective, and life-saving vaccines. There are, of course, differences between right-wing and “left-wing” populism. The right-wing variation generally is marked by hatred for intellectual elites, especially as these “intellectual elites” are seen to be giving undeserved benefits to “inferior people,” at the expense of “law abiding, hard-working, patriotic Americans.” The “left” variation of populism is likely to be characterized by opposition to corporate elites, or more generally to the super-rich (“the billionaire class”), with demands like a more “equitable” distribution of wealth under this system.

    Yet, it remains true that there is a significant area of overlap between right-wing and supposedly left-wing “populism.” Both include political forces and tendencies marked by a kind of irrational opposition to certain powerful figures and forces—whether the government (or parts of it) and “intellectual elites,” or big corporations and financial institutions—an opposition which lacks any scientifically-based understanding of the system in which all this is grounded, and an opposition marked by a big dose of “don’t tread on me” individualism, which rests on, and reeks of, the parasitism of American capitalist-imperialism (the fact that this country, as the dominant capitalist-imperialist power in the world, feasts off the exploitation and oppression of literally billions of people throughout the world, including the more than 150 million children who are super-exploited particularly in the Third World of Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia). 

    In relation to all this, it is crucially important to understand that the problem is not this or that financial or government institution, or the Democratic or Republican Party “establishments,” as such, but the system of capitalism-imperialism itself, which all of these different institutions and centers of power are part of, even with their different particular interests and roles and different approaches to maintaining and enforcing this system.[ back]

    2. The article “Donald Trump Isn’t ‘Tough,’ He’s a Bloated Bag of Fascist Feces is available at revcom.us.[ back]

    3. If You’re Hoping ‘It Will Work Out All Right In the End,’ You Better Read This: Three Ways Fascism Has Just Moved Closer. This article is also available at revcom.us.[ back]

    4. Donald Trump—Genocidal Racist, available at revcom.us. [ back]

    5. Go to revcom.us for extensive writings from Bob Avakian on this U.S. proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, including: The War in Ukraine and the Interests of Humanity: A Scientific Revolutionary Approach vs. Harmful Confusion and Chauvinist Delusion; "Don't Worry About Nuclear War—If There Is One, Russia Will Lose!" The Dangerous Demagoguery of Timothy Snyder on Behalf of U.S. Imperialism and Its Proxy War in Ukraine;  Ukraine: World War 3 Is the Real Danger, Not a Repeat of World War 2.[ back]

    6. BAsics, 3:8 (BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian, RCP Publications). [ back]

    7. This statement is cited in Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating. It was first put forward in From The Revcoms (Revcom.us): A Declaration, A Call To Get Organized Now For A Real Revolution, also available at revcom.us. Emphasis added.[ back]

    8. This is part of the important statement soon to be published at revcom.us, From The Revcoms (Revolutionary Communists), Revolution, Building Up The Basis To Go For The Whole Thing, With A Real Chance To Win: Strategic Orientation And Practical Approach[ back]

    A FINAL NOTE: On the Real Nature and Monstrous Crimes of This Country

    The American Crime series, at revcom.us, analyzes 100 of the worst crimes of this country, since its founding and down to today—a list that speaks not just to “isolated incidents” of wrongdoing but a whole pattern of atrocities, repeated over and over again, reflecting the essential nature of this country—a list that will continue to grow until a revolution overthrows and uproots the system of capitalism-imperialism that rules in this country and replaces it with a radically different and far better system, based on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which I have written.

    Concentrating much of the monstrous crimes of this country and its ruling class, there is the fact that this Republic of the so-called “United States” of America is:

    A Republic whose “National Anthem” was written by a slave owner (Oh, oh say can you see... all the sla-a-ver-y...)!....

    A Republic founded on slavery and genocidal robbery: keeping millions of Black people in chains for generations... killing off huge numbers of Native Americans and stealing their land... waging a war that ripped off half of Mexico, greatly expanding slavery.... 

    A system that, from the start and down to today, has been grounded in heartless exploitation, using and abusing masses of people to create wealth for the few, with violent white supremacy, male supremacy and gender oppression built into and enforced by this system... plundering people in all parts of the world... destroying the environment, and waging unjust war after war, even to the point of threatening the very existence of humanity... killing off hope for a decent future, or any future at all.

    (This is part of an important statement from the revcoms, Allegiance, which is available at revcom.us.)

    The USA is a country in which a woman is assaulted/beaten every 9 seconds. It is a country where huge numbers of women are raped and otherwise sexually assaulted every year; a country where the right to abortion has been ripped away from women, with the assertion of male supremacist control over their bodies, and their very being, constituting, in a very real sense, a form of female enslavement. This is a country in which LGBT people are discriminated against, persecuted, bullied, vilified and abused, brutalized and outright murdered.

    This is a system in which more than 40 million women are ensnared and enslaved in international sex trafficking and the so called “sex industry”; a system where hundreds of millions of women are cruelly exploited as a key part of the “supply chains” of the world economy and the overall capitalist-imperialist system, in which the U.S. has for decades been the dominant power.

    And there is the massive unjust violence perpetrated by U.S. imperialism in the “international arena”:

    In addition to the continuing crimes against humanity carried out by the U.S., just since World War 2, including the U.S. slaughter of millions of civilians in Vietnam, and before that in Korea, and the bloody coups it has engineered in Indonesia, Iran and elsewhere, in the period from 1846 to the present the U.S. has intervened in South and Central American countries—militarily, through CIA coups, or in other ways—at least 100 times, at the cost of literally hundreds of thousands of deaths and endless misery for the people of those countries. 

    (This is from my article “Shameless American Chauvinism: ‘Anti-Authoritarianism’ as a ‘Cover’ for Supporting U.S. Imperialism,” which is also available at revcom.us.) 

    And there is the fact that the U.S. is (up till now, at least) the only country to actually use nuclear weapons, with its atomic bombing of two Japanese cities at the end of World War 2, instantly incinerating hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians and subjecting many others to slow agonizing deaths from the effects of radiation. And then, in more recent times, there has been the illegal U.S. invasion of Iraq, built on blatant lies—and now the proxy war in Ukraine, along with active preparation for war with China, with the growing danger of nuclear annihilation.

    All this under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

    As for the claim by Biden (and the section of the ruling class that he represents) that the U.S. is engaged in an historic struggle, within this country itself and throughout the world, of “democracy” vs. “anti-democratic authoritarianism,” in “Anti-Scientific ‘Anti-Authoritarianism’ Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism,” I provided the following list of some of the countries where, just since World War 2, the U.S. has been allied with—and in many cases has installed, through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—oppressive governments that are “authoritarian” (that would have to be considered “authoritarian,” according to the “logic” of the “theorists” of “authoritarianism”):  

    Chile... Brazil... Haiti... Cuba (before the 1959 revolution)... El Salvador... Nicaragua... Guatemala... Honduras... Panama... the Dominican Republic... Greece… Poland... Indonesia... the Philippines... South Korea... South Vietnam... China (before the victory of the revolution in 1949)... Iran... Iraq... Turkey... Israel.

    Again, this is only a partial list of the “authoritarian” governments backed—and often installed through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—by the U.S. imperialists, just since World War 2.

    Beneath the outward appearance of “respectability” (and even the aura of “solemn dignity”) that surrounds many of the “leaders” of this country, there is the reality of the truly perverse, demented mentality that someone is required to have—or is compelled to acquire—in order to serve as top functionaries of this system. Besides the facts and analysis I have already provided clearly illustrating this basic point, there is the following, serving as a reminder that, for not only murderous but truly ghoulish mentality, you can look not only at Donald Trump, or other fascist Republicans, but also at someone like Hillary Clinton. As pointed out in a recent article at revcom.us (an updated version of American Crime Case #35: The 2011 U.S.-NATO War on Libya) in 2011, as Secretary of State in the Obama administration, Hillary Clinton was among the strongest and loudest advocates of the U.S./NATO bombing of the North African country of Libya, which led to the ouster of the government headed by Muammar Qaddafi, and at the same time the deaths of thousands of Libyans. The end of Qaddafi’s rule also led to widespread chaos and civil conflict within Libya, which has continued in various forms down to today—and which has greatly magnified the death and devastation that has resulted from recent massive flooding in Libya.

    As that revcom.us article points out, when the forces opposed to Qadaffi—benefitting from the months of U.S./NATO bombing of Qaddafi’s forces—finally captured, tortured, and murdered Qaddafi himself, Clinton laughed on TV, saying, “We came, we saw, he died.” But those who captured and killed Qaddafi did not just torture him in some vague sense: They sodomized him, in an especially brutal way. It is with knowledge of this, that Clinton gleefully made the ghoulish declaration: “We came, we saw, he died.” 

    And then there is Barack Obama himself, whose election as “the first Black president” is supposed to be regarded as a great achievement and “proof” that this country is continuing to advance toward “a more perfect union.” The following provides some, but only some, of the truth about the actual role of Obama, as the chief executive of this truly monstrous capitalist-imperialist power, and more fundamentally the truth about the nature of this country and this system as a whole.

    In 2012, Barack Obama spoke these words while praising the U.S. military for its role in Vietnam:

    [O]ne of the most painful chapters in our history was Vietnam—most particularly, how we treated our troops who served there.... [Y]ou wrote one of the most extraordinary stories of bravery and integrity in the annals of military history.  
    (Barack Obama, May 28, 2012, part of the Vietnam War Commemoration)

    There was, and there is, nothing “heroic” about the U.S. military. On the contrary, it is—without the slightest exaggeration—a machinery of massive, and unspeakable, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and its actions in Vietnam constitute a systematic concentration of this, with a level of destructiveness and depravity that is almost unfathomable:

    the slaughter of millions of Vietnamese civilians, with incessant bombing and shelling, including of schools, hospitals, dams and other crucial infrastructure, and widespread use of napalm, white phosphorous, Agent Orange, and millions of anti-personnel weapons, burning to death and maiming huge numbers of children and others;

    ruining the livelihood of millions of Vietnamese—destroying large parts of the soil and livestock so essential for the people in rural Vietnam;

    torture of people held as prisoners—including large numbers of civilians—male, female, old and young, including the very young;

    mutilating the bodies and wearing as “trophies” body parts of Vietnamese killed; mass rape of Vietnamese women and girls.

    All this, and more, by the U.S. military and its “heroic” soldiers.

    Included in the “American Crime” series is the account of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, in which U.S. soldiers wantonly murdered over 500 civilians, almost all of them old people, non-combatant women and children. And it is a well-documented fact that this massacre was not some kind of exception, or aberration, but represented the essential approach and means of the American war machine in Vietnam, fueled ideologically by a perverse, poisonous combination of ignorant, irrational anti-communism, American chauvinism, and grotesque racism and misogyny which regarded and treated the Vietnamese people as subhuman “gooks” and “slopes,” and females the lowest of all.

    This is the actual history of the U.S. role in Vietnam, which in the twisted minds of the heads of state of U.S. imperialism, such as Barack Obama, is considered, and praised, as “one of the most extraordinary stories of bravery and integrity in the annals of military history.”

    This not only reveals the thoroughly corrupt mentality of Obama—and anyone who would preside over this truly monstrous system—but it is also the case that Obama is here willfully, and viciously, rewriting history: He turns upside down the actual role of these “troops” in Vietnam. He complains that the “troops” who carried out these atrocities in Vietnam were not “thanked” for their “service” of horrific war crimes, but instead these war crimes were, rightly and righteously, condemned by masses of people in this country.

    And Obama fails (or refuses) to mention the fact that many of these troops (and former troops) came to openly rebel against what they were ordered to do in Vietnam and became an important part of the massive opposition to the U.S. role in that war. In opposition to what Obama perversely hails as heroic, that rebellion of U.S. troops against the government and the system that was encouraging and commanding them to carry out almost unbelievably horrific atrocities—that kind of rebellion is truly something to honor and encourage.

  • ARTICLE:

    CAPITALISTS, ANTI-COMMUNISTS:

    BLATANT HYPOCRISY,

    GLARING CONTRADICTION

    The representatives of the system that rules in this country are, and always have been, full of blatant hypocrisy and glaring contradiction. And so are others who slander—or simply refuse to seriously engage—communism, and in particular the new communism.

    Just a few striking examples:

    * The “founding fathers” of this country (and, yes they were “fathers”—men) proclaimed, in their Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal.” Yet many of these founding fathers—including the author of that Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson—were slave-owners. And four of the first five presidents of this “United States of America” were slave-owners.

    * These “founding fathers” led a War of Independence, declaring their determination to break free of the tyranny of the English monarchy, and they adopted as a fundamental principle their opposition to monarchies. Yet their political descendants today continually slobber over the British Royal Family, and all its ridiculous, pompous ceremony. This is a seemingly trivial but actually telling illustration of the fact that this system of capitalism-imperialism is profoundly outmoded—long past its expiration date, long past the time when it could be a positive force in the world.

    * Powerful political functionaries of this system, such as Joe Biden, repeatedly declare that this country has, since its founding, been a shining beacon of freedom for the world, and that today it is engaged in a world historic struggle of democracy vs. “autocracy.” Yet this country murderously oppresses people at home and has repeatedly installed and continues to support murderously oppressive regimes all over the world. In the words of the former slave and determined abolitionist Frederick Douglass, “for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival”—words which were spoken in 1852 but powerfully express the truth about this country, right down to today. This is another illustration of the fact that the guiding principle of Biden, and the rest, is not devotion to “democracy” but whatever they think advances the interests of U.S. capitalist imperialism, with all its horrific oppression and terrible destruction, of the environment and of people throughout the world.

    * In the dominant media serving this system, communists are continually slandered as worshipping a LEADER as an essentially religious icon. Yet these same media praise, in the most solemn terms, the Catholic Pope—who, according to official Catholic doctrine, is declared infallible (always right, not even capable of being wrong) in matters of faith and morals. Imagine if we declared that leaders of the communist movement are, as a result of the position they occupy, infallible in matters of politics and ideology!

    * We revolutionary communists, who actually base ourselves on a scientific method and approach to understanding and transforming reality—the new communism—are all too commonly dismissed as a “cult,” with myself as the “cult leader.” Yet, along with this ridiculous slander, there is the fact that the rulers of this country, and others who uphold the same basic positions, would never condemn Christianity as a cult, when it could legitimately be considered as such. Christianity’s exalted leader, Jesus, demanded the devotion of his followers in terms that we revolutionary communists would never apply:

    Whoever loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. (From the Bible, Matthew 10: 37-39)

    * Recently I wrote an article speaking to the reason why it would not do any good, but instead real harm, to debate Robert F. Kennedy Jr and his anti-scientific lunacy about vaccines (and other subjects); and why, on the other hand it is important to seriously engage many unconventional ideas and theories, including the new communism (“Robert F. Kennedy Jr... Quackery and Conspiracy... Unconventional Ideas and a Scientific Approach—To Debate or Not to Debate, That Is a Question of Principle and Method”). Yet the problem remains that far too many who claim to believe in the importance of airing and debating opposing viewpoints about important questions, especially when it is possible to do so in a rational framework, violate their own proclaimed principles and adopt shoddy methods in refusing to seriously engage the new communism, and instead stubbornly cling to the position that was crudely expressed in this response by an academic to my article: “RFK may be a quack, but so is anyone who calls himself a communist”a statement which ironically provides a striking example of exactly the smug, unthinking dismissal of communism that is all too common, among academics and others.

    Blatant hypocrisy, glaring contradiction.

    As I wrote in that article:

    Perhaps, along with the influence of the widely propagated disinformation about communism, one of the reasons why some people refuse engagement on this subject is because they know that they don’t actually have any substantial knowledge about communism and they lack a sound basis for their negative judgment about it. And some seem to have at least an inchoate sense (and fear) that such engagement will force them to give up what seem to be comforting prejudices—that serious engagement about communism will demonstrate precisely that the widely held, “everybody knows” judgment that communism has been a horror will be shown to be a vicious slander fundamentally out of keeping with reality; and that the new communism, in its indictment of this system of capitalism-imperialism and its vision, both sweeping and concrete, for a radically different and better world, represents something profoundly positive, something truly emancipating, that needs to be actively and urgently taken up and applied in the world.

    For many people, this requires facing seemingly inconvenient but actually liberating truths—and “moving out of one’s comfort zone.” Does it have to be said that this is not a legitimate reason or justification for a failure, or refusal, to seriously engage the new communism? Falling back on “flat earth” negative verdicts about communism, without serious engagement, particularly of the new communism, will not make such verdicts valid. It will not eliminate, but will contribute to perpetuating, the great harm done by such invalid verdicts. It will not erase the reality that, on the one hand, under the domination of this system of capitalism-imperialism—with its enforcement of horrific relations of exploitation and oppression, its accelerating destruction of the environment and its heightening danger of nuclear war—humanity is being dragged toward real disaster; and, on the other hand, that the new communism represents the only way out of this madness, toward a world and a future worthy of human beings and giving expression to humanity’s highest aspirations.*

     

    * This article (“Robert F. Kennedy Jr... Quackery and Conspiracy... Unconventional Ideas and a Scientific Approach—To Debate or Not to Debate, That Is a Question of Principle and Method”) is available at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR
    AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS

    Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.

    Recently, a report on carrying out revolutionary work in Harlem referred to the fact that some people there were coming out with a lot of “Anti-LGBTQ bullshit”—like “god gave men a penis and women a vagina, so that’s how it should be.”

    It is heartbreaking, and infuriating, to hear this “Anti-LGBTQ bullshit” from people, like those in Harlem quoted above, who have been so terribly oppressed under this system and should be uniting with others who have also been discriminated against, brutalized and terrorized, and whose very right to exist is being viciously attacked.

    This emphasizes the fact that, while upholding people’s right to religion—and uniting with religious people who take positive stands in the fight against oppression—it is crucially important to consistently and resolutely struggle for a scientific, not a religious, method and approach to reality, and wage a fierce, relentless fight against anti-scientific poison spread among the masses of people in the name of religion.

    To speak directly to this garbage that “god gave men a penis and women a vagina, so that’s how it should be,” it has to be said that, if some “god” had designed the human body, then that god would be a terrible designer. To give a sharp example: Why is the human body constructed in such a way that people can choke while eating food? If a “god” actually existed, that god could have “designed” the human body so that choking could not happen; and if a god had “designed” the human body the way it is, with this possibility of choking, that god would be a sick and twisted sadist.

    The fact is this: Human beings are not the product of “design,” or “creation,” by some god—they are the result of natural evolutionThe book by Ardea Skybreak The Science Of Evolution And The Myth Of Creationism—Knowing What’s Real And Why It Matters provides a substantial and lively explanation of the theory of evolution and refutation of the anti-scientific claims of Biblical “creationism.” Everyone who wants to get a real understanding of crucial things about reality, and the scientific method for understanding reality, would greatly benefit from reading this book.24

    Human society and its development is also not the result of some “design”—or the expression of the “will”—of some god. It is the result of human beings’ interaction with each other, and with the rest of nature, to meet their basic requirements of life and provide for future generations. Change in human society comes about through the actions of human beings—and major changes, in the whole way society is organized, come about through revolutions which overthrow the old order, and bring into being a new way of organizing society. (In a number of works, including Breakthroughs, I have explained, in basic terms, the dynamics that are involved in the development and revolutionary transformation of human society.25) And here it has to be said that the “terrible designs” of the supposed god of Christianity are not limited to the human body: they involve a whole long list of very real horrors that this “god” of the Christian scriptures advocates and insists upon. As I point out in the book AWAY WITH ALL GODS! Unchaining the Mind and Radically Changing the World, the Bible, in both the old and new testaments—and the “Judeo-Christian” tradition overall—advocates and insists upon all kinds of horrors, including slavery, and violent oppression of women and gay people. (The advocacy of cruel and violent oppression is also found in the Qur’an of Islam.26)

    A Scientific, Revolutionary Approach

    Throughout human history, with the many different ways that society has been organized, there have been different expressions of human sexuality, both heterosexual (involving people of the opposite sex) and same sex. The question, with regard to all this, is what is the character of the relations involved: are they an expression of equality and genuine affection, involving mutual pleasure on that basis, or do they involve inequality, domination and oppression, reflecting and contributing to degrading relations in society overall?

    Worshiping some supposed (but actually non-existent) god, and following the scriptures of one religion or another, will never lead to ending all the madness people are put through in this world. To do that requires taking up a scientific method and approach—the scientific method and approach of communism, as this has been further developed with the new communism that has resulted from years and decades of work I have carried out, learning from the previous experience of communist revolution, and human experience more broadly. This brings to light that the development of human society has arrived at a place where, through communist revolution, it is possible to bring into being new, emancipating relations among human beings, all over the world—a new way of organizing society that will make it possible to meet the essential requirements of a decent life for human beings, on a continually expanding basis, without any discrimination, inequality, oppression or exploitation, including in the intimate relations among human beings.

    To everyone who hates the way people are treated under this system of capitalism-imperialism... everyone who really wants to see an end to the madness that people here and all over the world are subjected to, and the growing threat to the very existence of humanity, through the destruction of the environment and the danger of nuclear war between the U.S. imperialists and their imperialist rivals in Russia and China... everyone who wants to be part of bringing into being a way of living, and a future, worthy of human beings—YOU need to become part of, and to work actively to help build, the organized forces for this urgently needed revolution.

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. The Science Of Evolution And The Myth Of Creationism—Knowing What’s Real And Why It Matters is available through Insight Press, Chicago, Illinois. [back]

    2. Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary is available at revcom.us. [back]

    3. A summary of the horrific oppression advocated and insisted upon in new and old testaments of the Bible is found in the section “The Bible, Taken Literally, Is a Horror,” in “Part One: Where Did God Come From... And Who Says We Need God?” in AWAY WITH ALL GODS! Unchaining The Mind And Radically Changing The World (published by Insight Press, Chicago, 2008). And Part Two of this book, “Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—Rooted In The Past, Standing In the Way of the Future,” as well as Part Three, “Religion—a Heavy, Heavy Chain” show how horrific oppression is upheld and advocated not only in the scriptures of the “Judeo-Christian” tradition but also in the Qur’an of Islam. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    STATE OF EMERGENCY:

    CHAINS ON PEOPLE

    WHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE

    A message from Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader, author and architect of a whole new framework for human emancipation: the new communism

    Audio URL

    STATE OF EMERGENCY. Masses of people are demoralized and disoriented: robbed of real hope... chasing after deadly illusions... desperately clinging to things that are not real... indulging in trivial pursuits while stubbornly refusing to face the biggest reality... striving to turn degradation into capital... bitterly divided and beefing over bullshit... trying to make a mark by mocking and even murdering each other.

    Chain, Chain, Chain—Chain of Foolishness

    Today so many are caught up in the “3M & P.”

    What is the “3M &P”? ME, me, me... MONEY, money, money... MISOGYNY and PATRIARCHY.

    All ways of thinking and acting that reflect and reinforce this system of capitalism-imperialism that so viciously oppresses people, here and all over the world. All constantly promoted and pumped out in the “popular culture,” including in Hip Hop. (How this came to dominate Hip Hop—and how it has actually perverted this creative art form, which could be and should be a powerful voice for liberation—that is another story, which has everything to do with how things are ultimately controlled by the ruling powers that dominate overall in this sick system of capitalism-imperialism.)

    These are real chains on people—especially those most terribly, murderously oppressed under this system.

    Misogyny: Hating women and subjecting them to degradation in countless ways.

    Patriarchy: Relations in which men are regarded as superior to women, and hold power over them, while LGBT people are treated as illegitimate and objects of hatred, abuse and scorn.

    Then there is the BEB. What is BEB? Bourgeois Electoral Bullshit: the ridiculous idea that you change this system that viciously preys on you—and millions and billions of people like you, in this country and all over the world—by voting for this group or that group of bourgeois (capitalist) vultures.

    And what is another big chain on people—supposedly easing but really perpetuating the pain of feeling hopeless and powerless to put an end to the suffering that so many are afflicted by today? 

    Religion.

    What is religion? Organized promotion of the belief that things have been created and are controlled by one or another god, which in reality does not exist and has been invented by people—with so many taught to believe that, if things are the way they are, it is “the will” of this supposed god.

    As I have written before: “while upholding people’s right to religion—and uniting with religious people who take positive stands in the fight against oppression—it is crucially important to consistently and resolutely struggle for a scientific, not a religious, method and approach to reality, and wage a fierce, relentless fight against anti-scientific poison spread among the masses of people in the name of religion.”*

    Learn to live in chains—bow down to those enforcing the chains, boast about and sing praises to the chains... or break all the chains.

    That is the choice.

    GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS. Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed, by Bob Avakian

     

    I know some people don’t like it when I say all this. But I am going to say it anyway, because as a revolutionary dedicated to the emancipation of humanity from every chain that holds people down, I recognize the responsibility to tell people the truth, even if it offends some, at first. And all you who also know this is true: you need to say it too—say it loud.

    It is time, and long past time, to break these mental chains, to get in position to break all the chains of the modern-day slavery of this system of capitalism-imperialism. It is time to take up the scientific outlook, method, strategy and program, morality and values that can lead people to finally get free: the new communism. It is time to become revolutionary emancipators of humanity.

    Hard truth, liberating truth.

    __________

    * The statement quoted above (indicated by the *) is from “GOD, PREJUDICE, OPPRESSION, TERROR AND THE WAY OUT OF THIS MADNESS...Oppressed people who are unable or unwilling to confront reality as it actually is, are condemned to remain enslaved and oppressed.” That article, and other important works by Bob Avakian—including those speaking to why this is a “rare time” when a real revolution has become more possible—can be found at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    VIDEO:

    STATE OF EMERGENCY: CHAINS ON PEOPLE WHO DESPERATELY NEED TO BE FREE, By Bob Avakian

    from The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, Episode 164

  • ARTICLE:

    A point in response to the (all too common) carping—especially from among people in “the educated middle class”—about our “promotion of one leader”:

    We very definitely do boldly and unapologetically emphasize the crucial, indeed truly historic importance of the role of Bob Avakian (BA) in bringing forward a new, more consistently scientific, synthesis of communism (the new communism) and providing practical as well as theoretical leadership for the actual revolution that is, now all the more urgently needed, and more possible.  But our orientation is certainly not that we need just “one leader.”  In opposition to that, as BA has repeatedly stressed, and as he powerfully expressed in the recent interviews with him, we need legions of critically and creatively thinking people to join the ranks, and to develop as leaders, of this revolution—we need continually growing numbers of strategic commanders for this revolution, based on applying the scientific method and approach of the new communism.

    Book cover: Science and Revolution... by Ardea Skybreak

     

    "Strategic Commanders of the Revolution"  by Ardea Skybreak, an excerpt from 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.   

  • ARTICLE:

    “Cult”—An Ignorant and Cowardly Slander

    On the internet (and elsewhere), there are people spreading the claim that we revcoms are a “cult.” In reality, we are a serious revolutionary force, basing ourselves on the scientific method and approach of the new communism brought forward by the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian (BA). This “cult” accusation is, among other things, an expression of the ignorance and cowardice of people who are afraid—or, in any case, who refuse—to confront the reality of what is actually going on in the world, the heavy stakes this involves for the masses of people in the world and ultimately all of humanity, and the actual, and urgently needed, solution to this through a real revolution—and how this is scientifically and compellingly brought to life through the leadership of BA.

    Bob Avakian has written articles, which can be found at revcom.us (here and here), answering in some depth this “cult” accusation—analyzing how this accusation is not just false, and ridiculous, but is a striking example of utter lack of honesty and intellectual integrity, and of any serious approach to bringing about a more just, and sustainable, world. And the interviews with BA on the YouTube RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show are themselves a powerful refutation of this whole “cult” accusation.

    This “cult” slander not only crudely distorts what we revcoms are actually about. It is also aimed at discouraging people from getting into what we are actively working to bring about: a real revolution, with all that means and all it would open the door to—a new and far better world, with the abolition of this system of capitalism-imperialism that we are now forced to live under, the truly horrific and totally unnecessary suffering it imposes on masses of people in this country and billions of people throughout the world, and the growing threat it poses to the very existence of humanity.

  • ARTICLE:

    Bob Avakian Speaks to “Cult”: A Ridiculous, Ignorant, and Irresponsible Accusation

    We Are Applying a Scientific Method and Approach to Understanding, and Transforming, the World To Emancipate Humanity

    Among some “progressives” and self-proclaimed “leftists,” as well as certain academics, students, and others, the accusation is thrown around that I am a “cult leader” and that those who follow and work to apply the leadership I am providing—the new communism I have brought forward—constitute a “cult.” This is plainly ridiculous. It is readily refuted by the actual reality of what we are all about. It is also highly irresponsible—all the more so in the extremely intense and continually intensifying situation in today’s world, with (as I have put it, in a recent work) the prospect of something terrible—or something truly emancipating: an actual revolution.17

    Any sincere examination of what the new communism is about will make very clear that it is the exact opposite of “cultism”: It is based on, continually emphasizes the importance of, and involves the comprehensive and systematic application of a consistently scientific method and approach to understanding reality and transforming it in an emancipating way.

    Science is an evidence-based process. It involves and requires accumulating evidence about different phenomena in nature and society, and then applying rational thought and logical reasoning to identify the patterns and synthesize the lessons from what the evidence acquired in this way reveals. Science does not allow for, and is completely opposed to, any notion of determining what is (supposedly) true on the basis of the mere opinions, wishes, etc., of anyone.  One of the necessary components, and essential qualities, of a scientific method and approach is critical thinking—which, among other things, means not accepting things on “faith,” or simply because they are asserted by someone who is supposed to (or even someone who actually does) possess a great deal of understanding about something, or many things. Once more, science is an evidence-based process, and relies on evidence as its basis for determining what is true or not true—what does, or does not, correspond to actual objective reality.

    A cult is a group of people who uncritically base themselves on dogma which they do not subject to, and which cannot withstand, critical scientific examination. This generally involves blindly following a “leader” who supposedly possesses (or is “blessed” with) “knowledge” and “wisdom,” and/or other “special qualities” which “ordinary people” are not capable of attaining.

    The accusation that to be a revolutionary, based on the new communism, somehow constitutes being part of a “cult”: This flies in the face of the actual reality, and is a despicable insult—not simply, or mainly, against me, as the alleged “cult leader,” but beyond that an insult to all those who, at great personal sacrifice, are also taking part in, and making important contributions to, the process of applying, and further developing, the new communism precisely as a scientific method and approach to the struggle for the emancipation of humanity from all systems and relations of exploitation and oppression.

    It is true that we revolutionary communists definitely do emphasize the great importance of the work I have done, and am continuing to do, in leading the process of developing and applying the new communism as a framework and guide for human emancipation. But, again, this is based on science, not “cultism.” It is based on a scientific evaluation of what is represented by the new communism—the breakthrough this involves, precisely in terms of a scientific method and approach to understanding the world and transforming it in an emancipating way.

    Of course, an important part of a scientific orientation and approach is the recognition that everyone—including those who make crucial advances in a particular sphere of human endeavor—will make mistakes. The notion that anyone is immune from making mistakes, or somehow possesses some kind of “supernatural” or “magical” powers, is an extremely harmful anti-scientific absurdity. Learning from one’s mistakes is an important part of the scientific method. That is why in a number of works of mine, including my Memoir, I have examined mistakes I have made, as well as mistakes made by previous leaders of the communist movement, and the lessons that should be drawn from this.18 This stands in sharp contrast, for example, to an institution like the Catholic Church, which claims that its leader, the Pope, cannot ever be wrong—is “infallible”—in matters of faith and morals.

    The Role of Individual Leaders and Their Relation to the Self-Emancipation of the Masses

    It is a profound truth, and fundamental principle, that in the final analysis the emancipation of the oppressed and exploited of the world (and ultimately all of humanity) must, and can, come about only as a result of the increasingly conscious struggle of those masses—of millions, and ultimately billions of people throughout the world. But to do that, those masses need leadership—leadership that is based on the most consistently scientific method and approach. In recognition of and accordance with this, my fundamental orientation and objective, and the orientation and objective of all those who are proceeding on the basis of the new communism, is precisely to enable exponentially growing numbers of people to themselves take up and apply the basic scientific method and approach of the new communism to guide the struggle for emancipation.

    In this connection, let’s look at what is actually rational, and irrational, thinking. It is a fact that people generally have no difficulty recognizing that, in many different fields, people come along who stand out as “head and shoulders above others”—for example in sports, music and other spheres of culture, or the natural sciences (hence, for example, the popular use of “Einstein” as a reference to someone who stands out in that kind of way). So, if one’s thinking is not distorted by prejudice, and instead one is proceeding rationally and logically, why should it be hard to recognize that the same applies to the understanding of human society, its historical development and its radical transformation? Why should it be surprising, or be seen as somehow upsetting or threatening—rather than a very positive thing—if leaders emerge who stand out in this dimension, and specifically in their ability to contribute to the cause of emancipating humanity?

    When someone makes important breakthroughs in a particular field of human endeavor, that is something that people broadly should know about. And especially when what is involved is the cause of human emancipation, why should that be any less the case? In fact, it is very important for people not only to know about this but to actively engage it and themselves become part of applying it.

    Of course, it is true, and important, that the determination of whether someone constitutes that kind of outstanding figure depends on the content of their body of work and what it represents in regard to human emancipation. In other words, once again it is a matter of science—a scientific evaluation of this.

    This leads me to another important truth about all this:

    This whole “cult” accusation—what does seem to be a concerted effort to paint us/me with the brush of “cult/cult leader”is spread especially by people who do not share, and in some way feel threatened by, the orientation of emancipating the oppressed of the world, and ultimately humanity as a whole, through a revolution whose goal is to finally abolish all exploitation and oppression, of everyone, everywhere. Judging from the content (or lack of substantive content) of this accusation, it is clear that many, indeed most, of these people have never seriously engaged my body of work (or may not even have read a single work of mine) and are also ignorant of the other important works that can be found at revcom.us. They are obviously not interested in, and apparently are not capable of carrying out, principled engagement about the profound and urgent situation confronting humanity—and specifically the big question of reform vs. revolution. And so, unable to deal with the substance of what I/we are actually saying and working for, they replace any attempt to do that with the crude slander—accusations of “cult”—relying on and promoting ignorance, intellectual laziness, cowardice and malice.

    Previously, I have issued the challenge to liberals and progressives to seriously engage some basic facts and fundamental analysis about the nature of this country and the system that rules in this country and dominates the world—the system of capitalism-imperialism—and then see if they are able, or are willing, to offer a defense of this country and this system.19 Here, I repeat that challenge. (See footnote 3 for reference to the article with that challenge.) And specifically to those who have spread, or have accepted as valid, the accusation that I/we are “cultists,” I am issuing a further challenge:

    Go to the website revcom.us, read and watch a significant sampling of written works and films on that website, including articles and other works of mine, and then see if you can make a reasoned defense of this accusation of “cultism.” Or, if not, then have the integrity and decency to not only refuse to accept or repeat, but on the contrary actively take on and refute, this accusation and emphasize the importance of people doing what is called for in this challenge—to seriously engage what the new communism is actually about.

    And beyond that:

    If you find yourself having to honestly acknowledge that what you have engaged on this website revcom.us is in fact a scientific analysis of the nature of this system of capitalism-imperialism... the horrific suffering it causes for masses of human beings throughout the world... the very real and increasing danger it poses to the very existence of humanity... and the possibility and urgent need for revolution, guided by the new communism, to overthrow this system and replace it with a radically different and emancipating system—then become part of this revolution and work, together with others, to increase and strengthen the organized forces for, and actively prepare the ground for, this revolution.

    Announcing New work by BA, SOMETHING TERRIBLE, OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING:

     

    _______________

    FOOTNOTES:

    1. “SOMETHING TERRIBLE, OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING: 
    Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War— 
    And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, 

    A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution,” 
    by Bob Avakian, Revolutionary Leader, Author of the New Communism. 

    The audio and the written text of this major work by Bob Avakian are available at revcom.us. [back]

    2. From Ike to Mao and Beyond, My Journey from Mainstream America to Revolutionary Communist, A Memoir by Bob Avakian, Insight Press, Chicago, 2005. [back]

    3. In Light of the Urgency Spoken to in ‘Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating’: A RENEWED CHALLENGE: SEARCHING FOR AN HONEST LIBERAL OR PROGRESSIVE. This article by Bob Avakian is also available at revcom.us. [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    SCIENTIFIC COMMUNIST THEORY

    AND THE PROBLEM WITH “MASS LINE”

    Mao’s Contributions to Communist Theory and Human Emancipation Are Truly Profound—
    But the “Mass Line” Is Wrong

    The Chinese revolution, and in particular the revolutionary upsurge of the Cultural Revolution in China (a revolution within socialist society itself!) and the role of Mao Zedong as the leader of that Cultural Revolution, in the 1960s and into the early 1970s, had a major positive impact on masses of people around the world. This included large numbers of oppressed people and educated youth in the U.S. The Red Book of quotations from Mao was in the hands of literally millions of people in countries all over the world, including in the U.S., as well as providing basic revolutionary orientation for the masses of people in China itself.

    (I am speaking of the actual role of Mao and the essential emancipating character of the Cultural Revolution in China, not the crude distortions of this by people speaking out of gross ignorance and those anti-communist political functionaries engaging in deliberate and systematic distortion. A serious, scientific analysis of the necessity, the objectives, and the course of the Cultural Revolution in China—including the contradictions it was seeking to address and the contradictions characterizing the process of this Cultural Revolution—can be found in works of mine, and others, at revcom.us.)

    Mao’s further development of communist theory was expressed in a number of dimensions, most of all in the understanding of the danger and basis for revolution to be reversed and capitalism restored in a socialist country—and the means for combating this, which was given concrete expression in the Cultural Revolution.

    One significant aspect of Mao’s thought (and a chapter in the Red Book) was what Mao referred to as the “mass line.” This was taken up as a significant tool by those of us who, in those times, became not just revolutionary-minded in some general sense but revolutionary communists inspired and influenced above all by the Cultural Revolution in China. Yet, as has become clear in the decades since then, this concept of “mass line” is not correct and actually runs counter to Mao’s overall adherence to, and further development of, communist theory.

    As I have learned in a continually deepening way, communist theory must be taken up and applied as a scientific method and approach to understanding and transforming reality. It must continually develop as the larger world continues to develop and change—and this must involve the ongoing interrogation of communist theory itself, in light of the accumulation of experience and knowledge, not just in the realm of revolutionary practice but in the broader dimensions of human endeavor, including the natural as well as the social sciences, the realm of art and culture, and so on. As part of this process—beginning after the defeat of the Cultural Revolution and the ending of the revolution overall in China, and the restoration of capitalism there after the death of Mao in 1976—I have been engaged in and leading a process of subjecting communist theory to critical scientific interrogation, including my own previous understanding of this theory in its development beginning with Marx (and Engels) and carried forward by Lenin and then Mao. The result has been the development of a new synthesis of communism—popularly referred to as the new communism—which is a continuation of, but also represents a qualitative leap beyond, and in some important ways a break with, communist theory as it had been previously developed. This has involved criticism and ultimately rejection of the “mass line” as a basic method and a means for carrying forward the communist revolution.

    What Is Wrong with the “Mass Line”

    In examining here how the “mass line” does not represent a correct, scientific method and approach to revolutionary strategy and policy, I am going to focus on the concentrated representation of Mao’s thinking about “mass line” in the Red Book of quotations from Mao.

    In the chapter on the “mass line” in the Red Book, there are points of orientation that are definitely correct and important—for example, arguments against standing aloof from and having contempt for the masses of people, and criticism of attempting to carry out lines and policies without involving the masses. But the basic method of the “mass line” is contained in the following from Mao:

    In all the practical work of our Party, all correct leadership is necessarily "from the masses, to the masses." This means: take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action. Then once again concentrate ideas from the masses and once again go to the masses so that the ideas are persevered in and carried through. And so on, over and over again in an endless spiral, with the ideas becoming more correct, more vital and richer each time. Such is the Marxist theory of knowledge.

    But, in fact, this is not the Marxist theory of knowledge. This theory of knowledge—as it was developed in the first place by Marx (working together with Engels), and has been further developed since—has drawn from a much wider range of experience and knowledge than “the ideas of the masses.” (And, in different works of Mao, addressing questions other than the “mass line,” he puts forward a more correct presentation of the actual communist theory of knowledge.) And, as I wrote in Breakthroughs: The Historic Breakthrough by Marx, and the Further Breakthrough with the New Communism, A Basic Summary (which is also available at revcom.us and as an e-book): The application of the “mass line” was not actually how Mao proceeded in a basic sense in developing lines, policies, and strategies in carrying forward the revolutionary struggle. That was mainly done by Mao on a scientific basis, and not by drawing from and then concentrating the ideas of the masses and returning that to them. It was done by Mao by analyzing the contradictions that had to be confronted and transformed—to quote Breakthroughs, it was done by “determining which contradictions were essential to concentrate on at a given time.”

    (In a Note below, I have listed some of the major decisions by Mao regarding strategy and policy, during the course of the Chinese revolution—before and after the seizure of nationwide power in 1949—that were arrived at not through the application of the “mass line,” but on the basis of the method and approach that I have summarized in Breakthroughs, as cited here. And I have spoken not only to correct lines and policies that Mao led in adopting and applying, but also some secondary but significant erroneous lines and policies.)

    To emphasize once more this important point, the “mass line”—“take the ideas of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them (through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas), then go to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into action, and test the correctness of these ideas in such action”—is not the means for arriving at a correct line (strategy, policy, etc.). This, again, is because taking the ideas of the masses as the starting point of lines and policies—and even a process of “concentrating” the ideas of the masses (“through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas”)—is too narrow a source of knowledge and too limited a process for arriving at a correct understanding of what needs to be done to advance the revolution and overcome the obstacles to that advance.

    Here, I have to say that for some time I myself tried to render “more profound” what Mao says about the “mass line” by reinterpreting this to mean something like applying the scientific method of communism in a broad sense to concentrate what is correct in the ideas of the masses... there was just no help for it. No matter how you twist and turn it, the fact remains that the ideas of the masses—and even the most “advanced” ideas of the masses—are just too narrow a source, and “concentrating the ideas of the masses” too limited a process, for arriving at correct line and policy.

    Tailing, Instead of Struggling Against, Backward Ideas Among the Masses

    The following statement by Mao concentrates the essential problem with the “mass line:”

    Twenty-four years of experience tell us that the right task, policy and style of work invariably conform with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably strengthen our ties with the masses, and the wrong task, policy and style of work invariably disagree with the demands of the masses at a given time and place and invariably alienate us from the masses.

    This statement—and this does get to the heart of the matter—is wrong, in terms of the theory of knowledge it puts forward and specifically in its basic assertion that “the demands of the masses at a given time and place” are the standard and criterion for whether lines and policies are correct (or not). It is one thing, it is important, to be aware and mindful of the sentiments of the masses (including the fact that those sentiments will not be “uniform” and static: different people among “the masses” will have different sentiments, and the sentiments of masses may significantly change with changing conditions). It is another thing—it is not a correct approach—to make the sentiments (or “demands”) of the masses the basis for communist policy at any given time.

    The reality is that, under this capitalist-imperialist system (or any system of exploitation and oppression), the sentiments and demands of masses are to a very large extent shaped by the operation of this system—its economic system of exploitation, its social relations of oppression, and the political institutions and dominant culture that constantly and massively rationalize and reinforce this exploitation and oppression. (Even in socialist society, it will be the case that among the masses there will be ideas which still reflect, to varying degrees, the influence of exploitative and oppressive relations, which it is not possible to entirely eliminate within socialist society, and which will continue to characterize much of the world during what will be a protracted process of advancing to communism throughout the world.)

    It is not hard to see how “taking the ideas of the masses” as the starting point for communist strategy, policy, etc.—and operating according to the standard that “the right task, policy and style of work invariably conform with the demands of the masses at a given time and place”—can easily lead to tailing very wrong ideas and “demands” that masses of people may have at any given time. More than a few communists have fallen precisely into this kind of tailing by applying the “mass line.” In opposition to that, one reason why it is important to be aware and mindful of the sentiments of the masses is that this is necessary in order to effectively struggle against sentiments and demands of (at least many of) the masses, in different situations—rather than simply seeking to “concentrate” the ideas of the masses at any given point. And here it is important to emphasize that it is possible to determine, and act in accordance with, what are the real objective interests of the masses of people—in particular situations and overall in fundamental terms—not by tailing the masses, but by making a scientific analysis, and applying that scientific analysis.

    Resolving a Critical Contradiction—Between the Erroneous Concept of “Mass Line” and the Actual Basis for Advancing Communist Revolution

    It is fortunate that applying the “mass line” is not how Mao actually developed the decisive lines—strategy, policy, etc.—in leading the Chinese revolution to victory in 1949 and then carrying forward the revolution, in the conditions of the new socialist society, reaching its highest peak in the Cultural Revolution, before this was reversed after Mao’s death in 1976. As emphasized above, in citing Breakthroughs, this was done by Mao by analyzing the contradictions that had to be confronted and transformed—by “determining which contradictions were essential to concentrate on at a given time.”

    Yet, there is a critical contradiction here, between the actual method and approach Mao applied in developing line and policy, and what he puts forward in the “mass line” as the basis for doing this. This contradiction needs to be resolved—and can only be positively resolved—by adopting and systematically applying a scientific method and approach to understanding and transforming reality, in the development and application of a communist line (including strategy and policy at any given time), in opposition to the incorrect method and approach of “mass line.”

    And this transformation of reality will include, as a very significant aspect, waging ideological struggle to transform wrong ways of thinking among masses of people, winning them to a revolutionary outlook and objectives, based on the scientific approach to reality which, in the main, has characterized communism from its beginning, and which has been further developed, in a more consistently scientific way, with the new communism.

    *****

    An Important Note

    As alluded to above, the following are (some of the) major decisions—correct and important decisions—regarding strategy, policy, etc., that were adopted by Mao, in the course of the Chinese revolution, not through the application of the “mass line,” but by analyzing the contradictions that had to be confronted and transformed—by “determining which contradictions were essential to concentrate on at a given time.”

    * Initiating the revolutionary armed struggle in the late 1920s against the ruling forces concentrated in the Kuomintang government, headed by Chiang Kai-shek (and backed by the major “western” imperialists).

    * In the mid-1930s, in the context of the invasion and occupation of China by Japanese imperialism, the shift from fighting against the Kuomintang to the United Front with the Kuomintang against Japan.

    * The decision to negotiate with the Kuomintang at the end of WW 2, in 1945... and the resumption of people’s war—now directed against the Kuomintang—after the breakdown of those negotiations.

    * The decision to enter the Korean War in 1950, after the invading imperialist forces, led by the U.S., were occupying parts of North Korea and advancing toward the Chinese border with North Korea (and the commander of those imperialist forces, MacArthur, was threatening to directly attack China).

    * The initiation and the course of the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s and early 1970s.

    Once again, none of these—and other major decisions, involving the adoption (and changing) of strategy and policies—were based on the mass line, but on an analysis, and ranking, of contradictions.

    At the same time, it is necessary to recognize that, although in the main and overwhelmingly through the course of the Chinese revolution—both before and after the achievement of nationwide victory in 1949—the lines and policies adopted with Mao’s leadership were correct and led to crucial advances for the revolution, a sharp example where that was not the case is the policy adopted by China in the early 1970s which could be characterized as an “opening to the West.” This involved not simply the establishment of relations with the U.S., in order to make use of contradictions between the U.S. and its main rival at that time, the Soviet Union. In reality the Chinese approach to international relations and developments, in this period, flowed from an incorrect analysis that the Soviet Union was then the main enemy of the people of the world. There was a definite tendency to evaluate and approach things internationally in terms of how they contributed, or not, to opposing the Soviet Union’s goals and moves in the international arena. (Since the 1950s, the Soviet Union had no longer been a socialist country but had become a capitalist-imperialist power, even as it continued, for some time, to present itself as socialist. Mao and the Chinese Communist Party he led very correctly and importantly analyzed that the Soviet Union had become “social imperialist”—socialist in name but imperialist in fact—but it was not correct, and did real damage, to single out the Soviet Union as the main enemy of the people of the world, and to act—and encourage others to act—in line with this ill-founded analysis.)

    One of the most harmful dimensions of this was the support given by China to terribly oppressive governments in the Third World, such as the regime of torture headed by the Shah of Iran and the Marcos regime in the Philippines (a country where, ironically, Maoist revolutionaries were then waging an armed struggle against that very regime).

    These serious errors were a reflection and expression both of real necessity—not least the actual threat of a major attack on China by the Soviet Union—but also of nationalist tendencies on Mao’s part (tendencies to evaluate things principally in terms of their effect on China) which were posed, secondarily but significantly, against Mao’s overall communist/internationalist orientation.

    In my Memoir (From Ike to Mao and Beyond), I recount a situation where, in the course of a visit to China in 1974, I (together with another person who was part of that visit) raised criticism and waged struggle with representatives of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party over these very wrong and harmful policies. And, beginning with Conquer the World and Advancing the World Revolutionary Movement: Questions of Strategic Orientation in the 1980s, I have made a critical analysis of this wrong policy. (Conquer The World? The International Proletariat Must and Will and Advancing the World Revolutionary Movement: Questions of Strategic Orientation are both available at revcom.us in BA’s Collected Works.)

    At the same time, this necessary, scientifically-based criticism has been made in the context of the equally scientifically-based analysis that even while this very wrong policy was being carried out and did real harm, in the first part of the 1970s, Mao and those following his leadership in the Chinese Communist Party did continue to support various revolutionary struggles in different parts of the world during that time, while also giving leadership to the Cultural Revolution within China itself—which, as I have spoken to here, was not only an unprecedented revolutionary movement of masses of people in China itself but was a profound inspiration to literally hundreds of millions of oppressed and revolutionary-minded people throughout the world.

    Once more, despite these significant errors, in the main and overwhelmingly, through the course of the Chinese revolution—both before and after the achievement of nationwide victory in 1949—the lines and policies adopted with Mao’s leadership were correct and led to crucial advances for the revolution in China while making crucial contributions to this revolution in the world as a whole. As emphasized at the beginning, as an overall assessment it is true that Mao’s contributions to communist theory and human emancipation are truly profound.

  • ARTICLE:

    ANTI-SCIENTIFIC “ANTI-AUTHORITARIANISM”

    Serving American Imperialism and Promoting American Chauvinism

    In a previous article I examined how the misleading concept of “authoritarianism,” like the closely related “theory” of “totalitarianism,” is an anti-scientific “theory” which serves American imperialist interests and promotes American chauvinism (the sickening belief in the superiority of Americans and “the American way of life”).* As analyzed in that previous article, this “theory” of “authoritarianism” has been wielded on behalf of U.S. imperialism in its contention with its imperialist rival China, and in the service of U.S. rivalry with Russian imperialism as focused now in the war in Ukraine. Here, I am going to speak further to the actual meaning and purpose of the “theory” of “authoritarianism.”

    First, there is the fact that the concept of “authoritarianism,” in itself

    has no particular ideological, political or social content, and in fact serves to cover over or obscure actual social, political and ideological content.... speaking of “authoritarianism,” without reference to the actual ideology and political and social content of the “authoritarians,” allows for the pretense that “extremists” of the “right” and the “left” are essentially the same.*

    The “theory” of “authoritarianism” divorces the exercise of political power from the fundamental nature of the society in question, and in particular the foundation of that society in its economic system (the mode of production) and the corresponding social relations (for example, racial, sex and gender relations). With this wrong-headed approach, ignoring (or covering over) the fundamental nature of the society, it is impossible to come to any real understanding of how that society actually operates, how and by whom it is ruled, why that is the way things are, and what could be done to change this in a positive way.

    “Authoritarianism” and Bourgeois (Capitalist) Dictatorship

    What the “theoreticians” of “authoritarianism” mean by this term is that there is a small group (or sometimes they imply that it is just one person, for example Putin in Russia) that dictates to everybody else in society. But to the degree that the concept of “authoritarianism” could be understood to have any real meaning, it is essentially this: a restricted group of representatives of the ruling class exercises state power while excluding other representatives of this ruling class from effective participation in the exercise of that state power.

    The word “state” here (in the formulation “state power”) does not refer to the kind of geographical and political units that exist in the United States (such as the states of California, New York, Texas and Florida). It refers to the key institutions of government that represent the concentrated power of the ruling class, and in particular its monopoly of “legitimate” armed force and violence. “Legitimate” armed force and violence means armed force and violence that is exercised by official institutions, like the police and the military—institutions to which the Constitution and the laws give the right to utilize armed force and commit violent acts in the interests of the existing system and as authorized and ordered by the political representatives of this system, such as the president (or other officials, at various levels of government, with the ability to legally authorize the use of violence). In this country, where the existing and dominating system is capitalism-imperialism, the political representatives and the governing institutions—especially the institutions of state power—are instruments of this system of capitalism-imperialism; and, in the international arena, they represent and seek to enforce the interests of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class of this country.

    State power exercised in an “authoritarian” way is a particular form of the dictatorship of the ruling class. Understanding this is crucial in order to see what is really the essence of the difference between the “democratic” form of bourgeois dictatorship that has generally existed in this country and, on the other hand, the fascist bourgeois dictatorship that the Republican Party is now actively seeking to bring about, with itself as the decisive force in this fascist bourgeois dictatorship, and its rivals in the ruling class (in the Democratic Party) excluded from effective participation in this dictatorship. As also analyzed in the earlier article on “authoritarianism” to which I have referred here, this fascism involves “a very definite content: hatred and violent suppression of Black people and other people of color, immigrants, women and LGBT people, unrestrained plunder of the environment, grotesque American chauvinism, crude anti-intellectualism and anti-scientific lunacy.”

    To be very clear, the oppression of Black and other people of color, immigrants, women and LGBT people, and plunder of the environment, as well as wars of aggression and crimes against humanity: All this is built into and required by this system of capitalism-imperialism. All of its representatives are American chauvinists. All of them will ignore, or crudely distort, science and scientifically grounded truths in pursuing and enforcing the interests of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class of this country. The difference is that the “bourgeois-democratic” functionaries of this system (as represented by the Democratic Party) recognize the need for certain limited concessions to the struggle against these different forms of oppression, a certain language of “inclusion,” and a certain adherence to rational thinking—up to a point—while the fanatical passion and goal of the fascists is forcefully imposing a situation where there is no such pretense of “inclusion” and there is undisguised and unrestrained enforcement of all this oppression and madness.

    To get a fuller understanding of all this, the following from the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America is very important:

    Regardless of differences, even very great and qualitative differences, in their political structures, institutions and guiding principles, all states have a definite social content and class character: they are an expression of the prevailing social relations, and most fundamentally the economic relations (relations of production), which have a decisive and ultimately determining role in regard to how the particular society functions and is organized. The state serves to protect and expand those relations and to enforce the interests of the social group—the ruling class—which holds the dominant position in society, as a result of its role in the economy, and in particular its ownership and control of the major means of production (including land, raw materials and other resources, technology and physical structures such as factories, and so on). In capitalist society, it is the capitalist class which holds this dominant position: the government structures and processes—and above all the organs of the state as an instrument of class rule and suppression (the armed forces, police, courts and prisons, the executive power, and the bureaucracies)—are controlled by this capitalist class as a means of exercising its rule over society and its repression of forces whose interests are in significant opposition to, and/or which resist, its rule. In short, all states are an instrument of dictatorship—of a monopoly of political power, concentrated as a monopoly of “legitimate” armed force and violence—exercised by, and in the interests of, one class or another. Any democracy which is practiced in this situation is democracy on the terms of, and fundamentally serving the interests of, the ruling class and its exercise of dictatorship.**

    With regard to the exercise of state power—dictatorship—by the bourgeois (capitalist) ruling class, the criticism of “authoritarianism” by “bourgeois democrats” actually amounts to this argument:

    Bourgeois dictatorship is better exercised by having political structures and processes that allow for participation of representatives of the capitalist class broadly in the exercise of this dictatorship (in the U.S., Democratic Party as well as Republican Party representatives of the ruling class), rather than restricting the effective exercise of this dictatorship to a smaller group within the ruling class. And the argument:

    This bourgeois dictatorship is also better exercised through maintaining “bourgeois democracy”—democracy on the terms of, and restricted within the confines of, rule by the capitalist class—where people are allowed to vote, so long as the choices for which they can vote are strictly limited to those representing the interests of the capitalist ruling class, and where people are allowed certain other rights, so long as the exercise of those rights does not threaten the interests of this ruling class.

    Socialist State Power—Radically Different and Emancipating

    The Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America makes clear that, in fundamental opposition to the dictatorship of the capitalist class, socialist state power, the dictatorship of the proletariat,

    in its essential character and its basic principles, structures, institutions and political processes ... must give expression to and serve the fundamental interests of the proletariat, a class whose exploitation is the engine of the accumulation of capitalist wealth and the functioning of capitalist society and whose emancipation from its exploited condition can only be brought about through the communist revolution, with its goal of abolishing all relations of exploitation and oppression and achieving the emancipation of humanity as a whole.**

    At the same time, through the work I have done over decades summing up the previous experience of the communist movement and socialist society in the Soviet Union and China (before capitalism was restored in the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s and in China after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976), and by learning from a broad range of human experience, a new communism has been brought forward, which is a continuation of, but also represents a qualitative leap beyond, and in some important ways a break with, communist theory as it had been previously developed. As applied to socialist society, this involves an emphasis on the importance of dissent, intellectual and artistic ferment, and protection of the rights of the people, particularly against government abuse, within the framework of, and as an important part of, the exercise of the dictatorship of the proletariat. This is an application of the principle and method of “solid core, with a lot of elasticity”—which, as set forth in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, means that

    on the one hand, there must be a continually expanding force in society, with the revolutionary communist party as its leading element, which is firmly convinced of the need to advance to communism and deeply committed to carrying forward this struggle, through all the difficulties and obstacles; and, on the basis of and at the same time as continually strengthening this “solid core,” there must be provision and scope for a wide diversity of thinking and activity, among people throughout society, “going off in many different directions,” grappling and experimenting with many diverse ideas and programs and fields of endeavor—and once again all this must be “embraced” by the vanguard party and the “solid core” in an overall sense and enabled to contribute, through many divergent paths, to the advance along a broad road toward the goal of communism.**

    This principle and method of “solid core, with a lot of elasticity” is applied throughout the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, with regard to all the governing institutions and important spheres of society including education, science, culture, and the media. The following statement of mine, about the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, is profoundly true and crucially important:

    It is a fact that, nowhere else, in any actual or proposed founding or guiding document of any government, is there anything like not only the protection but the provision for dissent and intellectual and cultural ferment that is embodied in this Constitution, while this has, as its solid core, a grounding in the socialist transformation of the economy, with the goal of abolishing all exploitation, and the corresponding transformation of the social relations and political institutions, to uproot all oppression, and the promotion, through the educational system and in society as a whole, of an approach that will “enable people to pursue the truth wherever it leads, with a spirit of critical thinking and scientific curiosity, and in this way to continually learn about the world and be better able to contribute to changing it in accordance with the fundamental interests of humanity.”***

    Of course, with regard to the exercise of political power by the representatives of this radically different system of socialism—that is, the exercise of socialist state power, the dictatorship of the proletariat—bourgeois “theoreticians” of all stripes are opposed to that revolutionary state power in any form, for the basic reason that this socialist state power empowers and gives institutionalized backing to the masses of people to uproot the relations of exploitation and oppression on which the capitalist system rests.

    This socialist state power aims for the emancipation of humanity as a whole, in every part of the world, from all relations of exploitation and oppression, with the achievement of communism throughout the world—whereupon the need and basis for any part of humanity to exploit, oppress and exercise dictatorship over any other part, will have been eliminated and abolished, and a world community of freely associating human beings will replace the profound divisions, with their horrific consequences, that now characterize the world, under the domination of the system of capitalism-imperialism.

    ****

    A Final Point: The U.S. Imperialists Are World-Class Hypocrites, and Big Time Backers of “Authoritarianism” When It Serves Their Interests

    In the original article exposing the anti-scientific nature of the “theory” of “authoritarianism,” and its use in the service of U.S. imperialism, I made the point that “the U.S. is today, and has historically been, allied with many ‘authoritarian’ governments throughout the world (and, in fact, has forcibly installed such governments in many countries).”*

    The following is a list of some of the countries where, just since World War 2, the U.S. has indeed been allied with—and in many cases has installed, through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—governments that are “authoritarian” (that would have to be considered “authoritarian,” according to the “logic” of the “theorists” of “authoritarianism”):

    • Chile
    • Brazil
    • Haiti
    • Cuba (before the 1959 revolution)
    • El Salvador
    • Nicaragua
    • Guatemala
    • Honduras
    • Panama
    • The Dominican Republic
    • Greece
    • Poland
    • Indonesia
    • The Philippines
    • South Korea
    • South Vietnam
    • China (before the victory of the revolution in 1949)
    • Iran
    • Iraq
    • Turkey
    • Israel

    Again, this is only a partial list of the “authoritarian” governments backed—and often installed through invasions, bloody coups, etc.—by the U.S. imperialists, just since World War 2.

    World-class hypocrites, world-ravaging oppressors.

     

    NOTES

    * The article by Bob Avakian, “Shameless American Chauvinism: ‘Anti-Authoritarianism’ as a ‘Cover’ for Supporting U.S. Imperialism, with an ADDED NOTE by Bob Avakian, Spring 2023, is available at www.revcom.us. In the article “Bob Avakian on Impeachment, Crimes Against Humanity, Liberals and Lies, Provocative and Profound Truths” (also available at www.revcom.us), Bob Avakian speaks to the “theory” of “totalitarianism” and how it, too, promotes, anti-scientific thinking particularly in the service of U.S. imperialism.

    ** The quotes from the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America are from the Preamble of this Constitution. This Constitution, written by Bob Avakian, is also available at www.revcom.us.

    *** This statement by Bob Avakian, on the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, originally appeared in NEW YEAR’S STATEMENT BY BOB AVAKIAN, A New Year, The Urgent Need For A Radically New World—For The Emancipation Of All Humanity, January 2021, which is also available at www.revcom.us.

  • ARTICLE:

    Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences

    Updated

    EDITORS' NOTE: The theory of evolution—how and why very primitive one-celled organisms gave rise to the wondrous variety of life we have today and, as part of that, how we humans came into being—is one of the greatest and most important achievements of human knowledge. It is a joy to understand and an extremely important part of knowing—and changing—the world. Ardea Skybreak’s The Science of Evolution and The Myth of Creationism: Knowing What’s Real and Why It Matters goes deeply into this in a way that is both very accessible and captures the awe that comes from understanding how life came to be. 

    In addition, there is no better introduction to the scientific method—a method that enables people to get to the truth. This method can and must be applied to all natural processes and spheres of activity, including human society, to grasp how things came into being and how they can change. At a time when the scientific method is under attack from all sides—from Christian-fascist lunatics to woke post-modernists, not to mention liberal relativists—this book is more important than ever.

    Reality and Distortions of Reality—Objective Truth and Subjective Influences

    From The Science of Evolution and The Myth of Creationism Knowing What's Real and Why It Matters (pp. 216-18)

    The philosopher Robert Pennock, who has written a very useful and interesting book showing what’s wrong with the Intelligent Design and other creationist arguments from both a scientific and philosophical/methodological perspective (The Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism) makes the point that the “Intelligent Design” Creationists (IDCs), in their attack against “scientific naturalism,” fall into classic “postmodernist” deconstructionist misinterpretations of the work of Thomas Kuhn. Thomas Kuhn was an influential philosopher and historian of science who argued, starting in the 1960s, that the way scientists choose what conceptual and theoretical framework (what “paradigm”) they should apply in framing their scientific questions and in seeking to resolve scientific puzzles is necessarily heavily influenced by subjective factors, including prevailing social norms and conventions. Unfortunately, some people misinterpreted that to mean that therefore there is no objective scientific truth at all, that all truth is necessarily subjective and therefore that any one scientist’s theory is pretty much as good as any other’s.

    As Pennock points out, Kuhn himself didn’t agree with that and tried to point out that this is not at all what he meant to say, and that scientific truths themselves are objective (not subjective), and truth itself is not relative—he clarified that he simply meant that scientists are necessarily influenced by subjective factors, even in the choosing of what kind of conceptual framework and method they use to try to get at the objective truth of things. Nevertheless, despite Kuhn’s protestations, it is, according to Pennock, that initial misinterpretation of Kuhn’s views which seemed to spread widely throughout academic circles, where it went on to influence the development of “deconstructionism” in literary circles. Deconstructionism refers to a method of reading and discussing texts that emphasizes the multiplicity of possible readings and interpretations of any given text and the subjective influences which any reader (as well as any author) can bring into any text. For the deconstructionist there can therefore be many possible “truthful” interpretations of any one text or work of art (“your truth” can be different from “my truth” in deconstructionist approaches).

    The so-called “post-modernist” deconstructionists took this even further, basically arguing that there is no such thing as “objective” truth, because the fact that each person brings their own subjective interpretations to things makes it impossible to ever know anything other than through this distorted subjective lens. As Pennock points out, the post-modernist deconstructionists argue that when people think something is true “it is only because one or another particular group—because of their position, prestige or power—has been able to establish and enforce their own view.” In such a view all truth is relative, and “power relations” determine what we call truth at any given time. (For more on this see Pennock’s Tower of Babel: The Evidence Against the New Creationism.)

    By contrast, the method of dialectical and historical materialism (which is the viewpoint and method upheld and applied by communists) agrees that subjective influences (including social values and conventions and class-influenced outlooks and methods, especially when concentrated in the hands of people wielding power) can and do distort perceptions of the actual truth of things and that it is important to recognize and identify these subjective distortions; but that doesn’t mean that all truth is relative or that it is not possible to discover the actual objective truth about the way things really are in nature and society. The notion that all truth is relative is a recipe for idealist paralysis that just gives up on trying to deeply understand how reality really is (independently of people’s notions of it) and how people might consciously attempt to affect that reality.

    To get at the objective truth of things, what is required is the application of a consciously and consistently scientific method which repeatedly grapples with objective reality and tests and transforms it to see whether or not it conforms to predictions we make about how it actually is at any given point, and in what ways it may be changing and developing. Yes we do all bring our subjective influences and outlooks to the task; but the actual truth of things (in actual objective reality) is there, whether we interact with it or not, and regardless of any of our subjective opinions and preconceived notions. In contrast to subjective idealism or other forms of philosophical idealism (which includes beliefs in a supernatural realm existing above and beyond the sphere of actual material reality), it is science—a scientific outlook and method—which we must apply if we want to find out the actual truth of things. 

    Unfortunately, as Pennock explains, postmodernist relativism tends to view science itself as just another “narrative and interpretive activity” (much like the writing of literary texts or other artistic pursuits) and these relativists conclude from this that scientific truths “are not objective but are constructed by power relations and prejudices.” Here again, two things are being confused, or “jumbled together”: the reality that human beings bring subjective outlooks and interpretations to everything they do, including in science, and that we should try to consciously sort these out; and, on the other hand, the basic fact that objective reality does exist independently of human beings and that by becoming more fully conscious of what constitutes a genuine scientific method and aware of methodological errors to avoid, human beings can actually zero in more and more closely (even if never perfectly) on the actual truth of things. How could we ever make concrete scientific advances and transform reality in line with our intended objectives (as in the development of antibiotics, to use just one example) if objective reality didn’t really exist and if human beings were totally powerless to determine with a fair degree of confidence the objective truth corresponding to that actual reality?

    The more traditional “scientific Creationists” try to argue as if they believe it’s OK to use the usual methods of scientific investigation because when you do that you can come up with “evidence” that evolution didn’t happen, so therefore the story of a Creator god told in Genesis must be right. In reality, they don’t apply a genuinely scientific method, nor do they have any legitimate scientific evidence that could possibly support their viewpoint (they mainly make up absurd claims based on nothing, such as the idea that the order of the fossils in different rock layers represents the order in which different animals drowned during the Biblical Flood!). They mainly try to make people take their word for it that evolution isn’t a solidly supported theory in the hopes that people will allow them to propose their religious alternative in the science classrooms. But they’d still like people to believe that their creationist views are compatible with modern scientific methods.

    But a number of the Intelligent Design Creationists are actually even more fundamentally anti-science than some of their Biblical literalist brethren, even though this may not always be immediately obvious. However if you study what they say and write, you will see that some of them at least (especially Phillip Johnson and his followers) actually want to overthrow the whole way science is usually done! They want scientific knowledge to somehow be attained “through” religion, and therefore they want scientific methods to reflect this goal by incorporating the idea of God right into the pursuit of science—the replacement of the methods of standard “naturalistic science” with “theistic science” (science driven by God) is the openly stated goal of at least their preeminent ideologue, Phillip Johnson. And they want access to the science classrooms of high schools and even universities in order to accomplish this stupendous “paradigm shift.”

    BAsics-1-25-559-en.jpg

     

    The philosopher Robert Pennock makes a convincing case for the notion that this new breed of Creationists have been very much influenced by postmodernist relativism.*

    Phillip Johnson himself is a law professor who identifies himself as a “postmodernist deconstructionist” and denies that natural science can get to the actual objective truth of anything. He sees the theory of evolution as just one subjectively interpreted story, which happened to become dominant since Darwin’s time simply because the scientific community managed to politically suppress the teaching of alternative theories such as the theory of divine design. He calls on people to free themselves from the supposed tyranny of naturalistic science and its materialist rules of evidence. He argues that we can’t get at the truth of things through “naturalistic” science—that this can only be done in the end through knowing God. “Truth” in his view does exist, but it is only the truth of divine revelation!

    It is important to realize that this is what the Intelligent Design Creationists want to smuggle into the science classrooms, to be given “equal weight” with the theory of evolution, a scientific theory which, unlike “Intelligent Design,” has been repeatedly tested and verified (over and over and over again!) through concrete scientific observations and experiments. It is completely unconscionable to allow the obviously religious theory of “Intelligent Design” (which has never produced even a single legitimate scientific research article in a single legitimate peer-reviewed scientific journal) to be taught to our children as science. Today, the proponents of “Intelligent Design” (supported by people in positions of highest authority, right up to the president) have succeeded in confusing many people into thinking that the theory of evolution is on shaky ground and is controversial in the scientific community (when nothing could be further from the truth!); they have successfully lobbied to get some textbooks rewritten to reflect their crackpot theory; they have rammed their program through some school boards; they have launched lawsuits to try to undermine the separation of church and state; and, increasingly, they are succeeding in getting the mainstream media to grant them legitimacy and treat their theory as if it were serious science. But none of this changes the simple fact that “Intelligent Design” is not and has never been science. It is religion. And any political successes its proponents may achieve in connection with the advance of a reactionary social agenda cannot change the fact that Intelligent Design does not have a shred of scientific credibility.

     _____________________

    * The article “Marxism and the Enlightenment,” by RCP Chairman Bob Avakian, also contains a very interesting and relevant discussion of this and related questions. [This article appeared in the Revolutionary Worker #1029 (December 2, 2001), and is posted at revcom.us; and it has been included in the book Observations on Art and Culture, Science and Philosophy by Bob Avakian (Insight Press, 2005)] [back]

  • ARTICLE:

    Translated into English, by revcom.us, from the blog Aurora Roja, of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico:

    REVOLUTIONARY HOPE

    New Possibilities Are Opening Up for Liberatory Revolution In the Midst of Acute Crises and Upheavals of the Capitalist System — It Is Urgent to Organize the Fight For Revolution

    Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico

    Editors' Note: The following is the English translation of a new book from the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico (OCR). According to the description of this book at Aurora Roja, voice of the OCR: "An important new book on the new possibilities for a liberatory revolution in the midst of the acute crises and upheavals of the capitalist system, as well as what needs to be done and what can be done to organize and fight now for this revolution that the people and the planet so urgently need. The pdf of this book is available in English (8.5x11") and in Spanish booklet 5.6x8.74" and 8.5x11" sizes.

    La Esperanza Revolucionaria cover spanish

     

    Revolutionary Hope
    Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico   

    Among people there is debate about whether things are going to continue badly, as usual, or if they are going to get worse. The truth is that in the country [Mexico] and in the world, things are going from bad to worse. The misery and unnecessary suffering of millions is increasing and we face existential threats to the future of humanity from the environmental emergency and the threat of war, including world war. However, it is precisely in the midst of the acute crises and upheavals of the current system that new possibilities arise for the liberatory revolution that will open the way to a hopeful and emancipatory future.

    The relentless intensification of global warming and the overall environmental crisis caused by capitalism, as well as the extinction and threat of extinction of many species, including possibly our own, arouses anguish, repudiation and growing protest in many parts of the world. This is particularly the case among young people and also among many scientists. The ravages of the environmental crisis, as well as imperialist domination and wars, force millions to migrate, through Mexico and the world, desperately seeking how to survive.

    Wars provoked by the imperialist powers in their increasingly intense contention for redividing the world are tearing apart the stability of the current world imperialist order. They bring immense dangers while potentially opening up new revolutionary possibilities for the future of humanity and the planet. The most recent war, in Ukraine, has been provoked by the U.S. and Russian imperialists. This war, in the short term, has given rise to a big nauseating wave of pro-imperialist chauvinism in the West, although there are also those who denounce the provocations of the Western imperialists by expanding NATO, without making apologies for the Russian invasion. On the other side of the conflict, in Russia, facing the wave of imperialist chauvinism in favor of the invasion, thousands of Russians, mainly young people, despite the consequences, have dared to go out and protest against the invasion of Ukraine. And, all over the planet, there are those who question why there has to be so much death and suffering from wars launched by interests alien to the vast majority of people, which lead us towards the precipice of nuclear war and the danger of extinction of many forms of life on the planet, including the human race.

    The possibility of a revolutionary situation in the United States has arisen in the midst of the intense internecine struggle in the U.S. ruling class, between the Republican Party, which seeks to impose fascism, and the Democratic Party, which tries to preserve the forms and illusions of bourgeois democracy. It is more than evident that the big breakthroughs of revolution in the “belly of the beast” would have an enormous impact on the world, and particularly in Mexico.

    The righteous rebellion of women throughout the world, and notably in Mexico, has called into question the festering patriarchy, in the face of reactionary efforts to defend and strengthen male dominance. This contention can only be resolved either through radically reactionary transformations or through radically revolutionary and liberatory transformations.

    The anger of the indigenous peoples rises as they live, behind new honeyed promises, the harsh reality of new and old megaprojects of death, ethnocide and ecocide: Mining, the so-called “Maya” Train, the transoceanic project on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the Morelos Comprehensive Project, and the Independencia aqueduct, among many others.

    The desperation of more and more people is spreading, in the face of the bloody conflicts and the collusion that exists between the cartels, the government and the big capitalists, which has resulted in more than 100 thousand murders and more than 30 thousand disappeared, just in the three years of the current government, as well as tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes.

    More and more people see their hopes for real change defrauded with the so-called “Fourth Transformation” [“4T”], while President Andrés Manuel López Obrador vituperates, attacks and accuses radical women and indigenous people, environmentalists, students at a normal school [normal school refers to teachers' colleges in Mexico], teachers, scientists, independent journalists, and others of being “conservative and corrupt.” At the same time, the internal struggle in the ruling classes is intensifying between the true “conservatives”—the reactionary and discredited parties of the PAN, PRI and PRD—and the reactionary project of a new hegemonic party, with Morena as a sort of renewed PRI, which seeks to sustain itself through a threatening escalation of the country’s militarization, among other means.

    In the world and in the country, these and other contradictions of the world capitalist-imperialist system are intensifying more and more, posing two possibilities: Live with these horrors and worse, even the possible extinction of humanity, or make revolution.

    The very intensification of the upheavals of the system and of the unnecessary suffering of the people also opens up, in addition to great dangers, new possibilities for a truly liberatory revolution and a much better world. However, these possibilities of opening up a new emancipatory dawn in the country and in the world can only become a reality with a growing organized nucleus of people who apply the science of new communism to guide determined and conscious revolutionary struggle of the masses.

    Let us therefore analyze in greater depth the big dangers and the new revolutionary possibilities inherent in the current situation, as well as the urgent need to bring forward and train new revolutionary communists who will fight for the liberatory revolution in Mexico and the emancipation of all humanity.

    The Environmental Emergency of Capitalism Is Destroying the Planet: Revolution Is the Only Hope for Humanity

    Global warming and other environmental destruction carry the threat of extinction of many species, including our own. According to a report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the world has lost more than two-thirds of vertebrates (animals with backbones) since 1970. This includes a 94 percent loss in tropical areas of Central and South America. And the rate of extinction is accelerating (La Jornada [LJ], 01/16/2022).

    Global warming is intensifying, which is caused by greenhouse gases, mainly due to carbon dioxide emitted from the burning of fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal). Its ravages are becoming more than evident in the world with dramatic climatic disasters of unusual and intense heat waves and droughts in some parts and very strong hurricanes, storms and floods in others. In Mexico, just in 2021 (and now continuing especially in the north of the country) the Conagua [National Water Commission] declared a state of emergency due to the conditions of extreme and severe drought that three quarters of the country suffer in which there is some degree of drought, which undermines agriculture, damages ecosystems and erodes soils. In the same year, the number of cyclones almost doubled, leaving thousands of victims who had to block highways and even break into a conference of the president to demand from the government the aid that had supposedly already arrived, according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who always has “other data.”

    Despite the rhetoric of bourgeois politicians and their international conferences, since 1990 when global warming caused by human activity was well established as scientific fact, global greenhouse gas emissions have increased by 50 percent. The global temperature is already around 1°C above pre-industrial levels. The Paris Agreement purportedly seeks to limit this to 1.5°C, but even if all of their promises are met, an increase of about 2.7°C is projected and the vast majority of countries are not keeping their promises. The recent report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) revealed that the warming has progressed even faster than predicted. What’s more, the 15 largest producers plan to produce more than double the amount of oil, gas and carbon needed to meet the supposed goal. Mexico is among the countries that do not comply with the Paris Agreements and Mexico’s government has opted to increase the use of fossil fuels instead of restricting them. The country is one of the 15 largest emitters of greenhouse gases, and Pemex [Petróleos Mexicanos, state oil monopoly] is among the ten most polluting companies in the world.

    This environmental crisis also causes and will cause more and worse pandemics and epidemics in the world. The destruction of the habitat of other species breaks down “the natural barriers that allowed humans to keep us safe from viruses and bacteria found in nature,” explains Dr. Gerardo Ceballos González, a researcher at the UNAM Institute of Ecology (Gaceta UNAM, “Amenaza la sexta extinción masiva de vertebrados” ["The threat of sixth mass extinction of vertebrates"]). And this is a cause of the COVID-19 pandemic that we are experiencing, as well as the nearly 50 outbreaks of emerging, viral or bacterial diseases that have affected human beings in the last 30 years. If capitalism-imperialism and its destruction of the environment continue, more and worse epidemics and pandemics await us.

    The cause of global warming and of the destruction of the environment is the world system of capitalism-imperialism and the only way to seriously be able to fight to reverse this race towards environmental disaster is revolution. For the capitalists, global warming and the destruction of the environment are “externalities,” that is, they do not figure in their production costs, although there is a very high cost for people and nature. Competition among capitalists forces them to ignore these social costs, under penalty of being bankrupted by the more profitable (and destructive) measures by other capitalists. Something similar happens with respect to the rivalry between the imperialist powers, but not only economic competition enters into this relationship, but also geopolitical and military contentions for world domination. Due to all of the above, we have had decades of empty promises from the authorities and the situation is only getting worse. In several aspects, the destruction caused so far is irreversible, although in others it is not.

    What will happen if we allow the ecocidal capitalist system to continue driving global warming and the destruction of the planet’s ecosystems?

    • More and more terrestrial and marine species will become extinct and the ecosystems on which human life depends will be destroyed.
    • More and more regions of the planet will become uninhabitable due to intense heat and drought, especially in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and parts of Asia.
    • The level of the oceans will continue to rise with the melting of the polar glaciers, leading to major flooding on the coasts and the sinking of several coastal cities and island nations under the sea.
    • There will be more and more frequent and devastating storms and hurricanes, alternating with heat waves and forest fires.
    • Water for human use and agriculture will become increasingly scarce. The destruction of the necessary conditions for agriculture will lead to people suffering from hunger and famine, especially in the countries of the Global South who are most affected.
    • The desperate migration of millions of more people due to the impossibility of surviving in their countries of origin will increase, and they will collide with the walls and repressive forces of the imperialist countries of the northern hemisphere that are less affected by global warming.
    • New pandemics, diseases and health crises will occur, as well as many additional deaths from extreme weather events.

    This doesn’t have to be our future, but scientists are warning us that the “window of opportunity” to stop global disaster is closing. There’s not much time. Revolution is urgent.

    With revolution and socialism, society will be freed from the shackles of capitalism’s relentless pursuit of maximum profit, and it will be possible to put the needs of people and the environment in command. The triumph of such a communist revolution in one country or group of countries would be a beacon of inspiration for the people of the rest of the world, and the triumphant revolution would immediately call for a determined struggle throughout the world until it is possible to rapidly put an end to the use of fossil fuels and other forms of environmental destruction.

    This revolution is possible and the very dimensions of the ongoing environmental emergency are leading more and more people, especially young people and scientists, to question the system that causes and will cause more and more of these disasters. It is urgent to bring to these people and others the truth about the only real solution to all this madness.

    The Contention Between the Imperialist Powers for the Redivision of the World Is Taking Us to the Precipice of a World War: We Must Face Imperialist War and Aggression With Revolution to End Capitalism-Imperialism

    The danger of war, including nuclear war, is increasing due to the intensification of the rivalry among imperialist powers, such as the United States, China, Russia, various European countries, and others. This danger has been greatly increased with the more direct clash between U.S. imperialism and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), on the one hand, and Russian imperialism, on the other, with the invasion of Ukraine. However, this has been intensifying since before this war. For example, these imperialists stirred things up in support of opposing sides in the civil war in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, with millions of displaced people and refugees. On the other hand, not long ago the United States and Japan conducted provocative military exercises in a disputed area of the South China Sea; while China has held military exercises with fake U.S. ships as their targets.

    The big capitalists and their political representatives in the oppressed countries subordinated to imperialism in Africa, Asia and Latin America, are trying to take advantage of the conflict between the imperialist powers to see if they can increase their share of the exploitation of “their” workers. The president of Mexico, López Obrador, at the summit with the presidents of the U.S. and Canada in 2021, warned of the danger that “by 2051, China would dominate 42 percent of the world market and we, the United States, Mexico and Canada, would end up with 12 percent, which, in addition to being an unacceptable disproportion in the economic sphere, would keep alive the temptation to bet on resolving this disparity with the use of force, which would endanger us all.” So he called for “strengthening ourselves commercially in North America,” "strengthening," by the way, in that the economic role of Mexico as an oppressed country lies largely in the super-exploitation of cheap labor and as a source of raw materials.

    Other bourgeois politicians like Evo Morales, former president of Bolivia, advocate for associating with China for the best terms it could offer. And among the Latin American “left” in general there is no shortage of those who praise China and Russia. Such a point of view, when expressed by people who are not representatives of the bourgeoisie, is usually due to a narrow nationalism that does not see beyond the fact that the U.S. is indeed the main imperialist oppressor in the region (and the world) and their blindness to the revolutionary potential of the masses. Russia has been an openly capitalist power for more than 30 years. Although China maintains a flimsy façade of “socialism,” capitalism was actually restored there as a result of the coup after Mao’s death in 1976. Profits are in command of both the state and private Chinese economy, and this so-called socialist country boasts one of the main stock exchanges in the world, in Shanghai.

    The fundamental interests of the masses of people are not in choosing which is the best imperialist power to exploit and dispossess us, but in freeing ourselves from all imperialist domination and the capitalist system itself.

    The growing rivalry between these powers is rooted in the very nature of the capitalist-imperialist system. The competition between capitalists for maximum profits moves to the international stage as the competition between the imperialist powers for world domination. They all need to expand in a world already divided up, which leads to confrontations and wars for a new division of the world. Although U.S. imperialism has been the dominant power since the end of World War II, it faces a growing challenge from China and Russia, all three imperialist powers which have been expanding and modernizing their weapons systems, including nuclear weapons. The growing danger of war between these imperialists bring dire threats for humanity, as a nuclear war would cause catastrophic death and destruction and leave large parts of the planet radioactive and uninhabitable.

    The Problem Is the Capitalist-Imperialist System, the Solution Is Communist Revolution

    Revolution, communist revolution, is urgently necessary in the face of the aforementioned serious threats against the existence of humanity, as well as patriarchy and the barbaric oppression of women; the dispossession, racism and oppression of indigenous peoples; the terror and invasion of daily life by organized crime everywhere; and the exploitation and poverty of the majority of the people; among other horrors.

    Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader and author of the New Communism, very concisely summarizes (in Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating) the following basic truths:

    We live under a system—the system of capitalism-imperialism (capitalism is an economic and political system of exploitation and oppression, and imperialism refers to the worldwide nature of this system).

    It is this system which is the basic cause of the tremendous suffering that people, all over the world, are subjected to; and this system poses a growing threat to the very existence of humanity, in the way that this system is rapidly destroying the global environment, and in the danger of war between nuclear-armed capitalist-imperialist powers, such as the U.S. and China.

    All this is reality, and no one can escape this reality. Either we radically change it, in a positive way, or everything will be changed in a very negative way.

    To be very clear once more: Changing it in a positive way means making revolution—a real revolution, to overthrow this system of capitalism-imperialism and replace it with a radically different and emancipating system. For it is also a basic truth that: In today’s world, to fundamentally change society, you must seize power—overthrow the existing state power and establish a new state power.

    Such a revolution is not only urgently needed, but is becoming more possible in the current situation, while the threat of even more terrible things is very clear.

    A Rare Time: Revolution Becomes Possible in the United States

    Bob Avakian has discussed that this is a rare time when revolution becomes possible in the United States. This is a rare time when the three necessary conditions for a socialist revolution in that country could arise:

    A crisis in society and government so deep and so disruptive of the “usual way of things,” that those who have ruled over us, for so long, can no longer do so in the “normal” way that people have been conditioned to accept.

    A revolutionary people in the millions and millions, with their “allegiance” to this system broken, and their determination to fight for a more just society greater than their fear of the violent repression of this system.

    An organized revolutionary force—made up of continually growing numbers of people, from among the most oppressed but also from many other parts of society—a force which is grounded in, and is working systematically to apply, the most scientific approach to building for and then carrying out revolution, and which is increasingly looked to by masses of people to lead them to bring about the radical change that is urgently needed.

    —Bob Avakian, Something Terrible, or Something Truly Emancipating

    Avakian analyzes that revolution in the United States becomes possible, in important part, because of the deep crisis in the capitalist ruling class and in all of society in that country. This crisis is expressed in the increasingly acute conflict between, on the one hand, one section of the ruling class grouped in the Democratic Party that seeks to maintain the current bourgeois-democratic order and, on the other hand, the section of the ruling class represented by the Republican Party that seeks to impose fascism.

    The bourgeois democracy advocated by the Democratic Party represents a dictatorship of the capitalist-imperialist class over the masses, although they disguise it with democratic forms such as elections, the peaceful transition of power and certain legal rights. This façade has always been a cruel lie for people at the bottom of society, but the ruling class has been forced to concede certain limited reforms due to the fight against white supremacy (oppression and racism against people of color), male supremacy (patriarchy and machismo) and other oppressive relations, especially since the rise of revolutionary struggle in that country and the world in the 1960s of the last century.

    The fascism that the other section of the ruling class represented by the Republican Party seeks to impose is, instead, an open form of the capitalist dictatorship, ready to use violence, not only against the masses but also against their opponents in the ruling class. The Republican Party, which has become a fascist party, seeks to defend and enforce the most extreme forms of white supremacy, male supremacy, xenophobia (hatred of foreigners), and completely unbridled plundering of the environment, as well as throwing out the rule of law. And they have mobilized to fight for this a reactionary and lunatic social base in society, steeped in all kinds of conspiracy theories and Christian fundamentalism, openly calling in many cases for a civil war to impose their extreme reactionary program.

    Fascist forces have already attempted a coup by storming the federal Capitol on January 6, 2021 to try to impose Trump as president, even though he had lost the election. Now the Republicans are changing laws in the states so as to restrict the vote of Blacks, Latinos and others, while they prepare their armed followers and organize their fascist forces in the police and the army, all with the purpose of seizing power and not letting go of it, imposing a fascist form of bourgeois dictatorship, most likely in the context of the 2024 elections, if they are not able to do so sooner.

    While the fascists take the offensive, mobilize their followers and do not accept the bourgeois-democratic “rules of the game,” the Democratic Party wavers, seeks to reach “agreements” with the Republicans and refuses to mobilize people who hate the fascists, for fear of what might happen if the masses rebel. So, if things continue on their current course, it is very likely that fascism will prevail in the United States, either through elections with the dice increasingly loaded in favor of the Republicans, or through a coup or through a civil war.

    On the other hand, this profound crisis also opens up the rare possibility of a liberatory revolution on the other side of the Río Bravo / Grande. The potential for revolution among the people has been seen in the beautiful uprising of protest against police murder and racist oppression by millions of people in the U.S. and around the world in the summer of 2020, following the brutal murder of George Floyd by uniformed pigs. This potential has also been seen in the outbreaks of rebellion of women, the struggle and anguish over the environmental emergency that threatens the future of humanity, as well as in other ways.

    Fully appreciating the revolutionary potential of the masses requires science to penetrate below the surface of what undergirds this system and its values. In Mexico and other countries oppressed by the United States, another obstacle to appreciating this potential in the United States is the nationalist tendency not to draw a clear distinction between the ruling class and the masses in the U.S., confusing the righteous rejection of imperialist domination with a rejection of anything that has to do with that country in general. This contrasts with the correct internationalist understanding that the ruling classes in the U.S., Mexico and the other countries in the world today are strategic enemies of the liberatory revolution, the proletariat in all countries is in essence one single international class with the fundamental interest of abolishing all forms of exploitation and oppression, and the masses of people on both sides of the border and around the world are potential driving forces of this revolution. From a nationalist point of view, rather than an internationalist point of view, there is a tendency to not recognize the revolutionary potential of the masses and the possibility of revolution in the colossus to the North. Many times the history of the struggle of millions there against the imperialist wars of “their” rulers, as well as the struggles against the oppression of women, Black people, Latinos and others, is ignored. It is overlooked that the United States is a society divided into classes with a large population of oppressed nationalities, in which inequality between the powers that be and those at the bottom of society is increasingly intensifying, and there is an antagonism between the interests of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class and the fundamental interests of the oppressed masses in the United States.

    Ironically, failing to grasp the revolutionary potential of the oppressed masses in the U.S. leads many towards capitulation to U.S. imperialism. They try to justify, for example, AMLO’s shameless praise of Trump during his visit to Washington, as well as his slavish obedience to Yankee demands to contain and repress migrants, with the argument of avoiding negative consequences for Mexico due to the possible economic retaliation exerted by the colossus to the North. But the reality is that it is a colossus with feet of clay, because the U.S. capitalist-imperialist class exploits and oppresses people in its own country, as well as superexploiting, oppressing and dominating masses around the world.

    Revolution in the U.S. undoubtedly faces enormous difficulties. By scientifically analyzing with the New Communism the current crisis in that society, Bob Avakian has been able to penetrate below the surface of appearances to show that the crisis itself entails not only the danger of even more terrible horrors, but also the possibility of a truly emancipatory revolution. Facing this reality as it is, our comrades, the revolutionary communists in the U.S., are struggling to rise to the occasion. The “revcoms” are fighting and striving increasingly to build the leading organized revolutionary force for that revolution and to transform the revolutionary potential of the people into a revolutionary people of millions to make revolution in the U.S.

    As things are, the crisis in the United States brings with it, in turn, the all-too-clear danger of fascism, the imminent possibility of civil war, and the inspiring potential for socialist revolution. As Avakian analyzes, “as this [situation] unfolds, this profound truth will be more and more forcefully demonstrated: The crisis and deep divisions in society can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means” (our emphasis, from Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution, by Bob Avakian, which everyone should study in depth to understand the current crisis in the U.S. and its implications for the world).

    The Possibilities of Fascism, Civil War and Revolution in the U.S. in the Near Future Have Profound Implications for Mexico and the World

    This critical situation in the largest imperialist superpower today is of enormous importance for Mexico and the world.

    The possible triumph of fascism would bring unspeakable horrors: An even more brutal and murderous hunt for migrants; rampant racist attacks against Blacks, Latinos, and other nationalities; more repugnant patriarchal subjection of women (such as the suppression of the right to abortion that just happened) with attempts to impose this in other countries as well; the further accelerated destruction of the environment throughout the U.S. empire; and the strengthening of fascist forces throughout the world. This would also entail even cruder, more brutal and direct forms of imperialist domination of Mexico. Although it is not possible to predict the exact forms of this, Trump’s characterization of Mexicans as “murderers and rapists” and his "offer," when he was president, to send military personnel to Mexico to "put things in order" give us some indication of what the consolidation of fascism in the U.S. could mean for Mexico.

    The position of various “amlovers” [lovers of AMLO] that Trump was better than Biden represents a false and deadly illusion. Apparently, this position is due, in part, to his attempt to justify the aforementioned shameless servility by AMLO before Trump. There are also certain similarities between the two, such as their demagogic speeches, their unprincipled attacks on anyone who opposes them, their insistence that the world is as they say, and not as the evidence indicates, and the fact that the two lead mass movements aimed at strengthening the capitalist system, although with different bourgeois programs. (Trump is a fascist, AMLO is not, although he was a collaborationist when Trump was president). Whatever the reasons, favoring Trump over Biden is a deeply misguided position. Both Trump and Biden, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, are deeply reactionary representatives of U.S. capitalism-imperialism that exploits and oppresses people in the U.S. and around the world. The only difference of importance for the people is that Trump and the Republicans represent the attempt to impose fascism, and Biden and the Democrats do not share that program. If the experience of fascism in Nazi Germany, Spain under Franco, or Chile under Pinochet is to teach us anything, it is that the fascist program is not the “lesser evil” for the masses, as various AMLO supporters argue about Trump.

    Equally wrong is the idea that fascism will be good for the revolution because it will drive people to rise up. Experience everywhere has shown that, if it is able to consolidate itself, fascism entails the bloodiest repression that seeks to exterminate revolutionary and progressive forces.

    A civil war in the United States would cause a lot of instability in the world system and particularly in Mexico. The possibility of even armed incursions into Mexico could not be ruled out, but even without that, if the crises in supply chains during the COVID pandemic have taught us anything, it is that the productive and economic process in general has become so interrelated between the two countries, such that it does not work on one side of the border if it does not work on the other side. The big Mexican capitalists and the Mexican government would lose in such a situation the big rock of stability for their system, which is U.S. imperialism; and their political representatives would engage in even more intense infighting over how to deal with such a crisis and with which faction of the dismembered U.S. ruling class (or other imperialist power) to hook up with. Such events would very likely bring about new possibilities for the advance of revolution on both sides of the border, as well as new dangers. In any case, we revolutionary communists in Mexico need to redouble our efforts to advance as much as possible now in preparing for the revolution and rise to the opportunities and challenges that may arise from the unfolding of this crisis in the United States.

    It will be a tremendous inspiration and impetus for communist revolution throughout the world if the revolutionary communists in the United States come to represent a major force in the struggle there, not to mention the cataclysm for the world imperialist system and the big historic breakthrough for the oppressed that would be represented by the triumph of socialist revolution there. Even with such a victory, there would still be other imperialist and reactionary countries around the world that would unite in holy war against such audacity by the “plebs” to free themselves from their chains. However, this would shake the entire world capitalist-imperialist system to its foundations and open up a bright dawn of hope for the masses and oppressed peoples of the world.

    There exists a deep interrelation between the revolutionary processes in Mexico and the United States, due to the strong, although highly unequal, ties existing between the two countries in economic, political and social matters. It is our unwavering internationalist duty to firmly support and boldly promote the struggle of the revolutionary communists and oppressed masses in the United States as an integral and essential part of accelerating and intensifying preparations for the liberatory revolution in Mexico and promoting this throughout the world. Imagine the amazing hope for the future of humanity that would be represented by the establishment of socialist republics in North America, which would be base areas for even greater advances of the world revolution! We must dream of this, and work selflessly, conscious of all the great difficulties and the powerful forces that act against such an objective. To transform those dreams into reality, we must analyze the changing situation scientifically and wisely and boldly tap into the deep cracks in the current system, which are beginning to erupt forcefully on the surface and tear apart daily life, now concentrated in the neighbor to the North, but also in Mexico.

    The Mexican Ruling Classes Are Immersed in Internecine Struggles Between “Conservatives” and “Morenistas”—Neither One Nor the Other Represents the Interests of the People

    Although in Mexico things have not yet reached the level of antagonism of the internecine struggle that exists in the U.S. ruling class, here the struggle between the political representatives of two poles between the big Mexican capitalists and landowners is intensifying. On the one hand, there are the parties of the discredited previous governments: The National Action Party (PAN) that launched the supposed “war against organized crime” that in reality was and continues to be a war against the people; the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), the sole ruling party for many decades and responsible for so many massacres of the people; as well as their cronies in what remains of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). On the other hand, there is the supposed “Fourth Transformation” (“4T”), which is nothing of the sort, of the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) and its shills, a party that AMLO is apparently trying to transform into a renewed version of the hegemonic party in the style of the old PRI, which he comes from.

    There exist real differences between the two factions. Most notable is the relative weight they assign to state capitalism. For example, while the previous governments of the PAN and the PRI undermined the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), by favoring private companies in the sector, and took PEMEX to the “point of sale,” AMLO seeks to strengthen these parastatal companies, ignoring, except in occasional rhetoric, the country’s supposed commitments to reduce its impact on global warming.

    However, this does not represent any opposition to big private capital, as alleged by certain cynical “conservatives” and some deluded followers of the so-called 4T. In case anyone doubts this, there are his praises for several big capitalists whom he previously called “the mafia in power”: his delivery of the management of Welfare cards to extremely reactionary and big exploiters like Salinas Pliego; the conciliatory words for Larrea (speaking of his “good relations” with this criminal businessman [LJ, 02/12/2022]), without denouncing him or prosecuting him for the enormous environmental crimes and bloody repression of the workers of his Grupo México mining company; his praise and support for Carlos Slim, one of those guilty, among other crimes, of the 26 deaths caused by the collapse of Line 12 of the Mexico City Metro; just to mention a few of many examples.

    On the other hand, PEMEX and the CFE are in no way, as they tell us, “the property of all Mexicans.” They are state capitalist property, governed by the same capitalist need to maximize profits with the same resulting destruction of the environment, exploitation and high-handed treatment of their workers and the public they supposedly serve. The discrepancies among the ruling classes between “conservatives” and “Morenistas” are not about whether capitalism is necessary or not, but about how best to promote capitalist development in Mexico, which, regardless of its forms, necessarily means exploitation., oppression, dispossession, and ecocide.

    As AMLO himself has said, in the context of promoting the disastrous megaproject of the so-called “Maya” Train, “We are a leftist group, which is even establishing, more than anything else, true capitalism, beyond the good-old-boys capitalism that exists in Mexico…” (Animal Político, 02/5/2019). Moreover, he has recently come to declare, regarding the privatization of water, that “it is not bad per se for a company to manage the distribution of water” and even that “if the neoliberal model were applied without corruption, it would not be all bad.” As commented by economist Julio Boltvinik, who has long pointed out the “neoliberal” nature of many of the current government’s policies, “Just as the principle ‘with an admission by a party, no proof is required’ is applied in law, so the criticisms become unnecessary that point out that the AMLO government is neoliberal, since he himself confesses that affinity”. (LJ, 05/27/2022).

    Fascism in Mexico has so far not gained as much strength neither among the ruling classes nor among sections of the population in general as is the case in the United States and several other countries in the world today. However, fascist forces like El Yunque have long been entrenched in the PAN, and recently fascist forces associated with that party have come out more publicly and openly than they used to do in the past. A group of senators from the PAN and a couple from the PRI, summoned by the PAN coordinator in the Senate, Julen Rementería, met with Santiago Abascal, leader of VOX, a Spanish fascist party, in September 2021, to sign the Madrid Charter “against communism.” Abascal, in addition to defending male superiority and the oppression of women, is a representative of the most repugnant chauvinism of Spanish imperialism against migrants and towards what he calls the “Iberosphere,” in reference to Latin America. On the 500th anniversary of the fall of Tenochtitlan, he defended the genocide caused by the Spanish Conquest and incited racism by tweeting that “Spain was able to free millions of people from the bloodthirsty regime and terror of the Aztecs. Proud of our History” (El País, 09/04/2021).

    This reactionary event caused a certain division in the ranks of the PAN, and in the face of the widespread indignation it caused, Rementería was forced to apologize publicly and argue that there was no agreement with VOX and Abascal, despite the signatures of the legislators on the Madrid Charter. Fascism is a latent danger in Mexico that deserves further investigation.

    Although there is some real contention and discrepancy between the two current basic political poles among the ruling classes in Mexico, much of what comes out in public discourse is sheer hypocrisy and theater. The PAN tries to portray itself as great defenders of women, taking advantage of the multiple patriarchal sayings of López Obrador and the withdrawal of government support for daycare centers, help for battered women and other services. It is sheer hypocrisy, since the PAN has spent years praising the traditional patriarchal family and firmly opposing the right to abortion and the rights of LBGT+ people, among other reactionary positions. Just like it is sheer hypocrisy and misogyny when López Obrador (who also does not promote the right to abortion) denounces as “conservatives”—as if they were equal to the PAN—the brave women full of righteous courage who pounded on the barricades erected in front of the National Palace by the federal government and painted them with the names of so many victims of femicides and disappearances; while the guilty remain in absolute impunity, regardless of which bourgeois party is in power.

    The same thing can be said about all the theater around the referendum to supposedly put on trial former presidents. On the one hand, the PAN and the PRI have no legitimate right to speak, since the former presidents of those parties have been, rightly so, big criminals hated by millions and they should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. However, neither Morena’s leaders nor the federal government had, nor have to date, any real intention of prosecuting any of these criminals; despite their differences, they are all political representatives of the same ruling classes. They do not do so, among other reasons, because it is an open secret that there was an at least tacit agreement with Enrique Peña Nieto, as acting president, to clear the way for AMLO’s electoral campaign for the presidency in exchange for the latter not pursuing him for his crimes. The referendum was just a show to make millions of Mexicans, who justifiably hate previous presidents, believe that something was going to be done, that this government “is not the same thing.” It was a lie and deception.

    The two contending forces between the electoral parties of the big bourgeoisie assure us that they are the only real alternatives for Mexico. AMLO attacks everyone who does not support him or even disagrees with him, calling them “conservatives” and “defenders of neoliberalism and corruption,” even if they are radical young women fighting against patriarchy, indigenous people opposing megaprojects of death, dispossession and destruction, students at normal schools trying to prevent the government from continuing to eliminate rural normal schools, independent journalists, ecologists and scientists alarmed by the environmental crisis, women, relatives and human rights activists demanding justice for the murdered and disappeared, or democratic teachers fighting for their labor rights, among others. The true “conservatives” of the PAN, PRI and PRD, for their part, assure us that they are the only real alternative to the “populism and authoritarianism” of AMLO and Morena.

    Despite their differences, neither one nor the other represents the interests of the people: The leaderships of all these bourgeois electoral parties are political representatives of the ruling classes and defenders of the current capitalist system of exploitation, oppression and death. They do not represent any real hope for the masses of people. Nor are they the only alternative. There is the possibility and the basis for a real hope and another future that many would like to see. As AMLO well knows when he cynically attacks the most radical and revolutionary people as “conservatives,” there are thousands and thousands of people who continue to fight for a better world without subordinating themselves to the bourgeois electoral bandwagon of Morena. And most of the people who still believe in the false illusion of the so-called 4T, would like to see an end to so many femicides, deaths, disappearances, organized crime in cahoots with the authorities everywhere, dispossession and racism against indigenous people, hunting down of migrants as if they were animals, destruction of the environment, and other crimes.

    Such a world, such a future, that many would like to see, cannot be brought into being and is not going to be brought into being under this system of capitalism or under the domination of the bourgeois electoral parties of this system that is the fundamental cause of these evils and horrors. Such a world that we would like to see, free of the horrors, anguish, hunger, and insecurities that this system makes the great majority of people live in, can only be brought into being and will only be brought into being by overthrowing this system and building another radically and much better system. For this reason, the real alternative does not lie in choosing between one bourgeois electoral party or another; the real alternative is liberatory revolution.

    The Mexican State Continues to Be a Repressive Apparatus At the Service of the Capitalist System—The Only Possible Liberatory Transformation Is With Revolution

    Despite the change in rhetoric that the government of AMLO and Morena has meant, as well as certain changes in the government’s policies in contrast to previous governments, the Mexican state is and continues to be a repressive apparatus at the service of the capitalist system.

    The López Obrador government is promoting a growing and dangerous militarization of the country, which represents a notable leap compared to the policies of previous governments. Previous governments committed and covered up all kinds of horrendous crimes by the armed forces, from the massacre of hundreds of students in 1968 to their participation in the operation against the students at the Ayotzinapa normal school that resulted in six people being killed and 43 students disappeared. However, such a large expansion of the role of the military had not occurred before; though the armed forces have played a growing role in the supposed fight against organized crime in recent six-year presidential terms, in open violation of the country’s Political Constitution. 

    Under the current government, the role of the armed forces has been greatly expanded with an ever-increasing militarization of national life. The Army, the Navy and the militarized National Guard increasingly assume police duties, both in containment/collusion with the cartels and in the repression of the people. In the decree published on May 11, 2020, “The Permanent Armed Forces Are Ordered to Participate... with the National Guard in Public Security Duties,” despite AMLO’s campaign promises to “return the soldiers to their barracks within a period of no more than six months” (“¿Militarización en México? Sí, y militarismo” ["Militarization in Mexico? Yes, and Militarism"], LJ, 08/20/2021). AMLO also promised that the National Guard would have a “civilian” character, but it is already under the military command of the Secretary of National Defense (Sedena) and the vast majority of its members come from the army. The army is taking on not only a good part of the construction but also the administration and economic control of the so-called “Maya” Train (ethnocidal and ecocidal project), the new CDMX [Mexico City] airport and three airports on the Yucatan Peninsula. This is also expanding the economic power of the armed forces. The military is not only building 266 National Guard barracks but also 2,700 branches of the Welfare Bank.

    The Navy is taking control of customs and ports and assuming the administration and economic control of the ethnocidal and ecocidal transoceanic megaproject in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The military is actively participating in the delivery of social programs, fertilizers, textbooks, vaccines against COVID, and much more, as taught in counterinsurgency manuals to show their supposed “kind” side to the population. The military budget is growing enormously, virtually without external control, while austerity is being imposed on other parts of government. And the military commanders are already openly intervening in politics, as when the Secretary of National Defense, Luis Cresencio Sandoval, in a public act expressed his support for the AMLO government, with the ominous declaration that “As Mexicans, it is necessary to be united in the nation project that is underway,” in reference to the so-called 4T (Animal Político, 11/21/2021).

    The armed forces are continuing to murder and repress people under the current government, although they have tried to avoid larger massacres, which would be disastrous for their attempts to present themselves as “different” from the hated previous governments. To the delight of U.S. imperialism, the Mexican National Guard (GN) has been deployed to repress migrants with particularly brutal force, savagely beating and imprisoning people from the caravans, both on the southern and northern borders; murdering a Cuban migrant passing through a checkpoint in Chiapas; detaining, raping and deporting two Honduran women in Ciudad Juárez (LJ, 02/03/22). The GN has also been used to repress protests, such as when they murdered a person in the mobilizations of farmers for water at La Boquilla Dam in Chihuahua in September 2020. They also kill people for simply eluding them, such as when the GN killed a truck driver and a street vendor in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, in April 2021, provoking a confrontation with the locals (Proceso online, 04/08-09/2021) or when the Army opened fire in the same city on March 10 of the same year against a vehicle in which a pregnant woman and her husband were traveling, killing him and then chasing and threatening her (Proceso online, 04/08/2021). In the city of Nuevo Laredo alone in 2021, the Army and the GN were responsible for at least one execution, one rape, and three cases of torture, all well documented by the Human Rights Committee of Nuevo Laredo. However, the federal Attorney General’s Office has refused to even investigate these crimes (LJ, 02/12/2022). More recently, in Irapuato [in the central State of Guajanuato], the National Guard murdered a student from the University of Guanajuato and shot and wounded another student for allegedly “leaving the site” when the GN arrived, which according to the official report “provoked confusion and uncertainty among the members” of the GN, two of whom began to shoot at them (Animal Político, 04/27/2022).

    The so-called 4T government continues to cover up crimes against humanity committed by the armed forces, as in the case of Ernestina Ascencio Rosario, a 73-year-old indigenous Nahua woman raped and murdered by members of the army during the government of Felipe Calderón. In 2020, at a hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the official delegation of the Mexican state repeated the same brazen lie by Calderón that she died of “chronic gastritis,” despite all the evidence to the contrary. Although public outrage forced the government to promise to “reopen” the case, they proposed assigning it to the same Veracruz prosecutor’s office that fabricated the lies. To top all of this off, nothing is happening in this regard—more than a year later, the anemic Mexican National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) continues to “recommend” that they reopen the case (El Informante de Veracruz, 01/30/2022).

    A similar outcome can be seen in the case of Digna Ochoa, a lawyer and brave human rights defender, murdered in 2001. The capital city attorney general’s office, with AMLO at the head of the Mexico City government at the time, tried to cover up the crime with an outrageous ruling of “pretend suicide,” apparently to cover up the likely role in the crime by the army and the caciques [indigenous and/or peasant chiefs in league with landowners] from Guerrero, among others. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has determined that the case should be reopened; because the investigation by the authorities was full of irregularities, intimidation of witnesses, public defamation of the victim, and “gender stereotypes,” among other barbarities. Although the Mexican government says it agrees to reopen the case, the current head of the capital city government, Claudia Sheinbaum, cynically praises Digna Ochoa and also Bernardo Bátiz, the prosecutor responsible for this criminal cover-up.

    Also in the case of Ayotzinapa, despite a different rhetoric from the current government for a time, they continue to cover up the participation of the Army in this horrendous crime. AMLO saved Salvador Cienfuegos—then head of Sedena on that bloody night in Iguala, and responsible at least for the cover-up of the crime against the students from the normal school—from a probable prison sentence in the U.S. on drug trafficking charges. He continues now as an advisor to the Sedena.

    With its recent Ayotzinapa Report III, the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) revealed a video that proves that the Navy, the Sedena, the then prosecutor Murillo Karam, and others cynically and illegally planted in the Cocula dump the alleged “evidence” of their discredited “historical truth,” as Tomás Zerón, then head of investigation of the case, also did on the San Juan River. The report also documented the systematic application of torture (documented in more than 60 videos), the falsification of documents and alleged “evidence,” and the destruction of evidence to fabricate the lie that the students from the normal school were burned in the Cocula dump. It was proven that the Army monitored the students from the normal school in real time before, during and after the deadly police attacks, contrary to the repeated lies of the Sedena in this regard. It was also documented that the Army had two spies among the students from the normal school, one of whom was among the 43 disappeared.

    The purpose of the fabrication of the “historical lie” was to cover up the central role played by the Army in this state crime and its role continues to be covered up. Faced with the explosive revelations by the GIEI, to date nothing of importance has been done. AMLO, commander in chief of the armed forces, has not explained why the aforementioned video was hidden for three years under his government. He lied in response to the GIEI Report by saying that “all the information is being turned over,” when that Report specifically documents that the Army and others continue to hide documents and evidence in the case.

    The supposedly “different” government of the so-called 4T still represses the students from the Ayotzinapa normal school and their families. On January 28, 2022, the National Guard and the Guerrero police forcibly prevented leafleting and collecting funds at the Palo Blanco toll booth on the Autopista del Sol, a place where family members regularly collect funds to support their movement, more than seven years after cover up by the real perpetrators of this state crime. Their lawyer, Vidulfo Rosales, reports that “‘Attack as if you were at war!’ was the order of the superior officer to the National Guard... The use of force, used against mothers and fathers of the 43 disappeared students, is not exercised against the organized crime groups that impose terror and death in large areas of the state of Guerrero.”

    When the students from the normal school returned to the same toll booth seven days after the official attack, a spectacular deployment of the National Guard and the state police had been waiting for them for hours before to prevent their political action. A confrontation broke out, with a result of at least two hospitalized students. At their press conference afterwards, the students asked, “Why do they treat us like criminals and thieves? Before criticizing, look at how we live in the Sierra de Guerrero, where drug traffickers walk along and control the roads, but for the government we are the enemy” (LJ, 02/05/2022). AMLO defended the repression of parents and students, throwing out the baseless accusation that there are “infiltrators” of “organized crime... in the leadership” of the students at the Ayotzinapa normal school (LJ, 02/08/2022). Thus, AMLO repeats the same type of lies that the criminal government of Enrique Peña Nieto used to try to criminalize the students at the normal school in the face of this crime by the bourgeois state.

    The supposed new government policy against organized crime of “hugs not bullets” actually means bullets for the people and hugs for (some) cartels. Military operations continue to leave more civilians dead than injured or detained (Animal Político, 11/24/2021), with several cases of extrajudicial executions. The collusion between the three levels of government and organized crime continues, as revealed, for example, by a high commander of the National Guard in an interview with Proceso (06/26/2022). Organized crime is the real local power in major parts of the country and its tentacles already encompass virtually the entire country, with its fee collections for use of territory, trafficking of women, drug trafficking, kidnappings, etc. More than 100,000 people have been killed and more than 30,000 disappeared in the first three years of the current government of supposed transformation. Almost all these crimes remain in absolute impunity. The recent report of the Committee on Forced Disappearance of the United Nations, based on official data, documents that of the total as of 2021 of almost 100,000 disappearances since 2007, only “36 sentences have been issued in cases of disappearance of persons nationally.” The total number of disappearances has already exceeded the figure of 100,000, with more than 30,000 during the current six-year presidential term (print edition of Proceso, 06/12/2022). The report also documents that, in addition to the disappearances carried out by organized crime with almost absolute impunity, “forced disappearances continue to be committed directly by public agents at the federal, state and municipal levels.” With much cynicism, AMLO argued in the opposite sense by stating that this was a problem of the past, of the “neoliberal period,” and accused the Committee of lying, saying that “they are not acting in accordance with the truth” and “What can they do? Nothing, invent, that’s for sure” (print edition of Proceso, 04/17/2022).

    The Inter-American Court, also based on government data, has documented the murder of at least 68 human rights defenders and 43 journalists under this government as of December 2021 (not counting the 11 journalists murdered during the first five months of 2022). The Secretariat of the Interior itself acknowledged the murder of 68 activists from 2018 to July 2021, but when a Mexico City newspaper reported an even lower figure, AMLO denounced it as “propaganda by our adversaries” (Animal Político, 07/12/2021).

    In many of these cases, the government and the big capitalists (both the “legal” capitalists and organized crime capitalists) use hitmen to eliminate opponents. This seems to be the case of Samir Flores, a Nahuatl indigenous leader murdered in 2019 after being threatened by the federal government agent Hugo Eric Flores for his opposition to the government thermoelectric project in Huexca, Morelos. And they just murdered Francisco Vázquez, another peasant activist opposed to the project, in February of this year (LJ, 02/12/2022).

    There are hundreds of thousands of displaced people in Mexico due to violence, either by organized crime, or by operations of the Army which in several cases acts in coordination with hitmen. One activist against these forced displacements, Teodomira Rosales, reports on conversations with organizations that support the displaced in several states that have detected that “the vast majority of displacements occur in areas where there is an enormous wealth of minerals and forests or where megaprojects are being built. In these places, in general, there are agreements between the government and companies, such as mining or logging companies, and organized crime is in charge of evicting the inhabitants of those areas” (Printed edition of Proceso, 01/09/2022).

    The armed forces are not and have never been “the people in uniform,” as López Obrador says, but rather the repressive backbone of the capitalist state, in charge, together with the police, of repressing the exploited and oppressed people so as to defend the ruling classes and its capitalist system. More and more people are realizing that the government of the so-called “4T” is not very different in this and other aspects from previous governments, despite its rhetoric, more crumbs from its social programs to try to calm people down, and the implementation of certain different policies. The real lesson is not that AMLO “has betrayed us,” but that the state in a capitalist society is always and can only be in essence the dictatorship of the capitalists to maintain and defend their system of exploitation and oppression, regardless of who is at the head of the government. Because of this, and also because of the nature of the capitalist system as a whole, no truly liberatory transformation can result from simply trying to reform the system. It is necessary to shatter the current repressive capitalist state as an essential initial step; revolution is needed.

    The Capitalist System Itself Has Created Both the Basis and the Need for a Much Better System: Socialism as a Transition to Communism

    The liberatory revolution is not simply a good idea or a pipe dream. The capitalist system itself has created both the basis and the need for a much better system, socialism as a transition to communism. This was discovered by Marx and Engels by consistently applying for the first time the scientific method to understand the nature of capitalism and the historical development of human society in general.

    Through a process of scientific investigation and analysis, they discovered that the fundamental contradiction of capitalism is the contradiction that exists between socialized production and private (or capitalist) appropriation. What does this mean? On the one hand, capitalism gives rise to an increasingly socialized production process, that is, a process in which people work together in a coordinated and organized way to produce the things that are finally sold on the market. This contrasts with the individual or family production that predominated in the feudalism of the past; which still persists in several peasant areas of Mexico. In our times, this socialization of production has reached a point where it is a question not only of socialized production at the level of hundreds or thousands of workers working according to a common plan and process in a factory, but also a whole internationally coordinated production process or, as it is now commonly said, a globalized process. You can see this in what you buy: The label on your clothes may indicate that it comes from Thailand or China, your apple may come from Chile, your phone may indicate that it is made in China. In several cases, the things that are produced come from an even more complicated and interrelated process. For example, cars assembled in factories in Mexico for sale in the United States often consist of parts that have been manufactured in half a dozen or a dozen countries: Some in Mexico, others perhaps from Brazil, France, Korea, the United States, and other countries.

    However, although production has become highly socialized, and in several cases production requires the common efforts of millions of people around the world, the appropriation, that is, who gets to keep what is produced, is private: Who gets to keep the socially produced product is the capitalist. For example, the iPhone might contain cobalt mined even by superexploited children in the Congo, lithium from mines in another country, components manufactured in China or Taiwan, but who keeps the income from its sale is the Apple corporation (and other suppliers for Apple who have intervened in the process keep the income coming from selling what their workers produced for Apple).

    This fundamental contradiction of capitalism, between socialized production and private appropriation, is expressed in two basic forms of movement: The contradiction between anarchy and organization, on the one hand, and the contradiction between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, on the other. Let’s look at what this means.

    The contradiction between anarchy and organization is expressed, on the one hand, in the fact that the production and distribution of what is produced is highly organized, not only in specific factories but, nowadays, on an international level, as we have already mentioned. For example, companies like Volkswagen, Telmex or Microsoft organize a vast network of supplies, production and distribution among a whole series of countries. However, they are in competition with other capitalists when they sell their products or services on the market where anarchy prevails, as there is no overall plan for production and distribution in society. On the contrary, what prevails is a fierce competition between different blocs of capital in a market that no one controls. Competition between the different blocs of capital periodically leads to overproduction, in which more is produced than can be sold on the market, either for certain commodities, such as steel and aluminum in recent years, or in the economy as a whole, as in the Great Recession of 2008. In this fierce competition, some win and are able to sell more of their products, and others do not. On the market and in production in society as a whole, anarchy reigns.

    This contradiction between anarchy and organization in capitalism has several consequences. On the one hand, competition forces all capitalists, not only to make a profit, but to seek maximum profits so as not to be left behind in the competition with other capitalists. They seek maximum profits by exploiting their workers more, developing new and more efficient machines and processes, ignoring the environmental damage caused by their production, dispossessing people of their land and resources, etc. If they do not do so, they are in danger of losing out in competition with other capitalists who do. In this way they are absorbed by others, such as the Aurrerá company, founded by two Mexican capitalists in 1958, which was later bought up by Walmart in 2000. Or else, they simply go bankrupt, like Mexicana de Aviación.

    What is important to understand here is that capitalists do not exploit, dispossess and pollute simply because they are greedy or bastards; the very functioning of the capitalist system forces them to act like this under penalty of ceasing to be capitalists by losing out in the competition with other capitals. Although the struggle of the people and certain reforms can sometimes put certain temporary limits on this, it is not possible to change this in a fundamental way under this system, because it is part of the very nature of the system. Therefore, to put an end to the exploitation and dispossession of people and the destruction of the environment, reforms are not enough, revolution is needed.

    Other consequences of the contradiction between anarchy and organization and competition between capitalists are economic crises and reactionary wars. Economic crises have been occurring since the beginning of capitalism, and continue to occur, although now they do not occur simply at the level of one country but often at the international level, such as the Great Recession of 2008. On the other hand, the competition between capitalists and blocs of capital is also expressed as competition between countries, especially between imperialist countries to divide up the world among themselves and dominate it, which has led to two world wars and countless smaller reactionary wars. As we discussed, the current competition and contention between U.S., Russian, Chinese, and other imperialists has already expressed itself in reactionary wars of various kinds and threatens humanity with the possibility of a larger conflagration between nuclear powers. Nor can economic crises and wars be abolished without ending their essential source in today’s world: The world capitalist-imperialist system.

    Another expression of capitalism’s fundamental contradiction between socialized production and private appropriation is the contradiction that exists between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, that is, between wage workers and capitalists. The workers are exploited by the capitalists. Where do the profits of the capitalists come from? Some capitalists work, but their profits do not come from their work but from their capital. This is most clearly seen in the case of capitalists who do not work but still receive profits from their stocks, bonds and other financial securities. On the surface it is as if their money has the property of generating more money just by itself. But money itself is just paper money, notes (and, increasingly, electronic data). You can keep your money under your mattress, but no matter how long you wait, it’s not going to grow. Money only generates more value when it becomes capital, that is, when it enters into the process of production and sale of merchandise, products and services. Who produces those products and provides those services? Workers. Although they use machines, installations, means of transport, and anything else that is the property of the capitalist or capitalist company that employs them, these means in turn were produced by other workers. The profits of the capitalists are the product of the exploitation of the workers. Their control of the means of production (machines, installations, transport, etc.) allows them to pay workers in wages an amount equivalent to only part of the value they have created, and to keep the other part as their profit.

    Capitalism, which first arose mainly in Europe, has expanded to form the world system of capitalism-imperialism. This happened during the last decades of the 19th century and began in Mexico in an important way during the Porfiriato [government of president Porfirio Díaz], when several foreign companies came into Mexico to develop a capitalism dominated by and subordinated to their countries of origin, such as the United States, England and France. As a result, today most of the countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East, although formally independent, are dominated and oppressed by the imperialist countries, such as the United States, Russia, China, various countries in Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, etc. This domination and oppression makes possible not only the exploitation but also the superexploitation of the majority of the workers in the oppressed countries. It is estimated, for example, that a male or female worker in Mexico earns something like one-eighth or less of what their counterpart earns in the United States.

    There are other contradictions of much importance in the world and in Mexico, such as the oppression of women and the oppression and racism regarding indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants. These contradictions arose long before capitalism. The oppression of women arose at the time of the first class societies, of exploiters and exploited thousands of years ago. The national oppression of indigenous people for being indigenous has its roots in colonial conquest and domination, although classes, exploitation and oppression existed in these lands before these lands were invaded, their original inhabitants were conquered and almost exterminated by the Spanish colonialists. Black people were kidnapped from Africa and brought here by Spanish colonizers to work as slaves. However, the capitalist-imperialist system in the world has incorporated and maintained the oppression of women, indigenous people and other types of oppression, while changing some of the forms of this oppression to suit the needs of the system.

    The patriarchal family, in its various forms, has been a foundation of a whole society based on exploitation, since the division of societies into classes, and is an essential institution for the oppression and control of women, the reproduction of the workforce and atomized consumption in capitalist society. In the family and in society in general, patriarchy (male supremacy) is essential for the social and political stability of this system, including the privileges of men over women which, in general, make them participants in their oppression or at least beneficiaries of this oppression. And the oppression of women also serves to generate huge profits from their superexploitation in the workforce at large, as well as the lucrative “sex industry.” For these and many other reasons, the oppression of women is a fundamental pillar of the capitalist system and can only be overcome through the most radical revolution in human history, communist revolution.

    To go deeper into a scientific understanding of the fundamental role of the oppression of women in all class societies, as well as the central role of the struggle against this oppression throughout the process of transformation of the world capitalist-imperialist system towards world communism, we recommend reading, among other works, Break ALL the Chains! Bob Avakian on the Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution; The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, by Friedrich Engels; as well as, from the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico (OCR, M), ¡Desencadenar el coraje y lucha de las mujeres contra las causas y los responsables de tanta violencia e injusticia!; y Apoyar y extender la revuelta contra la violencia machista [Unleash the fury and struggle of women against the causes and those responsible for so much violence and injustice!; and Support and extend the upheaval against sexist violence].

    The mostly capitalist system in Mexico today has another fundamental pillar in the oppression of indigenous peoples. The systematic structure of oppression, racism and disdain for “dark-colored” people in general is deeply rooted throughout society. The superexploitation of indigenous and peasant labor plays an essential role in agriculture, construction and other sectors, while the dispossession and theft of land and resources from indigenous peoples is an important engine of capital accumulation. There will be no real revolution without eradicating the oppression of indigenous peoples and racism, and there will be no true liberation for indigenous people without communist revolution.

    For more analysis of the oppression of indigenous peoples and the prominent role they are to play in the liberatory revolution, we recommend La opresión y la emancipación de los pueblos indígenas [The Oppression and Emancipation of Indigenous Peoples], also from OCR, Mexico [Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico]. OCR, M publications are available in Spanish without cost electronically at http://aurora-roja.blogspot.com.

    What we are emphasizing here is that the oppression of women and the oppression of indigenous peoples are fundamental and integral parts of the current capitalist system and that all capitalist relations will not be abolished without abolishing these forms of oppression, nor will it be possible to abolish the oppression of women and indigenous peoples without overthrowing capitalism and eradicating all the economic and social relations characteristic of capitalism, as well as the corresponding ideas.

    To put an end to capitalism and all the ills it brings, it is necessary to overcome the fundamental contradiction of capitalism between socialized production and private appropriation. This fundamental contradiction is and can only be overcome by socializing appropriation, so that it corresponds to the socialized character of production. This is achieved through communist revolution and through it alone. In this way it is possible to begin a great liberatory process to finally end all forms of exploitation and oppression, as well as end the destruction of the environment. The first essential step, as we have seen, is to overthrow, to shatter the capitalist state, which is what serves to defend and reproduce the capitalist system. With this, it will be possible to begin to socialize the appropriation, turning the big companies and means of production into the property of the whole people. In the specific conditions of Mexico, it will also be necessary to distribute agrarian lands and carry out a process of voluntary collectivization of the widespread small production and commerce in the countryside and the city. To learn and study more about the program of this revolution in Mexico, please see La revolución liberadora: orientación estratégica y programa básico [Liberatory Revolution: Strategic Orientation and Basic Program] by the OCR, M.

    By socializing the main means of production, it becomes possible to plan the economy to serve the needs of the people and the protection and restoration of the environment, rather than serving the maximization of capitalist profits. The experience of the first socialist societies in the world, in Russia from 1917 to 1956 and in China from 1949 to 1976, basically confirmed Marx’s theses, that this revolution makes it possible to start making big transformations to eliminate exploitation, raise the economic, social and cultural well-being of the people, liberate women and oppressed peoples, and much more.

    Through more than 50 years of work, Bob Avakian has learned from the big breakthroughs and has also identified and criticized scientifically important shortcomings and secondary errors from those early experiences. The in-depth study, and above all the criticism and rupture that Avakian made with certain important methodological errors in previous communist theory, has made it possible to develop a new synthesis of communism, which includes a new vision and understanding of socialism that is even more revolutionary, scientific, dynamic, and liberating. This guide for a new socialist society is importantly embodied in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. Although this is a draft proposal of the Constitution for what is now the United States, it sets out many principles and policies for a new liberatory socialist society that have universal application in today’s world.

    Bob Avakian, learning from Mao’s great theoretical contributions, has also further deepened Marx’s understanding that socialism, while a breakthrough, is and can only be a transition to world communism. Even after basic socialist transformation, many economic and social relations and inequalities inherited from the old society, as well as corresponding ideas, persist. The capitalist-imperialist system also persists in other parts of the world, which continues to exert relentless pressure on the new socialist society or societies. People have to be mobilized to transform all this more and more, in specific countries and finally in the whole world, to finally reach communism, society without classes, throughout the world. Throughout this period of socialist revolution, classes, class struggle and the danger of capitalist restoration persist. In fact, capitalism was restored in Russia as of 1956, and in China as of 1976. What has been learned from those experiences is reflected in the New Communism, whose application will make it possible to advance more and better in the next wave of proletarian revolutions in the world. (For more on the history of socialism and the class struggle under socialism, see, among other titles You Don't Know What You Think You “Know” About... The Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation: Its History and Our Future, Interview with Raymond Lotta (This work, as well as the aforementioned Constitution, other works by Bob Avakian, coverage, and other revolutionary materials, are available at revcom.us).

    With the immense development of production, technology and science, a product of the socialized production of capitalism, no material need exists for anyone to go hungry, or lack housing or many other things that the operation of this system denies billions of people in the world, as well as 43.9 percent of the Mexican population living in poverty, according to official government figures (or 72 percent, according to another methodology, see Boltvinik, LJ, 02/04/2022). If people continue to suffer unnecessarily, this is only due to the capitalist appropriation of the fruit of socialized production, as well as the capitalist state that defends this appropriation.

    By establishing socialism, as a process of transition to communism, through revolution, not only can rapid progress be made to satisfy the material needs of the population, other big transformations that can only be dreamed of now will also be possible and necessary. Science, culture and the arts will be widely promoted in society and the participation of the basic masses who are generally excluded from these spheres will be encouraged. At the same time, a great boost will be given to the contributions of professional scientists, especially in the face of the environmental emergency, but also in other fields. New possibilities, resources and freedom will be opened up to artists, writers and other cultural professionals to foster a vibrant and inspiring new culture. Dissent and debate in society will not only be allowed but encouraged, which the communist party will strive to learn from and promote in a way that will help mobilize and enable more and more people to grapple with the big challenges of the socialist transformation towards communism. The masses will be mobilized in their millions to grapple with and struggle to overcome the big inequalities inherited from the old society (as well as the corresponding ideas that seek to justify them): The inequalities between men and women, between indigenous and non-indigenous people, between intellectual work and manual work, between the city and the countryside, etc.

    Not only will the impunity of femicides, rapists and harassers end, but the fury of women will be unleashed as a big revolutionary force to transform society overall and to fight for equality and full participation of women in all spheres of society, criticize and combat all manifestations of sexist and patriarchal ideology, transform the family and gender stereotypes, and free LGBT+ people from the oppression they suffer under the current order. Indigenous people will have played a decisive role in the triumph of the revolution and will make immense contributions to the socialist transformation in general, the rescue and protection of the environment and the elimination of their own oppression. Indigenous regional autonomy will be established and their languages and the development of their cultures will be promoted in the socialist context so as to create and enrich a truly multinational and revolutionary culture. A determined struggle will be undertaken throughout society for full equality, and racism against indigenous and Afro-Mexicans, as well as any expression of white or mestizo supremacy, will be criticized and combated. Internationalism and the cause of the emancipation of all humanity will be upheld, supporting and promoting liberatory revolution throughout the world, while forging unity with as many people as possible to fight resolutely to stop and reverse as far as possible the current environmental disaster.

    In short, capitalism, by developing socialized production in the world, has created the basis for being able to build a superior society, socialism, by means of a true revolution. This socialism will create a new liberatory and much better society in which we would all like to live. It will be a transition and an integral part of the struggle for communism throughout the world, ultimately completely eliminating all forms of exploitation, oppression, war, and environmental destruction.

    The Essential and Firm Material Basis for Communist Revolution Is In the Contradictions of the Capitalist System Itself

    Capitalism has not only created the basis and the need for another superior society, socialism as a transition to communism. Also the contradictions of the capitalist system are the firm material basis for the revolution that is needed to establish this new liberatory society. This fact contrasts with what is commonly assumed, that the basis for revolution is what people are thinking or doing at any given moment.

    We have already discussed several of these essential contradictions of the capitalist system that are the firm material basis for revolution: The fundamental contradiction of capitalism between socialized production and private appropriation, with the driving force of anarchy and the exploitation of workers by the capitalists; the domination of an oppressed country like Mexico by imperialism; the patriarchal oppression of women; the oppression of indigenous peoples; the environmental emergency; and the danger of reactionary wars. There is also the contradiction between the peasants and the landowners and caciques; the persistence of certain semi-feudal relationships, especially in the countryside, and other contradictions.

    As Mao said (in “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire”), if you want to know the perspectives of the revolution, you need to analyze whether the main contradictions of the current system, which are the material basis of the revolution, are intensifying or lessening. Or as Bob Avakian points out “the basis for revolution lies in the very contradictoriness of the system that needs to be overthrown, the capitalist-imperialist system—that it’s the basic contradictions of this system... contradictions which this system cannot resolve in any way, in any fundamental sense, and certainly not in the interests of the masses of people and ultimately all of humanity. This is the basis for revolution, not what people are thinking or doing at any given time, how many people are with it or against it at any given time, whether people give it thumbs up or thumbs down at any given time—all that is not the basis for revolution, but the basis lies in these contradictions of the system itself” (The Strategic Approach to Revolution and Its Relation to Basic Questions of Epistemology and Method).

    This is the scientific understanding of the material basis for revolution, which is based on the real contradictions of the system in its development. It takes science, the science of the new communism, to penetrate below the surface in order to understand the need for and actual possibilities of revolution. This scientific understanding contrasts with the all-too-common approach that Bob Avakian (BA) calls “Facebook ideology” or “populist epistemology” (epistemology means the theory of knowledge or how you come to know whether something is true or false). If you do not apply the science that Marx and Engels founded and that has been developing now into BA’s new communism, “you are, to use Lenin’s phrase, continually whipped around by the chops—the petty chops and changes of daily life. And this is what we see happening way too often, not only to people among the masses broadly, but also among the communists. People are whipped around by the petty chops and changes of daily life. ‘Oh, we went out today and people’—it’s like Facebook, they have Facebook ideology, you know, ‘We went out today and people gave us a thumbs up. Yaaaaay! Maybe we could have a revolution in some millennium in the distant future.’ Or, ‘We went out today and nobody liked what we were doing and a bunch of assholes, nationalists, or opportunist petit bourgeois social democrats, or counter-revolutionary anarchists attacked our literature table, so I guess there’s no basis for revolution.’ I mean, I’m being a little bit hyperbolic, but not that much. This is way too common a way of looking at it, rather than looking at the material world—looking at the material world and its actual contradictions.” [The Material Basis and the Method for Making Revolution]

    This populist epistemology or “Facebook ideology” considers that, if there is not a high level of struggle or a broad revolutionary ferment among the people at a given moment or period, the revolution must be a very distant prospect or outright impossible. This is not true. Revolutions are fundamentally the product of the intensification of the underlying contradictions of the system, which can come to the surface even suddenly in periods of apparent calm. One example, among several, that illustrates this is the 1910 Revolution in Mexico, although it was not a socialist revolution. As we point out in “La revolución y el trabajo revolucionario” [Revolution and Revolutionary Work] in Aurora Roja No. 15:

    The idea that, due to the lack of revolutionary ferment among the masses right now, revolution is either not possible or is very distant, reflects a mistaken understanding of how revolutionary crises arise. Revolutions are imagined to be the product of a slow accumulation of forces, of more and more people feeling the need for revolutionary change, and of a progressive growth of mass struggles until revolution finally breaks out. With this logic, if the revolutionary forces are small now and the level of combativeness of the masses is limited, it is concluded that the revolution would happen who knows when...

    But in reality, revolutions don’t happen like this, except in some people’s imaginations. Let’s take the example we know most about here, the 1910 Revolution. It suddenly erupted in the middle of the political crisis when Madero ran for president, was imprisoned, did not accept the official results, and called for people to rise up. Although there were antecedents in previous struggles and movements, the more than three decades prior to the Porfiriato were a period of relative stability. As summed up by one historian, with the rise of Porfirio Díaz to power in 1876, the country entered “a long period of political stability that lasted until 1910” and the prevailing political system in that period was characterized, among other aspects, by “a political culture of conformism and apathy, and an incipient and scattered opposition. All of this was based on a relatively successful economic development that fundamentally benefited the oligarchy and foreign capital, but that offered certain expectations of social mobility to some sections of the population” (Facundo González Bárcenas, “Estabilidad politica” [Political Stability] in Léxico de la política, FLACSO [Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales; Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences]).

    With the theory of the “slow accumulation of forces,” in the period before 1910, the chances of revolution would have been considered remote. In the years before the revolution, Villa was running around being a bandit, Zapata’s political activity was largely confined to local demands, Carranza was governor of Coahuila, Madero was a businessman who was participating in relatively small and scattered liberal clubs, where the Flores Magón brothers were also acting with a program of democratic reforms. Outbreaks of discontent, such as strikes in Cananea and Río Blanco, as well as various agrarian struggles and indigenous rebellions, were teaching-moment outbreaks that were nonetheless ruthlessly crushed.

    It is in this situation of apparent relative stability of the regime that a revolution broke out in which millions came to participate. Why? Because beneath the surface of the apparent stability and strength of the regime, the underlying contradictions in society were sharpening up. In the world, capitalism had reached its imperialist stage, with the result in Mexico of a significant increase in capital investment from the imperialist countries, mainly the United States and Great Britain, which stimulated a certain capitalist growth and intensified the domination by the foreign capital, exacerbated the conditions of exploitation of a new working class, and drove the voracity of the haciendas [big farms] that engulfed the peasant lands. This is the intensification of these contradictions below the surface that erupt with the political crisis due to the internal struggles between “powers that be” around the presidential elections.

    It is particularly important now to understand that the material basis for revolution is in the contradictions of the system and not in what people do or think at a given moment. Because we live in a situation in which the capitalist-imperialist system dominates the world even more than in the past, during the times of the first great experiences of socialism in the Soviet Union and China. As Bob Avakian (BA) points out, “Even then the imperialist system was still dominant in the world, but it’s much more—at this point it’s much more dominant. So, you could say, ‘Oh, well, things are just going back—they’re going away from the revolution we’re working towards, there’s less and less basis for it.’ Well, those are two different statements....”

    The first statement is true: “things have gone away from the revolution we’re working for over the past several decades” due to the restoration of capitalism in China in 1976 and various other events that have had a mainly negative impact on the situation. But it would be very wrong to conclude from this that there is less and less basis for revolution. Thus “you’d be seeing the more surface, not insignificant, but more surface phenomenon.” Despite various unfavorable factors in the current world situation, the basic contradictions of the capitalist-imperialist system lay “a very real and very strong basis to actually transform things in the radical direction of communist revolution.” (Bob Avakian, The Material Basis and the Method for Making Revolution, our emphasis.)

    Actually, there is more and more a basis for revolution now, because the basic contradictions of the system are becoming more and more acute, even to the point of threatening in various ways the future existence of the human race, as we have been pointing out since the beginning of this book.

    The defeat of the first experiences of socialism in Russia and especially in China was not due mainly to the errors of the communists but to the stronger domination of capitalism-imperialism in the world. Yes, there were mistakes, even some very serious mistakes, which have been summarized and learned from with BA’s New Communism, but they were not the main cause of capitalist restoration.

    However, the defeat of the initial experiences of socialism, among other negative events of the last decades, as well as a whole ferocious anti-communist offensive on the part of the defenders of the capitalist system and the very exhausting and dehumanizing dynamic of the daily struggle to survive under capitalism, have led to a situation in which a part of the people thinks that revolution is not desirable and even many of those who do want revolution tend to think that it is not possible.

    If you are relying on populist epistemology, on what people think or do in “normal” times, you will easily conclude that revolution is not possible because this is not what the majority of people are thinking or doing. But this is totally false: So, among other things, you tail the propaganda of the ruling classes who obviously have a very material interest in convincing people that a revolution is neither desirable nor possible which might end the ruling classes’ “paradise” of exploitation. This leads very directly to capitulation and making peace with the existing system.

    On the other hand, understanding the need, the bases and the possibility of communist revolution requires science, the science of Marxism, today the science of the new communism. People who really want to get out of this system of horrors have the responsibility to acquire and apply this scientific understanding. It is also our responsibility to take this to the people to enable them in turn to understand the world as it really is and get organized to make the revolution that will transform it, instead of tailing all sorts of lies, deceptions and delusions that are propagated under this oppressive system.

    As we have indicated, regardless of what anyone thinks, it is a scientific fact, discovered by Marx and basically verified by all historical experience, that capitalism has created the basis, the need and the possibility of a much better society, socialism as a transition to communism. This is true, and the truth is powerful. The truth does not convince in and of itself, it has to contend with many wrong, erroneous and even extremely reactionary ideas and approaches. However, since it is true, it corresponds to the world as it really is and can be verified with facts. With struggle it is possible to convince people, especially in these times those who abhor the horrors of living in this system and yearn for radical change, to get organized for an actual revolution. However, this can only be achieved if the communists apply science and take on “Facebook ideology.”

    On the other hand, from oppression at certain moments resistance and rebellion arise and the intensification of the contradictions of the system repeatedly leads to moments of increased crisis and rebellion of the masses in which the situation can change very quickly. In many cases, almost literally from one day to the next, thousands and even millions of people, previously apparently dormant, suddenly burst into radical political life. We have seen this in the recent uprisings in Chile, Colombia and Myanmar, among other countries, as well as in Mexico in Oaxaca in 2006, in the face of the state crime against Ayotzinapa or with the inspiring rebellion of women. Only if the revolutionary communists fight hard to advance as much as possible, even at a time when there is not much political ferment among the people, will it be possible to develop the necessary understanding, capacities and revolutionary forces to take advantage of such more favorable moments for the further advance of the revolution.

    The intensification of these basic contradictions of the system, in dialectical relation with the work and the struggle of the revolutionary communists to raise the consciousness, organization and revolutionary struggle of the masses, leads at certain moments to critical points, to revolutionary crises in which the ruling classes cannot continue to govern in the same way as they did before and the masses cannot continue to live in the same way and the possibility opens up to defeat the old state, seize state power and advance to socialism. For this to happen, a leadership nucleus that is sufficiently scientific, experienced and trained to lead, learn from the masses and unleash them in their millions is needed so that the possibility of revolution becomes reality.

    The material basis for communist revolution lies in the contradictions of the system itself. The masses make revolution. However, if there is no scientific approach for revolution and no group of people applying the science of the new communism to raise the consciousness of the masses and guide the complicated struggle to make revolution and establish socialism, either the opportunity, as in the uprisings in Egypt and many other cases, will be squandered, or revolution will be diverted and it will not get out of the capitalist system, as in Nicaragua, among other examples.

    “Waiting for better times” to do revolutionary work only guarantees the squandering of the revolution’s chances of victory when such conditions arise.

    This is why it is so important to repudiate the populist epistemology or “Facebook ideology,” understand and deepen the scientific analysis of the situation, and struggle with people for the scientific understanding that the basic contradictions of the system are the firm material base for revolution, and not what people may be thinking or doing at any given moment.

    You May Not See the Revolutionary Potential of the Masses, But the Ruling Classes Do See It—Correct Leadership Is Needed to Fully Unleash It

    These basic contradictions of the capitalist system define its nature as a system of exploitation, oppression, misery, and destruction of the environment. And precisely because of this exploitation and oppression, in various forms, of millions of people in Mexico by a small handful of big domestic and foreign capitalists and landowners, latent among the masses there exists great revolutionary potential.

    Although many of the masses today do not realize their revolutionary potential, the most conscious representatives of the ruling classes are very aware of this and are always maneuvering, using both repression and reformist illusions to suppress, suffocate and control this revolutionary potential.

    As Lenin says, “in every country the bourgeoisie inevitably devises two systems of rule, two methods of fighting for its interests and of maintaining its domination, and these methods at times succeed each other and at times are interwoven in various combinations. The first of these is the method of force, the method which rejects all concessions to the labor movement, the method of supporting all the old and obsolete institutions, the method of irreconcilably rejecting reform... The second is the method of ‘liberalism,’ of steps towards the development of political rights, towards reforms, concessions, and so forth.” (“Differences in the European Labor Movement”). He points out that the latter is, in a certain sense, a “more crafty” policy of the bourgeoisie to dupe the masses and which tends to reinforce revisionism (false Marxism) and conciliation among revolutionaries. We can see this at several critical moments in Mexico’s history.

    This history demonstrates the revolutionary potential of the masses and also shows that this potential has been repeatedly squandered due to a lack of correct scientific leadership. It is noteworthy, in particular, that even many people who have bravely fought against the ruthless repression of the reactionary state, have allowed themselves to be duped when the ruling classes resort to the method of “liberalism,” of reforms. To fully unleash the revolutionary potential of the masses, a correct revolutionary communist leadership is needed.

    The Revolutionary Potential of the Masses, Repression and Reforms under Calles and Cárdenas, and the Capitulation of the PCM

    The Revolution of 1910 ended with the triumph of the bourgeois forces of Carranza and Obregón, who murdered Zapata and Villa and drowned their armies of peasants and other poor people in blood. A dictatorship of the big bourgeoisie and landlords was re-established, although in another form.

    Millions were not content with the outcome. Many, especially among the peasants, kept their weapons and resorted to them in various cases in their struggles for land. Inspired by the victorious socialist revolution of 1917 in Russia, the Communist Party of Mexico (PCM) was formed in 1919, which participated in two attempted armed uprisings in this period. Faced with the revolutionary potential of the masses and the expansion of the influence of the PCM among them, the governments of the “Maximato” of Plutarco Elías Calles applied a policy of harsh repression and outlawed the PCM.

    The potential for a new revolutionary uprising of the masses in Mexico grew in the context of the profound crisis of the world capitalist-imperialist system with the Great Depression of the 1930s, the advances of socialism in the Soviet Union and the growth of the communist movement in the world. Faced with these dangers for the ruling classes in Mexico and their system, a shift occurred in the policy leading the bourgeois state shortly after the arrival of Lázaro Cárdenas to the presidency.

    He was not opposed to the use of repression by the bourgeois state itself: Cárdenas himself had reached the rank of general in combat against the Zapatistas and in the war of extermination against the Yaqui Indians. Rather, he clearly saw the danger that the growing revolutionary potential of the masses posed for the system. The government moved from emphasizing the “method of violence” (to use Lenin’s term) to defend the rule of the bourgeoisie under Calles’ “Maximato” to greater emphasis on the “method of liberalism, of reforms” to defend that same rule. Faced with the strike of the oilmen and many other workers, Cárdenas nationalized oil; faced with bloody struggles, even with weapons, of the peasants, he distributed part of the land, although it was, for the most part, land of lower quality.

    Cárdenas was not a “hero of the people” as we are taught, but a political representative of the big bourgeoisie who saved the system of exploitation and oppression faced with the revolutionary potential of the masses. This outcome was not simply due to these government tactics, but also to the capitulation of the PCM, which came to apply a policy of “unity at all costs,” supported this government of the ruling classes and even proposed building the “popular front” within the official party, the National Revolutionary Party, the forerunner of the hated PRI that we know today. (The serious errors of the line of the “United Front against Fascism” of the Communist International also influenced this outcome).

    The PCM relied more on the supposedly “progressive” bourgeoisie than on the revolutionary potential of the masses and sold out the possibilities for a liberatory revolution for a mass of pottage of reforms under the domination of the imperialists, big capitalists and landowners.

    Something very different happened in the same period in China, which shared some characteristics with Mexico, although there were also many differences. Both countries were semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries, dominated by imperialism and with large exploited and oppressed peasant populations. Both had gone through bourgeois-democratic revolutions that did not achieve a fundamental revolutionary transformation: Mexico in 1910, and China in 1911. Unlike the PCM, once Mao Zedong’s line won the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the party maintained its independence from the bourgeoisie and fought to unleash and give full expression to the revolutionary potential of the workers and peasants. He led them in a people’s war that finally triumphed in 1949. This victory marked the beginning of a great liberatory transformation of China, breaking the imperialist yoke, struggling to fully resolve the needs of the people, advancing in the liberation of women and formerly oppressed national minorities, increasingly reducing inequalities, transforming oppressive relations and ideas inherited from the old society, and much more.

    The Revolutionary Upsurge of the 1960s and 1970s: Massacres, Dirty War and Electoral Reform; Rise and Disorientation of the Maoist Movement

    In the 1960s, revolutionary struggles and sentiments were growing again among the masses in Mexico in the context of the worldwide upsurge of revolutionary struggle. There were several outbreaks of guerrilla struggle, some with a certain Maoist influence, such as the assault on the army barracks in Madera, Chihuahua, in 1965, led by Arturo Gámiz, and the guerrilla struggle in the Chinantec area of Oaxaca led by Florencio “el Güero” Medrano; and later the federal army repressed, in 1973, the Colonia Proletaria Rubén Jaramillo [Rubén Jaramillo Proletarian Community], created from a land seizure in the State of Morelos.

    The response of the bourgeois state to this situation was ruthless, with the massacre of hundreds of students and others by the Army in Tlatelolco in 1968, the massacre of hundreds more by the Halcones [Hawks], a paramilitary group at the service of the state, in 1971, as well as with the dirty war in which the armed forces tortured, disappeared and murdered thousands of people. The bourgeois state combined this bloody repression with certain reforms, notably the 1977 electoral reform, which allowed the PCM and some other forces of the supposed “left” to participate in the elections.

    The PCM had already degenerated into a completely opportunist and revisionist party (that is, with a bourgeois ideology expressed in “Marxist” verbiage): It supported state capitalism with a “socialist” signboard in the Soviet Union after the restoration of capitalism there in the mid-1950s; it expelled sympathizers with Mao’s revolutionary line in 1963; and it betrayed the movement by calling for students to “return to classes” after the Tlatelolco massacre.

    In contrast to the repugnant opportunism of the PCM, a very broad Maoist-inspired movement arose at that time, in which thousands of young people went to the workers, peasants and other masses with the intention of organizing a revolutionary movement. However, disdain for the importance of the theoretical struggle prevailed. They did not forge a correct line regarding the big struggles against revisionism in the international communist movement in the face of the restoration of capitalism first in the Soviet Union and later in China. Neither was a correct line developed for revolution in Mexico. They never formed the revolutionary communist party needed to start people’s war, and the movement eventually abandoned its revolutionary leanings and degenerated into efforts to organize a broad mass movement fighting for reforms. Another revolutionary opportunity was lost due to the lack of a correct science-based guiding understanding of communism and a core capable of unleashing and giving full expression to the revolutionary potential of the masses.

    The Indigenous Uprising of 1994, More Massacres, “Democratic Transition,” and the Birth of the OCR, M

    Mass hatred and discredit of the PRI, the political party which had been at the forefront of the repressive bourgeois state since its formation in 1929, led to a split in this bourgeois party in 1987, with the departure of leaders such as Andrés Manuel López Obrador himself, Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas and others. They would soon unite with the remnants of the putrid PCM and others to form the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

    AMLO, Cárdenas and other former PRI leaders now make claims of denouncing the massacres and the dirty war of the government led by their party. Did they leave the hated PRI because only in 1987 did they realize that their party had massacred hundreds of students in 1968 and 1971, as well as many more people in the dirty war? Obviously not. Everyone knew of the PRI’s history of crimes against humanity at the service of the system of exploitation and oppression. Rather, they left “because they realized, like many others in the ruling classes, that the PRI was sinking and that another alternative had to be created to confuse the people and save the system from the revolutionary struggle of the masses of people” (Aurora Roja No. 6).

    The revolutionary potential of the masses erupted with the largely indigenous armed uprising in Chiapas in 1994. Across Mexico, a sentiment expressed by many basic masses, students, and others was “If it gets this far, I’ll join in.” With the indigenous uprising, the opposition and struggles against the government had the initiative for several years. A big boost was given to feelings and the search for revolutionary alternatives in Mexico, despite the fact that the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) stopped the armed struggle a few days after it began and did not have and does not have a consistent revolutionary program. (For a critical analysis of the EZLN, check out Hace falta tumbar el sistema capitalista, no tratar de “democratizarlo”: AMLO, el EZLN y la revolución que se necesita, by the OCR, M [See English translation at: We Need to Overthrow This System, Not Try to “Democratize” It: AMLO, the EZLN and the Revolution We Need, Revolution #551, July 9, 2018]).

    The Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico (OCR, M), despite having a very small number of militants at that time, grew rapidly, attracting people seeking a more consistently revolutionary alternative to the EZLN and other forces. The organization was founded in 1989, inspired by advances in the science of communism being developed by Bob Avakian, chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, as well as by the people’s war led by the Communist Party of Peru and the regrouping of these and other Maoist forces at the time in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). A year after the formation of the OCR, M, an economist faction split the organization, opposing its guiding line of building the revolutionary communist party to start the people’s war and advocating, on the contrary, the organization of a broad peaceful mass movement, repeating, in essence, the same mistakes of the old PCM and of a large part of the Maoist movement of the 1960s which abandoned the struggle for revolution by centering the struggle on the “most felt needs of the masses.” The biggest need of the masses is revolution to free themselves from this obsolete and criminal system, not just a few reforms. The struggle for reforms is necessary, but revolutionary communism “subordinates the struggle for reforms, as the part to the whole, to the revolutionary struggle for freedom and for socialism” (Lenin, What Is to Be Done?). Limiting the revolution to struggles for immediate demands and failing to prepare the ground, the people and the vanguard to make revolution only leads to prolonging this inhuman system of exploitation and oppression.

    The response of the bourgeois state to the indigenous uprising and the growing protest and rebellion of the masses in Mexico was, on the one hand, bloody repression. In 1995, the Guerrero state police massacred 17 peasants in Aguas Blancas. In 1997, PRI paramilitaries trained by the federal government, the army and the police murdered 45 Tzotzil indigenous people while they were praying in Acteal, Chiapas. This was part of the counterinsurgency plan of the Secretariat of National Defense, revealed by the magazine Proceso (No. 1105), to “Secretly organize sections of the civilian population... who will be used under orders to support our operations,” with “training and support from…paramilitary organizations, which may be the basic beginning of mobilization for military operations….” The current government continues to use these and other paramilitary forces, already well involved with organized crime, to attack base areas for the EZLN and other communities in Chiapas.

    The Acteal massacre, instead of suffocating the struggle, fueled it further. The insidious crime provoked a wave of condemnation against the government, with 200,000 people marching in Mexico City, among other protests. More massacres carried out directly by the army followed, in El Bosque, Chiapas, and El Charco, Guerrero. Mass anger only grew more. Faced with this explosive situation, a section of the ruling classes in Mexico, with the participation of representatives of U.S. imperialism, devised the so-called “democratic transition,” abandoning the system of electoral fraud to a sufficient degree so as to allow Vicente Fox, of the National Action Party [PAN], to win the federal presidency in 2000.

    This maneuver disoriented many people who had been fighting against the so-called “PRI government,” thinking that the fundamental problem was the PRI, and not the entire oppressive system that this party and the other bourgeois parties represent and defend. An important section of the people stopped fighting and several leaders even entered into the new government. This was interrelated with earlier setbacks in the revolution worldwide due to several factors. One was the restoration of capitalism in China, as a result of which there were no longer any socialist countries in the world. Another was the collapse of the Soviet Union, which, although it had already been capitalist and imperialist for a long time, was used by the Western bourgeoisie to proclaim the supposed death of communism. The situation was also influenced by the unfavorable polarization in the world between the imperialists of the United States and Western Europe, on the one hand, and various fundamentalist Islamic forces on the other. Finally, the people’s wars in Peru (started in 1980) and Nepal (started in 1996), which raised the hopes of millions around the world, collapsed when the communist parties that were leading them deviated off track into opportunism when faced with new difficult problems. In this context, the struggle for the revolution in Mexico entered a period of relative ebb.

    Growing Revolutionary Potential of the Masses and Attempts to Suffocate This Potential With the War Against the People, Ayotzinapa and Other State Crimes, as well as the So-Called “4T”: People Must Get Organized for Revolution

    It soon became clear that the so-called “democratic transition” and the replacement of the PRI by the PAN in the federal government did not represent any fundamental change in the repressive nature of the state. As we noted at that time “in matters of repressing the people, the federal government and the PAN are not far behind, as evidenced by the bloody repression in Cancún orchestrated by the Presidential General Staff against opponents of imperialist globalization, the torture and rapes of women in Guadalajara in 2004 on the orders of the then governor and current Secretary of the Interior, Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña, the death of the Pasta de Conchos miners due to the insistence of the company and the consent of the federal government in maintaining highly unsafe conditions for the sake of greater profitability, the murder of two Sicartsa workers, two murders and rapes and sexual abuse of two dozen women in Atenco in May 2006, the whole repugnant dirty campaign to impose Felipe Calderón as president, the direct intervention of Calderón to cover up the rape of the elderly indigenous woman Ernestina Ascencio Rosario by soldiers from the army, etc., etc.”

    In this context, the righteous rebellion in Oaxaca broke out in 2006: “In the face of a governor, Ulises Ruiz Ortiz (URO), who wanted to crush any opposition to this system and to his own crimes and corruption with a wave of repression and assassinations, hundreds of thousands of Oaxacans took to the streets and forcefully declared ‘enough is enough!’ This mass rebellion put the Oaxaca state government in check and shook the foundations of the power of the rich and powerful throughout the country. URO, in barely concealed collusion with the federal government, launched ‘death convoys’ that attempted to impose their bloody ‘order’ at gunpoint. The barricades that the people erected in self-defense response created a kind of liberated territory in the center of the city of Oaxaca, in which the government forces only dared to enter heavily armed, and where the seeds of a new people’s power in the making bloomed like wild flowers after the rain” (Oaxaca. La lucha política independiente del pueblo, heraldo de una nueva revolución [Oaxaca. The independent political struggle of the people, harbinger of a new revolution]).

    There were dozens of martyrs of that people’s rebellion, which was finally crushed by the intervention of the federal police. Shortly afterwards, the new head of the bourgeois state, by means of electoral fraud, Felipe Calderón, announced the “war on organized crime,” which in reality was and continues to be, despite changes in rhetoric and tactics, a true preemptive counterinsurgency war against the people. As we have analyzed, this war “does not seek to put an end to drug trafficking but rather to put in order and control the illegal drug market and, above all, to prop up the state and its ability to protect the prevailing social order” with “major interpenetration between the cartels and the government at all levels” in which “both the government and the cartels commit horrible crimes against the people” with a huge toll of murders, disappearances and torture throughout the country. (For more analysis and documentation, see “El auge del crimen organizado y la decadencia criminal del Estado mexicano: frutos gemelos de un sistema completamente podrido” ["The rise of organized crime and the criminal decline of the Mexican state: Twin fruits of a completely rotten system"] in Aurora Roja No. 15)

    Massacre after massacre against the people followed: The murder of two Ayotzinapa students by the government in 2011; the massacre by the army in Tlatlaya, State of Mexico, of 22 civilians who had surrendered to the army, with orders to “kill criminals in hours of darkness”; the massacre of demonstrators in an operation by federal and state police in Nochixtlán, Oaxaca, in 2016; the massacres by the government in Apatzingán and Tanhuato, Michoacán; among others.

    The state crime that finally provoked a mass explosion of protest and repudiation throughout the country was the murder of six people and the forced disappearance of 43  students from the normal school of Ayotzinapa on September 26, 2014 in a joint operation involving the Army, the federal, state and municipal police, as well as elements of organized crime. Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in powerful protest, not only throughout Mexico, but also in many other parts of the world. The brave fight for justice on the part of the students from the normal school and their parents, with the support from many other people, has collided with the insistence of the bourgeois state, first under the criminal Peña Nieto, and now under AMLO, not to touch even one rose petal on the clear coordinator of the operation on the night of the crime and in its cover-up: the Army. The foregoing illustrates once again that a real fundamental change is only possible by overthrowing and dismantling the current state, including its backbone, the armed forces.

    With these crimes and rampant corruption, not only did Peña Nieto’s popularity plummet—“I know they are not applauding me,” he once confessed—but more and more people came to hate the government and everything it stood for. A critical point was being reached for the stability of the system in the face of growing mass anger.

    It is in this situation that López Obrador warns his opponents in the ruling classes that they are playing with fire. In front of a banking convention in March, prior to the 2018 elections, he declared: “If they dare to commit electoral fraud, I am also going to Palenque and to see who is going to tie up the tiger.” “Regardless of whoever may release the tiger, or whoever may tie it up, I will no longer be arresting people after electoral fraud, that is clear” (Forbes online, 03/09/2018). With this he takes “credit” for having contained the anger of the people due to the electoral frauds of 2006 and 2012, pointing out to the bankers their great service and usefulness in maintaining the stability of the system.

    In effect, López Obrador also expressed that, if his opponents in the ruling classes did not allow mass anger to be channeled towards his election, there would be a social explosion that would be very difficult to control. This was very true and played a role in his electoral victory, which raised hopes for real change among many people. This was a false way out, another false illusion for the masses, as we have pointed out throughout several decades and as the facts of his mandate have been proving more and more. No election, no change in the personnel at the head of the current bourgeois state is going to lead to a real change in the interests of the people. “Because the current state is a structure at the service of current economic and social relations. These relations function according to a logic, the logic of capitalist relations, and without destroying this state and radically transforming these relations, those in power, whoever they are, even if Karl Marx himself were the president, would inevitably end up serving the logic of those relations and this system” (La revolución liberadora, Orientación estratégica y programa básico [Liberatory Revolution, Strategic Orientation and Basic Program]).

    All the history that we have outlined here shows that there is large latent revolutionary potential in the people. Although many people doubt it, the ruling classes and their political representatives are well aware of this and are always maneuvering, using both repression and reformist illusions to suppress, suffocate and control this revolutionary potential.

    This brief history also illustrates the fact that several revolutionary opportunities have been lost due to the lack of correct guiding scientific understanding and a leading force capable of applying it. And this is precisely what is needed to give full expression to the revolutionary potential of the masses of people.

    False Hopes in the So-Called 4T Begin to Fade; New Outbreaks of Protest and Rebellion Arise

    As we analyzed with the beginning of the new government headed by AMLO in 2018:

    López Obrador, as the representative of a section of the big capitalists that he is, essentially seeks to follow the same path of capitalist development subordinated to imperialism with a little more economic intervention by the state and a few more crumbs for the masses. As he himself says, the “model” he seeks to re-establish is “stabilizing development” (the period of relatively rapid economic development subordinated to imperialism and administered by the PRI in the 1950s and 1960s, which was marked, among other things, by several bloody repressions to maintain the “stability” of the system and of the investments of big domestic and foreign capital). This program is in no way going to solve the big problems of the oppression of women and indigenous peoples, global warming and environmental destruction, imperialist domination, enforced disappearance and rampant reactionary violence, hunting down, detention and deportation of migrants, exploitation, poverty and misery of the majority of the people, among others. On the other hand, the “Programa revolucionario para un país socialista, independiente e internacionalista” [Revolutionary Program for a Socialist, Independent and Internationalist Country] outlined in La revolución liberadora, correctly points out the revolution necessary to emancipate us from all these evils...

    The government of López Obrador and Morena poses new challenges and opportunities for those of us who are fighting for that liberatory communist future for humanity. In the short term, it mainly poses greater difficulties by stirring up more illusions among broad masses that there can be significant change by reforming the current reactionary system. We must not exaggerate the situation: It is not true that “everyone is with AMLO and Morena”… However, this is a real problem that we have to face. Although the very functioning of the system is going to show that actual profound changes for the majority of the people are not possible under this system, in the absence of the struggle for the real revolutionary alternative, the spontaneous unfolding of this is going to either settle for small changes in an intolerable situation, or cynicism and the idea that “nothing can be done, they are all the same thing” among many who see that AMLO/Morena are not the solution. That is why it is so important that we promote revolution, new communism, and the analysis of what AMLO represents… (Empuñar el Nuevo Comunismo para avanzar hacia el partido y la revolución liberadora [Wield the New Communism to Advance Towards the Party and Liberatory Revolution])

    Events have confirmed that this analysis was correct. Indeed, the false illusions among many people have posed difficulties for revolution, not to mention the shameless staunch defense of the crimes of the current government by several people who previously played a more critical role when their electoral bourgeois party was not in power. On the other hand, the very functioning of the system and the crimes of the government are beginning to dispel false illusions among some people, and new outbreaks of protest and rebellion are arising.

    The revolts of women are shaking the world, among which the very radical wave of protest that broke out in Mexico starting in 2019 stands out. The righteous rage of women has given rise to an insurgency, driven above all by young women, which has inspired millions and awakened yearnings for real change. The response of the “government of change” has been repression, “reforms” that at bottom do not change anything, and cynical smearing of the women’s movement in the voice of Mexico’s president, describing the rebellious women as “conservatives.”

    There is an increasing awareness, especially among young people, that global warming and other environmental destruction constitute a real environmental emergency that is already causing the extinction of many species and threatens the future and even the very existence of humanity. There is protest and resistance in many parts by indigenous peoples against the megaprojects of death, ecocide and ethnocide. The response of the government and the big capitalists, in collusion with organized crime, has been the murder of critical-thinking activists and journalists, the repression of protests, and the same snarking, as supposed “conservatives,” by AMLO, against indigenous and peasants environmentalists and fighters.

    The students of normal schools and democratic teachers continue to be a problem for the system, which is why they are also attacked from the presidency and repressed, not only by the PAN and PRI governments, but also by Morena governments in Chiapas, Michoacán, Puebla, Guerrero, and other states. Students and professors protest in several cases against the attempts of the bourgeois state to centralize and control more directly the universities and research centers.

    Migrants from Mexico, Central America, and many other nationalities who refuse to succumb to hunger, extreme violence, and the ravages of climate change caused by the system itself also represent a very serious problem for the system. In the face of “containment” and repression by the National Guard and their cronies in the police and organized crime, migrants bravely resist and rightly declare that “We are not criminals, we are international workers.”

    Mothers and fathers of so many disappeared people bravely fight for justice, despite attacks and smearing by the authorities in many cases, and are forced themselves to search for their loved ones among the macabre clandestine graves scattered throughout Mexican territory.

    Discontent is growing among the people throughout the country due to the criminal handling of the pandemic, the economic crisis, the shortage of medicines after three years of empty promises, as well as the malignant cancer of collusion between authorities, businessmen and organized crime with their bloody toll of murders, torture and disappearances.

    As the false hopes in the so-called “4T” begin to dissipate and as new outbreaks of protest and rebellion emerge, better conditions are being created for the advance of the movement for revolution. But, these possibilities for advance can only be materialized if we revolutionary communists struggle deeply with the people to see the scientifically proven fact that communist revolution is the only real alternative to all this madness. Otherwise, as we have already pointed out, in the absence of revolutionary science, people will come to settle for small changes in an intolerable situation, or fall into cynicism, demoralization and the idea that nothing can be done. And so Mexico and the world are going to enter into an escalation of major disasters and atrocities.

    A Terrible Future, or a Liberatory Future? This Depends Now on Forging a Growing Nucleus Organized and Guided by New Communism

    In Mexico and in the world, we face the choice between two possible futures: An even more terrible future, including the possible extinction of the human race, or a liberatory future in a radically different society in which we all would like to live.

    We have two options: live with the crimes and horrors caused by this system that threaten the very survival of humanity, or make revolution and bring into being a radically different and much better system.

    As we have already pointed out, in the world and in Mexico, the main contradictions of the capitalist-imperialist system are intensifying. The environmental emergency caused by the capitalist-imperialist system is posing a growing threat to the future of humanity and life on the planet and is already increasing the desperate migrations of millions from the Global South. The dispute for world domination between the main imperialist powers is intensifying, thus increasing the danger of war, including nuclear war, which represents another threat to the survival of humanity. Economic and social changes in the role of women are undermining traditional forms of women’s oppression while exacerbating new forms, all of which is leading either to a radically reactionary transformation reinforcing patriarchy and traditional forms of women’s oppression, or to a radically revolutionary transformation to knock down patriarchy and the capitalist system that keeps it afloat, advancing towards the complete emancipation of women and all of humanity. The aggressive expansion of big capital is leading to ruin and seizes territory and resources from peasants and indigenous communities, at the same time as the enormous growth of “illegal” capitalism of organized crime in collusion with the government and big capital in general at all levels is transforming large parts of the country into a veritable hell. The crises and enormous difficulties of the system are leading important sections of the ruling classes to struggle to establish the open form of the bourgeois dictatorship, fascism, in various parts of the world.

    All these contradictions are the material basis for communist revolution, which is more urgent now than ever, and whose material basis is also firmer than ever. It is the masses in their millions who will make this revolution or there will be no real revolution. For their revolutionary struggle not to get off track into dead ends and for it to actually lead to a real revolution, to a liberatory socialist society in transition to communism, science is needed, and a growing organized core armed with and guided by this science is needed.

    As Bob Avakian emphasizes, “whether or not there is going to be a scientific approach to revolution and a group of people, a growing group of people, organized to apply that science to really transforming the world toward an actual revolution—that makes all the difference for the masses of people” (The New Communism, p. 8).

    First and foremost, a scientific method and approach is needed. In other words, an understanding of how the world really is and how it can really be changed in the interests of the masses, which has been developed from analyzing the evidence in history and in the world, and not from simple wishes or speculations. A correct scientific approach is needed to guide the complicated struggle to make revolution and establish socialism. Without this, either the opportunity will be squandered, as in Egypt and many other cases, or revolution will go off track and will not get out of the capitalist system, as in Nicaragua, among other examples. Without a scientific method and approach, no matter how many people you have, you will never get out of the oppressive confines of the capitalist system.

    Bob Avakian’s New Communism is a qualitative development of the revolutionary science founded by Marx and Engels, and represents a breakthrough for the international communist revolution. He has developed this based on more than 50 years of work to scientifically sum up the breakthroughs, as well as the errors, of the first experiences of socialism of the last century, as well as the scientific analysis of many other struggles, of the changes in the contemporary world and many other sources. Thus, he has forged a guide to advance more and better in the next wave of proletarian revolutions in the world and create new, even more liberatory socialist societies, with a level of dissent and ferment never seen before, as well as guidelines for the struggle to advance in abolishing all forms of exploitation, oppression and social inequality, as well as revolutionizing the corresponding ideas.

    The Revolutionary Communist Organization is applying this breakthrough in the science of communism to the concrete conditions of Mexico in the world context and has forged strategic orientations and a basic program for the revolution that is needed, while at the same time this needs to be further developed and deepened.

    On the other hand, it is necessary to forge a growing nucleus of people organized and guided by this science, by applying this science to make a real revolution. In our conditions, this means fighting to build the revolutionary communist party guided by the New Communism, since such a party, indispensable to guide the struggle of the broad masses to make revolution, does not yet exist in Mexico.

    For this, it is essential to study thoroughly this science. Or as Engels said, “socialism, since it has become a science, demands that it be pursued as a science, i.e., that it be studied” (quoted by Lenin in What Is To Be Done?). It does not matter if at a given moment you understand a lot or a little, whether study is easy or difficult for you. The important thing is to understand that the possibility for people to get out of so much unnecessary suffering in this system of horrors depends on learning to master and apply this science. “It is also profoundly true that anyone who applies themself to this, and does the work, can take up this scientific method and approach, can continually deepen their grasp of this theory and the ability to apply it and popularize it, learning and doing in a dialectical—a mutually reinforcing—relation between theory and practice” (The New Communism, p. 9).

    It is also necessary to bring revolution and the New Communism to the masses: Promote this revolutionary theory, develop communist exposures and mobilize the masses in a combative struggle against the crimes of the system. It is urgent to win more and more people for this liberatory revolution, without which the possibilities of liberation from this bleak world would be wasted. It is not easy, especially in these times, to win people over to revolution and communism. It requires debating and struggling with people, sometimes even developing sharp struggle, though in a good way. This is the case, on the one hand, because of the setbacks in the world revolution that we have analyzed. On the other hand, it is because the propaganda of the ruling classes and other forces, as well as the very dynamics of trying to survive in this system characterized by competition and the struggle of all against all, lead people to internalize ideas and values that do not correspond to reality and, in fact, go against their deepest interests.

    For this reason, it is necessary to argue and struggle with the masses with the firm orientation that the masses not only need, but can break with all this, and be recognizing their true interests and transforming themselves in the course of revolutionary struggle, as long as there are those who struggle with them and bring them a scientific understanding of the problem and the solution. Therefore, we have strategic confidence in the revolutionary potential of the people, and we bring them the scientific truth about the horrors of this system and about the real possibility of a much better world.

    It Is Necessary for You to Break With and Help Others to Break With the Values And Ideas that Serve to Perpetuate This Oppressive System

    People need to break with the narrow individualism of “worry about yourself and your people and to hell with everybody else,” and dare to fight for a better future for the people and the emancipation of humanity.

    Instead of looking for excuses to not fight, people need to get into knowing how we can really fight and win.

    People need to break with the degrading values that this system inculcates, such as machismo, racism, homophobia, and others, and embody the communist values expressed, among other places, in the Puntos de orientación [Points of Orientation] of the Movimiento Revolución [Movement Revolution].

    People need to stop snarking, fighting among themselves and even killing each other, and unite against the actual common enemy, the imperialists, the big capitalists and the landowners.

    People need to break with the false hopes that AMLO and Morena are going around selling, and undertake the revolutionary struggle against the capitalist system and all its political representatives.

    And people need to get beyond “anti-capitalism” and decide to fight for the only real liberatory alternative to capitalism, communist revolution.

    It is our responsibility, the responsibility of the revolutionary communists, to share with the people the science of the new communism and to help them, with fraternal struggle among the people, to break with the values and lies of this system, to identify the true problem and the true solution, and thus unleash their initiative in the struggle for liberatory revolution and the emancipation of humanity.

    Cast Away False Illusions, and Prepare for Revolution! Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win!

    The future is not written, and this future depends, importantly, on what is done by every person who has ever dreamed of a better world. A terrible future, or a liberatory future? The clock is ticking and you have to decide. Passively accept the atrocities, injustices and existential threats of this system? Try to reform it a little bit? Or dare to fight with heart and science for liberatory revolution?

    The big crimes, crises and upheavals now and to come hold great dangers for humanity. At the same time, they open up new possibilities to make revolution and to begin a new and bright era for humanity and the planet. Let us each take on the responsibility of fighting together to achieve victory and open up this new era of revolutionary hope.

     

    Selected Bibliography

    Publications of the Revolutionary Communist Organization, Mexico, available free-of-charge on the Aurora Roja site: aurora-roja.blogspot.com.

    • Apoyar y extender la revuelta contra la violencia machista
    • “Combatir la represión, preparar la revolución”, Aurora Roja No. 6
    • ¡Desencadenar el coraje y lucha de las mujeres contra las causas y los responsables de tanta violencia e injusticia!
    • “El auge del crimen organizado y la decadencia criminal del Estado mexicano: frutos gemelos de un sistema completamente podrido” en Aurora Roja No. 1
    • Hace falta tumbar el sistema capitalista, no tratar de “democratizarlo”: AMLO, el EZLN y la revolución que se necesita
    • La opresión y la emancipación de los pueblos indígenas
    • La revolución liberadora: orientación estratégica y programa básico
    • “La revolución y el trabajo revolucionario”, Aurora Roja No. 15
    • Oaxaca. La lucha política independiente del pueblo, heraldo de una nueva revolución
    • Puntos de orientación del Movimiento Revolución (flier)

    Publications available on the revcom.us site:

    • Avakian, Bob, SOMETHING TERRIBLE, OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed, A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap For This Revolution
    • Avakian, Bob, Break ALL the Chains! Bob Avakian on the Emancipation of Women and the Communist Revolution
    • Avakian, Bob, The Strategic Approach to Revolution and Its Relation to Basic Questions of Epistemology and Method
    • Avakian, Bob, The Material Basis and the Method for Making Revolution
    • Lotta, Raymond, You Don’t Know What You Think You “Know” About... The Communist Revolution and the REAL Path to Emancipation: Its History and Our Future
    • Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal), authored by Bob Avakian

    Other Marxist titles

    • Engels, Federico, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
    • Lenin, Vladimir, “Differences in the European Labor Movement,” Complete Works, Volume 16
    • Lenin, Vladimir, What Is To Be Done?
    • Mao Tsetung, “A Single Spark Can Start a Prairie Fire,” Selected Works, Volume I