Revolution Books / Libros Revolución: We Are At A Crossroads in History

2022. A new—a possibly pivotal—year has begun. We are at a crossroads in history in which, to draw from the title of Bob Avakian’s new talk, humanity will experience either something terrible—or, by people taking up the revolutionary strategy and understanding developed by Bob Avakian (BA), something truly emancipating. The choice is just that stark.

Many try, even at this late date, to deny or downplay the importance and direction of the fascist movement that has taken over the Republican Party, or to bring forward superficial “solutions” that don’t get to the heart of the problem. BA not only goes deeply into what we face, showing its source within this system of capitalism-imperialism, he shows the potential within this moment to bring forward a radically emancipating revolution out of the madness. He provides the necessary foundation to understand what we face and the basic roadmap to go forward out of it. It is up to us to ground ourselves in that foundation. And it is up to us to take up that roadmap, applying it to a terrain in which the route to the future is not a smooth highway but a path that has to be hacked out of a tangled thicket of woods and vines on a dangerous mountain climb.

What will make the difference—and what we call on all of you reading this site to contribute to bringing into being—is 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.

We do not have all the time in the world to do that—the extremely dangerous dynamics of the current situation, in BA’s words, “must be radically changed, in what is a relatively brief, ‘compressed’ period of time—not just weeks or months, but also not decades.” So, in this issue, once again, our main focus is on the new talk, along with This Is a Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So, and How to Seize on This Rare Opportunity by BA and A Declaration, a Call to Get Organized Now for a Real Revolution from the revcoms.

That provides the context for this issue of our website. This week marks the one-year anniversary of the attempted fascist coup last January 6, when Trumpian fascists swarmed Congress to prevent the counting of the electoral votes for Biden. To help set the context for that “anniversary,” we are reprinting last week’s article “A Year of Aggressive Fascist Offensive.”

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Fascist rioters in Capitol building, Washington, DC, in attempted coup, January 6, 2021

During this week, when the attention of many will be focused on that intense day, it is critically important that the scientific analysis of the situation and the way forward out of it that is posed in this talk also be contending. Go HERE for orientation, plans and materials to use in both social media and on-the-ground activity this week to bring forward this talk as the only scientifically founded analysis of the problem—and the solution—there is. Sign up to be part of this effort and/or to join a Zoom discussion of the talk.

It is almost certain that one arena of fascist attacks and dangers in the year ahead will be the ability of women to control their own bodies, as concentrated in the right to abortion and birth control. We covered this in depth in 2021—focusing on the virulent and aggressive attacks by the fascists at every level, the craven and slavish capitulation of the Democrats and those at the head of the so-called pro-choice movement to these attacks, and what in fact is urgently needed to combat this—and we will continue to do so in the year ahead. To give a basic sense of this battle and its stakes—and how it must, and must NOT, be approached—we are reposting an updated version of last week’s piece “The ‘Land of the Free’ Takes Dramatic Action to Enslave Women,” from a member of the Revolution Tour.

A B-52 heavy bomber, flanked by fighter jets, flies to the Middle East in a tacit threat to Iran on November 21, 2020. Photo: USAF

In the new talk, BA refers to the possibility of “nuclear conflagration that continues to loom as an existential threat over humanity.” The article “As Danger of U.S./Israeli Military Clash with Iran Grows More Serious, We Ask—And Answer: Which Country Poses the Greatest Danger? And Where Do the Interests of Humanity Truly Lie?” lays out some of the ways in which this contradiction is intensifying around the country of Iran. The article also gets into what can—and must—be done, in the face of the U.S. threats and the sharpening conflict, to bring forward the revolutionary people called for by BA. And go HERE for the stand of the International Emergency Campaign to Free Iran’s Political Prisoners on this contradiction.

Two days before Christmas, Los Angeles pigs opened fire in a crowded LA department store and recklessly murdered Daniel Elena-Lopez, a man “armed” with a bicycle lock, and a 14-year-old girl, Valentina Orellana-Peralta, a Chilean immigrant trying on clothes in a dressing room with her mother. This marked the end of a year in which the number of murders by LA pigs doubled, in which police terror and murder nationwide showed no sign of lessening, and in which “liberal” politicians began calling for more cops and “tougher enforcement.” The revcoms released a video in the immediate aftermath, in which Noche Diaz drew on BA’s new talk to get into the need for people to begin defending themselves against these and other illegitimate and repressive attacks as part of bringing forward the revolutionary people so urgently needed. Check out—and spread—this video.

As a critical part of not only doing what Noche refers to, but the overall task of bringing forward a revolutionary people, it is imperative that people very broadly get to hear “A Revolutionary Rhyme for This Historic Time” and that people broadly be encouraged to make their own rendition of the rhyme to spread it further. This rhyme is sharply challenging and extremely powerful. This week we feature a new version from Roosevelt, of the Revolution Club in Chicago.

Finally, there are other important articles: “México: 'We Have Been Attacked a Lot by La Migra,' Migrants Call Out in Protest at INM Headquarters” and "The Opioid Epidemic and the System Responsible" and letters from our readers (about a tamale sale as part of the fund drive for the Revolution Tour and from prisoners).

To circle back to where we began: three years ago, in the talk Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, BA said:

... 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 rings out with even more power and immediacy today. What you do—and what hundreds and thousands more like you do—will count for a lot. The impact of action in a period like this is way greater than “normal times.” Denial, half-stepping, clinging to or searching for vain hopes that will not and cannot happen or for schemes with no chance whatsoever up against this monstrous wave, is never acceptable--and it is poisonous in this situation.

Yes, the situation humanity faces contains the undeniable possibility of something terrible coming out of it. But concealed within that is the potential for a true leap forward for humanity, toward emancipation, and what you have in your hands with BA’s new talk contains the road map to making that leap.

This year, take up this talk. Be part of spreading and applying it—for humanity. Get with, support and join the revcoms—now.