The Way Out and the Way Forward Through the Madness

 

January 31, 2022 What You Need to Know and Engage This Week About the World and Revolution As we start this week, the threats and counter-moves between the U.S. and Russia over who will control Eastern Europe sharpen. In New York City, a new Black mayor, Eric-"The Pig"-Adams, moves to overturn every concession made in the past 15 years to the struggle against the mass incarceration and criminalization of Black and other “minority” people, and has moved to institute a reign of terror against the basic people and especially the youth. The fascists who control the Supreme Court move relentlessly toward overturning the constitutional right to abortion while the so-called pro-choice movement does nothing and works to tamp down the fury that must be—and could be—unleashed. Death tolls from COVID set records while fascists attack, bully and defame those trying to stop it. These same fascists move, on the very eve of Black History Month, to outlaw any teaching that touches on the true history of this country: a history that shows, in the words of Bob Avakian, that “There would be no United States as we now know it today without slavery. That is a simple and basic truth.” Media "pundits" look at this and write about how society is being torn apart from bottom to top, while they offer answers that range from the ridiculous to the insidious, from the fantastic to a helpless confession of having no answers. And when it comes to what is causing all this and how to stop it—let alone how to get to a better future—all too many of those who do care have their heads up their collective asses.   But the simple truth is that in this terribly negative polarization and situation, there is a potentially positive outcome for humanity that can be wrenched out—through tremendous and fierce struggle. Precisely because of this sharp divide—especially atop society—an ACTUAL revolution becomes much more possible, and this has to singularly focus our sights. What is to be done? Bob Avakian, BA, the revolutionary leader and author of the new communism, has come forward with an extremely timely and important presentation:  Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating: Profound Crisis, Deep Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed. A Necessary Foundation, A Basic Roadmap for This Revolution. This presentation analyzes the foundations of the crisis and shows not only the way out but the way forward through the madness. BA has put forward a roadmap in this talk, and he points out and struggles sharply with the main obstacles, detours, and dead-ends in people’s thinking that stands in the way of getting to the only destination that can deal with this situation: REVOLUTION, NOTHING LESS! This week we continue to feature two recent articles from BA rooted in that work: “In Light of the Urgency Spoken to in ‘Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating.’ A Renewed Challenge: Searching for an Honest Liberal or Progressive” and “Some Key Points Regarding ‘Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating’: Truths We Need to Get Free.”   We also are publishing this week an important point on method from BA, a guide within a guide to those who are daring to shoulder responsibility but run up against the madness or obliviousness that people are caught up in now, or fall victim to the positivism of just seeing what’s on the surface—and not the deeper dynamics driving things and the potential within events. The fact is, as BA stated in an earlier work,1 it is the very way that things are being torn apart, the very way that events will shake people that provides a key part of the basis for why revolution is possible now in a way that it is not in normal times. In that light, the articles, letters and announcements on the Revolution Club section of our site are of great importance—they are all about implementing, making real, this roadmap. Get into these articles and grapple with how you can support and step into this movement…or if you are already with it, how you can go deeper, do more, and bring those closer to where this movement has to be: at the core of a revolutionary people in their millions. We are also covering the key events in the world—why they are happening, how they relate to the fundamental interests of humanity, and what we need to be doing about it. This issue, our articles include: “Black History Month in a Divided and Polarized White Supremacist Society: What Is Most Needed—a Real Reckoning, and Going Deeper into the Real Problem and the Real Solution, to Getting Out of This Horror” “Bob Avakian for the Liberation of Black People and the Emancipation of All Humanity” “Racial Oppression Can Be Ended—But Not Under This System” and other articles by BA on the oppression and liberation of Black people "Eric Adams’ War on Crime Is A WAR ON THE PEOPLE" “A Revolution Rhyme for This Historic Time” “’Woke-Washing’ a Murderous Attack on Women—You Can’t Fight for Abortion Rights While You’re Erasing Women” and “Are You Gonna Capitulate to a Handmaid Future? Here’s What Happens When the So-Called ‘Pro-Choice Movement’ Capitulates” "The Mafia Logic of U.S. Sanctions Against Russia" A Debate Over Billie Eilish’s Critique of Porn: So-Called Leftists Relish in the Degradation of Women with a Stunted and Impoverished View of Sex and Society Fascists Try to Spread Disease and Ignorance, Revcoms Say “Hell No!” From The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, Episode 86, Opening Commentary by Andy Zee Check It Out—Lessons from the Development of the mRNA Vaccine: Science, hard work, and “squeezing knowledge from failure” Joe Veale responds to NOI speaking at gathering of white supremacists, fascists, anti-vaxxers “Revcom.us Behind Prison Walls” “A Revolutionary Prisoner Responds to BA’s Polemic on Abolition” And in the Revolution Club page "The Revolution Club Fighting For... Getting Organized for... REVOLUTION": A call to spread BA's challenge to liberals and progressives everywhere. “Notice to Revcoms and Supporters of the Revolution” REVOLUTION CLUB MASS MEETINGS From The RNL Show, Andy Zee and Noche Diaz discuss splits within the ruling class, the once-in-a-lifetime chance to make revolution, and why YOU should join the Revolution Club. TikTok videos:  Andy Zee: Why do many liberals refuse to call the GOP and their moves to seize power “fascist”?; Lenny Wolff: As U.S. rulers debate response to Russia in Ukraine: IT’S NOT “OUR” EMPIRE _______________ FOOTNOTES: 1. From “This Is a Rare Time When Revolution Becomes Possible—Why That Is So, and How to Seize on This Rare Opportunity”: 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.   Follow: @TheRevcoms Read: www.revcom.us Watch: youtube.com/TheRevComs