The Source of Hope Within the Madness

 

May 30, 2022 A Guide to This Issue of Revolution What You Need to Know and Engage This Week About the World and Revolution The Source of Hope Within the Madness The month’s events have been relentless. First, on May 2, word leaks out that the fascists on the Supreme Court are moving to rip away the right of abortion. The Democrats “answer” with meaningless and futile gestures of opposition—a bill that they knew in advance would fail, accompanied by calls to vote against the Republicans in November—designed to do nothing more than get people under their sway and out of the streets while this right is ripped away in front of our eyes. Then came Buffalo, and the carnage of a white supremacist who plotted, armed himself, and drove 200 miles to murder 10 Black people who were just out shopping for groceries on a Saturday afternoon in the spring. Which was followed last week by Uvalde, where children were so cruelly and senselessly cut down… while police cowered in the hallways of the school. Coming on top of everything else, this set loose a wave of helplessness, despair and anger that swept through decent people around the country. Meanwhile, there were the bills being hammered into law by the Republi-fascists in state after state. Not just the fascist anti-abortion bills, one more punishing than the next, being rammed through the states in the expectation that Roe will soon be overturned. But also the bills to make it harder for Black and other “minority” people to vote and to overturn and disqualify it if they “vote wrongly” in the eyes of the fascists; the bills to persecute and prosecute transgender teens and their parents; the bills to forbid teachers from teaching Black history or anything else that reveals the ugly truths about America; the bills to overturn the pitiful environmental safeguards and regulations now in place… one fascist bill after another being rushed through state legislatures every month, every week. Yes, the situation can feel relentlessly agonizing. But if the causes are confronted and deeply analyzed, and a course of action put forward based on that understanding, then the agony can be ended. And the causes of that agony are confronted and analyzed, and the way out of it is deeply set forth, in “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,” the recent and extremely important talk from Bob Avakian (BA) that we highlight on this website every week. BA writes: …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. This website is part of the work to bring forward, through tremendous struggle, those radically emancipating revolutionary means. It is part of the work to effect that repolarization. This website struggles with you to question and to change how you are thinking, to face and then go deeper into the reality, to break with the ways of thinking that keep you from seeing the need to act, the possibility to act, the way to act to fundamentally change the future that looms, to bring something truly beautiful out of it. Along with using this website as a resource and tool, we strongly encourage you to tune in each week to The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on youtube and to watch this with others, and to connect with the @TheRevcoms on social media. Right now, we revcoms are involved with many others in an all-out fight to prevent a monstrous horror from happening—the ripping away of the right to abortion and the perverse enslavement through forced motherhood of one-half of humanity, women. At the same time, the move to rip this right away is not separate from but is an integral part of the radically reactionary remaking of society these fascists aim to consolidate, referred to above; indeed, it is a battering ram of that movement. These past few weeks BA has written major articles on this: “The Supreme Court Moves to End Abortion Rights: ‘Taking to the Streets,’ And Refusing to Let This Go Down. Bob Avakian Speaks to This Critical Juncture in the Fight for Abortion Rights, the Road Forward, and Avoiding Dead Ends” lays out important orientation for fighting to actually defeat this attack, despite the “odds” against it. And just this past week. we posted his new piece, “THE CRUCIAL FIGHT FOR ABORTION RIGHTS AND ENDING ALL OPPRESSION: Broad Unity and Necessary Struggle,” which not only digs further into controversial questions in the fight right now but also, very importantly, goes into the real relation of this battle to ending all oppression. If you are not getting into and sharing what BA is saying on this, you are depriving yourself—and ultimately others—of crucial understanding and important direction! This issue, we also cover this battle itself—including with videos, photos and accounts of this past week’s activity; an important clip from The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on YouTube on this; and Sunsara Taylor’s speech this past Thursday (watch / read). This issue of Revolution also speaks to the horrific massacre of 19 schoolchildren and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas—a monstrous crime that also enters into the larger dynamic laid out above. Our coverage includes our statement in the immediate aftermath of this and three newer pieces: "What Got Revealed When the Uvalde Pigs Stood by as the Children Cried Out for Help?," "You Are Heartsick About Buffalo and Uvalde--and Your Solution Is to Vote Democratic? What Is WRONG with That Picture?", and a report from a comrade who distributed last Thursday’s statement from the revcoms at a demonstration in Texas against a convention of the National Rifle Association, a convention rife with fascists from Trump on down. We have coverage, as well, on the catastrophic heat waves now holding India and Pakistan in their grip, and more besides. And given that we post on “Memorial Day,” when the government shuts down to honor those who have killed and died to maintain and defend this criminal system, we are running again a feature that gives just a small sense of the true scope of the crimes that are being memorialized on this “holiday.” But to return to where we began: these articles are featured in the context of what this site has given main emphasis to every week for these past months, which is BA’s talk, “SOMETHING TERRIBLE, OR SOMETHING TRULY EMANCIPATING: Profound Crisis, Deepening Divisions, The Looming Possibility Of Civil War—And The Revolution That Is Urgently Needed.” That talk lays out the “necessary foundation and basic roadmap” for this revolution—why this is happening and how we have to move, quickly, to wrest something positive out of the onrushing madness. And in BA’s new interview, there are concrete answers to some of the most life-and-death and literally existential questions humanity faces—climate catastrophe, massive immigration, the relationship between the division of society into classes and the many particular forms of oppression that different sections of people face. This interview gives you a concrete sense to the kind of future we could truly have… the kind of ways humanity could go to work on these burning questions… IF we take up this scientific approach to understanding and transforming society, if we dare to draw and act on the necessary conclusions, and if, in the face of what appear to be daunting “odds” today, we actually go forward to mobilize millions to make the revolution humanity so urgently requires. If you have never read “Something Terrible, OR Something Truly Emancipating,” and you care about the future, what is holding you back? And if you have read it, now is the time to return to it, to dig deeper, to talk about it… and to apply it. See the table of contents for other important articles this issue.   Follow: @TheRevcoms Read: www.revcom.us Watch: youtube.com/TheRevComs “...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!” —Bob Avakian START AT HOME PAGE BOB AVAKIAN: A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION Learn more about Bob Avakian and the new communism The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show A weekly YouTube show about ACTUAL revolution, based on Bob Avakian’s new communism What Is the Revolution Club? Who Should Check Out the Revolution Club, Run with It and Join? What Does It Mean To Join? And How Do I Get Started? What do I do first? Wherever you are, sign up. Spread the word. Find out more about Revolution Club » Unbelievable as it may seem, in the 21st century there are still people—including people in positions of power and authority—who are determined to force women to bear children, regardless of the situation, the feelings, and the better judgment of those women themselves. That is a way of enslaving women to the dictates of an oppressive male supremacist, patriarchal system; and that is what the cruel fanatics who are determined to deny women the right to abortion are really all about. — Bob Avakian   FEATURED: BOB AVAKIAN BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND THE INTERESTS OF HUMANITY: A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH VS. HARMFUL CONFUSION AND CHAUVINIST DELUSION   Bob Avakian Responds To People Who Should Know Better (and Maybe Once Did) FEATURED: NEWS FROM THE REVCOMS (REVCOM.US): A DECLARATION, A CALL TO GET ORGANIZED NOW FOR A REAL REVOLUTION From Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights: Overturn Roe? Hell No! This can be STOPPED and IT MUST BE STOPPED! Fund Drive for the National Tour to Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Extended to June 13! Join the National Tour to Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution in meeting our $50,000 goal over the next two weeks. Find out more >> WWW.REVCOM.US/REVOLUTION NEWSPAPER brings alive a scientific analysis of major events in society and the world—why they are happening, how different events and developments relate to each other, how all this relates to the system we live under, where people's interests lie in relation to all this, how revolution is in fact the solution to all this and what the goals of that revolution are, how different viewpoints and programs relate, positively or negatively, to the revolution that is needed, and how people can move, and are moving, to build toward that revolution. Revcom.us/Revolution is the guide, the pivot, the crucial tool in drawing forward, orienting, training, and organizing thousands, and influencing millions—fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution—hastening and preparing for the time when we can go for the whole thing, with a real chance to win. Subscribe to revcom.us | Donate to/Sustain revcom.us | Send your correspondence to revolution.reports@yahoo.com

Overturn Roe? Hell No! This can be STOPPED and IT MUST BE STOPPED!

 

May 23, 2022 A Guide to This Issue of Revolution What You Need to Know and Engage This Week About the World and Revolution We are this week again focusing your attention on Bob Avakian’s (BA’s) article The Supreme Court Moves to End Abortion Rights: “Taking to the Streets,” And Refusing to Let This Go Down. There are millions who see the need to keep the right to abortion and even feel strongly about it. But they have not yet been won to being part of the massive resistance needed to prevent the overturning of Roe v. Wade. They don’t know that it can be won and they don’t know how. This article takes on the arguments standing in their way. It needs to get everywhere—and among those who have read it, BA’s arguments and the method he uses to dig into reality need to be really thought about and worked with. Within this battle for abortion rights, there is bound up the question of what kind of future we will have. Decades ago, as the contradictions that scream out today were only beginning to assert themselves, BA wrote the following: The whole question of the position and role of women in society is more and more acutely posing itself in today’s extreme circumstances… It is not conceivable that all this will find any resolution other than in the most radical terms… The question yet to be determined is: will it be a radical reactionary or a radical revolutionary resolution, will it mean the reinforcing of the chains of enslavement or the shattering of the most decisive links in those chains and the opening up of the possibility of realizing the complete elimination of all forms of such enslavement? At the end of “Taking to the Streets,” And Refusing to Let This Go Down, and after extensive discussion of the importance uniting the broadest numbers of people in this fight and of not letting this battle get derailed by dead ends, BA writes: Fundamentally, to bring about a more just society and world, what is needed, and all the more urgently now, is a revolution to overthrow this whole system, which both Democrats and Republicans represent and work to enforce, even as they have sharp differences between them over how to do this. In “Something Terrible, Or Something Truly Emancipating,” I have analyzed in depth why this is a rare time when revolution becomes more possible, even in this powerful country. It is crucially important to understand why this is so—which has to do with the already very deep, and continually deepening, divisions, not only in the country overall but particularly within the ruling class, and why that ruling class cannot continue to rule in the “normal way” it has for generations—and how to move to build up the revolutionary forces with the strategy and organization capable of seizing on this rare opportunity, not in order to achieve a “peaceful transfer of power” from one section of the capitalist-imperialist ruling class to another, but to bring about a seizure of power by a revolutionary people, numbering in the millions and millions and determined to bring about a truly emancipating change—bringing down this monstrous system and building up a radically different and far better system. Working to prepare for that revolution right now means, first, aiming high to actually win this battle—going everywhere with the sharpest message possible and winning all kinds of people, including people with real influence, to become actively involved; continuing to build this ferment and resistance among the youth while winning them to impact all of society with their conviction and urgency; and spreading the spirit of making unmistakably clear to those who run society that if this right is taken away, the “machinery” of business-as-usual will not be allowed to function. It means spreading “Taking To The Streets” and enabling many, many people to read this, to discuss it, and to take up the arguments in there with others—all for the goal of refusing to let this foul attack succeed. And working to prepare for revolution in the midst of this means, at the same time, the revcoms being out there building this struggle, spreading this article (available in pamphlet form also) and the understanding it contains, marching in disciplined formation with bold banners, and letting people know where they can find out more about this revolution and what it stands for and how they can get connected to it—especially through The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on YouTube, as well as the revcom social media and this website, revcom.us, and meetings of the Revolution Club, in cities where they exist. So this week’s issue focuses on that: we feature an updated panel on the Home page of materials on this struggle, including not only BA’s article but also a new speech from Sunsara Taylor, the new episode of The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, new messaging from Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, and reports and visuals from the student walkouts last Thursday. We include what the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, authored by Bob Avakian, has to say on abortion, as well as other materials from BA, including Part Seven (“Globalized Supply Chain”) of an important new interview (full interview here). We also feature a famous and powerful clip from Mario Savio, a leader of the 1964 Free Speech Movement in Berkeley, another time when people had to take a bold stand… and to go with it, a section of Bob Avakian’s memoir, From Ike To Mao and Beyond, in which he discusses his experience in the Free Speech Movement. And there’s more—much more. Go here for a statement from the Chicago Revolution Club on the cruel murder of a young Black man… and the cruel edict against all Black youth then put into effect by Chicago’s Black mayor, Lori Lightfoot. Go here to find out about important—and ominous—developments in the war in Ukraine, and here to read BA’s reply to former SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) members who now support the U.S. government’s proxy war with their imperialist rival Russia there. And go here to find out about the continued use of Trump’s immigration order that has people seeking asylum in the U.S. in a living hell on the border. We also want to call on everyone reading this to watch the 100th episode of The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show and especially to spread it to others. This show has to become the way that people all over this country link up with the revolution every week—at a time like this, it is very possible to build the audience fairly quickly into the thousands and then take off from there. Send us your ideas on this and your experience. See the table of contents for other important articles this issue. And see you in the streets on Thursday, May 26! Follow: @TheRevcoms Read: www.revcom.us Watch: youtube.com/TheRevComs “...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!” —Bob Avakian START AT HOME PAGE BOB AVAKIAN: A RADICALLY DIFFERENT LEADER—A WHOLE NEW FRAMEWORK FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION Learn more about Bob Avakian and the new communism The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show A weekly YouTube show about ACTUAL revolution, based on Bob Avakian’s new communism What Is the Revolution Club? Who Should Check Out the Revolution Club, Run with It and Join? What Does It Mean To Join? And How Do I Get Started? What do I do first? Wherever you are, sign up. Spread the word. Find out more about Revolution Club » Unbelievable as it may seem, in the 21st century there are still people—including people in positions of power and authority—who are determined to force women to bear children, regardless of the situation, the feelings, and the better judgment of those women themselves. That is a way of enslaving women to the dictates of an oppressive male supremacist, patriarchal system; and that is what the cruel fanatics who are determined to deny women the right to abortion are really all about. — Bob Avakian FEATURED: BOB AVAKIAN BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND THE INTERESTS OF HUMANITY: A SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONARY APPROACH VS. HARMFUL CONFUSION AND CHAUVINIST DELUSION Bob Avakian Responds To People Who Should Know Better (and Maybe Once Did) FEATURED: NEWS FROM THE REVCOMS (REVCOM.US): A DECLARATION, A CALL TO GET ORGANIZED NOW FOR A REAL REVOLUTION From Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights: Overturn Roe? Hell No! This can be STOPPED and IT MUST BE STOPPED! Contribute to the National Revolution Tour... Contribute to FIGHTING FOR the Future! Join in Meeting the $50,000 Goal by June 1!   Voices from Those Who Have Donated >> WWW.REVCOM.US/REVOLUTION NEWSPAPER brings alive a scientific analysis of major events in society and the world—why they are happening, how different events and developments relate to each other, how all this relates to the system we live under, where people's interests lie in relation to all this, how revolution is in fact the solution to all this and what the goals of that revolution are, how different viewpoints and programs relate, positively or negatively, to the revolution that is needed, and how people can move, and are moving, to build toward that revolution. Revcom.us/Revolution is the guide, the pivot, the crucial tool in drawing forward, orienting, training, and organizing thousands, and influencing millions—fighting the power, and transforming the people, for revolution—hastening and preparing for the time when we can go for the whole thing, with a real chance to win. Subscribe to revcom.us | Donate to/Sustain revcom.us | Send your correspondence to revolution.reports@yahoo.com