Revolution #163, May 1, 2009
May First 2009:
A Revolutionary Challenge
May First, May Day, is the international holiday of revolution. It is a day of revolutionary rededication and celebration.
Revolutionary May 1: A day when we renew our vision of a world that has gone beyond exploitation...beyond the division of society into a handful who own and control the world, and the vast majority who do not...beyond all the oppressive social relations and thinking that go with that. A day when we rededicate to bringing into being a society in which men no longer dominate women, in which one nation “or race” no longer dominates another, when everybody works both with their hands and their minds, and where people come together in a world community of freely cooperating human beings.
Revolutionary May 1: A day when we celebrate the great revolutionary milestones along the way to that vision. The first great attempt of the Paris Commune, which lasted but 80 days in 1871; the Soviet Revolution in the former Russian empire in 1917, which inspired the world for 40 years; and the Chinese revolution which achieved victory in 1949, and went on to the highest pinnacle yet reached in 1966, with the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Each of these revolutions was eventually defeated, and the system of exploitation restored, even if the label of “socialism” remained for a while. But these revolutions contain rich and essential lessons— in both their overwhelming achievements as well as their secondary shortcomings and mistakes—lessons that must be absorbed to advance further today.
Revolutionary May 1: A day when we prepare for the new challenges that must be met to make revolution in today’s world.
May First 2009 comes at a time of global economic, political, and moral crisis. This is a time when the question is sharply posed: Is this world of exploitation and oppression the best humanity can do? The answer, most emphatically—and proven in those milestones—is NO. Another world is possible—a world embodying a vision of freedom far more radical than the horizons of today—a communist world. And there is an international class of people with nothing to lose, the proletariat, which can lead the transition to that new society. This worldwide class, which works collectively to produce most of the wealth of the world but which is exploited and oppressed within capitalist society, must unite with and lead the oppressed, as well as all those who hunger for justice and liberation, in a revolution to emancipate all of humanity.
This May Day issue of Revolution speaks very directly to the urgent, and historic challenges bound up in that.
This issue of Revolution features the beginning section of Communism: The Beginning of a New Stage: A Manifesto from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. That document is just what it says it is -- in the spirit, and tradition of the original Communist Manifesto, it is a challenge and call for the emancipation of all humanity, and nothing less. Moreover—it is a scientific summation of the first stage of the revolution, and an outline for the advance to a whole new stage of communist revolution.
And, this issue Revolution begins the serialization of “RUMINATIONS AND WRANGLINGS. On the Importance of Marxist Materialism, Communism as a Science, Meaningful Revolutionary Work, and a Life with Meaning,” by Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA. In this talk, Chairman Avakian breaks further new ground on these essential questions, deepening and enriching the framework of communist theory – and challenging and provoking every revolutionary and radical to “get in on” struggle to understand the world as deeply as possible, in order to radically change it.
Both of these works are available now, in their entirety, at revcom.us, and Communism: The Beginning of a New Stage: A Manifesto from the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA can be ordered from RCP Publications (see back page).
We call on everyone who refuses to accept that this world is the best of all possible worlds to dig into these works…. and struggle with your friends, fellow activists, co-workers, fellow prisoners, or colleagues to do so as well. Take up the challenge of getting this issue of Revolution out into society widely—everywhere people are protesting, thinking critically, rebelling in anyway against the way things are.
Get in touch with us at the nearest Revolution Books (see page 15) or contact us at RCP Publications (P.O. Box 3486 Merchandise Mart, Chicago IL 60654; 773.227.4188; rcppubs@hotmail.com) to share your experiences, your insights, your questions, and to become part of this revolutionary movement.
On the occasion of Revolutionary May Day, 2009: take up the challenge; get with the revolution; join and build the revolutionary movement.
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