Going into July 4 Weekend: Thoughts on Role and Vision of Revolution Clubs

July 3, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

From a reader:

Here are some thoughts I wanted to contribute about the role and vision of the Revolution Clubs going into the July 4th weekend Bold Initiative.

First, briefly, it's important for people to think about the role of the Revolution Clubs and what this has to do with the Revolution Clubs cohering crews of people, rolling with the BA Speaks: Revolution—Nothing Less! t-shirts, boldly stepping out, people chanting "Everywhere we go.. people want to know... who we are... we are the revcoms, the mighty mighty revcoms..." and growing the Clubs as they are doing so. What is signified by this? When the Revolution Clubs step out like this, with the science, with the materialism of the reality that humanity needs revolution and communism and as a material force carrying out the strategy to make that revolution, to fight the power, and transform the people, for revolution, nothing less, then these Clubs have the 7 billion people of the world behind them. People in the clubs should keep wrestling with and deepening their understanding of this reality—that 7 billion people around this planet, whether they know it or not, are counting on us to be the mighty, mighty revcoms, to be a real contending force for a radically different way society can be, and to right now be building and growing that force, preparing for and actively organizing people for an actual revolution.

My second point is some thinking on the style of work of the Revolution Clubs, the life of the Clubs in a sense. Here are some key things we have been wrestling with and learning from the recent period:

• The Clubs projecting and being a cohered force on the scene, rolling together, marching into places together, in formation, chanting in unison, all wearing their t-shirts. Why does this matter? Because this is a serious force that is on the scene, that is leading increasing numbers of people, old and young, to gain a materialist understanding of why this system does the masses of people here and all over the planet the way it does and to inspire and organize people into changing the world and changing themselves in the process.
  
  
• The Clubs need to be out amongst the people way more, on any given day people broadly need to know how they can hook up with and find the Club. The Clubs need to be out getting out BAsics, the Revolution & Religion Dialogue between Bob Avakian and Cornel West, or BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS! to lots and lots of people—going out to basketball courts, parks, youth centers and community centers, gatherings of ex-prisoners and gatherings of students, boldly projecting that the world really doesn't have to be this way and we have the leadership and strategy to get to a radically different world. They should be very mobile, selling newspapers, blowing whistles when they see pigs stepping to the people. There has to be a very dynamic relationship of the Club being out amongst all kinds of people, spreading a radically different morality and way to live, challenging people to stand up and fight back, to refuse to live this way and to dig deeply into why things are this way and how they could be different. Even with a small core of people united around the slogans of the Club and ready to be and build a force behind those slogans, the Clubs can involve many, many people as they begin to get into and wrestle with the science of why humanity needs revolution and communism. This is why the Clubs have to formally and informally digging into and spreading BA's work and method approach, looking for every opportunity to dig into quotes from BAsics, to watch sections of the Dialogue between BA and CW or the whole film BA Speaks: REVOLUTION—NOTHING LESS!
  
  

• The challenge before us is to scientifically go at the process of wielding the Clubs as a force in the world and accumulate forces for revolution as we do so. Here it is important to think through our experiences and appreciate and take responsibility for what an attractive force the Revolution Clubs are, in particular when they plant a revolutionary pole, a pole that sharply delineates for people in word and in deed that we do not have to live like this. A pole that projects there is a different force on the field here, that there is a social force that recasts terms to what is in the interests of the majority of humanity and on that basis struggles with and can move sections of people to think and act in ways that are much more favorable to revolution. We have all seen this. We need to do a lot better right now in doing this and actually accumulating forces for revolution right on the spot. This means many things. It means having ways for people to get into this right away—don't go anywhere without your RNL t-shirt and your BAsics. Also always make sure at least one person has a portable DVD player with the Dialogue and RNL videos. Show people clips or read out quotes and get into them right on the spot. But also get whistles out, do a patrol right there and have people join up in different ways, but also make plans to go out the very next day. Always take time with people right then and there to start digging into things and also have a clear sense of the concrete ways people can be involved. One important entry level thing is for people to go out with the Club and sell the newspaper—they can start off even by holding it up while someone else does the talking. This is a very important entry level thing to do while people are finding out more about what humanity really does need. Some people attracted to the Clubs will want to go out and blow the whistle, others will want to wear the RNL shirt and start learning about it, others will want to run with and pass out cards etc. But we actively need to be working at developing a very living and dynamic relationship between wielding the Revolution Clubs as a force for revolution and accumulating forces around and then into the Clubs. And we need to learn as much as we can from our experiences starting tomorrow, July 4th!

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