Some thoughts on responses to seeing the film Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution
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From a reader
At the film showing in Los Angeles, “several people commented that Part 1 presented an ‘airtight, irrefutable’ argument for why this system can’t be reformed—but that Part 2 was going to be ‘uphill.’ However, they were thinking about real revolution in the U.S. in ways they had never considered before. A Latino organizer and activist responded, ‘WOW! This is just on a whole other level. Avakian went to a whole other place. Wow.’”
I thought the comment about “a whole other place” spoke to the heart of the film. BA takes us to a place like we have not seen before. BA is a person who not only does a scientific analysis of the cruel system we live under, but has an answer as to how to defeat that system and all the horrors that go with it when the time comes, and bring into being a society based on what humanity yearns for and needs.
BA contrasts two societies in the film: capitalism-imperialism that enslaves the world today and a socialist society that could be won—through struggle. To me, the phrase “a whole other place” implies not only the end result but also what it will take to get there—our thinking and actions. It means our thinking has to change, from only seeing the hammer they hold over our heads, to start now to look at jolts that bring cracks to the system, which are happening in rapid succession, and cause people to look at things differently and act accordingly; how we think about people who are not like us; whether we think of revenge when we think about revolution. It will take struggle to build up the forces now in preparation for the time when the conditions are such that an attempt to begin to bring down this system is on the table. It means people coming forward now to be trained as leaders. “A whole other place” means everyone who hates what this system does—whether those on the bottom who are treated as less than human or people who see what the system does to others—coming together in whatever way they can to be part of this movement for revolution, to accumulate forces in order to impact the situation we find ourselves in; accumulate more, impact more.
“A whole other place” means being challenged—and meeting that challenge. Some people who view the film are challenged to see the system as it really is; others are challenged to get out of their comfort zone and decide to get their heads out of their asses; some are challenged to make a life-changing decision and become part of the movement for revolution, right now, with thousands of other people working together.
“A whole other place” means looking at the possibility of revolution for the first time, or in a new way, and being scientific about what it takes to make revolution. It means hopes and aspirations put on a scientific basis, questioning one’s belief in some supernatural being who will one day put things right.
Basically, “A whole other place” means getting into BA and the new synthesis, all the things mentioned above, and being open to and getting into what a different, liberating society looks like, what it means that people actually can run society for the benefit of all, not an elite group who dominate, oppress, and exploit billions of people.
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