Letter From a Reader:
On the Importance of “A Question Sharply Posed: Nat Turner or Thomas Jefferson?” by Bob Avakian
May 12, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
The more I have studied and thought about “A Question Sharply Posed: Nat Turner or Thomas Jefferson?” by Bob Avakian and discussed this with others, the more sharply this piece and its importance becomes to me. And the more urgently I feel the necessity for the readers of this paper to take this issue of Revolution out boldly and broadly...to find the ways to crack open the debate, especially on the campuses before school ends and among the intellectuals—and to get this out into the neighborhoods and into the schools where those who have been cast out by this society and face the most brutal conditions of life can be found.
As I have wrangled with this piece, I feel that first we must begin at the beginning and understand there is an actual struggle to be waged with many, many people on the very question posed by Bob Avakian at the beginning: “Nat Turner or Thomas Jefferson?” In the new film of BA’s speech Revolution—Nothing Less! and in work after work, and even in the footnotes of the poster, there is the material with which to argue this through with people who are not clear—including those who once knew better and those who don’t even yet know who Nat Turner was—what the real character of slavery was, or that there even were slave revolts or the role that these played.
People are constantly bombarded with the message that communism has been a "failure" and that socialist societies have been a "nightmare." The Set the Record Straight project aims to bring out the truth about the first attempts in human history to build societies free from all exploitation and oppression—the socialist states in Russia from 1917 until the defeat of that revolution in 1956, and in China from 1949 until its defeat in 1976. "The mission of Set the Record Straight is to factually refute the lies spread in the media, mass-market books, and mainstream scholarship about the Soviet and Chinese revolutions, and to bring to light the overwhelming achievements of these revolutions as well as their real problems and shortcomings. Our mission is to reveal the actual history and experience of these revolutions, to open up a two-sided debate about socialism and communism, and to promote a conversation about why a radically different and liberating world is possible." The Set the Record Straight project can be found online at thisiscommunism.org. It can also be accessed from the "Fight the Power, and Transform the People, for Revolution" section of revcom.us and from the Revolutionary Communist Party section at revcom.us/rcp.
So, head on, BA stakes out a position on the controversial historical question “Nat Turner or Thomas Jefferson?” and provides the basic way to argue it out and then the piece goes on to use that benchmark basic question to establish the framework through which to address the even more controversial historical questions and specifically the history of communism and the present-day struggle for communist revolution.
I am writing this in part to urge people to deeply dig into and grapple with the different levels and dimensions to this work, to the different questions that are being raised and how they are being addressed. And, as we do so, I feel we cannot and should not underestimate the importance and urgency of escalating efforts to take this piece OUT into society and the importance of making it a focus of discussion and debate. Let the debate rip over what BA has so sharply and provocatively set forth. And encourage others from all walks of life, including those from the neighborhoods, to broadly distribute and debate this critical, dividing line question that is posed for our revolutionary movement.
I think we could plan to go to conferences, cultural events and street scenes where people who are straining against the horrors in this world today and searching for answers are congregated and find creative ways to put this before the mass of people at these events. Make a big display/installation of the layout of the piece available at revcom.us. Or wear T-shirts and signs which draw people into discussing this work.
Another important avenue for maximizing the societal impact of this work: email and social media. Let’s send this piece out widely, and think about those who would be provoked by this and get it to others. Keep in mind that what is put in the subject line of an email will provoke many to read the email. We can post the PDF’s from revcom.us on different sites and blogs. (Download from the Post This! page from Revolution newspaper at revcom.us) Or make leaflets that have the title of the piece, a graphic and the QR code to link to the work at revcom.us. (Right-click to download the QR code for English, or the QR code for Spanish.)
Also, I have read that Revolution bookstores are holding discussions of this work. Specifically Raymond Lotta will be speaking and leading a discussion at Revolution Books, New York, this week, which will be posted shortly after it happens.
Again, we need to seize the time in many, many ways to get this work out into society and draw that fundamental dividing line which is concentrated in this piece from BA.
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