Fundraising Kickoff Events in Four Cities—
On Fire for Revolution and on a Mission to Organize Thousands for an Actual Revolution

March 4, 2019 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

At a time of tremendous peril, revolutionaries and others gathered in public events in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area to learn about, raise money for, and help launch an audacious nationwide, year-long organizing Tour: “You Think You’re Woke... But You’re Sleepwalking Through A Nightmare--This System Cannot Be Reformed, It Must Be Overthrown!" The Get Organized for an ACTUAL Revolution Tour.

Hosted everywhere by members of the Revolution Club and anchored by an extended clip from Bob Avakian’s historic speech Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution, these events crackled with revolutionary élan. Not just intolerance for the ways the masses of people around the world are needlessly brutalized, exploited, and kept in ignorance and misery, but also for all the backward ways of thinking these masses are currently caught up in—as well as real determination and daring to change all this.

Dramatic readings of the Tour announcement and fundraising speeches brought alive a vision of a year-long Tour starting in mid-March with a cohort of people on fire for revolution and eager to take this revolution out to the masses straight up, breaking people out of the many forms of bullshit this system has them caught up in, and organizing them into the real revolution. A beginning taste of this can be seen in the recent articles from Revolution Clubs around the country, like the call to “Stop Being Farra-CONNED!”, the challenge issued for Black History Month, and more. But as Andy Zee emphasized in New York, “This doesn’t happen without you. There’s no spectators here. Starting tonight, donating, big funds, and monthly sustainers. Without you, there’s no revolution. Not only that, there wouldn’t be a revolution worth having.” People took this to heart.

In Los Angeles, new people came off the bold efforts of the Revolution Club in the preceding weeks—out on the campuses challenging identity politics and pitiful support for the Democratic Party, among other things—and dove actively into making plans. In New York, several people had been organized in advance to donate. A musician with deep appreciation for Bob Avakian (BA) and the revolution, especially the way they challenge the dead end of reliance on the Democratic Party (even as he remains a registered Democrat), called on others to match his $2,000 donation. A longtime friend of the revolution read a statement about why she is stretching to contribute $300 a month. In the Bay Area, a group of immigrants told of hosting fundraising dinners back in Iran, inspiring people to plan monthly fundraising internationalist potlucks. In Chicago, tens of thousands had recently seen the Club stand its ground in a controversy that spread on social media, and everyone carried themselves with appropriate pride.

Together, the events raised approximately $8,000, surpassing the halfway point towards the $15,000 needed by March 15 to launch the Tour.

Not surprisingly, big challenges remain. One particular shortcoming that must be transformed: a real leap needs to be made in organizing masses of people into this revolution. Especially off the stepped-up activities of the Clubs, there need to be more new people stepping into the revolution. There is also a need to knit together those who did turn out for the kickoffs into ongoing and growing networks of financial support and revolutionary organization. At least $7,000 more is needed by March 15—another $50,000 by spring. All this means it will be critical to build on this important beginning.

Finally, in a powerful harbinger of the revolutionary spirit this Tour will unleash across the country, the gatherings culminated in defiant and celebratory performances by the Revolution Clubs of Bob Avakian’s searing revolutionary spoken word piece, “ALL PLAYED OUT.”