Revolution #184, November 29, 2009
Saturate — far and wide,
everywhere people turn — with:
"The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have"
The week of November 30 through December 7, 2009 should be marked by a qualitative leap in saturating key neighborhoods, campuses and schools, and "scenes" with the Message and Call from the Revolutionary Communist Party: "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have." The more concise version of this statement needs to get out far and wide. (A new version is posted at revcom.us in PDF form, which includes a call to watch Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About, a film of a talk by Bob Avakian, on the Internet.)
Walk through any hood in this country—from Harlem to East Oakland—or onto any college or high school campus. Think about what difference it would make if this revolution, this party and its leadership, Bob Avakian, were part of the life of a neighborhood, a campus or at high schools, or in youth and cultural scenes in major cities. What if many people on the streets nodded in recognition when the revolutionaries came upon the scene—or awaited their arrival to confront them with questions? What if people broadly knew there was a force in this society which has not given up on radical change and is preparing for revolution—and led by a person who greatly heightens the actual possibility of making that revolution? What difference would it make if among the people streaming by as classes break or who are huddled in coffee shops or gathered at day-labor corners waiting for work or hanging out in the hood many were debating "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have"?
Saturating key areas with this message and call is indispensable to making these changes in society. It can begin with a few people in an area or school taking thousands and, like dynamos, getting them into the hands of everyone they can reach. Not stopping to have long—or even short—debates with those who are getting the statement, but making plans to come back later when people all over have gotten the message and call and had an opportunity to read it.
Successfully saturating key areas makes the revolution and its leadership known to thousands. Everybody needs to get this statement—and to talk about it with each other. Such saturation impacts on and changes the climate and the terrain... opening up breathing room and provoking thinking and wrangling about the nature of the society we live in. Is this a system we live under—and what are the workings of that system? Saturation can break through the daily grind—and raise people’s sights. It unleashes broad discussion about the future and the need and possibility of achieving a better world. What is the revolution we are talking about? Is a better world possible—and what would that world look like? And it connects them with the leadership that can actually lead us to make that revolution. It begins to make that leadership, Bob Avakian, a household word. As we have written earlier, in a world which is intolerable to millions: "Really getting people acquainted with Bob Avakian’s leadership, in its different dimensions, really focusing on this, is a powerful way to cut through the fog and defeatism and give people hope... on a solid, scientific foundation."
But... saturation is not only blanketing whole areas with thousands of the more concise version of the statement—though it definitely includes that. Saturation is not only finding creative ways to post the message and call—though it definitely includes that. Saturation is not just playing the audio version everywhere you go—though it definitely includes that. Or printing the message in campus and alternative papers. Or finding the ways for the statement to circulate broadly on the Internet. It is doing all of these things—in a concentrated and coordinated effort. So that encountering this message is inescapable; everywhere people turn they are getting this statement... seeing it on the walls... hearing it playing from loudspeakers.
Saturation does not happen spontaneously. Really saturating an area depends on our determined and concerted efforts. It depends on making concrete and creative plans. And, it depends on mobilizing the masses to take up this effort and unleashing their creativity.
Those who now grasp the stakes and importance of this campaign, who are determined to break through the suffocating atmosphere and initiate a new stage of revolution and communism, must lead, all the way through. This core of revolutionaries needs to step to people with a boldness and certitude founded in the substance of this message and call. And with the flexibility to involve people in a multitude of ways in these efforts. On this foundation, the means must be found to draw people in... to take stacks of a thousand to pass out in a hood, a school or a dorm... to win store owners to post it... or to put it out on the Internet. Many people have been touched by this message over the past months—and many more will be during this concentrated effort. They are not sure they agree. And definitely are not now ready to commit to the revolution 24/7. But they are inclined to see that the discourse in society needs to change and that this "alternative" should not be ruled out of order, but be part of the debate. And many others do want to see "The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have" become a big question in society. Such people should be involved in saturation.
Thousands of the more concise version of the statement need to be distributed in key neighborhoods, campuses and dorms, etc., and funds to print these leaflets and publicize this message and call need to be raised! Saturation teams of three or more should be organized, so that two people can be getting out the statement while the third is agitating, including for funds. Bold and vigorous fundraising done in this way—and combined with reaching out to those who can donate even more—can literally bring in thousands of dollars! The audio version of the message needs to be played on the radio and blasted from sound trucks and loudspeakers. Creative displays which draw on the special issue of Revolution with the full message and call (Revolution #170, July 19, 2009) should be developed and whole walls posted with the statement and the pictures from this issue. People should be encouraged to email this statement as broadly as possible, and to post it on their Facebook pages with a call to all their friends to post it and send it out. And others should take initiative to post it all over the net on relevant blogs and sites.
Every Revolution Books/Libros Revolucion across the country should have maps of the city with different color pins representing how many leaflets have gotten out into different areas. And every night, people involved in this concentrated effort (from all different strata) should go to these stores. If you are involved in this concentrated effort—on whatever level—then you need to be part of summing up what has been done and learned—and strategizing about how to reach our concrete goals and maximize the impact of this "saturation."
A Pressing Need
A pressing need: for many thousands of people to have an up close and personal experience with—and get to know—Bob Avakian. And there is an extraordinary opportunity for people to do just that. Clips from the talk, Revolution: Why It’s Necessary, Why It’s Possible, What It’s All About are on YouTube—and the entire talk is up online at revolutiontalk.net. Seeing, hearing and engaging with this person opens up new ways to understand the world—and new possibilities for radically changing it and bringing a new world into being. Full use should be made of the Revolution talk promotional materials (online at revcom.us). Including new stickers which say "WHAT???!!! You still haven’t seen the speech on Revolution??" And "WHAT?!?!!? You still haven’t heard Bob Avakian?" (in English and Spanish) These should go up and out all over the place.
Broadly spreading the word of this talk by Bob Avakian—and enlisting many thousands to watch the clips—all this too is not only part of saturating key areas, but plays a dynamic role in its own right in changing the terrain and accomplishing the goals of this campaign. What spreading this Revolution talk can achieve in connecting this leader with people from all strata should not be underestimated; and we need to fully grasp and act upon this understanding.
We urge everyone to correspond with Revolution as this revolutionary movement spreads across the country. All our readers need to read about and get a living sense of how this message and call is being spread—and how this movement they are a part of is taking root and growing. And all the ways in which people from all corners of society can join and contribute.
A Story of SaturationRaymond Lotta to Revolution: "I asked a grad student who attended my talk in Chicago why he thought the turnout was as big as it was. He said, 'Evidently you weren’t on campus just before you gave your speech because the announcements and advertising were everywhere.'" |
Download the more concise version of
"The Revolution We Need... The Leadership We Have"
(two sides, 8 1/2" x 11")
English: revcom.us/i/170/170statement-short-2sided11-20-09.pdf
Spanish: revcom.us/i/170/170statement-short-2sided11-20-09-es.pdf
Download Stickers:
"WHAT???!!! You still haven’t seen the speech on Revolution??" And "WHAT?!?!!? You still haven’t heard Bob Avakian?" (in English and Spanish)
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