Gut Punches: The Need for Further Ruptures and Leaps

September 2, 2019 | revcom.us

 

from a member of the Revolution Club

On the morning of the Lake Shore Drive Shut Down, I got a letter from a family member. Despite the gut punch as I read it, I laughed because of the irony of getting it the day of which my comrades and I were going to put ourselves on the line to bring forward an alternative to the horrors of this system and lead others to do that. The letter mentioned concern over a statement I made that eventually I could leave my job and be working collectively with others in this movement full time. She wrote about her concern over the loss of my autonomy, how would I get paid, would I be couch surfing? Wouldn’t that be hard on me? She brought up how the work I was doing at my job was valuable to the adults and children I work with. She even wondered if there was something missing in my life.

There are two things that I want to go at here.

First, what was glaring to me was that I had not in our conversations made clear what this movement for Revolution is about and why it is objectively true, that there is a basis and necessity for overthrowing this system through revolution, which BA lays out at in the film Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution. Nor have I brought alive what his leadership means for the masses of people who suffer the most from the 5 Stops that were created by this system of capitalism imperialism and how the scientific method and approach that he has developed can get humanity free of this mess if thousands during this period began taking up this method and approach to making Revolution. I haven’t brought to life the way that BA does a whole other way the world could be which is outlined in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America. Ok, so that’s gotta change. And I did call this family member and I called myself out on this and I apologized. But I put before her why she needs to go to revcom.us and watch the film Why We Need An Actual Revolution And How We Can Really Make Revolution and meet this leader, BA. I told her to follow what the tour is doing, what members of the tour and the clubs are learning and the impact this is having on people. But I’m not leaving it to this one conversation because it isn’t over by a long shot. A struggle needs to be waged here.

The other thing that I want to go at here is that I don’t think the letter I got from this family member can be reduced to just concerns she has for me. No. My involvement with the Revolution and a willingness to go further in this process and put something on the line is bumping up against this family member’s comfort zone. And this will get brought up in this continuing conversation. For starters it isn’t about what’s missing in my life it’s about what’s missing in the world...

what’s missing from humanity which is an alternative contending force to lead the masses of people to make Revolution when a revolutionary situation arises. As for autonomy, well I can’t think of anything more freeing than dedicating one’s self to the collectivity that’s really wrangling with how to make a revolution that actually gets humanity free. I also know that she appreciates people who are standing up and putting something on the line to try to stop this madness of this Trump/Pence regime. But I think because of her concerns for me, which I know are genuine, that she doesn’t want me to be one of those people. Well, why not me be one of those people who steps up, why not her? I think part of the continuing conversation I have with her is that what I fear most, and which a whole lot more people should fear most than losing a job, a home, even one’s own freedom due to imprisonment or own life, is what happens if people do nothing. And because I have some understanding, thanks to the work of BA, and I have come to see the necessity for Revolution and the possibility of a society and world without oppression and exploitation, I have responsibility to go further... make further ruptures and leaps. BA talks about so eloquently in his memoir that when he went to work synthesizing the communist experiences of Russia and China, studying the shortcomings and sometimes grave errors as well as the achievements of those experiences, and began building a framework of the New Communism, that it isn’t a question of who was he to be doing this work, or putting himself out there, and that what it comes down to is that he was filling a need. He saw the necessity for the work he dedicated himself to in the interest of getting humanity free. And I think, myself, my comrades on the Tour and in the Revolution Clubs, whether we’re always conscious of it or not, we’re following his lead on that... we’re filling a need and we see the necessity for this movement to grow into the thousands to influence millions to turn their heads toward revolution that will make bringing into a being a far better world possible. If you’re new to this movement and you’re just getting to know BA, just remember none of us was born a revolutionary, none of us was born extraordinary. We’re ordinary people going on an extraordinary journey in transforming the world in the interests of all humanity.