#revcom

[optimus-jetpack]

I have learned of revcom.us that gives good information about revolution and how to do it. I recommend giving it a look.

[connorthemaoist]

kites-journal.org | 1 April 2024

After consulting a tarot card reader while on a sojourn to his old stomping grounds in the Bay Area, California for insight into the possible political scenarios that could manifest in the US in November 2024, Bob Avakian has set to work on a new book to be published in the run-up to the upcoming presidential election. Democracy: We Can’t Do Better Than That promises to rationalize why preventing Trump from taking office must be the strategic priority of communists in the US, even as under the Biden administration life has arguably gotten worse for the masses of people in the US, the CDC started inventing total nonsense in relation to COVID-19 (such as the five-day rule), and the US funded and supported a genocidal war against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

But more than just explaining the RevCom’s current strategy of imagining a revolutionary crisis occurring around the 2024 elections and hinging all their political work around that prediction, Democracy: We Can’t Do Better Than That will justify Avakian’s reversal of correct verdicts on the history of the international communist movement. Chapter 2 of the book will rehabilitate the Comintern’s united front against fascism of the late 1930s, arguing that the defense of bourgeois-democracy against fascism supersedes the need for proletarian revolution. Chapter 3 will refashion some of Earl Browder’s ideas for the 21st century and explain the spiral-like development of Avakian’s “new communism” as a re-synthesis of the old communism of the late-1930s CP (but without the mass following) that Avakian previously insisted must be discarded. Chapter 4 will explain why proposed policies in the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America that Avakian authored sound more like bourgeois-democratic parliamentary procedures than the practices of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in socialist China. In the conclusion of Democracy: We Can’t Do Better Than That, Avakian will rationalize how tailing the liberal petty-bourgeoisie and flattening all political work into the fight against Trumpian fascism can serve revolutionary objectives.

Followers of Avakian had mixed reactions to the announcement of his forthcoming book. Some were glad that he was actually sitting down to write a book instead of just doing another lengthy talk that is subsequently transcribed and published. Others wondered if they could stomach the possibility that, after decades of dedicating their lives to revolution, Avakian might once again tell them to vote for Biden in order to stop Trumpian fascism. Most, however, were unfortunately too brain dead after years of doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result each time to think critically or question a capitulationist political line. A standout among Avakian’s followers was Andy Zee, who was ecstatic about the upcoming release of Avakian’s Democracy: We Can’t Do Better Than That. On the Revolution Nothing Less YouTube show, Zee explained that “I’ve gotten pretty good over the last couple decades at being a sycophant, arguing for whatever Avakian’s latest ideas are even if it meant a 180-degree flip from what I was saying a week ago. That is, after all, why I was made the host of this show.”

[cryobombz]

Bam Bam Bam

[chaddavisphotography]

A t-shirt in the grass at the 2024 Republican National Convention. It reads No Genocide Joe No Fascist Trump. The whole damn system's got to go! Shirt from The Revolutionary Communist Party.

[feral-catgirl]

part of the reason american labor sucks so much is that most people are incapable of identifying and separating the revolutionary proletariat from the labor aristocracy.

this failure of analysis and investigation results in both the economism of the DSA and various ML orgs failing to actually lead workers and instill communist politics among them (bc they default to platforming yellow union leadership instead of acting as a political vanguard) on one hand, and the patent stupidity of third worldists abdicating the responsibility of trying to organize towards revolution in the imperial core at all (because they believe it impossible on the grounds that there is no revolutionary proletariat) on the other.

its patently obvious in the way people will take statements from union leadership as indicative of the voices and desires of the rank and file, whether its professing support for contracts that actually fuck over huge swathes of workers (as with the recent teamsters contract throwing part timers under the bus) or condemning reactionary positions as indicative of the positions if the rank and file (ie. people criticizing SEIU/workers united for both-sidesing palestinian resistance and israeli genocide but ignoring that statements from rank and file and small locals are overwhelmingly supportive of palestine).

it is fully impossible to build red unions and properly organize people towards a politically motivated general strike without acknowledging and understanding the composition of the unions and the contradictions between racist, anticommunist, antiworker union bureaucrats and the overwhelmingly dispossessed and disaffected rank and file workers who in many places are independently seeking out communist political education themselves that any large org fancying itself a “vanguard” would be providing already were they not incompetent and ineffectual.

[varts-world]

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[expfcultragreen]

Really this is a great game for lots of things: would you believe that accusation if it was against a middleaged white dude? Would you read that book with interest and an open mind? Would you take that tone, callback that resume, defend that honor....

Bring a k9 to that wellness check?

"Age is just a number" is a bad rule

People with issues: "blablabla covering up your own sexual insecurity blabla"

Ok here's a fun game, imahije you may december romeo and juliet scenario that youre defending, now, how do you feel about the older one being trans? How about a brown dude who just got off the boat

Zoe i know the answer is different when its some crusty old white guy vs when its a trans woman dont lie

This isnt about "purity culture" or whatever, who cares if the kids fuck eachother if they want to. Pretty sure the one with the cop in their head is YOU

[pinootgu]

a terror academia au has come to me in an insane vision (based off of my experience at elite research uni)

- crozier is going for tenure. its his second time. he hates the dept and franklin is chair this year (its not going well)

- the liuets r dif grad students. little is rethinking this whole grad school thing and probs would he happier in an mfa or something. irving came straight out of undergrad from a small liberal arts college and is having a bad time with unresolved issues. george is just happy to be there

- fitzjames is either a double ivy OR a double alum of their public uni. i dont know which is worse.

- le vesconte is fullbright. makes sure everyone Knows.

- jopson is a postbac w a non traditional undergrad path (not graduating @ 22) and is on the fence about grad school (he commits and gets in to everyone's joy)

- des voux is an annoying undergrad who you hate got into the program and the position he is in (privileged and Aware)

- franklin needs to retire but wont. made chair and is realizing that being chair Fuckinf Sucks.

- blanky runs one of the labs or libraries. doesnt teach classes and is staff

- collins is an engineering masters student that is working in it in the dept under contract. he is Struggling in all ways.

- james clark ross is on sabatical (prestigious residency abroad)

- hickey isnt even a student he's just a guy that keeps fucking with the grad student/ta strikes as an outside leftist that kind of fucking sucks (revcom probs)

[technofeudalism]

50501 announced their next protest a month from now on a Thursday and everyone is so confused as to why wait so long and why on a thursday. the answer, once again, as loud as i can, is permits. you cannot feasibly expect people to obtain thousands of permits in a matter of days. because of the nature of the organizing group and the organizers, the protests will not happen in the major population centers unless it can be scheduled with the police department at a time when traffic can be safely detoured and there are no other permitted events occurring that might prevent the appropriate staffing necessary for police to "oversee" the event. they are often "required" in cities and obviously none of these folks want to go breaking the law.

i am posting this once again because people do not understand that spontaneous protest is simply not possible with these groups and their methods. they are trying to daisy chain protests together until november 2026 when they inevitably start asking you to donate to $5 to ActBlue and door knock for the Democratic party.

if you see a protest pop up in your city with relatively short notice, check the organizers. it's probably another socialist org or at least progressive group organizing locally around you. your mileage may vary. just don't expect these massive protests by 50501 to ever occur spontaneously. and as always, stay far, far away from RevComs or anyone trying to hand you a newspaper.

[durnesque-esque]

I'm seeing a lot of my friends sharing this article this morning and it is a good article. But, if you are sharing this article or if you read it and understand what's happening and are angry (justifiably angry), I need you to start thinking about next steps. Start getting informed about the protest networks in your area and get involved NOW.

The next large, country-wide protests are being organized for April 5th. Many of them under 50501 with local organizers. Refuse Fascism, the group I'm working with is planning for that day too - probably alongside 50501. Most of these are on other social networks like IG & Bluesky.

PSLNational is also a good one to look into and follow. For LA, look at SoCal Uprising, RevComs, there are local branches of PSL and 50501. For Atlanta, there's PSLAtlanta, 50501_Ga. These are just cities I have been active in, but please look for locals in your area.

At this point, overwhelming the phone calls and e-mails of your reps is only going to go so far. If you're more of a phone caller, consider upgrading to looking for town halls and local council meetings. Say exactly what you would on the phone or in the e-mail in person. But really, we need as many people as possible to escallate to mass protests.

All that stands between us and the end is the mass uprising of the people. This is supposed to be a government of the people and by the people. The time for being suprised and alarmed is past. We have seen this coming. If you're just realizing now, you've got to start moving a lot faster and with a lot more intention. Get out and make good trouble.

[anarchotahdigism]

In terms of groups blocking weapons do you think Palestine Action and Stop Weapons MN are good to give to and support

Honestly, I do not know. I know the former has been involved in some actions but nothing specific and I definitely know nothing immediately about the latter For me, I look for the following: Is everyone masked? Are they keeping out/away press and counter protestors? Do they have arrest plans in place? Do they practice dearrest? Who else organizes with them? Do they protect participants' identities? A lot of people doing direct action have been independent groups of people who may know each other from work, school, worship, or any other communal social spaces & they decide to take action. I'm always wary of any nonprofits involved (which Palestine Action is) and especially if they organize with dangerous groups like PSL or RevCom. There are many ways to shut down war factories and they don't all require large groups of people doing blockades and many of them can be done in small groups or alone. None of them require a 503c. Personally, I will always recommend first and foremost giving to mutual aid groups active in your areas of concern-- they are directly supporting the most marginalized people, which can often include protesters. A lot of mutual aid groups supported the 2020-21 protests and remained active for years & have been providing aid to protests supporting Palestine this past year.

[cryobombz]

Bam Bam Bam

[madamepestilence]

it depresses me to no end that his followers and his party (the SPUSA) have degraded so much into what lenin would've called an appendage of the liberals

they dont... do anything anymore... they just release statements. there's no praxis. im speaking from experience here, im genuinely considering leaving the SPUSA

id try to forge my own party but i think it's beyond the point of typical parties

we need a vanguard party, and to be blunt revcom is more of a cult than an actual revolution. we need the kind of party that can't exactly run for office.

[feral-catgirl]

talking about others adhering to "tried-and-failed tactics" while being a maoist is certainly an interesting choice lmao

(ask is in reference to this post: https://www.tumblr.com/feral-catgirl/726521729866924032/i-complain-about-the-behavior-and-beliefs-of-other )

tbqh i dont think anyone willing to argue on this site has actually done enough study on maoism to try to tell me what the “tried-and-failed” tactics of maoism are, whereas the “Bolshevik-style” of aboveground legal organizing until insurrection has been the project of like 6 different major and currently existing orgs in the usa who have failed to so much as engage in effective antiimperialist struggle or keep their ranks clear of abusers, much less create anything close to a revolution. applied outside the usa, the same is largely true when it comes to recent and growing revolutionary movements, with india as good example of direct contrast between the efficacy of self-described “marxist” organizing vs the maoist struggle in the country.

[varts-world]

LA Goes Forward with Its Unjust Prosecution of Luna!Judge Denies the Motion to Dismiss Drop the Charges! Hands Off the Revcoms! https://revcom.us/en/la-goes-forward-its-unjust-prosecution-lunajudge-denies-motion-dismiss-drop-charges-hands-revcoms

[notaaronsroommate]

went to another anti ICE demo today. It was fairly sedate, but hey whatever. someone burned an american flag, no one cared. lotta cars honked. I held a sign with a guillotine. it was held by the PSL. god, can't believe the PSL still exists after all the shit they did 5 years ago. they now seem to be filling the role of bob Avakians revcom. a political cult that chases the recent movement. every year I've seen PSL out, there's never the same faces, never the same names on documents. always blasting a canned speech somewhere during the demo. Lotta folks there, bout 200. most of them unaffiliated. Someone shouted the N word at a lady next to me as they drove by, i flipped them off. there's been a thing going around lately about "bring american flags to protests instead of mexican flags!" And listen, i think it comes from a good place, the intended meaning being that if they're going to film protestors getting beat up, make them film a bunch of people with american flags getting beat up. The symbolism is stupid to ME but it means a lot to normal people. And like, I thought that was fucking stupid, useless argument to have. The people that are allergic to anything symbolically associated with the country they live in such as the flag, constitution, or words like "freedom" and "liberty" are never ever ever going to drape themselves in the flag regardless of any benefit. and on the other hand, the news and everyone isn't going to give a shit what you look like or wave and will make you look bad regardless. But. I was at a resteraunt (ironically, a new mexican joint) after the demo, and I swear to god dude. Right behind me was a family talking about this thing. It was a family of chuds, real thumb faced types, the girls had come back form a baseball game it seemed. and the dad was saying shit about "if they're not supposed to be here, then they can't stay" and "the president can't control the police, so he HAS to use the national guard, they're looting" and his bobby hill esque son was trying to gently argue with him and he said "it's an invading foreign army, they're literally all waving mexican and arab flags and burning cars. they hate our country, so why can't we make them leave?" and his poor son tried to start reciting that poem on the statue of liberty and his dad said "clearly whatever news you watch has completely brainwashed you." Being angrily talked down to by your father is a familiar situation for me. all that said. Listen, wave whatever flag you want (as long as you ironed it first). But all protest is performative. so perform. do a performance. if you aren't able to fight the cops and ice and delay them/ damage their equipment so they can't do their jobs as easily, then you are engaged in a performance. This is not a bad thing, not a judgement. But if you aren't literally fighting, you don't get to be haughty when someone criticizes the performance for not hitting the right way. Make it really hard for someone to shape the narrative of the "foreign horde" by (especially if you're a white person) having an american flag, or a gadsden, or something to that effect. And also, at the very least iron your flags after its out of the package. My in law is fresh from Colombia, she had a Colombian flag draped across her shoulders at this demo, it had the packing creases ironed out and it looked lovely.