The question of peoples service programs...

[Omegared]

After being meeting with the local RCPUSA, I asked why ,in its 35 year existance did it not try to start up some black panther-style people's service programs (an idea they took from Mao's little red book) such as their most popular free breakfast programs(since the BPP was probably the closest thing america ever had to a real Marxist-Leninist vangaurd) . I also added that some of the most prominent revolutionary parties throughout the world have some sort of social services wing of the party, such as the FARC. I just thought that such programs would be far more relevant to lumpen/proletarian communities than just selling $1 newspapers and the occasional rally or protest.

When I made the comment it was dismissed as being economic and "the feed 'em and lead 'em" approach. Their reasoning made no sense to me being that political scientists define all politics as essentially "deciding who gets what when and where" (to quote political scientist Harold Lasswell) . And then I pointed out the fact that revolutionary left organizations could possibly do well to emulate some of the major traits of the BPP and begin to place less emphasis on early 20th century leaders in different parts of the world because the socio-political climate of America in the late 1960's to the 1970's is much more relevant to early 21st century Americans than Russia and eastern Europe in the 1910's China in the 1940's.

So, that said, do you believe that the addition of a revolutionary party that practices what it preaches to the lumpen/proletariat and provides people's services (food programs, copwatch, Political Education, etc...) would be far more relevant to poor and working class peoples or should such programs remain a relic of the past?

[genstrike]

I don't know, the way I see it BOB AVAKIAN, BOB AVAKIAN, BOB AVAKIAN!

[Cooler Reds Will Prevail]

When I asked them about it, they told me that they "weren't social workers". It's part of a strange line the party has about not funding anything that helps people through their day-to-day, even if it has a revolutionary message. It's the same reason why the party is, instead of asking for donations for earthquake relief in Haiti, asking for donations for their newspaper coverage of it. Fucking bizarre.

Anyway yes, I am a big supporter of serve the people programs. I work from time to time on the Lil' Bobby Hutton literacy campaign here in the Bay Area, which on top of teaching kids how to read and helping with homework, is also going to start teaching about the history of the BPP and revolutionary ideas in general. It's wonderful seeing really young kids with a fist up saying "all power to the people."

What happened with the Panthers is that their programs went from being "survival pending revolution" to just "survival," which defeats the whole purpose of the campaign. If you don't make it about the revolution, you're just another non-profit trying to give short term help to a long term problem.

[Omegared]

The RCP could do so much good if they weren't so caught up in a line that makes little sense at times. An organization that just theorizes and never tests its theories with practical work will never learn to modify its line and stay revolutionary and such an organization will continue to have very little relevance among the lumpen/proletarians they should be mobilizing.

Good work, I wish Atlanta had the revolutionary presence that the Bay area has.

[Cooler Reds Will Prevail]

I don't think we should single the RCP out here though, as far as I know there are ZERO Marxist parties in the U.S. that do this, and surely most of them would be opposed to the idea as well. At least some others (like the Freedom Socialist Party, for example) provide childcare during meetings and forums though.

[DecDoom]

I work from time to time on the Lil' Bobby Hutton literacy campaign here in the Bay Area, which on top of teaching kids how to read and helping with homework, is also going to start teaching about the history of the BPP and revolutionary ideas in general. It's wonderful seeing really young kids with a fist up saying "all power to the people."

You'd better hope Glenn Beck or some other tosser doesn't get wind of that. :lol:

Anyhow, I'm in favor of the idea. Besides other service programs, maybe we could do some kind of breakfast/dinner lecture thing? Come in for a hot meal and a lecture of some sort. It could work.

But then would we seem too desperate? The last thing we need is people thinking that "Oh, they just need followers."

Thoughts?

[Invincible Summer]

You'd better hope Glenn Beck or some other tosser doesn't get wind of that. :lol:

Anyhow, I'm in favor of the idea. Besides other service programs, maybe we could do some kind of breakfast/dinner lecture thing? Come in for a hot meal and a lecture of some sort. It could work.

But then would we seem too desperate? The last thing we need is people thinking that "Oh, they just need followers."

Thoughts?

Maybe not a lecture (don't want them to feel like they're at school/church/a cult), but definitely some sort of class-consciousness raising thing.

I wouldn't worry about the "They just need followers" thing as much as "Oh they're tricking us into coming to their boring-ass lecture by having food"

[Tablo]

That is the worst problem with the Leftist groups in the US. No matter how great some of them think their theory is, they refuse to even bother helping out the working class. The whole reason we have no serious Left in the US is that none of the major Leftist groups seriously care about the workers and are too obsessed with their stupid theories to take one second and think about how they can immediately do what they can to help the workers. If you care about the working class you should fucking help them out!!!

[Invincible Summer]

That is the worst problem with the Leftist groups in the US. No matter how great some of them think their theory is, they refuse to even bother helping out the working class. The whole reason we have no serious Left in the US is that none of the major Leftist groups seriously care about the workers and are too obsessed with their stupid theories to take one second and think about how they can immediately do what they can to help the workers. If you care about the working class you should fucking help them out!!!

I mean, there is Food Not Bombs, but that's only pseudo-leftist (Anarchists mainly), and even then the people involved who are political don't really turn it into a political thing

[Tablo]

I mean, there is Food Not Bombs, but that's only pseudo-leftist (Anarchists mainly), and even then the people involved who are political don't really turn it into a political thing
Yeah, I haven't experienced a single Social Anarchist in Food Not Bombs, just some stupid primmies. :(

[Omegared]

That is the worst problem with the Leftist groups in the US. No matter how great some of them think their theory is, they refuse to even bother helping out the working class. The whole reason we have no serious Left in the US is that none of the major Leftist groups seriously care about the workers and are too obsessed with their stupid theories to take one second and think about how they can immediately do what they can to help the workers. If you care about the working class you should fucking help them out!!!

I am starting to notice this, if far more leftists cared more about trying to put their theories into practice than debating one another (with mostly minor differences in views anyway), the revolutionary left would be much more of a serious threat to the status quo than it is today. By just debating and passing out information about how bad the system is, it quickly gets to a point that you're just preaching to the choir. Everyone (majority of the masses) knows instinctively that the system is fucked up as a large percentage of Americans no longer give a fuck about voting or who's in office and hates wall street. The time for a revolutionary VANGUARD to attempt to guide the masses in true Leninist fashion is long overdue.

[cenv]

Yeah, these programs have a lot of potential. If communists put as much time into organizing communities through these programs as we do publishing papers (or even writing on RevLeft), we might be amazed at how much more receptive people become to our ideas. The widespread believe that Marxists are ivory-tower intellectuals detached from reality would hold a lot less sway if we got our hands dirty with these kinds of projects and associated our politics with more concrete actions. We would also reveal people's power to collectively run their lives on their own terms, showing them how much more powerful self-organization is than reliance on capitalism's structures of domination.



Anyway yes, I am a big supporter of serve the people programs. I work from time to time on the Lil' Bobby Hutton literacy campaign here in the Bay Area, which on top of teaching kids how to read and helping with homework, is also going to start teaching about the history of the BPP and revolutionary ideas in general. It's wonderful seeing really young kids with a fist up saying "all power to the people."

That's really cool. What's this like? Are the kids you work with receptive to revolutionary ideas?

I volunteer for a lot of tutoring/teaching work, but I haven't been able to integrate politics so far. Besides the fact that the programs I work with don't leave room for politics, I wouldn't be sure how to even being approaching middle-school students (much less even younger students) about these ideas.

[The Ungovernable Farce]

As well as FNB, there's also the German Volxkuche, which seem like a pretty useful development to me. Can't find much English-language info on them, but they're incredibly cheap cafe-type things that happen at the radical social centres and squats (German comrades should know more about them).