Andrei Kuznetsov
27th April 2004, 23:48
http://rwor.org/i/mayday04-big.jpg
Truth in Preparation for Revolution
To Those Who Dream of a World Without Oppression: Build a Vibrant Movement Around the RW
Revolutionary Worker #1238, May 1, 2004, posted at http://rwor.org/
This May 1st marks the 25th anniversary of the Revolutionary Worker. This is an occasion of both celebration and challenge.
We are living in heavy times. A time when the rulers of the U.S., the most powerful imperialist country in history, are dead set on dominating and reshaping the world through brutal wars and repression. In response, millions have come into political life against this imperialist juggernaut. Record numbers of people have taken to the streets in protest. The urgency of today is also shaping other outpourings of struggle, from the anti-globalization movement to uprisings of the oppressed against police brutality and murder. And looking ahead, the U.S. program of war and repression will give rise to continuing resistance.
But as Chairman Avakian points out, "The masses don't just need a movement, although that is very valuable. They need a revolution. If we have a movement and not a revolution, then people's suffering is not going to end. These conditions are not going to be overthrown and uprooted."
And in order to make revolution, the people need a revolutionary press.
But some people ask what does a revolutionary newspaper have to do with preparing for and making revolution? And some see distributing and popularizing the revolutionary press as merely "paper work" or slow, patient educational work detached from the struggles of the day.
The Revolutionary Worker newspaper, the voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, provides a consistent source of truth in a world of lies and lays the basis for revolution. The RW plays a strategic role in the revolutionary process: Create Public Opinion, Seize Power! Prepare Minds and Organize Forces for Revolution.
As the RCP's Draft Programme says, "This process and this struggle has a definite aim--simply put, we are working to bring the masses into the position where they are willing and determined to put everything on the line for revolution, where they grasp both the necessity and the possibility for this. This in essence, is the `public opinion' we are creating."
So how can the masses get to the point where they are "willing and determined to put everything on the line for revolution"? For this to happen, it is essential for the people to be trained in proletarian class consciousness--and the revolutionary press plays a pivotal role in this training.
Bob Avakian wrote, "In What Is To Be Done?, Lenin emphasizes that the way the masses must and do develop proletarian class consciousness is by being enabled and trained to respond to all major social questions and world events, and how these find expression among all different strata; and they have to be trained to do this from a class-conscious proletarian point of view, and no other. They have to be trained to see not only how they come into confrontation with the ruling class in the more narrow and immediate sphere of their economic relations with their employers (or with their immediate exploiters and oppressors), and so on, but in the broader sense in which the proletariat as such comes into conflict with the ruling class. And they have to learn to make what Lenin calls a `materialist analysis and a materialist estimate' of all major social questions and world events and how this finds expression among different classes and strata--and therefore to recognize and distinguish the nature and interests of all different classes and strata in society."...continue this story here: http://rwor.org/a/1238/rweditorial.htm
Truth in Preparation for Revolution
To Those Who Dream of a World Without Oppression: Build a Vibrant Movement Around the RW
Revolutionary Worker #1238, May 1, 2004, posted at http://rwor.org/
This May 1st marks the 25th anniversary of the Revolutionary Worker. This is an occasion of both celebration and challenge.
We are living in heavy times. A time when the rulers of the U.S., the most powerful imperialist country in history, are dead set on dominating and reshaping the world through brutal wars and repression. In response, millions have come into political life against this imperialist juggernaut. Record numbers of people have taken to the streets in protest. The urgency of today is also shaping other outpourings of struggle, from the anti-globalization movement to uprisings of the oppressed against police brutality and murder. And looking ahead, the U.S. program of war and repression will give rise to continuing resistance.
But as Chairman Avakian points out, "The masses don't just need a movement, although that is very valuable. They need a revolution. If we have a movement and not a revolution, then people's suffering is not going to end. These conditions are not going to be overthrown and uprooted."
And in order to make revolution, the people need a revolutionary press.
But some people ask what does a revolutionary newspaper have to do with preparing for and making revolution? And some see distributing and popularizing the revolutionary press as merely "paper work" or slow, patient educational work detached from the struggles of the day.
The Revolutionary Worker newspaper, the voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, provides a consistent source of truth in a world of lies and lays the basis for revolution. The RW plays a strategic role in the revolutionary process: Create Public Opinion, Seize Power! Prepare Minds and Organize Forces for Revolution.
As the RCP's Draft Programme says, "This process and this struggle has a definite aim--simply put, we are working to bring the masses into the position where they are willing and determined to put everything on the line for revolution, where they grasp both the necessity and the possibility for this. This in essence, is the `public opinion' we are creating."
So how can the masses get to the point where they are "willing and determined to put everything on the line for revolution"? For this to happen, it is essential for the people to be trained in proletarian class consciousness--and the revolutionary press plays a pivotal role in this training.
Bob Avakian wrote, "In What Is To Be Done?, Lenin emphasizes that the way the masses must and do develop proletarian class consciousness is by being enabled and trained to respond to all major social questions and world events, and how these find expression among all different strata; and they have to be trained to do this from a class-conscious proletarian point of view, and no other. They have to be trained to see not only how they come into confrontation with the ruling class in the more narrow and immediate sphere of their economic relations with their employers (or with their immediate exploiters and oppressors), and so on, but in the broader sense in which the proletariat as such comes into conflict with the ruling class. And they have to learn to make what Lenin calls a `materialist analysis and a materialist estimate' of all major social questions and world events and how this finds expression among different classes and strata--and therefore to recognize and distinguish the nature and interests of all different classes and strata in society."...continue this story here: http://rwor.org/a/1238/rweditorial.htm