Revolutionary Movement Building 101

This is about the nitty-gritty of doing it

I displayed this banner in the Brighton, MA Faneuil branch library (my neighborhood library) October 29, 2019. The banner contains photos of more than 500 people--all in Brighton, MA, zip code 02135—each posing for their photo by holding a sign saying "We the People want affordable housing for ALL. To get it we aim to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor." People at the library loved it! (Some of them had their photo in the banner.)​

To see the individual photos displayed in high definition so you can read the sign that people are holding CLICK HERE. To view a YouTube video  slide show of these photos with my narration CLICK HERE. 

I also displayed this same banner at the grocery store where many of the photos were taken:

If, like most people, you would love to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor (a.k.a. egalitarian revolution), then please know that this is not an impossible goal to achieve, despite all that the ruling class does to make us think it is impossible. 

Yes, the ruling class has an enormous military force with weapons that dwarf mere rifles in the hands of the have-nots, and this appears to make the power of the ruling class seem invincible. And yes, the ruling class has a mass media that skillfully divides us, the have-nots, against each other along race and other lines.

But, a sufficiently large mass movement can prevail against the ruling class despite its military force, as I discuss in detail here.

And the divide-and-rule strategy of the ruling class--which is designed to prevent us from building a sufficiently large mass movement--can be defeated by exposing that strategy's divisive operation for what it is and refuting the lies it employs, as I discuss in detail here.

The question that confronts us today is this: How do we build the sufficiently large mass revolutionary movement?

Let's start by talking about strategy and tactics. Strategy and tactic are relative concepts. For example, upon waking up in the morning a person could consider that his or her strategy is to get to work and earn a day's pay. With respect to this strategy, getting dressed is a tactic. At the same time, getting to work to earn a day's pay is, itself, merely a tactic with respect to the strategy of paying the rent (which, of course, is merely a tactic with respect to a more substantial long term strategy, and so on.) 

So, building a sufficiently large revolutionary movement is a tactic for the strategy of making an egalitarian revolution. If we consider building this movement the strategy, then what are the relevant tactics--the actual things to do--for its accomplishment? 

Here are the tactics, in order of what comes first:

​

1. Decide to try to build the movement.

This may be the hardest tactic of all. If you think of it as a strategy, then here are some necessary tactics:

One needs to convince oneself that it makes sense to try building the movement. If hardly anybody else wants such a movement to exist, then it would be crazy to try to build it. One needs to discover, in other words, that there are LOTS of other people--the majority in fact--who would love an egalitarian revolution. Think of making this discovery as a strategy; then what are the tactics to accomplish it? I provide some examples here.

One also needs to convince oneself that there is no easier and safer way to make an egalitarian revolution than building a revolutionary movement. In particular one needs to convince oneself that it is not possible to do it by voting. I suggest reading this and this and this for starters.

One also needs to accept the fact that building a revolutionary movement is not a paying job; the Big $ employers are not going hire people to remove them from power. If you are relying on Big $ (from some corporation or so-called philanthropy) then for sure the source of that money will use its great influence on you to prevent you from actually building a revolutionary movement.​

2. Persuade some other people to also want to build the movement.

I discuss how I was persuaded here. Steps 1, 2 and 3 in the article here are some other suggested tactics for this.

3. Do things (with zillions of tactics such as demonstrations, publicly displayed banners, etc.) to help larger numbers of people (your neighbors, the general public) learn the following:

a. That they are part of the vast majority in wanting to remove the rich from power to have real, not fake, democracy with no rich and no poor.

Specifically, I have in mind such things as this: that they are part of the vast majority in wanting affordable housing for all, in wanting to stop the ruling class from doing the things it has been doing for decades to force poor people south of the U.S./Mexican border to have to enter the United States illegally in order to survive, and in wanting to stop the ruling class from treating the have-nots like dirt (as described here.)

b. That the routine everyday ways that the rich OPENLY treat the have-nots like dirt (see concrete examples here) are INEXCUSABLE, and ought to be and will be abolished by an egalitarian revolution.

Note that this crucial point can only be made if one is willing and able to contrast the status quo of routine class inequality with the way things would be with the abolition of class inequality that is egalitarianism (described here and here for starters). If one remains within the framework of class inequality (i.e., within the framework of capitalism, no matter how greatly reformed) then one will be unable to mobilize people by focusing on the routine everyday ways that the rich treat people like dirt and greatly anger millions of people already; and one will be forced instead to seek out, as the focus of activism, non-routine but extremely dramatic things that the rich SECRETLY do (or may do, it's typically controversial), things that most people don't even know about and are not angry at, and against which only very few people may be mobilized to protest. 

c. That an egalitarian revolution will make it possible to truly solve the big problems (such as a lack of affordable housing, inadequate medical care, oppression of children in the public schools, corrupt politicians, dangerous living and working environments, unjust wars, etc.) that the rich cause today.

d. That we CAN remove the rich from power, as discussed here.

4. Champion the struggles of the have-nots against the way the rich treat us like dirt, and champion the egalitarian values that in fact motivate these struggles. 

Help people see that their struggles would GAIN MORE public support if they declared their egalitarian revolutionary aspiration, in other words if they told the public that their struggle is to make the part of the world over which they have any control be more democratic and no-rich-and-no-poor equal and more based on mutual aid and fairness, as they want all of society to be fully, and as it would be in an egalitarian society. (I do this, for example, here.)

5. Refute the lies and expose the censorship that the ruling class uses to divide the have-nots against each other.

a. Refute the "white privilege" lie that says working class whites benefit from systemic racial discrimination against non-whites. (I do this, for example, here and here.)

b. Expose how the ruling class for decades under both major parties, unknown to the general public, has been doing things in South and Central America to FORCE poor people there to illegally migrate into the Unites States just to survive. (I discuss this here.)​

c. Refute the Zionist Big Lie that says Israeli violence against Palestinians is for the purpose of making Israeli Jews safe. (I refute this lie here.)​

d. Refute the lie that the egalitarian revolutionary movement advocates or supports terrorism, i.e., deliberate violence against non-combatant civilians; at the same time make it clear that the egalitarian revolutionary movement does support the right of oppressed people to use violence in self-defense against those who commit or order the use of violence to oppress them.

6. Organize local assemblies of egalitarians to make the egalitarian alternative to today's class inequality as real and concrete as possible, as discussed here.