VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!  to "Shake up and Wake up the Campus" with BAsics Revolution Books is taking part in an exciting campaign to get out 100,000 copies nationwide of the Special Issue of Revolution newspaper to "Shake Up And Wake Up the Campus." This 8-page all-color issue of Revolution newspaper is introducing thousands of students to BAsics, the new book of quotations and essays by Bob Avakian which is a handbook of revolution. At this moment the world needs and is ready for BAsics - as a critical and leading edge of a whole revolutionary ensemble to crack things open, to spark and foster much-needed intellectual ferment, to shake up and wake up the campuses, and to forge a revolutionary pole and a different ethos. The campuses need to be a real strength of the movement for revolution and infect the whole society with ferment over ideas. This effort is jump-starting a process where tens of thousands of youth are introduced to Bob Avakian. Read the whole plan...   Volunteers are needed!  You can volunteer in many different ways. Help make a scene at Thursday, 9/1 Lupe Fiasco concert at University of IL Chicago by passing out Revolutions, or holding up posters, or just be there and watch. On Friday, 9/2, help sake up and wake up the Columbia College freshman convocation, Noon-3pm in Grant Park. Get this out at North Coast Music Festival at Union Park over the weekend (/9/2-4). Contribute an hour and you'll make it matter. Call 773.489.0930 to volunteer. Or just come to Revolution Books and help prepare materials, phone bank, and make plans. Donations are needed to pay for the special Revolution issue which is being given out free. Contribute also by donating used books for fundraising used book sale (Sept. 24-25). Become a monthly sustainer of Revolution Books.

Please note: The Discussion on Wednesday Aug 17, 7 pm has been postponed to August 20.

Saturday, August 20, 5-7pm Brainstorming and Planning Session   A Plan to Shake Up and Wake Up the Campus  100,000 Run of a Special Issue of Revolution Newspaper onBAsics      Join us Saturday August 20 from 5-7 pm for an important presentation and discussion ofa bold new plan to "Shake up and Wake Up the Campuses" that is featured in the current issue of Revolutionnewspaper.  Pizza and refreshments will follow the program.  This week's Revolution Newspaper #243, has concrete ideas on HOW this should and could come down. We want to hear all kinds of ideas to feed into these plans. Your thinking and input on this is most welcome, most needed. Especially we want to hear from students and recent students-including those who may have checked out the movement for revolution for a time and decided to step away from it, at least for awhile.   The following Monday, Revolution #244 will publish a special 8-page all-color issue that will introduce people to BAsics. This issue will focus on quotes from BAsics and quotes from people who have read BAsics and have something to say about it. 100,000 will be published to take out--with a major emphasis on the weeks from August 24 to September 7--to get them out in a massive way, mainly focused on college campuses and some emphasis on high schools as well. Come pick up bundles of Revolution Newspaper from 3-7 pm August 22.  We plan to saturate areas and jump-start a process whereby tens of thousands of youth are introduced to Bob Avakian--raw and uncut - where different levels of engagement with what he's all about and what he has to say can get underway. One big part of this must be asignificant number of actual sales of BAsics itself, so that people's engagement can deepen and grow richer over time. So...let's get started. Stay tuned for next week...and the week after...as we  more deeply into this.    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------     REPORT FROM THE SOUTH SIDE  Revolution Books, BAsics and Stolen Lives   at the Bud Billiken Parade   The annual back to school Bud Billiken parade is the largest African American parade in the US. This year Revolution Books sponsored a highly successful contingent taking a bold uncompromising stand against the murderous police rampage.   It featured revolutionaries, Stolen Lives family and friends whose loved ones have been shot or killed by the police. A parent of a recently killed youth led carrying a huge red flag followed by a large banner of Basics from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian. The contingent punctured the suffocating atmosphere of the recent police rampage of 42 people shot in 2011, the most recent, a thirteen year old shot 4 times! Many had no idea the number of people shot and killed.(see Chicago Police on a Murderous Rampage in revcom.us) A large Stolen Lives banner featured pictures of many people killed by the Chicago police. The response from the crowd was tremendous-fists in the air, cheers and people chanting along with "Indict, Convict, Send the killer cops to jail - The whole damn system is Guilty as Hell".   Family members, their friends and kids, wearing Revolution  t-shirts and t-shirts in memory of loved ones killed by police , were hugged by people along the sidelines. They felt strengthened as well as deeply moved by the response of the crowd. People in the crowd reached out for fliers and Revolution newspapers. Bikes decorated with pictures of stolen lives tied onto the handlebars weaved in and out of the contingent in defiance of the cops.   In a very sharp way the quote from Bob Avakian in Basics came alive. "IT IS TIME FOR US TO WAKE UP. The days when this system can just keep on doing what it does to people, here and all over the world...when people are not inspired and organized to stand up against these outrages and to build up the strength to put an end to this madness...those days must be GONE. And they CAN be." Check revcom.us  for slide show

Join us for discussion of "Birds Cannot Give Birth to Crocodiles, But Humanity Can Soar Beyond the Horizon" by Bob Avakian VOLUNTEERS GREATLY NEEDED! Volunteers meeting Sundays  4 PM Or call 773.489.0930 or just stop by. UPCOMING EVENTS Aug. 3-5 Lollapalooza (see below)    From Part 2: BUILDING THE MOVEMENT FOR REVOLUTION  Wednesday, August 3 7:00 PM Discussion of excerpt from Revolution#238 Basic Contradictions, Forces for Revolution, and the UFuLP Strategy  Wednesday, August 10 7:00 PM Discussion of excerpt from Revolution#239  Profound and acute contradictions, real potential for revolution  Wednesday, August 17 7:00 PM Discussion of excerpt from Revolution#240 Hastening While Awaiting a Revolutionary Situation  Wednesday, August 24 7:00 PM Discussion of excerpt from Revolution #241 online Accumulating Forces for Revolution

August 5-7 in Chicago Get BAsics out to Lollapalooza A call from Revolution newspaper Out to the summer concerts and festivals with BAsics "This is something my generation needs"   Over the next six weeks, there are some significant summer concerts and festivals where tens and tens of thousands of youth will converge. This will be an important and exciting opportunity to connect them with the BAsics. Someone who picked up BAsics, from the talks and writings of Bob Avakian at a local festival said, "This is something my generation needs." They went on, "To say the least, I wish I had had a copy of BAsics in high school so that I could counter the bullshit being taught to me. I didn't have that opportunity, but there are millions of students today who need to hear the voice of Bob Avakian so they can join the fight. BAsics presents an essential challenge to all that is oppressive and intolerant. It paints not only a picture of a new world, but it leaves room for innovation and growth, as a communist future will have, as Bob Avakian says, 'a solid core with a lot of elasticity.'"(Keep reading about the kind of impact envisioned and radically simple, bold and fun ways to do this.)   Call 773.489.0930 to contribute your ideas and join this effort.