upcoming events

July 26, Sunday 6:00 PM
(Note time change from 4 to 6 PM, this week only.)

The Revolution We Need...
The Leadership We Have

A Message, And A Call, From the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

We'll watch clips from REVOLUTION: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What's the Revolution All About, a film of a talk by Bob Avakian, followed by discussion. Bring your questions and the questions you have run into taking out the special issue of Revolution newspaper. Bring ideas for spreading the word. And bring friends.

July 26, Sunday, 1:00-11:00 PM Join Revolution Books at Clark Street Festival Revolution Books will be out at "Celebrate Clark Street Festival" in Rogers Park on Sunday, at Booth #65, east side of Clark Street, just north of Lunt. Join us at this lively street fair to creatively spread the word about The Revolution We Need...The Leadership We Have - A Message, And A Call, From The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA.

Clyde Young and Sunsara Taylor on the Air Waves Listen as Clyde Young of the RCP and Sunsara Taylor, writer for Revolution newspaper, get into and spread the word about The Revolution We Need ... The Leadership We Have. The interview and Q&A was broadcast July 21 on Los Angeles Pacifica radio station HPFK. Go to KPFK Archive and stroll down to "Beneath The Surface with Michael Slate."

More Upcoming Events

July 27, Monday 6:30 - 9 PM
Pick up a bundle of Revolution newspapers hot off the press and/or join a discussion of the lead articles and "hot topics" while mailing subscriptions to prisoners. Bring friends.

August 2 , Sunday 4 PM
Join us for a discussion of A DECLARATION: FOR WOMEN'S LIBERATION AND THE EMANCIPATION OF ALL HUMANITY.

Cornel West and Carl Dix dialogue on:

The Ascendancy of Obama. . .
and the Continued Need for
Resistance and Liberation

On July 14, 2009, an extremely important and successful program, featuring Cornel West, one of America's most provocative public intellectuals, and Carl Dix, a long-time revolutionary and a founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, took place at Aaron Davis Hall in Harlem, New York. Read on.

Click here to listen to the whole exchange of the July 14 dialogue in Harlem. This is also available on disc from Chicago Revolution Books.

Go to http://revolutionbooks.blip.tv/ to watch a rough cut of the video without the audience Q&A.

Watch Carl Dix response to Obama's "No Excuses" speech at NAACP convention at Part 1 and Part 2.

Cornel West and Carl Dix on Race and Politics in Age of Obama

Watch or listen to the July 22nd nationally broadcast interview on DEMOCRACY NOW! with Amy Goodman.

Don't Miss This!

July 19, Sunday, 4pm
Special Revolution Books Event

The Revolution We Need...
The Leadership We Have

A Message, And A Call,
From The Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

This Is NOT The Best of All Possible Worlds...
And We Do NOT Have to Live This Way
"The land of the free, and the home of the brave." "The leader of the free world." That's what they always say about this country. But this is a Big Lie. Read on.

Discuss this statement and the campaign around it. Get involved in the movement for revolution!

Help build for and bring many people to this special event.

Check Out the Bob Avakian Section at revcom.us: Click here.
Check Out Revolution #170 Slide Show: Click here.
Read Editorial from Issue #170: Click here.

Come to Revolution Books to pick up bundles of this special issue, to talk about it and join in making plans to distribute it everywhere. Send your suggestions, and send correspondence about where you have taken it and the response from people to the special issue. Volunteer to take out this special issue on teams, at book tables and events, help make displays, do promotionals, donate and put on fundraisers to help spread this message far and wide!

upcoming events

July 12, Sunday, 4 pm - Weekly Salon Weekly salon discussion on the new talk by Bob Avakian, RUMINATIONS AND WRANGLINGS - On the Importance of Marxist Materialism, Communism as a Science, Meaningful Revolutionary Work, and a Life with Meaning. This week's topics: What a revolution really is...and really is not... and Winning people to be communists, emancipators of humanity... Bring your questions and thoughts for another lively session of collective wrangling. Monday, July 13, 5pm - Green Day concert Green Day is coming to town! Their new cd, "21st Century Breakdown" is one of the top albums in the country right now-and for good reason. It brings a much-needed defiant spirit to an alienated generation of young people. If you haven't heard it, listen to their current single, "Know Your Enemy" including because it ends with the line, Gimme, gimme revolution!!" Join us as we bring out hundreds of copies of Revolution Newspaper to concert-goers at the United Center before and after the show. We aim to make maximum impact, letting these people know "The Revolution Is Here" as we take out banners and signs, create a scene, and call on these youth to change the world and get with this revolutionary movement now. Meet at Revolution Books at 5pm. July 14, Tuesday, 7pm - Big Night at Revolution Books. Get and Spread Revolution #170 Come by to pick up copies of Revolution newspaper #170, discuss this new issue, and make plans to spread it far and wide. Also join us at 12 noon to send out Revolution newspaper subscriptions to prisoners. July 19, Sunday, 4pm Discussion of Revolution #170 at Revolution Books. SIDEWALK SALE July 11-12, Saturday and Sunday, 9-5 PM Revolution Books Sidewalk Rummage Sale, at 1103 N. Ashland Ave. Donate rummage sale items, volunteer to help any time. Fundraiser for Revolution Newspaper and Revolution Books. Call 773.489.0930 for additional information on how to donate. Post and email friends.

1103 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60622 · 773.489.0930 HOURS Tue-Sat: 11-7pm Sun: 11-5pm revbookschi@pobox.com, Chicago Revolution Books blog

upcoming events

7/12 Sunday Salon 7/13 Green Day Concert 7/14 Big Night at Revolution Books - Get and Spread Revolution #170 7/19 Discussion of Revolution #170 7/11-12 Sidewalk Sale Fundraiser

July 12, Sunday, 4 pm - Weekly Salon Weekly salon discussion on the new talk by Bob Avakian, RUMINATIONS AND WRANGLINGS - On the Importance of Marxist Materialism, Communism as a Science, Meaningful Revolutionary Work, and a Life with Meaning. This week's topics: What a revolution really is...and really is not... and Winning people to be communists, emancipators of humanity... Bring your questions and thoughts for another lively session of collective wrangling. Monday, July 13, 5pm - Green Day concert Green Day is coming to town! Their new cd, "21st Century Breakdown" is one of the top albums in the country right now-and for good reason. It brings a much-needed defiant spirit to an alienated generation of young people. If you haven't heard it, listen to their current single, "Know Your Enemy" including because it ends with the line, Gimme, gimme revolution!!" Join us as we bring out hundreds of copies of Revolution Newspaper to concert-goers at the United Center before and after the show. We aim to make maximum impact, letting these people know "The Revolution Is Here" as we take out banners and signs, create a scene, and call on these youth to change the world and get with this revolutionary movement now. Meet at Revolution Books at 5pm. July 14, Tuesday, 7pm - Big Night at Revolution Books. Get and Spread Revolution #170 Come by to pick up copies of Revolution newspaper #170, discuss this new issue, and make plans to spread it far and wide. Also join us at 12 noon to send out Revolution newspaper subscriptions to prisoners. July 19, Sunday, 4pm Discussion of Revolution #170 at Revolution Books. SIDEWALK SALE July 11-12, Saturday and Sunday, 9-5 PM Revolution Books Sidewalk Rummage Sale, at 1103 N. Ashland Ave. Donate rummage sale items, volunteer to help any time. Fundraiser for Revolution Newspaper and Revolution Books. Call 773.489.0930 for additional information on how to donate. Post and email friends.

1103 N. Ashland Ave., Chicago, IL 60622 · 773.489.0930 HOURS Tue-Sat: 11-7pm Sun: 11-5pm revbookschi@pobox.com, Chicago Revolution Books blog

upcoming events

Saturday, July 4. Anti-July 4th Picnic

Anti-4th of July Picnic/Pot Luck Fundraiser for Revolution Newspaper at 63rd Street Beach (directions below).

While the system promotes drunken, USA chauvinist celebrations of a nation that has brought bloodshed, oppression, and exploitation to every corner of the world... hook up with the revolution for a potluck picnic, as we imagine a world without everything America stands for and must do to maintain its world dominance. Invite your friends from all walks of life to join us. We'll be taking donations for Revolution newspaper, sliding scale for students and the unemployed. Bring your friends!

Look for the big red flags at the 63rd street beach! (see map)

For rides, or to join a car caravan, meet up at Revolution Books at 12 noon. (Please call and confirm you need a ride so we can plan ahead.)

Driving directions (keep in mind that parking is going to be difficult everywhere in the city. We're recommending that people carpool, and for best parking, come early.)

63rd Street Beach is just east of Lakeshore Drive on 63rd (also called E. Hayes Drive), and is very easily reached from the 63rd street exit on Lakeshore. There is a turnaround just east of LSD where people can be dropped off near the beach. And there is a parking lot on the beach, which will obviously fill up early.

From the North Side:
*Take Lakeshore Drive south to 63rd Street (there is a stop light there).
*Turn left on 63rd St (also called Hayes Drive). into beach area.
or
*Take 90/94 south to 55
*Take 55 east to Lakeshore Drive and then follow directions, above

From the Southside:
*Take highway 41 north. It will become Lakeshore drive
*Turn Right on 63rd Street (also called Hayes Drive)
Again, there is parking on 63rd Street both east and west of Lake shore drive

By Public Trasportation Northside and Southside:
*Take Red line to 63rd St or Take the Greenline to 63rd & Cottage Grove.
or
*Take any North/South bus line (Ashland, Western, Halsted, etc) to 63rd Street
*Take the 63rd St Bus to Lakeshore Drive, and the beach is just east of Lakeshore Drive


Sunday, July 5th, 4 pm

Part 5 of a weekly salon on the new talk by Bob Avakian, Ruminations and Wranglings: On the Importance of Marxist Materialism, Communism as a Science, Meaningful Revolutionary Work, and a Life with Meaning

This week:
The Social Basis for Revolution

We'll get into the difference (and different bases) between total and partial revolutions. What's necessary for what Karl Marx referred to as a "total revolution", and what makes that revolution necessary? Read the excerpt, bring your questions and thoughts for another lively session of collective wrangling.

Upcoming Events

Performance of THE FEVER to Benefit Revolution Books

June 23, Tuesday, 7:30 pm
Revolution Books presents a special one-night-only performance of Wallace Shawn's THE FEVER performed by David Shapiro at St. Paul's Community Church, 2215 W. North Ave, Chicago. This is a benefit for Revolution Books Chicago. Followed by a reception. Tickets $15. To purchase tickets in advance, click on PayPal at right, call or drop by Revolution Books, or purchase on the night of the show at St. Paul's. Volunteer now to help organize, publicize and sell tickets for this important and timely fundraising and cultural event. If you want to understand and radically change the world, support and keep Revolution Books open.

Saturday, June 13

Join us! Out to the people of Englewood...
with revolution and communism

"There will never be a revolutionary movement in this country that doesn't fully unleash and give expression to the sometimes openly expressed, sometimes expressed in partial ways, sometimes expressed in wrong ways, but deeply, deeply felt desire to be rid of these long centuries of oppression [of Black people]. There's never gonna be a revolution in this country, and there never should be, that doesn't make that one key foundation of what it's all about."
-Bob Avakian, Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, reprinted in The Oppression of Black People, the Crimes of This System, and the Revolution We Need.

Through the month of June, supporters of the RCP, USA are calling on you to be a part of filling a great need: stepping up the systematic efforts to spread revolution and communism in Englewood, one of Chicago's poorest (and overwhelmingly Black) neighborhoods, and challenging masses of Black people to get with the revolutionary movement today.

Saturday, June 13: Meet up at 10am at Revolution Books.
Join the teams taking Revolution newspaper and Bob Avakian's DVD, "Revolution: Why It's Necessary, Why It's Possible, What It's All About" out to the people, including through selling subscriptions, and establishing a revolutionary presence. We will have a truck, featuring a colorful professional banner reading simply "Revolution," red flags waving off the sides, music playing, wearing our shirts featuring the Revolution masthead and letting people know "The revolutionaries are here." Others will go door to door or to shopping centers. These initial efforts are inspired by a political "blitz" in another area, reported in the pages of Revolution here.

And this will be just the beginning. We will be going out every weekend through June; future details to come.

TO VOLUNTEER: If you're available all day or part of the day Saturday or would like to volunteer in other ways, please contact Revolution Books. Funds are urgently needed for this effort: donate at the Chicago Revolution Books blog (enter "Englewood" into the description), or hold a fundraising party featuring one of our organizers reporting on our efforts.


Sunday, June 14, 4 pm
Join us this Sunday, June 14, for the next in a series of salons on the new talk by Bob Avakian, "Ruminations and Wranglings: On the Importance of Marxist Materialism, Communism as a Science, Meaningful Revolutionary Work, and a Life with Meaning."
This Sunday's discussion will focus on Part 4, "Each Class Seeks to Remake the World in its Image--But Only One Class Cannot Do This by Relying on Spontaneity, " in Revolution #166, online at revcom.us.

Some points concerning the role of intellectuals and the revolutionary process

Different interests of different class forces in the struggle against the oppression of Black people in the US

"It is a very important phenomenon in all of social life, and particularly in social struggle, that each class will try to remake the world in its image. Especially in every revolution, but in every major social transformation or social movement, different class forces seek to seize the reins and impose their solutions, in accordance with how they see the problems. More specifically, it is important to understand how bourgeois and other reactionary class forces seek to do this, especially in the context of any major social upheaval and social struggle, and most especially in the context of an approaching revolution." How has this been borne out (or not) in examples from places like Iran, South Africa or China in recent history?

"One of the distinguishing features of intellectuals is that-because of their particular circumstances and the nature of their role in working with ideas-as individuals (and even in a certain sense as a broader social phenomenon) they have relatively more freedom and capacity to 'attach themselves' to one class or another, and even to 'detach themselves' from one class and 'attach themselves' to another. In other words, they can take up the world outlook and come to represent the interests of one class or another." Let's discuss the meaning and significance of this phenomenon.

What are the different interests of the different class forces in the struggle against the oppression of Black people in the US? The Black bourgeois forces "have seen that these reforms [elimination of certain formal and legal barriers of discrimination and segregation] could offer them the possibility-given the ways in which they are now situated in this society and, relative to the masses of Black people, their more privileged position-to have a more favorable opportunity to improve their situation within the existing framework, to 'move on up' within this framework, even in some cases to achieve high positions within this system. Now, in reality and whether or not they recognize it (some may and some may not, but the reality is) this is condemning-and so long as this is what holds sway, it will condemn-the masses of Black people, and indeed Black people as a people, as an oppressed nation within the U.S., to continue to suffer horrendous oppression."

A REVOLUTION IN IDEAS FOR A RADICALLY NEW WORLD - A WEEKLY SALON

Dear friends of Revolution Books,

We invite you to join our weekly discussion on Sunday afternoons from 4 - 6pm at Revolution Books. Every week you will be stimulated and challenged.

Even as the memo has gone out that the parameters of "hope" and "change" are defined by a new face atop the empire, people all over the world seethe with discontent, anger and a feeling that there must be a better way that human society could be organized - that another world is, and must be, possible.

Anyone wanting to bring into being that new world immediately confronts two things. One is the repressive force of the authorities brought to bear against those who seriously challenge the powers-that-be. Second is the confrontation in the realm of ideas: morality, science, religion and world-outlook. Complicity versus resistance; whether the oppression of Black people has been transcended or morphed into new dangerous forms; over how to evaluate the first stage of the Communist revolution in the Soviet Union and China.

Today, the most important struggle in the realm of ideas focuses on the KIND of change we need, the THEORY that can guide that change, and the leadership that we have to carry forward that radical transformation.

We state clearly: we need a revolution and none will be possible if it is not grounded in the work being done by and the leadership provided by Bob Avakian, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA.

If you haven't read Bob Avakian, NOW is the time. Let yourself be challenged by it. If you are someone who finds the current world intolerable and sees the need for a radically different one, then you cannot be true to your own principles without seriously checking out and engaging with Bob Avakian.

These are sessions for all - beginners & veterans; truth seekers of different persuasions; anyone desirous of a better world.

We urge you to join us in this urgently needed collective exploration and conversation around cutting-edge communist theory. The next round of discussions, beginning at the end of May are drawn from a provocative new work by Bob Avakian, "Ruminations and Wranglings; On the Importance of Marxist Materialism, Communism as a Science, Meaningful Revolutionary Work, and a Life with Meaning". The full text is available online at revcom.us