CLASS STRUGGLE - Theory as Action

A transcript of Comrade Hamer's speech at our Housing Eduforum

We are the Revolutionary Education and Action League. The focus of our work is on two fronts, both education and action.  Always, the two must work hand in hand. We have committed ourselves to a number of programs through which we can develop our strengths and engage in meaningful action; The People's Freedom Farm, Peoples Free Kitchen, the ordinance work, self defense classes, etc. However, these programs themselves are not the bottom line of our work. It is important for us, and any organization looking to create real revolutionary change, to have specific attainable goals behind the action. And most importantly those goals must be tied to the needs of the masses of working people. Every practice produces a theory (Cabral), and theory can only be tested and refined via practice. Whenever theory and practice are separated they fall into a distorted one-sidedness; theory and practice can only fully develop in connection with one another.

So although we may have our ideas, our theories, of what may be most impactful for our communities, until we go out and engage with the people and learn first hand from them, our effectiveness will fall short to the point of mere performance. Our work is guided by the needs of the people. Mutual aid in particular is a crisis reaction to a crumbling system that cannot supply its community with its most basic needs. Mutual Aid as it exists is not meant to be a perpetual part of the revolution, rather a stepping stone in building systems of care. No matter who you are; priest, politician, leftist, activist, I'm not interested in talking theory with you if you're not showing me any action. We're not playing around. Where's the motion? These people need food TODAY. The climate situation requires action TODAY (YESTERDAY!!) Similarly, I wont put energy towards opposing you, but I'm certainly not invested in any action that makes no real move towards change, no signs of improvement, contains no theoretical grounding. There is no time to be spinning our wheels, we need traction. We simply do not have the time or the resources to waste; and we should be wary of those who do continually seem to have the resources to waste.

We've learned for ourselves how a small team can accomplish many great things when properly organized; yet we know from history and from our own experience that we cannot create any lasting change while operating alongside a power structure that serves ruling class interests. Dedication can only make up for resources up to a point. That is where the education comes in. Cabral, in Weapon of Theory said: "A fundamental form of struggle is the struggle against our own weaknesses." Our goal is to highlight the class nature of the struggles that we face. It's important to engage with people about why we are in the positions that we find ourselves in. Why don't we have all of the things we need and who is benefiting from the current orientation of society? Of course, nobody is tryna hear all that when you're worried about where you're going to find shelter that night, or when your stomach is louder than voice addressing you. Our neighbors in need are so used to be proselytized at, you can hear it in the affectations they offer for service. However when you are consistent, honest, and forthright, people will recognize you and will want to know for themselves why you have committed yourself to this work. Are y'all with the church? Is this some sort of school campaign? Consistency is key to building trust in any of the work that we do. People come to us for assistance with safety concerns because no matter where we are or what we are doing, we have safety on lock. People come to our edu-forums because they see that our studies are consistent and our analysis is refined. We make ourselves known to our community through the work that we do, and they trust us because they know why we are doing it.

You may not necessarily expect those we serve on the street to have the same sort of conception as we do about fascism, or imperialism, or ruling class hegemony but in fact we are often pleasantly surprised. And truly we should not be, because as we said, every practice produces a theory. And while they may or may not be familiar with the theoretical jargon that can bog down any sort of conversation with a leftist, of course they are all too familiar with the experiences of being criminalized, denied housing, denied insurance or healthcare. Houseless vets understand who dies in wars, who profits from wars, and who creates wars. There's no single issue that can't be linked back to empire and it's maintenance. Land is not developed to maximize conservation and improve local logistics, it is developed for maximum profit. Home builders are not building houses for maximum safety and efficiency, they are building homes for maximum profit. And we all already understand how landlords fit into this scheme. This understanding is ingrained in the every day lives of the people we serve, just as it is in our lives. This is the perfect place to meet your neighbor.

We want to stress that the systems that threaten my life, are the same ones that threaten the life of my neighbors. The educations is as much for ourselves as it is for the people we serve. We do not preach or pity. We recognize. We appreciate. We see ourselves in the people that we serve. Through the work that we do, we receive people's stories of how they ended up in one desperate situation or another, and it is all too clear that we are not far away from experiencing similar circumstances. Some of us are blessed to be able to lean on some small community of friends or family when times get tough. Many others reach out to strangers and their extended community for help when it is desperately needed. We have all seen the gofundme's for emergency health or housing assistance. This sort of public health assistance offers very little peace of mind and ultimately puts a greater stress on the community and OUR resources as a whole. At the same time these sorts of initiatives continually take the pressure off of our government to feel any sort of responsibility to make sure that our needs are met. More and more social welfare programs for the masses are offloaded onto NGO's so that the ruling class can focus on the social welfare of their own class. IE corporate bailouts, golden parachutes, regulation cuts, tax breaks, and the like. Capitalism creates poverty. No amount of charity will solve that. Capitalism needs you to be poor. There is no shortage of capable, intelligent and talented people. There is certainly no shortage of resources, if we can gain access to them. We can provide some limited goods and services to those most urgent needs, but ultimately people deserve to live well. And an economic system that necessitates poverty will not allow that. In order for us all to be healthy, housed, fed, & productive, the economic system must be sublated.

So we cultivate discipline, we work, we self criticize, and we improve. These simple things are just the first steps of building power locally. Trust and capability are key. How can we expect workers to effectively strike if there is no proven apparatus to support them or their children while they withhold their labor, and forfeit their income? How can we expect people to rally with us in the streets when such actions are increasingly reduced to police standoffs with no real attainable goals for the people? How can we expect people to take precious time out of their day to go through the petty trouble of switching their affiliation to independent, and pursue third party candidates? Only through greater organization can we make these things attainable, and pertinent for every day working people. People need to see the power of organization for themselves. We are workers, we are incredibly productive. Everybody has skills to offer, access to share. Right now, We can feed about 100 people in a day, once a week. We can work a plot of land into a productive space, just once a week. We can make our bodies strong and capable and ready, even just once a week. Together, it suddenly becomes an easier task to parse the never ending media torrent and find what's important among the misinformation, disinformation and distractions online. It becomes easier to track local elections and candidates, and even support candidates of our own. It becomes possible to track the activities and the funding of city council, of police, and other monied interests that would much prefer you be ignorant of what they do. It becomes possible to make demands of your landlord, of your boss. When these things are possible, a way forward becomes clearer.

It is important to note, and we fully admit that the basis of our theory can be really intimidating to people. Living your whole life in the imperial core will produce a serious physiological response towards words like communism, centralization, revolution. Despite this, our efficacy is undeniable. Not just here today in our city, but in every successful people's revolution around the world. A path has already been charted and the legacy is alive and well.

It should be clear by now that REAL, as an organization is not of a mind to wait for the government to fix things. To put it lightly. We know that this is not in their interest. We must organize to meet the interests of the people. We live in the imperial core, we are the children of empire, and we are the only ones with the power to stop this system that keeps the world under its boot. Theory alone does not threaten power, action does. We study the lessons of the revolutionaries that came before us in this struggle from within the belly of the beast. It is no small frustration that 60 years later we are relearning these same lessons but nevertheless, we have no time to waste. This is why we invest in building programs to serve the needs of the people.

The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was extremely proficient at developing and executing programs in their communities. Namely, self defense in the form of firearms training which led to community policing and police oversight. The BPP is also famous for their food programs, of which the Free Breakfast Program is one of their most long lasting influences. Nationally the BPP had more than 50 community programs that covered local needs such as food banks, day care, home and car maintenance and repair, ambulance and EMT services. These were SURVIVAL programs. This is the spirit in which we work. We understand that these issues can make or break an individual or a families ability to care for themselves. We also learn from the BPP a lesson in action without an attainable goal. We have no interest in a simple demonstration of our power to the ruling class. Two dozen young brothers from the BPP took on an action like this when they marched on the California state capital bearing rifles, shotguns, and pistols in an effort to exercise their second amendment rights. This opportunity was not used to seize any power or effect any real change, and thus resulted in some of the nations first gun control laws with backing by Reagan and the NRA, not to mention greatly increased attention from the FBI.

Jonathan Jackson was certainly ready with the action, and an attainable goal of freeing his brother who was a political prisoner, but he was ultimately unprepared with a proper plan or support from the community. His efforts unfortunately led to his death and that of his comrades.

A better example of a community making good use of their power is that of the Young Lords in New York. They too aligned themselves on the basis of work that concerned itself primarily with the "immediate needs of the people." Healthcare was among the major concerns for the Black & Puerto Rican people in their community; including access, fair treatment, and proper testing. In 1970 about 150 of their members staged an occupation of the Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. This hospital was infamous for providing very poor care of those most in need. An article from the New York Times quotes a nurse who claimed the Lincoln hospital was like "a butcher shop that kills patients and frustrates workers from serving these patients." In response to these conditions, the Young Lords Party in New York confronted the Lincoln Hospital staff on many accounts. However, their demands were not met. As a result, the Young Lords Party in New York decided to organize and participate in a hospital overtake. The takeover resulted in hundreds of news reports that highlighted and publicized the inadequacies of the Lincoln Hospital, and laws were changed that provided the residents of the South Bronx with improved healthcare including tuberculosis testing centers that served those who were previously ignored. This also resulted in the establishment of the Patient Bill of Rights. The Young Lords Party drafted this document and demanded that all patients, no matter the race, social, or economic status, would be treated with dignity and respect when they received hospital care. The Young Lords claimed "community control is the heart of the work" and we could not agree more.

These are prominent examples of different struggles that have been fought within the empire, and we can see clearly the result of strong, assertive action backed up by solid theory and tangible goals and broad community support. But today we must recognize that all of these programs and initiatives could not last under the the conditions set by the ruling class. Maybe some concessions are made, small improvements are won, but we cannot live in the society we want & deserve without taking power for ourselves. We mustn't get stuck reminiscing about those that came before us and endlessly critiquing what they did right and wrong, nor become complacent because we know that others are doing the work now. We must take action ourselves. Learn what it takes to get something done here, and now. The only way to do that is to entrench yourself in whatever work presents itself to you here and now.

The concept of freedom cannot be just online discourse. It must be anchored in certain material realities. It is our duty as revolutionaries to sum up the collective experiences of the masses of people, systematize them, and return them as solutions. Take some time to be offline. Practice being an upright, sociable, member of your community, meet your neighbors. Even better, give your neighbors a reason to meet each other, and connect.
These things are purposely made to seem risky and scary, and I don't mean to frighten you but we must take action. Nobody will do it for us, we have nothing to fear but our own weakness, nothing to lose but our chains.