We have remained silent on the issue of the ostensible demise of Red Guards Austin (RGA) with their very mysterious single-sentence post both on facebook and their blog, but have been motivated by the abundance of responses elsewhere to say something of it. First of all we find it necessary to criticize, in the harshest terms, the opportunist and even anti-communist remarks by individuals and groups that seem to uphold the possibility of their demise as some kind of triumph. Let us be clear here: there is no triumph in the demise of imperialism’s enemies. RAIM has not kept secret our disagreements with Red Guards groups, but we have made a continual point not to air the dirty laundry of other organizations for cheap opportunistic gains.

Supposing that RGA has in fact dissolved, and that there is not some other explanation for their statement, we view this as a defeat, and a sober reminder of the difficulty present in building revolutionary organizations. It should serve to remind us how fraught the path toward revolution is, even in its most embryonic stages. Our first instinct in such circumstances should be to investigate the conditions that led to the demise, and to properly understand them for our own sake, rather than proclaiming the victory of all who remain standing.

Let us remember that u.$. imperialism still stands, and stands much more firmly than the u.$. revolutionary movement, even in spite of its rapid decline. Those who paint fantasies in place of investigation are contributing to the degradation of the revolutionary movement, whose position is already miserably weak.