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• > Very disturbing to see Van Jones retire under pressure

Van Jones, Obama's special advisor for green jobs, was just forced out by a right-wing witch hunt because of his radical past. Lost in this conversation is information about the amazing and innovative group Van was part of in the Bay Area in the 1990s. Lucky for us they collectively wrote a document, Reclaiming Revolution, to sum up the lessons of their work. You can download it here.

For more info on Van Jones’ resignation, see this insightful piece by the good folks at Kasama or this Alternet commentary.

Here’s an excerpt from the preface of Reclaiming Revolution: History, Summation and Lessons from the work of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM):

This is the story of Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), a revolutionary cadre organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. From September 1994 to December 2002, STORM helped to re-invigorate the Left, both locally and nationally. STORM members fought on the frontlines of some of the most important struggles of those eight years. We built organizations and institutions that continue to fight. And we supported the development of a new generation of revolutionary internationalists in the Bay Area and across the country.

During that time, we gained a wealth of experience that offers the Left some important lessons. To ensure that those lessons are not lost or clouded by time and memory, we have chosen to document that experience now. We humbly offer this document in hopes that it may help move the Left forward.

As young leftists starting a revolutionary organization, we certainly could have used such a document. Most of us had never been in a revolutionary organization. After all, STORM’s membership was always more than 60 percent women and more than 75 percent people of color – people all too often (and tragically) marginalized by and alienated from the U.S. Left….

Reclaiming Revolution is divided into five sections. The first section offers an overview of the historical period in which STORM operated. The second section detail’s STORM’s history. Next, we summarize the politics that defined the organization. The fourth section describes STORM’s organizational structure. And we end the document by evaluating STORM’s work – our successes, our errors and the lessons we have drawn from all of this….

“Hide nothing from the masses of people. Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy victories.” – Amilcar Cabral, African revolutionary leader