LIBROS REVOLUCIÓN

If you’ve been in Berkeley, then you must have seen the branch of Revolution Books nestled in a plaza downstairs by a parking garage. The Los Angeles, Spanish-language version is tucked away on 8th and Hill among the various clothing vendors, nestled next to a pet shop. After a visit to one of the first South Park Flea Markets (when it was held on Olive and 8th), a friend and I wandered around SoDo and spent some time at Libros Revolucion. I hadn’t expected to come across this bookstore while wandering toward the Jewelry District, and was excited to go inside to peruse their stock of political texts and materials. The rear part of the store is an open space reserved for events and readings. I’ve yet to return since my first visit, unfortunately.

Being a proud bastian of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, it is not surprising that a Google Search revealed that Libros Revolucion faced serious harassment when it opened in the late 1980s. This letter published in the New York Review of Books in 1989 cites “Uniformed and plainclothes police, right-wing religious fundamentalists with bullhorns, and callers identifying themselves as members of “death squads” appear to be working in concert to intimidate people associated with the store.”

It’s good to know that the store has stood strong for nearly twenty years.

Libros Revolucion
312 West 8th St.
90014
213-488-1303

Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 12PM-8PM Posted by Narinda at 12:16 PM Labels: books, businesses, history, jewelry district 3 comments:

- Narinda

Libros Revolucion
5 star rating based on 1 review Category: Bookstores
Neighborhood: Downtown
312 W 8th St
Los Angeles, CA 90014 (213) 488-1303 Add Photos

The Revolutionary Communist Party is led by the in-exile Bob Avakian, whose Maoist leanings are interesting and somewhat inspiring. The RCP runs a network of bookstores and infoshops, and if you’re at all interested in Communism, labor, or sideline anarchist thinking and doing, the locations are need to gos.

The LA shop, in downtown LA, is heavily angled toward the Latino population that makes nearby Broadway its main drag. There are sections of books in Spanish and a hefty Latino focus.

They use about half of the shop’s real estate well as a retail location. You can buy political books, RCP-related books, and copies of the house organ — Revolution — for relatively cheap. I picked up a 1980s anthology of Avakian’s writing for about $6.

The shop is also an organizing and recruiting center. When I checked out, the young Latino working there — there were two young men surfing the Net on the shop computer when I stopped by — asked whether I was acquainted with the party, interested in Avakian’s work, and well versed in his most recent talks on Jeffersonian democracy. I think it was Jeffersonian.

I expressed some knowledge but ducked voicing any engagement beyond it being interesting in order to avoid a deeper conversation — I didn’thave much time — but if you’re at all interested in pursuing the Maoism of now, this is the place for you. Otherwise, it’s a useful lefty political book stop.

Drop some dime here. They can use all the support they can get!

- Heath R.
Brooklyn, NY