MIM Notes No. 202      January 15, 2000

Proletarian internationalism is the greatest service to the people

by MC53

MIM embarks on the year-long Under Lock & Key 2000 campaign by focusing 
attention on the principle of proletarian internationalist service to the 
people in the month of January. To communists, service to the people 
signifies whole-hearted dedication to the absolute liberation of the 
oppressed. Genuinely serving the people means fighting for the end to 
imperialist exploitation and working in the interests of the world's 
majority. MIM recognizes that only through proletarian-led revolution and 
ultimately seizure of state power can there be justice. All of the 
Party's work -- from political agitation, to theory development, to 
independent institutions to daily planning -- originates from this 
perspective.

When MIM talks about service to the people, we are not merely speaking of 
Serve the People programs. Serve the People programs are independent 
institutions serving the needs of the people during a time when the 
imperialists hold state power. The greatest service to the people is 
proletarian internationalist revolution. Independent institutions are 
organized to serve the interests of the people within the context of the 
greatest need: revolution and proletarian dictatorship leading to 
communism.

Following Maoist leadership, the Chinese people were able to end 
imperialist domination and increase life expectancy, improve literacy, 
broaden education to all sectors of society, dramatically increase access 
to medical care, and create a society in which all members were able to 
contribute to the political and economic development. This advancement 
was only possible because the entire society was involved in a 
fundamental overhaul of class relations.

William Hinton wrote about the participation of the peasants in 
confronting landlords who had hoarded wealth in Chinese villages and 
about the increasing leadership taken on by peasants to improve 
production and minimize disparities in wealth. In ITAL Fanshen END , he 
wrote: "Such variety and intensity of productive effort had never before 
been experienced. ... The boom could be attributed to two things. ... 
[E]very peasant had, at last, some land to till, some equipment with 
which to work, and the prospect of a good crop. The fact that the crop 
would go into his own jars and bins and not into the storerooms of some 
landlord or usurer greatly enhanced the incentive to produce. ... On the 
other hand, the boom was stimulated by the planned policies and 
determined organizing effort of the Communist Party committees, 
government administrators, financial institutions and the leaders of mass 
organizations at all levels." (Fanshen, p. 211)

These words were written about the advancement of countryside conditions 
following the overthrow of Japanese occupation and feudal relations when 
state communes had not yet been formed. The advancement to a higher stage 
of collectivization in the state communes further increased the 
participation of peasants in the development of society and further 
improved conditions. The Chinese Communist Party used both extensive 
state planning and mass participation to improve output and conditions. 
Between 1949 and 1957, grain output in China increased 71%.(Snow, Red 
China Today, p 588)

The communes were more than economic units, they were bodies for 
political organization and ideological development as well. Through 
communes, peasants were able to actually take home what they produced and 
also see that mutual work and cooperation resulted in higher yields. 
Thus, the material conditions were improved and the political unity of 
building socialism was advanced.

With proletarian principles in command, China improved the material 
conditions dramatically in many ways. In 1943, the 'crude' death rate in 
China was about 2.5% annually, meaning that about 4 million Chinese died 
each year unnecessarily, most from things like gastrointestinal diseases 
and tuberculosis. And about 20% of infants died within their first year. 
By 1972 in Shanghai (admittedly a high end statistic), the crude death 
rate was .64%. By 1972, the Chinese people had succeeded in reducing the 
infant mortality rate (within first year of life) to 1.3% and neonatal 
death rate to .32%.

The collectivization of agriculture is just one of many ways that 
proletarian dictatorship in China served the needs of the people. It is 
clear from the experiences of socialist revolutions in China and 
elsewhere that only a correct political line will lead to genuinely 
serving the interests of the oppressed. Readers concerned with improving 
conditions -- both immediate and long term -- must investigate the 
advancements of the Chinese people under Maoist leadership. As we explain 
in the articles concerning the Philippines and Venezuela, land reform and 
social reform are promised by the imperialists and their lackeys, but are 
not completed. Facing strong organization of the oppressed, puppets will 
make any promise to quiet dissent, but it is only under proletarian 
leadership that thorough change in the interests of the oppressed, 
genuine expropriation and material conditions improvement occur.



The Black Panther Party paved the way

Though the Black Panther Party is known most commonly for carrying guns 
or the Serve the People Programs, these practices in themselves are not 
the reason that MIM credits the BPP with being the most advanced in the 
u.$. The Black Panther Party paved the way for Black national liberation 
and proletarian internationalist Maoist revolution. This is the reason 
that the BPP was the most advanced in the late 1960s and early 1970s; and 
the reason that the BPP's programs and independent institutions were 
correct.

We wrote in MIM Theory 10 (available for $6 from MIM): "In less than 
three years of applying Maoism, a self-consciously youthful party engaged 
in coordinated armed struggles, obtained the support of the plurality of 
Blacks as the legitimate leadership of all Black people..., [and] 
inspired the Puerto Ricans and other oppressed nations to form their own 
vanguard parties..." It is because of the BPP's application of Maoism 
that it was able to advance so quickly.

One of the independent institutions created by the BPP to promote Maoism 
was its newspaper. The BPP started its newspaper after a pig murdered 
Denzel Dowell in 1967. Following from one of the universal lessons of 
Lenin, the Black Panther Party fully realized the importance of a 
proletarian newspaper and its role as an independent institution of the 
people educating and organizing for revolution.

In the January 17, 1970 issue of "The Black Panther", the Party wrote: 
"The Black Panther Black Community News Service, is not just a newspaper 
in the traditional sense of the word, it's more than that. [It] is a 
living contemporary history of our people's struggle for liberation at 
the grassroots level. It's something to be studied and grasped, and saved 
for future generations to read, learn and understand.

"The Black Panther documents step by step the actions taken by, and 
programs instituted by the Black Panther Party in its unstoppable drive 
to serve the people; and documents before the whole world the repression 
and murders committed by Amerikkka's corrupt monopoly capital in its 
dastardly attempts to stop this move to institute people's power." 

Similarly, MIM frequently reasserts the necessity of a proletarian 
newspaper. Many readers of MIM Notes take the Party's newspaper for 
granted because there is a pretense of free speech in Amerika. This 
country is saturated with bourgeois and so-called alternative liberal 
tabloids. MIM Notes serves the short and long term interests of the 
oppressed while the swamp of bourgeois literature perpetuates the system 
of imperialism. MIM Notes is more important than a government-run shelter 
program that serves 100 times the number of people MIM Notes reaches. The 
government program is treating the symptoms of capitalism, but MIM Notes 
is building toward a new society where homelessness and poverty is 
abolished.

The Black Panther Party advanced to serve the needs of the people through 
other independent proletarian institutions. The Serve the People Free 
Breakfast for Children Programs started on January 20th, 1969 in Oakland 
California. It immediately branched out feeding thousands of kids each 
day.

Putting into practice point five of the BPP 10 point program, the BPP 
started Liberation Schools in the Black Community within the same year. 
The BPP wrote: "We recognize that education is only relevant when it 
teaches the art of survival. Our role in this society is to prepare 
ourselves and the masses for change. [The change we want] is the 
destruction of the ruling class that oppresses and exploits the poor." 
(The Black Panther, July 5, 1969)

The Black Panther newspaper, the community patrol of the police, the 
breakfast programs, liberation schools, health care clinics (which 
included drug treatment), distribution of clothing and the beginnings of 
legal programs were independent proletarian institutions. At the core of 
these programs was the fundamental task of building revolution to end 
imperialism. 

The Black Panther (Sept 7, 1968) stated: "The Free Breakfast for Children 
Program is a socialistic program, designed to serve the people. All 
institutions in a society should be designed to serve the masses, not 
just a 'chosen few.' In America, this program is revolutionary. In 
capitalist America any program that is absolutely free is considered bad 
business. The Black Panther Party is a vanguard organization and a 
vanguard organization educates by example. The Black Panther Party is 
educating the people to the fact they have a right to the best that 
modern technology and human knowledge can produce."

In response to criticism that the programs were reformist, in 1970 
(before he sold out), Bobby Seale said: "A reformist program is one thing 
when the capitalists put it up and it's another thing when the 
revolutionary camp puts it up." (The Guardian, February 1970, p.8)

Seale's statement was correct, independent proletarian institutions 
differ from capitalist charities in that they not only meet immediate 
needs but educate about the need and potential to build national self-
determination of oppressed nations and socialism. With the degeneration 
of the Black Panther Party -- in main part due to the u.$. government 
attacks against it -- the debate over reform versus revolution emerged 
despite the clear line set forth earlier by the party. It's worth noting 
for our work in the 21st century, that the debate has been had 
(repeatedly) and reformism has had its chance to succeed. Reformism, 
charity programs, and Christian indoctrination fronts have all had their 
chance. And none have more dramatically improved the specific material 
conditions and general lives of the oppressed the way that revolution 
has.

MIM seeks to expand proletarian institutions like the BPP before us. We 
welcome support from anyone who recognizes the value of these programs, 
including allies who do not agree with us on the need for Maoist 
revolution. But MIM will always push for the ultimate method of serving 
the people: revolution. We take this philosophy in our work to build the 
newspaper, the Free Books for Prisoners Program, the Prisoners' Legal 
Clinic, revolutionary educational programs, the Released Prisoner Program 
and future projects.