MIM Notes 224   December 15, 2000

MIM NEWS

January is SERVE THE PEOPLE! month

MIM launches its second annual Under Lock & Key 2001 campaign with 
Mao's exhortation to serve the people. Mao wrote:

"If we only mobilize the people to carry on the war and do nothing 
else, can we succeed in defeating the enemy? Of course not. If we 
want to win, we must do a great deal more. We must lead the 
peasants' struggle for land and distribute the land to them, 
heighten their labor enthusiasm and increase agricultural 
production, safe-guard the interests of the workers, establish co-
operatives, develop trade with outside areas, and solve the 
problems facing the masses -- food, shelter and clothing, fuel, 
rice, cooking oil and salt, sickness and hygiene, and marriage. In 
short, all the practical problems in the masses' everyday life 
should claim our attention."(1)

Even in the imperialist countries today where it is not the time 
for revolutionary armed struggle, there are problems of the 
masses' everyday lives to which we can attend. MIM builds Serve 
the People programs along the lines of the Black Panther Party's 
Free Breakfasts for Schoolchildren to deal with these problems. 
But we must be careful to always distinguish our own work from 
charity. Not only do we strive to meet some of the masses' 
pressing needs, we build these programs as a vehicle for socialist 
education and a focal point for our organizing among the 
population we serve.

One of MIM's central tasks is building public opinion in favor of 
Maoist revolution. Another is building independent institutions of 
the oppressed. MIM Notes is an important independent institution 
that MIM uses to build public opinion. It is financed with 
contributions from within the party and among its supporters, and 
it serves the needs of the oppressed by holding forward the banner 
of the international proletariat in the imperialist countries. 
This is one example of a Serve the People program. Other Serve the 
People programs that MIM runs include our free revolutionary Books 
for Prisoners program, the Prisoners Legal Clinic, and the many 
educational programs that we run in cities and prisons across the 
u.s.

This January 2001, work with MIM to build our revolutionary prison 
Serve the People programs. Take up this task by first working to 
understand and propagate the concept of revolutionary Serve the 
People programs.

Serving the People vs. charity

Many well-intentioned activists and liberals get drawn into 
charity work because it seems to be a good way to address the 
needs of the oppressed. Charity work attacks the symptoms of the 
problem but never deals with the underlying  problem. As long as 
imperialism exists the symptoms that charity tries to address will 
exist. If anything, charity programs end up making imperialism 
look less evil by papering over some of the symptoms of the 
system. Organizations that lead activists to think they can solve 
the problem of hunger without destroying capitalism need to take 
responsibility for sustaining a system that withholds food and 
healthcare from those who need it in the name of profit.

Serve the People programs, on the other hand, attack the 
imperialism system while helping to meet the basic needs of the 
people. As we wrote in the last issue of MIM Notes: "Of course 
there is a real need for books in Amerika's prisons -- and so much 
more. The cold reality is that millions of people around the world 
die every year from preventable causes, and millions of people 
from oppressed nations inside u.$. borders go without a decent 
education. But if MIM acts like a charity, it will be as effective 
as a charity -- which is to say not effective at all beyond a few 
token cases of filling specific requests in a sea of oppression 
and neglect."

The Black Panther Party provides us with good examples of Serve 
the People programs. The Black Panthers set up their Free 
Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program, because they saw that Black 
children were going to school hungry and linked this to the deeper 
problem of national oppression. Party branches took over or rented 
community spaces and provided breakfast for young children. They 
taught the children revolutionary thought and songs, and Black 
Power salutes. The adults who participated were expected to set a 
revolutionary example for the youth through direct participation 
in Party activities and disseminating revolutionary ideas to the 
youth. Some youth even sold the Panther Newspaper on the streets 
as a way to build for revolution.

MIM's Free Books for Prisoners program helps prisoners use their 
time under lock and key to develop their politics and work with us 
for an end to oppression. As the Panthers used the breakfasts to 
teach children about revolutionary politics, for us the books 
program is an organizing tool. We organize people on the outside 
to donate political study materials. We also help prisoners use 
the books to write articles for MIM's publications, form study 
groups and build support for anti-imperialist organizing within 
the gulags.

Our Prisoners' Legal Clinic follows the same line. MIM is leading 
prisoners to do their own legal research and writing on issues 
that are important to sustaining their political work.

In the case of these two MIM programs, prisoners are served either 
by getting political study materials, or being able to use the MIM 
Legal Notes articles to work on their own legal problems. But as 
Mao pointed out, this means also mobilizing prisoners into work on 
the party's central tasks. 

What you can do

Mobilizing more activists, and organizing existing activists into 
participation should be a key goal of Serve the People month. The 
Black Panther Party said the important thing is not just to talk 
about the activism but to take it up and demonstrate to the masses 
through practice what we mean. Don't just talk about helping with 
the Free Books for Prisoners program, do it; don't just talk about 
putting together information on censorship for the Prisoners' 
Legal Clinic, do it.

MIM, USW, RAIL and SLALA members, and unaffiliated supporters can 
participate in Serve the People month by:

* Collecting a group to study the purpose of MIM's books program 
and raise funds for it. Start by talking about how the program 
works and why we emphasize the distribution of revolutionary 
literature. Think about how this relates to the work of the 
Chinese communists and to the Black Panther Party, and where you 
can fit into making the program a success and a true serve the 
people program. Reproduce sections of this issue of MIM Notes and 
the Mao essay quoted above to use as a discussion starter. 

* Gather a group or work alone to educate fellow prisoners, 
students or community members about censorship in prisons. If you 
are in prison you can study the prisoner mail policy, STG policy, 
or other relevant materials of the state system/Bureau of Prisons 
that governs you, and/or policies of the facility itself. If you 
are outside, you can view all Federal prison policies on the 
Internet at www.bop.gov. Make up a flyer or a speech on the basic 
points of the policies as they relate to prisoners' freedom to 
receive political literature through the mail and to correspond 
with political organizations. Discuss and explain the importance 
of prisoners understanding the rules under which they can organize 
politically and how these rules affect work they can do. What do 
the policies mean for access to MIM Notes and other political 
literature? How can prisoners help themselves and each other in 
hanging on to the rights they do have?

* Help get MIM's Under Lock and Key radio show on the air in your 
city. Know of DJs who play progressive music or talk a good 
political line on the air? Maybe you know of a local liberal talk 
show host who could needs to give more time to prisons issues? 
Write to us for copies of the show on CD and promotional materials 
you can use to help get this important educational program on the 
air.

There are many other tasks that need to be done to build MIM's 
Serve the People programs. Tell us your areas of interest and what 
work you can do and we will help you find a good use for your 
time.

Note:
1. Mao Zedong, "Be Concerned with the Well-Being of the Masses, 
Pay Attention to the Methods of Work," in: ITAL Selected Works, 
END Vol. 1, Peking: Foreign Languages Press, 1975, pp. 147-8.