We need all comrades to actively engage in agitation and struggle within these gulags. Open struggle within a revolutionary environment (when the material conditions are conductive to revolutionary activity) is the highest form of struggle before actual armed uprising. If a comrade is not taking this occasion to develop a strong political line through struggle with potential revolutionary people and create a revolutionary consciousness within this receptive populace, you are wasting your time because the difficulties facing the comrades being release from gulags with intentions of further struggle against the imperialist pigs are enormous.
The current environment in the "free" world is ultimately non-revolutionary and will not be receptive but more likely hostile. If your political line is not strong or incoherent before you are released you will be ineffective at best and counterproductive at worst. Remember comrades, you have the advantage of a vanguard party and a theory of the science of proletariat revolution. Revolution and Communism/Maoism are a science founded on theory based in practice and observation.
Imperialist pigs have only propaganda and mis-information, which can be destroyed by any Marxist revolutionary who would devote even 1/2 the amount of time on study and struggle a decadent amerikkkan spends watching television. The real question isn't if revolution is possible but rather if you're serious enough to step up to the plate and stop 1/2 stepping. Knowledge without practice is useless.
Struggle with a vanguard party such as MIM is very strengthening and enlightening, but struggle with someone with limited or zero consciousness and hostile parties gives you a practical base of Q&A and arguments that will confront the agitator. Practical knowledge is imperative for the building of public opinion and advancing the cause of proletariat revolution. I read several comrades from my $tate gulag system who seem involved politically but though I've been relocated several times to all but one institution, I've not seen or witnessed a comrade in struggle with another, while I openly profess my politics and struggle openly not one comrade has approached to unite in the struggle. This is troubling, do not be ashamed of the truth , don't be afraid of oppression. If you are reading this, you're red flagged as it is. The $tate is watching you, make them worry!
- a USW comrade, August 2005
MIM responds: This comrade brings up some important realities about the importance of the organizing work that comrades are doing behind bars. However, there are legitimate reasons to not proclaim ones political ideas in certain situations. We should be afraid of oppression. This doesn't mean we let fear paralyze us. But we take precautions, and be more tactical about how we do work. Our comrades in prison are under much more scrutiny by the state than comrades on the outside. Depending on one's situation, they must make the most of it. Leaders who are already being targeted and threatened because of their work deserve more public attention to their situation in an effort to support them. Others will want to try to stay under the radar. A communist approach to self-preservation means being as effective as one can for as long as one can in building a revolutionary movement. We do not fear repression for fear of our own person, but for fear of the blow to the struggle that our loss would cause.