Prisoner on China, U$ and human rights

[In response to U.S.A Today's Nov 3rd article, "China's defense 
lawyers in court with no mercy"] 

There goes that propaganda machine again! U.S.A Today compared 
China's 99.7% conviction rate with U$'s 88% and that China's 
justice system works against the people. Millions in the U$ feel 
contrary. We have the most [highest percentage of a nation's 
population imprisoned --ed] prisoners in the world! Most are non-
violent offenders, people of color, and poor getting life for 
nonsense, while those with money go free like the Ramseys and O.J. 
Simpson. The federal government has a 99% conviction rate [From 
the Bureau of Justice Statistics: 87.4% of all federal cases 
resulted in conviction in 1998 --ed]. People are sent away by only 
the word of an informant who lies -- with no other evidence. We 
have executed innocent men, women and children, not only on death 
row, but in our cities and countryside with no due process (MOVE! 
and Waco). We would have recently executed another innocent man 
had not the snitch admitted to lying in court. The prosecution 
runs the U$ courts. Judges have no control over the time given to 
an offender (mandatory minimums). The police help the prosecution 
with lies (see Mumia). And here we are worrying about China! Let's 
stop worrying about the speck in everyone else's eyes. First, 
let's remove the plank from our own eyes. Only then will we see 
clearly to remove our brothers' speck's. China's population 
surpasses ours by a billion and yet we have more prisoners then 
them! Let's get our perspectives straight.

 -- a Kansas prisoner.

MIM responds: We agree that it is hypocritical for USA Today to be 
criticizing other countries for their justice systems while 
pretending that the u.s. offers a good model. In fact, USA Today 
only needs to look back to the years of Maoist China (1949-1976) 
to find a model of a justice system that was designed to serve the 
people. While the u.s. uses its injustice system to lock up 
oppressed nations and keep activists off the street, Maoist China 
set up a system which was truly geared towards rehabilitating 
those who committed crimes against the people. (For more on the 
prison system in Maoist China order the book Prisoners of 
Liberation from MIM for $12.) The state capitalist system in China 
today is not something that MIM defends but we agree that the u.s. 
has no business criticizing any other country with the current 
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie running a criminal injustice 
system in Amerika that surpasses all others.

Ex-soldier seeks to join aggressive communist group

Dear MIM: Greetings!

I am what you may consider, at first glance, to be one of the 
"running dogs of U.S. imperialism," but I assure [you] I am not. 
True, I am a white middle-class American of good Aryan stock-- but 
my mind is far removed from the mainstream of conventional 
political thought in this country.

I believe the political system in the United States is corrupt, 
both legally and morally, and is very close to becoming 
irrevocably degenerate, if it not already so. I have studied quite 
a few political systems and I have come to the conclusion that a 
radical change must take place in order for my country to survive. 
While at present I doubt that an armed uprising would gain much 
success, I believe that the time for this may not be far off. With 
the economy running out of control, it is not entirely unlikely we 
will face a major recession in the near future. Under a communist 
system, this could not happen-- and I believe such a system, built 
with the benefit of the teachings and wisdom of the late Chairman 
Mao, would in fact bring the people of this country "down to 
earth" and halt much of the materialistic attitudes that are 
ruining our society.

I, being a product of such a society, am not without blame. 
Although I have no part in the "fleecing of America" by the 
government as an employee, I am a victim of the consumer's war on 
the world. It is nearly a fact of life here, so far, that one must 
constantly gather more than the next man in order to stay afloat. 
I, however, am working to change this within myself and my family-
- and I wish to join with an organization that I believe can help 
myself and others do this.

I am not without experience, either. I spent twelve years in the 
U.S. armed forces, in the Marine Corps and the Army. Thus, I am 
educationally and mentally prepared for any coming struggle that 
might ensue. In addition, that experience is in the fields of 
heavy artillery and chemical warfare, so that gives me a broad 
base of knowledge to draw upon. In addition, I have been a great 
admirer of the military/political tactics of the Vietnamese during 
their war with France and America; the teachings of Vo Nguyen Giap 
and Ho Chi Minh could be very relevant in any future revolution. I 
left the military, in part, due to my difference of opinion in the 
use of the U.S. military around the world. I believed, and still 
believe, that the United States is incorrect in its continuous 
attempt at subjugating the people of Iraq-- it is not the civilian 
population that offended the [U.S. government], but the leader. If 
the United States carried out a realistic, practical policy, they 
would remove the offending leader in question and move on to other 
business.

Politically, I am ostensibly a member of the CPUSA, but this 
organization seems to be basking in it's past glories of the 20's 
and 30's. Since joining about two years ago, I have had very 
little contact with them. And, judging from their current state, 
it appears that they are, in your line of thinking, counter-
revolutionaries in that they are not taking a hard enough stand 
against the current government. The "McCarthy syndrome" pervades 
the organization and it appears they are too busy watching their 
backs to make much of a difference. I would, of course, be willing 
to give up such membership in favor of a more active, more 
organized movement.

I read with great interest the publications put forth on the 
Internet, and wish to know more. In particular I was intrigued by 
the "primer" mentioned that is used by the higher echelons of MIM 
to bring their lives and political views in focus. I would be very 
interested in just what this primer contains; if I am to ask for 
admission to such a group it would be incorrect of me to do so 
without having full knowledge of what would be expected of me 
should I be called upon to be a leader in the American Cultural 
Revolution. If there is an online version of this available I 
would be very grateful if it could be attached to a reply e-mail.

If you have any helpful advice that might enhance my understanding 
of your organizations (MIM, MSG, RAIL, and PIRAO), please contact 
me as soon as possible. I am fearful of what is happening to 
America, and I wish to take part in the Revolution when it comes. 
Please let me know what I can do.

MIM responds: Comrade, it is heartening to read the letter of an 
ex-soldier who realizes that the U.$. military has been shortening 
the lives of the Iraqi people nonstop. Already by writing this 
letter to us, you have taken action, because we will publish it, 
and others will take note. 

We also agree that rampant consumerism is insidious in seeming so 
harmless in incremental ways while still creating so much damage. 
When the guiding star is wealth and meaningless consumerism, the 
whole world is put at stake. It is the belief of Marxists that 
economic competition--to attract consumers for example--has a life 
of its own and we call it the "anarchy of production." This 
dynamic seen under capitalism leads both to war of contending 
alliances of business partners and weapons contractors and 
environmental destruction if a buck can be made. I have sent you 
our program. The first step toward getting involved with the 
primer is to take action in a party or party-led organization. By 
itself the primer is a mind-boggling document, but it makes more 
sense in practice. The primer is simply the collection of 
observations we have made about how to best resist destruction by 
bourgeois ideology.

We also agree with you about the CP-USA. Even before the Soviet 
Union collapsed, the CP-USA tended to dwell on its glory days in 
order to obscure its reformist degeneration today.

MIM gets much more done than the CP-USA with a much smaller 
membership, because the CP-USA long ago entered a phase of 
ideological confusion. More importantly, in a nutshell, the 
difference between MIM and other groups that did not understand 
the Soviet collapse is Mao's thesis of the "bourgeoisie in the 
party." The Cultural Revolution was about attacking the 
bourgeoisie in the party once the Communist Party has state power. 
Both the question of the Soviet Union and China revolves around 
this issue.