Party Primer

[Web Minister: I have abridged this for the Internet and to reflect resolutions 
since 1998. MIM is not much interested in discussing this primer anymore. It's 
become more than most people can handle in a sitting or even a year. Often it is 
best to start out with youth and go step by step why each policy prevents the 
degeneration of the party members or promotes propagation of the most 
revolutionary work. On policies of degeneration, often times people are 
unconscious of why they slip out of politics. That is why we started a primer. 
Geography and proximity are two big unconscious factors. Some of that is 
addressed here, but will not make sense to most people. The study of political 
degeneration is important. All political trends have degeneration. The question 
is how to reduce it by comparing where more and less degeneration happen. 
Obviously we have argued that a clear vanguard organization is better than not 
having one, though people degenerate both from vanguard parties
and from other activist work.]

Updated 5/98 by MC45 (changes are from 1998 congress)
The purpose of this book is to make clear to each member her/his
obligations and to allow h to work efficiently and intelligently with
the entire organization.

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction	
2.0 General Structure/Summary of Jobs	
3.0 Distribution of MIM Literature	
4.0 Literature Production
5.0 Relations with the Masses
6.0 E-Mail Ministry
7.0 Finances/PIRAO
8.0 Prison Program
9.0 Latino Nations Ministry
10.0 Security
11.0 Romance/Gender
12.0 Voting
13.0 Discipline
14.0 Living Arrangements
15.0 MIM Constitution
16.0 Party-led organizations and Non-Party-led organizations
17.0 Requirements to join MIM
Appendix -- Style Guide for MIM Publications

 1.0 Introduction

1.1 What to know. Members are responsible for knowing and applying
everything in this book. Additionally, members should have read all
issues of MIM Notes and MIM Theory and any documents given to them by
their branch (or the AM) detailing updates in either line or
structure/strategy.

1.2 Everyone has a Party job. People should not take on jobs they
cannot get done. Nor should people move from job to job without
recruiting someone to take their place.

1.3 Life Priorities. MIM cannot be responsible for the political life
of its members if they do not follow MIM advice on personal
circumstances. The MIM cause is worth a lifetime of devotion.

1.4 Internal Party literature. The Party is responsible for
disseminating the best books, essays and newspapers there are. The
Party makes no guarantees to people who don't read that they won't go
politically insane.

1.5 Comrades must study. All comrades are expected to read and study
books on the study group curriculum until they have read them all, at
which time they should move on to other Maoist literature. There is no
time limit to this study provided that comrades show continual
material progress. Branches (or the Theory Minister) are responsible
for determining that members are suitably versed in all areas of
study.

1.6 Combating revisionist bureaucrats. All comrades are encouraged to
criticize the party leadership on questions of line and practice.
Private struggle in non-congress periods and public (within the party) struggle during
congress periods are appropriate.

1.7 How to make changes in this primer (or Party line and strategy in
general). The principles with which the Party organizes itself are
constantly being improved. If you disagree with the material in the
primer, or elsewhere in MIM literature, formulate a proposal and
discuss it with your branch. Once you have a written proposal for a
better policy, there are two courses for change: (1) Submit the policy
to the Theory Minister, appropriate Agitation Minister, or other
appropriate minister, who may adopt the revision. (2) Submit the
policy for a party-wide vote in a congress period.  2.0 

 2.0 General structure, summary of jobs

Theory minister (TM): responsible for party line. Top dog in the
party.

Agitation minister(s) (AM): responsible for overall party strategy and
agitation practice. Number 2 in order of decision-making power. Also
responsible for personnel decisions--moving, building new branches,
etc.--the AM fills the role of the branch for comrades who are living
in a city alone. Also responsible for former GS responsibilities of
distributing flyers, party documents and other literature internally. 
MC RAIL Coordinator (MCRC): responsible for coordination and
leadership of RAIL.

International Minister (IM): responsible for MIM's international work including 
relations with other parties. Outside of individual trips and the normal 
functioning of MS, the IM will not exceed half of one comrade's 
responsibilities. Our goal is to abolish the IM by achieving the requisite unity 
in the ICM. Such unity may be best achieved by
dedicated "domestic" work.

Branch secretaries (BS): responsible for the general bureaucratic
upkeep of the branch including contact with other relevant party-wide
ministers on behalf of their branch.

Chief of the PIRAO (chief, Army head): highest authority in the party
on determining financial priority. Responsible for day-to-day matters
and long-term financial planning. All rights and duties previously
approved for the FDD now belong to the army head.

Security minister (SM): responsible for day-to-day security and
overall security theory.

Editors: Responsible for organizing and soliciting copy and for the
line it represents for their respective organs.

Population or topic ministers: These are ministers responsible for
MIM's agitation work within a particular population or topic. At this
point MIM has a prisons minister, an e-mail minister, a First Nations
Minister and a Latino Nations Minister. People interested in creating
one of these ministries for themselves should talk to the appropriate
Agitation Minister (depending on which language the ministry would
target).

2.1. Branches are on the bottom of the structure. Branch members
report to branch secretaries. Branch secretaries report to the
security minister and the PIRAO chief on a need-to-know basis. These
ministers may demand reports from branches when they deem necessary.
The security ministry is one notch above the branches in party
authority. The PIRAO chief is in charge of all financial priorities
for the entire party. Branches also work as a part of and support the
agitation and theory ministries.

Branches may prevent branch comrades from creating or receiving
ministries because of a problem with comrades' local practice of which
national leadership may not be aware. Branches have more information
about the comrades' individual practice, but branch authority is
secondary to that of the AM and TM. 

The internal ministries (SM, PIRAO) also work with the external
ministries. The external ministries report to the internal ministries
as requested.

The masses surround everyone. Everyone is accountable to the masses.

2.2. Agitation Ministries and Ministers

[The below refers to structure within one party. It can analogous
in many Maoist Internationalist Parties.]

Next up are the Agitation ministers. There is an English Agitation
Minister and there can be AMs for other languages if the comrades
exist to fill these positions. The internal ministries and the
branches as well as the population/topic ministries including MIM
Notes (MN), Notas Rojas (NR), E-mail, prisons, and any others that are
created fall under the AM. As non-English AMs are appointed, other
internal ministries will report to an AM as appropriate by language. 

Comrades who do not speak English may be recruited into the [MIP-Amerika]
provided comrades exist to translate for them. All comrades,
regardless of language ability, are responsible for all MIM line.

SM reports to the AM when called upon or when something relevant comes
up. Same with the PIRAO chief, although the PIRAO's authority on
financial matters will not be superseded by the AM. The TM in practice
will know less of a threatening security nature than others in the
party because this probably won't be necessary or useful to them.

At this point in the [MIP-Amerika's] development, all AMs will be required to
speak, read and write English and this is the only language that the
TM will be required to use. Non-English AMs will have the difficult
task of bringing MIM line written in languages other than their own
back to the comrades who do not read English. Non-English AMs will
also bring new line developed in their languages back to the rest of
the party. 

When new nationality comrades are recruited into [MIP-Amerika] and meet
the criteria to be AM, they can form another AM in their own language
and will answer to the TM along with the other AMs. 

For all ministries directed at a specific population (FNM, LNM or a
ministry for the Black nation or other oppressed nations), the
principal and deciding criteria for awarding the ministry will be
history of upholding democratic centralism, agreement with the need
for party hierarchy and a strong line against tokenism. The goal of
creating population ministries is to advance MIM line on and
recruitment of those populations; questions of line are principal in
this dialectic because correct line has historically been the only
successful bearer of recruits. Comrades with a tendency towards
tokenism and sizeism will be poor choices to staff population
ministries because they will water down the party line in the name of
gaining new recruits.

Ministry positions in the appropriate language can be appointed by the
AMs in between congresses. If someone takes the initiative to create a
new ministry they will, by default, be the minister of that ministry
unless they recruit someone else to do it or are not approved of by
the AM. 

The AMs are in charge of all practice. Every last bit of practice.
Leaving no practice out of this charge. Including branch practice and
individual practice.

All agitational literature is to be approved by the AMs or their
delegates: MN, NR, fliers, e-mail, etc. This is not necessarily on a
day to day basis, MN editor will put out MN and only if the AM sees a
problem will s/he step in. No day to day reporting. Same for fliers,
prisons, e-mail, etc. 

The AMs may only learn about some agitation that they consider new or
controversial after it has happened. Unless comrades are consciously
trying to hide incorrect practice and doing a good job of it, the
party and the AMs will eventually learn about all local practices
through newspaper stories, letter responses, fliers, etc. So some
practices that the AMs disagree with will slip through the cracks. The
AMs will open discussion on these practices when the AMs find out
about them.

When the AMs see a problem they have the power to correct it by
calling on the minister to change the practice. 

Practice is correct if it is consistent with current MIM strategy as
interpreted by the AM. The AMs have the power to investigate any
problems with practice, identify the incorrect line behind incorrect
practice, and call for self-criticism. 

Upholding the rulings of the AMs constitutes following democratic
centralism.

The AMs can call on anyone to give up all other work and do a
particular task, meaning write an article or do public opinion work on
a certain issue. This would likely be done by the AMs on a branch
level, rather than an individual one. This AM power could also involve
the creation or closing of a ministry. 

The AMs recognize that organizing the masses' money is an important
part of agitation work. The AMs will incorporate discussion of
newspaper selling, passing the hat at films, begging, etc. in their
coordination of party political agitation.

At least one comrade from each branch is required to read the MN list
and inform the rest of their branch of new line, strategy and tactics.

2.3. The Theory Minister

At the beginning of each new party-year (immediately following
congress), the TM will be responsible for assessing the state of all
comrades in the party. See section 13 on Discipline for details.

In the case of conflicts between AMs, the TM will resolve the
disputes. Any disagreements between party masses or ministers and the
AM can be appealed to the TM. Disagreements with the TM are eaten by
the disagreeing party until the next congress. The TM has final say on
the interpretation of MIM line and strategy until that interpretation
is overruled at a congress.

The International Minister and the MT editor report to the TM. MT
editor and IM can be appointed (or prevented from taking office) by
the TM. 

The congress constitutes the TM's accountability to the party.
Upholding the TM's rulings constitutes democratic centralism. If you
think you are right on an issue, you will struggle with the TM until
you understand why they are asking you to write a self-criticism. It
is a mistake worthy of self-criticism to break centralism, meaning
deviating from MIM strategy or line as interpreted by the AMs or TM.

The TM can call on anyone to give up all other work and do theory
work, meaning research a topic or figure out a line. This is, of
course, within reason (if your spouse is dying and your kids are all
alone you might ask to get out of this and the TM will be reasonable).

The TM has the power to suspend individuals/branches or demote
individuals/branches to non-voting, MSG or RC status. The TM has the
power to bypass and replace any official in the structure--including
the AM. Whatever power the Congress has to see to a smooth-operating
structure, the TM has in non-congress periods with one exception: the
TM can not purge the AM because the congress voted the AM in. Only the
congress can purge the AM.

All decisions by the TM can be appealed at the next congress but until
then all comrades are obligated to uphold TM decisions or quit. The TM
includes the job of Constitutional Lawyer (CL)-interpreting existing
policy and votes for MCs when questions arise, incorporating new
policy into the party Primer and producing new versions of the Primer
as necessary. The TM may delegate these CL responsibilities. The TM is
also responsible for vote tallying, another delegatable
responsibility.

2.4. Unity building

It will be the job of the AMs to foster inner-party unity in between
congresses on questions of line and practice. The AMs will take part
in a conference set up for the respective languages. On these
conferences people will post and discuss story ideas and copy as well
as controversial questions of agitation. This includes fliers and
other propaganda that contain new line or potentially controversial
interpretations of line. The AMs can delegate participation in these
conferences, to the MN editor for example.

There will also be an MT conference. These conferences will be for use
only to discuss MT copy, or agitation copy. Any new issue proposed
must be proposed in the form of an article, flyer, etc. or an abstract
for an article. This encourages theoretical self-reliance and mass
line. Editors or other facilitators will enforce this.

Whether or not a piece of propaganda is controversial is up to the
discretion of the comrade writing it. Comrades are expected to make a
good faith effort of introducing new interpretations to the AM even if
they think it should not be controversial. This will inform the AM and
the party of things going on as well as help us remain unified. 

This good faith effort is essential to smooth workings. (Note, smooth
doesn't mean error-free. Smooth means that errors can be corrected
shortly.) As part of a rectification process, the AMs may order that
all literature from certain comrades or branches must go past the
appropriate AM first. 

The principal means of unity building will be the conferences and
other regular communications. If an editor or the AM or TM thinks the
issue in question has nothing to do with the newspaper their
conference is supposed to deal with, they will talk about it in
private with the person who disagrees and will remove the discussion
from the MN, NR or MT conference. This is to avoid having informal
congresses going on all year long. The same will hold true for
disputes with the TM.

It is possible that this struggle will reach an impasse where one or
all comrades involved believe they are not making progress in the
struggle. The TM will be empowered to demand study and responses to
this study if such an impasse is reached. All comrades must uphold
democratic centralism at all times. If a comrade refuses to go along
with the decision of the TM, either on a question of practice, or on a
question of study and struggle, the TM can purge the comrade. 

If comrades are purged, they will be able to appeal to the party at
the next congress. They will not have access to internal discussions
of their purge. If the congress decides it needs to ask questions and
appoints an intermediary, it may. This intermediary must uphold the
decision of the TM, unless it is overturned by the Congress or the TM.

Comrades suspended from the party may participate in the portions of a
Congress related to their suspension. (Note, the TM may define
suspension on an individual basis. It can be minor, or major. But the
TM cannot *suspend* a comrade, and then restrict the comrade from
discussions of their suspension.) 

Discussions of purging a current comrade or suspended comrade will
take place within the view of the comrade in question. This comrade
will be allowed to participate. Investigations by the AMs and the TM
may be conducted in private, without the knowledge of the comrade
under investigation in the case of specific security concerns about
the comrade under investigation if this is deemed appropriate. All
other investigations, struggle and discussion should be held in the
presence of the comrade in question. The PIRAO chief may recommend to
the TM that a comrade be purged or have MC status diminished (e.g.,
reduced to probationary from full MC) if the comrade is disrupting the
party's financial work.

We do not go so far as to require
face-to-face visits on a regular basis at this time.

This is not intended to destroy our cell structure. Comrades will not
go around meeting each other for no political reason at will. This is
still the turf of the Agitation Minister.

Each branch should have the equivalent of one full-time comrade at
their branch to do party work.

When the TM or the AMs wish to engage in struggle with a particular
comrade or branch as a result of political errors by that branch, the
AMs may elect to struggle in person. Comrades must make a good faith
effort to use cheaper means of communication first. AM trips will be
funded by the party. Branches and individuals may not refuse to meet
with the AM. (This must be within reason, of course. Some people have
busy schedules. Very few comrades should be excused from mass contact
requirements. Therefore, all comrades should be able to find time to
meet with the AM. If necessary, time can be taken from mass contact.)

2.5. Requirements

Branch secretaries are considered ministers and must fulfill all
minister requirements. All ministers must pass the Fundamentals of 
Political Economy test with a 90%
within six months of taking the position.

The people in the party who make decisions on what MIM does and how we
do it should also be held accountable to their wallets. All ministers
will be required to give at least 50% of their disposable income to
the party. (See section 7 (Finance/PIRAO) of this primer for
computation of disposable income)

Barring physical disability, all comrades are required to get an
average of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise per day. This could mean 20
minutes of walking. This is obviously not enough to make comrades into
undefeatable fighting machines, but healthy bodies will help keep
comrades alert and alive for many productive years of Maoist work.

The AMs can only work a job or go to school for the equivalent of 20
hours per week. This calculation is made by the AM branches. AMs will
have no other major commitments that take up a lot of time, i.e. no
principal responsibility for kids or other relatives.

The TM is encouraged but not required to work or go to school no more
than part-time. The TM is not allowed to work or go to school more
than 40 hours per week. The TM will not have any other major
commitments that take up a lot of time, i.e. no principal
responsibility for kids or other relatives. The TM's branch is
responsible for making sure the TM does their job, and restructuring
time commitments on an as-needed basis.

All other ministry heads must meet all party requirements always (i.e.
no excusing them from requirements by their branch). This means 10
hours mass contact, financial donations, and participation in the
conferences (where appropriate), the congress, etc.

Non-ministers can be excused from requirements by their branches where
appropriate. Comrades can be excused from participation in inner-party
debate in exchange for losing their votes. Comrades can also be
excused from other party requirements in exchange for increased
financial donations (to account for members who work a lot of hours to
earn a lot of money for the party). Other exchanges can be worked out
by branches as well. 

2.6. The Party Congress

MIM will have a 6 week congress once a year.  This congress will be a time for
everyone in the party to raise questions of line and strategy to be
debated. All comrades are expected to participate in the congress
(unless excused by their branch or the AM). Comrades are expected to
raise issues of line and strategy that they wish for the party to
discuss. Comrades should avoid raising general questions and expect
the party to take up a discussion of the topic. Rather, comrades
should propose issues for discussion by writing position papers,
outlining what they think the Party's position should be so that
people will have something concrete to debate. If these are proposed
in the form of a vote, some debate is almost certainly ensured (or the
party will unanimously agree with this change). 

The congress will start on January 27 and be divided into two 3-week
sessions with a 3 week recess in the middle. The first session will be
from January 27 to February 16. On March 10, the second session will
run until March 31. Votes may be proposed up until the last moment of
each session. 

Branch secretaries must get their branch votes to the TM in a timely
manner. Votes which have not been PGPed to the TM by February 18 or
April 2--without a good excuse for a brief delay- will not be counted.
Results will be PGPed out as soon as possible after they are received.

Branch secretaries must report the votes of the TM, Agitation
Ministers, SM, FM, MN and MT editors separately from those of their
branch so that these votes can be reported to the party. When people
are changing positions, also report the votes of comrades proposed to
fill the above positions.

People will not accuse each other of harassment for things said on the
conference. Discrimination on the conference must be noted within one
week.

In between scheduled congresses, anyone can call for an emergency
congress IN THE CASE OF REVISIONISM, but ONLY if they believe the
party is going revisionist. Comrades who call for a congress for
anything less than revisionism will be judged harshly by their
comrades for wasting the party's time.

2.7. The theory

2.7.1 Accountability. This structure provides the party with
accountability at the highest levels. The party will be implementing
the line of specific individuals who were voted into a position for
nine months (based on their line as well as their ability to execute
the position). If the party does not like the results of that line and
the individuals have not changed their line then they can be voted
out. It will be very clear who is making what decisions.

2.7.2 Consistency and mass line. The party needs a structure that
allows it to implement consistent line and strategy down to the branch
and individual level. This is important for testing a line in
practice: for the mass line. This structure creates consistency within
accountability.

2.7.3 Time efficiency. This structure will save people from wasting
time on random debates that could be settled more quickly and
consistently by one or two individuals, especially where relevant line
or strategy already exists. If issues are really important and need
full participation, people will be more available to put time into
these questions at congresses when they don't waste time between
congresses. 

 3.0 Distribution of MIM literature

3.1 Each branch should set up regional distribution. All regular
distribution points that need bundles of MIM Notes mailed should be
reported directly to X. Notas Rojas can be ordered from Y.
Each branch will receive a number of papers proportional to
its size and agreed upon with the Distribution Minister. The DM can
push branches to take more papers than they think they should; DM
mandates on branch distribution responsibility will stand unless
overruled by the AM. The Distribution Minister is responsible for
coordinating distribution of all MIM literature and may seize
continental RAIL publications if s/he decides this is appropriate. If
you want to take on a piece of the Distribution Ministry, consult with
the DM for instructions. The AM can take responsibility for copying
and distributing videos internally at h own discretion.

Distribution is a tool to build the Party through building branches.
Distributing in an area brings MIM into contact with the masses. The
masses should be asked for donations and to buy Party literature.
People need to help fund the papers. Struggling with people will build
branches and increase the amount of cash from the membership that each
branch controls.

[DM may not cut the printed circulation, but is allowed to increase it.]

3.4 Subscriptions and literature list. When struggling with people
over the paper remember to sell them a subscription. Never have a
political meeting without asking for money. This is a bottom line
question that explains to the masses that the newspapers cost money
and that agreement has a price. You can also sell copies of other MIM
literature. In particular, anyone interested in Maoism needs to be
reading MIM Theory. The superficial analysis that we fit into short
newsy articles does not provide the real in depth material that people
need to study.

3.5 Above ground cadre. Each branch should have at least one above
ground cadre designated for public distribution. This should be worked
out within the branch. This person should go to local rallies and
political events to distribute the paper and struggle with anyone
willing. This person should also host events publicly by MIM. That
this comrade hosts events and distributes MIM Notes does not mean that
this person should broadcast membership in MIM.
Being above-ground refers to having one's face associated with the
party organizations, not to declaring that one is a member of the MIM.

Always be careful. This means wear a hat and sunglasses or whatever it
takes to conceal your identity. Do not give people your real name if
they ask, but see if you can find times to meet with those interested
in further contact. Always ask interested people for an address or
phone number if they can't commit to meet again. Stay out of the press
and away from the police. Above ground means you are taking some risk,
but not that you are advertising your presence more than necessary. 

Generally avoid other sectarian groups. For the most part they are a
waste of time and many contain FBI agents and other state lackeys. But
under no circumstances should you back down from a public debate with
another sectarian. MIM cadre should know enough so that a Trotskyist
or other revisionist or reformist can not defeat them in public
debate. The masses should never witness an exchange in which another
sectarian comes out victorious, either because the MIM cadre walked
away and let the sectarian slander Maoism or because the MIM cadre had
no answer for the sectarian's bullshit. There are some very easy
straightforward answers to most sectarian talk, if you are unsure ask
your branch for help or rehearsal before running into these
situations.

3.6 Voicemail/pager. Some branches have found it useful to set up a
public phone number. This can be done for a price at any number of
publicly run companies (generally between $10 and $20/month) and does
not require any identification aside from a fake name and the cash.
This can save lots of time being stood up by recruits who have no way
to contact you to tell you they can't make a meeting and helps to weed
out the serious from not-so-serious RCs. It also helps when setting up
public events with other groups who need a way to contact you.

 4.0 Literature production

4.1 MIM Notes, Maoist Sojourner and MIM Theory are the official Party
voice. Material in these organs is the Party's position unless
explicitly noted to the contrary. See Appendix for MIM Notes and MIM
Theory style guide.

4.2 The papers and theory journal are recruiting and organizing tools.
They fulfill two important roles for the party. First, they are tools
to recruit among the most advanced segments of the population. Second,
the writing, editing, production and distribution of the organs
organize the party and its line.

MIM's organs are not yet a source of information for either the masses
at large or the politically advanced. Anyone who relied on MIM organs
for their news would be woefully uninformed about the world and likely
unable to function as a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist. Given the scale and
frequency of MIM Notes production, any revolutionary with a practice
still has to read some major daily media organ.

4.3 Editors. Articles do not have to be grammatically, politically or
editorially perfect to get into MIM organs. Ultimately it is the
editor's responsibility to make articles representative of MIM line.
The editors make all the assignments and schedule the deadlines so
that the organs can come out on time and correctly reflect MIM's line.
Cadres wishing to write specific articles should inform the editors as
far in advance as possible to avoid duplication and to maintain a wide
variety of coverage.

4.4 Security. In general, MIM's organs will reveal specific
information about comrades' locations and political activity only to
the extent that it is politically necessary. For example, we will
identify prisoners by the state they are imprisoned in, unless their
writing is specific to their institution. Similarly, we will
principally identify college campuses where we do work as being on the
East Coast, or in the Midwest, etc., unless a specific college is
censoring us and we need to print its name to rally support for our
struggle against censorship. 

We will not print names, numbers or positions of people taking part in
political activity. E.g., we would never print an article stating that
five members of RAIL and one MC in Madison, WI organized a prisons
awareness week.

The exception to these rules is with printing information about the
PIRAO in MIM Notes. In the case of PIRAO, MIM Notes will be allowed
to print stories to the effect of "eight new people joined the PIRAO,
one as a commissioned officer." Or "in one East Coast locale, the
unarmed PIRAO carried out seven actions by irregulars."

4.5 MIM Notes. MIM Notes is the party's primary and most frequent
organ. All comrades submitting articles, whether involved in internal
debate or on the RC MN list, are expected to adhere to deadlines and
to the style guide. Print out the style guide and refer to it often.
With two issues per month, the MN editor cannot deal with late
submissions or extra editing work. The more finished submissions are,
the more time the editor can spend making the paper better during the
editing stage. One hour re-reading your article can help to make MIM
Notes a better organizing tool.

4.5.1 Audience and purpose. MIM Notes targets specific populations
based on which groups are most interested in Maoism under the present
conditions in imperialist countries. The primary
purpose of MIM Notes is to use current events, progressive struggles
and our own organizing campaigns to expose and build opposition to
imperialism and recruit support for revolution.

MIM Notes does not attempt to find a middle ground which may attract
Democrats, Libertarians, union organizers or social democrats.
Articles and artwork in MIM Notes specifically target the
intelligentsia, members of oppressed nations, prisoners and their
supporters and white nation youth. MIM Notes will not reflect
reformist or anarchist demands, labor or gender aristocracy demands,
or tail liberals and so-called socialists in order to slyly sway
people to support Maoism.

MIM Notes' level of writing makes it a paper primarily for the
intelligentsia. While we target proletarian politics, we are not out
to lower the reading level of the newspaper at this time. The better
we execute the small, targeted strategy, the quicker we will move on
to the next phase and become a true mass organ. This also does not
mean we won't print articles written by less literate comrades, such
articles are encouraged and printed.

MIM Notes articles should analyze current events in a way that best
exposes imperialism both inside and outside the illegitimate borders
of the United Snakes. MIM Notes articles should also publicize and
promote genuinely progressive struggles against imperialism. We expose
imperialist domination and promote progressive struggles in a way that
demonstrates our application and analysis of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
The choice of topics covered and the articles themselves should direct
activists toward the most effective ideological path and lead them to
take on winnable and successful battles against patriarchy and
imperialism.

4.5.2 Terminology and theory. In MIM Notes, it is correct to speak
concretely of all strands of oppression without perfectly laying out
exactly how it all fits together. Lenin believed the newspaper should
be a tribune of the people and the people should learn that the
communists stand on the right side of things, not necessarily that
they would understand exactly why. If an MN article succeeds in making
a theoretical point this will not make it wrong, but MN is not
obligated to explain every last difficult thought about three strands.
Activists and readers will be encouraged to investigate the line in
MIM Notes through further study and struggle and reading MIM Theory.

Just as MIM develops an extensive theory of revolution, we will make
advances in language which help us to talk more clearly about
oppression. We will replace the bourgeoisie's terminology with our own
as this becomes feasible. Comrades need to keep up with the changes in
terminology and understand the ideological reasons for these changes.
This is an important way to direct readers' attention to
contradictions within the current system.

4.5.3 Articles. All stories should be researched and informed as much
as possible. This means read and synthesize all the materials at your
disposal. Do interviews if you can; first-hand information is often
more accurate and more interesting, but please verify facts with
another source (e.g. population of a country, length of a struggle,
etc.). You should avoid using your home phone to do interviews.
Identify yourself as a reporter form MIM Notes and do not give your
real name. Remember: This is revolutionary journalism. You are not
objective. Challenge the people you interview. If you think they are
wrong, tell them so, and explain the Party line. Revolutionary
journalism is part of the Party's contact with the masses.

All copy by RCs will be PRESUMED to be out of touch with rational
knowledge; no RC articles will be printed without references to MT.
RCs who are allowed and encouraged by the party to write articles
without being in touch with rational knowledge are getting a false
sense of what the party is. The party is not an opportunist coalition
of people sharing space in a tabloid. We must defeat the practice of
printing empiricist or completely unresearched articles as a matter of
Bolshevik recruiting. The MIM Notes editor will be allowed to make
exceptions to the MT-citation rule for new and bizarre subject areas
not covered by MT.

All copy submitted by RAIL comrades or friends of MIM must be read by
at least one MIM comrade before being submitted to production. It is
the editor's responsibility to ensure that this happens. If the writer
does not agree with the changes necessary to make the article
represent MIM line, the editor should either add MIM's comments to the
article or the article should be passed onto RAIL Notes or rejected.
Regardless of the writer, copy in MIM Notes must reflect MIM line.

MC special sections editors are responsible for ensuring that their
sections represent MIM line and conform to the style guide. If these
editors do not know a relevant aspect of MIM line, it is their
responsibility to investigate and struggle with others over what the
application of the line should be. RC special sections editors will
suffer the same presumption of out-of-touchness as RC writers. The MIM
Notes editor is responsible for ensuring that all sections of MIM
Notes are firmly rooted in rational knowledge of MT.

MIM will not provide free publicity for non-MIM led organizations in
any English-speaking imperialist country, internal oppressed nation or
Spanish-speaking internal or external colony until such time as MIM
recognizes fraternal Maoist organizations. The exception will be in
the case of critical reviews that express our disagreements with non
MIM led and non-fraternal organizations. This means that we will not
run the articles of non-Maoist, non-fraternal organizations in our
press except as letters requiring critical response. This policy
extends to articles written by the MIM or MIM-led organizations, which
cannot include uncritical references to bourgeois nationalists such as
Zapatistas or Islamic revolutionaries. We can defend what is correct,
but what criticize what is not correct.


4.5.6 Security for discussion list(s) and accountability. The
discussion list will not reveal the identities of any of the
participants to other participants. Everyone on the list must use a
pseudonym, both for security reasons and for accountability. Messages
are forwarded from X to other participants.  Comrades
should not only use pseudonyms for the lists, but should have
appropriate pseudonyms to be used as bylines. These two can be
different, but the purpose is for accountability so you may want to
use the same one. The only occasion for not using a pseudonym is when
the material in the article/message reveals location or identity of
the author. Participants in the list do not need to know that RC4HX is
a Black womyn from Tulsa. Bylines for articles should also reflect the
level of leadership the comrade is responsible for. For instance,
readers should know that anarchist "Penelope" writes for MIM Notes,
but should also know that Penelope is not an RC or MC. Readers should
see that RCs take leadership in reporting on struggles of the people
in MIM Notes. So where possible, bylines are appropriate.

4.6 Artwork. Every article needs revolutionary artwork to go with it.
MIM organs need pictures, photographs and computer graphics. Each
writer is responsible for submitting art with their stories. Our
better graphics fall into several categories: We run actual
revolutionary art that says something about the subject. We have
graphs and pictures that explain or expand articles. Very occasionally
we have art that tells the story on its own.

We don't run pictures straight out of mainstream sources because we
fear getting sued. We do take those materials and create collages. In
collages try to stay away form color pictures such as those from Time
or Newsweek, and if you must use them, try to use black and white
copies. In reproduction, red tones turn out solid black, blue and
green spectrums turn out gray, except light blue which doesn't
reproduce at all.

People should send good pictures or collages even if we don't have a
story. Production may find a use for them.

4.7 Photographs. If you have a camera, take black and white pictures.
Take responsibility for getting the pictures developed and printed.
Short on time? Go to a camera store and ask for ILFORD XP2 film. This
is a black and white film that can be developed in the regular (C-41)
color process. You can take your pictures and have it developed at any
1hr photo processing store.

4.8 MIM Theory. MIM Theory is the party's official theoretical
journal, it synthesizes MIM line in theoretical articles, applies the
classics to our work today and is responsible for leading the party's
theoretical development.

4.8.1 Audience and purpose. MIM Theory is the place for hashing out
and researching the difficult points of party line. MT will put
forward three strands theory and make assertions where we are bound to
receive a brutal beating, because we are anti-Liberal and know we have
to make assertive generalizations. Specifically, MT articles will not
be deemed incorrect for leaving out angles from the point of view of
strands of oppression outside of nation, class and gender.

In our theory work, if we do talk about other potential strands of
oppression as they exist currently or historically, it will be for the
purpose of herding people into the scientific anti-Liberal three
strands camp, never just to water down a generalization about the
three strands. It would be permissible to talk about current lesbian
battering statistics to prove that three strands has violence in
romantic relationships covered.

MT will allow discussions of the communist future where all potential
strands are discussed. This will be considered philosophical
discussion, and will be strictly contrasted with material generalizing
about current or past history in which we will be obligated to put
forward a theory opposing infinite strand theory.

4.8.2 MIM Theory Schedule. MIM Theory will come out two times per year
at a length of approximately 200 pages. This reduction in our
publication frequency will continue until the party, including the
theory ministry personnel have had time to pursue financial projects
which will allow us to publish both larger and more frequent MTs.

4.8.3 MIM Theory Topics. MIM Theory topics should be picked at each
Congress. Comrades should propose topics raised from practice which
need further Party-wide investigation or analysis and topics. Congress
will debate the necessity and importance of the topics as well as
correct analyses of the issues to direct future issues of MT and point
the Party in the direction it will be heading in the next year.

It is the TM's responsibility to get at least two MT topics submitted
to Congress in vote form by the 15th of March. Every issue of MT will
have a theme, but content will not be limited to these themes. There
will also be subthemes to maximize our use of these 200 pages. Every
200-page issue of MT will feature at least 50 pages from other Maoist
parties. Articles for this section will be selected and edited as
necessary by the MT Editor in consultation with the IM and TM. The
work of publishing these articles is the responsibility of the MT
Editor.

 5.0 Relations with the masses

5.1 9 points cadres must memorize and follow.

1. Carry out the will of the majority of the Party in public.
2. Do not be dishonest with, cheat or steal from the masses.
3. Do not sexually harass, coerce, abuse or molest anyone.
4. Do not break the law without consulting the Party first.
5. Do not engage in armed struggle without consulting the Party first.
6. Do not get drunk unless in the presence of a sober comrade.
7. Do not use or possess illegal drugs.
8. Oppose incorrect thinking in the Party by speaking out within the
Party.
9. If the Party becomes revisionist, quit and organize a new
revolutionary Maoist Party.

5.2 Recruiting

5.2.1 Don't struggle with friends. Comrades will not have political
struggles with their personal friends, especially if such struggle is
related to recruiting them to the Party, unless there is no one else
available to do the recruiting. Pass off the recruiting of personal
friends to other people as soon as possible. Comrades will limit
themselves to cooperative activities that do not involve political
struggle with their friends.

5.2.2 Don't have sexual/romantic or non-professional relationships
with your recruits.

5.2.3 Don't recruit revisionists. People from other parties are
largely a waste of time and often dangerous. If there is a specific
revisionist or revisionist group that seems to be worth targeting
check with your branch or the AM for approval first. MIM is in favor
of picking up people disillusioned with bullshit ideology such as
Trotskyism.

5.2.4 Organize the masses into work with the party organizations. The
majority of people we meet will not have had prior experience working
with a Communist or broadly anti-imperialist organization, some may
not have worked with a mass organization or been an activist before
meeting MIM or RAIL. We should emphasize doing work with all new
recruits as a means of exposing them to our work and training them to
be activists. The other important aspect of doing work with all
recruits regardless of their level or number of meetings is it cuts
down on time wasted discussing the party and its organizations with
people who don't stick around more than a few weeks. It is our goal to
be building our organizations and their work, not to spend time
explaining these things to people who will not participate. Good
projects for very green recruits are: postering, free dropping with a
comrade, stuffing envelopes, and other things that allow you to talk
while working. If you need help with this, talk to the AM.

5.2.5 Organize study groups. All branches should organize regular
study groups to which they invite RAIL Comrades (RCs) for recruiting
purposes. These study groups should be primarily for branches that are
already organizing people into RAIL work. Those who are doing work
will more readily understand the need for study and be less likely to
flake. We also don't want to spend time trying to herd people into
discussion groups if they show no interest in building our work --
study group is not a charitable political education program.

To invite someone to a MIM study circle, first meet with them alone
and get them to agree to: (1) Security. They must not talk about the
fact that a MIM study group is going on or the people they meet there.
They may, of course, discuss any of the ideas or literature that they
talk about or read. (2) Revisionism. Study group RCs cannot belong to
other sectarian groups or have a conscious line against any of MIM's
four basic points (3 points and democratic centralism). A conscious
line means having a definite opinion to the contrary such as believing
that the Soviet Union is the pillar of world socialism and being
unwilling to discuss it as capitalist.

One RAIL or MIM comrade should lead the study group. This person holds
the Party line and ensures that party line is represented in the study
group.

It is not necessary for anyone in the study group to be open about MIM
membership. All people we meet will be RAIL recruits before they are
MIM recruits and they have no need to know who is in the party and who
is not. An MC can put h self forward as an RC and still point out MIM
line on various study group topics just fine.

Study group curriculum is the literature list. MIM produces the
literature list for distribution to provide the masses with Maoist
guidance in their reading selections and to promote the MIM press.
Books on the literature list should receive priority in promotion for
sale and study group. The obvious exception would be reading things to
criticize them. (for example, reading several Trot papers alongside
Mavrakis's On Trotskyism.) People in the study group can help choose
what will be studied when, but MIM study groups are not free-for-alls.
They are specifically designed and structured to lead people to
Maoism.

Study group leaders are responsible for leading study group RCs into
work with a MIM-led organization, this means recruiting people to anti
imperialism first rather than chasing people away by insisting that
everyone be a Maoist.

There is also a RAIL e-mail study group which RCs are welcome to join.
E-mail rail@mim.org for more info.

5.2.6 Single recruiter. Each RC at the stage of struggling to join MIM
should have an MC designated to struggle with them one on one. This
should be made clear to the RC so that they know who their contact
with the party is and who they should ask questions. If an RC does not
like their recruiter, they can struggle with the party over this, but
almost always this is a political disagreement. These matters should
be dealt with by the branch. All recruiters do not need to go to study
group. One comrade can lead 10 students to Maoism.

5.3 Mass contact. All MCs must have 10 hours per week of contact with
the masses. This means upholding Maoism, struggling with the masses
over political ideas. This is a vague definition because a lot of
things potentially fulfill this requirement and we should value
mainstream political discussions as well as high-level recruiting
struggles.

Party jobs may fulfill this requirement. Also any work outside the
Party that can be demonstrated to fulfill this definition will count
towards the 10 hours. Members of each branch will determine if other
members' work counts towards the 10 hours. Five of these hours need to
be in some Party recruiting role either through the mail, or in
person, this includes recruiting people to the Party-led
organizations.

Comrades who can't get mass contact on the streets because of security
and/or time constraints will participate in the RAIL e-mail study
group or any newly-formed party-run listserv or discussion list as a
way of having regular struggle and contact with the masses. Amount of
time put into this can vary and be determined locally.

5.3.1 Branch mass contact. Each MC branch must have 20 hours per week
of non-bought-out contact with the masses. This is to prevent the
situation where we have all cash cows at a branch and no one doing
mass work. Local mass work is the prerequisite to remote mass work
because the local work brings in the bodies to do the remote work. If
there is no mass work going on in a locale, there is no reason to have
a branch there -- the cash cows can be cash cows just fine in another
locale where they are supporting local mass work. The only exception
to this policy is if the PIRAO demands that cash cows live separate
from the labor cows.

Four hours of a branch's mass contact time must be spent pounding the
pavement meeting random masses and potential new recruits. These four
hours can be spent petitioning, tabling, selling papers, handing out
flyers, or any other activity where the Party organizations are
introducing themselves to new people face to face. RCs or MCs can
fulfill this requirement. The logic here is that established recruits
can flake and prisoners, while often tireless recruits, have limited
potential for assisting with recruiting new people on the outside.
Branches cannot put all their eggs in small recruiting baskets and
expect to make continual progress.

The AM will be responsible for balancing work among branches to make
sure all branches have time for meeting new recruits and regular mass
contact. The AM will also help branches decide where to put their mass
contact energies, e.g., should X city branch spend its time on the
local college campus or in the Oppressed Nations communities?

The AM will also be responsible for allowing branches to stay put or
dissolving them if they are not building the MIM organizations in
their locales. The AM will look at whether new RCs are taking over
basic mass and bureaucratic tasks (reserving rooms, tabling, making
flyers) and taking leadership in RAIL locally or continentally. The AM
will also evaluate if the branch is making enough money locally to
support its work and if it is supporting central party work. The party
trusts that the AM will use h god judgment and not uproot the party's
foundations gratuitously, or make high demands without regard for
comrades' personal sacrifice.

Until the AM and PIRAO chief agree that this is no longer necessary,
MCs moving away from their current branch must move to another MIM
branch. Only a functioning branch with MC(s) will constitute a MIM
branch, cities with RAIL branches but without MIM branches need not
apply. While new branches will not be built, existing ones may be
dissolved to consolidate our forces and build the party's work. All
provisions for meeting requirements and developing plans for a move
(section 14, living requirements) will still apply. The obvious
exception if we dissolve a branch is that we will not expect local
work there to continue at current levels.

5.4 Local P.O. Box. All branches should set up a local post office box
where they can receive mail. Branches can choose between the cheaper
post office boxes that require real identification of the person
opening it, or more expensive private boxes that will take a fake name
and no identification.

5.4.1 Branches are responsible for mail sent to them from their area
and can forward other mail to Z. Letters and responses should
be sent to editors of the appropriate organ. For instance, if it is a
letter about something newsy, give it to the MIM Notes letters page
editor (or Notas Rojas if it is in Spanish), and if it is about theory
give it to the MT editor.

5.4.2 Branches must send copies of their locally-made flyers to the
MCRC for distribution to RAIL branches. The MCRC will direct an RC to
put together packets for local agitation.

5.5 Local e-mail. Everyone should have a local e-mail account the
masses can use to contact RAIL in their area. E-mail is popular among
the intellectuals and students, and a convenient and close-to-free way
to struggle with and have more mundane contact with the masses. While
e-mail is a wonderful recruiting technology, it is also very easy for
the pigs to surveil. MIM cadre with e-mail accounts should create and
distribute public PGP keys for more sensitive communication with the
masses, and to encourage the masses we recruit to take security
seriously.

6.0 E-Mail Ministry. The Internet is a great thing for MIM because
it allows us free dissemination of our line, faster than any other
medium currently at our disposal. The E-Mail Ministry oversees
electronic distribution of MIM literature, a public MIM World Wide Web
server (at http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/) and e-mail
correspondence with the masses. The E-Mail Ministry is also a good
place for recruits to cut their teeth in political struggle.

6.0.1 Back issues of MIM Notes are also available via
the MIM Web site free of charge. 

6.0.2 Electronic distribution is not free, nor should MIM confuse the
disproportionately rich population on the Internet with prisoners or
other populations to whom we distribute literature freely. Although
the EMM may decide to make select portions of MIM Theory available on
the Web, we will not make entire issues of MIM Theory available in
full-text for free electronically.

6.0.3 Through use of the World Wide Web, MIM has been able to reach
people from all over the world who have both Internet access and an
interest in progressive and revolutionary politics. Our presence on
the Web is analogous to free-dropping MIM Notes, except that we do not
have to physically travel to make our literature available to people,
they can instead find us from wherever they are.

6.0.4 In addition to making the party more accessible to more people
over more geographical territory, it makes a variety of mass contact
experience more accessible to our more serious recruits. RCs who are
willing to do some level of recruiting work for the party may find
themselves with a lack of other comrades to recruit. E-mail can help
RCs by giving them the experience of trial by polemical fire, even if
such experience is not locally available, hence the requirement that
RCs participate in the Marxism List or substitute before joining MIM.
(See section 16 on joining requirements) The EMM will be responsible
for providing RCs with opportunities to take the same level of
leadership in non-publication online work as they do in face-to-face
agitation work. 

 7.0 Finances

The bedrocks of our finance policy are as follows:
a. Our third cardinal;
b. Our goal of making everyone with less than $10/hour jobs
professionals;
c. Materialism;
d. Widening and not deepening, meaning more officers and not fewer;
e. PIRAO army-style structure;
f. Internationalist ideology.

7.1 Tasks and goals of the People's International Rear-Area
Organization (PIRAO)

The PIRAO is the rear area support organization of the Maoist armed
struggle. We will also refer to the PIRAO as the "army,"
"revolutionary army," and MIM-led army" in short. As in some parts of
any rear area, the tasks of the PIRAO do not involve weapons. Instead,
the PIRAO proudly takes up the mundane tasks that need to be carried
out for the fight at the proletarian front in the semi-feudal and semi
colonial countries throughout the world. This requires taking
advantage of some organizational aspects of armies and integrating
that with the condition in the imperialist countries that armed
struggle is not yet appropriate. The MIM-led army is not something
prescribed precisely in previous Maoist science, but rather it is a
specific creation for the imperialist countries.

We in the PIRAO recognize the non-negotiable human-rights of the
starving, homeless and ill. We accept into our ranks anyone who will
not deny the rights of the Third World peoples to take up arms to
secure necessary food, clothing, medicine, a livable environment and
shelter.

In real armies, much time is spent in the barracks, not every day is a
day of decisive battle. Likewise, in the rear area, we aim to build an
army of people with long-run goals, vision and discipline. The goal of
the army is to speed up victory, not bring fast and easy glory.

At the front, the leading means of obtaining weapons is through armed
struggle--seizure of arms of defeated enemies. In the imperialist
countries, we cannot utilize such methods appropriately. What we
obtain--books, medical supplies and other concrete aid--can usually be
obtained with money. A key element of the army will be systematic
financial work. Other elements will include intelligence, technical
aid and medical advice.

7.1.2 Social basis of the PIRAO

We of the army led by the Maoist party of the English-speaking
imperialist countries--MIM--will say bluntly to our recruits: "it is
not our turn yet for armed struggle." We follow the teaching of Mao
who said that the people have nothing if they have no army. Mao also
said that the imperialist country communists must engage in long,
legal struggles. We must realize that this means we behind enemy lines
have nothing ourselves yet, but we can support the armed struggle of
the semi-colonies external to the imperialist countries in Asia, Latin
America and Africa.

We say bluntly to the Black, Latino and Asian-descended peoples of the
imperialist countries: "it is not your turn yet; instead seek to
hasten the blows of the oppressed peoples of the Third World: take up
your tasks in the rear area and do not seek armed battles until the
imperialists 'are really helpless' as Mao said we should do where the
imperialists have their modern transport and communications ready for
battle on their own turf." In the work of the army, internationalist
material aid is the most important. The small neighborhoods where
armed struggle can be carried out successfully are the exceptions at
this time. Even in those circumstances where armed struggle does break
out spontaneously and successfully our task is to guide it into more
organized unarmed forms. Armed struggle in the imperialist countries
can be much like taking drugs--a momentary thrill unattached to a real
political plan. It is mainly the fault of the middle-class
intellectuals for isolating the truly oppressed that such struggles do
break out and secondarily it is the fault of the lumpenproletariat and
other angry oppressed peoples for not seeking out more systematic
forms of struggle.

We say to the First Nations: where you have overwhelming support of
your peoples for the defense of your borders, we support your ongoing
armed struggle. It is time to utilize the Maoist party idea to fight
imperialism, because the white man understands nothing but the gun and
because you must communicate with your allies in an internationalist
and coordinated way. 

To the lumpenproletariat, we say, if you are willing to sacrifice your
lives in a shoot-out or go to prison, why aren't you willing to spend
60 hours a week for the revolution? We will help you to gain middle
class camouflage. If you are already in prison, you must help to keep
people out of prison by getting out the word on MIM and the army.

To the students and petty-bourgeois intellectuals we say, if the
people are dying in the Third World and going to prison in record
numbers in the imperialist countries, why are you advocating
compromise and "toning it down?" Why are you not linking up with the
oppressed and doing the work of militant creation of public opinion to
tap the energies of the peoples already so angry with the system but
improperly channeled into crime and gang violence amongst the
oppressed?


7.1.4 Distinctions amongst organizational types: RAIL, MSG, PIRAO, MIM

The question arises, how does the army differ from other organizations
of the oppressed, such as MIM, MSG and RAIL? Comrades should be
familiar both with the descriptions in this section of the primer and
with those in the party-led and non-party led organizations section.

Army leaders must be party members, but most army members will not be
party members. It is extremely difficult to get into the party. Army
recruits need not wait at all before they begin their work as army
members. The army will serve as a recruiting ground for the party.

MSG is for people with worked out differences with the party who are
nonetheless close to the party. The members will tend to be
intellectuals and may believe that vanguard parties, MIM in particular
or just MIM's leadership is overrated. In contrast, army members don't
make a big deal of their differences with the party if any. Army
members tend to think MIM's ideas are the most correct or plenty close
enough to being correct and the leadership of the party is if anything
underrated, so there is no problem with proceeding to concrete action
under the leadership of the existing MIM line.

RAIL members acknowledge party leadership like the army, but RAIL
members are under limited obligations of discipline and they focus
their work on building public opinion. The army's work is the furthest
removed from building public opinion. As a natural consequence, in the
army, there is less focus on arguing over line and winning public
debates. Army members may be quiet but decisive actors. People may
belong to both RAIL and the army, but while carrying out army
functions, they will follow army procedures. MSG members will not be
allowed in the army.

The army will have its share of right opportunists who simply avoid
political struggle, but it will also have its share of people who
simply don't like working with the intellectuals necessary for
building public opinion on a continuous basis. The army's work will
support the work of those building public opinion and the army will
defend the party, but its main task will be concrete and logistical
support to building the independence and material presence of the
institutions of the oppressed. To carry out this task effectively it
is absolutely essential that the army member accept the leadership of
the party. The army member will be content to carry out action and
will not demand constant political struggle and explanation. The pride
of the army is that it will carry out actions more quickly than any
other organization and with less talk. At the same time, the army
member will realize that no pace of action is ever fast enough for the
genuine revolutionary. 

There will be less emphasis on learning from discussion and more
emphasis on learning from years of concrete activity. Every legitimate
revolutionary is impatient with the pace of action here in the
imperialist countries. We must not become so impatient as to lose our
heads or burn out. One way to do that is to follow a leader who will
keep us in check. The army member understands that the party may not
be able to lead fast enough for anyone's likings including the
party's, but the more people there are willing to follow leadership
without question, the less time is spent bogged down in political
details.

Relative to other organizations, there is less emphasis on all
pervasive study in the army; although all organizations of the
oppressed require some level of political struggle. Army members will
be able to follow directives of the head of the army quickly and
without question, by focusing on an area of concrete agreement if
necessary before joining the army. The party leader of the army will
be the final decision-maker and there will be no jostling for
leadership or political votes for leadership. The army's leader will
certainly consult with the irregulars, infantry and officers, but the
army member can be assured that such discussion will be cut to the
barebones minimum. 

It will be the head of the army's decision whether or not someone is
working within army discipline or should be in another organization or
no organization of the oppressed at all.

The PIRAO is especially organized for the many people ready to
recognize MIM leadership and stop wasting time in political debate.
They have made up their minds in the short-run and they seek to do
concrete work with less emphasis on building public opinion and more
emphasis on building independent institutions of the oppressed. Some
people concentrate on writing books and struggling over the content;
in a nutshell, the army will focus on getting the money to print the
books and then the means to lug them around--concrete needs. 

The army is inconceivable without an already established party leading
the creation of public opinion. Now that we have a core of people
carrying out the tasks of the party it is possible to form the army to
do supplemental work. Without a party the first task would not be to
form an army but to engage in political struggle over the formation of
a line. Now that there is a Maoist line embodied in the MIM party,
there are further gains to be had in concrete work. Army members will
learn from practice their personal capabilities for contributing to
the struggle at the front and making a difference.

7.1.5 Leadership

As of the 1997 congress, the army head assumes all responsibilities
which were formerly with the civilian finance minister. The current FM
has become the secretary to the army head, and can be delegated the
tasks of collecting dues and other mundane responsibilities as the
army head wishes to delegate them.

The party guarantees to the army as in any Maoist party that the lives
of the army will not be wasted. In our conditions that means the work
of the army will not be wasted. Not wasting the work of the army means
that if there are already enough potatoes peeled for upcoming weeks
and anymore peeled will just rot, then the leadership should not ask
for more potatoes to be peeled. On the other hand, if our comrades
from the front might visit us for dinner, then we better do some extra
work.

The party also guarantees to the army that the head of the army will
be empowered to handle all political issues without ongoing
interference in daily affairs from the party that would bog down the
army. The army's leaders will be able to decide whether a suggested
means of struggle is too politically impure to use. The party will in
fact sanction the army leader's impure methods from the beginning to
make it clear that learning from action will be paramount in this new
undertaking.

Without party leadership seasoned in effective tactics and the
proletarian line, the army member would never learn how effective s/he
could be in practice. For this reason, the party takes very seriously
the job of appointing a leader to the army. The leader of the army
must have a proven record of establishing new undertakings and finding
new methods of struggle against the bourgeoisie.

Furthermore, the head of the army must have bourgeois training in at
least one major field of concrete endeavor--business, finance,
computers or medical. The army's leader will be expected to utilize
bourgeois expertise while knowing when the assumptions of bourgeois
experts are not appropriate for revolutionary struggle. This will be
known as being "both red and expert." For this reason the army can
have faith in its leader. 

Finally, just as the army head has all the rights and responsibilities
formerly accorded the FDD, there will be no doubt that the PIRAO chief
needs all the information the FDD would have needed to do h job. There
will be no doubt that everyone must report their financial projects to
the FDD, otherwise it would not be possible for the FDD to have the
highest authority on financial priorities in the party. No one in the
party will have turf rights in army business except during congress.


7.2 Local expenses. 

Branches are responsible for local expenses. These include (but are
not limited to): copying costs, mailing costs, infrastructure costs
(e.g. filing cabinets), local employees, etc. 

Branches get the bulk of their funds from MC contributions, MA
contributions, donations, and literature sales.

For sums of money spent that are less than four digits, if they go to
any regular activity, the branch secretary will summarize the activity
(not the amount) and pass it to the army chief. The sums will not be
tallied, but the army head needs to know what projects are contending
with what.

7.3 National expenses.

Ministers in charge of nation-wide ministries (such as MN/MT/NR
production, national distribution, prisons, etc.) should submit an
annual budget to the PIRAO chief. The PIRAO chief will decide if funds
for the ministry should be raised locally, or if the ministry should
receive a stipend from the PIRAO. In general if you have a new project
to propose you are also going to have to find the funds to make it
happen.

The finance ministry gets the bulk of funds for regular operation from
branch contributions. The finance minister decides upon each branch's
contribution based both upon the branch's ability to pay and the level
of nationally funded work. Branch secretaries collect the branch's
monthly contribution and send it to the finance minister.

7.4 Loans (MC to MIM).

Occasionally, branches' regular contributions may not cover short
term, extra-ordinary expenses (e.g. start up costs for a business, a
national speaking tour, etc.). If these short term costs cannot be met
with outright donations from the masses or MCs, the finance minister
may ask MCs to loan MIM the necessary funds. Loans may be at interest
rates up to party growth rates. At a pre-arranged date the cadre
submitting the loan may begin subtracting the loan payments from h
regular contributions.

7.5 MCs' basic monthly financial commitment.

MCs should use the following Financial Commitment Worksheet to
determine their minimum monthly contribution. An MC's monthly
contribution can be used to fund local work or national work. Branch
Secretaries are responsible for raising the Branch's monthly
contribution.

Monthly Financial Commitment Worksheet

1.  Monthly Income            __________
2.  Rent                 __________
3.  Food                 __________
4.  Utilities                 __________
5.  Support of dependents          __________
6.  Miscellaneous                 $50.00
7.  Other (*)                 __________
8.  Total Cost of Living      __________
    (add lines 2 through 8)
9.  Disposable Income              __________
    (subtract line 8 from line 1)
10. Monthly Commitment (**)   __________
     
(*) Expenses listed as "other" require branch approval.

(**) MCs will commit 10% of line 9 or $50 per month, whichever is
greater. Ministers will commit to 50% of line 9 or $50 per month,
whichever is greater.

7.6 Money in lieu of mass contact.

Comrades with high-paying but time-consuming bourgeois jobs will often
find themselves hard pressed to meet mass-contact requirements. These
requirements may be waived if the comrades contribute funds equivalent
to their hourly wages for every hour of mass contact missed besides
their normal contribution. For example, if an MC makes $12 an hour and
miss 20 hours of mass contact in a month, they should contribute an
extra $240. Comrades' weekly salary should be divided by 40 to
determine their hourly wage--even if they put in more than 40 hours a
week at their job. For example, an MC who worked 60 hours each week
for $800 would donate $20 to the party for every hour of mass contact
s/he missed.

Comrades who are undergoing intensive schooling (e.g. medical school)
should contribute at least minimum wage for every hour of mass contact
they miss besides their basic contribution. 

7.7 Loans (outside source to MC).

Comrades who are temporarily unable to meet financial requirements
will take out loans to make sure that they will meet their financial
requirements.

7.8 MA contributions

MSG members are required to make a donation of at least 1% of their
annual income or raise at least $20 a month, whichever sum is greater.
This financial requirement can be met by buying supplies including
literature for the party to distribute or by selling literature worth
that amount. Other RCs should be encouraged to make regular financial
contributions as well.


 8.0 Prison Program

8.1 Literature for prisoners. Subscriptions to MIM Notes are free to
prisoners. MIM distributes essays and books by Marx, Lenin and Mao
free to prisoners when they are available. MIM also distributes other
revolutionary literature when it is available. MIM encourages
prisoners to establish study groups and distributes books on the
literature list to them at cost or for free if the have no money and
donated books are available.

Most prisoners have little or no income, but they can sometimes make
contributions in stamps. Some have outside sources of income, and it
should always be made clear that they are expected to pay for
literature if they can. All are encouraged to contribute to the
newspaper and engage in struggle with the MIM prison minister about
the issues in the literature we send them.

Non-prisoners are encouraged to help MIM distribute revolutionary
literature to prisoners by contributing money to MIM specifically for
the prison literature program. MIM sometimes gets grants from
individuals or groups to buy and distribute certain books to
prisoners, and the Party is always on the lookout for such
opportunities. Sometimes people who will not give money directly to
the Party will support the Party's work in distributing literature to
prisoners.

Prison libraries can be a good way to get books into the prisons. Many
prisons will not allow prisoners to receive used or hardbound books,
and practically no prison will knowingly allow prisoners to receive
books sent from someone other than their publisher (which must first
be approved as a vendor by the prison system). Prison libraries can
sometimes accept many of these books that individual prisoners cannot
receive. Comrades doing prisons work should ask all prisoners in their
turf to find out the name of their prison's librarian and if possible
to get the librarian to write to us telling us that it's okay to send
in books. A paragraph can be included in the form letter you send
prisoners asking them about this. MIM has distributed many books this
way and it is cheaper than sending them in one by one.

8.2 Prison minister

The prison minister's primary tasks are to coordinate correspondence
with and recruiting of prisoners, run the literature for prisoners
program and edit the prison page for MIM Notes. MIM considers
prisoners to be one of the most revolutionary groups in Amerika today.
They have long been MIM 's best correspondents, and have shown
themselves to be very responsive to MIM's revolutionary analysis. They
make regular contributions to MIM Notes and distribute the newspaper
under the rigid censorship of the institutions in which they are
locked up.

The prison minister is also responsible for building a prisoner mass
organization that takes leadership from MIM and works in cooperation
with RAIL. The prison minister can ask that RAIL comrades work with
the prisoners to form this organization, or can hand pick prisoners
s/he thinks should lead the organization and write to them h self. All
prisoners we work with should be encouraged to work with the prisoner
mass organization and to organize other comrades into this
organization. If you have questions, read MIM Notes no. 161, p. 7, and
talk to the PM.

8.3 Correspondence with prisoners

The prison minister coordinates MIM correspondence with prisoners and
produces the prisons page of MN. Branches are encouraged to take on
their regional prison turf and additional prison turf as well.
Branches will then be responsible for corresponding with the prisoners
within their turf. This correspondence can be done by RCs or MCs. All
relevant MN, NR or MT copy should be forwarded to the appropriate
editor.

Correspondence with prisoners is currently carried out through the Los
Angeles mailing address. This means that all prisoners will write to
that address and letters will be forwarded to the branches as they
arrive. Los Angeles takes care of mailing out the newspaper to all
prisoners who maintain contact with MIM at least once every three
months (and who want the paper). Other literature is the
responsibility of whichever branch has any given prisoners as their
turf. This means they either arrange with the Prisons Minister to send
out some book or magazine to a prisoner or they take care of it
themselves.

8.4 Prisoners joining MIM

Prisoners who agree with MIM's dividing line questions and uphold what
they can of the "How prisoners can help build MIM box" are considered
MIM Comrades. Obviously they can not participate fully in the party,
and their responsibilities and duties will be different. Also, there
will have to be a transitional period for prisoner MCs when they are
released from prison before they can take up full membership on the
outside. Work with the prisons minister and the general secretary on a
case-by-case basis for prisoners wishing membership in MIM.

 9.0 Latino Nations Ministry. A MIM comrade under democratic
centralism will serve as the LNM. The ministry requirements are that a
comrade have a history of upholding democratic centralism; in
particular s/he must have a correct line on party hierarchy and
against tokenism. Spanish-language skills are a plus but not a
requirement within the MIP-Amerika.

9.1 Notas Rojas. Publication of NR/NRF is the primary responsibility
of the LNM.

9.2 Spanish-speaking mass organizations. Once NR and NRF are being
published consistently, the LNM will begin the task of building
Spanish-speaking mass organizations. These organizations can be built
in conjunction with or as part of RAIL. These organizations will
formally organize our friends in MIM circles who are not ready for MIM
membership. The organizations will also be an honorable place for some
comrades to do correct anti-imperialist work for their entire careers.
Just as a comrade can choose to work indefinitely in RAIL, a persyn
can be a valuable Spanish-speaking anti-imperialist without ever
joining MIM.

9.2.1 The Spanish speaking mass organizations will develop work among
Spanish-speaking prisoners, on the Puerto Rico national liberation
struggle, in support of immigrant/migrant labor struggles and in
support of anti-u.s. imperialist struggles throughout Latin America
and the Caribbean.

 10.0 Security

10.1 Who is an enemy? Enemies of the people and its Party are: (1) the
capitalist class, meaning those who own the means of production
outright, (2) the imperialists in the government such as cabinet
members, Senators or Representatives, (3) the government's
professional lackeys such as police, CIA, FBI, DEA. This also
generally includes members of the armed forces. Although MIM recruits
in the military, this should be left to those operating under specific
instructions to do so. Potential cases should be cleared with the
branch. (4) Conscious revisionists, meaning anyone in an openly
revisionist group, are also enemies of the people.

Revisionism refers to political views that claim to be Marxist yet
revise Marx's work fundamentally. Revisionists commonly downplay class
struggle, overplay the struggle to increase production and technical
progress compared with political matters, don't believe imperialism is
dangerous, advocate reformist means of change and don't uphold the
dictatorship of the proletariat. MIM also calls revisionists phony
communists or state capitalists if they are in power.

10.2 Security Levels. To better plan general responses to certain
specific security threats, we look at security on three different
levels. Level III is business as usual. Level II is the moderate or
increasing danger of repression. Level I is repression or the
immediate threat of repression directed against the Party.

10.2.1 Level III--Business As Usual. The Party currently operates in a
non-fascist political climate where it can exploit bourgeois rights to
a great extent. Organizing is fairly easy and the repression against
us is very light. There are occasional arrests but they are for
misdemeanors and are not carried out in a systematic way.

At Level III, the United Snakes empire carries out only small military
actions which do not require a draft or heavy troop losses. Lebanon,
Panama, Grenada, Peru and even Iraq are all examples of this. If
things had gone worse for the United States in the Gulf War, it very
likely would have advanced us to Level II. Level III includes lots of
the lead up to war such as trade wars, civil war in U.S.-allied
countries and lots of arms sales.

At Level III people need to carefully follow all the Party's security
guidelines. They need to know what to do if things take a turn for the
worse. This means you need to know where you are going, who to keep in
contact with and how your Party work will continue.

10.2.4 Branch plan. Each branch needs to have a security minister and
an underground area where it will go if attacked or if Level I is
declared.

If possible, the branch should go as a whole or in several large
groups. A group can better tackle the tasks of setting up a new place,
doing different types of political work and checking security. In any
case, each cadre should know where s/he is expected to go at Level I
and be confident that s/he could go alone if necessary.


10.3 Minister of Security. The minister of security is responsible for
both keeping day-to-day operations out of the view of enemies of the
people and preparing plans and infrastructure so that the Party could
function completely underground.

(1) Comrades will discuss the structure of the party and the party's
functions within their own branches as they pertain to those branches.
Comrades involved in more than one branch of the Party will not mix
discussion of those branches as listed in above.

(2) If necessary the Minister of Security will delegate his/her power
to an individual as a messenger in this regard. Even in this regard
the Minister of Security will take responsibility for increasing the
Party's security risks by weighing the costs and benefits of using
such messengers.


10.4 Ground Rules. These are rules that pertain at all levels.

10.4.1 Do not discuss Party business in public. Do not discuss the
Party with non-Party members, beyond what is required for recruiting.
Do not discuss party business on the tactical level in the base house.
We assume that this is bugged as are the phones. Go outside, to a
diner, anywhere to quietly and discreetly discuss things that must be
discussed. If you must communicate about sensitive issues in the
house, write down notes and then tear them up and throw them away when
finished.

Along these lines, it is a good idea for the branch to have a trash
bag in the closet used for party literature where these sensitive
notes and old mail, etc. are put. Take out this trash when
freedropping or whatever, so that it is not connected to your home. Be
careful and considerate with this disposal.  

10.4.2 Telephone. This is the most common question. What can the phone
be used for? How insecure is it? Because we always operate on the
worst-case scenario in terms of making predictions, we assume that the
phone is bugged. This also means that the online mailing lists are
monitored. Do not say things on the phone, or write things on the
mailing lists because they are even easier to read than a phone call,
that you do not want the pigs to read. This means that the pigs know
what we are talking about, what stories are to appear in MIM Notes,
what some of the intra party debates are, etc. But they do not know
(1) names, (2) places, (3) details of operations such as comrade X is
being sent on a political mission to Atlanta on Jan. 1, 1999. The
phone should not be used for important meetings or meeting times
(sometimes unavoidable in the case of recruits). If you're going to
call a meeting to discuss articles for the paper, then who cares. But
if you are going to have a meeting to discuss someone's arrest,
comrades should be called and told to go to X place to hear about a
meeting. This keeps the specifics off the phone.


10.4.3 Pretty Good Privacy (PGP). PGP, a data encryption program,
represents a step forward in MIM security. It is an extremely useful
and important tool for our internal communications. We don't need to
use PGP for most messages posted to the party's internal mailing lists
at this time.

Important as PGP is for us, we need to understand its limitations. To
the extent that home or office computers are physically monitored,
i.e. there is a camera placed facing the keyboard so that when you
type in your passphrase the pigs can instantly know what it is, PGP
does not help.

Some folks think the use of passwords for the computer itself is
"silly" because people leave all kinds of sensitive plaintext
documents all over their computers, rooms, etc. and that simple
computer passwords are relatively easy to crack. That kind of
reasoning is nihilist and dangerous. At the point at which the FBI is
tapping our phones and bugging our houses (the assumptions we
currently operate under) it is just as easy for them to send pigs to
be our plumbers, fix-it workers, etc. and gain physical access to our
houses before something like a raid or a search. This is why we need
to operate using physical as well as electronic security precautions.

The recent arrests of the Florida Anarchist Black Cross are a good
example. As far as we know the ABC comrades were spraypainting or
doing other such vandalizing of public property, and were charged with
Criminal Mischief (spray paint and stencils were seized at the house).
The kind of work we do is clearly different in that respect. But the
other things that were seized were computer disks. By the time disks
are seized from our houses in an open raid, whether with a warrant or
not, things are getting hot and serious. We do not want our
communications and records, etc. on disk in unencrypted form for all
the FBI to read at its leisure. All sensitive files should be backed
onto floppies encrypted in PGP, and locked away. Sensitive files
include distribution mailing lists, structural/organizational
documents (like this Primer), and financial information about the
party. If you have questions about whether a document is sensitive,
discuss this with the SM. Plaintext versions of these files should be
deleted, including automatic backups. Do this twice a week as a normal
routine, and by the time we are raided this will be an old habit. Do
not store sensitive unencrypted documents on computers.

Password protect your computers, and do not use a networked computer
(other than checkers for those who have physical access to that
machine) to compose and send sensitive documents.

10.4.4 Online security. The following are the rules you need to follow
on the party's online mailing lists:

(1) Do not use gendered pronouns.
(2) Do not refer to the activities of yourself or another member that
in any way reveals their location.
(3) Do not refer to people you talk with, or talked with in the past,
this reveals their location in proximity to yourself.
(4) Do not refer to your branch or state the views of other people for
them. You are only online to represent your own views. If others agree
they will say so. Saying that your branch thinks something could mean
one person and it could mean 100 people and no one else should know
this anyway.
(5) Do not discuss your branch as a branch, this reveals something
about the extent and number of people working with you.
(6) Do not introduce new people on our internal mailing lists. This
reveals that you work with them, and they can introduce themselves
just fine.

10.4.5 Here's how our mailing lists should appear to observers:

No one should be able to tell that MCxx who is a man works with MCyy
and they have a branch where they keep books with records. Instead it
should appear that MCxx thinks A. MCyy may or may not agree with A.
MCxx and MCyy may or may not work directly with one another and may or
may not be at a branch with other people.

Generalizations about Party history can be made without revealing any
of these things.

10.4.5 Problems In Distribution. Distribution is a place where cadres'
work is taken partially above ground. It is also doing something that
the state and hostile collaborators may not like. Always carry one
form of identification with you when doing distribution. Produce it
only if you are being arrested, or if you reasonably believe that
showing the ID will avoid an arrest. Otherwise, avoid hostile
interaction with the pigs.

In going to large demos, make sure to wear a hat and sunglasses and
stay out of pictures. Stay away from the media and ignore them if they
question you. Stay away from other sectarians; if they approach you,
however, they can buy or trade for a paper.

If you are asked to leave and are on private property, you should go.
If, however, you are in a public place such as a college or a park,
you may want to stay until you are given an ultimatum. Above all,
avoid arrest. This does not mean that you have to roll over and die if
some administrator asks you to leave. MIM has successfully beaten back
administrative bureaucrats with a few phone calls to the press. Just
push to have the same rights as any other person.

Make sure to follow the recruiting and other procedures while doing
distribution. See section 3.5 for details.

10.5 Dealing With Arrest/Hostile Situations. In all hostile situations
-especially where there is the possibility of being arrested--comrades
should be alert and pay attention to each other and to details. This
means video tape what is going on if possible; at least record or take
some sort of notes as the event happens. If you must write anything
down, write "To My Lawyer" at the top. This makes it privileged
communication.

If someone gets arrested, or there is some event which may (even
remotely) end up in the legal system, write out a full and extremely
detailed report. This will become a legal record. Make sure to sign
and date every page in the presence of a notary public. Have the
entire document notarized.


The status of the security level may be announced online by the
security minister in appropriately cryptic fashion. PGP the SM if
someone gets arrested.

10.6. If you get arrested:

(1) Call the Party first, and make sure that the Party knows the name
and number of a lawyer to call immediately after receiving your call.
Do this even if the pigs say that you will only get one call. A local
ACLU or national Lawyer's Guild is a good place to find a lawyer.

(2) Make no statements and do not discuss what happened. No statements
means NO statements. Wait for your lawyer to arrive.

(3) Ask what the specific charges are.

(4) Ask if you are going to be detained and where.

10.7 The Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996

The Anti-Terrorism Act provides a framework for the Secretary of State
to designate a list of foreign terrorist organizations, to whom it
would be illegal to provide ANY material support, such as contribute
money, or humanitarian aid such as books, and other equipment. The
Department of State then passes the list onto Justice Department for
review. As of January 20, 1997, no groups have yet been designated,
and there is no known timeline for these designations. The difference
between this Act and the above-described law is that here it matters
who the group is, but NOT what the material support is going to. The
only exceptions are medicine and religious materials.

For our purposes we can assume that our foreign friends will be
designated within the next few months. Note, again, that even without
this Act, it is already illegal to give money to foreign (or domestic)
terrorist activities.

"Whoever, within the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of
the United States, knowingly provides material support or resources to
a foreign terrorist organization, or attempts or conspires to do so,
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 10 years,
or both."

Note that this applies equally to anybody, regardless of who you are.
The only distinction as far as who does the activity, rather than what
the activity is, is discussed below regarding non-U.S. citizens. In
other words, it does not matter whether it is Joe Blow, RAIL, or MIM
who gives the money or other material aid (i.e. books) to the group
that is designated as terrorist.

Also, this Anti-Terrorism Act only applies to foreign groups. In other
words, MIM itself would never be designated under this Act.

So, what can we do that is still legal? While this prohibition on
giving money and other materials is going to be challenged (probably
by the ACLU and other groups) as an unconstitutional infringement of
the First Amendment, we can still show movies, poster, write articles,
and do all the agitation and building public opinion work that we do.

If you show a movie about the Philippines, and you have a can at the
table where you are selling literature or collecting donations, make
it very clear that the donations are not going directly to the people
in the Philippines, and make it clear that is because it is illegal to
do so. Tell the audience that the money is going to help fund our
organs that help us to serve the people by building public opinion and
independent institutions.

Sojourners/non-u.s. citizens:

The Anti-Terrorism Act provides for harsh deportation proceedings,
including secret evidence against the accused, for non-citizens who
violate this act. Anyone who is concerned about their particular
citizenship-status should contact a legal services organization that
specializes in immigration law.

 11.0 Romance/Gender

11.1 Don't date revisionists or enemies of the people.

11.1.1 The dating policy

We have defined a monogamous sexual practice as doing everything
within your power to maintain a relationship once started. Romance is
defined elsewhere as a relationship between two people that has an
active sexual component.

Here we define sex a getting underneath someone's clothes. Unless
otherwise specified the Party does not care what happens before sex.
There are no restrictions on dating before sex happens unless other
specified.

We have already defined recruits as off limits for starting romantic
relationships. This definition of sex gives cadres an incentive to
engage in relationships outside the circle of RCs and the Party.
Another point to remember is that the policy does not blame Party
members who are "dumped." They just have to do everything they can to
please and certainly not piss off anyone they go out with. Push comes
to shove, the Party must verbalize its principles in romantic
relationships, but it must not take actions that would leave anyone
angry. A large part of violent crime recognized by the government in
Amerika derives from romantic relationships. Hence romance is a kind
of security risk to the Party. That isn't to say comrades should live
in fear, but to be aware of the possible repercussions of what they
do. To do that it may be necessary to avoid certain people altogether.
It will also help to be forthright and actively articulate in one's
romantic relationships.

By monogamous dating we refer to that stage in romance where there is
no "forever" commitment established yet. "Forever" was defined as the
foreseeable future under imperialist patriarchy. That should be
considered forever practically. Even under socialism we doubt the
first thing to happen will be the creation of free love.

This document does not address the issue of already existing romantic
relationships within the Party which are well-addressed elsewhere.
Those relationships should continue in forever monogamy.

How does one follow monogamy in the dating stage? It is easy:, Don't
have sex with more than one person.

The point is that before comrades engage in sex they must intend to
have a monogamous relationship with the person they have chosen. The
good thing about this way of going about things is that it forces
people to establish a lot of things verbally before sex. Sex is fully
recognized as a dangerous area of commitment and so care is taken to
analyze what one is doing before one does it.

I. Comrades dating people who are not comrades or recruits will not
engage in sex before the comrade has accepted a monogamous practice
for the duration of the romantic relationship and states such
intentions to the person outside the Party.

Once a comrade starts a sexual relationship, s/he must "break off" all
other dating relationships. That means comrades will be expected to
have a strict policy of not dating anyone else while having sex with
someone.

Of course the Party will expect, in the long-run, that non-Party
romantic partners will become ever-closer to the Party and eventually
have the concept of "forever monogamy" explained hopefully for the
purposes of carrying it out in practice.

II. Of course, in the inner-Party situation, the Party can intervene
fully on a case-by-case basis. For Party members, the definition of
sex includes the definition above, but it is also stricter. Before two
comrades within the Party get underneath clothes, kiss (in a way that
could be construed as romantic) or pet clothed private parts, they
must inform the Party of their intentions to date each other and
receive approval from their local branch.

Before comrades get underneath each other's clothes, they must also
agree to and understand "forever monogamy." The Party will expect
comrades in the inner-Party situation to "walk on water" for each
other for the benefit of party stability.

III. In the Party-MA situation the logic is the strictest. Sex as
defined in inner-Party relations is forbidden. Basically don't touch
an MA if the situation can be interpreted romantically.

The exception to this is relationships that started before the MA was
defined as an MA or before the MC joined the party. Comrades who date
recruits through this exception will be sure to inform the Party so it
is prepared for certain issues in recruiting. MA exceptions will have
section I rules apply.

Party members will not engage in political struggles or recruiting of
their friends or romantic partners unless there is no one else in the
branch available to do the job. Instead Party members will engage in
strictly cooperative practices with their friends and romantic
partners.

In all cases (I, II and III) comrades are reminded that they must not
force sex that is not consented to in the bourgeois, legal sense; they
must not use violence against romantic partners in disputes
(battering); they must not deceive or lie to romantic partners (or
anyone else except the enemy who by definition is off limits for
dating); they must not gossip; they must not impugn the individual
motivations of anyone except the enemy with psychological babble; they
must criticize those proven guilty of bad patterns of gender behavior
for their actions, and they must not pry into other people's leisure
time/romantic activities unless given evidence of incorrect behavior
from one of the parties concerned.

In conclusions, the least strict situation is in Party romantic
relationships with the non-MA masses. The most strict situation is
that of comrades and recruits. MCs can date each other, but before
having sex (as defined in case II) they must be "married."

11.1.2 Don't struggle in relationships. Comrades in romantic
relationships within the Party will not struggle over political
issues. Instead, issues when they arise will be referred to the Party.
Where one person in the relationship feels that the issue is
political, the issue will go to the Party for resolution and political
struggle. In general, this means if you're at a branch, bring the
issue to your branch. The branch can decide if it is an issue the
general Party needs to discuss.

The reasons for this have to do with the complexity of disentangling
Eros and power while also fashioning the critical faculties to be
scientists armed with Maoist thought. Also the Party has some interest
in doing its part to implement the line on monogamy by helping as best
it can to smooth out political problems created by the need for a
vanguard Party. 

11.2 Recruits and their sex lives. Existing MIM line should be
understood to mean that MCs should not encourage recruits to break off
with relationships that they are in prior to joining. Since RCs are
not under centralism, there is no way of controlling this if that is
what they want to do even after struggle. RCs that break off
relationships after having seen the pre-primer or know of the monogamy
policy should not be allowed to join for 6 months and in those months
should read MT2/3. 

 12.0 Voting

12.1 Participation is mandatory on all Party votes. Comrades should
not be participating selectively in Congress, we do not want to
encourage comrades to ignore the discussions they do not find
entertaining. The TM, AM, IM, PIRAO chief, SM and MN & MT editors'
votes should be reported individually to the party.

12.1.1 Abstentions will be allowed if there is a very good reason for
missing a section of congress. If there is a good reason for missing
part of congress, the branch must approve this reason and notify the
TM. Comrades who do not vote or explain their abstention will lose
their vote. This is enforced at the branch level.

12.1.2 All proposed votes must be in Yes/No format. For ministry
positions with more than one candidate, votes will be formatted so
that each comrade can only choose one candidate. The TM will be
responsible for formatting ministry candidate votes correctly once all
the candidates have been nominated and the TM distributes the vote
list.

12.2 Any proposal that gets at least one vote and has more votes for
than against becomes Party line and policy after the prescribed time
limit.

12.3 The TM can disqualify any vote that s/he determines to be
redundant with existing policy. This is for the sake of consistent
party history: we do not need to affirm things that are already party
policy or line.

12.4 Branches can make up their own policies that are stricter than
general Party policies but may not come up with their own line.
Example: All branch members must pass FPE test with a 50% in order to
vote on branch issues.

12.5 No comrade undergoing self-criticism for violating one of MIM's 4
dividing line questions will be allowed to vote without approval by
the comrades supervising h s-c. Comrades supervising an s-c will
concern themselves only with whether or not the comrade has rectified
h own mistakes to the point of being able to uphold the 4 dividing
line questions and not keep a comrade from full participation in party
decision-making as after-the-fact punishment. Comrades supervising the
s-c process should keep in mind that demonstrating a renewed
understanding of and agreement with our 4 dividing line questions may
require a waiting period. Violating a dividing line question is
evidence of serious line disagreement and we do not want comrades with
dividing line disagreements taking equal part in deciding party line.

 13.0 Discipline

13.1 Self-criticism. All comrades are required to make timely self
criticism for political errors. Line problems will be revealed in
struggle in which the comrade in question may realize her/his error
and offer self-criticism unsolicited. Or another comrade may identify
an error and ask for self-criticism. Ministers have the authority to
ask for s-c in work they are responsible for. All demands for s-c may
be appealed up to the TM. If a comrade has a disagreement with the
TM's demand for s-c the comrade will still be required to make s-c and
abide by the TM ruling until the next Congress, or quit.

13.1.1 Supervision of self-criticism. All comrades undergoing serious
self-criticism (for violating one of MIM's four dividing line
questions) will be supervised by at least two MCs who will both be
responsible for reading s-c drafts and for struggling with the MC over
the s-c. If the violating comrade's branch cannot cover this, the TM
will be responsible for participating in the s-c process or for
appointing someone else to do the job.

13.1.2 Ministry candidates and self-criticism. When a comrade who is
running for a ministry position in the Congress has undergone serious
s-c during the 12 months prior to that congress, the comrade's s-c
will be offered to the party so that the party can judge if it wants
comrades with such errors for the ministry position in question.
Alternatively, and at the discretion of the comrades supervising the s
c process, the party might only see a summary detailing any issues
relevant to the comrade in question becoming a minister.

13.2 In addition to branch discipline, all MCs will be subject to the
Inspection Commission (part of the TM job). The Inspection Commission
will
(a) Inspect written work with the masses to insure that struggle is
going on and not just passivity;
(b) Check with comrades on mass work of those not bought out of it;
(c) Ditto (b) for cash cow work;
(d) Whatever else the IC can think of to make sure that things are for
real and comrades are working with enthusiasm in their areas.

Party members will provide the IC with
(a) Lists of mass events they initiated or assisted (offering whether
they led or just showed up);
(b) Archives of their written work struggling with the masses;
(c) Estimates of their mass work;
(d) Estimates of patterns of their work with other comrades broken
down by ministry;
(e) Offer assessments of other comrades they are in contact with as
"for real growing," "for real stable," "for real regressing," and
"demote if no one else can think of a good reason to keep."

If the IC does not get enough information to form an opinion quickly,
s/he will ask for more.  All materials listed above are due within one
month of the end of congress.

 14.0 Living Arrangements

14.1 Base houses. Comrades should set up strong base houses--places
where Party work can get done--rather than living disparately in pairs
or small groups. This is also economically beneficial to the Party; we
aim not to waste the people's money on high individual rent.

14.1.1 Living with RCs. Setting up a base house may involve living
with RCs, and this is encouraged where it is possible in order to
immerse the RCs in a political atmosphere. In general the RC's
recruiter should not be someone with whom the RC lives. Ultimately,
branches may want one house without RCs for maximum security and other
houses with RCs for recruiting and struggle purposes.

14.2 Moving. The party will grow and become stronger by moving and
expanding into more base areas and deepening its mass support that
way. This is not something the party wants to take lightly. In the
past we have let people out the door, never to be seen again. On a
certain level, we can point to aspects of individual MCs' practice
that makes them more or less likely to degenerate. The party will also
have to take responsibility for structural decisions which will
improve our prospects for growth with minimal casualties. The
following is an outline of discussion individual branches and the
party should resolve when making decisions to expand in specific
areas.

14.2.1 General work plan. Comrades who want to move more than 15
minutes away (via car) from their current branch must submit a work
plan for approval to their branch. The branch decides if the proposed
work plan is acceptable. Once the plan is approved, the branch will
request AM approval of the comrades' plans. 

14.2.2 Division of labor. Cadres moving are responsible for a contract
with the party regarding regular responsibilities at the new location.
They are responsible for the fulfillment of all duties even during a
move. Before cadres make preparations to leave a branch, there should
be clear indicators that they will be leaving a branch which will be
functional without them. This may include local bureaucratic work
which will need to be transferred to other members who stay at the
branch, as well as national party work, which the branch may decide
will sap too much time for the cadres to be able to successfully build
another branch.

14.2.3 Contact with the party and/or nearest branch. The MCs who
propose to leave a branch are responsible for offering a plan for
maintaining contact with the party. This must include a plan for
participating in continental discussions, as well as a clear decision
on whether the people taking off will continue to function as part of
the branch they are moving form.

14.2.4 Time/money requisites for branch building. MCs moving somewhere
alone should be prepared to spend at least 40 hours per week doing
above-ground distribution in the new city--on the street, at rallies,
on campuses, at mass organization meetings. The plan to leave must
include reckoning with whatever bourgeois means of support you
currently rely on. You may also propose that they party hire you for a
period (of a year for example) to provide you with a free schedule, to
devote 60-80 hrs. per week to branch building.

The workplan cadres offer to their branch must include provisions for
fulfilling the above obligation vis a vis branch building work. The
original branch may decide to absorb some bureaucratic
responsibilities in favor of the new branch's mass contact, but we
should not be prepared to sacrifice functioning branches to new ones
that may or may not fly.

14.2.5 Political environment at proposed expansion sites. How do the
prospective cities compare in political activity, universities,
transportation, RCs, proximity to existing branches, familiarity with
the party/paper?

Our first choice for a move is a city with a combination of
universities, hopping political activity, fairly regular distribution
of the paper prior to the move and active RCs already planted there.
Barring that, we still want to pick and choose the closest thing.

14.2.6 Individual party practice. MCs should have at least 6 months of
regular party practice before leaving their branch. This means having
a party job and participating in inner party debate--at a minimum.
This is not a mechanical requirement; through regular practice MCs
should have demonstrated their ability to take leadership in party
building. The branch will determine whether or not this requirement
has been satisfied. MCs are also required to show progress in their
studies before leaving a working branch.

14.2.7 Studying before a move. Comrades must also do one of the
following if they wish to leave larger branches to establish new
branches without being demoted to RC status:

(1) Pass the Fundamentals of Political Economy test with a 75%

OR

(2) Complete the equivalent of six months of study in a Party
recognized study group. This can be accomplished in less time by those
who wish to study independently by reading all of the material on the
moving curriculum list (available upon request from the AM) and
responding to study questions for each subject either for the branch
or the AM. If an MC can answer these questions appropriately without
studying s/he will be able to forego the reading. These comrades also
must read the Fundamentals of Political Economy.

 15.0 The following is MIM's constitution Revised January 1995

Membership in the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) boils down to
one thing--Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM). 

The fundamental focus of MIM's outlook is internationalism. All
revolutions are to be understood through the eyes of the majority of
the world's people: the international proletariat. Struggles against
patriarchy, capitalism and national chauvinism or any other essential
revolutionary struggle begins with internationalism.

Those who uphold MLM belong in MIM. Those who do not, do not. MIM
values the political dialogue and work of all people in the anti
imperialist and anti-militarist movements.

One major difficulty with this requirement is that many people who
claim to uphold MLM, such as Deng Xiaoping and his U.S. supporters
(such as the ex-League of Revolutionary Struggle), are phonies.

To distinguish phony MLM from genuine MLM it is necessary to list some
of the features of MLM.

1. Belief that the Soviet Union became social- imperialist after
Stalin died. That it was a state- capitalist country which was
socialist in words and imperialist in deeds.
2. Belief that the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution represents
the most advanced experience of humanity yet in matters of politics
and economic construction.
3. Belief that the Amerikan white working class is primarily a non
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus it is not the principal
vehicle to advance Maoism in this country.

Comrades who uphold MLM and side with MIM on the Cultural Revolution,
the Soviet Union, and the white working class belong in MIM.

Comrades who are not sure if they uphold MLM are reminded that it has
the following features among others:
1. Belief that a vanguard Party is necessary at this stage in history
to lead the struggle for proletarian revolution and against
imperialism, militarism, and patriarchy.
2. Willingness to uphold Party discipline. That means comrades abide
by majority decisions to the best of their ability.
3. The right and duty to struggle with the majority view and change it
where it is incorrect, while carrying out the will of the majority
until it changes unless the will of the majority is not merely
incorrect but outright bourgeois.
4. The duty to make a break with or away from the Party in action if
the Party is taken over by revisionism--i.e., if it takes up
revisionism of the post-Stalin Soviet variety, the post-Mao Chinese
variety, any of the various forms of social-democratic opportunism
popular in the West or any other form of bourgeois ideology.
Ultimately it is the responsibility of individual comrades to decide
whether or not the Party is making merely minor and tactical errors
(which all parties will make) or fundamental revisions of or breaks
with MLM.
5. Belief that as long as there is imperialism, there will be war.

Unity

1. Comrades may not be rejected from Party membership for reasons not
written in the Constitution.

2. Comrades have the duty of ensuring the maximum unity of the
vanguard of the proletariat. They must struggle to ensure that no one
is excluded from active Party life over minor faults, differences,
personality conflicts etc. Comrades must be Maoists on the whole, not
perfect.

3. Comrades may be expelled for actions detrimental to the unity of
the international proletariat, but only for actions which fall into
one of the written categories below.
(a) Comrades will not practice national chauvinism, racism, sexism,
heterosexism, or other discrimination. In addition, comrades must
refrain from insulting, harassing or discriminating against people for
their group status, when the group status is not a conscious choice.
For example, a womyn is born female. She cannot decide to be a man. A
Palestinian is born to Palestinian parents. Comrades who would insult
wimmin, Palestinians, disabled people etc. do not belong in the Party.

Naturally comrades may criticize Judaism or Zionism, but not Jews as a
group for all eternity because of their supposedly inborn
characteristics or genes or some such ahistorical metaphysical
nonsense. On the other hand, it is permissible to generalize about
Americans, white South Africans, Israeli Jews within a given
historical context. For example, comrades may state that these groups
of people are on the side of imperialism for the most part right now,
but they may not attribute any fixed characteristics to these groups
for all time.

(b) dishonesty, cheating or stealing without regard for the people.
(c) Failure to distribute MIM literature or generally aid the MIM
press.

4. Comrades warned, suspended or expelled for their actions
detrimental to the unity of the international proletariat may be
reinstated depending on the severity of their actions and the
completeness of their self- criticism. Once again, comrades must be
evaluated overall.

5. Comrades are not allowed to belong to or endorse other
organizations which claim to be general socialist, revolutionary,
communist or anarchist groups.

 16.0 Party-led and non-Party-led organizations

1. When MIM is asked without solicitation to make a presentation on
MIM, it might. The more likely situation is RAIL being asked to make a
presentation on RAIL work or anti-imperialism.

2. When MIM sponsors an educational event, demonstration or the like,
MIM can ask for help from a mass organization for that one project
taking special care not to eat up too much of the organization's time
and making it a point to identify the project as MIM-led so that no
question of secret infiltration may arise.

3. MIM members may attend mass organization meetings to inform
themselves, but not to attempt to exert political leadership within
those meetings. 

4. MIM members may join mass organizations and exert leadership within
carefully specified and time-limited roles when MIM has made the
determination that only a communist will be able to detonate a
necessary mass movement. In this case, MIM members must make it clear
that they are Maoists as they do their work and seek to get out of a
leadership role as soon as the mass movement created generates people
who could serve the role of mass organization leaders.

5. MIM members may seek to influence members of mass organizations,
but not on the time of the mass organization. In other words: before
or after meetings of mass organizations, MIM may talk to members of
mass organizations in order to persuade them of the necessity of
Maoism.

6. MIM may create groups, such as RAIL and MSG, but it may not deceive
the masses about its politics. 

7. When MIM is in a position to lead a movement, it might. That will
mean using the MIM organization to lead a movement without occupying
leadership roles in specific mass organizations. Ultimately, MIM hopes
to lead a successful revolution that will involve numerous
organizations.

16.1 United Front

MIM has had difficulties with the United Front. Our work now features
the following simplified guidelines:
a. No Liquidation. Maintain the possibility and capability of
criticizing our allies, since we represent the proletarian pole;
b. Hard Bargains. Look for what we are getting from the deal with
other classes;
c. No Pimping. The most backward masses should be able to see what the
difference is between us and our allies, except for fraternal parties
on issues that are not our third cardinal;
d. No Neo-colonialism. Always keep the perspective of the
International Proletariat and do not use the UF as an occasion to "cut
a special deal" for one oppressed nationality;
e. No Trotskyism. Uphold the national question and alliances with
classes that have any interest however temporary against U.$.
imperialism;
f. No Tailing. Take initiative in UF activities or don't get involved
at all.

16.1.1 Revisionism

MIM does not co-sponsor events with revisionists. The principle is
clear: we do not want to structure ourselves into situations which we
do not support and cannot rebut. We may sit on a panel with
revisionist organizations if we can debate them, and the publicity for
the event makes it clear that we are not endorsing each other, but we
cannot allow ourselves to lend wholehearted support to an event that
revisionists are also supporting, thus confusing the masses about our
line and our relationship to those other organizations.

In the most likely example, if the Peruvian exiles organize an event
which we support but which the RCP or CP-USA is endorsing, we can send
greetings or salutations attached to a statement to be read at
meetings. We can ask for a speaker slot and publicize our speaker. But
we should not endorse the entirety of the politics we aren't leading
(and no exile Maoists are leading) and which revisionists are involved
in. We can try to work within things and send greetings and so on, but
we have to avoid being tagged as simple accomplices of revisionism. We
are not trying to shut ourselves out of events, rather, we are trying
to maintain "independence of initiative and agitation" which is
compromised if we are simply lumped into United Fronts with
revisionist parties. Principled Maoists (who by our current policy
must be leading the event) will understand that we want to distinguish
ourselves from revisionists in practice as well as theory. 

16.1.2 Leadership

16.1.2.1 United front activity. For MIM to participate with its
organization name in a united front action or joint struggle, it must
come to the conclusion that the viewpoint of its class will dominate
or lead the struggle. That is to say it will not take advantage of
situations where it can sneak in a minority view for the proletariat.
One example of sneaking in a minority view for the proletariat would
be endorsing a campaign for petty bourgeois reforms even if the MIM
organizations can get the campaign to add opposition to prisons or
militarism to its platform. This type of sneaky politics is incorrect
because it lends MIM's authority to middle class goals, regardless of
who else is involved in the campaign.

Where middle class or various enemy forces will dominate and where MIM
would like to have a chance for its voice to be heard independently
(which is the minimum in any united front action), MIM will avoid
using the party name in endorsement in public. In any circumstance in
which endorsement is not at issue (by having the MIM name appear in
publicity), even one MIM proletarian will be allowed to take on a
whole auditorium of enemy forces to create public opinion. MIM will
also be able to send any message it desires to any meeting or forum,
as long as it does not claim to be endorsing events dominated by the
enemy. In more intermediate situations we can send messages hailing
the correct parts while withholding endorsement overall. This approach
preserves our flexibility to have some form of struggle open in any
situation, while it keeps the public from getting confused about MIM's
identity.

MIM can endorse and join demonstrations that were not initiated by it
or its affiliated organizations. But all publicity in connection with
such demonstrations must build a RAIL or other MIM organization
contingent and not some non-MIM led organization or rally. Contingents
can also promote the event itself, as long as there is simultaneous
and more in-depth coverage of the independent contingent. For example,
in flyers promoting a one-day event, it should be clear to the most
backward masses that MIM's and its organizations' purpose in promoting
the event is to mobilize broader activism in the MIM-led
organizations. The only exception to this will be with fraternal
Maoist-Party led things covered below.

Endorsement of a rally, event, march or other program is defined as
signing onto the event as endorsers, co-sponsors or supporters in the
literature that any group will distribute to promote the event. The
masses can also hold the MIM and its organizations accountable for
endorsing an event if the publicity or agitation presented by the
Party and party-led organizations promotes organizing for the event
itself. 

16.1.3 United front activity in International Ministry work

16.1.3.1 Some definitions

1. Internationalist social-democratic. Our relationships to these 
organizations is yet developing, and may entail some level of
disciplined unity particularly with respect to aiding Maoist-led
People's Wars. We hope to expand our work in internationalist
solidarity.
2. Communist. Denoting the opposition to all oppressions and including
the abolition of classes, nations and patriarchy. Some anarchists are
communists.
3. Vanguard. The most advanced organization in a society, which
history has proved in the case of the united states could be an
immigrant or sojourner organization. Not all vanguard organizations
are necessarily communist, such is MIM's unique stance with regard to
the struggle against  liquidationism that is particularly important
for imperialist country conditions.
4. Fraternal. Referring to parties with the same cardinal principles
as MIM and recognized by MIM as the potential vanguard of a society.
a) In the case of imperialist countries, requiring agreement with all
four of  MIM's cardinal principles.
b) In the case of oppressed nations not enclosed by the imperialist
societies, requiring agreement with MIM's cardinal principles one, two
and four,  while carrying out the practice of armed struggle.
5. Fraternal vanguard. Referring to parties that agree with our
cardinal  principles and occupy the vanguard role in their society.

16.1.3.2 United fronts with Maoist-led support movements. Where there
are legitimate Maoist parties in places such as in Turkey, Peru and
the Philippines, MIM follows their leadership on how to build public
opinion support for their causes in their countries when the parties
in those countries ask us to do so. MIM reserves to itself the largest
responsibility possible from within the imperialist countries for
supporting the People's War in the semi-colonies--bringing down U.S.
imperialism. No comrade, no matter how respected, will be allowed by
MIM to spread revisionism about imperialist country conditions.

If the genuine Maoist parties of the semi-colonies seek to have MIM as
a member of a united front with forces MIM would not ordinarily
include in its united fronts, then MIM will follow the wishes of the
parties we have unilaterally recognized as fraternal. That is true as
long as it has to do with building public opinion and the independent
institutions of the oppressed to oppose u.s. imperialism and its
lackeys in specific countries.

In those situations, where parties unilaterally recognized as
fraternal by MIM become involved in issues of international
organization or imperialist country conditions, MIM will continue to
reserve the right to unmask revisionism in MIM's own fashion. Such
will remain the case until there is wider agreement on MIM's third
cardinal and higher forms of discipline become possible.

The presumption is that united fronts led by sojourners or exiles of
the Maoist parties in the imperialist countries are led by proletarian
lines. Hence, MIM can afford to play a merely supporting role as
opposed to a leading role in those cases where proletarian leadership
is exerted. Such recognition by MIM of the proletarian-led united
front does not mean that MIM is required to comply if a fraternal
vanguard party asks MIM to publicly list its name with the names of
revisionist organizations. Generally MIM seeks to avoid having its
name listed beside the names of revisionist organizations, because MIM
does not seek to increase the confusion between Marxism and
revisionism which is prevalent in the imperialist countries. MIM will
not initiate efforts to have its name listed beside the names of
revisionist organizations. Nor will it follow the initiative of
revisionists or masses who seek to have MIM listed in such a way. On
this matter, MIM will only follow the initiative of fraternal vanguard
parties, and even then we will reserve the right to refuse. When the
initiative comes from a fraternal vanguard party, MIM will reserve the
right to not sign, so as to avoid increasing confusion, but will sign
if it decides that the positive aspects of signing outweigh the
negative aspects. Being listed beside revisionists as part of a united
front effort will be understood by MIM representatives to be a
negative aspect of that effort.

16.1.3.3 United front against TW fascism. MIM would enter into a
united front against Third World fascism if our fraternal vanguard
comrades unanimously or near unanimously ask us to, we will also
consider the requests of Third World fraternal parties engaged in
armed struggle. At a minimum, we will require that the CPP and PCP be
united in active support of this united front, and that the TKP/ML
give its consent and not actively oppose the request. We will put
aside our third cardinal and fall silent in some realms of action for
the benefit of a united front against Third World fascism. We will
continue to criticize as always those Trotskyists who never did
anything for the Third World revolution and in fact aided its
repression. We will not campaign around our third cardinal in this
arena but we will criticize those who fail to mobilize against TW
fascism in their own ways.

In the event MIM is criticized by its allies in public, and this
appears to be a general line problem and not a one-time mistake by our
allies, the TM and IM will be obliged to call a Congress to determine
whether or not MIM will continue with its united front against TW
fascism policy. If our fraternal vanguard comrades criticize us for
our labor aristocracy line in public, we will criticize them back in
public, because in such a united front we will presumably be owed
centralist unity and non-criticism except to spur us to increase
direct solidarity with the TW Maoists.

MIM would raise the issue of right opportunism in the face of such a
united front, but if our fraternal vanguard comrades all believe that
our d. of p. is not on the agenda and they are willing to state so in
writing, then we have a duty to do what is best for the international
proletariat, and not just what would be best for the immediate agenda
of the dictatorship of the proletariat here. We will not publish this
resolution, but we may show it to our fraternal vanguard comrades.

16.2 MIM led organizations
16.2.1 Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League

MIM itself is rooted in movements that arose to support armed
struggles against U.S. imperialism and movements opposing the
militarism of U.S. imperialism. More radical activists in work
concerning Southern Africa, Central America and the Middle East
founded MIM out of the recognition of the need for organizations that
connected all the issues and did not water down the truth. It is only
appropriate that MIM now forms an organization dedicated to the vision
of a world without imperialism--the RAIL.

RAIL is for anyone who supports self-determination for all peoples
including the necessity of armed struggle against imperialism. There
are no requirements for joining RAIL except that RAIL members
recognize that RAIL will be led by MIM and RAIL members do not attempt
to hide this in their work with RAIL amongst the masses who are not
enemy. In practice, accepting MIM leadership will mean that RAIL
chapters do not accept the leadership of other organizations and
worked out lines. 

Voting members of RAIL must not disagree with MIM's cardinal
principles. (See the What is MIM? box on page 2.) It is OK if voting
members do not have a position on these principles, but they must not
disagree with them. For example, People opposed to the principle of a
vanguard party, or the idea that MIM is the vanguard party or to the
idea of that state-capitalism exists cannot be voting RAIL members. 

RAIL may have non-voting members who actually disagree with MIM's
cardinal principles as long as they recognize that MIM leads RAIL and
as long as they have been informed of other organizations that might
better suit them. There are at least two reasons why there might be
non-voting RAIL members. One is geographic laziness. Some people who
disagree with MIM cardinal principles will want to work with RAIL
because it is close by--a local phenomenon. A second reason for such
non-voters to exist is that some will be impressed with RAIL somehow
in practice while not being sure that practice is principal or that
RAIL principles are sound. RAIL non-voters in effect agree to follow
RAIL voters and MIM. They also contribute to the energy and
consciousness of RAIL and recognize that it is possible to make
contributions to RAIL work without agreeing with the cardinal
principles. MIM will have the final say in whether a person can be a
non-voting member of RAIL, because some people are not worth the
trouble of working with. In general though, it should be possible to
contribute to revolution and to hold hopes for those who may yet learn
from practice why MIM's cardinal principles are correct. 

Voting members of RAIL will have a say on what projects are done and
how they are implemented. Whether RAIL chapters have majority rule,
consensus or autocratic fiat for a decision-making process will depend
on what each chapter wants. Ideally RAIL chapters will choose their
own topics for work and organize it themselves. RAIL chapters that
want more than the right to choose their subject areas and how they
implement MIM line should cease calling themselves RAIL and go
independent of MIM with their own line.

RAIL will have an RC Coordinator. This RC will respond to mail from
RCs and potential RCs, and will take the initiative to lead RAIL in
whatever work inspires h. An MC will work as RAIL coordinator
alongside this RC. The MC RAIL Coordinator will make sure there are no
big contradictions between the RC Coordinator's line and MIM line. The
MC Coordinator will see to it that RAIL development does not stagnate,
lead the online RAIL study group, and oversee any RAIL projects the RC
Coordinator is not taking responsibility for. This MC RAIL Coordinator
position was created to take some burden off the AM.

All RAIL events will allow the expression of the MIM view. MIM does
not expect RAIL members to be like party members, but MIM will have
the final decision on interpreting whether or not a RAIL person or
chapter is following MIM line at least more than that person or
chapter is following other lines. 

16.2.2 MIM Supporters Group

A second organization called the MIM Supporters Group (MSG) is for
people who are definite sympathizers of Mao Zedong and who accept the
vanguard leadership of MIM on all political issues. MSG members are
non-party members with a higher level of commitment to MIM and Maoism
than RAIL members. 

All members must not have a worked out line against any of MIM's four
dividing line questions. They are interested in studying towards a
greater understanding of and unity towards these lines. They agree
that working with MIM or MSG is the most advanced work they could be
doing in this country.

Members are required to maintain regular contact with their MIM
contacts and with the local MSG (if a local one exists). They attend
local study groups if such exist, or work towards forming one if there
is not one already active. Members defend MIM line in public to the
best of their ability, sell MIM Notes and MIM literature where
possible, and recruit members.

Members will donate at least 1% percent of their annual income or
raise at least $20 a month, whichever sum is greater, for the party or
its organizations. That financial commitment can also be achieved by
buying supplies including literature for the party to distribute
directly or by selling literature worth that amount. The party will be
empowered to decide if a certain method of meeting the financial
requirement is acceptable. The point is not necessarily to take
someone's money and send it away to some distant centralized
operation, because doing that requires the highest level of commitment
and trust in the party. 

16.3 MIM will no longer use the term MA to describe all non-Party
people. In print, we will use the term MA to describe those whose only
connection to us is study group. RAILers or MSGers who undertake at
least some struggle with the masses under MIM leadership will be
referred to as RAIL Comrades (RCs.). Editors will decide whether MSG
or RC pseudonyms will be used for members of MSG. 

 17.0 Requirements to join MIM

Potential MIM members will be expected to spend four months in RAIL
before applying for party membership. There they should demonstrate
independent initiative on behalf of the proletariat before being
admitted to the party. Those who need to be badgered to serve the
people will not be admitted to the party. It doesn't mean that the
RAIL person applying for party membership has to be perfect in taking
every party suggestion, but they must show signs of regular
independence and initiative in serving the people. Those who it is
like pulling teeth from to get them to serve the people will stay in
RAIL. Party authorities are reminded that independence, initiative and
bearings do not necessarily mean responding to party authority exactly
as desired on particular ideas, but it does mean putting forth
proletarian politics, hopefully ever more Maoist. 


Comrades at each level of commitment to the party must petition the
party to move up to the next level when they believe they are ready.
This means that the first requirement for a comrade to move from RAIL
to MSG, or from MSG to probationary MC, is to demonstrate the
initiative to argue why s/he should be held to a higher level of
commitment, and why s/he is ready to uphold all the responsibilities
of this next level. This does not prevent the recruiter (or MC contact
in the case of a probationary MC ready to become a full MC) from
struggling with a recruit to convince h to take on more commitment and
responsibility. MIM should not relinquish its vanguard role in favor
of formalist independence on the part of our recruits. But ultimately
the responsibility for arguing why s/he should advance in the party
hierarchy lies with each comrade, as is appropriate for those aspiring
to be members of the vanguard party.

If a RAIL or MSG member passes the FPE test with 75%, has participated
in the Marxism List or substitute for no less than six months, and is
aware of the full strength of commitment required by the primer and
democratic-centralism, s/he may be admitted to MIM membership with
probationary status, to be described below.

Make use of the pre-primer to ensure that your RCs understand the
commitment they are making and are willing to undertake the
responsibility of a life time of party membership. An edited version
of this primer, called the "Probation Primer" should be given to
probation MCs.

MIM is not necessarily requiring experience, but it is requiring
quality of experience as demonstrated through initiative and
theoretical mastery. Youth or experience in themselves are not
qualifications for being proletarian revolutionaries. Youth will tend
to be more revolutionary than older people, but experienced people in
proletarian politics, all other things being equal and especially when
experiences to be had by all are those of living in a non
revolutionary situation--the experienced will be more correct on
average. On the other hand, people who have spent one year in a
revolutionary crisis will often have a higher quality of experience
than people who spent 10 years with experience in a non-revolutionary
situation. 

If the youth can demonstrate the same quality of political experience
as more experienced comrades and the equivalent level of FPE training,
then they can be members. 

17.1 Probation period. No one will become a new member of MIM with
full membership privileges without going through a six month probation
period. During this period, the member on probation will
a) have read all "new series" MTs and The Fundamentals of Political
Economy
b) have official contact with a branch leader and the EAM or SAM only,
so that other party members will not be known to the person on
probation
c) have no voting rights
d) will be able to hold a ministry job
e) will be expected to demonstrate the ability to live under primer
rules and hierarchical authority
f) will be able to represent to the public the MIM line as a member if
such is consistent with security and above-ground practices in the
branch
g) will not have access to internal discussions or information other
than through the designated branch leader or AM
h) will be reviewed for admission by a panel of at least two MCs
appointed by the TM no sooner than the end of the six month period.
The possibilities of acceptance, continued probation or ejection from
the party will all be available to the party. The recruiting branch
will make a recommendation to the panel along with the probationary
MC's petition for admission, and the panel will make a decision within
one month of receiving these documents. The panel will consult with
the recruiting branch if necessary. Again the demonstrated level of
commitment, independence, initiative, internationalist bearings and
ability to rebuild the party from scratch will all factor in to the
decision.

17.2 New members voting. No person who was not at least a member with
probationary status a full six months before Congress will be allowed
to vote in a Congress. For example, for the February, 1996 Congress,
eligible voters will have to have been at least members on probation
by Aug. 1, 1995. 

17.3 Control Commission. In addition to being recommended by one's
branch or continental authority, a persyn wishing to be part must be
approved by the Control Commission, Y. Y will be in charge of
seeing to it that a potential MC meets party policy snuff BEFORE being
admitted. That includes both a commitment check, a primer check and a
timeless science check. Y will also remind any would-be comrades of
single-nationalist vanguard possibilities and administer "the clink
test."


 Appendix

MIM Notes & MIM Theory Style Guide

Style guide and ingredients for MIM Notes and MIM Theory

Most of this style guide is applicable to both of these organs, and
there are additional specific requirements for MIM Theory at the end
of this guide. It is each writer's responsibility to understand which
styles apply to the publication s/he is writing for. When in doubt,
ask the editor for help.

1. Submitting your topic suggestions to the MN editor the weekend
following each copy deadline will help to make sure we cover
everything that is needed and will help both you and your comrades to
get help with the research necessary for the article.

2. Inform the MN editor of what you are writing on as soon as you can.
Pick topics following the general purpose of MIM Notes outlined above.

3. Follow the style guide, reread your article, recruit a new RC to
read your article and spell check before submitting your article.

4. Unless it is not technically possible, all files should be prepared
and sent the same way. Doing it other ways takes up more editing time.

Do not use tabs in the text of your file; place one blank line (a
carriage return) between paragraphs. Paragraphs should not be indented
with the space bar either.

Save document with 4 inch body as text file with line breaks. FTP and
upload file. Each writer should figure out which things turn out funky
and work at eliminating them. For instance, many articles get sent
with ^E or some variation. Work with the editor to figure out the best
way to send your articles so that these silly characters do not
replace text leaving the editor to figure out what is missing.

5. Use correct spellings - please spellcheck
(Note: The editor does not care if you disagree with MIM's spellings.
If you disagree with MIM spellings, you can struggle with MIM over
that -- but misspelling in articles is not going to get your political
point across, it is only going to irritate your editor and waste time
that could otherwise be spent struggling over important aspects of
line.) See MT11 or MT13 for more theory on language.

Protesters not Protestors

"It's" is a contraction meaning "It is"
"Its" is possessive. E.g., Imperialism has built its strength by
plundering Third World resources.

Principle/Principal
The principal in my high school was a real fuck head.
The principal contradiction in the world today is between oppressor
nations and oppressed nations.
The editor is principally responsible for making sure MIM Notes
exposes imperialism well.
The principal principle of Amerikan society is justice and wealth for
the settlers on the backs of oppressed nations.
The principles of Maoism are universally applicable.
Struggle with your comrades in a principled manner.
If these are confusing, look in the dictionary.

Gender and spelling
womyn/wimmin
persyn/humyn
(persyn/humyn is not mandatory, just accepted in MIM lit)
gender aristocracy/gender privilege/gendered interests
First World wimmin are part of the gender aristocracy and are gendered
male whereas they are biological wimmin.
Third World men are part of oppressed nations and are gendered female
whereas they are biological men.

United Snakes and spelling
Black nation/Black womyn/Black youth/black jeans/black ink/black
armbands
Black Nation - not Afro-American, not people of color or African
American
First Nations - not Native Americans, Indians or people of color
Latino Nations - not Hispanic, Mexican American, Puerto-Rican American
or people of color. Where possible, be specific about which Latino
nation, otherwise Latino is preferable to Hispanic.

Amerika refers to the illegitimate settler nation that dominates North
America. North America is the actual land/continent (though we can
also use First Nation terms for the land.)
United Snakes of Amerika, United $tates of Amerikkka, united snakes of
imperialism, or other variations on the theme of pointing out the
illegitimacy of the united snakes. 
Internal colonies are part of the united snakes, where as these are
not part of Amerika.

u.s. (adj.) i.e. u.s.-backed Ramos regime. Or u.s. imperialism.

Other spellings
CPUSA
Ok
Roh Tae Woo
Mao Zedong
Marxist/ism
south and north Korea or Vietnam or Ireland. (We don't recognize these
divisions.)
Cultural Revolution or Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
"Little Red Book" is general and informal, otherwise Quotations from
Chairman Mao
Azania not South Africa
"Communist Manifesto" is a pamphlet
The Russian Revolution (1917)
The Chinese Revolution (1949)
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-76)
Statistical Abstract of the United States 1991
labor-power (adj);  labor power (noun)
god/heaven
super-profits/super-exploited
petty bourgeoisie
white working class (noun); white-working class (adj) politics
Ibid.
op. cit.

Numbers
Spell out one through nine.
Ten and up use the figure, except to begin a sentence.
Exception: 1990 was a great year for the Party.
Percentages as 3%.
Use commas where appropriate, but not in dates.

Money
Use $10 for ten dollars; do not write out dollars.
With two amounts use ($10-20) the dollar sign for the first quantity,
not the second.
Write out 10 cents and $10 million.
Use commas where appropriate-$100,000 and $1,897.

Times
Use periods and numbers-7 a.m.
Noon and midnight, not 12 p.m. or a.m.
Hyphen between time-8-9 a.m.

Days
Do not abbreviate unless necessary for a headline.
Do not use in stating the date. Monday, February 13, 1997 is not
necessary. 13 February 1997 is fine.

Months
Spell out with just month and year: February 1990-note that there is
no comma.
Don't use ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, etc.). Rather, on Feb. 1, 1997
something happened.

Decades and years
Twentieth century, not capitalized.
1960s and 60s, not '60s or 60's, except for 1970's worst days.
In conjunction with a month, there is no comma: October 1917.

6. Other styles

Citations
Always use cites, no matter how few sources.
Articles with only one source are:
Note: ITAL The New York Times END 23 May, 1997, pp. A1 and C12.
There is no comma between magazine/paper and the date.
Each note ends with a period.
More than one source is as follows:
Notes:
1. ITAL Detroit Free Press END 1 May 1997, p. 2.
2. ITAL Zeta END July 1990, p. 23.
Indicate the source in your text with the number in parenthesis, no
space.(1)
Repeat numbers for the same source and page.
There is no super-scripting.
Do not use any footnote function.
Cite books thusly:
Author First Name Last Name, ITALTitleEND, City: Publisher, Date, p.
#.

Abbreviations
Spell shit out on the first reference (and put abbreviation afterward
in parenthesis), even if it seems common.
No periods in acronyms with more than three letters: u.s. and CIA.
Spell out state names, except when they are parenthetical or in
citations, or in article lead-ins i.e. Detroit, MI, 28 February --
article

Commas
Use in a series: Marx, Lenin and Mao (no comma before and).

Dash
Use like a comma, except that the expressed break is stronger.
Dash is not strong enough punctuation to set off an entire sentence.
(Dashes-Faulkner uses them to write whole novels in a breath-are not
used to enmesh sentences in newswriting.)
Dashes should be typed as <word word space hyphen hyphen space word
word>.

Parentheses
Like a comma, except softer.
Like the dash, they are not used to enmesh whole sentences inside one
another.
Do not confuse with brackets [ ] which are used for the editor to add
things to text or quotes that were not in the original.

Hyphens
Use between times and phone numbers and in compound adjectives. (Mao
used an all-in-one knife.)
Use as few as possible.

Ellipses
Use to indicate a portion left out or off the end.
Remember that when an ellipses is between or after complete sentences
it comes after the period.

Quotes
Use for titles or articles, TV shows, poetry and songs.
Use single quotes within quotes.
Periods and commas always are contained within the last quote.
Terminal colons and semi-colons are outside quotes.
Question marks it depends if they are part of the quote or part of the
sentence.

Italics
Indicate italics by typing ITAL before the text, putting at the end of
it END. (Be kind to the MN/MT production staff: put a space between
"ITAL/END" and the text.)
Use for books, movies, plays and magazines or newspapers.
Use for foreign words on first reference, but only if these are not in
Webster's dictionary.
Do not italicize Ibid.
Italicize sic.

Capitalization
Capitalize regions such as Middle East and the South.
Capitalize semi-proper nicknames:  the Blackbelt Nation and the Motor
City.
Capitalize titles as part of people's names President George Bush.
(But: George Bush is president.)
Bush administration (always lowercase unless it begins a sentence).

Speaker ID
Mark Hatfield (R-Oregon)
Formal name does not override non-sexist language unless it is the
title of a book.
(Chairperson Mao wrote Chairman Mao Speaks To The People.)

Spacing
The only time that there should be double spaces in news article
writing is after a colon or semi-colon. There is only one space
between sentences.

7. More tips in writing the proletarian way:

Singular/plural
Organizations -- governments, parties, mass orgs, universities -- are
each singular. An organization is one entity, the people in it are
many.

incorrect:  BAMN! defends their actions by saying ...
correct:  BAMN! defends its actions by saying...

When in doubt, don't use a pronoun, just use the noun you're referring
to over again.

incorrect:  MIM members argue its line on the white working class
correct:  MIM members argue MIM's line on the white working class or
MIM's members argue its line on the white working class

Cliches
If you can replace three or four words with one, do. More words are
clunky, especially if you use more than you need over and over and
over in the same piece repeatedly.

incorrect:  They took over the building in order to make a statement.
correct:  They took over the building to make a statement. 

Pronouns
When you use a pronoun, make sure the noun you are referring to
immediately precedes it grammatically (and that you keep track of
which noun the pronoun is replacing).

incorrect:  Imperialists reap the benefits of Third World labor, steal
Third World natural resources and dominate their economies.
correct:  Imperialists reap the benefits of Third World labor, steal
Third World natural resources and dominate Third World economies. or
correct:  Imperialists reap the benefits of Third World labor, steal
Third World countries' natural resources and dominate their economies.

Passive voice
If all you know is that something was done, and you don't know by
whom, then say that. The bourgeois press uses the passive voice to
obscure the facts, to hide lack of investigation, to make the real
actors in a story vague, etc. We write news to make the political
situation clear to our readers so who did what (or the fact that we
don't know) is important.

incorrect:  Protesters were harassed at Saturday's demo.
correct:  Pigs and a redneck mob joined in harassing protesters at
Saturday's demo.

Non-chauvinist language
MIM Notes emulates and develops proletarian language, it doesn't
replicate the imperialist superstructure. Don't call people Indian
givers when they don't honor contracts, that is absurd considering
history, so reflect that in your writing.

When we talk about legal status at all, we refer to undocumented
instead of illegal immigrants. Don't reflect the way that the pigs
talk. It is only illegal for people from Mexico to be within u.s.
borders because of the illegitimate laws which the illegitimate legal
system set up to represent the interests of the oppressors in
fortifying illegitimate borders.

8. MIM Theory

MIM Theory follows the language policies of the Party. On routine
issues in of style MT will generally follow the style of MIM Notes.
When MT reprints old articles, it will be up to the MT Editor to make
sure that the reprints either conform to current MIM language
policies, or that the exceptions to the policies are noted and
explained if necessary.

MIM Comrades should follow these guidelines on style, and should pass
them on to writers outside MIM. Deviation from these and other style
principles means dumping your work onto the MT editor -- maybe
acceptable in a pinch, but to be avoided normally.

All electronic submissions must be spell-checked. If you type in a
prisoner letter or other hard-copy submission, make the corrections
you want made but leave the things you want preserved (e.g., leave "i"
instead of "I", fix "speach" to be "speech").

If you scan text, you are likewise responsible for spell-checking and
otherwise making the text conform to MT style. If possible, send a
hard copy of what you scanned to the MT editor in case questions arise
in the editing.

MCs may submit copy to MT in binary file formats (e.g., MSWord or
WordPerfect documents), if they are confident they don't have virus
macros and the like on them, and if they have personal information
removed from the summary data of the file. If outside people give MCs
binary files for MT, transfer them to ASCII instead of sending the
original file. Exceptions may be negotiated.

A few notes on specific style points beyond what is required for MN:

All submissions to MIM Theory should have a title. That includes
letters, book reviews, and research articles. The name of the book you
reviewed ("My Sex Life") is not a title for the review; something
about the book ("Klinton Blames Feminism for Fucking up U.$.
Government") is a title. Likewise, "Dear MIM" is not a title,
"Prisoner Questions MIM on Focoism" is a title.

Letters to MIM Theory should have an identifier (e.g., "Maryland
Menshevik") at the end and a date accurate at least to the month.

All content-less style features should be applied to sources we quote,
even if the original publisher did it differently. For example, we
always use "%" instead of "percent," even when the source we are
quoting uses "percent."

Periods and commas go inside quotation marks at all times. Question
marks and exclamation points go outside quotation marks if they are
not in the quoted text, inside if they are in the quoted text.

Do not use all capital letters for emphasis. Indicate emphasis with
ITAL before and END after (not like ITALthisEND but like ITAL this
END). This also applies to submissions that come with capitals for
emphasis (e.g., from email).

Long dashes are done like this: <space>two- hyphens<space>

Footnotes should contain publisher, year, and author, like this: MIM's
Greatest Hits, MIM Publishers: Newton City, 1999. p. 1.

Internet references should contain URL as well as publisher and date,
like this: Amnesty International press release on mistreatment of MIM
prisoners, 1 Jan. 1999, http://www.amnesty.org/save.mim.now 

2005 addition:
MCs should do agitation by spoken word as an emphasis.