MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.
When we first met, it was truly love at first sight. i was a young,
wild, Gangster Disciple… and unfortunately i was a parasite. You walked
into the room, and… you began to speak. i will never forget your first
words: “Dare To Struggle! Dare To Be Free!”
Our eyes were fixated on each others. It was like you were talking
directly to me. i was captivated by the things you had to say. i was
overwhelmed by your Divine Inner-G! You sent chills throughout my body,
but the message i still didn’t quite understand. So you walked over and
put your arms around me… and whispered in my ear: “Free The Land.”
The way you walked, and the way you moved, intrigued me. Your pride
in being Black was intoxicating for sure. From that moment on i knew
that i had to have you… because you were just too much for me to
ignore.
So We began to date casually, and… you let me know that if i were
really ready to step up and be your man, then i had to let go of my
gang-banging mentality. i had to go from Gangster Disciple to Growth and
Development. i had to learn what knowledge of the self meant. i had to
take time and learn the New Afrikan Creed. i had to learn all about
FROLIAN, which you called The Three Phase Theory.
i couldn’t believe how committed to change you were. You told me you
had a plan, and i recall smiling at you and asking, so what is this
plan? But you had this intense look on your face… the most serious look
i had ever seen. Then you took me out west with you to Oakland, and… you
introduced me to Comrade Huey P.
I will never forget his words of wisdom. He taught me that to give my
life for The People is the greatest honor of all, and that it is better
to die on my feet then to live on my knees. He told me that We are at
war, and… that the price of freedom ain’t free.
This motivated me, because, all my life i was willing to die over a
color or for which way a person wore their hat. i recall asking you why
you think i was so willing to do this? And… you replied, “N’dugu, Willy
Lynch taught you that.” i was sickened to my stomach, and i couldn’t
understand how this could be. So you took me back to The
Land–Chicago–and introduced me to The Chairman of the Black Panther
Party.
Chairman Fred Hampton was a flame thrower, very charismatic… truly
something to behold. i will never forget what he told me: “i am a
Revolutionary! i have given my life to The People!”
All the things you were showing me, made me rise in love with you
even more. Especially when you taught me about the bravery of 17 year
old Comrade Johnathan Jackson, and… when you let me read your personal
Prison Letters from Comrade George.
You taught me about Queen-Mother Assata Olugbala Shakur. And… how the
Black Liberation Army liberated her from kkkaptivity and got her to
Cuba. You taught me about how this racist system tried to murder Comrade
Mumia Abu Jamal, even though they KNEW he wasn’t a shooter.
You gave me the lessons of Comrade Geronimo Ji Jaga, who went to
prison for 28 years for something he didn’t do. You showed me how this
fascist system will do anything to neutralize to the 21st Century Voices
Of Total Empowerment… the same way they dropped the bomb on MOVE!
You gave my life purpose and meaning, and for that i will never put
anything above you. i honor you on our anniversary, Black August, but
every single day i will show you that i love you. i just wanted to write
you this letter, my first love: The New Afrikan Liberation Struggle!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS 21 Gun Salutes to ALL this Black
August
Those who sow discord into unity are our enemies. If we ourselves are
guilty of pushing the people from the movement then we are our own enemy
while we divide and conquer ourselves.
Prior generations fought for change, but today we fight over change:
back-biting our brothers, looking down on the misfortunate, and even
supporting the police in their corruption and brutality.
We are familiar with the divide and conquer tactics of our
opposition; so when our lines of communications are broken, we must have
faith in our comrades and remain loyal or the oppressor will create
division by placing contempt and distrust in your heart towards your
comrades.
We have a prisoner here in “High Risk Security” lock-up who is unable
to operate a tablet. Instead of attempting to show him how to use it,
they decided not to feed him.
This prisoner is clearly supposed to be in a mental institution. He
is too mentally unstable to qualify for recommendation to be released
from High Risk Security stats; and even if they did allow this prisoner
to be released to regular population, his mental condition will cause
altercations with other prisoners or staff. This is a breach of safety
in the department that doesn’t care about mental patients although the
department is quick to provide sentences to subjects they failed to
place in safe environment.
Comrades, we must put our heads together, shoulder-to-shoulder, and
put down the K2. If finding a way to do away with drug test for THC is
the alternative, then we must try. We must band together to overcome
this addiction. It won’t be easy, but it is necessary when you look
around and see our fellow comrades in helmets and 4 point restraints
losing their sanity. Do we even know the differences between K2 and
phenol paper? And molly is meth. That’s worse than crack. Never get high
off your own supply, and don’t inject white substances. I’m not telling
you what to do, but we can not operate or function against our opps
while walking around like crackheads because we’ll be more loyal to the
high than to the movement.
Before I go, I just want you to know, AKs got the floor. We want
peace not war. Less we all storm the doors. When it rains, it pours.
T.R.U.C.E. - Team of Revolutionaries Uniting to Combat the Enemy.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade is one of a handful of
leaders engaged in United Struggle from Within’s Revolutionary 12
Steps training program. We are working to build this program inside
and outside prisons around the country and we need more leaders to get
trained to do so.
The Free Alabama Movement has declared their
recent organizing a success, with over 15,000 prisoners
participating and prodding response from the governor during the
campaign season.(1) They have announced the next phase of their struggle
for reasonable paths to parole and release. It involves the drafting and
proposal of a state bill. The Alabama Legislature opens on 3 March 2023,
and prisoners have planned to launch a campaign to promote and support
the proposed bill at that time.(2)
Following the recent actions, a damning report came out
substantiating the prisoners demands:
“July 2022 was the deadliest month on record in Alabama prisons.
Thirty-two people died in Alabama prisons in July — the most since at
least January 2000, the earliest month for which data is available
online. More people died than were granted parole that month.”(3)
The Free Alabama Movement concludes in their recent statement:
“On September 26, over 15,000 people stood up for freedom in the
Alabama prison system. That’s 10,000+ new soldiers, warriors and
generals to the ranks who had NEVER participated in a shutdown before.
Most of them didn’t know they would be challenged by the ADOC at the
core of our most basic human need: food. This is a real struggle against
a system that is well funded and has been in existence for over 100
years. We gotta act like we want freedom, and move with the
understanding that that will be a test of your will and spirit to
achieve something great.
“Understand the mission brother and sisters. A call has been made for
us to stand again. We cannot miss our assignment and expect change.
A core aspect of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is the bond between theory
and practice. For instance, there is a theoretical analysis of the labor
aristocracy in the imperialist countries and the practical application
of that theory is not organizing around labor aristocrat interests.
There is a theoretical analysis of building independent institutions
among the masses; and the practical application of that theory is
building United Struggle Within grievance campaigns, building Maoist
prison study groups, building peace between lumpen organizations through
the United Front for Peace in Prisons, etc. There is a theoretical
analysis of revolution; and the practical application of that theory is
boycotting elections, refusing to use armed struggle as a bargain chip
and instead see it as a necessity, etc. These are just some broad and
simplified examples of the relationship between theory and practice to
paint the picture. Incorrect practice and incorrect theories go hand in
hand: one strengthens the existence of another.
The main purpose of this article is to start a series of articles
akin to the “Ongoing
Discussion on Organizing Strategy” series which started among USW
comrades.(1) The series has been productive on maintaining a two-line
struggle within the USW and the overall prison movement, and delves deep
into the many questions raised in organizing behind bars. We hope to
bring that energy of discussing strategy and tactics of Maoist
organizing behind bars to that of political line both inside and outside
U.$. prisons. These bad ideas aren’t dividing line questions (such as
the labor aristocracy question or the class nature of the Chinese
Communist Party in 2022) that MIM(Prisons) struggle with other communist
organizations through polemics. Rather, these are day-to-day bad ideas
and attitudes that many people take up within the communist movement
(even good comrades). They enforce liberalism during line struggle, and
stunt scientific thinking. Let’s begin.
1.
Defending Revisionism Through One’s Laurels and Clout
One example of this was when Joma
Sison repeatedly refused to acknowledge the national contradiction as
principal in the United $tates, and communists refused and still
refuse to criticize due to his historically integral role in the
People’s War in the Philippines.(2) Communists don’t look at persynal
laurels or prestige when it comes to criticism; everything and everyone
that partakes in bad practice and bad beliefs is targetable for
criticism. If the Sison defenders said “historically and currently, the
United $tates’ principal contradiction has always been class and is
currently class” then perhaps there will be more legitimacy for line
struggle and discussion albeit it still being a chauvinist and
revisionist take. However, what does Joma Sison being a historically
great revolutionary leader that rectified the errors of the Communist
Party of Philippines in the 60s-70s have to do with the fact that the
current United $tates’ society has developed around the oppressed
nations in a historical materialist manner?
Now if a former neo-nazi prisoner who joined the United Struggle
Within brings up how the white workers are the masses, then bringing up
his past identity as a neo-nazi would be more relevant in criticizing
this individual comrade to the correct line from an incorrect one since
his past practice as an Amerikan First World lumpen could influence his
current politcs. Ultimately, bringing up his past errors (or victories
even) is only a small part of criticizing the comrade, and ultimately
it’s the combating of that idea and political practice that will be the
final nail in the coffin of getting rid of that bad line from that
comrade’s thinking and most importantly the overall movement. A part of
this problem contains in identity politics, which leads to the next
point.
2. Incorrect Handling
of Identity Politics
Identity politics has been a hot topic among communists with some
seeing it as non-antagonistic with Marxism and with many joining the
conservative reactionary bandwagon of fascists ranting about “woke”
culture and post-modernism. The classic Amerikan value of pragmatist
empiricism (the idea of the only way to truly know anything is through
directly experiencing it) is antithetical to Maoism, and it is our
stance that post-modernism and identity politics can be looked at it the
same or adjacent manner in terms of philosophy. The Maoist doctrine of
cadres learning from practice and the masses learning revolution through
waging revolution can become Amerikan pragmatism if we aren’t
careful.
Today in 2022, this pragmatist empiricist idea is popular among the
oppressed nations represented in popular day-to-day slogans such as
“don’t speak over (insert a particular oppressed group)” and “stay in
your lane” when a person not belonging to a certain social group
(gender, religion, sexuality, nation, etc.) is talking about issues
pertaining to said certain group since they don’t directly experience
that group’s existence. Some revisionists see no problem with identity
politics and post-modernism, and think that identity politics and
post-modernism must be a good thing because the fascists are complaining
about it and complaining about it must mean one is a fascist. Other
revisionists have straight up adopted national chauvinism. When the
masses criticize the communists with “a lot of communists are racist and
don’t really care about black/brown/indigenous people” these chauvinists
resort to taking up fascist talking points and attitudes against
identity politics and post-modernism.
It is an important Maoist doctrine that post-modernism and
pragmatist-empiricism are both unscientific capitalist garbage that
poisons the masses. It is another Maoist doctrine that the masses under
oppression will go to the current superstructure of the enemy
(capitalist philosophies, capitalist institutions, the capitalist state,
etc.) during times of oppression. When communists have failed the masses
of the United $tates for 400 years by supporting the white workers and
putting the national contradiction beneath white worker interests at
best and attacking oppressed nation masses alongside the white workers
at worst, then perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when the oppressed
nations go to classical Amerikan pragmatism and post-modernism of
relying on lived experiences and changing discourse instead of
dialectical materialist thinking and revolution. This is especially true
for the case where the oppressed nations are majority labor aristocrat
as well – the class where this ideology grows the most ferociously
amongst.
The communists have failed in Afghanistan with Soviet revisionism, so
the Afghan masses went to the existing superstructures within the
semi-colonial, semi-feudal nation such as Jihad instead of people’s war.
Instead of lambasting the Afghan (or in this case the Chicano, First
Nations, and New Afrikan) masses, perhaps communists should get their
heads out of their asses, and try to appreciate
why Jihad/pragmatist-empiricism as an idea (despite its reactionary
content) is so popular among the masses in the first place.(3)
One interesting thing we see as a Maoist prison cell is that identity
politics tend to be less popular among prisoners which perhaps shows
that the oppressed nation labor aristocracy might go for identity
politics for its liberation far more than the oppressed nation lumpen
who might go for conspiracy theories or capitalist boot-strap mentality
which we see more popular among prisoners and less with the student
activist types that concern themselves more with identity politics. This
leads to the third point.
3.
Hating the Masses for their Reactionary Ideas under Oppression
Identity politics isn’t the only bourgeois idea that the masses hold
from the current capitalist superstructure. There are other ideas such
as patriarchy, homophobia, pulling one-self up by the bootstraps, voting
for the lesser evil, superstition, conspiracy theories, and religion
just for starters. When the masses show these tendencies, many
communists throw them into the enemy camp and treat them as if they were
enemies. For example, a communist student activist type might walk up to
a Black Hebrew Israelite and the topic of anti-semitism could pop up.
The communist university student will call the Black Israelite a fascist
for his views and say the Black Israelite should stay in his lane about
Jewish issues. When Mao said that we want politics in command and
political line is principal, he didn’t mean that our friends and enemies
are determined by their personal beliefs (whether that be politics,
religion, moral principles, cultural traditions, etc.). Mao didn’t say
“any Chinese peasant who participates in foot binding should be
ostracized from the movement.” And we can argue that foot binding is
much more backwards and patriarchal than the common
patriarchal/reactionary cultural values held by oppressed nations masses
in 2022. In fact, Mao’s method of finding out who our friends and
enemies were in China was by looking at a group of people’s relation to
the means of production, relation to consumption, and relations to other
classes; and through this method he concluded that the Chinese peasantry
were friends not enemies despite binding women’s feet so they don’t run
away from their husbands being a popular cultural trend among said
class.
Let’s look at the New Afrikan labor aristocracy as an example. We can
see that the class basically has access to the means of production
through its citizen status much like the Amerikan workers in 2022 (dead
labor of third world proletarians; higher wages gained through
super-exploitation of Africa, Asia, and Latin America; ability to buy
and invest in stocks; etc.) We can also look at how it consumes far more
than the international proletariat of Africa, Asia, and Latin America;
but consistently consume less than its Amerikan counterparts such as how
New Afrikan labor aristocrats are disproportionately more likely to live
under the country’s poverty line compared to Amerikan labor aristocrats.
We can also find out how its relations to the Amerikan labor aristocrat
are far more hostile than friendly as the poorer an Amerikan is the more
likely they are to hold extreme chauvinsit views (i.e. rednecks).
However, as embourgeoisfication of the New Afrikan workers solidified
during the later half of the 20th century, their relation to the migrant
proletarians (and migrants in general) of the Third World became more
hostile as well: previous contradictions which were relatively
non-antagonistic such as that in relation to the
Mexican/Nigerian/Caribbean migrants are more antagonistic in our current
day. So with these factors in mind, we can argue that this class of
people (yes that includes the Black Hebrew Israelite with anti-Semitic
tendencies) have interests for revolution against Amerika but might be
more reserved when it comes to internationalism and involving the class
in it self with other nations’ liberations. This is compared to the
Hindi proletariat who will be far less wishy washy as a class in
involving themselves with the struggle of the Dravidian proletariat when
reaching class consciousness. So in conclusion, with proper political
organizing the New Afrikan labor aristocracy would be a friend of the
revolution.
Instead of this method of finding out who our friends and enemies
are, most communists consider friends as people who have the correct
takes on an xyz issue most people don’t even care about and enemies as
people who hold reactionary views. One source of this ideology is how
Amerikan culture promotes individual thinking and behavior as the mover
of history rather than class struggle. With this mindset, racism is a
problem started by individual Amerikans thinking and behaving racist and
will end when individual Amerikans cease thinking and behaving racist.
The Maoist method on the other hand sees that racism is a problem that
was brought to inception by remnants of feudal European aristocrats (a
class of people) stealing this land at gunpoint and trickery from what
would become the modern First Nations, and enslaving what would become
modern New Afrikans and militaristically invading the Mexican nation’s
land, solidifying what would become modern Chicanos all for the various
Amerikan classes’ interests (whether that be the big capitalist class,
the small business owning capitalist class, or even the common Amerikan
worker).
The Maoist solution is for these national contradictions to be
resolved through the oppressed nations overthrowing Amerika through
revolution. These historical events of Amerikan land conquest, slavery,
and genocide were also crucial in acting as primitive accumulation for
global capitalism-imperialism in general not only for Amerika. There is
no modern day $outh Korea, Japan, Au$trailia, I$rael, $audi Arabia,
Kanada, and so on without Amerikan slavery, Amerikan land conquest, and
Amerikan genocide. Therefore proletarian dictatorship must be
established to resolve this contradiction as well as overthrow of
Amerika. But because of individualist Amerikan culture, national
chauvinism is something treated with tone and etiquette led by student
youth tired of their parents’ old backwards ways. This leads to the
fourth problem.
4. The Sub-Culture Problem
Many newer generation communists have begun their politics through
the internet. The original MIM was one of the first communist parties to
have a website and put credence in the importance of the internet. It
certainly is a politically important tool if it’s a major way youth are
becoming interested in Lenin, and how all the imperialist governments
partake in it in different ways from the FBI surveilling political
internet forums to the Chinese Communist Party banning entire social
media outlets. However, what the old MIM didn’t predict is that
communist groups on social media aren’t the ones that primarily
influence kids to read Mao Zedong and study the Black Panthers.
Communist groups are far outshadowed online by memes, twitch streamers,
tik tok spheres, instagram pages, internet forums, and the likes when it
comes to converting kids to communism than communist organization
internet presence. This has given rise to the problem of communism
becoming more akin to a sub-culture talked about on social media sites
like twitter and reddit than a political movement. Different political
stances from Maoism, Trotskyism, all the way to Stirnerite Anarchism
cease to become guides to action, but a thing to put on your bio.
Various people’s wars and nations at war become more akin to fandoms for
TV shows to obsess and argue over rather than a movement to popularize
and create awareness for. Political line ceases to become a belief and
action that one takes, but a take one has so they can get on the
algorithm. Line struggle turn into flame wars with no purpose of uniting
with others, but exist only to express one’s individual self for the
cathartic feeling of having the correct line.
In day-to-day real life, communism might be becoming less and less
pariah’d in the eyes of the average Amerikan; but communism itself is
becoming more and more revisionist, more and more toothless, more and
more a pop culture joke, and more and more a harmless icon of a once
revolutionary movement that became hijacked by the bourgeoisie after its
death, as Lenin spoke of. We took 20 steps forward and a million steps
back when it comes to fighting against anti-communist culture leftover
from the red scare era. Turns out Amerikan individualism was far more of
an obstacle in making Maoism popular than the legacy of McCarthyism.
We shouldn’t throw away the internet with the bathwater as it indeed
took a certain part in making the oppressor nation Amerikan youth become
interested in revolutionary politics, but we should also be acutely
aware of the sub-culture problem. A single New Afrikan, Chican@, or
Indigenous member of the masses understanding the Maoist concept of
reform and revolution and practicing to boycott the elections while not
calling themselves communist nor wearing red armbands is 100 times more
valuable to us in spreading popular support against imperialism than 300
college students with a Stalin portrait in their dorm rooms who thinks
the white worker is a friend.
Conclusion
Many of these problems can only really be solved through the
development of our movement as a whole. Even writing and publishing this
article in Under Lock & Key can only do so much. Our
dedicated prisoner comrades who read this will certainly be influenced,
and perhaps they will get more insight as to the problems of the
“activist” scene that they will be adjacent with once they get out; but
when it comes to student youth abandoning Liberalism or the masses on
the street taking up scientific thinking, it is up for the MIM (and not
just the prison ministry) to develop and go to the masses as Mao said.
For our readers and supporters outside, we challenge them to set up
geographical MIM cells or work with MIM(Prisons) to develop the modern
MIM. For our readers and supporters inside, we list these problems of
the movement to stay sharp and aware once they get released.
Notes: 1. starting in ULK 73, prisoners write in for a
copy of the full series 2. MIM, Applied internationalism: The
difference between Mao Zedong and Joma Sison. 3. Wiawimawo, January
2016, Islam a Liberation Theology, Under Lock & Key
No. 48.
It seems unanimous that 2023 will be a year of recession. A recent
report from the United Nations Committee on Trade And Development
(UNCTAD) opens up with:
“The world is headed towards a global recession and prolonged
stagnation unless we quickly change the current policy course of
monetary and fiscal tightening in advanced economies.
“Supply-side shocks, waning consumer and investor confidence and the
war in Ukraine have provoked a global slowdown and triggered
inflationary pressures.”(1)
Before talking more about the report, let’s start with some basics.
Recession is something that is unique to capitalism. It is a product of
capitalism’s inherent contradictions. In previous economic systems,
problems of getting resources to people were caused by things like
plagues, floods, droughts and war. All things that we are still familiar
with today. But there is no other economics system where people go
hungry because of “market forces” preventing adequate production and
distribution. This happens at all times in capitalism, but it will be
affecting broader swaths of the population as we go into recession.
While the pandemic was not the cause of current imbalances, it
certainly helped exacerbate them. Because we live in a service economy,
Amerikans had a hard time spending all their money when things were shut
down. They’re used to regular entertainment, movies, costly sporting
events and clubs, having people prepare food for them and the infamous
getting their hair done which they cried for during the early lockdowns.
Having all that cash on hand, they turned to purchasing goods, which
were harder to get due to supply chains slowing down. As the U.$.
government continued to roll out benefits to Amerikans they wanted to
buy more things and there were less things available to buy. Companies
selling things increased prices, and the pressure for inflation
began.
The ability to keep printing dollars (in the forms of COVID relief
money and low interest loans) is backed by the fact that the dollar is
the dominant currency for international trade. And this is backed by
U.$. dominance of international monetary organizations and U.$.
militarism shaping the world economy in its image.
Increasing Dollar Power
In 2022, the U.$. Federal Reserve got serious about addressing
inflation as it began to surpass 8% year-over-year (when they’d like it
closer to 2%). In recent months, the Fed has continued to increase the
interest rates by .75% at each meeting they have every 4 to 6 weeks.
They have indicated that they plan to continue to do so to bring down
wages and inflation. One of the goals of the Fed here is to increase
unemployment and cool down the job market by making it more expensive
for companies to borrow money. Recently Amerikans have had their pick of
jobs with many opportunities to increase their incomes. Under
capitalism, this is somehow a bad thing. Contrast this with the MIM
Platform for a socialist dictatorship of the proletariat, which
guarantees employment (as well as free day care, medical care, public
transport and college education).
The UNCTAD report highlights the even greater negative impacts of
raising interest rates in the United $tates on the Third World
proletariat. Yet, UNCTAD’s calls for, “Central banks in developed
economies to revert course and avoid the temptation to try to bring down
prices by relying on ever higher interest rates.” seems to be a pipe
dream at this point. As we discussed in our recent
article on the war in Ukraine, the U.$. dollar is the reserve
currency, which means what the U.$. Fed does has huge implications for
money everywhere.(2) And other imperialist countries have filed suit by
increasing interest rates to protect their own currencies from more
extreme devaluation. The British pound just hit it’s all-time low
exchange rate to the dollar, putting them almost at 1-to-1.
While Amerikans complain about oil prices rising from inflation, war
and supply chain issues, OPEC has announced it is cutting production,
which will increase global oil prices. This is not helping the cause of
the Fed and the U.$. government trying to mitigate inflation for
Amerikans.
Relatedly, Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries the UNCTAD
forecasts to exceed “normal” pre-COVID GDP trends next year. However,
President Biden is striking back at Saudi Arabia threatening to cut off
arms sales to the country saying their leadership role in OPEC is aiding
Russia, who has been engaged in a proxy war with the United $tates for
more than half a year now. Again, we are seeing increasing divisions
among the global powers. Similar to the divisions that precluded WWI and
WWII as discussed by author Richard Krooth.
In our review
of Arms & Empire in ULK 78 we quoted Krooth’s
explanation of the role of the strong dollar in bringing on the Great
Depression:
“…making it the hardest currency in the world, pushing up its value
vis-a-vis other currencies, but also making it inaccessible to nations
that otherwise would have purchased from America. When other nations
could not obtain dollars by exports to the U.S., obviously they could
import nothing at all. And so U.S. exports tended to fall and had to be
replaced with bilateral trade agreements. Up went U.S. unemployment when
markets fell away and bilateral trade could not replace them. Then down
came the dollar, the U.S. devaluing in 1933 in an attempt to stimulate
the exports again. But, alas, it was too late. The depression was on,
production was down, America was spreading crisis to Europe!”
(p.119)
While Europe is not quite in the rough shape it was at that time,
de-industrialization has been the trend, as Amerikan’s have had more and
more say in how their economies are structured. As we discussed in our
recent article on Ukraine, the Amerikans have been conspiring to prevent
a close relationship between Germany and Russia. Now it seems that the
sabotage attack on the Nordstream 2 pipeline that was built to pipe gas
from Russia to Germany is a continuation of those efforts by the
Amerikans.
Economic Policy and
Economic Systems
The UNCTAD report makes a number of recommendations to mitigate the
impacts of the coming recession on the exploited Third World nations of
the world, who of course will suffer the most. Again, these problems are
inherent to capitalism and cannot ultimately be avoided without
replacing it with a socialist economy. However, there are economic
policies that can improve, or even save, the lives of millions of people
today under capitalism. But they would need to be a bit more radical
than those suggested by UNCTAD.
The MIM
Platform includes two policies to be enforced by international
banking authorities under capitalism:
Elimination of international currency exchange rate fixing by
governments.
Tying of exchange rates to a standard basket of goods.
The UNCTAD report points out exchange rate depreciation in just six
months this year for a number of exploited countries:
Sri Lanka
77.8%
Ghana
32.1%
Sudan
29.7%
Egypt
19.8%
Haiti
15.6%
In the current system, when the currency in Sri Lanka depreciates by
77.8% that means that day-to-day expenses for the proletariat of Sri
Lanka are probably about doubled. If exchange rates were tied to a
standard basket of goods, then this would no longer be the case. Prices
of things like food and fuel would be stabilized across the globe in
local prices. The impact
on the imperialist system on the people of Ghana is explained in
more depth in our accompanying article.
Importantly, the above two demands by the MIM Platform would affect
the ability to pay off foreign debts as well. The UNCTAD report lists
the percent of government revenues spent on external debt in a number of
countries:
Somalia
96.8%
Sri Lanka
58.8%
Dominican Republic
20.4%
Ghana
28%
Jamaica
26.4%
How the heck can a state spend 97% of its revenue on debts to finance
capital (or even 25% for that matter) and ever be able to provide for
and serve the people of that country? Exchange rates cannot fix these
huge problems, which require debt forgiveness. But the current system of
exchange rates does make these debt payments increase as exchange rates
worsen as is happening now with a strengthening dollar (as most debts
are held in dollars). Overall, the percentage of state revenue spent on
servicing debts across the Third World has doubled over the last decade
according to this UNCTAD report. As surplus value extraction becomes
more difficult, interest payments on debt becomes a larger part of the
net flow of wealth from the exploited nations to the imperialist
countries.
There seems to be no momentum for MIM’s proposed radical changes
among the international bourgeoisie at this time, which means the
economy will continue to tighten and shrink. And under capitalism that
means people will suffer and die. The system is madness. If production
of goods ceases to be profitable, production ceases, it does not matter
how many people are in need of those goods. But one of the inherent
contradictions within capitalism is that the tendency to compete and
increase production constantly undercuts the rate of surplus value
extraction. As a result profits are always (generally) becoming harder
to come by. The introduction of the Chinese proletariat back into the
imperialist economy after 1976, but especially in the 1990s, by the
capitalists who run that country brought a breath of fresh air to
imperialism with a huge, new source of surplus value. By 2008, the rates
of profit had once again become harder to maintain, and today those
contradictions are playing out in the form of hot wars, trade wars,
currency wars and realignments of major powers.
The Maoist Internationalist Movement has always dismissed the
strategy of embedding itself in the Amerikan so-called working class and
labor unions. The experience of the Revolutionary Union in that kind of
work during the 1970s and 1980s was some of the most relevant and
interesting to MIM founders, influencing their decision to reject it.
Yet, since then, many other self-described “communists” have still
advocated and attempted the labor union strategy among Amerikans.
A wave of popular support for labor struggles within the United
$tates has been rekindled over the past year. This is primarily due to
the successful unionizing efforts of the Starbucks workers in Buffalo,
NY on 9 December 2021 and the Amazon workers in Staten Island, NY on 1
April 2022 – both of which set off more union efforts within their
companies and have inspired many similar efforts throughout many
different industries.
To many so-called “communists”, this recent phenomena serves as a
testament to the growing proletarian class consciousness among the U.$.
working-class and their increasing revolutionary potential. To these
revisionists and white nationalists, the proletarian uprising in the
United $tates is just one economic crisis away. Yet most who are swept
up in this union organizing populism lack the historical and theoretical
background to the Amerikan labor aristocracy. Most are in it for their
own self-interest and will be easily pulled towards fascism in a crisis
scenario, but others do have real budding proletarian consciousness that
can be won over with struggle and study.
In our efforts to investigate labor organizing in our contemporary
situation, we found a comrade with a friendly political line who has
been involved in actual underground union organizing. What follows is an
interview with this comrade, relating eir experience to the history of
the labor aristocracy and labor organizing in the United $tates in
general.
What things got you interested in doing union
organizing?
A few years ago, I began working in an industry whose workforce is
primarily made up of the more vulnerable population within U.$. society.
For example: ex-cons, immigrants, recovering addicts, etc. This
vulnerability was often exploited by management and while it was never
explicitly stated, there was an understanding by those in the vulnerable
position that the employer had an upper-hand on them and that they had
to abide by their requests to avoid any potential complications. This
was particularly reflected in a request a coworker of mine (some kid
from Central America) made in which ey asked if I would be willing to
run if our manager ever called ICE on em in order to focus the agents’
attention on me while ey slipped out and escaped. These coworkers often
worked harder than those fortunate enough to have papers and/or a clear
record, yet were treated like they were less than humyn. I couldn’t
stand that. I couldn’t stand how disposable they were treated because
they crossed a border, had a criminal history, or just have a messy past
that they are trying to overcome.
During the pandemic, two people I knew from the vulnerable population
(deemed “essential workers”), ended up dying from COVID-19 and for what?
To maintain a fucking business. To bourgeois society, they were nothing
more than cannon fodder. I was angry and I was depressed, and part of me
wanted to succumb to my own vices even further, but another part of me
felt a deep obligation to all of those I had worked with. To do
something about it. I wasn’t an organizer or anything. I had never
really done anything like that. But I wanted to do something. So around
this time I began taking my political studies more seriously and began
to see the bigger picture (i.e. the need for socialist revolution). I
wanted to immerse myself deep within the working-class and help build
the labor movement as a means to play my role in the struggle for
socialism. Eventually, an opportunity to work on an underground union
campaign targeting a major corporation presented itself and I dropped
everything to be part of that campaign.
And how quickly the front-line workers who died from COVID-19
have been forgotten in order to move the capitalist economy forward. The
United $tates, despite its wealth and resources, has had the most people
die from COVID-19. It’s at least good to hear that it inspired people
like yourself to seek real change. Did you work with one union or many?
Were they big/significant unions? Did you get a glimpse of how other
union organizing operated, or can you only speak to one
organization?
My situation was sort of unique as I worked in a sort of underground
cell within the union, but ultimately I worked under two unions. These
two are some of the biggest/most significant unions in the United
$tates. They operated similarly – very bureaucratically. We did a lot of
work with other big and medium-sized unions and they also seemed to
reflect that structure. I can’t speak on the more grassroots type
unions.
An underground cell? That sounds interesting, how did that
work?
I was a union salt, or rather, I was sent into a specific workplace
by the union as an undercover organizer to help them organize it. In my
case, I was entering one of the most infamous workplaces in the U.$. My
goal was to immerse myself with the working-class/the masses and commit
myself to the struggle for socialism.
Why do you feel this type of organizing didn’t ultimately match
your goals?
I believed that building up worker-power would lead to building up a
pillar of support for socialism in the United $tates. My goals were
political whereas the union’s were not – this is the fundamental
conflict between my interests and theirs.
What kind of things did you end up doing that you felt were not
aligned with your goals and politics? Were these tasks/projects
unexpected when you first got into union organizing?
I thought I was going into the workplace to build relationships and
serve in raising class consciousness, but ended up doing a bunch of
non-campaign related tasks/projects, such as phonebanking for random
surveys and canvassing for politicians I had never even heard of in
neighborhoods nicer than the one I lived in. This was unexpected because
I was sold such a militant/radical message by the persyn that recruited
me. I had been upfront about my reasons for wanting to work for the
union and how it related to my politics and this persyn told me that our
goals were similar and that I was in the right place. So it was a
surprise to me when I found myself doing a bunch of work that seemed no
more radical than working for the Democrats.
Did your political line develop/change during this time? because
of the work you were doing? or from external study on your own?
Yes. My political line changed drastically over my time with the
union. Partially because of the work, but mostly from deeper study. Like
I mentioned earlier, I salted at one of the most infamous workplaces in
the U.$. and while the work in itself was difficult, no one there really
belonged to the vulnerable population. You needed papers and a clean
record for at least five years in order to work there. So I was working
with a very different group of people – a group of people I began to
understand more and more through my persynal political study. They were
not the proletariat and they did not share the same interests with the
proletariat. They were labor aristocrats who, despite not being
unionized, still benefit from the spoils of global imperialism. I became
disillusioned with my work after understanding the reactionary role
labor unions and the labor aristocracy have actively played throughout
the history of the United $tates and among the global proletariat.
Of course we should not be quick to draw general conclusions
from our own limited experiences as that would be an empiricist error.
Were you able to connect your experiences to the historic experiences of
others?
I definitely do not think my experience can be used to make broad
generalizations on how a typical rank-and-file organizer’s experience
looks like given its unique form, but I think it does reflect an all too
common experience faced by those organizers motivated by a genuine
desire to struggle for revolution, but who misdirect their energy into
union work, non-profit work or any other form of controlled opposition
work that ultimately serves to further legitimize the bourgeois state.
There is a bit of naivety that stems from a lack of skepticism towards
such organizations and overall lack of experience from such organizers.
That is the importance of studying historical experience; to help guide
us on what works and what doesn’t work. For example, the experience I
often connect (or at least keep in mind the most) was that of the
historic IWW because they were an open anti-capitalist union with the
goal of organizing all workers. In retrospect, they closely matched my
goals and the goals of the other self-proclaimed communists I have
worked with. They were relatively successful as a union and were perhaps
the best case scenario regarding unions, yet they failed to carry out
anything revolutionary and fell short of pushing an anti-imperialist
line in fear of the repercussions they would face from the U.$.
government. Self-preservation marked higher on the priority list than
class struggle to a union of “radicals”; this seems important to keep in
mind whenever you find yourself working in an organization full of
liberals.
So the people you had worked with previously were also not
unionized? but they were lacking in full citizenship rights, whether by
birth or as punishment by the injustice system? What are your thoughts
on the organizing potential there based on your experience and
studies?
No, the people I had previously worked with were not unionized and
the industry as a whole is typically non-union (with an exception of the
more skilled within said industry that make up a very small portion of
the workforce). There seems to be too many complications in trying to
organize this workforce into a union, primarily because of how willing
another persyn who is lacking full citizenship would be to replace them.
Also, as I mentioned earlier, the consequences for this vulnerable
population are much more detrimental, which lessens the likelihood of
participating in a campaign that can risk their employment. Some people
need a job to satisfy the terms of their parole and losing their job
puts them at risk of going back to prison. When you’re in a more
desperate situation, you’re more willing to put up with shit. With that
being said though, I do think there is organizing potential among them –
it just so happens not to be in labor. Most of them come from oppressed
nationalities and their lack of full citizenship rights demarcates them
further from being accepted by oppressor society, demarcating them from
an amerikan identity. I believe there is potential to organize this
particular population of the U.$. workforce around the national
question, but only through practice will we see if this proves to be
correct.
What do you see as possible solutions/roads forward for you or
anyone who shares your goals? How do they contrast with the practices
within the labor organizing movement in this country as you experienced
it?
The struggle for better wages, universal healthcare, remote work
opportunities , or whatever “communists” and liberals are fighting for
(i.e. union work) will not lead to revolution – but rather further
pacification – which will ultimately serve imperialism. Communists
should aim to wage class struggle, not facilitate social work. If
diversifying the beneficiaries of global imperialism sounds productive,
then support a union. If not, then recognize the importance of keeping
your politics in command. As a communist – the goal is revolution and
the role we play is in advancing that goal. But we can’t advance our
goal if we cannot admit that we need to re-assess the situation we are
working in. This requires deep study. So take a step back and study
seriously. We are working in very unique conditions and it is important
that we understand these conditions if we are remotely serious in our
politics. Fortunately for us, Chairman Mao formulated the fundamental
question when it comes to making revolution: Who are our friends? And
who are our enemies?
Texas prisoners face some of the harshest conditions in the kkkountry
mainly due to neglect from prison staff, and disregard for prisoners’
health, safety and rights. For example recently in Estelle High Security
we had received a report from one of our readers on dialysis, and a copy
of eir grievance,
On 15 August 22 at 5:45PM-7:10PM 11 Dialysis patients were put in a
van with NO Rear A/C. We got to the rear gate of high security at 6:10pm
our officer driving the van told Lt. Phillips:
“Hey there’s Dialysis in the van and it’s hot for them.”
Lt. Phillips said ,“I don’t give a fuck, I’m crossing my kitchen crew
to the main building. They can fucken wait.”
It was about 90 outside. Our officer driving the van told her again,
“They just got off dialysis.”
Lt Phillips said, “They’ll be fine.”
Their report describes a fellow prisoner who had passed out after
they were left in there for an hour. This is not the only heat related
incident, as heat waves were going on for weeks, many units went without
A/C or adequate ice or respite as reported on from the Luther Unit.
Meanwhile, Stiles
Unit spent much of September in lockdown during the heat with no showers
and limited food. Heat exhaustion and health issues are being
exacerbated by lack of respite, this all being against directive A.D.
1064 requiring access to ice during times of elevated heat. The
oppressors at this unit deny this happening of course, and show their
own unwillingness to follow their own laws, which gives light to the
real purpose of prisons of course being national and political
oppression. Unity and mass action is the only way to address this, such
as TX T.E.A.M. O.N.E.’s mass petition to mail to the U.$. Department of
Justice as mentioned in ULK 78Juneteenth
Freedom Initiative (J.F.I.) Phase 2.
This year has seen an increase in reports (at least 135 recorded by
Texas Dept. of Criminal Injustice (TDCJ)) of censorship of mail from
MIM(Prisons) across Texas, since the start of the J.F.I. As stated in
the last 2 issues of ULK, the J.F.I. is simply organizing for
prisoners’ legal rights as stated by the imperialist’s own laws
(peacefully advocating for legal rights is not inciting a disturbance).
Massive censorship continues in the Allred and Hughes Units, among many
others, where conditions are some of the worst in the state. The reason
behind this as stated before is to prevent organizing and political
education from prisoners, and to limit their knowledge of their legal
rights. The state’s interest are of population control, and torture
(Restricted housing for decades is unconstitutional torture) along with
the many cases of neglect beyond what’s referenced here.
“MIM Distributors and our subscribers within the TDCJ have exhausted
all administrative remedies with our appeals, letters and grievances.
The TDCJ is not interested in following the law on it’s own accord.
Therefore we have begun to step up outside pressure on two fronts.
the legal front by filing a lawsuit
the public opinion front via our postcard campaign”
“A prisoner’s administrative remedies are exhausted when prison
officials fail to timely respond to a properly filed grievance.”
(Haight v. Thompson 763 F. 3d 554 (6th Cir 2014)) According to
this, if they do not respond to our grievances we can go on to a §1983
Civil Action.
Anti-imperialist Prisoner support (AIPS) has been hitting the streets
with ULK, J.F.I. Flyers, and postcards to be mailed to TDCJ’s
Director’s Review Committee office and Jimmy Smith’s (Warden of Allred)
office, collecting donations and educating those on the outside. We can
always use more feet on the ground, and legal funds from those on the
outside, more support in general.
This short summary of some of the conditions recently faced by Texas
prisoners is a call to unite against all oppression, primarily against
the United Snakes of Amerikkka, and to unify under the common banner of
Anti-imperialism. Don’t let the divide and conquer tactics work as
intended, this political oppression cannot and will not go unanswered.
We need the people on the outside to support those on the inside in
their efforts to further organize, rehabilitate, and educate in the
United Struggle from Within in Texas. We need public opinion to shift,
so keep on the pressure from both sides. The more they censor and
oppress, bigger our fight gets!
Sorry I haven’t been able to send any stamps, ever since Russia
invaded Ukraine the store prices went way up. We get about half of what
we got before for $60 a month, and here it’s even worse than my previous
location.
Soups - Top Ramen only went up $0.05 each from $0.25 to $0.30 each.
When I got to Corcoran State Prison one Top Ramen is $0.45 each. They
stay overcharging us and our families. On the streets it’s 10 to 12 Top
Ramen for a $1, and in prison Top Ramen is the #1 seller so they
probably pay 2 or 3 cents each. Everything else went way up too, it’s
crazy and bullshit.
Is it those who learned their lessons,
From the oppression?
The ones who kill their citizens,
At their discretion?
The ones who use racism,
As a weapon?
And got the entire country,
Suffering from depression?
They use retribution,
As the solution.
Got us bound by chains,
In institutions.
Therefore, the slave remains,
No constitution,
They wanna wash away my complexion,
Like an ablution.
I learn to rob and kill,
From “The Establishment.”
Same way they took this country,
They were some savage men.
They said me and my people,
Were less than average men.
When they kill my entire race
What happens then?
When the world turns yellow,
How will they segregate?
Will they then eradicate,
The word miscegenate?
When the country gains balance,
How Will they legislate?
Tell me, what group of people,
Will they then confiscate?
Last night i dreamed i was talking to Huey
P,
told him how tired i was of amerikkka & what it’s doing to me.
Got me feeling like every white cop is my enemy,
Consumed by hatred & it’s killing me.
Wanna pick up my gun & put some pig on my plate,
Tell the judge “He tried to kill me!” & see if i can skate. (yeah
right)
But there’s gotta be a better way & i was hoping you could
help me find my Revolutionary State of Mind,
So i can become a proud supporter of Revolutionary
Suicide!
i’d gladly die for my People just to see them on top, Black Lives DO Matter!!! Brothers & Sisters so we
can’t stop.
Educating our minds, strengthening our bodies & spiritually filling
our souls,
Storming across amerikkka screamin “Let My People
Go!!”
The world isn’t ready for a Black Movement such as this,
But they’re poking us with bullets & the people are getting
pissed.
They want us to accept these targets on our backs,
But i’m loading up my mind & my clip. (click/clack)
Didn’t want violence to begin with but we’re tired of talking it
out,
Breonna Taylor, George Floyd it’s a damn shame we gotta burn
down buildings just to make’em feel what we’re about.
All we want is what was promised when Honest Abe said we were
free,
You know, Protection, Justice, Equality,
Might as well be living in France;
Cause that shits foreign to me.
i want to teach my folk how to rise & stand tall,
with All Black Everything there’s no way we’re gonna
fall
So Mr. Newton will you teach me the Revolutionary facts?
He just chuckled & said, “Young Brotha you’re already on
track.”