MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
[CORRECTION: This article was published stating that Yogi was
Puerto Rican, when ey was actually of Nicaraguan descent.]
Peace Comrades. Recieved the latest issue of the newspaper &
passed it off to one of my comrades who just recently got into some
trouble. So if possible, I would like to receive that issue & the
one before it. Thanks with much love in revolution.
I’m writing this as an article that I’m hoping will get published for
the Black August Memorial in hopes that my earnest effort could perhaps
clarify things a bit further in terms of matter of perspective &
also to educate brothers/sisters on the legendary history of fallen
comrade George Jackson.
I read an article that began somewhat vacariously about the fallen
comrade & his connection to Hugo Pinnell who was also BGF & how
because of George’s wide encompassing views on race & its place in
standing to building political/military cadre’s, that this somehow means
that we need to abandon the rhetoric that is connected with groups who
are primarily concerned with fixing the “Black issue”.
I strongly disagree with the content of that article & not
because my views are just so diametrically different, but because I too
have wide encompassing views concerning race. However, I’m not under the
impression that we need to abandon our quest in building the support
that is needed to eliminate the black problem altogether. My first
reason for this is largely because I see that Blacks are the only group
who is told to forget about the monumental issue that we faced & are
still facing. But its also because of the fact that before we can ever
hope to build in the concept of global Asiatic unity & eventually
begin to merge our support with Europeans, we must first unify among
ourselves & use that unity to destroy the Black problem & then
we can go on to build with others & help others in their quest for
the same sort of thing.
You see, revolution is tied to long range politics. This is so
because revolution is so complex due to the fact that everything –
places, people, religion, economics, and sociology – will be impacted in
a major way. It’s not as simple as a government takeover & let’s be
real, if you cannot make revolution into a transmitter that spreads
through all cultural variations, then a government takeover here &
abroad will never be possible.
George was a people’s revolutionary & by people’s revolutionary I
mean people in terms of all humanity. However, even he had to develop
into that sort of personhood. Let’s not forget either that George
Jackson was a huge history major & for those who really know about
George, they attest to the fact that he loved being Black & even
wanted to be Blacker. That is not proof that he ever abandoned his
concern for his people’s plight nor did he have a lack of pride what
comes from a lack of knowledge. Through his studies on Afrikan history
as evidence through both of his books, I know he saw the connection
between the Original man globally. That means that he saw the black,
brown, yellow, red (a variation of brown) as Asiatics & all being
the same people, & the fact that we suffered at the hands of the
same forces & people was largely his reason to connect with these
people.
The Black Guerrilla Family was initially started to combat racism
within the confines of an openly oppressive prison system designed
against Blacks. Yeah, sure, George did overcome the counterproductive
effects of racism that would have surely stunted his growth as a
communist revolutionary. But when did the Black Guerrilla Family ever
become a family that forgot about the Black issue?
I think for a lot of people who became politically aware, they became
like Utopian anarchists in a way. I say this because a lot don’t see the
fact that whatever issue they faced like slavery here and abroad is what
fueled their passion to become revolutionaries in the first place. I get
that we cannot stay blinded by that issue alone, but how do you walk on
a broken leg? You have to heal that leg first. It’s like Malcolm said
“You can’t stab a man with a 12-inch knife and pull it out 3 inches and
ask him why he’s still complaining.” One issue doesn’t trump the next
one, however until we get free completely its righteous for brothers to
complain and use that concern to solve their problems.
Also as revolutionaries, it’s supposed to be our aim to help others
to eliminate their problems, not to beat them over the head for doing
so.
I also disagree with the fact that August 21 and the Attica uprising
were not events solely about George. Even if you believe the bullshit
“story” that the state concocted to assassinate George, this still means
that the events that took place and led up to the assassination were
about George and this means that the San Quentin 6 coming together was
for George. Perhaps it was solidarity across “national” lines but, if
Hugo Pinell was Puerto Rican, then how wasn’t he Black? Now I agree that
the revolt of Attica was already brewing, however George’s assassination
was the match that struck an already heavily gasolined situation.
If anything, no one needs to forget the Black issue, but I mean this
in a global sense, not an Amerikan sense, because the original man is
everywhere and everywhere he has come into some form of struggle. Read
the history books, don’t just get immersed into revolutionary theory.
How can you say that you agree with George or any other revolutionary
leader if you don’t understand their philosophies which are the result
of history and the masterworks of theorists who came before them? I
don’t think those who are excited about Juneteenth are wrong at all. But
it’s an Amerikan tragedy & that’s what Juneteenth should be
about.
For Black August, we shouldn’t be bickering over Black this, Puerto
Rican that, we should be trying to show how we all the same people and
use that to connect with each other. Globally the Black man is 11 to 1
there’s no reason to argue over why brothers should deviate from Black
revolution. If you don’t understand that either you didn’t go through
the process of going from A to Z or you understand revolution only as
its all inclusive, which is good, but there’s a process to
inclusion.
So if you really champion George, then try to understand the core of
his philosophy, not by separating Blacks from other Asiatics, but seeing
them collectively as one globally.
Peace.
Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade
writes, “Blacks are the only group who is told to forget about the
monumental issue that we faced & are still facing.” We hear this a
lot from people of different nationalities, that they are told to, or
that their own people fight for the liberation of others but not
themselves. So I would say this is a misperception that probably stems
from the overall lack of revolutionary nationalism among all nations
entrapped by the United $tates at this time and a result of oppressor
nation chauvinism telling the oppressed to essentially “stop
complaining.”
We wholeheartedly agree with this comrade on the need to unify within
oppressed nations in order to build strong alliances between the
oppressed and especially with forces in the oppressor nation (who are
most likely to lead us astray). USW has a slogan, “Unity from the Inside
Out”, and this is one of the many meanings of that slogan. Like this
comrade states, we find the work of prisoners (and oppressed nations in
general) finding unity and inclusion amongst each other to be of great
important work. We also find it important for two oppressed groups to
100% understand/accept each other’s qualitative differences while
building unity as blind unity is bound to fall apart. Malcolm X used the
term “Black Revolution” as happening in Asia, Africa, and Latin America;
so from that angle we see the positive and internationalist application
of this model of thinking.
As we explain in another response on single nation organizing, the
main reason we think this is true is because imperialism is the
dialectical contradiction between oppressor and oppressed nations. To
resolve that contradiction, and to end oppression of all forms in the
world today, means prioritizing the struggles of the oppressed nations
to overcome the oppressor nations and end imperialism.
As to the term “Asiatic”, we don’t subscribe to the ideas of a
differentiation between original or aboriginal people and white people
being a demonic derivation of that. And i’ve never seen any indication
that George Jackson did either. We would use the term Third World
oppressed nations, as the Black Panthers did. It is the contradiction
between nations, which is an historical phenomenon, not a biological
difference.
We received some criticism for our
response
to a discussion of George Jackson printed in ULK 65. In this
article we described how some of Jackson’s writings are anti-wimmin and
anti-gay. While we stand by that line, we take a lesson from our
critics. Printing this in isolation, without commenting on all the
positive contributions Jackson made to the revolutionary movement, was a
mistake. George Jackson overall played an important positive role as a
revolutionary. While we need to analyze our historical revolutionary
movements and leaders and learn from their mistakes, we should not
dismiss great leaders who made mistakes or had some political line
wrong. George Jackson’s mistakes did not outweigh eir positive
contributions.
July 2018 – We remember for all time in the future the terrible and
untimely political assassinations of Comrade George and Jonathon
Jackson. Black August and bloody September are fast approaching and
while many people will of course mourn due to these fatalities committed
by the state, we shouldn’t be saddened by these most terrible
atrocities. We should rejoice and see repression as a logical response
by the capitalist masters to stop our thrust upward.
The history of Amerika’s reign of terror begins with its start as a
settler’s colony that exterminated the otherwise “savage and backward”
Indians, and raped Africa for her peoples to build and industrialize
this young nation. The trends toward monopoly capital actually began
during the civil war, during the only time where the masters of capital
felt the greatest threats to its power. Amerikan history has always been
a story of masters and slaves, dominators and dominated, capitalists and
workers, and haves and have-nots. But the centralization of state power
actually began during the age of the Industrial Revolution.
The earlier vanguard parties betrayed the interest of the people by
sticking to reformism, even though reformism in Amerika is an old story.
At the close of World War II when the purple mushroom clouds over Japan
were aired for the world to see, fascism did indeed emerge and
consolidate itself in its most advance form in Amerika. In fact the
trends towards monopoly capital might have begun right here in Amerika.
The Black Panther Party formed as a response to state terror. The savage
repression which can be estimated by a brief reading of the nation’s
dailies has not failed to register on the minds of most lower
disenfranchised, especially when you couple the fact that we are worth
no more than the amount of capital that we can raise. Whether they know
it or not we are victims of both social and economic injustice and our
economic status has reduced our minds to a state of complete oblivion.
The older vanguard parties were committed to reformism and its
counter-productive nature. The Black Panther Party, American Indian
Movement, Black Liberation Army however were committed and prepared to
take the fight to whatever level needed to be taken in order to make
sure that the demands of the people were met. As a response, J. Edgar
Hoover and his secret branch (COINTELPRO) devised a plan to stop a
“Black Messiah” from rising out of the ghetto that could lead the people
to revolution. On 4 December 1969 Gloves Davis, a black officer in
Chicago, killed Black Panther leaders Fred Hampton and Mark Clark. Of
course the COINTELPRO was very effective in infiltration tactics,
because Fred Hampton’s bodyguard was later to be revealed as a “class
defector and stool pigeon” for the forces of repression.
We shouldn’t be sad that George is gone. We should be sad that no one
has ushered in to take up his works, even though so many champion him
and also since there are guerillas all over who shout “George,” but have
yet to follow in his footsteps. Our overall situation doesn’t stand out
as glaringly as it did during the 1960s and 70s. However we should not
be tricked into thinking that the struggle is no more. The hip-shooting
pigs still gun us and call it justifiable homicide due to the trends in
the crime culture we have embraced. The crime culture only mimics the
European experience. In order for us to seize the time we should think
in terms of true freedom. The freedom that comrade George fought and
died for. Long live the real Dragon.
MIM(Prisons) associate responds:
The author mentions that “[t]he earlier vanguard parties betrayed the
interest of the people by sticking to reformism, even though reformism
in Amerika is an old story.” However, not all the early vanguard parties
were reformist. In general, vanguard parties are not reformist in
nature, although they might work on reformist campaigns (wimmin’s
rights, prisoners’ rights, etc.). Vanguard parties, by definition, aim
to be the force that lead the revolution. So why did the vanguard
parties fail?
One obvious reason is that the United $tates has not entered a
revolutionary situation. Due to a variety of factors, and despite the
presence of vanguard parties in different places and at different times,
there has not been a substantial proletarian movement for freedom. In
Lenin’s terms, the workers during the Industrial Revolution in the
United $tates only reached basic Trade Union Consciousness, not
Proletarian Consciousness. Their goal was for better working conditions,
not a new system.
This goes hand-in-hand with the second reason. As J. Sakai argues in
Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat, there has never
been a substantial proletariat in the United $tates. Despite the
presence of oppressed national minorities, lumpen proletariat, and a few
revolutionaries, the revolutionaries have never reached a critical mass.
This is especially true today, as almost all real labor has been pushed
to the Third World and Euro-Amerikkkans are living off of the
superexploitation of the Third World proletariat.
The author also mentions that “fascism did indeed emerge and consolidate
itself in its most advance form in Amerika.” MIM(Prisons) believes that
the
United $tates is not currently a fascist country (nor has it been in
the past). Amerikkka is obviously imperialist and this imperialist core
was inscribed into the Amerikkkan project from the very beginning,
however we do not equate imperialism with fascism. Fascism is a form of
imperialism, but we don’t think it’s the current state of the world. And
we see the most fascist expression of imperialism in Third World
countries where imperialists are imposing their will.
Fascism is a form of imperialism, and so this means fascism is a form of
capitalism. Fascism is the final attempt for the bourgeoisie to remain
the dominant aspect in the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat. As the proletarian forces become stronger, the imperialists
go to even more extreme measures to protect their beloved economic
system. To say we’re in a fascist scenario now, or we’re moving toward
fascism, is to overstate the strength of the proletarian forces in the
present day. Fascism is enhanced imperialism, so it’s natural that we
would see some elements of our current imperialist society appearing
more like fascism than others, even if we haven’t moved into fascism as
an overall system.
As I first stumbled out of the haze of unconsciousness and began to see
the true structure of society and the world, as I began to understand
what drove and supported the political socio-economic forces, it was
inevitable that I would be influenced by the Black Panther Party. As
with many urban youth who lived rough, experiencing ghetto life with its
grinding poverty and internecine violence, with the police sweeps and
sanctioned violence, along with the general spirit of hopelessness that
pervaded the community, the appeal of the party was at first
superficial. I was drawn to the audacity in the stories of those so very
young women and men who were facing off with the state’s protector – the
police. Although I didn’t understand, I was only seeing the surface of
what the party was about.
I was aware of some of the survival programs that the party had
organized and their provocative slogans. As I read more to get an
understanding of the party’s actual ideology, my reading expanded and my
own ideas took shape. I became aware of the class struggles in addition
to the racial struggles – I had assumed that the condition of minority
groups in this country was primarily race-based. Now I became aware of
the guiding hand of economics in the affairs and destiny of peoples and
nations, in conjunction with the politics of race.
Through the books and speeches of the BPP, I became familiar with Marx,
Lenin, Fanon, Sartre, Che and so many others through whose analysis and
actions revealed a different way of considering human events and
condition. They also revealed to me the value of setting examples to
motivate and raise consciousness. At first I made what I’ve now come to
see as an error in my attempts to bring myself to socialist thought, at
the expense of free thought. But I realized that dialectical materialism
does not bring everyone to the same conclusions, certainly not always at
the same time.
Our cultural perspectives are not illegitimate, nor should they be
denied in order to fit into any ideological category. A people’s history
will inform their view and approach to the issues that have bearing on
them, on their condition. Their specific needs may require addressing in
ways that are unique to those people, and may not be suitable for other
peoples’ circumstances. If people deny that then they are denying
themselves the flexibility and effectiveness to meet their needs, solve
their problems and advance a common good. This is one of the reasons for
the importance of the BPP.
The articulation of the struggle could be – when it needed to be –
sophisticated, with a higher level of vocabulary and Marxist-Leninst
terminology. Then – when it needed to be – the articulation of the party
could be iconoclastic, and even vulgar with the turn of a phrase more
easily understood by the lumpen-proletariat, the streetcorner man. Huey
Newton and George Jackson spoke to us in both ways. They knew when to
because they were as we are. Same history. Same soul. There was no need
to pretend in order to manipulate the people. The straightforward speech
and fearless actions is what got my attention. Then Huey proceeded to
expand my imagination with his own as he described intercommunalism.
George served as an example, not only of what a person could survive,
but also of how hope and purpose could be restored to a life that had
been designated as a throwaway.
The Party existed in a different era than ours. Some things are better,
some are worse. Yet what remains exactly the same is the need for people
to be conscious of the forces that affect their lives and threaten to
dictate their fate, along with the urgent need to seize those forces and
address those needs.
The most effective organizers and motivators of people of the underclass
are those who can speak the language of the underclass on the one hand,
taking the frustrating and complex, making it plain. While on the other
hand demonstrating what someone like themselves are capable of with the
depths of their understanding and the heights of their courage –
remaining unbroken where others have broken under less pressure.
In the present, criticism is leveled at those women and men who risked
all of themselves, sacrificed so much – even their own lives. Their
errors and excesses have been highlighted in history. Although we can
recognize the accuracy of some of that criticism, it would be a grave
error on our part to allow those things to prevent us from accepting the
lessons in their analysis of the origins, significance and relevance of
class and racial struggle, nor should we fail to acknowledge the
dedication and examples of courage that were demonstrated by people so
young.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade provides us with some
important perspective on how we analyze the history of revolutionary
activists. Some people are critical of revolutionaries, comparing them
to some ideal that has never been achieved, as if these people were gods
and should have been perfect. But doing this means we will only
criticize everyone and learn nothing from history. Instead we need to
measure people, and organizations, by their real world actions in
comparison to other real world actions. No persyn or group is perfect.
But we look at the impact of their work, and also how well they learned
from their mistakes.
The Black Panther Party was the most advanced and effective
revolutionary organization in U.$. history. The BPP correctly identified
the contradiction of national oppression as principal within U.$.
borders, and saw the need for a revolutionary party to organize the New
Afrikan nation. They were way ahead of others in the 1960s with their
analysis of the importance of Maoism, and their practice of building a
strong disciplined organization. There is a lot to learn from the
history of the BPP.
This doesn’t mean we withhold all criticism of the BPP. But as this
comrade notes: our criticisms, which with hindsight are always much
easier to see than in the moment, should not stop us from learning from
the BPP and upholding their organization for its revolutionary
leadership. For more on this topic read Defend the Legacy of the
Black Panther Party, available from MIM(Prisons) for $6 or work
trade.
I recall entering United States Penitentiary (USP) Leavenworth in 1993
as a very ignorant, reactionary member of a street tribe in need of
guidance. I was approached by an individual seen by others in many
lights; original gangsta! Comrade George’s comrade! Revolutionary! Major
underworld figure! All of the above and some. All I know is, the brotha
James “Doc” Holiday freely gave of himself to educate all of us tribal
adherents.
Making it mandatory that we both exercise daily (machine) and read
progressive literature, because consciousness grows in stages. As such,
he brought many a tribal cat towards a more revolutionary-oriented
ideal. Some accepted New Afrikan revolutionary nationalism. Others
gained structure, within their respective tribes (Kiwe/Damu national
identities). Whichever choices we made, the overall revolutionary
objectives were being met, in that the seeds of liberating consciousness
had been sown. We learned of: Che, Fidel, W.L. Nolen, Marx, Lenin, Mao,
Huey P., Bobby, Fred, Bunchy, Comrade George, Assata, etc. So many more
unnamed heroes/sheroes of the movement for change and liberation.
Was “Daktari” perfect? No! He had flaws and vices like most hue-mans
raised in capitalist United $tates – this putrid system which conditions
us to value money over character. However, it is my contention that, to
overlook the strengths and contributions this elder made to both Cali
state and Federal systems’ revolutionary cultures is to aid our common
oppressors in suppressing the memories of all whose stories could serve
as inspirational tools.
Utilizing materialist dialectics to analyze our forerunners’ strengths
and weaknesses as they relate to contributions to struggle is a
positive. Constructively critiquing their actions and/or strategem which
negatively impacted our progression towards building revolutionary
culture is also a positive. Personally, I do not view giving honors to
our fallen as “cult of personality.” As a New Afrikan by DNA, I know
firsthand how important it is for “us” to have concrete examples to
emulate. Sad reality is, U.$.-born New Afrikans have been conditioned
via historical miscarriages to see themselves as inferior to others. As
such, before giving them/us Marx and the like, they should be taught
examples of U.$. folk of color. Identification with/to New Afrikan
cultural identity is key to building viable revolutionary culture, prior
to more global revolutionary cadre education.
With that, I recently embraced Islam. The need of a morality code was
imperative for me (individually) in order for me to continue to be an
asset to the overall struggle. Regardless of my personal religious
belief, I shall remain committed to giving of myself – blood, sweat,
tears, my life if need be – to advance the struggle for freedom,
justice, and equality. This loyalty and devotion to the cause, come
hell, or forever in isolation, is a direct result of the seeds planted
in USP Leavenworth all those years ago by James “Doc” Holiday. I honor
him accordingly as an educator, elder, father figure, and comrade.
Recently my family attempted to locate Doc via FBOP locator and as his
name was not found, thus I assume he has passed on. I shall miss his wit
and grit. Revolutionary in peace!
MIM(Prisons) responds: The greatest tribute we can pay to Doc,
and all of the people who helped raise us to a higher level, is to carry
on eir legacy through our actions. We don’t mean to just “be about” the
struggle, or to shout them out in remembrance. “Each one teach one” is a
good place to start, and we can even look more deeply at what it was
about our comrades’ actions that made them such great organizers. In
analyzing their actions, we can build on that in our own organizing.
We encourage our readers to take a closer look at what it was that
turned you on to revolutionary organizing and politics. It surely wasn’t
just one action from one persyn, and it surely wasn’t just an internal
realization. Who was it that helped develop you, and how did they do it?
Especially for ULK 63, we want to look deeper at organizing
tactics and approaches within the pages of this newsletter. One thing we
can look at is our memories of what other people did to organize us.
Think about the people who helped develop your revolutionary
consciousness, and write in to ULK your observations.
What was their attitude? What methods did they use? How did they react
when someone was half-in the game? How did they behave toward people who
were totally in denial? Where did they draw the line between friends and
enemies? What are some memories you have of when the spark was lit for
you, that told you you needed to struggle to end oppression, rather than
just get what you could for yourself? Send your stories in to the
address on page 1 so ULK readers can incorporate your experiences
into their own organizing tactics.
For this issue of Under Lock & Key we took on the task of
investigating the impacts of drugs and the drug trade on the prison
movement. We ran a
survey
in the Jan/Feb 2017 and March/April 2017 issues of Under Lock &
Key. We received 62 completed surveys from our readers in U.$.
prisons. We have incorporated the more interesting results in a series
of articles in this issue. This article looks at the central question of
the role of the drug trade inside and outside prisons and how to
effectively organize among the lumpen in that context. In other articles
we look more closely at the recent
plague of K2 in U.$. prisons, and the latest
rise
in opioid addiction and what socialism and capitalism have to offer
us as solutions.
Distribution of survey respondents by state
Bourgeois society blames the individual
Bourgeois society takes an individualistic view of the world. When it
comes to drugs, the focus is on the individual: we talk about how they
failed and succumbed to drugs because of their weakness or mistakes as
an individual. While individuals must ultimately take responsibility for
their actions, it is only by understanding society at a group level,
using dialectical materialism to study the political economy of our
world, that we can address problems on a scale that will make a real
impact. Even at the individual level, it’s more effective to help people
make connections to the root causes of their problems (not supposed
persynality flaws) and empower them to fight those causes if we want
lasting change.
Much of our criminal injustice system is built on punishment and shaming
of those who have been convicted. A proletarian approach to justice uses
self-criticism to take accountability for one’s actions, while studying
political economy to understand why that path was even an option in the
first place, and an attractive one at that.
In the essay “Capitalism Plus Dope Equals Genocide”, Cetewayo, a Black
Panther leader, provides a good example of overcoming the conditions one
is born into. Ey was addicted to heroin from age 13 to 18, before
joining the Black Panther Party. Eir example stresses the importance of
providing alternative outlets for oppressed nation youth. In some cases
the mere existence of that alternative can change lives.
Drugs and the Principal Contradiction in Prison
MIM(Prisons) and leaders in the Countrywide Council of United Struggle
from Within (Double C) have had many conversations about what the
principal contradiction is within the prison population. MIM(Prisons)
has put forth that the parasitic/individualistic versus
self-sufficient/collective material interests of the lumpen class is the
principal contradiction within the prison movement in the United $tates
today. The drug problem in prisons relates directly to this
contradiction. Those pursuing drugs and/or dealing are focused on their
persynal interests, at the expense of others. The drug trade is
inherently parasitic as it requires an addicted population to be
profitable, and users are escaping the world for an individual high,
rather than working to make the world better for themselves and others.
A Double C comrade from Arkansas explains this contradiction:
“Things have been slow motion here due to lockdown. Reason being too
much violence across the prison. Some of this violence is due to the
underground economy. Being submerged in a culture of consumerism which
is not only an obstacle to our emancipation (mentally and physically)
this self-destructive method of oppression is a big problem consuming
the population. I’ve been in prisons where the market is not packed or
heavily packed with drugz. It is in those yards that unity and
productive lines are greatly practiced. The minute drugz become the
leading item of consumption, shit breaks down, individualism sets in and
all of the fucked up tendencies follow suit.
“I say 75% of the population in this yard is a consumer. About 5%
have no self control, it’s usually this percentage that ends up a ‘debt’
victim (since you owe $ you owe a clean up). Aggressor or not,
consumerism is a plague that victimizes everyone one way or another.
This consumerism only aids the pigz, rats, infiltrators, and oppressors
in continuing with a banking concept of ‘education/rehabilitation’ and
therefore domesticating the population.
“I mean the consequences and outcomes are not hidden, it is a constant
display of what it is when you can’t pay the IRS, so it is not as if
people don’t know. I’ve seen people slow down or stopped some old habits
after experiencing/witnessing these beheadings. Shit, I just hit the
yard because pigz were all inside the block searching and homeboy’s
puddles of blood were still on the yard.”
High Drug Prices in Prison
We looked at the minimum and maximum prices each prisoner mentioned
(which probably correspond to a “dose”, depending on the drug). The
minimum had a median of $10 and the maximum had a median of $80.
Some respondents mentioned the amount drugs cost compared to outside.
The median markup was 800% (so, drugs cost eight times as much in
prisons, on average). The min was 200% and the max was 3000%, with an
interquartile range of 375%-1167%. So, prisoners are highly likely to
pay a hefty markup. The economics of the black market create strong
interests of keeping it intact.
Drugs and Violence
It is no secret that drugs and violence often go hand-in-hand. As the
above comrade alludes to, this is often related to debts. But one of the
things we learned from our recent survey of ULK readers is that
in most prisons there is an inherent threat of violence towards people
who might take up effective organizing against drugs.
=
A California comrade wrote,
“No one in prison is going to put their safety and security on the line
over drugs. You have to understand that life has little value in prison.
If you do anything to jeopardize an individual’s ability to earn a
living, it will cost you your life.”
Another California comrade was more explicit,
“If you say anything about the drugs, cell phones, extortions, etc.,
whether if you’re in the general population, or now, worse yet in 2017,
SNY/Level IV, the correctional officers inform the key gang members that
you’re running your mouth. You either get hit immediately, or at the
next prison. Although my safety is now at stake, by prisoners, it’s
being orchestrated by corrections higher-ups concocting the story.”
This was in response to our survey question “Have you seen effective
efforts by prisoners to organize against drug use and its effects? If
so, please describe them.” Not only were the responses largely adamant
“no”s, the vast majority said it would be dangerous to do so. This was
despite the fact that we did not ask whether it would be dangerous to do
so. Therefore, we assume that more than 73% might say so if asked.
Some readers questioned what to do about staff involvement bringing
drugs into the prisons. One writer from Pennsylvania said:
“It’s hardly ever dry in Fayette and this institution is a big problem
why. A lot of the staff bring it in. Then when someone goes in debt or
does something they wouldn’t normally do, they don’t want to help you,
if you ask for help. There’s no unity anymore. Nobody fights or stands
up for nothing. Everybody rather fight each other than the pigs. It
would take a lot to make a change in the drug situation. Is it wrong to
put the pigs out there for what they’re doing? Would I be considered a
snitch? I know there would be retaliation on me, maybe even a ass
whoopin. I’m curious on your input on this.”
If we look at the involvement of staff in bringing drugs into prisons,
and the violence associated with the drug trade, we have to call
bullshit when these very same institutions censor Under Lock &
Key on the claim that it might incite violence. The system is
complicit, and many staff actively participate, in the plague of drugs
that is destroying the minds and bodies of the oppressed nation men and
wimmin, while promoting individualistic money-seeking behavior that
leads to brutal violence between the oppressed themselves.
Organizing in Prisons
While the reports responding to that question were mostly negative,
and the situation seems dire, we do want to report on the positive
things we heard. We heard about successful efforts by New Afrikans
getting out of the SHU in California, some Muslim communities and the
Nation of Gods and Earths. Some have been at this for
over
a decade. All of these programs seemed to be of limited scope, but
it is good to know there are organizations providing an alternative.
In Arkansas, a comrade reports,
“For the mass majority of drug users and prisoners I have not seen any
positive efforts to stop drug use and its effects. But for my
affiliation, the ALKN, we have put the product of K2/deuce in law with
heroin and its byproducts where no member should be in use of or make
attempts to sell for profit or gain. If you do you will receive the
consequences of the body who governs this affiliation and organization
for lack of discipline and obedience to pollute your self/body and those
around you who are the future and leaders of tomorrow’s nations.”
While practice varies among the many individuals at different stages in
the organization, the Latin Kings/ALKQN has historically opposed the use
of hard drugs amongst its members. Many in New York in the 1990s
attributed their recovery from drug addiction to their participation in
the organization.(1)
There are some good examples of lumpen organizations engaging in what we
might call policies of harm reduction. One comrade mentioned the 16 Laws
and Policies of Chairman Larry Hoover as an example of effective
organizing against drugs in eir prison. Lumpen leaders like Jeff Fort
and Larry Hoover are where we see a national bourgeoisie with
independent power in the internal semi-colonies of the United $tates.
The proletarian organizations of the oppressed nations should work to
unite with such forces before the imperialists corrupt them or force
them into submission. In fact, the Black Panthers did just that, but
failed to build long-term unity with the Black P. Stone Rangers largely
due to state interference and repression.
On the other hand, in some states comrades reported that lumpen
organizations are among the biggest benefactors from the drug trade.
Some of the same names that are mentioned doing positive work are
mentioned as being the problem elsewhere. This is partly explained by
the largely unaffiliated franchise system that some of these names
operate under. But it is also a demonstration of the principal
contradiction mentioned above, which is present in the First World
lumpen outside of prisons, too. There is a strong
individualist/parasitic tendency combating with the reality that
self-sufficiency and collective action best serve the oppressed nations.
Too often these organizations are doing significant harm to individuals
and the broader movement against the criminal injustice system, and can
not be part of any progressive united front until they pull out of these
anti-people activities.
The more economically entrenched an organization is in the drug trade,
the more they are siding with the imperialists and against the people.
But on the whole, the First World lumpen, particularly oppressed nation
youth, have the self-interest and therefore the potential to side with
their people and with the proletariat of the world.
As one Texas comrade commented:
“I must say that the survey opened a door on the issue about drugs
within prison. After doing the survey I brought this up with a couple of
people to see if we could organize a program to help people with a drug
habit. I’m an ex-drug dealer with a life sentence. I can admit I was
caught up with the corruption of the U.S. chasing the almighty dollar,
not caring about anyone not even family. Coming to prison made me open
my eyes. With the help of MIM and Under Lock & Key I’ve been
learning the principles of the United Front and put them in my everyday
speech and walk within this prison. The enemy understands that the pen
is a powerful tool. Comrades don’t trip on me like other organizations
done when I let them know I’m a black Muslim who studied a lot of Mao
Zedong.
Building Independent Institutions of the Oppressed
At least one respondent mentioned “prisoners giving up sources” (to the
pigs to shut down people who are dealing) in response to the question
about effective anti-drug organizing. From the responses shown below, it
is clear that the state is not interested in effective anti-drug
programming in prisons. This is an example of why we need independent
institutions of the oppressed. We cannot expect the existing power
structure to meet the health needs of the oppressed nation people
suffering from an epidemic of drug abuse in U.$. prisons.
The Black Panthers faced similar conditions in the 1960s in the
Black ghettos of the United $tates. As they wrote in Capitalism Plus
Dope Equals Genocide,
“It is also the practice of pig-police, especially narcotics agents, to
seize a quantity of drugs from one dealer, arrest him, but only turn in
a portion of the confiscated drugs for evidence. The rest is given to
another dealer who sells it and gives a percentage of the profits to the
narcotics agents. The pig-police also utilize informers who are dealers.
In return for information, they receive immunity from arrest. The police
cannot solve the problem, for they are a part of the problem.”
Our survey showed significant abuse of Suboxone, a drug used to treat
opioid addiction. In the 1970s Methadone clinics, backed by the
Rockefeller Program, became big in New York. The state even linked
welfare benefits to these services. Yet, Mutulu Shakur says, “In New
York City, 60 percent of the illegal drugs on the street during the
early ’70s was methadone. So we could not blame drug addiction at that
time on Turkey or Afghanistan or the rest of that triangle.”(2)
Revolutionaries began to see this drug that was being used as treatment
as breaking up the revolutionary movement and the community. Mutulu
Shakur and others in the Lincoln Detox Center used acupuncture as a
treatment for drug addiction. Lincoln Detox is an example of an
independent institution developed by communists to combat drug addiction
in the United $tates.
“[O]n November 10, 1970, a group of the Young Lords, a South Bronx
anti-drug coalition, and members of the Health Revolutionary Unity
Movement (a mass organization of health workers) with the support of the
Lincoln Collective took over the Nurses’ Residence building of Lincoln
Hospital and established a drug treatment program called The People’s
Drug Program, which became known as Lincoln Detox Center.”(3) Lincoln
Detox was a program that was subsequently run by the Young Lords Party,
Black Panthers that had survived the Panther 21 raid, the Republic of
New Afrika, and White Lightning, a radical organization of white former
drug addicts, until 1979 when a police raid forced the communists out of
the hospital, removing the political content of the program.(4)
Young Lord Vicente “Panama” Alba was there from day one, and tells eir
story of breaking free of addiction cold turkey to take up the call of
the revolution. After sitting on the stoop watching NYPD officers
selling heroin in eir neighborhood, and a few days after attending a
Young Lords demonstration, Panama said, “Because of the way I felt that
day, I told myself I couldn’t continue to be a drug user. I couldn’t be
a heroin addict and a revolutionary, and I wanted to be a revolutionary.
I made a decision to kick a dope habit.”(3) This experience echoes that
of millions of
addicted
Chinese who went cold turkey to take up building socialism in their
country after 1949.
Mutulu Shakur describes how the Lincoln Detox Center took a political
approach similar to the Chinese in combatting addiction, “This became a
center for revolutionary, political change in the methodology and
treatment modality of drug addiction because the method was not only
medical but it was also political.” Shakur was one of the clinic’s
members who visited socialist China in the 1970s to learn acupuncture
techniques for treating addiction. He goes on to describe the program:
“So the Lincoln Detox became not only recognized by the community as a
political formation but its work in developing and saving men and women
of the third world inside of the oppressed communities, resuscitating
these brothers and sisters and putting them into some form of healing
process within the community we became a threat to the city of New York
and consequently with the development of the barefoot doctor acupuncture
cadre, we began to move around the country and educate various other
communities instead of schools and orientations around acupuncture drug
withdrawal and the strategy of methadone and the teaching the brothers
and sisters the fundamentals of acupuncture to serious acupuncture, how
it was used in the revolutionary context in China and in Vietnam and how
we were able to use it in the South Bronx and our success.”(2)
Dealing with the Dealers
Though the Black Panthers had organized the workers at Lincoln Hospital
leading up to the takeover, by that time the New York chapter was
already in decline due to repression and legal battles. While many BPP
branches had to engage with drug cartels, the New York chapter stood out
in their launching of heavily-armed raids on local dealers and dumping
all of their heroin into the gutters. The New York Panthers faced unique
circumstances in a city that contained half of the heroin addicts in the
country, which was being supplied by la Cosa Nostra with help from the
CIA. While there was mass support for the actions of the Panthers at
first, state repression pushed the New York Panthers down an ultra-left
path. The Panther 21 trial was a huge setback to their mass organizing,
with 21 prominent Panthers being jailed and tried on trumped up
terrorism charges. After they were all exonerated, the New York
Panthers, siding ideologically with Eldridge Cleaver who was pushing an
ultra-left line from exile in Algeria, made the transition to the
underground. If they were going to be accused of bombings and shootings
anyway, then they might as well actually do some, right?
These were the conditions under which the Black Liberation Army was
formed. Though there was overlap between the BLA and those who led
community projects like Lincoln Detox, the path of the underground
guerrillas generally meant giving up the mass organizing in the
community. Instead, raiding local drug dealers became a staple of theirs
as a means of obtaining money. Money that essentially belonged to the
NYPD, which was enabling those dealers and benefiting them financially.
The former-Panthers-turned-BLA continued to destroy the dope they found,
and punished the dealers they raided.
Again, we are confronted with this dual nature of the lumpen class. It
would certainly be ultra-left to view all drug dealers as enemies to be
attacked. It is also certainly clear that the CIA/Mafia/NYPD heroin
trade in New York was an enemy that needed to be addressed. But how does
the revolutionary movement interact with the criminal-minded LOs today?
In its revolutionary transformation, China also had to deal with
powerful criminal organizations. The Green Gang, which united the
Shanghai Triads, significantly funded the Guomindang’s rise to power,
primarily through profits from opium sales. In the late 1940s they
opened up negotiations with the Communist Party as the fate of China was
becoming obvious. However, no agreement was reached, and the criminal
organizations were quickly eliminated in mainland China after 1949. They
took refuge in capitalist outposts like Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and
Chinatowns elsewhere in Asia and Europe. While heroin has returned to
China, the gangs have not yet.(5)
While the contradiction between the communists and the drug gangs did
come to a head, it was after defeating Japanese imperialism and after
defeating the reactionary Guomindang government. And even then, most
drug dealers were reformed and joined the building of a socialist
society.
In eir article, Pilli clearly explains why slangin’
can’t be revolutionary. And a comrade from West Virginia gives an
example where the shot-callers
are explicitly working against the interest of the prison movement
to further their economic goals. We must address the question of how the
prison movement should engage with those who are slangin’. The answer to
that is beyond the scope of our drug survey, and needs to be found in
practice by the revolutionary cells within prisons taking up this
organizing work.
Building Socialism to Serve the People
Many respondents to our survey sounded almost hopeless when it came to
imagining a prison system without rampant drug addiction. But this
hopelessness is not completely unfounded. As “Capitalism Plus Dope
Equals Genocide”, reads:
“The government is totally incapable of addressing itself to the true
causes of drug addiction, for to do so would necessitate effecting a
radical transformation of this society. The social consciousness of this
society, the values, mores and traditions would have to be altered. And
this would be impossible without totally changing the way in which the
means of producing social wealth is owned and distributed. Only a
revolution can eliminate the plague.”
To back up what the Panthers were saying here, we can look at
socialist
China and how they eliminated opium addiction in a few years, while
heroin spread in the capitalist United $tates. The Chinese proved
that this is a social issue and not primarily a biological/medical one.
The communist approach differed greatly from the Guomindang in that
addicts were not blamed or punished for their addiction. They were
considered victims of foreign governments and other enemies of the
people. Even many former dealers were reformed.(6) Although we don’t
have the state power now to implement broad policies like the Chinese
Communist Party, we can help drug users focus on understanding the cause
and consequences of their use in a social context. We need people to see
how dope is harming not only themselves, but more generally their
people, both inside and outside of prison. People start doing drugs
because of problems in their lives that come from problems in capitalist
society. Being in prison sucks, and dope helps people escape, even if
it’s fleeting. But this escape is counter productive. As so many writers
in this issue of ULK have explained, it just serves the interests
of the criminal injustice system. We can help people overcome addictions
by giving them something else to focus on: the fight against the system
that wants to keep them passive and addicted.
I’m once again checking in from California Correctional Institution
(CCI). In 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale planted the seeds of the
Black Liberation movement in Oakland. The seeds they planted rapidly
spread to the rest of the United States and now years later we’re
fighting for the same things as the Panthers.
We still follow the same theme of Black nationalism, armed militancy,
intercommunalism, and answering the call to join the revolutionary
struggle. Even today, I can still see and hear the voices of comrades
such as Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Gwen Fontaine,
Fredrika Newton and Lil Bobby Hutton; their teachings, thoughts,
practices. And they still resonate with significance and power through
the pages of books.
The spirit of the Panthers have been spread so deep into the roots of
Black life and into the fabric of every African Community in America,
that it’s just natural for us to want to stand up and fight when we hear
the call. In our homes, schools, hoods, jails, and prisons. That’s the
revolutionary legacy, and the spirit these comrades planted in us.
This yard we’re on is considered an Ad-Seg kick out yard. But in our
efforts to educate the people we’ve begun to create something better.
This yard is becoming a place where cadres are born. We have created
programmes that serve the people: we have political study groups, we
have a GED study group, in which we are helping comrades get their GEDs,
and we are helping individuals with their college classes as well.
I am very proud of the comrades on this facility of all nationalities.
Because we’re not just talking we’re doing, pushing hard for a truly
united front and serving the people. We have just submitted the
paperwork for a banquet. That will be used as a Unity Celebration, where
we will all meet and share our thoughts on the issues of today, and
share a little political knowledge with each other.
The only issue I see is that the room only holds fifty people, so not
all of the groups can fit in this room, so we’re planning to have
another on the yard the next day. We don’t want anyone left out. We are
here to serve the people, educate the people, and to help liberate the
people, all the people. My rules are if we focus on what we have in
common and less on our differences we’ll be able to learn better, who we
are, and what we’re about.
We all want the same things. We all have the same goals, and we all want
to create positive change in our world, and in our communities. A
community by way of definitions is a comprehensive collection of
institutions that serve the people who live there. CCI C-Facility is
where we are living right now. So this is the community we’re serving.
It is the duty of all revolutionaries to make the revolution. This is
obviously rule one. But this is a way of denouncing, in the context, all
the so-called revolutionaries who not only did not seek to make the
revolution, who managed secure income, talk the revolutionary shit, but
who torpedoed the efforts of the people to liberate themselves and that
must not be. As Huey said, revolutionary theory without practice ain’t
shit.
It’s been 50 years since the most advanced segment of national class
consciousness of a people came together in unity nationwide in the inner
cites to challenge imperialism.
The Black
Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was capable of leading the
lumpen in the struggle for the overthrow of oppressive/exploitative
relationships and the building of national independence,
self-determination, and socialism. They were equipped with the right
ideology of dialectical materialism, which is a concrete analysis of
concrete conditions, and knew how to apply it to where the principle of
“from the people back to the people” was being done successfully with
the breakfast for children program. However, they couldn’t combat the
oppressor’s COINTELPRO strategy, which destroyed a beautiful movement.
We celebrate the sacrifices these beautiful men and women made when they
stood up to fascism, and some lost their life to the struggle by death,
or state-sanctioned death known as incarceration, and they will not be
forgotten.
As I’ve read books by Mumia Abu Jamal, Robert Hillary King, Huey P.
Newton, David Hilliard, and Eldridge Cleaver (just to name a few), I’m
reminded of what it means to be New Afrikan in the United $tates, as
well as why being a revolutionary is the most important ideology to have
and apply when facing this oppression, and it’s due to the same
challenges we face today. COINTELPRO is not over, but has only advanced
so that the oppressor does not see another people’s revolution again.
The spirit of the Panther lives inside of me, as well as countless
others who languish behind enemy lines, and we will continue their
legacy through our practice of serving the people.
MIM(Prisons) adds: As we enter the month marking the 50th
anniversary of the most advanced Maoist party in the history of this
country, we put out a
commemorative issue
focused on the BPP this summer for our 50th issue of Under Lock
& Key. [In October, hundreds of copies were also distributed at
BPP commemorative events. That month we also finalzed a new edition of
our study pack:
Defend
the Legacy of the Black Panther Party.] We’d also add to this that
the Party’s own internal contradictions played out allowing COINTELPRO
to deliver the death blows that it did. There is no all-powerful
oppressor that can stop the oppressed, although we are in the minority
in this country. So as COINTELPRO continues, we learn from history and
push the struggle forward!
[In 2012 a comrade summed up an ongoing discussion about organizing
the lumpen class, which is below. The summary gets at how we should
approach organizing the lumpen. This is a critical question if we are to
apply our theoretical understanding of this class to the
anti-imperialist movement in a practical way. We aren’t looking to just
write essays to expand our brains; we focus on political theory in order
to inform revolutionary practice. - ULK Editor]
USW comrades have been discussing money and material trappings as being
synonymous with respect and dignity in lumpen organization youth. The
struggle for money, like the dope game, for example, can be less a
status seeking activity, and more of the people just exercising their
survival rights. Comrades made sure to differentiate between
money/survival and material trapping (i.e. gold chains, cars, rims,
etc.). Amerikkkanism and consumerism promote hardcore parasitism in
lumpen youth, causing extreme alienation and fetishization of money.
Today’s youth show the same apathy, indifference and nihilism as the
youth of 1955. It was the civil rights movement that awoke the youth of
that era. Comrades struggled over what today can take the place of the
civil rights movement. War, environment and imperialist expansion were
three good starting points to organize around. We lumpen youth have more
stake in the future environment and it is us who fight the wars. It
helps to understand that those starving to death and suffering/dying
from preventable diseases are our people. We must fulfill our destiny or
betray it. All this nitpicking and betrayal between sets/sides
contributes to humankind suffering. We must overcome this flaw.
The principal enemy we must defeat is the glamorization of gangsterism.
A revolutionary or a gangster? What are we? Can the two coexist in a
persyn and still be progressive? Gangsterism plants fear by oppression,
and revolutionaries are in struggle against oppression. This internecine
violence we perpetrate between sets is what the pigs want us to do. They
sold us this shit in Scarface and we’ve built on to it and made
it our own. Overcoming the glamorization of gangsterism will take
proletarian morality, conscious rap, exposing the downsides and ills of
gangsterism, the glamorization of revolution, revolutionary culture, and
possibly to redefine the word gangsta. Gangsters are parasites and
revolutionaries are humankind’s hope. It’s as simple as that. We need to
leave the lumpen mentality for a proletarian one. Many true
revolutionaries were once gangsters. Gangsterism is a stage, basically.
Self-respect, self-defense and self-determination define transitional
qualities of a revolutionary. Bunchy Carter, Mutulu Shakur and Tupac all
transcended the hood and grew into progressives. What we are seeking as
USW is opening up the spaces for gangsters of all walks of life to enter
the realm of anti-imperialism and begin a transformation of mind,
actions and habits to develop into the model of a revolutionary gangsta
with the capability of forwarding the cause of the people. We must
understand our potential. It is us, we reading these ULKs, that
hold imperialism in our fists. A real gangsta is one who has gone
revolutionary and has kicked off all the strings of social control -
mental illness, drugs, fantasy, despair, escapism, etc.
Mainstream gangsta rap is the enemy of our people and the struggle. We
have to create more revolutionary music, art and literature. Fergie,
Fifty, Eminem, Kanye, all push watered down, flimsy lyrics. Mainstream
rap is psychological warfare and just as harmful as crack or heroin.
Imperialism allows the urban drug trade just like it allows
Eminem.
It keeps us down. It is a form of genocide and wholly harmful to the
revolutionary struggle. The only positive we even entertained in the
discussion is that drugs and pop culture rap are a form of rebellion
that begins a revolutionary on the path of revolution. The benefits to
imperialism outweigh the negatives and the opposite is true for the
lumpen. Drugs have us punked, dig?
Raw fear and discouragement are the pistols on the hips of the
oppressor. To be demonized as a terrorist, have mail messed with, loss
of good time, pig abuses, all contribute to lumpen becoming despondent
and not standing up for their rights. People have a responsibility to
act and fight for the type of society that they want to live in, or they
really have no right to complain about oppression. We face pepper spray,
tazers, isolation and a bullet in the back face down. The Nazis used the
infamous concentration camps to instill fear. And the united snakes has
the largest prison system in the world for the very same reason: social
control and intimidation. Meth, cocaine and psychotropics act as targets
for the raw fear pistol. Increasing it. Making it more deadly. To be
uneducated or out of shape physically assures a mortal wound when the
bullets fly. We must outsmart and out stick and move. Knowing 1500
children starve to death per hour, and the fact that 3.5 billion people
survive on less than $2 per day, you suit yourself in bullet proof
kevlar. What’s a lost letter and a few extra years in prison without
good time compared to that?
Nothing comes to a sleeper but a dream. Only through aggressive
challenge and exposure of the life-threatening contradictions of
upholding the present status quo will we awaken and overcome. Passivity
cowers before the eyes of the slave master. We must educate the people
into the understanding that raw fear will remain so long as the
imperialist system is in existence. It is us, comrades, built
exclusively for its utter destruction. This is a call from USW to unite
and rise up, in struggle.