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.
24 OCTOBER 2016 – I have received y’all’s latest newsletter. I love
reading the ULK newsletters. Always very informational. Which has
helped me a lot!
Here at the McConnell Unit in Belville, Texas, it is very, very, hard to
get prisoners involved in such issues as 1) Campaign to resist
restrictions on indigent correspondence; 2) Petition the Federal Trade
Commission: TDCJ’s monopoly on stationary; 3) We demand our grievances
are addressed in Texas, etc, etc.
I’ve shared the Texas Pack with several prisoners and some just say that
they are not interested. As long as they let prisoners here watch TV, go
to the commissary, use the phone, play dominoes, chess, and scrabble,
people don’t care. It’s all they care about, which in reality is very
sad. Because these are issues that affect us all as a whole group. And
in some cases violate our civil and constitutional rights.
The Texas Pack has given me very helpful information for not only my own
benefit but to help other prisoners who ask for help, and especially
those that are monolingual and don’t know how to file a grievance, etc.
The information that y’all supply me has not only helped me but for me
to help others, which I do almost on a daily basis. Thank y’all very
much!
MIM(Prisons) responds: This author is using the Texas Pack
exactly as it’s intended – not to be hoarded as a persynal reference,
but to be shared with others so we can all benefit. Ey also brings up an
all-too-frequent complaint about prisoners in Texas: that they are
checked out and unwilling to stand up for their rights or the rights of
others. What is the difference between this writer, and the people ey is
saying only care about board games and TV? Obviously there are activists
in TDCJ facilities. How are they made?
Even people who seem to only care about board games and TV, we know
they’re not just lazy or don’t care. It is likely a defense mechanism
they’ve developed over time. If i only care about TV, i can have some
happiness even though i’m in prison. If i only care about TV, i can for
the most part avoid attention from prison staff. If i only care about
TV, i can access something i want; i can escape from my reality for a
short time; etc.
It’s unlikely, though, that these folks only care about TV, even though
that’s what they’re projecting. Presenting the grievance petition to
them, while it’s a righteous campaign, often just makes people
defensive. They’re defensive because they need to protect this narrative
that they’ve created about their “values,” often times in order to just
get through the day, and cope with their harsh reality.
Certainly with some people we can present a valid campaign, they’ll
recognize it as a valid campaign, and they’ll come on board. But people
who are defensive or prone to stagnation need a different approach.
A good place to start in trying to organize these folks is to figure out
what they do care about, besides TV. They may not want to talk about it,
it may be sad and upsetting to care about things you can’t have (such as
affection with your children while you’re in prison, for example). But
we can still try to help them figure it out. Help them develop their
identity around their own value system, rather than the value system put
upon them by bourgeois society and imprisonment.
How do they want to be seen by the world, their family, their peers?
What do they want to stand for? What have they done in the past that
they felt good about, that represents how they see themselves? When we
know answers to these questions, we can help show how their values
actually relate to the campaigns outlined in the Texas Pack and the
pages of ULK.
Issue 63 of ULK is going to be focused on this topic of tactical
organizing approaches, and the nitty gritty of building the United Front
for Peace in Prisons. We want our subscribers to send in methodology and
tools which have helped them in their organizing efforts. Even if it
doesn’t have a formal name, can you spell out your approach for dealing
with ambivalence, or ignorance, or even a disorganized study group
meeting? We want to hear about it and share it with others!
“As did witch hunters in the past do we still have ‘criminal’
scapegoats?” This is a good question but a better one to ask is “are we
still sometimes misled by authorities who define crime in their own
interests or out of ignorance, as authorities did in dealing with
witchcraft?”(1) For those conscious of being oppressed this isn’t a
hypothetical, but an actual problem to be solved. Even those unconscious
of the political situation, living in the barrios, this is an everyday
problem; it is reality. The problem turns on what is “criminal” and who
should define “crime”?
Nobody doubts that poverty, lack of legitimate opportunities and such in
the barrio leads people to alternative methods of survival, which the
system has declared criminal. Consider this: a brown boy grows up in a
violent, poverty-stricken barrio. He is denied most, if not all,
“socially appropriate” methods/means for success (e.g., role models to
learn from, positive environment, good education, adequate employment
opportunities). Without access to approved avenues for social survival –
yet still held to society’s expectations – our brown boy turns to
alternative means and learns the perils of the injustice system. Is it
criminal that he turned to the only obvious option available? Or is it
criminal that capitalists have attempted to make that his only option?
The United States has an injustice system which focuses on the actions
of an individual, not on the reason, motivation, or purpose. To address
this failing and irradiate it, those caught up in the vicious cycle must
rise up. Our communities must also join in the necessary revolution for
hope of success. Activism on a proactive level is needed. We cannot be
liberal-minded (reforming without making substantive changes to the
system structure) in our objectives. Changing only definitions ignores
the problem, which is the process itself. Reform of existing systems is
equal to affirming their correctness but asserting that some fine-tuning
is needed. Such is not the case.
A quantifiable and qualitative change is necessary which cannot be
accomplished within the current system.(2) We, the people, must
construct independent resources and systems if we are ever to supplant
capitalism and its inherent inequality. In pursuit of this, our
community members must connect with prisoners (current and former),
coordinating and cooperating, building and spreading consciousness,
correct political views, theory, practice and support for the
movimiento.
One’s actions cannot be labeled criminal if those are the only options
made available. Today our communities generally face an alternative of
evils: spend one’s life struggling within a system meant to keep us
outside the power structure, never progressing, or refuse to be
subjugated and be labeled criminal. The choice is between a slow and
torturous death and surviving by “crime.” Those not faced with this
drastic choice of evils cannot rightfully say what is and is not
criminal.
“Law provides the baseline for formal social control. Criminalization of
behaviors is a political process…”(3) The first steps towards changing
this political process – the arbitrariness of labeling procedures – is
to correct the criterion of what constitutes crime. From there, remove
those who have contributed to labeling criminality and re-educating them
as communists did in China during the 1950s.(4) Pressure from below
provoking pressure from above to induce meaningful change.(5)
Supplanting capitalism is a marathon not a mile-long race. Every stage
must be approached and accomplished with care and attention. We
revolutionaries must be methodical, concise and avoid impertinence.
Success will come, just not overnight.
I am currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania at the State Correctional
Institution: Chester. And every day as I look around this place I’m
forced to live in, all I see is a growing number of “synthetic snaps.”
When I first came to state prison in 2006 drugs were an issue but not
like they are today. These new cheaper, and more easily obtainable
synthetic drugs such as suboxone or subutex and K-2 synthetic marijuana,
are making prison society worse and more depressing than ever. These
subs cause withdrawal symptoms like heroin and are causing convicts to
throw away their solidarity to scumbag each other in pursuit of their
next fix.
Suboxone strips are flat and very easy to smuggle into prisons and all
one needs to obtain them on the streets is to test positive for opiates
at a clinic to receive up to 90 strips a month for a small co-pay. They
then smuggle them into the prisons where they can sell for up to $100
apiece wholesale which is like a 10,000% profit which is irresistible to
most “hustlers.”
This new opiate replacement has prisons in an uproar. Convicts are
stealing from and robbing each other to get just a little “piece” to
chase away their withdrawal symptoms. And our RHUs are filled with
“protective custody” inmates who ran up drug debts on credit that they
couldn’t cover.
Then we have the so-called “synthetic marijuana” product K-2. I was an
avid marijuana smoker on the streets and this stuff is way different
than blowin a sacc of loud. K-2 can cause violent outbursts, passing
out, seizures, suicide attempts, and serious mental breakdowns. I have
seen people attempt to fly over the fence earning them escape charges.
People lose touch with reality and lash out at everyone around them.
Guys pass out standing up, cracking their heads open, and to top it off
a guy on my block at SCI: Somerset went all zombie on his celly biting
him on his face and arms. This stuff is more like bad PCP than
marijuana. It just blows my mind that synthetics are causing more
problems than their “real” counterparts.
We as a united front against the injustice system need to stop trying to
capitalize off the downfall of our comrades, and utilize our efforts to
solidify our ranks against our oppressors. The rapper Meek Millz is a
prisoner here at Chester with me and has stated that even growing up on
the drug-laden streets of Philadelphia he couldn’t imagine a cell block
in prison so closely resembling a drug block in the badlands of his home
city. We can’t continue to give the oppressors more ammo to use against
us. I understand that boredom, hopelessness, and other forms of
incarceration depression tend to drive us to find ways to numb us. But
let’s try to come together and help our comrades strive to kick habits
they have already acquired, and to prevent anyone from picking one up.
This is just another battle we need to unite to win. Whether you’re
White, Black, or Hispanic, Crip, Blood, Latin, or Aryan, come together
for the greater good of convicts everywhere. Pay attention, comrades,
because Amerikkka wants to catch us slippin’.
MIM(Prisons) responds: In the
November issue of
Under Lock & Key we got deep into the issue of drugs in prison.
All writers agreed it’s a big problem, though what is used and how the
problem plays out varies from state to state and even within each
prison. And a lot of folks came to the same conclusion as this comrade:
we need to stop trying to make money off the suffering of others and
instead come together against the injustice system. This letter is a
good follow-up to that issue of ULK because we need to keep this
topic front and center as we work to find ways to help people kick the
habit and join the revolutionary movement.
Are you helping comrades kick their drug habits? What methods and
tactics are you using? What have you tried that didn’t work, and why?
What harm reduction tactics can we try to employ? What about counseling
techniques? The State isn’t going to fix this problem for us. We need to
make our own interventions and support systems.
In recent months, the Countrywide Council of United Struggle from
Within, or Double C for short, has been discussing campaigns, tactics
and strategies. One question posed by MIM(Prisons) was about the
September 9th Day of Solidarity, an annual event to commemorate the
Attica Rebellion of 1971 and to promote the United Front for Peace in
Prisons (UFPP). So far the consensus in the Double C is that this event
is an important one for promoting the UFPP.
One member told of an older comrade who has been in since 1979 who
recently told em, “Thank you for waken me up to this Sept 9 day.” Others
agreed that the people are hungry for this message. Another Double C
comrade quickly made copies of the fliers and distributed them at the
library and jobsite at eir new facility where ey sees strong prospects
for building anti-violence programs among lumpen groups.
In ULK 58, we printed a letter from the
Double
C to a reformist group called CURE, and laid out our strategy and
guidelines for reaching out to other organizations. In recent months,
Double C comrades have helped get excellent articles promoting the UFPP
in two newsletters read by prisoners: Turning the Tide and
Propter Nos. USW comrades should follow these examples of ways to
get the line out on the UFPP, a campaign we can unite with all
progressive groups on, revolutionary or not.
In writing to other organizations and newsletters, USW has goals of
popularizing USW campaigns and increasing ULK subscribership. But we
should not let these goals take us toward a strategy of sizeism. Our
goal is not to get our address in as many newsletters as possible at any
cost, rather we should be focused on unity and struggle. We should be
building unity where we see potential for it around practical work,
while struggling to push others ideologically.
Building a united front of prisoners, involving various prison-based
lumpen organizations, is a long campaign that must be carried out in our
daily work. September 9th is just one day when we organize a coordinated
action to actualize that unity. September 9th is a time to reflect on
the prison movement that came before us and on how to develop the prison
movement of today and the future. September 9th will not become big
overnight. When it does get big, it will because of years of hard work
of USW cadre across the country.
Comrades in the Double C are reviewing the September 9th Organizing Pack
and existing fliers promoting the United Front for Peace in Prisons, to
come up with tactics, art and slogans for further popularizing the
event. This is something that all USW comrades can participate in.
Starting with this issue of ULK we plan to print a piece of art
on page 3 behind the UFPP statement that can be ripped out and copied as
a flier. If you don’t have access to make copies write MIM(Prisons) for
more copies of these fliers. Send in your art promoting the UFPP and
September 9th. Send in your slogans. Report on your organizing
successes, strategies and challenges to share in the pages of Under
Lock & Key. Build the United Front for Peace in Prisons!
I received the book that you sent me and the ULK newsletter. I
agree with the line that all sex is rape and that the majority of the
white working class in the United States is not a revolutionary force
due to the fact that they have a material interest in maintaining
imperialism on a global stage.
I been doing organizing and educational work. I been helping showing
others how to fill out grievance forms. I end up getting 100%
participation from all cadres on lock up down at Jessup Correctional
Institution. As you can see my address changed. They moved me to Maximum
security prison North Branch, it is the most secure prison at Maryland.
Due to my organizing and assault on COs at Jessup they raised my
security level.
We had to move the struggle to the physical level because they was not
respecting our grievance forms; they was ripping them up. When the
grievance process fails the physical level is the next step. I am not a
focoist. But when oppressive tactics are used by the imperialist blood
suckers of the poor then violence is the next step.
I don’t think that the drug problem is getting any better. A lot of
brothers are getting high off of the medication these nurses are giving
out which is nothing but another form of social control that is used by
the imperialist system. Everything under this capitalist system is
abnormal. The people will only begin to see the value of people through
the transitional stage of socialism. Individualism is what majority of
citizens value. We as communists must continue to struggle and fight to
win the people over.
I have political debates all the time with capitalists. They don’t see
how the means of production should be collectively owned by the people.
I been raising the class consciousness elucidating to comrades how the
Democratic party and the Republican party will not exist without
perpetuating social conflict amongst the people and how racism and
classism is inextricably built into the capitalist system.
One thing about a lot of women is they don’t like the inequality and
sexism but when you ask them do they believe we should abolish the
current system a lot of them will say no! A lot of women are willing to
put up with inequality and sexism because they have a material interest.
I agree with this line that sexism will always exist under this
capitalist system even during the transitional stage which is socialism.
Classism is the worst social ill that we have in our society, to me
classism is a disease it takes a long time to cure. I am a blackman from
a low income community. A lot of women I talk to are ignorant to
communism. They have a bad perception about it due to imperialist
propaganda. I would like to learn more about Mao Zedong. Please send
some knowledge about Mao Zedong.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We have a lot of unity with this writer
about the nature of class, nation and gender oppression in the
imperialist world today. But we see national oppression as the main
problem today, not class. This is because imperialism is built on a
system of nations oppressing other nations. That oppression is
economically exploitative, and in many ways parallels class oppression.
But recent history has shown revolutionary nationalism to be the form
that the most successful anti-imperialist organizing has taken. We will
have the best success against imperialism by pushing national liberation
struggles. And these in turn will push forward the class struggle.
We also want to comment on the question of organizing strategies
becoming physical. Change can’t occur without action that has
consequences. And ultimately an oppressor that uses force to control
must face a response of force before that oppression can be ended. But
as Sun Tzu taught in the Art of War, the enemy must be truly
helpless to be defeated. Comrades must be careful to plan actions so
that they don’t just result in greater repression. Leaders getting
locked up in isolation doesn’t advance the movement. Everyone needs to
evaluate their own conditions to determine what’s the best organizing
approach and what’s necessary for self-defense. And self-defense should
not be confused with revolution.
This is a response to the
recent
article on Prop. 57 organizing. While I understand how this could be
a tool for comrades to organize with, at the same time there are plenty
of programs here at Folsom that are doing the whole time reduction
program. For example, there are a few of my homies that have gotten 1/4
of their time knocked off after GED/College degree. And they are not
white, rich, or snitches as the headline suggests.
Now one thing that we can definitely push is for youth offenders to be
able to fit the criteria of Prop. 57. Because that is definitely
something us under SB260-261 do not fit into. Not to say that the carrot
of reform is something we bit into with high hopes, but it can most
definitely be something to put into motion.
I just feel the headline stating that only snitches and privileged are
getting good time in New Folsom EOP/GP could be a turn off. It will
move/push people in the wrong direction. We can use this, let’s just not
label solid comrades snitches on paper when organizing.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We thank this comrade for this criticism
and correction. While we did print a couple responses from USW comrades
in ULK 60 citing instances of good time used to favor certain
prisoners, we should not paint with such a broad brush to imply that
anyone getting good time is in that boat.
It does seem that access to info on Prop. 57 is also imbalanced. As we
are still getting people asking for information, while others say the
state is on top of it. Strategically, we seek to build Serve the People
programs where we can provide for the needs of the masses better than
the state. Prop. 57 is not a place we can do a better job than what the
state is doing. Providing books that serve the interests of oppressed
nations, for example, is. We agree with this comrade that we cannot hope
for reformism to change things, but we can fight for winnable battles
that help us move in the direction of revolutionary change.
Addendum: The politics of Prop. 57 also overlap with the focus
of this issue of Under Lock & Key. The CDCR tried to exclude
anyone convicted of a crime that required being registered as a sex
offender from Prop. 57 benefits. But only certain crimes in the sex
offender classification are also classified as violent felonies in the
California Penal Code. In February, in a suit brought by the Alliance
for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, a judge ruled that the CDCR was
overstretching the law, and that limits on Prop. 57 must be applied only
to those convictions deemed “violent” in the California Code.
(16
February 2018, Seth Augenstein, California’s Prop 57 Sex Offender
Release Regs Are Void, Court Rules)
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 got a message to all the tweakers, tecatos, potheads and boozers. Wake
Up! Can’t you see you’re doing exactly what the oppressors wants you to
do? So why are you giving them the satisfaction? With all the cameras
rolling 24-7, you think they don’t know what you’re doing? Newsflash:
You ain’t that slick, buddy.
“All I had to do is drink a lot of water to flush out my system.” I
overheard one drug addict say when he came back from medical, for a drug
test. “My piss came back clean even though I just used in the morning.”
It’s a miracle! We must run and tell the others! Now it’s safe to puff
puff, cough cough, & slam slam! As long as you hydrate and drink
drink (a lotta water), you could pass pass (the ‘drug test’), no
problem. Your passing grade might be a D- but at least you didn’t fail,
right? Wrong!
Let’s face it, water or no water, your urine is dirty. I know it, you
know it, and the porkchop-patrol most definitely knows it. They just
don’t care. Besides, lucky for you, there’s never enough room in the
“hole.” Five segregation singleman cells for a facility that houses 650
prisoners equals “no vacancy”.
It’s like you have to schedule an appointment, make it onto a guest
list, then wait for about a month, in order to make it into the hole.
But if the COs really did their job this whole place would be empty.
Literally, there would only be about 20 people left in each dorm. That’s
how bad this epidemic is. But fear not my drug-addicted friend, the pigs
have bigger fish to fry. Or at least that’s what they want us to think.
Extremely violent prisoners get top priority over minor drug offenders.
But if you’ve been locked up as long as I have, then you’d know that
extreme acts of violence are mostly over a minor drug debt. Common sense
tells me, “get rid of the drugs and the violence shall cease.” I have a
hunch that the “system” could stop the drug flow at any time. But,
looking at it through their eyes, why ruin a good thing?
Figuratively speaking, drugs are the oil that keep the oppression
machine running. Sobriety is the monkey-wrench that’ll break this bitch
down. So put the word out, we need more wrenches. Staying clean is the
worst thing we could do to these puercos.
Think about it for a second. Imagine if we obliterate the drug trade in
prison. Most of these facilities would go out of business. Half the
staff would start filling out applications at Mickey D’z, and Walmart,
at the end of their shifts. But instead, most of us wanna keep on
getting shit-faced; letting the enemy win with its foot on our necks.
Wake up!
The enemy loves getting us high. Because it leads to a lot of drama, and
drama is the safety blanket that keeps the oppressors warm at night. It
gives them job security and a fat bank account. Meanwhile, all the users
and dealers turn against each other while the pigs kick back and laugh.
Don’t worry, though. They’re gonna let you keep using and selling on one
condition; as long as y’all keep fighting and snitching, stabbing and
pinching.
Don’t get my words twisted. I’m not implying that you could keep on
using, and abusing, and not get caught. Because every now and then, like
once in a blue moon, they make an example out of somebody. But from what
I’ve seen, their victim is usually the most humble junkie on the block.
Yeah, this dude gets high but he’s cool. He pays his debts, and doesn’t
bother nobody. But for some reason, the puercos got it in for him. He
already got a few “dirties,” and has an appointment at the “hole.”
“But what about that trouble-making tweaker?” There’s 1 in every block.
“How come he doesn’t ever get called for a random drug test, and go
away?” I ask myself.
Lord knows this trouble-making tweaker is not low key. He’s a dead beat
and proud of it. His drug debts are stacking up, and on top of that,
he’s starting fights in the open; all in front of the cameras. And
still, the hooras act like they don’t see him. They treat him like a
model inmate.
It’s like the pigs are watching in the wings, waiting for the inevitable
to happen. Instead of nipping the problem in the bud, they wait for the
problem to get smashed out, stabbed, or removed from the yard. Only then
they jump into action.
But don’t think they’re gonna swoop in like some superheroes. No. They
take their sweet time, sometimes just stand there looking; waiting for
the “victim” to get nicely bruised up. Only then, they bust out the
cuffs and add charges.
“Come on, you guys are not even doing nothing!” I once heard a pig say
to a boo bop squad while they beat a tweaker. “You gotta hit ’em harder
if you want me to stop it!” Then he laughed, I laughed, and half the
yard laughed. But it wasn’t funny. And his sick sense of humor cost him
his job, cause I didn’t see him after that.
But that’s what he gets for letting things get out of hand. And all that
- the beating and the firing - could’ve been avoided if his co-workers
would’ve done their job properly in the first place. But why ruin a good
thing?
Wake up amigos! It’s time to stop entertaining these hooras. It’s time
to put down the needles, and the pookies, and get our minds back.
Whether in prison or out in society, drugs constitute a major problem.
In particular, for our Latino and Black communities, drugs represent a
deceiving allure for youth. Power, status, authority, advancement, the
all-mighty dollar - the “American Dream.” In reality, drugs are just
another trap to maintain our communities in an oppressed state unable to
progress.
For us, drugs generally lead to a ruined life, prison, or death. There
aren’t many other avenues available. For those who’ve fallen into the
drug illusion and find themselves in prison, the question is how can we
help them escape drug’s allure and stop the oppression of our nations?
Obviously, the system (controlled by capitalists and their contributors)
has no inclination to help oppressed nations. Having to chase the
American Dream through illicit methods or escaping our harrowing reality
by using drugs is far more conducive to continuing a capitalistic state
than providing viable means of community improvement. So we have to
first recognize that no help will come from the top. Where does that
leave us?
We have first-hand knowledge of drugs and an in-depth comprehension of
our communities and cultures. What must happen is that those on the
outside reach into the prisons and pull our people out from beneath the
crushing weight of drugs. Building grassroots organizations focused on
supporting those in the gulags overcome addiction. Not only addiction to
using but to selling drugs as well. Connecting prisoners with outside
sources for support, employment (once released), and most important of
all, guidance. Many stuck in the gulags feel capitalism’s oppression but
have no idea how to combat it. Feeling hopeless to progress legally,
many are seduced by drugs. Any guidance should be aimed at building
consciousness, alternative avenues, and awakening a revolutionary spirit
to pull people out from under the gulags.
The most important aspect of such grassroots organizations is that
they’re from among our own barrios. Their members live or lived where
the struggle is deepest. They’re connected in a way no outsider
organization can ever be. All of this is good in theory, but does it
actually work?
The BPP (Black Panther Party) gave us a perfect example when they
educated their barrios while feeding their gente. From outside we must
educate those inside, feeding them and providing alternative means of
overcoming oppression. It must become clear that chasing the American
Dream – a piece of the capitalist pie – isn’t to our benefit. Our people
are oppressed and gaining part of the pie does nothing to bring us
closer to equality.
When capitalism is finally supplanted, revolutionary organizations
with this kind of focus will provide the infrastructure for our new
society. For the capitalists, you selling drugs is preferable to you
fighting the system’s oppression. You consuming drugs is more desired
because you’re escaping reality. Whether you sell or do drugs, you
remove yourself from the necessary revolution and only contribute to the
oppression visited upon our communities. And, if drugs don’t ruin your
life or kill you, there’s another place for you. Capitalists call it the
Department of Corrections, we call it the Dungeons.
Drugs are a powerful temptation. Not just for those who become addicted
to using them, but also for those selling them. Many overdose or die due
to drugs. Besides death and ruining your health and life, often drugs
lead to prison. Once in the dungeons, drugs become an even larger
problem. Although drugs represent a bigger problem behind bars, they
also mean the potential for a more substantial revolutionary impact.
Drugs are taken and sold in abundance behind bars. Prescription
medication, street drugs, homemade wine and beer are present in almost
every gulag (varying in quantities and qualities). Drugs are sold for
the same reasons in the dungeons as out in society. They’re taken for
many of the same reasons, but predominantly for escape. Whether aware of
this or not, most, if not all to some degree, in prison turn to drugs to
make being a prisoner a little easier to live with.
Drugs contribute to many conflicts. Yet, their real impact is on
prisoner resistance. Instead of analyzing the system, debating theories
and strategems, building awareness and a united front, most are content
to accept what is given and whatever is ordered; so long as they can
shoot up, snort, pop a pill, or drink reality away.
They’re a part of prisons, just as they’re a part of our barrios, and
for the same reasons drugs pull us from our communities and land us in
prisons. It’s when we find ourselves in the dungeons, when reality hits
us between the eyes, that we hold the greatest potential to help
ourselves, our communities and defeat capitalism. Behind bars there’s a
choice to be made: continue to be a puppet, or become self-determinant.
If you’re addicted to using drugs, become addicted to something useful:
exercising, studying, teaching, etc. If you’re addicted to selling, talk
to other revolutionaries who understand the larger picture of the wider
struggle oppressed nations face. Through study, research, inside and
outside guidance (see, Notes on Advancing the Struggle: Outside), one
can go from capitalist contributor to self-determinant.
A main problem or obstacle is prison culture. As I stated earlier, many
are willing to be content as long as they have their distractions. This
escapism is one of the main causes of the lack of resistance to jailer
domination. Most feel hopeless to effectively resist or lack any idea of
how to begin. They feel that without other remedies, they might as well
enjoy a little drink or high. Their lack of political consciousness is
to blame, because they play unwittingly into the puppeteer’s game. Once
confronted with the reality of drugs and that you’re nothing more than a
pawn for capitalism, you’ve got to ask yourself at what price do you
value your life? Are you without self-respect? Is it more important to
escape reality or to make efforts to stop the oppression in our barrios,
which continues in the dungeons? Is your dignity that cheap that
capitalists can buy it for an hour or two of good feelings?
The dungeons can be the fire that burns you or that strengthens you.
But, it’s a choice that must be made and revolutionaries must be active
in guiding others towards this decision, towards answering these
questions. For me and other revolutionaries the answer is simple: my
dignity is worth more than their security.