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.
by a South Carolina prisoner December 2010 permalink
With whom shall we unite? As Maoists, and as
materialists, one focus in this imperialist country should be on the
economic interest of its various segments in order to determine with
whom we should or shouldn’t fight. Tactically speaking, An enemy
of my chief enemy is as fate would have it a friend to me. Sometimes
permanently, many times temporarily, it depends on their
particular ideological and political stance you see. The grave
consequence of revisionism in the heart of imperialism is a subtle yet
vicious schism between imperialist country so-called communist workers
and the revolutionary practice of proletarian internationalism. Such
division born of revisionism threatens the success of one revolutionary
socialist mission. It puts us in a dire position which psycho-socially
translates into an unhealthy state of nihilism and terminates any
possibility of an anti-imperialist united front. It puts one’s enemy
forces in a position to win but to begin with as dialectics teaches, it
is the internal contradictions within our own camp that is the
determining factor in making our foes into the triumphant champs. So
these contradictions must be speedily resolved. They must be solved
and we must consciously involve ourselves in their resolution beyond the
limited subjective confines of our egotistic idealistic minds. In
short order, we must refine our scientific use of the materialist
method of analysis if we are to successfully persist in the massive work
of building an expanded revolutionary united front.
The basis for unity among lumpen is class. The lumpen are the
disenfranchised who derive from the economically depressed areas - the
Barrios and ghetto projects - and are for the most part oppressed
nations people. The lumpen are known to the oppressor nation as the
‘criminal element’ which is code word for persyn of color. The lumpen
usually come from a lumpen organization that the oppressors call a
‘gang,’ or survive as some type of parasitic hustler. Although we do
make choices, often times in imperialist society our choice to engage in
crime is a logical one due to the national oppression we endure.
As communists it is our job to fully understand the laws of social
development, and the lumpen are an essential part of these laws today,
especially here in the imperialist stronghold. In Marx’s theory of
‘social relations of production’ lies the question of ownership, that is
what ‘class’ owns the tools and what ‘class’ uses the tools. In this
imperialist society the lumpen neither own nor use the tools. We are
excluded from production and live under the heel of capitalist relations
of production. The propertied class has monopolized the productive
forces. The lumpen play a crucial role in Amerika in the creation of new
productive forces that will come into contradiction with the decaying
social relations of production. The current economic crisis is helping
to streamline this process.
The lumpen is a class, regardless of what nationality one comes from; we
all have similar relations to the tools of society and the distribution
of society’s wealth. It is a group that experiences the same oppression
and is fighting the same imperialist monster.
It is understood that as national oppression exists it is thus only
natural for there to also be national liberation struggles to combat the
unevenness in this society, and for revolutionary national struggles to
work to bring safety to the people who live in a constant police state
in areas of the oppressed nations. This is the correct stance in the
face of any oppression. But we can’t get caught playing the same
dog-eat-dog game that the imperialists play on us and our fellow lumpen.
We need an Aztlán Liberation Front that is in unity with the lumpen.
The lumpen in Amerika must begin to realize that we are a class and
lumpen fighting lumpen does nothing to liberate any oppressed nation. On
the contrary, lumpen-on-lumpen crime will only strengthen the
imperialist vice grip on our necks! This is why unity amongst the lumpen
is the first step to liberation of all oppressed nations in the United
$tates. We don’t have to agree on everything, but we must have unity and
work together with the full realization that we are up against not just
the same monster but one that happens to run the world militarily.
It is essential for the lumpen to come together in a united front in
order for liberation to ever be a reality on these shores. Without the
critical element of the united front, liberation struggles of any kind
are simply idle talk and will not produce. The function of the united
front for the oppressed nations and ULK should be 1) to
practice peoples’ power within the prison system and thoroughly
politicize the U.$. prison system, and 2) to practice peoples’ power
within the Barrios and ghetto projects out in society and thoroughly
politicize these oppressed nation areas. These functions should be done
with the idea of preparing these grounds for future insurrection.
Lumpen Unite with the International Proletariat!
The basis for unity between the lumpen and the international proletariat
is again class-based. The lumpen are connected to the international
proletariat by their common oppression by the imperialists and their
popular resistance to this oppression. What we must keep in mind is the
imperialists think and act on a global scale so we must do the same.
Just as many have used the saying “don’t show up at a gun battle with a
knife,” we don’t want to show up with a “not in my backyard” mentality
when the imperialists show up with an international colonization
mentality. We must think of the big picture and on a grand scale of
things. Of course we must first work in a particular area, as
MIM(Prisons) works primarily with the prison population, to start from
one area and eventually expand to include larger or multiple fronts of
struggle. All our efforts should be with the intention of chipping away
at imperialism.
Regardless of one’s oppressed nation, it really is the same struggle
against the same opponent. Currently this is seen unabashed by the
imperialists’ mega-prison system housing millions of Brown, Black, Red
and Yellow people. It is seen in people of color hunted down in urban
communities by the police and shot dead as if there were safaris in the
inner cities. It is seen in the unequal treatment that has been
festering in Amerika for over 500 years, the lynching of the body and
the lynching of the mind. Therefore, it is not just understandable or
justified but damn right necessary for these oppressed peoples to
struggle for national liberation. Until New Democracy is achieved, as
Mao
spoke of, and we finally achieve equality for all in all aspects,
the oppressed nations should continue to struggle for
self-determination.
As communists we should always maintain focus on our goal of
international communism rather than degenerating to simply Brown
capitalism or Black capitalism, etc. This is why our unity must be with
the international proletariat in mind as this will be our moral compass.
Some may say or think “If I can liberate my people in this or
that country why would I care about countries in another part of the
world?” Well, as I’ve said before, we are all up against the same
monster that cannot be defeated by one group of people, and even if one
could somehow liberate one group of people, the imperialists worldwide
would smash this isolated nation. We saw it happen in Grenada.
When Marx and Engels put together the theory of communism, it was with
internationalism in mind as they saw even back then that the bourgeoisie
would not sit back and allow the people to begin liberating themselves.
We must always work in unity with the international proletariat in order
to rise from lumpen to true revolutionary. Only then will we liberate
our people.
La Lucha Continua!
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade did a good job of stressing
the importance of internationalism in the united front, and in
particular pointing out that the international proletariat must be our
moral compass. The question we need to ask though is to what degree the
imperialist country lumpen’s interests are united with the international
proletariat, and therefore how they fit into the united front as a
class. What this comrade wrote about the need to support everyone’s
national liberation is true for any oppressed nation in the world, but
we face particular challenges due to our material conditions.
MIM(Prisons) sees the lumpen in the United $tates as a bourgeoisified
lumpen, in that the whole country benefits from imperialism in the form
of basic needs like food, clean water, electricity, etc. as well as in
the form of cheap consumer goods. The latter allows the lumpen to own
small amounts of capital, creating a spectrum of wealth where a minority
in the lumpen organizations are at the level of national bourgeoisie due
to their relations to production, distribution and ownership. Even for
the relatively poor majority of the lumpen class, a combination of state
welfare and the drug game have allowed for access to the material
benefits of imperialism the proletariat do not have.
We are watching closely the efforts of the white nation to take away
welfare and
local
drug markets from the lumpen, as well as
jobs
from the undocumented. Even if these trends are successful, we see
compradors among the lumpen and a popular desire for and belief in the
Amerikan dream. While the lumpen are a class forced into criminality,
there is a class consciousness and culture that derives from this
criminality that is individualistic and parasitic. As this comrade
alludes to, there is a transformation that must occur to replace the
lumpen mentality (in particular its capitalistic elements) with a
proletarian one. No national liberation struggles can succeed in this
country without tackling this great challenge.
In addition, a growing lumpen class due to imperialist crisis will also
touch the white nation. As we wrote about in
ULK
14, a declassed white population is the makings of fascist foot
soldiers. History has shown this to be the case for oppressor nations.
So we agree with the author’s alternating use of lumpen and oppressed
nations in most cases, but disagree when s/he says the lumpen have the
same interests regardless of nationality. Only if the oppressor nation
lets go of its white privilege would this be true. This is an even
stronger reason why a thesis that the lumpen in general in the U.$. are
a progressive force does not hold true.
Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the original
Black
Panther Party for Self-Defense, once taught that “the purpose of a
vanguard group should be to raise the consciousness of the masses
through educational programs and certain physical activities the
party will participate in.”
MIM(Prisons) is actively involved, along with several groups and
leaders, in the building of a United Front among lumpen in the U$ and
has asked the questions, “what makes up the basis for unity among the
lumpen?” and “what is the basis for unity between the lumpen and the
international proletariat?”
I believe that the basis of unity among prisoners and the lumpen in
general is our common oppression. We are all catching hell from a common
enemy, that we all come from oppressive conditions - that your community
and mine, suffer from the same symptoms caused by U$ imperialism -
poverty, despair, mis-education in inferior schools, addictions of
various sorts, pigs killing us, etc. This is the premise that I work
from in trying to unite, educate and organize with prisoners.
The unity between the lumpen and the international proletariat should be
based upon the fact that we all suffer under conditions created by our
principal enemy: U$ imperialism. U$ imperialism and the political
economy of capitalism are at the root of all the social problems that U$
lumpen and the international proletariat suffer from.
We seek to unite with all poor and oppressed nations and the people who
are willing to unite with us around the primary goal of the destruction
of U$ imperialism: our principal enemy. It matters not if one is
socialist or communist at this time.
The United Front has been seen throughout history to be effective
strategically and tactically in revolutionary struggles. Membership in a
United Front does not mean that a group loses its independence to pursue
its political objectives. It means that we all agree that we should work
together against our principal enemy and work with each other on
projects which push development of the struggle ahead.
Our analysis should include each of these forces able to reach consensus
on the above questions. We should check thoroughly each proposal and the
efforts put forth to realize them by the respective forces, the extent
to which resources are acquired and how allocated, the level of priority
given by each force to the realization of the effort.
Without a United Front our enemies will be able to continue to defeat us
and repress our organizing activities. United, our work becomes that
much more effective. The more groups involved principally, the stronger
our movement will become and the greater our efforts will be in
combating national oppression and imperialism.
Let us push forward the struggle by pushing forward the development of
the united front. Without struggle, there is no progress.
Typical Amerikan homes provide luxury most people can only dream of,
while home values far above the actual cost of materials and labor lace
the owners’ pockets with super-profits.
United Front is the theory of uniting different groups across
class lines for a common goal or interest, while maintaining
independence where those groups disagree. The application of united
front theory is about recognizing different contradictions in society
and utilizing them in the interests of the international proletariat.
The primary united front is the Anti-Imperialist United Front, which is
made up of the majority of the world’s people whose material interests
lie in defeating imperialism. This is a strategic united front based on
the principal contradiction.
In this article we will address a couple of contemporary issues in the
United $tates and analyze their potential for united front work. We’ll
see that many of the big conflicts in a First World country are between
the enemy classes, but that does not always mean we sit on the
sidelines. Some forms of united front are tactical and require fast
action based on thorough knowledge. To successfully navigate the
potential for united front in the First World that serves the interests
of the Third World proletariat we must first have a correct analysis of
our conditions. The first section of this article provides a quick
background to get us started.
Land, Housing and the Settler Nation
One of the arguments made against the labor aristocracy thesis is that
corporations have no interest in sacrificing profit to pay First World
workers more, and there is no corporate conspiracy to enforce such a
policy. This is based in the theory of free market capitalism, or only
reading the beginning chapters of Marx’s Capital and treating
that as an accurate model of reality in all places for all time. As a
class, capitalists do depend on the labor aristocracy, not just
politically, but economically as consumers and cogs in their growing
pyramid scheme of finance capital. And there is at least one place where
the U.$. imperialists can exert their will as a class (more and more
these days) - it’s called the U.$. government. The promotion of home
ownership by the feds is one of the biggest examples of the imperialists
consciously building a labor aristocracy within the heart of the empire.
Home ownership has been a staple of Amerikan wealth since the settlers
stole this land from the First Nations and built their homesteads on it.
The net worth of Amerikan families compared to First Nations and those
descended from slaves in the U.$. is one legacy of this form of
primitive accumulation. While land ownership among the earliest European
invaders was 100% (that’s why they came to the Americas), by the 1775
War of Independence, land ownership was still at 70% for the
Euro-Amerikan nation.(1) Arghiri Emmanuel pointed out that Amerikan
wages were able to stay so high in this early period of capitalist
development, even as land ownership ceased to be universal, because the
abundant “free” land stolen from the First Nations provided a fallback
plan for European settlers.(2) This primitive accumulation through
genocide was the basis for wealth that the Amerikan labor aristocracy
enjoyed as industrialization transformed more of the settlers into wage
laborers.
Following the inter-imperialist struggles of WWI, the United $tates
became the dominant imperialist power. The influx of wealth that came
with this allowed for the integration of southern and eastern European
immigrants into the white nation leading up to the Great Depression.(1)
From 1900 to 1950, home ownership rates in the United $tates averaged
about 45%, with the lowest rates in the Black Belt South and the highest
in European dominated northwest states.(3) After the economic recovery
that came with the spoils of WWII, the United $tates embarked on the
suburbanization of Amerika with numerous incentives from the federal
government to bring home ownership above 60% again.
Since 1960, home ownership has stayed above 60% for U.$. citizens as a
whole.(4) This rate was above 70% for white Amerikans in recent years,
but the census does not have comparable statistics by race going back
very far. Blacks and Latinos are just under 50% for rates of home
ownership, even though national oppression has ensured that they
currently face foreclosure disproportionately.
Emmanuel’s theories in Unequal Exchange demonstrate how the
significantly higher incomes of people in the First World actually
transfer wealth to the imperialist countries from the Third World,
reinforcing their economic advantage. Similarly, the oppressor nation
has equity and is able to increase wealth in ways that the internal
semi-colonies have not been able to do despite access to exploiter level
jobs. All of this fits with the general trend of capitalism, which is
the accumulation of capital. The more you have, the more you tend to
get.
Collapse of the U.$. Housing Market
The left wing of white nationalism (whether self-described anarchists,
socialists, Maoists or Democrats) has been saying that the increase in
home foreclosures is an indication of the heightening contradictions
between the Amerikan proletariat and the capitalists. These people
defend the stolen land that was the foundation of wealth for settler
Amerika, and the modern home ownership pyramid scheme that is the
foundation of the Amerikan dream today.
Not only have millions of people lost their homes to foreclosure in
recent years, but fear-mongers point out that the “2008 sub-prime
mortgage market resulted in the disappearance of $13 trillion in
American household wealth between mid-2007 and March 2009… on average,
U.S. households lost one quarter of their wealth in that period.”(5)
Such alarmists ignore that Amerikans gained $10 trillion from 2006 to
2007 to reach an all-time high, and that net worth of the country’s
citizens has generally gone up at increasing rates since WWII.(6) The
bigger ups and downs in all financial markets are certainly signs of
crisis, but to act like Amerikans are being sunk to Third World
conditions in 2010 is ludicrous. If only these activists would cry so
loud for those who really have had to live in Third World conditions for
their whole lives and for generations!
Most, if not all, of the loss in Amerikans’ net worth is accounted for
by stock portfolios and values of homes (which are bought and sold like
stocks these days); in other words losses in finance capital.
Traditionally, the petty bourgeoisie in Marxism was not exploited, nor
did it significantly exploit others. To claim that those who reap
profits from investments of finance capital are anything less than petty
bourgeoisie is a rejection of Marxist definitions. With home ownership
around 68% in recent years, that is a solid two thirds of people in the
United $tates who fall squarely into the category of petty bourgeoisie
or higher, including 50% of Blacks and Latinos (minimum). This group is
210 million people, or only 3% of the world’s population in 2010, yet
they hold more net wealth than the total market capitalization of all
publicly traded companies in the world.(7)
Our critics point to the great wealth inequalities within the United
$tates as reason to organize Amerikans for revolution. So let’s just
look at the bottom 80% of Amerikans, who owned 15% (a mere scrap from
the table if you will) of the net wealth in the United $tates in 2007
(and this was a 15-year low for them).(8) While their share has
decreased a few percentage points since 1983, total net worth in the
United $tates has increased by almost 5 times. Therefore the lowest 80%
of Amerikans went from about $2.2 trillion in net worth in 1983 to
almost $10 trillion in 2007. (Two trillion dollars could eliminate world
hunger for the next 66 years, until 2076.(9)) “Middle class” Amerika has
assets that are greater than the GDP of China,(10) the world’s
industrial powerhouse representing about 20% of the world’s population.
That’s comparing just the Amerikan “middle class” and “poor” to the
whole nation of China, including its well-developed capitalist class.
Since the proletariat, by definition, has negligible net worth in the
form of assets, let’s look at their income.(11) Income generally
increases proportionately with net worth across the globe.(12) Almost
half of the world’s population lives on less than $1000 per year. That
is 3.14 billion people living on less than $3 trillion in a year.(13)
Now before we condemn Amerikans’ huge assets, let’s make sure that they
just aren’t better at saving and investing their money than the
proletariat. In 2005, the wealthiest 20% of the world accounted for
76.6% of total private consumption. The poorest fifty percent accounted
for only 7.2% of consumption.(13) A conservative estimate leaves us with
Amerikans, on average, consuming at least 27 times the average persyn in
the poorest half of the world.(14) So money management skills cannot
explain Amerika’s huge net worth.
A just, sustainable humyn society requires the Amerikan labor
aristocracy to be brought down to consumer levels much closer to the
Third World. But this little exercise demonstrates that this is far from
happening, despite the alarmists’ cries.
Ultimately, the contradiction we’re describing is between the labor
aristocracy and the imperialists. The imperialists, in particular
finance capital, are a dynamic, opportunist class. In contrast, the
labor aristocracy benefits from stability of the status quo. The finance
capitalists were able to make quick profits by selling the labor
aristocracy short, so Amerikans are pissed. While perhaps pushing the
labor aristocracy towards fascism, the finance capitalists are also
undercutting the consumerism of Amerikans that their system depends on
so much. What we are witnessing is an internal contradiction in the
imperialist system playing out. Both groups control trillions of dollars
in super-profits from the Third World, and the Anti-Imperialist United
Front has no interest in one of them getting more than the other. We
need to keep sitting this one out.
Migration to the United $tates
As discussed above, high wages and ballooning housing values reinforce
themselves in our current economic system, making the rich richer.
However, neither could be maintained without erecting a border outside
of which these two things cannot flow. Therefore, keeping wages and
housing values high is directly linked to the battle over increasing
repression of migrant laborers within U.$. borders. The contradiction in
this struggle is between oppressed nations who are trying to gain access
to jobs in the United $tates and the oppressor nation that is trying to
keep them out. This challenge to imperialist country privilege indicates
that the battle for migrant rights is part of the anti-imperialist
struggle.
While Third World people and some Amerikan youth faced Amerikan labor
aristocrats on the streets, it was the U.$. District Court that put in
place an injunction on most of the provisions of Arizona’s Senate Bill
1070 (SB1070), in light of a lawsuit filed by the U.$. Department of
Justice (DOJ) against the state of Arizona. The DOJ held that
immigration was under federal jurisdiction, and that they had a plan for
the whole country to balance its various interests related to
immigration that Arizona would not be allowed to mess up.
The interest of the bourgeois internationalists is in having free access
to markets and labor, not to mention international relations. This camp
includes the federal government and their finance capitalist backers as
well as smaller businesses that only operate in the United $tates, but
depend on migrant labor. Their conflict is with other bourgeois
interests and the bourgeoisified majority of Amerikans whose position of
privilege stems from the elitism of who is allowed to enter their
fortress of jewels.
There is effectively a united front between the internationalism of the
mass resistance to SB1070 on both sides of the Mexican border and the
U.$. government acting on behalf of bourgeois internationalism. And for
now, it is the imperialists who are really throwing a wrench in the
works for Amerikans, even though the contradiction at its base is
between oppressed nations and the oppressor nation.
A majority of Amerikans in a number of polls supported SB1070 or a
similar law. The highest percentage listed in one article, 79%, did not
agree that “illegal aliens are entitled to the same rights and basic
freedoms as U.S. citizens.”(15) This is the definition of Amerikan
chauvinism. At best, one fifth of U.$. citizens don’t think they deserve
more than other humyn beings by virtue of being born in the United
$tates. This is why we even keep an eye on the imperialists for glimmers
of internationalism in the First World.
With Latinos, we can see how quickly this consciousness develops by
tracking the percentage of coconuts in the population over time. A
Latino Decisions poll found that 12% of second-generation
Latino voters in Arizona supported SB1070. By the fourth generation it
had increased to 30% supporting the coconut position.(16) Amerikanism is
an insidious disease that has claimed significant portions of the
internal semi-colonies of the United $tates.
Unite All Who Can Be United
While many dogmatists still criticize Mao for allying the Chinese
Communists with the national bourgeoisie, we can take united front
theory even further and come up with examples of progressive forces
allying with the government of the imperialist superpower of the world
against an oppressor nation. This goes to show that we cannot let
ultra-left ideas of purity prevent us from allying with those who might
help our cause.
The rightist errors in applying united front theory happen when we have
incorrect lines elsewhere. Not recognizing a united front as working
with an enemy class, or becoming convinced that other contradictions
have been resolved, and not just pushed to a secondary position, are the
main forms of rightism to guard against. Mao had to fight much rightism
from other communists who thought the communists and national bourgeois
forces should merge into one, where inevitably the reactionary
bourgeoisie would lead because of their relative power. Rightism in the
United $tates looks like people getting caught up with legislative
battles over migrant rights. Without national liberation, there is no
freedom for oppressed nations under imperialism. The imperialists will
always oppose that, just as the Nationalists fought the Communists in
civil war once the Japanese were forced out.
We do not seek unity for the sake of unity. We seek unity that utilizes
all the forces possible to tackle the principal contradiction, or
battles that push the principal contradiction forward. When we find
strategic unity with others, the united front also provides a basis for
unity-criticism-unity, which advances the struggle and deepens the unity
of revolutionaries and all oppressed people for a better future.