This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
MIM Congress resolution on Puerto Rico 1998

1998 marks the 100th anniversary of the U.$. invasion of Puerto Rico. We
seek to make it a year of progress toward the end of colonialism.

Uncle Sam uses the carrot and the stick to keep Puerto Rico under U.$.
rule. One important carrot is U.S. citizenship. Economic pressure in
Puerto Rico only builds up so much before emigration to the U.$.A. Puerto
Ricans arrive in the U.$. not as illegal immigrants but as citizens.

U.$. government programs also bring money to Puerto Rico. These programs
dull the nationalist passion of the Puerto Rican people.

Finally, as for carrots, there is the U.$. dollar itself binding Puerto
Rico to the U.$.A. Since Puerto Rico does not have its own currency, it
benefits fully from U.$. imperialist manipulations of international
exchange. The masses of Puerto Rico enjoy the same prices for goods that
mainland U.$. residents do.

For the stick, the U.$. puppet regime in Puerto Rico still does not allow
unionization of workers and there is no minimum wage. As we speak, tepid
legislation is coming to pass to allow government-approved unions.

This unique combination of circumstance makes Puerto Rico a microcosm of
imperialism and its relationship to oppressed nations. Using the carrot
more than in most oppressed nations, U.S. imperialism has created a "split
in the working class" in Puerto Rico. The workers are not all sub-minimum
wage proletarians and they are not all labor aristocracy. As an island,
Puerto Rico would be the poorest U.$. state, but there are parts that
certainly resemble the Mainland states, especially in the urban and
suburban areas where living conditions are very similar to those in the
Mainland U$A.

When the people rise up against colonialism, the U.S. Government cracks
down with killings and imprisonment. Even though Puerto Rico is not the
51st state, the U.S.  Government calls some actions of the Puerto Rican
patriots "sedition" and convicts Puerto Rican patriots in U.S. courts.

MIM upholds both the peaceful and armed actions of Puerto Ricans against
U.$. domination. That is what all Marxist-Leninist-Maoists must do to
uphold the right of self-determination in Puerto Rico.

Hence, we call for the unconditional release of all Puerto Rican prisoners
of war. As of yet, the same U.$. government founded by George Washington
has yet to uphold international treaties and recognize the prisoner of war
status of the anti-colonial freedom-fighters in Puerto Rico.

All Puerto Ricans in prison are political prisoners; although not all are
prisoners of war. Puerto Rican political prisoners should all be released
to be tried by Puerto Rican justice systems. Some prisoners are truly sick
and will be incarcerated by the will of the Puerto Rican people, but most
are victims of the world's leading prison state per capita -- the U$A. The
majority will readily redeem themselves given a chance in a socialist
system.

MIM seeks to uphold the Maoist tradition of the Young Lords Party --
Puerto Rican Maoists organized here in the U$A with the inspiration of the
Black Panther Party. It is our duty to render material aid to the
organization of a Maoist party that will conduct the People's War in
Puerto Rico.

It is also our duty given the actually existing conditions to call on the
Euro-Amerikan settlers moving to Puerto Rico to do business or retire to
respect the national aspirations of the Puerto Rican people. We expect
that land currently held by Euro-Amerikan settlers will be returned to the
Puerto Rican people through revolution.

MIM supports all peaceful and armed efforts of the Puerto Rican patriots
against the U.$. government. There are two mistakes to avoid through this
line. One is to avoid opposing the right to self-determination. The Puerto
Rican people are entitled to fight any way they choose. Some will fight
better than others, but we must uphold the rights of all Puerto Ricans to
fight for their independence. All Puerto Rican patriots are our friends.

The other mistake MIM seeks to avoid is relativism and subjectivism. MIM
is itself a collection of Maoist parties and pre-parties. It would not be
correct for it to treat all Puerto Rican political organizers equally. It
is natural that we should support the Maoist Puerto Ricans the most. Right
opportunists and post- modernists believe that MIM should not favor the
Maoist Puerto Ricans above other patriots. They would also oppose our
criticizing Puerto Rican revisionism. However, we at MIM believe that
Khruschev, Gorbachev and Yeltsin were the bourgeoisie in the party in the
Soviet Union and that fact is the same no matter one's national
background. Fighting revisionism is a scientific matter that comes before
asserting one's unique national identity. The cardinal principles
upholding the Cultural Revolution in China and opposing old Soviet-style
revisionism are cardinal principles everywhere in the world.

MIM calls on non-Maoists in the U$A to support their counterparts in
Puerto Rico seeking independence. It is MIM's duty to assist with the
establishment of a Maoist pole in Puerto Rico. With the Young Lords, other
organizations and amongst individuals in Puerto Rico there is already a
strong Maoist tradition on which to build.