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.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM Notes 130 JANUARY 15, 1997
MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the
world's oppressed majority, and against the
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in
the service of the people. support it, struggle
with it and write for it.
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. MIM LAUNCHES SERVE THE PEOPLE FOOD PROGRAM
2. AMERIKKKA SUBJECTS INTERNAL COLONIES TO MEDICAL
EXPERIMENTS
3. LETTERS TO MIM
4. CULTURAL REVOLUTION SYMPOSIUM HELD IN NEW YORK
5. REMEMBER THE MENDIOLA MASSACRE VICTIMS AND
CARRY ON THE FIGHT
6. MIM SALUTES CPP ON 28TH ANNIVERSARY
7. PHILIPPINES: US-RAMOS REGIME ARRESTS AND
TORTURES BORJAL
8. CORRECTION
9. REPORT ON THE FINANCIAL STRUGGLE
10. RURAL INDIAN STRUGGLE AGAINST STATE-SPONSORED
ALCOHOL
11. TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY PROVOKES MIM RESPONSE
12. S. CAL. POLICE MURDERS SPUR FAMILY LAWSUITS
13. FEDS AND COUNTY D.A. STALL MEXICAN BEATING CASE
14. ANAHEIM POLICE KILL MAN IN HIS CAR
15. BOEING MERGER MAKES IT LEADER IN WORLD
DESTRUCTION
16. TWO AMERIKAN LIBRARIANS ATTEMPT TO CLOSE YOUNG
MINDS
17. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND
PRISONS
* * *
WHAT IS MIM?
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a
revolutionary communist party that upholds Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection of
existing or emerging Maoist internationalist
parties in the English-speaking imperialist
countries and their English-speaking internal semi-
colonies, as well as the existing or emerging
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of
Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the
U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM.
Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.
MIM is an internationalist organization that works
from the vantage point of the Third World
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans,
but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups
over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM
knows this is only possible by building public
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.
Revolution is a reality for North America as the
military becomes over-extended in the government's
attempts to maintain world hegemony.
MIM differs from other communist parties on three
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution,
the potential exists for capitalist restoration
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in
this country.
MIM accepts people as members who agree on these
basic principles and accept democratic centralism,
the system of majority rule, on other questions of
party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is
universally applicable. We should regard it not as
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not
merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, but
of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208
* * *
MIM LAUNCHES SERVE THE PEOPLE FOOD PROGRAM
LOS ANGELES, 21 December 1996 -- The Maoist
Internationalist Movement expanded its practice
today by launching the Serve the People Food
Program. Active MIM supporters went to a public
place known for having a high concentration of
homeless people and for being an open marketplace
for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)-
backed drug trade. There, the MIM supporters handed
out peanut butter and jelly sandwiches along with
fliers. One side of the flier handed out explains
the Serve the People Food Program and its purpose.
The other side contains MIM's 10-point program,
which is available from MIM to anyone who sends a
self-addressed stamped envelope.
The recipients of the food were overwhelmingly
members of the class known as the
lumpenproletariat. This is a class which is made up
of the permanently unemployed. Within U.S. borders,
lumpenproletarians are disproportionately found in
the Black, Latino, and First Nations, as well as
among people of southeast Asian origin or descent.
Unlike the proletariat, whose members have
experience with working as part of a group at the
point of production, the lumpenproletariat is
characterized by individualist behavior, sometimes
expressed as anti-social criminal behavior. Many of
the food recipients made no secret of their drug
habits. Individualism and addiction to CIA-supplied
and other narcotics make the lumpenproletariat a
difficult class to organize. The classes
characterized by individualism, the
lumpenproletariat and the petit-bourgeoisie, are as
prone to recruitment by the right as by the left.
The proletariat and its party need to work with the
lumpenproletariat while struggling with
lumpenproletarians to surpass the obstacles of
individualism and addiction and transform
themselves into proletarian internationalists who
serve the people. Ultimately, the lumpenproletariat
needs socialism more than any other class within
U.S. borders (where there is no peasantry). But the
proletariat is the class which not only has nothing
to lose but its chains, but which is ready to
organize to smash those chains.
MIM does not believe that handing out a few
sandwiches is enough. Ultimately, for the world's
masses to receive proper food, housing, health
care, clothing, and education, the people need
socialism. And since the imperialists will not give
up their power without a fight, this means that the
oppressed will need to overthrow the imperialists
through revolutionary armed struggle. Handing out
small amounts of food is not enough, but propaganda
work alone is not enough either. While the Clinton
White House demonstrates its determination to
deprive people of basic needs by slashing welfare
(an act which Clinton calls "reform" of welfare),
the vanguard needs to point the way forward towards
a society whose basic goal is to meet human needs -
- a socialist society -- and away from the current
dog-eat-dog capitalist society whose basic goal is
to make profits for a parasitic handful. Pointing
the way forward includes theoretical work and
newspaper work, but the building of public opinion
does not end there. Comrades Huey Newton and Fred
Hampton, leaders of the Maoist Black Panther Party
(BPP), correctly pointed out that the masses
principally learn through observation and
participation. That's why MIM has launched a free
food program.
MIM's central task at this time is to build public
opinion and independent people's institutions in
order to prepare the oppressed and their allies for
anti-imperialist revolution. The Serve the People
Food Program is an independent people's
institution, and a key part of its work is to build
public opinion for anti-imperialist revolution.
When we say that it is an independent institution,
we mean that it is not dependent on such enemies of
the people as the U.S. Congress. It relies on the
people for its support. Participation in the form
of food, money, and labor is necessary and welcome.
The new program is largely inspired by the work of
the BPP from 1966 to 1970. The BPP used the issue
of hunger in Amerika to demonstrate both the need
for socialism and the meaning of socialism. The
BPP's Serve the People Programs, including the Free
Breakfast for Children Program, were independent
institutions of the oppressed. The BPP's Serve the
People programs were successful in building the
independent power of the oppressed and in building
public opinion for anti-imperialist revolution.
This is why these programs earned the wrath of the
US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
The Serve the People Food Program launched by MIM
is not the first MIM-led Serve the People program.
MIM leads Serve the People programs with lower
visibility, such as the Free Literature for
Prisoners Program and numerous types of political
education work. All of MIM's media outlets -- MIM
Notes, MIM Theory, Notas Rojas, Maoist Sojourner,
pamphlets, fliers, posters, talks and video
showings -- are independent institutions of the
oppressed.
But this is not enough. MIM seeks to constantly
expand its practice to new levels. The oppressed
need independent institutions to provide food,
clothing, shelter, health care, education, justice
and peace for the oppressed nations. If you agree,
what are you waiting for? Work with MIM to continue
the Black Panther Party's Maoist legacy of free
food programs. With your help, we can work with the
masses to create independent institutions which can
lay the basis for the greatest independent
institution of all -- a self-reliant socialist
government.
* * *
**The following is the text of one side of the
flier that MIM supporters handed out with
sandwiches. The other side contains MIM's 10-point
program, available from MIM to anyone who sends a
self-addressed stamped envelope.**
THIS FOOD BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE SERVE THE PEOPLE
FOOD PROGRAM
"In short, all the practical problems in the
masses' everyday life should claim our attention.
If we attend to these problems, solve them and
satisfy the needs of the masses, we shall really
become organizers of the well-being of the masses,
and they will truly rally around us and give us
their warm support. Comrades, will we then be able
to arouse them to take part in the revolutionary
war? Yes, indeed we will."
-- Chairperson Mao Zedong, 1934
"Our Breakfast for Children program is feeding a
lot of children and the people understand our
Breakfast for Children program. We sayin' something
like this -- we saying that theory's cool, but
theory with no practice ain't shit. You got to have
both of them -- the two go together. We have a
theory about feeding kids free. What'd we do? We
put it into practice. That's how people
learn....What are we doing? The Breakfast for
Children program. We are running it in a
socialistic manner. People came and took our
program, saw it in a socialistic fashion not even
knowing it was socialism. People are gonna take our
program and tell us to go on to a higher level.
They gonna take that program and work it in a
socialistic manner. What'd the pig say? He say,
'Nigger -- you like communism?' 'No sir, I'm scared
of it.' 'You like the breakfast for children
program?' 'Yes sir, I'd die for it.' Pig said,
'Nigger, that program is a socialistic program.' 'I
don't give a fuck if it's Communism. You put your
hands on that program, motherfucker, and I'll blow
your motherfucking brains out.' And he knew it. We
been educating him, not by reading matter, but
through observation and participation. By letting
him come in and work our program. Not theory and
theory alone, but theory and practice. The two go
together. We not only thought about the Marxist-
Leninist theory -- we put it into practice. This is
what the Black Panther Party is all about."
-- Chairperson Fred Hampton, 1969
The Serve the People Food Program was established
in December 1996 by the Maoist Internationalist
Movement (MIM), a revolutionary communist party in
the tradition of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and
Mao. MIM's central task at this time is to build
public opinion and independent people's
institutions in order to prepare the oppressed and
their allies for anti-imperialist revolution. The
Serve the People Food Program is an independent
people's institution. It relies on the people for
its support. Your participation in the form of
food, money, and labor is necessary and welcome.
For more information, contact: Maoist
Internationalist Movement P.O. Box 29670 Los
Angeles, CA 90029-0670
* * *
AMERIKKKA SUBJECTS INTERNAL COLONIES TO MEDICAL
EXPERIMENTS
by a comrade
From 1932 until the 1970s secret tests were
conducted on Blacks in Tuskegee, Alambama. The U.S.
Public Health Service signed up 400 illiterate
black men to research the effects of untreated
syphilis. The agency told the Black nationals that
they were being treated. Instead, the agency
withheld treatment as it studied the progression of
the disease for the next 40 years.(1) During the
Cold War, the Amerikan government secretly exposed
civilians to radiation to determine the effects of
nuclear war. A recent analysis of Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) reports by The Plain Dealer of
Cleveland has shown that medical tests without
consent are still common.(2)
Since 1977, the FDA has conducted 4,154 routine
inspections of researchers testing new drugs on
people. Of the researchers inspected, 53 percent
did not clearly disclose the experimental nature of
the work. In 46 of the federal and pharmaceutical
company-sponsored drug trials which used at least
1,000 people, no consent was given by the people.
The remainder of the cited problems included
misleading information given to subjects about the
experimental nature of the treatment and its side
effects.
While MIM does not have the entire data from the
FDA, these examples add to the list of ways the
white nation has used its political, economic and
military power to force members of oppressed
nations to be used as guinea pigs. The white nation
has changed its tune to concede that oppressed
nations are biologically the same as whites. In
part, this serves the white nation's need to have
human guinea pigs to test drugs which will be
available only for members of oppressor nations and
the bourgeoisie. The white nation's material
interests lie in ensuring the advance of medical
care and technology for use by its own parasites.
The interest of the proletariat lies in building
its own independent medical institutions which will
benefit the broad masses of people and will not use
other humans as experimental subjects in the
process.
The recent articles in the Plain Dealer and the
Springfield Union News cite a couple examples
outside of the United Snakes. These examples are
also of oppressed nationals being experimented on.
Vaccines distributed increased death in Haiti and
the former "British, French and Portuguese colonies
near Cape Verde." The resources also discuss
hepatitis vaccine testing on Lakota reservations
and a measles vaccine targeting East Los Angeles,
West Los Angeles and Inglewood, California.
To avoid fanning the oppressed masses distrust of
the white nation, the so-called consent forms often
fail to explain the real purpose of the research
(or that it is even research).
In the Lakota nation in 1991 Sacheen White Tail
came home with a note from her teacher - an
invitation almost too good to pass up. If her
mother approved, Sacheen was eligible to receive a
free hepatitis vaccination allegedly providing her
with lifelong immunity.
Hundreds of parents in the Standing Rock Sioux
nation got the letter from the "Hepatitis A Vaccine
Prevention Program" and the offer of an expensive
mousse hair gel if their child participated. What
they weren't told, however, was that this drug was
not approved by the FDA and was in fact a test for
a British drug company to determine it's safety.
The true experimental purpose was not disclosed.
The words 'experimental' and 'research' were also
conveniently omitted in the letter to the parents.
The Amerikan legal system - which threw out the
parents' lawsuit in 1993 because the drug trials
had ended - expressed "grave doubts about the
government's conduct" and said "that the government
failed to give parents an adequate basis for
informed consent." This slap on the wrist means
nothing to the children who were used in the
testing. The courts can make such a criticism, deny
retribution for using humans as lab rats, and wash
their hands of the process. It is no surprise that
the government continues its legacy of over 500
years to disregard the lives of Indigenous peoples.
The advances gained provide a higher living
standard for the white nation and the washing of
hands fulfills the government's responsibility to
look politically correct as it continues tactics of
genocide.
In Los Angeles in 1990, parents were asked to sign
forms "that mentioned something about a 'project'
in which 'public health policy-makers' wanted to
'determine the best measles vaccine strain,' and
'the best schedule for age of measles
vaccination.'" While the parents were told by the
Center for Disease Control (CDC) that the "E-Z
vaccine" might protect their children earlier
against measles, they weren't told the real reason
the vaccine was being tested.
One FDA official warned the CDC that "because
unpublished data suggested effects on babies'
immune systems, and 'since the use of the E-Z
measles vaccine is unlicensed in the United States
and therefore considered experiment ... it seems
imperative that there be a strong warning on the
consent form ... that their infants may not be
protected.'" No such warning was included.
Months before these drug trials started, the truth
about this vaccine began to come out. In former
British, French and Portuguese colonies near Cape
Verde, researchers learned that the vaccine
increased overall death rates for young children.
The LA tests proceeded allegedly because they
thought that children in the healthier Amerika
would not be affected. This ignores the fact that
health care is not equally distributed within the
United Snakes and that health care for Blacks and
Latinos is often at Third World levels. Eventually,
the drug trials were stopped when more test data
came back from Haiti.
Common problems found by the FDA in their routine
inspections of drug trials has also included
falsified data and inadequate or inaccurate
records. Despite so many tests containing serious
problems, the researchers and their funders are
protected.
The existence of a clinical trial involving an
investigational drug and the identity of the
sponsor is confidential information. The names of
researchers, too, are closely held. Neglecting to
fully inform test subjects and failing to disclose
deaths or injuries may bring a letter from the FDA,
but that is about it.
While an official letter of criticism from the FDA
might be a blow to the career of one medical
researcher, it does not stop the long and
continuing history of testing members of oppressed
nations and the poor to benefit the oppressor
nations. Small mistakes that lead to accidental
deaths by the lower classes can result in murder or
"involuntary manslaughter" charges being filed, and
can earn jail time. But researchers making many a
hundred thousand dollars a year can committed
premeditated mass murder or extreme negligence and
in exchange the FDA will make it more difficult for
them to get federal funding in the future!
With the government responsible for ensuring food
and medical safety, finding that over half of all
clinical drug testing have consent problems, and
discovering that many other include deliberate
errors that reduce their scientific value, you
might expect an uproar. But as the test subjects
are disproportionately of the oppressed nations,
they are considered expendable in the view of the
white nation.
NOTES:
1. The Los Angeles Times, 22 October 1996. p. A14:
2. Springfield Union-News, 18 December 1996. pp. A1
& B7.
* * *
LETTERS TO MIM
MIM SLANDERS WORKER'S WORLD PARTY?
Dear MIM Notes,
The defense minister of the organization to which I
belong, Panthers United for Revolutionary Education
(PURE), subscribes to MIM Notes, so I enjoy the
privilege of reading it whenever it passes
censorship. As the prison administration is
morbidly averse to any and everything anti-
establishment.
I, on the other hand, subscribe to the WORKERS
WORLD newspaper; supported their candidates for
president and vice president; and for this reason
beg to differ with MIM's position that "none of the
parties today that run candidates are
Socialist."(MIM Notes, 1 September 1996) Such an
accusation, in my opinion, comes dangerously close
to malicious slander. Especially in light of the
incongruous and ludicrous distortion of the
candidates' physical features by your cartoonist,
that were ran parallel with and suggesting a
likeness to Ralph Nader.
I respect MIM's decision to not run or endorse a
candidate at this time. We disagree in strategy,
not objective. And this alone is not ground enough
to impeach another's sincerity and socialist
convictions. More than anything, in my view, it
reflects a certain political immaturity, as
revolutionaries over the years, and from every
corner of the globe, have sought to teach us the
critical importance of working through our
strategic differences and other differences upon
which the capitalists depend to stave off
revolution. This is the First Rule. And MIM's
attack of the WORKERS WORLD PARTY is a clear
violation of this First Rule against division.
We like MIM Notes because it carries many articles
of interest to prisoners. But in spite of your
extensive coverage, MIM seems to be unaware that
the presidential elections every four years are by
far the most talked about single subject amongst
prisoners. So, had not Monica and Gloria run - they
even made America's prisons and death rows a part
of their campaign itinerary - many prisoners on
Texas Death row wouldn't have been seriously
discussing alternative politics and religiously
reading the WORKERS WORLD, and books by or about
Marx and Lenin.
For us and our families and friends, the WORKERS
WORLD candidates didn't send the message that
electoralism can eliminate imperialism, and that
the imperialists will leave power peacefully. No!
to the contrary, Monica and Gloria highlighted the
lies, corruption, and class interest of the
imperialists.
If we felt that Monica and Gloria were running
merely in hope of influencing the imperialists by
showing them the support a "Socialist" organization
can gain, PURE would not have endorse them. But we
never read or heard anything about the candidates
seeking to negotiate any deals with Clinton,
Buchanan, Nader or any of those bandits. They
antagonized them at every opportunity. And to imply
that they were attempting to pull off a Jesse
Jackson move (Stealing voters away from the
Democrats, then selling them back for a concession)
insults our intelligence.
The lowest point came when you wrote in reference
to the WORKERS WORLD PARTY, "No where in their
campaign materials does the WWP call for armed
revolution," suggesting that they party is a bunch
of Gandhi disciples rather than Marxist-Leninist
revolutionaries.
The time that I have spent dignifying your slander
I could have used trying to get some help for Daryl
Wheatfall, a death row prisoner who's in solitary
confinement, and facing new charges (attempted
capital murder) for stabbing a prison guard. He was
in fear of his life when he committed this
desperate act. And is perhaps more terrified now
than when he was when he acted out of fear and
panic, being that he's in solitary confinement,
separated from the rest of death row. And has been
beaten at least twice that we know of.
PURE, our families, friends and supporters, the
WORKERS WORLD PARTY, and the Texas Coalition to
Abolish the Death Penalty are doing all that we can
for him. Should you wish to contact him to offer
your support, his name and address is: Daryl
Wheatfall #999020, Ellis Unit, Huntsville, Texas
77343.
Sincerely,
Prime Minister
PURE
MIM RESPONDS: MIM will address two separate issues
in this letter. The first is the Marxist-Leninist
credentials of Worker's World Party, and related to
that, the writer's proposal that MIM refrain from
criticizing Worker's World in favor of "socialist"
unity against capitalism. The second is the
strategy of running candidates for office to raise
any kind of socialist political consciousness --
and MIM's differing strategy of denouncing the
electoral system altogether in our "Don't Vote"
campaign.
MIM does not base our assessment of Worker's World
as "not socialist" on the fact that they ran
candidates for president and vice-president alone.
Rather, we look at Worker's World's liquidation of
national oppression in favor of a false unity
between the white nation labor aristocracy and the
Black, Latino and First Nations. We also look at
WW's demand for a $10/hour minimum wage for
Amerikan workers as a threat to the international
proletariat -- as increased wealth in the First
World can only come about through the increased
super-exploitation of Third World workers.
So in our objectives as well as our strategy, MIM
disagrees with Worker's World. We do not serve the
oppressed by covering up these differences with
Worker's World or any other cheerleader for the
reactionary labor aristocracy. For an in depth
review of WW's political economy, see MIM Theory
10, "Coming to Grips with the Labor Aristocracy,"
available for $6 from MIM.
On the general strategy of running candidates in
the United $tates to raise political consciousness
-- MIM disagrees with this use of resources and the
message it sends. MIM is well aware of the
prominence of presidential campaigns to political
discussion among prisoners and on the outside, and
we seized every opportunity to explain why voting
is a dead-end under imperialism, and why the
oppressed should, and do, choose revolution
instead. We carried out an extensive campaign to
build revolution instead of legitimizing the
elections and choose to send out a correct analysis
of imperialist elections instead of throwing the
resources of the masses away. MIM has been running
a free books for prisoners program for years,
providing Marxist-Leninist-Maoist and progressive
literature to prisoner study groups. Building
independent institutions among the oppressed is a
superior practice to wasting the people's resources
fighting electoral battles which are not winnable
and that inevitably send out the message that under
imperialism there is something legitimate worth
winning - a greater share of Third World
superprofits. MIM says, choose revolutionary
internationalism instead and DON'T VOTE.
* * *
CULTURAL REVOLUTION SYMPOSIUM HELD IN NEW YORK
On December 14 and 15 the 30th Anniversary
Symposium on China's Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution(GPCR) was held in New York City.
Presentations were made predominately by academics.
William Hinton, author of many books MIM
distributes, delivered a keynote address. The
symposium was organized by the China Study Group
and co-sponsored by Monthly Review Press and the
Economics Students Union of the New School.
The event brought together a number of interesting
people to celebrate the Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution. Some aspects of the universals of
Maoism in general and the Cultural Revolution in
particular are not settled in the International
Communist Movement, and so MIM had hoped for sharp
debate on some of these points of contention such
as the role of the so-called "Gang of Four".
While the event did bring out some different lines
on the GPCR, it was not organized to bring about
much in-depth direct struggle between panelists or
those present. These structural impediments, and
the inclusion of some panelists hostile to the GPCR
and Mao's leadership in China made building broad-
based unity on the fundamentals of Maoism
impossible.
MIM learned about this event too late to submit a
paper and participate on a panel, but has already
dedicated a chapter of an upcoming issue of MIM
Theory to the Cultural Revolution. As always,
contributions and challenges are welcome and
encouraged.
GPCR FURTHEST ADVANCE TOWARDS COMMUNISM
Several panel members and William Hinton defended
the Cultural Revolution as the farthest historical
step taken towards Communism anywhere in the world.
Other panelists credited the GPCR and the all-out
attack it led against modern revisionism with the
upsurge in national liberation movements around the
world.
A professor from Marygrove College credited the
Chinese Communist Party and the GPCR with inspiring
the formation of Marxist Leninist parties in many
countries around the world. Another speaker
credited the GPCR and the Chinese battle against
revisionism with the formation of the Black Panther
Party; and credited the Panthers with spreading Mao
and the GPCR to the rest of the u.s. movement. MIM
has credited the GPCR (in MIM Theory 7) with the
internal and external advances made by the Young
Lords Party/Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers
Party-- who learned of Maoism from the BPP. A
member of the feminist organization Redstockings
credited Mao and the Cultural Revolution with
promoting self-reliance as a principle, as well as
providing the theoretical tools to advance their
movement forward.
On Sunday, December 15, a panel was held entitled
"Critique of the Mainstream Consensus Verdict on
the Cultural Revolution" and was moderated by Harry
Magdoff of Monthly Review. Maurice Meisner, author
of Mao's China and After, took an anti-GPCR line on
this panel. Meisner, who said on National Public
Radio in November that he didn't think China was
ever socialist, ended his talk by saying "to
compare [the Cultural Revolution] to the Holocaust
would trivialize the Holocaust."
Appropriately, the next panelist was a professor
from Tasmania who attacked Meisner's charges of
Holocaust and discussed the real advances in the
Cultural Revolution. Not just a battle against
revisionism, the Cultural Revolution unleashed the
power of the people and increased production. He
also discussed how education was aided by the
Cultural Revolution. He argued for a consistent and
non-opportunist use of statistics. Students of
China should accept or reject government
statistics, not pick and choose their use by how
well an argument they make.
This professor discussed the 16 point Circular
which was issued at the start of the Cultural
Revolution. The Cultural Revolution was explicitly
supposed to be nonviolent, and he put the blame for
the violence that did occur were it belonged: on
the enemies of the revolution.
Other panelists spoke about being supporters of the
Chinese people in the 1970s and their visits to
China. Now they disavow much of their support and
claim to have been misled. These metaphysicians,
like an anti-Mao student who challenged MIM, ignore
the huge advances made by the Chinese people under
the leadership of Mao and the Chinese Communist
Party. They don't want to compare the Chinese
Communist Party to the Kuomintang, but to utopia.
The academics complain in 1996 that twenty or
thirty years ago on their visits, they were only
shown the good side of China. These academics want
to blame socialism in China for not being utopia -
which the Maoists never claimed it was - because
they were so naive or stupid as to assume that
China in the 1970s really was utopia devoid of any
errors or shortcomings not yet overcome.
This is similar to the metaphysics of Meisner, who
blames non-Maoists for "much of the violence" in
the GPCR, but still manages to criticize the GPCR
as a whole. He does this because, despite the thin
veneer of support he wears as a China scholar, he
opposes the Chinese revolution and the struggle of
the world's majority - which is a majority of
peasants and proletarians in the Third World - for
control over their own lives, for socialism.
During this panel, a statement was read from Jose
Maria Sison, founding chairperson of the Communist
Party of the Philippines, entitled "GPCR's Impact
on the Philippines and Continuing Global
Significance". Sison's statement was sent in
response to an invitation by the organizers to
present a paper. The Filipino activist reading the
statement was rudely told to keep it "short" before
he began, and was prevented from reading the entire
statement by an impatient Magdoff.
There are enough reactionaries in the world
promoting lies about the GPR, to serve the
oppressed people of the world, a conference about
the GPCR should exclude people openly hostile to
the GPCR and give priority to activists who
struggle to uphold the GPCR and apply it to their
practice over academics who just talk about the
GPCR.
GPCR LEGACY EXISTS IN CHINA
The final panel discussed whether the GPCR has a
legacy in China today. The first panelist made a
long presentation based on the incorrect premise
that China was still socialist, despite the
importation of "market forces."
A woman from the Zigen Fund spoke about the decline
in education for girls. (The Zigen Fund is a small
NGO that gives material aid to Chinese villages.)
Peasants make about $20 a year, and tuition costs
$15 a year. The peasants are willing to borrow
money to send the boys to school, but not the
girls. This presenter reported that the famous
"barefoot doctors" -- peasants trained as medical
workers which greatly expanded the reach of
medicine in rural China during the GPCR - are no
more.
The high point of the symposium was a young Chinese
student who spoke on the final panel. He had been a
supporter of capitalism and a participant in the
1989 democracy struggle, or as he called it, the
1989 revolution. He stated that after being
arrested, he dropped bourgeois ideology, picked up
Marxism and dedicated himself to bring about
socialist revolution in China. When he said this,
the audience broke out into very loud spontaneous
applause. He later added that his recognition that
democracy was impossible under capitalism spurred
his decision.
This student came to realize that capitalist
development was not sustainable in a country like
China. He recognized that the China could not
become another south Korea or "a fifth tiger" due
to the specifics of the Chinese situation. This
student made it clear that China was already a
capitalist country, and strongly criticized the
first panelist.
As MIM explained in MIM Theory 4, south Korea,
Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore - the four tigers -
were able to successfully develop under capitalism.
The imperialists and big bourgeoisie in these
countries took the unique opportunity created by
the end of World War II to smash their own
landlords. This helped prevent communist revolution
and freed the big bourgeoisie from having to defend
the landlords from the peasant majority. These
historically rare bourgeois-led land reforms
propelled their economies forward compared to other
Third World countries.
The student cited the increase in contradictions
between the rural and urban areas, as well as the
growth of income inequality compared to the United
Snakes as impetus for another Chinese revolution.
Despite the fact that the Chinese economy may
continue to grow for another 10-15 years, he
predicted stagnation and eventually he declared
"The Chinese people will rise up!"
READ UP ON THE GREAT PROLETARIAN CULTURAL
REVOLUTION!
Recommended reading:
Jose Maria Sison's contribution to this conference,
"GPCR's Impact on the Philippines and Continuing
Global Significance", is available online at
http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/intl7.htm
For the symposium, the China Study Group has
published Manufacturing History: Sex, Lies and
Random House's Memoirs of Mao's Physician. The book
takes on the outright lies and slanders against Mao
in "The Private Life of Chairman Mao", Dr. Li
Zhisui who was supposedly Mao's personal physician
for 22 years with unimpeded access and a close
confidant of Chairperson Mao. Part two of the book
reprints documents from individuals who had contact
with Mao and Li, during the events discussed in the
book or who were quoted as corroborating sources.
These documents explain the Memoirs would be better
called Fantasies. The book is 203 pages and
available from MIM for $10.
Capitalist Roaders are Still on the Capitalist Road
by the Colorado Study Group is an excellent
theoretical treatment of capitalist
counterrevolution in China within months of its
occurrence. This book, an analysis of official
Chinese Communist Party publications during and
after the Cultural Revolution, takes on the lies of
Hua Kuofeng that the "Gang of Four" were ultra-
rightist capitalist-roaders. (Yes! Hua Kuofeng who
led the coup against the "Gang of Four", attempted
for a time to co-opt the legacy of the GPCR, by
calling the "Gang of Four" rightists, not ultra-
leftists as is popular -- but incorrect -- today.)
In theoretical overviews, and with a focus on
education, literature and art, healthcare, industry
and agriculture the book shows that the Gang of
Four upheld what was then called Mao Zedong
Thought; and that the line of Hua Kuofeng was the
same revisionist line that had been attacked
throughout the GPCR. 111 pages. $10 from MIM.
* * *
REMEMBER THE MENDIOLA MASSACRE VICTIMS AND CARRY ON
THE FIGHT
22 January, 1997 marks the ten-year anniversary of
the Mendiola Massacre, when the Philippines Marine
Corps murdered farm workers and peasants agitating
for genuine land reform in the Philippines.
Every year, family members, activists and
supporters commemorate the deaths of the people who
were killed by the military of then-Secretary of
National Defense Ramos under the government of
then-president Corazon Aquino.
Ten years after the massacre, and having offered no
relief to the Mendiola survivors or the victims'
families, Ramos has moved up to the presidency of
the Philippines and is continuing his reign of
violence against the people. As one victim's
relative said: "how can we expect justice when the
perpetrators are now occupying high government
positions? Not only were they not punished, they
were even promoted."(1)
In Amerika, President Klinton portrays the Ramos
dictatorship as a friendly and democratic regime-
building up the Philippines as an emerging Asian
tiger. But behind the mask of bourgeois democracy,
the u.s.-Ramos regime with u.s.-backing has
repressed his own people to provide the United
Snakes and other imperialists with access to
superprofit extraction.
MIM supports the Mendiola victims' families'
continuing struggle for indemnification, and seizes
on this commemoration to build public opinion
against the U.S.-Ramos regime's repressive tactics
and denial of just agrarian reform in the
Philippines.
FASCISM WITH A FRIENDLY MASK
Commemorating the 1996 anniversary, a speaker for
the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (Peasant
Movement of the Philippines--KMP) said, "the only
difference [between the permanent martial law which
Ramos inherited from his two predecessors and the
current situation] is that the Ramos government has
developed a cunning and subtle way to violate the
rights of the people and get away with it by
leveling it in the name of peace and development."
Ramos has had plenty of time and all the right
connections to learn how a comprador can use
fascism to imperialism's best advantage. Ramos
knows that his cousin and late Filipino dictator
Ferdinand Marcos needed martial law to allow the
comprador bourgeoisie to exploit the masses. He has
also seen how overt martial law inspires mass
protest, and he knows u.s. imperialism would prefer
to see a democratic facade rather than open
draconian repression in its colony. The anti-
terrorist act as well as recent attacks against
Filipino activists show that Ramos is conducting
martial law with a makeover.(2)
FASCISTS SLAUGHTER MASSES IN 1987
22 January 1987, 500 heavily armed Philippines
Marines fired at peasants from Central Luzon and
Southern Tagalog. Organized by the KMP, 30,000
peasants were marching to the Malacanang Palace to
seek an audience with then President Aquino. Prior
to the march, the peasants had camped out at the
gates of the Department of Agrarian Reforms(DAR) to
pressure Aquino to implement the Comprehensive
Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) - which she promised
in her presidential campaign. Before the peasants
could reach the Palace, the Marines killed 13
peasants, wounded 105 and arrested 15.(3)
As fascists attempting to cover their tracks often
do, Aquino ordered the Commission on Human
Rights(CHR) to investigate the massacre. The
investigating committee was abolished even before
it identified the murderers.(3)
It is no surprise that Aquino did not push for
indictment of members of the military, Aquino was a
puppet of the military -- she staggered around
catering to the demands of the military so it would
allow her to retain her figurehead position. Making
an order for investigation merely bought the GRP
time in their battle to disguise the contradictions
within Filipino society.
In 1988, the murdered and wounded peasants'
families filed a lawsuit for reparations of 250,000
pesos for the family of each murdered victim, and
P50,000 for each person wounded in the massacre.
This plea was rejected, but each family did receive
P25,000 -- roughly $1,000 to cover up the
military's murderousness.
MILITARY MASSACRES CONTINUE; MASSES STRUGGLE FOR
JUSTICE
Shortly after the Mendiola Massacre, on 10
February, 1987, the 15th Infantry Battalion
slaughtered 17 civilians, including elderly and
small children in Lupao, Nueva Ecija. The Manila
Chronicle defended the 15th Infantry by blaming the
NPA for the slaughter. The newspaper claimed the
slaughter only took place after the battalion had
lost a soldier to an encounter with the NPA. Aside
from the moral bankruptcy of murdering civilians to
strike at the New People's Army, this explanation
is not confirmed. The fascists often dream up
encounters with the NPA so they can blame the
revolutionaries for their own murderous actions.
In 1989, 24 soldiers involved in the Lupao
brutality were acquitted for a supposed lack of
evidence.(4) One woman who had lost her mother,
father, two brothers and two sisters in the
massacre said that the NPA is not the force which
brings terror to her area. "To her, the military is
the villain because 'they killed my family'."(4)
On 22 March, 1994, the families of the massacre
victims formed the Kilusang Enero Beinte Dos
(January 22nd Movement--KE22). KE22 also includes
families of other massacre victims -- families of
those killed in Lupao, and at Santa Maria in
Bulacan on 13 December, 1991 (another instance of
brutality against the people for which the
government blames the NPA). KE22 gathers documents
on murder cases involving the military. (1) The
organization also organizes resources for the
victims' families who are struggling to eke out a
living.
FASCIST MURDERERS AND BIG LANDLORDS COMBINE TO HALT
LAND REFORM
The day before the Mendiola Massacre Aquino said in
a speech, "No one can take away the lands you till-
this is clear in the Charter." Her rhetoric was
exposed as hypocrisy the following day.
Additionally, as of 1996, only 19% of the land
targeted for distribution had been given out and
tenancy remains in at least 35% of all farms in the
country (5)
Unfulfilled promises of land reform combine with
imperialist agreements, the latest versions of
which are the new GATT, Structural Adjustment, APEC
and Philippines 2000. Philippines 2000 export
orientation forces farmers to convert traditional
rice and corn farmland to farm things like
asparagus and flowers to export to the First World.
Farms producing for export receive government
support while rice producing lands are crushed out
of business because of competition with subsidized
First World farmers.
Big landowners can exempt their land from CARP-
mandated redistribution by converting their
farmland to residential or industrial land. In
1994, 2,428 big landowners applied for land
conversion and only 4% of the applications were
rejected.(5)
Big landlords also use congress-approved exemptions
to avoid the CARP implementation. Republic Act
1778, passed by the landlord-dominated congress,
exempts fishponds, prawn farms and livestock and
poultry farms from CARP implementation and defers
CARP implementation in commercial farms for another
10 years. As of September 1995, 56,220 hectares of
commercial farms were approved for deferment and
27,732 hectares were exempted.(5)
Work with MIM and RAIL to increase propaganda work
against the U.S.-Ramos regime. Get in touch with us
through one of the addresses on page 2 or our
webpage for information about January 22 rallies
and other events in support of the just struggles
of the Filipino people.
NOTES:
1. Manila Times 22 January 1995 p.A2.
2. December 1996 Maoist Sojourner and MIM Notes
127, 128, and
129.
3. Today, 22 January 1995.
4. Manila Chronicle, 12 February 1996.
5. IBON Features, 22 January 1996.
* * *
MIM SALUTES CPP ON 28TH ANNIVERSARY
26 December 1996
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM), a
revolutionary communist party based in North
America, enthusiastically salutes the arrival of 26
December. This is the anniversary of the Communist
Party of the Philippines (CPP), and, not
coincidentally, is the birthday of comrade Mao
Zedong as well. When the CPP was reestablished in
1968, it correctly upheld the communist legacy of
comrades Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao. A
few months after its reestablishment, the CPP
formed the New People's Army and launched the
protracted people's war against imperialism,
feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. In 1992,
following a period of "left" and right deviations,
the CPP launched a movement to reaffirm its basic
principles, rectify its errors, and recover lost
ground. Since 1992, the CPP has correctly put
renewed emphasis on the decisiveness of ideological
and political line generally, and on the importance
of studying and applying the line of comrades Marx,
Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao in particular. The
rectification movement's launching in 1992 and its
successes up to the present are among the most
important events in the world in the last two
decades.
Marx taught us to scientifically analyze the world
in order to change it. Lenin taught us to organize
a leading, conscious force and an armed, fighting
force for the seizure of power, stage by stage. Mao
taught us to mobilize the masses to struggle
against the restoration of capitalism by those
phony communists who wave the red flag in order to
defeat the red flag. The CPP, through its
scientific analysis, its leadership of the
protracted people's war, and its struggle against
the revisionists who sought to subvert the CPP's
work from within, demonstrates the continued
relevance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as a tool for
liberating the oppressed. MIM wishes continued
success to the CPP and the national democratic
revolution it leads. MIM contributes to this
success in the best way it can -- by preparing the
masses of North America to make anti-imperialist
revolution.
LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES!
VICTORY TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE'S WAR!
LONG LIVE MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM!
* * *
PHILIPPINES:
US-RAMOS REGIME ARRESTS AND TORTURES BORJAL
by MC53
November 21, Ramos' military goons abducted Danilo
Borjal, a National Democratic Front of the
Philippines (NDFP) Consultant. The arrest and
subsequent torture are direct violations of the
agreements made in the peace negotiations between
the GRP and the NDFP. The US-Ramos regime has
completely disregarded the Joint Agreement on
Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) which
protects participants in peace negotiations from
surveillance and guarantees their free and
unhindered passage.
"In the face of the GRP's prior and repeated
violation of the JASIG, the NDFP is considering the
termination of the JASIG and its peace negotiations
with the GRP."(1) "The NDFP is postponing
indefinitely the scheduled meeting of its
Reciprocal Working Committee on Human Rights and
International Humanitarian Law with its
counterpart, unless it is satisfied with the GRP's
compliance with the JASIG in the cases of Danilo
Borjal, Sotero Llamas and Raymundo Jarque."(5)
The NDFP, led by the Communist Party of the
Philippines, is engaged in a righteous
revolutionary struggle for national liberation and
socialism. This newest violation shows that the GRP
is not sincere in its agreement to the JASIG. This
is further proof that the current government does
not work in the interests of the masses and that
only a protracted people's war led by the
proletariat in alliance with the peasantry can
liberate the masses of the Philippines from
imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.
MIM exposes this hypocrisy as we organize
revolutionary opposition against Amerikan
imperialism which supports the Ramos regime to
fulfill its agenda of superprofit extraction from
the labor of the Filipino masses to perpetuate
Amerikan parasitism.
The JASIG guarantees immunity from surveillance,
harassment, search, arrest, detention, prosecution
and interrogation or other similar punitive actions
due to involvement or participation in the peace
negotiations. Borjal was en route to talks with
other NDFP consultants when abducted by men in
civilian clothes and taken to a military camp for
subsequent days of interrogation and torture.(3)
After Borjal was arrested, GRP military agents
threatened him with electric shock treatment and
extrajudicial execution and repeatedly strangled
and beat him as they held Borjal incommunicado for
four days.(2) One military agent said to Borjal:
"Do you think just because you are a consultant of
the NDF or member of the Central Committee (of the
Communist Party of the Philippines), we won't
torture or kill you? If you don't cooperate, you
and your wife will just turn up dead." Borjal was
continuously hit in the chest and strangled with
controlled but painful force every time he did not
answer questions.(3)
The GRP planted and fabricated evidence and filed a
the criminal charge of illegal possession of
firearms and ammunition against Borjal as a further
attack against the NDFP and in violation of the
JASIG.(2) The .45 caliber firearm and ammunition
were planted by GRP military agents, as they done
in scores of other instances.(1) "Planting guns and
other evidence on 'subversives' is standard
military and police practice," admitted Ramos'
justice secretary, Franklin Drilon.(3) This
fabricated criminal charge against Borjal proves
once again that the u.s.-Ramos government is
criminalizing political activity.
"The NDFP vigorously condemns the GRP's series of
gross violations of the JASIG and of the rights of
Mr. Borjal. By its continuing refusal to respect
the rights of Mr. Borjal, capped by his forcible
submission to GRP judicial processes through his
arraignment [9 December], the GRP must be held
responsible for its de facto unilateral termination
of the JASIG and the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations.
The Ramos regime thereby has dishonored its own
signature on the JASIG and exposed its utter lack
of sincerity in pursuing peace talks with the
NDFP."(2)
"In the face of Borjal's illegal arrest and
detention, the government declaration of a two-
month truce in deference to the holiday season is
an empty promise. It is both an attempt to cover up
the military's brutal wrongdoings, as well as a
pretense of sincerity towards peace, something
which the cases of Borjal and much earlier Sotero
Llamas, strongly disprove. Danilo Borjal's
continuing ordeal is a big blow to the peace
process and human rights. While talking peace, the
Ramos government continues to wage counter-
insurgency."(4)
Amerikan imperialism created the monster currently
torturing and imprisoning genuine people's
activists, peasants, workers, students and
revolutionaries in the Philippines. Get involved in
organizing against US imperialism in the
Philippines and elsewhere. Check out the websites
below for current updates and calls for action.
Work with MIM and RAIL to expose Amerikan interests
in perpetuating the dictatorship in the
Philippines. Work with us to build a strong anti-
imperialist revolution within the belly of the
beast.
Notes
1. http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ndf8.htm
2. http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ndf9.htm
3. http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ndf6.htm
4. http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/ndf7.htm
5. http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/peace8.htm
[Press Statement 29 November 1996 National
Democratic Front of the Philippines NDFP
Negotiating Panel "NDFP POSTPONES INDEFINITELY
PEACE TALKS WITH GRP"]
* * *
CORRECTION
MIM retracts its front-page slogan of "Junk APEC"
as inappropriate for imperialist country audiences
while entirely appropriate in oppressed semi-feudal
nations. It was a mechanical copying of the
national democratic movement Philippines that led
to this error.
We print the following questions and answers in
order to explain the retraction and clarify MIM's
stance on "free trade" mechanisms.
1. WHY DON'T YOU OPPOSE GATT/NAFTA/EEC/APEC?
Answer: At this time, MIM cannot lead a
revolutionary class alliance on the basis of this
demand in the imperialist countries. Quite the
contrary, the KKK, AFL-CIO bureaucrats--and even
more significantly--Ross Perot, Patrick Buchanan
and Strom Thurmond all oppose free trade. They
represent the Amerika-first bourgeoisie and the
labor aristocracy afraid of losing jobs. The
proletariat by definition is the class with nothing
to lose and it is not threatened by the treaties
between ruling classes. Capitalism was bad for the
proletariat before any of these treaties existed.
2. WHY DON'T YOU OPPOSE APEC/GATT ETC. FOR YOUR OWN
REASONS, THE RIGHT REASONS?
Answer: There are no right reasons in the
imperialist countries, because these demands
unleash the reactionary classes and political
movements that we would like to stay asleep.
Even if we issue a slogan with our own hearts pure,
it's objective impact is all that matters. Given
the social material we have dominated by the
bourgeoisie, petty-bourgeoisie and bourgeoisified
workers, this demand can only lead to national
chauvinism of the oppressor nation. For example, in
the latest issue of MIM Theory, a former member of
the "CP"-USA attests that anti-NAFTA agitation of
the "labor" movement came with chauvinist slams on
Mexican workers.(1)
3. YOU DON'T MIND IF THE OPPRESSED NATION WORKERS
WIN SOME REFORMS SOMETIMES?
Answer: That's correct: we don't mind. We wish the
oppressed nation comrades success in their use of
this issue to rally the national bourgeoisie and
petty-bourgeoisie against imperialism. Even without
the APEC, they could rally the proletariat and much
of the peasantry against imperialism. Economic
nationalism plays a progressive role in the
oppressed nations, but not in the oppressor
nations. Our position boils down to the pivotal
classes that make the national question a national
question and not just a simple bourgeois vs.
proletarian class question --the national
bourgeoisie in the oppressed nations and the labor
aristocracy of the oppressor nations.
4. CAN'T YOU OPPOSE APEC ON REFORMIST GROUNDS?
Answer: Those who recognize that it not a treaty
that is bad, but capitalism which is bad ask us to
support reforms in the oppressed nations. However,
the first duty of the communists is to make
revolution. Revolutionaries in the Philippines are
correct to oppose APEC not because it brings good
reforms to the people but because it is the fastest
path to revolution. We are correct not to oppose
individual trade treaties in the oppressor nations,
because its contribution to the formation of a
revolutionary class alliance would be negative.
Like Marx we expose the fact that free trade does
not mean there is no exploitation underneath the
"free trade." That is done by explaining to the
masses the full history of these treaties and the
fact that they existed in the past as well.
Furthermore, we must educate the masses thoroughly
on the difference between an economic system and an
individual treaty or we are in effect lying to the
masses.
5. WOULD YOU OPPOSE A REQUEST BY YOUR FRATERNAL
COMRADES TO OPPOSE THE APEC/GATT ETC?
Answer: If our fraternal comrades of several
oppressed nation parties upholding Marx, Lenin,
Stalin, Mao and the "Gang of Four" asked us
unanimously to take the risk of unleashing the
fascist movement of the nativist sort and if these
comrades would publish their strategic vision of
how this problem can be dealt with later, we might
concur.
On the other hand, if the fraternal comrades don't
understand the decadent and parasitic but dominant
role of classes such as the labor aristocracy in
the imperialist countries and if they have
illusions that MIM is about to defeat the
internationalist bourgeoisie and then take out the
Perot/Buchanan/AFL-CIO/KKK nativists, it is our
duty to disabuse them of those illusions. They
cannot count on an anti-NAFTA/GATT/APEC movement as
an ally or component part of the necessary
dictatorship over the u.s. imperialists.
We would like to remind our comrades where Marx
stood on this question and have them answer what is
new that has invalidated Marx's concern with
national chauvinism in the advanced capitalist
countries:
"If the free-traders cannot understand how one
nation can grow rich at the expense of another, we
need not wonder, since these same gentlemen also
refuse to understand how within one country one
class can enrich itself at the expense of another.
"Do not imagine, gentlemen, that in criticizing
freedom of trade we have the least intention of
defending the system of protection.
"One may declare oneself an enemy of the
constitutional regime without declaring oneself a
friend of the ancient regime.
"Moreover, the protectionist system is nothing but
a means of establishing large-scale industry in any
given country, that is to say, of making it
dependent upon the world market, and from the
moment that dependence upon the world market is
established, there is already more or less
dependence upon free trade. Besides this, the
protective system helps to develop free competition
within a country. Hence we see that in countries
where the bourgeoisie is beginning to make itself
felt as a class, in Germany for example, it makes
great efforts to obtain protective duties. They
serve the bourgeoisie as weapons against feudalism
and absolute government, as a means for the
concentration of its own powers and for the
realization of free trade within the same country.
"But, in general, the protective system of our day
is conservative, while the free trade system is
destructive. It breaks up old nationalities and
pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the
bourgeoisie to the extreme point. In a word, the
free trade system hastens the social revolution. It
is in this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen,
that I vote in favour of free trade..."(2)
From the above, we can see that in countries where
feudalism is still at issue, even protectionist
elements of society like the emerging national
bourgeoisie are progressive. However, in
imperialist society where there is no feudalism,
protectionism is worse than free trade.
If MIM had the upper-hand militarily speaking over
the Amerika-first bourgeoisie and the labor
aristocracy, MIM could oppose both protectionism
and free trade in practice. Currently, we would be
lying to our comrades internationally to say we
have that kind of power: only protectionism versus
free trade is on the agenda. The best of intentions
cannot change that.
NOTES:
1. MIM Theory 10, p. 66.
2. Karl Marx, January 9, 1848 Speech to the
"Democratic Association in Brussels," Selected
Writings, ed. David McLellan (Oxford University
Press, 1977), pp. 269-70.
* * *
REPORT ON THE FINANCIAL STRUGGLE
In the past year, MIM has initiated new campaigns
for a new outlook on financial development of the
revolutionary movement. Since Mao Zedong wrote
articles on the subject of financing the movement,
we are safe in saying that there is a science that
needs to be applied to the question.
At first, a revolutionary struggle relies on the
contributions of supporters to print literature and
undertake other projects. At the other end of
political development, the Chinese Communists had
to decide what tax rate to set and how much rent
should be reduced for peasants in the base areas
while China was still capitalist and semi-feudal.
We should seek to go beyond making appeals for
funding on a strictly emotional basis and
understand how it is best to finance the
revolutionary movement. MIM has found in its
campaign so far that petty-bourgeois and labor
aristocractic thinking block MIM's finance
campaigns.
By 1990, MIM members faced requirements for
financing the party based on income and a realistic
allowance for living. Such requirements also have
the effect of ensuring that the party only retains
the best proletarian elements available.
Since 1990, MIM's thinking on finances has
developed further to see the imperialist countries'
movement as playing or developing to play a
distinct financial role in the international
communist movement. This thinking goes along with
the arrival of a new publication called Maoist
Sojourner which focuses on the exiles from the
semi-feudal oppressed nations.
Through Maoist Sojourner, we make the imperialist
country audiences aware of the real revolutionary
struggles happening in the Philippines, India, Peru
and Turkey. This gives the would-be proletarian
elements something to compare their own work with.
For example, those holding the false theory that
there is an oppressor nation proletariat in the
United $tates can compare their work in union
struggles for higher wages so workers can buy more
VCRs to the same effort dedicated to supporting the
revolution in the oppressed semi-feudal countries.
MIM hopes to win away some people who are currently
wasting their time on economistic struggle for the
oppressor nation working class. An example of a
telling difference is that in the Philippines and
India today the masses cannot get enough
revolutionary literature and the movements are
constantly out-of-stock, while the oppressor nation
workers will not look at the literature.
Many of our same comrades who wish to uphold the
revolutionary armed struggle in the oppressed semi-
feudal countries will not put themselves on the
line--even slightly--for a financial goal. When the
party asks comrades to take slight or non-existent
risks, we find that many comrades--especially those
from conservative lower-middle class (labor
aristocracy) backgrounds-- will not take the risk.
It is the outlook of the labor aristocracy to hold
on to its scraps from the imperialist plate and put
stability and security above all else. These
comrades invent all kinds of fears about change,
even more than peasants in countries experiencing
collectivization. Even when faced with proof of the
efficacy of a method of financing the movement,
some people continue to deny facts out of profound
fear. While we do not have the crucible of armed
struggle to remold our comrades, many who can't
face the commitments of building the independent
institutions of the oppressed and financing them
can undergo at least that much remolding in the
imperialist countries.
Another problem we have is the petty-bourgeois mode
of thinking. Petty-bourgeois minded comrades often
won't have consistent reasons for opposing the
party finance line. Their class background is to
vacillate between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat. Often the petty-bourgeois mode of
thinking will include some proletarian elements and
at crucial moments introduce completely
inappropriate bourgeois assumptions. The following
are examples of these middle-class lines that MIM
has encountered.
1. If working with the party does not provide a big
petty-bourgeois lifestyle or corresponding salary,
then the party is to blame. Such comrades demand
parasitic lifestyles immediately or they won't give
their time to the revolution.
2. Some comrades with their own finances taken care
of in terms of their needs for housing and food
etc. still expect the party to direct their every
move. We call this the "employee mentality." It's
connected with the lower middle-class's need to
follow capitalist orders and fear that doing
otherwise would be fatal.
3. If the party does the research and has the
connections to get someone a cushy job leaving time
for the revolution, some comrades will refuse out
of fear that the job will disappear. They then go
off to their own alternative and make no
contributions to the revolution.
4. If a comrade takes a job suitable for making
contributions to the revolutionary movement, the
comrade blames the party for "coercing" him or her
into taking it and any unpleasantness though it be
less than on normal jobs gets blamed on the party
as if the party were doing the job for them.
5. If a comrade loans another comrade money to
build a business, the one making the loan blames
the party for "screwing" them as if the party was a
vacation agency taking people's money and going to
the Bahamas. This is both a labor aristocracy line
given that people in the imperialist countries are
parasites who can't be "screwed" and it is also
anarchist distrust of all organization of power.
These comrades are not saying there are better
businesses to be started; they make no such
complaints and wage no such struggles on how to
best fund the revolution. These comrades just trust
the bourgeoisie more than the party or comrades.
They'll leave money in the bourgeoisie's banks or
conservative investments, but they won't trust
their comrades trying to do something better.
On the positive side, MIM has had many successes in
funding its work, which is why we have so many
publications. The success comes at such a pace that
the doubts of the "conservative peasants" who fear
all risks or imagined risks look that much more
petty.
We ask our readers who can be rational about money
matters and supporting the revolution to step
forward. Some comrades who find it difficult to get
it together to do anything for the revolution
nonetheless fund it. There are many in the
imperialist countries who can get beyond their
debilitating fears and figure out how to fund the
revolution.
* * *
RURAL INDIAN STRUGGLE AGAINST STATE-SPONSORED
ALCOHOL
Review
When Women Unite
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Co-Director Shabnam Virmani from
the North-Western Indian city of Ahmdebad has just
wrapped up a tour of the showing of her film When
Women Unite: the Story of an Uprising. A MIM
correspondent went to showings in several cities
and found it very inspiring. It captures on film
the struggle of wimmin of the villages of Andhra
Pradesh, in South India, to get the state to stop
selling a cheap liquor known as arrack. Along the
way, it reveals a lot about the need for mass
struggle in the face of a government without the
masses' interests as its own.
The film opens with an introduction to the
atmosphere of the crisis that was coming to a head
in the late 80s in rural Andhra Pradesh. Because of
the so-called modernization of agriculture, rice
paddies were largely replaced with sugar-cane. This
contributed to the rise in the price of rice,
increasing the hunger of the rural people. It also
removed employment possibilities for wimmin, who
were simply not hired at the new big farms. So
wimmin had to rely on their husbands' income.
At the same time, however, husbands were becoming a
less reliable source of income. The government, in
order to make money, was contracting out the sale
of cheap liquor known as arrack in small cachets
(packets) easily accessible to the poor people.
This not only took money away from the family's
food budget, it also increased violence against the
wimmin of the village.
The wimmin, meanwhile, were becoming gradually more
conscious of the nature of their problem with
arrack. In a government-funded literacy program
they gathered and discussed what was going on in
their lives. Peasants, especially peasant wimmin,
are often isolated from each other and this program
allowed them to politicize each other as a group.
Like proletarians whose material circumstances of
group work allow them to recognize that their
oppression is an oppression of their group, not an
individual oppression, the wimmin were able to take
the first steps to organize to change their
conditions.
Specifically, one of the literacy primers contained
a story with an anti-arrack message. Later, when
the government discovered what was going on with
their literacy program, they removed this essay so
as to put the interests of the government more
clearly into the program.
When one womyn was killed by her drunken husband,
it sparked a movement in Nellore District. Wimmin
began, fairly spontaneously at first, to protest
outside the arrack stores. When they managed to
close down the daytime sales, the stores moved to
selling at night. So the wimmin began to stop the
trucks bringing arrack into the village, and
destroyed the cachets.
The movement grew and by 1991, 50,000 wimmin
marched in Nellore to demand that the state stop
contracting out the sale of arrack, and instead ban
it. It gained support from many different quarters,
including the Marxist-Leninist left that had
engaged in similar struggles elsewhere and middle-
class organizations like writers' guilds.
Local governments were largely run by the
contractors of arrack. In one town, 11 of the 13
council members were arrack contractors. So clearly
the state did not want to listen to the anti-arrack
movement. But when the government was trying to
hold auctions to figure the contractors' deals,
tens of thousands of protesting wimmin prevented
them from convening. So the government decided to
start selling arrack directly. This made the
people's enemy even more clear — the government,
not its delivery system.
The government's hypocrisy is clear in the video.
One hand the government was always saying to the
poor people, "don't drink it's bad for your
health", while at the same time the making huge
profits by selling it to the people.
First, the movement won a ban on arrack sales in
Andhra Pradesh. But the government wasn't going to
let such a huge income source and social control
mechanism go so easily, so the government dyed the
arrack, put it in bottles and called it something
else. But the people rebelled against that too. At
this point the mainstream TDP promised total
prohibition within 2 minutes of getting elected and
were elected on that pledge. The opportunism of the
TDP was not lost on the wimmin of the movement, as
they knew during a previous term of office, the TDP
was the party to put the popularized arrack via the
cachets. The TDP did enact prohibition, but they
exempted toddy; and didn't try very hard to stop
smugglers.
A strong point of the video is the way in which is
shows how some wimmin who initiate the movement in
their village are able to win over the rest of the
village.
In one scene, after the arrack shops have been
destroyed by activists, the government tried to
pressure the men of one village to store
government-distributed arrack in their homes. One
womyn refused to join the protest of the
"negotiations", because she didn't want to see her
husband betray her. When he comes back to the
house, she confronted him, but he told her he
didn't take the arrack. He told her, "I might be
stupid when I'm drunk, but not when I'm sober." In
many villages, everyone refused to aid the
government sale of arrack.
The importance of this anti-arrack movement and the
video's coverage of it is that it stresses self
reliance, not dependence on the government. When
the arrack ban was announced, the wimmin organized
to ensure that arrack and other alcoholic
replacements stayed out of their village. The
wimmin did not allow their movement to be co-opted
and destroyed by the government.
The video and the wimmin in it state quite clearly
that the government doesn't really want to enforce
prohibition, so the people must do it themselves.
So while the movement has subsided, it's because
the wimmin won. Now the wimmin are struggling to
consolidate their victory and preserve it. The
wimmin in the video were clear on this important
point.
Many of the wimmin in the video are radicals, who
appear to recognize the limits of reformism, but
the video doesn't delve into the issue of how
complete liberation and the ability of people to
determine their own destinies can be accomplished
without a revolution. There is also no discussion
of the organization necessary to achieve this
transformation. As Maoists, we support this
movement as one of self-determination, and we
celebrate the battles won while warning against the
limits of spontaneous organizing. In fact, MIM was
impressed with the radical foundation of the
organizing that prevented, at least for now, its
co-optation and destruction by the government.
The anti-arrack movement brought about a winnable
battle that protects the people from more damage.
Free from arrack, we hope to see the people of
Andhra Pradesh work with Maoists in India for
communist revolution against capitalism, patriarchy
and imperialism to once and for all end the
oppression of the people by a government that
doesn't share the interests of the people.
When Women Unite is a Drishti-C DIT production
available from Media for International Development,
55 East 92nd Street, 4th Floor, NY NY 10128.
* * *
TELEVISION DOCUMENTARY PROVOKES MIM RESPONSE
On December 22, television viewers of the Discovery
Channel saw a documentary on transsexuals and
transvestites with testimony from medical and
psychology experts. The Discovery Channel markets
itself in a niche popularizing scientific
curiousity.
Transsexuals are people who are attempting or who
have made the switch from being male to female or
vice-versa. The television documentary described
some cases of surgery and hormone treatment of
people wishing to undergo sex change operations.
Transvestites are people who prefer to dress in the
‘traditional’ clothes of the opposite sex.
MIM will not remark on the factual accuracy or
generalizability of the Discovery documentary on
transsexuals and transvestites. For MIM instead,
this documentary sparks a general theoretical
response.
In the interviews, we learn of people tormented by
maintaining a facade of a gender identity they
don't believe in. In many cases teasing and social
pressure for conformity started in elementary
school. In one case, a gay man preferred to believe
he was really a womyn than to believe he was gay
and he undertook an operation to change sexes that
he later regretted. Social pressure against
homosexuality made a medical operation to remove
the penis more acceptable than being homosexual.
Others spoke of being in suicidal pain for not
quite "fitting."
MIM would point out that something that is
naturally prevalent is not necessarily good. In
fact, in many cases society values the
statistically deviant. Champion athletes are
statistically rare and perform human feats that are
by definition "abnormal." It is only politics that
makes the abnormal "bad."
Sometimes the abnormal is also bad from a
proletarian ideological standpoint. Such is not the
case in transsexuality or cross-dressing.
These issues have become more marked in recent
years in declining u.s. imperialism, because with
no forward-looking agenda or capability for higher
goals, white nationalist Christians stand out more
than usual. In Colorado and Oregon they have put
such issues on statewide ballot referenda in an
attempt to legalize hatred of anything but the most
common sexual interactions amongst heterosexuals.
In their own way, many of these Christians have
made gender the principal contradiction or the
fundamental contradiction with their reactionary
movements on abortion and gays. From their
standpoint these issues are absolutely central to
their whole agenda. Such would not be possible in a
society dedicated to food, clothing, shelter and
other basic human needs both in North America and
the whole world.
The genuine communist movement finds it a secondary
matter what clothes people choose to wear, their
gender identities and even their choice of
biological sex or cosmetic surgery. That so many
people invest their "self-esteem" in gender
identities to the point of fomenting hatred against
others only points out to MIM the pettiness of the
system, including its gender aristocracy. The
pettiness of the subject stands out when one
considers that the Maoists in China took care of
many of these issues by having everyone wear Mao
suits – not designated pink and blue ones. Many of
the issues of cross-dressing, sexual harassment and
gender identity --China wiped out in a single
stroke. The state did not lend its power to
accentuating gender identity differences and for
this reason many people lived more comfortably and
with lower suicide rates than found in the West.
The battle for progress on the gender front will
not occur first by confrontation with the
Christians. Ironically, we in the feminist camp
must first clean house before we can move forward.
The many pseudo-feminists who apply no science in
their efforts and who put the gender contradiction
as fundamental or always principal are contributing
to the social conformist chokehold affecting
transsexuals, transvestites and some gays and
lesbians.
Pseudo-feminism of the West propagated by gender
bureaucrats found in government sponsored rape-
crisis centers, domestic violence centers and
wimmin's studies departments does not clearly put
forward that important issues are food, shelter,
clothing and prevention of war. These gender
bureaucrat misleaders of the feminist movement put
forward the opposite pole of the same Christian
stupidity by placing sexual conflict (and it is
often just a form of verbal masturbation) above
life itself. By placing such a value on gender
conflict, for example by arguing that millions of
men should go to prison for rape and harassment,
the pseudo-feminists again send the message that a
rarified romance culture is all-important.
If instead we were able to clean house and get the
feminist movement going so that it recognized that
these issues are in fact secondary, those tormented
by gender identity issues might rest just a little
easier. It would also enable this sector of the
population to make greater contributions to the
proletarian agenda. A solid proletarian-led
feminist movement would create saplings of
progressive culture that could grow to maturity
under communism.
* * *
POLICE BRUTALITY ALERT!
S. CAL. POLICE MURDERS SPUR FAMILY LAWSUITS
Oxnard, Cal., policy killed Fernando Herrera Jr.,
25, on July 18, while supposedly suspecting him of
committing a burglary. Handcuffed, face-down, with
six cops sitting on his back, he died of cardiac
arrest, according to the Ventura County coroner,
who refused to call it police murder, noting
Herrera had traces of cocaine in his blood and an
elevated body temperature (hardly fatal conditions)
at the time of his death.
The state sentenced Herrera to death on suspicion
of burglary. MIM charges the state with murder
based on oppressed-nation nationality.
In July, Raul Madera, 23, died from tonsillitis
while in the Ventura County jail, according to the
coroner. He was supposedly being treated for the
tonsillitis at the time. Death from a tonsil
infection is a preventable death, in MIM's opinion
and the opinion of Madera's family and lawyers.
Madera was serving a 13-month sentence for drug
possession.
The state condemned Madera to death for personal
possession of illegal drugs. MIM charges the state
with criminal negligence and withholding medical
care, as well as criminal incarceration based on
oppressed-nation nationality.
Luther Thomas Allen, 55, died Oct. 1 after a drunk-
driving arrest by Oxnard police. The coroner said
he died of internal injuries resulting from an
accident earlier in the night. Police arrested him
under suspicion of drunk driving. Police say he
refused treatment by paramedics and showed no signs
of injury. The state condemned Allen to death for
drunk driving. MIM charges the state with criminal
negligence in failing to administer medical care to
injured prisoners - and criminal incarceration of
an oppressed-nation national.
Internal white-washes of each case determined that
the state was not responsible for any of the
deaths.
The families of the three victims are suing the
local authorities for violating the civil rights of
the victims. MIM thanks the families for exposing
these cases and hopes they win their lawsuits. Such
exposure is an important part of building public
opinion for revolutionary solutions to imperialism
and national oppression.
NOTES: Los Angeles Times, 3 December, 1996.
* * *
FEDS AND COUNTY D.A. STALL MEXICAN BEATING CASE
Remember the TV footage of Riverside County
Sheriff's deputies brutally beating two Mexican
nationals, Alicia Sotero Vasquez and Enrique Funes
Flores, they had pulled over on the side of the
road? As of the beginning of December, seven months
after the incident, no criminal indictments have
been handed down against the police by either
federal or local county prosecutors.
In any just system, the beating would be an easy
prosecution. The victim's lawyers point out that
not only is there video and audio tape of the
beating, but there are also witnesses willing to
testify. However, the only consequence so far is
the dismissal from his job of one of the beating
deputies and the suspension of a California Highway
Patrol officer who lied about the audiotape he made
of the beating.
Sotero and Funes also have civil lawsuits pending
that are being undermined by the long delay, their
attorneys say.
While the feds stall, county D.A. Gil Garcetti, who
also has jurisdiction, has not pressed charges
either. State law will prevent him from going ahead
with a case if the feds file first, so his stalling
is probably terminal. It also comes after formal
protests from the Mexican-American Bar Association
that Garcetti's office consistently ignores police
shootings of Latinos.(1)
MIM shares the outrage of those who see no justice
being done in this and many other cases of
brutality against immigrants and Latinos. Even if
the feds do single out a few cases for public
prosecution, however, the border system, with its
enforced separation of over- and under-paid
workers, and the rampant national oppression
perpetrated by the state and its many Amerikan
agents, are not seriously threatened by individual
prosecutions. Instead, revolutionaries use these
and other cases to build consciousness and public
opinion for revolutionary solutions to imperialism
and national oppression.
In another case, in which the Border Patrol did
bring charges against five agents accused of
throwing rocks at immigrants and then leaving them
injured without help (in 1993), a federal
arbitrator ordered that the agents be reinstated
for lack of evidence against them. The arbitrator
said he could not give any credibility of the
accuser because he was an illegal immigrant with a
record of being an illegal immigrant in the past.
Even in this case, however, which may end with the
five pigs getting back pay for their several years
off, has led the state to pat itself on the back
for acting so justly. The arbitrator agreed the
officers should have four-month suspensions, so the
chief of the Border Patrol's San Diego sector said:
"The arbitrator has clearly agreed that the five
agents acted improperly and that this type of
conduct is unacceptable and must be dealt with
sternly."(2)
Let justice ring!
NOTES:
1. L.A. Weekly, Nov. 29, 1996
2. Los Angeles Times, Nov. 28, 1996.
* * *
ANAHEIM POLICE KILL MAN IN HIS CAR
Three Anaheim police officers shot and killed a man
they say was a fugitive after he attempted to flee
an arrest. They gave no evidence that the victim
was armed or had attempted to harm the police in
any way.
Police said the victim was surrounded by unmarked
police cars at a gas station when he hopped into
his truck and appeared to prepare flee. They didn't
identify the victim except to say he was on parole
and a fugitive. An investigation into whether the
shooting was justified was supposedly underway.
NOTES: Los Angeles Times, 27 November1996. This
information was distributed by People Against
Racist Terror, Box 1055, Culver City CA 90232-1055.
* * *
BOEING MERGER MAKES IT LEADER IN WORLD DESTRUCTION
by MC31
On December 15th the Boeing Company announced that
it planned to acquire the McDonnell Douglas
Corporation for $13.3 billion. This merger comes
just nine days after Boeing bought Rockwell
International Corporation's "defense" and space
business. Boeing is now the world's largest
aerospace enterprise. Boeing's closest competitor
is the European Airbus Industrie consortium, which
controls 35 percent of the world market in
commercial airliners. Boeing now ranks second only
behind Lockheed Martin as the biggest military
contractor in the United $tates.
McDonnell Douglas was ready for the takeover - they
just got knocked out of the running for the largest
Amerikan military contract for combat jets. Boeing
and Lockheed Martin will now compete in 2000 for
the coveted $200 billion contract to build the
Joint Strike Fighter. With no chance of getting the
golden opportunity to employ thousands of Amerikans
in the production of huge war toys with which to
destroy the Third World, McDonnell allowed Boeing
to take it over.
The increasing consolidation of the "defense"
industry means that the government will pay more
for its war-making machines because there are fewer
companies to compete for bids. This is the happy
marriage of government and corporate industry at
its best! With mergers like this, the corporations
lose their facade of "free market" competition. And
it is this corporatism which was the definition of
fascism according to its founder Mussolini.
The war industry has provided Amerikan imperialism
with a nice opportunity to bribe its working class
with well paying government-sponsored jobs. It is
the higher prices that government pays to
corporations that have little competition that
helps fuel this parasitism. Boeing chief executive
Philip Condit said layoffs would be minimal. But
even if there are layoffs, there are plenty of jobs
in the growing prison industry or among the growing
police force to employ labor aristocrats who like
to make their money in industries of human
destruction.
The war industry clearly demonstrates the waste of
capitalism where money is poured into the
production of implements of destruction that are
necessary to keep the majority of the people of the
world under oppressive and exploitative conditions.
And at the same time, this industry in Amerika is a
further parasitic waste in the high wages it pays
its labor aristocracy employees - doing its part to
keep the Amerikan working class on the side of
imperialism.
NOTES: Washington Post, 16 December 1996. p. A1 &
21 December 1996. p. D1.; New York Times, 16
December 1996. p. 1.
* * *
TWO AMERIKAN LIBRARIANS ATTEMPT TO CLOSE YOUNG
MINDS
PHILADELPHIA, PA -- On December 10th, the librarian
of a leading liberal arts school -- Swarthmore
College -- attempted to stop MIM from handing out
newspapers on Swarthmore campus grounds. "Please
don't hand out papers around the library," the
white-haired womyn said and then added " [students]
have better things to be doing than reading
newspapers."
Despite the reception of the librarian, students at
Swarthmore College were relatively receptive to MIM
Notes, even compared with students in general.
Not to be outdone at nearby Widener College, the
librarian said she would have to ask permission to
leave newspapers free in the library she works in.
As students get more serious about resisting
militarism and environmental degradation, they will
have to clear the way of such obstacles to their
work. They shall have to demand the right to speak
to whom they choose and read the newspapers of
their choosing. College administrators have used
the bogus excuse of "security" to decide who
students should speak to while doing nothing to
reduce crime statistically on the campuses. Student
government leaders in particular should shoulder
the responsibility of securing for students the
concrete ability to digest politics for themselves.
* * *
UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
*** MIM ON PRISONS AND PRISONERS ***
MIM seeks to build public opinion against Amerika's
criminal injustice system, and to eventually
replace the bourgeois injustice system with
proletarian justice. The bourgeois injustice system
imprisons and executes a disproportionately large
and growing number of oppressed people while
letting the biggest mass murderers -- the
imperialists and their lackeys -- roam free.
Imperialism is not opposed to murder or theft, it
only insists that these crimes be committed in the
interests of the bourgeoisie.
MIM does not advocate that all prisoners go free
today; we have a more effective program for
fighting crime as was demonstrated in China prior
to the restoration of capitalism there in 1976. We
say that all prisoners are political prisoners
because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,
all imprisonment is substantively political. It is
our responsibility to exert revolutionary
leadership and conduct political agitation and
organization among prisoners -- whose material
conditions make them an overwhelmingly
revolutionary group. Some prisoners should and will
work on self-criticism under a future dictatorship
of the proletariat in those cases in which
prisoners really did do something wrong by
proletarian standards.
* * *
MEDICAL "CARE" IS TOOL OF OPPRESSION BEHIND BARS IN
AMERIKKKA
IMPROPER MEDICAL "CARE" CAUSES 13 DEATHS
Revolutionary Greetings Rades,
I write from the Belly of the Beast, hoping this
letter finds you in high Revolutionary spirits,
thoughts and struggle. I write to notify the rades
that I was transferred from the Maximum Control
Complex (MCC) in Westville, to another control unit
prison in Carlisle, Indiana, which is twenty-five
miles south of Terre Haute.
The repression has basically increased at this new
prison where I reside now. They call it Wabash
Valley Correctional Institution, but don't allow
the name to fool you, the act of genocide is very
common here. Within the last three years this
genocidal tomb has been open, over thirteen
prisoners have died from serious medical problems.
[This is] due to the improperly trained Medical
Personal and the Department of Colonialism's (IDOC)
refusal to build a medical facility in this prison
to attend to the serious medical needs of prisoner.
The food here is so inadequately proportioned that
an adult male from the age of 23-50 can not sustain
his physical well being. Prisoners who need hygiene
[items] such as soap, toothpaste, deodorant, [and]
shampoo must submit a written request to a
counselor in order to receive it. Instead of toilet
tissue and soap being provided to prisoners when
they need it, they are forced to wait on these
colonialist enforcers to give it to them, when they
want to. No showers are provided to prisoners who
need them.
The cells are doubled celled, but they are only
large enough for one individual. No ink pens or
paper are given to prisoners at state expense. This
prison forces prisoners to buy certain hygiene
[items], clothes, stationary, over the counter
medication that the state is obligated by law and
their own correction polices to provide to
prisoners. All other penal facilities in Indiana
provide prisoners with free hygiene [items],
clothing, stationary, etc. except this one in
Carlisle.
This is supposed to be [general] population [where]
I am housed, but we are being are being treated as
if we were on disciplinary segregation. There are
many wicked crimes occurring here and once I am
finished compiling all the data about this prison,
I will be back at the rades with an update on the
situation. There is supposed to be a class action
filed against the conditions of confinement on the
infamous lock-up unit the SHU, which the Indiana
Civil Liberties Union is handling, but the strange
part about this said class action [suit] is that it
is not being filed against the conditions of
confinement in [the general] population at this
prison, why? It is time for all principled
revolutionaries and progressive rades out there to
support our struggle against the colonialist
enforcers....
-- An Indiana Prisoner, 14 October 1996
TEXAS PIGS WATCH PRISONER COMMIT SUICIDE
In Tennessee Colony, TX on Coffield Unit last
night, a TDCJ officer watched an inmate commit
suicide in his cell by hanging himself. This
officer is at work tonight. The officer is
insisting that he never tried to stop the inmate.
He even stopped the inmate when one of the SSI
walked up. After that he said go ahead, I never
seen this before. Yes, the officer had a front row
seat.
After the body started jumping he just smiled. Are
you thinking what I am thinking. Yes, you are
right, the officer is white and the inmate is
Black. See that is what made it so good to the
officer. Just like the old days. Go for it. Anyway,
when the body jumped again he walked slow to the
sergeant. One is hanging himself. He called the
infirmary. They are very slow. It takes them well,
about 6 to 8 minutes. And when they made it to the
inmate they didn't know what to do. It's like
telling a dog to fly. Well, about the time they
removed the sheet from around his neck, he was
dead. The inmate hung himself with a white sheet,
and it takes you at least 10 to 20 minutes or
longer to do. The sergeant told the officer to walk
the run every 10 minutes because something could
happen. All the inmates on that end are suicidal.
The officer said yell, OK.
It's not the first time this has happened. I
remember about 3 years ago there was an inmate who
was having chest pain. He told the officer, the
officer said yell, OK. He did, he called the
infirmary and he said they told him to put a sick
call in. See sick call or red tape in other words,
ain't nothing happening for you. We don't have
time, it's almost time to go home. Anyway the
inmate had a heart attack. So they have to come to
the wing to get him, you know, 6 to 8 minutes later
I can see them coming, walking very slow. So when
they finally made it there, he was really having
one. They didn't know what to do. So they put him
on the bed with wheels and started down the hall.
They said he's not breathing and he needs CPR. I'm
not putting my mouth on no inmate. So they ran the
shower and said anyone know how to give CPR. No one
said anything. So they ran out of the shower and
headed down the long hallway. About the time they
made it to the infirmary he was dead. But they
wrote it up as if he died on the way to John Sealy
Hospital. The man was dead before they left the
unit.
Well I just wanted you to know it's happening in
the system. It's even worse on Ferguson unit, an
inmate hang themselves and they are the closest to
going home. I never understood that...
-- A Texas Prisoner, 19 November 1996
PRISONERS HEAVILY DRUGGED IN THE NAME OF MEDICINE
Peace Comrade,
I hope this message finds self in the best of
health mentally, physically and spiritually. I
enter your realms in effort to have my name added
to your mailing list. Up until now I was sharing
MIM Notes with another brother who was transferred
due to changes here. This used to be a prison which
housed convicts, now that the whole population has
been converted to a medical facility, all cons that
were stable are now heavily sedated with some type
of psychotropic drug. Other than the cycle of
continuous mind abuse, all is going as the neo-
colonialistc correctional elite planned.
-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 21November 1996
MEDICAL BILLS FOLLOW PRISONERS AFTER RELEASE
Greetings Comrades,
...Life inside a South Carolina Ad-Seg unit is
continuing to be more oppressive every day. No
telling what will be next. I've enclosed the most
recent tactic by the South Carolina pigs to get
more from us.[See below.] From my understanding
any/all medical bills will follow prisoners to the
streets, so now prisoners who max-out etc, will be
hassled upon release, and all bills for medical etc
will re-establish upon any prisoner who gets out
and then returns to the system. Just more South
Carolina Bullshit as usual.
-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 23 October 1996
The South Carolina Department of Corrections (SCDC)
has the authority to charge prisoners for the costs
of state property they allegedly damaged or
destroyed intentionally. Now under Section 24-13-
80, South Carolina Code of Laws, 1976, the SCDC's
amendment gives the pigs authority to charge a
prisoner to re-pay the costs of the following: "1.
Medical treatment for injuries inflicted by an
inmate(s) on him/herself or others; 2. Quelling a
riot or other disturbance in which an inmate(s) is
unlawfully involved; and 3. Searching for and
apprehending an inmate(s) who escapes or attempts
to escape." These additional items prisoners will
be charged for went into affect August 1st. This
sham to get money out of prisoners makes the
prison-proliferating-settlers satisfied that they
are not footing the entire bill to maintain tight
control over Amerikan prisoners and serves as a
legal billy club to keep prisoners -
disproportionately of oppressed nations -
unhealthy, quiet and silent.
MEDICAL FEES ADD TO ABUSE IN PRISON
...Police on my end are scared of Latinos due to
the Latino unity and love. There is no secret that
the same way another inmate will feel the Latino's
wrath, so will the police. We do not play what-so-
ever on my end, police get beat up constantly by
the inmates, but you can imagine the outcome when
the inmate is hauled off by ten white C/O's
[Corrections Officers] into a single cell behind
closed doors.
We also face the problem of having to pay for
medical care. Inmates are required to pay $5.00 for
each visit to the doctor. Medication is $2.00 and
aspirin, rolaids, medicated ointment, and sudafed
are sold on canteen only, and will not be given to
us free. If you have any money in your account,
trust me when state pay comes, it will be reduced
from the door.
Also this ad-seg is so pitiful that lights out is
at 11:00. We are not allowed baby oil, lotion,
soap, state soap will be provided. And recently all
B and D batteries were banned. Envelopes are not
sold anymore unless they are bought with stamps,
anything for a profit...
-- A New Jersey Prisoner, 25 October 1996
BLACKS AND HISPANICS ACT NOW TO INCREASE AWARENESS
OF THE AIDS EPIDEMIC
by a New York Prisoner
11 November 1996
The AIDS epidemic is worsening amongst our people.
I want to reach as many as I can with my message.
"It's about saving lives for me." We are living in
a time where the world is over- populated, 5.7
billion people. There's a war against our brothers
and sisters. Bodies are dropping at an alarming
rate. AIDS is just another weapon used to destroy
us. Wake up! Blacks and Hispanics have been in
denial about this crisis. In part because of a
traditional homophobic tendency in our culture, in
part because of ignorant stereotypes about HIV and
AIDS, our people have been in denial about AIDS in
Black and Hispanic communities.
The Harvard AIDS Institute released figures
projecting that by the year 2000, more than half of
all AIDS cases in Amerika will be amongst Blacks
and Hispanics. Wake up! By that same year a Black
or Hispanic person will be nine times as likely to
be diagnosed with AIDS as someone who is White. The
institute estimated that nearly 100 Blacks and
Hispanics are diagnosed with AIDS every day in
Amerika. This is not a coincidence, it is part of
an overall plan.
I am a prisoner in New York State. The numbers of
prisoners with AIDS is incredible. "I am HIV
POSITIVE." However I don't live with AIDS -- AIDS
lives with me! I am in charge of my life today. I
have a story to share with my younger brothers.
Hopefully I can save as many as I can, before I am
taken out by the Amerikan Plan.
We must educate our young brothers and sisters. Dr.
Alvin Pouissant, a clinical professor of psychiatry
at Harvard Medical School said, "Prevention
programs have not been as strong in the black
community as in the white community." This is not a
coincidence! There is a taboo about talking about
AIDS. And there is still a lot of despair. This is
one more problem. We've got crime, violence, teen-
age pregnancy, homelessness, now we've got AIDS. We
must wake up! Study, and you will see right through
the smoke screen. We are the target. It's time to
fight back! Wake up! I beg you!
I have more alarming figures. The Centers For
Disease Control and Prevention released more than a
year ago: AIDS kills twice as many Black men aged
25 to 44 as homicide. Black women constitute two
thirds of all women infected with HIV, the virus
that causes AIDS. More children with AIDS are Black
than all other races and ethnic groups combined.
WAKE UP! THIS IS NO FUCKING COINCIDENCE!
By the year 2050 the world population will be an
estimated 10.4 billion. That's about double the
population today. Senator Bob Dole called
prisoners, "Undesirable Parasites". Study and you
will learn that all prisoners don't wear chains and
locks. "We are all prisoners of the oppressor. We
are the target, brothers and sisters. With us they
will attempt to balance out the population. Africa
alone is estimated to have 14 million people
suffering with AIDS. This is a human tragedy of
monstrous proportions. And that's what this is all
about. They have a plan. We must put a stop to the
oppressors!
Wake up! The time is now!
MIM ADDS: We wholeheartedly agree with the overall
article and its push for action to stop genocide
against oppressed nations. AIDS as well as other
deadly diseases affect members of oppressed nations
disproportionately because of the way that
imperialism works. Imperialism sucks the labor,
wealth and resources from oppressed nations.
Imperialism denies the oppressed access to medical
and educational resources for prevention and for
cures.
The problem with the above article is that it
states that the number of people is one of the
problems. This is a myth perpetuated by the
bourgeoisie to support its tactics of oppressed
nation genocide like population control programs,
war and forced migration. The problem is not that
the world is over-populated but that imperialism is
sucking it dry of resources and hoarding the wealth
and profits from the labor of the international
proletariat. We encourage you to check out MT12 on
Revolutionary Environmentalism coming out soon.
The most effective method to stop the genocide of
oppressed nations through AIDS and inadequate
access to medical care is to build revolution to
smash imperialism. Only true independent
institutions will serve the needs of the people.
Getting the facts together and the word out is a
necessary first step. Its impossible to have equal
and adequate education or medical treatment for
oppressed nations within Amerikan borders. The
people must do the work ourselves. Building
educational programs and medical facilities are
more effective under proletarian leadership - China
and the BPP prove that - so we must strengthen the
Party and expand the Serve the People programs. At
this point, we can help with resources you need to
build educational programs for other prisoners on
AIDS. Please keep us up to date on your work.
PRISONER EXPOSES SOCIAL WORKER AS AGENT PROVOCATEUR
These people at this prison think that they are so
slick. Today about 6 social workers came in lockup
trying to get everyone to take a mental evaluation
screener. It's a test with about 60 true or False
questions on it. I looked at it and seen that it
was a serious joke. I read only 7 questions before
I threw it on the floor. What made me throw it on
the floor, was question number 7. It asked, Did you
ever have any problems with the police? That had to
be the stupidest question of 1996. I told the
social worker that I didn't want to participate in
their prison games.
See it really pissed me off because the only reason
their giving these guys the test is so they will
know how these guys react in certain situations.
The social worker told me that the test is to help
us. I told him that if they really want to help us,
then they should let us set up social groups that
will prepare us to go back to general population.
Because you have Brothers who've been on lockup in
these sensory deprivation cages for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, years. You can't really expect a Brother to do
all that time in a cage by himself, then tomorrow
just blend into general population. Now don't get
me wrong, some can do it, but many can't. I told
the social worker, aka Agent Provocateur that we
need groups where we could get out of lockup for a
couple of hours and have little group sessions
among ourselves. The agent-provocateur locked at me
and said he had to go. And that was the end of our
conversation. But he knew that I knew that his or
rather their phony little test wasn't put out to
help anybody but them....
Well Sisters and Brothers, as you know, the
Struggle Must Continue!
-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 27 November 1996
SALVI'S SUICIDE PROVOKES QUESTIONS ON PSYCHIATRIC
TREATMENT OF PRISONERS
by a comrade
On November 29, John Salvi, was found dead in his
prison cell from an apparent suicide. Salvi
murdered two receptionists at Boston abortion
clinics on 30 December, 1994.
His parents have requested state and federal
investigations into his death, arguing that the
prison system ignored his mental illness. Salvi's
mother "had been telling people for a long time and
no one wanted to listen that her son suffered from
long-term mental illness."
The Walpole prison superintendent responded that
"Salvi was not under any mental health watch at the
time of his death because 'he was deemed by the
court not to be insane.'"
Statements by Salvi's parents sparked a debate
within bourgeoisie about the role of mental health
services in the prison system. They ask: Was Salvi
insane? If he was, why didn't the prison system
know it? and How can the prisons treat the mentally
ill within its walls?
MIM believes these to be the wrong questions.
Instead of looking at problems individually, we
look at social causes of individual problems. The
bourgeoisie defines "sanity" as living happily
within imperialism. This is an unreasonable
expectation of some people because imperialism is
too much to adjust to. To MIM, the question is:
How can we change society so as to remove the
stresses of unequal and inadequate material
conditions.
Governor Weld and state Sen. James Jajuga (D-
Methuen) want to abolish the state's "not guilty by
reason of insanity" defense and replace it with a
new verdict -- Guilty, but insane. This verdict
would mandate psychiatric treatment and then when
deemed "cured" the rest of the sentence would have
to be served.
MIM opposes this change because it is anti-defense
and would increase convictions in the injustice
system. Likewise, the plan to add "guilty but
insane" and not scrap the current insanity verdict,
as discussed on National Public Radio would also
increase convictions. MIM expects such a change or
addition to take place because the settlers who sit
on juries demand not only the right to send people
away but to pass judgment on their ability to cope
with this disgusting system.
NOTES:
The New York Times 30 November 1996; The Boston
Globe, 3 December 1996. p. B1.
*For more information, see "Psychological Practices
in the Chinese Revolution", part of MIM Theory 9,
"Psychology and Revolution."*
***WHAT NON-PRISONERS CAN DO TO SUPPORT
PRISONERS***
*1. Struggle with, work with, finance and join MIM.
The best way to support prisoners is to overthrow
the system under which capitalists profit from the
exploitation of prisoners. History shows that the
best way to do this is to build a Marxist-Leninist-
Maoist party. The oppressors will not give up their
power without a fight.
*2. Finance MIM's prison work. Our biggest bill
each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades
who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So
if you have money, send what you can afford. Every
cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us.
*3. Distribute MIM Notes and Notas Rojas. Bring the
voices of prisoners and their supporters to as
large and wide an audience of people as possible.
Contact MIM for bulk rates and distribution tips.
*4. Start or join a prison support group. MIM can
provide advice and resources to help you build
public opinion for prisoners and their struggles.
*5. Fight censorship, beatings, torture and other
fascist outrages. Under Lock and Key often features
the addresses of prisoners' friends and enemies.
Work with the friends and let the enemies know
you're watching. (Don't expect to win the fascists
to the side of humanity, however. See #1 in this
list).
*6. Stay in touch. Keep us informed of pro-prisoner
work you do. Our readers might find it educational
or inspirational.
***WHAT PRISONERS CAN DO TO BUILD MIM***
*1. Start a study group. This is the best way to
share materials and ideas. In groups, prisoners can
better benefit from the limited resources MIM has.
*2. Get MIM Notes and MIM Theory into your library.
This allows one copy of the paper to be seen by
many comrades.
*3. Contact people on the outside. MIM needs
comrades and allies everywhere. Maybe you know
people on the outside who want to subscribe to MIM
Notes or distribute it.
*4. Share materials. If MIM sends books or
periodicals, please make sure that as many people
as possible get a chance to read them.
*5. Write MIM at least every three months.
Otherwise, you will be dropped from our mailing
list. There are many cases where your keepers throw
out MIM Notes, so we need to know that you actually
get it. Also, comrades are moved around a lot,
especially those who are known to be political.
Please let us know of any address changes as soon
as you know them.
*6. Make MIM Distributors an official distributor.
Many prisons require registration before MIM can
send books or other materials. Usually we can
comply with these bogus rules. It helps immensely
to have someone there do the reasearch and send us
the proper forms.
*7. Send money or stamps. Our biggest bill each
month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who
read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if
you have money, send what you can afford. Every
cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us.
Please make all checks payable to "MIM
Distributors."
*8. Write for MIM Notes or Notas Rojas. Prisoners
write almost all of Under Lock & Key. We don't
care if you know how to spell or write good English
or Spanish. Write on any topic you like, it does
not have to be a prison story.
*9. Translate. If you can read and write English
and another language fluently, let us know. Any
translation work you do will help us make Maoist
ideas accessible to more people.
*10. Fight censorship. When you know of censorship
of books or newspapers, investigate. Write to MIM
to confirm what has happened, then see what you can
do about it.
*11. Keep in touch after your release. Many
comrades stop doing political work after their
release. Write to MIM as soon as you know where
you'll be so we can hook you up with comrades on
the outside.
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