31 May 2002
The biggest advance for MIM Notes also came in the realm of distribution, as described in PIRAO's reports.
We've also been able to improve our professionalism in the realm of editing and production. This is important because we need to convince the "scientific non-voter" and others that we are better capable of leading society than the bourgeoisie. Poorly written articles--to say nothing of factually or politically incorrect articles--and poor design divert us from that goal. What Mao wrote for art-- "Works of art which lack artistic quality have no force, however progressive they are politically"--applies to journalism as well.
Improvements in quality have largely been a result of "better few but better" and "self-reliance." The previous editor spent lots of time soliciting and editing articles from RAIL comrades--primarily to fill space and to secondarily improve those comrades' line and style. This was false egalitarian error. RC's line errors crept into MIM Notes, which necessitated a special policy for RC authors (they must cite MIM Theory). MC editors also spent more time editing the RC's articles than if they had just written them themselves, with little to show for all that one-on-one training (none of these RCs went on to become regular MIM Notes contributors). Gains in quality in non-MC submissions are more likely to come from good examples in MIM Notes and the RCs own efforts to learn and apply MIM line and style, e.g. as described on the FAQ page.
Most MIM Notes articles are written by MIM Comrades. The majority are still written on a volunteer basis; topics are not generally assigned. This means that authors do not approach writing for MIM Notes as a chore and are motivated to pay attention to detail. The more each writer pays attention to detail, the better the overall MIM Notes product. Writers should submit articles they believe are ready for print, not leave the fact-checking and punchline-writing for the editor.
The MIM Notes editor's primary tasks here are to ensure and facilitate such professionalism, making tools such as the writing style FAQ and other grammar and style guides widely available. The MIM Notes editor's job is not to train each writer persynally.
For one or two issues over the last year, the availability of timely copy was an issue. Mostly comrades can solve this problem by writing timely articles-- which should be easy to do if you are engaged in any agitation at all. Comrades can also solicit copy from local RCs, but should consider it their responsibility to get the submission up to MIM Notes standards before passing submitting it.
Contact MIM by writing mim@mim.org