MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
www.prisoncensorship.info is a media institution run by the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons. Here we collect and publicize reports of conditions behind the bars in U.$. prisons. Information about these incidents rarely makes it out of the prison, and when it does it is extremely rare that the reports are taken seriously and published. This historical record is important for documenting patterns of abuse, and also for informing people on the streets about what goes on behind the bars.
Pennsylvania DOC has a new mail policy requiring all prisoner mail be
sent to Florida, care of Smart Communications (SmartCom).(1) This
company scans in all mail and forwards it to PADOC to be printed and
delivered on site. No original mail will actually reach prisoners.
Prisoners receiving greeting cards or photos are being given shrunk,
black and white copies.
Some prisoners in Pennsylvania are circulating a request for legal help
to fight this new practice. They list multiple concerns. These changes
will dramatically impact the mail PA prisoners can receive including
almost certainly denying them access to political books and magazines.
SmartCom will keep scanned mail in a searchable database. This will
likely be used to profile people who send mail to PA prisoners. Under
the pretense of security concerns, this new policy is also about
political control.
Prisons are allowed to restrict prisoners’ First Amendment rights to
free speech, but it is “only valid if it is reasonably related to
ligitimate penological interests.” (Turner v. Safely, 482 U.S.
78, 89 (1987)) In this situation, PADOC is citing incidents of “multiple
staff members being sickened by unknown substances over the past few
weeks.” In September 2018, it says there were eight staff emergency room
trips for drug exposure.(2) It is focusing on mail restrictions because
“[i]t’s speculated that the majority of contraband enters the facilities
through the mail.”
PADOC is building a lot of hype on its website about how drugs come in
thru the mail and with visitors. Yet in its photographic report,
“Examples
of Drug Introduction into Facilities,” not one example is given of
staff bringing drugs in.(3) Anyone familiar with prison culture knows
that prison staff are a likely source for smuggling. It’s lucrative and
relatively easy. PADOC’s presentation of the situation is skewed. And
according to its FAQ on the new procedures for how it’s going to handle
this alleged poisoning problem, no additional screening or testing for
staff seems to be on the radar.
The new mail procedures imply that subscriptions for magazines and
periodicals will continue direct to the prison: “For now, you will
continue to receive issues of current subscriptions. If any issue is
compromised, it will be confiscated and destroyed. No future
subscription orders may be purchased except through the kiosk.” The memo
given to prisoners made it clear that all future subscriptions must be
purchased through PADOC. PADOC will purchase subscriptions in bulk and
have magazines shipped in bulk to the facility to deliver to prisoners.
The DOC will set the cost and select the vendors.
As a part of this change, PA is banning anyone from sending any books in
to prisoners.(4) “Inmates can make a request to purchase any book. The
DOC will provide the inmate with the cost of the book. Once the inmate
submits a cash slip for the book, the DOC will order the book and have
it shipped to the inmate.” No independent orders are allowed: “All
publications must be purchased through DOC.” Books sent any other way
will be returned to sender. While outside folks can deposit money in
prisoners’ accounts so that they can purchase approved books from
approved vendors, they will now have to pay 20% more than the cost of
the book because that is deducted from incoming money to many prisoners’
accounts as costs or restitution.
This is a ridiculous policy change, under the pretense of security.
While an argument is being made that preventing all physical mail from
entering facilities will cut down contraband, it is an unnecessary
obstruction to First Amendment rights of prisoners. The impact on
prisoners, whose contact with the outside world is mainly through the
mail, will be dramatic. Mail delays will likely increase, but more
importantly, many will no longer have access to education. Cutting off
books and magazines, limiting people to only content that is
pre-approved by the prison, means that organizations like MIM(Prisons)
will no longer be able to send literature to prisoners in PA.
This new policy is only serving to impose greater control and isolation
on prisoners in PA. The results of cutting prisoners off from outside
contact, and denying them educational materials, will just increase the
already high recidivism and likely fuel more conflict behind the bars.
This is what the prison wants: keeping prisoners fighting one another
rather than educating themselves, building ties to the community, and
building opposition to the criminal injustice system.
We are caught up in a system of competitiveness that pits one against
the other, brother against brother, family against family, people
against people, braceros against domestics, ethnic groups against ethnic
groups, color against color, class against class, instead of minority or
lower class against the ruling class. Competitiveness creates division,
distrust, suspicions, and isolation. We have too much to lose to allow
ourselves to fall into the same trap over and over again. What is in it
for me, for you, for us?
All of our lives, we identify with war heroes, supermen, adventurers,
gold seekers, empire builders, and imaginary leaders. We dream of praise
and honors and love from other people. We go through life hoping to
leave some sign of accomplishment to our children, to posterity, and we
end up old, tired, wrinkled, with no vision or no memories, and we leave
an inheritance of weakness, boot-licking, indignity, and confusion.
We can make history. It will consist of those who tried, who resisted,
who led, who dared to struggle, dared to live free. It will also expose
those who are afraid, ashamed, arrogant, selfish, greedy, sellouts,
malinches, social prostitutes, Tio Tacos, exploiters, and cowards.
If there is to be a movement, then there must be leaders. Those leaders
must be judged by their ability to give, not take. Leadership must
convert confidence, not egotism – one who sacrifices, not one who is an
opportunist. Leadership is the act of using power to free people, not to
control them.
All in all, we have to cleanse ourselves of “inferiority” complex, our
peon complex and our immigrant complex. We are not inferior, we are no
man’s peons, and we are not and never have been immigrants. As complete
humans, we cannot only build an organization, start a movement, but
create a nation. To take these steps we have to think positively. We
have to put aside negative thoughts about each other, and especially
about our capacity to succeed.
The masses will make a difference. We are educating young people. Our
young people here and across this country are saying, I am leading a
“Resistance” against institutional racism, racism or oppression. But
when no one stands up with that young person, he commits suicide? You
see the reason we have problems is because too many people do not want
to get involved. When the guy in the cantina, prison cell or yard, the
pool hall or the barber shop tells you, “Man, those movement people are
out of their minds. I take care of me.” Ask him what he’s doing for la
causa. Ask him what he’s doing for the movement. He’s not going to be
able to say anything. He is part of the problem because he’s not doing
anything.
So we look at the problem: the problem is the mass majority of society.
It’s true. It’s true that only 6% of the population of this country
controls more than 60% of the wealth of the world. It’s true that 2% of
this country makes all the decisions. And everybody thinks they are
living in a democratic society.
So the problem is on our backs, and the way to get rid of it is to deal
with it. Now, we can deal with it by saying we are going to go into an
armed Revolution with 4% of the people against maybe 50% of the people?
Long Live The Days of AZTLAN!
MIM(Prisons) responds: We are up against what seems like an
insurmountable number of people either actively or passively on the side
of imperialism in this country. It’s a good point that if we took up
armed revolution right now we’d be a tiny minority, up against a lot of
resistance. This is because the vast majority of U.$. citizens are
benefiting materially from imperialism. It’s pretty obvious to most
people just how well off they are compared to the rest of the world.
That’s why so many people want closed borders; don’t let poor people in,
they might take back some of that wealth we’ve got protected in the
United $tates.
But this writer is talking about organizing the oppressed nations
specifically and that’s a bit of a different story. While still
benefiting from the wealth Amerika has stolen from Third World
countries, oppressed nations continue to face restricted opportunities,
discrimination, imprisonment, and police brutality (to name just a few
elements of national oppression within U.$. borders), all because of
their nationality. This makes people from oppressed nations still
potentially interested in revolution for their own persynal interests.
So yes, we need to heed this comrade’s call to challenge people about
what they’re doing for la causa. We need to win over everyone we can.
But we might not be in a position to take on imperialism until it is
weakened from the outside, by revolutions in countries where the
majority of the population has an interest in taking down imperialism.
Right now we do what we can from within the belly of the beast to
support the battles of the oppressed and exploited masses globally and
the struggles of the oppressed nations within U.$. borders.
The reason I write to you brothers and sisters is because about a week
ago I witnessed abuse by the pigs on the yard. The fellow prisoner uses
a walker and is about sixty to seventy years old. They threw him on the
yard and kicked him and punched him in the face. The situation could
have been avoided, but they decided to take advantage of an older man
because the pigs are weak in strength and heart. I have made copies of
this letter in case it doesn’t make it.
While we frequently discuss gender oppression in the pages of Under
Lock & Key, most readers will notice a primary focus on national
oppression. This is intentional, as we see the resolution of the
national contradiction as the most successful path to ending all
oppression at this stage. But for any of our readers who like our focus
on nationalism, and have not taken the time to read
MIM
Theory 2/3: Gender and Revolutionary Feminism, i recommend you
take a look. It is in MT2/3 that MIM really dissected the
difference between class, nation and gender and justified its focus on
nation. Don’t just focus on nation because it’s more important to you
subjectively, understand why it is the top priority by reading MT
2/3.
All USW comrades should be working their way to the level 2 introductory
study program offered by MIM(Prisons). We start level 1 studying the
basics of scientific thinking. In level 2, we move on to study
Fundamental
Political Line of the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of
Prisons, which gives a good overview of the 3 strands of
oppression: class, nation and gender, and how they interact. This issue
of Under Lock & Key is intended to supplement that
theoretical material with some application to prison organizing and
contemporary current events. (Let us know if you want to sign up for the
study group.)
Academic Individualism vs. Revolutionary Science
Bourgeois individualism looks at race, class and gender as identities,
which are seen as natural categories that exist within each individual.
While proponents of identity politics generally recognize these concepts
have evolved over time, they generally do not explain how or why.
Dialectical materialists understand nation, class and gender as
dualities that evolved as humyn society developed. Under capitalism, the
class structure is defined by bourgeoisie exploiting proletarians. Class
looked different under feudalism or primitive communist societies. One
of the things Marx spent a lot of time doing is explaining how and why
class evolved the way it did. Engels also gave us an analysis of the
evolution of gender in The Origin of the Family, Private Property,
and the State.
One self-described “Marxist-Feminist critique of Intersectionality
Theory” points out that “theories of an ‘interlocking matrix of
oppressions,’ simply create a list of naturalized identities, abstracted
from their material and historical context.”(1) They do not provide a
framework for understanding how to overthrow the systems that are
imposing oppression on people, because they do not explain their causes.
This “Marxist” critic, however, falls into the class reductionist camp
that believes all oppression is rooted in class.
The MIM line is not class reductionist, rather we reduce oppression to
three main strands: nation, gender and class. This is still too limited
for the identity politics crowd. But when we dive into other types of
oppression that might be separate from nation, class and gender, we find
that they always come back to one of those categories. And this clarity
on the main strands of oppression allows us to develop a path to
success, by building on the historical experience of others who have
paved the way for our model.
While MIM is often associated with the class analysis of the First World
labor aristocracy, this was nothing really new. What MIM did that still
sets it apart from others, that we know of, is develop the first
revolutionary theory on sexual privilege. The class-reductionism of the
writer cited above is demonstrated in eir statement, “to be a ‘woman’
means to produce and reproduce a set of social relations through our
labor, or self-activity.”(2) MIM said that is class, but there is still
something separate called gender. While class is how humyns
relate in the production process, gender is how humyns relate in
non-productive/leisure time. And while biological reproductive ability
has historically shaped the divide between oppressor and oppressed in
the realm of gender, we put the material basis today in health
status.(3) This understanding is what allows us to see that things like
age, disability, sexual preference and trans/cis gender status all fall
in the gender strand of oppression.
Using “Feminism” to Bomb Nations
Militarism and imperialist invasion are antithetical to feminism. Yet
the imperialists successfully use propaganda that they wrap in
pseudo-feminism to promote the invasion of Third World countries again
and again. Sorting out the strands of oppression is key to consistent
anti-imperialism.
In MT 2/3, MIM condemned the pseudo-feminists by saying that
“supporting women who go to the courts with rape charges is white
supremacy.”(4) A recent Human Rights Watch report discussing alleged
widespread rape in the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea (DPRK) is
getting lots of traction in the Amerikkkan/Briti$h press.(5) This
campaign to demonize the DPRK is just like the campaign to imprison New
Afrikans, with potentially nuclear consequences. We have two leading
imperialist nations who committed genocide against an oppressed nation
touting information that is effectively pro-war propaganda for another
invasion and mass slaughter of that oppressed nation.
If it is true that rape is as widespread in the DPRK as in the United
$tates and Great Britain, then we also must ask what the situation of
wimmin would have been in the DPRK today if it were not for the
imperialist war and blockade on that country. In the 1950s, Korea was on
a very similar path as China. Socialism in China did more for wimmin’s
liberation than bourgeois feminists ever have. They increased wimmin’s
participation in government, surpassing the United $tates, rapidly
improved infant mortality rates, with Shanghai surpassing the rate of
New York, and eliminated the use of wimmin’s bodies in advertising and
pornography.(6)
An activist who is focused solely on ending rape will not see this. Of
course, a healthy dose of white nationalism helps one ignore the mass
slaughter of men, wimmin and children in the name of wimmin’s
liberation. So the strands do interact.
Distracted Senate Hearings
Recently, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh went through a hearing
before his appointment to assess accusations of sexual assault from his
past. This was a spectacle, with the sexual content making it
tantalizing to the public, rather than political content. Yes, the
debate is about a lifetime appointment to a very high-powered position,
that will affect the path of U.$. law. But there was no question of U.$.
law favoring an end to war, oppression or the exploitation of the
world’s majority. Those who rallied against Kavanaugh were mostly caught
up in Democratic Party politics, not actual feminism.
A quarter century ago, MIM was also disgusted by the hearings for
Clarence Thomas to be appointed a Supreme Court Justice, that were
dominated by questions about his sexual harassment of Anita Hill. Yet,
this was an event that became quite divisive within MIM and eventually
led to a consolidation of our movement’s materialist gender line.(7) It
was the intersection of nation with this display of gender oppression
that made that case different from the Kavanaugh one, because Thomas and
Hill are both New Afrikan. The minority line in this struggle was deemed
the “pro-paternialism position.”
The minority position was that MIM should stand with Anita Hill
because she was the victim/oppressed. The line that won out was that
Anita Hill was a petty-bourgeois cis-female in the First World, and was
not helpless or at risk of starvation if she did not work for Clarence
Thomas. While all MIM members would quickly jump on revisionists and
pork-chop nationalists, paternalism led those holding the minority
position to accept pseudo-feminism as something communists should stand
by, because they pitied the female who faced situations like this.
Similarly today, with the Kavanaugh appointment, we should not let
our subjective feelings about his treatment of wimmin confuse us into
thinking those rallying against him represent feminism overall.
Bourgeois theories and identity politics
The paternalistic line brings us back to identity politics. A politic
that says right and wrong can be determined by one’s gender, “race” or
other identity. The paternalist line will say things like only wimmin
can be raped or New Afrikans can’t “racially” oppress other people. In
its extreme forms it justifies any action of members of the oppressed
group.
Another form of identity politics is overdeterminism. The
overdeterministic
position is defined in our glossary as, “The idea that social
processes are all connected and that all of the aspects of society cause
each other, with none as the most important.”(8) The overdeterminist
will say “all oppressions are important so just work on your own. A
parallel in anti-racism is that white people should get in touch with
themselves first and work on their own racism.”(9) Again this is all
working from the framework of bourgeois individualism, which disempowers
people from transforming the system.
There is a paralyzing effect of the bourgeois theories that try to
persynalize struggles, and frame them in the question of “what’s in it
for me?” Communists have little concern for self when it comes to
political questions. To be a communist is to give oneself to the people,
and to struggle for that which will bring about a better future for all
people the fastest. While humyn knowledge can never be purely objective,
it is by applying
the
scientific method that we can be most objective and reach our goals
the quickest.(10)
Imagine you have just been released from prison. What do you plan to do
with your freedom? Finally eat some real food, smoke a cigarette? Buy
some Jordans? Get drunk? Score some dope? Get laid? And then go report
in at the parole office?
If this sounds like a good parole plan, you obviously did not spend
enough time planning for your future. Maybe what you need is another
term, so that you can devise an effective parole plan to enhance your
chances for success. That faulty parole plan was one that I used many
times. I even changed the order, and reported to the P.O. first, but for
me it always ended in a violation of parole, or a new term.
Failure to plan is planning to fail, and as convicted felons the odds
are stacked against us. If you are a high school dropout, woman, or
minority, the opportunity for legal financial advancement are already
adversely affected enough. But there are ways to level the playing
field, and put the odds back in our favor.
Many prisons have pre-release classes, and re-entry services available.
If your institution offers such programs, take advantage of the
opportunity. If not, check your prison’s library for resource guides
that often provide addresses of transitional housing, and re-entry
services in your area.
Residential drug programs are also a good place to build a foundation
once you are released. Due to the demand of these services there usually
are waiting lists, so start writing them when you’re about a year to the
house. And many have classes for life skills, computers, parenting, and
resume building, while also providing you with a safe, clean and
drug-free environment to reside, oftentimes at little or no cost to you.
If you do not have a GED, make an effort to get it while still
imprisoned. If you do have a GED, sign up for vocational or college
courses. This will optimize your time, by turning unproductive time into
a constructive endeavor. A transitional re-entry plan is also an
excellent way to plan for your release (see example below). You know
your weaknesses, but you have the power to correct your faults.
Example Transitional Plan
First day goals:
Report to parole office to discuss parole conditions, and any issues
pertaining to the expectations of a successful parole.
Abstain from drugs and alcohol.
Check in to transitional housing.
Call family.
First week goals:
Obtain social security card, library card, and bus pass.
Register with the employment development department, and update my
resume.
Apply for general assistance.
Register for community college.
Continued abstaining from drugs and alcohol.
Locate and attend AA or NA meeting to find a sponsor.
Buy a smartphone.
Attend church.
Visit family.
First month goals:
Stay within the structured program of transitional house.
Get at least a part-time job.
Continued participation in AA/NA.
Open a bank account.
Obey all laws, and report to parole officer as scheduled.
Be active in my church, and volunteer in free time.
Meet other positive people.
Continue living alcohol- and drug-free.
Be punctual in work and school.
Six month goals:
Continue following the program rules of transitional house.
Report to parole office as required, and obey all laws.
Excell at work and at school.
Maintain sobriety.
Stay active in the church.
Do volunteer work in the community.
Six-month to one-year goals:
Be an exemplary resident of transitional home.
Obey all laws, and comply with parole conditions.
Continue AA/NA participation.
Maintain excellence in work and school.
Stay active in the church.
Help others.
One-year to five-year goals:
Get a stable residence.
Get off parole.
Get my associates degree.
Become a sponsor in the AA/NA family.
Get married or engaged.
Be employed in social work.
Continue my church involvement.
Be a productive, respectable member of society.
Make my family proud
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is a good practical example of the
planning that should be done before release to help with the challenges
of parole. We would substitute political organizing for church
involvement, and we’d sub any programs that help someone maintain (or
increase) sobriety for AA/NA.(1)
This brings up another thing we’d encourage people to consider about
their release goals. Is your top-level goal to integrate into the labor
aristocracy, get married, and live a “normal” Amerikan life? Or is your
top-level goal to put in work into the anti-imperialist struggle for the
liberation and self-determination of oppressed nations? Whatever you set
as your top-level goal should have mid-level (practical) and low-level
(tactical) goals attached to it, and any mid-level goals that don’t lead
you to your top-level goal should be avoided.
Whatever your overall life goal is, finding a community to get involved
with is a good way to create ties and build a support structure, which
is imperative to avoiding another bid. Some people find this in the
church or NA, but there is also often family, friends and political
comrades to look to for this same support. Political work on the streets
can help to give you further motivation to stay out of prison as you see
how much more effective you can be when not locked up. Materialists who
reject religion will do better building their community outside the
church.
We don’t yet have the resources or infrastructure to offer all of the
support our comrades being released need and deserve. And so we really
appreciate this list of options for some essential services. Ultimately
we must provide our own housing, rehab programs and schooling to get
free. But for now, we can take advantage of services offered by others
(even the state) as we build to that point. What we can offer is
political engagement and support. In exchange for your organizing work
we can also offer regular check-ins, advice, and day-to-day support
helping you navigate the streets. Together we can enable you to be a
productive member of the revolutionary movement.
Everyone should tell us your likely parole or release date so we can
keep in touch as it approaches. But it’s especially important that you
tell us if you have a release date in the next 3 years. We need to start
planning and working together now.
Vita Wa Watu! This is one essay on my tactics to recruit Brothas and
Sistas for certain movements. Take the Day of Peace and Solidarity for
instance. I sent out letters to those that have a Genuine Love for me
and the Struggle and kept it real with them. I informed them that I
would be fasting for the 9th day of September because it was a day that
meant more to Oppressed and Lumpen than the Sabbath does to the Jews. I
told them that that day is a day of Peace in the Prisons around the
country and that it commemorated one of the biggest prison uprisings in
the states, and also that it was the last day of the now annual prison
strike.
Then I informed them that this Glorious Day meant that there would be no
beatings, rapes, stabbings, or any violence of the Oppressed against the
Oppressor and that it mean a lot to me if they would fast with me. I got
a few confirmations and still awaiting others.
Also, I let the Brothers here in Ad-Seg know the meaning of this day.
However, only one Soulja fasted with me. Nevertheless, the day was a
success here at Northeastern Correctional Center. Stay strong, Comrades.
I will join you again next year.
MIM(Prisons) responds: In ULK 64 we printed some
early
reports of actions on the September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity.
We’re happy to hear about this work going on in Florida.
And this is a good example of sharing your tactics for organizing and
recruiting. The next issue of Under Lock & Key is devoted to
this topic and we’re seeking moreinput from readers about what’s worked
for you, and also what hasn’t worked. We can all learn a lot from our
practice and from the practice of others. Sum up your organizing
experiences and send them in for ULK. See ULK 63 for our
prior deep dive into this topic.
I received your magazine Under Lock & Key. I appreciate
the magazine and the helpful information inside. I did have a small
problem with the mailroom here, who at first withheld the magazine for 7
days claiming pages 1 and 5 advocates prison disruption and strike.
After much prayer and filing a grievance, seven days later the mailroom
here gave your magazine to me.
I’m experiencing serious problems here at the Wynne Unit in Texas.
With my grievance being processed, such as delays, unanswered
grievances. And harassment and conspiracy by the grievance investigators
at the Wynne Unit by the name of Doyle W. Davis and Preston H. Gadan
II.
Grievance officers Doyle Davis and Preston Gajan harass and conspire
with their fellow employees when an inmate files a grievance against an
officer. When your grievance has merits, Davis and Gajan either will not
answer your grievance or they will return your grievance
unprocessed.
The grievance officer never explains how to correct the grievance or
how to resubmit. I want to join your campaign “We demand our grievances
are addressed.” I’m requesting that you send me a petition for the
state-level of Texas. And I’m requesting a copy of your new follow-up
petition written to Federal Law.
I wanted to report some things that have gone on since Sept. 2018 I
filed 4 grievances while housed on Wallace unit on the following: both
cards 1/2 card AM shift refuse to turn us out to law library on time.
Law library for G4 offenders is from 6:15-8:15AM daily except Tues/Thurs
6:30-8:30AM because general library runs 6:00-6:30AM Tues/Thurs.
Ms. Reyna has been a helpful librarian allowing us ample time to check
out a book and review periodicals at the law library.
Mrs. Jones/Mrs. Wagner have been exceptional when I filed for copies of
disciplinaries.
The grievance coordinator Ms. Merket hasn’t been as helpful. I had sent
I60s to her asking for grievance # from past dates and none come back.
She did however tell me that if I was requesting documents that I must
request through open records. About two weeks ago, Lt. Michael Tapscott
on 2 card got upset that I filed a grievance because staff wasn’t
keeping withdrawals I60s, deposit slips, grievances securely there.
Sgt. McQuirk was switched to 1 card PM shift. Michael Tapscott got his
Lt. status back recently. Sgt. Tanner Mortensen on 2 card stated
“grievances cause problems.” COV Martinez/Lt. Corey Henry concurred the
same thing! It is like they don’t like being grieved.
Lt. Henry is our building Lt. Lt. Potter told me on 11/18/18 in front of
Ms. Aguilar LVN “She doesn’t need a long story” when addressing the pill
window situation. On commissary day 11/18/18 between court time and
4:30PM, Sgt. Soto, Lt. Potter failed to call control J2 for pill window
on E, F, and G wing. People in the day room were telling on Enriquez
“Pill Window.” Enriquez stated they haven’t called for it. Lt. Corey
Henry told me to talk to Lt. Potter that he wasn’t aware that J2 G4s
weren’t at PM pill window. I filed the step 1 and they resolved it and
started running G4s during count or when building count cleared. I
talked to Ms. Hargrove LVN about the situation and she told me to
breathe. Ms. Hargrove is the type of person that doesn’t like me to
initiate conversation. She just wants to get things done.
There is miscommunication on the unit severely on G4s. We are not
afforded commissary weekly like G2s. They run OS every other week on
$35.00 spend. The dates they ran us are follows: Oct 12, 24, Nov. 19. We
go after J1. They don’t have the holiday/hygiene pack in stock. We need
to be able to go weekly. On my last unit Hightower, G4s went on Monday.
Hightower is a small farm built like Wally Wallace. Lt. Henry would lock
the wing if we were disorderly, etc. Major Bristow seems to participate
in groupthink instead of being different from his Lt. The gang members
disrespect the pigs. Mr. Alamonte sprayed an 18 year old Black man as he
came out the cell for not obeying an order.
Laundry Sgt. Buske continues to screw comrades over on clothes giving
them bigger sizes saying “I don’t have mediums” (grievance # was filed
last week)
They are mad that a comrade is exposing their deliberate indifference.
Comrades are scared to file grievances.
I’m trying to put together my next civil action as we speak. Peep this.
On 10/16/18. I was placed in confinement. When being placed in
confinement, the PIGs (Pro Imperialist Goons) put you in the shower till
they find bed space or someone who is compatible with you. This takes
hours. Yes, they had me standing in a shower stall from around 12 noon
until about 10 pm, despite me informing the PIGs (Pro Imperialist Goons)
over and over again that I had medical conditions. I just had hernia
surgery in 2016 and I got a history of hemorrhoids. None of these issues
had bothered me in years as medical records will show and prove.
After standing in that shower stall so long, my hernia started hurting
really bad, my hemorrhoids flared up so bad I couldn’t have a bowel
movement for three days.
I saw the doctor on 11/9/18. I saw the doctor and was prescribed
Naproxen’s 375 mg (pain pills) and some stool softeners and hemorrhoid
ointment (extra strength). I’m trying to find out if I got a civil
claim. I gotta hit the law library when I get released from confinement.
Just keeping you up on beat. Don’t forget to inform me how I can send
you some funds from my account. And let me know if you know any criminal
appeal lawyers. I’m trying to get free.
Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela
Duckworth Scribner, 2016
[Editor’s note: This review of Grit follows on several articles printed
in ULK 63
about the book and lessons we can glean for our organizing. This comrade
offers a more in-depth review of some of the practical uses for our
work, but also some criticisms of the politics of the book. We encourage
readers to check out ULK 63 for more on organizing theory and
practice.]
I really like this book, not just because I found lots of useful tactics
and strategies for pursuing my own personal goals in life, but because I
was able to see that I’ve already been putting many of the author’s
suggestions into practice, both in my capacity as a revolutionary and as
someone pursuing a particular goal: my freedom. Therefore, in writing
this review, I have not only tried to sum up the tactics and strategies
I found most useful, but those which others might find use for as well.
However, this review is not without criticism.
The author of this book, Angela Duckworth, is a professor of psychology
at the University of Pennsylvania and she wrote this book to make one
basic statement: success in any endeavor is dependent on the amount of
time, hard work, determination, and effort that someone puts into
something.
Now this concept might not seem so special or even new to someone, but
to a dialectical materialist, it speaks power to truth in that it
demolishes certain idealist and metaphysical notions about what it means
to be gifted and blessed in bourgeois society. Of course, as a
dialectical materialist, I also understand that this book must be viewed
with a critical eye, as it contains both positive and negative aspects.
Professor Duckworth makes it a point to begin eir book by explaining
that lofty-minded individuals aren’t usually the type of people to
accomplish much of anything. Rather, it’s those with a “never give up”
attitude that will reach a marked level of success. Professor Duckworth
also successfully argues against the myth that the only thing that
matters is “talent.” Instead she says a bigger factor is developed
skill, which is the result of consistent and continuous practice. From a
Maoist perspective this means that it is people who take a materialist
approach to life and who understand the dialectical interplay between
people and people, and between people and their surroundings, that will
go the furthest the fastest.
In addition, the author puts forward organizational guidelines that are
useful to just about anyone, even the imprisoned lumpen. How prisoners
decide to exercise the professor’s tools is entirely up to them. We
would hope however, that USW members and other allies participating in
the United Front for Peace in Prisons would use the lessons in
Grit to further the anti-imperialist prison movement, as what
they essentially amount to is the piecemeal approach to struggle.
So what does it take to develop grit as the author defines it? The
following are just some of the book’s pointers that I could relate to
and I’m sure you can too:
Having direction as well as determination.
Doing more of what you are determined to do and doing it longer equals
grit.
Learn from your mistakes.
Grit is more about stamina than intensity (“Grit is not just working
incredibly hard, it’s loyalty”).
Do things better than they have ever been done before.
Goals are essential to strategizing long term, and you must also have
lots of short-term goals along the way.
Having goal conflicts can be healthy: what may at one given moment seem
contradictory may in fact be complementary.
Don’t be intimidated by challenges or being surrounded by people who are
more advanced or developed. This can only help you grow.
Overextending yourself is integral toward growth, it’s what helps you
develop. Also, repetitive diligence cultivates.
Daily discipline as perseverance helps you to zero in on your
weaknesses.
Passion is a must!
Go easy on newcomers.
Look for quality over quantity when measuring growth.
What we do has to matter to other people.
Have a top level goal.
Stay optimistic!
Maintain a growth mindset.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Following through is the single best predictor of grit.
Getting back up after you’ve been kicked down is generally reflective of
grit. When you don’t, your efforts plummet to a zero. As a consequence,
your skill stops improving and you stop producing anything with whatever
skill you have.
So now that we’ve looked at tools for overall improvement, growth and
development let’s look at some specific tips on how to add a little more
intensity to our routines and organizational skill set. The author talks
about something she calls “deliberate practice.” Deliberate practice is
a technique or range of techniques that people across different
professions use to become masters in their fields. Whether someone is a
spelling bee champ, professional basketball player, or computer
programmer, all these people have one thing in common: deliberate
practice. I include the message here because it can be useful to
revolutionaries. Simply put, deliberate practice is all about becoming
an expert at something. Deliberate practice is the essence of grit:
Wanting to develop.
Not just more time on task, but better time on task.
Focusing on improving your weaknesses; intentionally seeking out
challenges you can’t yet meet.
Practicing alone, logging more hours than with others.
Seeking negative feedback for the purposes of improving your craft.
Then focus in on the specific weaknesses and drill them relentlessly.
Don’t be afraid to experiment if you find yourself getting stuck or even
if you’re not. Sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone even
if you’re already doing good. Who knows, you might do better.
Now, at the beginning of this review, I said this book was not beyond
criticism. So here are some problems I found with Grit.
To begin with, the author caters to the idealist Amerikan ideology of
“pulling yourself up by your bootstraps” and failing to take into
account the structural oppression faced by the internal semi-colonies in
the United $tates. Furthermore, most of the author’s case studies, those
who she refers to as “paragons of grit,” come from privileged
backgrounds and their success in life can be easily linked to the
surroundings in which they were allowed to develop their skills to their
fullest potentials. Compare this to the experience of the oppressed
nations: the lumpen in particular who exist along the margins of
society, or the Chican@ semi-proletariat who must struggle in order to
meet its basic needs. Therefore, all is not simply a matter of will and
determination for the oppressed as we might be led to believe. There are
a variety of social factors in place which the oppressed must contend
with in the grind of daily life.
Another problem I have with this book is where the author makes the
statement that it generally takes up to 10,000 hours or 10 years of
practice for someone to become an expert in their field. The author
bases this hypothesis on data she’s gathered in preparation for eir
book. This inherent flaw in the professor’s work is exactly the type of
problem that comes from applying bourgeois psychology and sociological
methods according to bourgeois standards within a narrow strip of
bourgeois society. This was something of a turn off to me as I grappled
with the concepts from a revolutionary perspective. I can imagine how
discouraging it can be for our young comrades or those otherwise new to
the struggle to read that it takes 10 years to become an expert in
something, especially when they come to us eager to put in work. I
wonder if I, myself, would have continued engaging Maoism if I would
have heard or read this book when I was a newcomer? I would like to
think that I had enough grit to not listen to the naysayers and instead
keep on pushing, but I just don’t know.
Maoist China also grappled with similar questions during the Great Leap
Forward (1959-61) and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
(1966-76). Beginning with the Great Leap Forward, there were those in
the Communist Party, as well as in the economic sector, who advocated an
“expert in command” approach to work and politics. The people pushing
this line believed that only those with years of study or practice in
China’s greatest institutions or in the West’s most prestigious
universities were qualified to lead the country towards socialism. Most
of these people would turn out to be enemies of the revolution and
ultimately responsible for putting China back on the capitalist road.
On the other side of the discussion where the Maoists who advocated the
slogan “red and expert” to emphasize the importance of revolutionary
will and determination over that of expertise. In other words, it was
more important to pay attention to the masses motivation of serving the
people according to revolutionary principles than to the bourgeois
commandist approach of top down leadership and authoritarianism that was
the essence of “experts in command.” Furthermore, the Maoists understood
that to overly emphasize a reliance on the bourgeois methods of
organization for the purposes of efficiency and profit was not only to
widen the gap between leaders and led, but to return to the status quo
prior to the revolution. What’s more, those calling for expert in
command were also criticized for their stress on theory over practice
and adoption of foreign methods of organization over that of
self-reliance and independence. As such, the Maoists opted to popularize
the slogan “red and expert” as they believed this represented a more
balanced approach to political, cultural, economic, and social
development. To the Maoists, there was nothing wrong with wanting to
become expert so long as the concept wasn’t separated from the needs of
the people or the causes of the revolution.
Partly as a response to the struggles gripping China during the time,
but more so as an attempt to meet Chinese needs, the Communist Party
initiated the “sent down educated youth” and “going down to the
countryside and settling with the peasants” campaigns in which thousands
of high school and university age students were sent on a volunteer
basis to China’s rural area to help educate peasants. The students lived
and toiled with the peasants for months and years so that they would not
only learn to empathize with the country’s most downtrodden, but so that
the revolutionary will and resolve of the privileged urban youth could
be strengthened. Part of the students’ mission was to build the schools
in the countryside and teach the peasants how to read and write as well
to help advance the peasants’ farming techniques according to what the
youth had learned in the cities. While these students may not have been
“experts” in the professional sense, they did more to improve the living
conditions of the peasants than most professionals did criticizing this
program from the sidelines.(1)
The barefoot doctors program is another Maoist success story which even
Fidel Castro’s Cuba came to emulate. The majority of China’s population
were peasants and had virtually zero access to modern medical care. To
address this problem, peasants were given a few years training in basic
medical care, and sent to work in China’s rural area. Again, the focus
here was not on expertise, but on practice and revolutionary will for
the sake of progress not perfection. While those trained certainly were
not expert medical doctors, they were of more use to the peasants than
the witch doctors and shamans they were accustomed to.
While Grit offers a lot of useful information for comrades with
little organizational experience, we should keep in mind that much of
what we communists consider correct methods of practice has already been
summed up as rational knowledge by the revolutionary movements before
us. Bourgeois psychology can be useful, but history and practice are our
best teachers. Look to the past and analyze the present to correctly
infer the future.
As Mao Zedong Stated: “Marxists hold that man’s social practice alone is
the criterion of the truth of his knowledge of the external world.”(2)
MIM(Prisons) responds: Throughout the book, Duckworth focuses on
high-performance bourgeois heroes and institutions, in order to address
the question of “what makes them the best at what they do?” In answering
this question, the author does briefly acknowledge that access to
resources can play a decisive role in one’s success in a particular
field. That might mean having money to pay for pool access to become a
great swimmer. In another way, access to resources might boil down to
the semi-random luck of having a decent (or crap) coach in public school
sports. Of course there are socio-economic reasons why good coaches are
at certain schools and not others, and why some schools have sports at
all and others don’t – and those are reasons linked to the three strands
of oppression.
Duckworth’s analysis of how we (as outsiders) can influence someone’s
internal grit underlined how big of an influence one persyn or
experience can have on someone else’s passion and perseverence. For
example, we don’t need material resources to change our attitude and
behavior to a “growth mindset.” And, while a broader culture of grit is
certainly preferable, we can still make a big impact as single
organizers – in many of eir examples, the paragons of grit cited one or
two key people in their lives who played a major part in their success.
And ULK’s contributors’ persynal histories in “Ongoing Discussion
of Recruiting Best Practices” confirms this.
Duckworth’s analysis on this topic is outlined in “Part 3: Growing Grit
from the Outside In,” and MIM(Prisons) has been discussing this section
at length to improve our own practices. We have an extremely limited
ability to organize and influence people – we are only struggling with
our subscribers through the mail, which comes with many unique
challenges. Our subscribers have access to very little resources, and we
can’t buy them the world. But if we can make even our limited contact
more effective – through our study, execution, experimentation, and the
feedback we receive – we believe we can still make a big impact.
Duckworth helped build my confidence that even though i’m only one
organizer, and i’m not really that talented at it to begin with, my
efforts still matter a lot.
While Duckworth does good to knock down the idols of talent, ey replaces
them with the hardworking individual, rather than the knowledge of the
collective, and group problem solving. The group is acknowledged as one
thing that can help you as an individual become great, in eir discussion
of the “culture of grit.” The examples from China that Ehecatl brings up
emphasizes that our goal is not to be great as individuals, but to serve
the people by bringing together different sources of knowledge, to see a
problem from all sides, and to engage the masses in conquering it.
In a related point, Ehecatl says that we need to “do things better than
they have ever been done before.” I’m not sure of the deeper meaning
behind this point, and it’s one that i think could be read in a
discouraging way. We certainly should aim to do things better than we
have ever done them. But if we know we can’t do them better than
everyone ever, then should we give up? No, we should still try, because
“effort counts twice” and the more we try, the better we’ll get at
it.(3) And, even if we’re not the best ever, we can still have a huge
impact. Like Ehecatl writes above, we don’t need to clock 10,000 hours
before we can make big contributions.
To deepen your own understanding of the principles in Grit, get a
copy to study it yourself. Get Grit from MIM(Prisons) for $10 or
equivalent work-trade.