MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Take you away from family so you can’t provide support Convict
you in the newspaper, call you a demon in court Fictitious jurors,
bribed witnesses, withheld exculpatory evidence Break your family’s
heart and spirit with a ridiculous sentence Break your bank with
attorney fees, fines and court cost Spin you around in circles to
keep you lost Ship you to Timbuktu knowing it’s a forever
ire Threaten your father and mother away from your side Tamper
with your mail refuse your visit Intend to destroy my family, what
else is it Listen to your phone, charge an excessive rate Make you
wait years for an appeal date During that while they harass wife and
child Crush their hope with a one line denial Supreme court your
last chance to file
Lawyer continually asking for more money I keep paying because of the
game he playing Just a little more you’ll be free for sure
Now he doesn’t answer any of my phone calls Supreme Court denied read
the writing on the walls Around and around in another circle wife
so frustrated her skin turn purple Can’t expect her to wait 180 years
for her man Would you? Welcome to the Federal Family Destruction
Plan!
The Death of the Federal Family Destruction Plan
To break free we developed our own plan After a long fought battle
victory close at hand dissected the situation found the root
problem Acquired knowledge so we know how to solve them
We understand how to defeat the prison machine It’s addicted to the
green just like a dope fiend We about to bring this scheme to a
halt You can’t control the businesses we’ve bought
Everyday we find a way, family must correspond You tried all you
could, can’t break our bond You’ve abused, tortured, tried to take
our breath We comprehend exposure scares you to death
We’ve come together to sound the alarm No longer prey, our work, our
benefit, our farm You’ve laughed, played us like fools, loved our
misery You not laughing now, intelligent tools has shown us victory
No more humiliation, slavery nor desolation Closing the door on your
new wave plantation We educating and employing our people Teaching
our kids to advance beyond being equal
Control your own situation, through education The way we make sure we
reach our destination Took back our resources, now we own the
land Seven steps to death for the Federal Family Destruction
Plan!
Do you realize, it is not wise, your actions are absurd! You know
from history, there is no mystery, haven’t you heard! It’s been tried
again and again, successful it has never been, you want to change
reality! Only an idiot would believe it, your report concludes
the opposite, but it’s your story!
To follow a flawed plan, of a foolish man, is no less
idiotic! Federal SMU, they don’t have a clue, their leader must
be psychotic! Contractors keep on bribing, congress keeps on
buying, greed takes over the atrocity! Employees union denying,
administration outright lying, sacrifice integrity for the money!
International courts condemn the practice, you must be actors, lied
to congress to get your wish! You claim it’s beneficial, in actuality
it’s detrimental, how do you explain this! Community
communication, through human isolation, the theory is
ridiculous! Add antagonization, mental manipulation, makes the
hypothesis preposterous! where’d you get that data, like
indicting a potato, the truth you will always withhold! It’s a
program, run for the sons of sam, one of the biggest bullshits ever
told!
Your stated objective, must be defective, the strategy is really
old! Institutionalization, of the entire nation, seems to be your
goal! A laboratory experiment, who gives a shit, about
some federal convicts! Just some lab rats, Stanford’s second act,
use them for your benefits!
So what if they go crazy, ignorant and lazy, signed the consent to
make it authorized! The ones who try to get wise, hasten their
demise, to keep the others terrified! Keep it on the low, nobody
needs to know, the true nature of your enterprise! When you get
exposed, the doors will be closed, now it’s you being ostracized!
What you don’t understand is any flawed plan, that tortures your
fellow man, must come to an end! Just as before, those that work the
store, shall face the forgiver of sin via pistol or pen! Don’t see
the danger, that’s the avenging angel, you must have made a
mistake! Thought he was nice, better think twice, your soul he
comes to take!
Now that he is here, no need to shed a tear, your path is set in
stone! No you can not hide, before the foolish man by your
side, now he has left you alone! But you knew all along, that it
was wrong, yes you assisted in the deed! I too cry, because now
you lie, soulless, heartless, fertilizer for planted seed!
La mayoría de gente están ignorante de las atrocidades y tragedias que
están pasando en estos campos de concentración. La gente escucha y cree
las mentiras que vomitan de las bocas de los engañosos oficiales de
prisión quien proponen que el idea que los prisioneros reciben “gratis”
el cuidar médico superior a la gente en el mundo libre pero la realidad
es algo muy diferente, aborrecible y siniestro.
La tasa de prisioneros fallecidos es irreal. En sólo un periodo de doce
meses en los años de 2008 y 2009 seis prisioneros en la prisión de
Holman ha fallecido y esto no cuenta los fallecimientos de presos bajo
la pena de muerte por causas natural (i.e. causas negligentes) y esto
está pasando en sólo un campo. Pero el chisme es que también está
pasando por todo el estado.
Alabama es sólo uno en el numero de otros estados que han implementado
la liberación “compasiva” a los encarcelados con enfermedades
terminales. Pero, no hay nada compasiva en esta compasión; no es la
razonamiento de los políticos u oficiales de prisión, esta provisión es
tan compasivo como el conservadurismo compasivo de G.W. Bush.
Un prisionero había aprobado para libertad bajo de la provisión de la
liberación compasiva por enfermedad terminal pero el día antes de que
estaba apuntado para la libertación, falleció. Imagine lo que la familia
tuvo que pasar, pensar y prepararse para su querido vuelva a casa
‘mañana’ y aprender que falleció en la mañana que iba para recogerle.
Otro prisionero también selo aprobó y liberópero falleció el día después
de su libertad.
Lo que es engañoso, siniestro y aborrecible sobre todos estos
fallecimientos es que con el apropiado preventivo curativo de salud, la
mayoría, si no todos, de estos prisioneros podrían estar vivos ahora.
Los oficiales de prisión y los proveedores de cuidado médico quienes son
bajo el trato con el Departamento Correccional de Alabama (ADOC)
permiten que las condiciones médicos deteriorarse para ahorrar dinero en
gastos médicos.
La gente debe entender que los oficiales de prisiones y los proveedores
médicos de la prisión están matando a las personas por su renuencia a
enviar presos a los hospitales del mundo libre y a los especialistas y
proveer los medicamentos necesarios que los presos necesitan para
sobrevivir, sólo para ahorrar dinero y obtener a cambio grandes
beneficios.
En 2006, había un gran escándalo en la Facilidad Correccional de
Limestone en Alabama. Limestone es una prisión de seguridad media que
alberga también a los presos del estado con VIH / SIDA . El escándalo
cuestionó el servicio médico allí. El médico de la prisión se quejaba de
que los funcionarios de prisiones interferían y dictaban el tratamiento
y los medicamentos que se dispensara a los detenidos. El médico declaró
al periódico Birmingham News que el director de Limestone la había
amenazado con el bloqueo a entrar a la cárcel si ella no dejaba de
quejarse de los funcionarios de prisiones de interferir en asuntos
médicos.
Limestone es también la prisión que en la década de los 1990 almacenó
los cadáveres de presos con VIH/SIDA en el congelador de carne al lado
de la comida usado para alimentar los prisioneros.
Todos los presos en Alabama saben que cada vez hay un médico nuevo y
este médico muestra cualquier tipo de humanidad hacia los presos y
cualquiera diligencia en proveer el cuidado propio, como el envío de
prisioneros a los hospitales del mundo libre, a ver los especialistas,
el mandar de pruebas caras o la prescripción de medicamentos costosos,
no durará mucho antes de que ese médico se va.
Los prisioneros en Alabama tienen los exámenes físicos anuales
programados. De mis 25 años encarcelado en Alabama, no he tenido más que
mi altura, peso, fiebre y la presión de mi sangre, me quitan sangre cada
tres años, exámenes de tuberculosis (TB), unas preguntas de fuego
rápidas que me hace y ya es todo.
Hay mucho más descuido, incompetencia y negarse que puedo decir a sobre
el cuido de la salud en este mundo de pesadilla, lo de arriba debe ser
suficiente para golpear tu conciencia y tu acciones para luchar por un
mundo donde el explotar, la esclavitud y el sacar provecho de otros no
son los motivos para cada intento, un mundo mejor si es posible.
MIM(Prisiones) responde: en general, nosotros no creemos que los
americanos están informados al nivel inadecuado sobre las condiciones en
prisión y cuando le explicamos que horrible es…sus conciencias se van a
despiertar y será la motivación por sus acciones. En
Americans:
Oppressing for a Living, explicamos cómo los constituyentes
americanos demandan que sus representativos y legislación sean “duro con
el crimen”. Sus intereses subjetivos en el bienestar de los prisioneros
es un reflejo de la falta de programación de la educación, apoyo a los
liberados, así como la atención médica aborrecible para los prisioneros.
A pesar del dato, los americanos van a continuar quejando que “los
criminales están recibiendo mejor cuido médico gratis” que ellos, los
americanos, reciben por lo que pagan. Y lo van a ignorar si pagan los
impuestos al gobierno que en realidad se está cayendo en las bolsas de
los mismos contratistas de medico quien están dejando a personas morir
de causas preventivas.
Aquellos de nosotros que sufren en las manos de los anglo- americanos
(gringos) o hacen suicido nacional deben de unirse para tomar parte de
la lucha de este compañero para luchar por un mundo donde el provecho no
será el factor motivo por cualquier intento, porque si es verdad, un
mundo mejor sí es posible.
Stand tall, revolution’s what I scream Dreams shot down,
Mr. Martin Luther King Now look at what I bring to this Houston
scene See I’m the one who’s trying’ to turn the blueprint
green And that white mask red, I’m twice past dead So I don’t give
a fuck what “the white man” says I’m a G, so I know why the criminals
need to put a bullet in these new age General Lees Because the
only way they listen’s if we enter a plea We work hard for the money,
a minimal fee Mama girl has to work on a minimum wage her little
kids haven’t even ate dinner in days Just peanut butter & jelly,
Skittles & Lays How you expect for us to grow in such a pitiful
place? Our streets are planted with crackheads families who lack
beds Drugs & guns leaving Hispanics & Blacks dead Shit,
with that said… What’s a brother to do? Tryin’ to make it on his
own with a mother of two Mr. Officer we don’t want no trouble with
you We’re just trying’ to do, what we gotta do, to survive
Damn! Did you hear that? [what]? The sound of the ground rumbling
Building breaking Broken bones moaning Houses
flooded People drowning Babies screaming Families
crying Prison doors slamming daughters in labor Broken hearts
complaining Ice storms, rain storms, famished lands, traffic jams,
ambulance, and car horns gun shots police sirens courtrooms
lying and the sound of injustice hurting the survivors
Damn! You feel that? [what]? The biting wind of
oppression anxiety and depression The womb of un-willing
virgins fatherless households Empty spirits and lonely
souls Capitalism, prison systems, and bourgeoisies in
control Global anger and sadness from U$ military killings and war
disasters
Damn! [what was that]? The world shaken by the hard fall of
imperialist amerika
As of this writing I’ve been confined to a special management unit
because, of all things, a drawing. The artwork however is not the
problem, but what it supposedly represents. From a larger standpoint the
censoring of such work is another form of passive cultural destruction.
What they can’t control they restrict. What they don’t understand, they
tend to fear. And of course the “they” I’m speaking of are those
upholding Amerikan values of whitewashed virtues.
The drawing was one I chose to adopt because of its high symbolism and
esoteric meanings. But because this symbol was first used by the Nation
of Gods and Earths (Five Percenters), a branch of the Nation of Islam,
which is deemed a “security threat group” within penal institutions in
six states, I was also branded a threat. I have no affiliation with that
organization or any gang. I don’t adhere to the NOGE’s or NOI’s
religious dogmas. I do however share in their militant outlook and
agree, for better, with what they’ve done to reeducate Black youth to
the realities of this system. Because of this they, and anyone even
duplicating a representative symbol of such organizations, are deemed a
threat.
I must assume the motivation behind the government labeling a peaceful,
cultural religious organization as a gang can be found in a real
warranted fear of this group’s objectives. To name just a few: its
obvious work in enlightening individuals about this police state, its
very successful strategy in reducing the recidivism rate, and most
importantly empowering youth to be leaders and conduits of true culture
in their families and communities. These priorities, and numerous
others, are something to fear, especially when privatized institutions
can prospectively lose millions annually.
The programming of the masses through corporate-owned media propaganda
has not been done haphazardly. Sensationalism, violence, stereotypes and
desensitization through repetition of crime and cop shows has not only
controlled opinion but has thoroughly turned people into mindless
robots, keeping the rich in control, middle class happy and poor
discontented but helpless. Any organization that exposes this government
for what it is and directs its energies to providing and teaching what
true responsibility is to a community, is one I’d gladly be a part of.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this prisoner that the
criminal injustice system has a real reason to fear any organization
that is educating people about the prison system, working to reduce
recidivism, and organizing oppressed nations. These organizations
threaten their use of the prison system as a tool of social control. And
it is true that the media plays a major role in promoting imperialist
policies to the Amerikan people. However, this is not the only reason
the masses are passive. Amerikan citizens are acting in their economic
self-interest when they play the role of happy robot and accept
imperialist policies. See our article
Amerikkkans:
Oppressing for a Living in
ULK 2.
by a North Carolina prisoner October 2010 permalink
NAS told us “ghetto prisoners rise” and Bob Marley asked “How long shall
they kill our prophets?” It’s been going on for years, yet we have
failed to grasp on to a sincere movement with righteous motives. When
the Europeans landed here they drove off the inhabitants or enslaved
them. Sounds familiar to the immigration issues of today. Then they
enslaved over 10 million native Africans throughout the “new world.”
Sounds like the incarceration and slave laboring of the Black and Latino
youth of today through prison industries.
Now they don’t have to kill our prophets like Martin, Malcolm, and
Hampton. They just imprison them on anything they can to stop a
movement. Education is the key to unlock the doors that block us and
communication is the keyring that holds it together. Ghetto prisoners
rise, rise, rise, united we stand and divided we fall. When the CIA
killed Ernesto “Che” Guevera, he exclaimed “go ahead, what are you
waiting for, you will only kill a man.” Meaning his purpose, and meaning
for which he fights will still live on. If we stand idle we are with the
oppressor. Nelson Mandela said “If you fail to help the oppressed you
become the oppressor.” Don’t be my oppressor. Revolution starts with the
mistreatment of people, not a revolutionary.
Their objective is to keep you deaf, dumb and blind. Ignorance is
suicide, they run their agenda through propaganda, spreading rumors and
lies through their media. Zach de la Rocha said “fear is your only god”
but don’t let fear put you in check. The time to act is now, unite.
“Penitentiaries is packed with promise makers, never realize the
precious time these bitch niggas is wasting.” - 2Pac
[This is a belated resolution from the MIM(Prisons) 2010 Congress.]
Overall, MIM(Prisons) stands by the
Resolutions
on Cell Structure passed at the last MIM congress in 2005. After 5
years of putting that resolution into practice there is experience to
sum up and questions that still need to be answered.
The theoretical basis for the cell structure is that the strength of a
centralized party comes into play when vying for state power, whether by
elections or otherwise. That is not in the cards for Maoists in the
imperialist countries at this time. Maoism is a minority movement in the
First World and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. This
makes it even more important that we utilize our strengths and shore up
our weaknesses.
One of the main lessons to take from the cell structure resolutions is
that “[w]e oppose having geographic cells come into contact with each
other face-to-face. Infiltration and spying are rampant when it comes to
MIM. The whole strength of having a locality-based cell is that it is
possible to do all the things traditional to a movement. The security
advantages of culling people we know into a cell are lost the moment we
slack off on security and start accepting strangers or meeting with
strangers face-to-face.” We find it frustrating that critics of what
happened at etext.org as MIM faced repression are willing to ignore the
lessons of those setbacks.
At the last MIM congress in 2005, they spoke of a “MIM Center” that put
out the newspaper, among other tasks. Soon after, there was no
MIM
Notes newspaper, followed by the degeneration of the original MC
cell and finally the shutting down of their last institution, the
website at etext.org.
One of the challenges of small cells is developing and maintaining line.
Much work has been done, and if every new group or every revolutionary
had to start from scratch, we would never advance. That is why when
etext.org was repressed, MIM(Prisons) posted an archive of the MIM site
on our website. While we still do not have a regular newspaper for the
movement as a whole, the website is a crucial reference for us all.
Fraternal organizations do not agree on everything; they agree on
cardinal principles that are determined by the conditions of the time.
The etext.org site is not something Maoists must agree with 100%, but
there is no doubt that it is still the most comprehensive starting point
for any Maoist organization in the First World.
Democratic centralism is important for security and for political line
development. Yet until we are organizing on a countrywide basis, there
is no need for democratic centralism at that level, not to mention
internationally.
In guerilla warfare, the cell structure has been applied in a way that
was hierarchical so that action cells were separate from each other, but
each cell could be traced to the top of the organization. This relies on
a centralized organization or center. While MIM mentions such a center
being based around MIM Notes and etext.org in their 2005 resolutions, we
do not see the need for this center given the current circumstances. As
we have recognized before, certain ideological centers are bound to
exist based on the law of uneven development. Yet such centers are not
structural, but fluid, based on the type and amount of work done.
All that said, there is an inherent contradiction in the cell strategy.
Since organizing strategy and security tactics are not dividing line
questions, once the cell strategy is adopted and full decentralization
has occurred, it is possible for cells to change their line on this
question. Even the majority could do so and a new centralized party
could push remaining cells to the periphery. Since we work to build a
movement and not our individual organizations, and our work is already
on the periphery, we should not be concerned about the impacts of such a
move on our organization. It is, however, worrisome to the extent that
we see our comrades opened up to attacks through faulty security.
Part of accepting cell strategy is distinguishing between cadre work and
mass work. The self-described anarchist movement is able to mobilize
large numbers in mass work while abhorring centralized organization. We
should learn from their example, while not succumbing to liberalism in
our security practices or abandoning scientific leadership.
Getting the correct balance of cadre work and mass work will be more
challenging with a cell structure. There is no way to impose a balance
on the movement as a whole without a center, but we can pay attention to
what is going on around us and get in where we fit in. Leading cells
should not be shy to point out where the movement needs more investment
of resources.
One amendment we would make to the “Resolutions on Cell Structure” is to
cut the suggestion that a one-persyn cell “in many ways… has the least
worries security-wise!” Certainly, one-persyn cells should maintain high
standards for admitting others. However, the value of
criticism/self-criticism on the level of day-to-day work is something
that is stressed within Maoism, and we’ve benefited from in our own
practice in MIM(Prisons). We still need democratic centralism with the
cell structure to provide crucial discipline and accountability. The
criticisms we can give and get from other cells will be limited in
nature if our security is correct. And we have seen how one-persyn cells
can degrade or disappear quickly.
The November 2 elections promise some shuffling of the imperialist
representatives in government, but as usual with elections where the
choices are limited to different flavors of imperialist leaders, there
will be no real change. One ballot initiative that did catch our
attention is Proposition 19 in California which would legalize and
regulate marijuana.
In an attempt to reduce support for Prop 19, on 30 September 2010
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law that changes the
punishment for possession of less than an ounce of pot to just a fine.
This reduces the potential impact of Prop 19 and should cut down on the
number of people in prison for marijuana possession. But even arrests
and convictions without a prison sentence have negative repercussions,
so Prop 19 goes farther in limiting the reach of the state in terms of
possession laws.
MIM(Prisons) supports any laws that will cut back on the number of
people locked up in prison or otherwise controlled by the imperialist
state. We know that drug laws (like other laws) are disproportionately
prosecuted against oppressed nations within U.$. borders, resulting in
huge numbers of Blacks and Latinos behind bars. For this reason we would
support legalizing all drugs to take power away from the imperialist
government and its criminal injustice system.
In 2009, just over half of the drug arrests were for marijuana (848,408
out of 1,663,583).(1) Marijuana arrests are growing as a proportion of
total drug arrests in the U.$., up to 52.6% in 2009 from 39.9% in 1995.
This is driven by arrests for simple possession, the percentage of
arrests for marijuana trafficking has not changed much over time.(2)
Adding to these statistics on marijuana arrests is compelling
information on the disproportionate use of marijuana laws against Black
men in California. The Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice reports:
“African Americans, just 6% of the state’s population…comprise a
staggering 45% of the 1,600 Californians imprisoned for marijuana,
including more than half of those locked up for marijuana felonies.
Blacks are nearly 4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than
other races, a racial gap only slightly wider than for other crimes. But
after African Americans enter California’s ‘Black marijuana system,’
disparities multiply more than for any other offense. Seven in 10 Black
marijuana arrestees are charged with felonies, compared to one-fifth for
other races. Blacks convicted of marijuana felonies are 3 times more
likely to be sent to prison than Nonblack marijuana felons. The upshot
of these accumulating discriminations is that Blacks wind up being
imprisoned for marijuana at 8 times the rate of Hispanics and 18 times
the rate of Whites. At older ages, the Black-Nonblack marijuana
imprisonment gap soars to nearly 4,000%… No other offense (including
violent, property, and other crimes) and no other drug (including
heroin, methamphetamine, and crack) even remotely displays the huge
racial discrepancies in imprisonment for marijuana.”(3)
The new law would not completely eliminate marijuana arrests and
prosecutions, primarily because it restricts the legal age to 21 and
only allows possession of small quantities, but they would be greatly
reduced. In addition, the federal government has promised to challenge
the constitutionality of Prop 19 if it passes, and to enforce the
federal laws in California regardless. Of course we can’t look at these
laws in a vacuum, the criminal injustice system will not cut back on the
police force or shrink the prisons simply because one law changes. Cops
will just find other reasons to arrest people, and those people will
continue to be disproportionately Black and Latino.
Even worse, cities like Oakland will likely be using the new tax
revenues to restore its recently cut back police force. The city stands
to be one of the biggest beneficiaries if the law passes, as it is home
to Oaksterdam University, which will be licensing large growing and
distribution centers under the new law. The financial interests behind
Oaksterdam University bankrolled the introduction of Prop 19 to the
November ballot. Los Angeles campus chancellor Jeff Jones pointed out
that support has come primarily from the jobs and tax revenue angle. He
says that focusing on imprisonment rates gets little support from
Californians.
While the imperialists run the global drug trade, here the state is
partnering with corporate interests to take over the local industry,
which has been the domain of the lumpen class. Following the national
liberation movements of the sixties many in the ghetto who didn’t see
the Amerikan dream through integration were able to find an income
through the drug economy. By the 1970s, Italians, Jews and others who
dominated black markets, in particular drugs, had long been integrated
into white Amerika. Whites left the inner cities for the suburbs where
they could become richer more easily by joining a growing financial
sector, allowing for Black and Latino gangs to take over profitable
street crime in their own areas. Organized crime, led by the CIA, backed
the most individualistic and destructive emerging groups, while
repressing Black and Brown power movements and flooding these
neighborhoods with cocaine.(4)
Faced with economic crisis today, white Amerika wants these jobs back.
And the state is leading the charge, hoping to reach a new tax source to
close huge shortfalls in paying their bureaucrat employees - especially
their pigs, who account for 85% of city spending in Oakland (police
& fire combined).(5) But whites aren’t forming a new mafia (at least
not exactly). Instead they formed a new university to train and certify
workers in the industry and they have joined labor unions to ensure
wages of $25.75 an hour with pensions, paid vacations and health
insurance.(6) In contrast, reports from the 1990s showed that most in
the drug game in the inner cities made around minimum wage and worked
long hours (needless to say with no benefits).(7) So the state hopes to
shrink the workforce in drug sales and production, pay a few trained
workers a nice sum, and increase their share of profits from the sale of
marijuana to pay cops and other state employees. In the process, the
economic crisis will be passed along to the lumpen who will become ever
more desperate to make ends meet. This will lead to more violence and
problems, and make the need for self-determination more dire in
oppressed nation communities that lack legal job markets.
While MIM(Prisons) supports the passage of laws that result in fewer
people in prison, we are under no illusions that even full legalization
of drugs in Amerika will solve the drug problems here. As we have seen
with alcohol, legalization of a drug does not make for safe use.
Amerikan culture is alienating and leads to rampant legal and illegal
drug abuse. According to a World Health Organization survey of 17
countries across the globe, the U.$ leads the world in users of both
legal and illegal drugs. Drug use is correlated with wealth of a country
with the richer countries having a higher percentage of drug users.(8)
It will take a revolution to create a culture that allows people to feel
valuable, safe and empowered and not in need of the easy escape that can
be found in drugs. After the revolution in China, the Maoist-led country
basically eliminated drug addiction through community-based campaigns.
Drug addiction, particularly to opium, was a widespread problem imported
by the British. But after the revolution there was a strong focus on
helping drug addicts get clean, and on giving everyone useful work and
education as well as health care. This campaign, combined with a
strategy of wiping out opium growing and distribution in favor of much
needed food crops, virtually eliminated the drug problems in China by
the early 1950s. Only with a government that serves the people rather
than working to enrich its imperialist masters will we be able to
eliminate drug abuse and the criminal injustice system. As we work
towards such a system we will support laws that result in fewer people
in prison, but we know the impact of these laws will be minimal at best.
I’m writing in response to the article
“Gulf
Oil Spill: It’s Capitalism, Stupid!”, and wanted to address one
issue within the article. In this prisoner’s article, he states that
“this type of disaster would have had a very small to nil chance of
happening in the former Soviet Union (1917-1953) [The Lenin and Stalin
era] or the socialist People’s Republic of China (1949-1976), because
those communist countries wouldn’t have had to do the extensive drilling
that the First World seems so caught up with. Why? It is exactly because
the communist countries implement something called ‘planned economics,’
to meet human needs.”
We must be careful what we teach in regard to a better government when
using the Stalinist era. This individual’s comment regarding “planned
economics” is wrong, it was not implemented peacefully but through
violence. He should read about Stalin’s seven year plan and the
collectivization of property and farms. History reflects that Stalin
killed over 20 million of his own country men, so using him or that era
as an example is misguided. Stalin was a tyrant, a pathological killer.
I would not name his era as one of humanity’s finer points, nor look up
to his “planned economics” which cost so many of his countrymen’s lives.
Additionally, the Soviet Union’s record regarding ecological and
environmental disasters is one of complete failure and surpasses the
United States record on a grand scale, both under the Stalinist era and
even today.
It is ok to believe in one form of government or a goal of government,
but let’s not distort the past to build a better future as this is
nothing more than an illusion in which we all already live under in
America.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The original author was correct to uphold
the Soviet Union and China as examples of environmentalism. In 1942,
under Stalin’s leadership, the city of Moscow composted all of the waste
of its 4,000,000 inhabitants. The biothermal process heated large
“greenhouse farms” in the city, while the resulting compost was used as
fertilizer.(1) With all the talk of “green cities” in the United $tates,
there are no projects that rival what the Soviets were doing 70 years
ago. Similarly, China and the Soviet Union had massive recycling
programs for metal decades before such things became fashionable in the
imperialist countries. Also note, that if one were to do a quantitative
comparison of socialist vs. capitalist environmentalism, one must
compare countries of the same time period, reflecting similar ecological
knowledge.
This letter gives us a chance to debunk some myths about the Stalin era
in the Soviet Union in general. First, we want to be clear that state
capitalism, which was put into place in the Soviet Union after Stalin’s
death, does not reflect Stalinism or any form of socialism. Therefore
this author is just confusing the issue by complaining about
environmental disasters there today. Second, we must point out that the
article in question never claims that planned economics was an entirely
peaceful process. However, we must be very clear that it was Stalin’s
policies and practices that enabled the Soviet Union to industrialize
the Soviet Union, defeat Hitler and put an end to fascism, in spite of
the purposeful non-interference policy of countries like the U.$. who
hoped to stand aside and let fascism wipe out communism.
This letter reflects the typical anti-Stalinist propaganda of the
imperialist countries who like to claim that Stalin himself killed over
20 million people, as if one man could possibly be so powerful. The
reality is that many people died during the fight against fascism, and
in fact Stalin himself did order or oversee many deaths of spies and
those suspected of being infiltrators for the fascists. In this way
Stalin ensured that the Soviet Union was the only country free of a
Fifth Column of fascist spies and infiltrators. This made it possible
for him to do what no other country could even come close to
accomplishing, in spite of the lack of development and widespread
poverty in the Soviet Union, and defeat Hitler. The aggressive
industrialization and collectivization reflected the needs of the Soviet
Union at the time those policies were implemented.
This letter includes the usual imperialist propaganda of labeling Stalin
a pathological tyrant rather than looking at his actions and evaluating
them scientifically. It’s easy to sling around names masquerading as
political criticisms. But when we look closely at Stalin’s record and
his policies we can see a history of carefully evaluating the difficult
conditions of the time and making decisions about what to do based on
the reality of those conditions. When you have the fascists amassing on
your borders, planning invade and massacre your population to put in
place a system of tyranny and oppression, sometimes the best options to
fight those fascists don’t involve picking flowers and singing happy
songs. Without industrialization the Soviet Union could not have
defeated Hitler (even Hitler saw this) and with an active Fifth Column
of spies the fascists would have had the inside track on Soviet
activities. In wartime difficult decisions must be made, and the world
is lucky that Stalin was a man able to make these decisions
scientifically, without sentiment, or we could be living under global
fascist rule today. As it was the Soviet Union lost more than 20 million
people to the war against the fascists. The number of lives saved by his
victory in the war is never something he gets credit for, but even
deaths from starvation due to the conditions of war are something his
critics like to count as if Stalin had personally executed every single
person who died during his leadership.
For more on Stalin we recommend MIM Theory 6, The Stalin Issue.
