MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Life’s purpose works us unmercifully.
The first degree is knowledge of self.
The repressed anger dangers everyone around.
The compound is stilled, lockdown!
The wild sounds in between their ears
Are quieted by a cell.
The hell in the mind tortures through silence
The obvious is far fetched till it hits home
The zone of protection lies in the hands of another,
My brother.
Gun in hand,
He stands for a heavy hand of justice
But homie its just–us.
The price of fame is to become lost.
To lose myself is to gain.
I stand here today for my life’s purpose.
The words hurt more than any sword.
No guard or judge can protect you from life.
No strife or burden can protect you from your heart.
From now till your ending,
Are you living your life’s purpose?
The truth has finally out come from the darkness and into the light:
people housed within social isolation by the U.$. criminal justice
system are not considered persons protected by the U.$. Constitution,
international agreements against torture, or Human Rights. States across
the United $tates are actively deploying systems and protocols that
suspend persons held in custody, in social isolation from Amerikan
society, away from the protections of law, due process and order.
The criminal justice trend is to eliminate prisoners’ freedom to use
and access Postal Services. It’s like the U.$. Postal Service has
entered into a private agreement with the criminal justice system to
deny mailing services of the traditional sense from all imprisoned.
Correction departments across the U.$. have engaged in concerted acts
of sedition, substituting systems disguised as fun helpful tablet
gadgets and video visitation programs for actual social interactions.
Gone are the days of free assembly/press/congregation and religious
exercise. Now persons are free to shut up, and be retaliated against for
even hoping to benefit from the protections of the U.$ Constitution’s
freedom of speech.
Even the freedom to grieve against the state has been frozen. In
California it is being done under the departments decision to cease
classical mailing processes for email services made available by the Global
Tel Link security corporation. CDCR is planning to phase out all
traditional mailing services in exchange for heavily restricted online
access.
The move by CDCR involves outsourcing labour facilities and
redirecting institutional service agreements to security bonds
controlled by state agencies outside of the department’s jurisdiction,
for example, the Department of Health and Human Services. The moves are
being made under the cover of darkness, better yet the cover of claims
to public safety, and the Center for Disease Control acts as the
shelter. All in the name of mental health and hospitality for Amerikans
with disability? From prisoners of circumstance to residences of
outpatient facilities too doped out of their minds to even know the
value of a traditional letter.
CDCR has began phasing out traditional mailing services using its
Inmate 602 Grievance Procedures, institutions have eliminated
traditional answering and mailing procedures for residence. Not only
does the department rely on a new SOMS computer scanning system that
forecloses any original writings and supporting information attached to
an Inmate grievance, but it is enforcing computer software coding, by
way of its Global-Tel Link tablet emails, that requires California
prisoners to email grievances. This last part connects to the criminal
justice system in the late requirements of U.S District Courts in
California for 1983 Civil complaints filed by prisoners be done via
email. If an individual can’t even write a simple complaint any longer,
it begs to question what is the U.$. standing in justice?
Technological advances are all good and all, but are the residence of
these penal institutions still citizens of the United Snakes of Amerika?
Or does their custody lie somewhere else?
It is important that the public be aware of this very serious dynamic
between themselves, the state and those in custody of state agencies
like CDCR. The state is allowing for those in the custody of CDCR to be
stripped of their civil rights and it all is being done in the name of
the people, under the color of law. Silence is not an answer to the
claims set forth against the people.
MIM(Prisons) adds:Prison Legal News (PLN)
just reported some interesting stats following the Florida Department of
Corrections completing its move to digitizing all regular
correspondence. They found that 1% of the contraband found by the
Florida DOC was through routine mail. Meanwhile, in July 2022, the
Legislative Finance Committee noted that after New Mexico shifted to
digitized mail there was zero effect on the amount of drug use in their
prisons.(1) These statistics back up what we’ve been reporting on
anectdotally for years – that mail restrictions and visitation shut
downs have had no impact on the influx of drugs into prisons across the
country.(2)
According to PLN prison systems and jails in 27 states have
switched to digitized mail. With California gearing up to follow suit,
it seems the tides have shifted in that direction.
Like body cams, some prisoners have asked for digital grievance
systems so the C.O. you submit it too can’t just drop it in the
trashcan. Otherwise, we agree with this comrade’s concerns. Social
isolation is a violation of basic humyn rights and humyn needs. Visits,
phone calls, letter, photos and cards are a must for any system that
hopes to rehabilitate.
In yet another act of terrorism, Shareen Abu Akleh, a
Palestinian-amerikan journalist, was targeted and killed by the
illegitimate state of I$rael and its military. The I$raeli state, its
occupation of Palestine, and its armed forces are and have been backed
by the united state’s ruling class since 1932. On 11 May 2022, while on
the job, covering an I$raeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in
the West Bank, she was maliciously assassinated.
Shareen Abu Akleh became a thorn in the side of the I$raeli state as
a result of her continuous on the spot coverage of daily state
repression, human rights violations, and Palestinian genocide. She
covered many detentions, home demolitions (which Palestinian homes were
targeted in, and demolished to force them to relocate for I$raelis)
military raids of schools and universities, and Masjids, and killings of
Palestinians. This brave frontline work placed her on I$raeli hit
lists.
Shareen Abu Akleh was a journalist for decades and a Palestinian
revolutionary-nationalist, who being a trailblazer in her field,
inspired many Palestinian and Arab wimmin to serve their people through
the work of liberation journalism.
Her funeral brought out tens of thousands of supporters, mostly
Palestinian, in Jerusalem. As pallbearers carried sister Shareen, the
I$raeli military attacked them, and further disrupted the occasion with
malicious zionist violence against Palestinian nationals.
Sadly, the colonization of Palestine, the Apartheid regime of I$rael,
and violent and fatal repression of native inhabitants is all apart of
the imperialist system. What does imperialism look like? It looks like
land theft, it looks like millions of people living without power or
plumbing, it looks like bombing and shelling of homes, schools,
hospitals and finishing the job by attacking refugee camps. It looks
like storming universities, confiscating study materials, it looks like
the process of erasing an entire human group, and that’s exactly what’s
taking place in Palestine. There will be many who call for justice for
Shareen Abu Akleh, but the sad truth is that justice for her and justice
for the Palestinian nation can only be achieved with the end of the
I$raeli occupation.
FREE THE LAND!!! FREE
PALESTINE!!!
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement is a grassroots
initiative that began in the early 2000’s to gain international support
for the occupied Palestinian nation against I$rael’s continued military
suppression, genocide and land theft.
In recent years the BDS movement has indeed gained international
support, even in the face of reactionary pro-imperialist backlash from
the states who support genocide, land theft and military crimes.
The goal of BDS is to isolate I$rael on the international field by
upholding the “simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the
same rights as the rest of humanity”.
Students around the world have been pressuring their schools and
universities to join the ‘Academic Boycott’, initiated in 2004 by the
Palestinian campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of I$rael
(PACBI). As student activism again comes to life here in the United
$tates, it is important that students engage in internationalist
frameworks. Amerikan student activists should support the academic
boycott of I$rael, which is part of the overall BDS movement. Students
should do this not as a mere moral cause, but the understanding that
over 50% of the U.$. states strongly support the I$raeli
military-apartheid-colonization, so much so that 35 states have Anti-BDS
laws. They support the frequent military raids of Palestinian
universities under the pretext of ‘countering terrorist activities’, the
imprisonment and murder of student activists peacefully protesting,
closure of schools and the recent I$raeli military move to arbitrarily
control what is and isn’t taught in universities. A new government
procedure allows the military to restrict visiting professors who teach
subjects supposedly ‘not relevant to Palestinians’.
In the United $tates, the free flow of ideas has begun to be brought
to an end. Book bans, Don’t Say Gay laws, the backlash against Critical
Race Theory, what’s next? Will the same reactionaries rally police/
military force to suppress your student demonstration? The book Chican@ Power and
the Struggle for Aztlán has been banned in prisons in many parts of
occupied Aztlán. Will the reactionaries prevent your free thought?
NEWSFLASH THEY ALREADY ARE! Students in North America should pressure
their institutions to join the Academic boycott and the wider BDS
movement. END ALL COLLABORATION WITH THE ILLEGITIMATE STATE, until
Palestine is free.
MIM(Prisons) adds: One of the first essays many
students of MIM study is On Contradiction by Mao Zedong. In it
Mao explains how change must come from within. The liberation of
Palestine depends on an effective national liberation struggle from
within Palestine, but it can be assisted by resistance to the funding
and arming of the I$raeli state by Amerikans whose government is the
primary prop of I$rael. A strong anti-imperialist movement in this
country would be able to limit the sale of military goods to I$rael,
Ukraine and anywhere else where the empire wants to fight wars against
its enemies without sending its own troops.
Notes: (1) ‘Palestinian-american journalist
assassinated,’ Monical Hill, FreedomSocialist,vol.43,no.3 (2)
‘Academic fortify boycott of Israel’, Raya Fidel,
FreedomSocialist,vol.43,no.3
First a correction. In Under Lock & Key 78 the article
Understanding
George Jackson repeatedly referred to Hugo “Yogi” Pinell as being
Puerto Rican when ey was actually of Nicaraguan descent.
In this issue we tried to tackle some questions of strategy for
change. Most of our readers each issue are new to our work. And while
everyone we hear from loves ULK, not everyone understands how
we’re different, or agrees with our different approach to change. In
this issue we distinguish our strategy from those of reformists, those
organizing the labor aristocracy into unions, and right and left errors
around identity politics and idealism. We also feature the ongoing work
around targeted campaigns around strategic issues of censorship,
solitary confinement and building a united front within the prison
movement in general, with revolutionary leadership.
Since last issue we, have a number of accomplishments to report. We
published, printed and distributed the new zine Power to New
Afrika! in Black August 2022. We have continued our training
program for the Revolutionary 12 Step Program we began earlier this year
with comrades inside and outside. We are caught up in mailing out
responses to the intro study course, and should be mailing those on a
weekly basis moving forward. This means you can expect to get a response
in less than 2 months. Hundreds if not thousands of comrades inside
mailed petitions to the Department of Justice as part of the Juneteenth
Freedom Initiative. And we continue to mail out copies of the petition.
Dozens if not hundreds of postcards demanding an end to politically
targeted censorship were mailed to the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice Departmental Review Board. With this, the distribution of
Under Lock & Key outside prisons has increased. Comrades
inside also continue to sustain our postage stamp needs with their
donations.
While the above accomplishments were achieved with the support of
some newer comrades, we also lost some support on the outside during
this period. This has meant we have struggled to stay up to date on
processing and responding to our growing influx of mail. It also has
caused us to change how we mail out ULK, which will more than
double our postage costs. As printing costs also increase, the annual
cost of a subscription will be going up and we will update our readers
in our next issue, so that you can donate enough to cover your own
ULKs or more.
Related to donations, a comrade in California wrote:
“I’m writing to inform all comrades that I wrote the Khufu
Foundation, sent them the requested stamps and within two weeks I
received a copy of the lawsuit. I know MIM said that you were unable to
vouch for the Khufu Foundation, but I can and I would like to inform all
the captive comrades that Khufu Foundation is legit, you will not be
disappointed.
“Also in Under Lock & Key 78, I read the MIM(Prisons)
update that talks about contributions/donations are needed, especially
from the many comrades who are in prison. I’m taking the step to do my
part as I enclosed a book of 20 stamps to cover my subscription coast as
well as other comrades who are unable to provide the support with
stamps. I would like to ask all of the comrades who are able and willing
to donate a book of stamps because with a book of stamps we are able to
cover our cost but also cover other comrades who are unable to give
stamps. I also would like to ask the comrades who are able to try and
donate one book of stamps every quarter (that’s 4 books of stamps a
year). Let’s try to step up our contributions.”
Requests for Texas Packs and the TDCJ’s Grievance Operations Manual
(which is regularly being censored these days) continue to increase. New
comrades should read about our Free Political Books to Prisoners Program
on p.2 and understand that you must send payments for these 2 items.
As discussed in this issue, many prisons have begun digitizing mail.
Our newspaper cannot be processed by these services. So if you don’t
tell us what prison you are in when you write us we cannot send you a
subscription.
When we first met, it was truly love at first sight. i was a young,
wild, Gangster Disciple… and unfortunately i was a parasite. You walked
into the room, and… you began to speak. i will never forget your first
words: “Dare To Struggle! Dare To Be Free!”
Our eyes were fixated on each others. It was like you were talking
directly to me. i was captivated by the things you had to say. i was
overwhelmed by your Divine Inner-G! You sent chills throughout my body,
but the message i still didn’t quite understand. So you walked over and
put your arms around me… and whispered in my ear: “Free The Land.”
The way you walked, and the way you moved, intrigued me. Your pride
in being Black was intoxicating for sure. From that moment on i knew
that i had to have you… because you were just too much for me to
ignore.
So We began to date casually, and… you let me know that if i were
really ready to step up and be your man, then i had to let go of my
gang-banging mentality. i had to go from Gangster Disciple to Growth and
Development. i had to learn what knowledge of the self meant. i had to
take time and learn the New Afrikan Creed. i had to learn all about
FROLIAN, which you called The Three Phase Theory.
i couldn’t believe how committed to change you were. You told me you
had a plan, and i recall smiling at you and asking, so what is this
plan? But you had this intense look on your face… the most serious look
i had ever seen. Then you took me out west with you to Oakland, and… you
introduced me to Comrade Huey P.
I will never forget his words of wisdom. He taught me that to give my
life for The People is the greatest honor of all, and that it is better
to die on my feet then to live on my knees. He told me that We are at
war, and… that the price of freedom ain’t free.
This motivated me, because, all my life i was willing to die over a
color or for which way a person wore their hat. i recall asking you why
you think i was so willing to do this? And… you replied, “N’dugu, Willy
Lynch taught you that.” i was sickened to my stomach, and i couldn’t
understand how this could be. So you took me back to The
Land–Chicago–and introduced me to The Chairman of the Black Panther
Party.
Chairman Fred Hampton was a flame thrower, very charismatic… truly
something to behold. i will never forget what he told me: “i am a
Revolutionary! i have given my life to The People!”
All the things you were showing me, made me rise in love with you
even more. Especially when you taught me about the bravery of 17 year
old Comrade Johnathan Jackson, and… when you let me read your personal
Prison Letters from Comrade George.
You taught me about Queen-Mother Assata Olugbala Shakur. And… how the
Black Liberation Army liberated her from kkkaptivity and got her to
Cuba. You taught me about how this racist system tried to murder Comrade
Mumia Abu Jamal, even though they KNEW he wasn’t a shooter.
You gave me the lessons of Comrade Geronimo Ji Jaga, who went to
prison for 28 years for something he didn’t do. You showed me how this
fascist system will do anything to neutralize to the 21st Century Voices
Of Total Empowerment… the same way they dropped the bomb on MOVE!
You gave my life purpose and meaning, and for that i will never put
anything above you. i honor you on our anniversary, Black August, but
every single day i will show you that i love you. i just wanted to write
you this letter, my first love: The New Afrikan Liberation Struggle!
FREE ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS 21 Gun Salutes to ALL this Black
August
Those who sow discord into unity are our enemies. If we ourselves are
guilty of pushing the people from the movement then we are our own enemy
while we divide and conquer ourselves.
Prior generations fought for change, but today we fight over change:
back-biting our brothers, looking down on the misfortunate, and even
supporting the police in their corruption and brutality.
We are familiar with the divide and conquer tactics of our
opposition; so when our lines of communications are broken, we must have
faith in our comrades and remain loyal or the oppressor will create
division by placing contempt and distrust in your heart towards your
comrades.
We have a prisoner here in “High Risk Security” lock-up who is unable
to operate a tablet. Instead of attempting to show him how to use it,
they decided not to feed him.
This prisoner is clearly supposed to be in a mental institution. He
is too mentally unstable to qualify for recommendation to be released
from High Risk Security stats; and even if they did allow this prisoner
to be released to regular population, his mental condition will cause
altercations with other prisoners or staff. This is a breach of safety
in the department that doesn’t care about mental patients although the
department is quick to provide sentences to subjects they failed to
place in safe environment.
Comrades, we must put our heads together, shoulder-to-shoulder, and
put down the K2. If finding a way to do away with drug test for THC is
the alternative, then we must try. We must band together to overcome
this addiction. It won’t be easy, but it is necessary when you look
around and see our fellow comrades in helmets and 4 point restraints
losing their sanity. Do we even know the differences between K2 and
phenol paper? And molly is meth. That’s worse than crack. Never get high
off your own supply, and don’t inject white substances. I’m not telling
you what to do, but we can not operate or function against our opps
while walking around like crackheads because we’ll be more loyal to the
high than to the movement.
Before I go, I just want you to know, AKs got the floor. We want
peace not war. Less we all storm the doors. When it rains, it pours.
T.R.U.C.E. - Team of Revolutionaries Uniting to Combat the Enemy.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade is one of a handful of
leaders engaged in United Struggle from Within’s Revolutionary 12
Steps training program. We are working to build this program inside
and outside prisons around the country and we need more leaders to get
trained to do so.
The Free Alabama Movement has declared their
recent organizing a success, with over 15,000 prisoners
participating and prodding response from the governor during the
campaign season.(1) They have announced the next phase of their struggle
for reasonable paths to parole and release. It involves the drafting and
proposal of a state bill. The Alabama Legislature opens on 3 March 2023,
and prisoners have planned to launch a campaign to promote and support
the proposed bill at that time.(2)
Following the recent actions, a damning report came out
substantiating the prisoners demands:
“July 2022 was the deadliest month on record in Alabama prisons.
Thirty-two people died in Alabama prisons in July — the most since at
least January 2000, the earliest month for which data is available
online. More people died than were granted parole that month.”(3)
The Free Alabama Movement concludes in their recent statement:
“On September 26, over 15,000 people stood up for freedom in the
Alabama prison system. That’s 10,000+ new soldiers, warriors and
generals to the ranks who had NEVER participated in a shutdown before.
Most of them didn’t know they would be challenged by the ADOC at the
core of our most basic human need: food. This is a real struggle against
a system that is well funded and has been in existence for over 100
years. We gotta act like we want freedom, and move with the
understanding that that will be a test of your will and spirit to
achieve something great.
“Understand the mission brother and sisters. A call has been made for
us to stand again. We cannot miss our assignment and expect change.
A core aspect of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is the bond between theory
and practice. For instance, there is a theoretical analysis of the labor
aristocracy in the imperialist countries and the practical application
of that theory is not organizing around labor aristocrat interests.
There is a theoretical analysis of building independent institutions
among the masses; and the practical application of that theory is
building United Struggle Within grievance campaigns, building Maoist
prison study groups, building peace between lumpen organizations through
the United Front for Peace in Prisons, etc. There is a theoretical
analysis of revolution; and the practical application of that theory is
boycotting elections, refusing to use armed struggle as a bargain chip
and instead see it as a necessity, etc. These are just some broad and
simplified examples of the relationship between theory and practice to
paint the picture. Incorrect practice and incorrect theories go hand in
hand: one strengthens the existence of another.
The main purpose of this article is to start a series of articles
akin to the “Ongoing
Discussion on Organizing Strategy” series which started among USW
comrades.(1) The series has been productive on maintaining a two-line
struggle within the USW and the overall prison movement, and delves deep
into the many questions raised in organizing behind bars. We hope to
bring that energy of discussing strategy and tactics of Maoist
organizing behind bars to that of political line both inside and outside
U.$. prisons. These bad ideas aren’t dividing line questions (such as
the labor aristocracy question or the class nature of the Chinese
Communist Party in 2022) that MIM(Prisons) struggle with other communist
organizations through polemics. Rather, these are day-to-day bad ideas
and attitudes that many people take up within the communist movement
(even good comrades). They enforce liberalism during line struggle, and
stunt scientific thinking. Let’s begin.
1.
Defending Revisionism Through One’s Laurels and Clout
One example of this was when Joma
Sison repeatedly refused to acknowledge the national contradiction as
principal in the United $tates, and communists refused and still
refuse to criticize due to his historically integral role in the
People’s War in the Philippines.(2) Communists don’t look at persynal
laurels or prestige when it comes to criticism; everything and everyone
that partakes in bad practice and bad beliefs is targetable for
criticism. If the Sison defenders said “historically and currently, the
United $tates’ principal contradiction has always been class and is
currently class” then perhaps there will be more legitimacy for line
struggle and discussion albeit it still being a chauvinist and
revisionist take. However, what does Joma Sison being a historically
great revolutionary leader that rectified the errors of the Communist
Party of Philippines in the 60s-70s have to do with the fact that the
current United $tates’ society has developed around the oppressed
nations in a historical materialist manner?
Now if a former neo-nazi prisoner who joined the United Struggle
Within brings up how the white workers are the masses, then bringing up
his past identity as a neo-nazi would be more relevant in criticizing
this individual comrade to the correct line from an incorrect one since
his past practice as an Amerikan First World lumpen could influence his
current politcs. Ultimately, bringing up his past errors (or victories
even) is only a small part of criticizing the comrade, and ultimately
it’s the combating of that idea and political practice that will be the
final nail in the coffin of getting rid of that bad line from that
comrade’s thinking and most importantly the overall movement. A part of
this problem contains in identity politics, which leads to the next
point.
2. Incorrect Handling
of Identity Politics
Identity politics has been a hot topic among communists with some
seeing it as non-antagonistic with Marxism and with many joining the
conservative reactionary bandwagon of fascists ranting about “woke”
culture and post-modernism. The classic Amerikan value of pragmatist
empiricism (the idea of the only way to truly know anything is through
directly experiencing it) is antithetical to Maoism, and it is our
stance that post-modernism and identity politics can be looked at it the
same or adjacent manner in terms of philosophy. The Maoist doctrine of
cadres learning from practice and the masses learning revolution through
waging revolution can become Amerikan pragmatism if we aren’t
careful.
Today in 2022, this pragmatist empiricist idea is popular among the
oppressed nations represented in popular day-to-day slogans such as
“don’t speak over (insert a particular oppressed group)” and “stay in
your lane” when a person not belonging to a certain social group
(gender, religion, sexuality, nation, etc.) is talking about issues
pertaining to said certain group since they don’t directly experience
that group’s existence. Some revisionists see no problem with identity
politics and post-modernism, and think that identity politics and
post-modernism must be a good thing because the fascists are complaining
about it and complaining about it must mean one is a fascist. Other
revisionists have straight up adopted national chauvinism. When the
masses criticize the communists with “a lot of communists are racist and
don’t really care about black/brown/indigenous people” these chauvinists
resort to taking up fascist talking points and attitudes against
identity politics and post-modernism.
It is an important Maoist doctrine that post-modernism and
pragmatist-empiricism are both unscientific capitalist garbage that
poisons the masses. It is another Maoist doctrine that the masses under
oppression will go to the current superstructure of the enemy
(capitalist philosophies, capitalist institutions, the capitalist state,
etc.) during times of oppression. When communists have failed the masses
of the United $tates for 400 years by supporting the white workers and
putting the national contradiction beneath white worker interests at
best and attacking oppressed nation masses alongside the white workers
at worst, then perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when the oppressed
nations go to classical Amerikan pragmatism and post-modernism of
relying on lived experiences and changing discourse instead of
dialectical materialist thinking and revolution. This is especially true
for the case where the oppressed nations are majority labor aristocrat
as well – the class where this ideology grows the most ferociously
amongst.
The communists have failed in Afghanistan with Soviet revisionism, so
the Afghan masses went to the existing superstructures within the
semi-colonial, semi-feudal nation such as Jihad instead of people’s war.
Instead of lambasting the Afghan (or in this case the Chicano, First
Nations, and New Afrikan) masses, perhaps communists should get their
heads out of their asses, and try to appreciate
why Jihad/pragmatist-empiricism as an idea (despite its reactionary
content) is so popular among the masses in the first place.(3)
One interesting thing we see as a Maoist prison cell is that identity
politics tend to be less popular among prisoners which perhaps shows
that the oppressed nation labor aristocracy might go for identity
politics for its liberation far more than the oppressed nation lumpen
who might go for conspiracy theories or capitalist boot-strap mentality
which we see more popular among prisoners and less with the student
activist types that concern themselves more with identity politics. This
leads to the third point.
3.
Hating the Masses for their Reactionary Ideas under Oppression
Identity politics isn’t the only bourgeois idea that the masses hold
from the current capitalist superstructure. There are other ideas such
as patriarchy, homophobia, pulling one-self up by the bootstraps, voting
for the lesser evil, superstition, conspiracy theories, and religion
just for starters. When the masses show these tendencies, many
communists throw them into the enemy camp and treat them as if they were
enemies. For example, a communist student activist type might walk up to
a Black Hebrew Israelite and the topic of anti-semitism could pop up.
The communist university student will call the Black Israelite a fascist
for his views and say the Black Israelite should stay in his lane about
Jewish issues. When Mao said that we want politics in command and
political line is principal, he didn’t mean that our friends and enemies
are determined by their personal beliefs (whether that be politics,
religion, moral principles, cultural traditions, etc.). Mao didn’t say
“any Chinese peasant who participates in foot binding should be
ostracized from the movement.” And we can argue that foot binding is
much more backwards and patriarchal than the common
patriarchal/reactionary cultural values held by oppressed nations masses
in 2022. In fact, Mao’s method of finding out who our friends and
enemies were in China was by looking at a group of people’s relation to
the means of production, relation to consumption, and relations to other
classes; and through this method he concluded that the Chinese peasantry
were friends not enemies despite binding women’s feet so they don’t run
away from their husbands being a popular cultural trend among said
class.
Let’s look at the New Afrikan labor aristocracy as an example. We can
see that the class basically has access to the means of production
through its citizen status much like the Amerikan workers in 2022 (dead
labor of third world proletarians; higher wages gained through
super-exploitation of Africa, Asia, and Latin America; ability to buy
and invest in stocks; etc.) We can also look at how it consumes far more
than the international proletariat of Africa, Asia, and Latin America;
but consistently consume less than its Amerikan counterparts such as how
New Afrikan labor aristocrats are disproportionately more likely to live
under the country’s poverty line compared to Amerikan labor aristocrats.
We can also find out how its relations to the Amerikan labor aristocrat
are far more hostile than friendly as the poorer an Amerikan is the more
likely they are to hold extreme chauvinsit views (i.e. rednecks).
However, as embourgeoisfication of the New Afrikan workers solidified
during the later half of the 20th century, their relation to the migrant
proletarians (and migrants in general) of the Third World became more
hostile as well: previous contradictions which were relatively
non-antagonistic such as that in relation to the
Mexican/Nigerian/Caribbean migrants are more antagonistic in our current
day. So with these factors in mind, we can argue that this class of
people (yes that includes the Black Hebrew Israelite with anti-Semitic
tendencies) have interests for revolution against Amerika but might be
more reserved when it comes to internationalism and involving the class
in it self with other nations’ liberations. This is compared to the
Hindi proletariat who will be far less wishy washy as a class in
involving themselves with the struggle of the Dravidian proletariat when
reaching class consciousness. So in conclusion, with proper political
organizing the New Afrikan labor aristocracy would be a friend of the
revolution.
Instead of this method of finding out who our friends and enemies
are, most communists consider friends as people who have the correct
takes on an xyz issue most people don’t even care about and enemies as
people who hold reactionary views. One source of this ideology is how
Amerikan culture promotes individual thinking and behavior as the mover
of history rather than class struggle. With this mindset, racism is a
problem started by individual Amerikans thinking and behaving racist and
will end when individual Amerikans cease thinking and behaving racist.
The Maoist method on the other hand sees that racism is a problem that
was brought to inception by remnants of feudal European aristocrats (a
class of people) stealing this land at gunpoint and trickery from what
would become the modern First Nations, and enslaving what would become
modern New Afrikans and militaristically invading the Mexican nation’s
land, solidifying what would become modern Chicanos all for the various
Amerikan classes’ interests (whether that be the big capitalist class,
the small business owning capitalist class, or even the common Amerikan
worker).
The Maoist solution is for these national contradictions to be
resolved through the oppressed nations overthrowing Amerika through
revolution. These historical events of Amerikan land conquest, slavery,
and genocide were also crucial in acting as primitive accumulation for
global capitalism-imperialism in general not only for Amerika. There is
no modern day $outh Korea, Japan, Au$trailia, I$rael, $audi Arabia,
Kanada, and so on without Amerikan slavery, Amerikan land conquest, and
Amerikan genocide. Therefore proletarian dictatorship must be
established to resolve this contradiction as well as overthrow of
Amerika. But because of individualist Amerikan culture, national
chauvinism is something treated with tone and etiquette led by student
youth tired of their parents’ old backwards ways. This leads to the
fourth problem.
4. The Sub-Culture Problem
Many newer generation communists have begun their politics through
the internet. The original MIM was one of the first communist parties to
have a website and put credence in the importance of the internet. It
certainly is a politically important tool if it’s a major way youth are
becoming interested in Lenin, and how all the imperialist governments
partake in it in different ways from the FBI surveilling political
internet forums to the Chinese Communist Party banning entire social
media outlets. However, what the old MIM didn’t predict is that
communist groups on social media aren’t the ones that primarily
influence kids to read Mao Zedong and study the Black Panthers.
Communist groups are far outshadowed online by memes, twitch streamers,
tik tok spheres, instagram pages, internet forums, and the likes when it
comes to converting kids to communism than communist organization
internet presence. This has given rise to the problem of communism
becoming more akin to a sub-culture talked about on social media sites
like twitter and reddit than a political movement. Different political
stances from Maoism, Trotskyism, all the way to Stirnerite Anarchism
cease to become guides to action, but a thing to put on your bio.
Various people’s wars and nations at war become more akin to fandoms for
TV shows to obsess and argue over rather than a movement to popularize
and create awareness for. Political line ceases to become a belief and
action that one takes, but a take one has so they can get on the
algorithm. Line struggle turn into flame wars with no purpose of uniting
with others, but exist only to express one’s individual self for the
cathartic feeling of having the correct line.
In day-to-day real life, communism might be becoming less and less
pariah’d in the eyes of the average Amerikan; but communism itself is
becoming more and more revisionist, more and more toothless, more and
more a pop culture joke, and more and more a harmless icon of a once
revolutionary movement that became hijacked by the bourgeoisie after its
death, as Lenin spoke of. We took 20 steps forward and a million steps
back when it comes to fighting against anti-communist culture leftover
from the red scare era. Turns out Amerikan individualism was far more of
an obstacle in making Maoism popular than the legacy of McCarthyism.
We shouldn’t throw away the internet with the bathwater as it indeed
took a certain part in making the oppressor nation Amerikan youth become
interested in revolutionary politics, but we should also be acutely
aware of the sub-culture problem. A single New Afrikan, Chican@, or
Indigenous member of the masses understanding the Maoist concept of
reform and revolution and practicing to boycott the elections while not
calling themselves communist nor wearing red armbands is 100 times more
valuable to us in spreading popular support against imperialism than 300
college students with a Stalin portrait in their dorm rooms who thinks
the white worker is a friend.
Conclusion
Many of these problems can only really be solved through the
development of our movement as a whole. Even writing and publishing this
article in Under Lock & Key can only do so much. Our
dedicated prisoner comrades who read this will certainly be influenced,
and perhaps they will get more insight as to the problems of the
“activist” scene that they will be adjacent with once they get out; but
when it comes to student youth abandoning Liberalism or the masses on
the street taking up scientific thinking, it is up for the MIM (and not
just the prison ministry) to develop and go to the masses as Mao said.
For our readers and supporters outside, we challenge them to set up
geographical MIM cells or work with MIM(Prisons) to develop the modern
MIM. For our readers and supporters inside, we list these problems of
the movement to stay sharp and aware once they get released.
Notes: 1. starting in ULK 73, prisoners write in for a
copy of the full series 2. MIM, Applied internationalism: The
difference between Mao Zedong and Joma Sison. 3. Wiawimawo, January
2016, Islam a Liberation Theology, Under Lock & Key
No. 48.
It seems unanimous that 2023 will be a year of recession. A recent
report from the United Nations Committee on Trade And Development
(UNCTAD) opens up with:
“The world is headed towards a global recession and prolonged
stagnation unless we quickly change the current policy course of
monetary and fiscal tightening in advanced economies.
“Supply-side shocks, waning consumer and investor confidence and the
war in Ukraine have provoked a global slowdown and triggered
inflationary pressures.”(1)
Before talking more about the report, let’s start with some basics.
Recession is something that is unique to capitalism. It is a product of
capitalism’s inherent contradictions. In previous economic systems,
problems of getting resources to people were caused by things like
plagues, floods, droughts and war. All things that we are still familiar
with today. But there is no other economics system where people go
hungry because of “market forces” preventing adequate production and
distribution. This happens at all times in capitalism, but it will be
affecting broader swaths of the population as we go into recession.
While the pandemic was not the cause of current imbalances, it
certainly helped exacerbate them. Because we live in a service economy,
Amerikans had a hard time spending all their money when things were shut
down. They’re used to regular entertainment, movies, costly sporting
events and clubs, having people prepare food for them and the infamous
getting their hair done which they cried for during the early lockdowns.
Having all that cash on hand, they turned to purchasing goods, which
were harder to get due to supply chains slowing down. As the U.$.
government continued to roll out benefits to Amerikans they wanted to
buy more things and there were less things available to buy. Companies
selling things increased prices, and the pressure for inflation
began.
The ability to keep printing dollars (in the forms of COVID relief
money and low interest loans) is backed by the fact that the dollar is
the dominant currency for international trade. And this is backed by
U.$. dominance of international monetary organizations and U.$.
militarism shaping the world economy in its image.
Increasing Dollar Power
In 2022, the U.$. Federal Reserve got serious about addressing
inflation as it began to surpass 8% year-over-year (when they’d like it
closer to 2%). In recent months, the Fed has continued to increase the
interest rates by .75% at each meeting they have every 4 to 6 weeks.
They have indicated that they plan to continue to do so to bring down
wages and inflation. One of the goals of the Fed here is to increase
unemployment and cool down the job market by making it more expensive
for companies to borrow money. Recently Amerikans have had their pick of
jobs with many opportunities to increase their incomes. Under
capitalism, this is somehow a bad thing. Contrast this with the MIM
Platform for a socialist dictatorship of the proletariat, which
guarantees employment (as well as free day care, medical care, public
transport and college education).
The UNCTAD report highlights the even greater negative impacts of
raising interest rates in the United $tates on the Third World
proletariat. Yet, UNCTAD’s calls for, “Central banks in developed
economies to revert course and avoid the temptation to try to bring down
prices by relying on ever higher interest rates.” seems to be a pipe
dream at this point. As we discussed in our recent
article on the war in Ukraine, the U.$. dollar is the reserve
currency, which means what the U.$. Fed does has huge implications for
money everywhere.(2) And other imperialist countries have filed suit by
increasing interest rates to protect their own currencies from more
extreme devaluation. The British pound just hit it’s all-time low
exchange rate to the dollar, putting them almost at 1-to-1.
While Amerikans complain about oil prices rising from inflation, war
and supply chain issues, OPEC has announced it is cutting production,
which will increase global oil prices. This is not helping the cause of
the Fed and the U.$. government trying to mitigate inflation for
Amerikans.
Relatedly, Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries the UNCTAD
forecasts to exceed “normal” pre-COVID GDP trends next year. However,
President Biden is striking back at Saudi Arabia threatening to cut off
arms sales to the country saying their leadership role in OPEC is aiding
Russia, who has been engaged in a proxy war with the United $tates for
more than half a year now. Again, we are seeing increasing divisions
among the global powers. Similar to the divisions that precluded WWI and
WWII as discussed by author Richard Krooth.
In our review
of Arms & Empire in ULK 78 we quoted Krooth’s
explanation of the role of the strong dollar in bringing on the Great
Depression:
“…making it the hardest currency in the world, pushing up its value
vis-a-vis other currencies, but also making it inaccessible to nations
that otherwise would have purchased from America. When other nations
could not obtain dollars by exports to the U.S., obviously they could
import nothing at all. And so U.S. exports tended to fall and had to be
replaced with bilateral trade agreements. Up went U.S. unemployment when
markets fell away and bilateral trade could not replace them. Then down
came the dollar, the U.S. devaluing in 1933 in an attempt to stimulate
the exports again. But, alas, it was too late. The depression was on,
production was down, America was spreading crisis to Europe!”
(p.119)
While Europe is not quite in the rough shape it was at that time,
de-industrialization has been the trend, as Amerikan’s have had more and
more say in how their economies are structured. As we discussed in our
recent article on Ukraine, the Amerikans have been conspiring to prevent
a close relationship between Germany and Russia. Now it seems that the
sabotage attack on the Nordstream 2 pipeline that was built to pipe gas
from Russia to Germany is a continuation of those efforts by the
Amerikans.
Economic Policy and
Economic Systems
The UNCTAD report makes a number of recommendations to mitigate the
impacts of the coming recession on the exploited Third World nations of
the world, who of course will suffer the most. Again, these problems are
inherent to capitalism and cannot ultimately be avoided without
replacing it with a socialist economy. However, there are economic
policies that can improve, or even save, the lives of millions of people
today under capitalism. But they would need to be a bit more radical
than those suggested by UNCTAD.
The MIM
Platform includes two policies to be enforced by international
banking authorities under capitalism:
Elimination of international currency exchange rate fixing by
governments.
Tying of exchange rates to a standard basket of goods.
The UNCTAD report points out exchange rate depreciation in just six
months this year for a number of exploited countries:
Sri Lanka
77.8%
Ghana
32.1%
Sudan
29.7%
Egypt
19.8%
Haiti
15.6%
In the current system, when the currency in Sri Lanka depreciates by
77.8% that means that day-to-day expenses for the proletariat of Sri
Lanka are probably about doubled. If exchange rates were tied to a
standard basket of goods, then this would no longer be the case. Prices
of things like food and fuel would be stabilized across the globe in
local prices. The impact
on the imperialist system on the people of Ghana is explained in
more depth in our accompanying article.
Importantly, the above two demands by the MIM Platform would affect
the ability to pay off foreign debts as well. The UNCTAD report lists
the percent of government revenues spent on external debt in a number of
countries:
Somalia
96.8%
Sri Lanka
58.8%
Dominican Republic
20.4%
Ghana
28%
Jamaica
26.4%
How the heck can a state spend 97% of its revenue on debts to finance
capital (or even 25% for that matter) and ever be able to provide for
and serve the people of that country? Exchange rates cannot fix these
huge problems, which require debt forgiveness. But the current system of
exchange rates does make these debt payments increase as exchange rates
worsen as is happening now with a strengthening dollar (as most debts
are held in dollars). Overall, the percentage of state revenue spent on
servicing debts across the Third World has doubled over the last decade
according to this UNCTAD report. As surplus value extraction becomes
more difficult, interest payments on debt becomes a larger part of the
net flow of wealth from the exploited nations to the imperialist
countries.
There seems to be no momentum for MIM’s proposed radical changes
among the international bourgeoisie at this time, which means the
economy will continue to tighten and shrink. And under capitalism that
means people will suffer and die. The system is madness. If production
of goods ceases to be profitable, production ceases, it does not matter
how many people are in need of those goods. But one of the inherent
contradictions within capitalism is that the tendency to compete and
increase production constantly undercuts the rate of surplus value
extraction. As a result profits are always (generally) becoming harder
to come by. The introduction of the Chinese proletariat back into the
imperialist economy after 1976, but especially in the 1990s, by the
capitalists who run that country brought a breath of fresh air to
imperialism with a huge, new source of surplus value. By 2008, the rates
of profit had once again become harder to maintain, and today those
contradictions are playing out in the form of hot wars, trade wars,
currency wars and realignments of major powers.