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.
Marx & Engels On Colonies, Industrial Monopoly, & The Working
Class Movement originally compiled by the Communist Working Circle,
1972 with a new introduction by Zak Cope & Torkil Lauesen
Kersplebedeb, 2016
Available for $10 + shipping/handling from: kersplebedeb
CP 63560, CCCP Van Horne Montreal, Quebec Canada H3W 3H8
This book is a reprint of a 1972 study pack by the Communist Working
Circle, which contains quotes from Karl Marx and Frederick Engels on the
question of the split between workers in the imperialist countries and
the colonized nations. The book opens with a foreword by the
Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist Movement and an extensive introduction by
Zak Cope & Torkil Lauesen explaining transfer of wealth from
colonies to Britain.
The introduction is really the heart of the small book. It takes the
outline laid out by the Marx and Engels quotes and fills it out with a
detailed historical treatment of the subject. The authors focus on the
periods contemporary to and discussed by Marx and Engels. And they make
some important conclusions, including that England was dominated by the
labor aristocracy by the 1850s. This is a key point, when all too often
the question of the labor aristocracy is treated as an open debate over
150 years later.
One topic that Marx and Engels touch on in many of the selections is
England’s relationship to Ireland. This was a factor for Marx in eir
understanding of the English workers growing allegiance to capitalism.
While we often treat settler nations like Amerika and Australia as
distinct phenomenon, what we gather from Marx and Engels’s descriptions
is that the attitudes of the English were/are not very different. The
English built a very similar consciousness in relation to Ireland, India
and countless other colonized peoples.
MIM(Prisons) recommends this book as part of the still-growing cannon on
this important topic. While we consider Zak Cope’s
Divided
World, Divided Class a must-read, this may be a more digestible
piece to start with for those shy about thick economic texts. This book
is available to prisoners for $6 or work trade from MIM Distributors,
and we plan to conduct a study group on it in the near future.
Is China an Imperialist Country? considerations and evidence by N.B.
Turner, et al. Kersplebedeb, 2015
Available for $17 +
shipping/handling
from: kersplebedeb CP
63560, CCCP Van Horne Montreal, Quebec Canada H3W 3H8
This article began as a book review of Is China an Imperialist
Country?. However, I was spurred to complete this review after
witnessing a surge in pro-China posts and sentiment on the /r/communism
subreddit, an online forum that MIM(Prisons) participates in. It is
strange to us that this question is gaining traction in a communist
forum. How could anyone be confused between such opposite economic
systems? Yet, this is not the first time that this question has been
asked about a capitalist country; the Soviet Union being the first.
Mao Zedong warned that China would likely become a social fascist state
if the revisionists seized power in their country as they had in the
Soviet Union after Stalin’s death. While the question of whether the
revisionists have seized power in China was settled for Maoists decades
ago, other self-proclaimed “communists” still refer to China as
socialist, or a “deformed workers’ state,” even as the imperialists have
largely recognized that China has taken up capitalism.
In this book, N.B. Turner does address the revisionists who believe
China is still a socialist country in a footnote.(1) Ey notes that most
of them base their position on the strength of State-Owned Enterprises
(SOEs) in China. This is a common argument we’ve seen as well. And the
obvious refutation is: socialism is not defined as a state-run economy,
at least not by Marxists. SOEs in China operate based on a profit
motive. China now boasts 319 billionaires, second only to the United
$tates, while beggars walk the streets clinging to passerbys. How could
it be that a country that had kicked the imperialists out, removed the
capitalists and landlords from power, and enacted full employment came
to this? And how could these conditions still be on the socialist road
to communism?
Recent conditions did not come out of nowhere. By the 1980s, Beijing
Review was boasting about the existence of millionaires in China,
promoting the concept of wage differentials.(2) There are two bourgeois
rights that allow for exploitation: the right to private property and
the right to pay according to work. While the defenders of Deng Xiaoping
argue that private property does not exist in China today, thus
“proving” its socialist nature, they give a nod to Deng’s policies on
wage differentials; something struggled against strongly during the Mao
era.
Turner quotes Lenin from Imperialism: The Highest Stage of
Capitalism: “If it were necessary to give the briefest possible
definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the
monopoly stage of capitalism.”(3) And what are most SOEs but monopolies?
Is China a Socialist Country?
The question of Chinese socialism is a question our movement came to
terms with in its very beginning. MIM took up the anti-revisionist line,
as stated in the first cardinal
principal:
“MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist
revolution, the potential exists for capitalist restoration under the
leadership of a new bourgeoisie within the communist party itself. In
the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death of
Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao’s death and the overthrow of
the ‘Gang of Four’ in 1976.”
We’ll get more into why we believe this below. For now we must stress
that this is the point where we split from those claiming to be
communists who say China is a socialist country. It is also a point
where we have great unity with Turner’s book.
Who Thinks China is Socialist?
Those who believe China is socialist allude to a conspiracy to paint
China as a capitalist country by the Western media and by white people.
This is an odd claim, as we have spent most of our time struggling over
Chinese history explaining that China is no longer communist, and that
what happened during the socialist period of 1949 - 1976 is what we
uphold. We see some racist undertones in the condemnations of what
happened in that period in China. It seems those holding the above
position are taking a valid critique for one period in China and just
mechanically applying it to Western commentators who point out the
obvious. We think it is instructive that “by 1978, when Deng Xiaoping
changed course, the whole Western establishment lined up in support. The
experts quickly concluded, over Chinese protests, that the new course
represented reform ‘capitalist style.’”(4) The imperialists do not
support socialism and pretend that it is capitalism, rather they saw
Deng’s “reforms” for what they were.
TeleSur is one party that takes a position today upholding China as an
ally of the oppressed nations. TeleSur is a TV station based in
Venezuela, and funded by Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Uruguay and
Nicaragua. Venezuela is another state capitalist country that presents
itself as “socialist”, so it has a self-interest in stroking China’s
image in this regard. One recent opinion piece described China as
“committed to socialism and Marxism.” It acknowledges problems of
inequality in Chinese society are a product of the “economic reforms.”
Yet the author relies on citations on economic success and profitability
as indications that China is still on the socialist road.(5)
As students of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, we recognize
that socialism is defined by class struggle. In fairness, the TeleSur
opinion piece acknowledges this and claims that class struggle continues
in China today. But the reality that the state sometimes imprisons its
billionaires does not change the fact that this once socialist society,
which guaranteed basic needs to all, now has billionaires. Billionaires
can only exist by exploiting people; a lot! Fifty years ago China had
eliminated the influence of open capitalists on the economy, while
allowing those who allied with the national interest to continue to earn
income from their investments. In other words they were being phased
out. Some major changes had to take place to get to where China is today
with 319 billionaires.
Fidel Castro is cited as upholding today’s President of China, Xi
Jinping, as one of the “most capable revolutionary leaders.” Castro also
alluded to China as a counterbalance to U.$. imperialism for the Third
World. China being a counter-balance to the United $tates does not make
it socialist or even non-imperialist. China has been upholding its
non-interventionist line for decades to gain the trust of the world. But
it is outgrowing its ability to do that, as it admits in its own
military white papers described by Turner.(6) This is one indication
that it is in fact an imperialist country, with a need to export finance
capital and dump overproduced commodities in foreign markets.
“The Myth of Chinese Capitalism”
Another oft-cited article by proponents of a socialist China in 2017 is
“The Myth of Chinese Capitalism” by Jeff Brown.(7) Curiously, Brown
volunteers the information that China’s Gini coefficient, a measure of a
country’s internal inequality between rich and poor, went from 0.16 in
1978 to 0.37 in 2015 (similar to the United $tates’ 0.41). Brown offers
no explanation as to how this stark increase in inequality could occur
in what ey calls a socialist country. In fact, Brown offers little
analysis of the political economy of China, preferring to quote Deng
Xiaoping and the Chinese Constitution as proof of China’s socialist
character, followed by stats on the success of Chinese corporations in
making profits in the capitalist economic system.
Brown claims that Deng’s policies were just re-branded policies of the
Mao era. A mere months after the counter-revolutionary coup in China in
1976, the China Study Group wrote,
“The line put forward by the Chinese Communist Party and the Peking
Review before the purge and that put forward by the CCP and the
Peking Review after the purge are completely different and
opposite lines. Superficially they may appear similar because the new
leaders use many of the same words and slogans that were used before in
order to facilitate the changeover. But they have torn the heart out of
the slogans, made them into hollow words and are exposing more clearly
with every new issue the true nature of their line.”(8)
Yet, 40 years later, fans of China would have us believe that empty
rhetoric about “Marxism applied to Chinese conditions” are a reason to
take interest in the economic policies of Xi Jinping.
Brown seems to think the debate is whether China is economically
successful or not according to bourgeois standards. As such ey offers
the following tidbits:
“A number of [SOEs] are selling a portion of their ownership to the
public, by listing shares on Chinese stock markets, keeping the vast
majority of ownership in government hands, usually up to a 70%
government-30% stock split. This sort of shareholder accountability has
improved the performance of China’s SOEs, which is Baba Beijing’s
goal.”
“[O]ther SOEs are being consolidated to become planet conquering
giants”
“How profitable are China’s government owned corporations? Last year,
China’s 12 biggest SOEs on the Global 500 list made a combined total
profit of US$201 billion.”
So selling stocks, massive profits and giant corporations conquering the
world are the “socialist” principles being celebrated by Brown, and
those who cite em.
The Coup of 1976
What all these apologists for Chinese capitalism ignore is the fact that
there was a coup in China in 1976 that involved a seizure of state
apparati, a seizure of the media (as alluded to above) and the
imprisonment of high officials in the Maoist camp (the so-called “Gang
of Four”).(9) People in the resistance were executed for organizing and
distributing literature.(10) There were arrests and executions across
the country, in seemingly large numbers. Throughout 1977 a mass purge of
the party may have removed as many as a third of its members.(11) The
armed struggle and repression in 1976 seems to have involved more
violence than the Cultural Revolution, but this is swept under the rug
by pro-capitalists. In addition, the violence in both cases was largely
committed by the capitalist-roaders. While a violent counterrevolution
was not necessary to restore capitalism in the Soviet Union, it did
occur in China following Mao Zedong’s death.
At the time of Mao’s death, Deng was the primary target of criticism for
not recognizing the bourgeoisie in the Party. Hua Guofeng, who jailed
the Gang of Four and seized chairmanship after Mao’s death, continued
this criticism of Deng at first, only to restore all his powers less
than sixteen months after they were removed by the Maoist
government.(12)
The Western media regularly demonizes China for its records on humyn
rights and free speech. Yet, this is not without reason. By the 1978
Constitution, the so-called CCP had removed the four measures of
democracy guaranteed to the people in the 1975 Constitution: “Speaking
out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates and writing big
character posters are new forms of carrying on socialist revolution
created by the masses of the people. The state shall ensure to the
masses the right to use these forms.”(13)
This anti-democratic trend has continued over the last forty years, from
jail sentences for big character posters in the 1980s and the Tianamen
Square massacre in 1989 to the imprisonment of bloggers in the 2010s.
While supporters of Xi Jinping have celebrated his recent call for more
Marxism in schools, The Wall Street Journal reports that this is
not in the spirit of Mao:
“Students at Sun Yat-sen University in southern China arrived this year
to find new instructions affixed to classroom walls telling them not to
criticize party leadership; their professors were advised to do the
same… An associate professor at an elite Beijing university said he was
told he was rejected for promotion because of social-media posts that
were critical of China’s political system. ‘Now I don’t speak much
online,’ he said.”(14)
Scramble for Africa
What about abroad? Is China a friend of the oppressed? Turner points out
that China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa is significant,
though a tiny piece of China’s overall FDI. First we must ask, why is
China engaged in FDI in the first place? Lenin’s third of five points
defining imperialism is, “The export of capital, which has become
extremely important, as distinguished from the export of
commodities.”(15) A couple chapters before talking about Africa, Turner
shows that China has the fastest growing FDI of any imperialist or
“sub-imperialist” country starting around 2005.(16) Even the SOEs are
involved in this investment, accounting for 87% of China’s FDI in Latin
America.(17) This drive to export capital, which repatriates profits to
China, is a key characteristic of an imperialist country.
In 2010, China invited South Africa to join the BRICS group (Brazil,
Russia, India, China, and now South Africa) of imperialist/aspiring
imperialist countries. This was a strategic decision by China, as South
Africa was chosen over many larger economies. “In 2007… the Industrial
and Commercial Bank of China (now the world’s largest company) bought a
multi-billion-dollar stake in the South African Standard Bank, which has
an extensive branch network across the continent.” Shoprite is another
South African corporation that spans the continent, which China has
invested in. In Zambia, almost all the products in Shoprite are Chinese
or South African.(18)
The other side of this equation indicating the role of China in Africa
is the resistance. “Chinese nationals have become the number one
kidnapping target for terrorist and rebel groups in Africa, and Chinese
facilities are valuable targets of sabotage.” China is also working with
the likes of Amerikan mercenary Erik Prince to avoid direct military
intervention abroad. “In 2006, a Zambian minister wept when she saw the
environment in which workers toiled at the Chinese-owned Collum Coal
Mine. Four years later, eleven employees were shot at the site while
protesting working conditions.”(19) While China’s influence is seen as
positive by a majority of people in many African countries,(20) this is
largely due to historical support given to African nations struggling
for self-determination. The examples above demonstrate the
irreconcilable contradiction developing within Chinese imperialism with
its client nations.
“Market Socialism”
Chinese President Xi Jinping talks often of the importance of “Marxism”
to China, of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and of “market
socialism.” Xi’s defenders in communist subreddits cite Lenin and the
New Economic Policy (NEP) of the Soviet Union to peg our position as
anti-Lenin. There’s a reason we call ourselves Maoists, and not
Leninists. The battle against the theory of the productive forces, and
the form it took in the mass mobilization of the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution is core to how we define Maoism as a higher stage of
revolutionary science than Leninism. The Bolsheviks tended toward
upholding the theory of the productive forces, though you can find
plenty in Lenin’s to oppose it as well. Regardless, Lenin believed in
learning from history. We’d say Maoists are the real Leninists.
Lenin’s NEP came in the post-war years, a few years after the
proletariat seized power in Russia. The argument was that capitalist
markets and investment were needed to get the economic ball rolling
again. But China in 1978 was in no such situation. It was rising on a
quarter century of economic growth and radical reorganization of the
economy that unleashed productive forces that were the envy of the rest
of the underdeveloped nations. Imposing capitalist market economics on
China’s socialist economy in 1978 was moving backwards. And while
economic growth continued and arguably increased, social indicators like
unemployment, the condition of wimmin, mental health and crime all
worsened significantly.
The line of the theory of the productive forces is openly embraced by
some Dengists
defending “market socialism.” One of the most in-depth defenses of China
as communist appearing on /r/communism reads:
“Deng Xiaoping and his faction had to address the deeper Marxist
problem: that the transition from a rural/peasant political economy to
modern industrial socialism was difficult, if not impossible, without
the intervening stage of industrial capitalism… First, Chinese market
socialism is a method of resolving the primary contradiction facing
socialist construction in China: backwards productive forces.”(21)
So, our self-described communist detractors openly embrace the lines of
Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi, thereby rejecting the Maoist line and the
Cultural Revolution.
Resilience to Crisis
During the revolution, China was no stranger to economic crisis. From
the time the war against Japan began in 1937 to victory in 1949, goods
that cost 1 yuan had risen to the price of 8,500,000,000,000 yuan!(22)
Controlling inflation was an immediate task of the Chinese Communist
Party after seizing state power. “On June 10, 1949 the Stock Exchange –
that centre of crime located in downtown Shanghai – was ordered to close
down and 238 leading speculators were arrested and indicted.”(23)
Shanghai Stock Exchange was re-established again in 1990. It is
currently the 5th largest exchange, but was 2nd for a brief frenzy prior
to the 2008 global crash.(24)
The eclectic U.$.-based Troskyite organization Workers
World Party (WW) used the 2008 crisis to argue that China was more
socialist than capitalist.(25) The export-dependent economy of China
took a strong blow in 2008. WW points to the subsequent investment in
construction as being a major offset to unemployment. They conclude
that, “The socialist component of the economic foundation is dominant at
the present.” Yet they see the leadership of Xi Jinping as further
opening up China to imperialist manipulation, unlike other groups
discussed above.
A Chinese “Ghost City”
Turner addresses the “ghost cities” built in recent years in China as
examples of the anarchy of production under capitalism. Sure they were
state planned, but they were not planned to meet humyn need, hence they
remain largely empty years after construction. To call this socialism,
one must call The New Deal in the United $tates socialism.
Marx explained why crisis was inevitable under capitalism, and why it
would only get worse with time as accumulation grew, distribution became
more uneven, and overproduction occurred more quickly. Socialism
eliminates these contradictions, with time. It does so by eliminating
the anarchy of production as well as speculation. After closing the
Stock Exchange the communists eliminated all other currencies, replacing
them with one state-controlled currency, the Renminbi, or the people’s
currency. Prices for goods as well as foreign currencies were set by the
state. They focused on developing and regulating production to keep the
balance of goods and money, rather than producing more currency, as the
capitalist countries do.(26)
When the value of your stock market triples and then gets cut back to
its original price in the span of a few years, you do not have a
socialist-run economy.(27) To go further, when you have a stock market,
you do not have a socialist economy.
Turner addresses the recent crisis and China’s resiliency, pointing out
that it recently started from a point of zero debt, internally and
externally, thanks to financial policy during the socialist era.(28)
China paid off all external debt by 1964.(29) This has allowed China to
expand its credit/debt load in recent decades to degrees that the other
imperialist countries no longer have the capacity to do. This includes
investing in building whole cities that sit empty.(30)
What is Socialism?
So, if socialism isn’t increasing profits and growing GDP with
state-owned enterprises, what the heck is it? The Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution (GPCR) was the pinnacle of socialist achievement;
that is another one of MIM’s three main points. No one has argued that
the Cultural Revolution has continued or was revived post-1976. In fact,
the Dengists consistently deny that there are any capitalists in the
party to criticize, as they claim “market socialism” denies the
capitalists any power over the economy. This is the exact line that got
Deng kicked out of the CCP before Mao died. Without class struggle, we
do not have socialism, until all classes have been abolished in humyn
society. Class struggle is about the transformation of society into new
forms of organization that can someday lead us to a communist future.
“A fundamental axiom of Maoist thought is that public ownership is only
a technical condition for solving the problems of Chinese society. In a
deeper sense, the goal of Chinese socialism involves vast changes in
human nature, in the way people relate to each other, to their work, and
to society. The struggle to change material conditions, even in the most
immediate sense, requires the struggle to change people, just as the
struggle to change people depends on the ability to change the
conditions under which men live and work. Mao differs from the Russians,
and Liu Shao-chi’s group, in believing that these changes are
simultaneous, not sequential. Concrete goals and human goals are
separable only on paper – in practice they are the same. Once the basic
essentials of food, clothing, and shelter for all have been achieved, it
is not necessary to wait for higher productivity levels to be reached
before attempting socialist ways of life.” (31)
Yet the Dengists defend the “economic reforms” (read:
counter-revolution) after Mao’s death as necessary for expanding
production, as a prerequisite to building socialism.
“The fact that China is a socialist society makes it necessary to
isolate and discuss carefully the processes at work in the three
different forms of ownership: state, communal, and cooperative.”(32)
The Dengists talk much of state ownership, but what of communes and
cooperatives? Well, they were dismantled in the privatization of the
1980s. Dengists cry that there is no private land ownership in China,
and that is a sign that the people own the land. It was. In the 1950s
land was redistributed to peasants, which they later pooled into
cooperatives, unleashing the productive forces of the peasantry. Over
time this collective ownership was accepted as public ownership, and
with Deng’s “reforms” each peasant got a renewable right to use small
plots for a limited number of years. The commune was broken up and the
immediate effects on agriculture and the environment were negative.(33)
Strategic Implications
Overall Turner does a good job upholding the line on what is socialism
and what is not. This book serves as a very accessible report on why
China is an imperialist country based in Leninist theory. The one place
we take issue with Turner is in a discussion of some of the strategic
implications of this in the introduction. Ey makes an argument against
those who would support forces fighting U.$. imperialism, even when they
are backed by other imperialist powers. One immediately thinks of
Russia’s support for Syria, which foiled the Amerikan plans for regime
change against the Assad government. Turner writes, “Lenin and the
Bolshevik Party… argued for ‘revolutionary defeatism’ toward all
imperialist and reactionary powers as the only stance for
revolutionaries.”(34) But what is this “and reactionary powers” that
Turner throws in? In the article, “The Defeat of One’s Own Government in
the Imperialist War,” by “imperialist war” Lenin meant inter-imperialist
war, not an imperialist invasion of a country in the periphery.
In that article Lenin praised the line that “During a reactionary war a
revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government.” He
writes, “that in all imperialist countries the proletariat must
now desire the defeat of its own government.” While Lenin emphasizes
all here, in response to Turner, we’d emphasize
imperialist. Elsewhere Lenin specifies “belligerent countries”
as the target of this line. So while it is clear that Lenin was not
referring to Syria being invaded by the United $tates as a time that the
proletariat must call for defeat of the government of their country, it
seems that Turner is saying this.
We agree with other strategic conclusions of this book. China seems to
be moving towards consolidating its sphere of influence, which could
lead to consolidation of the world into two blocks once again. While
this is a dangerous situation, with the threat of nuclear war, it is
also a situation that has proven to create opportunities for the
proletariat. Overall, the development and change of the current system
works in the favor of the proletariat of the oppressed nations; time is
on our side. As China tries to maintain its image as a “socialist”
benefactor, the United $tates will feel more pressure to make
concessions to the oppressed and hold back its own imperialist
arrogance.
In 1986, Henry
Park hoped that the CCP would repudiate Marxism soon, writing, “It
is far better for the CCP to denounce Marx (and Mao) as a dead dog than
for the CCP to discredit socialism with the double-talk required to
defend its capitalist social revolution.”(35) Still hasn’t happened, and
it’s not just the ignorant Amerikan who is fooled. Those buying into the
40-year Chinese charade contribute to the continued discrediting of
socialism, especially as this “socialist” country becomes more
aggressive in international affairs.
[We recommend Is China an Imperialist Country? as the best
resource we know on this topic. As for the question of Chinese socialism
being overthrown, please refer to the references below. We highly
recommend The Chinese Road to Socialism for an explanation of
what socialism looks like and why the GPCR was the furthest advancement
of socialism so far.]
Revolutionary greetings to all kaptives inside the gulags of the United
$nakes of A-murderer. As kaptives with lots of time on our hands,
knowing firsthand the oppressive state apparatus, we must work to
politicize ourselves, then our contacts on the streets. As there are
many orgs in existence pushing for exposure of prison conditions, we
must do our part; persistently sending them reports on incidents of
violence, food and health care neglect, mail tampering, and the overall
divisive and mentally debilitating tactics used by the state (and its
pig lackeys).
We must teach one another how to analyze these conditions from an
anti-imperialist perspective. We then must help to raise the
consciousness of those outside the gulag (individuals, orgs, support
networks, etc.). We must help them to see the direct cause of our
treatment as imperialism; then we can tie in some of their personal
struggles as belonging to the lumpen class/oppressed nation as well,
hence imperialism as well.
It appears that our path forward is constantly blocked or taken over by
enemy, backwards, or conservative elements without our nationalist
movements. Hence our nationalist consciousness remains a strong aspect
to unify around. And we should study projects such as the Jackson Rising
platform, to both amplify our call to national unity as well as develop
the tactics and strategies used by them. By showing the link between
imperialism and national oppression, we can direct the path forward.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Jackson Rising was a conference in 2014, which
launched the Cooperation Jackson project based out of Jackson,
Mississippi. Cooperation Jackson is building
dual
power for colonized New Afrika, and is an outgrowth of the
Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika, and the
Jackson-Kush plan.
Cooperation Jackson’s aim for self-determination for New Afrika is
certainly righteous. Yet we want to raise one line question in the
project which we believe is extremely important. The economic analysis
of Cooperation Jackson seems to deny the petty bourgeois nature of
non-lumpen New Afrikans. According to a document titled
The
Jackson-Kush Plan: The Struggle for Black Self-Determination and
Economic Democracy,
“Operation Black Belt is a campaign to organize the oppressed peoples
and exploited classes in the South, particularly concentrating on
organizing Black workers in the region who form the core of the
oppressed Black or New Afrikan nation that has been super-exploited for
centuries, into militant, class-conscious and social movement-based
worker associations and unions.”(p. 13)
While it was reasonable to refer to New Afrikans in the 1960s and
earlier as proletarian, or exploited, we believe there is no way that
any U.$. citizens could be considered super-exploited today. The
struggle for unionization and benefits for citizen-workers today comes
largely on the backs of the actually super-exploited people working
across the Third World.
While we acknowledge that Cooperation Jackson is one of the only
projects we know of which is putting self-determination into action
against the United $tates government, we believe that a misstep on the
question of the labor aristocracy within the imperialist countries
places the struggles of internal semi-colonies in opposition to the
proletarian masses in the Third World. How Cooperation Jackson might put
this analysis into action in its work is up to New Afrikans working
within that project. But we want to push them on clarifying/updating
their economic analysis.
Our comrade in Ohio suggests above that our subscribers need to raise
their own consciousness, and then reach out to people outside prisons to
help raise their consciousness. MIM(Prisons) struggles with other
organizations through ULK regularly. Our subscribers struggling
with other orgs through the mail, or ULK, is certainly another
medium to advance the anti-imperialist movement. You can write in to
MIM(Prison) for reading material about the labor aristocracy.
Cooperation Jackson can be reached at PO Box 1932, Jackson MS 39215.
I want to write about my thoughts on prison reform and rehabilitation
specifically in the state of Pennsylvania. Prison reform? Criminal
“justice” reform? As long as the criminal justice system and the
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections (PDOC) remain lucrative
industries those things will never happen!
To have any type of reform, I believe people should be held accountable
for their misconduct (judges, prosecutors, governors, secretary of
corrections, correctional officers, etc.) but that’s never the case in
Pennsylvania. Here in Pennsylvania, these rural areas in particular, the
PDOC is a refuge for the unqualified and uneducated, who don’t desire
anything better for themselves.
Pennsylvania’s state budget is crumbling due to the amount of overtime
received by COs and to the excess state employees hired in the PDOC.
Governor Wolf announced that he wanted to lay off 900 unneeded state
employees and close a few jails because of the budget strain. However,
Governor Wolf was opposed (almost violently) by the rural population.
Their argument wasn’t about the “criminals” that could possibly go free;
they were concerned about not finding employment anywhere else.
Overwhelmed, Wolf decided to only close one prison (which wasn’t in a
rural area) and retain the state employees (COs).
Instead of doing what he originally saw fit to do, Wolf was forced to
cut back on the Meals on Wheels program, raise the state tax, and allow
the sale of alcohol on Sundays amongst other things. As you would
figure, all of those cutbacks didn’t even begin to alleviate the
budgetary stress. Why? Because those things weren’t issues.
The fact still exist that there are too many state prison officials
being hired and Pennsylvania needs to cut back on this senseless hiring,
but Gov. Wolf was pretty much bullied out of action. All of this factors
into the lack of prison and criminal justice reform, for if there was
someone who could educate the tax payers who honestly believe that their
“hard earned” dollars are “keeping their community safe” instead of
funding a correctional officer’s workers’ compensation scam, educate
them about where their money is actually going and what needs to be
done. If a majority of the tax payers knew the truth about their money,
about the funding of our oppression, suppression and torture, I believe
that they would be more inclined to demand criminal justice and prison
reform.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer provides a good exposure of
the interest that prison guard unions and other prison employees have in
maintaining or increasing the number of imprisoned people and the number
of prisons in the United $tates. And also the political power these
workers can exert when their jobs are threatened.
But we have to put this information in a larger context. Prisons are a
very small part of state budgets, so it’s not the CO overtime causing
the Pennsylvania budget to crumble. In the Pennsylvania 2016-2017
budget, 8% went towards prisons.(1) It is good that the budget crisis in
Pennsylvania is leading to considerations of closing prisons, but the
response by COs and others benefiting from jobs with the prisons is the
same we see across the country. Nonetheless, we need to be honest that
shutting down a few prisons won’t make much of a dent in the state
budget.
While we would also like to think that people faced with information
about oppression and torture would oppose it, we don’t think the
terrible conditions in Amerikan prisons are such a big secret. Many
Amerikans are vocal in calling for even worse conditions, arguing that
prisoners deserve whatever happens to them. And there is little outrage
when stories of corruption among prison guards come out. The financial
rewards all Amerikans are getting by living here within this wealthy
imperialist country has created a population that supports imperialism
and its criminal injustice system. While the oppressed nations within
U.$. borders do generally come down against the oppression and
corruption, the Amerikkkan nation, especially in rural counties, can be
counted on to throw its support behind the system.
Analizando el sistema de control social en los Estados Unidos, es
imprescindible que sigamos la línea correcta. Actualmente, la posición
de muchas personas es la de argumentar que el sistema de injusticia está
basado en un “Complejo Industrial de Prisiones”, que nosotr@s en
MIM(Prisons) rechazamos. Un nuevo informe, “Following the Money of Mass
Incarceration” (Siguiendo el Dinero del Encarcelamiento Masivo) de Peter
Wagner y Bernadette Rabuy, proporciona nuevas pruebas para apoyar
nuestra posición.
Las prisiones generalmente son una red compleja de campos de
concentración para semicolonias oprimidas, más que una industria
económicamente rentable. De hecho, existen algunos beneficios que deben
hacerse (y l@s capitalistas/imperialistas son buen@s encontrando sus
nichos) pero, sobre todo, el propósito del sistema de injusticia hoy en
día es el control de la población.
Tal y como Wagner y Rabuy señalan en su artículo: “En este primer
informe, el primero de su tipo, descubrimos que el sistema de
encarcelamiento masivo cuesta al gobierno y a las familias de las
personas involucradas con la justicia al menos 182 mil millones de
dólares al año”. Estos 182 mil millones de dólares incluyen los $374
millones de dólares en beneficios recibidos por la industria de la
prisión privada. Los beneficios de est@s accionistas, que en número son
poc@s, apenas y representan una empresa que genera beneficios de manera
sistemática. De hecho, en el gráfico utilizado como resumen de su
investigación, los autores tuvieron que hacer una excepción en el corte,
en lo que respecta los sectores importantes del presupuesto para
prisiones en los U.$., ¡para poder incluir a las prisiones privadas en
éste!
“Esta industria está dominada por dos grandes sociedades de
cotización oficial, CoreCivic (que hasta hace poco se llamaba
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA – Sociedad Correccional de
Estados Unidos) y The GEO Group, así como por una pequeña empresa
privada, Management & Training Corp (MTC). Nos hemos basado en los
informes públicos anuales de las dos grandes sociedades y en cifras
estimadas de MTC utilizando registros de una solicitud de información
pública de hace una década” (1).
Las corporaciones de la prisión privada tienen muy poco que ganar en el
negocio penitenciario, razón por la cual la amplia mayoría (hasta un
95%) son todavía cárceles públicas (2). El Gobierno estadounidense (ej.
Los contribuyentes) afronta la factura de los 182 mil millones de
dólares. L@s poc@s beneficiari@s económic@s de la industria
penitenciaria son vendedoræs del comisariato, compañías de bonos de
fianzas y empresas telefónicas especializadas. Como Wagner y Rabuy
demuestran, estas son las industrias multimillonarias. Y estas, por
supuesto, se benefician, ¡sean las prisiones privadas o no!
¿Por qué estaría dispuesto el sistema imperialista a gastar casi 200 mil
millones de dólares al año en la pérdida de una amplia mano de obra
económica y consumidores? Por lo siguiente: “Muchas personas confinadas
en rejas no trabajan y los sistemas penitenciarios de cuatro Estados no
pagan nada” (1).
Tal y como Wagner señala en un artículo del 7 de octubre del 2015:
“Ahora, por supuesto, la influencia de las prisiones privadas variará de
Estado en Estado y, de hecho, han presionado para mantener el
encarcelamiento masivo; sin embargo, son mucho más influyentes los
beneficios políticos que l@s funcionari@s elegid@s de ambos partidos han
cosechado durante décadas por ser dur@s con la delincuencia, así como
los miles de millones de dólares ganados por l@s emplead@s de las
prisiones dirigidas por el gobierno y contratistas y vendedoræs
privad@s”.
“A l@s beneficiari@s de la generosidad de las prisiones públicas les
encanta cuando las prisiones privadas toman toda la atención. Cuánto más
centrado está el público en l@s propietari@s de las prisiones privadas,
menos se cuestiona qué pasaría si el gobierno nacionalizara las
prisiones privadas y dirigiera todas las instalaciones por sí mismo: De
cualquier manera, aún tendríamos el sistema penitenciario más grande del
mundo” (3).
L@s capitalistas no sacan beneficios económicos del supuesto “Complejo
Industrial de Prisiones”, pero l@s polític@s se benefician con la
obsesión de l@s estadounidenses blanc@s con la “delincuencia”. Teniendo
esto en cuenta, descubrimos la verdad tras la enigmática frase de Wagner
y Rabuy: “Para estar seguros, existen razones ideológicas y económicas
para el encarcelamiento masivo y la sobrecriminalización” (1).
Ya hemos examinado las razones económicas (grupos de poder como las
compañías de bonos de fianzas y los vendedores del comisariato están,
obviamente, buscando sacar beneficio). Así que, ¿cuáles son las razones
ideológicas?
Si observamos la población de las prisiones (ya sean públicas o
privadas), podemos ver dónde gana impulso el encarcelamiento masivo. La
gran mayoría de l@s prisioner@s son nuev@s african@s, chican@s y gente
de las Primeras Naciones (aunque la mayoría de la población general es
euroamericana). La cárcel no es un fraude de ingresos, sino un
instrumento de control social. El factor motivador es la dominación, no
la explotación.
Aunque si estamos siguiendo el dinero, entonces tenemos que observar
cómo se desglosan los gastos. Wagner y Rabuy presentan la división de
los costes de esta forma: costes judiciales y legales, costes
policiales, decomiso de activos civiles, cargos de fianzas, costes del
comisariato, cargos de llamadas telefónicas, “agencias de corrección
pública” (como emplead@s públic@s o asistencia médica), costes de
construcción, pagos de intereses y costes de comida e instalaciones.
Los autores resumen su metodología para llegar a sus estadísticas y
admiten que “existen muchas cosas para las que no hay disponibles
estadísticas nacionales ni manera sencilla de desarrollar una cifra
nacional a partir de los datos limitados estatales y locales” (1). A
pesar de dichas debilidades obvias para obtener datos concretos fiables,
sobresale el análisis abrumador.
Wagner y Rabuy hablan sobre la industria de la prisión privada al final
de su artículo. Ahí, escriben:
“Para ilustrar tanto la escala de la industria de la prisión privada
como el hecho clave de que esta industria funciona bajo contrato para
agencias del gobierno (en vez de arrestar, procesar, condenar y
encarcelar personas por sí mismas), expusimos a estas compañías como un
subconjunto del sistema público penitenciario” (1).
Tal y como se discutió en “MIM(Prisons) sobre la Economía de las
Prisiones de EE UU,”si el trabajo penitenciario fuera una mina de oro
para especuladoræs privad@s, entonces veríamos corporaciones de todo
tipo dirigiendo el camino para más prisiones” (2).
Teniendo esto en cuenta, el gobierno utiliza el sistema de injusticia en
Estados Unidos y las prisiones (tanto públicas como privadas) para
oprimir a las minorías nacionales. Y l@s estadounidenses blanc@s, que se
alínean en formación con emoción cuando polític@s racistas como Donald
Trump continúan siendo “dur@s con la delincuencia”, premian al gobierno
con entusiasmo y renovado vigor.
El MIM Thought (Pensamiento de MIM) hace hincapié en el imperialismo,
tanto dentro como fuera de Estados “Ofidios” (Unidos). La red de
prisiones no es una excepción: en este caso el imperialismo funciona
como método de control para l@s estadounidenses de las naciones
oprimidas. Como las estadísticas de Wagner y Rabuy demuestran
claramente, no existe un “Complejo Industrial de Prisiones”, existe un
intento sistemático de destruir individuos, comunidades y naciones (4).
In analyzing the system of social control in the United $tates, it is
imperative that we follow the correct line. The position of many today
is to argue that the injustice system is based on a “Prison-Industrial
Complex” [which we at MIM(Prisons) reject]. A new report,
“Following the
Money of Mass Incarceration” by Peter Wagner and Bernadette Rabuy,
provides additional evidence to back up our position.
Prisons are generally a complex web of concentration camps for oppressed
semi-colonies, rather than an economically profitable industry. Indeed,
there are some profits to be made (and capitalists/imperialists are good
at finding their niches), but overall, the purpose of the injustice
system today is population control.
As Wagner and Rabuy point out in their article: “In this
first-of-its-kind report, we find that the system of mass incarceration
costs the government and families of justice-involved people at least
$182 billion every year.”(1) This $182 billion includes the $374 million
in profits received by the private prison industry. The profits to these
numerically few stakeholders hardly represent a systematic
profit-generating enterprise. In fact, in the graph summing up their
research, the authors had to make an exception to the cut off for
significant portions of the U.$. prison budget in order to even include
private prisons on it!
“This industry is dominated by two large publicly traded companies –
CoreCivic (which until recently was called Corrections Corporation of
America (CCA)) and The GEO Group — as well as one small private company,
Management & Training Corp (MTC). We relied on the public annual
reports of the two large companies, and estimated MTC’s figures using
records from a decade-old public record request.”(1)
Private prison corporations have very little to gain in the prison
business, which is why the vast majority (up to 95%) are still public
prisons.(2) The Amerikkkan government (i.e. taxpayers) fronts the bill
for the $182 billion. The few economic beneficiaries of the prison
industry are commissary vendors, bail bond companies, and specialized
telephone companies. As Wagner and Rabuy demonstrate, these are the
multi-billion dollar industries. And they, of course, benefit, whether
the prisons are private or not!
Why would the imperialist system be willing to spend almost $200 billion
a year at the loss of widespread economic labor and consumers? For, as
is shown: “Many people confined in jails don’t work, and four state
prison systems don’t pay at all.”(1)
As Wagner points out in an article from 7 October 2015:
“Now, of course, the influence of private prisons will vary from state
to state and they have in fact lobbied to keep mass incarceration going;
but far more influential are political benefits that elected officials
of both political parties harvested over the decades by being tough on
crime as well as the billions of dollars earned by government-run
prisons’ employees and private contractors and vendors.
“The beneficiaries of public prison largess love it when private prisons
get all of the attention. The more the public stays focused on the
owners of private prisons, the less the public is questioning what would
happen if the government nationalized the private prisons and ran every
facility itself: Either way, we’d still have the largest prison system
in the world.”(3)
The capitalists don’t economically gain from the supposed
“Prison-Industrial Complex”, but the politicians gain from the white
Amerikkkan obsession with “crime”. Taking this into account, we find the
truth hiding behind Wagner and Rabuy’s cryptic phrase: “To be sure,
there are ideological as well as economic reasons for mass incarceration
and over-criminalization.”(1)
We’ve already looked at the economic reasons – power groups like the
bail bond companies and commissary vendors are obviously looking to make
a profit. So what are the ideological reasons?
When we look at prison populations (whether private or public), we can
see where mass incarceration gets its impetus. The vast majority of
prisoners are New Afrikans, Chican@s, and peoples of the First Nations
(even though euro-Amerikkkans are the majority of the U.$. population).
The prison is not a revenue racket, but an instrument of social control.
The motivating factor is domination, not exploitation.
If we’re following the money though, then we need look at how spending
breaks down. Wagner and Rabuy present the division of costs as: the
judicial and legal costs, policing expenditures, civil asset forfeiture,
bail fees, commissary expenditures, telephone call charges, “public
correction agencies” (like public employees and health care),
construction costs, interest payments, and food and utility costs.
The authors outline their methodology for arriving at their statistics
and admit that “[t]here are many items for which there are no national
statistics available and no straightforward way to develop a national
figure from the limited state and local data.”(1) Despite these obvious
weaknesses in obtaining concrete reliable data, the overwhelming
analysis stands.
Wagner and Rabuy discuss the private prison industry at the end of the
article. Here, they write:
“To illustrate both the scale of the private prison industry and the
critical fact that this industry works under contract for government
agencies — rather than arresting, prosecuting, convicting and
incarcerating people on its own — we displayed these companies as a
subset of the public corrections system.”(1)
As was argued in
“MIM(Prisons)
on U.S. Prison Economy”, “[i]f prison labor was a gold mine for
private profiteers, then we would see corporations of all sorts leading
the drive for more prisons.”(2)
In light of this, the injustice system in the United $tates and the
prisons (both private and public) are used by the government to oppress
national minorities. And the government is rewarded with enthusiasm and
renewed vigor by white Amerikkkans, who goose-step into formation with
ecstasy when racist politicians like Donald Trump go on about being
“tough on crime”.
MIM Thought stresses the focus on imperialism both inside and outside
the United $nakes. The network of prisons is no exception – imperialism
here functions as a method of control by Amerikkkans of oppressed
nations. As the statistics presented by Wagner and Rabuy clearly
demonstrate, there is no “Prison Industrial Complex.” There is a
systematic attempt to destroy individuals, communities, and nations.(4)
Calculating the transfer of wealth from exploited nations to imperialist
countries is a difficult task. Even those with the knowledge and time to
do the research find that bourgeois economics does not look at things in
terms that Marxists do. There are a number of excellent books by
Marxists on this topic on our literature list.(1) Adding to this
research is a recent report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI), which
they call “the most comprehensive analysis of global financial flows
impacting developing countries compiled to date.”(2)
The main conclusions of this report are:
“since 1980 developing countries lost US$16.3 trillion dollars through
broad leakages in the balance of payments, trade misinvoicing, and
recorded financial transfers… the report demonstrates that developing
countries have effectively served as net-creditors to the rest of the
world with tax havens playing a major role in the flight of unrecorded
capital. For example, in 2011 tax haven holdings of total developing
country wealth were valued at US$4.4 trillion, which exacerbated
inequality and undermined good governance and economic growth.”(2)
According to the report, China is responsible for about a quarter of the
Third World’s net resource transfers to the First World. Despite a
growing finance capitalist class, China is still the largest proletarian
nation providing wealth for Amerikans and other First World nations. A
long fall from grace from when it was the most advanced socialist
economy in history, reinvesting all of its wealth into building its own
self-sufficiency and serving the needs of its own people.
Last year, the so-called “Panama Papers” brought more light to the issue
of tax havens, and the role they play in allowing finance capitalists to
move money in ways that avoid having to pay taxes to the states they
operate in and often avoiding other legal restraints on how they do
business. GFI points to tax havens, as well as illegal movement of
capital goods, as playing large roles in facilitating this transfer of
wealth from the exploited countries to the imperialist core countries.
Possible solutions to this problem provided in the cited articles are
debt forgiveness, shutting down tax havens, and enforcement of fines by
agencies such as the World Trade Organization (WTO).(3) Having powerful
people monitor and fine other powerful people is like the fox guarding
the hen house, and will never make fundamental changes in a system whose
whole purpose is the drive for profit.
MIM(Prisons) supports the call for debt forgiveness for poor countries.
As the report states, “for every $1 of aid that developing countries
receive, they lose $24 in net outflows.”(2) A campaign to resist these
predatory aid programs combined with forgiveness of existing loans would
loosen the current death grip of imperialism on the exploited nations of
the world. And if we consider the numbers below, 1:24 is a gross
underestimation of the scale of exploitation going on.
Another powerful move to provide some relief to the poor under
capitalism would be to enforce a global minimum wage through a body such
as the WTO. Economist Arghiri Emmanuel showed the relationship between
wage levels and the transfer of wealth between nations in the form of
unequal exchange. While this recent work by GFI is more
in-depth than most by looking at illegal practices such as reporting
false prices to avoid taxes and restrictions, it ignores the hidden
transfer of wealth that is enabled by the low wages that are violently
enforced on the proletariat of the exploited nations. This transfer of
wealth is not included in the $16.3 trillion transfer of wealth
calculated by GFI. MC5 of MIM estimated wealth transfer to the
imperialist countries at $6.8 trillion in just one year (1993), as did
Zak Cope, who looked at 2009 with a similar lens but different approach
to MC5.(4)
While GFI states that, “Every year, roughly $1 trillion flows illegally
out of developing and emerging economies due to crime, corruption, and
tax evasion”, their vision of a capitalism with more integrity would
only eliminate an estimated 15% of the value exploited from the majority
of the world for the benefit of the imperialist nations. We ally with
such bourgeois internationalists on some of the demands mentioned above,
but also take it further than they will to eliminate imperialism in all
its forms and create a world without any form of exploitation or
oppression, whether illegal or not.
I have recently watched a well-planned election and campaign by Donald
Trump, soon to be president of the United Snakes of Amerika. But I have
to give him credit where credit is due. First, the Democrats for years
have used the minority vote to get elected, by making promises of making
eir life more better under a democratic capitalistic society.
I do want to question protest. They only focus on revolutionary
nationalist struggles aligning their struggle with the left wing
national bourgeoisie and with women and men of the left wing nations of
the oppressed in Amerika. But we should also remember that not all
struggles lead to socialism. The recent protests have cells that are
revolutionary nationalism, where the people want the power. We need to
study and use strategic methods to overthrow imperialism period. Why
protest about issues that are not in line with changing our current
economic system?
Now back to my opening on why I give Trump credit. Not to say I support
his ideology or policies. I am considering how he managed to get support
from the patriarchal labor aristocracy, and the First World lumpens. And
some lumpens in the poor rural districts. This explains why Mao asked
“who are our enemies, who are our friends?” The white proletariat showed
up and it lets us know that they are the majority. And will support a
system of imperialism. And the oppression of the Third World peasants.
Just as long as the bourgeoisie be fed the illusions that jobs will come
back to Amerikkka!
MIM(Prisons) responds: Overall this comrade has a good analysis
of the election of Trump and the class that is behind this campaign.
However, we want to point out that they are not a white proletariat but
rather a white petty bourgeoisie. This distinction is important because
the Amerikan workers are not exploited, and this is why they support
imperialism: they are benefiting economically from imperialism! It
doesn’t really matter if a few jobs come back to the United $tates or
not. As was proven with the
failed
attempts to get citizens to work the fields picking crops, there are
some jobs that Amerikans really don’t want. The petty bourgeois class
thinks it is owed cushy jobs at high wages, but has no problem with
people in the Third World doing grueling work for pennies. The only jobs
the Amerikan workers want back are high paying jobs that don’t require
much work.
For anyone who believes the myth that white workers in the United $tates
are on the decline and getting poorer, we have much in-depth
documentation
about the level of wealth enjoyed by the vast majority of Amerikan
citizens and their well-above-exploitation level wages. This is a
question of science, that is all the more important now that it has
gained attention not only among false revolutionaries seeking to rally
the so-called Amerikan proletariat but also among right-wing politicians
gaining center stage in Amerikan politics. As this writer points out, we
must be clear about who are our enemies and who are our friends, and at
base this question requires a clear analysis of class and nation within
U.$. borders. Write to us for a copy of our labor aristocracy
study
pack to get a more in depth understanding of this important point.
For the second time in about one month over 900 prisoners at River North
Correctional Center were given piss tests. Now if a prisoner is causing
problems that indicate drug abuse, it’s perhaps reasonable to test him.
But testing the entire prisoner population is a fishing expedition just
hoping to catch someone.
Do the prison pigs have some admirable goal? No. They just catch people
to make lives miserable by taking jobs, suspending visits, confining in
seg, etc. If each test and lab fee is just $30 then the pigs spent over
$54,000 in a month on the off chance they might get to punish someone
for using drugs that were not prescribed.
For thousands of years humans have used mind altering substances. The
“soma” of ancient India, the mushrooms of the Incas, peyote, opium,
reefer, and alcohol are but a few examples. Only recently – within 100
years – have governments made the “drugs” illegal. What have these laws
done to stop drug use and abuse? Nothing, as we see drug abuse at an all
time high. These imperialist laws only target people, ruining lives with
jail/prison while lining the pockets of the pigs with money for funding
of the “war on drugs.”
A few generations ago a community had cobblers and tailors, blacksmiths
and silversmiths, lamp makers and other craftspeople. The cobbler knew
the people and knew the kids had warm, dry feet due to his skill. The
lamp maker knew she gave them light. Today, how many of our household
items are made by people we know? Our shoes are made in a factory by a
kid operating a machine at exploited wages. The store with neighbors who
called us by name was an imperialist casualty, destroyed by greed.
Imperialism, with its global capitalism has destroyed us. Drug abuse is
merely a convulsion before death. But you can be revived. You can join
us in re-structuring our communities, our form of government, our lives.
That’s the call of revolution. Are you willing to die in order to feel
alive? Let us use the things you make and let us make the things you
need. In revolution every person has an essential part and there’s no
time for addiction or drug abuse.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We like this author’s point about the
waste of time that is drug abuse, and the reality that this abuse comes
from the alienation fostered by capitalist culture. We sent some
feedback to this author on eir first draft of this article because it
took up an anti-corporate line that seemed to promote small scale
capitalism rather than anti-imperialism. We know that we have much unity
with this author and so suggested ey rewrite it. This rewritten version
is an improvement but still we want to clarify that small scale
capitalism is still capitalism. It is true that huge corporations are a
product of imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. But we don’t
want to promote nostalgia for petty bourgeois businesses because that’s
a reactionary approach; trying to go back to another time. Another time
that of course never really existed, since even the early days of
capitalism were full of war, oppression, slavery and land grabbing. As
this comrade explained, we need a revolution to restructure society, and
when that happens we will be able to build a new society where people
engage in productive labor, which benefits their community. But it will
not look like the capitalism of a few generations ago. We will eliminate
the system of profit-driven work, instead allowing all people to work
for the betterment of society.
In the course of our discussion with this author over eir article ey
correctly noted that Walmart will die when imperialism dies in North
America: “Walmart exploits laborers around the globe and is a foundation
of Amerikkkan imperialism with revenue that exceeds the gross national
product of many small oppressed nations. Yet its foreign laborers are
paid pennies per hour. Most of their products are from India
(semi-fascist regime) and China (state sponsored kapitalism) where
workers are exploited. Not patronizing Walmart and not purchasing
products manufactured by exploited workers is an ‘attack’ or at least a
‘stand’ against imperialism. … The corner deli or the local mom/pop shop
isn’t exploiting workers in any nation.”
While this comrade is right that big corporations like Walmart are doing
far more exploitation of Third World workers than small shops, we don’t
agree that the corner shop isn’t exploiting workers in any nation. They
are selling the same products or using the same raw materials that
everyone else in the United $tates is selling/using: most of it comes
from Third World labor at base. Most products in Amerikan stores are
manufactured in other countries. So we shouldn’t mislead people into
thinking the stuff they buy in a smaller store is exploitation-free.
Further, the companies that promote “Made in America” products are not
off the hook. Many of them are still buying raw materials and machinery
from labor in Third World countries and just assembling products in the
United $tates. Finally, most of the U.$. economy is not even productive
industries. The service and financial sectors employ most Amerikans,
distributing the wealth within U.$. borders, exploited from other
nations via trade and extraction of real goods. There is no way to
escape participating in the economy of exploitation.
So we don’t tell people to boycott Walmart because we don’t want to
mislead people into thinking that they are going to make a difference
under imperialism by favoring one type of exploitation over another. If
the exploited workers in another country initiated an action against
Walmart (or any other corporation) and asked for our support with a
boycott, that would be a different story because that is not Amerikan
consumerism feeling good about itself by switching where we spend our
ridiculous wealth. That would be internationalist solidarity for
exploited people rising up against imperialism.
[Need to insert url below. for some reason prisoncensorship.info wasn't loading for me so couldn't pull it up.
I'm not sure this adequately addresses the writer's complaints but re-reading the lumpen class article I don't really get what they are criticizing because we never say that we defined the lumpen using the poverty line. Mostly they seem upset that we don't recognize that some full time workers who earn around $10k really have it hard and that's not enough to pay for their basic necessities. i.e. not exploited, but also life in amerika is so expensive they can't really afford it. I think this is a reasonable premise: there may be a small percentage of these folks in the U.S. who don't spend money on luxuries, work full time, and really can't pay for the basics. They aren't prol, but they also aren't lumpen.
Wia: Yes we do, we say: "Summing up the income data for defining the lumpen population, we can conservatively use the cut off of $10k/year for family income to say that 16% of New Afrikan families are lumpen and 10% of Latin@ families are lumpen or migrant proletarian." But maybe they're missing that we are using it to estimate the people not working full time or working below minimum wage, and not to measure their living conditions.
It seems this would be best written as a letter response to get clarity than an article. I started pulling some (possibly) relevant stuff on incomes, and just tacked it at the end when it seemed this was not really worth publishing.
]
In ULK51 in the article Defining and Measuring the Lumpen Class in the U.$, I found the part of "Lumpen Defined by Income" a bit archaic, and may need to be re-analyzed to give a clearer perspective of the income to standard of living ratio.
Even though unskilled and semi-skilled labor, paid at minimum wage, would seem to be overvalued in comparison to the pay of oppressed nations, from the perspective that minimum wage could buy more and go further within those countries, from the perspective of receiving such pay within the United $nakes it is still not enough to pay for all the basic necessities, such as food, shelter, clothing, medical and education for one humyn, let alone a further humyn.
In 1990 the U.$. tax government declared that under $12,000 a year to be living "At poverty level." In the base pay values of $3 to $5 an hour at 40 hours a week. $5 seems to meet your criteria of the $10,000 cut off point, by being at $10,400 for a 52 week year (no vacations) but would still be considered living under the "poverty line" in 1990, over twenty years ago. I am not sure what the U.$. tax government considers the "poverty level" now, and even though it would be "luxurious" compared to third world standards, at this level within the U.$., to make ends meet, these poverty level humyns would still be considered living parasitically off the wasted excess of the First World, in such commodities as food, shelter, and water that they often obtained in ways other than the trade of government currency.
I just think that the section should be re-evaluated.
MIM(Prisons) responds:
In the Defining and Measuring the Lumpen Class article we addressed a few important points. First, we need to understand what the term lumpen means. By definition, those engaged in full time work for pay are not part of the lumpen. The lumpen are unemployed or underemployed. Even people working full time and hustling on the side for extra cash are not part of the lumpen, though they may be more likely sympathetic to lumpen ideas and sentiments. Whether or not someone lives below the poverty line is irrelevant to defining the lumpen. There are some lumpen who earn more than full time working people. We just used income calculations to try to determine what percentage of the population is outside of the traditional workforce.
We're not sure what this comrade would propose for a re-evaluation of that section of defining lumpen by income since we didn't use poverty as a metric for lumpen class status, but rather for full time workers we need to look at income as a metric for proletarian vs. labor aristocracy status (based on whether or not someone earns more than the value of their labor).
We did address this question of the "poverty line" in the lead up to our analysis of lumpen defined by income in that same article: "Yet, even in the recent recession, government-defined poverty rates have not yet reached the levels they were at prior to 1965 when they were around 20%, give or take. In 2011 the poverty rate was recorded as 15%. Even this rate is inflated since assistance in the form of tax credits and food stamps is not counted as taxable income. If this income was included in their calculations it would pull 9.6 million people above the poverty line and bring the percent below the poverty rate to less than 12%. So it is only a small group at the margins that may be seeing a shift in their material conditions such that they could arguably be seen as not largely benefiting from imperialism."
It is true that many full time workers in the U.$. fall below the government-defined poverty line. As this writer says, we can see that many of these folks are living parasitically off of the excess stolen from the Third World. The most interesting point here is that some full time workers need to hustle on the side to survive. That might reasonably expand the group who, while not technically lumpen, is sympathetic to the lumpen and potentially revolutionary.
The Poverty Guideline for 2016 for the 48 contiguous states was $11,880 for an individual, increasing at increments of $4,160 for each additional family member. Many people claim that the cost of living is higher in the United $tates so we deserve to get paid more. This critique is why "purchasing power parity" (PPP) was developed as a way to measure Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. What purchasing power parity measures is not how many dollars the average persyn earns, but the average amount of value in real goods they can purchase with their income. The United $tates ranks #10 in this measurement, with most places ranking higher than it being industrial cities in Asia and small oil-producing entities. (http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.PCAP.PP.CD?year_high_desc=true) The U.$. GDP(PPP) is $55,836 per persyn in 2015, approaching 6 times that of the global average of $15,470. In other words, the "high cost of living" does not justify the high income levels in the United $tates.
Of course, those GDP per capita figures are averages and tell us nothing about the lowest rungs of those populations.