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by Melo x August 2022 permalink
This drawing is a response to one of the questions from our intro study
program on the materialist method of knowledge
[Responding to “What did you disagree with?” when studying “Where Do
Correct Ideas Come From?”]
I disagreed with the basis of idealism not being action. To think is
action. Thought can be provoked by stimuli collected by the body’s
sensors, which is more reactionary. Or you can create a thought or an
idea, but this is action. Mental action nonetheless but action
all-in-all. And it must be understood physical action comes from mental
action. As I write this I understand the materialist method is physical
action. Well I guess I don’t have a disagreement but rather a question,
is ideas placed on paper in book format considered materialism?
Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: As comrade Melo X
explains, we can have thoughts that are reactions to physical stimuli,
or we can create thoughts. But this “creation” of thoughts is also a
response to the physical world. What we might call reason, abstracts
concepts based on our experience with real phenomena, or physical things
we can interact with.
“the faculty of understanding is not a ‘thing in and of itself,’
because it becomes real only in contact with some object.”(1)
Dietzgen explained how the idealists see the mind as separate from
the sense perceptions of the material world. So Melo X is correct to see
the unity between them. The comrade also distinguishes creating thoughts
from more passive perception. This realization demonstrates the role of
reason in developing scientific understanding from our perception of the
physical world around us.
We also agree that our thoughts impact our actions. Hence we stress
class consciousness as an educational process that is a product of our
interactions with the class system.
So, are ideas in a book part of the materialist method? Well, it
depends on what ideas. A book can promote contemplative reasoning.
Bourgeois books will promote bourgeois thinking that harbors much
idealistic reasoning in order to deny the contradictions inherent to the
capitalist system. All that said, 99% of our materialist understanding
of the world is based in history, and therefore must come from books (or
other historical record). If we discarded books in our scientific
pursuits we could not continue to build on the knowledge of the past,
but would be stuck relearning the same things with each generation.
It is a crass form of materialism that says everything must come from
persynal experience and direct interaction with the physical world.
Rather we must learn from the actions of the people who came before us,
and as we develop new theories they must be tested by us in practice
through action and not just tested in our contemplative, subjective
minds. Another way to look at this is that books are recorded practice
and direct experiences of other people. Frederick Douglas’ writings are
from eir practice with chattel slavery, and Lenin’s writings are from
eir practice with the first proletarian revolution. When we say that all
knowledge is 99% history, we’re not saying we should spend all our time
learning using books but to see it as a starting point so we can make
new practice in the future.
Notes: 1. Joseph Dietzgen, The Nature of Human Brain
Work: An Introduction to Dialectics, PM Press, 2010,
p.58.
“We can’t afford rent and we’re sleeping outside. The youths are
jobless” -Yaw Barimah, Ghanaian taxidriver
In late June 2022, street protests erupted in Ghana’s capital city,
Accra. The above quote matches the general feel and demands of the
masses who took to the streets. Most lay persons are aware of the
current effects of inflation on the daily lives of the average people.
Many of us have not made the necessary connection that such inflation
and other tricks capitalists use to increase the amount of surplus value
extracted from the populace, are inherently apart of the internal
dynamics of capitalism itself. Our failure to understand this brings our
protests, and dissent to a screeching halt once the point of economic
reformism is reached.
In countries dominated under imperialist neo-colonialism, such as
Ghana, the weight of economic exploitation is maximized. As conditions
sharpen, the exploited classes of Ghana are beginning to stir. On July
4th four teacher’s unions went on strike in opposition to the
neo-colonial government’s refusal to pay ‘cost-of-living allowances’ of
at least 20% of their wages.
The government holds the position that due to ‘Annual inflation’ now
reaching 27.6% and the accompanied reduction in value of the Cedi(1),
they’re unable to pay this allowance. The system of imperialism works in
a way that parasitic countries like amerika hold economic hegemony over
Third World countries like Ghana. This allows for the U.$. currency, the
dollar, to dictate the value of the national currencies of Third World
countries. What this means for the Ghanaian and other Third World
workers is that because their wages are paid in money, the national
currency, the amount of their pay, although the same on paper, is
devalued along with national currency.
Month-on-Month inflation rates for the Cedi
So the exploitation of the Ghanaian worker has intensified. Their
labor is still required to be done at the same rate, same hours labored,
same amount of labor, and same wage paid. What has changed is the value
of their labor power; with inflation, the amount of cedi it takes to
maintain the worker’s needs is greater. Yet wages have not increased, or
not increased as much.
To allow the common people to overstand our common interest in
overthrowing capitalist dictatorship it is necessary to understand and
breakdown plainly, the inner-working of capitalism and how it effects
the lives of the people.
In Ghana, as described above, and many other places around the world
right now, the mechanism being used by capitalist exploiters is the
depression of wages. This generally occurs when the wages of the worker
are below the value of their labor power. Labor power here means human
work, the sum total of a person’s physical and mental effort.(2) Labor
power is the primary factor in society’s production. Uniquely however,
only in capitalist society is labor power a commodity.
The process of commodification of labor power manifests itself in two
conditions: (1) The worker is ‘free’ in that they can ‘choose’ to sell
their labor as a commodity. (2) The worker owns nothing aside from their
labor power (what the mind/body can produce). They have no means of
productions, or means of living and must sell their labor power to
live.
Therefore, what we know as ‘employment’ in the capitalist economy
consists of capitalists buying the labor power of the laborer and
converting them into hired slaves.
The exploitation of workers is examined by the advent of surplus
value. The degree of exploitation is examined by the rate of surplus
value. The capitalist devises ways to maximize this rate of surplus
value, which brings me back to depression and deduction of wages.
To comprehend wages, we must first overstand that wages are a
‘disguise’. They are a way to fool the people into thinking they’re
getting equal value for their labor.
Marx said, “wages are not what they appear to be. They are not the
value or price of labor, but a disguised form of the value or price of
labor power.”(3) Therefore the capitalists notion that they pay the
worker the price of their labor is completely fabricated.
A key in understanding political economy is to comprehend the
distinction between labor and labor power. Under capitalism what the
worker is selling isn’t labor, but is labor power, which is capable of
being commodified, while the former (labor) isn’t.
The next logical question is why? why is labor not a commodity?
Commodities exist in their final state prior to being sold, labor
doesn’t. Also commodities are exchanged for equal value, according to
the law of value. Therefore if labor was a commodity the capitalist
should pay the full value created by labor, which would eliminate
surplus value (the source of profit), which would eliminate
capitalism.
If labor was a commodity, it would have value and that value would be
determined by the amount of embodied labor. This can’t happen. How can
the value of a phenomenon be determined by the value of itself?
What labor is is the process of labor power. Therefore the wage paid
to the laborer is equal to the value of the labor power. In other words,
it is the amount required to keep the proletariat as a class alive and
working – that is the value of labor power. Whatever extra the worker’s
labor power produces above the value of labor power (the wage paid to
keep the proletariat alive) is called surplus value and
it is what is ‘exploited’ by the capitalist. The wage itself is the
chain that binds the exploiter to the exploited. The revolutionary
demand must be to abolish the wage system.
The term ‘cost of living allowance’, caused me to think of our need
to overstand where the idea of ‘cost of living’ or ‘standard of living’
has its roots.
We begin by concluding that these are two distinctive wages. In the
political economy of capitalism, there are nominal
wages and there are real wages. Nominal wages
are expressed by the wage payment of money.
In our quest to find the ‘cost of living’, we can’t use nominal wages
as representation. The cost of living will only be reflected by the
amount of means of livelihood which can be bought by the money wage
(nominal wage). What the nominal wage can purchase is the cost/standard
of living and is called real wages.
Declining value of Ghana’s cedi priced in U.$. dollars
What is taking place in Ghana is that there is a contradiction
between the nominal and real wages. The nominal wage is being held in
place, while the real wage is in a downward trend, a decline.
“When the purchasing power of money declines and the prices of the
means of livelihood go up, the same amount of the nominal wage can only
be exchanged for a smaller amount of means of livelihood. Then the real
wage falls. Sometimes even if the nominal wage goes up a bit, but less
than the increase in prices of the means of livelihood, the real wage
will still decline.”(4)
This is essentially what we observe playing out in real time in Ghana
and elsewhere. As the above quote alludes to, simple economic reforms
like increase in wage will not end this phenomenon, the elimination of
surplus value is the only solution. The bourgeoisie will always use the
tools of inflation, price increases and rent increases to increase the
contradiction between the nominal wage (money paid) and the real wage
(what can be bought) to increase the rate of surplus value accumulation
(the exploitation of the people).
In conclusion, I want to point out that while the protests organized
by Arise Ghana and the work strike by the four teacher’s unions are
significant struggles for the daily hurdles of life for the Ghanaian
people, the people must be made to distinguish between the causes and
effects of economic hardship. When a sick person has a cold and a
running nose, they don’t merely get a tissue for the nose without curing
the cold itself. The people exploited by imperialism must synthesize the
economic and political struggles.
Closing with a word from Marx,
“The working class should not forget: in this daily struggle they are
only opposing the effect, but not the cause that produces this effect;
they are only delaying the downward trend, not changing the direction of
the trend; they are only suppressing the symptom, not curing the
disease.”(5)
DOWN WITH CAPITALIST-IMPERIALISM!!!
Notes: (1) The Cedi is the national currency of
Ghana. (2) Fundamentals of Political Economy, edited by George C.
Wang,;Chapt.4,pg.59 (3)K.Marx,Critique of the Gotha Program,selected
work of Marx &Engels Vol.3 (4)Fundamentals of Political
Economy,chapt.4,pg72 (5)K.Marx, Wages,Prices and Profit, Selected
Works of Marx &Engels, Vol.2
The task of a revolutionary, regardless of ones political/ideological
or cultural leanings, is to make revolution. Revolution is all about
change. The biggest change that a revolutionary must undertake is the
equivalent to in the religion of Islam what is called Jihad. Jihad is
not limited to what most Western religious enthusiasts have been led to
believe, the meaning of Jihad goes much deeper than the concept of
crusades or mere bombings. The biggest Jihad or battle that one can have
is the battle for control over oneself.(als see MIM(Prisons)’s study
pack on religion) To the revolutionary, this task is important because
he/she has to become the change they wish to produce to the world.
A constant improving of one’s character with the righteousness of
ideals that have went through the rigors of tests to be found or rather
proved to be correct for the overall ordeal of advancement. Once again
before this can be felt by the untapped but potential revolutionary or
the dumb, deaf & blind brother/sister clinging to a culture intended
to kill them, the revolutionary must make this change (revolution)
within his/her own personal character. This is what should be used to
provide an example for others of whom we are trying to reach. This also
however leads us to the conclusion that people no matter the fact that
we come from common ways of living & thinking, are still each
different.
This statement doesn’t mean that I subscribe to individualism,
because true revolutionaries think from the communal mindset. However,
since we are far removed from that concept, we must find ways that are
productive to lead one to the communal mindset that already exists in us
naturally. The idea of individualism is one of the main obstacles to
overall community change, because we’re not acting as organisms moving
together for the betterment of the body (society). But that doesn’t mean
that all aspects of individualism are wrong, for example, “each
according to ability.” So while some may think of us all developing the
mind of the commune will lead us all to thinking like the Borg from Star
Trek (everyone thinking the same thing), I see it more like the Smurfs.
Yes the Smurfs. They had a unified community, accompanied with everyone
playing a specific role. This way shouldn’t just be relegated to one’s
own political vanguard or the military brigade. We have to find some
means of communicating these ideals to everyone. Since we all share a
common enemy, all of our efforts have to revolve around crushing that
threat.
If we relegate ourselves to constantly battling over which of the
communal methods hold the stronger validity, we’ll all end up moving in
our own directions & probably never initializing the changes that we
are the basis of our citizenship within these groups. We’ll more than
likely continue to develop the mentalities they would like for us to
develop, which will ultimately reduce us to caricature. All opinions are
not equal & there is such a thing as counter-productive revisionism.
Our vanguard elements are going to have to develop the use of Democratic
Centralism. This process however must be done without the bitterness
& rancor that can only come from egoism. In fact egoism must be
crushed, because great man personalities have no place in revolution.
Revolution, whether politically or through armed struggle, is all about
the altering of a society that is crushing the life force out of all of
us, this is not an individual problem, once again it is communal!
Dialectical materialism is all about examining things within their
total sequence & seeing the pros & cons in the struggles of the
past. The obvious reason is to better equip ourselves from suffering the
same fate as a result of the same failures of our previous brave
brothers/sisters engaged at trying to crush the outside enemy culture
& to utilize whatever methods may be useful to strengthen what we
already have. A constant improvisation still needs to be done, but this
doesn’t mean that we should stop studying people’s war. We have to study
the principles of people’s war & learn to interpret them to fit our
overall situation here. Most wars of liberation took place in the
countryside of their respective lands. Our situation is different in
that Amerikan settler-colonialism is modernized & at least 80-90% of
Amerika is industrialized, so the nerve centers of this nation are
indeed the cities. This means that hip shooting cops are all around us,
thus making them easier to reach.
In the opening phases of our struggle for liberation, I feel just as
Comrade Jackson felt, that the military proper must be kept hidden &
separate from the political front. You see the role of a political
revolutionary is totally different than the military who are engaged in
armed struggle against macabre freaks. The guerrilla chief is tasked
with communicating to his soldiers that they must protect their
political peoples at their work. If we let our “voices” die to machine
gun fire, no knock invasions, the anonymous tip, political incarceration
& even the work of agent provocateurs & class defectors, then
our dream of eventual freedom will more than likely die with those brave
brothers/sisters. The guerrilla chief however must also have a thorough
understanding of the true nature of fascism, the modern industrial
state, the economic landscape etc. The reason is that if one group dies
or is not as effective the guerrilla chief & his band of
revolutionaries can still keep the revolution alive.
As of now our main problem is the fact that our vanguard &
military groups have shifted their focus from revolution to clinging to
the culture of anti-people crimes. The settler-colonial strategy is law
& order which ultimately means prison – our tactic is perfect
disorder which leads to the proletariat & the lumpen creating mass
disorder to work against the beast (cops) & their vigilante
supporters. In 1969, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover declared that “there
will no longer be a Black Panther Party in the U.S.” The Black Panther
Party was not the only revolutionary group & in spite of popular
belief, they were not just a group working exclusively in the interest
of Blacks. The Black Panther Party like almost every other revolutionary
group, was a communist organization that utilized the principles they
learned from successful communist victories, from examples such as Mao
Zedong and his Red Book. They formed alliances with many other
revolutionary groups and because the Black situation stood out more
(& still does) they were thought to be the overall vanguard party to
even other political & military vanguards. So the goal wasn’t to
just fix conditions in the Black community. That was their primary
objective, but they understood that if you just focused exclusively on
the black conditions and fixing only our areas, we would have to
ghettoize other segments of society that would equal Mexicans, Chican@s,
First Nations, etc.
To stop the progressive elements of unity among different
cultural/revolutionary groups, the establishment caused the leaders of
these groups to distrust their own members. This was done by the
government from planting spies in these groups, along with wiretaps,
surveillance, to out sending letters to leaders that were supposed to
have come other leaders declaring war between the groups. The goals the
establishment used largely worked and eventually several key leaders
either went into hiding, left the country, or were even assassinated
while the political prisoners suffered death legally and
quasi-legally.
Of course progressive thinking was still held as an ideal in some
people’s minds and this led to groups that eventually turned against the
community even further by becoming gangs. Community Revolution in
Progress became the goal for Raymond Washington and Stanley “Tookie”
Williams or Brotherly Love Overriding Oppression & Destruction
became the acronym for Blood. These were good ideas and could’ve worked
if we had received the freedom first. The freedom I’m referring to must
come first in the form of a free-dome because our situation was more
psychological than physical. This means that our minds were created for
the sole purpose of getting us to act against our even better interests.
This shouldn’t be understated since the mindsets that we have now didn’t
exist in communal Africa. These mindsets is what led us to
industrializing this country which ultimately our labor was used as the
down payment on the system of economics that determines one’s status in
this country.
Without the mindsets that we adopted (through long usage) we would’ve
long been better equipped at resisting. But since chattel slavery lasted
for 400 years and we haven’t been free 200 years, how can we hope to win
freedom, especially since once again we are still clinging to the ideas
that created our mindsets in the first place? Since it is our design
that gave beauty to the world, which should be easy to see since others
are quick to pick up on our culture, even sometimes more readily than we
are, we must go back to our own design. This could work for the
betterment of not only us as a group however, this could be used as a
basis to show others righteous examples that could ultimately lead to a
change. But it must begin now. For us to delay what must be done today
is like asking someone else to undertake to aid us in a liberation
effort that must be engaged in by our own efforts.
Another problem working against us is our inability to understand the
difference between reform and change. Largely the only righteous peoples
who were working for us are the people who were attacked by the outside
enemy culture. Anyone else was used because their stance wasn’t
revolutionary. I’m not dismissing people like Martin Luther King Jr.,
Rosa Parks etc, but I know that the main reason why they are mentioned
over people such as Malcolm X or Huey Newton is their view against the
necessity not only of violence and the correct usage of armed struggle,
but it also mainly rests with them telling us to escape from the culture
that we embrace. Malcolm X’s image is only now used because at the end
of his life he was said to have accepted whites. Part of that was true,
but he never said they weren’t devils just because he converted to
orthodox Islam. What he said was that in his view the devil (white man)
could only be redeemed in his opinion through Islam because Christianity
has not redeemed them from not only killing us, but also starting wars
with other whites.
So people like Martin, through his practice of pacifism and his
refusal to go against the culture of Amerikanism, resulted in him
winning a few reforms which are only offered to us as tokens, these
tokens however are not change. Change is why we are no longer looked at
as second class citizens in a world where some are held above others
based on racial & economic reasons. His Imperial Majesty who heavily
inspired Bob Marley to later embrace Rastafarianism, said that “until
the philosophy that the color of one’s skin is as less significant as
the color of one’s eyes there will always be war.” The road to freedom
means freedom, justice & equality for all regardless of one’s
ethnicity, political views, religions, spirituality etc.
We will have this freedom even at the cost of total war. We come to
the conclusion that violence to us may be the only recourse. This
violence shouldn’t be tied to romanticism, it’s about us altering the
conditions that are restricting our passage to freedom. I humbly and
passionately respect all the sincere people who gave their life and
ideas to produce men like me whose goal is to move further than when
they left off and that’s even for those of whom I disagree with. I
recognize that passion leads to different outcomes and different
results, as long as they were intended to benefit us as a whole than
whether I disagree or not I still have the fact that their life force
was used to alter the conditions that is for the betterment of our lives
as a whole. My stance as a whole is rooted around us globally enjoying
freedom, justice & equality. I realize the imperial process is only
complete if the parent imperial nation - USA - is strong so I’m all for
bringing Amerika down to her knees. Anyone who sincerely has that as a
goal I embrace, white or Black I embrace, but it must begin now.
Long Live Guerrilla Chief George Jackson!
Long Live All those Who Don’t Fear Freedom!
Plastick of MIM(Prisons) responds:This comrade here
has given us a core learning element of leading the masses by example –
a new socialist world and a new human being will have to constantly
remove the old world’s reactionary culture and habits.
One thing this comrade has mentioned that we are in disagreement is
in regards to fascism. Originally, the comrade has spoke of fascist
Amerika which has been changed to settler-colonial Amerika by this
responder. We define fascism as a new strategy by the bourgeois
dictatorship when it can no longer rule the way it has ruled before. We
believe that Amerika is likely to turn fascist through a
political-economic crisis which is integral to capitalism-imperialism.
However, we believe that the current state of methods such as police
killings, imprisonment, and exploiting the majority of the world for
superprofits and high level of consumption has always been the way that
Amerika has ruled. When this social-democratic strategy of sharing the
piece of the imperialist pie to the oppressor nation (Amerikans) ceases
to work due to an ever deepening of the crisis, then fascism will indeed
come. Up until now, Amerika has maintained relative strength, and Sun
Tzu taught us to attack when the enemy is helpless.
Within the prison movement there is much talk about ‘political
education’ and ‘raising consciousness’. Truthfully, even when We reflect
on recent and distant episodes in Our collective struggles against the
bourgeoisie, many of us often lament upon the fact that a key ingredient
that has always been lacking from Our movements, parties, organizations,
and the unorganized masses, is the lack of a systemic and organized
framework to political education. Assata Shakur expressed her criticism
of the Black Panther Party for the same reason. Veterans of the Chican@
movement i’ve spoke with have expressed the same criticisms, stating
that had more deliberate, organized approaches been given back in the
days it may have progressively altered the cultural nationalist
tendencies of the movement towards a revolutionary nationalist praxis.
Yet and still, today We’re still stressing, and rightly so, the
paramount importance of political education. However, the question has
become, must become, what is political education, how do we apply it,
and why is it so important?
Political education takes many forms, and phases, and the correct
application of it, or what is paramount for a persyn to know is
dependent upon the conditions one finds themselves in. Thus i begin with
Fanon,
“It is commonly thought with criminal flippancy that to politicize
the masses means from time to time haranguing them with a major
political speech…But political education means opening up the mind,
awakening the mind, and introducing it to the world…To politicize the
masses is not and cannot be to make a political speech. It means driving
home to the masses that everything depends on them, that if we stagnate
the fault is theirs, and that if we progress, they too are responsible,
that there is no demiurge, no illustrious man taking responsibility for
everything, but that the demiurge is the people and the magic lies in
their hands and their hands alone.” (1)
Now as i was saying conditions will determine quite alot. So it is
the line of USW, and many others, that amerika is a settler-neo colonial
imperialist empire, and as such holds actual nations of people
subjugated, meaning their/our self-development is thwarted, within its
borders as well as in the Third World.
Hystory indicated that this line is right and exact. When We recall
the process of how amerika was established we understand that it (nation
of euro amerikan settlers) settled upon this land, removed, and
committed genocide against the native nations of people, some of which
are still among us today. So those (the indigenous) are just one group
of nations within the borders of amerika, which We call the First
Nations. Of course We all know about the forced migration of millions of
Africans, and We know they underwent slavery at the hands of those same
settlers, as did some Natives. What We often fail to analyze is that
slavery, is only an economic system, it is a mode of producing social
value, however, to describe the plight of the African people in amerika
by mere economic lingo alone is highly insufficient. What is the term
that would encapsulate the experience of the economic exploitation,
social and political repression that the African people in amerika
eventually triumphed over? Slavery? No, servitude? No. That one word
which encapsulates that struggle is COLONIALISM.
Well, what the heck is colonialism? Quoting from the Black Liberation
Army Political Dictionary;
Colonialism - foreign domination of a country or a people, where the
economic, political and military structure is controlled and run by the
occupying force. (2)
So African people residing in the United $tates are not merely the
offspring of enslaved people, but a colonized people, and because of
that diametrically opposed nature of a colonized people to its
colonizer, the African people residing in amerika developed organically
into a nation, that is a people distinct from the settler by its
culture, its language, its land, and thus We call this nation today New
Afrika, but others call it Black Amerika, or Black nation, or a host of
other titles. No matter the title New Afrikan people are deep down aware
that they’re distinct and separate, but the reality of a nation within
an empire doesn’t register to some, to most, after a substantial time
frame of this reality being obscured from the public consciousness.
Having roots in, but eventually developing distinct from the First
Nations, there is the Chican@, and Puerto Rican nations/colonies.
Overtime all these domestic colonies subjugated by the settler amerikan
empire have developed thru struggle, and have reached a new and
different phase of colonialism, called neo-colonialism, which can be
characterized by the power structure now formally allowing
representatives of these oppressed peoples to integrate into the
economic, political and military structures, and in many ways act as a
buffer between the ruling class and the masses of neo-colonized
people.
This brings me back to Our discussion on organizing, and political
education. See, depending on what We organizing for, one will require
different political understanding. Fanon says,
“A political informed [person in a colonial situation] is someone who
knows that a local dispute is not a crucial confrontation between [them]
and [the system]”
“It is the repeated demonstrations for their rights and the repeated
labor disputes that politicize the masses.” (3)
So basically what Frantz Fanon is saying here is that first one must
understand they are indeed colonized, and this understanding disallows
them from settling for any ol’ concession that can come from a ‘local
dispute’. And here when he says local, We can put it in Our immediate
context and understand it to mean, ‘prison struggles’.
What does this mean? It essentially means that We utilize, and in
fact manufacture these ‘repeated demonstrations for their/our rights’ as
a means to politicize the masses. However, if We are organizing the
masses utilizing such demonstration alone We run into a few pitfalls.
The one which i’ll deal with here can be understood by the old saying,
“Be careful what you ask for you just might get it.” So in Our context,
in the prison movement, what happens to the momentum of the masses, of
the people as a whole if We as organizers manufacture a or a few
demonstrations and the administration actually concedes? If the masses
don’t understand the complexity of Our situation, that We’re colonized,
dehumanized, an alienated sub-class, the dregs of the society, and that
not only must these realities change, We must change within Ourselves,
and We must take part in changing these realities, then the masses the
people will quit the struggle after what they’ve perceived to be
success, and they’ll resume their normal ways of existence. This pattern
is counter-productive to the cause of revolution. We must at all times
possible keep the masses active, and that activity pertaining to the
struggle. Fanon said, “The colonized subject is at constant risk of
being disarmed by any sort of concession.”(4)
So an understanding of what Our issues are, colonialism,
neo-colonialism or racism, or individual wrong decision making, will
determine the strategies and tactics We take moving forward. If We begin
Our study of literature proceeding from the perspective that We’re
colonized nations of people, We study how anti-colonial struggles have
developed, failed and triumphed around the world. Furthermore We realize
that unless an action fundamentally eradicates Our colonial existence
than it is only a reform and does not solve Our fundamental problem(s)
which stem from Our thwarted development under neo-colonialism. Thus We
don’t even seek certain reforms, or concessions, and the ones We do are
to advance Our strategic goal.
The question now becomes again HOW to maintain the masses attention
before, during, and after demonstrations? The answer leads us to
ORGANIZATION. Those who have a study level of political vision must take
the initiative in forming real organized organizations. Within these
organizations leaders should allow for activities to be carried out by
the rank & file and must be sure that activities assigned to a
comrade are in alignment with the talents, interests, and abilities of
said comrade. In this way one keeps the masses involved and engaged. If
able weekly or bi-weekly meetings should be established. Minutes should
be kept of the meetings, meaning, write down what you’re doing, what
you’re talking about, what are the plans going forward, etc. At said
meetings each comrade should have a progress report, which entails what
they’ve been doing since the previous meeting.
If a comrade can draw, they should be assigned something to draw. If
a comrade can write, they should be assigned something to write. If a
comrade has a typewrite they should be tasked with typing up the
documents of the group. In fact it is good to take up one project that
the entire collective can attribute to. Say a pamphlet, of course you
need writers, We need art work, and We’ll need a typist, We’ll need some
donations of stamps to circulate it to publishers, and in this way every
one not only feels involved, but more importantly feels that
immeasurable feeling of accomplishment. In understanding the
complexities of Our class (lumpen) We must understand a lot of us have
not accomplished much of anything in the way of real world
accomplishments. A lot of us have been caged, stagnated in a state of
arrested development, since Our pre-teen and teen years, and thus are
persynally under-developed in many ways. This feeling of accomplishment
motivates and inspires one to continue to chase that good feeling, and
particularly when the feeling is derived from doing something
productive, it overtime alters a persyn internally, and this is what We,
as revolutionaries especially within the lumpen class want most.
Organizations in their many varieties are the vehicles of the people
and their struggle. Vanguard elements must seek to organize all aspects
of the people’s struggle, all aspects of the people’s lives under their
leadership and influence. This doesn’t mean everyone has to or will be a
member of a particular leading organizational body. What it means is
that organization must make itself seen & heard & felt in each
aspect of the people’s lives. The musician they listen to should be
expressing some theme derived from the organization. The farmer should
have the organization’s line on collectivizing agriculture and land. The
prisoner and their family should know that the prisoner, if deemed
capable can/will have a place of refuge, work, and re-humanization with
the organization. The womyn must know she has a group trustworthy and
capable to care for her kids collectively, and ensure her access to safe
abortion if necessary. Those in the LGBTQ community must feel at one
with the organization, enabled and empowered.
In a nutshell the proper organization will galvanize the popular
masses of the people, educating and organizing the most capable from
every and all sectors, and from there synthesize the aspirations, and
ambitions of the people’s struggle with practical and concrete measures
to realize these objectives.
With the formation of Texas T.E.A.M.O.N.E., the Texas USW re-branded,
We have formed the vehicle for the Texas prisoner’s struggle. We have
thus far established multiple wings which can/will be used to activate
the stored away genius of the masses. We have the legal wing for those
writ-writing jailhouse lawyers, a space for like minded cats to put
their heads together to attack certain aspects of the system that can
help us better build the movement. We have established, in its early
stages, a wimmins & LGBTQ wing, which is again an avenue for certain
people to step up and utilize what they already know how to do, in
concert with the rest of the organized body to get what We want. We’ve
established the Worker’s wing a lane where people around the state can
collectively struggle for worker’s rights, and incorporate those
struggles with the others and in combination gain bigger gains…We’ve
established and/or influenced the establishment of numerous committees
with the members therein playing roles in the ‘wings’ mentioned above.
In all this We’ve done well in applying lessons learned from
MIM(Prisons), and some of Our own experiences, thus synthesizing theory
& practice.
It must be said however that We have made many mistakes. We began
organizing as Fanon said, around demonstrations. We learned in practice,
some of us without ever having read Fanon, that the masses, and
Ourselves could easily get complacent after concessions are made. The
mistake came by not initially focusing on ideo-theoretical questions. We
had to learn that the truth of the matter that prior to any organization
the people in question must sit down and individually intake
information, after a certain amount of information has been accumulated
they must come together and discuss their findings and thoughts,
establish their points of unity, modes of organization, and other such
matters. Of course this isn’t to say that all organizations come
together like this. Many take on a more spontaneous approach to
development and this approach is observed in their style of work.
The re-occurring theme will always be political education, the need
for it will never cease, and the need to bring all the people to an
active level of consciousness, that is a level where they can be/are
active in the struggle.
In Our campaign to end RHU, it was selectively chosen for a multitude
of reasons. One of which is to show & prove We can shut it down if
& when We organize Ourselves and the people correctly. Because of
conditions that prevail in long-term isolation, many of the most radical
and politically astute people are in or have been in long-term
isolation, if We could multiply those types of elements, and then get
them out on the pop city We can make conditions more conductive to
politicizing more and more prisoners sending more and more of these to
the outside. To illustrate the contradiction that despite the various
levels of illegality present within the solitary confinement apparatus,
it still continues, and yet We’re the so-called criminals. There is of
course the fact that if We can eliminate the punitive answer for dissent
then We leave the enemy with little recourse once Our collective
resistance picks up. In this way We take a tool out of their tool kit.
However, the underlying goal is simply to shut seg down, what if they
just capitulated and gave us what We wanted? What becomes of the
struggle then? IF that was Our actual GOAL and not a MEANS TO AN END,
then Our entire struggle would have been defeated, at least temporarily,
not by bullets, or bombs, but by sugar-coated bullets, by concessions,
by reforms, which weaken the intensity of contradictions rather than
increase them. Mastering this delicate balance will determine the
successes and failures of Our organizing methods.
“At first disconcerted, they then realize the need to explain and
ensure the colonized’s consciousness does not get bogged down. In the
meantime the war goes on, the enemy organizes itself, gathers strength
and preempts the strategy of the colonized. The struggle for national
liberation is not a question of bridging the gap in one giant stride.
The epic is played out on a difficult, day-to-day basis and the
suffering endured far exceeds that of the colonial period. Down in the
towns the colonists have apparently changed. Our people are happier.
They are respected. A daily routine sets in, and the colonized engaged
in struggle, the people who must continue to give it their support,
cannot afford to give in. They must not think the objective has already
been achieved. When the actual objectives of the struggle are described,
they must not think they are impossible. Once again, clarification is
needed and the people have to realize where they are going and how to
get there. The war is not one battle but a succession of local
struggles, none of which, in fact, is decisive.” (5)
We’ve articulated previously that one’s method to organization is
logically dependent upon one’s goals, and also one’s circumstances or
conditions. It is Our view that the conditions and circumstances being
what they currently are in North amerika, the lumpen-prisoner class is a
highly dynamic entity. This class, Our class is also a vacillating
class, meaning its members can be like see-saws, moving from one side
(revolutionary) to another (reactionary) as their emotions and whims
take them. However, We assert that the other classes of North amerika
have become so bourgeoisified that the social vehicles for social
revolution are so slim to none that the last objectively repressed class
in amerika, the class that still has little to no stake in the bourgeois
democracy, is the lumpen.
We’ve reached this conclusion by analyzing the social forces and
classes within North amerikan society. Observing their material benefits
of being cozied up to their bourgeoisie. We’ve observed how and why
social movements only advance so far, being largely unwilling, or
sometimes unable to carry the struggle to higher levels, due to a
certain level of comfort in the status quo. And We logically look to Our
own class and see that these factors, though still present are vastly
diminished. Therefore, arriving at this class analysis We say that it is
most conductive to Our goal of social revolution to invest time and
resources into the lumpen in order to politicize them, and that
investment should be in proportion to the classes potential to lean
towards a revolutionary line and practice.
Now We reach the basic question, how do we maximize the dynamic
potential of this vacillating lumpen class? How do We ensure that the
majority of lumpen are progressive, neutral, or all the way
revolutionary and not objective enemies of the people? The answer again
points to ORGANIZATION. The only way to maximize the people’s initiative
in general and the lumpen in particular is to formulate them into
tightly organized units/groups. The lumpen struggle is a class struggle,
and thus We must organize the First World Lumpen on a class basis.
What does this mean, what does this look like? What is a class? There
is often mention of the prisoner class, or a particular class of
prisoners. However, very rarely do comrades utilize class in a Communist
framework.
A ‘Class’ 1) shares a common position in their relation to the means
of production; common economic conditions, relative to their labor and
appropriation of the social surplus; 2) that they must share a separate
way of life and cultural existence; 3) that they must share a set of
interests which are antagonistic to other classes; 4) that they must
share a set of social relations,;i.e. a sense of unity which extends
beyond local boundaries, and constitutes a national bond; 5) that they
must share a corresponding collective consciousness of themselves as a
‘class’, and; 6) they must create their own political organizations, and
pursue their interests as a ‘class’ (6)
We must also clarify that Marx differentiated between a ‘class in
itself’ and a ‘class for itself’. The difference between the two can be
summarized by saying that a class in itself simply shares a common
economic position but lacks the other listed criteria. Whereas a class
for itself is an entity fully organized and meeting all listed
criteria.
Therefore, what We are saying here is that We must organize in a
manner that will bring the lumpen from the level of class in itself, to
the elevated level of a class for itself. Our organization should be
modeled in a way to obtain the collective mobility, ingenuity, and
potential of the lumpen as a whole. We must ‘nationalize’ these
structures, meaning expand them state-to-state, with each one developing
its own relative strength locally.
The next question is how do We get there? How do we reach this point
of mass participation and organization? We’ll quote Fanon here:
“The duty of a leadership is to have the masses on their side. Any
commitment, however, presupposes awareness and understanding of the
mission to be accomplished, in short a rational analysis, no matter how
embryonic.” (7)
Here he stresses the basic conscious political education of the
people. We continue:
“The people should not be mesmerized, swayed by emotion or
confusion. Only [under-developed people] led by a revolutionary elite
emanating from the people can today empower the masses to step out
onto the stage of history.” (8)
I’ve put the above in bold to illuminate certain mistakes We often
make. We often capitulate to the weaknesses of the masses in Our good
intended desire to win them over. One of the weaknesses of this sort is
the masses never-ending desire to be entertained. This desire almost
always precedes from a desire to escape reality, and when done too much
establishes a state of complacency with oppression and exploitation and
undermines revolutionary or productive/progressive activity. When We
reach out to the masses We often make the mistake of trying to move them
into immediate action with a fiery speech, with the showing of the video
of the latest police killing, or whatever We believe may move them.
Although We have good intentions this method has hystorically proven
inadequate for carrying out revolution. Instead, because it relies on
emotions, which fluctuate, the activity it renders, if it renders
activity at all, is necessarily fluctuating, and vacillating.
We can see this in real time if We observe the ebbs and flows of
social movements in North amerika. George Floyd’s taped murder shook
people emotionally. It awakened pent up anger and frustration from many
sectors. People took that, and nothing else, no political education, no
political organization, no political vision, only anger and frustration
into their protests, and rebellions, and uprisings. Soon, the only
people left in the streets were politicized people. Anarchists,
Socialists, Abolitionists, and this sort. The masses however, had long
since retreated back into the comforts of their amerikan life of escape,
and leisure, isolating what was then allowed to be percieved as
extremist/terrorist elements.
This what Fanon calls the ‘weakness of spontaneity’ showed its face.
We must learn from this. In the quote above the ‘under-developed people’
are those masses of North amerikans. They reside in the land of excess,
material excess, but the land of political sleep-walkers. These are the
people Fanon says must be led by a REVOLUTIONARY elite. Now what does he
mean by this? Because of the under-developed state of the people’s
sociopolitical consciousness, those cadre elements who’ve struggled to
grasp the complex concepts of political-economy, and revolutionary
theory, although not desiring to be perceived as an elite, meaning above
the rest, they actually do represent a higher stage of development, and
in that context ONLY are they ‘elite’. The key phrase of the quote is
the necessity that these ‘elite’ emanate from the people, meaning they
must be one of their own, or perceived as such. The cadre-organizer must
take care to balance its level of understanding with the level of the
masses. There will be a contradiction between these masses and the
politicized persyn, there should be, but this should not be an
antagonistic contradiction. The people should be able to look to you for
example, not look at you in disdain. As one might do to someone who
thinks their shit don’t stink. Now we move to exactly HOW does these
cadres, EMPOWER THE MASSES,
“…On the condition that We vigorously and decisively reject the
formation of a national bourgeoisie, a caste of privileged individuals.
To politicize the masses is to make the nation (or class) in its
totality a reality for every citizen. To make the experience of the
nation (or class) the experience of every citizen.” (9)
“Only the massive commitment by men and wimmin to judicious and
productive tasks gives form and substance to this consciousness.”
(10)
“No leader, whatever their worth, can replace the will of the people,
and the national government, before concerning itself with international
prestige, must first restore dignity to all citizens, furnish
their minds, fill their eyes with human things and develop a human
landscape for the sake of its enlightened and sovereign
inhabitants.” (11)
It is Our intention as USW leaders in Texas, as Tx T.E.A.M.O.N.E.
cadre, to have Our organization act as a vehicle to organize and
mobilize and educate the masses of lumpen in North amerika. We hope you
will be inspired to join us.
Sources:
1) Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon, pg.138,
chapt.3
2) Black Liberation Army Political Dictionary,
pg.4
3) Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon, pg.63
chapt.2
4) ibid, pg.90, chapt.2
5) ibid, pg.90, chapt.2
6) see; Karl Marx, The 18th Brumaire; also Karl Marx, The
Holy Family;also, Meditations On Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth,
James Yaki Sayles, pg. 286
7) Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon, pg.140,
chapt.3
A comrade responded to the article “Oh So
You Woke” in ULK 73:
“In this article the author criticizes the likes of Angela Davis and
John Lewis. neither Ms. Davis nor Mr. Lewis were agents of propaganda
for the bourgeois as the author implies, but rather they were committed
to the struggle and spent many years on the front lines. As far as
penetrating the police and other arms of state imperialism/control,
someone is going to fill those roles. Is it better us or them? WE must
attack the status quo from multiple fronts – from the inside as well as
the outside. WE need more Angela Davises and John Lewises.”
I do agree with the comrade that WE do need to attack the status quo
from multiple fronts but when one of our own lumpen falls into the lines
of reformism and revisionism while on the road of revolution or
liberation, instead of being a die hard non-compromising, non-settling,
give-me-death-if-I-can’t-have-real-life-liberation revolutionary like
Fred Hampton, Bunchy Carter and the many fore Fathers and fore Mothers
of our lumpen communities, who died and were imprisoned so that the
eternal fire of Freedom, Justice and Equality will never lose its light
and intensity in the surviving generations and their children. So they
can fight on until that day comes in entirety. Then one has to ask the
question … who do you work for?
If WE as a First World lumpen and Third World proletarian
revolutionaries have more individuals like Angela Davis & John
Lewis, We’ll never fulfill the S.O.P.’s of the UFPP. We’ll be in a state
of Reformism and Revisionism, being closely intertwined with
imperialism/capitalism instead of overthrowing it.
First and foremost Angela Davis is a major reformist, she was a part
of the Communist Party, U$A, where the CPU$A was about that Real Life
revolution before the 1940’s but by the 1960’s all their members that
took inspiration from Mao Zedong had left the party. After the attempt
of Jonathan Jackson of freeing his older brother George Jackson, Fleeta
Drumgo and John Clutchette (Soledad Brothers) at Marin County Courthouse
in San Rafael, CA, was then Angela Davis charged with aiding the
attempted escape and placed on the FBI’s most wanted list due to her
close correspondence with George Jackson. She was found not guilty after
her case was severed from the other defendants like Ruchell “Cinque”
Magee who is still locked up in these Koncentration Kamps, while the
rally call of the masses at the time was “Free Angela Davis and ALL
POLITICAL PRISONERS!” Then in 1973 she founded the CP front the National
Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression that REFUSED to come
defend Black Liberation Army members facing prison time.
Later on in her “revolutionary” life she got back into academia while
still being a huge influence for the CPU$A, where she ran twice for Vice
President of the U$A. She supported Democratic presidential candidates,
like Joe Biden, to pressure them when in office to the CPU$A’s
Khrushchevite peaceful transition into socialism agenda or the Pac-Man
politics (biting away at imperialism until it collapses on itself). She
also co-founded the Committees of Correspondence with a moniker that
points to the CPU$A’s notion that “Communism is 20th Century
Americanism.” In her writings and university lectures in the academic
realm, she promoted the CPU$A’s reformism and postmodern politics, the
basis of this day and age concept of “Abolition,” and not the dire need
of armed revolution.
John Lewis is basically the same in the sense with the Pac-Man
politics, Abolition reformist movement and post-modernism. Also one of
the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and a leader in the peaceful
nonviolent strategy of protest and civil unrest. The “Woke” U.$.
leftists, who are the petty-bourgeoisie, praises Angela Davis and John
Lewis as saints and the imperialist aided in placing them on those
pedestals to be praised by the masses, because they knew with the
ideologies and concepts that these two individuals promote will do no
real harm to their oppressive establishment. Point proven in the last
summer series of protest after the murder of George Floyd and many
others.
What real change came from that civil unrest in a real revolutionary
way? It’s because of Angela Davis and John Lewis that We have to
re-educate and un-brainwash the masses from the concepts and ideologies
of Reformism, Revisionism, Postmodernism and the Pac-Man politics with
the concepts and ideologies of Marxism, Leninism and Maoism to gain
liberation from imperialism through armed resistance and revolution.
Reason why it was stated that they are agents of the imperialist
propaganda in the article “Oh, So You Woke.” Whether it was intentional
or not they step out of the realm of being First World lumpen to the
realm of the petty-bourgeoisie and benefited from the transition also.
It pays to be famous and in the limelight of the pop culture
revolutionary contest, right? Even after being on the front lines where
they witness first hand so many of our souljas and leaders lose their
lives, placed in exile and/or imprisoned, they settled for positions of
comfort for self and appeared to be in the struggle still, instead of
being ten toes down in the mud with WE overthrowing
imperialism/capitalism to establish socialism, and later communism,
nation- and world-wide.
DON’T FALL FOR THE POP CULTURE REVOLUTIONARY HYPE COMRADES.
by Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) August 2021 permalink
Nancy Pelosi promotes child tax credits to Chican@s in Califaztlan, but
is another pay out the answer to the oppression of youth? Photo by:
Mario Tama
One thing we heard from those saddened by the
police murder of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was that she didn’t get
to have a childhood.(1) While nation is most certainly the primary
factor that led to the cop, Nicholas Reardon, shooting Bryant, we think
gender oppression, and in particular youth oppression, had a lot to do
with Bryant ending up where she did on that fateful day.
When people speak of being able to have a childhood, we may think of
a time of fun, carefree play, no work, no oppression, etc. Of course
most people in the world don’t have much of a childhood in this sense.
But in the United $tates many do. So already we see there is some
hierarchy involved in this idea of having a childhood, at least under
imperialism. We see this hierarchy as the realm of gender because it is
a question of leisure time and not labor time, which is the subject of
class (see Clarity
on What Gender is). But there is also the question of why we must
separate our lives into periods of fun and play and periods of work and
oppression? And why do we have oppression at all? And how did work
become a bad thing?
To answer these question briefly, the relations of production under
capitalism are what alienates people from their labor today, so that
they feel their labor time is not their time. But as “adults,” most must
spend the majority of their waking hours in labor time. While some
people want those like Bryant to have the purist, most care-free
childhood as possible, we are working towards a whole life that is
enjoyable and fulfilling. And we doubt that is possible without a
healthy dose of productive labor. The exclusion of children from work
for over 100 years in the United $tates has left them with no productive
role to play in society, leading to alienation and lack of worth.(2)
This alienation and lack of self-worth is reinforced by abuse, and leads
to destructive behavior.
As Greyhound points out in eir article
on Ma’Khia Bryant, the Soviet Union provided family for orphaned
youth through the productive life of the commune. The communes did not
work kids to the bone to squeeze out the maximum profits as the
capitalists once did in the United $tates, and still do in most of the
world. Below we look at some attempts by capitalist Amerika to provide
for youth and why they cannot get at the source of youth oppression as
well as socialist experiments that have.
Child Credits Pay the
Patriarch
With sheltering-in-place during the pandemic and no in-persyn
schooling for most children, the question of childcare has received much
attention in the United $tates. The answer from the bourgeoisie came in
the form of child credits. Amerikan families began receiving these
payments in mid-July 2021, for a total of $3000-3600 per family over the
next 6 months.
These credits are a market-based attempt to address the problem of
adults in the nuclear family spending large sums of money to have their
children cared for when they are working or otherwise occupied. These
credits put more power in the hands of the adults who get the money over
the lives of the children who qualify them for these payments. Money for
those who struggle to make ends meet can certainly mean less stressful
conditions for their children. The logic makes sense, it is just a
backwards, half-ass approach. By the 1960s in socialist China, all
children had guaranteed care that was collectively run and offered ways
for youth to voice their concerns and avoid abusive situations. This was
in a country where a decade or two earlier children were basically sold
into slavery. This is the kind of radical change the youth need, that a
profit-based system can’t provide.
Punishing Sex
Offenders to Save the Family
It is very evident that affection, support and trust in our lives as
young people have significant effects on our health throughout our
lives.(3) Lack of positive social relationships and experiences has been
linked to drug addiction and correlates strongly with imprisonment.
Therefore this is a topic very dear to the hearts of many of our
readers.
One way we see this manifest in a more reactionary politic of the
imprisoned masses is in the strong, often violent attitudes towards sex
offenders in prison culture. This sentiment exists outside prison of
course, but became part of the prison culture because of the
concentration of convicted sex offenders there. As we’ve addressed in
the past, this reactionary politic is problematic on the one hand in
that it is allowing
the state to decide who our enemies are, that in many cases the
actions that led to these cases are mild compared to many
non-sex-offender charges and in some cases the people are completely
innocent.(4) In the United $tates, white males and females, as a group,
have treated the Black male as a sexual animal that must be controlled,
sometimes by fake rape charges and imprisonment. In other words, some
who are convicted as sex offenders are actually the victims of gender
oppression, as well as national oppression.
A second reason we say the anti-sex offender politic is reactionary
is that it doesn’t offer any real solutions to the problem of the sexual
abuse of children. It is an example of why MIM always opposed the slogan
“Think global, act local.” If you think globally about this problem of
child abuse, and act locally by ostracizing or even attacking those you
come in contact with who have (or who you believe have) abused children,
you haven’t changed anything if the patriarchy remains. You can confirm
this with crime statistics, or just the fact that we live in a society
where we know this problem is still prevalent.
Addressing child abuse requires systemic change as the Chinese
instituted during their experiment in socialism. Young people need a
different system that supports them with things we know people need to
grow up healthy; mentally and physically. These things can not be
offered on conditions or the whims of one or two adults who control the
child’s life. As they say, “it takes a village to raise a child.” And
people who are serious about reducing child abuse need to work to build
those villages and build them in ways that give young people full access
to information, a wide variety of adult support people, including those
in power, and access to other youth without the interference of adults.
The village should also give repercussions to youth for “bad behavior.”
These repercussions should be consistent in order to provide the youth
with social guidance and never be used by individual adults to get what
they want from children or to take out their frustrations from a bad
day. The oversight of a more village-based model must prevent adults
from doing such things.
Different Models
What the bourgeoisie offers in place of the village is more cash to
the patriarch. These cash incentives make single-parent homes more
viable. But single-parent homes are some of the easiest places for
adults to molest and abuse children.
The reactionary approach to child abuse (imprisonment and violence)
also reinforces the patriarchy, where strong adult men must protect
youth from other adult men by physical assault. One critique of this
line points out how it views the rights of children the same as the
rights of animals in that they must be granted and enforced from the
outside.
“pseudo feminists… [accept a] zoological implication that child abuse
is going to go on forever, as if… child abuse were inherent in the humyn
species, and at the same time external to humyn social relations, like
animals.”(5)
The Maoist counter-point then is that child abuse is a humyn
relationship that is found within the patriarchal family structure. It
is part of the central problem of oppression of groups of people by
other groups that we aim to resolve through ongoing revolutionary
struggle under the dictatorship of the proletariat. Rather than
punishing sex offenders to save the family and “protect our children”,
we must replace the nuclear family with communal child-rearing, and
empower young people to criticize others in order to stop those who
might try to abuse children.
Putting child care in the public sphere will do a lot to undermine
the conditions of child abuse. But it does not eliminate the biases of
the adult population, especially those that grew up in the old
capitalist ways, from miseducating or mistreating youth as a group. And
we know that institutional living like group homes and prisons, where
many adults are involved in “care” for the youth, are rife with abuse.
For these reasons youth must have ways of coming together as a group and
voicing their interests as a group, even enforcing their interests as a
group in contradiction to the adults that they depend on. l Ruth Sidel
produced an in-depth report on Women and Childcare in China as
well as in the Soviet Union and the kibbutz in I$rael. In one Chinese
school, when asked what you’d do if you found a sick child on the
street, a 6-year-old child responded: “i’d bring them medicine and
water.” Sidel was surprised the child would not find an authority figure
first.(6) What a striking difference in world views between socialist
children and how most of us grew up in this country. These children
still spent most of their days singing and playing and doing things that
we all did in school. Yet, they were taught differently, taught to act
and be self-empowered as soon as they were able to physically complete
the tasks that might be demanded of them, like bringing another child
water, or possibly organizing resistance to an abusive adult.
Some reading this will find the youth helping other youth not so
strange because they raised their siblings at a young age. This is
another way that peoples’ “childhoods are lost” in our culture; having
to take care of other children as a child. It is not that care for those
younger than you is inappropriate to carry out as a child, but that you
need the support of a community to do so in a way that is not oppressive
to your own life and most supportive to those you help care for.
According to the story from Ma’Khia Bryant’s grandmother, the
conflict that had occurred among two groups of foster children was over
perceived disrespect to the foster mother due to the lack of chores
getting done. Most likely the situation was more complicated. But we see
how there can be a disagreement over the labor responsibilities of
members of a family that leads to violent conflict. This would be very
unlikely when people have clear responsibilities, clear and consistent
consequences that are enforced by the group for not meeting those
responsibilities, and ways to communicate up front with both adults and
youth about the roles and treatment of others.
The Roles of Youth in
Society
In discussing Ma’khia Bryant’s childhood, we must address the fact
that she was 16 years old when she was murdered by a cop because of this
conflict. Other 16-year-olds in the area could have banded together to
take revenge on Reardon for shooting her. Most members of the Black
Panther Party joined in their teens. Bobby Hutton was murdered by the
pigs emself at age 17 while on an armed patrol of the police. Sixteen is
much more physically developed than six, and would mostly only be
limited by legal restrictions like being able to drive or purchase fire
arms.
Fifteen was the age when members of the Fuerzas Armadas
Revolucionarias de Colombia - Ejército del Pueblo(FARC-EP) could engage
in armed actions.(7) As the struggle of the Eritrean People’s Liberation
Front(EPLF) advanced, they established the Fitewerari to train male
youth 14 to 16 years old and females of all ages. They found that
training the adult females separate from adult males helped in both
groups overcoming the traditional gender roles they had been inculcated
with. The youth did not have these challenges, at least not to the same
degree.
“In addition to literacy education, political and military training,
and running their daily affairs, they participate in production,
adhering to the EPLF’s correct revolutionary principle of ‘integrating
education with production.’ They practice criticism and self-criticism
to rectify mistakes, develop work and strengthen comradely solidarity.
Upon finishing training, they are assigned to the different EPLF units
and departments to carry on the struggle on all fronts.”(8)
Much has been put into the idea that a humyn’s prefrontal cortex is
growing rapidly up until about age 25. The implication being that you
can’t quite trust the judgement of those under 25. But this is only one
data point, of a biological phenomenon we still barely understand. And
along with this data point comes some implications in how younger people
are willing to go against the status quo and can change their ways
faster. We look to history, to see the transformative power of youth
movements, rather than follow current trends in biological determinism
based in preliminary studies of the brain.
Towards a World Without
Oppression
When Maoists talk about gender, we are talking about a system of
power in the realm of leisure time; the patriarchy. In that system,
youth are generally part of the gender-oppressed. Though in the
imperialist countries, they are likely part of a gender aristocracy, a
child aristocracy, particularly those who have access to the idealized
carefree childhood.
Similar to the wimmin in bourgeois society, the bourgeois children
are relegated outside of labor and exclusively to leisure time. This
leisure time is meanwhile structured to serve the pleasure of the man
and the interests of capitalism overall. These groups being relegated to
leisure time reinforces the divide between leisure time and labor time
in society mentioned above. This is one reason why it is hard to imagine
undoing gender hierarchy without first undoing capitalism, which would
eliminate the sharp divide between labor time and leisure time. Through
this process, gender will cease to be so separate from class struggle as
it is in the bourgeoisified First World countries. Then our lives as
individuals will be more complete, as will our communities.
Youth liberation is part of and dependent on the struggle to end
capitalism and imperialism. Youth don’t need more paternalism, they need
a supportive village to learn from and the freedom to self-actualize
themselves without the fetters of oppression that shape our lives
today.
“There is nothing mystical, elusive or hidden about real working
class consciousness. It is the political awareness that the exploiting
class and its state must be fought… that the laboring masses of the
world have unity in their need for socialism…” (J.Sakai,
Settlers)
It is hard for some to accept that only through an actual revolution
against this government and its imperialist allies can this world even
hope for peace. In addition, any building, calls for unity or worse
still, claims of socialism or revolution that is not in the service of
this objective is actually in the service of capitalism-imperialism,
i.e. counter-revolution.
Mao said: it is only when there is class struggle that there can be
philosophy. And to discuss epistemology apart from practice is a waste
of time. Additionally it is only through social practice that we can
talk about correct or incorrect ideas at all. Recently bourgeois media
have made a big deal of gun violence which is an obvious response to BLM
and Defund movements. Additionally, we are all aware of the unprovoked
attacks on Asians and now the media and politicians are demanding Cuba
not crack down on protest and a promise to keep an eye on Haiti. However
there is or has been much protest regarding all these issues yet no real
consciousness being transformed. Why?
As J. Sakai states, it is due to the failure to identify our class
enemies. Also as Mao stated, our philosophy can only be forged via class
struggle. However, the reason I mentioned the above latest media spins
is to remind us the enemy sadly never forgets to engage in the class
struggle. Obviously that means we (the people) are being routed.
Presumably most of the hit squad that murdered Moise in Haiti were
trained by the U.$. Rumors are that at least one was previously on its
informant pay roll. Cuba is heavily embargoed. Trump alone put 243
additional restrictions on it and Obama and Biden very much kept their
imperialist boots on its neck. So Cuba, regardless of how spontaneous
the protest is, is very much in the cross hairs of European settlers and
their flunkies cross hairs.
When we studied Black nationalism a common refrain was an alleged
pronouncement on the entrance of an ancient school of thought in Egypt,
“Man, Know thyself.” Regardless of if this is true it simply meant for
us to know we had content and value. However, it wasn’t particularly
revolutionary, nor even dialectical. And for someone who never
experienced slavery it would have been a cliche. However, a more
dialectical saying would’ve been first to drop the “man”, and just:
“Know yourself and know your enemies.” This is dialectical materialism,
this is to understand the class struggle and enter the fight on the
right side. I say that because far too many “claim revolution” but don’t
participate in any revolutionary activities.
Social-imperialism is another way capitalism-imperialism
discombobulates our class by getting us to believe most people here in
the belly of the beast are “lost” and can be won over to revolution;
that they are supporting the parasitism of empire only because they
don’t know any better. This wastes time and it wastes resources. I was
listening to Cat Brooks, a “freedom fighter” who is bent on defunding
the police. On a 5 way call a brother who did 15 years was saying his
org don’t work with the pig at all, but Brooks said they do, “but only
limited” i.e. they have a purpose. These calls go along with $15/hr a
minimum wage or like Raymond Lotta says $10/hr is a grueling wage. These
are conscious calls of the labor aristocracy and my point here is that
it’s not just Euro-settlers who are labor aristocracy in ideology, as
well as practice. This is why commercial hip hop currently is not a
vehicle for change.
However, regardless if these people get more people to pander to
their line or not and regardless of if the imperialists share more of
their wealth or not this only serves to help imperialism fuck over the
people even more. Mao said “utopian socialists” are always trying to
persuade the bourgeoisie to be more charitable. Mao said emphatically,
“this won’t work” and that it is necessary to rely on class struggle of
the proletariat. Clearly this means in this day and age
anti-imperialism, self-determination struggles, and a clear line
denoting our class enemies and their optimistic flunkies who claim we’re
all in this together and people will care about us once they get to know
us – must be drawn.
Some say it’s too hard, but as I stated it simply is not. Our “genius
does not depend on one person or a few people. It depends on a party,
the party which is the vanguard of the proletariat. Genius is dependent
on mass line, on collective wisdom,” as succinctly stated by Mao. It is
impossible to always be in the trenches together as we deserve, but it
is a form of class struggle and perfecting this definitely is a blow
back against empire.
Karl Marx was writing at a time when bourgeois democracy had
triumphed, and political parties ruled the day. These political parties
represented the various oppressive classes, primarily the bourgeoisie
itself. A radical idea at the time was to form a party that was for and
by the proletariat.
V.I. Lenin led the first successful project to build a proletarian
party, a Communist Party, and take power from the hands of the
oppressors and put it in the hands of the oppressed. Lenin left us with
many lessons on how to do this, how such a party should be organized and
how it should operate. The Party as the vehicle for the transfer of
power from the oppressor to the oppressed has been a foundation of
revolutionary science ever since.
The Maoist Internationalist Movement began in 1983. In 1990 the first
MIM party, MIP-Amerika, was formalized. In 2006, the Party dissolved and
put out a plan for a new cell structure for the MIM. In 2007,
MIM(Prisons) formed as a cell. There remains no functioning parties
within the MIM today.(see Continuity and Rupture: A Counter-Narrative to
JMP’s History of Maoism for more on MIM timeline)
A CA USW comrade: “[The journal] Kites hit it square
on the head though as MIM has said we really don’t have a vanguard. But
I thought Kites’ pointing out a squandered opportunity in 2020 on point.
This is our job, to seize opportunity out of the objective situations
and especially the crisis amongst the enemy itself. The only thing
missing regarding the external factors (we can’t control) is 3rd world
revolutionary revolts. But we have no mass support but 2020 should’ve
been a god-send for that. And it wasn’t.”
Actually, MIM has never said we don’t have a vanguard. MIM has always
said the vanguard is the most advanced political line, which could be
held by a tiny organization or even one individual when conditions are
very undeveloped. What this comrade gets right is our situation remains
very undeveloped.
We won’t get into a deep analysis of revolutionary forces here. We do
think 2020 was an opportunity to expand our influence that we could have
done more with if we were stronger. But the essential character of the
U.$. population did not, and has not changed from 2019 or from 2001. The
vast majority in this country benefit from the current imperialist
order.
MIM(Prisons) has argued that the cell structure makes sense at this
strategic stage, even within a Leninist model, because we are not vowing
for state power at this time, or tomorrow. Another USW comrade in
Federal prison contends that the lack of a party:
“complicates the task of implementing a totalizing strategy for
revolution and building the mass base to carry it forward.”
This comrade argues that we need a united leadership to guide us down
the correct road now. We touched on the inherent contradiction of the
cell structure in our Reassessing
Cell Structure 5 Years Out where we pointed out that it allows for
one cell to decide its time to form a party, while others disagree. If
only that were the main problem we were facing today.
The question is, do we need a party for a united strategy? And what
are the downsides of moving too quickly into a Party formation to try to
achieve that? We actually have a question about the weaknesses of the a
party structure in our introductory study course. Here are some recent
answers:
“B.D.S.: Bad leadership could cause death of the
movement
Ocelotl: Easier to target and infiltrate
Iashstiem: Security is more easily compromised
Adonis Salvo: More difficult to control and keep
organized and focused
The Sober Souljah: Slacking in security by accepting
strangers
F.L.A.V.A. 1: It will bring more of a spotlight on
the party depending on its action in the revolution
Anarchy in VA: Prioritizing actions to take
Jups: Snitches/spying break down organization”
The primary answer, and the primary reason given by MIM for adopting
the cell structure, was security. The second reason offered by comrades
here is a fear of putting all your eggs in one basket type of argument.
If we can allow for a diversity of approaches, we have more
possibilities for success. This could be especially important in the
early phases of our development as a movement. If five people come
together and form a “Party” all we have is five self-appointed leaders.
MIM(Prisons) often mentions the development of leadership that occurs
through the forced self-reliance within small cells. It is when we have
cells around the country who can elect leaders to represent them in a
Party that such a project becomes viable.
A CA prisoner comments: “I was very impressed with
ULK’s answer to the Potash book on Tupac. Until now I did not
know that anyone other than myself was aware of the extent the
intelligence community is involved in eliminating dissidents of their
empire and the psychological warfare against civilians in the U.S. thru
COINTELPRO and other intel ops against civilians. I was astonished to
have my innermost suspicions confirmed by ULK. With the
elimination of our leaders, we can not succeed thru unity, We must adopt
independent cells as a model as you are obviously aware, every time a
potential leader arises that can restore basic human rights and dignity
and even freedom itself, the U.S. government is quick to eliminate our
leader.
“And so you are correct in educating the People… Thru mass education,
hopefully the People will awaken and do the work independent of any one
leader, as a duty to the idea of freedom, not as a part of a bid for
acceptance… True freedom can only come from socialism… We face a giant
and to truly succeed we must be very wise. We cannot win by force yet so
let us educate ourselves and know that against our common enemy we all
must fight our own battle.”
This comrade touches on security, our strategic stage and the
strategy of People’s War as opposed to great man theory. Education is
always important, but at this stage it is principal over the use of
force. This comrade’s approach to mass education as the best hedge
against losing the leaders we depend on is in line with the Maoist
strategy of People’s War. This strategy involves building a People’s
Army that is embedded in the people, engaging in productive work and
educational campaigns side-by-side with the people as we work towards
developing base areas. Ultimately, as this comrade points out, Mao’s
emphasis on how the people must learn to wage war through waging war
rings true.
In our culture, social media reinforces practices that put
individuals in the spotlight. We must develop ways to utilize the reach
of the internet, without promoting ideas of great man theory or
revealing persynal information of our leaders.
Security practices is one area where we must do more education. The
only people MIM(Prisons) has interacted with that have good security
practice seem to be individuals working alone. The state of basic
security practice among revolutionaries is horrible. There is no way to
succeed in a serious struggle with such practices. Yet, we must move
beyond isolated individuals posting anonymous content to actually do
real organizing.
A NY USW comrade asks: “Is the cell ideology
productive? As a single unit I have not been able to grow. I do not
believe it is me. Is there more I can do somehow else?”
The original MIM resolution on cell structure pointed out that a
one-persyn cell is the most secure. But is it effective? MIM(Prisons)
critiqued the idea of a one-persyn cell in general in its lack of
ability to develop knowledge dialecticaly with just one mind. Some may
be able to do it, but we don’t think it is a path that will move us
forward fastest.
So what of the single-persyn cell trying to grow that can’t seem to
recruit? In prison this problem is distinct in that you have no control
over who and how many people you have access to. That is a separate
problem. And we’d say you can reach others and recruit outside your
prison by writing and producing artwork for Under Lock &
Key, for example.
Whether in prison or not, the question becomes what can the party or
larger organization give you as an individual to increase your success?
We might think of things like a newspaper, mass campaigns, sharing
experiences around what works and what doesn’t, connecting people and
projects to make our work more efficient, imposing rules and discipline
on cadre. It is not clear to us that we need a party for any of these
things. We propose that technology today allows us to do all of these
things in an anonymous and efficient manner.
MIP-Amerika was known to have better security practices than most
self-declared communist parties in the United $tates, and yet they saw
security as a weakness that led to their demise. We should take this
lesson to heart. It will be premature to launch a party before cadre
have come to understand security practices and power struggle. Our
conditions include a level of surveillance and Liberalism that other
revolutionary movements did not face. We must have real strategies for
addressing these problems before we embark on the Party-building
project.
The problem with the cell structure as it exists in our movement is
that there is no centralized strategy for layering our security
practices. The problem faced by small organizations concerned about
security is how to separate out roles and tasks when your cadre is
limited. The cell structure can force this situation onto us. The
advantage of the Party is being able to do this bigger-scale and
longer-term strategic construction. But we argue that we are not at this
stage yet.
The cell structure is pointless without good security practices. That
would play to our weaknesses by needlessly dividing our limited forces.
It is only by developing security practices that would allow for a
successful bid for state power that the cell structure really becomes
operational. In the early stages of Party formation we should aim to
maintain some of the policies of cell structure as a fail-safe. As our
position becomes stronger, the security problems of a centralized party
become less of a concern.
As always, politics must stay in command. This type of strategic
thinking must come after an ideological consolidation. We seem to be in
the stage of “letting 100 flowers bloom” as different interpretations
and applications of Maoism in occupied Turtle Island are doing their
things, watching and criticizing each other. While we have criticized a
number of these trends as revisionists of Maoism, the diversity of
people we see studying Maoism is a step forward. We will need many more
cells organizing around the MIM cardinal principles, with demonstrated
practices, before the question of party building becomes concrete for
us.
As we move to the next step of ideological consolidation, we must
address this strategic question: when is it time to build a Party? This
is a question of utmost importance as we have no successful
revolutionary strategy in conditions like ours to learn from. We must
not rush to form a Party in a way that suddenly reveals all of our
fiercest leaders to the state. As the state will move to kill, imprison,
bad-jacket and pit these leaders against each other. Perhaps we can
achieve ideological unity and strategic unity prior to forming
a party. At this time we believe we should strive to preserve the
benefits of cell structure without promoting isolation.
Upon reading and re-reading the most recent ULK (72) as i usually do,
i ran across a segment of an
article that i believe to be homo/transphobic and therefore deserves
criticism in the spirit of unity-struggle-unity.
The segment in question is on pg. 7, #5 of the demands reads as
follows:
Every prison in the state of Pennsylvania allow gay prisoners inside
each prison block to hold hands/hold each other, have make-out sessions
and have intercourse. The department of corrections of Pennsylvania even
sell bras/panties, makeup, provide hormone injections and sex
changes.
Now, I said “i believe” this was homo/trans phobic, because I
acknowledge that some may not feel that way. Additionally, i’ll say that
for the sake of organizing, it should be removed, as regardless of
possible ill intent it serves to alienate people who’re not your enemy
and can be allies.
Now i hold my belief that the comment was a homo/transphobic slight
because the previous four demands the authors’ wrote down in question
form, while #5 was listed as a statement and was entirely unnecessary if
we look to the sub-points (a) and (b), which clearly articulate the
point the authors wished to make, without the slight.
Comrades, i’m a heterosexual, cis-gendered male, who’s struggled here
at my place of captivity against the gendered oppression of LGBT people,
by inmate and pig oppressors alike. In the midst of this struggle what
i’ve attempted to get cats to understand is, for one there are three
strands of oppression: nation, class and gender. In the context of
gender, i’ve had to humble myself to learn, or re-learn sometimes from a
trans womyn comrade, things i thought i knew. One key piece of
information i learned from her was also articulated by MIM(Prisons) in
ULK47, pg. 4, attacking the myth of binary biology:
“Humyn biology has never been entirely binary, with relation to sex
characteristics. There are a range of interactions between chromosomes,
hormone expressions and sexual organ development. The resulting
variation in anatomical and reproductive characteristics includes a lot
of people who do not fit the standard binary expectation… as many as 1
in 100 births deviate from the standard physical expectations of sex
biology.”
i’ve included this quote to suggest that cats look in depth into the
material reality and internal development of things in order to get a
clearer understanding instead of demonizing people and behavior.
The second point i’ve stressed here at this prison and now extend to
the Pennsylvania prisoners, is that being that there are 3 strands of
oppression, and we are in the business of eradicating oppression, then
we are in error whenever we condemn national and class oppression while
upholding gender oppression.
While the authors of the demands did not advocate gender oppression,
eir language suggests that ey would rather the behavior listed in Point
#5 be eradicated, which in turn would be oppressive to those who engage
in said behaviors.
Additionally, i think you cats in PA could benefit from gaining some
form of insight from those LGBT prisoners as to how to solve y’alls
problems. i’ll have you realize that your Points 1-4 apply to LGBT
prisoners as well along with points a and b. and 6 … or do they? My
point is that the behavior which you seem to dislike was not always a
reality. Around the empire, state-by-state, for decades, LGBT prisoners
have struggled in court and through other avenues to gain the ability to
express themselves freely.
If you would seek an ally in those near you, y’all may gain some
insight on your own concerns, but viewing the LGBT populace as ‘other’
than yourselves only serves the interests of the badge, and stunts your
own development as a revolutionary freedom fighter.
The key is to look at your situation in a dialectical materialist
perspective. First, identify the fundamental contradiction, which in any
and every prison is badge versus captives. The lumpen class must become
united. Now within the lumpen class there are internal contradictions,
only one of which is the contradiction between non-LGBT versus LGBT
prisoners. This is a secondary contradiction, and it must be resolved
because like all contradictions, it will develop into an antagonistic
stage and an internal antagonistic/contradictory struggle is not
beneficial in this context if y’all are to accomplish your goals, and
moreso, advance the captive’s aspect of the fundamental contradiction
against the badge/state.
In conclusion, i wanna articulate the fact that we can not eliminate
oppression if we are ourselves oppressors. We have no right to condemn
our own oppression yet turn a blind eye to the oppression of others.
Practice PEACE and UNITY sisters and brothers, as articulated in the
UFPP principles … unite, don’t split!
Coming into the new year of 2021 with the protest, or what CBS news
and other news casting platforms calls “The Assault on the Capitol,” one
must look back on the past years to this pivotal point of time.
Especially when it comes to the millennials and generation Z. It’s
because of this age group, and to be honest it’s not even an age group
of individuals but a mindset of individuals ranging from the very old to
the very young, that’s making these movements on both sides of the
political spectrum of the imperialist-capitalist government. Even though
a lot of the individuals who started these movements like the Black
Lives Matters movement and QAnon or Proud Boys are of the age of college
students ranging from 18 years old to mid or late 30s. One has to pose
the question of, “Where are the doctrines of these movements coming
from?” One will say the government; then the next question is posed, “By
what method is the government distributing these doctrines?” The answer
is through these universities and colleges.
After reading the Kites Editorial Committee article, “Kick
’Em While They’re Down”: This speaks on how the U.S. “Left” views
Angela Davis as a saint, like Saint Maurice of Germany. For these
twitter-age revolutionaries, which for us who are true and living
revolutionaries, know that these individuals are reformist, are being
indoctrinated with writings and speeches like Angela Davis’s to continue
the ‘We shall overcome one day, by changing the system from the inside’
mantra.
How this imperialistic/capitalistic government continues this mantra
is by using a trap-door-spider tactic. Which is by taking the brightest
of lumpen children out of these ghettos and barrios schools, have them
come to college, where then the colleges close the door behind the
lumpen child where they get entangled with the reformist state of mind.
Basically stripping lumpen college students of whatever idea of making a
change that doesn’t involve using the system that the imperialist
government uses to control first world lumpen and proletariat in the
equation.
The imperialist government is still on the COINTELPRO “Stop the rise
of a Black Messiah” but the difference is it’s not just one Judas now,
and when one sits down and look at those who fell into the “change the
system from the inside” trap door, they will see how many Judases are
out there, keeping tabs on the youth of the lumpen. The imperialistic
government and those who are Judases to the struggle would rather the
lumpen youths sell out for a small crumb of the capitalist/imperialist
pie, than go get weapons, organize themselves and push for armed
revolution. Especially in the age of social media, where one is way more
than able to reach and be in contact with other like-minded individuals
across this imperialist country. But also other lumpen in other
imperialist countries, and would more than love to see the end of these
governments that holds the world’s power currently.
The imperialist-capitalist knows this and to counter-act this
worldwide united front advancement against them, they use individuals
like John Lewis and Angela Davis to push the bourgeois propaganda of
being a muthafucking cop to our youth. What we, who are truly dedicated
to this struggle, have to give the youths who are serious about changing
their circumstances, first is nationalism (either New Afrikan or La Raza
Aztlán) then internationalism. Show em the truth about previous
revolutionaries, their successes, their failures, and where the movement
is now, and how to move forward correctly, which is to break the spell
that was cast on our youth by the bourgeoisie, by the way of the
University of Maoist Thought and the standard operating procedures of
the United Front for Peace in Prison. So that they’ll never get jedi
mind tricked by the those who claim to be revolutionaries but are really
junior deputies, and reach and teach those who are like-minded the right
way.
It’ll spread faster than last year’s California wildfires because the
majority of the revolutionaries WE were inspired by to even join in the
struggle, were all individuals 25 years old or younger. Teach the youth
the truth and aid and assist them through righteous mentorship, and
watch how the imperialist-capitalist nation falls.
MIM(Prisons) responds: It is true that organizations
like the Panthers were predominately under 25 years old, and we would
expect the next revolutionary vanguard party to be of similar
demographics. But the university and the mass media are distracting
today’s youth with this fake woke reformism. The new generation of the
oppressed need to find themselves independently of these institutions as
the Panthers did. We need more education, but we don’t need to join
their institutions and take on their ideologies.
QAnon and the Proud Boys are a little different though. QAnon is not
a youth movement. It is a movement of predominately older, less educated
Amerikans. Both of these groups find support in the mass media via mouth
pieces like Donald Trump, yet they also get support for their affront to
the ideas of academia. These groups tap into sectors of the oppressor
nation in a way that communists need to tap into the oppressed. They
represent real social forces in a way that the interests of the
oppressed are not currently being represented.
