MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Have some respect! Not only for the women officers and staff of DOC,
but for yourself as well. These ladies come here to work to pay bills
and take care of their families, not to partake in your perverted
fantasies. If you wouldn’t sit in a car or stand behind a bush and do
it, don’t do it here! If you would they have QMHP for you. It doesn’t
matter if you’re tall, short, skinny, or fat, you can have a pinkie or a
horse, it’s degrading to yourself and the female no matter her
nationality. You wouldn’t want your female loved ones to be subjected to
this, so why would you subject someone else’s to it? Do not submit to
your lower passions because of your surrounding or time. Rise above your
circumstances.
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.
I’m writing because I’ve had two or three letters from you denied
here at Wynne Unit, they say “the information contains messages of
hatred and statements that could start riots”. Of course, I disagreed
and wasn’t given the opportunity to appeal it by the Texas Director’s
Review Committee.
Secondly, place this in your next issue: I won a §1983 Suit in Texas
dealing with the beard and hair policy. Specifically you can wear
goatees, dreads, and braids than “they’ve now said one big braid”. The
case log is Newman v. Marfo 4:19-CU-00352 and, now I have a
retaliation claim which is Newman v. Bowers 4:22-CU-01649
because these officials are still giving cases creating a related injury
and causal connection due to this being directly related to my, as well
as our, protected conduct guarded by the 1st Amendment Constitutional
Right.
Please post this because we only suffered in Texas prisons because
the residents are weak and have no real hope and don’t acquire the will
to believe we have the power to fight legally without physical contact
but, by our minds. I also started another claim for another resident for
abolishing the 1996 clause that says if we meet the standard for
release, they don’t have to let us go; signed by former President
Clinton and Joe Biden. So, when Biden duped blacks to break all those
records getting him in office why didn’t he unsign it?
I got a correspondence letter from y’all a couple of weeks ago that
was denied for “contents which would incite a disturbance”. First, I
asked if the letter was “Media Correspondence” and the chick said
“yeah”. So I’m like “Who denied it and why was it opened without my
presence?” Of course, she didn’t want to give no name – neither hers or
of whoever denied it. So I refused to sign. I did try to appeal, but
after refusing to sign I’m sure they just threw it away. So I don’t know
if you’re acknowledged as a media correspondent or not, or if they got
you some kind of watch list. I know what policy says and if they do it
again I’ll grieve that ass hard. I’m sure you been banned ever since you
got those Texas Pack’s out. They won’t let that in, or any regular mail
you send. But it’s too late.
I did all I could and spread the word in the Allred law library –
shit was a hit. They (TDCJ) call it inciting a disturbance, but we all
know that it’s all the information we should be entitled to have to
fight the negligence, abuse, and misinterpretation of state and federal
laws. This unit has a loooong history of violating its own policy and
civil rights with impunity. The grievance department, to medical and
everything in between, is set up this way. People like me who are in the
know and work to expose the corruption are either shipped elsewhere, or
if they don’t have outside help, are “rolled” off the unit with an ass
whoopin and/or false charges. They do this to protect the “overall
safety and security of the institution” that they have going.
I’ve only been here since February 2022 and have been either a
witness or victim of every violation but murder. My biggest gripes were
that the P4s (safe keeping G4) are religiously discriminated on and
refused worship services unless they are of the mainstream faith. The trans-women
have no privacy screens to cover their breast in the shower areas.
Exposing them to voyeurism when there is no “exigent circumstance”. P4s
are stuck in the cell during the peak heat of the day, even the hottest
of days, everyday. Respite, and respite showers do not exist
during such times. Cold water is only offered if they are lucky enough
to have a janitor there to pass it out. The cops sure as hell ain’t
doing it. It’s fucked up. I just got off that custody but I still feel
for ’em and want to help cause I’ve never seen such animosity and
neglect towards a population. There are only a little over 30 P4s on the
unit, almost 1/2 are trans women. They should be protected, but instead
are targeted. That’s bout all I got for now.
I’m writing to advise of a need for you to publish in your next issue
a NOTICE FOR ALL TEXAS PRISONER ACTIVISTS concerning censorship of
TBCJ-and-TDCJ policies (n.b.:The State-level Prison bureaucrats of
Personnel) against the prison population and outside communities. This
censorship practice is designed to keep the public relations of peoples
who are incarcerated in ignorance and from having incarcerated people’
loved ones and friends in a DISADVANTAGED PHASE-AND-STATE-IN-NATURE when
attempting to learn the proper information and steps to address the
situations and problems arising outta the medical-and-mental health or
prison conditions. The prison population needs to know of this. It seems
that only certain information we’ve made/or ordered to be omitted from
being accessible or available at the central-level and unit-level law
library room Department’s list of in-stock holding items on their
shelf.
The following is the list of items that the central-level and
unit-level personnel does not want us to learn about with respect to
TDCJ procedures and rules:
Restrictive Housing Plan (n.b.: This Plan is not the same as The
Manual) *
Security Threat Group Plan
TDCJ Volunteer Services Plan
TDCJ Suicide Prevention Plan
Operational Strategic Plan
TDCJ Administrative Plan for Capital Improvements by Donor
Groups
Chaplaincy Department Manual *
Safe Prison/PREA Plan *
Comrades! The Procedures/Operations Manuals and The Plans are not the
same. The manuals will provide the prison population all the
ins-and-outs and references of all federal and state statutes or laws
pertaining to the subject-matter in question. Starred items above are
items made-and-available for the prison population to inspect and
review.
A report from South Texas: In the wake of another mass shooting in
nearby Uvalde, the pigs and their masters are engaging in the usual
finger-pointing and recrimination but one thing is clear: the cops are
cowards who are quick to shoot unarmed people, but become conveniently
“policy-orientated” when they are faced with a disturbed young man
wielding an AR-15 assault rifle slaughtering defenseless children.
I’m not really in the habit of blaming the consumers of this toxic
system called “democracy”, but these poor children were already the
“walking dead” after only a few years in the classroom. The lame-ass
governor and the fascist Ted Cruz and their clique call it a “massive
system failure”, but those who have been paying attention will
immediately see the system works exactly as it was designed to operate:
the state of Texas is the NRA torchbearer but ranks dead last in mental
health treatment. In fact, the single biggest mental health care
facility in the state is Harris County Jail.
Those who are waiting for a legislative solution better stop dreaming
and open your eyes to the reality nobody is going to save us or free us
unless we liberate ourselves and that can only happen if we organize and
think and act strategically with our comrades and fellow
travelers. It all begins with educating ourselves and arming ourselves
with the necessary facts and tools to accomplish our goals and make the
world a better place.
Here in Texas among the prison class it’s a real challenge to create
solidarity as the cell blocks are constantly flooded with mind-numbing
substances along with the disputes and rivalries and materialism that
comes along with it. I’ve made very little progress in my effort to
“kill the ‘bossman’ in your head” – not actual physical violence,
but to actually banish the word “boss man” from our vocabulary
when addressing these pigs.
I’m attempting to show the direct line from slave plantations through
“convict leasing program” all the way to the modern system of mass
incarceration, and how the term “boss man” helps keep us linguistically
and psychologically in bondage. So we need to banish the term, thought,
idea of “boss man” from our hearts and minds if we ever want to be
free.
So my Juneteenth Freedom Initiative direct action is only days away
and I will be peacefully protesting the lie that “slavery was abolished
when in fact it’s alive and well in forced prison labor programs all
over the United Snakes of America. As you can see from the enclosed
denial forms, almost all your subsequent mailings have been denied. I am
appealing the censorship and will keep you posted. At this point I am
largely in the dark with regards to progress in other facilities, but I
ask your assistance in helping me to challenge this censorship. In the
meantime, I await further info/instructions.
PS: It is increasingly clear to me that so-called “Aryan” white
supremacist groups are expanding and enjoying cover from prison
officials. We need to focus on this and build Brown and Black
alliance/solidarity along with white fellow travelers (very few of
them), but I’m sure they are around. But my point is, these Aryan
reactionaries are tools of the state and should be viewed as such.
Recent headlines about “Right-Wing Domestic Terror Threat” are
propaganda designed to increase even more police/surveillance state
apparatus that will be used to control us, not them. That’s how
they justify this shit with headlines to “combat neo-nazi terrorists”
when in fact the plan all along is to keep their foot on our
necks.
The Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación (MIL) was an anti-capitalist
group consisting of both anarchists and communists that was active
between 1971-1973 in the fascist state of Spain under Franco. The group
was unique in that, unlike most revolutionary organizations, it was not
centralized. MIL did not believe that a centralized group could be
revolutionary. They insisted that a centralized group was synonymous
with a party and that a party could not achieve social revolution
because a party, by necessity, seeks to gain state power and then
strengthen its position. The strengthening of state power – any state
power – weakens the revolution.
MIL Line and History
MIL was internationalist in scope and honored the memory and history
of various class struggles around the globe. Including, but not limited
to: the Iberian class struggle, the Revolution of 333 Days in Hungary,
the November Revolution in Germany, and the Bavarian Council Republic.
They also had ties to anti-capitalist organizations outside of Spain,
especially in France. In addition to it’s internationalist practices,
they also collaborated extensively with other revolutionary
organizations in Spain (most notably the GAC and OLLA).
The main element of MIL’s revolutionary action was the expropriation
of funds from the capitalists through armed agitation. They would spread
the expropriated money around the anti-capitalist movement to help
further other clandestine operations as well as support worker’s
struggles, families of prisoners, and victims of the police. A good
chunk of these expropriated funds were invested in the library that MIL
helped create called the Ediciones Mayo del 37. The purpose of this
library was to publish and distribute revolutionary texts that could
help raise the political consciousness of the working class.
Another important aspect of MIL was its support of women’s struggles
against patriarchy. They claimed that any group that did not support
such struggles were not revolutionary, for it was impossible to fight
against capitalism and remain blind to the oppression and exploitation
of women in capitalist society. Therefore, any organization that did not
support women’s struggles were purposely ignoring their plight, and
thus, could not be called revolutionary. Furthermore, MIL advocated
revolution across all aspects of society: social, cultural, sexual,
familial, and political. Revolution is not partial to any part of
society; revolution effects society in its entirety. MIL did not
consider itself a vanguard of the revolution – in fact, they opposed the
very idea of a vanguard. Which is why they engaged in armed agitation
rather than armed struggle.
“‘Armed agitation’ is wholly different from the strategy of ‘armed
struggle’, in which a specialized group acts as the vanguard of the
movement by constituting the nucleus of a future army…serving as the
military wing of a clandestine political party…or by carrying out the
most spectacular actions and using its position to attempt to influence
and direct a mass movement…on the contrary, the groups that carry out
armed agitation understand themselves to be simply a part of a bigger
movement, increasing that movement’s capacity for communication,
self-defense, and self-financing by organizing and funding clandestine
printing, attacking the forces of repression, and expropriating money
from capitalists…They also seek to generalize their practice rather than
centralize it, distributing weapons among the lower classes and
encouraging the horizontal proliferation of armed groups.” (1)
The core reason why MIL was opposed to armed struggle and the
philosophy of the need for a vanguard was because they believed that
nobody but the proletariat could liberate the proletariat. The idea that
the proletariat needed an external group to lead or liberate them went
against everything that MIL fought for and believed in. The members of
MIL did not think of themselves as heroes of the people. They believed
that their role in the anti-capitalist struggle was to act in ways that
would help the working-class become politicized and then liberate
themselves. As mentioned previously, the way that MIL thought best to
achieve their purpose was through the expropriation of funds. By the
time that MIL dissolved in September 1973, they had expropriated 24
million Pesetas from capitalists.
Ultimately, MIL dissolved itself after it had reached a point where
the members could no longer consider their actions as revolutionary.
Although MIL opposed specialization they found that they had become an
organization that practiced specialization. They had done so
inadvertently by continuously engaging in armed agitation without
developing a political line that could explain and support their action
to the masses. Just as theory – political line – needs to be supported
by practice, so too does practice need to be supported by theory. The
lack of one diminishes the other.
Initially, a Congress was held by the members of MIL to seek a
solution that could save the group. In the end, they decided to
dissolve; in part because their actions had failed to inspire the
proletariat to engage in open class warfare. They decided that, at that
time, the working class was not sufficiently politically conscious and
that their main objective should be to politicize the masses through
propaganda until the time came when armed agitation was necessary.
Salvador Puig Antich
The most famous member of MIL was, by far, Salvador Puig Antich.
Salvador was born on 30 May 1948 in Barcelona. He began rebelling
against authority figures in his youth and was once expelled from school
for punching a teacher in defense of another student. Although he was
involved in the worker’s struggles in his youth, he did not engage in
revolutionary actions until he joined MIL during the summer of 1972. He
participated in his first bank robbery on October 21st of the same year
(acting as the getaway driver), and the action resulted in the
expropriation of 990,200 Pesetas from the Laietana Saving Bank. Shortly
after that Salvador began to carry a gun and go into banks himself.
He was a committed anti-capitalist who identified as an anarchist.
Although he didn’t join MIL until it had been active for a year, he
quickly became a prominent figure within the organization. He authored
several texts that were circulated among the members of MIL. The purpose
of these texts was to formulate discussion about various topics relevant
to the organization and the revolution.
On 25 September 1973 Salvador was in a shootout with the police.
During the altercation he was shot twice and one officer was killed.
After the incident occurred he was taken to the hospital to be treated
for his injuries; when he was determined to be in stable condition he
was transferred to Modelo prison to await trail. On 9 January 1974 he
was given the death penalty.
Although capitalists have attempted to portray Salvador as a
degenerate criminal, the truth cannot be denied: he was a true
revolutionary. He never denied his actions and always maintained that
everything he did, he did in the name of the anti-capitalist struggle.
His every action, his every thought, was centered toward the abolition
of the state and the state apparatus. He never capitulated. He stayed
true to the revolutionary struggle until the bitter end.
On 2 March 1974 Franco’s fascist state executed Salvador Puig Antich
via garrot vil [editor: a chair that is used to strangle people to
death]. He was 25 years old. Even though MIL did not develop a
sufficient political line and dissolved after only two years of
revolutionary action, it should by no means be forgotten. Both MIL and
Salvador Puig Antich have influenced countless people in Spain to engage
in revolutionary struggle. And, importantly, MIL advanced the theory of
the Labor Aristocracy in a time when few did. Even today few recognize
that in places like the United States of America, the proletarian class
has ceased to exist and a new class has risen in its place; a parasitic
class that benefits from the exploitation of the working class in the
Third World. This parasitic class is the Labor Aristocracy.
MIL on the Labor Aristocracy
The same day that Salvador was executed Oriol Solé wrote the
following from Modelo prison:
“In the United States, in Europe, under the rule of the superpowers,
the proletariat has disappeared. Society has engendered a new social
class that creates surplus, accumulates capital, and at the same time
grows bloated on the surplus generated by millions of wage workers in
the poor countries. A new class that builds itself a paradise paid for
with the blood of the exploited poor of Africa, Asia and Latin America.”
(2)
MIL’s line regarding the Labor Aristocracy was spot on, but several
of their positions were flawed. For example, MIL viewed a vanguard as
synonymous with a party and argued that any party would seize state
power and strengthen its position. They held that no party could be
revolutionary because the point of revolution is to abolish the state
and the state apparatus.
This is an anarchist view and cannot lead to revolution. The
anarchist believes that you should abolish the state and its apparatus
immediately. While their concern about a new power oppressive power
arising is a valid one, the communist recognizes the impracticality of
combating strong class enemies without a state power and acknowledges
that an intermediary stage between capitalism and communism is necessary
– this stage being socialism. The socialist stage gradually diminishes
until the state no longer exists. Only then can communism been
achieved.
Another flaw is MIL’s view regarding the vanguard. They did not
believe one was necessary and actively spoke against the creation of
one. However, history has shown us that not only do vanguards work, but
they are necessary to carry out a revolution. Three such examples are
the centralized vanguards led by Mao, Castro, and Lenin. All of which
carried out successful revolutions. Without their vanguards, those
revolutions would not have occurred.
Yet, even with obvious flaws in their political theory, the MIL
should not be thrown on the ash heap of history. Both MIL and Salvador
Puig Antich are famous in Spain for their revolutionary legacy. But they
are little known elsewhere. We should remember Salvador for his
revolutionary actions, beliefs, and ultimate sacrifice. He lived for the
people and he died for the people. Likewise, we should not let the MIL
fall through the cracks of history. In the two short years of its
existence, its actions shook the foundations of Spain, and surprisingly,
it did so without killing. The only death attributed to MIL was that
officer killed during the shootout with Salvador. MIL directly
contributed to the worker’s struggles and did not seek to control or
direct the proletariat for personal gain.
Every anti-capitalist revolutionary should remember Salvador Puig
Antich and MIL and celebrate their legacy every March 2nd – the
anniversary of Salvador’s death.
Salvador Puig Antich: Collected Writings on Repression and
Resistance in Franco’s Spain; by Ricard de Vargas Golarons; translated
by Peter Gelderloos; pg.16
ibid; pg.159
MIM(Prisons) adds: The story of MIL becoming
specialized when they opposed specialization echoes the lesson of Jo
Freeman’s The Tyranny of Structurelessness. This essay is
included in our study pack on organizational structure, for those who
want to dive deeper into the Maoist line on this topic.
While MIL grasped the economic realities of the imperialist countries at
an early stage of history, like many others they failed to answer the
question of how to organize for the end of oppression in these
conditions. This has been a question that many similar groups in the
First World took to similar conclusions, leading to dissolution. MIM
attempts to answer these questions by recognizing the fact that armed
struggle is not viable against a strong imperialist state, and the need
to be a mass-based movement. We cannot expect huge or flashy actions at
this stage of the struggle, and we must build the infrastructure and
educate the cadre for when conditions change. Time is on our side.
I began a Juneteenth protest in April on the 23rd. I went on hunger
strike on the 28th, but broke it 2 days later to get my strength up
after being threatened by Sergeant Couper.
19 May 2022 – I began a second hunger-strike for 8 days. On the 3rd
day of the strike, I was taken to a dirty holding cell in receiving –
with ants, no bunk, and poop caked up inside a broken toilet. I was only
allowed a bible, one sheet, and one blanket. They placed the old raggy
mattress on the floor where I was to sleep for the next 5 days.
No incoming or outgoing mail; no human contact; no offer of food; and
no vital-signs, weight, or sugar was checked (nurses documented false
reports). May 23rd, in medical, when the nurse asked why I wasn’t
eating, I told them, “because it’s ‘George Floyd Day’, Get Your Knees
Off Our Necks.”
26 May 2022 – I went on S.I.B. [self injury behavior watch] and was
given an even worse mattress that smelled of feces. No one checked on
me.
27 May 2022 – I was shipped to the Emergency Room at Central Prison.
A level-one bone-marrow cancer had intensified the damage to my body.
Some negotiations were made and I broke the fast. However, while I was
on the IV a nurse came in at shift change and snatched the IV out of my
arm and told me and my officers to get out.
One Month Earlier
April 23rd, I was attacked by Sgt Couper because I had asked for a
roll of tissue (I had been asking for 24 hours). Sergeant Couper said he
needed to search my room for tissues then pulled out his mace and tried
to find an excuse to mace me. When I cuffed up he resorted to violence
by snatching my arms all the way out the trap, then opened the door and
threw me head-first into the back wall, then applied torture techniques,
such as bending my fingers & choke holds, while tightening the
restraints.
I was eventually taken to receiving and left on the floor with the
restraints for 4 hours. I had lost feeling in my arms, wrists, and
shoulders.
Sergeant Couper continues to harass and retaliate against us;
intercepting grievance appeals and managing investigations for
disciplinary reports that he has officers fabricate against us. But “We
Reap What We Sow”. On 9 June 2022, he got served!
“Power to the People”
By the United Front “T.R.U.C.E.” of the People’s Army
T.R.U.C.E. (Teams of Revolutionaries Uniting to Combat the Enemy)
MIM(Prisons) adds: On 30 June 2022 there was a phone/email
zap to Granville Correctional Institution to support the strikers
and to call for an end to the physical abuse by Sergeant Couper. Staff
responded by saying that Warden Roach was not in that day to take calls
and that there was no physical abuse going on there. Emails to the
Warden and Director of Operations were not responded to.
I write this in an effort to educate and bring into understanding one
successful method of overcoming malfeasant administrators at their own
game when they write a fraudulent disciplinary case on you – even though
your actions fail to fulfill the elements of the charged offense while
the Agency staff lie in support. Utilizing the Time Lapsed Video (TLV)
camera footage evidence when cameras are installed on your unit.
In brief: After gaining authorization from the Floor-Boss I zipped
upstairs to another cell, delivering a legal document (E.D.-02.01 TDCJ
Ethics Policy) to an inmate. Within six second, I was back on the One
Row Run. The units O-3 (warden) confronted me upon my coming down
ordering me to return to my cell (we were being let out to go to
showers).
In the course of returning to my cell of assignment, I encountered
the Floor Boss going the other way. I asked him to inform 0-3 that he
had given me permission to deliver the document to another cell as we
passed each other. Three seconds later, this 0-3 came up from behind me
grabbing my wrist and puts handcuffs on me while proclaiming “I’m tired
of you ‘Mother Fuckers’”. While walking me the rest of the way to my
assigned cell: the 0-3 yanked the cuffs backwards, forward and
side-to-side in efforts to get me to go off – too smart for the 0-3: I
didn’t go off.
I immediately filed a grievance against this 0-3 for Non-Provoked
Aggravated Excessive Use of Force, implementing penal codes, PD-22
Rules, and E.D.-02.01 “TDCJ Ethics Policy” standards in slamming this
malfeasant warden.
Nine days later: following the 06-01 “Grievance Investigation Sheet”
was presented to this 0-3 the warden initiated disciplinary charges
against me claiming that I was Out-of-Place and Created a Disturbance.
Yeah, done in retaliation. Success demands that I be found guilty; and
my Grievance was shot-down by the unit’s 0-2 warden.
Thirty four days after the occurrence (the time limit is 30 days) the
administration illicitly ran this disciplinary case – taking four &
1/2 hours – where the C.O. I called as a witness in my defense was
blatantly compromised (suborned) by the 0-3, the charging officer. on
camera in front of me and several others.
After a 30 minute conference with the Hearing Officer: The C.O. came
and got me to return to the hearing officer’s office. Where the C.O., of
course, lied while supporting the lies of the 0-3’s that ensued.
At the hearing as well as in my grievance I repeatedly gave notice
that the TLV, when viewed, will show absolute support to all my
standings while revealing the malfeasance of this 0-3. At no time did
the disciplinary hearing officer view this TLV footage evidence. The
video was acknowledged, yet, misrepresented by my counsel.
Of course I was found guilty, maxed-out on the punishments, G-5ed,
and then I was shipped to another unit. Being the hardheaded individual
that I am, while knowing I am not guilty of the lies I was charged with,
I filed in the local Judicial District Court for an injunctive order and
successfully gained an order from the court directing the TDCJ’s
Executive Director to ensure that the TLV footage evidence of the
occurrence; with the suborning of the C.O. video, be preserved and not
done away with. The Court bench warranted me for this action.
By the time I finished processing back into the TDCJ the disciplinary
hearing’s guilty finding was – miraculously – overturned. Who’d of
thunk!?! Presently, in that same District Court, I have filed a Cause of
Action against the TDCJ Agency for retaliation. Naming each person
involved in this fraudulently run railroading of that case premised
solely on lies and retaliation. Naming each individual as “Persons of
Incident.”
You see, all too often, the TDCJ Agency will: in the course of
“Taking Case of Our Own,” intentionally ignore the TLV footage evidence.
Herewith, I have figured out how to force them to acknowledge the video
footage evidence as well as achieving accountability for their illegal
conducting: getting liability to duly attach on their heads.
The TLV cameras are there to record the truth. I here have opened the
door so many have overlooked. Use the cameras to reveal their
malfeasance in office. For a small donation I am certain that MIM will
be glad to forward a printing of the TDCJ E.D.-02.01. The Ethics Policy
is an extremely powerful Executive Directive when quoted in your
grievance. It scares them so much that they removed
it from the Law Libraries Holding’s list back in 2015.(1)
notes: 1. for a list of documents not being provided on the
law libraries holdings list, see Censorship of TBCJ, TDCJ Policies,
Procedures and Rules
Your last three mailings were denied by the mail room. The Last one,
received on 5/25/22 stated “Denied: one letter. Content inciting a
disturbance. DRC – non appealable list (offender cannot appeal).” The
next two denials arrived on the same day (6/6/22): “One newsletter and
one packet. Contains content inciting a disturbance.” I did appeal these
last two decisions.
Apparently, when a prisoner attempts to assert his rights, the mail
room calls it “inciting a disturbance!?” These are the same racist dogs
who can get away with denying me a photograph of my ten-year old nephew
who was innocently posing while making some silly hand signs, calling
that “gang related.” The kids are being kids and their hand signs have
absolutely nothing to do with gangs! Had it been white kids posing in
similar fashion, instead of calling it “gang-related,” these racist mail
room employees would’ve called the photograph “cute.”
These are the same racist muthafuckers who loved it – and applauded –
when that comic figure (D. Trump) was separating all the kids from their
parents at the border, you know, that as long as it is not their kids
who are being treated so inhumanely, they obviously do not care about
our kids, right!? And what’s so fucked up is that when the white ‘lady’
who delivers the denial papers arrives to our cell, she pretends like
she’s really upset that I would even want to receive these MIM
publications. She practically turns her back on me as if I were being so
un-American, or something!
But I have news for her, and anyone else of her ilk. I don’t want
part of anysystem that snatches babies out of the
arms of their mothers, or a system that allows their police forces to
murder people of color with impunity, while these same fuckin’ cowards
refuse to enter a school where kids are being massacred! And while the
trigger-happy cowards are quick to murder unarmed civilians,
none of the recent sick and deranged school shooters (or other
mass murderers) have been killed by police! Why not? Because the
cowardly police officers were “too scared” and chickenshit to engage the
“active shooters.” Plain and simple. And each time these police officers
take the stand at someone’s trial, where they will lie and perjure
themselves (as they are wont to do), they will recite their “highly
trained” credentials, but where are all these “highly trained”
credentials when the little kids in a school are being massacred and
need help?
And their “exceptional training,” without fail, goes out the window
when these same police officers take the stand, not only do they
(conveniently) “forget” vital details during vital parts of their trial
testimony, they lie about who handled what piece of evidence, whether or
not they used gloves to handle the evidence un-dated and un-sworn
“supplemental reports” appear out of nowhere to “assist” these liars and
“refreshen their memories” etc. And as the famous attorney Gerry Spence
once remarked (an attorney who has practiced law for over 50 years), he
has never been involved in a case where police did not lie or
plant evidence, or engage in some other illegalities, in other words,
like me, he has never met an honest cop! And like me, he’s not saying
they’re not out there, I just haven’t ever met one.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Outside supporters, please join our
campaign to protest censorship in Allred RHU. This censorship has ramped
up in response to prisoner organizing. This is politically-motivated
repression and it is illegal. You can call,
write a letter, or better yet print out our postcards and get others
to sign them to let them know what’s going on in Texas prisons!