Under Lock & Key

18 February 2025 – There is a report from Zambia of the collapse of a tailings dam that held acidic waste from a copper mine.(1) The collapse released millions of liters of waste containing concentrated acid, dissolved solids and heavy metals into a stream connected to the Kafue River in Zambia. China is the dominant player in copper mining in Zambia. China uses the copper in smartphones and other technology. The devastating consequences of this environmental catastrophe include the widespread killing of aquatic life in the river, contamination of water used for industrial and agricultural operations as well as polluting the drinking water of some five million people in Zambia. Chinese-owned copper mines have been accused of ignoring safety, labor and other regulations in their imperialist pursuit of earth minerals such as copper in Zambia. China is using classic imperialist tactics such as the exporting of capital to secure minerals and other resources by promoting development programs that put countries such as Zambia in debt to them. Zambia is reportedly more than $4 billion in debt to China. Zambians have already defaulted on payments in 2020 to other nations as well. Clearly we have another case of Chinese state-run corporations operating without regards to humyn life or the environment.

In conclusion, as a voice in the anti-imperialist movement I encourage comrades to realize it is not just Amerikans or Europeans who build their wealth and higher standards of civilization through the manipulation of underdeveloped nations. We stand against all nations that are imperialist! Nations we should be also speaking about in ULK. Nations such as China, Russia and Iran. I mention Iran because the spread of Islam is also a form of imperialism. Religion has been the reason for uncounted billions of people who suffer mentally, physically and even face death. Something that should be more deeply explored in ULK articles.

Charlie of AIPS responds: Orko is right when ey says that China is an imperialist country. We have no disagreements there. Nor do we disagree with eir statement that we should “stand against all nations that are imperialist”. So why do we focus on the imperialism of the U.$. in our work? Because anti-imperialism is a question of political line, while our political work is mediated by the strategies and tactics we undertake. If you are not familiar with this terminology from the MIM(Prisons)-ran study groups, let me rephrase. Anti-imperialism is a fundamental stance that we require others to hold if we are to collaborate with them. We will not waver on this point. But as we move beyond the fundamentals, we must consider the particulars of our unique political situation. We operate within the strongest imperialist country that has ever existed in humyn hystory: the United $tates. Our work can have no other aim, then, than to grow and strengthen the existing Communist movement that resides within the $tates. We must also acknowledge that one of the hallmarks of “patriotic” attitudes in the U.$. is criticizing the imperialism of other countries while defending the imperialism of the $tates. You can observe this yourself in seeing how united Democrats and Republicans are in denouncing countries such as China, Russia and Iran. As supporters of the international Communist movement, we must distinguish ourselves and our politics from the bourgeoisie and their lackeys. How is this distinction to be made if we simply echo their points on foreign affairs (though, admittedly, with more theoretical backing)?

On the note of religion, we must mention that religion, while fundamentally idealist and antithetical to Marxism, has a dual character. This is to say, religion can be used both for reactionary ends as well as for revolutionary ends. Palestine is the perfect encapsulation of this. The U.$.-backed Zionist entity termed “I$rael” uses religious arguments to justify their brutal murder and oppression of Palestinians. On the other side, revolutionary groups such as Hamas are inextricably linked to religion through their Islamic beliefs. The key is to consider the particularities of the situation at hand: Which nations are involved? Which classes? Which side, if any, is revolutionary at this time? Which groups are tied to religious movements, and how are these movements connected to the previous questions? To write off religion as a whole would be an error given the reality that it can be wielded for revolutionary means.

This all being said, we heartily welcome the contributions in this article from comrade Orko. It is well-worth noting that the logic of capitalist-imperialist countries all over the world follow the same general trends as outlined by V. I. Lenin in eir groundbreaking work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. But so long as our practice is confined to the borders of the U.$., that is where our focus must lie.

MIM(Prisons) adds: As Charlie mentions, we use the term imperialism to refer to the highest stage of capitalism as described by Lenin. The forcible spread of Islam and Christianity hundreds of years ago predated imperialism. And to use the history of Islam to call Iran imperialist today makes no sense. During the invasion of Afghanistan by the United $tates, pseudo-feminists made the same claim about the Taliban being “imperialist”, therefore justifying the murder of Afghan civilians (including wimmin), via their islamaphobia. Currently Iran and China are primary targets of Amerikans threats. A war with either will likely mean a global inter-imperialist war. This is not in the interests of the international proletariat. Nor is it in the interests of oppressed nations on occupied Turtle Island who will also face increased attacks when Amerikan nationalism is stoked.

^{Notes: (1) “A river ‘died’ overnight in Zambia after an acidic waste spill at a Chinese-owned mine” Associated Press, 15 March 2025.}

Triggers

Addiction does not develop overnight, nor does recovery. Addiction can be devastating to not only the user who is addicted but eir friends and family. In fact, addiction is a cultural phenomenon because it is not specific to any particular race, gender, age, or class. It is developed in the home through parents or family members who are addicts, through friends, TV, music, and other observable things in our environment. It is in every community, in every country, and on every continent. The irony is that as much support as there is for an addict’s recovery, that recovery does not come overnight. In fact, reportedly those who do enter recovery programs have a 60 to 80% chance of relapse before achieving permanent recovery! This is something I have experienced first hand, and I am here to talk to those comrades who put addicts like myself down. To them I offer the following challenge: instead of doing nothing but complaining about addicts, start a recovery group. This would be something more truly revolutionary! Because bitching about it does nothing to help an addict nor have you said anything to persuade me to want to change.

To them I say, “Yeah I’m an addict,” my addiction began in my home. My father smoked cigarettes and kept a supply of liquor under the counter in our kitchen. Drinking was a casual event with family and friends, usually on holidays. I also observed these similar behaviors through TV shows, movies, and commercials. As I grew into a teenager, I heard numerous music lyrics referencing drinking and using various kinds of drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin to cocaine to prescription drugs. Though I was told by my parents, family, and drug programs such as D.A.R.E. to stay away from these things, TV and my experience taught me something different. It looked like everyone on TV was feeling good and having fun and from my experience, it was and did most of the time make me feel good. In fact, it made me feel so much better when I was experiencing loneliness, stress, and conflict at home and within the family, boredom, anger, unrealized feelings of being trapped, depression, and more.

I’ve listed below what are commonly known as “triggers”. There are 10 major triggers I will identify here that can be associated and experienced by most humyn beings through some stage of eir life and not just addicts. For me the following 10 major triggers have not only been a part of my first experiences with drugs and alcohol but especially my relapse and effects of being imprisoned for over 25 years.

The Ten Major Triggers

1. Loneliness (even in the physical presence of family and friends)

2. Stress and conflict at home and within the family

3. Boredom or, in other words, lack of meaningful activities or challenging work

4. Anger and the feelings of being trapped (i.e. accumulated resentments, etc.)

5. Depression (worse with women than men)

6. Spirituality, or feeling like life is meaningless without a higher power

7. Secret disappointment with the straight life

8. Euphoric recall of being high

9. Secret thoughts of drugging or experimenting with a new and different chemical or drug

10. Reactive denial to using or thoughts of it

I was never taught any fundamental coping skills to combat these triggers throughout my life growing up at home or school. Even the coping skills I did learn in recovery groups didn’t seem to work. These feelings and thoughts seemed to always effect me no matter what. I also found out addiction is also something that can be hereditary and generational. What does this mean for my persynal recovery? I do not know, but my current struggle is real and I can not experience recovery by myself. So if you are an addict and not just an addict who is addicted to drugs and alcoholic but are under the definition of the United Struggle from Within Revolutionary 12 Step Program, then I want you comrades to listen. Not only you comrades but especially the comrades who do nothing but bitch about us addicts who use K2, suboxone, and whatever else as defined by the comrades who came together to create the Revolutionary 12 Step Program. I want you all to join me in my recovery, in our recovery, together.

P.S. This kept me from using so far today.

MIM(Prisons) responds: The Revolutionary 12 Step Program pamphlet has been one of our most frequently distributed publications in recent years. Unfortunately the main author and comrade who was training others to lead the program has not continued this work. For now we hope to continue the conversation, development and promotion of revolutionary recovery here in the pages of ULK. As comrade Menlo suggests, we want to create a community here through our readers’ own stories of recovery. And we thank comrade Orko and comrade Menlo for kicking this off.

Another publication we want to recommend to those working around recovery (whether you yourself are addicted or those around you) is Under Lock & Key No. 59. You can just ask us for the “drug issue” of ULK. It gives some deeper historical and sociological background on the fighting of addiction in the revolutionary movement.

As Orko explains above, addiction is a product of our environment. That is why when communists seized power in China they were able to eliminate almost all addiction in short time. And it is why people who had been life long addicts suddenly quit to join revolutionary organizations in the United $tates during the Black Power movement. The hope, meaning and empowerment that comes with revolutionary organizing is key to the success of our own revolutionary recovery programs.

In anticipation of some responses we might get to this article, we’d like to ask Orko and other readers for ideas on how to reach those stuck on drugs. We hear from a lot of readers who say they are surrounded by zombies, and feel like there is no way to reach such people because they are always high. What can be done to shift this reality and reach those in need?

I have been a member of USW since 2017. Since then I have contributed zealously, especially the move away from publishing the revisionist ideal of prisoners complaining about prison conditions and their grievances, which served no purpose to the movement other than to teach comrades revisionist methods of resolution to make prisons ideally more comfortable and less punitive.

As I attempt a corrective analysis, I ask is writing grievances and filing lawsuits against prison adminsistrators a revisionist ideal or revolutionary? and if it is revolutionary, how?

I know no revolution that was won through writing grievances or use of the courts! Read Dr. Burton’s book Tip of the Spear and see how that ideal worked for the comrades in the Attica Liberation Faction (ie. BPP, BLA, W.U. and all). It gets minimum results that require the exhaustion of much energy, study of law and money. Tip of the Spear calls for deep analysis of revolution and how it looks when applied in multiple states and facilities.

I am so disappointed I never received ULK 83 so I can analyze comrades’ analysis of Dr. Burton’s book.

Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: I don’t know of any USW leaders that don’t write grievances or file lawsuits. Grievances are tactics. So we agree that no revolution has been won by grievances, just as none is won by maintaining a website. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do these things.

To further answer your question i’d point you to Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A. by Mumia Abu-Jamal, or my review of it. In that book Delbert Africa is quoted explaining what happens to people who go deep into fighting their case in the courts:

“They go crazy becuz, Mu, they really believe in the System, and this System always betray those that believe in it! That’s what drive them out they minds, they cain’t handle that.”

As i said, we look at these things as tactics, as opposed to strategy. Though strategically we do believe we are in a stage of legal struggle in this country, we mean that in the broad sense. Legal struggle in the courts is just one form of legal struggle, and not one that we focus on.

So why engage in grievance battles and the grievance campaigns USW has going in various states?

1. To win battles that are more strategic, especially around First Amendment rights to communicate, affiliate and just read. Fighting censorship has always been a struggle we have put effort into because it is a direct threat to our organizing efforts. It’s not just about making conditions more comfortable. The most recently added grievance petition was in Indiana, where it has already been used to help get 6-month-old mail delivered. When we distribute the petitions to prisoners we include a cover letter where we state:

“MIM(Prisons) sees these petitions as a good use of our resources because our ability to fairly have our grievances handled is directly related to preventing arbitrary repression for people who stand up for their rights or attempt to do something positive. We support this petition in light of our anti-censorship work and anti-repression work in general.”

An outside supporter recently expressed concerns echoing Orko’s:

“but if what it ends up being is just MIM(Prisons) helping prisoners get their immediate personal grievances addressed, i don’t see how that differs from the work being done by hundreds of other reformist/bourgeois prison advocacy groups, other than that you also offer them Maoist resources”

It is true that people use the grievance petitions for various issues. And an individual using the petition to get some persynal issue addressed is not contributing to the prison struggle, nor to the anti-imperialist struggle. It is up to the comrades on the ground to use the petitions to build an organizing base. In either case, it is a tiny amount of time and resources that we are putting into getting petitions into peoples’ hands. When we put in the effort to assemble articles and conduct support campaigns, it will be around issues like censorship, solitary confinement and political repression.

2. To mobilize the masses of prisoners. The grievance campaigns have been utilized by many to mobilize those around them for a common cause. Mobilizing the masses to organize against state oppression is a central task to any revolutionary movement. However, both of the critics above pointed out that just filing grievances and petitions is only teaching people to beg the oppressor for resolutions. It is up to USW organizers to ensure that multiple tactics are employed in any campaign, including tactics that contribute to building independent struggle. As we always say, there are no rights only power struggles.

A longer debate between USW leaders over how to do this has already appeared in a series of articles in ULK.(1) As the comrade concluded in that first article, when the masses see the smallest victory as a miracle and are easily pacified by it, leaders are easily isolated by the state, so security precautions are of utmost importance for any sustained effort. The other USW leader in that article argues that without a strong cadre organization to frame such struggles, they will only set the revolutionary struggle back.

There have been many cases where USW comrades report that with a lot of struggle they barely get people to sign a petition or grievance if the leader does all the work to write them up and make copies. In such cases, where the masses must have their hands held to express the slightest bit of discontent, we must conclude that we are not succeeding in mobilizing the masses to take their destinies in their own hands.

3. To appeal to the masses where they are at. In 2022, our Texas campaign pack was one of the top referrals for new subscribers after word of mouth and ULK. The grievance petitions are also a tool for recruiting new comrades from the masses. Some will never be interested in anything beyond getting their local grievances heard, others will see the futility in relying on the system and join USW.

[We are currently out of copies of Jailhouse Lawyers by Mumia but would happily distribute more to prisoners across the country if anyone wants do donate copies to our Free Political Books to Prisoners Program.]

^{Notes: 1. see Orientating USW Organizing Strategy in Light of Texas Victory in ULK 72, and the 4 articles titled An Ongoing Discussion on Organizing Strategy found in ULKs 73, 74, 76 and 77.}

This year has been filled with misinformation, in the media that has been strategically broadcasted to mislead, antagonize and keep people divided. It is beyond my comprehension to understand how people reason with themselves to vote for people to office as their representatives without analysis of what is really going on. All year long the media broadcasts visible contradictions in everything these representatives say and do, yet no one questions or holds these representatives accountable for their actions and inactions.

Movement after movement has arose in opposition to inactions or actions of government officials, but to what end? or means? These movements proclaim this and that end or means but without any analysis of what is really taking place. I see no method for resolving these contradictions to any prosperous end through any known movement. Our movement (MIM(Prisons) and associates) are included in my analysis because of recent dissonance. The Spring 2020 ULK No. 70 publication attempts to demystify MIM’s failures, but has either forgotten or not published Mao Zedong’s cataloged weaknesses exhibited by themselves or the lumpen-proletarians as revolutionary soldiers. The following should be published as strong talking points for future issues:

1. The military viewpoint – A tendency to regard fighting as the only task of the army, avoidance of such political tasks as educating and organizing the mass of the people, arming ’em and helping ’em to establish their own political power. Without this fight/politikal work the whole fight is lost and its meaning and the revolutionary a reason for existence.

2. Extreme democracy – Aversion to discipline, each commander and soldier going their own way in a carefree manner.

3. Absolute equalitarianism – A demand that everyone be treated alike regardless of circumstances; meanwhile no one is created equal.

4. Subjectivism – Holding opinions and criticisms without a realistic examination of the facts and without regard for politikal principle, basing opinions on random talk and wishful thinking; focusing criticism on minor issues, petty defects and personal quirks. All of these only lead to mutual suspicion and unprincipled quarreling between people.

5. Individualism – Vindictiveness, cliquism, the mercenary viewpoint; holding oneself responsible to individual leaders rather than to the revolution as a whole; Hedonism – an urgent desire for personal comfort and pleasure, longing to leave the hard life of struggle and find some softer spot.

6. The idea of roving insurgents

7. Adventurism – Acting blindly regardless of conditions and the state of mind of one’s forces; Slack discipline on the one hand but corporal punishment and the execution of deserters on the other, attempting to enforce rather than to inspire loyalty to cause.

These are the tenents we need to analyze and play on to prevent any challenges to our rule before the revolution begins and count on ’em to disrupt the revolution once it begins!

In Struggle.