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.
I would like to hear your opinion of the growing politikal party that
has been moving slowly over the past few years and that is the so-called
Socialist Democratic Party. I myself have an exceptionally hard time
with their concepts and ideals as I was born shortly after Komrad
Stalin’s death and was raised in the USSR in a home that lived and
breathed the ideals of Komrads Lenin and Stalin. I am extremely
interested to hear and hopefully read your views and ideals concerning
the United $tates and the SDP as it is forming today. Please enlighten
me as much as you can on this issue.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The context in which we’ve seen this “new
Socialist Democratic Party” label is mostly from reactionary sources who
claim that the mainstream Democratic Party is too far left. This is the
derogatory name the right wing is using for the Democratic Party.
This is a problem for genuine socialists/communists. We know the
Democratic party is far from socialist. In fact they are squarely in the
middle of mainstream Amerikan capitalism. And so it just gives socialism
a bad name.
However, historically there was a Socialist Democratic Party, founded by
Eugene Debs in the late 1800s. It was combined into the Socialist Party
in 1901. Debs was then the Socialist Party’s candidate for President in
Amerikan elections between 1900 and 1912.
There are also plenty of self-proclaimed socialist organizations that
operate within the electoral system. We call these folks social
democrats or democratic socialists. These organizations may advocate
nationalizing private industries and abolishing production for profit,
but their strategy is reform through the ballot box. Genuine communists,
on the other hand, want to abolish classes altogether, and recognize
that overthrowing the bourgeoisie will require armed struggle.
The list of social democratic organizations in the United $tates
includes the Socialist Party, the Democratic Socialists of America, the
Socialist Labor Party and others. These parties all support electoral
struggle within the Amerikan system. Some are also revisionists,
claiming to uphold Marx while opposing eir idea of the “dictatorship of
the proletariat.”
The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a group that has gained
ground in the United $tates on the heels of the Bernie Sanders
presidential campaign. Sanders identifies as a democratic socialist, but
ran as a Democratic Party candidate. The treatment of Sanders by the
Democratic Party alienated many young Amerikans who turned to the DSA.
The DSA endorsed Sanders, after the 2016 election. It is the largest
organization in the United $tates that falls under the meaningless
umbrella of “socialist,” with over 50,000 members. While it does not
claim Marxism, it does critique capitalism. In 2018, the DSA celebrated
getting two candidates into Congress, as well as a handful of
state-level victories and many local election wins.(2)
social democracy: The social movement to improve or maintain
conditions of the broad parasitic classes. The economic base of social
democracy is the labor aristocracy. An organization or movement does not
need to be openly (or even consciously) social democratic to be
considered so. Social democracy is the principal social (not military)
prop of imperialism, ensuring superprofits flow from the exploited
countries to the exploiter countries.
(Labor
Aristocracy, Mass Base of Social Democracy by Edwards, H.W. , Chapter
II)
The recent rise in popularity of the DSA symbolizes a growing interest
among imperialist country youth in critiques of capitalism as its inner
contradictions unravel. While most Amerikans will stick with the
DSA-style “socialism” that serves the material interests of exploiters
and does not actually threaten capitalism, there is a smaller, growing
interest in communism as defined above.
Some of our fellow comrades remain skeptical or indifferent about our
engagement in the political process. Don’t be foolish! We have to act
while we can to fortify our freedoms and ensure that government does not
try to quarantine our communist ideology. Too long have we been
unrepresented at the polls for elections.
The fact that we have been unrepresented only condones and promotes the
inundated lies that sound convincing and are spread through education,
through the media and through entertainment. “In January 2010, a
conservative minority on the Supreme Court radically rewrote Ameri[k]a’s
campaign-finance laws to allow mega-donors and corporations to
contribute unlimited sums, often in secret, to political action
committees. The Citizens United v. FEC decision gave wealthy donors
unprecedented influence to buy elections, which Republicans quickly used
to their political advantage” (Rolling Stone, Ari Berman, February 8-22,
2018, p.30). I do not believe there is any difference from today’s
political culture and the one of the late 1780s “Three-Fifths
Compromise” which treated each slave as three-fifths of a person for tax
and representation purposes. It has always been about which political
party is going to get the vote.
These mid-term elections elect a body of electors who elect the
president and vice president. Under the Trump administration we have
watched numerous offices filled and seats to our judicial branch, two of
which after the next Supreme Court justice seat, will be for the life of
that persyn. How does that weigh on us? I do not know, so the
advancement of “why the need to vote?” is a relevant topic for
discussion amongst us comrades.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade is right that we should be
talking about elections in ULK because so many people are focused
on this topic in the United $tates right now. On the “left” we regularly
hear about the critical need to get Democrats elected in mid-terms to
limit President Trump’s power. But we come at this topic from a
different perspective.
To determine what is the most effective actions we can take today we
need to first identify our principal enemy. For revolutionaries this
enemy is imperialism, the global system which keeps many nations poor
and oppressed in order to provide wealth for a few nations. We happen to
live within one of the imperialist powers: the United $tates. Here still
imperialism is our principal enemy. And the President is certainly the
leader of this imperialist country. But congress is just as much a part
of that leadership structure. And whether members of congress are
Democrats or Republicans matters not one little bit to which side they
are on; being in the Amerikan government requires supporting
imperialism.
So when this writer points out that revolutionaries are dramatically
underrepresented in the government, we think that’s to be expected. The
system is not set up to allow for a peaceful revolution through
elections. And in fact, when we look closely at the interests of the
vast majority of people who could legally vote in elections, we see that
their material interests are aligned with imperialism. So of course they
are electing these imperialists! The capitalist system has advanced to
the point where people living within imperialist countries can be bought
off with the vast wealth plundered from the Third World. And buying
people off includes buying their voting allegiance since they want to
help perpetuate this system that is giving them a comfortable life.
Within imperialist countries we can’t expect to have a majority on the
side of the oppressed, fighting for revolution, until conditions change
dramatically. At this point we’re not even close. Trump’s reactionary
policies and rhetoric may be angering some self-described leftists, but
only to the extent that they want to get a more soft-spoken imperialist
into the White House. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama are
friends of the oppressed. They just peddle a different flavor of
imperialism.
It’s a mistake for revolutionaries to focus on getting Trump out of
office. And when we tell people to vote in mid-term elections we are
telling them to vote for the imperialists. There are no revolutionary
candidates for high office. And with the implication that we oppose
Trump, we’re telling people that we support the Democrats. This is not
only misleading but also will soon be demoralizing. What happens if the
Democrats win big? And at the next presidential election a Democrat
comes into office. When we still have imperialism, and the Democratic
President is funding more prisons, more police, and more invasions of
other countries, what are people going to think of the revolutionaries
who campaigned for the Democrats?
This writer raises the question of the Supreme Court. Presidents have
the power to fill seats in the court with someone who will serve for
life. And these individuals have a big impact on laws in the United
$tates. The right to legal abortions, for instance, is a decision many
fear could be overturned with a more conservative court. This is an
example of a law that has a real impact on people’s lives, especially
hurting those without the resources to buy access to safe abortions.
Just as we fight for legal victories to gain more organizing space and
less abuse within prisons, we would oppose outlawing abortion. But these
laws and legal precedents are no different than variances in how a city
deploys its police force: more trigger happy cops in the projects means
more dead oppressed nation youth. There are so many laws and policies
within imperialism that are harmful to the oppressed.
Focusing on the Supreme Court again keeps us from seeing the big
picture: it’s all still a part of imperialism. We will have variations
in legal rights and in modes of repression, but imperialism is still the
same system of exploitation and oppression. And many of the Supreme
Court decisions that Amerikans worry about are only possible due to the
luxury of living in this wealthy country. Of course we support
affirmative action, LGBTQ rights, and abortion access. But these are
things aren’t even considered in many Third World countries where the
masses are barely surviving in the wake of imperialist wars, direct and
by proxy, to secure cheap resources and labor, with puppet dictators in
power. The United $tates has not become less imperialist by implementing
more rights for more people within U.$. borders.
There are battles that can be fought in these non-revolutionary times
that do contribute to weakening imperialism, such as ending torture and
political repression within the injustice system. And so we say: keep
your eyes on the principal enemy. That enemy is imperialism. Fight that
enemy for rights for those living within U.$. borders, but never
sacrifice or lose sight of the bigger picture. An imperialist who
supports legal abortion for Amerikan wimmin is still an imperialist.
We have received many letters lately exploring the future of our
struggle under a Trump administration. Below we print excerpts from two
of those letters and our response on the topic.
From a comrade in Colorado:
“The presidential election has been most interesting. The election of
King Trump may be the last chance for the folks that brought us the Cold
War, Vietnam, and much of the current world instability, to try to hold
on to power (or make a show of power). The racial minorities and poor
people in the United $tates are actually in the majority, but they
apparently did not get out and vote, so now we get Trump.
“On the possible good side, perhaps the explosion of right wing, world
domination capitalism that Trump will be pushing will finally provoke
the masses (the proletariat) once they really get screwed by Trump
policies, to look for a real solution to improving their status. (I do
not mean the U.$. labor aristocracy who are doing very well – lots of
toys to keep them occupied. They will get even more under Trump’s
policies.) By that I mean looking to the philosophy, the understanding
of socialism, as the the only viable means to their liberation from the
shackles of capitalism.”
From a comrade in a Federal facility:
“The election of Donald Trump is a cause to celebrate for
revolutionaries. These are revolutionary times. The times where
movements are built. Communists are in a position over the next 4 years
to put in place a revolutionary front that can be sustained beyond the
next election if it should be lost to a so-called democratic contender.
No time will be lost to make revolution with these revolutionary times
at hand.
“The fact that a so-called ‘social democrat’ - read ‘socialist’ - like
Bernie Sanders had a chance in an Amerikan election to become president
is a sign of the times that ‘socialization’ of European Amerikans is at
a point of maturity in its epoch of imperialism. It is ready for
socialism but lacks the world-historical material condition to make it
possible. Thus this contradiction (condition) manifests as a ‘national
socialism’ that is the opposite of international socialism and is
nationalist or ‘nationality exclusive.’ That is why white Amerika
elected Trump, to make Amerika white (‘great’) again.”
MIM(Prisons) responds: The writers here make interesting points
about the election of Trump as an opportunity for revolutionaries.
Certainly there are some good reasons to agree with this. Trump’s
extremely reactionary cabinet appointments seem to be inspiring many
Amerikkkans to political activism who previously were content to sit and
watch the politics of this country from the sidelines, perhaps going to
the polls once every 2 or 4 years. Revolutionaries should seize their
initiative and make sure that people have access to information about
why electoral politics aren’t the answer, if they really are seeking
change for the better of the majority of the world’s people.
Of the large portion of people who are eligible to vote but don’t vote
in presidential elections we see a few major groups:
People who don’t care who wins because they know the government is
serving their interests generally by continuing on with imperialist
plunder to keep people in the United $tates rich. For the most part this
is the labor aristocracy and is the vast majority of U.$. citizens.
Where our comrade in Colorado says poor people are a majority in the
United $tates, instead our class analysis says the labor aristocracy is
the majority, and if they didn’t vote it’s because they knew either
Clinton, Sanders, or Trump would all be fine to serve their interests.
People who don’t care who wins because they know that both candidates
support national oppression and will work counter to their interests.
This is the oppressed nation lumpen and oppressed nations generally; the
“racial minorities” referred to by our Colorado comrade.
People who genuinely oppose imperialism and so can’t in good conscience
vote for a candidate who will run the imperialist state. This is a small
number of revolutionary activists within U.$. borders.
As our comrade in Colorado points out, the U.$. labor aristocracy is
comfortable and may even get more comfortable under a Trump
administration. As much as the bourgeois liberals are crying about
Trump’s election, the potential for socialist revolution to be initiated
within the United $tates is slim to none. They are upset about LGBTQ
rights and Trump’s overt racism and sexism and anti-environmentalism,
but on the whole don’t mind extracting wealth from Third World peoples
for their own benefit. The best we can expect from the Amerikan masses’
own volition is a push toward social imperialism, which still leaves the
Third World out.
Even supporters of Bernie Sanders are not socialist, as much as Sanders
tries to claim that’s what eir politics are about. Sanders was a
candidate with a clear imperialist line on international issues. While
ey might have planned to spread around the wealth a bit more to U.$.
citizens, ey still falls firmly in the imperialist camp, supporting wars
of aggression, and financing terrorist governments like I$rael. In this
regard, Trump, Obama and Sanders are more similar than they are
different. Our Colorado comrade says Trump will push world domination
capitalism, but we’ve been seeing this for decades and it didn’t slow
down for a second under Obama. There is no way to reconcile Amerikan
imperialism with socialism. No elected candidate will make this change.
Only by forcibly overthrowing the government will we be able to
implement socialism.
Our comrade in a Federal prison brings up the question of the need for
world-historical material conditions to be in place to bring the
Euro-Amerikan nation toward socialism. This comrade’s claim that
Euro-Amerikans are well on their way to supporting a socialist shift is
likely overstated. But if the oppressed internal semi-colonies and
oppressed Third World nations are enraged by Trump’s rhetoric and
policies, then we can expect revolutionaries in Amerikkka to grow in
strength and number as well. The oppressed nations’ response, internally
and abroad, to a Trump’s presidency is where we see real revolutionary
potential.
This writer is correct that socialism (in the short term, and communism
in the long term) is the only way to liberate the oppressed from
capitalism. But when we recognize that the majority of people in the
United $tates are benefiting from capitalism, we can see that most
people in this country, voters and non-voters alike, aren’t being fooled
by mis-information. Rather they correctly understand that if we were to
give back all the wealth stolen from Third World countries and stop the
plunder of imperialism tomorrow, standards of living in this country
would go down dramatically.
Still, there are very good reasons why Amerikans should oppose
capitalism, including the destruction of the environment, the deadly
culture of patriarchy and violence, and basic humynity towards other
human beings around the world. And so we conclude that if Trump’s
presidency leads some Amerikans to greater global awareness and inspires
them to oppose capitalism, it is our job to provide a correct analysis
of the system and opportunities for action against the system.
I have recently watched a well-planned election and campaign by Donald
Trump, soon to be president of the United Snakes of Amerika. But I have
to give him credit where credit is due. First, the Democrats for years
have used the minority vote to get elected, by making promises of making
eir life more better under a democratic capitalistic society.
I do want to question protest. They only focus on revolutionary
nationalist struggles aligning their struggle with the left wing
national bourgeoisie and with women and men of the left wing nations of
the oppressed in Amerika. But we should also remember that not all
struggles lead to socialism. The recent protests have cells that are
revolutionary nationalism, where the people want the power. We need to
study and use strategic methods to overthrow imperialism period. Why
protest about issues that are not in line with changing our current
economic system?
Now back to my opening on why I give Trump credit. Not to say I support
his ideology or policies. I am considering how he managed to get support
from the patriarchal labor aristocracy, and the First World lumpens. And
some lumpens in the poor rural districts. This explains why Mao asked
“who are our enemies, who are our friends?” The white proletariat showed
up and it lets us know that they are the majority. And will support a
system of imperialism. And the oppression of the Third World peasants.
Just as long as the bourgeoisie be fed the illusions that jobs will come
back to Amerikkka!
MIM(Prisons) responds: Overall this comrade has a good analysis
of the election of Trump and the class that is behind this campaign.
However, we want to point out that they are not a white proletariat but
rather a white petty bourgeoisie. This distinction is important because
the Amerikan workers are not exploited, and this is why they support
imperialism: they are benefiting economically from imperialism! It
doesn’t really matter if a few jobs come back to the United $tates or
not. As was proven with the
failed
attempts to get citizens to work the fields picking crops, there are
some jobs that Amerikans really don’t want. The petty bourgeois class
thinks it is owed cushy jobs at high wages, but has no problem with
people in the Third World doing grueling work for pennies. The only jobs
the Amerikan workers want back are high paying jobs that don’t require
much work.
For anyone who believes the myth that white workers in the United $tates
are on the decline and getting poorer, we have much in-depth
documentation
about the level of wealth enjoyed by the vast majority of Amerikan
citizens and their well-above-exploitation level wages. This is a
question of science, that is all the more important now that it has
gained attention not only among false revolutionaries seeking to rally
the so-called Amerikan proletariat but also among right-wing politicians
gaining center stage in Amerikan politics. As this writer points out, we
must be clear about who are our enemies and who are our friends, and at
base this question requires a clear analysis of class and nation within
U.$. borders. Write to us for a copy of our labor aristocracy
study
pack to get a more in depth understanding of this important point.
This 2016 election season we heard many people likening Trump and eir
proposed policies to fascism. Here we look at statements and actions
that ey made, identifying fascist elements, while also going over what
else they could be. First, let’s review what fascism is - from MIM’s
“Definition
of fascism” (which draws information from Dimitrov’s report to the
7th world congress of the COMINTERN and Dutt’s Fascism and Social
Revolution), fascism is “the open terroristic dictatorship of the
most reactionary, most chauvinistic, and most imperialist elements of
finance capital.” Further, fascism is “an extreme measure taken by the
bourgeoisie to forestall proletarian revolution… the conditions [which
give rise to fascism] are: instability of capitalist relationships; the
existence of considerable declassed social elements; the pauperization
of broad strata of the urban petit-bourgeoisie and the intelligentsia;
discontent among the rural petit-bourgeoisie; and finally, the constant
menace of mass proletarian action.” So basically, if the capitalists
feel like they are going to lose their money deals, if mass amounts of
the petit-bourgeoisie suddenly find themselves impoverished, and there
is significant fear of actual proletarian revolutionary action, these
are conditions that give rise to fascism.
With this in mind, let’s look at one of Trump’s more popular proposals –
to build a wall on the U.$./Mexico border to physically keep people from
crossing over into so-called United $tates territory. Trump believes
immigrants from Mexico impose a threat to the job economy of the
amerikkkan labor aristocracy, and also that they are not amerikkkans and
don’t belong here. Following the guidelines laid out above, the building
of a wall could fall into a reactionary action taken to counteract the
threat to the labor aristocracy; keeping the amerikkkan “working class”
safe and happy to prevent discontent and ensure that there is no
declassing or pauperization. However, it’s more accurate to consider the
idea of a border wall to fall under extreme racism and isolationism than
fascism. Trump claims that amerikkkan people are better at making money
and working than those who might come over from Mexico, and ey wishes to
keep things contained within eir own walls than to bring in people from
the outside. A similar example of Trump’s isolationism can be found in
eir ideas to keep production and trade local rather than global. Ey
believes that trade with other countries is stealing jobs from people
here, and that people here can do it better anyway. A more fascist way
of handling this would be to allow trade with other countries as long as
it proved opportunistic and beneficial (which it does for the U.$.
financially).
Next, we can look at Trump’s ideas about “destroying radical Islamic
terrorist groups.” To make such a statement is highly chauvinist and
reactionary, though it is not in response to something ey believes could
topple the government. It is more of a show of force both internally and
externally. Again, here we see extreme racism – Trump is further
bolstering the “us vs. them” mentality that is already prevalent in much
of amerikkkan society, identifying a group of people as the other or
bad, and rallying people around that idea. A more fascist example of a
similar act is the raids, arrests and murders committed by the pigs
towards the Black Panther Party (BPP) and other revolutionary
nationalist groups in the 1960s and 70s. The BPP was a highly organized
group with significant popular support among the New Afrikan nation and
it was enough of a threat of revolutionary action to warrant direct
reaction. The imperialists felt enough pressure from the BPP to publicly
act outside of their established laws to counteract that pressure,
though much public opinion was on the BPP’s side. The attacks against
nations that are primarily Islamic is imperialist aggression that has
been the war cry of Amerikan imperialists for years now.
The biggest thing to take away from this is the understanding that
Trump’s actions are often not fascist because they do not need to be. Ey
is not facing any of the triggers mentioned in MIM’s “Definition of
fascism” at the moment. There is no internal revolution rising, nor is
there fear of pauperization of the bourgeoisie. Trump for the most part
is what we would call an imperialist, as ey seeks to systematically and
internationally oppress some groups whilst bolstering others. That being
said, based on Trump’s statements and actions, if Amerikan capitalism
was truly threatened by the oppressed internal nations, Trump’s open
chauvinism would easily transition to far heavier fascist tendencies.
We don’t support or uphold the current U.$. political process as a
viable means for the liberation of U.$. internal oppressed nations and
semi-colonies. Bourgeois politics work for the imperialists and the
bourgeois class. However, assessing the current election cycle provides
a glimpse into the social dynamics of U.$. imperialist society. It
allows us to gauge the level of parasitism and privilege that is
generally characteristic of First Worlders. In short, we can better
clarify who are our friends and enemies as well as determine what
actions we need to take in order to push the national liberation
struggles forward.
This presidential election season we saw very deliberate rhetoric that
contains elements of fascism. Huge numbers of Euro-Amerikans have shown
unshakable support for Donald Trump’s idea of how to “make amerika great
again.” Trump has made it explicitly clear that ey despises Mexicans. Ey
advocates for extralegal violence against people of color, particularly
those individuals who had the audacity to exercise their “right” to
protest Trump’s racist, hateful campaign. And Trump’s view and treatment
of wimmin, while not surprising, reaches a new low in gender oppression.
To put it succinctly, Trump represents more than working class jobs for
Euro-Amerikans, who feel that Amerika is changing for the worse. Ey is
offering them a vision of payback and retribution for all the perceived
slights and humiliation that Euro-Amerikans have endured in respect to
their place in U.$. imperialist society. Needless to say, a Trump
presidency would have serious consequences for the climate and space for
organizing for liberation within the United $tates.
Opposing Trump was Hilary Klinton, who may check all the boxes for
“minority” support, but will continue along the same path as Obama.
Likely, ey will be even more hawkish and ready to engage militarily to
defend empire.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The recent U.$. presidential campaign had
a lot of people reeling over whether Clinton or Trump is more of a
fascist. So we decided to have our special election issue devoted to the
question of fascism as MIM(Prisons) sees it. We don’t completely agree
with the author’s analysis above, which we hope to explain further in
this article and throughout this issue of ULK.
In order to analyze fascism, a study of historical materialism and
dialectics is very helpful.(1) Capitalism is characterized by the
contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. Imperialism
is an escalated form of capitalism, and Lenin analyzed imperialism as
the highest stage of capitalism. So imperialism has the same fundamental
contradiction as capitalism (bourgeoisie vs. proletariat), but it is on
an international scale and the world is divided into oppressor nations
and oppressed nations; it is also divided into exploiter countries and
exploited countries (which are not parallel divisions).
When the proletarian forces (the secondary aspect of this contradiction)
grow in strength and overcome the bourgeois forces, then the economic
system will change from capitalism to socialism. We saw examples of this
movement towards socialism in the early-to-mid 20th century across
Africa, Latin America, and most of Eurasia, with solid socialist states
established in the Soviet Union and China. In response to the spread of
socialism, the imperialists committed coup d’etats and backed the
installation of fascist leaders in several countries.
We can see that the proletariat defeating the bourgeois oppressors is
not a simple process. As the antagonisms between the proletariat and
bourgeoisie (and all the inherent sub-classes of these two groups)
increase, humyn society reaches a fork in the road. This is called the
unity of contradiction. Humynity will be at a crossroads between
socialism and fascism. At this point, the secondary aspect (the
proletariat) of the fundamental contradiction of capitalism may overcome
the dominant aspect (the bourgeoisie), but if fascism grows in strength
and popularity, this is a clue that the socialist and proletarian forces
are losing. If the communists are doing a good job in their work, then
we should see more economic systems turning toward socialism. If they
are maintaining those successes well, with cultural revolutions as we
saw in China under Mao Zedong in 1966-1976, then we can expect those
successes to evolve toward communism worldwide.
Fascism is a form of imperialism, and so this means fascism is a form of
capitalism. Fascism is the final attempt for the bourgeoisie to remain
the dominant aspect in the contradiction between the bourgeoisie and the
proletariat. As the proletarian forces become stronger, the imperialists
go to even more extreme measures to protect their beloved economic
system. To say we’re in a fascist scenario now, or we’re moving toward
fascism, is to overstate the strength of the proletarian forces in the
present day. Fascism is enhanced imperialism, so it’s natural that we
would see some elements of our current imperialist society appearing
more like fascism than others, even if we haven’t moved into fascism as
an overall system.
The imperialists want to protect their economic interests, but actually
any imperialist who’s good at eir job is a bourgeois internationalist
and would put off moves toward fascism until absolutely necessary. It’s
a more difficult system for the imperialists to maintain. The mass base
that historically pushes for fascism the most, to protect their own
material interests, is the labor aristocracy. Living in the United
$tates, surrounded by labor aristocrats, our primary task as communists
in the First World is to combat labor aristocracy denial. The more that
people believe themselves to be oppressed by “corporate capitalism,”
when actually they are benefiting immensely just from living within
these borders, the harder it will be for us to fend off fascism.
One of the myths of fascism is that average Amerikans would suffer under
it. That’s not actually the case – average Amerikkans would benefit from
fascism just as they benefit from imperialism. It might be a little less
convenient to consume than we do today, and some liberal privileges may
be curbed for the “greater good,” but the wealth acquired by the labor
aristocrats would still be an extractive process; extracted from the
Third World where the United $tates already exercises a much higher
level of imperialist brutality more closely resembling fascism than what
is experienced in this country.
So how does Trump v. Clinton fit into this dialectical analysis?
Capitalism is characterized by a class contradiction (bourgeoisie
vs. proletariat), yet the principal contradiction is nation. So a lot of
this question of how the U.$. presidential race fits into the question
of fascist development in the United $tates rests on how the national
contradictions interact with class contradictions.
Except for a very small minority, on the whole people in the First World
are aligned with the bourgeoisie. And this includes oppressed-nation
internal semi-colonies. Even organizing among the oppressed-nation
lumpen, one of the most oppressed groups in U.$. society, we still see a
lot of loyalty to empire.
While this election itself was not much different than other elections,
Trump’s rhetoric increases antagonisms along national and gender lines,
which encourages the openness of these sentiments in general society.
Male and white chauvinisms already belong to capitalism and imperialism,
so an increase in these sentiments aren’t necessarily a move toward
increased fascism. In this case, Trump’s sexism is just a fluctuation
within the realm of imperialism.
Clinton’s election rhetoric (not to be confused with eir practice) was
not as antagonistic on national or gender lines. Eir political practice
is of course different than eir rhetoric (as with any politician for as
far back as this responder has studied). Clinton and Sanders are more
avid supporters of the labor aristocracy’s interests than Trump. Clinton
and Sanders favor a $15/hour minimum wage, union organizing, etc., where
Trump wants to gut worker protections in favor of the capitalists.
Trump’s rhetoric is not bourgeois internationalist. Ey promotes an
“isolationist” position, meaning ey wants the United $tates to isolate
itself from the rest of the world. (In practice it is unlikely that the
Republican party would actually carry out isolationism at this point in
time as imperialist profits come from internationalist plunder.) Trump
doesn’t support the TPP or NAFTA, whereas Clinton is more of a bourgeois
internationalist who does support NAFTA and did support the TPP until it
became inopportune for eir campaign. Clinton has more of a geopolitical
interest in eir presidency. Trump panders to Amerikkkans’ national
interests. Ey doesn’t pander to the imperialists. Clinton panders to
both the U.$. labor aristocracy and imperialists’ economic interests.
National contradiction and fascism
How do the national contradictions within the United $tates interact
with the international class contradiction (proletariat
vs. bourgeoisie)? In other words, we know the Amerikkkan labor
aristocracy is pro-fascist in its core, but how would the oppressed
nation internal semi-colonies fare?
If Trump’s leadership increases antagonisms between the oppressor nation
(Amerikkka) and the oppressed internal semi-colonies, then that would be
reversing a lot of the assimilation that has been so important since the
1970s in quelling legitimate uprising of the people in this country.
This may be why the republiklans were apprehensive of supporting Trump.
They remember (if not persynally then at least historically) how
important this assimilation has been to maintain their nation’s
political power. They don’t want Trump to disrupt that stability.
If Trump’s rhetoric is dividing the labor aristocracy (along national
lines), undermining the integration that helped Amerikkka keep power
coming out of the 1960s, this is likely actually bad for the bourgeoisie
and bad for capitalism. It reduces the amount of support that the
imperialists might enjoy in hard times, because Trump alienates the
oppressed-nation bourgeois-affiliated classes.
With more racism, there would be more national oppression, and the
oppressed-nation bourgeois classes would likely become targets of the
fascist elements. This would align the oppressed nation internal
semi-colonies more with Third World struggles. The bourgeoisie doesn’t
want to make more enemies unless it has to, especially domestically. So
this question of “what about the oppressed nation labor aristocracy?” is
parallel to the question of integration and assimilation that we deal
with every day in our work already. We see lots of integration but we
also see lots of national oppression. It’s hard to predict how the
oppressed nations would fare under U.$. fascism, but at least some
classes, and likely some entire nations, will be subject to fascist
oppression.
In reality today we see the strongest expression of fascism in Third
World countries where the United $tates supports or actively installs
dictators to put down popular uprisings. A good example of this would be
the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile, which was brought to power by a
U.$.-backed coup in 1973 after the popularly elected government led by
Salvador Allende began implementing too many anti-imperialist policies.
Pinochet’s government banned all leftist organizations and arrested,
murdered, tortured and disappeared tens of thousands of Chilean people
who expressed or acted on disagreement with this imperialist-backed
fascist dictatorship. There are similar examples in other countries
around the world where activists, especially communist organizations,
gain significant footholds and Amerikan imperialism then steps in to
help fascist governments come to power to suppress this popular uprising
that threatens imperialist profits.
People who rally around anti-fascism but not anti-imperialism will do
little to liberate oppressed people in the United $tates or around the
world. Capitalism is the economic system that makes exploitation and
oppression possible, and we need to oppose all forms of capitalism,
whether in its highest stage or on steroids.
The deeply appreciated efforts of MIM inspire me to see with a different
view the same circumstances. Let’s look at the current election:
Both candidates have an utterly failed platform. The Amerikkkan
elections are about Amerikkkan hegemony; keeping Amerikkka the richest
and most militant/violent nation on earth.
There is no revolutionary voice or worthy candidate. Have we heard
anyone say “All the wealth of the world belongs to all the people of the
world?” That’s the revolutionary voice.
Have we heard any candidate say “The goal of humynity, including
politics, is to solve the problems of hunger, lack of shelter, cure
diseases and end oppression across the globe. Politics is NOT meant to
exploit people beyond national borders or to see that we have ‘more and
better.’” If you heard such a speech you heard a revolutionary voice.
Have you heard a candidate say “This is my plan to assist other nations
to work in harmony with us to end world hunger, child mortality, lack of
medicine and education, and dire poverty. Some candidates speak of the
upper 1%, but I’m here to tell you that
if
you live in the United $tates you are the upper 13%. It’s past time
for us to see all people as our family. The Haitian in the slum is your
sister, my sister. The Nepalese man living in the street is our father.
The infant who died in Bangladesh from a treatable fever is our
daughter, yes, one of us humyns.”
When you hear that voice, then vote. Until then, ignore the candidates
and work together for the day when your political power comes from the
barrel of a gun.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade nicely summarizes where our
priorities should be as world citizens: focused on ending oppression for
people suffering under imperialism around the world. We know that the
capitalists will not peacefully give up the power they use to generate
great wealth from the majority of the world’s people. In fact, even
after a communist revolution that seizes the government for the
interests of the world’s oppressed, we can expect that the former
bourgeoisie, and even some new bourgeois recruits, will attempt to take
back their wealth and power and they will need to be kept down with
force until they can be re-integrated as productive members of society.
We call this phase of the revolution the Dictatorship of the Proletariat
because it still involves a government with power over people, but that
government is acting in the interests of the proletariat, unlike our
current government which is really a Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie.
There will be a long period of socialism while we remould society and
our culture to educate people in treating others humanely and working
for the greater good rather than for individual gain at the expense of
others. During this process we can expect to see a new bourgeoisie
attempt to take power from the proletariat, as their goal and culture
will not disappear overnight.
We learn much from looking at the histories of the Soviet Union and
China under socialism, both about this bourgeois counterrevolution and
the cultural revolutions necessary to build towards communism. In
imperialist elections we recognize that changing the face of the
government doesn’t change the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, and we
stay focused insist on overthrowing this dictatorship rather than
adjusting the makeup hiding its evil face.
This year’s election reminds me of the 1980 Ronald Reagan and Jimmy
Carter neo-conservative presidential campaign. We have Donald Trump, the
competitive imperialist bizzness mogul. Now we must ask ourselves, since
we have lesser of the two evils, what is it that we as a nation want as
a leader? But I find myself not liking or feeding into the rhetoric of
both candidates, Trump or Clinton. Hillary Clinton favors exploitation
of Third World international proletariat. Both Trump and Clinton have no
solutions for the oppressed nations here in the United $tates or abroad.
As senator Sanders pointed out, Clinton is in the pockets of big bankers
and Wall Street. And Trump seizes the opportunity to expand his ego and
exploit more oppressed nations, by building casinos, resorts and handing
out slave wages to the proletarians of that land.
But what are the solutions to our problems in this capitalistic culture?
One solution which needs to be addressed is a separate party which would
be for the people and by the people. We must not allow the media to
downgrade socialism. Socialism and a socialist party in the United
Snakes of America is a must. We have to overstand what socialism is and
what it can do for oppressed nations here in America. Bringing equality
to all people, and ending global imperialism. But this brings me to
Bernie Sanders. His rhetoric of free education and universal health care
sounds good, but if you are going to support socialist ideas, then you
must go all the way and build a socialist party, and not allow the two
party system of Amerikkka to stigmatize socialist views and its
persistent hopefulness.
As long as the wings of establishment support imperialism we will never
get close to fruition of socialism. But what really upsets me is that
New Africans in America sell out to capitalistic rhetoric by upholding
or embracing bourgeois cultural propaganda. This is why the title
“lesser of two evils” is used for this essay on the awakening of the
lumpen to class consciousness.
There are so many contradictions within Donald Trump’s “Let’s make
America great again” slogan. First and foremost, we must overstand what
made so-called Amerikkka great. Stealing land and demoralizing the First
Nations. Denying them culture and their own way of life. Enslaving New
Africans, or might I say oppression of all people of color who do not
represent white supremacy. That Trump slogan alone is a subliminal white
supremacist statement. Making those who support the labor aristocracy
continue and support efforts to exploit the white lumpen and the people
or nations of oppressed people of color. Creating more wars, and war on
the revolutionaries who will stand up to imperialism. And I can’t forget
about Hillary Clinton who will continue where her husband left off. She
was a supporter of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act,
signed into law by Bill Clinton. And we have the nerve to say oh she’s
for New Africans. I must conclude that what we have in this election is
lesser of the two evils, Trump vs. Hillary. Capitalism vs. mass
incarceration.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade is on the right track in
condemning the Amerikan election system as a tool to reinforce
imperialist power. There is no choice for the truly oppressed and
exploited of the world. In fact, the vast majority of those exploited by
Amerikan imperialism aren’t even eligible to vote in these elections
because they aren’t Amerikan citizens.
We agree that the lumpen should be paying attention to this election and
using it to raise class consciousness, but we’re not in agreement with
the implication that Bernie Sanders represents socialist ideas. In fact,
he is just the other side of the Donald Trump “Let’s make America great
again” coin. Both want to increase the wealth for the Amerikan labor
aristocracy which can only come at the expense of the exploited Third
World proletariat. Even if Sanders spreads those super profits around a
bit more, that doesn’t help the oppressed majority of the world. Sanders
supports the same aggressive militarist international policies of all
the other imperialist candidates: “We live in a dangerous world full of
serious threats, perhaps none more so than the Islamic State of Iraq and
Syria (ISIS) and al-Qaeda. Senator Sanders is committed to keeping
America safe, and pursuing those who would do Americans harm.”(1)
The problem isn’t just that Sanders doesn’t support an independent
socialist party, the problem is that Sanders is muddying the word
socialist, just like the “national socialists” (aka fascists) in Germany
did in their day. This is not a word meant to ensure greater wealth for
privileged nations at the expense of oppressed nations. And while it’s
possible Sanders could pursue a policy of greater advancement for the
oppressed nations within U.$. borders, this would only serve to expand
the ranks of the labor aristocracy on the backs of oppressed nations
globally. We cannot support that sort of rhetoric.
MIM(Prisons) maintains that it is possible one day Amerika will fully
integrate the oppressed New Afrikan, Chican@, Boriqua and First Nations
like the Irish, Italians and others who initially faced oppression but
later fully integrated into Amerikan society. This could even be done by
shifting around some money from within imperialist Amerika. But judging
from the popularity of the overtly fascist rallying cries from Trump and
eir ilk, it seems more likely that national oppression abroad will
continue to engender national oppression and racism at home.
This election is important for lumpen consciousness within Amerikan
borders because it would be easy to be taken in by the Sanders rhetoric.
Or to be frightened by the Trump rhetoric. And so be moved to rally
around “the lesser of two evils” campaign to get on the streets working
for the “Democratic Party.” But the lumpen class consciousness needs to
be tied to internationalism. We need to diligently point out the
suffering of the international proletariat at the hands of imperialism,
which is the same oppressor keeping the lumpen down. The alliance should
be between these two oppressed groups, against the imperialists. Not
between the lumpen and the so-called left wing of the imperialists
against the international proletariat. Our job as communists is to push
the oppressed and exploited classes to the right side of this equation:
the side of the world’s oppressed.
When the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program included: “We will not
fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black
people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America”
they were demonstrating this internationalist class consciousness,
specifically in the context of the Vietnam War. This writer is correct
that we will never get close to socialism within the imperialist
establishment. But we disagree that there is actually a lesser of two
evils in any imperialist election, or a choice between imperialism and
mass incarceration. These things go hand in hand, and one side’s
rhetoric benefits some Amerikans more while the other side would benefit
a slightly different group of Amerikans, while the white nation remains
firmly in power, and the wealth continues to come from the exploited in
the Third World.
[While MIM(Prisons) expressed cautious optimism following the election
of Chokwe Lumumba, we questioned his electoral strategy and
stressed
a clearer definition of dual power (see ULK 33).
Unfortunately, failure seems to have struck more suddenly than we could
have expected. In the piece below, PTT of MIM(Prisons) has woven updates
on the campaign in Jackson into excerpts from commentary by Loco1.]
On 22 April 2014, Chokwe Antar Lumumba lost the mayoral election in
Jackson, Mississippi to Councilman Tony Yarber in a run-off. Chokwe
Antar’s father, Chokwe Lumumba, was inaugurated as the mayor of Jackson
on 1 July 2013, and died 25 February 2014 from “heart failure.” Since
our last report, those close to Lumumba had indicated that an
independent autopsy was going forward, but results, or information on
whether an independent autopsy was conducted, are not readily available.
In
Under
Lock & Key 37, we raised suspicion over the cause of the Mayor’s
death in a country where New Afrikan leaders are regularly murdered by
the state with impunity.
As the electoral strategy of the former New Afrikan revolutionary ended
prematurely, some comrades are raising the question of whether the
nation would have really sown the seeds of progress for New Afrikan
self-determination into the heart of Mississippi, had Mayor Lumumba or
Chokwe Antar served the full term. We assert that when New Afrikans fail
to realistically distinguish themselves from Afrikan-Amerikans, it is
impossible to break from Black capitalism to form a new society centered
around humyn need.
One limitation Mayor Lumumba’s death raises in the Malcolm X Grassroots
Movement’s strategy of entering electoral politics is the vulnerability
of elected candidates. Lumumba wanted to build a movement based in the
people, but electoral politics necessitates focus on individuals as
leaders and representatives of the masses. In the context of joining the
Amerikan political machine, winning electoral campaigns amounts to
putting a Black face on Amerikan capitalism. Before his death, Mayor
Lumumba was planning to put $1.7 billion onto the streets of Jackson.
“The intent is to improve the city’s infrastructure, support businesses
and, in a first, rehab some Black neighborhoods.”(1) A keen eye can see
that building revolutionary education centers is not on the top of this
list, if it’s on there at all. We agree with Mr. Lumumba that the people
are smart. But if they are fed a false idealism of an end to oppression
under capitalism, then their opposition to the Amerikan imperialist
global machine will be limited. In fact, it is more likely that their
ties to Amerika will even be increased, as the benefits from the spoils
of imperialism are redistributed in their favor. Without real people’s
control of wealth, that $1.7 billion raised by Mayor Lumumba is easily
redirected by a suspicious death and a defeat in a run-off election.
The people of Jackson hope to continue building this movement for Black
capitalism in their city, and Chokwe Anton invited all small business
owners, enterpreneurs, prospective business owners, and people seeking
new and innovative employment/ownership opportunities to attend the
Jackson Rising conference that was held on May 2-4.(2) As communists, we
are definitely seeking new and innovative employment/ownership
opportunities! But as internationalists, we seek these opportunities for
all the world’s people. We don’t want worker-owned cooperatives for
ourselves built from wealth scraped off the backs of the Third World. We
know truly innovative employment/ownership opportunities can’t come
without civil war and an overthrow of capitalism. Success in electoral
politics can stifle progress in a revolutionary direction if politics
aren’t in command.
The late Mayor Lumumba is reported in an interview with the Nation of
Islam in The Final Call newspaper as saying, “our predominately
Black administrations can actually do better – to provide security to
everybody, prosperity to everybody on a fair basis, and, of course,
we’re going to be vigilant against the cheaters – but we think we can do
a better job. We’re talking about the new society, the new way, and
that’s a lot of what New Afrika was about.” To claim that New
Afrikans will do a better job at playing the Amerikan economic game
amounts to Black chauvinism and racism. We are products of our society.
What is it that New Afrikans can do better than whites: hate, steal,
cheat, kill, lie, destroy and oppress? The U.$. President is Black and
we still witness New Afrikan and Xican@ youth targeted by police for
death in the United $tates. Working within electoral politics will do
nothing to change Amerika’s impact on the majority of the world’s
people. Mayor Lumumba stated “We are impressed with the need to
protecting everyone’s human rights.” But this can’t be done
when the nationalist leaders are so misdirected that they can’t see that
there is nothing in U.$. politicians’ offices but documents with the
names of the billions of humyn beings murdered as a result of foreign
policy, or low-intensity warfare operations jumping off in the U.$.
semi-colonies. The electoral struggle in Jackson highlights the
differences between bourgeois nationalism and nationalism with
proletarian ideology.
The U.$. internal semi-colonies’ greatest connection to the reality of
the global contradiction in relation to their own material condition is
the lumpen, incarcerated and criminalized across the state. The lumpen
are most capable for the vehicular mechanism for transforming the shift
of imperialist control to proletarian control with real state power, by
leading national liberation struggles to free us from Amerika. Lumpen
hold no stake or stock in capitalism and have way more interest in
abolishing its control over the people than the bourgeois nationalists.
The Jackson Plan would like to turn all these lumpen into labor
aristocrats rather than vehicles for overthrowing capitalism.
The lumpen, particularly prisoners, will have to understand that there
is no future in placing higher values on profits than the welfare of
humyn life/needs. The Amerikan pie has to be completely disposed of and
the land redistributed fairly. Period. You get what you need. Nothing
more, nothing less.
If we gonna move, let’s move the world. Revolutionary nationalism, with
a proletarian ideology, is the key to any oppressed nation’s
self-determination and self-governance, or simply put national
independence. If New Afrikans are to have any chance at such, they will
first have to separate themselves from Black Amerika and move to the
tune of the proletariat. Chokwe Lumumba had a gift and will be missed
dearly by all who value his mind, but he appeared better in his dashiki
and afro. “Rather than going to church and yelling and screaming about
it, rather than bad mouth the youth, my plan is to engage the youth,”
quoting the former Mayor. This begs the question, how does this
transpire from behind a desk that is responsible for the city’s youth
being carted away to prison and jail facilities?