*----------------------------------------------------------*
|                                                          |
| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx  xxx xxx  xxx                   |
| xx xx x xx xx   xx x x  x  x  x   x       Issue #30      |
| x x x x x x x   x xx x  x  x  xx   xxx                   |
| x   x x x   x   x  x x  x  x  x       x   05/29/87       |
| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx   x  xxx  xxx                   |
|                                                          |
|----------------------------------------------------------|
|    Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement     |
*----------------------------------------------------------*


   
   UPHOLDING FAMILY, PROPERTY AND FAMILY PROPERTY
   The following is an essay to open discussion on a new 
issue. As this issue has clear divisive potential, the reader 
is reminded that MIM Notes is an unofficial forum.
   As the details of the Baby M case came out, the New York 
Times reported that the opinion of feminists on the case was 
split. Now that the court has made its decision, it seems 
from an article in Off Our Backs that feminist opinion has 
consolidated in favor of the natural mother Mary Beth 
Whitehead, who agreed to a surrogate mother contract with 
William Stern, who contributed the sperm.
   On narrow grounds, New Jersey Superior Court Judge Harvey 
R. Sorkow ruled that the surrogate mother must uphold the 
terms of the contract to sell baby M to the natural father 
for $10,000. The feminist newspaper Off Our Backs criticized 
this ruling and argued that the "biological mother's rights 
must be protected and not be considered disposable by virtue 
of a piece of paper." (Debra Ratterman, "Whitehead vs. 
Sperm," Off Our Backs, 5/87)
   Certainly no communist should argue that a deal is a deal 
and contracts under capitalism are fair, so this argument 
seems a good one.
   However, Off Our Backs points out that the welfare of the 
child is often important in custody battles as they currently 
take place in the United States. On these grounds, no one has 
presented a case that Whitehead would be a better mother than 
Elizabeth Stern. (If anyone did, someone would stand up for a 
woman's "right" not to bear children, her "right" to a career 
and a her "right" to adopt surrogate children.)
   Indeed, Elizabeth and William Stern each make six-digit 
salaries. Under capitalism, it would be hard to argue that 
Whitehead would do better for the welfare of the child.
   Certainly, Off Our Backs is right that the court decision 
was fundamentally class-biased, but what else is new? Off Our 
Backs does not systematically develop this insight, which is 
in reality an incipient critique of the family/cash nexus 
under capitalism. If it did, OOB would have to conclude that 
neither side of this hysterical pro-family struggle is worth 
supporting.
   Unfortunately, the Off Our Backs position boils down to 
the privileged position of women in reproduction: "A full-
term pregnancy can hardly compare with a momentary 
ejaculation. The judge lacked this insight when he described 
surrogate mothers as 'an alternative reproduction vehicle.'" 
(Ibid.)
   This is another principle that communists have heard 
before: I did the work, so I deserve the property. Usually, 
workers and socialists make this argument against capitalists 
who claim a right to make a profit, but Off Our Backs implies 
that a person (baby) should be awarded as property to the 
biological mother by virtue of her hard work to bear the 
child.
   And then there were the Sterns. With millions of starving 
children across the globe, William Stern wants to pay $10,000 
plus court costs to obtain a child with his particular genes.
   Over in the Dark Ages, the Pope still opposes conception 
by any means but the old-fashioned missionary-position 
method. Yet, his less extreme pro-family followers can not 
help but find the whole Baby M case perversely pleasing. In 
this media spectacle, whether one takes the side of Whitehead 
or Stern, one takes the pro-family, children-as-property 
side.
   Much of the coverage given by the mass media concerned the 
justifications of Stern and Whitehead for their extremist 
actions on behalf of their property.
   Stern promised $10,000 and the cost of lawyers to obtain a 
child with his genes. Whitehead threatened to kill herself 
and Baby M, also in the name of family, if she did not get 
custody.
   The Sterns have broken new frontiers in reactionary 
thought by bringing psychiatric pseudo-science to bear on the 
question of Whitehead's mothering capabilities, and hence the 
validity of her property claims.
   Whitehead's lawyers implied that Elizabeth Stern, who is 
41, was unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices of her 
career as a pediatrician to bear and care for a child. 
Lawyers disputed that Stern's case of multiple sclerosis was 
a good enough reason not to attempt to have a child of her 
own. This argument amounted to saying that women who pursue 
careers are not good mothers.
   One gets the sense that if Whitehead were in the position 
of the Sterns, she would do the exact same thing. Ultimately 
William Stern and Mary Beth Whitehead only want the same 
property rights.
   This is a case where the rhetoric of rights--"biological 
mother's rights"--has not only obscured an issue, it has 
caused Off Our Backs to take an incorrect political stance. 
What sorely needs critique in the Baby M case, is the 
selfishness of the adults seeking their very own kids with 
their very own genes.
   The ridiculous behavior of Whitehead and Stern only proves 
that raising children should not be left to individual 
parents, who tend to have children to fulfill their own 
ambitions. Children will only be free of the quirkiness of 
their private owners when raising children is recognized as a 
responsibility of society, not the family.
   
   RULING CLASS WORRIES ABOUT NEW "LEFT" TREND IN CHINA
   China-watchers are currently worried that the Deng 
Xiaoping clique may have lost state power to a group of 
senior officials headed by Peng Zhen. Supposedly these 
officials are substantially more Maoist in outlook and even 
wear Mao suits at public functions as if to contrast 
themselves their peers in Western suits.
   Genuine Maoists, however, should be wary. Peng Zhen may be 
nominally to Deng's left, but so was Hua Guofeng, who 
arrested Mao's followers--the Gang of Four. Indeed, Peng Zhen 
was the first major target of the Chinese Cultural 
Revolution. As mayor of Beijing, he suppressed writings by 
Mao for the press (with or without the sanction of the 
Central Committee this author does not know), allowed veiled 
criticisms of Mao in the arts and tried to sidetrack the 
Maoist counterattack in academic debate before he was finally 
overthrown.
   Also, in a rare and interesting article, Edward Gargan of 
the New York Times has found an overt two-line struggle in 
the Chinese Communist Party. ("Mao's Home Province Proves 
Stubborn," New York Times, 5/26/87, p. 6) Apparently, Hunan 
officials knew that Westerner Hu Yaobang was to lose his job 
as General Secretary of the party before other officials and 
said so in public: "'We knew Hu Yaobang was going down,' said 
Weng Hui, a deputy secretary general of the Hunan provincial 
government...'We were not surprised because Hu Yaobang made 
mistakes,' Mr. Weng said. 'Hu Yaobang did not oppose those 
who wanted Westernization. That caused some unpleasant things 
in China.'" (Ibid.)
   Furthermore, "in February, Hunan party officials ordered 
the province to take as its 'two major tasks' the fight 
against Western influence and the increase in economic 
production." (Ibid.)
   Other leftist signs in Hunan are that the government is 
still run by the party and not just by qualified experts; 
students attend political study classes and factory workers 
also engage in intensive ideological work.
   While the fall of Hu Yaobang marks a struggle against the 
Right in China, Deng Xiaoping has just recently attacked the 
left. He reportedly said that the "main struggle should be 
against the leftist trend within the party." (Ibid.) 
Meanwhile in Hunan, "the main target in Hunan is to educate 
the people to take the right path, to follow socialism," 
according to Mr. Weng.
   It is difficult to assess how genuine the above 
indications are of a resurgence of Maoism in China. It may be 
worth the reader's while to look up this Times article 
themselves and stay on top of the press.
   U.S. desperately intimidates members of its bloc to 
support Contras
   "The campaign against Mexico, Argentina, Panama, Costa 
Rica and Honduras suggests that protecting contra aid was 
such an overriding goal of the administration that it 
governed nearly all of the United States' contacts with its 
neighbors in the Western Hemisphere." (Detroit Free Press, 
5/10/87, p. 12A)
   This is strong and frank talk for a mouthpiece of the 
bourgeoisie, but clearly the press must report the 
desperation of the government in its efforts to rally the 
U.S. bloc against the Soviet bloc and the Latin American 
peoples.
   As usual, information on covert operations by the U.S. 
government casts many previous actions in a different light.
   
   Minority capitalism is still peanuts
   In an article on minority entrepreneurs, the Wall Street 
Journal offers the statistic that minority-owned banks have 
assets totalling $4.1 billion, "triple the 1976 amount--a 
growth rate 40% higher than the rate of all banks." (3/25/87, 
p. 31) Of course, compared with bank assets of white America, 
the minority banks have but peanuts. Still, one should not 
underestimate the illusion that even such limited success 
will create. The example of Black business successes may 
influence people towards imitation despite the overall 
statistical picture. The job of communists here is to point 
out there is only such much room in the capitalist class and 
the success of the handful comes at the expense of the broad 
masses of people.
   
   Aquino still in bind
   Although her party seems headed to winning 24 out of 25 
seats in a Parliamentary election, it appears that Marcos and 
Juan Ponce Enrile supporters may be enraged by not winning 
the role of loyal opposition in the government. Aquino 
supporters reportedly hoped that former Defense Minister 
Enrile would at least win his seat.
   At the same time, Aquino has suddenly ordered paramilitary 
groups to disband. They had become very prevalent as the 
right organized to fight the New People's Army, which is 
semi-Maoist in inspiration. Church leaders likened the 
paramilitary groups to death squads in El Salvador. (Los 
Angeles Times, 3/17/87, p. 1)
   Meanwhile in an interview with the magazine Iran in 
Resistance, a supporter of the New People's said that the NPA 
was wondering whether Aquino would turn out to be a Duarte or 
an Ungo. Duarte is the liberal fascist Christian Democrat who 
rules El Salvador on behest of the landlord class and U.S. 
imperialism. Ungo is a former member of the Salvadoran 
government who now serves as political spokesperson for the 
rebel organization called the FMLN. Ungo and Duarte share 
much common political history, but they have ended up on 
different sides in the civil war.
   This line of thinking implies that El Salvador and the 
Philippines require democratic, anti-feudal revolutions and 
that Ungo and possibly Aquino can serve in major roles as 
part of that revolution. Another somewhat conciliatory point 
of view would be that Ungo and Aquino are members of the 
national bourgeoisie, but they cannot lead the new democratic 
revolution.
   Currently, the NPA apparently believes that Aquino may 
continue to hold power in a shaky alliance with the 
ultrarightist faction of landed classes and bureaucratic 
capitalists. On the other hand, she may alienate her rightist 
allies to such an extent that she may have to ally more 
firmly with the left and push for a genuine anti-feudal, 
bourgeois or new democratic revolution.
   Maoists have to wonder how it is that Ungo can be the 
political leader of revolution in El Salvador. Isn't his 
social democratic ideology too conciliatory to lead 
revolution? On the other hand, if real power resides with the 
military leaders of the FMLN and not Ungo, then are these 
leaders leading political work in the organization on a 
correct basis? Some people at MIM have concluded not. The 
analysis of El Salvador and the Philippines by analogy may be 
a significant line of demarcation between Maoists and the 
NPA. The question is how genuine the struggles in El Salvador 
and the Philippines are and are they sufficient to set back 
imperialism and the landlord class and at least advance the 
two countries to capitalist democracy.
   These issues deserve further discussion.
   
   Prisons are exploding in population and crime
   Imagine a small town of less than 20,000 where in the last 
few weeks, a police officer and civilian were indicted for 
murdering another civilian; two civilians were shot in 
another incident and the state government just released a 
report criticizing the town police for brutality. The average 
of violent incidents is 35 per day and police officers are 
often guilty of drug abuse.
   All this is despite a growth in the town government budget 
from $150 million in 1980 to $500 million today.Even Pat 
Robertson would find this intolerable and say that the town 
should replace its government, right? This small town is the 
prison system of New York City. (Robert Gangi, " The Jail 
Bomb Ticks Louder and Louder," New York Times, 5/9/87), p. 
15)
   The crimes committed are by the government, perhaps better 
described as organized crime. Those crimes in the prison 
system not committed directly by the state are still abetted 
by the state, which seems to thrive on creating conditions 
for crime.
   
   Official unemployment dips to 6.2% (New York Times, 
5/9/87, p. 1)
   
   Israel represses internal critics
   Israeli police shut down the Alternative Information 
Center in Jerusalem for allegedly supporting Palestinian 
terrorism. No evidence of armed struggle by the group was 
available in the New York Times article (2/18/87, p. 6)
   The police seized documents and copying machines.
   The center is composed of Jews and Arabs critical of the 
Israeli human rights record.
   At the same time, Israel banned visitors including 
journalists from towns in the occupied West Bank territory. 
(Ibid.)
   
   Soviets suffer in "their Vietnam"
   30,000 Soviet soldiers have reportedly died in fighting in 
Afghanistan. (New York Times, 2/18/87, p. 7) For those who 
say that the Soviets will move in where the U.S. pulls out, 
we say let them and they'll pay the consequences of the 
hatred of peoples in their anti-imperialist struggle.
   
   Homelessness rises
   The U.S. conference of Mayors reported that homelessness 
increased by an average of 31% in 29 major cities.
   Estimates of homelessness range from 250,000 by the Reagan 
administration to 3 million by the Committee for Creative 
Non-Violence. (Los Angeles Times, 5/10/87, p.4)
   
   Robert Dube was a phony
   South African police recruited Robert Dube to pose as a 
militant student anti-apartheid leader to infiltrate the 
Soweto Youth Congress and the African National Congress 
underground. Dube toured the West to give speeches. Charles 
Mabasa and Vusi Gqoba were also police informers that had 
high responsibility in the ANC. All six national leaders of 
the Congress of South African Students (COSAS) were 
informers. (Los Angeles Times, 5/6/87, p. 1)
   MIM provides this information as a reminder that a certain 
amount of paranoia is justified.
   
   U.S. gets further into Gulf war
   Having supplied arms and military intelligence to the 
participants in the Iran-Iraq war, the U.S. imperialists were 
not content. Now they want to put American flags on Kuwaiti 
oil ships, so that if Iran attacks the Kuwaiti ships, it will 
be attacking the U.S. flag.
   There is an element of competition here because the 
Kuwaitis have already received Soviet protection for some 
ships.
   In addition, "Defense" Secretary Caspar Weinberger pleaded 
with Arab countries to allow U.S. military bases near the 
Gulf so that the U.S. could protect shipping lanes. (New York 
Times, 5/25/87, p. 1)
   
   Seven revolutionaries already in prison
   Of the eight revolutionaries charged with sedition that 
MIM Notes reported on in the last issue, seven are already in 
prison. The new indictments are for bombings of corporation, 
military and courthouse buildings in Westchester and various 
other places in NY and Massachusetts.
   One of the eight has been convicted for killing a New 
Jersey state trooper.
   "The latest indictment says the defendants describe 
themselves as a 'revolutionary anti-imperialist organization' 
and refer to themselves as the Sam Melville-Jonathan Jackson 
Unit and the United Freedom Front."
   "Sam Melville was a radical prisoner killed in the 1971 
Attica prison uprising. Jonathan Jackson was one of three San 
Quentin inmates killed in 1970." (New York Times, 5/22/87, p. 
8)
   As an assistant U.S. Attorney explained in regards to the 
racketeering and sedition laws being used against the 
defendants, "there is no restriction in the use of the 
statute based upon the purpose of the enterprise." (Ibid.) 
Laws passed under the guise of fighting organized crime have 
ended up having far broader uses.
   Having already convicted the defendants for the bombings 
and killing of the state trooper, the state pressed the new 
charges just to link together previous convictions under new 
charges of conspiracy.
   
   Reviews
   
   World Hunger: Twelve Myths, by Frances Moore Lappe and 
Joseph Collins, Grove Press, 1986.
   This book seeks to prove that there is enough food in the 
world to end world hunger, but political structures 
perpetuate mass starvation.
   In a brief 149 pages, the authors bring potent facts to 
bear to support numerous theories of theirs (taken from 
others) that could fill several books. For example, Lappe 
cites a World Bank study to show that overpopulation results 
from the conditions of the poor. When the poor enjoy a secure 
life, they no longer have so many children. (p.27) Another 
example used to criticize export-led development is that 
Kenyan export income quadrupled between 1970 and 1980, but 
malnutrition increased. (p. 87) Also, Lappe and Collins make 
an interesting feminist observation that where women are 
central to the economy and enjoy reproductive rights, hunger 
is lower. As such, women oppose the trend towards the cash-
crop economy in their own subsistence interests. (p. 90)
   Ultimately though, the book does not deserve to be on the 
MIM literature list in this author's opinion because it has a 
worked out line on capitalism and socialism. The Lappe and 
Collins support a populist capitalism against landlord 
oligarchies. They do not oppose private property, but only 
want the peasants to be able to use the land as part of their 
right not to be hungry. They do not oppose market society, 
but they support income redistribution so that the world's 
half a billion starving people can eat. (p. 81,82)
   They have praise for Nicaragua, Mondragon and China. They 
side with the Eritreans. They criticize the struggle between 
the East and West blocs as detracting from efforts to end 
world hunger. Their line on the Soviet Union is that it is a 
"statist" society.
   Lappe and Collins consciously oppose state intervention in 
the market except where necessary to save the market from 
statist revolution. They view "statism" as an "economic 
dogma" and they support civil liberties as necessary to 
ending world hunger.
   If there is such a thing as progressive capitalist 
revolution against feudalism anymore, Lappe and Collins would 
be spokespeople for the ascendant capitalist class. On these 
grounds one could argue that the book deserves MIM's support 
as part of the two-stage revolution still required in parts 
of the Third World. Perhaps this review is only the beginning 
of a debate within MIM about the book. If so, cast this vote 
against distributing it. 
   
   The Revolution in South Africa: An Analysis, by Azanian 
Research Project, May 1986. 83pp. Send $1.50 to Boxholder, PO 
Box 1854, Manhattanville Sta., NY, NY 10027.
   One of the main strengths of the pamphlet is that it has 
the courage to instruct readers on the differences among the 
various political organizations of the oppressed Blacks in 
South Africa. For example, it points out that the Pan 
Africanist Congress believes that South Africa has been 
colonized by white settlers; therefore, mere democratic 
integration of Black and white populations as proposed by the 
ANC does not redress colonial injustice. On the other hand, 
and contrary to widespread misconceptions, the PAC did 
recruit white and other non-African members and would 
recognize whites as part of a liberated Black ruled state.
   Particularly among ANC supporters, the rifts are almost a 
taboo subject. Also, with the strength of the ANC abroad, one 
gets the impression that the ANC leads all the struggles in 
South Africa. This pamphlet helps dispel this political myth.
   Other strengths of the pamphlet include a brief history of 
the white settler regime and indigenous struggles against it, 
the economic ties to South Africa and a discussion of the 
failure of reformism both in South Africa and the United 
States.
   Among small objections to this pamphlet is that it has no 
bibliography or footnotes. Like much revolutionary 
literature, it leaves readers with no way of arriving at the 
same analysis independently.
   Politically, it does not explain why the dissolution of 
the South African Communist Party was a cowardly act (p 18). 
One must know whether or not the party members' work 
continued covertly once the party was outlawed.
   Also, the pamphlet takes a gut-level Marxist-Leninist 
position that armed struggle is the only way to power in 
South Africa, but it criticizes the ANC for its military 
strategy without treating the question of what is militarily 
possible in South Africa. People's War is of course the 
correct principle, but the pamphlet does not prove that given 
the chance that the ANC would not take up People's War.
   Finally, although it was written merely a year ago, it is 
already out-of-date thanks to the intensity of struggle in 
South Africa. It is the fault of MIM Notes for not reviewing 
this work earlier.The line of the authors of the pamphlet is 
perhaps best described as independent Marxist-Leninist. The 
sole reference to the international situation beyond 
criticizing Soviet revisionism is a supportive reference to 
revolutions in Albania, China and Vietnam.
   Direct M-L leadership of mass movements: Is it 
appropriate?
   Concretely, it is perhaps most significant that the 
pamphlet calls for Marxist-Leninist leadership of the Azanian 
solidarity movement in the United States. It correctly notes 
that the leadership of the current anti-apartheid movement is 
liberal/reformist.
   MIM's experience is that the position that there must be 
Marxist-Leninist leadership of solidarity movements is 
effectively liquidationist. MIM arose out of anti-apartheid 
struggles in Cambridge first and foremost, in addition to 
anti-militarist and other struggles.
   It became apparent to MIM members through years of 
political practice that reformism has a natural basis of 
support in the United States. That means there is a material 
basis for reformism in the anti-apartheid movement which can 
not be struggled away by revolutionaries in single-issue 
groups. We found it necessary to form an independent 
organization to further unleash various mass movements held 
back by groups with majorities favoring a go-slow, don't-
alienate-anyone approach.
   The difficulty is simple to explain: Where there is no 
vanguard party to organize the organizers, revolutionary 
leadership of single-issue groups will not magically appear. 
Only where outside revolutionary pressure and influences 
exist will single-issue groups (and the larger mass 
movements) move in a militant direction.
   Moreover, the masses often resent direct tutoring by 
Marxist-Leninists in single-issue groups. They would like 
time to work out their own positions, but Marxist-Leninists 
in such solidarity and anti-militarist groups already know 
the situation, what to do about it and what urgent tactics 
are required at the moment. Sections of the masses will 
retreat from political activity altogether while they 
consider whether or not they can buy the outlook of the 
Marxist-Leninists in a wholesale fashion. Many also detect 
that they are at an inferior level of knowledge compared with 
experienced Marxist-Leninist activists, and come to consider 
their own efforts as not worthwhile. All these problems make 
for bad intra-group dynamics wherever there is a strong, 
nuts-and-bolts directing role of Marxist-Leninists.
   Not to mention accusations concerning "front groups," 
exploitation of single-issue groups, and the very real 
temptation of right opportunism in single-issue groups, the 
ultimate problem is that there is no strong vanguard party to 
work with even if various activists do respond to the 
revolutionary line! It becomes only a matter of time before 
revolutionaries in the single-issue group make serious errors 
in handling non-revolutionaries (usually out of impatience 
and a definite and somewhat legitimate sense that they know 
better) and suppressing the very movement they intended to 
unleash! The single-issue organizers receiving Marxist-
leninist tutoring will burn out or drop out from a lack of 
understanding the overall political situation.
   The line of the pamphlet is admirable in that it clearly 
advocates close knowledge of the mass movements in the United 
States. It is better to make this sort of liquidationist 
error than to retreat to the irrelevance of armchair 
theorizing. After all, as Mao said, practice is principle 
over theory. At this point agitational and propaganda 
practices are principle over theoretical practices.
   In many ways, the dispersal of MIM from its base in the 
mass movements of the Boston area turned out to be a good 
thing. Dispersal forced MIM to find "profitable" ways of 
investing time and resources outside of local mass movements. 
This led it to a more firmly international and even national 
outlook.
   To the extent that MIM consolidates as a party, it will be 
able to unleash mass movements all the more effectively. 
While it consolidates an organization of organizers, MIM 
should never forget its roots in the mass movements and the 
lessons of those experiences.
   
   CORRESPONDENCE
   Editor's note: as someone who literally refused to attend 
rallies in Washington, DC or anywhere else because of all the 
work that needed to be done in the Cambridge area, I would 
like to confess a conversion of sorts. After MIM dispersed 
from Cambridge, I came to learn more and more what needed to 
be done nationally and internationally. Although we don't now 
whether or not the following letter is genuine and not a joke 
from a foreign country (because it's our first 
correspondence), letters like it convinced me that there is 
work to be done on an international as well as local plane. 
Our energies and resources can not go solely to local 
struggles.
   
   Dear Comrades,
   I am writing to you on behalf of the above-mentioned 
Revolutionary Marxist-Leninist organization--X X--which was 
recently established with a view to remedying the historical 
absence of any other local organization with a similar 
ideological orientation. We hope to publicize our appearance 
on the local political scene through the publication of a 
declaration of principles which will also contain all the 
requisite information as to our policy, both local and 
foreign, as approved by our Congress.
   As work upon the drafting of this declaration of 
principles is intended to begin shortly, we would greatly 
appreciate your movement...to forward us with a copy of your 
declaration of principles or manifesto. Such a document would 
help us to formulate as clearly as possible our ideological 
position and, thereby, clarify any difficulties which may 
arise in this regard when drafting our aforesaid declaration 
of principles.
   --A comrade from an incipient organization in another 
country
   
   Socialist greetings comrades!
   I've received MIM Notes #28. What I need is some books, 
mainly on the United States. I'm presently out of funds, so 
if possible send the following free of charge: 1) Black 
Panthers Speak. 2) Seize the Time by Bobby Seale 3) The 
Weatherman 4) A People's History of the United States by 
Howard Zinn.
   [The above books are in shortage except the Zinn book 
which is still in print but expensive. Anyone who has access 
to these books in damaged or used or new condition should 
contact MIM. Indeed, anyone who finds bargain deals on any 
books on our literature list should contact MIM. Shopping is 
probably not the strong point of most communists, but to 
provide everyone who needs them these books we really must 
become good book shoppers!--ed.]
   I'm trying to learn about this country's history, so those 
books are very important. I'm mainly concerned with the armed 
struggle that took place in this country. Anything on 
military strategy will be of great help. New, used, it 
doesn't matter, just readable, OK? Also if you know a book by 
George Jackson, I'd very much appreciate it.
   Your brother in the struggle....All power to the people, 
by any means necessary! --A prisoner from the Northeast
   
   Greetings comrade,
   I hope when this epistle reaches its destination it finds 
one remaining strong and striving for the liberation of all 
oppressed people. I'm a 19 year old revolutionary of African 
descent being held hostage in the state of X. Any literature 
sent to me will be passed around and shared with the next 
brother to enlighten him to our plight and struggle. Power to 
the People! --A prisoner from the Midwest
   
   Dear MIM Distributors,
   I am writing as a poor comrade in prison needing 
literature to study and further my grasp of the Revolutionary 
Internationalist Movement. [That is our old name which is 
still on some of our literature. A different association has 
taken the name RIM, so we now call ourselves MIM--ed.]
   I don't have any money to really get the books in your 
book list. The ones I desire to read are expensive 
considering my difficult stay at this prison camp hell hole 
called XX. Do you have any damaged or old copies of the books 
and papers I will list below? Also, could you send me another 
list of books like the first you sent me in case I can get 
some money from somewhere in the future?
   Comrades in revolutionary theory and struggle unite in 
Marxist-Leninist Maoist thought and action!--another comrade 
from the Northeast
   
   [Lists eleven items from the list, most of which MIM can 
not afford to send at the moment--ed.] 
   
   Dear Sirs Comrades!
   I'm a prisoner of USA neo-fascism in XX harassed and 
abused routinely so I would enjoy writing an article to you 
if possible.
   Yours in the struggle--Another comrade from the Northeast
   
   Comrades:
   I wish to thank you very much for the three books that you 
sent me. [Lists three books in Spanish--ed. Also, most 
letters from prisoners are this polite, but communists who 
recognize the duty of enabling everyone to have the weapons 
of Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought need no thanks. 
Communists must struggle to find literature for prisoners as 
in the two requests above.]
   I have already begun to devour them avidly! Please let me 
know if you have any more works of this nature in Spanish 
especially any work written by the great Chairman Mao.
   I must tell you that I was quite ignorant of dialectical 
materialism and do not now claim to be in the least 
knowledgeable as I need to be. However, upon reading the 
Cinco Tesis Filosoficas de Mao Tsetung I have already gained 
a greater understanding of an appreciation for it. Study, 
study, and more study! That is what is required. I will 
continue to absorb this only true and workable philosophy and 
correct all of my previously erroneous ideas of life by 
applying these principles to my life...and anxiously await 
the day of my release to the "free" world and the return to 
my country, whereupon I will unite my efforts with those of 
the already existing group or groups who espouse these same 
ideals. I am convinced, now more than ever, that Marxism-
Leninism Mao Zedong Thought is the only correct way to live 
and I know that one day, as Marx said, that "what the 
bourgeois capitalist produces...is his own grave...The 
elimination of the bourgeoisie capitalist, and the triumph of 
the proletariat are equally inevitable." (Carlos Marx=El 
Capital)
   This inevitable decline of the bourgeoisie is apparent 
more and more every day. So too is the obvious victory of the 
proletariat. All over the world people are shaking off their 
shackles of oppression and beginning to see the light--not 
the metaphysical light of ignorance, but the true and correct 
light of Marxism-Leninism Mao Zedong Thought. The 
revisionists of the Soviet Union and China have temporarily 
set us back by their treacheries, but with continual 
struggle, we can and will be victorious once more. On to 
victory and freedom!
   Viva el Marxismo-Leninismo Pensamiento Mao Tsetung!
   Hasta La Victoria Siempre!
   Venceremos!
   --"A comrade in chains" from the South