redwinter
10th November 2009, 07:45
The new issue of Revolution newspaper (voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA) dated Nov 15 2009 is focused on prisons and prisoners in the United States. It includes a number of articles on a range of issues, from conditions of prisoners, national oppression and the criminalization of a generation, to revolutionary organizing within the prisons using Revolution newspaper. I highly recommend checking it out at www.revcom.us (http://www.revcom.us).
At the current moment over 800 prisoners have subscriptions to the newspaper and about 160 are on a waiting list pending additional donations (I would encourage those who'd like to contribute to this effort to check out and fundraise for the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund (http://www.prisonersrevolutionaryliteraturefund.org)).
But I just wanted to throw out on here a question as far as what people's thoughts were on revolutionary communist organizing in the prisons, what role prisoners have to play in a revolutionary process, and how to improve both prisoner support efforts (especially fundraising) as well as organizing within the prisons themselves...also appropriate historical references to other parts of the world or eras would be appreciated!
I myself always think back to reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X for the first time and witnessing second-hand through Malcolm's testimony his becoming a revolutionary while in this system's dungeons; the dozens of young guys I've met who converted to Islam in prison and became politicized. And I imagine the much more revolutionary potential there is for hundreds of thousands of prisoners in this country, truly with nothing to lose but their chains, to take up the fight for communist revolution, both in the ideological and the political realms.
If you read just one article from this special issue of Revolution, let me recommend this one:
Letter from a Prisoner: (http://www.revcom.us/a/183/years_of_terror-en.html)
Years of Police Terror Finally Gave Painful Birth to a Revolutionary (http://www.revcom.us/a/183/years_of_terror-en.html)
Greetings and a clenched fist comrade salute to all you brothers and sisters. I write you from a dungeon known as California’s supermax prison "Pelican Bay." This country is undergoing a dramatic "facelift" in its political arena, the blatant disregard for humanity that Bush II displayed forced the ruling class to dig deep in its trump chest so that once more the people can be corralled into their Bourgeois politics with all the false hopes and empty promises that come with it. Thus the need to bring to light the cold truth is needed now more than ever.
Read on… (http://www.revcom.us/a/183/years_of_terror-en.html)
At the current moment over 800 prisoners have subscriptions to the newspaper and about 160 are on a waiting list pending additional donations (I would encourage those who'd like to contribute to this effort to check out and fundraise for the Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund (http://www.prisonersrevolutionaryliteraturefund.org)).
But I just wanted to throw out on here a question as far as what people's thoughts were on revolutionary communist organizing in the prisons, what role prisoners have to play in a revolutionary process, and how to improve both prisoner support efforts (especially fundraising) as well as organizing within the prisons themselves...also appropriate historical references to other parts of the world or eras would be appreciated!
I myself always think back to reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X for the first time and witnessing second-hand through Malcolm's testimony his becoming a revolutionary while in this system's dungeons; the dozens of young guys I've met who converted to Islam in prison and became politicized. And I imagine the much more revolutionary potential there is for hundreds of thousands of prisoners in this country, truly with nothing to lose but their chains, to take up the fight for communist revolution, both in the ideological and the political realms.
If you read just one article from this special issue of Revolution, let me recommend this one:
Letter from a Prisoner: (http://www.revcom.us/a/183/years_of_terror-en.html)
Years of Police Terror Finally Gave Painful Birth to a Revolutionary (http://www.revcom.us/a/183/years_of_terror-en.html)
Greetings and a clenched fist comrade salute to all you brothers and sisters. I write you from a dungeon known as California’s supermax prison "Pelican Bay." This country is undergoing a dramatic "facelift" in its political arena, the blatant disregard for humanity that Bush II displayed forced the ruling class to dig deep in its trump chest so that once more the people can be corralled into their Bourgeois politics with all the false hopes and empty promises that come with it. Thus the need to bring to light the cold truth is needed now more than ever.
Read on… (http://www.revcom.us/a/183/years_of_terror-en.html)