I N T E R N E T ' S  M A O I S T M O N T H L Y

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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 59                        December 1991


MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the 
world's oppressed majority, and against the 
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in 
the service of the people. support it, struggle 
with it and write for it.


IN THIS ISSUE:
1.  LOUISIANA WHITES CHOOSE FASCISM
2.  PRISONERS STRIKE AGAINST CONTROL UNIT
3.  COLONIAL TROOPS RETURN TO KAMPUCHEA
4.  LETTERS
5.  CUBA PLAYS CAPITALIST CARD
6.  NEW COMPRADORS IN ZAIRE
7.  PALESTINIANS DENOUNCE BOGUS AUTONOMY
8.  SAME OLD (HORRIBLE) SONG
9.  U.S. GOV'T RUNS DRUGS
10. GREEN CARDS FOR SALE
11. CONTRAS ADMIT FUNDING CIA 
12. EMBARGO EXEMPTS U.S. COMPANIES
13. PRISONERS BOMBED IN BRAZIL
14. REVOLUTION UNFOLDS IN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA
15. TRASHING NATIVE PEOPLE
16. KOREA MOVES TOWARD UNITY
17. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS.
18. FOOD AID CAUSES FAMINE IN AFRICA
19. CIVIL WAR LOOMS FOR SUDAN
20. BATTLE FOR AID RIPS SOMALIA
21. FILM/VIDEO REVIEWS
22. DISC REVIEWS: APOCALYPSE 91 ... THE ENEMY STRIKES BLACK
23. A RECESSION FOR THE OPPRESSED
24. U.S. ECONOMY STILL ON THE ROCKS

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a 
revolutionary communist party that upholds 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection 
of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist 
parties in the English-speaking imperialist 
countries and their English-speaking internal 
semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging 
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties 
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of 
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of 
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.

MIM is an internationalist organization that works 
from the vantage point of the Third World 
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, 
but world citizens.

MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups 
over other groups: classes, genders, nations.  MIM 
knows this is only possible by building public 
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.

Revolution is a reality for North America as the 
military becomes over-extended in the government's 
attempts to maintain world hegemony.

MIM differs from other communist parties on three 
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the 
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, 
the potential exists for capitalist restoration 
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within 
the communist party itself. In the case of the 
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death 
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's 
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural 
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in 
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it 
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in 
this country.

MIM accepts people as members who agree on these 
basic principles and accept democratic centralism, 
the system of majority rule, on other questions of 
party line.

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is 
universally applicable. We should regard it not as 
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is 
not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, 
but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of 
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208

* * *

LOUISIANA WHITES CHOOSE FASCISM

DUKE LOST BUT FASCISM GAINS STEAM IN THE EURO-AMERIKAN NATION.

Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the country, may be on the 
cutting edge of Amerikan politics. As the economy collapses, 
nationalism erupts within the Euro-Amerikan working class-the main 
base of support for fascist David Duke, who won about 40% of the 
vote for governor on Nov. 16, losing to Democrat and former 
governor Edwin Edwards.

Even though Duke got about the same percentage of votes as he did 
last year in a bid for the Senate, this election provided a 
national platform for his views. Now 58% of the public knows who 
he is-more recognition than any Democratic presidential candidate 
can claim- and 26.7% say they like him.(1)

Mainstream business leaders decided Duke's name would hurt the 
state's reputation beyond repair, and blanketed the state with TV 
advertising threatening economic collapse if he won. Conservative 
capitalists supporting a liberal Democrat revealed the charade of 
the two-party system and got to the heart of the matter: They 
weren't protecting Blacks from genocide, but playing image 
politics to protect the tourist industry, among others.

Duke lost, but the majority of whites apparently supported him. 
His defeat does not lay the issues of fascism and genocide to 
rest-the mass base is still there.

With Amerika's economic decline, some predicted the Euro-Amerikan 
national alliance would collapse, that the oppressor nation would 
split up along class lines. But that didn't happen in the 80s, and 
now the politics of Louisiana suggest that the desperate oppressor 
nation might close ranks in a fascist alliance in which class is 
eclipsed  and genocide is embraced openly.

Notes: 1. Washington Post in Ann Arbor News 11/14/91.

FORMER KLANSMAN AND NAZI LEADER TESTS EURO-AMERIKKKAN UNITY.

by MC12

Louisiana, one of the poorest states in the country, may be on the 
cutting edge of Amerikan politics. As poverty follows economic 
collapse, nationalism rules among the Euro-Amerikan workers, who 
are the main base of support for David Duke-a fascist running in 
the Republican party who won about 40% of the vote for governor on 
Nov. 16, losing to Democratic former governor Edwin Edwards.(1)

Privileged Euro-Amerikan workers and their middle-class 
compatriots have long turned away from revolution and toward 
Amerikan imperialism for support. They have forged an alliance 
with imperialism at the expense of Third World proletarians in the 
United States and abroad.

But with Amerika's economic decline, some have predicted that 
alliance would break down, that the oppressor nation would split 
up and fall apart along class lines. Despite hard economic times 
and lots of good wishful thinking, that didn't happen in the 80s. 
Now the politics of Louisiana suggest that the desperate oppressor 
nation might close ranks in a fascist alliance in which class is 
eclipsed by nation, and genocide is embraced openly.

A rising star

Duke worked with the National Socialist White People's 
Party-Amerikan Nazis- in the 1970s. He became grand wizard of the 
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in 1975, and in 1980 he founded the 
National Association for the Advancement of White People.(16)

In 1989, as a Republican, he was elected to the Louisiana State 
Legislature in a white suburban district. Last year, he ran for 
U.S. Senate and won 44% of the vote, including 60% of the white 
vote.(3)

Duke and Edwards, a "populist" Democrat who served three terms as 
governor, beat out the incumbent, Buddy Roemer, to get on the 
ballot for the general election.(4)

Duke has had his face surgically rebuilt to be more Aryan-looking, 
but he says he's not a fascist anymore. Those among his followers 
who don't own up to being fascists themselves like to repeat his 
religious-conversion explanation for why he is no longer as 
"intolerant" as he used to be.(3)

Duke campaigned openly as the white-man's candidate, pointing out 
that Edwards supported Jesse Jackson for president, and accusing 
his opponents of offering free fried chicken to get people to 
register to vote. "Edwards is the blacks' candidate in this race," 
he said.(5)

But his platform and all its genocidal implications was right in 
line with mainstream conservative politics, and sounded a lot like 
Ronald Reagan's. "We need less government in Louisiana, not more 
government," he said.(6) And, "I think the working people of this 
country are ready for a real change in government."(7)

He's talking about genocide when he refers to stopping the 
"uncontrolled demographic growth of the welfare class," and "our 
way of life surviving," but his platform is standard. He wants 
drug testing in public housing, mandatory work for welfare 
recipients, and he would pay mothers on welfare to use Norplant 
long-term contraceptive implants.(2) And the more the national 
Republican and Democratic parties denounce him for giving their 
politics a bad name, the more he insists he is like them.

"What we're doing down here is going to have a lot of impact 
across the United States of America," he said,(4) and the Wall 
Street Journal echoed: "... he is considered a potential national 
candidate should he win the governorship."(8)

Duke's support

Black people make up 30.8% of Louisiana's population,(9) and 
usually account for 27% of the votes,(2) which means Duke would 
have needed about 68% of the white vote to win.

Roemer had the most establishment support in the primary, 
including the endorsements of Louisiana's three largest 
newspapers. President Bush hosted a $5,000-a-person reception and 
spoke at a $1,000-a-plate dinner for Roemer. But all that missed 
the voters, as it did two years ago when Bush went on the radio to 
denounce Duke.(3)

After the primary, business and major party support shifted to 
Edwards. Conservative Republicans whose platforms agree with 
Duke's backed Edwards because of the political image problem Duke 
poses-apparently more serious than the supposedly-deciding 
political differences between liberals and conservatives.

Democrats focused on getting Black voters to register, and in the 
two days after the primary 32,000 did-as did 35,000 whites, mostly 
Duke supporters.(10)

Edwards outspent Duke about 2-to-1, but a week before the vote 
Duke had 21,000 individual contributors, to Edwards' 1,500.(6)

The New York Times said Duke's "core support of less-educated, 
less-affluent whites in rural and working class areas," was backed 
up by "moderate" rich whites, who he needed to win the 
election.(5)

Louisiana

Louisiana's economy overall is virtually the worst in the country. 
Its 1989 official unemployment rate of 7.9% was second highest in 
the country.(11) The state ranks 2nd in the percentage of 
population getting public aid and food stamps.(12) In 1989 
disposable income per capita ranked 46th, down from 36th in 
1980.(13)

The white working class in Louisiana seems to have gotten the 
squeeze in a way which is still only predicted for other parts of 
the country. Between 1982 to 1987, the number of workers in the 
state's manufacturing industries dropped 22%-a rate of decline 
matched only by Wyoming.(14)

The Black population is much worse off by any measure-half of 
Black people live below the federal poverty line, compared to 10% 
of whites(10) -but compared to other parts of the country, 
Louisiana whites are faring even worse.

For example, the state overall ranks 11th in highest infant 
mortality rates, with 11 deaths per 1,000 live births. But while 
the rate for white children-9.0-is better than for Black 
children-14.3-the white rate ranks 10th and the Black rate ranks 
34th compared to other states.(15)

All this-and the white working class support for David Duke-is not 
conclusive proof that the Euro-Amerikan nation is indivisible as 
the Amerikan economy increasingly cuts out white workers. But 
there is strong evidence that at least large groups of the white 
population will choose fascism in the name of their nation even as 
they sink low enough to appear as if they would benefit materially 
from revolution.

White supremacy vs. revolution

The strength of white supremacy and the mass base for fascism 
cannot be measured strictly by the number of skinheads or the 
membership of the KKK, as some would think. What matters more is 
the merging of mainstream white politics with the new forms of 
Amerikan fascism, and the mass support for Duke and those who are 
aligned with him-in name or in fact.

The Euro-Amerikan nation has held its multi-class alliance 
together in the past using material incentives and cultural unity. 
Revolutionaries must seek to break that alliance and dismember the 
oppressor nation. Our task is to unite those who can be united 
against the oppressor nation and against imperialism, to divide 
our enemies and take advantage of their weaknesses.

Those Euro-Amerikans who can be split off from their nation and 
led into the ranks of the international proletariat and its allies 
should be welcomed. But we must be prepared to deal with those who 
remain pitted against us, and hold no illusions about their 
intentions, or their strength.

Notes:
1. CBS radio news 11/17/91.
2. NYT 10/19/91, p. A1.
3. Associated Press 9/29/91. (NYT 10/19/91, p. A1 says he got 58% 
of white votes.)
4. AP 10/20/91.
5. NYT 10/25/91.
6. NYT 11/8/91, p. A11.
7. NYT 10/21/91, p. A1.
8. Wall Street Journal 10/21/91, p. A22.
9. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1991, p. xiii.
10. NYT 11/9/91, p. A6.
11. Statistical Abstract , p. 387.
12. Ibid, p xvii.
13. Ibid, p. 440.
14. Ibid, p xxi.
15. Ibid, p. 78 (from 1988).
16. NYT 11/10/91, p. A1,17.

* * *

PRISONERS STRIKE AGAINST CONTROL UNIT

Protesting the beatings, body searches, and other atrocities to 
which they are subjected daily, nearly half of the prisoners at an 
Indiana maximum control unit refused to eat for several weeks 
during September and October.

The self-destructive nature of the hunger-strike tactic forced the 
prisoners to surrender in the end, but not before the discipline 
and unity they exhibited made substantial headway in the battle to 
build public opinion against Amerika's repressive penal system.

The Indiana prisoners' courage in confronting the state is 
inspiring, especially since their personal risk was so great. But 
uprisings such as this, and others sweeping through Amerika's 
prisons, cannot in themselves bring change to the system. The 
state is too powerful; the prisoners are too vulnerable. Prisoners 
need the support of a vanguard party working against the state, 
both outside and inside the walls, to ultimately bring an end to 
the ruling class' brutal treatment of our sisters and brothers on 
the inside.


See Page 8

* * *

COLONIAL TROOPS RETURN TO KAMPUCHEA

On Oct. 23, 19 countries, including the United States and China, 
signed a United Nations' "peace" treaty in Paris, which would end 
more than 21 years of civil war in Cambodia. Since its liberation 
in 1975, Cambodia has been referred to as Kampuchea.

This so-called peace treaty would give the U.N. complete power 
over the administration of Kampuchea-including the defense 
ministry, foreign affairs, finance and communication-allowing the 
United States and France, Kampuchea's former colonial oppressor, 
to dominate the country.

The history of conflict in Kampuchea has its roots in French 
colonialism as well as Amerika's bloody, genocidal war against 
Indochina. The Amerikan bombing of Vietnam, Kampuchea and Laos, 
and the devastation that it left in its wake, defines much of the 
conflict and economic and political policies in the region.

We must see through the bourgeois media's lies about Kampuchea's 
past under the "communist" Khmer Rouge, and its future prospects 
for real peace.

1970S, U.S. BOMBS KAMPUCHEA; 1990S, U.S. BLAMES KHMER ROUGE

by MC59

On Oct. 23, 19 countries, including the United States and China, 
signed a United Nations "peace" treaty in Paris, which would end 
more than 21 years of civil war in  Kampuchea.(1)

The Western media claims the treaty is bringing a coalition 
government-the Supreme National Council (SNC)-to power in 
Kampuchea, and that this would give some degree of power to the 
Khmer Rouge. But this is not the case. 

This so-called U.N. peace treaty would give the U.N. complete 
power over the administration of Kampuchea-including the defense 
ministry, foreign affairs, finance and communication- allowing 
imperialist domination of Kampuchea by the United States and 
France, Kampuchea's former colonial oppressor.(1)

The Supreme National Council is to comprise representatives from 
three sectors of the country: the current regime, which gained 
power through the Vietnamese invasion of Kampuchea in 1978; 
representatives of the Khmer Rouge; and representatives of the 
Khmer People's National Liberation Front, described by the Western 
press as a "rightist organization." The president of SNC will be 
Prince Sihanouk, head of the pro-U.S. guerillas. France first 
installed Sihanouk into power in 1953.(1)

Bourgeois coverage of this historic event has included consistent 
lies about the history of Kampuchea, particularly the role of the 
Khmer Rouge, a supposedly genocidal, "communist" military 
regime.(2)

To understand the nature of the current "peace treaty" in 
Kampuchea, and the interests it serves, it is important to 
understand the history of the region, and see through the lies of 
the Western media machine. The history of conflict in Kampuchea 
has its roots in imperialist domination by the French, as well as 
Amerika's bloody, genocidal war in Vietnam and the rest of 
Indochina. The war in Vietnam and Indochina, and the devastation 
that it left in its wake, has defined much of the conflict and 
economic and political policies in the region.

The Vietnam War destroyed both the economic infrastructure and the 
land in Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea. According to the U.S. Army, 
the war killed more than one million Vietnamese people directly in 
combat, and according the the Finnish Inquiry Commission, the 
United States' war killed 600,000 people in Kampuchea.(3) It is 
within this context that we must understand the current situation 
of Kampuchea, and the roles of French, Amerikan and Japanese 
imperialist forces who have been struggling for control of 
Kampuchea for decades.

French imperialism and neo-colonialism

Kampuchea became a protectorate of the French government in 1863. 
By the end of the nineteenth century, France controlled the rest 
of Indochina as well. In 1941, France installed as king of 
Kampuchea 18-year-old Prince Sihanouk,(4) who has been in and out 
of power ever since. As the most important representative of the 
Kampuchean bourgeoisie, Sihanouk's interests have often been 
aligned with imperialist countries, most notably France and 
Amerika.

Sihanouk was deposed by U.S.-supported General Lon Nol in 1970. 
During the period in which Lon Nol was in power, Amerika 
systematically destroyed Kampuchea. The United States dropped 
nearly 250,000 tons of bombs on Kampuchea in 1973 alone, half the 
total amount dropped on the country in the early 70s.(5) During 
this period, the Khmer Rouge gained support and eventually 
overthrew Lon Nol in 1975.

The Khmer Rouge and Vietnam's Invasion

The Khmer Rouge has often been accused of the genocide of millions 
of Kampuchean people. In fact, the United States killed 600,000 
Kampucheans during its war against Vietnam. The countryside was 
decimated and two million starving refugees were forced to flee, 
most to the cities-where U.S. aid was centered. These are the 
conditions under which the Khmer Rouge seized power.

The Khmer Rouge evacuated Kampuchean capital, Phnom Penh, forcing 
every able-bodied person to work the land in order to grow rice to 
avert certain starvation. The director of the U.S. aid program 
"estimated that in Phnom Penh alone 1.2 million people were in 
desperate need of United States food, although at the time only 
640,000 people were actually receiving some form of U.S. food 
support and starvation was widely reported. [This] was caused 
primarily by the U.S. bombing campaign which shattered the 
agrarian economy."(5)

In 1978, Vietnam invaded Kampuchea. Vietnamese revisionists, 
backed by the Soviet Union, proclaimed "after 1967-68 and the 
Cultural Revolution, we no longer looked on the Chinese leaders 
who succeeded one another in the long power struggle as 
socialists. Those who fought against Mao after 1966 were in 
general the best of the lot."(6)

Rejection of the Cultural Revolution and a "productivity-first" 
economic analysis allowed Vietnam to ally with Soviet social 
imperialism, and attack Kampuchea under the Khmer Rouge. Khmer 
Rouge leader Pol Pot declared himself a Maoist after Mao died. 
When China invaded Vietnam in 1979, Pol Pot denounced the Gang of 
Four and allied with Hua Guofeng, in an opportunistic attempt to 
gain military aid from China.(3)

The Vietnam-installed government has been in control of Kampuchea 
since 1978. A coalition government in exile was created in 1982 in 
which Sihanouk allied with the Khmer Rouge in order to oust the 
government in Phnom Penh.(4)

Analysis

Sihanouk's role as President of SNC reeks of his historical 
placement into power by the French. MIM sees all oppressed nations 
as having the right to self-determination, free from imperialist 
exploitation. The current ploy of the imperialists through their 
U.N. tool is to limit the power of the indigenous population of 
Kampuchea. The Kampuchean people will be forced to have a 
government controlled by the U.N., with puppets that represent the 
interests of imperialism. The Khmer Rouge is being included in 
this Council because it controls regions which are rich in gems 
and timber.(1)

While the Khmer Rouge is not Maoist, and does not uphold the 
Cultural Revolution, it has in the past been key in the struggle 
against imperialism. The SNC will include them, despite the 
Council's lack of concern for the Kampuchean masses.

Notes:
1. New York Times 10/24/1991, p. A1.
2. NYT 10/21/1991, p. A3.
3. MIM Notes 41, p. 9.
4. NYT 10/25/1991, p. A7.
5. Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman, After the Cataclysm South End 
Press, Boston 1979.
6. Manchester Guardian 10/29/78.

* * *

LETTERS


MAKE MIM NOTES A DAILY

Dear Friends,

I am finding great value in my subscription to MIM  Notes. I wish 
you were a Daily!

Please send me the following literature mentioned in your last 
issue for which I enclose my check for the full amount.

-Comrade from the West Coast
October 1991



MC17 responds: MIM always needs writers, distributors and 
contributors. If you would like to see MIM Notes become a Daily, 
start by following the lead of this comrade and subscribe to MIM 
Notes. But subscriptions are not enough to make MIM Notes a daily 
paper. In order to accomplish this goal, we need as much time and 
money as our readers can contribute.


NO LONGER A FEMINIST

Dear MIM,

Nice to hear from you today. Sorry that you were displeased with 
my editing of "Anarchist Feminist vs. M-L-M Feminist." I edit for 
correct English, not politics! I am fed up with everybody who 
capitalizes their favorite team and turns into small letters those 
they oppose. It may be of some use to you, but to me it is a 
silly, childish game and won't win any revolutions. But you are 
entitled to do as you please in your own paper, which is 
excellent.

[Lotus Blossom is referring to a reprint of MIM's article on 
anarchist feminism and Marxist-Leninist-Maoist feminism that s/he 
did in his/her publication, for which MIM criticized his/her 
change in MIM's terminology from Black to "black." S/he was 
referred to MIM Notes 58 (the letters page) for a discussion of 
the importance of this terminology.-MC17]

My thinking is constantly changing due to growth and development. 
I certainly agree with you that liberals are deadly. But, I don't 
spell by politics but by correct English.

Many thanks for the offer of work for you. I will surely let you 
know if I need anything to do, and I am honored at your request. I 
am not even sure I'm a feminist anymore. Many thanks for your nice 
note.

-Lotus Blossom
October 1991

P.S. Editors are free to edit as they please where they reign. But 
thank you for your explanation; I do understand your point of 
view. Remember: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely." I forgot who 
said that, but I've always liked it. As one of my "fascist 
friends" said, I'm a freethinker. Guess I always will be.


MC17 responds: This letter is printed to show the dangers of 
political work outside an organized party. Readers are encouraged 
to look over the articles written by Lotus Blossom in past issues 
of MIM Notes. At one point MIM and Lotus Blossom had a working 
relationship of unity and struggle.

Lotus Blossom cannot conceive of seizing power, and presumably 
would rather share the power of the world with the capitalists, 
believing the "religion" that humans are somehow genetically 
corruptible by power.

The termination of his/her working relationship with MIM has 
clearly not improved Lotus Blossom's politics as s/he does not 
even consider him/herself a feminist anymore. The message: Work 
with MIM.

CANADA'S REACTIONARY SIDE

Dear MIM,

You have said in the past that distributing your literature list 
is a good way to spread your views. I have put together this 
list/info sheet and made a few hundred copies which I have been 
distributing in bookstores and other locations. Please let me know 
what you think of it.

This letter is meant to answer some questions that you have raised 
with me in the past.

First of all, I did not say Stalinism is reformism. I referred to 
the YCL [Youth Communist League], a formerly Stalinist 
organization which is now Social-Democratic.

My references to nationalism were not referring to, for example, 
Quebec nationalism, but rather Canadian nationalism. Social-
Democrats believe that Canadian nationalism is anti-American-
imperialism. I-and most socialists-believe that Canadian 
nationalism is reactionary. (The same way that American 
nationalism is reactionary and used to keep the masses locked in a 
prison house of nations.)

I would like to comment on your reference to Canada as "Social-
Democratic" [MIM Notes 53]. That is wrong and I have never heard 
any such thing in my life. Canada has never even had a Social-
Democratic government. The reason why Canada has good welfare and 
health care programs is that working people fought for them and 
have managed to keep those structures in place.

I also believe that you should, in articles and your "what we 
stand for" section, refer to the "white NORTH american 
proletariat."

Please send me a current literature list.

Enclosed is an article on the Shining Path [correctly the 
Communist Party of Peru]. I would like to see your articles on the 
Mohawks if you can send them.

In anti-imperialist solidarity,

-A friend in Canada
October 1991

MC17 responds: It is good to see people taking revolutionary 
initiative. The masses can only fight the power of the 
imperialists by creating their own independent power structure. 
People who sit passively do nothing to aid those suffering at the 
hands of the fascists. People everywhere are encouraged to do all 
they can to distribute the ideas of Maoism as the most effective 
means to liberation.

MIM agrees with the author's criticism of the YCL, and MIM agrees 
that both Canadian nationalism and Euro-Amerikan nationalism are 
reactionary. 

It is unclear in this context whether or not the author thinks 
that all nationalism is reactionary, although s/he implies that 
this is his/her view of Amerikan nationalism. MIM believes that 
within Amerika, Black nationalism, Latino nationalism, and the 
nationalism of indigenous peoples is revolutionary. The theory 
that revolution must occur everywhere at once-or not at all-is 
designed to keep the masses waiting. MIM believes the masses 
should be fighting imperialism at its weakest links, one battle at 
a time.

MIM thanks the author for pointing out the error in MIM Notes 53. 
MIM should not have referred to Canada as Social-Democratic in 
such a blanket statement. There are certainly S-D parties in 
Canada, and some of the provinces are run by these parties, but 
the country as a whole is just a slightly different, more 
nationalized form of bourgeois "democracy" than what is found in 
the United States.

MIM uses Amerika to refer to the white nation within the 
boundaries of what is known as the United States. MIM does not 
recognize current national boundaries as legitimate, but our 
analysis of imperialism includes a separation of oppressed and 
oppressor nation within the United States. MIM does not refer to 
the "white north Amerikan proletariat" in MIM Notes because the 
"Amerikan white working class" is not a true proletariat, but a 
bought-off labor aristocracy. We agree that the Canadian white 
working class is a bought-off labor aristocracy too, and will 
clarify this in our What is MIM statement.


MIM NOTES IS POPULAR

Greetings MCs at MIM,

The latest issue has been popular here. More later in some letter 
responses. Enclosed is $5 for the Stalin packet, and some articles 
for your "paper tiger" column you might want to use.

You hit it right on the head about the Haiti coup and removal of 
Aristide. Anyway, it's Friday and I got to get back to work.

Until later,
-MA21
October 1991

DO ME UP!

In response to a note that his/her subscription was up, one reader 
sent the following:

Do me up! Here's $20 for a two year sub. Also here's a critical 
article you may be interested in and finally-I would be happy to 
try and distribute MIM Notes in this city. I'd like some 
suggestions about where's the best place to do it.

Take Care,
-A friend from the west
October 1991


HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS REQUEST MIM

Dear Maoists,

I would like to invite you to send a speaker to present your 
party's views to my class.

I teach a class at X High School with two other students, called 
"Political Issues." We have covered such topics as abortion, 
political correctness, capital punishment, the 1971 incident at 
Attica State prison, and intend to cover such issues as U.S. 
imperialism, socialism vs. capitalism, and discrimination.

One student who teaches the class is conservative, one student is 
moderate, and I am liberal in my political views. Together, we 
hope to present as many political views as possible to the class. 
We will be setting aside a week or so to have speakers from 
political groups present their platform to our students. 

We would greatly appreciate having a speaker from your political 
party speak to us. You may choose whether or not to answer 
questions after your presentation. Each political party that sends 
a speaker will have its own class period to present its views to 
the class; no two political parties will present to the class on 
the same day.

If you are interested in sending a speaker to present to our 
class, please call me or write back soon.

-High school senior
October 1991



MC17 responds: MIM was delighted to receive this invitation and is 
always happy to be able to participate in these kinds of 
educational events wherever people are interested in learning more 
about Maoism.


NOT WELL-READ ENOUGH?

Dear MIM,

I thought I would write to you to update my progress here at XX 
University. The papers have been distributed over the last three 
months at the office of [Black student group]. All the issues have 
been eagerly received by many students. This is very pleasing for 
me to know that, despite the conservative-bourgeois setting, the 
students are taking notice of a fine publication.

I am flattered that you would consider me worthy of writing for 
MIM Notes. At this time, however I feel that I am not well-read 
enough in Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory to write a theoretically 
correct article.

I have also enclosed a dollar for your ten-page paper "Revolution 
and Violence against Women."

-MA41
November 1991

MC18 responds: Regarding your writing for MIM Notes, we are 
distressed that you are not writing because you are not "well 
read" enough. You are submitting to a self-imposed elitist 
standard. MIM has no such standard. In fact, our policy is just 
the opposite: we want people to work out their politics through 
struggle. We hope this will help you clarify what you think and 
inspire your initiative by seeing your work as a contribution to a 
revolutionary movement.

We would rather have all of the copy in MIM Notes created by 
people such as yourself. This is the mass line in action: "Take 
the ideas of the masses and concentrate them, then go to the 
masses, persevere in the ideas and carry them through, so as to 
form correct ideas of leadership-such is the basic method of 
leadership."-Mao Zedong, "Some Questions Concerning Methods of 
Leadership," June 1, 1943.

We want you to write so that we can discuss the issues and 
theoretical implications of your writings, and then recommend 
readings based on our discussions. We know you already have a 
critical eye for what's going on, and you have some sense of what 
needs to happen. That's all you need to start with.

Please: write articles about current events and movements. We will 
write some accompanying analysis to help flesh out your article, 
and/or contact you to discuss how to improve the article so that 
it reflects analysis consistent with MIM's line. Don't hesitate to 
get started, and don't be afraid to say what you think, even if 
you're not sure about the implications or whether or not it is 
100% correct.

Being occasionally incorrect is not the end of the world, so long 
as one is not a dogmatist about it. Accepting, respecting and 
dealing with criticism is more important than pulling your hair 
out about whether or not you are 100% correct. So grab the 
initiative. If we worried endlessly about whether or not we were 
100% correct 100% of the time, MIM Notes would never exist. While 
everyone should study in order to make as few mistakes as 
possible, this should not be a reason for not taking action.


MIM NOTES BEST YET

Dear MIM,

The last issue of MIM Notes [MIM Notes 58] was excellent. I feel 
it was one of the best ever since my introduction to your paper 
and group. Keep up the good work. Readers are encouraged by this 
reader to subscribe and distribute MIM Notes far and wide. That is 
an important task!

-MA20
November 1991

* * *

PAPER TIGERS

All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the 
reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so 
powerful. From a long-term point of view, it is not the 
reactionaries but the people who are really powerful.

-Mao Zedong

CUBA PLAYS CAPITALIST CARD

On Oct. 11 Cuba's Communist Party Congress approved internal 
"reforms" which included eliminating the influential secretariat 
of the Central Committee, and lifting a membership ban against 
Christians and other religious believers. Cuban President and 
Party Secretary Fidel Castro also called for a revision of 
statutes which would define the Cuban Communist Party as the 
"single party of the Cuban nation, Marxist-Leninist and 
'Martiano'" (referring to the Cuban national hero JosŽ Mart’).(1)

Furthermore, Fidel Castro told a gathering of foreign businessmen 
in Mexico City that he would open Cuba to foreign investment in 
tourism, the chemical industry, textiles, transportation, and oil 
production.

Castro said, "In no book did Marx, Engels or Lenin say that it is 
ever possible for countries to develop without capital, without 
technology, without markets. Cooperation between the socialist 
system and the capitalist system is perfectly possible."(2)

Why not offer him a seat on the American Stock Exchange? Maybe 
Cuba can go up for sale the way Argentina did.

-MC59 & MC17

Notes:
1. Weekly news update of Nicaragua and the Americas #89. 
2. AP Wire Service 11/5/91.

* * *

NEW COMPRADORS IN ZAIRE

Today things are no clearer in Zaire than they were when 
paratroopers rebelled on Sept. 23 after they weren't paid for 
months.(See MIM Notes 58.) President Mobutu Sese Seko appointed 
opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi as Prime Minister in an 
attempt to appease opposition. 

This opposition has come from the national bourgeoisie, which 
Tshisekedi represents, who are hurt by comprador Mobutu's 
restriction of free market capitalism. Opposition has also come 
from the imperialist interests of French, Belgian and U.S. 
capital, which is unhappy with Mobutu's performance as a 
comprador. The Mobutu regime abandoned an "economic recovery" plan 
proposed by the International Monetary Fund last year.(2)

On Oct. 21 he dismissed Tshisekedi and named a new Prime Minister, 
Bernardin Mungal-Diaka.(2) Tshisekedi has formed a Sacred Union 
opposition coalition which has mapped out a program to end 
Mobutu's 26-year reign.(3)

The opposition government, led by Tshisekedi, has appealed to 
France, Belgium and Amerika to maintain a military presence in 
Zaire. According to Tshisekedi, this is because "opposition 
figures and their sympathizers could face massacre."(2) Thus the 
opposition is making an appeal to the former colonial oppressors 
for help to get rid of the current comprador. Perhaps Tshisekedi 
is interested in wresting the grip from Mobutu, so he and his 
party can be compradors for a while. The Sacred Union is planning 
a campaign of strikes and civil disobedience to force Mobutu's 
from power.(3)

MIM sees this as an opportunity for the masses to seize power from 
the comprador bourgeoisie.

-MC59

Notes:
1. MIM Notes 58 (11/91).
2. NYT 11/4/91 p. A4.
3. AP Wire Service 11/ 5/91.

* * *

PALESTINIANS DENOUNCE BOGUS AUTONOMY

The first stage of the Middle East Peace conference came and went 
just in time for the close of the fourth year of the Palestinian 
intifada. Up to the start of the conference, the Israeli 
government hassled in public over who could represent the 
Palestinian people, while continuing legislative, economic and 
military repression within occupied Palestine. 

Israel has tightened its borders to enforce the exclusion of 
Palestinians from the state. "Border" crossings-between the West 
Bank and Gaza and Israel proper-are a necessary function of the 
cheap labor Israel takes from Palestinians. These borders are 
marked by check-points, beyond which Israeli vehicles don't go 
without military protection. Palestinians driving within Israel 
need special permits, and some Palestinians with permits to work 
in Israel are being barred from entry.(1)

The Israeli government has always taxed the earnings of 
Palestinians working in Israel. The money is supposed to go back 
to the Palestinians in funding for the "territories." Yet less 
than half of that money was accounted for in 1990-91. Additional 
portions of Palestinian wages are paid to the Israeli workers' 
federation. Far from protecting Palestinian labor, the settlers 
are aiding the Israeli government's repression efforts through 
their own unorganized terrorism.(1)

After the history of legal and economic repression imposed by 
Israel, Palestinians deny that vague measures such as "autonomy" 
will bring any form of liberation. Israel is offering easier 
access to money, lower taxes and less restrictions on labor to the 
people of the West Bank and Gaza as a force to divide them from 
the intifada.(1) Palestinians interviewed in the midst of the 
media-hyped Peace Conference gave statements the bourgeois press 
could not misrepresent: Israeli-given freedom is no such thing.(2)

The Israeli military and police enforce detentions, curfews and 
raids in all parts of Palestine. They serve to keep Palestinians 
in fear, out of work and unable to maintain their economy. The 
excuses given for such repression range from stone-throwing and 
clashes to killing a settler or Israeli soldier.(1)

Jewish settlements keep popping up in and around the West Bank, 
Gaza and the Golan Heights. For example, an inner ring in East 
Jerusalem and an outer ring in the West Bank are acting to squeeze 
Palestinians in the middle-setting up more road blocks to jobs and 
simple mobility. Settlers there continue to do their part in 
violence against Palestinians.(1)

Responding to an Amnesty International report on the military 
justice system, the Israeli government issued a statement that, 
"Some of the findings in the report are based on information which 
Amnesty received from Palestinian sources and not by research, and 
therefore it is not surprising that the conclusions fit into 
another unsuccessful attempt to blacken the name of Israel ... "(1) 
MIM sees no need for falsified evidence to make Israel look bad.

-MC45

Notes:
1. The Palestine Human Rights Information Center 
(Jerusalem/Chicago), Update, Vol. 4, No. 7 (7/91).
2. National Public Radio, Morning Edition, 10/30/91.

* * *

SAME OLD (HORRIBLE) SONG

"Corrections officers beat, kicked and tormented inmates for days 
after a riot in September that left five dead at the Montana State 
Prison, the American Civil Liberties Union has charged. The 
warden, the deputy warden and even Gov. Stan Stephens witnessed 
mistreatment but did nothing to stop it, said Scott Crichton, 
executive director of the Montana ACLU. Crichton called on the 
governor Friday to reassign Warden Jack McCormick and Deputy 
Warden Gary Weer. Stephens denied seeing any brutality and 
described as baseless the ACLU's charges that inmates were herded 
through a gauntlet of up to 100 officers wielding clubs and 
chains. State Corrections Director Curt Chislholm said he was 
ordered by the FBI not to comment."

To MIM, this news is like the painful scrape of a broken record 
playing over and over again. The daily beatings and torture of 
Amerika's prisoners-almost all members of the oppressed nations 
and classes within this imperialist country-are not new. Nor is it 
new that the prison guards and wardens who are paid to act in the 
interest of the ruling class approve of such brutality. Not 
surprising either is the role of the ACLU, a liberal organization 
confined by its work-within-the-system strategy to fighting the 
same old battles, thereby helping to lengthen the scratch on 
capitalism's record.

MIM would like to seize control of the record player, and play a 
different tune. We look forward to the day when enough people, who 
are tired of hearing the same old horrible news, join us to 
organize an effective resistance with our comrades behind the 
walls. They cannot do it alone.

-MC11

Notes: Chicago Tribune 11/3/91, p. A24.

* * *

U.S. GOV'T RUNS DRUGS

A prosecution witness in the drug running trial of former 
Panamanian dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega, Noriega's former pilot 
admitted that he participated in arming the Nicaraguan contras at 
the same time that he was flying drugs from Colombia to Panama for 
the Medell’n cartel. The testimony-given under cross-examination 
by Noriega's defense attorney Frank Rubino on Oct. 1-is the first 
evidence allowed to stand in the trial that connects the U.S. 
government to the cocaine trade through the covert contra supply 
operation.

The courts are finally admitting what the pigs in the government 
and the masses in the streets always knew: The government buys and 
sells cocaine for profits. Drugs help the government keep 
oppressed people down. 

-MC17

Notes:

1. New York Newsday 10/2/91.
2. Weekly news update of Nicaragua and the Americas #88.

* * *

GREEN CARDS FOR SALE

On Oct. 1 the U.S. government started granting permanent residence 
visas to immigrants who invest at least $1 million in U.S. 
businesses. The new law will allow 10,000 visas to be granted this 
way each year. Some U.S. legislators questioned the wisdom of 
selling green cards to foreign millionaires, but Sen. Phil Gramm 
(R-TX) answered critics by quoting former President Calvin 
Coolidge that "the business of America is business."

-MC17

Notes: Weekly news update #89.

* * *

CONTRAS ADMIT FUNDING CIA 

Nicaraguan National Assembly President Alfredo CŽsar confirmed 
that he and other contra leaders received $600,000 from the CIA in 
1989, and used it to return to Nicaragua for the 1990 elections. 
This is just a small piece of the CIA funding that helps get its 
puppets in government-much cheaper than direct armed intervention. 

-MC17

Notes: Weekly news update #92-Barricada 10/23/91.

* * *

EMBARGO EXEMPTS U.S. COMPANIES

The U.S. government began full compliance with the international 
embargo imposed on Haiti on November 5. But the U.S. embargo 
exempts products sent from the United States for Haitian assembly 
plants; Undersecretary of State Bernard Aronson says that this is 
because the United States is "concerned" about Haitian industry. 
He neglected to mention that U.S. companies own many of these 
plants.

-MC17

Notes: Weekly news update #92.

* * *

PRISONERS BOMBED IN BRAZIL

Guards at a  maximum security prison in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 
used an incendiary bomb against inmates on Oct. 28, causing a fire 
that left 25 dead and 10 gravely injured, including three with 
burns on 100% of their bodies.

An official investigation found that guards attacked prisoners 
after discovering an escape tunnel. Two guards were given jail 
sentences (presumably short and in some nicer jail somewhere). The 
subterranean prison, built to hold 900 convicts, is packed with 
1400 inmates in common cells holding up to 40 each.

-MC17

Notes: Weekly news update #92.

* * *

REVOLUTION UNFOLDS IN ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA

In early July, 26 Ethiopian political parties agreed on the 
composition of their new provisional government at the National 
Conference for the Formation of a Transitional Government, held in 
the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. In late May, the Ethiopian 
People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) had taken control 
of the country, overthrowing the social-fascist Mengistu regime.

The EPRDF now has 32 seats on the new 87 seat assembly; the Oromo 
Liberation Front (OLF), the strongest ally to the EPRDF, has 12 
seats. Meles Zenawi, leader of EPRDF, will be president of the 
provisional government.(1)

The EPRDF says that this new assembly is the beginning of bringing 
real power to the oppressed people, through revolutionary 
democratic and economic programs.(2)

The Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) is not participating 
in the provisional government. Since seizing control of Eritrea in 
late May, the EPLF has been quickly establishing its own 
institutions, pending a United Nations-sponsored referendum in 
1993, likely to lead to independence.(1)

MIM has long supported the self-determination struggles of the 
Eritrean and Tigrean nations, who fought the imperialist-backed 
Ethiopian regime for decades. The overthrow of Mengistu by the 
Ethiopian masses was progressive and anti-imperialist. MIM doesn't 
have much information about the "revolutionary programs" of the 
EPRDF, so we must watch and let the practice of both the EPRDF and 
the EPLF speak for itself.

-MC67 & MC42

Notes: 
1. New African 9/91, pp. 17-18.
2. EPRDF News Bulletin.

* * *

TRASHING NATIVE PEOPLE

by MC67

Capitalists are finding ever more ways to oppress indigenous 
people of North Amerika. Over the past two years, many waste 
disposal firms have aggressively pursued dumping huge amounts of 
waste on indigenous reservations-part of a trend in dumping 
unwanted garbage on unwanted people.

In addition, the way of life of the Cree and Inuit nations in 
northern Quebec is being threatened by state monopoly capitalists 
with a huge $62 billion hydroelectric project, which will forever 
flood 2,000 square miles of ancestral hunting grounds. These and 
other assaults are a continuation of violence against the internal 
colonies in North Amerika that has gone on for hundreds of years.

Disposing waste on reservations

According to Lance Hughes, a Cherokee and director of Native 
Americans for a Clean Environment, there have been 36 proposals in 
the last two years to develop landfills or incinerators on Indian 
lands. Most have been rejected or are now under consideration.(1) 

These waste disposal firms, seeing that the indigenous people have 
little means to move past subsistence, have offered a lot of money 
to puppet leaders for the right to dispose industrial and 
hazardous waste on their people's lands.

Also, since the reservations are "sovereign" lands, the 
territories are exempt from state and local environmental 
regulations. The tribal leadership implements few regulations or 
fees, and they do not have the technical personnel to oversee 
landfills and incinerators. This gives leeway for waste disposal 
firms to contract with reservation tribal councils since the firms 
have little place else to dispose of the waste at a large profit. 
Waste disposal firms buy industrial waste from large corporations 
and contract with private owners and the government to dispose of 
the waste. On indigenous people's reservations, both environmental 
standards and rates for dumping are lower.

Often, tribal councils-puppet governments of the U.S. Bureau for 
Indian Affairs (BIA)-desire these contracts with waste disposal 
firms since the council members will profit from these deals along 
with the firms. The tribal councils ignore the indigenous people's 
plea not to have their lands-what little they have left-used as 
sites to dump waste from First World consumption and corporations.

In Mississippi, the tribal council chief of the Choctaw sought a 
contract with the National Disposal Services Inc. to dispose 
hazardous materials near its reservation. But the tribe members 
soundly rejected the proposal in a referendum, despite the fact 
that potential earnings ranged from $10 million to $30 million a 
year.(1)

The vast majority of waste-450,000 tons every day-is generated 
from industries. Corporate wastefulness, total disregard for the 
people and the environment, and the worship of profit margins are 
inherent to capitalism. It is this same ideology that murdered and 
drove the remaining indigenous people into Amerikan concentration 
camps.  

The James Bay Project

The James Bay hydroelectric dam development in Canada is a $62 
billion plan designed to generate $25 billion in exports of power 
to Amerika and give Quebec economic self-sufficiency. The 
development is coordinated by the state-owned public utility, 
Hydro Quebec.(2)

The James Bay Project is divided into two phases, with the first 
nearly completed. It intends to tap the energy of 15 rivers in a 
135,000-square-mile area of the Hudson Bay-James Bay region of 
northern Quebec.(2)

But the project will forever flood 2,000 square miles of ancestral 
hunting grounds- something vital for the survival of the Inuit and 
Cree nations. 15,000 Cree and Inuit have lived in the James Bay 
area for 5,000 years.(3)

The first phase, called La Grande Project, flooded more than 4,400 
square miles of land and ecologically altered 67,954 square 
miles.(2) As a result, "tests in several Inuit villages revealed 
mercury levels in mother's milk up to six times higher than 
considered safe by the World Health Organization, and two-thirds 
of the Cree children in the area tested positive for mercury 
poisoning. Loss of fish habitat means that Native peoples ... are 
losing their traditional homeland and way of life."(4)

La Grande Project began in the 1970s, but not until this year has 
the Canadian government conceded to environmental impact hearings, 
only after intense international pressure from environmental and 
indigenous groups.(5)

Indigenous people 

organize

In response to this violence, indigenous people from both North 
and South Amerika have organized to stop the next phase of what is 
planned to be the world's largest hydroelectric project. The 
Kayapo people from Brazil have been uniting with the Cree and 
Inuit to pressure the imperialists to stop the project.

Tapiet, a Kayapo, said, "For us, holding onto our land is like 
holding onto our lives, ... We're here to make you aware of why we 
need our land, and of why you must shame your leaders to make them 
stop these policies of taking your land." They plan to defend the 
wilderness at all costs.(2) Some leaders say their people may 
begin coordinated non-violent campaigns of civil disobedience.(6)

The Grand Chief of the Cree Nation, Matthew Coon Come, recently 
said, "The lands of my people have begun to look like a 
battlefield after a bomb raid. Wildlife habitats are flooded. 
Rivers and lakes are poisoned by mercury. We can no longer eat the 
fish. Animals are dying by the thousands. Our values are oriented 
to nature. If you destroy the land you destroy the Cree people. 
Parents can no longer teach the children out on the land. We're 
losing our way of life. We don't want your money. We want these 
projects stopped. Where can you buy a wilderness so vast and 
beautiful?"(3)

The James Bay Project, coordinated by the state utility company, 
Hydro Quebec, clearly shows the parasitism of state monopoly 
capitalism. The project involves a tremendous amount of finance 
and bureaucracy, designed to bring Quebec into international 
capitalist markets.

The financial backing is a joint venture of Shearson 
Lehman/American Express, Merrill Lynch and First Boston. Also, 
contracts with New York state and some New England states provide 
the financing to complete the James Bay Project. New York state 
has a $17 billion dollar contract with Hydro Quebec to import 
energy for 21 years, beginning in 1995.(7) 

But New York State has suddenly reported an unexpected power 
surplus and may delay energy purchase up to 15 years. This surplus 
has apparently come from improved conservation and increased 
output by independent producers. The final deadline for withdrawal 
from its contract is November 1992.(7)

New York's sudden about-face demonstrates the little need for the 
massive James Bay Project; it was developed by the state in order 
to create large profits for both the state and the capitalists, 
not because Quebec or northeastern United States needed energy. 
Furthermore, the energy created by Hydro Quebec merely serves to 
expand the collaboration between the state and the capitalists, at 
the expense of the indigenous people.

Notes:
1. New York Times 4/21/91, p. 22.
2. Washington Post 10/16/90, p. A16.
3. NYT 10/21/91, p. A9.
4. Greenpeace Action, Action Alert: Atmosphere and Energy Campaign 
pamphlet.
5. Toronto Globe and Mail 10/03/91, p. A1.
6. TGM 9/18/91, p. A5.
7. TGM 10/01/91, p. A1.

* * *

KOREA MOVES TOWARD UNITY

by MC99


Northern Korea, experiencing a weak economy, is warming up to 
reunification gestures from the imperialist-supported south. The 
Korean people have long hoped for the reunification of their 
country, but the current moves are not a result of the peoples' 
demands.

According to recent press reports, northern Korea is close to 
completion of a nuclear bomb.(1) For the imperialists, this means 
the region represents a military threat. Imperialists know that 
media hype about nuclear weapons rallies support for war. The Bush 
administration, eager for northern Korea to join the capitalist 
south, suggests that it will withdraw all its nuclear weapons from 
its facility there.(1) Amerika is also pushing for officials in 
the northern Korean capital of Pyongyang to agree to an inspection 
of its nuclear facility by the International Atomic Energy Agency 
(IAEA).

The disparity between the two Korean economies demonstrates why 
the north, straying from its previous position of strict self 
reliance, may be ready to make some deals. Southern Korea's GNP 
growth rate is 6.7 percent, while in the north it is only 2.4 %. 
Southern Korea exports more (61.40 billion U.S. dollars) than it 
imports (56.80), while northern Korea exports less (1.94) than it 
imports (2.85). 

While these figures suggest that the south is in a relatively 
healthy position, we must also consider that the south has a much 
higher foreign debt, 29.40 billion U.S. dollars, compared to only 
7.87 billion for the north.(2) This is part of the cost of being 
host to imperialist parasitism:  foreign lenders hold all the 
cards.

The north has much to offer the imperialist rulers. Recent imports 
of rice indicate a desperate population, or a cheap labor pool. 
The region also has minerals and other raw materials as well as 
direct trade routes to both the Soviet Union and China.

Northern Prime Minister Yon Hyung Muk, and Chung Won Shiek, Prime 
Minister of the south, have recently met in Pyongyang for the 
first time in 10 months to discuss each others' nuclear 
capabilities. While there is speculation about the north's nuclear 
technology, the United States has a functioning military facility 
in the south. 

The Bush administration is busy prompting the north to disclose 
its technology by going through diplomatic efforts, asking the 
Soviet Union and China-which has agreed to sign a nuclear non-
proliferation treaty (NPT)-to use what ever influence they have to 
persuade the north into allowing a IAEA inspection. Countering 
this effort, the north is insisting that the south renounce 
protection of any kind from the U.S. nuclear arsenal.(1)

Korea's communist 

history 

Marxism in Korea was shaped by the country's proximity to the 
Soviet Union and China, in combination with its history of 
resistance against Japanese domination. In 1925 a communist party 
formed, but was dissolved in 1928 "because of repression, internal 
divisions, and a failure to become firmly rooted in the concrete 
situation."(3) 

But the disintegration did not eliminate Marxist thought among the 
Korean people, who later organized successful student movements 
and general strikes against Japan. In the 1930s, the Anti-Japanese 
Guerrilla Army was formed under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, who 
promoted a connection with the national liberation struggle in 
China, led by Mao Zedong.(4)

With the Soviet Union and the United States as allies, Korean 
independence seemed imminent, as Japan was weakend by this 
alliance. Following its declaration of war against Japan in 1945, 
the Soviet Red Army began aiding the Korean people. This became 
the liberating force in the northern part of the country. The 
Soviet-Korean alliance was enough to defeat Japan without U.S. 
help. 

But Amerika wanted no such victory; Korean liberation was not its 
objective. To insure another outpost for its world hegemony, the 
United States asked the Soviet Union to stop at the 38th parallel 
and wait for them before defeating Japan. This is the origin of 
the political division in Korea. While the Soviet Union accepted 
Japan's surrender in the north, the United States accepted its 
surrender in the south. For the people of southern Korea, this 
meant a changing of the guard, not liberation.(5)

Northern Korea operated under the leadership of Kim Il Sung, whose 
goal was to be independent and non-aligned. Kim addressed the 
threat of "left" opportunism-reliance on dogma-and modern 
revisionism, by advocating unity in the socialist camp. His 
consistent attention to unity among socialists may have not been 
critical enough. In his writings he states "because of internal 
differences, the socialist camp is not advancing in a solid block 
... "(6) But he does not identify the division. 

Without specifying the issue of division it is difficult to judge 
this thinking. It does not acknowledge the importance of the 
Chinese Communist Party's break with the Soviet Union, a split 
that identified Soviet social imperialism.

Today it is apparent that northern Korea is ready to capitulate, 
on some level, to imperialism. Although MIM supports unification 
for the Korean people (not of two governments), we understand that 
political line is decisive, and that northern Korea cannot at the 
same time be socialist and consider unification with their 
imperialist-dominated neighbors in the south. 

Notes:			
1. New York Times 10/24/91, p. A7.
2. Far East Economic Review 8/22/91.
3. Brun and Hersh, Socialist Korea, Monthly Review Press 1976, 
p.70.
4. Ibid., p. 72.
5. Ibid., p. 74.
6. Kim Il Sung, On Juche In Our Revolution Vol 1, Weekly Guardian 
Associates, 1977, p. 486.

* * *

UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS.


BREAKING A CONTROL UNIT: 16 PRISONERS HUNGER STRIKE IN INDIANA

by MC11

Protesting the beatings, body searches, and other atrocities to 
which they are subjected daily, nearly half of the prisoners at an 
Indiana maximum control unit refused to eat for several weeks 
during September and October.

Sixteen of the 35 men currently imprisoned at Indiana's Westville 
control unit initiated the hunger strike on Sept. 23, and four 
prisoners continued to fast for 37 days, eating only when the 
state prison administration threatened them with force-feeding.

Prisoners risk torture

Deprived of virtually all control over their own lives by the 
capitalist class that runs the prison system, the Indiana 
prisoners managed to turn one of the few acts they still 
control-feeding themselves- into a weapon against the state.

The self-destructive nature of that weapon, in the end, forced the 
prisoners to surrender, but not before the discipline and unity 
they exhibited made substantial headway in the battle to build 
public opinion against Amerika's repressive penal system.

"We have drawn a lot of public support from the mass of people out 
there," reports MA101, a MIM comrade imprisoned at Westville. 
"This hunger strike is in every newspaper in this state and other 
states also.... The newspapers and media are helping us a lot."

The Westville prisoners' successful attempt to draw public 
attention to their oppression pushed the embarrassed prison 
administration into negotiating with the American Civil Liberties 
Union (ACLU), which may lead to some useful reforms.

Unfortunately, the ACLU isn't interested in seeing the prison 
system abolished and the capitalist class that upholds it 
overthrown, as many of the prisoners involved believe must happen 
for meaningful change to take place.

Despite agreeing to talks with the ACLU, the prison administration 
continues to defend the use of bright lights, freezing 
temperatures, and locking prisoners in shackles during the rare 
times when they are allowed to leave their cells. 

"We believe we're on the right track with this facility," said 
Patrick Hefferman, a spokesman for the Indiana State Department of 
Corrections. "We had to pass muster for all of these things in 
order to open, and we did."

Even if the Indiana prisoners' act of resistance fails to provoke 
reform, it serves as a warning to the ruling class that no matter 
how harsh its repressive tactics get, prisoners will find a way to 
organize against it. The power of the capitalist state is 
tremendous, but actions, like those of the Westville prisoners, 
help weaken it by exposing it for what it is.

The hunger strike at Westville and the countless other prison 
uprisings sweeping through Amerika's prisons cannot in themselves 
bring change to the system. The prisoners need the support of a 
vanguard party working against the state both outside and inside 
the walls.

Ruling class-sanctioned torture at Westville

The prisoners at Westville's control unit-95% of whom are 
Black-are locked in their 6-by-7 cells covered with plexiglass 22-
24 hours a day. They are not permitted to socialize. Prisoners who 
protest, or who guards arbitrarily take a disliking to, are placed 
in isolation cells which are kept at freezing temperatures. They 
are allowed no recreation. When prisoners are let out of their 
cells they are handcuffed and shackled. Guards lead the shackled 
prisoners around with a dog leash hooked to their handcuffs. A 
"Behavior Modification Program" seeks to batter the prisoners 
psychologically so that they no longer have the will to resist.

MA101 details the measures which apparently "passed muster" with 
Indiana's ruling class and which the hunger strike was aimed at 
drawing attention to:

"Prisoners are being treated as if they are under a fascist 
government. They are being forced to drink contaminated water out 
of necessity and these prison administrators are aware of this, 
but they refused to correct it. Mail (incoming and outgoing) is 
being heavily monitored and withheld. All prisoners' phone calls 
are recorded and monitored. Guards are using a dehumanizing body 
search every time a prisoner is let out of his cell by feeling on 
the genitals and between the buttocks. They are restricting all 
political and social books, newspapers, religious material and 
literature and using mechanical restraints on prisoners by 
chaining prisoners to beds.

"The guards are beating prisoners, using illegal biological spray 
on prisoners which causes the skin on your body to peel off, 
taking prisoners' mattresses because they're not made, providing 
inadequate medical care and staff and restricting prisoners from 
recreation. Prisoners are being harassed constantly by guards. 
There is an inadequate law library and no legal assistance program 
by persons trained in the law. Guards are confiscating prisoners' 
personal property solely because prisoners complain about these 
conditions. [Prison Warden] Charles Wright is deliberately using 
torture methods against prisoners by refusing to put on any heat. 
Temperature in these cells varies from 30 to 45 degrees, caused by 
an air conditioner turned up on high day and night.

Higher levels of prison repression

Opened last April, the Westville prison is modeled after the 
infamous control unit in Marion, Ill., the objective of which is 
absolute physical and psychological control over the prisoners. 
Like Marion, the new Westville unit is ostensibly designed to 
house only the "troublemakers"-those prisoners who are too unruly 
for other prisons to handle. But the claim-which the ruling class 
uses to justify the harshest conditions in Amerika's notoriously 
brutal prison system-is just as false for Westville as it is for 
Marion. The Marion Control Unit is widely known to be the federal 
prison system's dumping-ground for its most politically 
threatening prisoners, and Westville is quickly evolving into an 
Indiana version of the same.

As MA101 writes: "They say I was sent here for my assaultive 
behavior against pigs, but I know there is more to it. I was 
really sent here because of my outspokenness against my enemy. He 
hates the truth and so he sends me to this genocidal complex to 
try and destroy me."

Given the courts' record of upholding the violence and barbaric 
measures used by the state against prisoners at Marion, Indiana's 
prison administration is optimistic that its own torture chamber 
is immune from serious reform.

"Westville is based operationally and physically on Marion and on 
Walla Walla [a prison in Washington state]. The courts have upheld 
these facilities and we're confident they'll uphold ours," said 
the DOC's Hefferman.

Hefferman may be right. The long history of failed attempts to 
achieve prison reform through the corrupt Amerikan legal system 
points to the ineffectiveness of tactics like those the ACLU and 
other liberal groups use to promote change. The ruling class' 
response to resistance like that displayed by the Westville 
prisoners is more likely to be repression than leniency. State 
governments and the federal Bureau of Prisons are already laying 
the groundwork for more control units like Westville and Marion.

To heed the Westville prisoners' call for support, and to put an 
end to the system of legalized brutality that exists in Amerika's 
prisons, revolutionaries both outside and inside the walls must 
work consistently to build a party capable of organizing the 
masses to attack the capitalist state. Only then will the 
prisoners be freed.

A DAY IN THE LIFE ...

by MA101

Westville Control Unit, Ind.-I was let out of my cell for 
recreation at approximately 1:45 p.m. Two pigs approached my cell, 
I was handcuffed behind my back, and I was let out. While being 
let out, I was told by one of the pigs to get up against the wall. 
This pig started grabbing on my genitals and feeling between my 
buttocks, so I started to retaliate against this dehumanizing body 
search.

The pigs called for back-up to restrain me, so back-up came and I 
was placed back in my cell. About ten minutes later the pigs came 
into my cell with their goon squad. So I charged the scum-sucking 
pigs, and they restrained me. Once I was handcuffed, these pigs 
sprayed me with a genocidal chemical, which made my skin on my 
face peel off. The pigs started choking me, kicking me in the 
back. After these pigs committed their cowardly act against me, 
they took me to the outside rec-pad and got a high pressure water 
hose and sprayed me like a dog.

After this I was taken to an isolation cell. I was put in the cell 
without shoes. I was forced to lay on cold steel without blankets 
for nine hours. The temperature in these cells varies from 35 to 
45 degrees day and night. I only get water 15 minutes a day. My 
situation has been like this for four and a half days, yes!

These people are still confiscating my books and newspapers, and 
today Charles Wright, the superintendent of this control unit, had 
his pigs confiscate my family pictures, law dictionary, prisoners' 
rights book, and  other books. He is restricting me from toilet 
paper, and he only allows me to have a pen two hours a day. He is 
trying to get back at me because I filed a law suit against him 
and his agents. I am being constantly harassed by these pigs, they 
kick on my door day and night. These policies here are worse than 
the federal prison in Marion, Ill. There's only one control unit 
like this in the United Snakkkes of Amerikkka.


SLIPPING THROUGH SOUTHPORT'S FENCE

by MA107

Pine City, N.Y.-Here is some human education against lies. There 
have been many different versions of how conditions were and still 
are here at Southport Correctional Facility. A lot of the things 
that should be told aren't being told, and instead many lies are 
being told to give this rotten prison a name it does not deserve. 

A lot of the real comrades that were here before and during the 
uprising were transferred to other prisons, and now Southport has 
a mostly all-new population of mostly adolescent prisoners who 
continuously fight and stab each other, failing to see that they 
fall victim to the divide-and-conquer tactics these pigs use on 
us! 

They (the oppressors) say that Southport is New York's "super 
secure" prison, which is a lie. Maximum security prisons in New 
York State are no longer built with walls around them. Instead 
they are built and electrified fences are put around the prison to 
replace the wall. New York State has medium security prisons that 
have electrified fences and are more secure than Southport, such 
as the Arthur Kill prison in Staten Island, New York. The only 
thing secure about Southport is that us comrades are chained, 
cuffed and shackled anywhere we go. 

Another lie being told is that Southport prison contains New York 
State's most feared "notorious" prisoners. The state makes up that 
fabrication so it can try to justify its experimentation with 
human lives!

Only those of us here in Southport know the actual truth! I plan 
to let it be known, I have been here in Southport before and after 
the uprising! Nothing has gotten better, only worse. 

Our family visiting program is absurd. Cages were built in our 
visiting room to separate us from our families, and we must wear 
chains while visiting with our families. Visits are being 
terminated and people that travel hundreds of miles are sent home 
and not allowed to visit. because of the need for additional space 
in the visiting room! 

This is no lie, and this is no experiment, this is dehumanization! 
I suggest we concentrate on the real truth. "PEACE" (Prisoners 
education against correctional extermination). It is us who is 
being exterminated so don't believe the hype!


* * *

FOOD AID CAUSES FAMINE IN AFRICA

According to the United Nations, 30 million people on the African 
continent (population 661 million), will face starvation this 
year, especially in the Horn of Africa: Somalia, Ethiopia, Sudan 
and Djibouti.(1, 2) The West responds to this crisis with "food 
aid." In fact, it is these huge grain imports and loans from the 
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the United 
States, the European Community (EC) and the World Food Program 
(WFP) which have helped cause the dire conditions in Africa today.

The myth is that these poor countries face famine because of their 
own bad government policies, over-population, civil war between 
rival clan factions and "rebels" who threaten foreign food aid 
attempts. But it is imperialist intervention which has so 
destroyed the agricultural and production potential of these 
countries to be self-sufficient.

The vicious circle of foreign aid is impossible to break under 
imperialism: Colonial theft of natural resources, food aid, debt, 
cash crops to pay off debts-all spell underdevelopment.

Over-population, on the other hand, is not a problem by itself. 
The Western world thought China was over-populated, but when the 
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under Mao Zedong was in power from 
the 1950s up to Mao's death in 1976, China managed to feed its 
growing population and pay off all its debts.(3) The CCP knew, and 
MIM knows, that we have more than enough resources to feed the 
planet.

As for "factional fighting" between clans, this is an old colonial 
tactic to divide and rule. The colonial authorities understood 
that it was easier to control a dozen ethnic groups than a united 
people. By giving privileges to some groups over others, the 
colonial governments played tribes against each other.

In reality there are only two "tribes"-the exploiters and the 
exploited. Some African elites have been so privileged and 
politically empowered by the colonial rulers, that they, too, have 
come to share the colonial interests in exploitation.

And finally, if so-called rebels threaten foreign aid, so much the 
better. Less foreign intervention means less foreign profits at 
the people's expense.

The IMF and the World Bank have forced African governments to 
impose severe austerity measures on the masses-or face harsher 
repayment plans and threats to cut aid. These measures bring 
inflation and cuts in food subsidies and social services, which 
worsen conditions of hunger and disease.(4)

In 1988, Africa's external debt totalled more than $228 
billion.(5) This year, Sudan alone owes more than $13 billion to 
external sources.(6)

African people suffer under massive unemployment, often more than 
30%, and a fall in real incomes by more than 50% in the past 
decade.(5)

African countries must stop foreign borrowing, and replace current 
neo-colonial policies of underdevelopment with development based 
on the needs of the majority of African people.

Notes:
1. Christian Science Monitor 10/15/91, p. 5.
2. Population Reference Bureau, Inc., 1990 World Population Data 
Sheet.
3.  William Hinton, Turning Point in China, Monthly Review Press, 
1972, p. 11.
4. Kofi Buenor Hadjor, On Transforming Africa, Africa World Press, 
1987, pp. 51-67.
5. Bade Onimode, "The Debt Crisis: Imperialism's silent war of 
recolonisation in Africa," Journal of African Marxists, No. 11, 
2/89, pp. 8-17.
6. Middle East Report, no. 172, Sept/Oct 1991, pp. 3-13.

* * *

CIVIL WAR LOOMS FOR SUDAN

In order to retain power in Sudan, General Omar Hassan al-Bashir 
and his National Islamic Front (NIF) government now depend mostly 
on repression. The government's Islamic base of support is 
weak-less than 10% of the population. Even with support from Iraq 
and Saudi Arabia, al-Bashir's regime cannot keep up its civil war 
with southern Sudan.(1)

Started in 1983, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) now has 
much support in the south and among the marginalized and 
secularists in the North. It now controls 95% of southern Sudan. 
The United States-which has supported previous regimes in 
Sudan-now puts this poor, mostly desert country low on its 
agenda.(1)

Approximately 300,000 Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia returned to 
southern Sudan in June of this year, escaping war and hunger to 
find more of the same.(2) The U.N. estimates that 9 million people 
in Sudan faced starvation this year, more than any other African 
country.(3)

But last year the NIF government denied the impending famine and 
tried to refuse large-scale food aid from the West, saying such 
aid is an attack on Sudan's independence. "We eat what we grow, we 
wear what we make."(4) Any pretense of self-reliance that depends 
on repression is a dead end. No Third World country can achieve 
self-sufficiency without a socialist revolution based on Maoist 
principles.

Sudan, a country of 25.2 million, was a joint British and Egyptian 
colony until 1956. On Britain's initiative, those Sudanese who 
spoke Arabic and were Muslim have dominated state and economic 
power from the Sudanese capital of Khartoum in the north. Those in 
the south who practice animist or Christian beliefs and identify 
as Africans, have been mostly without power or wealth.(1)

In July 1955, just before gaining independence from Britain, 
southern rebellions against northern efforts to "Arabize" the 
South began the civil war which continues today.(1)

In 1960, this conflict brought in Arab foreign support for the 
Sudanese government and covert Israeli support for Anyanya, the 
southern resistance movement.(5)

Israeli assistance began in 1965, channeled through Uganda. Israel 
backed the southern Sudanese to prolong the war in Sudan and 
prevent the Khartoum government from merging with Egypt. The 
Sudanese government itself (while backing the Eritreans against 
the Ethiopian government) had support from Egypt, Britain and the 
Soviet Union.(5)

In May 1969, a military coup brought Colonel Ja'afar Numayri to 
power, and he continued to wage war on the south until a peace 
agreement was signed in March of 1972.(5)

Nominal peace lasted for more than a decade. But in 1983, Numayri 
tried to divide the south into three provinces, and the south 
resisted with a new guerrilla movement, Anyanya 2. Numayri pushed 
the southerners more by imposing Islami sharia law and naming 
Arabic as the official language. He also moved toward a union with 
Egypt and brought on major oil exploration by the U.S. Chevron 
company in the south.(5) This imperialist development was 
correctly seen by southerners as an attempt by the Khartoum 
government to share the riches of foreign exploitation of southern 
Sudan.

Anyanya 2 and southern ex-soldiers formed the SPLA with a 
political wing called the Sudan People's Liberation Movement 
(SPLM). Backed by Ethiopia and Libya, Colonel John Garang de 
Mabior led the SPLA against the U.S.- and Egyptian-backed Numayri 
government. Finally, anti-government demonstrations led to the 
military overthrow of Numayri in April of 1985.(5)

A civilian government was established in 1986, and on June 30, 
1989, the army seized power again and installed Al-Bashir who to 
this day continues to wage war against the non-Muslim south.(4,5)

Notes:
1. Middle East Report, no. 172, Sept/Oct 1991, pp. 3-13.
2. Christian Science Monitor 6/18/91, p. 5.
3. CSM 10/15/91, p. 5.
4. The Economist 1/19/91, p. 36.
5. Keith Somerville, Foreign Military Intervention in Africa, St. 
Martin's Press, New York, 1990, pp. 32-47.

* * *

BATTLE FOR AID RIPS SOMALIA

The alliance which drove President Mohammed Siad Barre from power 
on Jan. 27, 1991, now suffers from inter-factional fighting. In 
August 1990, the Somali National Movement (SNM), the United Somali 
Congress (USC) and the Somali Patriotic Movement (SPM) joined 
forces to push Siad Barre from the capital, Mogadishu. But when 
the USC, on Jan. 29, named Ali Mahdi Mohamed as interim president, 
the other factions protested and fighting began.(1) 

The SNM now controls northern Somalia and the city of Berbera, 
which has been destroyed by fighting there. Backed by Ethiopian 
President Mengistu until his fall in May, the SNM (of the Isaak 
clan) has been fighting the Siad Barre's Somali Army since 1981. 
The USC (of the Hawiye clan) controls the capital and the 
surrounding area, while the southern region of Somalia bordering 
Kenya is under the control of the SPM, made up of the Ogadeni 
tribe.(2)

On May 18, SNM deputy chair Hassan Essen Jama declared an 
independent Somaliland Republic in the north, with approximately 
the same borders as the colonial British Somaliland of 1935.(1,3)  

Despite the peace agreement signed by six Somali groups in July, 
heavy fighting continues. In August, hospital authorities in 
Mogadishu said that 70-100 people died each day of gunshot 
wounds.(3) Refugees of fighting in Somalia fled to eastern 
Ethiopia-where conditions are the same or worse.(2)

The USC-named interim president Ali Mahdi and USC chair and chief 
of staff General Muhammad Farah Aidid represent different factions 
of the Hawiye clan. In early October, their conflict sparked four 
days of fighting in the capital, killing 300 and wounding 700 
people.(4)

Somalia's 8.4 million people live under the most oppressive of 
human conditions. The country's main exports are food items, 
bananas and livestock, while Somalis starve at home.(3) Western 
agricultural producers flood Somali markets with 100,000 tons of 
free food per year(5), thus destroying the domestic agricultural 
economy. Local farmers are forced out of the market when prices 
drop below the farmers' cost of production.

Both ends of Somalia compete for foreign aid from the 
imperialists, which is hard to get. Supposed U.S. fears of 
violence and "sabotage," make the United States reluctant to help 
with medicine, food and water needs.(2) The International 
Committee of the Red Crossis the only food aid agency working in 
Somalia; there is no U.N. presence.(4)

Most Somalis are Sunni Muslims, speak Somali and have similar 
cultures; however, clan differences are hostile, partly because of 
Siad Barre's tactics of playing one clan against another.(2)

Notes:
1. Christian Science Monitor 7/22/19, p. 14
2. New York Times 4/4/91, p. 3.
3. The Economist 9/7/91, p. 42.
4. CSM 10/22/91, p. 5.
5. Food Aid Monitor: World Food Aid Flows, transport and 
logistics, World Food Program (WFP), quarterly, 12/90, p. 16.

* * *

FILM/VIDEO REVIEWS

CITY OF HOPE
(1991)

City of Hope is writer/director John Sayles' picture of urban 
decay. Set in a city that could be any Amerikan metropolis, Sayles 
shows us pieces of the capitalist epidemic: builders on kickbacks, 
corrupt politicians, police brutality, and a sell-out Black city 
council member.

As one of the growing number of non-Hollywood directors who makes 
political films, MIM gives Sayles high marks for this work which 
gives a realistic picture of the problems of capitalism. Sayles' 
other work includes Matewan, Return of the Secaucus Seven, and 
Brother from Another Planet.

In the opening scene Nick, one of the main characters, quits his 
union construction job where he does nothing but drugs and sit on 
his ass. Nick's father, the builder, arranged the job, but the 
payroll is padded with lots of other non-workers as favors to the 
powers that be (necessary building permit, etc.)

In another piece of the picture, Wynn, the Black city council 
member, tries to approach a Black Muslim community center for 
support on a school bond issue. In what is likely seen as dogmatic 
by white liberal audiences, the Muslims call him an oreo cookie, 
someone who is begging for acceptance in the white man's system.

But Wynn has some opportunist lessons to teach the Muslim brothers 
(and other revolutionaries.) Late in the film, two Black 
kids-after being roughed up by the police-beat up a white jogger. 
They make up a story that he solicited sex, justifying their 
actions as self-defense. The Black community calls for a meeting 
to counter the prosecution of the boys. Wynn works behind the 
scenes to get the charges dropped, but he is worried that the 
Muslims will call him out at the meeting, exposing that he 
believes the boys made up the story.

Wynn immediately takes control of the meeting, and announces to 
the awestruck crowd that he has had the charges dropped. He then 
diverts everyone's attention to a housing project that Nick's 
father just had burned down as a political favor to get Nick out 
of trouble with the cops. Wynn gets everyone hyped that if they 
march immediately to the mayor's political dinner, and show him 
that they all vote, then the city will repair the project instead 
of going ahead with plans to demolish it. This is a realistic 
example of what happens to would-be revolutionaries who don't 
assert leadership at their own events: some reformist or 
revisionist will grab the bullhorn and lead the masses astray.

The downfall of Sayles' film is its liberal, anti-revolution 
outlook. He paints a solid portrait of the ugly face of Amerikan 
capitalism, but only holds out the ballot box. In one interview, 
he said, "I personally don't see a whole lot of help coming from 
above right now, and people have to realize that at least in this 
country, you can get rid of these guys after eight years or maybe 
four years. That you really have to take a close look and say, 
'Our leadership is there because we allow them to be there.' I 
hope that's true."

The film ends with a street person parroting the line "We need 
help." Sayles' film needs the help of a revolutionary rewrite, 
cutting the liberal illusions and telling people to build public 
opinion, rather than bourgeois appeal to corrupt politicians.

-MC¯

MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO
(1991)

My Own Private Idaho focuses on two young male prostitutes who 
come from two different worlds. Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves) is an 
aristocrat who wants to experience life on the wild side. Mike 
Waters (River Phoenix), homeless and abandoned, spends the movie 
searching for his mother. Directed by Gus Van Sant, My Own Private 
Idaho is another artsy-fartsy movie based on alienated white 
youth. Van Sant's previous movie was the 1989 cult hit Drugstore 
Cowboy.

Private Idaho uses Shakespeare's Henry IV to shape Scott Favor, 
but the movie doesn't quite succeed in making a modern day Henry 
IV. The characters sporadically fall into awkward Elizabethan 
dialogues, evoking a world far away from the underground circles 
of male prostitutes in the urban Pacific Northwest.

Scott Favor, like Prince Hal in Henry IV, wants to escape his 
aristocratic upbringing and live in the underground, so that he 
can later become a well-rounded politician, like his father. In 
becoming a prostitute, he parasitically absorbs the underground 
culture and later takes off-dumping his best friend Mike Waters 
when he decides it's time to move on.

This is what the imperialists do with the culture of the 
oppressed. Favor, as a member of the bourgeoisie, intends only to 
steal from proletarian culture, which develops as both an 
expression of and a resistance to oppression.

Favor befriends Waters, a down-and-out gay man from Idaho who 
survives through prostitution, but narcolepsy limits his 
effectiveness as a hustler. When not working or hanging out in 
cheap restaurants, he dreams of finding his mother-a guaranteed 
hard-on for Freudians.

Materially, Waters bears the consequences of the Amerikan nuclear 
family myth. Bourgeois logic asserts the family breakup as the 
cause of social ills. In reality, homelessness, prostitution and 
family breakup are caused by capitalism. But overall, Private 
Idaho way outshines the average Hollywood decadent drivel.

-MC67

HOMICIDE
(1991)

The main character in Homicide is a Jewish cop who is out of touch 
with his heritage. Through an investigation, he finds the office 
of a Nazi organization which prints and posts-among other things- 
flyers that read "Crime is caused by the Ghetto, the Ghetto is 
caused by the Jew!" The cop also gets in touch with a Jewish 
terrorist group with ties to Israel, which investigates and plans 
attacks on such Nazi organizations.

Homicide dramatizes the existence of anti-Jewish organizing in 
Amerika, links it with the necessity for an Israeli state in 
Palestine, and refuses to analyze it in any significant context.

Anti-Jewish propaganda exists in the context of Jewish privilege. 
Jewish people, as a group in this country, do experience 
oppression, but the material privileges they enjoy far outweigh 
this oppression. The prevailing consequence of white supremacist 
anti-Jewish actions is more money for Israel, and more support for 
the myth that Jews are not oppressors themselves.

When Jews are attacked, they have the state to protect them. 
Homicide stresses the importance of Israel in this role. It uses 
the security Israel provides, set against the supposed lack of 
security in Amerika, as a frame for the action of the film. It 
plays on the idea that Jews can only rely on each other for 
protection, and that their struggle everywhere is righteous, 
regardless of the conditions against which they are struggling.

The cop's growing self-awareness, and solidarity with other Jews 
is Homicide's central theme. In the film's ultimate, predictable 
expression of Jewish unity, the cop works with the terrorists to 
bomb the Nazi headquarters. The film treats this as a heroic 
victory, but it is only a victory in the reactionary extreme. The 
struggle for Jewish nationalism in Amerika can only take the form 
of defending class status as part of the parasitic white nation. 
And fascist propaganda will only be eliminated with a victory of 
the proletariat against imperialism, not by terrorist lackeys of 
imperialism.

-MC45

* * *

DISC REVIEWS

APOCALYPSE 91 ... THE ENEMY STRIKES BLACK
Public Enemy, Columbia Records, 1991

Public Enemy's fourth album, Apocalypse 91 ... The Enemy Strikes 
Black, is a weak show compared to last year's Fear of a Black 
Planet. Apocalypse addresses problems facing the Black nation 
which P.E. has covered before: suckers and sell-outs, genocide 
through alcohol and drugs, media distortion and police crackdowns.

Public Enemy's past attempts at supporting the sisters are nowhere 
to be found. Instead, they make references to abusing women, and 
continue their old gay-bashing attitude. In spite of this counter-
revolutionary analysis, we can learn from P.E.

"Can't Truss It," explains that from the beginning of slavery in 
Amerika to today's Black nation, Black people have been selling 
each other out. "Divided and sold/For liquor and the gold/Smacked 
in the back"-the Black nation assailed by violence and drugs.

In "A Letter to the New York Post," a Ku Klux Klan member thanks 
Black people for destroying themselves-doing the KKK's job.

A speech cut into "1 Million Bottlebags," hints at how alcohol ads 
and billboards in the inner city are keeping Blacks asleep, 
unorganized and fighting each other. "Genocide kickin' in yo 
back/How many times have you seen/A black fight a black/After 
drinkin' down a bottle." This is just one more way for capitalists 
to profit by oppressing the Black nation: "They're slaves to the 
liquor man."

At the end of "I Don't Wanna Be Called Yo Niga," they explain how 
religion completes the picture. A church at one end of the 
"projects" and a liquor store at the other both hold Black people 
down. But P.E.'s support for the Nation of Islam makes it clear 
that they are not talking about all religion.

P.E. again exposes police repression of the Black nation. In "Get 
the F- Outta Dodge," P.E. exposes the police crackdown disguised 
as "noise pollution laws." Cops say: "A bank is robbed and you fit 
the description ... keep your music down or you might get shot." 
P.E. puts it all in perspective: "Blamin' me for the hardcore 
roar/But they the ones wit' .44's."

Following their own lead in Fear of a Black Planet (especially 
"Burn Hollywood Burn"), P.E. has more to say about the media 
industry, this time focusing on Black-controlled media. In "How to 
Kill a Radio Consultant," they criticize Black-controlled radio 
for not playing what's important, what's good for the 
neighborhood. "Only black radio station in the city/Programmed by 
a sucker in a suit."

Then P.E. strikes back at the press-Black press in 
particular-which has misrepresented P.E. and its members. "A 
Letter to the New York Post" says "Black newspapers and magazines 
are supposed to get the real deal from the source y'all." 

Public Enemy reinforces its previous calls for Black unity by 
exposing specific problems to its audience. Beyond the direct 
repression of the capitalist state, P.E. deals with the in-
fighting and destruction within the Black nation which only aids 
the capitalist state. -MC42

* * *

A RECESSION FOR THE OPPRESSED

by MC42

The current recession has hit people in California hard, 
particularly the Latino and Black communities of California. 
"California is still locked in a recession" even if the rest of 
the country is supposedly in recovery.(1)

California's previously-rapid growth has slowed down. There is 
less industrial growth, less new development, and decreasing 
migration of "yuppies" into the state. But the population is still 
rising, as both "legal" and "illegal" immigration continue 
unabated, and birth rates are high, especially in the Latino and 
Black communities.(2) Latinos account for 8% of the U.S. 
population and one third of all Latinos live in California.(8)

According to the 1990 census, California's population jumped 26% 
from 23.7 million in 1980, to 29.8 million in 1990 (1.9 million 
increase from foreign immigration, 824,000 in migration from other 
states and the rest from birth rates).(2)

New industry, jobs, clean air and water are all becoming scarce in 
California. The official national unemployment rate is down to 
6.7%, but California's is 7.7%. In Los Angeles County, the most 
populous county in the country (8.8 million), unemployment is at 
9.3%. California has lost 240,000 jobs in the past year, mostly 
from layoffs in the military and aerospace industries, banking and 
retailing.(2)

Fewer businesses are forming or expanding in the state and 
developers cannot find tenants to fill new buildings. The weak 
real estate market hurts the banking industry, causing losses on 
real estate loans and investments. The L.A.-based Security Pacific 
Corporation, the state's second-largest bank, lost $508.5 million 
for the third quarter of this year.(1)

Other states offer cheaper real estate and transportation costs 
for capitalists. Underdeveloped countries like Mexico offer even 
more: dirt-cheap land, a proletariat which has no choice but to 
work for below-subsistence wages, and few environmental 
restrictions to worry about. These benefits make a higher rate of 
profit for capitalists.

Those leaving California are mostly wealthy people, 45 years old 
and older, those who have made their money and now want to escape 
the smog, crime and crowded conditions of the Los Angeles area. 
People under 30 years old make up most of California's new 
residents.(2)

Free trade and California

Since Mexico dropped trade restrictions in 1986, California's 
exports to Mexico have soared. Between 1987 and 1989, California's 
agricultural exports increased from $37 million to $100 million 
annually; in 1989, California's manufactured exports increased 
from $2.1 billion to nearly $4 billion. Total U.S. exports went 
from $12 billion in 1986 to $28 billion in 1990.(4) From this 
trend alone, U.S. capitalists can expect increased profits-and the 
international proletariat can expect increased exploitation-under 
the Free Trade Agreement with Mexico. (See MIM Notes 52)

Then there are the maquiladora, or assembly, plants along the 
border, which are overwhelmingly U.S.-owned. There are nearly 
2,000 such facilities on the Mexican side of the border, employing 
192,000 more workers since 1986. Maquiladora owners take advantage 
of Mexican government subsidies, more lenient safety, health and 
environmental regulations, and cheap labor. Mexican workers toil 
for one-tenth of average U.S. wages.(4)

20 years: conditions deteriorate

Although economic conditions are getting worse for the people of 
California, conditions for the Chicano and Black communities in 
the L.A. area have never been acceptable.

The 1965 Watts rebellion of the Black nation and the 1970 National 
Chicano Moratorium in East L.A. were both protests against 
oppressive economic and political conditions. Both rebellions were 
violently suppressed by the state, leading to a beefed-up police 
apparatus to ensure that uprisings of such magnitude would never 
happen again.(5)

New kinds of oppression keep coming. A $9.6 million fingerprinting 
system designed to prevent welfare "fraud" has just begun in L.A. 
County. This high-tech method of mass control has so far been 
refused by 700 people, who correctly fear that that such 
fingerprint information will be shared with law or immigration 
officials. Now their general relief cases have been closed-but a 
whopping two cases of fraud have been uncovered so far. It's an 
easy way for the government to cut costs in the $200 million 
program-scare away the applicants.(6)

In the Ramona Gardens housing project in East L.A. where 97% of 
residents are Latino, police repression led to confrontation in 
August. The 2,140 tenants are harassed daily by the sheriff's 
deputies and Housing Authority officers who cruise the 
area-supposedly looking for gang activity. When 300 residents 
confronted 75 deputies and officers, a deputy shot and killed a 
young gang member without provocation.(7)

No degree of repression can keep down organized and unified 
communities. As conditions decay, oppressed communities realize 
that they have less to lose and more to gain by organizing against 
the ruling class. This is why a vanguard party using Maoist 
thought is necessary-to organize the resistance so that tactically 
irresponsible violence is avoided and community action is planned 
and organized to achieve maximum results.

Electoral power for Latinos?

In March, Gloria Molina became the first Latino supervisor on the 
five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, Los Angeles' 
City Council. Now she is trying to improve conditions for Latinos 
in her county.

Molina has been helping women's and "minority" businesses, pushing 
to get more employees at welfare offices and AIDS clinics, and 
making it possible for people to testify in Spanish at board 
hearings (30% of the county speaks Spanish).(8) This "help" 
amounts to nothing more than perks for Latino business owners and 
band-aids for the masses.

Communities who rely on elected officials to wage their battles 
for them are left empty-handed. No matter how sincerely Molina 
wants to help her community by working inside the system, alone 
she cannot change the nature of capitalist exploitation.

Notes:
1. New York Times 10/17/91, p. A1.
2. NYT 10/16/91, p. A8.
4. Los Angeles Times 5/22/91, p. B7.
5. LA Times 8/31/90, p. B7.
6. LA Times 10/12/91, p. B1.
7. LA Times 8/6/91, p. A1.
8. NYT 10/11/91, p. A8.

* * *

U.S. ECONOMY STILL ON THE ROCKS

by MC11 & MC67

Amerika's anarchic capitalist economy continued to reel under the 
weight of its own contradictions in October and there's no upturn 
in sight, the latest industry and government statistics show. 

Amerikans' average weekly earnings fell 0.7%, unemployment rose to 
6.8% and retail sales-which account for one-third of economic 
activity in the United States-fell 0.1% during October, the 
federal government reported in mid-November.(1)

The numbers are the latest in a series of signals that the U.S. 
economy, which has seen at least seven crisis-recession-recovery-
boom periods in the last 15 years, is still mired in the recession 
phase of capitalism's vicious cycle. (2)

Like all recessions under capitalism, the current economic 
downturn is the result of corporations producing more stuff than 
they can sell. You might think that after so many turns through 
the recession grindstone, the capitalists would figure out how 
much of what sorts of goods people can buy at a given time, and 
adjust their production schedules accordingly. But they can't. 
Overproduction is part of capitalism.

Overproduction is a result of the basic conflict that will 
eventually lead to capitalism's downfall: the contradiction 
between the private ownership of the means of production and the 
social nature of production. In other words, capitalists don't 
produce goods to consume themselves. They produce goods for social 
consumption, for other people to buy, on a large scale. 

But under the condition of private ownership, capitalists must try 
to reduce wages to the lowest possible level, in order extract the 
most profit and expand their scale of production. (Provided that 
there is profit, capitalists will compete among themselves to 
expand production). So total production is expanded, but the 
purchasing power of the workers is reduced, and they can't buy all 
that the capitalists can make. 

Another reason for overproduction is the utter anarchy of the 
capitalist market. Since what and when and how much of any product 
capitalists choose to produce is left to their own private 
decisions, social production is uncoordinated. Individual 
capitalists cannot possibly know the actual demand for a certain 
commodity. 

For example, the U.S. auto oligopoly-General Motors, Ford and 
Chrysler-have lost more than $5 billion so far this year, as 
Amerikans realized they didn't have the dough to buy that new car 
and the pace vehicle sales slowed to a crawl.(3) (Needless to say, 
the "Big Three" don't pay their Mexican, Korean, and other Third 
World workers anywhere near enough to enable them to buy cars, so 
they couldn't count on sales in those countries to bail them out.) 

Automakers that build cars and trucks in the United States 
(including several Japanese companies) have expanded their 
production capacity so much over the last decade that they now 
have the capacity to produce about six million more vehicles than 
people in the U.S. will buy. And even if they don't use all that 
production capacity, they have to pay for upkeep on the plants and 
equipment.(4)

Yet U.S. vehicle sales boomed during most of the 1980s, fueled by 
the illusion of demand that capitalists in different sectors work 
together to create for their mutual profit. Financial capitalists 
(bankers) extend credit to consumers and commerical capitalists so 
they can buy stuff. Commericial capitalists (car dealers) order 
goods from industrial capitalists (GM, Ford & Chrysler), who 
produce more and more goods to fill the commericial capitalists' 
orders. And so the circle goes, until the gap between society's 
actual purchasing power and the illusory demand is revealed, and 
economic crisis ensues.

Of course, overproduction does not mean that things produced by 
society are more than what the masses can consume. As Amerika 
suffers from a crisis of overproduction, its government estimates 
that 32 million people within its borders are living in 
poverty.(5) Overproduction is relative to the purchasing power of 
the masses, not to social need. 

Nor is filling social need what the ruling class is wringing its 
hands about on Wall Street and in the bourgeois media every day. 
Rather, it is worrying about returning its bloodsucking 
corporations to profitability. After all, Amerika's top 631 
corporations "only" made an operating profit of $28.3 billion 
between July and September, a decline of 23% over last year.(6) 

The result of the economic crisis has been to intensify the 
contradictions of capitalism. Many small and mid-sized enterprises 
have gone under, or been absorbed into larger ones as the ruling 
class continues consolidating its wealth. And as people reduce 
their level of consumption and commerical capitalists cut back on 
orders, industrial capitalists cut back on production and lay 
people off. Almost two million more people were without work in 
October than in July 1990.(1) 

Although much has been made by bourgeois economists of the plight 
of the middle class, white workers in the U.S. are for the short 
term largely insulated from the capitalists' economic woes. The 
average wage of U.S. production and non-supervisory 
workers-described as "stagnating" by the New York Times-slipped 
only .1% in October to a whopping $10.41 an hour. The average 
weekly wage of these workers declined .7% to $357.06-not bad for a 
country suffering what some describe as its worst economic 
downturn since the depression of the 1930s.(7)

Amerika's white workers are as a group paid more than the value of 
their labor, an arrangement the ruling class has agreed to in 
exchange for their not rocking the capitalist yacht. Autoworkers 
at GM, Ford and Chrysler, for example, get 60-95% of their base 
pay whether they work or not.(8) As Amerikan capitalism continues 
to be shaken by economic crises such as these, Amerika's labor 
aristocracy may find itself unable to strike such sweet bargains. 
But U.S. capitalists will no doubt strive to maintain white 
workers' standard of living as long as possible, as its bulwark 
against revolution at home. 

Today, monopoly capitalism has evolved such that only a handful of 
corporations control much of the world's output of goods, mostly 
by controlling key basic industries. This absolute control of 
economic activity by a handful of multi-national conglomerates 
reflects the gradual and violent decay of capitalism. And with 
each crisis, the depression becomes more acute for Third World 
nations, held by the imperialists as labor camps for First World 
consumption.