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| x x x x x x x xx xxx xxx xxx |
| xx xx x xx xx xx x x x x x x Issue #29 |
| x x x x x x x x xx x x x xx xxx |
| x x x x x x x x x x x x 03/14/87 |
| x x x x x x x xx x xxx xxx |
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| Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement |
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WHY STUDY THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION?
For those who do not know anything about the Cultural
Revolution, the best reason to study the Cultural Revolution
is that China is over one quarter of humanity. For ten years
(1966-1976), China experienced the turmoil of the Cultural
Revolution. It would be sheer provincialism to ignore the
Cultural Revolution because the mass media of the United
States universally criticizes it as chaos and the dark ages
of China.
In 1976 the opponents of the Cultural Revolution succeeded
in overthrowing Mao Zedong's followers. Since then China has
become a fully state capitalist country with farming of
individual plots of land and industrial production for
profit.
The attacked articles are a journalistic attempt to
scratch the surface of the importance of the changes in
China. It is readily apparent that state capitalism in China
has already shown potential for bringing misery to the
Chinese people.
It was only the Cultural Revolution which kept China from
facing one-third unemployment in the countryside. It was the
Cultural Revolution which saw industry spread throughout the
countryside so that the residents of the countryside could
make the leap into the industrial age. It was the Cultural
Revolution which tried to break down the barrier between
academic knowledge and practical work to benefit society.
By targeting society as responsible for crime and mental
illness instead of the individual, China had tremendous
success in the Cultural Revolution. Now with the emphasis on
labor force discipline, blame-the-victim ideology focuses on
the individual and crime and mental illness are skyrocketing.
Likewise, so is capital punishment.
The end of the Cultural Revolution has also meant
retrogression in the position of women. It's not so much that
the state capitalists endorse female infanticide as that they
have abandoned political campaigns against female
infanticide--Confucian norms with thousands of years of
weight behind them.
While genuine communists mourn the loss of socialist China
to state capitalism, China today provides genuine communists
with a remarkable experiment which shows what the capitalist
roaders in the Communist Party will do if they get into
power. China today offers a perfect contrast between
socialism and state capitalism.
For those who have studied socialism, the Cultural
Revolution provides the most advanced lesson in socialist
construction yet known. Whether it be industrial organization
as described by Stephen Andors and Charles Bettelheim or
proletarian democracy in action as described by Jean Esmein
or William Hinton, the Cultural Revolution blazed the path
that genuine communists must learn from. In every sphere--
culture, the economy, government--the Cultural Revolution
provided models and individual instances of how the socialist
outlook could replace the capitalist outlook, often times in
a fashion previously conceived of as "impossible."
In summary, there are two main classes of reasons to study
the Cultural Revolution. One is to understand where one-
quarter of humanity has headed in the last twenty years. The
state capitalist counterrevolution in China today has had
profound effects on the people there. Secondly, the Cultural
Revolution put the "ideals" of socialism into practice in a
dramatic fashion. For almost two decades, China went beyond
Soviet experience in giving the world inklings of how
communism is possible.
REVOLUTIONARIES FACE SEDITION AND RICO RACKETEERING
CHARGES
The U.S. government recently charged eight people with
making an agreement to overthrow the government by force--
"seditious conspiracy." The government is also using RICO
laws, which came into existence to deal with organized crime,
but which have seen extensive use against revolutionaries.
The eight people--Carol and Tom Manning, Richard Williams,
Patricia Gros, Jaan Laaman, Barbara Curzi-Laaman, Raymond
Levasseur and Chris King--call themselves the Ohio Seven.
They verbally support the existence of an armed revolutionary
underground, which does exist right now.They all have
extensive backgrounds in various progressive organizations
including North Star Book Store and the Haymarket Peoples'
Fund, which financially supports many organizations.
MIM's predecessors the RADACADS worked with some of the
groups that the Ohio Seven worked in. For example, the group
AMANDLA worked with RADACADS in showing the film "Attica" to
several hundred people at Harvard University.
MIM's understanding of the armed underground is not very
detailed, but there have been such forces since the creation
of the Weather Underground and the Black Liberation Army in
the 60s.
Perhaps our readers have read leaflets denouncing u.s.
imperialism in lower-case letters by the John Brown Anti-Klan
Committee or "May 19th." The Ohio Seven seem to be part of
the same general trend, but we advise readers to investigate
for themselves.
The Ohio Seven request donations for publicity expenses
and correspondence.
Ohio Seven Support Committee Ohio Seven Support
Committee
Box 530, Cathedral Station Box 481
New York, NY 10025 Cambridge, MA 02139
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT COLUMN FOR THE MONTH:
EXPLOITATION OF BLACKS INCREASES
Median family income for Black families increased only 5%
after inflation between 1970 and 1980.
The stagnant income position continues to exist despite
obvious educational gains of Blacks. Blacks with high school
diplomas increased from 31% to 51% during the period.
(Detroit Free Press 2/27/87, p. 14A.)
What this means is that increasingly, lower-educated
whites make more than highly-educated Blacks.
INFANT MORTALITY INCREASES 32% IN ONE YEAR IN BOSTON--
SOLELY AMONG BLACKS
The United States is joining the Soviet Union with the
honor of having an increasing infant mortality rate. In
Boston, the increase occurred amongst Blacks, primarily in
the poorer areas such as Roxbury.
Such statistics are an incredible indictment of the
distribution of medical care in times of cutback of social
services. It is impossible to lay an increase in the rate of
infant mortality to anything but a systemic cause. The
worsening economic conditions of some sectors in the United
States is an obvious suspect for such a systemic cause.
What institutional racism and institutional violence means
is demonstrated perfectly in Boston. Literally 100% of the
increase in infant mortality occurred among Blacks. (Boston
Globe 2/9/87, p. 1)
REAGAN APPROVED SALES OF ARMS TO IRAN ACCORDING TO TOWER
COMMISSION REPORT
Militarism and national chauvinism usually go hand in
hand. This time though, the mud thrown on Iran by the United
States flew back in its face. Rallying backward elements in
the United States for nearly a decade with anti-Iran hatred,
the U.S. government dropped a rock on its foot by selling
arms to Iran.
As is clear in the disclosed remarks of Oliver North, the
United States did not want a back seat to the Soviet Union in
Iran. The imperialists wanted more influence in Iran than the
Soviets, so they tried to make Iran dependent on U.S. arms.
By selling Iran arms, the United States ruling class hoped to
gain influence in Iran.
Oliver North even knew that public disclosure of the arms
deals would be damaging. But the ruling class was so
desperate to win its competition with the Soviet bloc it went
ahead with the deals.
Once again, Iran has left the U.S. government in a state
of contradiction. Clearly more desperate than ever to wage
war against the Soviet bloc, the U.S. imperialists are unable
proceed for the moment.
Once the new White House crew is in order under Howard
Baker, however, it will be business as usual. once can be
sure that any number of covert arms deals are going down this
very moment as the press berates Reagan for this particular
one.
BOOK REVIEW
Sebastian Haffner, Failure of a Revolution: Germany 1918-
1919, Banner Press, Chicago: 1986
This is an excellent book published in 1968 [unsure if
book is from 1986 or 1968--18] by a German journalist
concerned with why Germany never had its often-prophesied
proletarian revolution.
Haffner explains why the right, the Social Democrats and
even the Spartacists (communists) wrote attempted proletarian
revolution out of the history books.
The military and the Kaiser of Germany had nothing but
disdain for the uprising of the masses of Germany at the end
of World War I. It was only so much chaos and rioting to
them.
Social Democratic leaders who came to rule civilian
Germany shared the traditional ruling class's contempt for
the attempts at governance by the soldiers, sailors and
workers of Germany, but added the element of betrayal.
Haffner shows in no uncertain terms how the Social Democrats
paved the way for Hitler and saw to the assassination of
communist leaders Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht.
Finally, Haffner unintentionally detailed how Luxemburg
and Liebknecht lagged behind the times. Despite a sympathetic
after word by Richard Bruch, the overall impression of the
book is that the Spartacists were too little too late.
Nothing could be more indicative than that the party only
formed after the initial events of the revolution.
It appears that Liebknecht in particular was in touch with
the anti-militarist movement and even symbolized it, but he
did not lead it, nor did his party.
The only hesitation that a Leninist could have with the
book is Haffner's own tendency to see the period in terms of
personalities, some more stupid than others. The book is
excellent political history, but the underlying political
economy of the period is left in the dark. On wishes there
were a counterpart to Haffner's book on the political economy
of Germany.
Overall Failure of a Revolution should be required reading
on Germany because it teaches many political lessons
chronicling a heroic but naive uprising against militarism
and counterrevolution.
CORRESPONDENCE
Comrades,
I'm a colonial victim trapped inside the "Belly of the
Beast." I'm in the process of transforming my once neo-
colonial mentality into a revolutionary mentality.
I would like for you to please send me the book that all
great freedom fighters have read: "The Wretched of the Earth"
by Franz Fanon. I have been trying to get this book for the
last three years. There isn't a copy of its kind in this
whole institution. I need to study this book to raise my
consciousness even higher.
[MIM sent the book--ed.]
--A comrade from the Midwest
Dear Brothers/Sisters:
I am a young brother who is in confinement and trying to
uplift myself in this world. You see, I'm a heavy reader of
books and I was wondering if you can send me the books I
listed below? Right now, I have no outside help or funds to
send you but I would appreciate it highly if you can send me
these books. I know you all will understand the situation
here with a lot of us in prison!!!
1. Unity and Struggle by Cabral Amilcar 2. How Europe
Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney 3. Black Panthers
Speak 4. Comrade George by Eric Manning 5. Dragon Has Come by
G. Armstrong 6. Bad by James Carr.
--Your brother in struggle
To MIM Distributors:
I am presently incarcerated in the X and I was talking
with other inmates, who feel as I do on the scandalous,
religious/political state the government is in and one
prisoner gave me your address in hopes that you might be able
to help me out.
I plan to become active on my release. This way I can
spread the message to the people who still believe in this
"free" society.
I want people to know that the old rule, per se, is still
being applied, "whoever has the most money makes the rules"
in this constant struggle for power at whatever cost.
--A comrade in Southwest
