Revolutionary Worker #1246, July 18, 2004, posted at http://rwor.org
The following correspondence was received by the Prisoner Revolutionary Literature Fund.
Thank you and everybody at Revolution Books for the materials I've just received. One thing you need to understand is a lot of brothers are not conscious to the worldly events especially here in Pontiac C.C. Pontiac C.C. is a locked-down disciplinary prison, we are locked in our cells 24 hours a day. They only let us out once a month in outside dog cages for two hours; no TV, no radios, no phones, no contact visits, nothing. For example, brothers are just now hearing about Janet Jackson showing some skin during the Super Bowl.
I was sent down here to Pontiac back in August 2002, I have seen a lot of brothers minds be defeated and in some cases destroyed by these isolated brutal conditions. So what ends up happening is brothers start searching for a way to escape reality by drowning themselves in religion. So a lot of the debates end up being about whose god is bigger and better. Religion has been my biggest obstacle in presenting the DP and MLM literature. For the brothers who are not bound by the chains of religion and who I've been able to reach have become truly interested in learning the science of MLM, like Chairman Avakian said: " It's not just a matter of what is true; there is also the fact that social struggle--and in class society, class struggle--has to take place in order for ideas, even ones that represent profound truths, to become 'operative' in society, to be taken up and applied by society as a whole. And this gets back to Marx's insistence that the point is not merely to understand the world, but to change it."
I study every RW. I literally have legal pads of paper filled with notes I take from the RW and MLM literature so I can try to my best ability to explain communism to the brothers who are serious about breaking all chains of oppression. I've been struggling to fully understand what dialectical materialism is, through conflicts in the prevailing order, which are resolved through their synthesis into a new order.
Now here's my question. Does this mean when the working and oppressed class begin conflicting with the ruling class revolution takes place, the new order will be socialism which is the synthesis of the two classes conflicting, and then once we obtain socialism conflicts will arise that will be resolved by another synthesis which will be communism??? Can you please tell me if I'm understanding this fully???
I wish I could receive the CD that you mentioned but as I explained this is a disciplinary prison where we get nothing like that. Chairman Avakian puts everything in perspective. I study all his writings in the RW. If possible can you please send me "The Pyramid of Power & the Struggle to Turn This Whole Thing Upside Down" by Chairman Avakian in RW #1233. It says this is available at rwor.org online, I don't think I have anybody at home who has access to a computer so if possible can you please send me "The Pyramid of Power & The Struggle to Turn This Whole Thing Upside Down." Trust me I don't want to burden you or anybody at Revolution Books but it's hard for me to explain the great transformation I've going through, thanks to the RCP and RW and everybody at Revolution Books. I'm out to help contribute to changing the world.
In Unity-Struggle-Unity
*****
I need your help with this debate that is raging over here. I need you to send me, if possible, the complete series of the "Science of Evolution" by Ardea Skybreak available at rwor.org.
In my last letter, I mentioned to you how a few brothers and myself are taking religion head on. I put "Liberation Without Gods" and "The Morality That We Need" in rotation which set this debate in motion. Somehow or another the prison chaplain catches wind of this debate that is raging, so he decides that he's going to use the brothers who have been misled as a tool to undermine the whole struggle for truth. Check what this prison chaplain does, he brings two boxes of this book called Darwin Under the Microscope that is by some biologist named Gill, to pass out. I refused to take the book but I'm assuming that this Gill character is part of some type of "intelligent design committee" because brothers are reading passages of this book during this debate and all this book is doing is attempting to discredit the science of evolution.
I read a few passages out of The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin in this debate, however, I know brothers are finding The Origin of the Species book hard to grasp - so this is why I'm asking you to send me the complete series of the "Science of Evolution" cause Ardea Skybreak breaks it all down in a way that I know brothers will be able to grasp to the fullest.
A lot of these bible bangers who have been misled think this debate is about "winning or losing." I tell them this debate is about struggling for truth, I'm up against some hardcore Christians and Muslims and I'm sure this prison chaplain is going to dig up some more of these books that try to discredit evolution but by no means will I be discouraged in presenting the truth to the brothers. A lot of the questions I'm being asked pertaining to evolution I'm unable to answer because I only have a little understanding of what evolution consists of, but unlike the bible bangers who claim to have absolute answers and knowledge, it's okay for me to say I don't know at this time or I'm wrong--something religion or the bible can't do!
Well, I don't want to take up too much time, I understand that the bookstore is very busy cause like the Chairman said, "this is a time of grave dangers as well as great opportunities for the revolutionary movement."
These two quotes come out of my book called Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith.
"If devotion to truth is the hallmark of morality, then there is no greater, nobler, more heroic form of devotion than the act of a person who assumes the responsibility of thinking."
"The alleged short-cut to knowledge, which is faith, is only a short-circuit destroying the mind."
*****
Thank you and everybody at Revolution Books for the two packages of materials. I have literally turned my cell into a classroom studying the science of MLM diligently. I have a goal, and that goal is to one day be drawn forward into the ranks of the Party and continue being trained as a true communist. There is nothing more inspiring to me, than knowing I will be contributing to the uprooting of all oppression.
The science of MLM has shattered the chains that once bounded my mind to the walls of powerlessness. I'm fully aware and conscious of the only solution to this madness, and that solution is--Proletarian Revolution led by the RCP! In the past eight days two prisoners have committed suicide, one on 5-17-04 and one on 5-25-04, due to the conditions that have been systematically put in place here in Pontiac Prison.
I want to take this time to say, I truly feel and know the pain them brothers and sisters are going through in Abu Ghraib. I know what it feels like being stripped naked and beaten with oak sticks by the "orange crush teams." I know what it feels like having my genitals sprayed with mace, thrown in a cell with no running water for three days at a time while the mace continues to burn. I know what it feels like hearing the officers encourage, mentally unstable prisoners to kill themselves--even providing them with the materials to do so. I know all of this because I'm locked down in an "Abu Ghraib" right here in America! Please excuse me, I felt the need to vent some of my righteous rage!
Thank you for sending the Science of Revolution book. From reading the introduction, I know this book will further my understanding of dialectical materialism. I can only imagine the explosive power contained in the upcoming Revolution video. In due time, only if possible, I would like to receive the English version of Phony Communism Is Dead...Long Live Real Communism!, so brothers who don't know how to read spanish can grasp this very vital book. I would also like to receive Democracy: Can't We Do Better Than That? Well, take care and stay strong--once again, thank you and everybody at Revolution Books for making it possible for me to receive the materials that I have.
XXX