Prison Letters

Revolutionary Worker #1163, August 18, 2002, posted at http://rwor.org

I am a 22-year-old captive in the dungeons of the U.S. penal system under a sentence of life without the possibility of parole. Having already committed 5-1/2 years to this place (came in at the age of 17), and having devoted myself to the task of transforming my mentality into that of a true revolutionary, I've come to the realization that this here is my immediate battlefield--i.e. assisting others in the same process. It is for this reason I write and that others like me have written before.

I am making a sincere request to be added to the Revolutionary Worker list of prison recipients. I understand that you have a discounted subscription price for prisoners. Unfortunately, I am unable to provide that at this time. Therefore, I appeal to those who may nevertheless be able to assist me. I would greatly appreciate the help.

Thank you for adding my name to the mailing list for the Revolutionary Worker. I received my first issue today. These papers are very informative. The pictures of women participating in revolutionary armed struggles are inspiring. I have a ten-year-old daughter who I send these images to. I really hate cutting these newsletters but if I send her the whole paper she'll probably never read it because of her level of political understanding at this time, although I consider her to be far more politically conscious than her peers. She has fallen in love with these pictures of women fighting for their right to self-determination. All of our women comrades in these U.$. of A need to be given a constant and healthy image of themselves engaging in revolution. And for us males, it compels us to have a greater amount of respect and revolutionary love and solidarity for women.

Also, I was able to use your paper to re-educate my sister who is currently an officer in the U.$. Army. She, like most mis-informed supporters of imperialist Amerikkka, believed that the conflict between Palestine and Israel was purely religious but after I sent her your extensive informative articles on this conflict, I was able to re-shape her opinion. Although she likes this paper, she is afraid to order it because it contains the title "Voice of the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA." I guess her reason is justified considering the U.$ currently labeling any critical thinkers as "terrorist." Sadly to say, I don't think she'll ever give up her love to the Navy or to the U.$.

As for the Draft Programme, we're still awaiting a copy to be sent to every member of our political study group so that we can implement it as a curriculum. Is it possible for you to mail us the talk by Bob Avakian, "The New Situation and the Great Challenges."

Again, I thank you for your revolutionary support and information. On behalf of my comrades here, I send my revolutionary love and solidarity. Remain strong comrades.

I just reread the interview Carl Dix did with Bob Avakian and I would like to thank them both for this great piece of literature.

I agree with everything Bob Avakian said from the way the U.S. is unjustly labeling the People's War as terrorist and the way the U.S. is exploiting September 11 to change the world for their greedy purposes.

The United States is telling the masses that they are acting in their best interests, but that's untrue. The U.S. is trading blood for oil, plain and simple--the blood of their own soldiers and the blood of civilians in foreign countries. Till this day I have not seen the President of the United States tell the masses to consume less gas and other fossil fuels. Nor do I read any articles or see anything on TV about the government funding the development of cost efficient solar-powered cars and oil free machinery for the factories. The only thing that I do see is the capitalists waging a war of aggression and spending money making commercials for gas guzzling SUVs. The only interests being served here are those of the greedy and the scared.

The United States is opening up a Pandora's Box on the world by going into countries and replacing one oppressor or another. Instead of going to countries and freeing the masses who are fighting for freedom and liberation (like in Nepal) they choose to suppress them and crush their hopes and dreams because they're fighting a Maoist revolution and not a democratic one.

"You fight at a great disadvantage against those who have nothing else to lose." I found that this saying is very true, the proof is in the L.A. riots (1992) and everyday life in prison. When the people make a stand it's very hard to stop them and soon the oppressors of the United States will learn this. The oppressed people of the world can only take so much before they decide to fight back and when they do, it'll mean the end of the empire as we know it.

I've read the Draft Programme and I reread it whenever I can't recall something. I'm trying to commit it to memory. I also read the Revolutionary Worker whenever I get them and instead of throwing them away when I'm done I pass them around to anyone who would like to read them. There's only so much I can do for the struggle behind bars, but I try to do all that I can.

Thanks very much for forwarding the RW to my new address. The RW really gives us a revolutionary outlook on our present conditions. I used to believe that it would be better to not concern myself with the struggle because I believed that the system was to big to overcome as an individual and this was a correct line of thought. However, when I read about the collective force of revolutionaries in Nepal that's fighting the reactionary force, I came to realize that it's not really hard to overcome their unjust system, if we only unite as a collective force! When I think about my life and the many forms of oppression that I have faced because of this unjust system, I come to realize the need to understand it and use this understanding to overthrow it. In many ways my lack of knowledge of revolutionary ideology has enabled this system to put me in a helpless state of mind in the past and this helpless state of mind was overcome once I found an old RW newspaper in one of these prison cells. I can't express the spirit that I felt after reading about the conditions of the people. I thought that this illness of this system was only in America, but I come to find out that it's all over the world and America is the sickness that's spreading this illness through capitalism/imperialism. Well, I am in a prison cell right now and I let other prisoners read the RW once I finish. But I am coming to realize that we are misusing the revolutionary ideology in this prison. We are trying to move ahead of the conditions. Yes, our little rebellious acts in this prison help keep our revolutionary spirit sane, but we are also realizing that these acts is what's keeping us behind these bars. So we ask ourselves how can we rebel without causing ourselves more harm than good. We come to realize that a confined group and a collective body must rebel under revolutionary lines which will cause the system to lose its power to control us by the threat of giving more time.

Therefore, we were so glad to have received a copy of the Draft Programme and we thank you for this Draft. Well, I will close at this time, but the revolutionary spirit lives on!!!

I sit and meditate that this scribe finds all of you there in the RCP in peace. My name is TRUE UNDERSTANDING ALLAH, my government fighter that knows and understands that our war is with these 10 percent bloodsuckers of the poor. Not only the ones here in the United States, but all of them worldwide. It just so happens that the U.S. is in the lead of this wolf pack, especially now.

A comrade of mine turned me on to the RW paper and I mean turned me on. This fire of mine for freedom, justice and equality was fueled by the knowledge and wisdom in your paper. My understanding of the struggle has indeed been broadened. Thank you.

My reason for writing this scribe is to first show you appreciation. Secondly I want to know is there any way I can get a subscription or somehow start receiving the Revolutionary Worker and maybe a copy of your Draft Programme. I am an indigent inmate so the funds for your paper I can't afford. I feel a need though to be in contact with the RCP. I meditate that this can happen. I know all of you must be busy there so I'll keep this scribe short. Your brother in the struggle.

I have been reading your organization's paper and it is extremely informative in an uncompromising form of journalism. I am an incarcerated Palestinian "American" Muslim. I was recently and unjustly put in segregation and transferred to this institution from another for supposedly showing dissent against certain American policies. To put it simply, I had an objective conversation about politics on September 11 and they put me in segregation for 30 days deeming this as dangerous communication. I am out of segregation now and I would like a subscription to your publication and I will send you some money when I have an opportunity to do so. Any literature would be greatly appreciated and passed on to other incarcerated like-minds. Also, do you have any information on a Palestinian communist party that was active in the 1980s? Thank you.

This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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