From a Prisoner:

On the Struggle of the California Prisoners

May 18, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Revolutionary Greetings,

I just finished reading the statement sent by CDCR [California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation] SHU prisoners ("Peaceful Protest to Resume July 8, 2013, if Demands Are Not Met") and I wanted to express the following. First, I would like to say that I'm glad that SHU prisoners haven't given up on the struggle. For, there are many people, to quote Frederick Douglass, "who profess to favor freedom and yet depreciate agitation. They want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning."

Now, I would like to tell the SHU prisoners that even if the CDCR does grant some of the demands, that they shouldn't be seen as the end to the struggle—they should be seen only as the first positive step towards the long and strenuous struggle that awaits us. For the CDCR, is but a mere institution from the whole repressive apparatus of the capitalist/imperialist system. Our struggle should always be anti-capitalist, and our final goal to overthrow the capitalist/imperialist system, and the dismantling of all their institutions. Or, whatever gains we accomplish will always be temporary and in the end insufficient for true human liberation/freedom. Marx stated in his concluding sentence of Value, Price and Profit, “Instead of the conservative motto: 'A fair day's wages for a fair day's work!' They (the working class) ought to inscribe on their banner the revolutionary watchword: abolition of the wages system!"

So I say: "instead of saying; 'reform the CDCR into a rehabilitative system,' we should say: abolition of the prison industrial complex! Abolition of the Capitalist/imperialist system!"

In Solidarity,

CA, 5/5/13

Send us your comments.

If you like this article, subscribe, donate to and sustain Revolution newspaper.