From Behind Bars: "Go All In" in the Fight to Stop Mass Incarceration

The following was printed in Revolution Newspaper this week.
http://revcom.us/a/266/go-all-in-in-the-fight-to-stop-mass-incarceration-en.html

The Prisoners Revolutionary Literature Fund received the following letter from a prisoner in the Midwest:


April 10th, Tuesday 2012


To Whom This May Concern,


I'm writing to respond to the March 25th, 2012, article in the paper (NO. 263) titled "Raise the Fight to Stop Mass Incarceration to a New Level." This particular article and call comes at no better time than NOW; and I fully attach my unconditional support behind it. I'm not sure how many readers are fully cognizant of the historic importance of this determined campaign by the Party to "go all in" (to use a poker expression for a moment), but I am. By writing this letter to the Revolution, it's my hope that others will come to recognize the same significance of this stage in our development of a movement for revolution and why it's necessary to make this particular issue a principal focal point as we ultimately strive to resolve the FUNDMENTAL CONTRADICTION of this decadent system: where "[y]ou have highly socialized production, but very privatized appropriation by a small class of people called capitalists." (BAsics 3:5) As that particular quote goes on to state:

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Are Corporations Corrupting the System… Or is the Problem the System of Capitalism?

The following is a rush transcript, slightly edited, of a talk given by Raymond Lotta on October 7 at Occupy Wall Street in New York City:
My name is Raymond Lotta. I am a political economist and writer for Revolution newspaper. And I promote the new synthesis of communism of Bob Avakian.

The Occupy Wall Street movement is a great and momentous event. It is a fresh wind of resistance. We're protesting multiple outrages of this system, not just one. Occupy Wall Street is throwing up big questions about the source of these outrages and how to bring about a radically different and better world. And it's created space for us to talk about all this! So I'm really happy to be here with you
My brief talk here is titled "Are the Corporations Corrupting the System, or is the Problem the System of Capitalism."

Of course, people are right to be outraged by what the corporations and banks do.

* Look at what BP did in the Gulf of Mexico last year: It was responsible for the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history.

* People are right to be outraged by the banks which profited off financial operations that resulted in millions being evicted from their homes. And when Goldman smelled the rot of subprime lending, they moved into food commodity futures—contributing to the rise on global food prices and greater hunger and starvation for millions in the Third World.

* You know, Steve Jobs just died and he's being eulogized for his "pursuit of the dream of perfectionism." But there would be no Steve Jobs, there would be no Apple—without a global network of exploitation. I'm talking about a corporate supply chain managed from the Silicon Valley. I'm talking about contract manufacturers like Foxconn that assemble the iPhone and iPad in China—at factories where people are forced to work 60 hours a week, where they are poisoned by hazardous chemicals, denied basic rights, and where workers in desperation have committed suicide.

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Raymond Lotta at Occupy Wall Street with the Constitution of the New Socialist Republic of North America (Draft Proposal) from the Revolutionary Communist Party