MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 295 · January 15, 2004 · Page 1

MIM Notes

Jan. 15, 2004, Nº 295

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

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ussian president Vladimir Putin

put his stamp on the Russian

parliament called the Duma in

elections December 7. The only party

receiving at-large delegates that does not

support Putin gained 12.7%--the phony

communists led by Zyuganov.

In the days leading up to elections,

MIM received a credible report which it

did not confirm that pro-Putin activists

associated the Yabloko ("Apple") party

with Chechen "terrorists" in the media.

Putin controls most of the mass media,

so outside observors criticized the Russian

election campaign for the information that

voters received.

The pro-Western Liberal parties

received no at-large faction rights in the

Duma by virtue of falling below 5% of

the vote. However, Zyuganov claims that

an independent tally shows that Putin's

party stuffed the ballot box to deprive the

Liberals.(1) On the other hand, none of

the critics are saying the two Liberal

parties received much more than 6%

apiece in any case.

We received the following report from

Chairpersyn Dar Zhutayev of the Russian

Maoist Party. "Only four parties made it

to the Duma, out of which 3 are 100%

pro-Kremlin and far-right politically:

`United Russia'--the official pro-Putin

party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky's `Liberal-

Democratic' Party (you must have heard

about it), and a new bloc called `Rodina'

(`Motherland'), artificially composed by

the Kremlin's political technologists out

of ex-Soviet generals and industrialists,

Orthodox clericals and Russian fascists

plus some bought-off labor leaders and

espousing an ideology they call `people's

patriotism.' The fourth party is

Zyuganov's `Communist' Party that has

suffered a very serious setback as

he New York Times recently

published excerpts from an FBI

memo that confirmed what many

anti-war protestors already knew:

Amerikan police have stepped up

surveillance and harassment of anti-war

protestors.(1) In an effort to rebut the

Times' article, the FBI published the full

text of the memo along with a point-by-

point response.(2) However, close reading

of the memo only confirms the suspicions

of activists and the Times (see the memo

on page 9).

The FBI memo outlined a number of

"tactics which have been observed by

U.S. and foreign law enforcement

agencies while responding to criminal

activities conducted during protests and

demonstrations." These "tactics"

included "[using] the internet to recruit,

raise funds and coordinate [protestors']

activities prior to demonstrations" and

"surveillance of sites prior to

demonstrations." The FBI also cited

"videotaping" as an example of what it

called "intimidation techniques" used by

protestors. The memo closed with an

exhortation to report suspicious activity

to the FBI's Joint Terrorism task force.

FBI officials quoted in the Times' article

admitted some of the information in the

memo was gathered using informants.

The FBI's response argued that the FBI

did not advocate spying on political

protestors per se, rather, it had focused

on "identifying anarchists and `extremist

elements' [allegedly] plotting violence."

Even if this were the case, the memo's

broad definition of "violence"--including

peaceful civil disobedience tactics such

as humyn chains and sit-down strikes--

as well as its insistence that legal protests

could be used as a cover for "violent"

actions is sure to have a "very serious

chilling effect," as a professor of

Shut Down the

Control Units!

More on the

ongoing campaign,

pages 3 and 4.

Police, with FBI, step up

surveillance, harassment

of anti-war protestors

constitutional law quoted by the Times

put it. "If you go around telling people,

`We're going to ferret out information on

demonstrations,' that deters people.

People don't want their names and faces

in FBI files."

Although the FBI claimed, "we do not

investigate or maintain dossiers on

persons because of their `political

activities,'" it did not deny gathering

information on individuals who attended

rallies that could potentially facilitate

"extremist activity" (in the FBI's

judgment). This is a formalistic argument,

since once the information has been

gathered it can be used for any purpose.

Protestors are right to suspect such

information will be used for no good, given

the COINTELPRO-era abuses of the

FBI (up to and including murder), the

domestic spying of past presidents like

Nixon, as well

as the record of

the current chief

of "law

enforcement,"

John Ashcroft.

Furthermore,

since the FBI is

Continued on

page 9...

Continued on page 6...

VLADIMIR

PUTIN LINES

UP SUPPORT

MIM Notes 295 · January 15, 2004 · Page 2

What is MIM?

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is the collection of existing or emerging

Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-

speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Maoist Internationalist
parties in Belgium, France and Quebec and the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking
Maoist Internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.$. Empire.

MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-speaking
parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM upholds the revolutionary communist ideology
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and is an internationalist organization that works from the

vantage point of the Third World proletariat. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all
groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possibly by
building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for

North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to
maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main
questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the

potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the
death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang

of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance
of communism in humyn history. (3) As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM has
reiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the Third

World and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole populations of oppressor nation so-
called workers. These so-called workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-
bourgeoisie called the labor aristocracy. These classes are not the principal vehicles to

advance Maoism within those countries because their standards of living depend on
imperialism. At this time, imperialist super-profits create this situation in the Canada, Quebec,
the United $tates, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland,

Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden and Denmark. MIM accepts people as
members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system
of majority rule, on other questions of party line.

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should

regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of
learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution."

- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208.

Editor, MC206; Production, MC12

Letters

MIM Notes

The Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement

ISSN 1540-8817

MIM Notes is the bi-weekly newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement. MIM

Notes is the official Party voice; more complete statements are published in our journal,
MIM Theory. Material in MIM Notes is the Party's position unless noted. MIM Notes
accepts submissions and critiques from anyone. The editors reserve the right to edit
submissions unless permission is specifically denied by the author; submissions are
published anonymously unless authors insist on identification (prisoners are never
identified by name). MIM is an underground party that does not publish the names of its
comrades in order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historically
been directed at communist parties and anti-imperialist movements. MCs, MIM comrades,
are members of the Party. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is an anti-
imperialist mass organization led by MIM (RCs are RAIL Comrades). MIM's ten-point
program is available to anyone who sends in a SASE.

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For general correspondence, contact:

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WWW: <http//www.etext.info/Politics/MIM>

Kucinich not so bad?

I read in your Nov. 1, '03 MIM notes

that you interviewed Dennis Kucinich last

month and found him to be "the most

dangerous" because he would "fool

otherwise progressive people into serving

imperialistic goals." And that Dean also

has a following among progressives.

WHAT? Please go look at Dennis'

website at www.Kucinich.us. Nowhere

does it say he supports imperialism!! He

voted against the Iraq war, against the

Patriot Act, against NAFTA, against

GATT. He is for peace, a Peace Dept.,

for the US signing treaties with the rest

of the world, for being a good world

neighbor, and for every progressive cause

you can think of, including workers'

rights. So what are you talking about?!

Also, Dean is in support of imperialism

thru his support for the war. I would really

appreciate a response from someone,

because I think your statements about

Dennis are unfounded.

--Incredulous on the INTERNET

MIM responds: If only reactionaries

wore t-shirts saying, "I'm a reactionary!"

Of course they don't. Some of them even

find it useful to wear t-shirts saying, "I

am most assuredly NOT a reactionary.

Really." In fact, our lengthy review of

Kucinich (which the letter-writer

apparently has not yet read) was inspired

by a confrontation with a Kucinich

supporter who claimed to be "practically

a communist" (see MIM Notes 288, 1

Oct 2003, pp. 3-5).

Kucinich supporters who honestly

consider themselves anti-imperialists need

to do some serious re-thinking on a

number of issues, a few of which we list

here.

First, whatever his rhetoric, consider

Kucinich's track record. As we recapped

in MIM Notes 288, "Kucinich voted for

the `Iraq Liberation Act of 1998' that

declared it should be the policy of the U.$.

to remove Saddam Hussein's regime from

power. Further, on his web site Kucinich

reprints speeches in which he declares

his support of the state of Israel in its

terrorist war against the Palestinian

people. And of course, like all the other

good imperialist governing officials in

congress (with the sole exception of

California Democrat Barbara Lee),

Kucinich voted for the September 14,

2001 resolutions authorizing the

administration to use nearly unlimited

force in response to the September 11

attacks."

Then there is the deeper issue of

Amerika-first chauvinism in the name of

the rights of "labor." MIM's problem with

Kucinich on this issue is the same as

MIM's problem with the anti-NAFTA and

anti-WTO movements in general. They

focus on the Amerikan workers getting a

bad deal because jobs are going to other

countries where labor is cheaper. This

position fosters national chauvinism, telling

workers here they deserve to keep their

jobs at high wages. MIM says the

capitalists need to be stopped from

exploiting Third World workers, but it is

not trade agreements that are causing this,

and we certainly don't think Amerikan

workers deserve better jobs and higher

wages than the rest of the world.

Kucinich falls just short of calling for

sealed borders to protect Amerikan jobs

from those damn immigrants. As a

"progressive" candidate he is walking

dangerously close to the extreme right

protectionist wing of the bourgeoisie on

this question.

MIM has written extensively on the

"anti-globalization" movement since 1995

(see e.g. MIM Notes 96, Jan 1995) and

the political economy of the Amerikan

"working class" for well over a decade

(see MIM Theory 1 and "Imperialism and

its class structure," http://www.etext.info/

Politics/MIM/mt/imp97/index.html).

Finally, as we discuss in the review of

Kucinich and the article on overall

imperialist political reality that appears on

page 4 of this issue, it is unrealistic to

expect to be able to make long-lasting

anti-imperialist gains in the Amerikan

electoral arena. Even the mealy-mouthed

Kucinich has no chance at the

Democratic nomination. Anti-imperialists

have to consider where their time would

be better spent: working on a campaign

that at best will get a few half-hearted

rhetorical flourishes on C-SPAN and at

worst will be "progressive" window-

dressing for a decidedly non-progressive

party, OR doing their own thing the right

way. It is better to start small and

unpopular and develop the anti-imperialist

movement than to trade scarce resources

for small temporary political gains.

And for the record, MIM agrees that

Howard Dean also supports imperialism.

MIM does not endorse any presidential

candidates from any party.

Kucinich with AFL-CIO leaders Rich Trumka (left) and John Sweeney.

MIM Notes 295 · January 15, 2004 · Page 3

by Web Minister

December 7 2003

You may have noticed the home page redesign that

we just initiated. It's an example of a typical process

going on at MIM involving input.

A volunteer sent in the home page redesign. At first, I

was skeptical--above all because the belief that home

pages or how they arrange the "real estate" is important

tends to be misguided. I would estimate that over 90%

of our users do not go through a logical process of

starting at the web home page and going through the

content from there.

The plus side of the redesign that it takes up less space

has the down side that visually impaired people will not

see some of the smaller items. In the old home page

there was an excellent chance that the reader would

never scroll down to see all the items, but there were

big graphics relative to the new page.

Finally, I put this whole idea in cold storage a couple

months when I realized that the proportion of the "real

estate" dedicated to non-English languages was less

than in the previous home page. The big advantage of

organizing into subtopics seemed offset by the difficulty

that non-English languages were growing faster and

becoming more important than English.

Nonetheless, the redesign is here finally put into

practice. This gives an example of the reality of decision-

making I do. I did not have a strong opinion one way or

another on the new home page idea. I'm predicting that

you the readers do not either, but if you do, go ahead

and send your opinions to mim3@mim.org. Also, if you

want to look at the old home page, it's at http://

www.etext.info/Politics/MIM/oldstyleindex.html

MIM unveils new internet home page

MIM's online petition against isolation

prisons or Control Units has garnered

widespread support. People from nine

U.$. states have signed and commented

favorably on the petition. At least two

people from abroad (Italy and UK)

havealso signed.

As the petition explains, "Control units

may vary from prison to prison but they

can be generally characterized as:

Permanently designated prisons or cells

in prisons that lock prisoners up in solitary

or small group confinement for 22 or more

hours a day with no congregate dining,

exercise or other services, and virtually

no programs for prisoners. Prisoners are

placed in control units for extended

periods of time.

"Prisoners are usually placed in control

units as an administrative measure, with

no clear rules governing the moves. This

makes it virtually impossible for prisoners

to challenge their placement.

"While conditions vary from prison to

prison, the goal of these units is always

to achieve the spiritual, psychological and

physical breakdown of the prisoner."

Many of the signatories had persynal

experience with Control Units.

My boyfriend is currently dealing

with the isolation issues of the imu

units. --A signatory from

Washington

My son was sentenced to a one

year SHU term at Corcoran that

lasted five and a half years. Inmate

testimony disproved his accusation

but it didn't matter ... He was

released from SHU in July, 2003 and

is still recovering from the

dehumanizing treatment. --A

signatory from California

I have dealt with having a husband

in Ad-Seg now for almost 2 years for

charges the prison has brought up on

him while in the hole. He has often

told me of misuse of authority within

Pelican Bay State Prison. He has

often been denied the small amount

of time allowed to be outside of ad-

seg along with other inmates. The

officials feel as though they can run

their own justice system within the

prison and it is not fair. Now he states

that they are building smaller more

confined cells to further demoralize

the prisoners. I on the other hand have

to find and sign petitions to stop this

when it should be done by

government officials who obviously

do not care about what is happening

in California's Prison systems. This

is not the first and will not be the last

petition I sign. How come only the

prisoners and their loved ones see

what is going on and not government

officials? -- Another signatory from

California

Other signatories commented on the

hypocrisy of pro-Amerikan, "land-of-the-

free" rhetoric when Amerika imprisons

more people per capita than any other

nation. In fact, it has led the world in per-

capita imprisonment for most of the last

25 years--so when the rednecks tell us

we are lucky to live in a "free country"

we have to think they live in an Orwellian

situation where freedom is

imprisonment.(1)

Is this what we all call America?

Liberty and Justice? -- Hawaii

No matter what name you call it,

Petition: `Shut Down All Prison Control Units'

Continued on next page...

http://www.etext.info/Politics/MIM/agitation/prisons/controlunits/

MIM Notes 295 · January 15, 2004 · Page 4

The Exonerated
written by Jessica Blank
and Erik Jensen

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen wrote

this off-Broadway play after traveling

across the United $tates interviewing

former death row inmates who were

found innocent after spending between

two and twenty-two years on death row.

Six of these interviews formed the core

of The Exonerated, supplemented with

information from courthouse records to

create a compelling story of Amerikan

injustice.

The play sounds much like the stories

we read on the pages of Under Lock and

Key in each issue of MIM Notes. The

three Black men featured in the play were

arrested and convicted solely because

they were Black with either no evidence,

or clear evidence proving their innocence.

Two men were tortured or tricked into

confessing to crimes they didn't commit.

And one womyn was convicted because

the man who committed the crime (and

who subsequently kidnapped her family)

struck a plea bargain in return for

testimony against her and her husband.

In each case the eagerness of the police

and others in the criminal injustice system

to get a conviction, for the sake of

publicity, clearly contributed to the

wrongful convictions. If nothing else the

cases demonstrated the inability of the

criminal injustice system to give anyone

a fair arrest, trial, or sentencing.

But the play is not just about injustice,

it is also a story of hope as several of the

former death row inmates tell of their

successful struggle to get off death row

even after years behind bars. Several of

those wrongly convicted were not

released immediately after evidence

surfaced clearly proving their innocence,

but instead they had to fight for years to

get out.

The lives of those wrongly placed on

death row are not the only ones affected.

As The Exonerated demonstrates, the

families of the prisoners suffered as well.

And upon release, after years of lockup

for their wrongful conviction, the prisoners

were given no compensation. And their

return to society was anything but easy.

Several spoke of the difficulty they had

even interacting with other people. One

man who rode horses for a living before

being wrongly convicted of murder was

unable to get a license to ride again

because on his application he said he had

never been convicted of a crime (they

claimed he had lied even though his

conviction had been overturned).

The play is a good education for those

unfamiliar with the Amerikan criminal

injustice system. And it's a good argument

the hole is still the hole and violates

the 8th Amendment. -- Oregon

One signatory said s/he agreed with

Control Units in principle, but disagreed

with them in practice.

I was for Prison Control Units--

until the misuse and abuse spread to

other non-heinous and much-less-

dangerous inmates and prisons. Until

there's an active, effective

government board or control

organization to regularly oversee, and

stop abuse on innocent (non-violent

and/or non-heinous-killer inmates), I

want all P.C.U.'s shut down. I have

no problem with murderous gang

killers of innocent people and child

murders being regularly sent to the

P.C.U.; I protest innocent people and

non-violent people being sent to that

place. Remove them. -- California

This persyn has made an important leap

that most Amerikans have not: s/he's

looked past the rhetoric to the reality.

Even accepting the bourgeoisie's own

definitions of freedom and democracy,

capitalist reality falls far short of these

ideals.(2) Prison administrators say

control units in particular aim to reduce

violence among prisoners and prisons in

general aim to reduce crime. The truth is

Petition

Continued from previous page...

Death penalty play exposes injustice system

for why the Amerikan system is in no

position to be administering the death

penalty to anyone. It should be easy for

people to take the short step from these

stories of death row inmates to the stories

of other people sentenced to prison to

realize that there are many people

unjustly locked up. This is what leads

MIM to the conclusion that all prisoners

are political prisoners: arrests, trials, and

sentences are all a part of a political

system that is at root entirely unjust. For

MIM the next step of logic is clear: the

entire system cannot be fixed and must

be overthrown. In the short run we fight

battles for reforms to improve the lives

of our comrades behind bars, shorten

sentences, and stop the death penalty in

Amerika, but in the long term we must

overthrow the entire criminal injustice

system.

"The Exonerated" opened in New

York in 2002 and played throughout

the United $tates in 2003. Venues

scheduled for 2004 include Phoenix

and Fort Worth.

Actors who have performed or are scheduled to appear in the play include Brian

Dennehy, Marlo Thomas (left), and Alanis Morisette.

that control units do not reduce violence

in prisons, evidenced by the infamous

guard-organized "humyn cock fights" in

California's Corcoran prison. Nor are

control units reserved for "the most

violent prisoners." The rules governing

control unit censoring are arbitrary, and

guards use the threat of transfer to silence

criticism.

Further, the imprisonment rate in

Amerika is not correlated with the crime

rate--meaning "tough on crime"

imprisonment policies do not reduce

crime. Economic factors such as

joblessness are correlated with the crime

rate, however. This is why those

Amerikans willing to make a fearless

examination of the facts will see not only

that the Amerikan injustice system is not

addressing the roots of crime while

imprisoning many innocents--but also

that socialism is superior to capitalism

when it comes to solving these problems.

Militarism is war-mongering or the

advocacy of war or actual carrying out

of war or its preparations.

While true pacifists condemn all

violence as equally repugnant, we

Maoists do not consider self-defense

or the violence of oppressed nations

against imperialism to be militarism.

Militarism is mostly caused by

imperialism at this time. Imperialism

is the highest stage of capitalism--

seen in countries like the United

$tates, England and France.

Under capitalism, capitalists often

profit from war or its preparations.

Yet, it is the proletariat that does the

dying in the wars. The proletariat

wants a system in which people do not

have self-interest on the side of war-

profiteering or war for imperialism.

Militarism is one of the most

important reasons to overthrow

capitalism. It even infects oppressed

nations and causes them to fight each

other.

It is important not to let capitalists

risk our lives in their ideas about war

and peace or the environment. They

have already had two world wars

admitted by themselves in the last 100

years and they are conducting a third

right now against the Third World.

Even a one percent annual chance of

nuclear war destruction caused by

capitalist aggressiveness or "greed" as

the people call it should not be tolerated

by the proletariat. After playing

Russian Roulette (in which the bullet

chamber is different each time and not

related at all to the one that came up in

previous spins) with 100 chambers and

one bullet, the chance of survival is

only 60.5% after 50 turns. In other

words, a seemingly small one percent

annual chance of world war means

eventual doom. After 100 years or turns

of Russian Roulette, the chances of

survival are only 36.6%. After 200

years, survival has only a 13.4%

chance.

What is militarism?

MIM Notes 295 · January 15, 2004 · Page 5

"Measure of Man" (2003)
BMG

reviewed by MC5,

November 2003

For those readers lucky enough not

to be bombarded by the Amerikan FOX

channel's press releases, Clay Aiken

was runner up in a popular televised

singing competition. His album is also

a big hit. We review him here because

of this popularity.

Upon first listening to this album one

could think that if only the words changed

a little, Clay Aiken would be another

Christian rock effort. The music tries to

be uplifting and innocent relative to

pornopop. There are no lyrics to any

religious effect: they are all silly love

songs.

When one opens the CD album jacket

suspicions are confirmed. The jacket

starts out "Thank you, God the Alpha"

and ends "and again, Jesus Christ, the

Omega, for giving me gifts far beyond

what I deserve, and allowing me to do

what I truly enjoy doing. my life is in your

hands."

This is predictable because there is

such a thing as a science of political

matters which include religion and social

attitudes. The music is 1980s. One will

hear Cher belting out a ballad without the

benefit of being an early female rock star.

"Journey" is another sound one might

think of. This sort of music has received

a level of acceptance in the soft to medium

rock category.

The point is that the music is a music

of a contentment and even when

discussing a girlfriend's depression or

disappointment, the song is upbeat and

supportive. Though Clay Aiken is 24, his

hairstyle is boyish and we imagine he has

some following among teenage girls. He

came to fame through that unusual

method of winning a TV amateur contest

on "American Idol." Looking even more

boyish than on the CD, an interview for

Fox News(1) says that the last concert

he went to was James Taylor, another

singer of contentment. As MIM has

pointed out, one need not be a capitalist

or even a petty-bourgeois to be content

with the existing patriarchy--romance

culture--especially if one is young and

considered attractive.

Upbeat, innocent and content music

points disproportionately to Amerikan

Christians. Jesus Christ himself was a

revolutionary, but today Christianity is a

culture of contentment. Evanescence

tries to walk that line between Christian

contentment and conservatism on the one

hand and edgy music on the other hand

and found it does not work. The band's

"Metamorphosis" (2003)
Buena Vista Records

reviewed by MC5

November 2003

With Britney Spears becoming

definitively adult and her teeny-bopper

days receding in memory the capitalists

decided there was room for another

younger one. So they created Hillary

Duff.

In the formula for the creation of a

pornopop diva, the teenager or 20ish

singer has to have a sweeping popularity

among teens. After the albums that a

teenager can turn out are done, the pop

star turns to more adult themes when it

becomes necessary.

That's why this album is titled

"Metamorphosis." The emphasis is on the

teenager becoming the adult.

For those young people in love with

Hillary Duff or her music, it will be

difficult to understand that she is nothing

new. We do not mean that by any way of

persynal insult (and we do not know Duff

at all, so there could hardly be anything

persynal about it) as that is standard for

the industry raking in the millions.

For the young persyn, his or her

awakening to music or rock in particular

may be new and a profound experience.

That does not make Hillary Duff new.

She is just playing the exact same role

played by others before her. Rock coming

out in the 1950s and early 1960s was

"new." There is nothing new lyrically or

musically in Hillary Duff's 2003 album.

The instrumental background is much

more involved and a faster kind of rock

than what will come later in a J. Lo type

album. It reflects energy, awakening and

vitality. The lazy lounging aspect of sex

as in much pornopop where we hear only

a drum beat accompanied by what could

be misconstrued as phone sex is not here

in Hillary Duff's "Metamorphosis."

As is fitting for someone with a Disney

contract, "Metamorphosis" is low on the

pornography quotient relative to

Amerikkkan standards; although even so,

it will be too much for many Third World

parents thinking about their teens.

"So Yesterday" sounds pretty innocent,

but it could be construed to be about a

boyfriend who left and now she is keeping

his pants, which makes you wonder how

she got them. There is no definitive

answer and that is the point in this album.

If there is any sexual innuendo, it is

indirect.

"Come Clean" seems to be about

strivings for change and going out--young

people socializing. "Workin' It Out" is

moody flightiness: "Some days I want to

fly/Some days it all makes sense to me/

Some days I just don't want to know

why."

"Little Voice" is about the power of her

interest in a boy that appears like a voice

in her head. Apparently they've broken

up and "there are some things a girl won't

do."

The same thing occurs in "Anywhere

But Here." "Trying to catch your eye . .

. When you look at me suddenly it's

clear."

"Metamorphosis" is basically about

teenage girls with interest in boys. As

many Amerikkkan parents

are oppressively afraid of

gays/lesbians, they often hope

that their teenage daughters

will have a social experience

like that promoted by Hillary

Duff. Some of these same

backward parents would be

the first to say that public

discussion of homosexuality is

"pushing" homosexuality,

while constant airplay of

songs like Hillary Duff's are

not "pushing" heterosexuality.

For MIM, the truth is that

heterosexuality is "pushed"

much more and from an early

age than gay/lesbian lifestyle.

Overall, there is not much

to say about this album positively or

negatively. While Iraqi teenagers are

figuring out how to kill wealthier and

technologically superior U.$. troops

occupying their country, most

Amerikkkan teenagers are like Hillary

Duff singing, "Sweet sixteen/Gonna

spread my wings. . .Drivin' down to the

club where we go to dance. . . Bright

stars shine above me/My blonde hair is

everywhere." Although change is the

subject of the album, it is the contented

sort distracting youth from real challenges

that require their energy.

Hilary Duff: contentment for teenage girls

vocalist Amy Lee is now trying to move

her band over to her real audience. At

the moment, we do not know how well

that is going to work going forward.

Despite his own upbeat and straight

music, Clay Aiken was the product of a

failed marriage and a father that called

him a "mistake."(2) People like Clay

Aiken are exactly the proof that

Christianity does not provide solutions to

real problems. Amerikkkans are much

more devout in their Christianity than

Europeans, but Amerikkkans still have

the huge and growing problem of

disappearing fathers. Preaching obviously

has not worked and in this strange world

with so many children of broken families,

the Amerikkkans are not ready to go on

to communal or even more socialized

child rearing. There are still lots of doubts

about leaving children with daycare, so

Amerikkkans are stuck in their

conservative thoughts unable to move

forward but also unable to sustain the

family their Christian preachers tell them

about--having the worst of both worlds

in doubts about socialism and inability to

do things the old way. These preachers

are only prolonging the agony of transition

to what has to come through revolution.

Clay Aiken calls himself a "nerd" and

his former job was taking care of autistic

children. We don't find anything

intellectual in the album. The least silly of

the songs on the album is "Measure of a

Man." It could be taken as a criticism of

heterosexual wimmin as they exist in the

imperialist countries today or anywhere

that money is the reason for attraction:

"If one day you discover him/

Broken down he's lost everything/

No cars, no fancy clothes to make him

who he's not/

The woman at his side is all that he has

got/

Why do you ask him move to heaven

and earth/

To prove his love has worth?"

The references to cars and fancy

clothes could be taken to mean that Clay

Aiken is asking wimmin why they care

so much whether a petty-bourgeois

becomes a little higher in class standing.

MIM pushes this question further and

asks whether desire is really a

construction of capitalism, since we know

that capitalism intertwines sex and money

even more than previous class societies.

This is something about people today that

will not disappear with criticism of

lifestyles. It will require the armed

criticism of revolution.

Clay Aiken's silly love songs

MIM Notes 295 · January 15, 2004 · Page 6

One of the leading obstacles to a

proletarian internationalist line in Russia

is the belief that Russians became poor

because they subsidized the rest of the

republics in the Soviet Union and

WARSAW as a whole. When it came to

why the Brezhnev Soviet Union was not

social-imperialist, revisionist fools stepped

forward to say that the Russian people

subsidized poorer countries like Cuba and

even richer ones like Czechoslovakia.

This line took hold in the Russian labor

aristocracy and spread false

consciousness among the Russian

proletarians. The same revisionists are no

where to be found today to explain why

the Russian economy collapsed so badly

when all its inter-republic and international

trade agreements collapsed.

It's very similar to the line of many and

maybe most deluded Amerikkkan labor

aristocrats who believe the United $tates

is the most generous country in the world.

Without much concern, they believe that

Amerikkkan military aid is some kind of

benefit to starving Third World peoples

provided out of the largesse of overtime

shifts of tax-paying Amerikkkan truckers,

instead of a subsidy to U.$. corporations

that receive the purchase orders for

weapons and services delivered to select

scoundrels in governments around the

world willing to serve the Amerikkkan

master.

Within bourgeois economics concerning

the division of labor--and bourgeois

economics is all we can reference in

connection to the Soviet Union in the

Brezhnev era--all economies do better

the more they trade, if each trader exports

goods that it is relatively (not even

absolutely) efficient in producing. When

nationalities go off to their republics to

stare at their navels and trade agreements

fall apart because of associated national

conflicts and the overall collapse of the

USSR, the bourgeois economy suffers

and that would be true of any economy,

socialist or bourgeois. We would only

point out that periodic national conflicts

causing a contraction in the economy are

inevitable under capitalism and only

communism is the sure-fire basis for free

trade.

When MIM says it is for national

liberation struggles, that means genuine

national liberation struggles that weaken

imperialism and create operating room

for smaller nations. We are not for

switching imperialist partners and cutting

off economic relations with neighbors.

One's neighbors will always be the most

logical trade partners in a bourgeois or

socialist world until transportation is free

as in a Star Trek transporter beam.

Currently, the ex-Soviet people are in

the stranglehold of various ideas of

political economy spread by the West and

Brezhnev revisionism. A decade of wild

capitalism did not produce the overnight

economic success that many thought it

would based on a simple comparison of

U.$. living standards and Russian living

standards. That comparison in the back

of the minds of the Russian people and

people around the world is the wrong

comparison. The United $tates was also

richer than Russia before 1917. It is not

a fair race where one competitor starts a

step from the finish line while the other

starts 1000 meters away. The many

Chinese, Russians and others who thought

that the Gorbachev road would bring a

better living standard to Russia should by

now confess to their scientific error and

do more to study relative economic

development.

The reason for the popular

misconception is a misunderstanding of

how U.$. and Russian wealth came