AA month (August) of paying tribute to the Ze, ue heroes, martyrs and history of Our :George Jackson: Black Revolutionary By Walter Rodney, November 1971 ‘To most readers inthis continent, starved of authentic information bythe imperialist news agencies, the name of George Jackson is ether unfamiliar or just a name. The powers that be inthe United States put forward the oficial version that George Jackson was a dangerous criminal kept in maximum security in ‘Americas toughest als and stil capable of killing a guard at Soledad Prison, Thay say tat he himself ‘was killed attempting escape this year in August. Oficial versions given by the United States of everything from the Bay of Pigs in Cuba tothe Bay of Tonkin in Vietnam have the common characteristic of standing iat on its ead. George Jackson was jalled ostensibly for stealing 70 dollars. He was given t sentence of one year to lft because he was blac, and he was kept incarcerated for yeas unde the most dehumanizing conditions because be discovered that blackness need not be a badge of servility but rather could be a banner for uncompromising revolutionary struggle. He was murdered because he was doing too much to pass tis attitude ont fellow prisoners. George Jackson was political prisoner anda black freedom fighter. He ded tthe hands of the enemy. ‘Onoe it is made knovn that George Jackson was a black revolutionary in the white mans jail, a least on ‘points established, since we are familiar withthe fact that a sgaitieant proportion of Afican nationalist leaders graduated fiom colonials prisons, and right now the jails of South Africa hold captive some of | the best of our brothers in that pat ofthe Continent. Furthermore, there i some considerable awareness that ever since the days of slavery the US.A. is nothin buta vast prison as far as African descendants ar ‘concerned, Within this prison, black lifes cheap, soit shouldbe no surprise that George Jackson was ‘mutdered by the San Queatinpeson authorities who are respansibe to Americas chief pison ward, Richard Nixon, What remains is © go beyond the generals and to understand the most significant cements attaching to George Jacksons life and death ‘When he was kiled in August this year, George Jackson was twenty nine years of age and had spent the lust fiteen (correction: 11 years] behind bars—seven of these in special Isolation. he himsel pu it, be ‘vas fiom the lumpen. He was not part ofthe regular producer force of workers und peasants. Being cut Off fom the syetem of production, umpen clement nthe past rarely understood the society which vietimized them and were pt o be counted upon to take organized revolutionary steps within capitalist Society. Indeed, the very tem lumpen proletariat was originally intended to convey the infviority of this sector as compared withthe authentic Working class Yet George Jackson like Malcolm X before him, educated himself painfully behind prison bars tothe point where his cleat vision of historical and contemporary realty and his ability to communicate his Perspective frightened the U.S. power structure info physically Iiquldating him. Jacksons survival for so ‘many years in vicious jail, his self-education and his publication of Soledad Brother were teraendous personal achievements, and in addition they offer on intresting insight nto the revolutionary potential 0: the black mass in the U.S.A, s0 many of whom have been reduced othe satus of lupe. Under capitalism, the worker is exploited through the alienation of par ofthe product of his Inbour. For the African peasant, the exploitation is effected through manipulation ofthe price of the erops which he laboured to produce. Yet, work has alvays been rated higher than unemployment, forthe obvious feason ‘hat survival depends upon te ability to obtain work. Thus, acy in the history of industialization, \woskers coined the slogan the right to work, Masses of Black people in the U.S.A. are deprive of this basic right. At best they live ina limbo of uncertainty as casual workers, last to be hired and first o be fired. The line between the unemployed or criminils cannot be dismissed as white Iampen in capitalist Europe were usually dismissed. ‘The latter were considered as misfits and regular foilers served as the vanguard. The thiety-odd illion black people in the U.S.A. are not misfits. They ae the most oppressed andthe most threatened far a5 survival is concemed. The greatness of George Jackson is that he served as a dynamic spokesman forthe ‘most wreiched among the oppressed, and he was inthe vanguard ofthe most dangerous front of struggle. Jails hardly an arena in which one would imagine that guerilla warfare would take place. Yet, itis on this most disadvantaged of terrains that blacks have displayed the guts to wage a war for dignity and freedom. In Soledad Brother, George Jackson movingly reveals the nature ofthis strugale a it has ‘evolved over the last few years. Some of the more recent epsodes inthe struggle at San Quentin prison ‘re worth regording, On February 27h this year, black and brown (Mexican) prisoners announced the formation ofa Third World Coalition, This came in the wake of such organizations asa Black Panthor Incidents followed. Needless to say, with white authority on the side ofthe Nazis, Afo and Mex ‘others hada very hard time. George Jackson isnot the only casualty onthe side ofthe blacks. But their ‘unity was maintained, and « majority of white prisoners either refused to support the Nazis or denounced them. So, even within prsoa walls the frst pineple to be observed was unity in struggle. Once the most ‘oppresed had taken the initiative, then they could win allies. “The struggle within the aise having wider and wider repercusions every day. Firstly, itis creating true revolutionary cadres out of more and more lumpen. This s particularly true in the jails of California, but the movement is making is impact elt everywhere from Baltimore to Texas, Brothers inside are writing poetry, essays and lees which strip white capitalist America naked. Liks the Soledad Brothers, they hve come to lam that sociology books call us antisocial and brand us criminals, wien actually the ‘riminals ae inthe socal register, The names of those who rule America areal inthe social register. Secon, itis solidifying the black community in «remarkable way. Petty bourgeois blacks also feel ‘heatened bythe manic police, judges and prison officers. Black intellectuals who used tobe completely alienated from any form of struggle excep heir personal hustle now recognize the need to ally with and take their bearings from the stret forces ofthe black unemployed, ghetto dwellers and prison inmates, ‘Thirdly, the courage of back prisoners ba elicited a esponse from white Americe. The small band of ‘white revolutionaries has taken a positive stand. The Weathermen decried Jacksons murder by placing a few bombs in given places and the Communist Party supported the demand by the blac prisoners and th Black Panther Pay thatthe murder wes tobe investigated. On a more general note white Liberal ‘America has been disturbed. The white iberals neve like tobe told that white capitalist society i too rotten to be reformed. Even the established capitalist press has eome out with exposes of prison ‘conditions, and the fascist massacres of black prisoners at AWtica prison recently brought Senator Muskie ‘outwith a ery of enough. Fourthly (and for our purposes most significantly) the effons of black prisoners end blacks in America as 1 whole have had interational repercussions. The framed charges brought against Black Panther leaders ‘nd against Angela Davis have been denounced in many pars ofthe world. Committes of defense and solidarity have been formed in places as fares Havana an Leipzig. OPAL declared August 18th as the ay of international solidarity with Afto-Americans; and significantly most of thei propaganda for this purpose ended witha call to Free All Political Prisoners For moce than a decade nov, peoples iteration movements in Vietnam, Cubs, Souther Aftiea, et. hav ‘eld conversations with militants and progressives inthe U.S.A. pointing to the duality and respective responsbiies of struggle within the imperialist camp. The revolution inthe exploited colonies und neo- colonies has us its objective the expulsion of the imperialist: dhe revolution in the metopolis isto transform the capitalist relations of production inthe countries of their origin, Since the U.S.A. isthe ‘overlord of word imperialism, it has been common to portray any progressive movement there a8 ‘operating within the belly ofthe beast. Inside an isolation block in Soledad or San Quentin prisons, this ‘was not merely a figurative expression. George Jackson knew well what it meant to seck for heightened socialist and humanist consciousness inside the belly ofthe white imperialist beast. Intsrational solidarity grows out of struggle in different localities. Ths ie the rth 20 profoundly and simply expressed by Che Guevara when he called for the creation of one, two, thre = many Vietnams. It nas long been recognized thatthe white working class inthe U.S.A is historically incapable of participating (asa class) in ant-imperalist struggle. White racism and Americas leading role in world Imperialism transformed organized labour inthe U.S into a reactionary force. Canvorsely, the black ‘sraggle i intemationally significant because it unmask th barbarous socal relations of capital and places the enemy on te defensive on his own home ground. This i amply illustrated in the political process which involved the thre Soledad Brothers—George Jackson, Feta Drumgo and John (Clutshetto—as well as Angela Davis and hos of other blacis now behind prison bars in the U.S.A. NOTE: George Jackson also authored Blood In My Eye which was published posthumousy, or aftr this article was writen SOUTH CHICAGO ABC ZINE DISTRO POB721 HOMEWOOD IL 60430