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Jones: –on two fronts. (tape edit) We have been informed by high level sources that Guyana (unintelligible word) have been singled out for attack by nonetheless [nothing else] than the US imperialist government, although it will be in the form of harassment. So it is pointless for us to try to defend cases in court that are controlled by the fascist systems, where the district attorney in one county openly said he was aiding someone steal a piece of our property – an air compressor – because we were gone, and the white resident that purchased our warehouse was there in Redwood Valley. Fine way to make law. So we are not going to defend these cases. We’re going to forget them, and our present plan (unintelligible, sounds like “but I’m going to venture in faith”) had been tight-fisted and frugal so I could plan months and months ahead of guaranteed survival. But perhaps some of you’ll become creative and do more to think how you can make money. We know that the rope, if you can produce it, Ken Norton undertook, can having a raving success. It’s a great need. That we’ve determined. If we can get the plywood going, the government’s assured us that we can get supply and not have to send it to Suriname.
Guyana has been singled out by Suriname, backed by fascist elements in Brazil, for aggravation on their border. However, even the enemies of Guyana, the Caribbean Contact says, that the Afro-Guyanese military units are quite able to cope with both resistance to the socialist one-party government planned in the referendum and outside dangers. The Guyana Defense Force has the capability for doing so. Time will tell, said the Caribbean Contact. In relation to Suriname, in spite of backing of fascist elements in Brazil, and Dutch elements of NATO – Holland, it’s one of the puppets of US imperialism – the Guyana army has a history on its side.
Nine years ago, paratroops swooped from the air to dislodge an invading occupation forth– an invading occupation force in southeastern Guyana, taking some 6000 square miles of Guyana’s 83,000 miles– square miles of territory. However, the paratroopers swooped down. In three hours, they put the Suriname soldiers to shameful flight, captured all equipment, houses, stores, and farms in the area.
This renewed resistance from fascist elements will perhaps be harassing only, in the courting of the– the opinion of most authorities. Admittedly, the new resistance has come out of the fact that Prime Minister [Forbes] Burnham has been stating a absolute goal of socialism, both now and forevermore in Guyana. Burnham’s recent visits to the Soviet Union, the spiritual motherland and avant garde of Marxist-Leninist liberation, freedom of peoples everywhere. His visit to North Korea, the DBQ– D– DPRK, Communist North Korea, that has entered into many trade agreements with Guyana, and East Germany, the modern Communist state, has done likewise. And his later assertions– that is, Dr. Burnham, our prime minister, that he is a Marxist most decidedly would not have won friends with the stronghanded rightwing military regime of President Erneste– Ernesto Geisel in Brazil.
Guyana and Suriname have been in dispute for a long time over a large triangle of land and wide river, but Guyana has held its own well, capturing various aggressive naval vessels of Suriname’s capitalist regime, and has maintained control of its own territory, and have asserted their courage by enforcing – Guyana has – its 200-mile maritime boundary law. It snared the fascist South Korean ships operating in Guyana’s waters illegally, pulled in as well Suriname naval vessel, in which the [Henck] Arron right wing government had a personal stake. All the captains were heavily fined and the vessels of Suriname have been confiscated in Georgetown. Some have grossly in this community underestimated the Guyana Defense Force. It is a long article, showing the tremendous strength and capability of paratroop attack against their enemies.
We will become most essential in these times, because we are on the border of Venezuela, in which there has been no immediate dispute, but past disputes have existed. Our presence here as US citizens in solidarity is a deterrent to any intrusion by Vietnam– by Venezuela rather, on this Guyanese territory. So we have great security in Guyana and great purpose.
We must be productive, though. It’s only out of love to create solidarity, more time for study in relaxed environment, our plans include a park, up all night going through plans of increased food cost, building of new library, school, and as I said, giving housing so that each family will be taking pride in their yards and their homes. We will begin a crash program immediately, if we see people showing appreciation today by extra work undertaking. But we must have now your reflections, some are still meeting, little groups, singularly, negative comments which will help us not at all. I love you, and I’m trying to build the best society. And when I can get one front and the enemy behind us, we will be in much better shape, strength will be renewed, and I don’t have to worry about our loved ones back there. The order has gone, the busses are readied, the first third of our people will be leaving within hours. So show that you concern yourself with this new day, that we will reduce work schedule, increase leisure, one of the dormitory units will be vacated with the new housing, one will be turned into a geriatric hospital, one will be vacated for the video films and movies, so it’ll save our equipment. We will attempt to have a library, and we will help fulfill the plan for sports field, but we’ve got much to undertake. We must get our people to freedom. Certainly we’re not looking for bourgeoisie comfort, but we want as many benefits of socialism as possible.
There is a humane socialism here, the best medical care, and I’m counting on you not to waste, we still have dishes, things that’re being left here and there, we still have waste, I urge every department to show that you’re interested in such a change and to prove in these four hours today that you can produce more than you ordinarily would ever produce in four hours, setting to me a model that with this incentive of less hours, more leisure time for relaxed study in Marxist-Leninism, once we get our whole group here and a common knowledge, then there won’t have to be the pressure of increased news content.
If there’re any questions, any criticisms, please, any suggestions for making money, get them to us immediately. As I said, I’ve been up (stretches out word) all night, so many nights, we been, some of us, all night, looking at the new plans, Comrade engineer [Bob] Christian will have it on the wall soon, the new layout, you can see your community. You won’t have all the hundred houses shown clearly, but you will see the plots, you will see the factories, the sewing quarters, the warehouses, and other facilities, a park shall be made towards the left of Lynetta’s path [named after Lynetta Jones] with benches, we want to put that on our priority, we’re talking about a million dollars of construction improvements, a million dollars of faith that all of us are going to get into this thing, now with less crowding, there’ll be more sexual involvement. You must look into the most practical means, medical department, of birth control, you must get me figures, because as there’s more time, there will be those that will take advantage and there will be sexual involvement that could lead to pregnancy. Sexual involvement is not our concern, but pregnancies en masse would not be beneficial at this time. But if we can relax the crowding, all of you will find this is the best heaven you could build on earth.
Clashes continue in Chad between Libya, Cuba and western imperialism, open conflict, confrontation. In Rhodesia and Mozambique, again, Cuban and Soviets advisers backing the brave Mozambiquan are resisting Rhodesia’s massacres of innocent children. The world climate is very dangerously close to nuclear war.
We must get in whatever orders, evaluation coordinators, of exactly what other generator and list your parts will be necessary, I have to have within hours my cost analysis for the additional food to upgrade so there’ll be no cultural shock with 100 people coming in, some of you had to go through that cultural shock, and some of these people have been running for the very safety of their lives from frame-ups set up by our traitors who counted on us killing ourselves and then probably killing them. But we do not operate that way. We are interested in building, lighting candles, not cursing darkness. They will become their own worst enemies when we are gone, and we’ll leave them no purpose, their lives are empty, their greatest curse to them is to be left alive, to face their own conscience, for it’s indeed obvious that they are so empty, unhappy, and unfulfilled, they’re trying to provoke us into killing them, getting them out of their misery. As one said when he met two of our people, he was involved in treason, he mistakenly thought, Timothy Stoen, that they were going to take him, do him in, he said get it over, almost in a relaxed environment, attitude. There was no intention whatsoever of doing him in.
Now, the news that I want you to study, depending upon what kind of a test we have in Peoples Rally on Monday.
Dogmatism and revisionism. Where did the new communist movement go wrong? The question is of more than academic interest. Current views on the task before the party building movement are shaped by differing estimates of the nature of the errors made by the chief political groupings who made up the new communist movement. Some groups, such as the Philadelphia Workers Organizing Committee and organizations closely associated with it, sum up the problem as one of dogmatism. The dogmatism was and continues to be rife in the various ultra-left (pause) groups that emerged in the early seventies is unquestionable– It’s unquestionable. But unless this judgment is particularized, it is not especially helpful. Indeed, it may only serve to justify equally harmful political errors.
These are important concepts, now. Grasp them.
One expression of dogmatism in the new communist movement was a measure of book worship closely connected to a mechanical application of basic tenets of Marxist-Leninist theory in political practice. Some of the polemical wars that raged between the various new communist groups were characterized by such errors, and in examining the concrete political practice of these groups, we can find an embarrassingly large number of examples of eager young converts to Marxism, Leninism, the magic phrases of “What is to be done?”, and state and revolution freshly etched on their consciousness, rushing out to proclaim the indispensability of the dictatorship of the proletariat to a none-too-receptive, apathetic, indifferent working class in US imperialism.
Another form of dogmatism is the failure to distinguish between principal and secondary political questions. When all questions are deemed equally crucial, there can never be any unity among Marxist-Leninists, for there will always be differences of opinion and even different tendencies and political emphasis. (tape edit)
–(unintelligible word fragment) reduce abstraction and remove from practice, is impossible to determine which question must be settled now, which can be put off, which present barriers to unify, and which should not prevent unity. A third form of dogmatism is to continue [confuse] strategy with tactics. The manifest– This manifests itself in extremely rigidity which only serves to isolate we Marxist-Leninists from the masses. One memorable example of this error is the October League slogan – no united action with revisionists – which dogmatically confuses the strategic struggle against revisionism with the tactics required to pursue that struggle in the actual conditions encountered by Marxist-Leninist communist forces in the political movements of the masses at the present time.
A fourth example of dogmatism – these are concepts now, vital to your understanding – is the failure to take the world as it is. History has– it is– as it is actually encountered as the starting point for a sane revolutionary task. We can no more build our party following [Vladimir] Lenin’s scenario in Russia than we can foresee our revolution following China’s model, as I had to use, in expertise ways, sex to build character and avert treason. A new approach– a new approach for our era in our locale, and it has built the strongest communist movement that Charles Garry and others have said has been singled out, because we are the strongest that’s ever come out of the United States, and Guyana’s being singled out too because of her brave stand as the communist state– the Marxist state, rather, at this stage on the South American continent.
Certain broad, general and invaluable principles emerged out of the historical experiences, and these have become a part of Marxist-Leninist theory. But a revolutionary party will inevitably be concerned primarily with the here and now. It must make its own judgments about class forces, social strata, political groupings, day-to-day tactics through self-criticism and group criticisms, and revolutionary strategy.
In this sense, theoretical work is not principally study. Study is the preparation for theoretical work. Such work assumes primacy in a period when general line– a general line to guide communist work does not exist or must be rectified or changed and particular in a period such as ours when a party does not exist and a new general line is needed in order to unite the Marxist-Leninist forces against the obvious fascist takeover of USA.
Finally, dogmatism in the new communist movement, so called, has taken the particular form of uncritically accepting and blindly following the leadership and political line of the Communist Party of renegade mainland China. The Communist Party Marxist-Leninist, CPML, formerly the October League, is the most illustrious example of this form of dogmatism. Typical to be– (pause) Typical is the seeming case with which they have managed the changeover from the enthusiastic trumpeting of views which are now ascribed to the Gang of Four, who are really internationalists trying to bring back China and the Soviet Union in international union, and the completely opposite views of China’s present leadership without the flicket– the flicker of an ideological eyelash.
More serious, however, has been the Communist Party, China’s branch, the ML, embrace of a worldview which has led them into objective class imperialist collaboration with US monopoly finance capitals maneuvering (coughs) in a number of key Third World countries in clear violation of the Doctrine of Three Worlds which includes first, the major menace in their mind of the Soviet Union, then the USA, and the second world, the European nations, and the Third World, underdeveloped nations (Pause) supposedly led by China as a member in emancipation to balance out the demands of the other superpowers and the new European Common Market alliance. But China is not living up to it.
Examples of these dogmatic errors would unfortunately fill a good-sized volume. To leave the case here, however, would be one-sided and could lead [to an] extremely unfortunate conclusion, for such errors occurred in a particular political context. They were a part of a closely-connected twofold process in which a whole generation of radicalized youth emerging from the activism of the 1960s took up the systematic study of Marxist-Leninist Communist theory, and made the identification of and struggle against revisionism, a principal political definition of a movement dedicated to reconstituting a revolutionary working class party in the USA that does not now exist.
Book worship, yes. But in context of a renewal of the legitimacy of Marxist-Leninist theory. Mechanical application, yes. But in the context of trying to make the necessary link between theory and practice and the needs of any locale, community or nation to build communism according to its own lines and evolution. Not distinguishing between principal and secondary questions, yes. But in the context of fighting an opportunism which preached all unity and no struggle. Confusion of strategy and tactics, yes. But in the context of trying to overcome and defeat a consolidated revisionism which have long since abandoned even the pretense of developing a strategy for revolution and was operating solely on the basis of tactics. Not starting from the real world, yes. But in the context of a movement trying to overcome a legacy or history of its own pragmatism and spontaneity, and trying to make theory once again into real vital force. Flunkyism towards China, yes. But in the context of China’s enormous and well-merited prestige of having led the struggle against revisionism, just after [Josef] Stalin that has now been bounced out, but is still now sprung up anew on a world scale in the Euro-Communist revisionist bloc.
In other words, unless we see the dogmatism of the new-called communist movement as excesses in a process which was fundamentally positive, we run the grave risk of misreading our own history and concluding that the twin struggles for the revitalization of Marxist-Leninist theory and against revisionism were largely misfired missiles. This is not said to minimize to you today in Jonestown the extremely serious consequences of these dogmatic excesses. A large number of potentially good US revolutionaries now find themselves in a political cul-de-sac – c-u-l, capital d-e, dash s-a-c – from which it will be very hard to extricate, that is, pull themselves out. The party building process has been delayed, and Marxist-Leninist Communists have had to take on both the theoretical and practical task of combating these errors. You can have your theory in Peoples Rally and analysis meeting, but we have too much bureaucracy, from moving from one citte– committee to the next, slowing down progress. We must get out of the theory into immediate practical task of building our agricultural base and such diversified industries perhaps as plywood, soap and bricks. Yes, into the practical task of combating these errors of just being theoretical.
Perhaps the most serious consequence of all that is dogmatism – and know the terms “dogmatism” and “revisionism” – has given an (tape distortion for two words) credibility to revisionism and other forms of anti-communism by negative example. Still, dogmatic– dogmatism seems as adequate– as inadequate summary of the principal errors of the new communist movement. First, because many of the most serious errors, the revolutionary union’s objective alliance with racism in Boston, for instance, were not dogmatic at all, but if anything, the result of pragmatism and eoconomism. The second (tape distortion for several words) concentrating on methodology as the error, the mistakes in the political line are obscured. And third, because posing problem (tape edit) dogmatism becomes a way of downplaying the importance of our political– our theoretical task here in Jonestown first, and in the party building, which means absolute sharing community process that we conduct symbolically in the town forum Peoples Rallies.
Some groups in the party building movement today, for example, do not understand why the sharp difference (tape edit) international line in anti-revisionist left should be a line of demarcation in uniting Marxist-Leninist. (tape distortion for two words) they are carrying the essence of the fusion strategy for party-building to its logical conclusion. That is, if the principal task of the Marxist-Leninist today is a fusion between the communist movement as it is– and the working class movement, why should ambivalence – uncertainty, that is – or even disagreement on international line present unity, as we were trying to understand the Chinese and their fear of the white hordes of White Russia that invaded them under the czar. But we must not approve of their chauvinistic foreign policy, but are glowingly approving of their domestic policies of sharing, as all of the Chinese live in communes, happy, cooperative and productive. The comrades who hold such a view should pay closer attention to Jimmy Carter’s Z– Zbigniew, Z-b-i-g-n-i-e-w, Brzezinski, B-r-e-s-z– B-r-e-z, rather, e-z-i-n-s-k-i, noted neo-fascist. The political chieftains of monopoly fin– uh, finance capitalism, US imperialism as embodied in the Trilateral Commission, are setting the question in a way that should eliminate their settling it, whatever lingering doubts may remain at how important in the US maring– the US Marxist-Leninist, how important it is for the m– US Marxist-Leninist to have a clear and forthright view of why it is essential to continue to target US imperialism as a principal enemy on a world scale.
With the problem in Zaire – the Mobutu [Sese Seko] dictatorship that represents only three percent of the black people, our brothers and sisters, and he’s held in power by the CIA – with the rebellions in Zaire’s Shaba province as a pretext, Carter – about finished – aiming to restore the (unintelligible word, could be “current”) powers of the presidency, legalize clandestine secretive sneaky missions for the CIA that uses our tax dollars to murder 200 children early Saturday morning, just in Mozambique territory, and again without the burden of congressional approval pressure, the NATO countries to– approval to up their military spending by some 80 billion dollar increase. US military expenditures deal with the ensuing inflationary surge by curry– cutting back on social issues– yes, cutting back on the wrong places, cutting back on social issues. (Pause)
The NATO wife of the chief advisors told her military spending by some 80 billion dollars because US increase military expenditure. Deal (pause) (mutters under breath) (Pause) Uh, that’s my tiredness from, would you believe, five days of no sleep?
With the rebellions in Zaire’s Shaba province as a pretext, Carter’s aiming to restore the (unintelligible word, could be “current”) powers of the dictatorship, legalize secret missions of the CIA that you just should read In Search of Our Enemies by [John] Stockwell, it’ll make your hair stand on end, what our tax dollars has done to murder innocent people. More– Once again, without the burden of congressional approval pressure, the NATO countries to up to their military spending by some 80 billion dollars. Increased US military expenditures deal with the ensuing inflationary urge – (Pause) Stand by for consultation – with the ensuing inflationary surge by cutting back on social services to a minimum, Proposition 13 cutting back seven billion dollars so the people can’t get general hospital care, welfare, or any other social service assistance, and pressuring workers to curtail their wage demands and work overtime in many industries without additional pay, and strengthen the police apparatus at home by horrible laws, such as Senate Bill 1437. At least here when we work, we’re working for ourselves. If you could only get that. When you get 56 thousand dollars of medicines in one day, to assure your good care, not to mention the wonderful staff under Phyllis Bloom [Chaiken] and the medical doctor [Larry Schacht] and the power of Father to heal, like the poisoned child today, that was nothing less than a miracle. Indeed, we have great opportunity, because the US military expenditures deal with the ensuing inflationary surge by cutting back on these social services and pressuring workers to curtail all their wage demands – horrible – and strengthen the police apparatus in every way at home in fascism. Those who criticize the United States (tape break-up for several words) favor on such moves, or do they think (tape break-up for several words) against the brave Soviet Union without simultaneous intensifying (tape break-up for one word) and repression in US imperialism at home. Can Marxist-Leninists possibly equivocate on the question of US imperialism’s war preparations? Pro-Chinese US groups have not gone this far, yet, but their counterparts in Western Europe have, calling for the strengthening of NATO and greater military expenditures by their own (tape break-up for several words).
We do not expect you in Jonestown to see the French equivalent of the CPMU– (pause) or CPML, out in the streets of Paris protesting the presence of the bloody murderous Foreign Legion in Zaire and– and indeed (Pause). Stand by. (Pause) –and indeed if the 82nd Airborne should be sent to Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko’s puppet dictatorship that he took over by force (tape break-up) the great Patrice Lumumba, true socialist leader of Zaire, Belgian Congo, and he had a university, highly reputable, highly honored, named after him just last week. And if the 82nd Airborne should be sent to Zaire, what stand will the Communist Party supporting China in this country take. The question is posed this way to demonstrate the importance of seeing class collaborations on international line as a particularity of what is called dogmatism or ultra-leftism.
What man– What man– (Pause) Stand by. (Pause). What stand will the Communist Party mar– uh, Mar– Marxist-Leninist in this country take in USA? The question is posed this way to demonstrate the importance of seeing class collaboration on international line as a particularity of what is called dogmatism threatens the left in USA and has caused many to seek sanctuary abroad. Also, to cause them to guard against ultra-leftism, but the more than anything else led to an absolutely necessary line of demarcation. Those who would temporize on this question in the interest of some specious extraordinary eggu– organizational unity will never be able to build a new Communist Party if they’re lucky to see the light of day. They are simply trading one form of opportunism for another.
I will not go further into the news, because I want you to understand the concept of dogmatism and revisionism. I broke it down in such a way that I think you could understand it.
Much love, remember the new goal, very shortly to be taken by surprise, nine-day work period, we want times assigned in the library, time for recreation. I’ve got a lot of things in mind. Look at Comrade Christian’s map survey, and you’ll see how beautiful, how paradisical Jonestown will become. You’ve seen talking by many observers and long confabs, we would like to know the details. It’s essential at this time to maintain unity.
I love you very, very much. Prove to me that reduced work schedules will work, by working doubly, doubly hard. All my love.
End of tape
Tape originally posted June 2012