What Workers World said in 1971:
'Massacre at Attica was Rockefeller's Mylai'
This editorial is reprinted from the Workers World of
Sept. 17, 1971.
The war against Black America has had its domestic Mylai.
The massacre at Attica is another Mylai not only because of the
ferocious bestiality of both events, but also because the
disclosure of what happened has shaken the system to its
foundations.
When the 1,500 men in Cellblock D made a conscious and
heroic decision to face death rather than return to the most
brutal form of slavery, they couldn't have known the impact
they would have. But they must have had great hope--hope that
the extraordinary unity, class solidarity and consciousness of
their situation that had been achieved in this struggle would
go to the hearts of the millions of poor and oppressed in this
country, and around the world, and that their courage and
willingness to die would stem the tide of ruling class reaction
and hysteria.
And they have been vindicated! With little more than their
bare hands and a collective will of iron, they have made an
indelible impact on the consciousness of the oppressed--and
sent the oppressors into a frenzy of alibis, mutual
recriminations and lies.
The establishment press is focusing entirely on the question
of who killed the guards--which is important to the oppressed
only in that it exposes the wild, racist lies of the
authorities. But what has really been unearthed before the eyes
of the people--and is carefully avoided in the press
controversy--is the brutal way in which the prisons, and all
the organs of the state, are run in the interests of the rich
ruling class, and no one else.
What happened to the myth that prisons exist for the good of
society? It crumbled when [New York State Gov. Nelson]
Rockefeller and [Commissioner Russell] Oswald (with Nixon's
blessing) rejected the prisoners' demands and ordered in their
storm troopers.
How could granting these demands have injured "society"? The
prisoners were asking for conditions that might have meant a
chance for real "rehabilitation." Of course, this would have to
mean dismissing the warden--he had presided over a brutal
concentration camp. And of course the prisoners should have
been granted amnesty from prosecution, just as all the brave
men and women who have resisted the draft and refused to go to
Vietnam, and in other ways opposed the U.S. invasion of
Southeast Asia, should be granted amnesty.
The prisoners of Attica struck a great blow for justice, for
freedom, for an end to the barbarous and inhumane treatment of
oppressed peoples when they rebelled. They shouldn't be
prosecuted for this--they should be honored!
But when Rockefeller acted, passing the order down through
Oswald to attack the prison in a murderous assault that meant
killing even their own hirelings, he wasn't acting for the good
of "society." He was protecting the interests of the class of
fantastically wealthy corporation heads and bank
presidents.
They must have medieval prisons in order to keep the poor
and oppressed on the bottom, "in their place." There can't be
"humane" prisons when the basic structure of this system is
inhumane, every day draining the last ounce of energy out of
millions of workers who own nothing of any real value, have no
power over their lives, and are expected to die in a foreign
land whenever the rulers say it's necessary.
The state, when a crisis in class relations occurs, reveals
itself to be nothing more than the organized violence of the
ruling class. This naked truth was observed by millions who
watched the Attica massacre.
And, for a brief moment, the world was given a glimpse of
what it would be like if the people did have the power. How
many times have we been told that if the oppressed rose up and
overthrew the oppressors, they would just end up doing the same
things? Attica proved that revolutionary people change the
world, and profoundly for the better.
The oppressed, under the most deprived conditions,
controlled a piece of ground the size of a football field for
five days. They got one sandwich a day, a cup of coffee, and
were literally being starved into submission by the
authorities. And yet, for that brief moment and under these
bizarre conditions, they projected onto that arena a glimpse of
what is possible--class solidarity, the overthrow of racism,
the ingenuity and initiative of the masses, their iron
self-discipline and their humaneness even to the lowest of
their tormentors.
This was done by a prison population--the most despised,
ill-treated and brutalized segment of society. At the very same
moment, the "educated" and "refined" rulers of this country,
like Nelson Rockefeller, were conducting a vicious war against
the Asian people, practicing racism in every nook and corner of
American society, and bleeding the workers with a wage freeze,
inflation and unemployment.
No wonder the rich bosses of the U.S. were so terrified of
the Attica prisoners that they decided they had to be
exterminated. Attica has laid bare the vile core of their
racist, imperialist system.
And it has also revealed the glorious potential that lies
within the workers and oppressed to reorganize and build a
truly human society.
All power to the Brothers of Attica!
All power to the oppressed
and exploited everywhere!
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
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