CONSCIOUS FIGHTERS VANGUARD ★ PRAXIS PROGRAM A GUIDE TO ACTION "Imperialism will not last long because it always does evil things. It persists in grooming and supporting react- ionaries in all countries who are against the people, it has forcibly seized many military bases, and it threatens the peace with atomic war Thus, forced by imperialism to do so, more than 90 per cent of the people of the world are rising or will rise up in struggle against it. Y et imperialism is still alive, still running amuck in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In the west imperialism is still oppressing the people at home. This situation must change. It is the task of the people of the whole world to put an end to the aggression and oppression perpetuated by imperialism, and chiefly by U.S. imperialism." — Mao T se-T ung 1. Cease the global military-industrial occupation, super - exploitative of fensive, and proxy-puppet-lackey oppre- ssion perpetuated by the First W orld against the Third W orld! Oppressed and exploited peoples of all countries, take up an internationalist stance in direct opposition to U.S. imperialist aggression! Form a two-fold, united domestic and international anti-imperialist liberation front operating counter to a) the super -profiteering of out- s o u r c e d s w e a t s h o p l a b o r , b ) t h e e x p r o p r i a t i o n a n d depletion of natural resources and subsequent envi- ronmental devastation, c) the eternal debt and mandatory privatized structural adjustments imposed by the likes of the IMF , W orld Bank, and IDB, and d) the repeated political bombings of any economic developments the underdeveloped nations attempt to make. Oh, starved of t h e e a r t h ! S p l i n t e r , s h a t t e r , s h a k e t h i s n e o c o l o n i a l , monopolist yoke! People of Asia, Africa, and Latin America — lay down your chains! T ake back your land, dignity , and culture. Throw the Y ankee imperialists out! A "concrete analysis of concrete conditions" places you, the Global South, at the forefront as the most revolutionarily conscious force. The survival of the earth and its peoples depends upon this worldwide social-political-economic- cultural revolution. Know you have the full support of the Conscious Fighters V anguard who refuse to submit to the U S G o v e r n m e n t ' s c h a u v i n i s t i c , w h i t e - n a t i o n a l i s t i c , i s o l a t i o n i s t i c , f a u x - p a t r i o t i c p r e - c o n d i t i o n i n g w e a r e force-fed day in and day out. W e mentally and physically reject this bour geois thought-control and fight in alliance with the Third W orld, through all hardships, from within the belly of the most monstrous beast history has ever recorded. 2. Advance toward classless, stateless, egalitarian society , i.e., communism via the transitional stage of socialism — a truly participatory worker/professional revolutionary-run democratic semi-state, existing historically between state and non-state, defending an electoral commune-network of socialist reconstruction (the armed majority) built for the suppression of the bureaucratic-military machine (the armed minority) until the withering away of the semi- state, from the day of its conception to the day it meets the "scrap heap of history ," allows all to live free — truly free (not the propagated monopoly capitalist multi- nationalist illusion of "freedom" which is none other than "free trade" by which the only freedom granted is for the big bour geoisie to freely compete in global capital gains). T r a n s f o r m t h e w o r l d t h r o u g h r a i s i n g r e v o l u t i o n a r y consciousness and fighting in the protracted people's struggle for peace, freedom, and justice! Attention: class- conscious workers, revolutionary intelligentsia, politi- c i z e d u r b a n l u m p e n - p r o l e t a r i a t a n d r u r a l l a n d l e s s peasantry , militant Asian, African, Latino, and Native peoples, oppressed women at home, and radical youth — join the revolutionary vanguard in our just cause for human emancipation! Y ou constitute the masses, we function only in coordination with you, at your complete service. Mere reforms will not do, for the oppressor's only willing dialogue is that of violence. If this demands of the r e v o l u t i o n a r y v a n g u a r d a n d m a s s e s t o s p e a k t h e i r language, it will be done! Our strategic focus is that of attaining perpetual peace for all, so consequently the state apparatus must be crushed. Political power is held thro- ugh firepower The world needs people's political power! When the need for suppression against the bour geois reactionaries withers, so will go the gun with it. Be bold, be creative, be willed as tempered-steel, marching stead- ily toward a new harmonious world! 3. Begin to meet the people's true needs for survival: free food, free clothing, free housing, free land, free education, and free healthcare for free people — these are our basic human rights. There warrants no justification enabling the wealthy few a position to privatize the essentials and profit of f the disparities and disadvantages of the many This hierarchy exists because the ruling class linked with the corporate elite have appropriated the material and intellectual wealth of the people, throughout history , at the barrel of a gun, the crack of a whip, the drop of a bomb, the pages of a bible, and the debt of a loan. Stolen land, stolen labor , and stolen natural resources are a few of the reasons why this parasitic power structure holds its position of reactionary rule, running the show with an unrelenting grip on the lifeblood of humanity to this day These basics are necessary for human existence and our lives will not be spent attempting to af ford them. Until class struggle has made way to classless society , we will begin with reduction of rent on a complete scale. Private ownership becomes public ownership — where the people, not the big landlords, receive the direct profit of prod- uction and rent as it goes toward healthy food, adequate clothing, universal healthcare, and scientifically-accurate education. Land itself will be stripped from the big- factory farmers and big-peasantry , handed over to the small farmers and landless peasantry All existing agri- culture will turn in the direction of collectivism — working together away from monopolized, corporate factory- farming's practice of excessive cruelty toward animals, unlabeled genetically-engineered foods, heavy use of pesticides, displacement and starvation of peasants and farmers, etc. 4. Equal distribution of wealth, elimination of debt, raised wages, and equal pay until the abolition of money has been reached. The money that sets an even plane for all will, in part, come from the expropriation of the ex- propriator by the expropriated, provided by the surplus value previously held in the blood-stained hooves of the bosses, which was generated by the dirt-stained hands of the workers. The once higher -earning bour geoisie, as well as the new socialist semi-state "of ficials," will only be permitted to earn worker's wages. Elitism will not be accepted and the old state ways rid of. Those capable of work (peoples without physical and/or mental disability) will cooperate in collective, worker -run, creative/social labor for that which is of direct use-value beneficial to society as a whole, developing over time as a natural tendency for basic survival, no longer forced from above upon a wage slave class (no bosses necessary , hence no exploitation). There will be unity of mental and manual labor , unity of industrial and agrarian work, and unity of city and country After taxation into a public reserve fund, m a i n t a i n i n g p u b l i c l y - o w n e d i n f r a s t r u c t u r e a n d f r e e community programs, a certificate accurately compen- sating work hours and work performance can be exch- anged for goods in the people's stores. Ultimately , when communism is birthed from socialism, pay will shift from "according to the amount of labor performed" to "from each according to his ability , to each according to his needs" and away will go the phantom wealth of money For it is the labor put into a commodity that makes it of any value to begin with. Objects, coinage, and paper money (produced under inflation without any gold behind it for some time now) are not of any worth on their own, just things. Lifeless objects are not living people; living people are not lifeless objects. These said reificational relationships shall be reduced to nothing! 5. Smash racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia — including all other forms of discriminatory , supremacist hatred inherent within classism. Firstly (in no particular order), pay all chattel slave decedents well overdue reparations in order to reset the economic in-balance between skin color Cut of f support for the murderous of fensive, verbal/physical assault, and super -incarceration protracted by police occupying the ghetto — who go on exonerated of their modern day lynching crimes. Abolish the act of sanctioning the poor to the projects to begin with, which left with no other alternative, becomes a concentration for lumpen-style economics such as drug dealing and consequential violence. Righteous prediction: brothers killing brothers in gang related warfare soon awake united and turn those guns against the oppressor instead. W e now shift our attention to the plight of indigenous peoples and what must be done to make things right. A starting point would be to acknowledge Natives' e s t a b l i s h m e n t o f a u t o n o m o u s , d e - c o l o n i z e d n a t i o n s collectively owned and operated by those whose ancestors were mercilessly slaughtered in the name of "acquisition" and "manifest destiny ." A peoples who, in addition to genocide, saw their women and children raped as they w e r e s t r i p p e d o f t h e i r a n c i e n t l a n d s — e n t i r e N a t i v e c u l t u r e s s y s t e m a t i c a l l y e r a s e d s o m i n d s c o u l d b e Europeanized. They were thrown into slavery where they were tortured, threatened with further execution, died from European diseases, their children sent to boarding schools, and manhunts conducted upon for those who did not stay within the confines of designated reservations. T oday the colonizer is no match for the colonized of any l a n d i n t h i s m o d e r n a g e o f a w a k e n i n g a n d s e l f - determination! Indigenous peoples of the world are well aware from where these parasites rear their head and what motives lay hidden beneath the smallpox-ridden blanket. Now concerning women's rights, we hold in our hearts that "W omen hold up half the sky" and are permanently at the forefront of our ranks as movers of history Be rid of all things patriarch including, but not limited to, his systems of machismo-governance and the by-product of forcefully imposed repression, harassment, beatings, rape, and mandatory house-servitude of our sisters. Grant women reproductive rights and the option to hold any position a man would. Y ou wouldn't even be here today if a woman hadn't carried you in her womb just short of a year — think about it! If making the mutual decision to procreate, men must not treat women as mere instruments of production and/or expendable playthings, nor children viewed as programmable subordinates (both as in the relationship of the bour geois, nuclear family). Let there be no confusion on the issue, we Marxists are intrinsically feminists. As for the topic of homosexuality , it's all a matter of aesthetics not morality , anyway So long as both partners are consenting, of legal age, and of human origin, it shouldn't be any of your concern whom someone marries, dates, shows af fection toward, or has intercourse with. In addressing xenophobia, we demand the end to Gestapo raids and ethnic cleansing of the immigrant community Let us not kid ourselves, this country was founded by "illegals" — conquerors who used invasive f o r c e b y m e a n s o f s l a u g h t e r u n l i k e t h e i m m i g r a n t population of today , who are a hardworking proletariat here to support their families, not "steal jobs" as the fascist right make claim. In the U.S. these said immigrant workers fall victim to unjust labor practices under the constant threat of deportation by the staunch willingness of bosses to inform the authorities of their non-citizenship status. Low wages, sordid conditions, undesirable work, and no right to unionization plague the immigrant workforce. America's fear of cultural diversity is in stark contrast to its "melting pot" propagations. In reality , foreign culture is discouraged and one's roots washed away within the baptism of western consumer -culture. All that one sees, hears, smells, tastes, and touches is dominated by corporate control. In sum, dear comrades, we must "wholly , thoroughly , completely , and resolutely" uproot all aforementioned human violations of racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia at their source of origin — the class system itself! 6. An end to consumer society and the war economy In its place, production of only that which a) converts the notion of freedom into a physical reality and b) has an apparent use-value, i.e., production of that which is beneficial toward satisfying the direct needs (true needs) and promoting the cultural development of society — not profit as motivation. Overthrow the omnipresence of advertising (false needs) — an eyesore polluting our land- scape — encroached upon every aspect of our daily lives. The corporation is protected under more individual rights than living, breathing citizens, as if it were a human entity , all while receiving government aid and financial bailouts (something else we human citizens don't receive). The bureaucrats see us not as men but hyper -consumptive whores feeding their piggy banks. Let us present you with a brief definition of fascism: Ultra-nationalism and the unity of corporation and state. So where does the "democracy" the U.S. forcefully insists on bringing to the rest of the world manifest itself in action? W ords such as "democracy ," "liberty ," "justice," "peace," "freedom," and the like are but glittering generalities redundantly fed to the masses as rationale for permanently occupying foreign nations under the kleptocratic red, white, and blue ultra- nationalistic stars and stripes as the military racks up the dollars and cents for corporate powers. In fact, corporate mercenaries on the payroll of the U.S. Government monetarily profiteer and physically-numerically outweigh U.S. soldiers while comforted knowing they'll never be legally obligated to provide statistics of casualties on either side nor be tried by military court of law for war crimes. The Conscious Fighters V anguard demands an abrupt halt to this exploitation of man by man competing like rabid dogs so as to spend earnings on the accu- mulation of things just to feed greed with extraordinary excesses and over -productive waste while losing one's inner self in the process. If ever there was a "root of all evil," the catalyst for all the sordid ills committed in this world, money is undoubtedly that one evil. One must tear this poisonous weed up by its roots in order to prevent revisionist regrowth. Deal the fatal blows to a decaying system whose entire pseudo-culture revolves around nothing more and nothing less than over -consumption, war -profiteering, arms manufacturing, hate/fear mon- gering, and blind "patriotic" allegiance for reasons little understood by an intentionally ill informed and mis- informed public. The U.S. can no longer sustain its never - ending expansion and global Gestapo domination. It can n o t m a i n t a i n i t s 3 0 0 + o c c u p i e d n a t i o n s a n d 8 0 0 + worldwide military installations — hundreds of trillions of tax-payer's dollars outsourced, funding lackey military allies of the U.S. instead of meeting the American peoples' basic needs. Our hard-earned wages going not toward domestic public services but placed in tyrannical hands. They grope indecently with tentacles of the giant squid in murky depths of foreign cultures, attempting to inseminate minds with its own rot seeds, knowing not what it has swum into — a sea of internationalist red flags! W ith great courage the oppressed and exploited peoples of all countries will tie the imperialist squid's arms in a single knot — a single cause the people of the world can rise up for , crashing "wave upon wave" in an indignant torrent of high revolutionary tide, flooding out imperialist operations with determined sweep. 7. Free all political prisoners of class war! Deal heavy blows to the prison-industrial complex — that which serves the vested interests of a white, rich, male minority t h r o u g h " n e w i n d u s t r i a l g r o w t h " ( p o s t - i n d u s t r i a l America's use of prisoners as slave labor). Dismantle the vestige of slave life on the plantation in its modern form of super -incarceration of black and Latino peoples now serving big corporate interest. These are major prison sentences for minor , non-violent drug of fenses, blown out of proportion by the super -profitable "war on drugs" (so profitable, in fact, the U.S. Government, under the ruse of combating drugs, is responsible for the importation and distribution of hard drugs aimed at destroying poverty- stricken communities, resulting in the highest prison population on earth). One only needs a look to the zoo in realizing the psychological impact of caging any animal, including a human animal, as it promotes psychosis. T orture and dehumanization is not rehabilitation. On release, work is not given after providing an employer your criminal history so inevitably this turns ex-convicts into slaves of the drug hustle in order to make a living and provide for their children. Other inalienable rights denied v i a f e l o n d i s e n c h a n t m e n t i n c l u d e : p u b l i c b e n e f i t s , participation in jury duty (how then can court hearings be a jury of one's own peers?), education, and voting rights. Though in the latter , we don't see much of a choice to begin with. Republicans and Democrats alike are state p u p p e t s e n g i n e e r e d u n d e r t h e g u i s e o f d e m o c r a t i c candidates when in reality each serve as two sides of the same coin. Election fraud runs rampant and policies are p r e d e t e r m i n e d b y c o r p o r a t e d o n a t i o n s B e s i d e s , w e oppose electoral reformism and promote direct revolution — the total overthrow of existing social conditions, though I digress... The constant check-ins with a parole or probation of ficer as some kind of middle stage out of prison is utterly absurd in its implications. The ex-convict remains prisoner and can not travel outside of that area, m u s t c h e c k i n f r e q u e n t l y , r e - e n t e r i n g t h e p r i s o n environment, existing only to serve a parole or probation o f f i c e r o r f a c e r e i n c a r c e r a t i o n T h e p s y c h o l o g i c a l aftermath of prison may cause the ex-convict to abuse illicit drugs in order to cope, resulting in incarcerational recurrence if tested positive for drug use. This is a demand that the armed superstructure release these class hostages or we will tear down the prison walls! T o the prisoner (and tomorrow's potential prisoner) whom this pamphlet may reach: politicize your fellow jail mates, stir up the most unruly prison riot, and or ganize a mass jailbreak! In the immortal words of Comrade Ho Chi Minh, "When the prison-doors are opened, the real dragon will fly out." 8. Support Third W orld self-determination struggles for new-democracy That is to say , the negation of feudal, colonial, fascist, and neocolonial capitalist-imperialist oc- cupation by means of rural protracted people's struggle. New-democracy is a proletarian guided democracy , tho- ugh not yet the de-privatization of property via socialism. However , all property of the big bour geoisie will be centralized in the name of the proletariat as revol- utionaries continue to work with the petty-bour geoisie and middle-bour geoisie (those who have chosen to side with t h e p r o l e t a r i a t r a t h e r t h a n r e a c t i o n a r y b u r e a u c r a t - capitalists) in order to develop an anti-imperialist model of industrial/agrarian and economic/democratic growth (now given the opportunity to build in an environmentally sound manner). This theory acknowledges the historical observations made by Marx on the mode of production, without deviation. In the case of those countries with predominately agrarian, peasant-based economies whose economic development was not industrialized to the extent of capitalism, new-democracy suf fices in building up enough productive forces and generates the necessary capital as to distribute evenly among the people in the nearing socialist stage, providing the means to self-sustain its people without dependence on foreign imports which would more than likely be placed on strangle-hold due to y e t a n o t h e r f o r c e d i m p e r i a l i s t e m b a r g o — i l l e g a l l y prohibiting any country from trade with a people's re- p u b l i c o r f a c e s u b s t a n t i a l f i n e s a n d a p r o l o n g e d suspension from exporting/importing with the United States. Given a material-historicist analysis, new-demo- cracy is to socialism as socialism will be to communism. Lenin applied a similar two-stage theory to the most economically "backward," semi-capitalist European co- untry at the time. Mao further developed pre-socialist construction within semi-feudal, semi-colonial conditions of the Third W orld, erecting the philosophy of new- democracy in praxis. 9. Once exhausting all peaceful means and significantly raising consciousness, economically developed nations, establish your own CFV urban guerrilla units, throughout your country , armed for revolutionary insurrection. Str - ucturally 3-6 cells per region, 2-5 members each cell, fragmented but operating in synchronization under one shared strategic high command. T actically each cell operates as an independent unit (parts of the whole) varying your mode of fight (formlessness = invisibility = invincibility) given your actual situation (weather , terrain, population, arms, ammunition, explosives, etc.), utilizing surprise attack and quick retreat with the aid of a general and lieutenant per cell (the latter when numbers permit) in order to stay united as a group, operating with some degree of limited chain of command (necessary within any form of people's army for the purpose of staying on task). Suggested tar gets include: arms manufacturers, military (bases, recruitment of fices, vehicles, personnel, training grounds), police (stations, vehicles, academies, of ficers), big banks, armored money trucks, big corpor - ations, CEO's, the stock exchange, neo-fascist groups, surveillance data-banks, communications networks, etc. Under no circumstance is one permitted to take innocent civilian casualties! W e should remain flexible, ever - changing, adaptive, advancing, developing, on the move — dialectical (never rigid). This is a proper Marxist military line — a line which is not 100% militarist, insofar as we must persevere as permanent persuaders! — hell rai- sers as well as consciousness raisers! — leading and tea- ching by example. T asks of each unit include: political e d u c a t i o n ( w i t h i n t h e o r g a n i z a t i o n a n d a m o n g t h e masses), cultural production and dissemination, criticism/ self-criticism sessions, reconnaissance, logistics, stock- piling, communications (visual and auditory signals, " r u n n e r " l i a i s o n s , a n d " d e a d - d r o p " c o u r i e r s ) , expropriation, acts of sabotage aimed at symbols of oppression and exploitation, drivers familiar with terrain for quick retreat, diverting, deceiving, and ambushing the enemy with false-intelligence, or ganizing a safe-house network/staying on the move, and so forth. In the guerrilla tradition, avoid confronting your adversaries face on and only engage in battles which promise wins with limited losses. Always operate combat missions clandestinely , with preliminary planning and rehearsal, primarily under the veil of night, utilizing "hit-and-run" tactics, and shared knowledge of pre-planned escape routes including a re- assembly rendezvous point post-clearance. Only political agitation and cultural work can be carried out in an overt manner , but still, caution must be exercised and your best judgment made with whom you choose to speak with. T ake even stricter caution with those you accept into the o r g a n i z a t i o n A n d r e m e m b e r ! A n y f i g h t a g a i n s t t h e oppressor is an act of self-defense. 10. Application of the mass line in mass work and use of criticism/self-criticism in inner -party relations/individual evaluation. Mass political work should be conducted with the mentality of "from the masses, to the masses." Go among the masses, work with them, listen to them, take with you their true-desires, synthesize these thoughts as practical theory , then deliver this back in its concentrated form through the vehicle of direct action, as to assist the people. In understanding criticism/self-criticism, "criti- cism" is routine constructive criticism of your CFV cell's achievements and failures, sifting out good tactics from bad tactics, maintaining the unit in a forward motion, correcting mistakes before they can pile up and cause greater damage, taking responsibility for one's actions, receiving constructive criticism, and no fear in giving it either (so long as it does not entail blaming them as a person. Individual attack will garner backlash. Passive- aggressive behavior won't go over well either and defeats the purpose of this exercise). Criticism should be used to strengthen the vanguard as a whole in its fighting and educational capacity , making sure everyone is politically in-check and understands what they are fighting for Ultimately , we can only truly learn from practice, and mistakes remain an inevitable fact of life ("Failure is the mother of success") but they must be kept at a minimum and quickly registered as learning experiences then to be avoided in the future, as too many mistakes jeopardize the entire strategy of victory and self-preservation. In terms of "self-criticism," we speak of self-critical analysis: self- evaluation, self-discipline, and self-growth. Ask yourself: Do you set realizable tasks and accomplish them through daily political work? Are your actions reaching out to the oppressed community , here and abroad? Are your tactics linked to the Third W orld, revolutionary masses, and vanguard? Are these means fully developed and critically coherent in the theater of armed struggle? Have you drawn a clear line of demarcation between yourself and the enemies of the people? Do you give it all you've got and continue the unity of fight to the finish? 1 1. Constantly evolve as a new , disalienated, knowledge seeking, collectivist humanity whose full creative pot- entialities are realized, i.e., "New Human Being" — the archetype of the new evolutionary process transcending alienation through knowledge, art, and action. Break the chains that bind your authentic, creative self — discovering your inner species-being. Liberate your hidden uncon- s c i o u s n e s s b y i n t e l l e c t u a l l y o v e r t h r o w i n g c u l t u r a l l y hegemonic, mass-indoctrinated, super -ego herd-psycho- logy — awakening that which has been suppressed by western civilization's repressive framework (consciously , within the ego, you're only realizing the tip of the iceber g in cognitive brain capacity). Break the chains that bind artificial, alienated man from natural, communal man. Create social relations centered around sharing, loving, teaching, learning, and growing with fellow human beings other than those interactions spent serving as a cog in the machine. In other words, come together! Quarrel not with each other but against the real enemy — enemies of the people. Break the chains that bind man from holding tangible the end-result of his/her production. What one labors over does not belong to the worker but they , their hours, and the finished product each become a commodity to the boss (the wage slave master). Stand incompatible to the cyclical "bought and sold" drudgery of wage slavery Strive for well-rounded, self-mastery in a variety of fields. All of able-minded man is born a blank slate with equal cognitive competence (prior to being led astray by external social forces). All are intellectuals and should seek education to foster this growth — be it study circles, liberation schools, and/or self-education (though the latter limits its social character). W ithout discouragement, a variety of artistic mediums should be explored and experimented with until you've found your niche. New humanity must ever -vigilantly rid themselves of the plague that was shortsighted, one-dimensional thought, evolving as multi-dimensional, farsighted thinkers. Kno- wledge (the unity of theory and practice) is developmental and will come about in time to all who "seek truth from facts." Free time, i.e., time not spent laboring for a boss = creative/educational/pleasure/recreational time. 12. Uphold proletarian freedom of speech, freedom of p r e s s , a n d f r e e d o m o f a s s e m b l y L i b e r a t e v e n u e s , resources, and time for the accessibility of people's dis- semination of ideas, strikes, and marches. Allow the right