Holiday greetings to our readers behind bars! The 1.8 million people incarcerated in the U.S. are overwhelmingly part of the working class. The defense of their rights and their ability to have unfettered access to the news and politics of their choice is deeply in the interests of all working people.
The Militant tells the truth about the conditions facing workers on both sides of prison walls. It provides a window to the struggles of fellow workers across the world. It unravels the key political questions facing the working class. And it advances the international solidarity of the one class capable of bringing an end to the wars, exploitation, oppression and injustices coming down on working people today.
Tens of thousands of workers without papers are being thrown into horrid conditions in the government’s immigration detention facilities, often denied the right to challenge their imprisonment. Thousands are deported, many to countries they’ve never lived in where the main language is one they don’t speak.
Under capitalism, the cops, courts, prisons — the entire criminal “justice” system — are organized to intimidate and demoralize workers, and to serve as a brutal warning to millions to submit to the dictates of the bosses and their government. In the eyes of the bosses and their government, all workers are part of the “criminal” class. And they’ve never hesitated to frame up fighting unionists and other working-class combatants whenever they feel threatened.
Every time prison authorities bar our subscribers from getting the paper, the Militant fights to overturn the ban. It wins support far and wide, and overwhelmingly we succeed. The Militant stands in solidarity with struggles against the rulers’ barbaric use of solitary confinement and the death penalty.
The Militant is proud of the growing number of readers it has in U.S. prisons. It’s the highest number in decades. The paper offers subscriptions at reduced rates or free to those who don’t have funds. It encourages you to take advantage of substantial discounts on books on revolutionary working-class history and politics published by Pathfinder Press. It urges you to introduce the paper to fellow inmates and encourage them to take up subscription offers.
These deals are made possible by the contributions of Militant readers who support our efforts. To those readers, we thank you, and to all, we encourage you to give generously to the paper’s prisoners fund!