28 Days of Black Liberation 2025 series
Over the course of the Long Attica Revolt, imprisoned comrades confronted the dehumanizing conditions and horrific treatment of the carceral system. Tip of the Spear encourages us to understand that paired with this demand to be treated as humans was a demand for revolutionary transformation and struggle against colonialism, white supremacy, war, and racial capitalism. At each uprising the rebels engaged in abolitionist world building – built revolutionary organization to fight asymmetric warfare, defend the occupations and takeovers, as well as managie reproductive labor and political decision making. Today we look at the Attica Commune.
Previously we talked about the first waves of the Long Attica Revolt, and how at each stage the rebels were shifted to a new terrain, from the streets and neighborhoods, to the city jails, to the state prisons, and for many to Attica prison late 1971. On August 21, 1971 pigs in California assassinated George Jackson. Prisoners in Attica immediately organized a day of silence as a memorial. This demonstrated that if they could organize for this they could organize for other things. On September 9 rebels overtook guards, took co’s hostage and uncaged everyone and took control over the prison. The rebels immediately “organized themselves into what George Jackson had called “The Black Commune”…”an autonomous site of self organization capable of nurturing revolutionary culture and alternative modes of collective life.”
The rebels held elections to choose spokespeople that included leaders from prior rebellions. They created a security force that “protected itself from regressing back toward the culture of exploitation, racism, and atomization that defined the normalized carceral regime.” And while they were tasked with dealing with internal enemies of the rebellion, “security was mainly responsible for the food, medical care, clothing…mainly that everybody stay together and recognize everyone as brothers, under the same roof, same conditions..” – Jomo Omowale
The revolution that was Attica was brutally crushed on Sept 13 by pigs killing 49 people (inmates and hostages) and the savage torture of the prisoners that survived.