Letters from Tomis

My Socialist Hall of Fame

During this chaotic era of vile rhetoric and manipulative tactics from our so-called bourgeois leaders, I am invigorated by the opportunity to reflect on Socialists, Revolutionaries, Philosophers, Guerrilla Leaders, Partisans, and Critical Theory titans, champions, and martyrs who paved the way for us—my own audacious “Socialism’s Hall of Fame.” These are my heroes and fore-bearers. Not all are perfect, or even fully admirable, but all contributed in some way to our future–either as icons to emulate, or as warnings to avoid in the future.

Introduction

George Lester Jackson (1941–1971) stands as one of the most influential revolutionary intellectuals and activists to emerge from the American prison system during the late twentieth century. Known for his uncompromising critiques of racism, capitalism, and the carceral state, Jackson’s life and work have resonated across generations of radicals, particularly within Black liberation movements and prison abolitionist circles. His writings, especially Soledad Brother and Blood in My Eye, offer a searing indictment of American racial capitalism and provide both theoretical and practical foundations for revolutionary praxis inside and outside prison walls.

Early Life and Incarceration

George Jackson was born on September 23, 1941, in Chicago, Illinois, the second of five children in a working-class Black family. In 1956, his family relocated to Los Angeles as part of the Great Migration, seeking better economic opportunities and respite from Southern racism. Like many Black youth in segregated America, Jackson was marked early by encounters with poverty, police repression, and systemic racism. At the age of eighteen, Jackson was arrested for participating in an armed robbery of a gas station, allegedly stealing $70. He was convicted and, under California’s indeterminate sentencing law, given a sentence of one year to life—a system designed to entrap Black and working-class youth for indeterminate periods.

Radicalization in Prison

Jackson entered the California prison system at San Quentin in 1960. Over the next decade, he would become politicized through rigorous self-education, influenced by Marxism-Leninism, Maoism, and the works of Frantz Fanon and Che Guevara. He studied revolutionary theory, taught himself legal skills, and immersed himself in the history of Black struggle and anti-colonial movements. Jackson described prison as a “fascist concentration camp,” where the logic of white supremacy and capitalist exploitation was rendered naked and absolute. He developed a reputation as a jailhouse intellectual, committed to both personal and collective liberation.

Jackson became a leader among the Black prisoners, co-founding the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF), a Marxist-Leninist organization dedicated to both self-defense and revolutionary transformation. He connected the experiences of prisoners to the broader movement against racism and imperialism, articulating the prison as a microcosm of the American social order. Jackson’s correspondences—many later published as Soledad Brother—circulated widely, becoming a touchstone for radicals inside and outside prison walls.

The Soledad Brothers and Political Trial

Jackson’s political profile rose dramatically following the events of January 16, 1970, when a prison guard at Soledad Prison shot and killed three Black inmates. Shortly after, a white guard was killed in apparent retaliation. Jackson, along with John Clutchette and Fleeta Drumgo, was charged with murder in what became known as the “Soledad Brothers” case. Their trial attracted international attention, galvanizing the Black Panther Party and a wide network of anti-racist and leftist organizations, who saw the prosecution as a clear example of political repression.

While incarcerated and awaiting trial, Jackson continued to write, framing the struggle of Black prisoners as inseparable from the global fight against colonialism, racism, and capitalism. His letters, essays, and statements combined personal narrative with sharp political analysis, challenging the legitimacy of the U.S. legal system and the moral order of American society.

Revolutionary Theory and Legacy

Jackson’s writings are marked by a synthesis of Black radicalism and Marxist-Leninist analysis. In Soledad Brother (1970), he offers both searing indictments of prison life and a larger critique of American society. Blood in My Eye (1972), written in the months before his death, advances a more militant, even insurrectionary, vision. Here, Jackson emphasizes the necessity of armed struggle, critiques reformism, and asserts the legitimacy of revolutionary violence against an irredeemably racist and capitalist order. He sought to connect the everyday resistance of prisoners with the global revolutionary movement, seeing the prison as a site of both oppression and radical potential.

Jackson’s life was cut short on August 21, 1971, when he was killed by prison guards at San Quentin under still-contested circumstances, in what was alleged to be an escape attempt. His death reverberated throughout the country, sparking uprisings in prisons and communities and further radicalizing the prison abolition and Black liberation movements.

Contemporary Relevance and Critique

Jackson’s influence has only grown with time. He is remembered as a theorist of racial capitalism, a militant anti-imperialist, and a forerunner of the modern prison abolitionist movement. His works are foundational for contemporary analyses of mass incarceration, the racial state, and the intersections of class and race. Critics have debated the tactical implications of Jackson’s advocacy for armed struggle, as well as the viability of revolutionary violence in the American context. Nonetheless, his insistence on the inseparability of prison abolition and anti-capitalist struggle remains profoundly relevant.

Jackson’s thought continues to inspire new generations of activists, scholars, and prisoners, attesting to the enduring power of revolutionary commitment forged under the harshest conditions.

Selected Bibliography

Primary Works by George Jackson

• Jackson, George. Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson. New York: Coward-McCann, 1970.

• Jackson, George. Blood in My Eye. New York: Random House, 1972.

Secondary Sources and Scholarship

• Berger, Dan. Captive Nation: Black Prison Organizing in the Civil Rights Era. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014.

• Davis, Angela Y. “Reflections on the Black Woman’s Role in the Community of Slaves,” The Black Scholar, 1971.

• DuBois, Joshua. Solitary: Unbroken by Four Decades in Solitary Confinement. My Story of Transformation and Hope. New York: Grove Press, 2019.

• James, Joy. Imprisoned Intellectuals: America’s Political Prisoners Write on Life, Liberation, and Rebellion. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2003.

• James, Joy. The New Abolitionists: (Neo)Slave Narratives and Contemporary Prison Writings. Albany: SUNY Press, 2005.

• Rodríguez, Dylan. Forced Passages: Imprisoned Radical Intellectuals and the U.S. Prison Regime. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2006.

• Shakur, Assata. Assata: An Autobiography. Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books, 1987.

• Walrond, Eric. “The Revolutionary Practice of George Jackson.” Race & Class, Vol. 22, No. 2, 1980.