Jared Roark’s Letter from Prison

Note: The following is a widely circulated letter that Jared (Dallas/Ed Dalton/Kavga/Cathal) sent from prison. According to a source, this was “circulated as required reading among party members … after this letter, everyone was required to write letters to Jared. People were afraid of him and afraid of what would happen when he got out, as the threats in this letter highlight, he wanted to have this effect on people.” I post it to show what sort of character the so-called ‘great leadership’ of the cr-cpusa really was, in his own words. Needless to say, I share it in order to denounce it. The original letter used legal names which were removed by whoever transcribed the letter; I have restored these for clarity. I have otherwise left the document untouched.

May 1, 2021

[Recipient, likely Chris Ledesma],

Please share this letter with my closest friends. Today is my favorite day of the year and I am always filled with anxious joy. That feeling is still present. But there is another feeling in my heart and another thought in my mind. That is sorrow and deep disappointment. This is not directed at [Chris?] or [Jared’s wife] who both wrote to me. This is directed at my friends who did not, at least for over a month.

That lack of support speaks volumes, far more than any praises uttered in comfort and warmth. Fair weather friends are not of interest to me and whatever you do to rationalize is just excuses meant to deflect, to protect and preserve serious errors. It wounds me and caused irreparable damage to my view of you all. What is done is done and my wounds are secondary-nothing and no one can defeat me. Not even you. I am frankly Rakhmatov in comparison to so many Lopukhovs and Kirsanovs and I see no point in pretending that any other condition prevails, even though I raise the caviat, only by comparison.

That being said, my own wounds are nothing. What is truly outrageous is your dress rehearsal for letting down future poliical prisoners who are inevitable and by chance could be anyone. Your example you set is what is truly unforgiveable and despicable. I want you to consider for a moment that me, your friend, has been so low on your list that it took you over a month to write, some of you have not even written! Very well, message received. I now know where we stand and am glad to have been set straight. It is the matter of principle that I will not let slide.

The last issue I wish to point out is the issue of not being able to talk to my wife even in the time frames she says I can becuase she must submit to, in her words the ‘majority.’ I wish to point out that this submission is inconsiderate of my circumstance.

She is perhaps the only person to have given me close to the support I deserve, I have told myself that she would do more if she could but I am likely wrong there and am more correct to say that while she loves me I am also not prioritized by her as much as I deserve to be. This is another wounding political remark. Her time is not adjusted in my interests or in the interests of our marriage. This will have a very devastating affect on the whole family.

You close friends bear no small responsibility here either and could have been more considerate with the limited time we have to talk, write, etc.,

I am not directing this at legal aid, their performance was superior but at least they had performance. I can at least award a ‘participation trophy’ in their case because after all they can improve upon their false start, having started. I fault you all far more.

If this is the last letter you receive from me, or if I do not write you back it is because I do not wish to be in contact with fair weather friends and know that it is not me avoiding conflict on the contrary I am waiting to address you until condtions place me on a more favorable footing. Consider this me placing you all on notice before I come home and bombard your headquarters.

I have nothing more to say unitl then:

“There is nothing to be done.” -Mayakovsky

Your Friend,

[Jared Roark]