Soulbook - Freedom Archives

U 

B 

O 

SOUL BOOK 1 

K

. 

jazz 

economics 

poetry 

anti-imperialism SOULBOOK 

the quarterly journal 

of revolutionary 

afroamerica 

p .o . box 1097 

berkeley, calif . (racist u.s .a .) 

. editorial board. donald freeman, issac moore, ernest allen jr., 

carroll holmes, kenn m . freeman, bobb hamilton . ' 

east, coast representative : bobb hamiltan, 350 bowery, new york, 

n .y . 

volume . I number 1 

cable address : E21IR 

winter, 1964 

annual subscription by ordinary mail ; $2.25 inside u,s .a., outside 

u .s .a . $3 " 50 . annual. subscription by airmail ; u .s .a.$4.00, 

oktside u .s .a . 45,00 . there are four issues in an annual subscription 

. 

this issue $0 .65 

Copyright, 1964 by the Afroamerican Research Institution , p . 

o . box 1097, berkeley, calif . .94701 . all rights reserved . 

all correspondence concerning manuscripts and business matters 

should be addressed to SOULBOOK c/o kenn m . freeman or boob 

hamilton, 350 bowery, new york, n .y . non-fiction manuscripts 

should conform to University of Chicago Manual of Style .

-th~_aditaxaTo 

the Peoples of Afroamerica, Africa, and to all the Peoples of 

. the Vorld3 

We the Editors of SOULBDOK subscribe to-the- view expressed by 

the great Black martyr Patrice Lumumba that ;" . .without dignity 

there is no liberty, Vithout justice there is no dignity, and with 

independence there are no free men." Purthermore, we adhere to the 

view that it will take a radical socio-economic transformation 

within the United States before the freedom of°.the_ Black . man in 

the U . S . , tho . Congo, and anywhere else the victims of racial discrimination 

have been maimed by this gorgon"que practice can be 

-won axd quaranteod for all time . . 

Thus to further the cause of the liberation of Black peoples 

we fool that this Journal and all ensuing issues of it must be 

produced, controlled, published and edited by people who are sons 

and daughters of Africa. 

By this control we feel we can more freely present to the 

world the widest scope and the highest quality of thoughts, ideas 

and works that will most accurately describe racial oppression and 

have best it is being and/or hove it can be fought against and destroyed, 

We feel . by having Black control of SOULBOOIC we can bq sure 

that the poetry and prose prosentod in this Journal .will . ,givo. the 

most meaningful understanding of what Blackness is,, and b,q- :sijre 

that it is expressed, as much as possible, as a natural :fact :pf 

experience . We are certain that the necessary prerequisite to achieve 

those two ands is that the authors of this literature be Black, 

Black American literature has tended to be parochial simply 

because most . Black writers did not . ..actually believe thnt :thoir experionce 

and understanding .of the world was valuable merely because 

it was theirs- (and real), but rather because they were Black or 

half-Black or "passing" or even because they could pretend=' to . 

be any of these, and by such act make a display of "culture" in the 

White man's hopeless world . 

The Blackness of the best Black writing is riot only in the 

fact of its creating myth and emotion that has legitimately been got 

by translating into art the peculiar emotional life of the Black 

world gesture that should be understood by any hU;Daa---

eing . 

Lastly, to be sure that ao one misundorstnnds .wher.e_'.,Qur oommittment 

lies, we publically dedicote our publication to Felix 

Moumt`, Modgor Evars, Reuban Um Nyobo, . the six ohild-martyrs of 

the .Birmingham bombings of 1963, Pz- trico Lumumba; -:Ronald Stokes, 

Antonio Maceo, the dead Freedom Fighters of Kenya and AlgericL, 

^nd the endless number of other kggw4,^nd unknorn Block Freedom 

fighters who h^.ve boon gunned down by the imperialist oppressors 

,in lifronmerion, Africa, Lntin J'onerica and Asia . 

the editors 

editor&--- ..__- 

*Reuban Um N obe was the co-founder of the Union aes Populations 

du Cnmoroun UPC}, n militant political pnrTy-and -guerillF force 

wHi'c i oug t .agninst coloni^l oppression in the U . N . Trusteeship 

of the "French` Camerouns (locrted in West Africa) . In 1958 

Um Nyobo was killed ,fighting,to free his country from Gallic imperialism 

. Felix Moumie along with Um Nyobe founded the VPC; in 

1948 . TheFrench feared Moumie so much th^.t they h^d him poisoned 

to donth while he was attending a conference in Geneva, 

Switzerland in 1960 . Medgar Evars was the secretrry of .the . .Mis6- 

of, issippi. 

the NAACP until he was murdered by o Wiitt Am"erican 

racist in 1963 " The six child-martyrs of the Birmineh= 

bombiggs ; of 1963 , were massacred while prnying in n church in Biro 

ingham, Alabama ; two of the six were killed in the ensuing violpnCo,after 

the church bombing . Ronald Stokes wrs murdered in , 

1962 in Los lingeles, Calif . by the local police . He was obviously 

killed .because hb wrs a black man who practiced the faith of Islam 

in . Christian, white lxmorica . Patriee umumba was the unforgotable 

Prime Ministbr of the Republic of Congo (Leo) who was assas- 

-"mated because ho w^ntcd to quarantee that the Congo would bone 

fit primarily the Congolese people . AntDILIQ Ma goo was born of 

iifro-Cuban parents in 1848, In 1896 he hr:d beaten every contemporory 

top Spanish General and he wris on the verge of destroying 

$prpish rule,in` Cuba. However he wr.s murdered by Spanish soldiors 

before he could complete his patriotic mission.

3- 

4 . 

50 

6 . 

table of contents 

bar nationalism on the rjZht . . .by ernia allon . . . . . . . . . . . .p .'j 

2 . a, s~, the con e and the a .a.s . .by the editors of SOULHOOK and 

the editor of The Spark . . . . . . . ., . . ., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : . . . . . . .p .21 

reject notes . . .' . . .' . . * . . . . . .poetry by -goorge murray, V7 . best, 

carol freeman, wm . pattE'rSOn . . . . . . . . .a . .r .ar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .pa25 

the real rensoas tanganyika and zanzibar unitod and booamo 

tanzan~a . . . . . . . . ., . . . . . . . . . .by konn m.froomnn . . . . . . . . . . . .p . 3 

on methods on load rhig . . . . a review by mnmadou lumumba . . .p . 46 

uddn , head and the nogro, a study of mark twain's anti-"nog'ro" - 

attitudes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .by boob hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . .p .47 

7, memorandum to the united nations on political dotninaos , and 

po i 3cU1 prisoner s in south nffrica . . .by the world campaign, 

for the release of south african political prisoners . . . . . . . . . .p.55 

g, annotated b ibliography 2n .tho south afriern . situntion by keen 

mo froorit'n . . . .s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .r . . . .r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .apr64 

9, the masters and the slaves . .a review by donald freeman . . . .p .6Z 

10 . a short history of affricn. . .a rovloi by kenn m . froeman . . .p.69 

11 . delicate Ch~1d . . . . . . . .a . .rr . . .by marvin e . jackmon . . . . . . . .p .'3t 

permission to quote frooly grPn-6ed provided that authorship 

credit be given to author of article quotdd ,'from and that in addition 

the follovving insert -will be carried ; 

reprinted by permission from SOUL$OOK 

p.o .box 1D91 

ber'"Cloy, oalif*(raoist u . s,a .

'CYAO,-P&A . BY 

GAM2, 5OY' I NO`M RT 

YOU WFKE OEAPt 

reprinted Prow The California Eagle

lack nationalism on the right ; 

an expose of "culludn opportunism in the 

los angelos and san francisco bay areas 

by 

ernie fallen 

all footnotes will be found at the end of this 

articlo . .this includes the definition of any 

words from the afroamerican dialect that are used 

in this paper

=During tho past two years there Acs arisen on the lost Coast a 

hybrid, reactionary sort of so-called "black-nationalism" which has 

oonfdsod the concept of Black Nationalism, and in particular, the 

concept of Revolutionary Black Nationalism, In the prcsont paper 

this opprobrious phenomenon which wo are tontr'lvoly describing as 

"oullud nationalism" will bo analyzed ; in a future paper an alternative 

to Black 4pportunlsrlwill be offered-. 

"Black nationalism on the right" as its ror 2 ;, in. she punt-slavery 

program of Booker T, vashington~ The greatest differences botwoon 

Washington and his modern-day counterparts, however, are the 

stronger identification of these "nationalists" with Mother Africa 

and, also, their sooming militancy (which can only be interpreted as 

"loud-mouth" oonsorvatism) :when it comes to peaking out on "Black'' 

issues, Just as Washington had thoughts of establishing trodo with 

Africa during his time, "nationalists" today ale often heard spouttheir 

schemes of "trodo" between the AfrAmericdn Community and doveloping 

African nations,- What' ariety of tradoproposed is for the 

most part left vague, but one is given the improssion that this 

"trade" cantors upon African art imports to the U .S . (which we will 

purchase with our $20 billion, naturally3) . ; 

In order to establish a stronger identification with Africa Y 

is customary for "cullud" nationalists" to take on African names ; 

this is socmingly a militant position (and can be) inasmuch as It 

is "radical" f :" _- Black people in the context of the: "Amcricon roy of 

thinking," Hnnovor, vhon we consider the opportunistic policies 

i as those "nationalists" pursue, it can only be con5lu&d that their 

names should be relegnted to the class of the Tuhnar .r,Kasavubut 

s, Mobvtur s, and Tshombet's, all of them reactionary, African "londor 

s Jr~ 

. 

The s©oming militaridy of reactionary "nationalism'' irises whon

alone 

we consider the-rw-niner in which these "nationalist" _ 

groups vociforously 

denounce both the so-called "black bourgooisio" and the 

present "Civi-1 Rites" 2 movement . It is cortr.inly true that theso 

bour oois elements within the Black Comrrunity should be donouncod~r.s 

wall ns h^vo their "heads whipped") ; it is equally 

true that the "Civil Rites" progrr-m is leading itself up a "blind 

alley" to the extent that it depends on the Fodorrl Government to 

step in at the point where the movement hPs reached a "dead .ond"'3, 

or where it rolios upon the morality of "flunkies" 4 to bring-nbout 

a'solution to the multitude of antagonistic cent rcdiotions inhor 

ant in the Black mnni s presence in lamer ice . Thus, criticism of 

the "Civil Rites" movement is indood justified in many cases . 

The greatest contradictions of renctioiiory. "black 

nationalism," homevor, present themselves when we examine the 

it nationelintfs" program for the solution of the dilomma rf the 

Afroamorican ; what most of our "cullud nationalists" propose is 

some sort of ambiguous "self-help" programs, eomploto with befuddled 

slogans as "each on,-Otoaoh one," "pride and Dignity," etc., as 

if f'solf-help" by itselfwere going to solve the basic problems of 

iSronmericans (lot alone slogans) . It-is our belief that these 

"nationalists" expect "Pride and Dignity" to arise from -- vacuum, 

espoci^lly whoa coo consider that self-hatred among jifroamerieans 

will disappear only when Black people either establish some sort 

of Control over the white-oriented =;ss media or at lonst Yavo the 

power to project n satisfactory Black Imago to the massos .~ Our 

position on "self-help" ns oxpousod by these reactionary "nationalists" 

is thrt their program has not dovolopod to such n point 

that it might benefit the masses of Blr. ck people in the racist 'U . 

S . In fact, "Pride," , Dignity," and .."self-help" alone cannot and 

will not accomplish the arduous t6sk of Block Liberation, a point 

upon which we shall olebornte later . 

One implication of thQ"Isolf-holp' t program is that Afroamericans 

ought to pursue the same path thrt virtually ovary minority 

group of the U . S, has followed nt one firm or another during 

its history in this racist quagmire ; thot'is, by rejuvenating 

the ghettos in which thev live (in terms of improvement of building 

and of stimulating greater economic activity in t ho Black Cammanity), 

going through the "bootstrap scone," and oventunlly becoming 

an integral part of the so-called "affluent, society.` Now, 

all of this above nonsense would make prolific material for a'very 

interesting Horntio Alger navel (as applied to the "success story" 

of a mass of people), but in terms of economic realities it is strictly 

"not on the caso ."7 First point : during the time which--mino-

AG-a-1Ion _ 

---rity groups made their "debut into the manstrenm," the U . S, Economy'wrns 

in a state of expansion therefore affording the members of 

these groups ample opportunity for "upwrrd mobility," Today we find 

U . S, reacionnry capitalism in its highest stage of development (that 

of Imperialism) and totally inadequate to provide a sufficient number 

of jobs for white workers (lot alone bli-ck workers) .; 

Even if rncinl discrimiation in the U * S . worn to be 

abolished, Afronmericans would have few area of the economic sphere 

~into which they could expand (besides those decadent, economic 1astoliunds 

of "rein, o:tdtop mortuaries, and drinking establishments), 

Second pointt Jews, Italians, Poles, Germ^ns, and others who came to 

this 'country of their :own volition .alwnys had a group which they 

could exploit economically in order to "make it" on the American sceno 

; 'that group -w,-.s the Afroamerican Community. Presently, the only 

group which Afroemericans can exploit As themselves (who else to 

on the botton7) . This does, in fact, occur, ond'thus arise the int- 

:ornui olnss contradictions within the aaptive nation-of Afronmerica, 

with the result of .further entrenchment, economically, of the "black 

bnurgooisio" into "Whit© fs" economy (and the' relative. economic downfall'of-the 

Black massos~, 

It is chorncteristi.c of those reactionary :"nationalists" 

to spout cliches about a non-existent, American "'free=ientorprize ;" if 

our brothers had done their reading on economics faithfully, they 

would perhrips realize that "free-onterprizo" vv,-,s dead in Europe in 

the late 1800 s nad got "whipped on back"'ll in the U. S . during the 

-aarllr 1900's {along with the formation of the first billion dollar 

trust in history, United States Steel) . -- Tho ."free-enterprizo" whioh 

is spoken of as if it were still a renlity in the rocist U, S, Ji., 

Just "don4t hardly exist no more," ,.nd in actuality exerted itself 

only for a, short poriod of titro during the Industrial Revolution in 

the U, S,. . 

Let " s "bring it down front" : "self-hole" for brutalized Afroamrcricnns 

at the present stew (of development) 

_ 

of "Whiteyr f economic 

system is ^. noees but not sufficient condition for Black Liberathen 

. Evidently, m;eAfr aodrioana f©P1 that Blac poop3,~ need 

only pool their financial "resources," 'ostablish "Blackowned-and-controlled" 

banks, and from this dream (and it i.c e dream) -create 

a vwst network of Black businesses in the spirit of the "American 

Ethic," which, by the 3my, is an ethic of demogoguery and "tricknology." 

We shall now proceed tepull the covers off"'thoso myths, 

In 

with 

the first pl nco, wa "nin't hardly got no broad"'l2 

which to invest in the dubious undertaking outlined above . Oftent» 

imps the figure of approximately 20 billion dollars is offered as 

_~~msw

. 

. 

. 

. 

. 

alle_n ll 

being the purchasing power of Black people in the U .S . This is~,--_J~r 

quite an impressive 'sum," especially when we consider the-fact that 

it is a-:, .1,, esent greEAter than the Cross National Product of Canadao 

But -where 'does this $20 billion go? The answer is that this sum 

is dissipated in the kfroamericcnfs expenditures for basic noce:ssities, 

This "parch,-sing power" merely goes toward maintaining B - 

ack people on a _subsistence level : that is, the .majority of this 

$20 billion pays for nn oftentimes inadequate ..,supply of food for 

the Black family, rent p^yments (which on the nverege are higher 

than those for white families), and for the :,cost, .of utilities . In 

1959, according to the lrritest Bureau of the. Census Report, the 

median income of non-white households (families and unrelated in- 

Jdividunls) was $2,520, or 49 .5% of the median for white househollda . 

(which was $5,088,) . This disparity is shocking,, but the brutal 

reality of the Black mnnts position in the "Wilderness of North 

Americo" is even more startling when wo consider that ; economically.. 

--speaking, Afroomeric^ns are in virtually the same position that 

they were ten years ago ; "The previous Census (of 1950.) d-ldn't colloot 

similar figures by color . But the Census . . did conduct ; n pomp- 

arable sample survey . It showed for 1949, n,median ' of ;$1, :53-3 ;fof, ._ . 

; 

. 

. 

non-white households, or 48 .9% of the $3,138 for white, .houae--~ : :, ., ; . : 

holds ."'13 "No matter haw one measures it, Negro incomes are .ptill . 

less than .half those. of whites, and have not made: any . significant, 

gains in,nnirawing .the . m-rgin during the past decade, When allo-nance 

made for the larger size of the .average Negro.. houaeho~ld, it 

turns out that the median per capita income ofjion-whites ; is only . . . 

around 44% by a first approximation-of that of 7ahites,, The eff- . ; ; 

ective difference is als o increased by the . fact . that Negroe s Eener -k. . 

ally have o pa~ more for poorer qua-lit ygoods. , aad .s.envices , and 

other consid cr_,-ti_ons," 1 "*L Anal in order to subst-ntiate our position 

further that "self-help" is a necessary but not sufficient 

condition for Black Liberation, let us for a moment examine the 

situation of hfroamericans in that degenerste .jungle . known as Mississippi 

; The per capita income of Mississippi is .$1,173, the low, : 

est per 'capita income of any state in the union . ."If . . 

however, you - 

are a Negro living in one of five . or six counties studied by the 

Commission (U.S . Commission on Civil Rights), you moy have an income_ 

of Only . . $.531 a .yaar .' .15. '.'In the last 77 hears there have, been 

578 . lynchings 'ofwhich 53,$ were .of Negroes ."l6 . 

"Ifyou, have children in one of the 151 shcool districts 

(none desegregated) the state will expend $174 a yeRr on your child, 

Less than any other state. Federal funds for the Negro .

Publia .9ohools amounted to 42% o£ 4193.0612 n;17 " If you are n 

_ 

Negro 

woman and had n child in 1959 and the child died at birth, it was 

ono of ..91.3% per 1,000 Negro infants who died that year in Mississ" 

ippi ." .1 

. 

Finally, if we consider that from npproximatoly Juno to Octobor 

of 1964, 34 churches were oither bombed or sot on fire by whiteracist, 

two-loggod dogs in Mississippi, we can well imngino what mi 

ght occur if any npprociable number of "selfhole" businesses wore 

established by Afronmericzns in the "deep" South . - 

Excuse the expression, but " how in the hell" could n program 

of "self-hole"' function under thn conditions of such a decadent "society" 

as this, unless-ono is speaking of "helping-self" to bazookas, 

connona, and mortars? Those facts underline the bankruptcy of the 

"oullud nntiona-list"s" program which is out of touch with aaonomic 

realities in the North and oomplotely impotent in the South. 

This paper has pointed out previously thzt "~°+hitoy" has found himself 

in a "trick bag" relative to the°prospects of continually oxpnnding_tho 

U . S. Economy ( at least with respect to the present Job 

situation) ; U . S,, Imperialism is suffering more and more each day as 

a result of the "head whippings" it is receiving in Southeast Asiu . 

At,a recent conferonco of non-aligned nations in Cairo, "Whitey" was 

denounced for his involvement in the Congo fiasco, Now, " Thc'Beast" 

needs markets and cheap sources of labor end natural resources in 

order to insure his continued ronlization of super-profits, but because 

of his past "trickery" he finds that many nations no-w elosa' 

their doors when they see him .coming, l'ihet is the solution to his 

problem? At least with rogcrd to Africa, "a hitoy" is attempting to 

gain a greater economic foothold through the "patriotic" nets of 

"cullud," bourgeois mercenaries (including such Nogro Mythologists 

as publisher John H . Johnson of Ebony Ma,. ~zino and Uncle Ralph Buncho, 

Emerson Player., ot, al) . "Big Chnrli-OT-Ts not particular which 

Afroamorionn lackey he sends abroad as long ns this lackey 

"brings home the ham hocks," He would logically, therefore, be 

willing to send reactionary "nationalists" to Afrior., as well as 

Uncle Toms in order to do his bidding ; as . a mnttor'of fact, this 

has alrocdy occured,19 

Now, . we. rea.lize that the .American "black bourgeoisie" would like 

very much to reap the eaonomic "goodies" from the Motherland, but 

'lot 

us not overlook another important feat : it is precisely the mar 

rkets of Lfrica, also .upon which our "nationalists" focus intense 

interest. Thus, conoomitnnt with their "self-help' ; program they 

wish to hale thflmsolvgs to Africa's mngnificont source of wealth= 

their desire to exploit our "Blood Brothers" and Blood Sisters" in

._ _____ anon _ . :r,k3 

the Motherland in order to raise the economic level of "Bloods' : 

(mainly themselves) in the U,S . takes on the characteristics of 'iep . 

actironary, ".cullud" opportunism . 

Brother James Lacy, an Afroaiuerican presentl~ living iri'Accra, 

Ghana, had this-to stay in an unpublished paper :` Why should Africans 

help a segment of the largest capitalist country in the world, 

even a Black segment, to strengthen its position and in that econl 

omy? Doesntt their entrenched economic interests represent anoth 

er source by which Africans will be exploited? foesnot the strengthening 

of the Black man+s economic position in America imply 

that lunerican government action in Cuba, South Vietnam, the Congo, 

South Africa, and Latin America have to be supported by all who 

have interests in the lunericon Economy?" 20 

Let us keep in mind that the racist U .S .A . did not become~a 

"have" nation and the vast, Black World2 lbecome a group of "havenot" 

nations simply because"ffhite~' worked''diligently :whils the 

rest of the world set back on its hind qunrtors ; :the role of U .S . 

"tricknology" and imperialism with respect to the 131ack . 'Ygrld is 

well documented, 22 and need not be belabored here. . - However, the 

point which we have scored in preceding paragraphs is not irrelevant 

to our present discussion, Ls-will be demonstrated later, :- 

Afronmericans will definitly find it necessary to procure support 

for their struggle from peoples through out the'sorld, pnrticiilar- 

-- Iy the Black Tz:orld . In order to acheive - this support it is i.mpera 

yo that lifroamericans not only denou:iae, but boycott : (aMorig 

other things) the system which seeks to destroy humanity,23 my 

other position taken by Afroamerica offers only a reactionary mythsolution 

to its problems, u "solution" which, b6cause of.other realities, 

is destinod to fail . 

Now, evidently-our "cullud nationalists" - don+t really care to 

"tell it like it is," otherwise they would not "shuffle" into the 

pitfalls and contr^tdictions inherent in their programs ; either 

they are grossly ignorant of the "economic fiicts of life ;!" receive 

"kickbnoks" from reactionary "cfays," or' both. `There is avidenco 

to support the fact they are receiving these monetary "crumbs" 

from right-wing "Beasts" ; thoieforo-, wo - accuse them"( in the words 

of a militant Brother) of "spro^ding ignorance, perpetuating eonfusion, 

and fostering illusions"-about "Whitey's" so-c,,llod "free 

antorprizo," chiefly in order to bolster their'bwn oconomie. position 

in-racist, U .S . "society ." - . 

Previously the rol^tionshlp of the "block bourgeoisie" to the 

white -powor structure was given in, rog .:rds to the role of U.S . vi. 

1=vi.s_lifrican . nations, Ile shall now examine this, "black bour. og-o sio"

in groator detail .and-discuss its relationship with opportunistic 

"nationalism," 

The late E, Franklin Frazior pointed out in Black - Bourgcoisic 

that "there; are only cloven Negro banks .in the Unittnd St^tQs" and 

also that those "Blood" banks- had"total assets amounting to loss 

than a single white bank in many small cities," 24 .This . disclosure 

should have rologntod thn fnblo of "Block Economic Pourer" to thn 

realm of "Negro Mythology," but the myth ovidontly has not ,yet boon 

buried, for the "black bourgeoisie" as vcll ns "nntionc.lists" still 

act as if they had novor hoard of Frazior . And further, it is a 

fact'that the small amount of surplus capital "controlled" by the 

"black bourgeoisie" is virtually dopondont upon the white power structure 

(this ourplus capital must eventually trace its source ; to whitls-"controlled 

banks) "-so much for "Black Economic Pomor," 

' Howovor, Frazior also mnntionod,the fact of oxp.ondituro of 

"largo sums of money" by the "culled" bourgeoisio towards "conspicuous 

consumption,"25 For oxomplc, the "black bourgeoisie" in the 

Los Angnlos area intonds to spend $25,000 for a float in the 1965 

Rose Bowl Parr~, do this coming January . Reactionary "nationalists" 

nrgue.'th^t we, should obtain funds from this black middle--class for 

the Black Libcr^tion Movnmont-funds such r.s those -which are being 

wasted in the' -..bovo mannir, It is our contention thct the "nation- 

.-lists" cannot really be serious about this mnttnr, Now, lcts :s bo 

.realistic ; in order for Black, middle-cl,.ss "freaks" to hnvo ob. 

tamed . their "fortunes" in tho first place (as weal as maintain than 

after acquisition) it was nocossory for these± bourgoois "Bloods"' to 

climb on the backs of othors in ordor to achcivo their goals, ,;c ask 

the"nationalists"s Do you really expect Black "buzhios" to givo up 

"coins" to their less fortunate "Blood Brothers?" As a matter -of 

fact, ono ,of the mîn onnoetions that middle-class "Bloods" have 

with the Black masses2z lies in the ostnblishmont of service ontorprisos 

(oànod oithor by the Black middle-class or Jewish-wdominatod, 

"culled-corporation" facades) in the Black Comrrainityr- funeral parlors, 

"fry shops" 27 rostauronts, and the "numbers business," Anothor 

-connc;ction would be the concern that both the black masses and 

the "buzhios" have with rcgnrd to "Civil 'Rites," though the. intorprotation 

of the mystic phenomena by either group would dopond upon 

class perspoctivo :and interests, If the Black middle-class gave 

approciablo "coin" to help the masses it would certainly result -in 

their t .king of a oontrndict'cry pogiti-n, for their economic lovol 

with respect to the Black masses would obviously be louvered, and 

as -w s pointod . out previously, thoy . .did not accumulate surplus 

t-il in order to give it away, Tho "nntivnnlist , s" positior~Ls__

, 

allon . ,; 

that'Afroamoricans should support "Bl=_',ck Business ;" but this 'mor_ 

.oly presents another dilrmma to the Afroamoricrns :would,you . rather 

be exploited by your "Black Brother's" private onte,rpr1s3 or by _, 

"Whitey? s". monopoly, enpital? - These aro the only Pltcrnntivos av'ttilablo 

within the context of the present systom.2$ further, "netion;list's 

t ' 

decry the fact that bourgeois "Bloods" livo outsido . 

tho.ghctto~aroas whilo'still obtaining rovonuo from their Black 

Brothers in th ghetto . The only nltorn,:tivc given by "nationalists" 

is that the "black bourgooisio" maintain . their hones in the 

Black Community and work to "make the ghetto rcspoctablo ." . Thus 

the problem of exploitation of.Blacks,by Blacks is neither rosol ,vod 

or fully brought to light by "nationalists,'* and business cont3n 

ues ns usual. . . . . .Todny the masses of ~ifronmoricans'aro floundering 

in virtually th3 snmo conditions of poverty that thoytvo .al- 

-rays known r' nd oxporionood, while bourgoo s elements . of the Bla- . 

. " . to pr^.etico integra- 

ck Community "flco to the suburbs" : E . 

tion29) in- order to enjoy and perpotuato : thra "American -ray of li 

fe ." "Crumbs" fall to the masses of .bl^ a.k from the tt cullud" bourgooisio 

just. : as "crumbs" :fall from -oho--tgblQs of `Thita America to 

Black lizorioa'-(which - moans virtu~aLlly no t?orumbs" at .all) . . 

= -Qulot as . it's kept, ou.r . "nationalists" are not really t'antibourgooisio,,;" 

. .In fact, they oftentimes exhibit ^. bourgeois. out- 

1oOk thomsoIvos (-in terms-of their - -ova ".,oonspicuous consumption,"' 

i .©., the ownership of fine" oars rsnd , sui.ts, etc .), and we, hnvo 

n1rondy. disoussnd :tho . similnr.itics of ."nctionalist.s" and tho .bour"goois 

"Bloods" -with rospoct ,to Àhitcy'-s" role of raorld-vid.o .1mporinlism, 

. . 

Let , s oxalpino ono lost "bag" . in the reprortoiro of -the -"nationalist" 

; this is nnothor "stick" from: the "self-help" trop, and 

its called "cducetion," ii*ccording to our brothers, "education'' 

is virtually a panacea for problems of Afroamoricnns (end they of 

course are speaking of that stilted, bourgoois education oharactcristie 

of 1ianorican "frrak-factory" schooling), The "cullud nationalist=s** 

position on education is that Black students should 

stay' home and study so that they might roc(-ivo "honor grndos ." 

During oho riots of the summer of 1964, ono of those "nation^1+ , 

ists" was hoard do say, "1f thoso Black students -who were rioting 

had betiri`Bola) studying to make 'honor grades,' riots would not 

have been ~nocossary,"' This st^.tomorit merely illuminates onto 

more the comploto ridiculousness of the "cullud nnt'onalist" "so- 

If-hole" program, 'oas not 15 year old Jams PMUll Oon his vayto 

a remedial roading class vhon viciously shot down by the thug 

co Lt, Gillignn? Was not Lomuol Ponn,'a notod Blnok oduoator,

l6 alien 

murdered by a white . racist who fired a shotgun into the car in which 

Penn was riding? What good did "honor grades" do for him? Being "good 

old_derkies" did not save Afroamericans from being brutally extirpated 

during slavery, and acting as "good Negroes" today does not 

keep Afronmerio.ahs from being "whipped" by either racist thug-caps in 

the North or the Ku Klux Klan in the South . As before, our position 

on'e'duaatlon is that it forms .a necessary but not sufficient condition 

for liberation of Afroamericans . It is absurd to speak of education 

far Afroamerloans when survival is becoming one of the most basic 

problems . 

_ Now that we have "wasted" the reactionary program of bourgeois 

"nationalists," let us discuss their opprobrious connection with the 

American right wing faction . First, let us note that the "self-help" 

program for Afroamericans plays right into the hip-pocket of the "white-wing" 

conservatives .31 As long as "'T(hitey" can keep Black people 

running after a non-existent "free-enterprise" he can keep the real 

issue "under the covers," that is, the issue of economic and politi- 

-cal power ; hence "Whitey" hopes to avoid the eventual and imminent 

clash with the "have-nots" of the U .S . (and, in fact, the "have-nots" 

of the rest of the world) . For this reason "eullud" opportunism (with 

its false and misleading "philosophy") is necessary for 'Whiteyrsn' 

purposes, and also'for this reason it is necessary -shat groups of 

this sort be crushed . those "nationalists" involved are not important 

enough to rFnntion in' this pcper32 , horovor, irany of tho " illusions 

which thav 'havo spro,%d in the 1froamorican community arc misconooptions 

ir~ortnnt enough to got 'wnst(-,d" in tho above text, In 

oonclusicn, we say to these opportunists with regard to accusations 

made in this paper : "=if the- drrXars fit, wear semil" 

l . The most-significant p6rCdZdeTbetween'finshingtonts program of 

"race uplifting" and that of modern-day Booker T .'s lies in the fact 

that both received support from-whites-who had become alienated to 

Afroamericans possessing more militant programs, programs which placod 

the burden of the "Negro problem" on "Whitey" for its solution . 

Just, as Washington urged . black peoplo to "cast down their buckets . . . . . 

. .4 "~ modern-day Booker T . , s exhort black people to demonstrate "responsibility," 

practice "self-help," and not to ask "Whitey" for jobs, 

but to develop their own industries, "r.-hitey" is delighted to hear 

talk of "free enterprise" from "responsible Negro leaders," and rew 

wards his lackeys well . 

2 . This movement formerly went under the name of "Civil Rights ." . How" 

_ever, as this movement in the past few years has been-led for the most 

past by Masochistic Mystics, Ghandi Hunohers, and other lackeys of the

allen . 17 

white power structure, wo wish to preserve the sanctity of their 

"non-violent" program by blessing it with the appropriate name, 

"Civil Rites," 

3, lie need only point out the tilure of SNCC in the South this 

past summer ; unfortunately, SNCCts summer program was dependent 

upon the protection of voter-registration workers by the U.S . justice 

Department and F .B .I . The deaths of three SNCC -workers and 

two other arolitica? Blc,cks (not even counting; the 36, churhcs 

burnt in the, S4-ata ; :r .? . . issippi lasL sunnor testifiot Vo tiz,. 

impotency of n pro ran which depends upon the help of the rrcist 

Federal Governmentkin spite of all of LBJts"humanitcrian" concern) . 

4, white people 

5- "Self-help"-in the current use of the term implies that Afroame- 

- 

ricnns should unite to pool their economic resources to establish 

factories, service enterprises, etc ., in order to strengthen 

their economic position in the U .S . 

6 . Knrdiner and Ovesey, Mark of Oppression , pp . 309-10 

7- has no basis in reality 

8 . This expansion occurred about the same time the U .S . embarked 

upon its role of overseas imperialism: 

9 . According to Michael Munk in the National rzuardinn of April 18, 

1964, p-5, the annucl Manpower Report of 1963 revealed "that the 

private sector of the economy -vas responsible for a not loss of 

jobs since 1957 and that what job growth has ocurrod is due to the 

public sector ." The net contribution of private enterprise to total 

national employment since 1957 has boon a loss of 600,000 jobs, 

Also, the report states that "unemployment among Negroes, at 10 

.9%, remained more than double the white rate, which increased 

slightly from 4.9% in 1962 to 5-1% last year," 

10 . This is due to the advanced state of the U .S . Economy ; under 

the present system it is ludicrous for Afronmoricans to think in 

terms of owning or . controlling their own industries, particularly 

heavy industries . The naked, white reality of rlready existing, 

huge trusts and holding companies, plus the relr:tive lack of surplus 

capital in the Afroamerican Community clearly illustrate the 

Black mants dilemma ; this is'not defentism-it is an honest appraisal 

of nctunl economic conditions in America . Note that we have 

not even considered the problem of competition a-f Black industry 

with U .S . monopoly capital in the form of existing "automated and 

cybernated" industries even if suffici^.nt surplus capital were obta. 

: .ned by the Black Community, nor did we consider the obvious 

dei.endency that these industries would have on "Whitey , s" stockniio 

of raw materials .

16_allen 

_ 11 . was on the decline 

12 . the term "breed" refers to surplus cenpit .^,1 used for purposes of 

rove stma nt, . 

13 . Perlo, Victor . Negro Income is still less th^.n h^lf .of `,hit(: ; p .5 

People+s World (October 6, 1962) 

14 . lee . cit . (emphasis added by the nuthor of this p,-.per) 

15 . Profile of a State : If You Livod In A4ississippi, This is hat It 

,could 'Be Like, p . 5 People's World (October 6, 1962) . 

16 . loc . cit . 

17 . loc . cit . 

18 . loc . cit . 

19 . Recently, one such "n^tionalist" took a trip to the Slotherland 

and noes given a "cold" treFtmont upon his nrrivnl, the rc^.son being: 

Africans were quite aware of the implic!7~~tions vis-~-vis Africa 'of 

his re^.ction^.ry progr^.m . iind on his return to the U .S . the "na.`tionalist" 

reported that "Africans h^te American Nogroes ." 

20 . James Lacy, hn Open Letter to the lhfro--llmericr~n Lssoci-~tion, p .13 

21 . me^,ning, I'frican, Asian, and L^tin-Ilmeric ,~n _rintions 

22 . For ex,-i:iplo see Snyder, Louis L . The ImT=;rialism Render : Documents 

and Rondinzs on Modern Ex ^nsionism . ' 

23, As n result of "7hitoyfs rr chinnt~ars involving genocide, 'sav^,~;cry, 

barbarism, and "trickriology"(' 1 "humr,nitrriln" missions in St^nleyville, 

Congo) which have cc ,=rod over the p-.s t 400 y^n,rs, -":te cannot 

honestly justify at present the inclusion of his r,-,Co' under the 

definition of "hum^.pity ." 

24 . E . Frn.nklin Frazier__ B1nck Bourgeoisie , p.134 

25, The purchasing of goods chiefly for ostentatious display . 

' 26 . A second^ry relftionship botireon the m^sses ^nd mid6lo clt ss is 

that of "Blackness" ( much loss import^.nt to the "Bl,- ck Bourgooi sic" 

27 . "Cullud" hÂrdressing nst!^,blishnonts 

28 . On the other hr.n`d, if our Brothors rro spor-kiiag of "B1^ck Businesses" 

in terms of having Black ovlnod coop , r-tiv :,,s ( such ^s supermarkets 

and shopping centers) ','*ore prices will be to,.~}orod for co-op members 

(who, for the- most part, will be Black), then they will be ; beginning 

to mr ko progressive movoc towards betterment of 'the despriring and 

wretched conditions in which tlfro^meric^ns find themselves today . 

29 . That period of time during which the first Nogro moves in and the 

last white moves out . 

30 . An Afronmeriaah who was murdered in the streets of Hnrlern, New 

York on July 16, 1964 . 

31 . Recently an opportunistic "cullud" group in the. Los J'ingeles area 

went about cnmpnigning for Goldwater among the Black Comrr.unity, ho "."Jover, 

most,of their speeches were made in ' the presence of predominantly

a11 Rely- 

white audiences . In foot, when this group finclly'did go down to 

the Black 7hetto in order to spread ignorrnce, they "got their 

heeds whipped"-much like the John F . Kennedy -lAbrory shich r0ontly 

°rt "anstod" in Cairo, Ngypt . 

372 . For they mill fall to thr wayside : ,s their progr , ms become 

more roactionvry (und this will be even more necesscry as the economy 

"tightens up" ^nd "Whitey" gets scared), and thereby cruse 

greeter indipnotion of the opprossod Afrnrn°r ricsn nrtion to these 

progrnms, 

II LLIOGRAPHY 

1 . Cruse, Harold . "Negro Nationnlism and the Left", Africa , L&tin - . 

America, itsia Revolution . (reprinted from-Studies on the Left') - 

Vol . 1 Nos . 4-5 (7g .-Sept . 1963 . pcgos 27-34 

2 . Frazier, E . Frrnklin . Black Bourgeoisie . New York : Vcmill^.n 

Compcny(Collier Books) 1962 . 

3 . Kardiner, :end Ovesr y, A&L . Mark of Oppression . 

4 . Lacy, James, "An Open Letter to the Afro-Ar+erican hssooiation", 

an unpublished pnpar from Accra, Ghana . 

5- Munk, Michnel . "U .S . Report Explodes the tfre~ economy , Yyth", 

National Gunrdinn . (1pril 1P, 1964) p .5 . 

6 . _People"s World . "Profile of a St-ate : If You Lived in Mississippi, 

This is Ahct it Mould be Like," (October 6, 1962) p .5 

7 . . Porlo ; Victor . "Negro Income is Still Less th .on Folf 'of Ahite,"' 

- Peovlets 5orld . (October 6, 1962) p-5 . 

Snydar, Louis L . The Imperialism Rerder : Documonts . and Reo_dinvs 

on Modern Expvnsionism . Princeton, New Jersey : D . Vrn Nostrond 

Company, Inc . , 1962 . V . 

"THE NEGROES SHOULD BE LEFT TO BECOBT EXTINCT THE NATURAL 

WAY . i, GOOD NE(-RO IS A DEAD NEGRO ." Senator Goldwater April, 

1964 . This quote was contained in a brochure published by 

the United States Information . Agency which was sent to several 

influential African leaders .

20 the editors 

To ; Eric Hoffer, a true believer in the ideology of the white man's 

burden . 

Frorn : The editors of SOULBOOK . 

Re,-, Your erudite article it the New York limes 34agazine . 

We ere amused to th,,t you call Kxsme Nhnuirah, the President 

of the Republic of Gh,.na a `'pseudo-intellectual," We thought about 

writing you a long letter criticizing ^r_d condemning your ladicrous, 

condescending statement but we felt it w^s enough to inform trot, of 

the following facts ; 

1) Ln 1927 Kvtae Nkrunah,gro.duated from. the Clovernrz-n± Trcining College 

in Achimota, Accra . 

2) 1n 1939 . He graduated from Lincoln University Yvith B .A . 

3) In 1942 Mr . Nkrumah g'rnduated from the University of Pennsylvania 

with M.So . AND He also graducted from Lincoln University with E .Th . 

4) In 1943 He gr?ducted from the University of Pennsylvania. with Y .A . 

5) in 1947 Re virote Towards Colonial Freedom . 

6) In 194P He founded the Accra Evening News . 

7) In the yens 1957 thu President of =hen,- : published His autobiogr,-.phy, 

Ghana, . 

.l spe^k of Freedom, a collection of His speeches was published in 

1960 . 

~) In 1963 - His -fricc; 7FF.ust Unite was published . 

10) In 1964,Consciencism- Philosophy Tnd Ideology of Decolonization 

and Development with pni~t cujar R-ferenco to the 1,frican Revolutionwhich 

is probnbly'President Ykrumnht s gre=+test work to date, appeared 

in English, French and Arc-bic editions . 

Sincerely, 

The Editors of SOULBOOK 

Hoffer, Eric . "The Negro is prejudiced Against Himself." New York 

Times Megt)zine, (November, 29, 1964) p .113

africana 21 

In each issue of SOULBOOK there will be a selection from 

the African press concerning yome controversia=l subject in Africa . 

In this issue we present the vi0poant of The Qarlc which 

is published weekly in Accra, Ghuna . Thembject of this article 

is the. United States intervention in the Congo. , and the U .S . State 

Departmentts subsequent snub of the.Roconciliation Commission of 

the Organization of African Unity, 

The Commission, appointed by all the African governments 

is headed by the eminent African Statesman, Prime Minister J om 

Konyattn ofthe Government of Kenya . It has been this group of 

African Leaders whq have attempted to bring an end, to the -Congolese 

civil war (despite the Amerienn government), . 

It 0 true thpt after this article was printed in The 

Spark the State Department decided to meet with the Commission. 

But this w-^s a pharisnical, superficial gesture becûse they still 

refused to confer with the Commission on the issues of United Stntr 

es intervention and white thug-mercenaries slaying Blacks in the . 

Congo . Therefore in substance this editorial-is still valid . 

Indeed the recent events at Stanleyville, Congo only prove 

conclusively the thesis put forth by The Spark : IT IS NOfa MORE 

APPARENT THiiN EVER THAT THE "HUMANITARIAN" ORIENTATED U .S . STATE, 

DEPARTMENT (ALONG WITH "SOCIALIST" ENGLAND, AND BELGIUM) ARE 

INTERESTED PRIMARILY IN PROTECTINGAHITE LIVES AND WHITE OWNERSHIP 

OF THE RICHES THAT RIGHTFULLY BELONG TO THE BLACK CONSOLESE . I T IS 

NOT MORE APPARENT THAN EVER THAT MOST AFRICAN STATES ARE . INTEREST- 

ED IN SLAVING BLACK LIVES AS 1!fELL AS IHITE LIVES AND AT THE SAME 

TIME SEEING TO IT THAT ALL THE RICiTS OF THE GONGOLESE NATION BE 

PRO TECTED . 

Therefore this is clearly a confrontation of epic 

proportions . For it is a battle that has been fought $any times 

through history ; it is thct struggld .ef the forces of rightousness 

agRinst the dung-infested rabble of iniquity . 

7'iho will win? PatTice Lumumba answered this question in .:the 

last letter he ever wrote : 

"I know .and feel deep in my heart that sooner or later - . 

my people will rid themselves of their internal and. 

external enemies, that they will rise up as one in

22 1-fricana 

order to say fNo" to colonialism, to brazen, 

dying colonialismi in order to win their dignity 

in a clean lrnd." 

We agree completely with our into Brother Lumumba . 

U.S, and the O .A.U . 

-the editors- 

The Leader ofthe "un-holy alliance" of the imperialist powers, 

the United States of America, has unmasked its mailed fist . 

The last moment refusal of the United States to meet and confer 

with the Reconciliation Commission of tho O.h .U- . which was due to 

leave for the United Stntes within the next twenty-four hours, constl,tutee 

one of the best object lessons for the whole of Africa ^nd 

indeed, for the whole of the decent world . 

Yo ore neither surprised nor impressed . Under the leadership 

of Rwome Nkrumah, who knows imperialism for what it is, vie have never 

been taken in by the double talk, and hollow claims on the part 

of the United Stntes . The claim that their country stâds for world 

peace : 

There onn hardly be any leader in Africa, tod^.,y, having observed 

the activities of the United St^.tes in the Congo, who .will .. . 

still remain unconverted about the dangers which imperialism hold 

over our heads in Africa and the world . 'which African lender, seeing 

the manner in which the United States hcs presented one affront n.fter 

another to Africa over the question of the Congo, can hold brick the 

wrath of. the people of our continent? He will be a bravo man indeed 

who will continue to pretend that the interests of the people of Africa 

coincide with those of the United Strtes . 

Tith tho ruling clcss in a country like the United States which 

is without conscience, and without scruple, the interests of the 

people of the Congo can go hang, so long as the puppet Government does 

the imperial bidding, and opens the door wide for cnpitrlist exloitntion 

. What does the United States onre for the welfare of the people 

of Latin America and nations like the Congo, so long ns the resources 

of these countries are exposed to foreign investment . 

Had the interests of our people in the Congo not been our 

concern, we would have like to sit back, and permit the United States 

to reveal its selfish designs some more . "re should have let the archimperialist 

notion, the United States, invite by its ao-ions the 

intervention of the only powers which are its match .

africana 23 

But, alas, the people of the Congo are our own people . Their 

misery is our misery . This being so, we cannot stand idle while 

the United States spans Tshombe and Kasnvubu around as if they 

were so many tops in the hands of children at play, 

Now that there can be no doubt as to the intentions of the 

United Stntos on the; Congo, viz ., to foment trouble in the area, 

rna preven the much neede! reconciliation, Let all the African 

peopl s rolay together in unity and throw off the evil influence, 

in c. spirit of corTromice, African loaders have ad -ritted M . 

Tshombe to the meeting of African Foreign Ministers, We will not 

regret the decision, But, M . Tshombe has yet to prove that the 

hands outstretched to him are not repulsed . 

7% see that power, = heady stuff, can get into the heads of 

peoples . Thus, the United States has dared to flout the will of 

a whole continent . OUR power in Africa lies in our morality and 

in our unity . 

(reprinted from The Spark, No . 93 (Friday, September 

25, 1964) page F . The right to reprint this 

article was given by the Editor of The Spark, 

Brother Kofi Batsa to the Brother Editors of the 

SOULBOOK . 

*Patrice Lumumba, fighter for Africais Freedom . 

Moscow : Progress Publishers . translated from the 

Russian, p .156 . 

"THIS BATTLE (the Congolese people's wpr against imperialism)NOT 

ONLY CONCERNS THE CONPOLESE PEOPLE . I T IS A BATTLE OF ALL AFRICAN 

PEOPLES FOR THEIR INDEPENDENCE AND DIGNITY, THE DIGNITY OF ALL 

BLACK PEOPLE ." Modibo Vita, the President of Mali

24 "hwanitarianise 

Cover for Cannibalism Cartoon by Ian Chien-asp 

from Peking Review

goorge murray 

REJECT NOTES 

we best 

carol freeman 

wm. Patterson 

reject noton - 2 ;)

christmas morning i 

got up before the others and 

ran 

naked across the punk 

floor into the front 

room to see grandmama 

sewing a new 

button on my last year 

ragdoll . 

enrol freeman

Pure Soul 

Doop, black multitude 

Of boautiful spirits, 

Nith jazz overtones 

of angels , Wings ; 

Prop :;rc tomorrova} s creo.tiono 

Prom invisible matter, 

Sunlicht browning the wheat 

In atomic chain-like rhythm . 

Fin^lay, coming to rest 

In a bosom ofpure soul 

w~ best

2$-freeman 

i saw them lynch festus zruhiteside and 

all the; limp white women with lymphatic groasy eyelids came 

to watch silent silent in the dusty burning noon 

shifting noiselessly from heavy foot to heavy 

foot licking beast lips showing beast teeth in 

anticipation of the feast 

and they all plodded forward after the 

lynching to grab and snatch the choice 

piocos, rending them with their bloody tooth crunching on his hollow 

bones . 

c^rol freeman

mr . willie Frelow died 

getting some off my 

mother .while i watched 

through the crack ho 

was straining and hauling his skinny 

white ass in tho air like 

he was pulling up ono 

of our mules 

carol freeman

when 

my uncle Willie saw 

aunt mimmies new baby he 

look at his big cracked black hands the thick 

pink nails split then 

he looked at black mimmie with her gold teeth flashing and 

he look at the baby 

then 

later on he brag to every body hove he 

got indin blood from his grand mama 

then-when 

my uncle Willie and aunt tee minartie had 

mother baby he 

look at auntee then he 

look out the window he 

look at the midwife who smilling a little 

shaking her head a

m 

little 

and he say it albinodontyall member us got albinirs on mah cudin Tim side? 

Aunt tee she grinsome then she laugh then she say villiesherrif merriweathor 

say of this a boy if ah names his rerrivueather he gon give you fit dollars? 

then 

i seen uncle Willie cry some, 

carol freeman

Beyond the shadows with red skios . 

Beyond the lonely, 

Above the proud . 

There is a state . 

The meek are its dwellers 

The poor bask outside of its-walls 

Beyond the shadows of the twilight where grnssos bow and sway 

laden with dew . 

There is a stato . 

Above the nountain and belovi the sea, there is a mode of life, 

most sadly forgotten, as lost as yesterday, and as unyield- 

ing as tomorrow . 

george m, murray

This is an uncertain transformed truth 

The eagle-wings-speak of voluptuous pleasures 

Breaking boundaries . .'given birth by genocide . 

pattereon 

Message to Brother's 

Lice become lice constantly pulling away from pretentious 

Evolution, accepting the,role ofbigot Kings . 

Tomorrow's slender winds bring reality the ultimate avenue 

Patronized in nightmares . - 

A cup of wine sweetens as swaying hips keep time in calculated 

Unawareness, 

Harmonious claws grow artful in sacrificing politics to become 

Cringing worms attacking sacrifical wounds, 

The knot untanggles ; the guilty looks to desperation's aid 

Lurking in the last corner of darkness the Lion licks a pair 

Eyes saying come on down . 

wm, patterson

Saints Moment 

Lady Bay moaned for somewhere 

Sam sat wanting a reason 

Reaching out with her 

Somewhere gently . . . . .gently carressing 

Brief rhythmical echoes . . . . .pregnant sighs 

Folly . . . . . .tears . . . . . . . . loneliness 

stow shrilling . . . . . . . . . . . now piercing 

Tight drawn sinews . . . . . . . . Sam-whispering 

Hush Billie, let my back times be 

I saw Sam cover his soul with his elbow 

win . patterson

When i-was young and small with ashy grey logs, that had little rivulets 

of black from where the pee had driped, i used to roan head long into 

thin cutting places of johnson grass, hiding from the greying sun, and 

the grass would rustle static and still, and hoarse huffs of noise would 

limp from my open lips, and the grass would jab little slivers of pain 

into me, as the seeking wind parted the grasses, and jabbed cold 

fingers up my nose and whispered you're it. 

carol freeman

"FOR TEE WHITE YIN HAS, FOa THIEE THOUSAND YEARS ., 

ENJOYED THE PRIVILEGE OF SEEING WITHOUT BEING SEEN ; 

HE WAS THE PURE VISION ; THE LIGHT OF HIS EYES RESCUED 

FVERYTRING FROM ITS NATIVE SF+:ADWY, THE WHITENESS OF 

HIS SKIN WAS ALSO A VISION LIKE THAT OF CONDENSED 

LIGHT, HITS VIN, '"RITE BECAUSE HE '.TAS PlYad, ',MITE 

LIKE DAY TRUTH AND VIRTUE, ENLIGHTENED kLL OF CRBAT- 

ION LIKE A TORCH, UNVEILED THE SECRET ESSENCE AND 

ti ;HITLNESS OF THINGS, TODDY, IN THE PRESENCE, OF THE 

REGARDS OF THESE BLACK MEN OUR REGARD _ENTERS OUR 

EYES ; BLACK TORCHES LIGHT THE TIORLD Al-,D OUR AU TE 

HEADS ARE NOTHING MDRE TM SlIALL ELATES BALANCING 

IN THE WIND ." 

jean pain sartre

the real reasons tanganyika and zanzibar 

united and became tanzanin 

by 

kenn m, freeman

freeman_ ?q 

On April 23, 1964 President Julius K, Nyerere of T,-.:~gn;jyika, 

President i'beid :imani Xcrume of Z :^.nzib,ar signed articles of "Umoja"* 

in which both of their nations bocarne, on-: soveroirn state 

under the name of the Unitod Republic of Tanganyika end Zanzibari 

( in October, 1964 it :ac,s changed to T :- nzania), 

Geographically it was c: natural union, Both of them lie 

on the edgy; of the Indi ¬ n Ocean on the E, .st coy st of ,frica, The 

islands that make up the Peoples Republic of Zanzibar lie less 

then 25 miles off of the co^,st of Tang^.ny ka, Thus one must start 

with the f~-.ct of the proximity of those territories, the inhobitants 

cornnon fear c:nd experience of being victims of European Impori^.lism, 

U, S, Impcri^lism and slavery, and the coir.mon tongue 

spoken by all. thpeople livin7 in this areo. virtu^.lly prescribes 

a political union of these Lfric^.n peoples . 

Of course there were m^.ny other reasons th .r .t motivated 

this Fast ilfric .în feder~,.tion, but the reasons -.lr(,,,)dy nontioned are 

those ,nihich m^ka this political union nt lo,,-st acceptable to the 

pcf-,sonts, proloteriate, intollcctu~ls and politicians in T-ngr.nyika 

and Zanzibar . 

To the m,rjority of pcopl-~, in both of thes c historically 

rich lnnds the boun&rigs worn the mc .cLns by which the. imperialists 

egregiously "lrgclized" the; traumatic ,effects of the resultant 

separation of !,fricr:n mother in Tanganyik^ . fron her African son 

who had often mono to Zrnzib^r to find mr-ns for ^. mea--:r livelihood 

for his large, extended family, iLlso i~Lfrican bolitici^ns 

and intellectu :- ls realize th^t these same boundcries h.,-d divided 

iifricans to such -^.n extent th-t it ;jas relatively easy for Europ- 

"cr,ns to conquer rend rule «fric~~ns for generation after goner^:tion, 

(this does not imply lifriccns did not fight age^,inst European Imperialism) 

Thus this nE".vest move toiv^.rds African unity (-nd most 

African unific,a.tion schemes) is motivated by :, desire to find a, 

r?^y to insure that iifricn~ns will never be onsl : vod and conquered by 

non--Blacks, 2 

hn addition to these motivations behind the East 1'frican merger 

one =st ^1w .-.ys consider at least three more motivations of 

"Black afric-n intolloctu^,ls rind politici~-!ns which ore probable 

causes in any merger betzgeen ilfricnns :(1) Africr:n political unifies 

cations are look,-A uponàs a means that would pro ;~e the political 

genius of the Black race, Thus Blacks would merit and achieve---it

40 freeman 

is l hoped--the respect of the world, (2) the desire that Blacks shed 

their "colonial mentality" imposed on them by imperialist educational 

institutions and regain their self-confidence in African abilities 

and respect in their African past and culture,3 and (3) to find 

more . successful means to industrielize end raise the living standards 

of the mass of African peoples . Usually a merger is specifically 

designed to enlsrge the internal market and to eliminate 

competition bet "weeh the African countries .for. development aid from 

the developed countries . The implication here is that this will 

also strengthen the bargaining position of the underdeveloped African 

country vis-a-vi`s the developed countries , 

As far as Karumers motives are concerned he was probably 

influenced more by his friendship to Nyerere, and the fact that Nyerere 

had long helped Karumets Afro-Shirazi Party'ous't Arab feudal 

rule in Zanzibar (Idyerere sent 300 Tanganyikan police to Zanzibar 

to help maintain order'after the pro-Black, anti-imperialist revolutionaries 

succeeded in ousting the Arab feudal regime), Probably 

Karume felt that he owed Nyerere something that would help Ndugu** 

Nyererc maintain his government . In fact here is evidence indicating 

that Nyorere "hclpod" Karume come to this understanding . Because 

a few days before the announced union Nyerere publically threatened 

to ?rlithdraw the Tanganyikan police from Zanzibar . Since it is 

common knowledge that Zanzibar had no immediate source of police protection 

(which was greatly needed a}the time because all other 

Zanzibari military forces vaero busy curbing counterrevolutionary 

moves on . the islands) other than the Tnnganyikan force, one could 

suggest that Nyerere vas applying pressure on Karume in,order to 

gain concessions that primarily benefited To.nganyika and Nyerere . 

Certainly there is little question that Nyerero needed, at 

- that particular time, something to rebuild - his past image as a 

Black Nationalist leader . And certainly Nyerere realized the union 

would rebuild his political reputation (and the confidence of the 

Tanganyikan people in their government) after it was virtually destroyF.d 

on account of the Tangnnyikan army mutiny***, and his governmentis 

subsequent f ,~.ilure to successfully use its oven, .o .r African resources, 

to quell the disturbances . The disgrace was complete when 

Nyerere brought in imperialist White English troops-the army of Tanganyikats 

former colonial oppressors-to crush the Black African troop 

rebellion, and bring order to Tanganyika . 

Thus one of the obvious results of this EFst African federation 

is Nyereress image as a Black Nationalist, African N ationalist

freeman 4- 1.6--_ 

. 

and ParUifricanist h ,-,F been considerably rebuilt !'Sheik Karume of 

Zanzibar, riding on the crest of a wave of enthusiasm engendered 

by the recent African Revolution in Zanzibar, certainly had no 

personal need compcrable to Nyererets to enhance his political 

image Thus one must conclude that it wac Nyerore -nho had more 

Rersonal motives and did gain more personally out o£ the merger . 

The reactionary, conservative, and "liberal" U,S . press 

purposely proscribed mentioning one of the Thechief reasons behind 

the timing of this spectacular merger American mass media, 

er,Lth tHeir attitudes of monolithic condoscencion towarde any offorts 

by darker-skinned people to do anything on the intellect : ".al 

level, started sque ling the ludicrous assertion that the real 

cause of Zanzibarss and Tanganyikats merger was to overt a Communist 

takeover and/or Communist influence in Zanzibar . 

do not justify this interpretation . 

The facts 

The reasons that the U,S . "experts" on Afriea .give for 

thair prognostication that Communism was imminent in Zanzibar can 

be sun°narized in the following point ~ (1) The Vice President of 

Zanzibar, Abdulla Kassim Mange is a graduate of Friendship Uni 

versity in Moscowo(2) The Foreign Minister Abdul Rahman Babu is 

one of the Editors of the Msrxist-orientated monthly m4.gazine 

Africa, Latin America, Asia Revolution . '(3) The revolutionary regime 

had redeemed all pawn tickets on the islands without paying 

the pawnbrokers .(4) They had started grocery cooperatives all over 

the islands, along with nationalizing all the former feudal 

land holdings . (5) They had destroyed all rickshaws because they 

were symbols of human servitude . (b) They had understood the neocolonialist 

role of English technicians in Zanzibar and therefore 

they had deported all of them, and subsequently asked for technicians 

from socialist countries in order to help.build -socialism 

in an African context on Zanzibar . (7) They had taken over the 

U .S, missle tracking station on Zanzibar and comple'.ely dismantled 

it, **** 

Certainly there is no evidence to suggest that the Union 

was designed to eliminate these reforms and positive trends . In 

fact ifone looks a little closer one finds that Oscar Kambona, 

Tangonylkats Foreign and Defence Minister, and former roommate of 

Zanzibarfs "Communist" .Vice President Kassim Hanga, is described 

by one U .S . Africanist as "a militant .Panlifricanist who is'considerably(sentence 

and paragraph continued on page 42) 

a (and at the same time rebuilt the confidence of the Tanganyikan 

- .. ..people in their Government . )

to the left of Nyerere . . .and is .not and anti-Communist . . ."5 was the 

leader in the discussions that worked out the basis of the merger, 

Indications are that he is one o£ the biggest fans in'Tanganyika for 

the progressive trends in Zanzibar . 

Even more significant in this context is the fact that most 

competent Africnnists agree that Kambonn is right nova the ,man who 

actually controls Tnngnnyikrn political power . Thus we must say 

that it is very unlikely that Anti-Komnunism was a significant factor 

or motivation in the causes of the Exist African merger . And what 

further supports this view is that both Hangn and Babu have been given 

importrnt posts in the new cabinet of the Republic ofTanzania . 

Therefore their influence has increased since itis now not only in 

Zanzibar, but also in Tanganyika,***** - 

Just a few days before the merger U .S . Naval Fleet 

movements in the Indinn Ocean had angered most people in East Africa 

to such a high pitch that even Nyerere ( who up to this time was not 

known to make strong, anti-American statements) was publicly calling 

these yanqui intrusions off the Tanganyikan coast an insult to Africa . 

Even a correspondent in Tanganyika of e conserv*tive, English periodical 

called the U .S . Naval maneuvers in that area "ostentatious and 

rather pointless ."{, But what was clear to both Tanganyikan and Zanzibari 

officials was that Washingtonrs politicians were close to dragging 

Africa into the. cold -war . Naturally, none of the African parties 

involved wanted any part of this kind of harassment and aggression 

that the U .S . has inflidted upon revolutionary Cubn(in this sense no 

militant African nationalist tisants ra "Cuba" in Africa) . Therefore 

both Tanganyika and Zanzibar felt--and rightly so--that by politically 

uniting their respective countries they could insulate themselves from 

the COLD WAR, and stop U .S . red-baiting of (and an imminent invasion) 

Zanzibnr . At least on n short range basis thc-y have succeeded in averting 

an immediate threrit df a Behi^, de 'Ca chinos******invasion in 

East Africa . 

The above reason, ^.nd the need to resuscitate the much-needed confidence 

of Fast Africans in their respective governments voer6 probably 

the most importznt motivations of Tangnnyikats and Zanzibnris 

timing of,their announcement of unification, And amazingly enough they 

want a long moray in achieving both of these objectives concomitantly 

with the objectives thrt are evorpresent . in the hearts of all East Africons,,and 

for that matter all PanAfricrnists throughout Africa, and 

other parts of the world inhabited by the sons and daughters'of Africa .

freeman 43___, 

FOO TNO TIES 

*It means unity in Kiswahili, the-lingua franca of Tanganyika, 

Zanzibar, Kenya, northern Mozambique, Eastern Congo, and parts 

of Uganda . 

1 . "Tanganyika and Zanzibar sign agreement to Unite ." New York 

Times, April 24, 1964 (an unsigned news story) p . 1, 

2 . Freeman, Kenn M . "Notes on Relationship between Back Nationalism, 

A 'ca Nat' 'sm .and paw-Africnn sm ." an unpublished 

paper) p . 5- 

3 . Ibid ., 

** It means brother in Kiswahili . 

*** Certain Marxists who are short on knowledge about underdeveloped 

countries, and especially African countries, have stated 

that Nyererefs crushing of this troop mutiny was solely a counterrevolutionary 

act . This position is worth keeping in mind, but 

it is at best an oversimplification because it cannot be assumed 

the mutiny of this army was an. index to the popular tide in East 

Africa. This army-like most armies in nations just liberated from 

the colonial yoke-was mercenary in character . It had been trained 

by the British imperialist to remain apart and antagonistic to 

the interests of the people and especially vis-a-vis the African 

Nationalist movements . e .g . It was virtually the same Black troops 

that rebelled in Kenya that fought against the beau Mau revolt . 

there . Also it must be remembered that the Tanganyikan troops, 

denonds(higher woges, replacement of white officers with Black 

officers,-all legitimate, progressive demands-were granted by 

Nyererels government) . 

**** This author has learned from reliable sources that the mi.ssle 

"tracking" station in Zanzibar in actuality was a missile base 

and within a few hours could be set up for the latter purpo.s e.. - 

4 . "The Zanzibar Move ." 'l ow York Times, April 25, .1964, (unsigned 

editorial) p . 26 . . . .,_. 

Sterling, Claire . "Tanganyika : The Tribulations of a Good 

Man," The Re orter . (April 9, 1964) pp . 21-25.

44 freeman 

FOOTNOTES cent . - 

6, "Everybody climbs on the Zanzibar Dhow," Africa_ 1964, No . 9 (May 

1, 1964), P, 3, 4 . 

***** The fact that none of the social reforms achieved by the Zanzibari 

revolution, and that many more radical measures have boon added 

since the merger shows that the Union was not a counterrevolu-tionary 

move against Zdnzibnr . In fact the recent decision to bring Chinese 

arms and military Edvisors into Tanganyika is--certainly an index to 

the growing Z anzibari influence on Tanganyika . Also President Nyer- 

' 

arets public denunciation of the uncovered U .S . plot'tq~overthrow his 

government, and his censure of U,S,t and Belgium's "humanitarian" intervention 

in the Congolese Civil war aro . ¬ilso indices to the heightened 

political consciousness of the Dar es Salaam officials, 

The unresolved problem of whether to recognize West Germany 

or East Germany seems to be at an impasse with West Gernn ny.technically 

the only one recognized by .Tanz nia, but Zanzibari officials are 

still demanding diplomatic status on . Zanzibnr for the East Germans, 

Indications are that this problem-created by West Germany- will be 

solved by Tanzanians to .the advantage of all Tanzanians h all .Germans . 

****** The site of the April, . 1961, U,S, .backed invasion of'free Cuba. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

African Recorder , p .. :. RIO,(July 2-15, 1964) . Excerpts from articles 

in he Time s, London ; The Time s of India ; .. and the East African. Stan- 

ANToa 1964, " Everybody Climbs on the Zanzibar Dhow ." P. . . 

1964) . 

-3, .40 (May 1, 

Christian Sp~ieTce Monitor . "Tanganyika end Zanzibar." ,p, 16 (an unigned 

editoria]', July 7, 1964) . - 

New Africa , "TaxiZan's Path to - Unity." P 7, S, vol . 6, No. 9, by 

fdris Cox (September, 1964) . 

New York,T~imes . "Tanganyika and Zanzibar sign agreeas4nt to Unite." 

p . 1 C-an unsigned news dispatch-from The Titftas, 

1964) . 

London (April 24, 

,

BIBLIOGRAPHY coat, 

---------, "Thc Z ,,nzibar Move ." p. 25 (an unsigned editorial), 

(Apt ; 25 1964) . 

Notes_ on tr;o Relationship b etween Black Nation-,Iis rr~, 

I.frionn Nation^lism _nnd PanAfricanism ; a_.n Intorn_ationcil 

Rolctions Viewpoint.an unpublished paper by Kenn TA, 

Freeman . 

The-Re -porter . "Tanganyika : The Tribulations of a 'Good 

Man, pp . 21-25, (April 9, 1964) . 

freeman

46 lumumba 

TseTung, Mao . Oq M, hods of Leadership, Peking ; Foreign Languages 

Publishing House, 1960 . 

This short, concise p ¬=phlet by the leading Marxist theorician 

of the day is a must for all Afro^,merican leaders, non-communist and 

communist alike . 

The nut her states two rules that leaders should employ in 

carrying out any task :(1) linking the gener^l with the . specific, (2) 

linking the le^dership with the rank and file . 

He tells us that generFl directives when linked with specific 

guidance(e .g . attending to detrils, investigating a few branches 

and giving personal guidance to some) they were carried out successfully, 

however when this was not done failure occured . 

"Tho scattered and unsystematic views of the masses are summed 

up, that is, brought together and unsystematized after examination, 

and then the summing-up is exp1rined nnd popularized until the summarized 

ideas become more nearly correct, more vital and more mean 

ingful ." This is the only way Mao sees the leadership can be linked 

with the rink and file, At this point one begins to wonder, what 

does he mean by "more nearly correct, more vital and more meaningful"? 

On this phrase there is a wide latitude for divergency, especially between 

Marxists and non-Marxists . 

'there are two p,:rticul : r points that are of especial interests 

to the emerging revolution .7~ry, Black le .^.dership in the U .S . 

"The h^rder the struggle, the greater is the necessity of closely 

linking the leadership with the dem,-.n~~s . 6f the rare'- :.,:1d file(p .9) .'° 

The second important point is : "Not more than one central task should 

be assigned at any one time to any one loc^litythough the central 

task may be supplemented by tasks of secondary and tertiary importance 

In such a short work this great thinker renders in pocta-cnllyprecise 

language what many were never taught in four year courses of 

political science in racist, bourgeois, western Universities, 

reviewed by mamadou lumumba

"puddn+head" and the negro 

by 

boob hamilton

4$hamilton 

--rY 

The purpose of this paper is to discuss Mark Twain's anti- 

Negro sentiments in his novellotte, "PUDDNIBEAD `WILSON ." Before doing 

that, I shall clear the -air lest the reader contest me on issues 

which are not the concern of this paper . Thcnever Twain is criticized 

for the way he treats the Negro in his works, his disciples 

start to wildly wave "documents" which show that he dearly loved 

"spirituals" and that he was against slavery, but we cannot assume 

that anti-sl°very means pro-Negro . Harriet Stowe+ s "UNCLE TOY'S CAB- 

IN" was nn anti-slavery tract, but she cortQnly felt that the Blacks 

were inferior and should be turned out to pasture back in their nat 

ive Africa . To her slavery was cruel in the same way that fox hunting 

and bear-baiting were cruel . "It's true they were inferior, but 

that's no reason to enslave them," is the way the sentiment goes . 

Therefore we must not assume that anti-slave means pro-Negro, nor 

does it mean that we should ovorlork the race insults of a man, merely 

because he is, or was against .slavery, a dead system that the 

Negro himself would not allow to be ro-established anyway, 

Of course the lost resort of Twrin " s defendants is to cito 

his paying; the expenses of a. black student for four years at 

Ynle . Yet "PUDDD HEAD" was written after he, "held himself res 

ponsible for the wrong which the white race had done to the black 

race in slnvoryl l This is the same than who later said, "The idea 

of making Negroes citizens w^s startling and disagreeable to me, 

but I h

hamilton 49 

one piece, if the writs has done other works which tr

50-hare lton 

inhabiting the Sudan, or loosely, any of the bl,^ck races, including, 

besides the Negroes proper, Bantus, Pygmies, Hottentotj, and Bush-men 

. " . A black man ; ssp, a person having more or less Negro blood," 

We see that the terms are both redundant and fuzzy as far as true 

definition is concerned . The slaves brought here were taken from 

various tribes : Hausa, Ibo, Fan, Yoruba, etc,, There was no Negro 

tribe . The Portuguese first applied the term as an adjective ; it 

meant black . After the destruction of the civilization found there= 

and the taking of slaves, the term unde .~went a ;transformation, a soccial 

metynomy for economic reeson, a transformation which focused on 

a detail, which substituted n part for . the whole in order to justify 

the degradation and subjugation on which the slave system was based . 

This illuminates the "ingenuity" of the Ivledioov,-~l European for thouslavery 

was an old institution, it had never-before been based on 

skin color, The term "nigger" then is c further degradation of a 

term which Bas already corrupt by the time the colonization of the 

New World reached its peak . It is no defense then to say that the 

terra nigger did not mean the some in Twain+s time as it does now,nor 

is it true ; it eras both familiar o-&nd derogatory . 

Roxannc . who is one-sixteenth Afric^n, uses the term 

throughout the book, of course she is for all proc -tical p::rposes white, 

but the physically black slave, who is in the tradition of tLe 

anti- sIAVW--Abolitionist vriters is seldom given the dignity of an 

insurrectionist, a hero, also uses the term, The only realises explanction 

for this if ,Iienomeaon" must lie in the psychological attitude 

of the ûthors themselves and that at 4- ituoe is anti-black, white 

supremacist in origin, residual though it may be, 

Roxyt s son v~ho, it turns out, was sired by a white patrician-gentlemen, 

grows up with all the advantages of a white man, but 

Twain gives him the mean tr its that are supposed to be the birthright 

of the black slaves . He is selfish, he cheats, wastes his unclers morn-, 

ey, and he even sells his mother down the river into slavery again in 

order to get money to cover his losses at gambling ; Roxy had been freed 

by her master on his doath-bed, Twain has Roxy say of her son that 

there, "cint nigger enough in him to show in his finger nails, en dat 

takes mighty little--yit dey's enough to paint his soul . , ` 4 This can be 

oxplainod you may say in the historical fact that the blacks were received 

in a slave environment and naturally they repeated the stereotypes 

of their masters . Perhaps so . Then again perhaps not ; remember 

that according to (sentence and pcragrcph continued on page5l)

hamilton 5i 

the frieAdly critics, Roxy is supposed to be an heroic figure, rebellious 

and proud . In any event Twain gives his game away in an 

earlier chapter where he says that "Tom was a bad boy from the 

very beginning of his usurpation."5 Of course, blood does tell in 

the end and Tom's "curse" drives him from one blunder and misdeed 

to another, he kills his uncle and is exposed by Puddn+head Wilson, 

vho had taken bath his and the real Tom's fingerprints at various 

stages of their childhood and youth. The usurper, Tom, is sold 

back into slavery to pay for the losses and the real Tom is out of 

place because he has boon brought up as a slave .' This last has 

been frantically grasped as "proof"that Twa in did not believe in 

inherent inferiority, but that he wrs . showing the affects of environment 

. The "proof" is,rather tenuous . though ; we =at remember 

that Roxy and her son, a "nigger" .who was raised us white are 

the oentrah charuoters. 

- Twainta'supporters always .speak of his erudition and 

keen dense of perception: I can either.aocept or doubt this. If 

I accept the a.ppmisal, I, say thdn that Twain could not overcome 

his .racial history af.four hundred years of cultural and racial 

arrogance (add six more centuries if you wapt to include the cruandes-against 

the Moslems) in his enoounte'r with other people: 

perhaps it'is too much to expect . But there were records despite 

those thit were "lost" through censorship of real slave mulattoes 

or aato-roons,"who fit so nicely into the romantic patterns of the 

abolitionist anti-slavery writers . Between 1526 and 186 there 

were at,least 126 recorded uprisings ., After'1759 there was at 

least one slave revolt somewhere in the countr3r every. year . Nine 

took place in Missouri during Twain+s lifetime . ,Ie..pan forgive 

the others, but Twain was, "learned," where did he get his picture 

of the rebellious slave while he . was busy "eruditiog"himself? 

On the other hand if I doubt his erudition, I can dismiss hi as 

a provincial writer who committed the cardinal sin of writing - 

about things he -was ignorant.1 

gain has disparaging remarks to make about the 

French, Italians and Turks .too. 6 I suppose the passages cited in 

the footnotes can be dismi§bed as true, or they can be used-to 

show that he was not "anti-Negro" that he was "anti-everybody: 

But then the Turks and French and Italians do not have to live in 

America as an oppressed minority. Re does speak briefly of an 

expatriate in Itr±ly, who has become aguido and who feels no compulsion 

to come to America again. Twain says his judgement is

52 humilton 

right, Another time he speaks of his friend "Fred Douglas," whom_ he 

admires for his spunk. But Twmin only gets mellaea and nostalgic over 

his Aunt Hannahs, his Aunt Rachels, 7 to say nothing of his colored 

spirituals . I love the spirituals to.o but I rim sure my reasons are 

not those of Mark Twain, 

To get back to Roxy, she goes to n. job on a riverboat after she 

gains her freedom and becomes the good old servant gal, happy in her 

job, dressed in new clothes ; she becomes the darling of white travel 

ers, who go up and down the Mississippi. Good old Roxyl What happened 

to all that pride, .fire, and defiance she is supposed to have had 

earlier' Foner makes much ado over Twain+s "boldly" asserting . that 

the slaves were justified in stealing from their mcsters-the passage 

is Prom "PUDtN9 HF.AE" and it is too long to be quoted here. "Thus" he . 

says " Teain"rejected the concepts of litornry figures in the post- 

Civil War in America, who glorified the plantation tra#ition . ., . happy 

and faithful slaves . . .Sind and oonsiderste mastelrg. . ." Perhaps so, 

but Foner is oonf%ssing the issue ; as I said in the beginning, ]dark 

Twain " s antislavery is not the issue, His "anti-Negro sentiment ist 

Certainly stealing "massats" chickens and Rilfering his 

larder are not "bold" defiant acts and "mosM" 115nin6 s_ iUstifyint" 

doesn+t make them any bolder ; This is not the stuff of rebellion . 

Where does Twnin "boldly" glorify Not Turner or Denmark Vesey, to 

name two! He had plenty to praise about the French Revolution, but 

nothing to say about the ones going on in his own back yard during 

his life-time; 

In the final analysis, I say that it is unjust to the white 

writer, in this country, to expect of him a wholesome and accurate 

picture of the Afro-American ; after all he has to live with the sin 

he is still committing& The problem . is not literary, but social, 

Mark Twain is up for canonization again, Yes literature has 

its saints just as surely as the church has saints . I am one of 

those who sides with the devil's advocate, I grudgingly concede, . 

with important reservations, that he is nn outstanding writer . .I 

need more evidence of his greatness . He is not less great because 

of his treatment of blacks in his works anymore then is Shakespeare 

for his "Merchant" or Dickens for his "Fàgin," That weight I won+t 

put on Twain ; he has enough "literary" shortcomings without the 

lead of that extra straw . What I have been discussing here is a 

blind-spot common to all white American -writers . The Jew does not 

look to the gentile to honestly round out his character in literature 

; the Catholic does not look to the Protestant for the same, 

blacks must not wallow in this error either, ?'+e shall have to make 

our own image ; this one of the hard facts of life . On the other- 

---_

hand discuss what has been said about us, and we must not 

be 

I am reminded of the story of the Devil, who was taking a walk 

with his friend= up ahead they observed a met pick up an object, 

look at it, and pat it in his pocket . "What war that!' the 00m . 

panton asked his friend, "A piece of truth," replied the Devil, 

laughing. "Why are you laughing!'" the companion asked "That*s too 

bad for you . * "Oh no " said the Devil, "Just wait and see what he 

does with itl 

Though I went-into some detail about the terms "`nigger" 

and "'Negro", I still used the latter term In places where it 

could have been avoided, . I had both clarity and convenience in 

mind After all -I am an American of sorts and a fish finds it 

difficult to lire out of its waters, muddy though they may be, 

FOOTNOTES 

1. Foner, P., *Mark Twain' Social Critic," P. 192 . 

2 . Ibid., 

5 . Ibid,, chap . I V, p . 19 . 

hamilton -53 

3 . Brown, S . "Negro in American Fiction," P . 31, P e 2 . 

4 . Twain, M . , "PuddntRead Wilson," Chap . XIV, p . 87. 

6 . Twain, M . 'The Innocents Abroad," Vol 1, Chap II P . 911 Chap,13, 

p . 1201 Chap . 21, P . 209 ; Chap . 25, p.211 ; Vol. 2, 

Chap, 6, PP. 67 and 68, 

7 . Breshear, M . "The Art and Humanity of Mark Twain," p . 10, 

8 . Foner, P . S . "]dark Twains Social Critic,'m P, 990

54 hamilton 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

L . Brnsho :r, V ., the Art and Humnnity of Mork Twîn, University 

D''1l : - 'home Press, 1959, 

II Brovn, S ., Negro in American Fiction . Assoc . in Togro Folk Fduoe, 

1937 . 

III Foner, P . S . , Merk Tweint NOW Critic . New York : Internotional 

Publishers, 1958 . 

I V Neider, C ., Life as I Find it : Win o Grrden City, L . I . : Hanover 

House, 1961 . 

V Smith, J ., Mark Tw^.in, on the Dnmned Human Rnce . Hill end inng, 

1962 . 

VI Twrin, V ., Puddn'Hend~ilson . New York : Bonton Books, 1959 . 

VII Twoin, M., Innocents Abroad,

political prisoners in south Africa 

MM.MMMI TO THE UNITED NATIONS ON POLITICAL DETAINEES 

AND POLITICAL PRISONERS IN SOUTH AFRICA (sent to the 

Special Committee on the Policies of Apnrtheid of the Government 

of the Republic of South Africa) 

editorst note : A fete days ago (Dec . 1) the 19th Session of 

the General Assembly of the United Nations was convened . Again 

in this body the brut^1 system of r-cial discrimination tht exists 

in-South Africa will be an important(euphemistically speaking) 

issue . Again the African, Asian, and Socirlist countries 

will fight to put sharp, crushing teoth into the myrird, U.N. 

resolutions against Verwoerd's freck government . Again the U .S : 

and most NATO countries will shout platitudes about how- they 

"deplore" apartheid, but again they probably will not take anyaction 

against the South African beasts-on-two-legs . - 

The western nations will of course be shocked when the 

offended parties involved(nnd many bystanders) onll then hypocrites 

and devils, As far as this editorial -bo^rd is concerned "you 

are what you do", rind the sr-cnlled, frno=-world govornp6n"s are eo-r 

operating, subsidizing and of the some time verbally "conddmning" 

the r°cists of South Africa . How else are. the oppressed of the 

world to interpret these individuals Pad governments who " con~~ 

itutionally" proclaim the lofty ideals of the Sermon on the Wunt 

but at the s e~me time are helping - and shielding gmgste rs? 

Fred Conk ( a white man) put it quite rptly : "If `world Rar I had 

-undermined the fibre of western man and led to the depravity of 

Hitler, World Wnr II had marked the virtual death of western mornlity. 

The fascist dictator bogtn it and democracy, giving only 

lip service to the principles of Christianity, had aped the ways 

of the dictators."* Small wonder that so rany of"the damned of 

the earth" describe the governments and the majority of the pe- . 

ople of the pdradoxiial '"free world as devilsi 

How does the U.S . Government and its allies help 

South Africa? It is the U.S . Government and its c1lies who encourage 

their flourishing, and rapidly expanding triode with South Africa 

. It is the industrie1 oristoornetos of the U .S . and Western 

Europe which are cf'amming investments into South Africa to reap 

one of the hiPhest average annual net profits in the world.**This 

wealth is Drtnging affluence into South Africa so that these thugs 

onn build one,p .f;the most cruel, efficient, police-state(to page56)

6- o~.iticnl prisoners in south africa 

apparatus ever kn- to mankind. 

If you doubt the thoroughness of the police state (in its most 

perverse form) existing in South Africa, just read the following 

memorandum which has presented to the United Nations at this General 

Assembly Session (19th) . If you doubt U .S . and other capitc.list 

countries complicity vgith these "civilized" . criminals in South 

Africa read the annotated bibliography on the South African Situation, 

and then read and study Avery work that you find on this coin- 

-pilction. If -you are not then convinced of the, ..hypocrisy of tho 

"free" world then most likely you yourself are a hypocrite . 

-the .editors 

Cook, Fred . The Wcrtre Str.te . Now-York : Macmillan Co ., 1964, 

(Collier Books 

** A recent Unitad Nations investigation revealed American Companies-were 

reaping a fantastic 2r - average annual ,profit in South 

. -----------------i ---------------------------------- -w.:w---w-- 

. . The World Campaign for the Rold-ase of South African Political 

prisoners-wishes to bring to the urgent attention -of your Committee 

Asw details of the treatment of political prisoners and detainees 

in South'Africa . The situation there, far from improving,"has deteriorated 

and may deteriorate further, if positive action is not 

taken. against the South African Government . 

With the introduction of the 90-day Detention Law, in 

terms .of th? General Laws Amendment Act 1963, law itself-was dostroyed 

in South Africa . People have been taken into custody for 

successive terms of 90 days for questioning by members of the Security 

Police to_obtoin information from them aboutthemselves or 

others in connction with alleged offences . llowever ;~ many of the 

people so detained have been held on the whim-of-police officers, 

_ Merely "to keep ; them out of the way", as,stated by a police witness 

in the Rivonia trial .* Their conditions during this detention and 

the methods used to extrret inform-ation are nrbitr^.rily decided by 

members of the Security Police and those det^.fined shave' no access to 

the Courts . In a judgment given on 14th Augst, 1964, when the wife 

o -f'n detainee, - 1van Schormbrucker, applied to'' have her husband broughtto 

Court to verify,a message 'smuggled out regarding his treatment 

; Air . Justice Snyman in dismissing the application stoted that 

the interru tiotl of the detention and that the Act' *s~ eclfically exc 

ude access oby the , inees to t e ou rts and rnnsferre the ., ._, 

powerofprotecting citizens.-norms 1 thorovince of the Courts- 

_o the lhinister o 

issioned officers . 

otnmissioner o Police an xs camp _ . 

ohannesburg 4 . .

political prisoners in south africa 57 

ft Magistrate visits detainees once a week, but these visits 

have afforded the detainees no protection whatever against physical 

and mentu'.t :)rture . All complaints are referred back to the 

Security-Folace who in so-.e inst nces have used them as additional 

r3asons far ill-treatr;ent, Tre r:agistrates themselves are powerless 

-~o alleviato condition .3 

'yFlith the operations of th iicC, the Security Police have 

become the SS men and the Gestapo of South Africa . They are omriipotent 

and ha-re their victims entirely at their marcy . The methods 

used by them to extract information have the ultimate aim of "broa- 

.king" the detainees . "It is not -; very nice thing to see a human 

being broken . 1 have seen it . . . . .The man taking these powers must 

take the responsibility for them," said Mr . D . J . Vorster, Minister 

of Justice, during the debîte in Parliament on the 90-day detention 

clause . However, his police have been given the go-ahead 

for the hideous and brutal breaking of any person it pleases them 

to detrain . 

1,11 90-dray detainees are kept in solitary confinement 

throughout their period of detention and despite the fact that the 

Geneva Convention lays down 30 days as the maximum for solitary 

confinement, at le,--st 60 people hove been detained for more than 

90 days and 8 persons, including 3 women, for more than 180 days . . 

One man, i~lfred Nze, was detained for 247 days before being released 

unconditionally. Reading matter, other tkiun the Bible, is denied 

them and they are kept in black painted cells ~rith the light 

on all the time . 

Immediately the law came into operation, the Security 

Police used physical torture in addition to the mental torture 

of these prolonged periods of solitary confinement and inter 

rogation . Reports smuggled out and evidence by affidavits of former 

detainees alleged that Lfrican detînees were being subjected 

to electric shocks to make them "confess ." They chimed that 

their heads were covered with sacks, while electrodes were nttached 

to their fingers . 1.s a result of this treatment Looksmart 

Ngudle committed suicide in his prison cell in September, '1963 . 

iiftor his death he was "banned" so that no statement made by him 

could be used publicly . In January, 1964 Sipho James Tyitya clso 

hangod( sent oncc and paragraph continued on page 58)

,~.E,-political prisoners in south afric,~, 

himself in his cell to end the unendurable tortures to w : ich he srias 

subjected . Ebrnhim Siynvala, a former 90-day detainee, -, f, s arrested 

for a trrffic offence, but afraid that he rns ngsin being held under 

the 90-dvy Act, he escaped and was found drowned in a river . On September 

9th, 1464 Suliman (Bnbla)S,,;lcjee thre-i hirself to his death 

from the seventh floor of the Security Police HeadquF.rters in Johannesburg, 

Brigadier H . J . van den Bergh, Chief of the Security Police, 

st t , id in ncr.n-+ction with Mr . Salojeef s death, "Yes, it is true, 

Salojoe jumped," r11hen nsked whether it w-s true that the man was being 

interrogated when he jumped, Brig-^.dier van den Bergh st_~ted,"Ne 

must have been because he jumped from tho .C .I,D of~'ices ." (RUnd Dcily 

Yail, Johannesburg 10 .9 .64), 

Vany dotoinees h

political prisoners in south nfriQa 

intorro^.tion . Hiss K^mpts attorney said he had received inform= 

. ion that she had been assaulted by a policeman, Mr . Al!~n Brooks, 

who is also being dotîned, ~:nd v:ho is r. British subject, complninod 

of n 

64) . , 

police CssrLult on 2nd 'Xgust . (Sunday Times, 

. 

20 .9 . 

Recently t-: more subtle form of torture ti~i^,s introduced, known 

o.s the "statue" torture, the dctninc~ ., s 7re forced to stand in 

a small ch^.lk square for periods which have r^nged from 7 to 57 

consecutive hours . Should they try to sit down they are jerked 

to their feet again and should they faint or lose consciousness 

they are revived and forced to stand again . 

This "statue" torture was described in a letter smuggled 

out of jail by Ivan Schermbrucker and formed the basis of the application 

to Court later dismissed by bar . Justice Snyman . He stated 

inter alia, "I stood for 28 hours -without moving an inch from 

12 p .m . yesterday till 4 p .m . this afternoon , . . .Questioning under 

these conditions is the most terrible and cruel form of torture ., . 

I nearly cor.-ited suicide by jumping out of the window . . .But the 

main thing is that I donit think that un one' can stand on their 

feet for more than 36 continuous hours an NOT BREAK 

(Photostatic copy of letter 

Further details of the "statue" torture -.re contained in 

. . sworn affidavits by detainees Norman Levy, Paul Trewhela and Dr . 

Costa Gazides, The Magistrate refused the application to hand 

these affidavits to the Courts . To comply with the provisions of 

the Prisons Act, the Sunday Times approached the prison and police 

authorities about the alleg>ations continued in the affidavits . 

Neither of the two authorities denied the correctness of the contents 

of the affidavits, Norman Levy stated, "I was shooin a copy 

of the Sunday Times of July 26th which featured on its front page 

pictures and news of a bomb explosion at the Johcnliesburg Stption 

on July 24th . I said 1 had nothing to do with the incident and 

as I was not prep:~red to answer any auestions as these might prejudice 

my position in the event of a trial . . . .,' 

"At 4 otclock tha+- afternoon the interrogating team of about 

men split into pairs and interrogated me by throwing "facts" at 

me for stretches of 4 hours at a time . I remained standinT all 

the time . 'When I confronted Detective-Sergeant----with the cruel 

nature of this method of interrogation (meaning the virtual torture 

of moking the victim str-and), he replied that the number of 

consecutive( sentence and par&grt:ph continued on page 60) 

attached) .** His application is now 

on appeal .

40 political prisoners in south africa 

`hours during which a detainee may be . questioned at one session had 

.never been stipulated, 

"The same procedure continued throughout the night . I advised 

each interrogating team that I had a cardiac complaint," 

Despite the medical certificates submitted by his wife confirm- 

Dhistcardiac condition the interrogation continued for 42 consecutive 

hours . 

In the affidavit of Paul Trewhala he said he was interrogated 

from 8 -, .m . on 23rd July until 5 n,m, of 26th ~,;ly . This ,was a 

period of 69 hours, During this time he was able to sit for about 

12 hours and to snatch about 4 hours sloop at intervals . 

Dr . Costa Gazides alleged in his affidavit that he was kept 

standing for 43 hours . During that time he was given 3 meals . a day 

but nothing at night and he was allowed to drink .from a water jar . 

(Sunday Times, 13,9, 64) 

In desperote , efforts to end their detention many of the deta- 

" inees have gone on hunger strike . Mrs . Ester Barsel fasted for 35 

days despite the fact that she, too, suffers from a cardiac compl 

aint and Mrs, Pixie Benjamin fasted for 48 days . Mrs . Benjamin's 

husband visited her with the intention of persuading her to stop 

her hunger strike . When he heard what she had to say and realized 

that was her only weapon he agreed that she w^.s correct to continue 

with her hunger strike . The terrible isolation and silence of J© "day 

detention made it imperative for her to use this weapon for her 

own well-being, psychologically, although physically it was harming 

her . She weighed 90 lbs . when she appeared with Mrs . Barsel, Messrs 

Levy and Trewhela, Dr . Gazides r.nd five others . Since then five 

others have been joined to the original ton, including Abrnm Fischer 

Q .C . arid Ivan Schermbrucker . 

It should be noted that the position at the moment is that 

detainees cannot bring evidence to Court of their ill-treatment while 

they are detainees and when they are charged the methods of obt-îning 

"information" from them cannot be used as evidence in their defence . 

A total of 3,355 people of all races have been detn.ined in 

(continued on page6l)

political prisoners in south nfrioa (:,I 

South Africa under various security laws during 1963, including'- 

592 in the Trnnskei . ***Mono than 800 people of all races are boron. 

to have been held in solitary confinement under the 9o-day Act . 

Many of these are prominent members of the Libernl Party, a~ lawful 

Parliamentary party . 60 detainees have been hold for more than 90 

days and $, including 3 -women, for more than 180 days . (These last 

figures arise in ^ different context earlier in the memorandum), 

400 have been charged in Court but more than 304 have been releasod 

without being charged . Those people are therefore completely 

innocent of any offence, yet they have been subjected to intense 

mental and physical torture . 26 former detainees alleged that they 

had been kicked and beaten, 19 claim that they also suffered elootric 

shook treatment in addition to being kicked and beaten . Many 

of those ill-trentod have refused to give any dot^.ils as they .are 

in mortal fear that they will be detained again as a reprisal 

More than 100 nt the moment are boing-hold under the no-trial hot . 

Since March 1963 and August 1964 there have boon Ill poli- 

tical trials in -which 1,315 persons have boon charged . 'their fate 

is as follows :- 

44 sentenced to death 

12 sentenced to life imprisonment 

994 sentenced to a total of 5,713 yours imprisonment 

1 sentenced to 6 lashes 

340 acquitted . 

Thoso men and women in South i~frica who have boon tried and found 

guilty rod cro 'serving offences for political offences are treated 

differently from ordinary prisoners . They are automatically placed 

into the lovnest of all c^togories-33 Category- which, according 

to the report of the Commissioner of prisons ending 1962, is "for 

the typo of prisoners with a previous record and/or convictions of 

serious crime of a daring or Aggressive nature or convictions of 

rape, robbery or violence . . ." or of attempting to escape . The prisoner 

is kept in isolation for the first month and observed, to decide 

in which category he should be plc.ced and to which of the 234 

prisons in South Africa he should be sent . Thero are 5 Prison 

Boards who decide but for all political prisoners there is blanket 

treatment regardless whether thoir behaviour is good or not . . The 

pattern has boon that they are kept in D Category for the first 

year, in C Catogory for the second year and in B Category for the 

third year . From reports rer.ching us wo nov understand that prisonors(sontonced 

continued on page 62)

'2_pai tic^l prisoners in south afriea 

who have sorvod up to 2 yours are still not nocossnrily boing.roca'~-w 

ogorizod . All political prisoners in Protoria Central arc 

kept in their tolls for 23 out of 24 hours each day . At ono stage 

-they ;gcro -llowod to work with other white prisoners, but this is 

no lonigor the case and they now sou mailbags in their calls . During 

the oxorciso period oath prisoner exorcises in isolation in his 

own pnrticulnr area' 

The vast majority of ordinary prisoners ^rc pl

esponsibility 

political prisoners in south africa. , . 

for them all . --_ .- 

World opinion has boon stirred on - tha question of political 

prisoners in South 11.frica . In spite of the veto of the Unitod 

Nations (when only South Africa votod against the resolution) calling 

for the abandonment of political trials rind the roloaso of 

political prisoners and in spite of nil the prossuros, the South 

'African Govornmont has not only completely disrognrdod.world op- . 

ìnion, but in many ways she has increased her activities against 

her political opponents . The plight ofpolitical dotainoos and 

prisoners dosorvos the immodinto and urgont attention of your crganization 

. 'qo cr,1l on you to use whatovor pressure is possible 

and to tnko whatever action is nnccssnry in order to onsurc that 

tho South African Government stops its killings and maltrontmont 

of political prisoners and dotaineos, 

* Tho Rivonia "trial" took place In May and Juno of 1964 . Virtually 

all the loaders, who were not alroady in prison, of Black iLfricans 

in South iifrica, the Indian and J owish Communities wore on tr-itil 

for "attompting to overthrow the South African Gonrnzent . and 

instituting a Communist State ." Actually it was an attompt'to dostray 

as many of the top loaders of the militant anti-apartheid 

movomont within South Africa as possible . Eight of the nine ace"usod 

wore found guilty and.-scntoncod to life'impriso=on+ Tho 'other 

defondont,Rusty Bornstoin, was acquitted but ho was immodiatoly 

ro-arrostcd to face nev chrrgos undor South Africals Suppress= 

ion of Communisrm (I f l f f Z j } Act. 

This letter vies attached to the copy given to the United Nations 

Special Committoo on the Policies of Apnrthoid. 

Tho Trnnskoi is the socnllod "self-governing" territory fo.r 

xhoss 'speaking Afriofti.s in South lifrioans . Actually almost all 

the lovers of power within this colony are controlled by South 

African ;,hites . 

****Those nffidnvitswere nttaehod to the copy given to Unitod Notions 

Spocir.l Committee on the Policies of Apnithe1d. 

-the editors

_ . -freeman 

ANNOTATED BIVILIOCRFMY ON 

THE SOUTH AFRICAN SITUATION 

--for those . . -who -are going to 

solve it- 

Apartheid In S,. tji. Africamittocr 

1`1 F 

Summary, of the Report oftho, Social Coax 

c . the Goyornngnt of tiho $Wublic 

of South Liricai New York : United Nations Office of Public In 

Xarmntion, Document A15497) This a definitivo, pervRsivo sport by 

the .U,N .. Committoo which was chaired by the present Secretary Gonero1of 

the-0rganization of African States ., Diallo Tolli . 

Bunting, Brian . The R_is_o of o South African Rofgh , Londcnt Penquin 

Books Ltd ., 1964 . ;. provocative, thorough comp¬ restive study of 

Hitlerfs,G-vrmnny to Verwoerd , s South .-Afrion !- s . . . . 

Fasulo, G . "The Powers Behind Apartheid ." . atin America , 

Asia, Revolution, -Vol . 1, Nos . 4-5 (Aug-Sept . 19.63) . 175-94 . Probably 

the best analysis of who hns -powor in South Africa, and how 

this power is boing used in economic rolntions in that country. 

..Feit, Edward . South Africa, The Dynamics of the African NatioMa1 

Congress .--London : Oxford University . Press, 1962 . . Good information 

into -the orgT.nizationol queslity of one of the leading- AXrioan movements 

against apartheid in South Africa . : - 

Halpern, Jaok. "Enclaves of Trouble in South Africa ." The Nnion~ 

Vol . 19? (July 27, 1963), . 49-52 ; I: righteous nnrlysis of contempornry 

relations between :Republic of South-lifricn., and the "British" 

High=Cofimissioned-Territories of Swaziland, Bochunnnlnnd, and Bnsu"+ 

tolwad, 

Hnrmel, Michael : "High Drama in Pretoria ." Labour Month-- Vol XLVI 

No. 6 (dune, 1964) 277-gl . hn oxposo of the egregious mnchinntions 

of the Verwoerd Regime in the Rivonia "trial ." 

La Guma, Alex . And A Threefold Cord . Berlin : Sovon Sons Publisher, 

1964. A new novel about apartheid, It is a flesh and blood drama 

set in a block ghetto on the fringe of a South African town whore 

hate and love, and the dospnir of poverty throb in unison with a 

passionate determination for release from apartheid which strangles 

all hope . Plinso rend this in conjunction with 19 . Jackmon+s DELICATE 

-ORILR "which appears on p ,-,.go 73 in this issue of SOULBOOK . -- .-AT-1--

______ . 

Legum« Cnlin ; "The West at Bay " The Nation;, - Vol, 

.freeman~~ _ 

197(Auga10 .,19- 

63) . 70-73 . An ominent Africanist-journalist describes NATO? po 

wers, hypocrisy vis-avis South African racism, . 

Legassick, Martin, "The South African Police Agents of Fascist 

Repression .' Pfrica, Latin America, Asia Revolution: . . Vol l . No . 

10 (February;1 4 ,, 1 ~ .~ . A cnmmentury on thesouth Af~,ican 

police apparatus, 

Mckay, Vekaon . "The Impact of World Opinion on South Africa," 

(Chapter 5 of MoKay+s Book, Africa in World Politics) . New York : 

Harper & Row. 1963- An excellent and . virtually unique work in 

this area. 

Marguard, Leo, The PeoEle! and Policies of South Africa London : 

-Oxford University Press, 19Z2-, A general.survey of South Africa 

and its problems, 

Matshikaza, Todd T, "Protest Through Music in South Africa." 

Africa, Asia, Latin America Revo-lution . Vol . 1 No, 8 (December ., 

1 , 12~-3b . The one and only essay on how Africans in South 

Africa culturally express their hatred for racial oppression in 

this sad country where white people are uncivilized, 

Molnar, Thomas . "The Transkei :International Decolonization," World 

View, Vol . 7 No . b (June, 1964) 7-11-This is an interesting view 

of the first "self-governing" Bantustan in South Africa, 

Mphalele, Ezekiel . Down Second !Avenue, Berlin : Seven Seas Publish 

er, The sutobiograph~yof a BIack 7outh African, It is one that makes 

Black men proud-and gives white men trepidations, But as Bobby 

Blue Bland says "Take it,like yal find it, or leave it like it 

tis} ." 

Rivo, Richard . African Son s . Berlin : Seven Seas Publishers, 19- 

63, Short stories"'Sya o Jhfrican coloured writer . The scene 

is Capetown, South Africa, but the same stories have been relived 

in Harlem, U, S A~. many times, 

Neeme, L . E. The History of Apartheid : The Story fthe Colour 

liar in South Africa . New York : London House an c3 Nma~we~f , 79-67. A 

good history of racism in South Africa, the bastion of western. 

depravity,

k6-freeman 

. 

N bc~ne, Jordan K .. An_ African Expia ns Apartheid . New York : Fred-. 

Brick Praeger, 1963 .^ This . book i s a better than avera~e index to 

western .educ^ted Black African's attitude toward the South African 

race problem . His proposed solutions arep ludicrous, He is a' Tiberal, 

and decidedly anti-PanAfricanistl611101t 

"Partners in Apartheid : United -$totes Policy on $outh Africa ." 

Africa . Today, Vol . XI, Na .,-3 (March, 1964) This is the best survey 

that has been done on U .S . government's and U .S . Investor's complicity 

with the South African thug-racist regime . It exposes the U .S . 

St :Itc, Dppci rtrr.ent i s chronic lies about U .S . innocence .vis-a-vis Apartheid 

.- 

Reeves, - Ambrose . Shooting at y Sharpeyil lo;The agony of .South Africa . 

Boston : Houghton-Viflin Company . 1961. It is a first-class account 

of what really happened at Sharpeville, South Africa in 1961 . 

Tlalq, ; .P . "The, Apartheid Economy Today." Th The . African Communist, No . 

18(Jialy, S^pt^r"~J^x ;1964), 4 :.59 . This article is superbaccount 

of how whites get rich off Black labor in South Africa, and at the 

same ti'%e the .poverty of the African population . incree.ses . 

by kenn m, freeman 

. 

. 

. 

"NE6 ,COLONIALIS12 INCLUDES, . NOT. ONLY ECONOMIC DOMINATION, BUT ALSO 

ALL KINDS OF POLITICAL AND MILITARY 111FANS TO MAINTAIN OR RESTORE 

DOMINATION ;+FTER THE GR1LNTING OF FOWL SO17EREIGN INDEPENDENCE TO 

A FORMER COLONY . T~EO-COLONIALI,%A ..INCLUDES THE IMPOSITION OF PARTIT- ~ 

ION OR TiVISTED CONSTITUTIONS TO WiINTAIN REACTIONARY COLLABORATORS 

WITH IMPERIALISM IN POWER AFTER THE RECOGNITION OF INDEPENDENCE . 

NEO-COLONIALISM INCLUDES THE 1+UjINTENAICE OF IMPERILLIS" 14IILITARY 

BASES IN THE TERRITORY OF THE NYtLY INI7PENDENT' COUNTRY. NEO-COLON- 

IALISM INCLUDES ENT!'XGLEMENT IN IMPERIALIST P,C.ILITARY ALLI1,NCES LIKE 

CENTO OR SEATO, OR EVENT . DIRECT -1gLITARY INTERVENTION TO RESTORE AN 

OVF,RTHRC?'ilI 

DESTROY Ali 

HATED DICTATOR; AS BY FR7NCH IMPERIALISM IN GABON, - AR . ..-TO 

ELECTED PARLIAMENTARY WOORITY AND KAJORITY PREMIER AND 

'ESTABLISH 17RCENARY MILITARY r1alTGSTER RULE, AS IN THE CONGO, OR .AS 

PWXTISED ':!!IiOLESALE BY UNITED STAT~:S 111TERIi,LISM IN LATIN AMERICA 

AND-EASTERN ASIA, AND BY BRITISH IRPPFRIALISTkri IN SOUTH-.EAST .ASIA AND 

TfMIDDLE EAST." Dutt, Palme . "I ho Snid Neo-,Gploni,alism?", Labour 

Monthly, Vol . XLVI No . 6 (June, 1964) p .242 .

-------- d, froman¢i- 

Froyro, Gilberto, The Masters and Slaves, A Study in the 10 

meat of Brazi lian G3vi ration . 

This book is in four sections : the gonoral .characteristics 

of the Portuguese colonization of Brazil ; the native in the 

formation of the Brazilian family ; the Portuguese colonizer ; the 

Afro-Brazilian in the sexual family life of the Brazilian, 

The Masters and S-1Va ,Q$ is boautifully written in an almost 

"semi-poetic" style, with flowing and often very colorful sontencos 

. Froyre shows himself to be a true artist and The Masters 

and S l aves cc true masterpiece . 

This book looks at Braziliaz civilization as it developed 

through its three major ethnic groups, The Brazilian Indian(the 

natural inhabitant of the land), the African (brought to Brazil 

as a slays) and the Portuguese colonizer, 

Froyro shows the effect of each group on the other, and 

their entire effect on contemporary Brazilian oulturer the Indian 

woman giving herself to the Portuguese sailor, whom aho thought 

was a god ; the Portuguese clergy forcing Christian values 

on the Indians, the consequences often meaning death ; the African, 

brought to replace the diminishing Indian in the Fields, 

Froyre notes the tremendous impact that the African had on Brazilian 

culture, The African, coming from a culture superior to 

that of the Indian and often to that of the Portuguese, seas relegated 

to a subservient position, 

Much of this book is spent destroying myths . For instance 

the provaricrtion that it was the African who destroyed the morals 

of the Portuguese . He shows how it was the Portuguese who 

were the bearers of venoral diseases ; he shows the Indian bathing 

six or seven times a day while the Portuguese often never 

bathed, 

Froyre often gives the psychological as well as the historical 

causes . He is even at times philosophical, r.nd it is at 

these moments that he becomes particularly inspiring, 

Throughout Froyre+s book,- the author makes constant reforonee 

to the importance of the sexual union between races . According 

to Froyro, the Portuguese was indeed quite a promiscuous 

person . One of the reasons he gives for this seems quite faiCa" 

tbheds He ac.ys that 'the PdttuCufsoq, lcohing ran orrcr consciously 

used his (paragraph continued on the next pago5

sexual promiscuity es a colonizing-device . It is true that a byproduct 

of his promiscuity the "brnnco" did find futuro allies among the 

"tamnlucos," but it would saom to moo that the author placed too 

much importance on the sexual union of the Indians, Portuguese and 

LfricaMs in their development of con-- :-:)ornry B:^ zilian culturor 

The Masters and Slaves, in my opinion, might be better subtitled 

"A study in the Dovelopment of the Brazilian Civilization through 

the Sexual Promiscuity of its Tacos ." 

-reviewed by donnld froomon-

Y 

freeman 69 

Oliver, .and Ft go, R. and J, D, A Short .History 

of Afrion . Balti. 

moro3 Penguin African Library, 192~ 

Doetars Oliver and Frgo, the Editors of The Journal of f. 

cani- His ~, decided to take a-vaoation from tht mornesoteric 

_type ofwriting in order to ontor the ranks of the composers that 

are more, intorestod in diffusion than scholarship, These-authors 

-recent 

creation, A Short History : f Africa, is a work 'obviou4ly .' 

done . ;with the latTerpurpose . 

_11 Short History of Africa is done 71ith a minimum of , sch--' . 

olarly 4ocumantation .and a maximum oX c;ao j ..~tis;'c'~.r~tc : 

This,improssion is .supportod by tho .fact that the authors depend s 

throughout the publication on phrases -to profao.e . .most -of:their 

intarprQtations such as . " it. is possible the"t, .v ,, . ,, would. . . 

seem that," ., 

O.no .of the morn propitious characteristics .of the book is 

that the chronological scope of it-is all- encompasaing a : -It in- . 

eludes all the various epochs of Afri-can history-up, .to, and in- . 

eluding the present national revolution, Since-this:is done anyreader 

who was previously ignorant of African history is wall - 

aware of Africals die: .;city, the fact, that the continent passed 

through . myriad stagesòf development and practically all of its 

heritage is non-european and wor -chy of the utmost -.respect, O-f 

course this negates the European stereotype of Africa :ns b:eing a 

goup of societies that has arrays been in a state 'of "monolith- 

-,is primitivonces," 

Unfortunately the authors seem to have a ponchant.to .ass_ 

ume that "c.auc^soid';. Africans%%' ;;arc th; c.rc~~aUr f5f the Af :-iutn 

cultural trrdition . Thus the authors- assume that the ::Egyptlaks 

atd`Kushites creme "proto-hnmites" (meanir6 for one thing'*they. 

not "negroes")who brought their cultural and political institutions 

to the "Negroes" of subsoharan Afrier. ; The real facts of 

the matter are that by presenb" -tiastern st^ndards of race-and 

,that is the stnndnrd used by Fage and Olivor-both Egyptians at 

the t"~,ino of the cro,-,lion of the great Ni ).a civilization, and the 

Teoplo of subsaharan f1fri rn viould probrbly be called Niggers in 

London, England, Jackson,, Mississippi oiv Snit Frahc scb, Crlif, 

'yhen --he authors ;write of colonialism they im-pl.y'that the 

main r; a sons for cst :~blishing the colorzes.ve.ro non-economic . Horcr 

is an example of this tactic : "The colonial pail, er~ , had partitioned 

Africa as nn insurance for the future, not because they had any 

present plars for i':s exploitation," Of course they never explain 

what kind of insurancG-, sentence

?Q,.freeman R ..__ .. 

for the ..future that was . I suggest the latter point, by these eminent 

journalists-Africanists, is merely an escape hatch from analysing 

canclusivoly what were the real reasons Europeans decided in-the 

late l"h century to conquer and politically rule Africa . 

Given the fact that practically all of Africa, was conquered by 

trading companies, backed by their respective governments, one wonders 

why they were not principally motivated to oonquer for-the-pur 

pose of creating and protecting more trade and investment opportunities 

. Trading companies are primarily interested in trade . 

Of course statements like the above (The colonial powers had 

partitioned Africa as an insurance for the future . . ."etc .)-and they 

are quite numerous in the book-are designed to suggest that the co= 

acepts of imperialism and nee-colonialism are irrelevant to understanding 

African relations with respect to western Europe and the 

U.S . But the disparagement of these concepts becomes ludicrous when 

one picks up the newpaper and reads about the struggle for the control 

of Congolese copper, cobalt and uranium minos, the sight of an 

American racist-supported puppet Congolese government encouraging 

fascist South African mercenaries to murder Congolese citizens, and 

uncle tom Tshombe concerning himself with the welfare of a few white 

missionaries-while the Congolese massos are forced to starve because 

they must pay for Tshombets army of murderers, and at the some time 

the Congolese people are able to buy only the absurdly high-cost U.S . 

"food-for-peace" l 

The authors , chronic use of the-word "negro" to describe 

Black Africans indicates further their European prejudices and insensitivity 

towards the African . Any historian of Africa should kn 

ow that this word is glutted with derogatory connotations and that 

Africans react to it as such . For as President Kwamo Nkrumah of the 

Republic of Ghana rocontly said to the Editorial Board of the En, cvclopedia 

Africana : 

"I hope that in( . . .) Enc ale edia Afrrian the term "Negro", 

whatever meaning or connotation has been given to t, will 

not find a place, except perhaps in a specific article proving 

its opprobrious origin and redundancy . I would - like 

that poople of African descent and Africans in general 

should be scribedas black men , or Africans .* Z personally 

wou~d~llEe to te~referroJ-to as ablack mean, African or 

Ghanaian and not referred to as a "Negro" . (The Sp;,rk, September 

25, 1964, p . 2)*omphasis added by author

In surer=ry it can be said that 1 left this book with ambivalcnt 

feelings and a candid hcpe that the Ku'vhors henceforward oonoentrate 

only on their posit .:)ns me editors of t~ Bnglieh-orientated Journal 

of African History. 

Subscribe to 

A Weekly Magazine of Chinese News and Views 

General Distributors : 

GUOZT SHUDIAN 

China Publications Centre 

P . O. Box 399, Peking, China 

freeman 71- ... 

by keen m, freeman 

. . . .with the support of more than 90 per cent of the people of the 

vorld, the lirerican Negroes mill be victorious in their dust 

struggle . 

Mao Tsetung

delicnto child - 

by 

marvin e, jackmon 

jackmon

Life meant jnmmin' . And Jamming? Th^.t no ¬tint ovorything . It 

mocnt fuckint every and any girl you could--fuckint so much, so 

long and so hard that it made you sick, but you still wanted more . 

It meant drinking winos drinking wine until you was damn near dead ; 

drinking ttil yo head was so bad and yo gut so full that when you 

walked, or tried to walk, everything around you looked like it was 

comint toward, over, and under you- ; you drank so much that when you 

got up the next mornin, yo breath was funky, yo clothes was funky, 

and everything looked and amAled funky too. It meant blowint weed 

Sometimes it'd take you on a trip; sometimes it didntt ; but youtd 

smoke the hell out ofit, anyway . Life was jazz, and jazz was life : 

you listened to jazz so long, it took you so far out and so deep 

down that you damn near went crazy . The sex, the drums, and the 

piano played your song, your sadness, your joy, your hate, your love, 

your pain, your four ; over and over ; day after day, you listened to 

the music that was you and you only ; the music that told your story, 

that cried your cry, that preached your sermon, that was the soul of 

your soul, and you kept on jammin', 

Life was fhe ornp game : seven and eleven, two numbers that was 

more holy to you then all the angels yo mama told you was in heaven ; 

seven and eleven-- you got.on yd knees, you prayed, "Lord, Lord, 

have mercy on mo soul" ; and you let the dice roll, "C'mon little 

Joe," you cried--the dice hit ; you pick up the change ; new point 

is eight--"Shoot a half, baby? Fuck it, borrow it . auarter then ;" 

you shake the dice, pray like a motherfucker, sweat running down yo 

face, you straighten yo shirt, give the dice another shake : "C}mon, 

baby, don't git to jivent now, treat me right one mot timel" ; you 

let them roll : six, then nine, four, then ten--"Where you at eight? 

Dontt be late ; ctmon, baby git strcightt"--six again, then five, 

eleven, five one mo time, you crap--six-ace saves the borrow, so 

you git up ant jam : anyway, Mama sent ya after a pound of ground 

beef and a can of tomato sauce . Life meant stealint : stealint to 

.eat, to git some rags, to git where you wanted to go, to keep from 

working, stealing just for the hell of it . And you kept on jam -Ant .

. 

-------- 

juokmon ...7!L. 

Life meant fightin?, Fightin' everybodys yo brother, yo mother,, yo 

friends-and the man. You fought the man with murder in yo heartthank 

God it wasn't in yo hands ; you fought everywhere you went ; 

not because you had to, but 'cause you felt like, and you felt 

like it 'cause you was mad, and you was mad 'cause you was drunk, 

and why you was drunk, you didn't know ; after the- dance you foughtt 

wit yo fists and feet and razors and rods, you fought : some nites 

them motherfuckers boat the shit out of you and 

the hurt on them--but you kept on jammin' . 

some nitoo you put 

And then you blew yo cools . Yo fuckin' crap shootin', wino 

drinkin', pot smokin', jazz plnyin', gang fightin, and stenlin' 

ceased ; you got busted . The punk-ass cop smiled the first time 

you wns there, smiled rind told you you'd be back . You cracked up 

and told that motherfucker to fuck his sole- but you crime back,. 

You damn near shitted when that judge gave yo black ass ninety 

days . You didn't crack up then . You sat in that toll like a goddam 

fool : doy after day, you sat on yo bunk rendin' last year's 

magazine, readin' Tbout what the no-good president said 'bout some 

country you'd never heard of ; you throw the magazine down and stepped 

to the window ; the sky was the sumo, the some way you'd 

left it--an hour ago? a few minutes ago? a day ago? last week? 

when in the hell was it? Shit, you don't know ; all you know is 

that the sky looks the same goddam way . You come from the window 

and you go to yo cell door ; you grab it, but it won't give ; you 

snatch it, but won't give ; you beat on it like a goddam fool, 

but it won't give ; discouraged, you fall on the floor cryin ; 

crying like you will the day yo mama dies ; you orn.RJl to yo bunk, 

pull yoself up, s,4t wit yo hood between yo hands ; the punk-ass 

tears fall from yo blood-shot eyes and run down yo black scary 

face--you think : why, why is you trapped in yo goddam colt ; like 

a goddam animal : eatin' and sloopinT and pissin , when Charlie lots 

you ; why is you thoro? Did the scheme have you? The scheme that 

beat you, that starved you, that raped you, that expolited you, 

that cursed you, that will kill ycu, . .,Fias it the scheme? Them 

chicken-shit days, funky nitos, them shitty hours that passed like 

motherfuckin , centuries, them four goddam pale-ass walls that stared 

at you, that checked out every flzekin' move you made--eve you 

time to git yoself together, to figure out some trickology for the 

scheme. Now you gotta git cut . So you pray . You pray like you 

never prayed before ; you pray like you knew J .C . was cumin' down 

the next mornin , to open yo toll door ; you pray 'cause it aintt a 

gg~~aw_thing else you can do ; you swear to God you won't cgM2_-__-

6'w jaclo~on 

back ; "Just git me out, Lord, just git ine out; 'I won+t mess up no 

Lord, I swear I won+t mess up no aio" ; and you believe'-He hgere 

yotl-_-yruvw grt tatelieve it, you make yoself believe it. . . . . . . . . . 

_

u 

1 651

jazz 

economics the quarterly journal 

poetry of revolutionary 

anti-imperisllsr~ SOULBOOKafroamerica 

p .o, box 1097 

berkeley, calif . (racist u.s .a .) 

editorial board : donald freeman, Isaac moors, ernest 

alien ,}r ., carroll holmes, kenn m, freeman, bobb hamilton . 

new ork re resentative : boob hamilton, 350 bowery, new 

York, new york . 

distribution mans er : bobby seals 

volume I number 2 

cable address " EMIR 

spring, 1965 

annual. subscription by ordinary mail ; 42 .25 inside u.s .a ., 

outside u.s.a . 13.50 . annua l subscription by airmail ; 

u.s .a . 14 .50, outside u.s .a . 17 .50 . there are four issues 

in an .annual subscription, one copy costs : #0 .65 

Copyright, 1955, by the Afroamerican Research Institution, 

p .o . box 1097, berkeley, calif . 94701 . all, rights reserved . 

all correspondence concerning manuscripts avid business 

matters should be addressed to S~'Uh?3 .`'K, p.o . box 1497, 

berkeley, calif . 94701, or S-?ULa1A, 350 bowery, new York 3, 

near York, non-fiction manuscripts should conform to the 

University of Chicago Manual of Style .

Written permission to reprint whole articles from SOULBOOK 

must. be obtained in written form from thu Editorial Board of SOULBOOK . 

Permission to quote in part is freely granted provided that 

authorship credit be given to author of article quoted from and that 

in addition the following insert will be carried : 

Reprinted by permission from 

SOULBOOK 

p,o . box 1097 

berkeley, calif . 94701 (racist u .s .a .) 

The cover was drawn especially for SOU LBOOK 2 by Donald Freeman, 

and all printing was done by Hobby Seale . 

Only the articles by Bobb Hamilton and Kenn M . Freeman necessarily 

represent the views of the Editorial Board of SOULBOOK . 

ERRATA 

1 . page 88 : Tagressivel should be aggressive ; and aagression' 

should be aggression ; line 14 & line line 18 respectively 

. 

2 . page 93 : 'usgestion' should be suggestion -- on line 

3 . page 97 : line 3 should read ;" . . . .Lumumba never subscribed . ." 

4. page 102 : 'complet' should be complete,-- on line 6 

5 . page 103 : line 20 'Bustin E . 1 should appear after 'Page 18 1 

6 . page 1.12 : line 38 ; should read ;" . . .Stackolee would be horrified . 

page 125 : line 8 ; 'go nal should read gonna 

8 . page 129 : line 8 ; kill' should be chill 

9 . page 137 : lines~21 & 24 : 'Niageral should be Niagara on former 

'publi' should be publicity on the latter line

contents 79 

1 . el hajji malik shabazz : leader, prophet, martyr . . . .by bobb 

hamilton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 81 

2 . did the united nations benefit congo(1)?- by keen m . freeman 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 87 

3 . american savagery and the future . . . . . by elizabeth anne rhodes 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 105 

. "the toilet" : is it a masterpiece, or is it trash? a dubat 

between langston hughes and wobb hamilton . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 111 

. to all the freedom loving peoples of the world : . . . . . . . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . . . . . .by charles simmons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 117 

6 . reject notes-poetry by rolland snellings, w . best, t .r . horne, 

marvin e . jackmon, bobb hamilton, carol freeman, ernie allen, 

ronald stone, wm, patterson, sherley a . williams . . . . . . . . . . . . page 121 . 

7 . letter to draft board 100, wayne county, detroit,michigan . . . 

by general g . baker, jr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 133 

8 . w . e . b . dubois : black militant or negro leader? . . . . . . . by . . 

ted vincent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 135 

9 . apartheid is doomed ; . . . . . by the editors of SOuLBOOK and 

the AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 143 

10,the negro image in western art . . . .by bobb hamilton . . . . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 126

EL . HAJJI MALIK SHABAZZ : 

LEADER, PROPHET, MARTYR, 

hamilton 81 

by bobb hamiiton 

"If I die in Atlanta, look for me in the whirlwind or the storm, 

look for me all around you,'for-with Godrs grace, I shall come and bring 

with me the countless millions of blacks slaves who have died in America 

and the West Indies and the millions in Africa to aid you in the fight 

for liberty, freedom and life ." 

So wrote Garvey from a federal prison cell in Atlanta, Georgia-they 

didn't kill him ; they smeared his name, his cause, his people, 

us : "Tray, I will not kill thee," said the "good" Quaker, "but I will 

give thee a bad name ;" And then they exiled his husk . They were more 

sure of the immortality of their power . Had not Garvey himself said, 

"No Taw but Strength ; No Justice but Power"? He was right, and white 

folks knew it because they had the power ; there was no need to kill a 

black revolutionary then, for whites would rule as long as the sun rolled 

from East to '1,Test . But then one day the sun cast its life-giving light 

on a boy-child whose mother named him Malcolm, Malcolm Little whose deeds 

would one day belie his surname, who would cast off the surname as a 

proud prophet, a mountain of a man, who would loom large and black, who 

would become our greatest and, as it is in the nature of things, outshine 

his "father ;" They had cast out Garvey, lest his people should see his 

example and emulate him to the detriment of l4Thite America : They had 

failed in their purpose--and besides, most of Africa and most of Asia had 

thrown off the shackles . Garvey had come back with his millions of 

black-souls ; prison would not work this time--they had to make an 

example of Malcolm, and so they murdered him, as surely as they murdered 

Lumumba in Africa, as surely as they murder our brothers in Viet Nam, 

Black hands pulled the triggers as they did with Lumurriba, .but they 

were greasy with white American money . Malcolm had asked the white

82 hamilton 

poower` structure, which willed his death, for "police protection" ; there 

were at least a half a dozen cops "incognito" present when he was 

assassinated . Were they there to protect or to make sure that the deed 

was done well --- of course it was the latter! His house was fire bombed 

first, and they said it was the work of "Black Muslims" who threw the 

bombs from a moving automobile--into the kitchen and into the living 

room? Did they also throw a bottle of poison ONTO THEbureau of his 

childrens' room? And are we expected to believe that they (the "Muslims") 

also left two or three cards on the SIOE4':A[K in FRONT OF THE HOUSE ? "The 

people from Muhammad's group did it," screamed that scabrous bars-room 

bitch, the white press, in chorus, on cue! Maybe so, probably so, 

possibly so, but who paid them off! If the "Black Muslims" did it, vrhy 

has Elijah NOT BEEN QUESTIONED , not subpoenaed? VTas there a deal with the 

power structure when he became more than the spokesman of a "ridiculous" 

sect? 

"I will not kiss your fucking flag . . . . . there is some shit I will 

not eat ." So said e .e . cummings in "1 sing of Olaf." 

Washington (cracker Johnson included) breathed a sigh of relief 

when Malcolm's life was blown out . He had broken out of the unrealistic 

three states nonsense ; he had gone to Africa and garnered the support 

of our black brothers there ; he had become an orthodox Muslim--they 

could no longer call him a cultist but he had done a much more dangerous 

thing : He had shown fS black males HOW to be LIEN ! And America cannot' 

tolerate men, not even 4+HITE ADEN . . Afro-American males live only as long 

as they are content with . not being men . Only as long as they pray and 

sing hymns while their women are abused, beaten, and raped, their children 

brain washed, spat upon on the way to a decent school, shocked with 

,cattle .prods. . by .crackers : 

Malcolm X showed us that we did have to "prove" ourselves worthy 

of the title, "Humanity," that it was better to be unpopular (with two 

balls) than to be loved with none . This is not the time for delicacyif 

there are readers here who are stall weighed down with white sensibilities, 

white standards of niceness, let them turn the page, for I am 

writing, naught for your comfort . 

"The Negro baby born in America today--regardless of the seetiQn or 

State in which he is born--has about one-half as much chance of completing 

high school as a white baby born in the same place on the same day ; 

one-third as much chance of becoming a professional man, twice as much 

chance of becoming unemployed, about one-seventh as much chance of earn- . 

ing $10,000 per year, life expectancy which is seven years less, and

Prospects of earning only half as much," 

hamilton 8 3 

"Here we have in a capsule a prescription for permanent dependency 

and an indictment of our society . At a time when the world condemns the 

crime of genocide, how can we tolerate the destruction of an entire race 

by means less swift, perhaps, but in the long run as effective as those 

used by the Nazis? 

Now Malcolm X didn't say this . These are statements by J . F . 

Kennedy--of course he was courting the black vote ; nevertheless, they 

are true-- and Deputy Commissioner Sokol, see the December, 1963 issue 

of the "Welfarer,+ , 

put out by the New York City Department of Welfare ; 

Malcolm showed us that the white man in America was engaged in a 

state of total warfare against black people . 

Even in death whitey tried to make Malcolm on with nothingness! 

They juggled the figures of the number of people who marched past his 

bier . 22,000 they say . The count was 60,920 before his funeral! And 

the funeral, I was there . I was in line at 7-00 o'clock that bleak 

bonecracking cold morning of February 27th ; cops all around, mostly 

black, "guarded" the church ; I stood in line--a line that went clear 

around the block--and we waited thirty minutes past the funeral time . 

They tried to freeze us out, until they let us in . In spite of statements 

by the New York Times, America's secular bible, there were not 600, 

but a full 1000 in the church auditorium . They would not let the 500 

capacity basement be filled, on the grounds of security! There he lay, 

our fallen fortress, encased in glass and dull bronze, just below the 

choir loft, the choir loft full of white and carbon copy photographers, 

whispering and burning out flash bulbs . 'Vhit6 folks in brogans and 

work clothes stringing wires and floodlights up and down the aisles, and 

then a soul brother went up to the pulpit and said, "There were some 

agreements made with the press and the communications people about this 

funeral ; all television camera-men and photographers were supposed to be 

here, in the choir section ; there were to be no wires and cameras down 

in the congregation--now get these wares and floodlights out of the 

aisles--right now, .You seem to have forgotten or misunderstood our 

agreement . Get that equipment out of the aisles right now, and come up 

here where you belong!" And I shouted out loud, "Right ;" And when an 

ofay reached across me to get his camera pouch, I said, "get that stuff 

out of here ; respect our church like you would a service at St . 

Patrick's or a synagogue :" Like a church or a synagogue ; the place was 

swarming with black lackey cops--male and female--if this had been a

814 hami It on 

funeral in a white house of worship, the Irish or Jewish fuzz would 

made sure that no circus atmosphere would have intruded into the place . 

White folks set the standards, but they are for us . They acted like 

pigs at Malcolm's funeral and pigs they were! The whorish press did not 

mention this . They were too eager to bury Malcolm! To bury our martyr 

beneath the offal of white newsprint and black ink! The rest you know . 

Ossie Davis' magnificent eulogy, Ruby Dee's readings, the speech by the 

Muslim Student . Need I tell you about the heart-piercing wails of Betty 

Shabazz as they dosed the coffin? Need I tell you about my bitter and 

profuse tears, my breathlessness, my running nose? Need I describe 

my pride--even in the sorrowful circumstances--of my pride at being a 

black man? Outside there were at least another 5000 black folks watching 

"them" shove a shell into a hearse and speed away at 70 miles per 

hour . They think they buried Malcolm ; they buried a husk . He lives, 

He breathes! He walks and talks twenty--five million strong ; Look for 

us in the whirlwind : : 

'The rurder of Malcolm X, led to P tide of fury everywhere, and the 

demonstr~ ;ions in Selma, Alabama have won the admirztion of the entire 

world . In my August 17th speech two years ?go, I sfiid without the 

slightest hesit^tion : 'the nogroes in ~;mcrica are row in a process of 

revolution .' As in the case of all revolutions, their revolution too 

will be victorious in the end ." President Sukarno of Indonesiz, 

8k ck Flag, No, 6, (April 29, 1965),-pp . 7-8 .

FDA . RBI LC O111 

Ageless time and mother earth 

Endless cotton and despair 

False promise 

Punctured tambourine 

Truth--eloquence 

Hibernating ghetto comealive 

Truth 

Blood 

Death 

Divide and 

But the undeniable message had been given 

In the pallid house-cave 

amid deserted and decaying ruins 

an idiot babbles 

incoherently, toying incessantly 

with tiger cutouts on bandung floors 

Liar-Beast-Jingoist 

filthywhoresondecadentmf 

Suddenly 

Under a cover of dawn 

faint throbs of stirring life 

yes 

Slowrising waves of enveloping black fire 

encased in hollowed shells of scarred human lives 

beccwone 

Ye s 

Saberteeth crack and fall in the 

intense heat of black whirlwinds, 

and life's new hope is revealed to me 

Yes! 

Hear the mighty pulse of the drum ; 

Universal heartbeat of black soulvibrant 

with angry black palms 

angry with vibrant black palms 

Of wood and dried sheepskin and scarred 

as if in witness of previous battle 

but

86 al lcn 

A message-the same message 

A Message of Truth 

and of Blood and 

A Message : 

Awaken, Sleeping I'larriors9 

Arise, My Brothers, Arise : 

Let us, with the flaming torches of Revolutionary Justice, 

heed the call 

of. the drum 

of Chaka 

of Vesey 

of Prosser 

of Turner 

of Garvey 

of Lumumba 

of Malcolm 

of Blackness! 

by ernie alien

!1" THE UNITED NATIONS 

BENEFIT THE 

freeman 8 7 

SOME IMPORTANT MISCONCEPTIONS AMi1T THE RESULTS Of THE UNIT :~'D NATIMS 

OPERATTON IN CC)idG0 L 

Colin Legum admits that the U .N . made many serious mistakes in the 

Congo, but he goes on to say with apparent candor : 

"If there is neither chaos nor anarchy today, it is solely due to the UN 

operations . If the Beigians are now able to return in large numbers it is 

because of the security provided by the UN forces . If the Congo has, so 

far, avoided being swept into the arena of an armed conflict between rival 

ow rs 

foreign 

it is wing to th0 UPJ presence.ccesses These suhdll oversaow 

eaKC nesses and failures . 

asit 

1 . 

Although this statement (or because of) was written well before the 

return. of Tshombe and the departure of the UN troops from the Congo, it is 

fraught with untruths and gross exaggerations . On the other hand it is a 

very important position because it is the view of the most intelligent 

liberal milieu in the western European and American circles of African 

studies . The credentials of Colin Legum as an Africanist are very impressive'. 

Nis book, Pan-Africanis m, is the best English . language work on 

that subject . His other books, if not as good, certainly approach the 

best in the field of African Studies from-a western viewpoint . But! The 

farcical nature of the contentions that he maintains in his defense of the 

UN operation mirrors how backward western thought is in interpreting African 

realities--particularly when it regards African relations with things 

-;,he west considers sacrosanct . 

In the first place, since he wrote the above statement in 1901, how 

could he state conclus --ehr that the UN operation in the Congo vtias a 

success when it was no ., even f~_nishe d? It is oLti°ious Mr . Legum, with all 

his fine latitudinariou& it,credo=ltials, is beg'-,the question . It is only 

.tihen :the UN operation -* :z the Con,-o is 

otTe ,., , 

hat one can assess 

r,-hether the successes of the U- 1 'peace-keepir7'l ope_- ~J;ion 

' , 

in' the Congo(L) 

o_.crshad--a all its we :kr.-sses and fallurcs,'- 

hc~ it is obviCLt-, ti LNT opera ion 1 "1 t1'"ie Co - :~o d - :I not eliminate 

chaos and anarchy fron . CcnUc (L) . b ,.:fo_-e the UT operation left the

88 freeman 

Congo, Kwilu province was in open rebellion and it was not long before 

the rebellion had extended to virtually half of the Congo . Thus the UN 

not only did not stop the anarchy and chaos in the Congo, but as we shall 

see later in this paper it encouraged disorder and disrespect for authority 

. 

Legum feels that the UN saved the Congo from. being l+swept into the 

.arena of an armed conflict between rival foreign powers, 1 ' It is true 

that there has been no mass confrontation in the Congo a la Korea . But 

how would any objective person classify Thombe's declr:ration of an "open 

season" policy on Congolese mothers and children and his giving an exclusive 

hunting license to decadent Cuban exiles, mammon-mad Congolese 

quislings,and the arch-enemies of all Black people : South African 

fascists? This sort of action and the murderous hypocritical onsl1.ught 

on Stanleyvi lle is the reality of the armed conflict between agressive 

foreign powers and innocent Congolese people . 

Because of the U .S .-Belgium chronic intervention in the Congo(L), 

their nationals are no more safe in the Congo than at the time .of the 

1959 anti-Belgian riots that swept the Congo . The Stanleyville agression 

and the inhuman record of Thite mercenaries in Congo(L) have revived the 

hatred for Whites in the Congo . Right after the Stanleyvi lle episode a 

Dutch employee from Stanleyville was quoted as saying : "Something has 

happened in the Congo in the last few months . . It more than a political 

struggle ; the natives are different . They seem to hate all whites . I 

left because my life was in danger . The Congo wall never be the same 

again ." 2 " M . Lejeune, a French Correspondent in Leopoldvi lle, stated 

the . causes of this situ,rtion with more lucidity : "Massacred by the 

American and Belgian military, the insurgents threatened to revenge 

themselves on American and Belgian civilians ."3 . In the way just indicated 

it is ironic that those whe condemn the Congolese for hating whites 

have precipitated this very phenomenon(There is much evidence which 

suggests that they wanted it this way so th' , t the "free" world would 

have an excuse to intervene in the Congo) . 

_ But the main point here is that despite all the elaborate precautions 

by the UN military operation to protect lives in the Congo, Belgians (and 

all other people) are still not safe in the Congo . It must be added that 

with the hired . South African killers attempting (with the .Congolese 

government's approval :and encouragement : ;) to put an end to the very 

existence of the Congolese people there is easily za. hundred times the 

danger of murder of Blacks in Congo(L) than a similar fate for whites in 

the same area. : ; ; :

. GONCTO AGGRESSa Ors : A THREAT 'TO ALL O AFRTCA 

freeman 89 

The presence of South African and other ,," hiLe racist mercenaries in 

Congo(L) is extremly ominous in another sense . There can be no doubt 

that this South African penetration r°presents one of the spectres of a 

counter-offensive by Verwoerd and his apartp-hate gang against all of 

Africa . The African National Congress expressed this precisely in a 

recent issue of its weekly publication, SPOT1.1GHT ON bOUTH AFRICA : 

"The presence of South African mercenaries in the Scngo . . . . . .as well as 

other economic and political manoeuvres by Verwoerd are part of a grand 

imperialist plan to dig the military trenches and fortifications cf the 

Very+oerd regime far beyond the borders of South Africa ." 4 . 

It is quite clear that the white mercenaries are working very closely 

vrith Lhe South African Government . Just recently it vras reported that 

"colonel" Mike Hoare, leader of the mercenaries in the Congo, flew to 

Pretoria, South Africa for top-level conferences ~,,d.th the leaders of the 

South African Government .5 . 

One thing we assess from this is thet it is as plain as the nose on 

our Afroamerican faces that the attempted imperialist rape of the Congo(L) 

is the pivotal point of the African Revolution . For if the plundering cf 

Congo(L) succeeds, South Africa, in order to make its fascism sec ,,~re and 

supreme on the African Continent, will attempt to destroy or V.'oaken all 

of Independent ..Africa . The United States will be (and is) more than 

happy to assist in recarving up Africa in order to supplem-n.t its chronic 

"banana republic"" diet -ifith Africa's copper-coated, alum' na-filled, 

diamond-studded cobdIt-cased pills . Then we must realize. that there ar° 

also many other guests Pith insatiable desires that 6viil be at South 

Africals proposed political consumption of Africa . must be alarmed at 

France's craving for Gabonese wealth ana Algerian oil along with Bonn's 

lust -for any deal to get a hold of South African uranium ; not to 

mention London's cupidity to hold. on at any cost to their lucrative trade 

and investments in South Africa . All cf these omnivorous nations are 

proven enemies of Africa, and vmil_inE ailies of South African Hitlerism . 

"'ho can deny it? Certainly HATO's open complicity :,rith white supremacist 

Africa in Congo(L) proscribes the possibility of "Tashington passing these 

facts off to the world as mere Marxist jargon : 

But the other side of the African Revolutionary coin illustrates that 

the filthy imperialists have not won the fight in Congo(L) ; on the contrary, 

their diabolical actions in the Congo have thoroughly exposed 

their true purposes, and because of this the African forces that 

beer, 

have 

progressive for a long time have won much of the continent over to

90 freeman 

the militant an -U-imperialist camp . At the same time, the Ccngol se 

people have learned valuable lessons in their f ght against the forces 

antagonistic to their interests, and are novr fighting mt,°r: ^ -Ucc-ssfully 

against the foreign military pressure in the Congo(t) . 

But the strugL°,le will b c- difficult and bloody, and (as this paper nrill 

indicate) the U .N . Congo operation had much to coo :=L'ith the prc--ent 

intensity of the difficulties that begot the ravagcd Congo . 

"No matter how events shape out, even if they are unfavourable for us, it will be . 

useful for Africa, which is note watching us and cl~~sely following what is happening 

here -- it will be a university of struggle for it . ." Patrice Lumumba , 

Fighter For Africa's Freedom . (Moscow), pa ;;e 79--q~:etc: is by Lumumba-- 

Patrice Lumumba's fast photograph with his three children 

---Francois, Patrice and lufiana-before they were sent to 

Cairo

freeman 91 

LUTAUTIBA I S OBJECTIVES AND l j E OBJECTIVES OI' TI:E UN ITd CONGO(L) C014FLICT 

THE SEEDS OF THE CONGO DISASTER ARE ST- 

TN,-After all the stench-filled smoke sent up by the ,"restern press has 

been cleared, it is obvious to even the naive that the U .N . Congo Operation 

was framed from the beginning, as seen in the following context . 

expressed by President Kwame Nkrumah : 

"First, the Security Council, in particular, and to some extent also 

the General Assembly has allowed itself to become mesmerized by 

the problem of the cold war . Every solutic~ to the Congo problem was therefore 

worked out in terms of cold war 7 . 

And it was Ralph Bunche who exposed to the world how crassly paternalistic 

he was tclrrard his own race, and also made it clear how this cold 

war perspective was to be carried out when he told the U .N . civil staff 

in the Congo that : "You are here in the Congo to pacify the Congo and 

then to administer it, 11 8 " 

Is this what Prime Minister Lumumba wanted the U .N . to do in the Congo? 

Absolutely not . ifThen Lumumba asked the U .N . to enter the Congo he wanted : 

(I)to force the withdrawal of Belgian military personnel from the Congo,' 

(2) maintain Congolese territorial integrity and the establishment of the 

Central Government's authority throughout the country, (3) to protect 

lives and property in the Congo and,(4) the restoration of the status quo 

BEFORE THE BELGIAN A66RESSION against the Congo (L) Republic . 9 .&l0, 

The fact of Belgian aggression is extremely important because it is the 

key to Lumumba"s understanding of the Congo's problems and also his fatal 

differences with the UN . Here is how the late Patrice Lumumba expressed 

"One fact must be understood : but for the flagrant intervention of Belgian troops 

we could have gradually normalized the situation . 

The following fact still remains true : peace and security in the Congo can be 

restored only when the last Belgian soldier is withdrawn ." Il " 

From the outset it must be realized that Lumumba correctly saw the problem 

as a war between the Cengo(L) and a foreign aggressor-state, which 

had established its military regime in Katanga Province, By all the 

standards of universally-accepted International Law, Belgium had committed 

aggression against Congo(L), and all available evidence showed that it 

was the military backbone of the Katangese secession movement ,12 . 

But the U .N . Security Council and Hammerskoljd had other interpretations 

and "solutions" for the Congolese crisis, In its Resolution of July 14, 

1960 the Security Council did not name Belgium as the aggressor ; it merely 

"called upon the Government of Belgium to withdraw their troops from 

the territory of the Republic of the Congo . ,,13 "

92 freeman 

This variation from the Congolese Government's point of view was significant, 

but it was Hammerskoljd who interpreted the July pith Resolution 

in such a way that both Lumumba's position and that of the U .N . 

Security Council became so irreconcilable that Lumumba's government and 

the U .N . Congo Operation were put on a collision course ; the Secretary- 

General, displaying the usual western european attitudes of pro-NATOism 

and anti-Blackism, reasoned that the nature of the Katangese secession 

did not stem from Belgian aggression or the presence of Belgian troops 

in any part of the Congo, nor from " a wish of the authorities of the 

province to secede from the Republic of the Congo . THE QUESTI(1N !S A CONSTITU- 

TIONAL ONE WITH STRONG UW ER CURRENTS OF INuIVILUAL AND COLLECTIVE POLITICAL AWS .U14 . 

So here we see Hammerskoljd not only exonerating white Belgium for 

the blame of the upheaval in Congo(L),15 .&16 . but he goes on to blatantly 

ignore the tomes of facts that showed that the motives behind the 

Katangese leaders definitly had 'a wish to secede from 

the Republic of the Congo ; and then he interferes in

freeman 93 

authority of the U .N . legislative bodies . l r . For example, when Lumumba 

was illegally deposod by Mobutu and Kasavubu, Hamm-rskoljd's "Congo Club" 

recommended that the UN recognize the "government" of Joseph Ileo . However, 

the hear. of the UN Congo Mission, Rajeshwar Dayal, balked at this 

dictatorial usggestion and instead took steps to protect the Congolese 

Parliament--which was the repository of legal authority in Congo(L) . As 

if Dayal crucified Jesus Christ, the U .S . press let looso a tirade against 

him that would make any independent observer think that McCarthyite tactics 

---by McCarthyites--had been brought to the Corigo ; They called Dayal a 

"pro-Communist and an advocate of an "Indian Policy" in the Congo . Not 

unexpectedly, Dayal soon resigned from his post, and predictably it was 

not long before the Kasavubu delegation (Ileo's political pals) was recognized 

by the U .N . General Assembly .lg- 

Who were these U .S . officials who posed as international civil servants 

and who called themselves the "Congo Club"? They were : 

Andrew Cordier, who is now the head of Columbia University's -School of 

International Affairs . Apparently Cordier made no bones about his allegiance 

to Washington in any important situation, because O'Brien in has 

classic, To Katanga And Beck , says : "A man like Andrew Cordier, so far 

from 'not giving adamn what 'Washington said', was an expert at judging 

the force and probably duration of gusts from the Potomac, and therein 

precisely lay his main value to the organization ."19 . It is undeniable 

that this type of person from every country is necessary in the UN insofar 

as the UN, being an international organization, needs to assay very 

carefully the positions of the various national capitals of the world 

(This is particularly important with capitals such as "Fashington, Moscow 

and whether Washington likes it or not, Poking) . But should a person the 

likes of Cordier be put into a position such as a member of the "Congo 

Club"? The negative answer was obvious to the aware Afro--Asians, the 

Socialist Camp, and to Lumumba . 

If there were any doubts about Cordier's commitment to an anti-CongolesL 

policy they were completely expunged when ho used UN troops to close 

down Radio Leopoldville so Lumumba could not speak to the Congolese 

Nation, It really does not have to be mentioned that he (Cordier) did 

not close down Tshombets Elizabethville radio nor stop Kasavubu from using 

the Brazzaville Radio . At the time, this was of decisive importance in 

contributing to Lumumba's political downfall (and the: temporary collapse 

of the effectiveness of the Congolese anti-imperialist movement) because 

Cordier saw to it that Lumumba could not mobilize people (who wcro--and 

still are-- passionately pro--Lumumbist ; in fact he has b :_en the only 

Congolese leader who could appeal and obtain the allegiance of Black 

Congolese regardless of their tribal background .20 .) in behalf of their 

chosen government . In fact, Cordier's action was so destructive that

9?~ irecman 

O'Brien states : "Had ill not bean for Mr, Cordier's vigourous action, 

thcru is littl,~ doubt that the support Lumumba could have rallied at this 

crucial moment would have been most formidable ."2 1 . 

Some people have asked that if the UN was so detrimental to the Congo, 

then why didn't Lumumba attempt to get more help from saurces other than 

the UN . I-Ie did try . But again, it was CordiLr who, being forever faithful 

to his racist Washington masters,closed all the Congo Airports to 

non-UN traffic, thus rendering it impossible for Lumumba to obtain outside 

aid for the Congo . 22 . 

The next member of the group Ar s the previously-mentioned nigger of 

niggers, R2lph Bunche ; he started prying "d' fink" quite early in the 

game, for he was reported to ha.vQ b. en in the Congo at the time of the 

independence celebrations and apparently w!:s quite alarmed because he 

notified fammerskoljd in Cuneva that "trouble" w-,s around the corner in 

the Congo and that the Wcsi~ern powers should be informed so that they 

could trke the . initiative(meaning so they could commit aggressien) .~ 

Bunche was also very instrumentnl in eliminating one of the best opportunities 

to eradicate a major source of disorder in Congo(L), but first 

I want to give: some hêkground into this problem ; one of Lumumba's main 

problems was the mutinous Congolese Army which w.- .s more interested in 

pay checks than in protecting their own country, So it was obvious to 

all informed persons that at the time the Congolese Nntional Army needed 

to be, disormed and. retrained . $at when the Ckhanaiazi i1N contingent 

att2 pted to dis=m the "force Publique," Bunche stopped them from doing 

so . 

So it is a sorry commentary on the "responsible" American Negro 

"leadership" that one of its most prestigious members played ,a decisive 

role in frustrating the heroic Black Leadership in the richest land of 

Afroamerica's ancestors . As a result bf -unche's asininity the creation 

of a strong disciplined Congolese Army, which w-~ .s one of the best tools 

for the elimination of chaos and anarchy in Congo(L), w-~s not attempted 

until it was too late ; and it was too late when Lumumba was killed,, because 

he wn.s (and has been) the only principal--up until now--who could 

fashion the very necessary mechanism of a strong Congolese National Party, 

Not only oid Bunche contribute to Lumumba's political (and also 

physical?) demise, but he supported those who were: the Congolese 

minions of unscrupulous foreign powers('oirds of a feather really do flock 

together :) . It was Bunche who ordered the Decombcr, 1962 ceasefire that 

enabled Tshombe's shattered troops to reorganize: . And many believe he 

was responsible for Tshombe's success in upsetting the December, 1963 

Congo Unity Conference that w^s held at Kitona . 

He :i.nz Weischo .ff was the last thus-member of the "Congo . Club" who had 

control over Congo Policy of the UN . He was the "international" civil

servant who was responsible for keeping relevant information out of the 

reach of his superior, tho Russian Undersecretary Ark7~dev, who actually 

had more right of access to the information then any of the. mamburs of 

the so-called "Congo Club . ,,2b . 

Apparently ]"fieschoff was not only politically ultra-conservative, but 

was an out-and-out racist . He and his friends wooro accusUd by Afro-Asians 

as chronically refering to all Afro-Asians as "Mau--Mau ." 27 " In the frame 

of reference of an American Goldwaterite this could only have negative 

connotations . 

It must be added that when the Afro-Asian and Socialist press started 

to effectively criticize the American monopoly of Congo Policy, Hammerskoljd 

quickly included 3 neutrals (from countries all friendly to the 

U .S.) and an Englishman in the «Congo Club ." But they wore never included 

into more than the integument of this group of machiavellian clowns . 

Through this clique, the U .S . controlled the UN Congo "mission" policy 

until the death of HammL;rskoljd . Upon Hammerskoljdls death, the U .S . had 

to often use different octopus-like methods to achieve their greedy aims, 

but subsequent events proved that on a short-range basis thry have been 

just as successful as when they had their number one 

skoljd in charge . 

lackey Dog Hammer-- 

"Humbling, too, was the realization th ;A the United 

SUM(ARY OF' POINTS MADE SO 1-, AR 

freeman 95 

Nations, in which we had all put our facile school 

boy hopes, was nothing more or . I than another 

manipulable factor in the cold . war, at the moment in 

the hands of the almighty dollar ." . . . .Mrmah, :ryee- 

quaye, ° Lumumba Still Speaks," _Drum (Ghana Edition), 

February, 1965 , . 

I have already demonstrated,by refuting Legum's thesis, that the UN 

failed in the Congo . much more than it succeeded . I have also shown that 

the U . , not only gained complete control of the UN policy in the Congo, 

but also that U .S . Government's agents masquerading as U .N . officials 

saw to it that U .S . interests were paramount at all important turns of 

events in Congo(L) . I have also argued that the Security Council's Resolutions 

vis-d-vis the Congo compromised Beverly the position of the 

Congo(L) Government ; and Hammerskoljd twisted the resolutions in such a 

way that the UN position on the Congo crisis and the position held by 

Lumumba's government became absolutely irreconcilable . But lfammerskoljd 

did not stop there ; he actually condemned the legality of the authority 

of the Congolese Central Government, thus guaranteeing him the necessary 

legal fiction to back those policies and people which his masters in the 

House so desired . One can argue that I cannot knoti, : Hammerskoljd's 

motives in intervening in the internal and constitutional affairs of 

Congo (L) . This is tr}za, but in °~'. to of that, he DID back r .ro-US policies and

96 freeman 

people at decisive times--and it was precisely his denial of the authority 

of the Congolese National Governmont that gave him the legal precedent 

and sanction to usurp the legitimate leaders of the Congo and zupport 

Congolese traitors . That is why I stated that when the conflicting 

interpretations by Lumumba and Hammerskoljd of the Security Council's 

resolutions came into existence, the seeds of disaster for Congo(L) were 

sown ; specifically this meant that it was the beginning of the actual 

U.S , aggression against the Congo with the complete support of. the UN 

policy makers and most of the executors . Now we shall go on and see how 

the "0nusians" ,-~` supported the 'negro stooges' in the Congo . 

U . N . SUPPORT OF CONGOLESE TRAITORS 

In the manner explained above, the United Nations was catering to the 

interests of the west--led by the United States ; moreover it was establishing 

Congolese- sycophants of the U .S . . into control of the Congo(L) 

Government . 

I have already mentioned how Ralph Bunche helped Tshombe's separatist 

cause. But there is much more to this story than that . 

The U .N . civil operation in the Congo, despite all the platitudes 

which have been raised about how much it eliminated disease, etc . i n 

Congo(L), it contributed substantially to the inflicting of the very 

emasculating disease of subjugation of the Congolese people to traitors 

who have eagerly handed their people over to U .S . dollarism . This is 

how it happened 

After Congo(L) had acheived independence, Lumumba's Government was 

bankrupt because the Bank of Belgium had run off with the Congo's gold 

and currency reserves so as to paralyze this government's monetary pol 

icy in favor of the Belgiums . But after the U .N . civil staff entered 

Congo(L) they, for some unexplained reason, never saw fit while Lumumba 

was in power to . eliminate this blatant foreign intervention in the Congo's 

monetary policy .'" . , 

However when the'persona grata' . of the U .S ., Nobutu, staged his successful 

U .S . inspired coup d'etat2$& 29the U .S . "just happened" to start cooperating 

with Mobutu's appointed head of the .Congolese Monetary Council, 

N . NdelF;, . Although the treasury was empty when Ndele took over, the UN 

promptly filled it with ?_50 million brand new Belgian Francs .30 . 

But this was not all ; according to the London Times 3l . the UN civil 

staff saw to it that Ndele was also made the head of the then newly 

formed Congolese National Bank, So under the pretext that it was instituting 

"monetary reform" in '-- Congo(L), the United Nations financed the 

overthrow of the legitimate Congolese Government and the usurp,Ition and 

maintenance; of political power by the Congolese stooges of the CIA .

Some people have said -hha Luinumba was not ~xt :~T~ded financial aid by 

the UN because he was antagonistic and host,ilr to asp

98 freeman 

To back Mobutu was to bet on a lame., useless horse ; he no more has the 

ability to organize a puppet army than he has the desire or ability to 

lead an army for a sovereign, independent Congo(L) . Even his fans call 

him a "dilatory commander-in-c~lef" who spends more time in Brussels, 

Belgium than in Leopoldville . 3" " Even when in Leopoldville he wastes most 

of his time in the "Binza" .district, the European quarter of the city . 

Can a man of such inferior caliber eliminate the chaos and anarchy 

that has existed in Congo(L) since independence? The answer to this 

question is implicit=in the fact that since the Congolese: "army" (led by 

Mobutu) was being beaten so badly by the Congolese Freedom Fighters 

Tshombe called in the white fascist-thug mercenaries to lead the butchery 

of his own people . 37 

Therefore .ire see that by the UN fully backing Mobutu they actually 

jarred the door wide open for an upsurge of foreign aggression in the 

Congo ; and foreign aggression has always been the root cause of the chaos, 

anarchy, insecurity of lives and property in Congo(L)3 8 " At various times 

in this paper I have substantiated these charged'against Belgium, the US, 

and South Africa ; and it will not be long before I finish my case against 

the UN . 

In all probability, one of the most hypocritical political moves of 

the 20th century has to be the UN's "in~- egration" of the Katanga 'states 

into the Congolese National Government, and the "overthrow" of Moise 

Tshombe and his gang of imbecilic cutthroats . 

Apparently AFTER the assasination of Patrice Lumumba the primary objective 

of the UN in Congo(L) became keeping a not-too-strong, pro-western 

government in power in Leopoldvi lle, and at the same time restoring Afro 

Asian confidence in the bN which had been severly shakened by Lumumba's 

death and the up-to-then UN fiasco of attempting to end the Katangese 

secession . So at a crippled snail's pace the UN started to move against 

Tshombe's stronghold . . 

The 'deal' was apparently closed when Union Miniere, the erstwhile unchallenged 

monopoly in the Congo, saw that U,S . financial interests were 

going to be sure that profits would be divided by U .S . stooges in Leopold 

ville instead of by Belgium's uncle toms in Elizabethville, Katanga . So 

Belgium's slave-magnets decided to refuse to back Tshombe's Katanga State 

anymore . In this fashion the Congo reunification put together by the 

U .N . meant in its truest sense, "a rally around the Mars and stripes" : 

So in January, 1963, Tshombe gracefully bowed out of his secessionist 

role and, ostensibly, lost political power . Yet when the Katangese secession 

was crushed, the UN could have easily brought Tshombe and his 

rat-pack, led by Godefroid Nunongo, to trial . In fact, this had been prescribed 

by paragraph 4 of the Security Council's resolution of February 

21, 1961 and also by the findings of the Investigative Committee of the 

Internattonal Commission of Jurists (under the authority of the UN) which

freeman 9y 

clearly implicates Tshombe, Nunongo and Kibwe in the assasination of 

Patrice Lumumba and his colleagues . 39 ' Nevertheless, U Thant, following 

in the muddy footsteps of the late Secretary-General Ifammerskoljd, ;vent 

along with the sympathies of the west--particularly the lvey League 

"liberalsll of Washington . This both 17hite, and I°Thite-priented junto sidestepped 

and blocked all attempts to bury «IIank-drTv~r"~ 0 . Tshombe and 

his stooge-friends . 

Why were they so interested in saving Tshombe and. his g=.n~ of political 

racketeers? Dean, "clean-head" RuskIlet the rat out of the bag , at 

the time of the U . N.'s takevover of Katanga, when he told the U .S . sen 

ate Foreign Relations Committee that it as decided to save Tshombe . for 

a major role in the Congolese Governmental " Apparently the U. S . was-and 

still is--convinced that Moise Tshombe was the 'boyr who vroul? be 

sure to deliver the wealth of the Congo to .the altar of U .S . racist 

democracy---they were and still are demonstra-bly--correct . "rhat else is 

there to say? The events in the pr.st 8 months in Congo(L) make Rusk 

look like a prophet in the most diabolical sense . The same events expose 

the United Nations Operation in Congo(L) and the ctivitiec of the U . N . 

Secretariat vis-a-vis Congo(L) as nothing less than accomplices in the 

conspiracy which was called "peace-keeping", but in the final analysis 

has precipitated the death of thousands of Black Congolese mothers, 

children and Freedom-fighters, and opened the doof of the Congo to U . S . 

racist paternalism, greed, and filthy decadence . 

SUWARY 'To deceive the people is the same as trying to wrap fire it paper . . . . 

. . . . . . . . . . . .an African Prover b 

I started out saying in this paper that I would indicate that the 

United Na'-0ions Congo Operation had much to do with the present intensity 

of the difficulties that beset the ravaged Congo(L) . I must say I have . 

overshot ray objective ; I have proven that the United Nations was the 

main vehicle for the continual anarchy and imperialist olocd-sucking of 

the people and riches of the land which many of my ancestors most 

assuredly walked with pride, dignity and independence'. . . .My dead Brothers 

we shall walk in like manner again, again, again, again . . . . . . . . 

So I am convinced that my Brothers and Sisters in the Congo will not 

in the final analysis be decieved by the likes of Tshombe, Cordier, 

Carl Rowan or Ralph Bunche . They will be strengthened by the msmory of 

Lumumba, Malcolm X and the support of all Black Peoples of the world; 

and trey will win their guerrilla. war against the dirty white imperialists . 

Then, and only then in Harlem,, U .S .A . and Leopoldville, Congo, as Frantz 

Fanon says ;"The time for dancing in the streets has come ."

100 freeman 

"As so many of us were 

shocked and outraged at 

the reports of Dr . Ralph 

Bunche's apologies for 

the demonstrators (at 

the United Nations) we 

were also curicus as to 

his mandate from our 

people to do so . In face 

of it, and apparently, 

on as much authority, I 

hasten publicly to 

apologize to IMoe . Paul ine 

Lumumba and the Congolese 

People for our Ur . . 

Sunche ." The fate Lorr- 

aine Hansberry, New York 

Times, (,M1arch 2679_67 

"Vihat we had not known 

before, but came to rest 

ize +with increasing force . 

as the Congo crisis un- 

folded, was that in the 

isolation of the un-Afri- 

can, znd at the time, in- 

creasingly anti-African 

context . we were living 

in, each of us was rap- 

idly being pushed to con- 

sider himself _a piece of 

Africa , carrying within 

himself a sort of African 

integrity .' 

nrmah, _Drum 

(iihana edition ;, Feb ., 

1965 . 

reprinted from 

The Spark (Ghana)

FOOTNOTES 

freeman 101 

PHRT ONE : Some important misconceptions about the results of the U . N . operation in 

Ccngo(L) 

I . Legum, Colin, Congo disaster , Page li 

2 . "Brussels Pressing Plans to Withdraw," New York Times , II-27-54 page I 

(an unsigned news story) 

3 . Lejeune, M . , _I . F . Stone's Y~eekly , 12-7-64 ( translated from Le Nouvel Observateur , 

Paris, France) 

page 88 ; not only does Tshombe have white supremacists from sout~orn Africa, Cub" and the 

U . S . workinq for him, but his pcrscnal security guard is lead by Captain Faulques, a 

torture specialist, who's previous assignment was to apply his trade on :Irgarian Muslims 

for the French army . Smai1 wends Ben .Lila is . one of the .leaders in the struggle to 

destroy Tshombe! 

PART TWO : The Congo aggression : threat to all of Africa 

4 . Editorial (unsigned), Spotliqht On South ,Afrira , January 15, 1965, pane 2 . 

S . Sunday Express , Johannesburg, Sou'th' hfrica, 1/24/65 

This term refers to the U .S . centroled central American States which are known far their 

export o-f urge U .S owned crops of bananas ; page 89 

6 . See the New York Times , 12-20-64 

PART THREE : LumumbaIs objectives and the objectives of the UN in Congo(L confIict : the seeds 

of the Congo disaster are sewn . 

7 . Nkrumah, Kwame . "Address to the United Nations" Freedomways , Spring, 1961, page 51 . 

8 . See the _New _York Times, 7-31-60 

9&10 . Hoffman, Stan ¬ ey,"Congo Labyrinth" International Organization, (Spring, 1962' 

pp . 334 & 335 ; Uithata, Kgang, "The Congo: The Legalaf Aspect," r,frican Communist , 

p . 63 . ' 

II . Patrice Lumumba , Fightsr For Africa's freedom , Moscow : translated from the Frcnch'by the 

publishers, page 41 

12 . Bustin, Edouard . "The Congo" ; five Mirican States , page 118; (Flew York, 1963) . 

13 . Resolution adopted by the Security Council .on July 14, 1960, 5/4387- 

14 . Irioffman, page 336, from UN Document S/4417 (emphasis was acded by the author(K .M . Freeman) 

15 . & 16 . This put them in gross apposition to the Congolese Prime Minister, and thus 

guaranteed friction with the only entity which gave legality to the UN presence in Congo(L) . 

In fact Hoffman says that it is doubtful if there was any legal basis far the UN operation; 

he at least is sure that the legal basis was not made clear . (Hoffman, page 333) But he 

asks the most revealing question when he says ;"If the restoration of la : and order required 

a smaller degree of UN depeneon--e on the consent of the host state (once consent to the

102 frccman 

creation of the force had been received), would it not require a revision of other principles 

as well-- such as the defensive nature of the operation and its commitment to nonintF;rvcntion? 

page 334 . 

Dithata in his article in African Communist deals with the same questions with more confine- 

ment to the legal aspect and more follow through in order to obtain . answers, -nd he does come 

with the most compiet Rnswer ; that Lumumba's government's invitation to the UN to enter the 

Congo was the only legal basis for UN presence in Congo(L), and that it had no authority to do 

anything in the Congo without Lumumba's Government's consent--that is according to contemporary 

international law . Glthata, Kg^ng, "Congo ; The Legal Aspect" Afr ican Comm unist, (July, Sept . 

1964)pp . 60-70 . 

PART FOUR : U .S . control of the Congo Mission: How it was done 

17 . Lagos'Siudy Circle, "hhat is Happening in the Congo", Part I Reprinted in the Spark , 

(Accra, Ghana 1964), page 7 . 

18 . Md ., page 6 . 

19 . O'Brien, C.onor Cruise . To K,tanga and _Back, (New York, 1962) page 56 . (al} quotations from 

this book were given permission topublish in SOULBDOK 2 by the publisher of D'Brien's 

book , Simon and Schuster . 

20 . Bustin, page 105 . 

21 . O'Brien, Conr, To Kntanga and Back, page 93 . 

22 . Ibid ., page 96 

23 . Harpers , II/60 

24 . Goshal, Kumar . "Tshombe losing Fight for A - Seper^te Katang?," NationaJ Guardian , 

1/17/63, page 2 . 

25 . ibid ., 

26 . O'Brien, page 57 

27 . Ibid ., page 56 

PART FOUR : Summary of points so far 

;II quotes taken from this article oere granted permission to reprint in SOULBOOK 2 by 

Cameron Duodoo, the Editor of Drum (Ghana Edition) 

PART FIVE : 11 . N . Support of Congolese Traitors 

28 . Tully, Andrew . Cl,,, the Inside Story * (New York, 1962), page 180 . 

29 . 4`,olfe, A1Vln . 4 . , Th'eEconomics of the Jungle", Liberation, (January, 1962 ), .page ID : 

30 . Nkrumah, page 53 . 

31 . London Times , February 25, 1961 

32 . Patrice Lumumba ; Fighter For Africa's Freedom , page 61 

33 . Nkrumah, page 46 

34 . "Torture of Lumumba Brings Bitter Protest," The Militant , (an unsigned news aarticae) page I 

12/12/60 

35 . O'Brien, page 56 . 

36 . "Can the Congo Go It Alone?" The Reporter by Claire Stealing, 6/18/64, pp . 28830 

37 . Apparently Tshombe feels that because the white racists are motivIted to kill all Blacks

that struggle for freedom they could have more success fighting for an anti-popular struggle in 

the Congo ; at any rate he can he sure that they have something to fight far, kill ail Blacks 

who could possibly be sympathetic to the Congolese liberation struggle -- including little 

babies -- and that they will not defect to the Congolese Freedom Fighters like so many of 

Tshombe's best troops have done . 

* page 98 ; The charges of aggression . 

38 . Most western scholars have attempted to say that tribalism is the root cause of the chaos in 

Congo(L) . However it should be recognized that no one has ever bothered to define tribalism 

and there is no valid study of the social and political significance of'tribal'divisions . 

In the case of Congo(L), ethnic divisions are certainly tempered by the facts that there 

are 3 lingua francas in the ccuntry(Kiswahili, Lingala, and Kikonoc), and every Congolese 

can at least understand one of them . 

Also one of the more objective Africanists on the western scene states another relevant 

point about Congolese 'tribalism' : "It is worth remembering, however, that nary of the 

presen4 tensions have more recent causes . . .The belief that too many of tha wel ; paid jobs 

offered by the Union Miniere and other Companies operating in Katancia somehow seemed to be 

occupied by immigrants from Kasai (most of them Baluba) has been partly responsible for the 

xenophobic ring in 1959 Cenakat-platform a fact which led in turn to the momentous 

rapprochement between one of the Katangese Baluba and those who had migrated from Kasai ." 

page 18 . 

So we see that often when there is inter (or intra)- 'tribal' friction in Congo(L) 

western European influence (and interference) is at the root of the trouble . (the chaos) 

39 . "Nkrumah Rips UN U Thant Side Steps" Muhammad Speaks , 2/4f63, page 10 

40 . This was Lumumba's appropriate nickname of this freakish "house-nigger ." 

41 . Philadelphia Inquirer , Jan . 12, 1963 

Page 96 ; Onusian is the English derivative of the French noun '0nusicn' . Both words have 

become part of the common vocabulary of U . N . people . 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

For an excellent bibliography on Congo(L) check out the Bibliography to Bustin's article : 

"The Congo," which is found in _Five African States : Responses to Diversity, Edited by 

Gwendolen M . Carter, Ithaca, New York- Cornell University Press . 1963 

Another excellent bibliography on Congo(L) is . Catherin Hoskyns, "Sources for a Study 

of the Congo Since Independence,` p . 373, The Journal of Modern African Studies , Vol . I, 

No . 3, (Sept, 1963) . 

In the back of O'Brien's To Katanga and _Back, (New York : Simon and Schuster, 1962) 

there are all the UN resolutions on the Congo up to and including the resolution passed 

by the Security Council on November 24, .1961 . There are also some other useful UN 

Documents in his appendix . For more thorough study of the UN involvement in the Congo it 

is best to use: Hovet, Chambarlin, Wall and Brimmer . A Guide to the Use of United Nations 

Documents , (Including Reference to the Specialized Agencies and Special U .N . BodiesT -- 

Now York : Oceana Publications, 1962 . Also the book published by Progress Puhlishers in 

Moscow on Lumumba is an excellent source of LumumbaIs attitude towards the UN and the UN's 

relations with Lumumba . See footnote number 11 for complete title of this book .

AMERICAN AVA rRY 

AND THE FUTURE 

rhodes 105 

After 1'd finished reading the editorial entitled, "Congo 

and the 

Savagery 

Future," in the _Los Angeles Times on 'A!ednesday Nov . 25, 1961, 

realized if 

I 

I ever was to experience peace of mind again, 

answer 

I would 

in rebuttal, 

have to 

so Completely did -the article raise my ire . 

what I have 

Although 

to say will never be published in the L . _A . Times , it 

afford me the 

1rrill 

gratification of knowing some of ,yourstaff will re^.d 

and you will 

it, 

know th, :t Afro-Americans 'Ilso TiAINiQ 

Pillaging, murder, rape, theft, etc . are all crimes abhorred by society, 

-ind the guilty of such should be apprehended rind brought 

as quickly 

to 

as possible 

justice 

. It's alv~rays regrettable whon innocent 

victimized, regardless 

people are 

of race, creed or color . Whether the 

are killed 

people 

recently in 

who 

the Congo were guilty or innocent is 

that no one 

something 

here can affirm or deny . However, if they were 

best 

th ;:re 

interest of the 

in tê 

Congolese people, then their fate is sad one 

And I, for 

indeed, 

one, am certainly not devoid of compassion for 

lost 

those -,rrhc 

their 

have 

lives when fighting or a cause . 

But there is another side to ti2is story that will be rc;ve 

by a non-white 

;led only 

. For hundreds of ye

. 

10 6 rhodes 

in your editorial you speak of what 

the host considers civilized attitudes 

and behaviors . It would be inters, st 

_ : ing to '.new just what is mei.nt by such 

a statement, as well as : Quote -- 

_ ¬ 4 - "TAE day still seems far off when 

humanitarianism will be valued in the 

Congo as it is in the civilized_ vorld," 

End of quote . ;That civi -'.ized woT J? 

there is this civilized world of ~~h1 ch 

you speak? You cau~-dnTt pcssibi.y ~,,-: :,n 

North America ! 

news for you .? 

But if you do -- 

To begin tiTrith, ALL persons or th:i s 

continent are aliens, in effect, ~Mcu>pt 

the Indian . Or didn't you know? Accord 

ing to YOUR history books, the :uropean, 

or Pilgrim landed here in search 

of freedom of worship and a new way of 

life . But not so with the African ; these people were captured, imported 

from the Motherland, brought in and sold at public auctions in the slave 

market like so much cattle . Only savages could have performed such inhuman 

acts upon other human beings, and savages they were! -- White Ones ; 

You say the African "savage" comers from the bush country . ?ell, I'll 

tell you where he comes from in this country : : : from the southern backwoods 

and hills, the small towns and cities, and from every conceivable 

place in the confines of your land of the free and home of the gave ; 

Mississippi is the American Congo in reverse . She has to her credit 

more lynchings, burnings, and atrocities in general hoaped upor the heads 

of defenseless Afro-Americans than any other known place, even though 

every state in the Union does its share of dirt to black folk either 

openly or discreetly . 

The brutal, bestial slaying of little Emnatt Till, a minor, Juring 

the mid-fifties in the state of Mississippi, shocked and enraged the 

the vost Black "Irld, The dark American witnessed the same grief-atTicken 

pangs as a similar fate befell. Mack Parker, Medgar Eers, and ;an 

American educator who when enroute to his home, was brutally murderad for 

no other reason than the Black color of his skin . The wounde were no 

less grievious back in 'b3 when four little girls were slaugLt. . ryd Ln 

Alabama on a Sunday A .M . in a church -- of all places -- tryinn to worship 

God . Then again, the hearts of black folk dripped blood tats past 

summer when a black youth was felled by a bullet from the gun of a racehating 

policeman . 

Time and sparse. could never permit anyone to tell of the innumerable

hcdes 10 7 

and unaccountod-for mur .iers and atrociti .s Chit L7_vu bean inflicted upon 

black folk the world over for hundreds of years by Nathan whites . And 

what has your white law ever done about any of thes " : crimes? ----- Exactly 

nothing! 75uld you mind telling me if this is thc'civilis"d , world of 

which you speak? If so, the antis universe is in one sorry mess : And 

you call this hum':nitarianism? Just how ridiculous can. you get? 

In your fueling of self-righteous indignation for the: Congo massacre, 

the statement has boon publicized that "the rcbcls will be tracked dalim 

very quickly and brought to justice ." My! -- oh my? Haw can all of this 

be done so quickly in a foreign country, and the: lawhasn't Won abl ; to 

bring to justice the killers of three civil rights workers that took 

place back in June, 19611 in Philadelphia, Mississippi? hedger Evers was 

murdered almost tyro years ago, and his killing has yet to ba vindicated . 

But of course it would be sheer nonsense to expect any considar :tion to 

be shown to your so-called pressure groups (Thatever that means, and who- 

Ever they are:) . It would be enlightening, though, to know exactly how 

such prossura will be brought to bear in the Congo ; will blood hounds be 

flown from old Miss, or will Uncle Tom Tshombe supply them? It will 

bloodhounds I'm sure, since they scum to have the keenest scent for black 

folk . But don't you think it would be advisable to clown up your own dirty 

linen here at home first before trotting off tc track down freedom-loving 

people in their own country? For your fate could easily becom6 the same 

as the people you are so determined to vindicate . 

As for the Congolese who are reported to hav - bur=n slain with the whites, 

in all probability they had loon thoroughly brain-washed by the whit: 

oppressors, so their slayers felt they were .traitors and the: country 

would bo bettor off without them . How you can be so up in arms about 

this incident and completely ignore what the Africans suffer at the hands 

of the white intruders is beyond all non-whites . Conditions in South Africa 

for the African are deplorable to say the least, and the Portuguese have 

massacred and held a reign of terror over the people of Angola for decades, 

By the way, what about all the Black Congolese that ar being murdered by 

South African racists and Cuban traitors who both use American guns and 

American planes? But never a word about any of this appears in any whitE 

paper nor arc these facts heard about on the radio or seen on the television 

; however the information does reach this country -- through the 

media of the. Black press! 

Don't you realize that because of this the whole non-white world is onE; 

seething, boiling volcano of hatred that can erupt at anytime? You are 

hated for your superficial air of superiority, arrcganca, and of your 

condescension and all-around perfidy towards other human beings . You can 

murder, lie, steal, and WON Avery heinous crime under the white sun, 

and get away with it -- you think ; . Why bother to keep hiding behind the 

'dirty' skirt of Communism? This excuse is so worn out it smells to high 

heaven -- and the stench is sickening! The instant anybody (coat .)

108 rhodes 

attempts to defend 

himself against 

your injustices 

you 

scream COiEAUNIST! 

We Afro-Americans 

are still wroth 

over the slave 

issue . Were the 

Communists responsible 

for 

that? Indeed not ; 

Your ancestors 

were! The echo of 

log chains about 

the wrists and 

ankles of our 

forefathers rankles 

in our ears 

even today, along 

with the moans of 

innocent black 

males whose roped 

necks hung suspended 

in midair 

from the tops of 

southern trees because 

soire lying 

white woman who 

desired him --and 

was rebuffed-hollered 

F,iPE ; 

But by the same 

token it's quite 

alright for those 

filthy white swine 

to rape helpless 

Black women! Can 

you deny this after 

one of your 

very own, John 

Howard GriPfin, 

has made the 

Reprinted from News of the World (London)

hodas 109 

expose` in his novel, Black Like _hoe? In the dwarfed minds cf those who 

commit uhese filthy acts such must never be thought of or refered to 

again -- once its over . Far in their miniature would, white is right : ; 

black step back ! But it isn't that° way at-- .` all . There c9mesatime of 

reaping for all wrong doers, and the white man isn't going to get away unscathed 

. 

In view of all this it would be advisable if you people would awaken 

from your Rip Van ,Tinkle sleep and decipher the handwriting on the wall . 

You have lived luxuri'cU,sly for more than two thousand years from the 

labors and fat of other '`people's lands, but your fiesta is rapidly taming 

to a close . You will scoff at this because you cannot conceive of it 

happening tc you -- neither could the Romans, or the people of Pompeii, 

or of ancient Carthage and Babylon . But it happened to all of these 

people ; every one of their civilizations fell in due time . The white 

world today is a modern Babylon, so for you especially now there should be 

a time of atonement and restitution instead of your continued bitter hatred 

and determination to dominate the darker races . Reprisals are the 

order of the day . Therefore, you had better prepare to face more and 

more of them . . . . n hint to the wise should be sufficient . 

Mrs . Rhodes is a mefnber of the writer's Plorkshop of the Afro-American Cultural 

Association, Los Angeles, Calif . 

Reality makes my heart 

almost stop . 

But life makes it beat . 

w best

THAT BOY LERot 

hughes 111 

Seemingly it has become the lot of the versatile young actor, Al 

Freeman Jr ., to bring to being in the theater the most obnoxious Negroes 

ever seen on stage or screen . Al Freeman is an excellent actor who has 

the ability to make his obnoxious characters even more obnoxious on stage 

than they are in the published texts . Mr . Freeman perfec is ion at snarl- 

ing, sneering, cursing, sniveling, complaining, bullying and browbeating . 

Indeed Al Freeman is such a good actor in the roles in which he has lately 

been cast in "Blues for Mister Charlielt and "The Slave" that every time 

I see his name in print, I get slightly sick at the stomach . 

It is the fashion for young authors of Negro plays nowadays to make 

their heroes all villains of the darkest hue, or crazy, living in crazy 

houses . The whites are for the most part villains or neurotics, too ; so 

I gather that contemporary Negro playwrights do not like anybody any more 

--- neither their stage characters, their audiences, their mothers, nor 

themselves . For poetry in the theater, some of them substitute bad language, 

obscenities of the foulest sort, and basic filth which seemingly . 

i s intended to evoke the sickest ofreactions in an audience . 

Certainly, "times do change," as the saying goes . I remember a quarter 

of a century ago when a few scattered damns in the theater tivere considered 

most advanced . When the word _God was coupled with damn in Etoadway's 

"shat Price Glory?" it caused consternation . But in this Year of our 

Lord, 1965, four-letter words are flung across the footlights mìth impunity . 

A few seasons ago, such words might have been taken as adding a bit of s 

spice to the dramatic cake . Why Lenny Bruce should go to jai .1 alone while 

playwrights and actors from Broadway to Off-Broadway are having a field 

day with graffiti, I do not know . Since many novelists and playwrights, 

white and negro, nowadays make no bones about printing the unprintable and 

speaking the unspeakable (in so far as good taste, decency and good manners 

go), why, in nightclubs, where the risque has long been acceptable, should 

Lenny Bruce be shackled, muzzled and put behind bars? Did P,,r . Bruce invent

112 hughes 

some new bad words :? 

In a talk I made in Paris concerning American Negro poetry, I said 

that I am glad Negro poets are doing everything other American poets are 

doing, and that their styles range from Harlemese to Villagese, from 

the conventional to the beatnik, from Pulitzer Prize winning Gwendolyn 

Brooks to Obie Award Winner LeRoi Jones . Nor . Jones is currently the 

white-haired black boy of American poetry . Talented in other forms of 

writing as well, particularly theater, Mr . Jones might become America's 

new Eugene O'Neill -- provided he does not knock himself out with pure 

manure . His current offering, "The Toilet,"! a (sic) full of verbal excrement 

. 

I remember that much vaunted realism of David Belasco in my .youth . 

None of the Belasco productions I saw on Broadway can hold a candle to 

"The Toilet," scenic or acting-wise . The set for "The Toilet" consists 

largely of a series of urinals, and the first thing the first actor does 

when he comes onstage is to use one . All the facilities of I .high school 

toilet are used by the other performers, too, at various times . The bold 

and brilliant bunch of young Negro actors look as if they all come directly 

from Shirley Clark's rough-neck film, "The Cool World," whose 

leading man now plays, as if to the manner born, the leading role in "The 

Toilet ." So realistic is both acting and direction in this play that the 

leading white boy, beaten to his knees by a gang of. Negroes, drools 

spittle upon the stage as he tries to rise: . The triumphant black boys 

end up sticking the white student's head into ,a urinal . 1AFiat all this 

does for race relations (as if it mattered at this late date) I do not 

know . 

Both "The Toilet" and "The Slave" may be taken as serious exercises 

in masochism ~nd sadism, fully of bloody kicks, and better than "The 

Brig" for thrills . Certainly the whites at the St . Marks Playhouse are 

well beaten up in both plays before the evening ends . In "The Slave" AI 

Freeman Jr ., as a black nationalist violently opposed to white liberals, 

sl--ps, kicks, punches, shoots and physically does in all the whites on 

stage . At one point in the proceedings, he pointed his pistol dead at 

Nat Hentcff in the first row of the auditorium . Long ago, the bully 

boy of Southern folklore, Stackolee, used to boast, "I'm the baddest 

Negro God's got ." But Stackolee grew up in the good olu days before the 

era of James Baldwin and LeRoi Jones, so Stackolee never laid eyes on 

Al Freeman Jr . i n a. New York theater . I think that Stackolee, as a ho-rified, 

especially at the language used before Indies . 

Therefore, for the sake of today's sensitive Negroes and uttered 

white libcr :rils, I would like to offer the producers at St . Mark's Playhouse 

a suggestion-double cast both plays, and alternate performances 

racially . Every other night let all the present Negro charn.cters be 

played by white actors, and vice versa . Four times a week I would like

hamilton 113 

to see ti'~HfTE school boys in '1M ; Toiled' beating up a ,'OLORED boy and sticking 

his head into a urinal . In "The Slav,." let : bullying man kick, 

curse, browbeat . .rid shoot a nice liberaIUCLK professor :.and his wife. in 

their suburban living room . 

To reverse the complexions on stage ev ,_,ry other night by alt:,rnating 

casts would make for a vc;ry intriguing th ::atrical evening . Black -xculd 

then be whito -- and rhito, black -- which alternately vuolald c=l.ncel out 

each other -- since some critics (like tiic ably Micha(l Smith in The 

Village Voice) claim thn-t -TeRoi Jones may not really be writing about 

color at all, but instead is concerned with no group 'lsmall,~:r than mankind 

." God h,:Ip us all : '' 

A REPLY 

An open lett,~r to the editors : Now York Post re : 

Hugho s 

Your "Boy" Langston 

I've just read a "put down" in your iiocral newspap , r on Le.Roi Jones 

by "Unca'l Hughes -- as a black writer I was nauseated :end disgusted , It 

has been rumored in reliable circles that whitey was searching for a black 

writer to nail hoRoi to the cross . Now i know who was doing the searching 

for a house boy ; I also know that you wasted several works abroad wh~;n all 

you had to do vias to look in YOUR "toilet" . I -,I-,o KNOV+that Langston has 

chafed for over six years because of an unfavorable: review that LeRoi wrote 

on a "booklet" by Hughes purportedly giving the low-down on jive talk and 

jazz . The review was accurately cutting and necessary . "cell, Hughes finally 

"back-capped" -- be sure to give him his mess of pottage ".long with 

his payola ; I HAVE SEEP; ALL three of I.eRoi l s plays and I say that ho is the 

only black playwright alive in this cesspool who is telling it like it is . 

You, Sirs, have a knack for pulling out your house niggers to condemn any 

black pr:rson who has the guts to stand up and shout thk. truth about Amer 

ica ., At the United Nations you pulled out good old Ralph Bunche to condemn 

the. riots . Last summer, old reliable . 

(cent, on next page) 

0 

1-4

114 hamilton 

Roy Wilkins was given his script ; And now you have "descended" to the 

arts . Jones has no need to be a black Eugene O'Neil . It would behoove 

Hughes, rather, to admonish his bosses to strive for the stature of 

John Brown in whatever their pursuits . If LeRoi spouts verbal excrement, 

consider the fact that this culture is mired in manure, and that the 

role of the artist is to hold up a lens so that his society might better 

see itself . If Langston wants to see a play that pleases his masters - 

- and I am sure he does, let him write one of his own . I am sure he'll 

make Broadway -- again -- and I am sure that he will console those 

white, and white-thinking sensibilities who find this crappy society 

too much for them to face up to honestly . Let LrZngston and his ills 

keep silent in the face of real artists . Theatre 1965 is not for leftover 

Lazaruses from the so-called "Negro Renaissance," nor is it for 

prissy puritans . Jesse B . Simple should take his well-deserved place 

along side the Brontosaurus and the Dodo bird ; : 

Reprinted from The New York . Post, p . 38, 1/15/65 . 

"racistly" yours, 

Bobb Hamilton : Co-Editor of 

SOULBOOK 

'Nearo' or 'nigger', it is all the same . Homo Sapiens deformed by crossed 

sticks, corpulent greenbacks and the myth of white woman, meshes of my psyche 

boomerang with centuries of seaweed . Scars of oppression barbwire my people's 

personalities like sword slits in the profile . And I put it into poems . . . ." 

. . . . .By Calvin Hernton, "The Umbra Poets," Mainstream , page 4, July, 1963 .

AN APPEAL FOR 

SISTER BETTY SHABAZZ 

LET US NOT FORGET THE 

NEEDS OF THE WIDOW AND 

CHILDREN OF OUR MARTYRED 

LEADER, EL HAJJI MALIK SHABAZZ, 

(MALCOLM X .) MAKE ALL CON- 

TRIBUTIONS PAYABLE TO BETTY 

SHABAZZ ; SEND THEM TO : 

BETTY SHABAZZ 

MOSLEM MOSQUE INC . 

2090 SEVENTH AVENUE 

NEW YORK 27-4 N. Y .

Simmons 117 

TO ALL THE FREEDOM LOVING 

PEOPLE "F THE WORLD 

It is no coincidence that the large portion of white -America is both 

affluent, misinformed ; apathetic, decadent and racist . It is no coincidence 

that the youth of Black America are fcresaking non-violende after 

a long history of injustice from Tlhite America . I':nd although we meet 

opposition from older g-~ ,, nerations of Black America, we see no other solutions 

to our problems . 

History has shown us that i n four-hundred years that we will not liberate 

ourselves through peaceful means . If we were dealing with a 

p~acoful people that might be possible . If wo were dealing with a people 

who beli,-ved in justice, that might'be possible . If we were dealing with 

a people who were intelligdnt enough to realize that history is on the 

sidc of those who fight for liberaticn and justice, that might be possible . 

If we wore: dealing with a people who could realize that sc:cioties based 

on slavery, based on decadence, based on corruption, based on lynching, 

based on lying and mass murder -- if we were dealing with people who 

could realize that such a socioty is doomed to decay like foul meat -then 

that might be possible . Then we could think in peaceful termo . But 

we are not dealing with such people . 1",re are dealing ;=rith people who condone 

slavery, aggression and corruption ; people who have been educated on 

Tarzan movies and comic books ; people whc regard pirates az heroes ; people 

who condone lynching : Ire arc dealing with a people who have a long history 

of piracy, watch hunting and burning people at stakes -- and of 

course the brutal oppression of Black America . So we are dealing with a 

people who think nothing of bombing a church or a hundred churches . Its 

only another laud noise and another building to them, and in spzte of the 

most elaborate and expensive crime detection and secret service network in 

the world the white racist F . B . I . , can never find the criminal who 

killed a Negro or bombed a Negro church . Instead they supposedly spend 

their time considering the f communist threat .' So it mattors not to them 

(The F . B . I .) how many Blacks are k:Uled, how mart' youthful (cont . next page)

118 simmons 

black lives are destroyed . These are really tha p4oplu with v;hom wo must 

deal . 

The world has known us as a patient people, tiicy have : se, n us as a 

patient people, they have seen us on our knees in prayer for freedom, 

marching up '.nd down in pcac-ful demonstr, Lions, campai~-,ning and petition 

ing for freedom, negotiating for liberration, or voting for cno candidate 

or another or appealing fcr jobs, for higher vf~.a Us, more security and 

less police brutality . Often they have seen us being bloodied by a 

policeman's club or bitten by a dcg . They have seen us lynched by the 

KKK, and still fighting in the dirty wars of the US and hoping that the 

US would hand us our freedom when we returned home . 

This year, however, there has been a. qualitative change in tht} nature: 

of the struggle= of Black America . In nearly every city in the north and 

south, Black America took to the stracts and fought the armed forces of 

the state . At the same time the US carried the dirty war of Vietnam 

from south to north, the white r,_cist carried the war from Birmingham to 

Harlem . At the s~?me -time the mothers in the Congo were losing their 

homes to the bombs ~-,nd napalm made in the US, Black American mothors in 

Mississippi were losing their homes to the bombs of the KKK . 

For the same reason "Mr . Charlie"' mu.rderud Patrice Lumumba in the 

Congo, he murdered Medgar Rvars in Mississippi . Thus Liberation Movements 

knoziT no geographical boundaries . They may occur in a rice paddy 

in Vietnam, or in the jungle streets of Harlem . They may occur in the 

Sierra Maestra

unmans 119 

nd savage policamen, 

MO- , FC vicious dogs, 

r_nd more informers, 

stcagos nnd 1qp dogs 

painted black for the 

r4ci st, love-nuan FBI . 

Yet, t: the samw tire: 

churches, homes and 

suhnols warc being 

sombod by the hundr ; ds 

in ;Mississippi, and 

not a word of significant 

protost was 

uttarad by white Amrer- 

As black youth 

fought police ::round 

the country, the 

Communist Party of the 

US, publicly endorsed 

Martin Luther King as 

saviour of the Nogro6s, 

and publicly 

dcncanced Robert F . 

hilliams, the exiled 

leader of the Revolutionary Action Ncvomont . This came as no shock to us, 

as the CPUSA has a history of siding zith the pew: r. structure on most 

issues involving Black America . Since the power structure; had. dealared 

Robert F . Williams an outlaw the CPUSA followed suit . But ,,Then representative 

of the Soviet Union also denounced Robert f, Williams, we realized 

the true significance of their phrase, "peaceful Coexistence ." Since 

Martin Luther King is no more or less than .: poppet for US imperialism, 

the citadel of i"torld counter-revolution, he :.s protected by th ; CIA, receives 

millions of dollars yearly from 7hits America and the Power Structure 

. Both the Soviet Union and the CPUSA have forsaken principle for unity, 

and have condescended to eluding King . Since when did leaders of liberation 

movements receive a Nobel ';;ace, Prize, or support from the C .I .Ii? 

We think that because he rccoived the Nobel Prize they also should pin a 

label on his nose marked "made in the USA"! . . . . . . . So we must pose the 

question befcre the new leaders of the Soviet Union : '.'hat is your 

(cant . on next 

page)

120 simmons 

intention, and whcra do you stand in regard to the Negroes' struggle for 

freedom and justice.? Do you support our movement of organized selfdefense, 

or do you support the C . 1 . 1, .? Do you warit us to pr accfully 

coexist with our oppressors, or will you support our movement publicly 

and denounce US racism? We are waiting to hL:ar from you . 

Be that as it may, -vie have already received hhe public support from 

the Peoples of Vietnam, the Peoples of Venezuola, the Peopljs Republic 

of China, Indonesia, and the Peoples of Ghana . Hence vie call on and 

welcome the public support of our cause by all peoples who believe in 

freedom arid justice, and who desire to publicly denounce US racism 

and imperislism . 

I,1re realize that othor peoples have supported our just cause , but due 

to t7e cTose7 mass meth_ of the racist USf~c~ 1kmerica is not i~òrmed 

by APor UPI about our supporters . -,Are also requost financialsupport for 

ourcause ,which asi is developing, will increase and intensify theT 

contradictions inT7renta. .n the heartland of racist [?Simperiali sm, -a 

low t at it cannot takc: . ~_"re remind _tho BFndung brothers that accei~t - 

Tng 7erican Dellzrz sm _is accept-ng "blood" _money ; , it is the same money 

spent for napalm in_ Vietnam and. whit- mercenaries _in _the Congo . ?-Ire join 

hands with t_ha Tandung worldand v~i_th X12 tho freedom loving peoples of 

the world revolution to eiimin .t~- exploitation ; . injustice and misery ; and 

then to build the world anew . - 

Ediiers" note ; This work has ?ppe-rod , in the French Edition of Africa , Latin America , 

_Asia, REVOLLTi!,N . Out this is the first time it hps been published in the Enoiish 

language . Opinions expressed in this ?rticle do net necessarily represent the views . 

of the Editorial Board of SOLLOOCK . 

Emphasis of the I~st pir?grnph svgs in the original . 

* "Mr . Chnrlie" i .s en Airoamerican term denoting American thites -- pirticularly the 

American ~

REJECTO00000()0 00(}t NOTES 

by 

rolIand snoIIings 

carol freeman 

t r Borne 

marvin e jackmon 

bobb loam i f ton 

ernie alien 

ronald stone 

wm patterson 

w best 

sherfoy a wiiliams 

i am a poet . 

reject notes 121 

it is my fist you hear beating 

against your ear . 

. . . . . . . . .from _Tho Dist^nt Drums 

by Calvin Hernton

122 williams 

All My Yesterdays 

The six o'clock bus is a jungle of faces 

A tangle of women going home after cleaning 

Other people's houses ; tending other people's kids 

While across town in the slums, in the quarters 

Jimmy Lees and Annies run wild . 

(And their yesterdays are all my own) 

That bus is crowded with women 

Whose faces are etched in the likeness 

Of a long forgotten past 

iA1omen whose shoulders are bowed 

With a well remembered now 

And each face is my mother 

Their bitter now is my own . 

That woman sitting there, down the aisle 

And next to the window, the one 

With harsh lines running from mouth to nose, 

I know her . 

Hattie, Nary or Mae? 

No matter . I know you 

And all your yesterdays are my own 

You got up one morning or turned over 

In the night ; perhaps waited in the cooling dusk 

Of sunset and knew he wasn't coming back 

'Alas it summer or tidnter 

Green leaved spring 

Or leafless tall? 

No mattter . I was there 

And all your yesterdays are my ovum 

You work in a white kitchen 

And live in a black slum 

You leave each morning' 

And return each right 

To a boy wanting too hard to be a man 

And a girl . leaving childhood 

Suddenly, too soon behind . 

(And their yesterdays are also my own)

Give u s this day our daily bread, ' 

We prayed each morning 

And mama went out each day to earn it . 

I watched our Annie fall in love ; 

Heard her soft sighing words in the sweet night air . 

I saw Annie come to love: ~~im ; 

Knew of their hot brusing kisses in the thick night air, 

But Annie loved with a love that couldn~t hold him 

And T_ hear her pitiful whimpering in the cool night air . 

Yes, I watched our Annie. fall in love 

Ard felt her pain when he left 

And knew of her fear in the, cold night air . 

Joey was on the z;ray ; a Joey with no father 

And a mother no raorc than a child 

A Joey conceived in the darness of the sweet night air . 

And Jimmy Dee is my brother 

Junior for a father we'd never known 

A boy with a shy smile and voice 

Cracking unexpectedly with the echoes 

Of childhood, his body gr6-vn large 

Mostly arms and legs, still awkl^rard somehow 

He was always in trouble and sometimes in jail 

And mama loved him . 

She worried over him 

And prayed for him 

And now Mamma's dead . 

Good, for who could bear to tell her 

That prayer, worry, even love weren't enough . 

They shot my brother James as he left the store 

He'd just held up . 

The six o'clock bus is a jungle of faces 

A sea of hareh memories 

Each face is my mother 

And every memory my own 

The white kitchen employs you 

But pride keeps you there 

Pride and the knowledge that your children 

Your beloved soon lost children 

Must somehow exist 

And because of ageless necessity, .a necessary pride 

Jimmy Lees and Annies run wild, 

vri lliams 123

121 borne 

The woman up front rises 

And goes toward the rear door . 

I see her dark face in full now 

And I recognize a childhood friend: 

Her brief, bitter smile as she goes out the door, 

Tells me that she knows what I'm thinking, 

Knows because it's happening to her . 

Yes, she knows me . 

Knows that I am Annie 

And all her yesterdays are my own . 

MALr0IN vLXSICCATL''D 

by sherley a williams 

No sooner than I heard them holler out in Harlem, 

The well . i s dry, did I cr=ave a drink from it . . . 

I remember I used to spurn it when. i t brimm "~d-pointing 

out how rife it was with impuritieei, 

choosing the well distilled---and dearer--Ii bations . 

I wai te,d for it to settle, which it seemed to be doing, 

gradually becoming much cioarer and more enticing . 

Frankly, impressed that it refreshed so many others, 

I often approached a pail that passed before me, 

poised a dipper to take a draught, then put it off . . 

T hesitated too long : the source has died . 

Was it really the oasis they said it was? 

Though I thought not, now I will never know . 

Perhaps a m,:re sip might have been something to savor, . . 

Now, ~P,,,ith fancied unquenchable thirst, afire ,rrith the regrets 

of an infwrno-fated spectre, I creep to the wall of the well 

and peer into its pitch-black depth at a desert ; 

sand stopples my throat, and froth unparts my lips, 

by t r borne

I'm scared to open up a letter 

Lord knows I got the glues 

I'm scared to open up a letter 

Lord knows I got the blues 

Mr . Edison done told me, I better 

Catch up on my monthly dues 

2 

He said if you don't . send me some money 

I'm go na pit you in the dark . 

He said if you don't send me some money 

I'm gonna put y,-,u in the dark . 

$term runs a dynamo honey 

£pat it takes gold to make 'em spark . 

3 

You beer frying up lots of bacon 

Boilir. greens and sassafras 

You been frying up lots of bacon 

Boili. greens ènd sassafras 

You gimme Dome money baby, 

or else stop burning up my gas . 

Consolidated Edison Blues 

Now when the mail man came a knocking 

I was lying on the floor 

Now when the mail man came a knocking 

I was lying on the floor 

I was sleeping off ray goodtimes 

Couldn't make it to the door .

126 freeman 

Now I'm not no lazy person 

Tork everyday from nine to five, 

Now I'm not no lazy person 

"rcrk everyd,,.y from nine to five, 

5 

Seems like harder I try to make it, 

Harder it gets to stay rlive . 

6 

Nothin buy., trouble, trouble, trouble, 

More trouble then I can use 

Nothin but trouble, trouble, trouble, 

more trouble than I can use 

If you want to know my story 

Consolidated fdiscn Blues . 

billowing swirling damplyfalling 

confetti 

drifting blacklywafersof 

manna we 

:lamb' like ox 

en st-nd like 

black mouths slavering 

red 

ly 

wait 

reci eying 

bits of the host of 

soggy girlbodies 

hair teethtce skin vein 

vessel finger nail 

falling 

in the smoky rubble 

of mammas 

dreams

Restitution 

You there! Yes you, black one, 

With your bent back and bowed head ; 

You look as if you could instruct the Creeks 

On the true nature of tragedy, 

So, this i s the result of your not joining the black wolves 

Condoned by the eagle to feed off the shadows 

Of forgotten magnificence 

And receive shiny things for voracious deeds done . 

Hold back that, tear, black one ; A million of such 

Will not wash away this orgy of suppression 

Transcending understanding, 

Where is the pride of Leo? 

The Sun does nct take away what, he has given his own . 

Get up, black one! 

Can not you hear the baying of the hounds 

As they watch in fearful fascination, 

The moon being pulled from the dark and mysterious heavens 

By the estuary and inlets . ., 

Look ; Can not you see the river digesting the sea, 

And Mars smiling, as his two silent sons, Aries and Scorpio, 

Embrace after long separation, 

Brothers once more ; 

patterson 127 

C 

O 

m G 

s 

3

128 j :ackmon 

Malcolm X . 

Coltrane blowing 

"A Love Supreme ." 

Our fight for that 

Long deferred dream . 

Motherfuckar . 

The essence of 

SOUL NQ 

My being--my blackness . 

Bloods shooting crap in 

The alley darkness . 

Fillmore . 

Laughing instead 

Of crying . 

Living bold, not 

Thinking of dying . 

Fuck you . 

Ray Charles singing 

"Georgic. On My Mind ." 

Paul Robe son + s Othe llo, 

Soul sublime . 

Kiss my ass . 

6y marvin e jaekmon

TRANPTT-UICKS (dedicated to Dolphy) 

J .C . woke me up this morning 

Yes, he did (thank you, J .) 

With a vibrant reed superimposed upon 3 oz . 

Of corrugated black vinyl 

Black and furrowed like me 

J .C . woke me up this morning 

Yes, He aid (thank you, J .) 

With a black lyricism punctuating the till morning air 

My soul pulsed righteously in syncopation 

To His every statement 

'J .C . woke me up this morning 

Yes, He did (thank you, J .) 

With a Message of Truth to Brothers and Sisters 

To bring forth vri-th expedience 

The New Age (thank you, J .) . 

Uncle Sammy call me full of Lucifer 

by ernie alien 

I dont give. a good Eagle-eye Mcfleagle triplewhammy damn 

for I, Fearless Fosdick, will not . serve! 

I'll call you Lucifer for burning me . 1 

Uncle Sammy dont shuck & jive me-- 

I'm hop to popcorn jazz changes you blow 

You know damn well what I mean : 

You schooled my naive heart to sing 

re dwhite&blue stars& trines songs

130 stone 

and to pledge eternal all2giance 

to all things blue-true; blue--eyed 

blondblond haired 

whitechalk-white skinned 

with USA tatooed all over . 

I!?hen my soul trusted Uncle Sammy 

& loved Uncle Sammy 

& grew up for Uncle Sammy 

& died in dreams for Uncle Sammy 

you jammed your emasculated manhood symbol 

puffed with gonorrhea of corrupt unreality myths 

into ungreased niggerghetto-blt7ck ass 

of my JewishCatholicHindhulslamic 

let's-all-get-together 

' so-l-must-be-a-Communist beatnik nigger soul . 

Sure free public hPalth clinic penicillin cured me 

But Uncle Sammy 

if you want to stay a pervert freakshow strongman god . 

fuck your motherfucking self . . . . . 1 will not serve . 

b y ronf d stone

1JHRTF4 L . f 

or ?:Frs . i':'1ary- ;3~:trnut~c And the 

African and F fro=Am~:rican woman) 

~a*''rhera are the warriors, the young men? 

uards the; women's questors - the burnt-haired 

women's qu,.rtors - 

and. hears their broken sobbing in the night? 

--rv-11_ing, 131 

To endure . To remain, like the red earth, strong ,and fucundant . 

Your coppt.,ry, chocolate, ebony warm-skin scoured-and tou-huned 

by the ,..rid vat. nd . 

The wrinkl(:s in your eyes, your smile, your frowning forehet~ds 

are the Stars within your Crown, my women . 

Cares comp: and go ; dreams fade away ; sons are lost 

on lonely battlefieds, . .s!~vUred by the Nordic lfeataxe . 

Men are broken . . . babble . . . lift their bloody genitals 

upon the; tainted altar of the Onaw Queen . 

Her frigid, sterile smil,, is a tribute to the vengeance of her 

C-aosars . 

"there, then, is Spartacus, is Attila, is Hannibal? 

'Pho thundsrs, .now, upon those Seven Hills? 

They are gone . .-.and . . . only you remain : 

You whose Womb has warmed the European hills and made 

the Pale Snows tawny .

7-32 snellings 

Pagan Spain, sunny France, Italy and the faoled Grecian Isles 

are drenched by the Sunlight of your- smile : 

Mother of the 'Aòrld ; 

Fecundant, Beating Heart! 

Enduring Earth ; 

Only you remain! 

Where are the warriors, the young men? 

Who guards the -~,romenIs quarters? 

C 

C!l 

C 

P

aker 133 

LETTER T DRAFT BOAR! f0" 

WAYNE COUNTY, BETR " IT 9 

MICHIGAN 

Gentlemen 

This letter is in regards to a notice sent to me, General Gordon 

Men Jr ., requesting my appaprance before an examining station to determine 

my fitness for military service . 

How could you have theNERVE knowing that I am a black man living under 

the, scope and influence of Amaricass racist, decadent society??? You did 

not ask me if I had any morals, principles, or basic human values by which 

to live . Yet, you ask if I am qualified . :DUAL IF & FOR y,HAT might I atsk? What 

does being "Qualified" mean : qualified to serve in the U .S ; Army? . . . . To 

be further brainwashed into the insidious notion of "defending freedom"? 

You stand before me with the dried blood of Patrice lumumba on your 

hands, the blood of defenseless Panamanian students, shot down by U .S . 

marines ; the blood of my black brothers in Angola and South Africa: who are 

being tortured by the Portuguese and South African whites (whom you resolutely 

support) respectively ; the dead people of Japan, Korea, and now 

Vietnam, in Asia ; the blood of Medgar Evers, six 13irmingham babies, the 

blood of one million Algerians slaughtered by the French (whom you supported) 

; the fresh blood of ten thousand Congolese patriots dead from 

your ruthless rape and plunder of the Congo--the blood of defenseless 

women and children burned in villages from Napalm jolly bombs . . . . . With 

all of this blood of my non-white brothers dripping from your _fangs, you 

have the damned AUDACITY to ask me I am "qualified" . ':white man ; listen to 

me for I am talking to you : 

I Add A MAN OF PRINCIPLES ANi VALLES : principles of justice and national libor-ation, 

self-determination, and respect for national sovereignty . Yet, you 

ask if I am "physically fit" to go to Asia, Africa, and latin America to 

fight my oppressed brothers (who are completely and resolutely within 

thoir just rights to free their fatherland from foreign domination) . You 

ask me if I am qualified to join in army of FOOLS, ASSAS INS and IAORAL DEL INUENTS 

who are not worthy of being called men! You want me to defend the riches 

reaped from the super-exploitation of the darker races of mankind by a few 

white, rich, super-monopolists who(continued on next page)

134 baker 

control the most vast empire that has ever existed in man's one million 

years of History---all in the name of

W9E*Ca* DU BOIS ; 

BLACK MILITANT 

OR NEGRO LEADER? 

Editorial Comment : We present the following paper in order to perhaps clarify the many facets 

in the productive life of 'ii . E . B . DuBois . In this paper are discussed many of the highlights 

of Br . DuBois' writincas, literary works which extend in time from the period immediately following 

his departure from college until his death in august IM ; though ve, the editors, 

question the author's conclusions concerning the possibility of aliensntbetween militant 

Blacks 9 ~ihitesìn the struggle r we offer this paper as worthy of discussi on in ~froameric2 . 

Nationalism or Socialism? Militancy or liberal integration? Assimilation 

or emigration? The Afro-American freedom struggle is becoming 

ever more bogged down in categorizing, pigs on-holing and indiscriminate 

labeling . Generally the infighting centers around Black Nationalism 

(whatever that means) vs . Integration (whatever that means) . Also, 

there is plenty of petty bickering between Socialists and Nationalists . 

Meanwhile, back in the ghetto- cops continue to split heads . Black 

men continue to seek non-existent jobs ; and Black women continue to be 

reduced to salable commodities for the lust of the descendants of the " 

slavemasters . 

A mandate exists for a united front of conscientious freedom fighters . 

Can it be done? The nit-pickers and the doctrinaires say no . 

For the purposes of refuting those cynics,let the record of 1` . E . 

Burghardt DuBois be entered as conclusive testimony to the fact that a 

dynamic mixture of goals, programs and ends is possicle . Himself one 

of the most 'labeled' and misundgrsto^d, DuBois had at one time or 

anathor~in his long life championed causes that were indicative .of 

Integration, Nationalism, and Socialism . 

First of all DuBois was a defender of his race . As a 25 year old 

graduate student, he wrote for his private diary that he would soon move 

out into the world at large 'T and work for the rise of the Negro people, 

taking for granted that their best development means the best development 

of the world . 1 . He was fresh out of college when he formulated his 

thesis that "the problem of the . 20th century is the problem of the 

color-line, the relation of the darker to the lightor races of 

- That is +white workers 

vincent 13 5

136 vincent 

man in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea ." 2 " 

Color is seen as primary in questions of justice . 11~Tithin the social 

and economic world it yr=~s Capitalism which fed the racists . And capitalism 

maintained its advantage over millions, black anc },,rhite, through re 

wards of racism, plunder end exploitation of the cclcred peoples of the 

world . Therefore DuBois the Marxist is memorialized in the "DuBois Clubs 

of America," whose skills in fomenting; mass action are contrasted titfth a 

----icus intellectual error . The "DuBcis Clubs" simply categorize their 

name-sake as just 

another Marxist . 

The drama of Da- 

Bcis final years, 

it should be,noted, 

included his taking 

of Ghanaian citizenship, 

as well as 

membership in the 

American Communist 

' Party . Tfi s final 

days were ~pent in 

Ghana, editing the 

Encyclopedia Africana 

,for which he 

hoped to 'et 

eventually an all- 

African staff . Tn 

his cff time he 

:=rote poe=r[s to th-; 

honor of''rosiaent 

K:~rame Nkrumah, 3 " A 

burial spot ma :i 

chosen overlooking 

;,he ocean, and Du-- 

Bois felt it a fitting 

final touch 

that when his long 

life ended, he 

would be laid to 

rest not in the 

Wk . cofthard4 au B&

vincent 13 7 

land of slovemongers ;tnd racisi;s, but in the land of his foref _.thers . 

How did DuBois arrive at a perspective that would encompass socialism, 

nationalism ., and dedication to the traditional liberal . American civilrights 

struggle? 

Important in his philosophy was his belief in the darker--skinned 

peoples of -the world as a democratic majority . There is a section in 

Souls of Black Folk in which, DuBois tells of the impact on his life made 

by his experience with rural Black farmers of Tennessee . He was then a 

student at Fisk t~rno had gone out to teach during the summer months . It 

was his first experience with his own people . He found "soul", Through 

the years, reflecting on what he learned in rural Tennessee, he came to 

view his people as those who knew the true meaning'of democracy . 

Sometimes DuBois explained his faith in his people as rel,Rting to 

presence of "justice" which «lies with the lowest, 'the plight of the lowest 

man,--the plight of the Black man,ff4-On other occasions he tied all 

colored peoples as a group and concluded that "belief in humanity is a 

belief in colored men," .the vast majority of mankind .5 . 

His confidence in the just and non-exploitative character of colored 

peoples is seen in the expectations DuBois held for the future, From his 

early years he envisioned a cooperative society for Black Folk . In his 

program for the Niagera movement he urged "cooperation in ousiness .'f6 . 

For the newly-arrived Negroes of the northern ghettoes of the 1920fs he 

urged the formation of "consumer-producer cooperatives" as fitting forms 

of society and business . 7 " Again during the depression he gave vride publito 

cooperative ventures of Afro-Americans and commented favorably on that 

school of Africanists ; led by George: Padmore, which was then exploring 

the roots and potential of "african socialism.'t8 . In his autobiography 

Dusk of Davin , DuBois announced a "thesis for Negro Socialism ." He noted 

that in the African communal group, "ties of family and blood, of mother 

and child, 'of group relationship made the group leadership strong ." In 

the case of Afro-Americans "there are sources of strength in common 

memories-horrors," and experiences . "Here in subtle but real ways the 

communalism ofthe African clan can be transferred to the Negro American 

group- 91 

Of course his confidence in Black folk spilled over to all who 

suffered injustices, and his writings are a three-quarter century commentary 

on the right of all men to rewarding life . Typical of his unquali 

fied interpretation of a just society is his concept of whit each generation 

owes to its children . Back in 19.19, whon most Americans vrere 

fortunate if they had finished grade-school, DuBois was calling for 

ffcollege training . . . for every American child ." And as for subjects like 

Latin, Greek, and Mathematics, "if they are worth teaching to anybody, 

the masses need them most . "10 .

138 vincerit 

Although DuBois felt for the oppress3d of all races, he had no illusions 

concerning the true vanguard for the future . In 1946 he: told an 

assembly of South Carolina Negro youth that in the years ahead there was 

coming to dixie a chance for young paople to "lift again the banner of 

humanity . . . and build in tYie world a culture led by black folk and joined 

by peoples of all colors and all races ." TheSouth, is the firing line 

not simply for the emancipation of the American ncgro but for the 

emancipation of the colored races, and for the emancipation of the, white 

slaves of modern capitalist monopoly ." (italics are the author's) 11 " 

What is there specifically, in tho DuBois philosophy which suggests 

Nationalism? On a superficial level, there are his chopping ironies on 

"white" civilization . Said DuBois of his ancestry, he "had gotten himself 

born with a flood of Negro blood, a strain of French, a bit of 

Dutch, and thank tod! no 'Anglo-Saxon :i.i12 " In Black Reconstruction he 

comments on the question, why didn't the slaves rise up and slaughter 

and rape the defenseless white vromen when the white men tivere off fighting 

the Civil 'rlar? DuBois answers, human na.ture . ,, 13 . In a similar vein, 

is the scene in his novel Dark Princess, written in 1925, where the 

"civilized" leaders of the Afro-Asiaworld have met to discuss the fate 

of the decadent inres tern lhrorld which is depicted as collapsing in an orgy 

of materialistic debauchery . The Afro-Asian leaders of the day, Asian 

aristodrats, Arab sultans, and traditional African chieftains discuss at 

length the days ahead when they will bring to the world culture, grace, 

sensuality, respect for elders, and true civilizati on,14 . 

Leper in his philosophy is an analysis of the . causes of 20th century 

oppression, and analysis which strips away the self-defences of whiteminded 

Marxists and liberals, an analysis which calls a spade a spade, 

and shows the white-man in general to be caught up in the perpetration 

of injustice,' i~hites of all socio-economic classes partake of rewards 

of racist imperialism . And DuBois does not deny that the caucasian is 

cannibalistic in that the rich white devours the poor . But through 

racism, all Western culture is drugged into impotence, vdhen it concerlis 

freedom for cc:lorud peoples . Then again, a good antidote for the white 

is Marxism ; ergo DuBois the Communist . But he is a pax ocular kind of 

Communist, as can be judged from his inte.rpretution of cause & color-caste 

The authors preface to the 1953 edition of Souls of Black folk offers 

an explanation of racism as an excuse, as a ration luzz,)tionfor ex 

ploitation . "The findings of Freud end his co-workers" testify to _`ho 

ample role of llunconscieus thought and thc cake of Custom in t:1e f-roti°;l.:h 

and influence: of race prejudice," The rationalizations of the rind r,ii-, 

with the realities of the economic world t- crcat~ a situ : -tion r;her~, ~'Fo

vizic~nt 139 

many civilized persons are willi .,ag to live in comfort" at the expense of 

the "majority of their fellowmen," and to maintain this privilege, "men 

have waged war until today war tends to become universal and continuous, 

and the excuse for this war continues largely to be color and race ."15 . 

But not only is color-caste a pretext, it .i s an essential rode of 

of life through which Western Civilization has produced for itself wealth 

and leisure . In this mode of production, the white worker, compared 

with the extravagant luxury of the rich, may be poor indeed, but the degraded 

white is a virtual aristocrat when compared with the starvation 

and misery of the average citizen of colonial, or nec-colonial nations?6 " 

The position of the West is hopelessly ambiguous . It even botches 

the job when attempting constructive action . The planned charter for the 

United Nations so perturbed DuBois he wrote a book about it, Color And 

Democracy . The charter allowed the Europeans to keep their coloniesand 

offered no viable plan for independence . Warning was given, by DuBois, 

that to form-a world deliberative body without facing up to colonialism 

was to invite disaster and the recurrence of fascism and a Hitler . So 

today, fortunately, Afro-Asians tackle colonialism themselves . 

DuBois was quite fond of his early notion that "the problem of the 

20th century is the problem of the color-line," In an essay for Alain 

Locke's New Negro DuBois sumized the statement to be as valid then, in 

1925, asit had been a quarter century earlier . He gives some examples . 

One involves labor strikes then occuring in South Africa . The white 

workers were engaged in bitter class-struggle with the nasty capitalist 

exploiter . For what end? For the right to exclude native South Africans 

from all skilled jobs in the mine industry of that country . The Bantu 

were forced to appeal t o the Imperial English government for assistance 

from the oppressor, the white laborer . Another example concerns the 

Congo, and the "Socialist" Foreign Minister of Belgium, who was well 

intentioned toward the Congolese, but inept at doing anything about his 

country's imperialism . 17 . 

DuBois was always proud of his loyalty to the American labor movement 

. However, in a Crisis article of 1926 he lamented that it was unrequited 

love, and cited the vicious exclusionist policies of AFL trade 

unions . For 24 years- DuBois edited the Crisis magazine, and commentaries 

on the exploitative nature of white laborers were numerous . These critiques 

were most always accompanied with an admonition to white 

labor to come'to grips with racism and see it .as destructive to all 

who suffered from capitalism . 18 . 

Darkwater , a DuBois anthology compiled in 1919 is .inf ormative on this 

point . The articles in this book provide a good source for viewing his 

technique of combining color analysis, race pride, and the humanist atti 

tude of international socialism . Particularly cogent for the analysis

140 vincent 

of color is the article on the horrible East St . Louis race riot . The 

white worker, on the eve of the riot, is described as an insecure jcb 

holder, threatened by a recent influx of Black men from the South . The 

whites were recent immigrants themselves and had just won a battle with 

business for decent wages, and also, had won a small measure of social 

prestige for their . group . Here enter the Black men, like workers from . 

a colonial country, they would work for lower wages . The Negroes "had 

no wish to make their fellow's wage envelopes smaller, but they were 

determined to make their own larger ." White labor refused to allow the 

Black brethren into their trade unions and the resulting clash of 

interests, stimul"ted by a racist press of the bosses, led to a blood 

bath .l9 " or as DuBois explains in a 1933 Crisis article entitled "Nfarxism 

and _the ..Negro Problem," exploitation of the Afro-American came 

"from the white capitalist and equally from the white proletariat . 20 " 

Why does white labor act this way? The 'liberal .' and 'left' 

answer that it is because of "misunderst^nding" or "ignorance ." Du- 

Bois believed this argument was plain nonsense . "The American white 

laborers ire `not fools ." They had a choice . The white worker could 

choose between imme di?te gains, limited ones easily acheived, or a 

long struggle for real liber^tion obtained through Black and White 

unity . 21 . The theme of the ambiguous white worker is present-in-much 

of DuBois' historical writing . For his recent works, informative is 

the description of the failure of Reconstruction in ordeal of Mansart . 

The white southern laborer is overwhelmed by the tensions and pressures 

of KKK terror and Northern indifference to the problems of the South . 

The Negro ally is sacrificed, with due apology from the white, who 

joins the Bourbons in expectations of a privileged position for himself 

in the promised "new south" of industry . 

To add the facets of W Bois philosophy together ; the cause of 

bolor oppression rests largely with White society, and those who wall 

lead the way ahead will be~peoples of Africa, Asia, -or Afro-Asian despent 

. However, indiscriminate categorizing ^nd labeling must cease . 

The issue must not be considered merely Black and White . Serious problems 

exist within the whito world, problems of rich vs . poor . The 

Socialist camp, with DuBois as a card carrying member, believes these 

problems will increase . To the degree th7t Afro-Asian peoples gain 

their freedom the profits for the imperialists wi~l dwindle and the 

Rockefellers and Goldwaters will have less loot with vrhich to bribe 

their white labor hirelings . 

As this happens the Black man, strengthened by unity of his Bl=ack 

Nationalism, will possibly have an irresistible bargr.ining power to win 

the laboring white as an .ally . Hopefully, the white will seize the 

opportunity . 

A word on how to view the so-called DuBois inconsistencies :

vincen,, llal 

He enjoyed p3aying the protagonist, looking to widen peoplesi per 

spective . At the turn of the century, when Booker `P . Washington was 

relegating Afro education to the shop-class, DuBois demanded the culti 

vaticn of a talented-tenth During the depression decade, DuBois the 

Nationalist denounced th .-~ left, and particularly the class- struggle 

dogmatists of the Communist Party, men of "pitiable mental equipment" 

who 'tgive no thou;ht" tc the "intricacies" of color . 23 " Daring the IMc- 

Carthyite terror of the 1950s he moved openly into the socialist camp . 

And in the 1960s, when Afro-Americans are moving toward 'integration' 

in America, DuBois becomes a Ghanaian citizen and Communist to dramatize 

the need for world scope . 

F'007''NOTES 

I . In Herbert Apt heker"s Documentary History of the Neqro People . (1951), vof . II, p . 753 

2 . Souls of Black _Folk, (Crest Edition), p . 23, Fawcett Publications, NY 

3 . Freedomways , ti'd nter, 1962, page 719 Y+in -te=r, 1963, page 23 

4 . Garkwater , (19l9), article : "Of Work and Wealth" , page 91 

5 . Ibid ., article : "The Souls of hhite Folk" , p . 49 

6 . Aptheker, p?ge 906 

7 . Uarkwater , page 159, In his autobiography _Dusk _of Dawn, (1940) DuBois describes his 

attempt in 1918 to form a "Negro Cooperative 6ui1dTpp . 280-81 (Harcourt, Brace 9 Howe) 

8 . See commentaries on "Liberia" in 1932-33 issues of the Crisis . Harry Haywood, The _ _Road 

t o Negro Liberation, (1934) contains a critical appraisal of the DuBois role i n x~hat 

Haywood call "the growth of petty-bourgeois nationalism ." 

9 . Dusk of Dawn, pp . 209 -I6 ; see Crisis April, 1933, pp . 93-94 on Co-ops during depression 

10 . Darkwater , p . 215 

I1 . Freedomways , V', inter, 1964, pp . 8-15 

12 . Crisis , February, 1918, p . 168, in ?utobiographical sketch "The Shadow of Years" 

13 . . Black Reconstruction , (Meridian edition), p . 66, :orld Publishing Co . 

14 . _Dark Princess -- chapter mentioned is found in V . F . Calverton's hnthology of 4erican 

Negro Literature , (1929), pp . 80-91 ; Modern Library inc . N .Y . 

15 . Souls of Black _Folk, pp . XIII-XIV 

16 . For relative position of classes and odor see Darkwater "Of 'pork and Klenlth" P . 98 . 

17 . Alain Locke, editor of : The _New .Negro , (1925),p p . 385-414 ; Boni Publishers : N .Y . 

f8 . Crisis , articles of note in Nov . 1925, p . 60 ; Jan . 1926, p . 113 ; April, l926, p . 271 ; 

Dec . 1926, p . 65 ; Nov . 1931, p . 393 ; July, 1932, p . 234 ; April, 1933, p . 93 . 

0 . Darkwater , "0f Work and Tealth," pp . 81-104 . 

20 . Crisis , May, 1933, pp . 104 and 118 

21 . Crisis , July, 1932, p . 234 ; also May,1933, p . 104 and 118 ; and Black Reconstruction, p .25 . 

22 . Ordea l of Mansar t, (1957), pp . 24-28, and a general theme of the-booainstream Co . : N .Y .) 

23 . Crisis , April, 1933, p . 93 .

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APARTHEID !S DOOMED! 

Editorial Comment ; In a recent issue of _life magazine there appeared an article written by an 

American negro woman who went to East Africa ; while there she purportedly was given important 

information on how our revolutionary Brothers of Zanzibar were going to help our Brothers in 

South Africa . 

We are quite aware that the incidents related in this article must have happened--if they 

happened at all--virtually two years ago . For John Okello (the traitress' only confidant 

mentioned by name in the article) has not been on the Zanzibari political scene for almost a 

year and a half . So the question arises ; why did _life magazine, which specializes in current 

features, wait almost 2 years to publish an article in which they obviously consider of prime 

importance . We suggest this was an attempt by the sick U . S . ruling aristocracy to further 

execute their abortive attempt to demoralize revolutionary I:froamerica, and also counteract the 

late Brother Malcolm's obvious success in bringing Africa and BIacK Anerica POLITICALLY closer 

together . 

4+e, the Editoria} Board of SOULDOOK, have a resolute answer for the stupid U . S . State 

uepartment, and that string of journalistic vice houses, Time, Life _Inc . '~,e are ready and 

determined to smash ;,NY attempt to seperate the struggle of Black America from the struggle of 

our Brothers in Africa . Furthermore we stand in vigilance against any attempt to discredif the 

liberation struggles in Africa, Latin r,merica, l,sia and i,froamerica . 

Consequently we are particularly angry about all the lately occurring attempts in U . S . 

periodicals to justify South Africa's system of Hitlerian racism . They not only have tried to 

turn Afro-Americans against the struggle of our brothers in South #.frica, but they have also 

attempted to depict Apartheid as a benevolent system, which if it has any drawbacks they are 

progressively being gliminated--just Iike it is in the U .S .i-. . ,''s far as the U .S . is concerned 

we all know that this is a blatant lie ; that in fact racial discrimination and inequality are 

INCREASING in virtually every sphere of American fife . Likewise we assumed it to be only 

bestial propaganda to suggest that ,apartheid is progressively more humane in'practice, or has 

the objective of giving human rights to ALL men in South ~'frica . But to confirm or deny our 

usually reliable suspicions we asked the African National Congress , a South African Liberation 

organization which is now based in Bar es Salaam, Tanzania, to give us the true facts about 

Apartheid . So to clarify the facts for Afroamerica and the friends of both of our liberation 

struggles the ANC writes the .folIowing article ; 

(next page) 

afri.cana 10

lbs. africana 

APARTHEID IS DOOMED 

The definition of apartheid has changed so often that the adherents 

of this police-state system have ncaw abandoned in South Africa any 

attempt to justify their policies, They have resorted to naked re 

pression and brutal persecution demanding that all opposition to their 

fascist rule must cease . . 

The Dutch Reformed Churches built up an illusory image of apartheid 

as total territorial segregation and found Old Testament theology 

a suitable theoretical basis for their views . However, Verwoerd's 

Broederbond ideologists rejected the views advocated by their own 

church and insisted that apartheid meant "separate development of the 

different races in their own areas" . They could not define the sovereign 

rights of these race-groups and dismally failed to allocate the land 

areas where the "separate" races were supposed to reside . 

The latest version of apartheid is a rehash of previous definitions 

except that it confounds the theory of apartheid further by introducing 

the concept of "nationhood" . Dr . Hilgard Muller, South African Foreign 

Minister, when speaking at a recent session of the U . N ., described the 

aim of apartheid as being .the setting-up of 'multi-national states in 

South Africa.", The absurdity of having a series of "nations" neatly 

segregated according to the dictates of Dr . Verwoerd is exposed by the 

existence of a single racially-integrated economy whose basis is exploitation 

of African labour, The distribution of land is another factor 

which repudiates the new-fangled idea of 1'multi-nationalism . °' The 1AThites 

who constitute one-fifth of the population own 87% of the land while the 

Non-Whites who are 4/5 of the population hold 13% . This is the basis of 

the oppression of the African people and cannot be reversed by political 

sophistry . 

But apartheid is even more rudely repudiated in practice . In the Cape 

Province alone there are three million Africans living outside of th ,

"..J_ricana 145 

African Reserves or ghettoes . The Bantu Laws Amendment Act of 1964 

abrogated the rights of residence, movement and employment, of all Africans 

who live in the urban areas . Their existence will be regimented by 

administrative control, shuttling them backwards and forwards to the 

'P1hite man's mines, farms and industries as cheap labour . THE FRHujULENT CONCEPT 

6F "SEPLRATE R16I4ITS IN SEPERATE RACIAL AREAS" 'i~A5 BLC~+N SI\'YHIbH BY THE REClENT RF.1=-LSAL T0. GRANT 

TRNUING LICENSES TO AFRICAN BUSINESSMEN IN SOs,ETO TOti,NSHIP 'i+HICH IS INHN.BITEL BY =FRICAHS CNLY . 

The°e Africans in the urban areas have been rendered completely STATELESS, 

RIGHTLESS, and a floating mass of CHEAP LABGOR . 

It is this rigourous oppression of the Africans that serves as the basis 

of the apparent economic stability of South Africa, It is, no doubt, the 

source from which the storm to destroy apartheid will break . The South 

African economy cannot be racially sub-divided because a condition for its 

buoyancy is the indispensibility of African labor . Land distribution 

rules out any justification of apartheid . 

These are the factors which govern t :je approaching; doom of apartheid . 

(Reprinted from Spotlight On South Africa , Vol . 3, No . 5, (January 29, 

1965) pp . 1&2 . 'The right to reprint tYlis article was enthusiastically 

given by the Editor of Spotlight _On South Africa , Brother Hadebe to the 

Brother Editors of SOULBOOK 

;~ emphasis was added by the editors of SOUT.a300K . 

I believe that as long as we have imperialism in front of us, attacking, it would be 

ridiculous for us here to do as in the fable, argue whether they are greyhounds or hound 

dogs, whether they are made of paper or of iron . . . . . . . . . . . . Prime Minister Fidel Castro 

Ruz, of the Republic of Cuba . "Speech by Fidel Castro on the Vietnam 'i~ar," The Militant , 

(Monday, April 19, 1965), page 5 .

146 hamilton 

THE NEGRO IMAGE 1N 

WESTERN ART 

Editorial note : This is an extension of a spoeeh given before the authorities of the New York 

City Department of Welfare during "Negro History ti'+eek ." 

Despite the title of this article, I am going to confine my 

survey to the United States in the main, since this country tells the 

world-- in between foreign aid grants-- that it is the leader of the 

West, and gets away with it, naturally (who would dare to defy Rome?) . 

This is also "Negro History Ike& and since this is the reason for 

having this panel, it is appropriate that. I confine my comments to our 

great Democratic country--things close to home . I am an American you 

know, especially in Vir and in Voice of America broadcasts--Carl T . 

(thomas) Rowan speaks for me . 

I shall briefly examine the field of literature here because my 

own interests lie there . Moreover, you will find the "image" most 

clearly delineated there ; Drama and films are extensions of literature, 

so I shall draw heavily on that source . T do not consider "Aunt

hamilton 117 

cultural arrogance still exists vis-a-vis the Black American . Whites 

claim to embody the repository of all that's valuable, and moral ; in 

politics no other thoughts worthy of consideration exist, outside the 

West, to say nothing of religion and art . How then could a people who 

are descendents of Africans--slaves non the less--be anything but subhuman? 

'Subhuman I say to be counterpoised-against, or as a limit to 

which no white person must sink? 

Because we were economically valuable we were not physically 

destroyed as was the Indian ; they destroyed our humanity and preserved 

our babies . In both abolitionist and pro-slavery literature the blacks 

were potrayed as loyal childlike beings, objects of contempt to the 

latter and objects of pity for the former . Only those of part-white 

ancestry in the .Literature those days had the sense and the courage to 

lead rovolts, to hate and defy the system that degraded them . 

The extension of the pro-slavery image was the movie, "Birth 

of a Nation," wherein the blacks are potrayed as lascivious primitives 

dressed in the confiscated clothes of their former masters after the 

Civil. War . The good darkie was the flaunt Jemima" prototype who beat 

the ex--slave out of 1'massa's" house . We have here the beginning of a 

change, not an improvement, of the image . The oaf is replaced by the 

banjo-eyed clown and the loyal, all forgiving servant . Make way for 

Hattie McI3aniels, make way for Stepn! Fetchit, make way for l7illie 

Best! . . 

Now we come to the character who has all of the virtues (college 

education, good job, good family) but one---a white skin : He consistently 

tries to prove himself, that he is not like the others, that 

he should be accepted on his own merits . jfFeaceable Ianej' is an 

example of this type of literature . Our own self-image could not help 

but be overwhelmed by this social disease of distortion . The "Negro 

renaissance" produced admirable works, but underneath it all was the 

desire, the obsession to be like white folks . he -tenor was still that 

of a beggar trying to imitate the best of the white writers . Begging 

heroes--get the picture? They only wanted in ; they only wanted to be 

like whites . Only on rare occassions did it occur to -them there was as 

much value in being Afro-American as there was in being Jewish, Italian s 

or Irish American . Roi Ottley, Countee Cullen, and at tames Langston 

Hughes were the exceptions . 

America has distorted its African image because it prefers a 

European image . All one has to do to see how African this country is, 

is to snap on the radio and listen to the so-called rock n' roll that 

the white folks ridiculed, then stole, and who are now making millions 

from--to say nothing of jazz which their brothers in Europe recognized 

long before they woke up to its value . Watch the "frog" . .(cont .) 

' r

148 hami It iii 

the "monkey," the "twist," or rehashes of the "charleston," the 

bottom," the T'cakewalk," and the "foxtrct"w-the latter made white 

millionaires of Vernon and Irene Castle . We must make our own image 

now ; white folks are too guilty and too sick to make up for what they 

have done to us . Writers like LeRoi Jones, John I{illens, and Loften 

Mitchell are doing just that, correcting the: image . . . . I am also . The 

distortion cf us began as a justification for slavery and exploitation . 

It still goes on right now. 

Far back into the ancestors of our Black zncestors we were once a proud race, 

strong, clean-!imbed, lithe . Africa was then the cultural capital of the world . 

Fleet trading ships sailed misty seas tc get to African ports, where Black 

merchants vied #or gold and jewels with rich silks and tantalizing spices . Fat, 

wise kings sat on soft pillows and biIIowing. rugs, handing out edicts to rival- . 

and surpass those of the fabled Solomon . And white men were just poking their 

snotty noses cut of european caves and muttering, kunngh . . . . . . . . .Hospitals performed 

brain surgery which was not done in europe until three centuries later . . . .But like 

Greece, like Rome, like Egypt, like America, the Kingdoms of Africa one by one 

crumbled and fell-But Black men still remembered a tine when they had been great, 

when they had shown the world a civilization ro caucasian mind could acheive . And 

they hoped for the future . . . 

So go down ; Black Moses .. Go down to Africa-Land . Ga down to the Congo, to 

Zambia, to Ghana . Forget the imperialist . Forget Charlie, unlock whitey's arms 

from your vision and go down, Black Moses . 

(Excerpts from an essay written by an Afroamerican high school student--- after 

he had read SQULBi;DK I 

s ; black

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cover design by glenn xnyles ; 

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i cI Y e. 

soul 

econow i 

. c'poetry 

anti-imperialisin . 

P . o . box 1097 

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150 contents 

CONTENTS 

bobb hamilton 151 THAT'S WATTS HAPPENIN' 

ch,-ikh-anta diop 154 AFRICA, CHINA AND THE U.S . 

k a n n m . f r o eman16 4 . THE MAN FROM F . L . N . : BROTHER FRANTT FANON 

carol freeman 178 DO JESUS ? 

d o n a l d freeman 181 THE FACADE OF BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY 

REJECT NOTES 183 poetry by aims cusaire, marvin e . jaekmon, 

k . William kgositsilo, rolland snellings, glenn myles, 

harold foster, ernie allon, ronald stone, carol freeman . 

k . w . k g o s i t s i l e 199 PARTNERS IN W=E RACISM 

harry haywood 203 THE CRISIS OF NEGRO REFORMISM AND THE 

GROWTH OF NATIONALISM 

a l f r e d o p o n a 208 THE PUERTO RICAN REVOLUTION 

a l f r a d o p e na 214 LA REVOLUTION PUERTORRIQUENA 

e . a l l e n &freeman 220 NOTES ON JAMES BOGGS' AMERICAN REVOLUTION 

tiihil obstat I'rantz Fanon (1 , . I, . r7 . ) 

C't'i,Ei;r dc'pufcOas 

Imprimatur ~.~ .,,~ 

Robe"'. ~'~'1' is `j ; ;. A . M . ) 

~~~71I5' . P i1.S1(! Ot1S 

Sales and distribution manager : hobby seale

THAT'S 

WATTS 

HAPPENING 

Those black men who talk about "Saving America" by making it live up to its 

dream ---- and these are not the black bourgeoisie cwtratiof which I speak, but the 

well-intentioned black radicals --- remind me of a naive woman who might plead 

to the ravening rapist to allow her to dress the wounds and scratches he acquired 

in his attack on her --- not realizing that her assailant will only catch his breath 

in order to be more thorough in fucking her . 

White America is waging a "no holds barred" war against the blacks in this 

country and against colored people all over the world! It is, at least, foolish to 

concern oneself about the welfare of someone who has his foot on your throat . 

After 400 years I should think that at least the more aware and articulate black 

men would see that the "American Dream" is the blackman's Nightmare! Time 

has run out for Black preachers and black pietists ! The battles being fought in 

America are not economic ones, not against poverty, America is engaged in the 

early stages of a blatant race war . Those Black leftists who still nurture that 

intellectually expensive illusion of "black and white unity" against some economic 

bugbear (capitalism) need only look honestly at America's clandestine ally in this 

struggle, The Soviet Union . The Russians are as 'white' as any Mississippi peckerwood 

vis-a-vis the "yellow peril," Red China! The white man in America, and 

Europe too for that matter, has become so aclimatized to bullying and oppressing 

and terrorizing non-whites, and to the acquiescence and, much too often, the 

collaboration ____of those he tyrannizes, that he is genuinely shocked, bewildered, 

andeven hurt when he is told, "stop I've had enough . " He was shocked by the 

long hot Summer of 1954, by Springfield, Chicago, and Los Angeles of 1965 .

152 hamiltm 

"Punks, , said Boy Wilkins of ta.4 P'ational Assoc:atioa for the Advancement of 

Certain ?ewe -- unini_aginativoly . . like a clacked record . "We deplore . . . . 

"sad Farmer Jim of the Congress on Ritual E t:alit , not too long returned from 

his mission as "official nigger to Africa to undo Malcolm's work ." "With all force 

necessary! . . . . ."said Kingfish Martin -- at least he was the most consistent, 

for he had reassured "chuck" that his position was that any blood to be shed in the 

pursuit of "The American Dr-am", would be ours 

The Governor of California, the Mayor and the Chief of Police of Los Angeles 

scroamed, "Where are the responsible Negro Leaders ?" They were there and 

h re whitey ---- you were just _t _o i hysterical to h e a r and s e e them! The U . S. 

News and World Report , the liberal N_. _Y . Post , The Times , the white press ad 

n a use u_m_ attributed the revolt in Los Angeles to criminals and thugs! Those 

are the; presses who eulogize: the Boston Tea Party, the French Underground, and 

the slave uprisings sparked by Spartaeus in Rome! 

The blacks in Los Angeles, California were not irresponsible : They were tired 

of white bull-shit . The black bourgeoisie were silent because they had been so 

"busy' being "responsibl " to white folks that they, by definition, could not be re 

sponsible to blacks -- th ;,y've n e v c r bien bef,)ra : possibly amidst the soealled 

chaos a quiet voice t-Dld them they were black too ; possibly and very likely they 

"knew bettor" than to speak out on the side of "whitey" Dur non leaders wore "safe" 

and "secure" on th- East Ccc st and in the South . My only regret is that so many 

blacks were killed, but it has always been that way . Hasn't it ? But there are new 

:,:or :; gr-)whrg by Iu,_p2 and baunds ir. t' : .; poych_;7 us, the black masses ; they 

are : Nat Turner, Cinque, Marcus Garvey, Robert Williazzas, Malcolatx X, and the 

Deacons! Keep on pushing!

Burn, Baby , Burn 

Don't leave deco boss rags, 

C'mon, child, don't mind da 

uagoo . 

jackmon 153 

Tired . 

Git all dat motherfuckin pluck, 

Sick an Tired, Git dean guns too, we 'on't give 

Tired of being 

a fuck 

Sick an 7lred . Burn, baby, burn, 

Cook outta sight -- 

Lost . Fineburgs, 

Lost in tho Whitefront, 

wilderness Wineburgs, 

Of white america . Blackfrort -- 

Are the masses asses ? Burn, baby, burn, 

Cool . 

Said the master to the slave, 

"No problem . Don't rob an steal, 

In time 

H :; 

I'll bo your drivin wheel . " will learn . 

Cool . 

And ho wheeled us into 

350 years of black madnoss, 

To hog guts, conked hair, covadis, 

To bleaching cream and unclo thomas, 

To WATTS, 

To tho streets, 

To the KILL . 

BOMNMM . . . . . . 2 honkcys gone . 

MOTHER FUCK the police! 

And parkor's sister, too, 

BLACK PEOPLE ; 

Tired, 

Sick an tired, 

Tired of being 

Sick an tired -- 

Burn, baby, burn . . . . . . . . . 

by 

marvin jackmon

154 diop 

a~'r3~csa, clz3~3Ma 

*AbLOIE50 u_s _ 

by cheikh .anta Mop (translated free the french by PNLBM ') 

Aithot_gh Cheikh-Anta Diop is not wel' known in Afrcamerica, he , more then any iivi,ig 

Black intellectual (for that matter ,,:nybcdy,, . developed approaches to, and theories of Black 

history . Brother Uiop has a theory that there is a basic division of peoples into 2 kinds : the 

Southerners (or Negro-Africans), and the Aryans . Each grouping a cultural outlook based cn 

response to climate, the difference between them being th-t Aryans have had a h-rsher clim~~te . 

According to Diop the Aryans have developed patriarchal systems ch~ract4rized by the sup- 

pression ol °omen and a tendency tow-rd indiyldualism, materialism and pessimism . The Southern- 

ers, on the other hand, he sees as possessing ~, matriarchal system . The women are much freer, 

the social system is collectivist and optimistic in its orient,tion towards life . 

As for the historical bpsis of this view Diop has argued, with a considerable amount of evi- 

ence, that ancient Egypt ins not only a Black African civilization, but that also European ci- 

vilization is a mere derivative of that great society . In a word, his writings on this subject 

are at least outrageously provocative, and at the most bl ;, tantly revolutionary . 

We do not give this background to Brother Jiop's crient~"tion in order to endorse his views ; 

on the contr,ry, we have reservations about some of his conclusions, and his emphasis on climate 

as a determinant of history, but we do know that his historic^! findings vis-a-vis pharoahonic 

Egypt and its relationship to Africa and Europe have immense credence . The main reason we have 

summarized his theories is to point out his excellent intellectual and pro-Black credentials so 

that we can show why we feel Brother Diop is etmirr~ntly qualified to explain many of the re- 

laticnships between the Peoples Republic of China, the emerging African nations, and thpt great 

guardian of the color line, the United States of America . 

-- The Editors --

d .~p 155 

China, in exploding two Uranium 235 bombs, has just proved that s he is capable 

of having access to thermonuclear power by her own means . Several years 

are yct necessary, perhaps less than ten, in order for her to constitute an operational 

arsenal . Also, China of today is comparable to the U. S. S . R. of 1926 

to 1038 ; she necdsto build her economy, to consolidate her political regime, and 

also her technical capabilities . In these undertakings she must shun war at any 

price in order to gain precious years so that she may acquire the invulnerability 

of nuclear powers . 

China will go to war only in the case of her own defense . The territory of 

China is sufficiently vast in order to permit virtually the doubling of her present 

population (actual density is approximately 80 per square kilometers) and of feeding 

it without having need of pruning the lands of a neighbor . Therefore the true 

danger isn't in seeing the Chinese reen-7acting the invasion of the Huns and overrunning 

a Europe which is only a "peninsula of fzia .11 Rather, it resides in the 

fact that, in the end, the well-being, higher creative knowledge, technical efficiency, 

power, and the ability to make demands will no longer be tho monopoly 

of the west . 

ELIMINATING THE AMBIGUITIES 

The United States is fully cons6ious of this situation . It seems to feel that the 

safe-guarding of both 

their supremacy and 

that of th :: west in 

general necessitates a 

preventive war against 

China, even their press 

no longer makes a mystery 

of this position . 

However, the U.S . can 

only act with impunity 

if it succeeds in mornontarily 

isolating 

China from the rest of 

the Socialist Camp . The 

unspeakable American pro 

vocations in Vietnam register 

within this perspective 

. (cont .p . 156) 

. . 

rras,klent .N}CrnrC welcomes I'rcn~ic°r ('hou tq lbar-es-Salaam

156 diop 

(They can lead to wax if the U . S . estimates, rightly or wrongly, that the solidarity 

of the Socialist Camp would fail China, - that Cairn w(-Adz't benefi'c from tha 

atomic umbrolin and from the -air cover of the U.S . S . R . ) The war would thm 

spring, from a i^ck of clarity in the positions originally taken . 

Today, as in the time of the Korean War, peat-- is gained in eliminating ambiguities 

in time . Also, one would like to believe that firm resolutions, which contrast 

with appearances, have already been taken at the level of discreet diplomacy 

not leaving to hover in the, air any doubt* as to tha solidarity of the Socialst Camp 

in the case of a U . S . attack on China under any pretext whatsoever . It is with 

the aerial protection of the U . S . S .R. that China was able to aid North Korea, and 

why she would be able to aid Vietnam today . This important condition which could, 

alone, render effective China's aid to Vietnam, depends entirely upon the U .S . S . 

R . ; and the reasons for China's present procrastination are perfectly understood . 

The presimceof Sibylline warnings could be fatal to peace . 

AGAINST PREVENTIVE WAR 

. In the case where all this would proceed with cold calculation and against all 

expectation, the results would be catastrophic for humanity . They would go beyond 

the limits of classical Macchiavellianism to take on the dimensions of a 

bankruptcy of man in his attempt to exceed his ethnic category'in order to become 

reconciled with other men and to croato a veritable humanity . No lucid 

being should hope to make the best of a similar situation . The consequences 

that the people who are suffering and who are fighting for their emancipation 

would draw from it would be irremediable and dreadful . China's technological 

power is a guarantee of peace and of development because she throws out of tuns 

the old game of the balance of power . World peace will be better assured if a 

country of the Third Wordl . is able to become a center of high intellectual developmant, 

of technical power, and of the ability to' rcturn tit for tat . This will 

be a guarantee against possible acts of despotism, of cowardice or of racist gin 

tide ; this introduces an advantageous disparity in the distribat .ion of forces on 

the planet --- this is the grain of sand which makas the imperialist machine grate . 

It is too often forgotten that modern science is not yet sufficiently implanted 

in the Third World, and that, for the development of our future plans to be grw aly 

compromised, an abrupt darkening of international relations (which is always 

possible) would be sufficient . Und:rstanding, of more or less brief duration, between 

western thermonuclear powers in order to impose a limitation and a minor 

management on the technical development of the Third World is probable, if there 

does not exist outside the west a force capable of opposing it if necessary . This

diop 15 7 

is what is understood by thes ,;, so-called powers every 

time they evoke the problem of dissamination of atomic 

weapons . 

The interest and security of the Third World dea-nands 

that all the means of development, of domination 

and demand should no longer be the monopoly 

of the west . 

In acting today for the preservation of China, to 

prevent the destruction of Chines -j power still in limbo, 

the Third World has only to work lucidly towards the 

consolidation of its security . 

In reality, the voice of the unanimous Third World 

would weigh with an enormous moral heaviness on the 

decisions of the only two nuclear powers on which. the 

result of the situation depends . 

In the particular case of the U . S . S . R . , its strength, which is today able to 

safeguard peace and to serve the development of peoples, was equally menaced 

with destruction by imperialism when she was in gestation . 

lull th-z: working peoples, without distinction of color, were then allied in -)rdar 

to hatch it, to protect it from October, 1917 to 1939 ; longshoremen of every country 

boycotted the preventive war against the U . S . u . R . ; seamen rautid ed in )rd ,r 

to bring about a triumph of its cause, a cause identifi--d with that of the world revolution 

. More recently, sorze scientists, by pure ideological conviction, incurred 

national indignity and prison in order to permit it (th-: U . S . S . R.) to have access to 

nuclear and thermonuclear power: Green Glass, Klaus Fuchs, Pontecorv o, etc . 

On the Ivory Coast, some blacks from the forest dressed in loin-cloths marked 

X's on some ends of bamboo without too much realizing what they did, it is true ; 

nevertheless, this was their means of signing the Stockholm Appea destined to 

assure peace, to forestall a premature war against the U . 5 . S . R. . when its nuclear 

force was not yet assured . 

ACTIVE SOLIDARITY 

!~ state which was born and developed in such a moral climate should be available 

without equivocation, every Limo the peace of people is menaced . 

!r. crusade resembling the "peace riovement" when the U .S .S.R . had a real 

need for it, should be newly and irninediately launched by the states of the Third 

",7orld in a ;how of solidarity with China . 

Since the and of WWII the U.S . has been leaving its traditional isolationism, has 

passed from one extrerae to the other, and is now defending its 'security' on the

15 8 diop 

shores of each continent, even to the heart of th-a untr:~dden forest in the Congo . 

A DEFUNCT INDEPENDENCE 

2 --d that any Black Lfrican state is already no longer inde- 

pendent (if independence has ever been effective) for no one would know how to 

alter his political regime withrut*uncle Barn" baconiisg suspicious and paying 

hint a visit . The U . u . is anxious to keep 1_frica in the Western camp, within its 

own sphere of influence,to speak more clearly . One shouldn't be able to "keep" 

an independent country . 

The short period of euphoric: and of easy ter=ms following the declarations of 

independence, during which in order to obtain everything all you had to do was 

hold out your hand is completely ended everywhere . 

For want of being organized in time on more viable unitarian political foundations, 

but implying more personal sacrifices, today only the period of "tears" 

which is at hand remains . Certain countries deceive themselves in trying to 

organize their individual safety . However, the only security possible in the actual 

situation of Black Africa is a collective one . Prospects for the future are 

gloomy . 

Imperialism intends to organize anarchy over all the African Continent in a 

manner which will keep the political initiative that it has already regained, which 

had been taken away from it by liberation movements on the eve of the independence 

of these states . 

Here in lies a new fact of capital importance, on which it is essential that the 

attention' of Africans polarizes itself . 

It is the plague that we have always denounced . Alas! Black ~Irica strongly 

risks receiving it as its lot . It is the spectre of South Americanization which 

haunts it with its cortege of unhappiness and misery . 

One still remembers the stirring declarations of Quadros revealing that he was 

pushed by obscure forces when he was forced to abandon his authority in Brazil .

diop 159 

The U . S . made it cloar to hin;-i, he said, that an underdeveloped country wasn't 

abl, to allow itself to have an independent diplomacy . This should be entrusted 

to an "appropriate power" . 

The occurences in Santo Domingo are of such an nature as to edify even the 

most indifferent . 

In the long run, no amount of "goodness", "realism", or "moderation", would 

know how to shelter one frorn this new form of insecurity . Nkruniah is made t :) 

sing today, tomorrow it is everyone who will dance like e cicada .2 . 

One takes touching precautions to give imperialism the understanding that it 

will be very well to adapt itself to our socialism, for they are _not malignant. 

Their inventors simply wanted to be fashionable in the domain of political expres 

sion ; thus African Socialism is often a synonym for inoffensive socialism. Soon, 

as in the manner of the birth of philosophy, each African will walk with his socialist 

doctrine under his arm . 

A CREATION Of HELL 

Iiowevcr, one tries in vain to prove to the Americans that there is a difference 

between a devil whose tail burns like: a torch and one whose tail only smokes, because 

for them, all socialism is a creation of hell, which as such should return' 

there, if necessary with the help of atomic bombs . Forgive our illusions . 

Ghana, Mali, Guinea, Tanzania, and Congo(B) to different degrees are already 

menaced by imperialism, which does not desire that any political experiment 

whatsoever, conducted independently of it, might be conclusive, might be able, for 

that reason, to inspire in other countries inclinations towards independence . Thus, 

as a demon which torments dwarfs, it amuses itself in undd ng the laborious work 

of the elves with a disconcerting facility . 

The persomlity of General De Gaulle hinders the direct taking in hand of this 

part of Black Africa by the United hates . Nteanwhil~, the U . S. is devoting AsAf 

to a systoniatic study, to a slicing up of the terrain in a manner of a chaekarbmrd, 

and to an economic penetration as silent as it is efficacious . Their businaes groups 

control the administrative councils of former co-:panics with French names : .F . A. O, 

NOSOCO, SCOA, etc. As a beginning, they have just gotten control of 49% of the 

shares of the former Bank of Vilest tafrica which has now become the International 

Bank of West Africa . 

ERETORLORGAMZES 

On the other hand, the white minority of South ijrica would be ably to take the 

black continent from the rear . The 13ritish protectorates, enclaves oA asutoland, Zwa 

ziland, and Bachua aland, are easy prey . The seizure of Southwest Africa is complete, 

and outside the periodic speeches at the 1J . I-T . no one thinks about forcing; Pretoria's 

hand . The white minority of South-= Rhodesia, which (coat . p . HLI)

160 diop 

practices the same politics, will draw nearer to her at the opportune raornant . 

The national liberation movements of Angola and of Mozainiquo se;ra to be halted 

or at least stabilized, that is to say, sn_7othered for an unpredictabl duration . 

This has only been pos::b1 e with the complicity of imperialism . One should keep 

a close eye on the d;velopment of the situation in these two territories . 

Congo(l)' constitutes an ideal buffer state which would even be able to completely 

fall within the orbit of south Africa with the consent of the U.S . , despite 

the actual appearances . And the counter-offensive to the independence movement 

doesn't stop there . England can explode the Federation of Nigeria whenever srhe 

array feel like it ; other forms of interference are possible . The reduction of 

Black Africa to a few small semi-deserted states, engulfed in an endemic anarchy, 

is not inn-possible, V'Ihile there is still time, it would be impossible to overly attract 

the attention of Africans concerning the preparations of war and the underground 

forces of South iJrica . 

The first reactor of this country (South Africa) already branched off several 

years ago ; since that time, other snore powerful reactors have probably been 

constructed in greatest secrecy so as to fabricate and stockpile plutonium in .a 

quantity sufficient for undertaking the construction of tactical atomic bombs . To- 

day, South Africa is sufficiently equippod in technical matters to fabricate bombs 

of plutoni uln which will detonate by implosion . 4 . 

However that may be, the case of Viotnain proves that, the moment at hand, 

the United States would easily find a pretext in order to provide, if necessary, 

tactical atomic bombs and others to thu white minority . It is known that such 

devices are already stock-piled at Da-Nang base in South Vietnam, ready for 

utilization . 

The physical separation of the cornrnunitics that is being realized within the 

framework of apartheid would render possible a perfect genocide . 

Today South Africa is feverishly organizing in order to resist, on the military 

level, the whole black continent . 

It is hoped that the danger will be perceived in time . And it is there that the 

existence of a center of powor outside the west, in the Third World, would permit 

a victorious offsetting of an -eventual duplicity . South Africa constitutes for Black 

Africa the most serious danger on the road leading to an era of universal understanding 

Before this precise iaenace, as before the problems of constructing a rational 

economy and organizing a viable common market, Africans, isolated, are reduced 

to ineffectiveness . One would like to bring together the egoistic individual advant 

ages of political separation and the collective advantages of a political fed:ration, 

r ._ ;, ; 

;f 

+}, -'r, +,,e ss cuare of the circla . - aa bef-ns "lont .

diop 161 

to realize that egoism visa-vis Africa, skillfully set up in a doctrine of "wisdor1," 

doesn't lead very far . 

One understands in an obscure manner that at the end the new forms of insecurity 

spare no one : witness Goulart, Olyr1pio, Naga, and Toulon . 

THE DEFEAT OF BOLIVAR 

We are entering into an era of humanity and humiliation . We will leave it only 

by the adoption of a political situation of a federal nature . One should think about 

the consequences of Bolivar's defeat with respect to Latin America . 

It is certain that the interests of the people are hardly opposed to a similar 

solution . On the contrary, all invite Dahomians, Senegalese, Ivoirizns, Guinaans, 

Malians, etc . to unite their abilities and powers in order to multiply their capacity 

to oppose anarchy and foreign domination . 

An African political structure, in which an effort of rational economic construction 

would be able to be undertaken, does not yet exit . Its creation depends only 

upon Africans . When one attempts to consider economic regroupings outside of 

political domain, this difficulty is only a transposed illusion . A federal executive 

is necessary, however embryonic he may be, whore will be transferred a minimum 

of authority . permitting him, for example, to decide upon regional specialization, 

aft. r a thorough study ; then Senegal's vocation for a chemical industry would be 

able to be confirmed ; it would be the same for the inclination to the heavy-metal 

and light alloy industry of the Guinea-Liberia ensemble ; and that of the Ivory Coast 

for the industry of wood and it derivatives . 

TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ONE'S 

DIN FATE 

Theorganization of an African 

common market will consist then of 

studying the volume and outflow of 

the complementary products thus, 

fabricated . A rational economic 

organization wouldn't know how to 

take precedent over the placing in 

operation of a valid formula of political unification . 

One should note with astonishment that it is not known how to conserve the political 

experience of the colonial epoch on the plan of unifying diverse territories : 

the former federations of West Africa and of Equatorial Africa, of ( page 162 cont .)

162 diop 

which the viability had been proved, are broken up in consequence of ogocentric 

discord . 

The originality of African political difficulties resides in the fact that one is 

obliged to realize by peaceful means that which in history is always accozr_plished 

by war and violence, when it is a question of political or cultural unification . - 

In the absence of a preliminary political solution, each lfrican state will try 

to become an industrial micro-universe in order to be self-sufficient, all in being 

obligated to opt for installations of weak power and small capacity . 

The groups devoid of power of decision, imposad upon everyone, which would 

not imply a partial and parallel abandon ment of sovereignty, will always be 

shortlived . The african political exporionce during those lust years leaves us 

without any illusions as to this point of view, even for the Organization of African 

unity . 

But all of that will not have been sorrow lost if it is` at this price, and at this 

price only, that the African xnasses take cognizance of tho fact that their fate lies 

in their own hands and n_o_t elsewhere, and that it is very necessary that they 

decide to assume responsibility for it . 

footnotes 

1 . The Third V.arfd is that group of nations th ;=t have ? common background of oppression and 

have the common objective of eliminating that cpprrssion . 

2 . a cicada is an insect which is noted for the prolonged shrill notes of the male, produced 

by special sound organs . 

3 . Pretoria is the capit?I of the Republic of South Africa . 

4 . f'ithout becoming overly technical it may be stated that b,,isicalIy there exist two ways of 

obtaining fission materiel for the construction of ztemic bombs ; one method, " utilizing 

Plutonium 239,is probably the most widely used by nuclear powers because of the relatively 

less intricate instrumentation needed far production of this material ; The use of Uranium235 

as fissionable material is at the heart of the other method, and has only been produced in 

the west at considerable cosi(because of the necessity of refined processes in which over a 

thousand interlocking units, all functioning perfectly, have been necessaryfor this pro- 

duction) . The advantages in h?ving facilities to produce 11235 means that the ability to 

produce tritium, a key element in the production of the H-bomb, is also near at hand . 

( footnotes by SOULBOOK ) 

"traduit de Jeune Afrique par SOOLBOOK

ROBERT WILLIAMS : A NEW FIGURED N STAGE AND SCREEN 

williams 163 

Recently The Touring Artists Group (TAG) in Las Angeles, Calif, began 

presenting, If We Must Live , a'three act impressionist day by Frank Green-' 

wood . The play is based on Robert Williams and the Black people of Monroe, 

North Carolina's militant struggle against Ku Klux Klan and F .B .I . terror . 

On the other side of the globe, at almost the same time, a Peking fi ¬ m 

studio produced a 70 minute documentary entitled : Robert Williams In China . 

It covers Mr . .and Mrs . Robert V,ilfiams recent tour of the Peoples' Republic 

of China . 

The Cuban Film Institute has further utilized the talents and background 

of Brother Williams . With his help they have just finished reproducing 

a documentary cn the Afroamerican freedom struggle . 

Good luck in your new career, Rob, at least we know you will do a 

better job in potraying Black masculinity than hollywood or Broadway!

164 freeman 

*A IX4e maw frorn~ . 

1!JL0XX0 = UX%4C301tkA4eX* 

ft z~x~.tz fa~on 

by kann m. fr-nian 

"The spectre of a storm is haunting the Western World . Its foreboding presence 

is being felt in the great capitals from Rome to Bonn to Paris, to Bruss6ls 

to London, 'across the Atlantic to New York and Washington, across the Pacific 

to Melbourne and Sidney: the spectre of a storm is brewing on the horizons of 

the West . . . "I . 

When the young, staunchly-Black intellectual Roiland Snellings thrust this legitimate 

observation before the oft-deceived Afroamerican people, I, for one, 

was sceptical of this 'spectre of a storm' . It was Frantz Fanon who hacked to 

11e ces my uncertainty about this inexorable search of the Third World to be 

heard! _ . 

After re4ding t he W re t c hh_e_d _O_f -The Earth* I wanted to read everything 

by, and about, ., this Black man p a r e x c e 11 e n c e .Yes, he was a man because 

he wrote with courageous honesty ; and he could know reality because he was born 

Black . I felt that by knowing his assertions and about his capacity to tell the truth 

that somehow I might exorcise myself from. many of the puerile myths of my often 

ambiguous, but progressing life . 

Each sentence Fanon placed on the page is like spoken roses, but when an unsuspecting.reader 

allows it to enter into his mind it exploacs like a bomb with a 

creative violence that smashes one to the ground of reality . Listen to another 

emminent Black Martiniquais paint us an a propos portrait of Fanon's unique 

style of writing : "Llways, everywhere, the same lucidity, the same forcefullness, 

the same fearlessness of analysis, the same spirit of 'scandalous' demystification 

." 2 

Yes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating . As I digested the souflelike 

flow of Fanon's wor~cb his 'scandalous' truth destroyed scores of my white-in- 

fested umtruths, distortions and doubts about that universal storm of Black, Brown,

freeman 165 

Yellow peoples . . .- . Thank You Brother 

Frantz . 

Now I must tell you something about this 

man whose book, Le s Damn s De La 

Te rre , I have just finished reading for the 

third time: 

Frantz Fanon was born in 1925 in Fort De 

Franc-e, Martinique, IFrench'"VTe:t Indies . 

Although he read medicine at the Sorbonne, 

and later specialized in Psychiatry, 'neverthe 

less he once said: "I don't give 'a damn 

about Europe, its culture and diplomas, or 

the institutions it tolerates which are just so 

many instruments of domination, 'We should 

chuck out that garbage and tell ourselves we 

have nothing to lose by doing so . Gtherwise, no liberation is possible! "3 . During 

"World War II even though he was studying at the University of Paris he found time 

to work with P_r_es enc_e _A_fr i c a in a . Although later -- if not at this early date 

-- he had serious disagreement: with th `s group over the concept of Negritude, 

they soamad to always have had the utmost respect for Fanon . Upon Fanon'_; 

tragi c death in 1961 the father of Negritude, Aima CSaire, summed up the feelings 

of the majority of the leader: of the e t_u d_a_s__n_o_i r_e_s when he said: II Fanon 

is dead . We knew for months that he was going to die, but we were hoping against 

all reason, because we knew him to be resolute and so essential to our horiz :)n of 

man, that some miracl3 would transpire . t'4 . 

In 1952 Fanon's first book Peau Noire, Masque Blanes (Flack giin, White Tdasks 

-- it is supposed to published in English soon by Grove Press) was published in 

Paris . Immediately after that he started working as a. psychiatrist in Blida, Al 

geria . When the Algerian war brQk ~ out, he joined the F . L. N ., but h; atill found 

time to speak in Paris in 1956 at the First Congress of Black Writers . He was also 

the Chief Editor of the F . L. N. newspaper, E_1 IV. ou d j ah i d and during the 

same period he wrote ancther book, Year _V of the _Algerian PL. volution . In 1900 ha 

became one of the leaders of the Algerian Provisional Government, and then he 

went off to Ghana to become Algeria's Ambassador to that country . 

It is reported that in 1951, upon learning that he had leukemia he merely laughed, 

and only expressed concern about whether he had tinia to complete his writings 

(he was at the time working on T_he Wretched of the E,xth and of course whathar 

he would get the 2~ppo r tuni t_y to di3 on the battlefield fighting for the F . L . 17 .

?66 fr-roman 

maybe his contempt for death at that time was a consequence of the fact that 

he had faced it two times before, and each time he had leaped over its devouring 

precVice . The first time his jeep ran over a mine near the Algerian -iiiloroccan 

Frontier and he emerged with twelve fractured vertebrae, complicated by paraplegia 

and sphincteral disorders . The second time he was in Rome when the car 

in which he was to ride was wired with explosives by the "Rod Hand" (the same 

group of French terrorists who murdered the Camerounian patriot, Brother Felix 

1l/ioumie), but the bomb exploded prematurely, missing Brother Fanon, but killing 

2 Italian Children playing near the car . 

But no matter when Frantz Fanon died physically his writings have been kept 

alive and are being enshrined into the psyches of the new Black revolutionaries . 

They have inflamed the intellectual circles of all French -speaking Africa ; and 

I predict a similar fate for his message in the rest of the 'Third World' -- including 

Afroamerica . 

But notonly are his works of importance to the exiled Africans in the western 

world, but the fact that Fanon was also a member of the forced diaspora makes 

him a critical example for young Black Americans . We are chronically asking 

ourselves 'What is Africa to us ?' We want to know how we could possibly b-- of 

any benefit to the 'fellahin', 'guajiros', 'untouchables' and all the other 'Soul 

Brothers' of the universe . Again it's Csaire who points to an answer : 

"Fanon probably soared to such heights and was possessed of so wide 

a horizon because he was a Viest Indian, meaning that he started from so 

lowly and narrow a basis . Maybe it was necessary to be West Indian, that 

is, to be so destituted, so depersonalized, in order to go forth with such 

ardour to the conquest of oneself and of plenitude; West Indian, this is 

to say, so mystified in the beginning as to finally be able to expose the 

most secret motives of mystification, and with such mastery ; finally, West 

Indian to be capable of so forcefully escaping from impotency by action, 

from solitude by fraternity ." 

5 . 

Although Csaire speaks hare of the West Indian, it is apparent from the context 

of his remarks that he is suggesting that mankind is obliged to be led by the 

dispersed of Ethiopia, the hewers of street corn3r melees, and drawers of white 

racist paternalism . He is saying that it is we, who are exiled from self and home- 

Land, are best able to 'set afoot a new man' ; and that it was Frantz Fanon who 

illustrates our potential . . . . . Thank You Brother Frantz 

I am going to discuss the Wretched of the Earth

A couple of comments are in 

order in regards to the English 

translation by Constance Farrington 

of Le s Damn e s De 

freeman 167 

_La T e_r_r_e_. On the whole it is 

good. But there are two problems 

that can make for decisive confusion: 

one is the word "native" 

and the other is "Negroism ." 

Fanon in the original did not say "1'indig :ne" which is translated "The , native" . 

What he did say was "le colonice" which is translated as "the colonized ." There 

is an obvious' - big difference between "The native" and "the colonized" . Traimlating 

Negritude into "Negroism" is dangerous because it leads to a greater nitsunderstanding 

of a school of thought that is already misunderstood in the English 

speaking world . My opinion is that it should have been left in the French when it 

was put into the English text . 

when Fanon's book was first published in Paris, French liberals let loose 

their bag of trite, ambiguous barrages upon it, saying that it was too full of "violence 

qnd hatred, " . .or that Fanon might be guilty of "racism in reverse . " Inci - 

denttlly the French Government subsequently banned the book . 

In the U. S. the liberals are giving the book similar treatment : Harold Isaacs, 

"the non-responsible fellow -traveler" of Black thinkers has apparently been 

crownjd the castrator of Frantz Fanon . 

It is ironic that in his review essay6 " of Fanon's book Isaacs saves his most 

caustic remarks for Sartre's introduction to the book . Isaacs says: "Sart-r k-, 

dances around Fanon like an excited small satyr . . . " This is ironic because 

both_ Sartre and Isaacs have often ( or to be more precise, Sartre often and 

Isaacs virtually all the time) been the observers, attempting to analyze and in 

terpret Black peoples' thoughts . But there is a generic difference between white 

intellectual Sartre and white egg:head Isaacs : Isaacs has endeavored to defoliate 

all blossoming progressive Black ideas -- with a stress on Afroamerican ones ; 

however, Sartre has tried always to honestly interpret the beauty and significance 

of Black peoples' literature and political theory without t3lling us that we should 

want something different . 7 . (But this does not imply that Black people n e e d 

Sartre to interpret for thom ; but White paopl- need Sartre to show them why they 

are the most hated group of people in the Universe, and probably beyond ' .) in - 

this context we can -- although we are not obliged to -- appreciate Sartre's dynamic, 

understanding preface ; and likewise, all of Isaacs' thoroughly trite and 

condes ending remarks should be scorned, and then forgotten . 

Although we must suspect -- rather than respect -- Isaacs' position,

168 Meman 

we must realize that he has considerable influence amongst the naive nogro campfollowers 

of pet :rnalistic white liber :ls . Hence for our confused .brothers' eke 

we must wage a resolute campaign against his obstrusions on Black revolutionary 

thought . ~; 

When Isaacs looks at Fanon through his liberal-scope he sees all kinds of 

take-offs in "a succession of wild and blurry yonders ." Although it is true that 

much of Fanon's thoughts are incomplete (is this amazing when the man knew he 

was racing against death to finish this book ?), he is quite consistent with his 

two main themes 

"Now, the 'felIah', the unemployed man, the starving native do not lay a claim to the 

truth ; they do not say that they represent the truth for they are the truth ."(p .34) 

The other focus of interest is 

'The nationalist militant who had fled from the town in disgust ., . .discovers in 

real action a new form of political activity which in no way resembles the old . 

These politics are national, revolutionary and social and these new facts which the 

native will now come to know exist only in action . They are the essence of the fight 

which explodes the old colonial truths and reveals unexpected f?cets, which brings out 

new meanings and pinpoints the contradictions :camouflaged by these facts .. . Violence 

alone, violence committed . by the people, u ;o .lence organized and educated by its leaders, 

and gives the. key to them . VO THOUT THAT KNOV~LEDGE OF THE PRACTICE OF ACTION, THERE'S 

NOTHING BUT A FANCY-DRESS PARADE AND THE BLARE OF THE TRUMPETS ." p . 117 (emphasis added 

by kmf ) 

So when one reads Fanon's masterpiece he should keep in mind these enlightening 

passages ; . they are the containers that enclose the heteregenous insights 

that are spread like wilc'ifiro-through this - incendiary book . 

Isaacs says that Fanon is saying that violence is the only way to win manhood . 

It is very true that Fanon is convinced that violence is the b e s t arm. of ' -.e colonized 

that can be used against the colonialist barbarity; he is also convinced that 

violence is of maximum sociological value because 'the colon zed"s violence unifies 

the people ; and at the level of psychology: 'if frees the native from his inferiority 

complex and from his despair and inaction ; it makes him fearless and restores 

his self-respect.' But Fanon is quick to call a halt to generalizations 

"We know for sure today that in Algeria the test of force eras inevitable ; but other countries 

through the work of clarification undert?ken by a party led their people . to the ,same results ."p54 

is aacs says that "it is not easy to play Fanon's game . .(???? =kmf) . . . without 

a scorecard to tell you who the players are . . . ." But Isaacs' bias to bourgeosize 

everything Black proscribes him from seeing that Fanon obviously does not give 

4ft hot damn what the names of the players are in the (cont . p . 168)

freeman 169 

contest of humanity against inhumanity . In fact Fanon throws qu i d pr o qu o 

for the insipid Isaacs and his ilk 

p in order to arrive at this conception of the party, we must above all rid ourselves of 

the very western, very bourgeois and therefore conimptious attitude that the mass are in- 

capable of governing themselves . In fact experience proves thar the masses understand 

perfectly the most complicated problems °(p .150) 

So Fanon, in one of th. most astonishing sections of his book, goes on to give 

myriad examples from his Algerian experience to prove this point. But he states 

that there is one hitch: "It is true that if care ,is taken to use only language that is 

understood by graduates in law and economics, you can easily prove that the masses 

have to be managed from above . But if you speak tha language of every day; then 

you will realize that the masses are quick to seize every shade of meaning and to 

learn all the tricks of the trade . "(p .151) To be sure the significance is not missed 

-- even by those who need 'scorecards' -- he goes on to say : "Everything can be 

explained to the people on the single condition that you realy want them to understand 

. " (p.151) 

While I am speaking of leaders it is noteworthy that Fanon's scoreboard gives 

us the necessary understanding to fill Afroamerica's scorecard on its fictitious 

Afroamerican political leadership (particularly if we apply his criteria to their 

game just before, during and after the 1964 Harlem 'riots') ;' and he also cooks us 

some food for thought vis-a-vis the post-independent ; Kenyan situation 

'What is the reaction of the nationalist parties to this eruption of the peasant masses 

into the national struggle? . . .They don't oppose the continuing of the rebellion, but they 

content themselves with leaving it to the spontaneous action of the country people . . . . . 

They do not go into the countryside to educate the people politically, or to increase their 

awareness or put the struggle into a higher`'revol . All they do is to hope that, carridd 

onwards by its own momentum, the action of fhe-people will not come to a standstill .. In Kenya 

for example, during the mau-mau rebellion, not - a single well-known nationalist declared his 

affiliation with the movement, or even to defend the men involved in it .p pp . 93-94

170 freeman 

"Fanon wants no part of any kind of counter-racism, no part of Negritude . . 

. . . . no part of a "'Black culture, " no part of leaning, on specious glorifications of 

the past . . . " Isaacs does it again! He uses his pseudo-skill in sermonizing on 

quarter truths . 

The truth is that Fanon is very conscious of the fact that imperialism has 'devalued' 

the glorious past of Africa . And he, as much as Senghor, Cesaire or 

J . A. Rogers is convinced of the historical necessity of studying the history of 

the colored peoples of the world, and particularly Black people studying their 

own history regardless of what nation-state they might live in . But he goes on to 

say that the colonized intellectual "is obliged to dissect the heart of his people ." 

(p.171) So he carries this line of reasoning further and observes that often those 

who profess to tear themselves away from western culture embrace, rather pretentiously, 

a few "outer garments" of traditional African life (sandles, etc. ) ; lbut 

he observes that what these intellectuals are concerned with cannot bring them to 

an understanding in order 'to measure ther.al situation which the men and women 

of his country know.' (p . 180) He adds that when the people take it upon themselves 

to struggle against their colonial oppressors their "principles of custom" are undergoing 

radical changes, mainly because these same principles during colonialism 

acted as "safeguards" (roughly defensive mechanisms) and during the struggle 

it is violence and/or political action which become the "safeguards" . Thus he 

comes to the conclusion that at this critical period when the masses are looking 

toward the future, the intellectual "paradoxically turns toward the past and away 

from actual events." 8 . 

Although there might be room for argument on this provocative view, this 

argument does nothing to substantiate Isaacs' claim that Fanon "wants no part of 

Negritude." Fanon gives other arguments on the failings of Negritude, (e . g. culture 

should be primarily national instead of supra-national), but in the final analysis 

Fanon does no more than point out the contradictions, in a dialectical sense, 

of much of the ever-changing-multi-interpreted concept (style?) of Negritude. 

Other than Isaacs there are other white intellectuals who treat Fanon with more 

respect, but who seem to be more interested in "Donneybrooks" than decolonization 

. They say Fanon underrates the degree of cultural continuity which exists be--: 

tween pre-colonial and post-colonial Africa . For example, "All African phenomena 

-- even dancing -- are to him functions of colonialism . " 9 - Fanon does not 

say -- nor does his position imply -- that dance and possession are products of 

colonialism: What he does say is that the submerged aggressivity (that muscular 

motion which the obstacle of colonialism accentuates towards motion, but before 

the anti-colonial struggle it is generally expended on other colonized, or in 

the culture of the colonized) of the colonized is (cont . on page 170)

freeman 17 1 

'canalized' in the dance and the possessions . Thus he is not questioning the fact 

of any survival of the pattern of the traditional life ; but he is stating that in this 

way their 'principles" (that is the attitudes of the participants as opposed to the 

form' and content of the culture) to an important degree have been radically trans 

formed . He, later says that the struggle for decolonization does the following to 

the cultural life of the people : "And the youth of a colonized country, growing up 

in an atmoshore of shot and fire, may well make a mock of, and does not hesitate 

to pout scorn upon the zombies of his ancestors, the dead who rise again, and the 

djinns who ru hh into your body while you yawn . The native discovers reality, 

and transforms it into the pattern of his customs, intothe 

practice of violence and into his plan for Freedom. "(p. 46 ; emphasis added by kmf) 

It is of"prime importance to understand that Fanon not only does not underestimate 

the cultural continuity which exists between pre-colonial, colonial and 

post-colonial Africa, but in fact he exalts the banner of traditional Africa controversially 

high 

'The peasant who stays put - defends his traditions stubbornly, and in a colonized society stands 

for the disciplined element who interests lie in maintaining the social structure .' (p .90) 

He goes onto say 

'These men (revolutionaries who have been exiled from the city . . .kmf) discover a coherent people 

(the peasants . .kmf) who go onliving, as it were statically, but who keep their moral values and 

their devotion to the nation intact . They discover a people that is generous, ready.to sacrifice 

themselves completely, an impatient people, with a stoney pride .' (pp . 101-02) 

Fanon (like Sekou Toure) sees much of the peasants' preserved customs as of 

rime importance in the process of decolonization 

' he memory of the ant-colonial period is,yery much alive in the villages, where women still . 

croon in their children's ears songs to which the warri,ors,mzrched when they went out to fight 

their conquerors . At 12 or 13'years of age the village children know the names of the old men 

who were in the last rising, and the dreams they dream in the 'dours' or in the villages are not 

those of money or of getting through their exams like the children of the towns, but dreams of 

identification with some rebel or another, the story still today moves them to tears .' (p .92) 

Now I am going to turn to an entirely different aspect of F a noni smo : I 

feel that I should help clear up misunderstandings and destroy deliberate distortions 

of his views; I also feel obligated to present legitimate excuses for him in 

light of thp fact that he died prematurely, so that many of his virtualy posthumous 

ideas are incomplete ; but I will never adu'=- .te him. He himself crystallized many 

of my preexisting doubts about the "cult of the personality . " So now I come to a 

crucial subject which I feel his ideas (cont . p . 172)

172 freeman 

need elaboration and modification . 

Fanon's experience with Afroamericans from the U . S. was largely confined 

to a small segment of Afroamerican intellectuals: that is the Richard Wrights, 

the Mercer :Cooks (who was reportedly in a state of virtual shock when, at the 

1956 Black Writers Conference, Aime Cesaire told him that the Black American 

lived in a semi-colonial status .) which Fanon came in contact with at the 2 International 

Black Writers Conferences . Those Blacks are, in the main, the protagonists 

of the 'integrationists' position . That is, broadly speaking, they felt that 

life's greatest tressure lay in gaining admission into the 'priveleged circles' of 

our white American oppressors ; and also they reject the view (or have never 

seriously considered it) that politically, economically, and hi storically Black 

America i s part of the 'Third World' -- even though it is a large minority geographically 

imprisoned inside the 'first world.' 

Even v thahis major handicap Fanon notes that they (the Blacks in North, Centtral 

and Latin America) display a need to 'attach themselves to a cultural_ matrix ; 

and in this sense "Their problem is not fundamentally different from that of the 

Africans . " Jp .174) Now it is apparent that Fanon was reacting to these 'whitenegroes' 

when he perceives the obvious that interacial movements (which try to 

pass themselves off as Black organizations) which are trying to eliminate racial 

discrimination have "very` little in common, in their principles and objectives, 

with the heroic fight' of the Angolan people against the detestable Portuguese colonialism. 

" (p.174) 

In regards . to the latter I believe that Fanon would have reacted in an entirely 

different manner if he would have had an intellectual rapport with the new intellectual 

'Soul Brother' that is now imprisoned in the domestic walls of e 1 im - 

p e r ia l i smo yan qu i , . Rolland Snellings poeti tally points to this difference 

between the Black Americans Fanon talked with, and the ones Fanon should 

have talked with 

"They ('the Afroamertcan youth . .kmf) are the products of an epoch of international 

flux and ferment ; andàs such, are almost totally estranged from the outlooks, atti- 

tudes and loyalties shared by the oldir' .oenerations of Afro-Americans . 'feing children 

of change, burned by the fires of .chaige ., they reflect and embody the fiery, stormy 

- 

So~a~eweha~wMa 'haveebeen VanSoVanonIs reaction to those Blacks like the late 

Brother Malcolm X or Donald Freeman who see Afroamerica as an extension of 

the -Third World; who see the exploitation of the Afroamerica as a state of dom - 

estic colonialism (that is in this instance, in place of the usual method of an 

imperialist power establishing a colony in a nonindustrialized society, the U. S. 

brought Blacks to the U. S. from (coot . p . 173)

freeman 173 

Africa with the result of creating a colonial system, comprised of Africans, inside 

the U. S . 12 . ) ; and those who infer from this that Afroamerica in ordor to become 

free must be d e colonized . We believe his position would have been "pro- 

Malcolm" because it is his position on decolonization and his description of the 

problems of the 'Third World' that lend great credence to the latter Afroamerican 

view . 

Is it not ironic that in alnwst every respect the socio-economic factors that 

form the basis of the Afroamerican revolt (and often manifestations of resignation) 

were the basis of same in Fanon's adopted Algeria? Even the problem of high 

crime rates -- that is Black people killing Black 

people -- (which Fanon beautifly demonstrates is 

a result of Colonialism) in the Casbah in Algiers 

is found (with the identical causes) in all Harlems, 

U. G. A. J 

The ubiquitous problem of underdeveloped 

countries being shackled to a useless caricature of 

a bourgeosie, which Fanon writes so devastatingly 

about, is one of the main problems of the liberation 

movement in Afroamerica . Was it not largely a representation 

of these 'intermediaries' between U.S . 

Finance capi t al and the Afroamerican masses which 

gave Fanon, at best, a distorted picture of Black 

America? 

The point of the matter is that what Fanon is 

saying about those Africans, Asians and Latin 

Americans who 'want nothing more than . to be a trans 

mission line for western capitalism' was s aid about 

the ~white) house niggers' of Black America by E . 

Franklin Frazier (but in a much less revolutionary 

context) in his classic Black Bourg_qLisie . 

Lit me take off with Fanon's framework and examine 

some of the crucial parallels that indicate that 

Afroamerica is a part of the Bandung world: 

In much the same way as "in the colonized territories, 

the bourgeois caste draws its strength after independence 

chiefly from agreements r--ached with the 

former colonial power," (p .142) Civil rights bills and 

supreme court decisions give power and prestige to the 

bourgeois -orionted American Negro leadership .

17 4 freeman 

. Both of these 'bourgeoisies' were created for the ultimate benefit of the European 

and his American descendents . It protects 'whitey' (at lcwethe thought so 

until the Battle of Watts) from the Black masses and from the emergence of 

revolutionary tendencies in the masses by offering the prospect thay they may 

perhaps share in the economic 'melting pot' . 

But this middle class "lacks something essential to a bourgeoisie: money ." 

Thus for them to 'complete' their revolution they obtain money from and dep--ndence 

on "those white liberals and leftists who have never accepted (if they accept 

it logically, they hardly ever accept it . emotionally) the possibility that either 

Afroamerica or the rest of the colonial world can solve its problems apart from 

the European and American working class ; or before the emancipation of white 

13 . 

labor . 

These white 'progressives' who attempt to tie the anti-colonial struggle of 

the Black South African to a paternalistic White liberal party and/or a racist 

white South African working class, or the French Communists who asked the 

French working class to send 'cane' packages to French troops fighting against 

the Algerian Liberation Movement (F . L . N.), have done little to lessen the 

e_x1 o it at i_v_e_ 14 . nature of the relationship between the developing world and 

the European working class movement . This powerlessness -- and many times 

troasonableness by those who never cease to talk about solidarity of humanity, 

'but murder men in all the corners of the globe' -- in attempting to increase 

solidarity between whites and blacks is also apparent in the abortive attempts of 

white american leftists and liberals to use their money and the Black Bourgeoisies' 

dependence on them to force Black people to unite with white workers who 

are unequivocally unwilling to unitowith Blacks (either foreign or domestic). 

A cursory examination of nationalist movements in Asia and Africa (along with 

Latin America these are the areas where "the various types of contradictions in 

the contemporary world are concentrated . . : and the storm centres of world 

revolution dealing direct blows to imperialism . ,,15 . ) shows that one of the prime 

motivating forces of initiating these national ___- movements has bean the determination 

to end this exploitative relationship between white-liberal-leftists and the 

anti-colonial struggles of the 'Tiers-Monde . I This was true in the case of the 

R_a_s_s_e_m_bl_e_me_nt_D_e_m_oc_r_a_tique Africain of - . French speaking Africa which was 

the political mother of such successful national movements as Toure's PDG and 

Keita's Union oudanaise (and sadly Boigny's uncle tom clique in the Ivory Coast) . 

Undoubtedly George Padmore, the West Indian intellectual who influenced the 

intellectual directions of Nationalist movements in English speaking Africa, broke 

with the Stalinist Comintern primarily because he felt Moscow was attempting to 

control those affairs that should be in the hands of Africans . It seems to be one

acial disintegration . 

freeman 175 

of the reasons that Ho Chi Minh started the Viet Minh (that is, his departure from 

the French C. P .) . One can also suggest that Mao Tse Tung and the Chinese Communist 

party became more nationalistic because of ails early friction with 

Russian advisors . 

It is of the utmost significance that in both South Africa and the U.S . the Black 

masses have flocked to the banner of Black nationalism more than they have t:) 

any other position ; and in both cases the rebellion against white liberal-leftist 

paternalism was one of the prime stimulating factors of the leadership, if not 

also the rank and file . In South Africa Clements Kadalie's Garvey-inspired_Industrial 

and Commercial Unionls . and in the U . S. Garvey's United Negro Improvement 

Association suceeded in obtaining the allegiance (both during the 1920s) 

of a high percentage of the Black masses, in these respective countries . 

With respect to South Africa and the U . S . this identical motivation of antiwhite-liberal-leftist 

paternalism is seen in even more plausible examples : The 

Blacks in the U . S. and those of South Africa (It is quite relevant that in both of 

these countries it is a case of domestic colonialism) have increasingly defected 

from moderate, interracial organizations and been attracted to organizations with 

a more Black Nationalist, radical orientation which attempts to have these organizations 

controlled and dependent upon Blacks in their respective countries -- with 

the corollary of ignoring the white working class and its purported theoreticians . 

It seems to me, if I can be permitted the luxury of regressing back to Fanon's 

book, these examples clearly suggest the valfdity of his contention that a national 

consciousness must precede asocial consciousness . 

So from the framework we have obtained from Fanon we can say that .he has 

given us the tools to see clearly the trend, and the fact that it is historically legitimate, 

in the best tradition of the Banding Conference that Afroamerica is more 

and more struggling to become DECOLONIZED . 

"The parallels that we find in Fanon's book The Wretched of the Earth betwaen 

our struggle and that of our colonized brothers and sisters in other parts of the 

world illustrate clearly what a people must do to liberate themselves .,, 17 . You are 

so right brother Larry Neal . . . . . . .thank you brother frantz fanon : 

it is you who gave us the lessons on how to s hatter -our manacles 

and to make them into razors and swords so that we 

can carve out a world that --will be free of those white 

european and white american inventions 

of 'atomic' 

'spiritual' and

176 freeman 

Forging ShacU, In- S%%0111 

Footnotes 

I . R . Snellings, "Afro-American Youth and the Bandung World" Liberator , 

, 

Vol . V, No, 2 

(Feb . 1965), 0 p .4 . 

2 . "Homage to Frantz Fancn," Presence Africaine , Vol . 12, p . 130 by Aime Cesaire . 

3 . Dr . Bertene Juminer, Ibid ., p . 139 . 

4 . Cesaire ., p . 130 Ibid ., 

5 . lbid . r 

6 . Harold Isaacs, 'Potrait of a Revolutionary,' Commentary, Vol . 40, No . I (July, 1965) pp67-71 . 

also see one of the most chicken-shit articles of-the year : George Breitman, 'A Review of 

the W retched of the Earth", The Militant Nos .33834 . 

7 . se Francis Jeanson, "Sartre Et Le Monde Noir" Presence Africaine , no .7, p . 189 . 

8 . This argument reminds me of what the Black jazz critic A . B, Spellman asked:' . .oho are the 

ofays(whites) who've appointed themselves guardians of last years blues?" 

9 . Coner Cruise O'Brien, "The Neurosis of Colonialism' The Nation , Vol 200, no . 25

10 . Colin Legum, Pan-A fricanism , A Short Political Guide , p . 97 New York : Praeger . 

II . Snellings, p . 5 

freeman : 177 

12 . Another variation of domestic colonialism is when an imperialist power brings or successfflly 

encourages a large number of its nationals to come to a non-industrial part of the world/seize 

the best land, taWover-and create a European society adjacent tp the indigenous society, while 

dominating the latter. Examples of `this are South Africa, Rhodef a 'and-colonial Algeria . The 

basic differences between these and the U .S . situation is that the exploited non-european in the 

former is in the majority , and he still resides in his ancestral homeland . But, sociologically 

and politically the problems of Afroamerica, and for example coloreds, blacks 8 Indians in South 

Africa are virtually identical . But it must be added that the Afroamerican socioeconomic structure 

is primarily urban and proletarian while even in South Africa the structure Is primarily agrarian 

with a strong emphasis and dependency on migratory labor for the white industrial-urban complex . 

But in a definite sense the domestic colonialism found in U.S . and South Africa, Rhodesia 

etc . are mutually more similar than the relationship between them and other parts of the "Tiers 

llonde" because : (I) Their problem is not just a colonial problem ; it is also , (2) the fact 

that the oppressor of the colonized people is situated within the same territory and economy 

that one finds the oppressed colonial group . So their problems are dialectically and complicatedly 

interrelated . 

13 . Buchanan, "The Negro Problem" - An Outsiders View, Monthly Review , (September, 1963) Vol .15, 

No . 5, p . 238 

14 . The working class of Europe and U .S . gain primarily from the exploitation of "The Third 

World" because foreign trade with and capital export to the developing countries make possible 

the importation of cheap wage goods and enlarge the profits of the capitalist class . 

These factors allow the white workers to improve their standard of living without arousing, to 

a significant degree, the animosity of their employers . Black workers, who are twice as unemlloyed 

as white workers and whose family income is less than I/2 that of whites, obviously do not benefit 

from this blood-sucking cushion . In a similar way a section of the capitalists in the 

U .S . reap excessively high profits from Black America . Likewise a section of the white working 

class benefits from U.S . racism, and practicaly all white workers are convinced that they benefit 

from U .S . racism,'assuming that they would not enjoy workers' control as they enjoy the luxury 

of white supremacy . In fact, as a result the white american working class is so disin terested 

in Workers solidarity that they have allowed their big labor leaders to become more conservative 

than big business leaders . -- 

15 . Pierre Jalee, "Third World? Which Third World? Africa, Latin America, Asia Revolution , Vol .l 

No . 7 (November, 1963) 

16 . G . Padmore: Pan-Africanism or Communism? New York : Roy Publishes , p . 349 

17- L . P . Neal, "A Reply to Bayard Rustin : The Internal Revolution", Vol . V, No . 7, Liberator 

(July, 1965) 

" Frantz Fanon . The V~ etched of the Earth , New York : Grove Press 

"" from Peking Review 

"+" from Peking Review

17 8 freeman 

do jes~s~ 

by care! freeneit 

She was born in 1300, sometime in the month of April, 

in the cool, early spring of the year, the Sth and last 

child her mother was to bear . Her entry into the world 

was heralded by no one, except possibly her mother 

who had spent 3 days in labor, and who at 49 was dry- 

,Mg up inside, withering and snarled li'.ce the peach'tree 

in the yard, who for a brief moment had felt the young 

sap riso doe.)ptivaly within I..-;r and conceived. 

They named her Hannah, after slapping her two or 

three times to bring the breath to her, and her eldest sister who had midwifed her, 

wiped her down with fresh sun-washed muslin, greased her liberally with tallow, 

tied on a belly band of linsey wollsy, tied her kinky soft hair with a piece of 

greased string, wrapped her in muslin, laid her in her mother's arms . 

Sometime that evening after the birth smell had been aired from the cabin, 

and the fried meat and greens had been put to the back of the stove, the washing 

taken in, her father had ambled quietly in to stare quietly at his woman lying 

sunken and ashy-pale in the lumpy cotton stir mattress and at his 9th girl child . 

He cleared his throat once or twice, feeling that some words ought to be spoken . 

"Well." "Yassir," she murmured sadly . "Well-ol' woman, quittin' time ain't it?" 

And she smiled to herself, warmed by the gentle humor of his words . "Reckon 

tis, suh . 11 I'Haaarrumph!" He strenously cleared, his .,throat .once more and went 

to slap the hogs . 

Hannah grew like the willows down by the river bank, quickly pushing upward, 

tall, strong, bending with the seasons, running wild headlong with the wind, work. 

ing silently at whatever she had to . The days fell into a (cont .p . 178)

freeman 179 

wonderful pattern, simple for a child, easily learned, up before day in the m-)rning, 

to stoke the fire in the wood stove, sating hoecake and sogam syrup, washing 

it down with strong chicory coffee, chewing the fried meat rinds from her mother's 

plate, when there was any, pumping water, priming the pump, feeding chickens, 

slipping hogs, making lye soap, building the fire under the big black three footed 

wash pot in the yard, scrubbing out clothes, planting cotton on the 5 acres plot in 

the back yard, hoeing cotton, picking cotton, picking berries, fishing with a willow 

pole, airing the mattress from her par : nt's bed, tying june bugs on strings and 

running with them to hear the buzzing noise, and running to hide under the house 

when ever a white man appeared riding down the road . 

Life and death were no more a mystery to her than the quick summer showars 

that rushed down from the sky to damp the earth, settle the dust, and disappear. 

At nine, one hot dry summer day, her father died, twisting and foaming at the 

mouth like "blue", the old bird dog. Already he was stiff, tongue hanging out, and 

beginning to mortify two hours above ground ; she had stood, rubbing one dusty foot 

against the other in curiousity and wonder that her father would carry on in such a 

way, her mother had run silently to her father to kneel helplessly beside him, and 

together they pulled him into the shade and Hannah had run to the turn row to get 

the bucket and dipper to give him a drink of water. But by the time she returned, 

he was dead and stiffening, and her mother broke years of silence to throw h3r ap 

ron over her head and keen long wailing cries to an earless master . "LaN;d, lawd, 

doan tek him, doan load ? pleas jaesus, pleas suh mastha, pleas! And Hannah was 

cowed and ashamed to hear her mother beg, and she waited uneasily to hear what 

the lord would say or do, staring at the hot cloudless sky, hearing the dry hum of 

crickets, june bugs, tree bees, but nothing from the great god. , and angrily she 

frowned at the pale blue sky, and shook a helpless fist at the sun; her mother seeing 

the gesture, slapped her until there was a ringing in her ears, and the cotton 

shimmered dizily . "Gal, god gon strike you ded fuh such outlandishness!" And 

they stared at each other caught in pain of the moment, unable to speak . "Rua fetch 

Carrie, tell er tuh brang bill an the younguns ." And she turned and ran from the 

strangeness in her mother, and the silent god that could strike her dead, at his 

whim . 

Running barefoot down the hot dusty road, blind to every thing except what had 

happened, she did not hear the lazy plop of hooves, or the rumble of the wagon, until 

rounding a band in the road she was face to face with a wagonload of whites . Tall 

and lank in overalls, shirtless, burned red and raw by the sun, the color eaten from 

hair and eyes, they were, staring unblinking at her . (cont . page 180)

180 freeman 

She stood rooted in terror and confusion to the middle of the road ; the wagon was 

filled with thick white cotton and an endless number of white boys, all lank, all 

skinny, all with the same malevolent lidless white eyes of the blind . The,man 

leaned over the side of the wagon and spat a dark brown stream of pungent tobacco 

juice at her face, -and it dribbled down the side of her cheek onto her nack . 

Still she stood, staring . "Raf, fetch me a stick, so ah kin whup this niggar . " 

The words rasped` mildly from him, as he reached backward for a weapon . Suddenly 

they were pelting her with hard green cotton boles ; big as hickory nuts, hard 

as rocks, and she skittered off the road, into the ditch, and ran . The wagon 

creaked up, and lumbered on . The breadth tightened in her chest, and she stumbl - 

ed over a clod and fell, afraid to rise,' in her head was a picture of the man, and 

the wagon, and he was-god, come to take her father, and strike her dead . She 

lay there some few minutes, and seeing 'sha was not dead, she got up, and 

walked on to her sister Carrie's house . Inside her was a new something, a something 

that would walk inside her head as long as she drew breath, a fear and 

hatred of god and the white man : 

This is an excerpt from an untitled novel by the author

the facade o 

bourgeois 

mo~crac~ 

by denald freeman 

freeman 18 1 

This is an attempt to begin to understand "democracy" in its role as a facade 

for the western world . "Democracy" came about as a reaction to the, upper class 

(the king, colonial master, and landed aristocracy) . It was conee ved as an attack 

on exploitation, a logical step in the war against man's exploitation òf other men . 

It did not come :into existence as . purely opposition to the absolute authority, it came 

in order to stop the exploitation by authority . This was the case in the French 

Revolution, the American Revolution, and also true of the great revolutions which 

dacoloniz ::d Latin America.: . It is so true ,and so, much a factor in revolution that 

it can be asserted as the rule . This is the proper historical pcrspect .va for "d)mocracy" 

; it was a tool in the hands of tho bourgeoisie to stop the feudal class exploiter, 

an attempt to destroy exploitation -- not authoritarianism! 

If this is true, then the- first step in discovering th-- fraud has been gained . Wo 

are told a thousand times, "Wa, the 'democrat : ,' are against the dictators", 

"We, the 'democrats ;' have attained the highest state of government possible . " 

As a consequence "democracy" equals freedom . It' ; not a stag-., or step in a 

struggle -- it is the culmination of that struggle . We are never told of its true :)rigins 

as a weapon against the upper class exploiter, and that it is only one logical 

step in that fight . 

We constantly hear of its merits ; you are led to bal . avo that no one need worry 

about being cheated or mistreated -- all one need do is participate -- "VOTE", 

(witness the loud slogans re: the voting 'rites' bill) and the good life is yours . We 

ara also told that from _m_within_it can change to any degreo nocassary . 

There are at least two more important facts to help us understand the fraud . 

One of them seems to be the simple fact that a_1_1_ established orders, including 

governments, seek to destroy all that threatens them, from within and without . 

The second important factor to realize is that the individual will still serve the 

needs of the State or Government -- those needs being determined either by the

182 freeman 

true needs ofthe masses or the needs of a privileged few . 

The conclusions to be drawn here is the not A-,so-very -alarming fact that the 

word "democracy" as it is used is of no value at all, and that it clouds if not 

completely distorts the roal issues (this is the reason I write "democracy" with 

quotes) . In an honest dialogue; one would have to talk in terms of dogrees of personal 

freedom, and the reasons why such freedom is secondary to the needs of 

the masses ; and what are the problems incurred when exploitation is sanctioned 

as a personal freedom . 

It seems to me that the reason for the distortion of the real issue is quite 

apparent ; it is to hide the n_e_w_ exploiter . Tha . old exploiter -- ,the king, feudal 

lord, or the colonialist -- has been thrown out, and in his place comes the 

bourgeois, capitalist exploiter, larger in number and much harder to see . He 

exploits from behind the sh ld of "democracy" -- a shield which he used in 

order to lift the bond of exploitation from his own neck and that which he himself 

now uses to retain his newly-found privilege of exploiter . One example: Recently 

James Farmer of the Congress of Racial Equality made a tour of Mother Africa . 

While he was giving a speech someone asked him why Blacks in the United States 

did not unite to win their freedom . Mr . Farmer claimed that Civil Rights organizations 

were purposely competing against each other to add "variety" to our 

struggle in the same manner as business corporations ' cQmpete 

,, in the "democratic" system : Thus we see how one of the 

prime needs of the masses of Black Americans, unity, is being 

thrown to the white wind because our exploiters (and their agents) 

know the unity of Black America would lessen the degree and 

time in which our people could be exploited . 

Here lies a serious contradiction -- a privileged class using a 

concept that is supposed to combat such a class .' This is why 

"democracy" has been directed against the "dictator" -- the absolute 

authority -- and not the exploiter ; anyone living in the western 

world realizes that exploitation is sanctioned and that they 

themselves are constantly being exploited ; what is important 

is the realization that "democracy" can be surpassed and a new 

revolution called to rid the world of the new exploiter .

. r o 

acme cesaire 

carol freeman 

harotd faster 

ronald stone 

k william kgositsile 

glenn myles 

ernie alien 

v-lect notes 18 :1 

rolland snellings 

marvin e jackmon

14 c6saire 

Without laughing, I imagine in Congress this message on 

the state of the Union: a tragic situation' 

In the substratum we have left onl* 75 years of iron 

50 years of cobalt 

But what of 35 years of sulfur and 20 years of bauxite, 

what is there in the heart ? 

Emmet Till 

State of the Union Message 

Nothing, zero, 

mine with ore 

cavern where nothing stirs 

not a drop of blood 

your eyes were sea shells wherein sparkl :d tho hcadiness 

of your 15 year old blood . 

your young eyes were never old 

or rather upon them weighed, 

more than could all the sky-scrapers, five centuries of executioners 

or witch burners, 

five centuries of bad gin of fat cigars 

of fleshy paunches filled with slices of rancid bibles 

five centuries bitter mouth of hags' sins 

they were five centuries old Emmet Till 

five centuries is the age without age of the stake of Cain 

Emmet Till I say: 

"in the heart zero 

not a drop of blood"

and as for yours, may it hide the sun from me, m,.y it mingle with 

my bread 

--!'Boy from Chicago 

is it always true that you 

are equal to a white 'It 

H believed so . Even at the edge of night 

at the edge of the Mi:sissippi drifting between the high banks of 

racial hatred its bars, its barriers, its sepulchral avalanches 

he believed . He believed that a negro was equal to a white . 

---"Boy from Chicago . . . " 

So much sweeps away the wounded pride of racial vanity 

and its crackin- ~)f ~.vhips 

listen to the smooth singing of the bird of the blood 

in the blue hedge of the veins 

he foresees, mounting in the surprisingly blue field of sky 

above the drowsiness of the bluffs 

---the step of a mourner, the step of a gleaner--your 

stealthy step, O vehement sun 

then the night remembered its arm 

and Big Miillam's heavy pistol 

on the living black wall of golden flesh 

wrote in rusty letters the sentence and the state of the Union: 

panting humming screeching 

boring drilling 

the earth says banks bibles bulldozers 

the sky says sky-scrapers 

I say silence 

I say enough 

20 years of zinc 

20 years of copper 

15 years of petroleum 

and the 180th year of these states 

but in the heart--painless clock 

nothing, zero 

not a drop of blood 

in the brutish sterilized white heart . 

translated from the French by SOULBOOK 

ce a

186 Cesa .'re 

rAe ssage sur 1' ?,'tat de 1' Union 

Sans rire, j'imagine au Congres ce message sur 1'Etat de 

1'Union : situation tragique 

plus ne nous reste au soul - sol que 75 ans de fer 

50 ans de cobalt 

mais pour 35 ans de soufre et 20 ans de bauxite, 

au coeur quoi 

Rien, zero, 

mine sans minerai 

caverne ou rien ne rode 

de sang plus une goutte . 

tes yeux etaient une conque marine ou petillait la bataille de 

vin de ton sang de quinze ans . 

Eux jeunes n'avaient jamais eu loge 

ou plutot sur eux pesai--nt 

plus que tous les gratt-e-ciel, c'.nq s :_ec!es de tort onnaires 

de bruleurs 3e sorc'.eraw, 

cinq siecles de mauvais gin de gros cigares 

de grasses badaines remplies do tranches de bobles raneies 

cinq siecles bouche amere de peches de rombiares 

ils avaient cinq siecl_3s Emmet T1111 

cinq siecles est Page sans age du piau de Cain 

Emmet Till ja dis : 

"au coeur zero 

de sang pas une goutte" 

et pur le tien, qu'il me cache 13 soleil, qu'a mon pain 

il se m8le 

--"Garcon de Chicago 

e'est-il toujours vrai que to vaux 

autant qu'un blanc ?" 

Il croyait . Meme au bond de la nuit 

au bord du Mississippi charriant entre les hautes berges de 

la haine raciale ses barreaux, ses barrieres, ses tombalas 

avalanches, 

il crut . I1 crut qu'un negre valait un blanc .

Autant en emporte le froissement du vent racial et son 

cliquetis de fouets 

lui ecoute dans le bleu buisson des veines 

chanter egal 1'oiseau du sang 

il devine par-dessus le sommeil des berges 

monter dans le bleu champ surprenant 

-- pas de pleureuse pas de glaneuse-ton 

pas furtif soleil vehement 

alors la nuit se souvint de son bras 

et le gros colt de Big Millam 

sur le noir mur vivant de chair aurorale 

en lettres de rouille ecrivit la sentence et 1'etat do 1'Union: 

je dis silence 

je dis assez 

20 ans de zinc 

15 ans de cuivre 

15 ans de petrole 

haletements vrombissements miaulements 

forements perforements 

la terre dit banques bibles bulldozers 

le ciel dit gratte-ciel 

et Pan 180 de ces etats 

mais au coeur-indolcLre horlogerie 

rien, zero 

de sang pas une goutte 

au carne blanc coeur desinfecte . 

(reimprime de Presence Africaine ) 

!'Garcon de Chicago . . . " 

p 

41 

ar aime'ceesaire 

ces.aixe- .187

188 foster 

Here it is Monday: 

four weeks from where you signed your mischeck 

and said that perhaps someday 

things'll be better . 

I said here it is Monday: 

a few steps 

inside the twenty yard line 

where we were ready for change 

but was refused the birth right 

That's right, Monday: 

the blue day when you have to pay 

for joyous weekends on black backs 

and black belli3s . 

I'm still talking about Monday: 

the day after your white Sunday 

dinner with Teddy Roosevelt 

Harryass Truman 

Phallic headed Ike . 

Yes, Monday: 

BACKWAGES 

four weeks after the due day 

one day after the day before and 

ain't time for going sloe . 

Monday: 

the final day of white lie 

smust be done away with ; 

wasted 

mistakes must be payed for 

now . 

But first we better kill that guy 

who said "I'll pay you on Saturday . " 

by harold foster

Be careful society ! 

Dont eat men . . . 

men are your organs' gardenflowers . 

Men are roses in lungs 

sweetening breath . 

Men are lilies in sex organs 

to make x + y 

reproduce lilies 

to remake x + y 

Men are lotus in brains 

exhaling 

inhaling 

for as long as x + y happen . 

aroma of meditation 

creation . 

Men are carnations in hearts 

blowing love's blood 

Bo careful society . . . . . 

through body's every part . 

A garden aint even crummy without flowers 

by ronAld stone

190 

kgositsile 

CARBON COPY WI1ITEMAN 

In the corridors of your mind 

fulsomely flattered by Ivy League or oxford 

glib fancy of self-emasculation 

would-be brother, how do you plan 

to placate tho fury 

this black light burning bright 

scorching everything anti-human, civilising man? 

Is your waist-leap conscience 

an experimental death, 

a fear of Being self, 

a slave brain-child of European refugees 

thriving in the ghetto of your mind ? 

Is enslavement between white sheets a modern ethic 

Or simple rose-tinted gllassos on your twisted head 

up in the crotch of your natural enemy 

an obvious concentration camp for imitation whitemen 

Check this out 

Even the seasons of the year change . 

Day yields place to night 

The sun is s Ating on your. s :)ul . 

by k William kgositsile

notes from great sociat prison 

dedicated to the Watts War On Poverty 

I . Somnambulism 

i was once a model prisoner 

drowning in a wretched record groove 

etched to stale vibrations ; 

unable to hear for the rankle 

of chains about my ears 

unable to see for the clogging 

of bright neon waxing my retina 

unable to think for the brutal shock 

of cattleprod upon inhuman body 

i was once a nigga 

but prison gives you time, bro . 

time 

you only have time 

to eat to bleed to pee 

to make coldsteelblack license plates 

to kiss the onerous ass of the eagle 

whose droppings of democracy 

litter the earth 

you have only time 

and sometimes they would take 

cattleprod away and 

confused thoughts would come 

come rushing throbbing 

bobbing to damp forehead 

like broken record like 

a record i 

once heard by max roach (i forgot the name*) 

and i had time to see think of 

things i wanted to forget 

forget white mist surrounding 

confounding mind

192 allen 

i was once a prisoner, bro . , 

trapped in the vortex of 

a black, bottomless mire 

which had been 

dammed damned destructed 

confinedcontained corrupted 

until 

the mudanoozanshitan 

jesusknowsanwhatnot eructed and 

bubbled to surface in jive 

mightyWiA ; prncuure 

cooker each time i 

came up what though last time 

gazed through chains air rank searing eyes 

glazed with scent of mutilated flesh i 

searched searched saw cross off en 

off onoff onoffon awaited mist while 400 

years on a neon cross yo mama 

hoho and a bag of tricks faith on jesus off . . . 

i wished i could have been one of pavlov's 

dogs in a warm laboratory somewhere 

II . Delirium 

foaming 

slobbering nightmare slipped in slithery 

eagleshit and saw wooly wall peeked 

through tarnished thick asphalt with 

feathery vines in brassplate foliage : 

Landscaping by 

Tricknology Associates 

Madison Ave ., N . Y . (10001)

nono please if sorry i won't challey 

let go please this time no dragged 

through stolenblack powerhouse pushed 

and passed by 

nigganiggas with mustangminds 

relaxing on ebonycouches in 

a wing for model prisoners enjoying 

a more comfortable kind of 

slavery slipped as hun*unky 

came off the wall 

until 

one fine day the mightymotherfuckerfelland 

not one buckaroo 

knew how to 

put back together again the 

fonkywhite fartifactegg whose 

meaning long ago had cracked and peeled 

away in the vortex 

the jive time eagle stirreth its nest but it's 

too late, baby, as flickering hourglass glows and 

drips quietly out of time with 

benevolent giftgrains 

of powdered 

paternalpastywhite eagle turds 

in c . a . r . e . packages - 

universal makeup for shitty deals pulled 

III . Revelation 

through stifling sterile whitewashed 

halls chains on dragging concrete stood 

in line with other risks 

and waited my turn then i saw 

the sloppy beastina 

with the blank white uniform 

with the blank pastyface 

with the blank screech 

next and the shaky bro. 

in front of me suddenly

194 allen 

stopped humming the 

blues he was humming 

stopped bopping the 

walk he was bopping 

stopped existing 

and he dug 

deep 

down 

into his pocket and 

brought up his most 

cherished possession his 

black soul then 

i saw a ravel unwrinkle 

in the place where her 

beak was supposed 

to be and i quessed 

that it was meant to be 

a smile but i was not quite 

sure since she had no face only 

dry cracks and crevices where 

infallible masquefactor could not 

stand the mechanical strain 

of a frigid grin 

IV . Aurora 

when i would not give 

up my precious soul my 

precious black soul 

my raw materials 

when i would not allow 

my only possession to 

be expropriated (i 

dared to be a man 

and to be black simultaneously) 

she called the 

overseers she called them 

bogue house niggas 

put me in sol i tary with

other disbelievers but 

(i saw max roach) 

i did not mind this so much as 

i could now fart and sing my funky blues 

and scratch between 

in hibernation without 

feeling that i had to please 

anyone but myself and i 

knew that 1 day we 

would escape this putridity 

would negate its existence 

would rise to claim the aurora ; 

my precious soul, which i had carefully saved 

would become a vital part 

of the burning, black I 

which would help to remake 

reshape 

the world 

V. Message 

there exists a very fine line 

between standing on the corner 

and falling in the gutter, bro. , 

and each day, 

each one of us stands at least 

momentarily on that corner, 

if only 

to reach the other side . 

* Mendacity 

by ernie allen 

(praise jesus)

196 snollings ; 

BANDUNG WAIF POEM 

(for Adlai 'Stevenson and Martin Luther King, Jr .) 

,,People" say: 

that war is wrong; violence 

never solved a thing. 

"People" say: 

that to greet hatred with hatred 

is an evil thing. "People" say 

they "dread" the Sword, and yet 

blood flows throughout the earth 

- a mighty river pregnant with 

spring flood-rain ; while suave 

in hallowed Halls of Gold, bland-voiced 

"People" say: 

"He who lives by the sword . . . " 

Why persecute the Sword? It is 

an arm of man, it helps him work out 

his destiny upon the Human Stage . 

See it flash! Blue steel dripping 

crimson gore ; catching the light of 

the Eastern Sun as it passes through 

the West: grasp the Sword 

within your work-scarred hands . It is your tool 

to make the world anew . Your dignity . 

Never mind what "People" say: 

We will bury hypocrites! 

when we build the world anew with the Sword. 

by rolland snellings

The Govso 

Like a goose who never flew, but does now -- 

I started through the Carthage hay of rising 

Boys all down the turning fields where deep-down 

Some graces must start . 

I flew a "Black Man's Solo" against the naked walls 

Far up towards the zenith before I flickered in the 

Light and dove with a tired roar to rout these unchanging 

Stars --- so lonely in life, and so 

Close to death . 

feral spring cat 

footed 

flits around the cor 

ner and 

black legs flailing i 

followonly 

to find a d i s t a n t 

shape in the trees a thinning 

that I've grown older and 

slower and far away 

spring 

is 

sound in the wind and 

by glenn myles 

by carol freeman

198 chago

partners in 

kgositsile 189 

~h~te rac3~:sm 

by k. willits kgesitsile 

If you_ are born in America with a black skin, you're in prison . . . " so 

said Brother Malcolm . The same condition applies to a Black man born in South 

Africa . The only difference between these two members of the white Christian 

unholy alliance is that the whites who rule South Africa are less hypocritical than 

the trigger-happy -European refugees who usurped the rule of America from the 

aborigines they massacred . 

The settling of Duteh'criminals in South Africa in 1652 was heraldic of the 

African's present nightmare . These criminals started stealing people'_ cattle 

and sheep along the sea coast and when the people demanded their property back, 

they killed them . When the English learned how easily they could get supplies 

at the Cape of Good Hope (can you imagine that -- Good Hope ?) on their way to 

plunder Asia, they joined with the Dutch in order to share the loot . They're still 

sharing it today -- with the addition of the rest of Europe . Today, for the preservation 

of white western Christian civilization, the whites in South Africa have 

deprived the Africans of every human right conceivable . In a country where the 

only human values are white, an African's life matters on_L in relation to how 

much he can sweat in the mines, plantations, and industries to make sure that 

the "great whiteman boss" enjoys his life thoroughly . In his, own country the African 

cannot vote ; he cannot chose where he wants to work (and to be super-exploited), 

he cannot choose what school to send his children -- if you want to call those 

fascist indoctrination institutions schools . The list of the everyday humiliations 

that comprise the African's life in South Africa is endless . 

However, since Africans outnumber whites four to one, i t is very doubtful 

whether the whites in South Africa could have managed to retain their position 

if they had not had allies and collaborators . One of white South (cont .)

200 kgositsile 

Africa's leading criminal partners is the "democratic" United States of America . 

I said that the United States was more hypocritical than South Africa ; whereas 

South Africa did not sig,_the United Nations' Human Rights Declaration, the 

United States did. Can anybody show me any evidence that white -America-is interested 

in human rights ? The only evidence of what these willful, adolescent 

fascist-maniacs are really interested in is their sadistic massacre of millions 

of people from the tine they first.-,landed in this country . Even today while liberal 

United States government spokesmen make glib, sugarcoated speeches, 

their paid henchmen murder millions of people all over the world and even get 

medals for doing it . But since I am talking about South Africa, what is the role 

of the United States in Verwoerd's Nazi-oriented, white western Christian apartheid 

machinery? There are over 160 American companies in South Africa with 

an investment of over a halfbillion dollars exploiting cheap black labor, netting 

more profits than they could ever have dreamed of making anywhere else in the 

world. They take advantage of this because they know that in South Africa, Africans 

are prohibited by law from organizing unions, bargaining collectively, or 

striking . A South African Information Service release on March, 1962, clarified 

America's position in South Africa through a statement by U. S. businessman 

Marcus D. Banghart, vice 

president of Newmont Mining 

Corporation, the United States 

company with the largest investment 

in South Africa: "We 

know the people and the Govern.ment 

and we back our conviction 

with our reputation 

and our dollars ." Does this 

bigoted bastard really think 

he knows me and millions of 

my brothers in South Africa? 

Does he really think we do not 

know America's reputation in 

Africa, South America, Southeast 

Asia and in the United 

States, (coot . p . 201) 

'DemoKKKracy° : The main subject taught in American and 

South African schools (from Bohemia)

kgositsile 20 1 

where through her blood-dripping dollars millions of people have lost their lives 

simply because they want to rid themselves of the hideous atrocities of white imperialism 

? As if through her investments, trade' and even small businesses 

America did not feel sh : would help white South Africa enough to maintain apartheid 

through capitalist super-exploitation of Africans, she used to sell them arms 

and ammunition to kill us . " She stopped only when s1.a was alarmed by the protests 

of freedom4oving nations at the United Nations . However, America continued to 

supply her criminal partner with equally strategic commodities like oil . And of 

course Sdsfl? Africa has been America's intimate partner against humanity for a 

long time . In the Korean War South African murderers fought side by side with 

American murderers and won 427 American medals . 

America's policy in Sahth Africa is not surprising in view of her treatm-nt of 

Blac people in this country . I do not care how many glib lies U . S. State Department 

spokesmen tell in connection with democracy ; I do not care how many fancy 

worded bills they pass to decorate White House files their atrocious actions both 

in the southern states and the north show us how oppressive white America really 

is . 

I know what I am talking about . I am black . I was born and rai sod in South Africa 

where even the house I lived in, the schools I went to, the type of education I 

could get, the places I could visit even as~ a small inn :cent boy, were determined 

and dictated by the interests of this white, western, Christian monster . I have 

lived in America, citadel of western corruption, where material values are more 

important than human values-. 

It was out of this country(America) that Robert Williams was forced to flee 

for safety because he was man. enough to be determined to moot white imperialist 

violence with black defensive violence . Yes, it was in this capital of white wes 

tern congenital chicanery that Brother Malcolm was assassinated because h3 was 

man enough to tell the truth. Yes, it was in this Christian country that four innocent 

Black girls were charred to death while they tried to worship a Christian god. 

It is in this "democratic" country that hundreds of Black people get killed by white 

racist maniacs for demanding their inalienable rights . 

Black teenagers are constantly victimized and sadistically flogged in American 

cells as their soul brothers are in South African ones . I knew a lot of such victims 

in Johannesburg, South Africa, and I know quite a few in Harlem . Hardened criminals 

are often used by prison authorities to perpetrate (cont . p . 2 0'2 )

JAILED-Two leading South African Nationalists, Nelson Mandela Sleftl and Walter Sisolr. 

sentenced to life imprisonment in 1464 for -sabotage," on Ro66en Island . 

perverted acts in South Africa, the guilty sit in judgement over the innocent in 

infernal institutions hypocritically known as courts of law. Who does not know 

of Black people being lynched, Black women being raped and Black men being 

aaatrated both physically and mentally by these upholders and defenders of western 

Christian civilization in America as their brothers are in South Africa? 

Even the American university, as the South African one, is an institution to 

train and mass-produce a certain type of whitewashed idiot that could be trademarked 

MANUFACTURED IN RACIST USA or MANUFACTURED IN RACIST 

SOUTH AFRICA, dopending on what side of the Atlantic you get your miseducation. 

Hut the white world cannot get all of us . Even the Roman Empire fell . And like 

I said in a poem : - 

11 . 

. . all I learned at your schools was what not to be . 

Charlie, don't you know you're living on borrowed time ?"

haywood 203 

The Crislf Of Negro R4ef4Drmisn1 

8i T'he Growth Of Nati®nalism 

by harry haywood 

Brother Harry Haywood is the author of the classical Marxist interpretation of Black Nationalism, 

Negro Liberation (International Publishers, 1948) . The following work is - a chapter from 

his unpublished book, Towards _A Revolutionary Program for Negro Freedom , which he wrote in col 

laboration with Gwendolyn Midlo . In the latter manuscript Brother Ha.ywood combines his, perennial 

fine tools of theory & research with new soulful applications that, in our opinion, makes it immeasureably 

more relevant than his erstwhile treatise . -- the editors -- 

The present -day Negro movement is characterized by the crisis of Negro reformism 

and the growth of Black nationalism. There are three main fact--rs 

feeding this development: 

1) The world-wide anti-colonialist upsurge ; 2) The effects of growing. economic 

crisis among the basic masses of Negroes ; 3) Erosion of the myth of imminent, 

peaceful democratic integration . 

THE ANTI-COLONIALIST UPSURGE 

The international crisis of the imperialist system has had a profound impact 

upon U . S . Negroes . The world system of imperialis , with the United States as 

its leading force and arbitrator, is in retreat, fighting a rearguard battle to main 

tain and shore up the fragmented status quo already eroded beyond repair by the 

thrust of ascending socialisnland victorious colonial revolution . The colonial system, 

the main prop of what is euphemistically called, "The Free World," is in an 

advanced stage of disintegration . White supremacy and its ideological rational, the 

spurious doctrine of racial inferiority, is collapsing before the forward surge of 

the new sovereign nations of Africa and Asia and the heroic struggles of the peoples 

of Latin America. 

The strength of the Negro Liberation Movement, its growing momentum and 

impact, lies in the fact that it is the counterpart of this anti-colonial revolution 

which is shaking the world. Its particular significance lies in the fact that it is 

a revolt against what amounts to semi-colonial oppression in the heart of the 

world's leading imperialist country . Columnist Joseph Alsop (cont . p . 20.4)

2 04 haywood 

is close to the mark when he characterized the "Negro protest" as a "neo-colonial 

revolution," and comments that "this process more and more resembles the end 

of a coloKa1 period . "l 

SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS 

Aside from the tremendous impact of the colonial revolution, we must take 

into account the internal social and economic factors powering the present Negro 

movement: the relative and absolute economic deterioration of the status of the 

Negro people resulting from frequent recessions combined with the inroads of 

automation which have hit the Negro masses disproportionately . Thus, the Wgro 

viorker is caught in the job crisis with the percentage of unemployed more than 

double that of the whites . The widening gap between Negroes and whites in U . S . 

society can be summarized with à few significant statistics: 

The median Negro family income is 45% below the median white family income 

. Moreover, In 1952, this gap was "only" 43% which shows the direction 

in which things are going. 2 . 

Negro unemployment is two and a half times white unemployment . Among 

youth this gap is even wider . At least one-half of all youth out of school between 

16 and 21 are Negroes, although they constitute only 15% of the population of that 

age group . 

Long-range trends indicate a worsening of the situation . Loren Miller says: 

"The gap in white-Negro unemployment rates has increased since 1957 and unemployment 

spells tend to last longer among Negro workers than among whites . 

Nonwhite workers whorepresented 11% of the labor force and 22% of the unemployed 

accounted for 26% of the long-term unemployed -- which means that many 

of them are permanently jobless . "3 

Seventy-five percent of Negro workers are in unskilled, semi-skilled and 

service jobs, while the figure for white workers is 39% . 

The average Negro born today has a life expectancy nearly ten years below 

that of the average white . In the South the gap is even greater . 

:One-sixth of all Negro homes today are designated by government surveys 

as "substandard", as compared to 

3% for whites . 

In Southern agriculture, the absolute 

decline in Negro sharecropping 

has taken place against the background 

of the decline in farm employment 

generally, which is the most drastic 

change since the end of (cont .p .205)

haywood 

World War II . There is a shrinkage of Negro farm ownership, which is proceed 

ing at a rate twice as fast as that of whites . And, at the other end of the pole,__ 

there is a greater concentration of Negro farmers at the lowest rungs of agricul 

tural ladder . There is a great oxceleratian of the concentration of agriculture 

into large farms and plantations, and the growth of absentee ownership . While, on 

the other hand, the mechanization hailed by the "liberal" gradualists as-a . cure-all 

for the South's problems is not accessible to the poor farmer, and blocks- :access 

to the land by the masses of tenants and sharecroppers . At the same time, thedisplacement 

of basic soil tillers has been accelerated by the Federal Government's 

crop reduction program, the sharp edge of which has been directed against the poor 

farmer : . While the big planters are continuing to expand their production, the 

small, family,- sized farms bear the main part ; if not the full cost, of acreage cut 

backs. This, situation has operated to increase the traditional disadvantage, ; of the 

Negro soil tiller in every respect. 3 

These facts clearly show that the dominant economic trends in U . S . society are 

not towards imminent, direct integration of the Negro people into the existing social 

structure . On the contrary, the trends are towards :trait-jacketing the Negro peop 

le into lower, frozen caste throughout the country which, in the words of one author, 

is "faced with more uncompromising segregation and larger slums . "4 . 

Th: institutionalization of Negro cppression is documented by Michael Harrington 

in his angry study of poverty in the United States, "The Other America. " He reveals 

the structural basis for the continuation of Jim Crowism . Harrington points 

out that the Negro is an internal migrant who will face racism wherever he goes, 

who cannot leave oppression behind "as if it were a tsar or a potato famine . The 

present position of the Negro in the American economy has been institutionalized 

and unless something is done it will reproduce itself for years to come . . Th ;.3 crisis 

is hitting precisely at those areas where gains in integrated work were made in the 

past two decades, in the semi-skilled jobs of mass production industries . And given 

the racial character of the American economy, this is a particularly severe blow to 

the Negro . It amounts to rebuilding the wall of prejudice, to destroying the advances 

which already have been made . " 5 . 

The ever-growing economic problems of the basic masses of Negroes is a 

powerful source of discontent which is already bordering a strident disaffection and 

disillusionment with the American Dream.

206 haywood 

EROSION OF THE MYTH OF IMMINENT PEACEFUL DEMOCRATIC INTEGRATION 

e struggle for Negro rights has reached an impasse . The myth of imminent, 

peaceful, democratic integration under the benevolent wing : of -the Federal 

Government is collapsing . The present struggle for freedom, far-from being an 

onward and upward march from victory to victory, is threatened with serious losses 

and setbacks . 

Reformism, from the most conservative NAACP leaders and white liberals, 

to the soealled socialists, including the leaders of the Communist-Party of the 

United States, made fundamentally false assumptions about the - Negro question. 

They have all spread illusions which have contributed to .the perpetuation of Negro 

oppression and at this point are disarming the - Negro struggle in the face of 

the growing ultra-right danger . They have underestimated the ruthless determination 

of the Southem0ligarchy to maintain its traditional domination over Southern 

political life and its exaggerated prestige and influence in the Federal Government 

and in the Democratic party . They have operated on the naive assumption 

that the Southern Oligarchy would allow the Negro people in the South to gradually 

win enough rights to vote them out of office . . They assumed that the Executive 

branch of the Federal Government would back up the Negro struggle in the South . 

They encouraged dependency upon the Federal Government . 

Their basic mistake has been to underestimate the ruthlessness and power of 

the Southern Oligarchy, and . to exaggerate the depth of the contradictions between 

the Federal Government and the Southern Oligarch states . It is true that the 

national administration of the post-war period have been pursuing a policy of making 

token concessions to the Negro people, mainly to improve the image of the United 

.States abroad and to pacify the movement at home . But the dixie-crats know 

very well, and base their entire strategy on the knowledge, that f ore ign p o 1 icy 

considerations become minor when it comes to the question 

o f internal order . They have political power and refuse to give it up piecemeal 

. And the Federal Government will ultimately concede to them as long as 

they hold, and use, the blackmail threat of creating civil disorder, and the Negro 

movement stays within the framework of passive resistance . 

The only way the Negro movement can free itself from the vise which is tightening 

around it is thrDugh independent, revolutionary struggle . This 

simple fact lies at the root of the crisis of Negro reformism. The Negro movement 

cannot advance further on the old basis, and in fact, it is :aced with reversals 

and, defgats . without a revolutionary reorientation . Given the (cont . p . 207)

haywood 207 

control of the state apparatus in the De p South by the Oligarchy, which they will 

give up voluntarily, and the growing tendency towards appeasement within tha 

Federal Government, especially marked as an aftermath of the assassination of 

J. F. Kennedy, the on ly effective weapon I\Tegroes have at this point is to pose 

their o wn thr e atto internal stability . 

The clock cannot be turned back . The old methods have proven bankrupt . A new, 

revolutionary reorientation is the only alternative to despair, passivity, and escapism 

. 

I . as quoted in The Nat - ionaj Guardian, 6/6/63 : 

2 . Loren Miller, "Prosperity Through Equality," 

3 . Ibid . , 

The Nation , 9/1/63 

'- 

4 . Victor Perlo, 'The 'Negro in Southern Agriculture" 

5 . Michael Harrington, The Other America , p .79 . 

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208 pefia 

A Puerto Rican 

a~aoao V 

by alfredo pe-na of the Pro-! ndepender, ;-~ f ".,vsmant ,)f Pueric P icf, 

After the assassination of Brother Malcolm X, solidarity was expressed with his followers, 

and particularly with his widow and children, from many diverse quarters . 

Nevertheless, many of 

us were pleasantly surprised when the youth of The Movement For Indpendence of Puerto Rico had 

James Shabazz, Secretary of the late El Hajji Malik Shabazz(Malcolm X) speak last . May at their 

fourth Nat.ional .0onference in-San Juan, . Puerto Rico, 

Thus SOULBOOK decided to reciprocate this expression of solidarity and to let as many Black 

people as possible acquaint themselves with the struggle of the Puerto Rican people -- who are 

predominantly colored -- for independence . In order to implement this committment we have pu- 

blished this article by Brother Alfredo Pena in both Spanish and English . --the editors-- 

The Puerto Rican revolution began when the American imperialist forces 

landed on our beaches in 1898 . In the last five years the ProIndependence Movement 

of Puerto Rico has attempted to arouse the interests of the masses on the 

island and in New York, so as to unite and organize the proletariat to the call 

of national liberation . 

The revolution of Puerto Rico is imminent, but revolutions fail without the 

support of the masses . - The peasants, the workers, the unemployed and the 

students must rally under the banner of independence in order that the struggle 

can rise into a dynamic and powerful force . 

The American governemet has succe :4ed in indoctrinating our people and driving 

them into mass hysteria . Even a murmur of change or an inkling of independence 

is stifled by reactionary innuendos . The educational system, controlled by 

the Americans, has extracted Puerto Rican culture and history from its curriculum. 

Students learn more about the United States than they do their own island . 

The American business interests own more land, property, (cont . page209)

pena 200 

and industry than the Puerto Rican people ; for example, the beaches on the island 

are owned by luxurious American hotels, whore the tourists can bathe for free, 

yet the Puerto Rican is forced to pay a minimum, price to enter the beach . 

Since 1898, American imperialists' have sucked billions of dollars out of Puerto 

Rico in fruits, ore, oil, and sugar 

and have manipulated and exploited 

the people for a profit motive . As 

for the governor and the legislature 

of Puerto Rico, they serve only as 

instrument: of the power structure 

of the United States, defenilirg the 

upper layers of the Puerto Rican 

middle class while profiting from 

their own bureacracy . 

The term "commonwealth" which 

the United States has applied to Puerto 

Rico is a sovereign state . The lack of 

Puerto Rico"s own president, government, 

economic, political, and social 

systems expose such a lie . Even the 

complete definition of "commonwealth" 

doesn't necessarily mean a free nation . 

In relation to Puerto Rico the costliest crime of the American government is 

that it has erased from the Puerto Rican's mind that he is a part of a Latin Amercan 

heritage . Under the American Government's system the Puerto Rican has 

discarded the traditions and customs of his history . He has journeyed through a 

cultural transition from one society to another . The transition is controlled by 

the machines of indoctrination of the American government . Such a channeled 

journey has diluted our people's morals : 40% of our youth in New York have embraced 

drug addiction, 31%,in,Puerto Rico ; 26% of our woman have entered the 

trade of prostitution in New York, 33% in Puerto Rico . Even the air in Puerto 

Rico has, become poluuted . In 1954 the United States be&an -- to build 

nuclear_ laboratories and have proceeded in testing various 

nuclear_ woa_po_n__s o_f_f_our shores . Experi :m_en_ts _w_ith_i_n_t_h_e 

laboratories have been performed on Puerto Rican nationalist 

prisoners 

With the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the personality and character

210 pefla 

of a liberated Puerto Rico was crystallizing . But on July 25, the invasion of 

American troops smothered all hopos for independence and freedom . Betances, 

one of the Puerto Rican revolutionary leaders, was summoned to France prior 

to the invasion to sign the peace treaty . On the _eve of the attack on Puerto Rico 

a cry of reprisal from Paris rang out throughout .the world . ,''We noither want 

to be colonized by Spain, nor by the United States . I'm, surprised my people have 

not risen ." 

Eugeno de Ostos was travelling in the United States when news readhed him 

that American troops had crushed Puerto Rican Independence with an invasion 

"the sacrifices will be many . . . but the independence of our island will grow. " 

Before the invasion , 91% of the land belonged to the Puerto Rican farmers . Tobacco 

and sugar made up 66% of the production; by 1900 this production was owned 

and controlled by American capitalists . The Americans owned the rest, of the 

land and controlled the dimunitive agicultural reforms . The inter-commvr c,; of 

the island remained in the hands of the Spanish upper class . The already established 

Puerto Rican bourgeoisie was secondary in its exploitation of the proletariat 

in comparison to the Americans . 

Coffee had superseded sugar as a main source of income for the capitalists 

and by late 1900, 80% of the coffee crop was owned by the American government . 

Workers and peasants were being paid 50% l o yr e r than .they had . received under 

the SSpanish regime . Meat and rice became the luxurious commodities under 

the retail andproduction of the American business interests . 

In.1901 the United States created an educational system where English would 

become the official language-- so began the eradication of . Puerto Rico's culture 

from the minds of her youth . 

In 1916, Jose de Diego, a famous lawyer for the Catholic Church, began to fill 

a paper of historical and economical facts exposing the criminal exploitation of 

not only Puerto Rico's resources, but also her people . 

In 1917 with the coming of the imperialist war, the United States decf rfed Puerto 

Rico an official colony ; by doing so she was able to send young Puerto Rican men 

into the war and at the same time deprive the island of a revolutionary force . 

In 1920 the young and premature struggle for independence of Puerto Rico 

found a political arm in the creation of the Nationalist Party. At its early stages 

it based itself on the criticism of American imperialis , and in the sporadic sales 

of literature . In 1924 a new epoch was born in Puerto Rico and a new pale of history 

was waiting to be filled . Wandering into the Nationalist Party was young, 

brown skinned law graduate from Harvard, his name Pedro Albizu Campos, a 

name that the universal struggle: of national liberation will (cont . p . 211)

forever embrace . Pedro Albizu returned to the island in 1924 in the wake of his 

harassment by the American military because of his color . After his enrollment 

into the Nationalist Party, Albizu Campos was jlectod vice-president of the party . 

In 1926 he was appointed as a representative of the party to travel to various Latin 

American countries to acgMint himself with the independence and revolutionary 

movement: in those countries . It didn't take long for Pedro Albizu to learn that 

it was his impregnable will t hat aroused the millions on the island to the call of 

liberation ; it was his voice which echoed in every village and in -.very city that 

shock the fetters of the masses ; it was his revolutionary ferocity that turned the 

whole established social order of the bourgeois-colonialist upside down . Th is son 

of a peasant couple in Ponce (a city in Puerto Rico -- Editors' note) was to become 

the pride and glory of "La Boricua . " 

In 1932, under the leadership of Dr . Campos, the Nationalist Party entered the 

electoral campaigns with Albizu as candidate for Senator at large . Before elect= 

ion night the pro-American newspapers began an anti-nationalist campaign, Mod 

ing the island with accusations against Pedro Albizu . Their propaganda wasn't 

enough, the election was then rigged, and Pedro Albizu lost, yet in his defeat to 

the candidates of the nulti-milliondrOD he scored 12, 000 votes . 

On the eve of Pedro's loss, the depression that had started in the mid twenties 

(capitalism hinders its foreign possessions before it applies economic misery to 

its own working class) began to dilute the foundations of the bourgeoisie . Below 

it the lower classes were already decaying, comf:-lling the peasants to move from 

the countryside into the city and later to migrate into New York . 

In 1533 the social forces of the proletariat began to bellow their dissatisfaction 

towards the island's ruling class in demonstration 

after demonstration . One of these 

demonstrations was directed by Albizu 

against the American monopoly, Porto 

Rico Railway, Light and Power Co ., in 

which the workers' strike had the last 

word . In 1934 he directed various campaigns 

against the plantation owners and 

landlords by leading strikes of sugar cane 

cutters . Imperialism was beginning to de 

cay in the mist of its own depression . The 

degeneration and perversion of the masses 

by the mechanics of the ruling class produced multiple offsprings of contradiction 

and brought on revolution as the order of the day . When Colonel Francis J . Riggs, 

Chief of Police and personal bodyguard of Governor Winship (cont . p . 212

212 pena 

offered , Pedro Albizu X150, 000 to withraw his campaigns, Pedro refused ; from 

then on he cecame apolitical danger to the monstrous business interests on the 

island . 

On Oct . 24, 1935, four members of the Nationalist Party 

were murdered by the police on orders from Col . Riggs . The 

members were part of a demonstration protesting a bourgeois, pro-imperialist 

student 'assembly. In December of 1935, 25, 000 members of the Nationalist Party 

composed a petition demanding the resignation of Col . Riggs and the withdrawal 

of American business interests and military troops from the island . 

On March 4, 1936, in a gun battle with three youth members of the Nationalist 

Party, Col . Riggs was shot and killed . Later the police arrested, Elias Beauchamp, 

one of the freedom fighters involved in the incident, and his companion Hiram Ro 

sadp . Following the arrest Elias and Hiram were both tortured and killed inside 

the police station . 

On hr5arch 4, 1936, on the campus of Puerto Rico University, Pedro Albizu was 

arrested in an attempt to recruit fellow countrymen into the Nationalist F,.rmy . A 

consensus taken by the students preceding his arrest showed that Albizu's followers 

had gathered more than 250 volunteers in a matter of hours . Following his arrest 

Dr . Campos was charged with instigating the gun battle in which Riggs was killed . 

In July of 1936 the American Civil Liberties Union sent a committee to defend Pedro . 

That same month in the congress of the United States, a representative from New 

York, Rep . Vito Marcantonio, defended Albizu's rights and the struggle for liberation 

in Puerto Rico . Countering the defensive pleas was Dr . Ernest Gruening (now 

the 'liberal' Senator from Alaska who was the Director of the Reconstruction Project 

Committee of Puerto Rico and Commisioner of Divisions of Territories and 

Island Possessions . Gruening denounced the independence movement in Puerto 

Rico and branded Pedro as a danger to the American Government . 

'Iith the pro-ir-rlperialist newsmedia on the island conderming [-Ibizu, .mS with 

the conviction of guilt supported by the colossus of the American State Department 

the all-American businessmen jury convicted Pedro. The American judge sentenced 

him to Atlanta Penitentiary for seven years . Th r ough out th e t r i a I not one 

Puerto Rican was able to enter the courtroom . 

The independence movement had grown from a premature infant into a revolutionary 

arm of the masses, a ubiquitous force channeled through the halls of national 

liberation, shattering the pillars of hunzan exploitation, thundering into the quarters 

of the bourgeois intuition, uprooting its deteriorating surface . By 1937 the Nationalist 

Party had already been constructed into a mobilized cadre of (coat . p213)

pena 21& 

of thousands . It had not only attracted the unerriployed, the workers and the 

peasants, but students, teachers, and university professors . Realizing the political 

potentiality of such a dynamic force, Governor Vlihship, with the aid of various 

Puerto Rican bureaucrats, had secret ly ordered a massacre ip the city of 

Pond . In a parade of Nationalist Youth Cadets and Nationalist nurses the Ponce 

police and American troops under the leadership of Col . Orbetta, brother-in-law 

of Dioniso Trigo and Franco's fascist representative in Puerto Rico, massacred 

from fiftyito seventy men, women, and children, wounding 150 . On an empty 

street in Ponce, a bleeding revolutionary stumbled to the sidewalk and wrote in 

his own blood: 

"Viva la Republica! 

Abaio los Asesinos!" 

Of the troops and policemen that had killed Puerto Rican children on that 

bloody day, not one came to justice . Col. Orbetta who had directed the slaughter 

continued to be a colonel and Chief of Police . Govermr f'llinship who had ordered 

the pogrom remained the "great white father" of Puerto Rico . 

`%lith the outbreak of World War II the revolution in Puerto Rico carne to an interuption, 

but the infamous day in Ponce was molded in the pages of history, an 

obstacle of shame on the minds of liberals and a rem inder of revenge for the 

Puerto Rican that lived that day. 

The second and concluding part of this article will appear in SOULBOOK 4 

In spite of the loud and pompous declarations about equal rights contained !n all 

the constitutions of the Latin . American Republics it is, however, a fact that in the 

economic, social and political practice of these countries the Negroes do not enjoy 

these constitutional rights . The Latin American bourgeois ideologists lie when they 

say that all men are equal ; lie when they try to prove that there is no economic and 

racial discrimination against Negroes in Latin America . 

There is hardly any country of Latin America where the Negro toiling population 

does not consider itself humiliated and insulted on the economic and sDcial practices 

of the white ruling class 

George Padmore, The Life and Stru gIes of Negro Toilers (p .61) London, 1931 .

214 pena 

la re~oluc do on 

puertorriquena 

per'al :fredo pefa dd Rovieiento 

Pre-Independencia de Puerto Rice 

(traduccion eapanola per SOIkBOOK) 

La Revolution Puertorriquena comm. enzocuando las fuerzas imperialistaS 

norteamericanas desembarcaron sobre nuestras playas oti 1898 . 

Durante los cinco anos pasados E_1 NI ovim i ent o Pro -I ndep endcnci a 

De Puarto R i co ha tratado de despertar la atenci n de la plebe sobre La 

Isla y on Nueva York, a fin de unir y r)rganizar el proletariado a la llarnada de 

la liberation national . 

La revolution puertorriquena es iniminente pero revolucionas faltan sin el 

sosten de la plebe . Los can. pesinos, los trabajadores, los desocupados y los 

estudiantcf tienen que reanimarse bajo de la bandera de la independencia a fin 

de que la lucha peude ascender adentro una fuerza poderosa y dina'mica . 

El gobierno americano ha sucededo on adoctrinar nuestra gente y hacerla 

entrar por fuerza hysterismo . Aun el murmullo de mudanza o una insinuation 

de indapendencia es . cups imido por insinuaciones reacionarias . El systerna 

educadora controlado por low nortearnericanos ha extra ido la cultura y historia 

puertorriquena de sus cursor de estudios . Estudiantes aprenden mar sobre 

Los Estados Unidos que aprenden de su propria isla . Los interesas de con:mercios 

yanquis poseen mar tierra, propiedad e industrias quo la . gente puertorriquena, 

por ejemplo las playas on La Isla es poseido por los hoteles lujosos 

Americanos donde los turistas pueden banar e por gratis ademas los puertorriquenos 

tienen. que pagar un precio minimo para entrar a la playa . 

Desde 1898 los imperialistas norteariericanos han sacado bill ones de dolares 

de Puerto Rico en Frutas, Azucar, oleo y mineral ; han manipulado a la gente 

puertorriquena por un motiyo de b-heficio. . Eh cuafto, aI" Gobernador y a la 

legislatura de Puerto Rico, sirven solannente come instrui zentos de "estructura 

de poder" de Los Estados Unidos, defender las capas superiores de la burgesa 

puertorriquena cuando aprovechar de su propria buyocracia . 

El termino "Commonwealth" quo Los Estados Unidos ha aplicado a Puerto Rico 

es una farsa . Lot: norteamericanos to han u:ado para illustrar al

pona 215 

mundo qua Puerto Rico es un estado soberano . 

Porque le faltan a Puerto Rico su proprio presidente, gobierno y systerzas 

economicas, sociales, y politicas as expuesto esta mentira . Aun la definition de 

"Commonwealth" no necesariamente significa una nation libre . 

Con rolacion a Puerto Rico el crimen :nas costoso dal Gobierno nortea-iericano 

es qua he, borrado desde la manta dal puertorriqueno qua A as una parte do la 

herencia latino-arnericana . Abajo el systerna dal gobierno Yanqui el puartDrrique'no 

ha descartado las tradiciones y los costumbres de su historia . El ha viajado por 

un transito al cultivo desde una sociedad a otro . La transition os controlado por 

las maquinas de instruction dal gobierno norteamericano . Tal jornada acanalada 

ha desleido la raoralidad do nuestra gente : 40% de nuestra juventud on Nuava York 

ha tomada lay habitas drogas, y 31% on Puerto Rico ; 26% de nuestras mujares se 

han convertidos prostitutas an Nueva York, 33% an Puerto Rico . Aun el aire an 

Puerto Rico ha hacho contarninado . En 1954 Los Estados Unidos comraenzaron a 

construir laboratories nucleares y han sido adalante esperimentar varias armas 

nucleares circa de nuestras costar . Experimentos adentro los laboratories han 

sido ejecutados sobre presos Nacionalistas puertorriquenos . 

Con el fin de la guarra Espanol-.1urwricano an 1898 la personalidad y el caracter 

de un Puerto Rico libertado estuvieron cristalizandos . Pero an 25 de Julio la invasion 

de tropas arnericanas ahogaron todas las esperanzas puertorriquenos para 

la irid3p ndencia y la libertad . Betances, uno de los lideras puertorriquenos revolucionarios 

fue citado a Francis antes las invasion para firmar al tratad-) de 

Paz . En la vispera dal ataqua sobre Puerto Rico un grito de raprisilia desdo toco 

afuara por el mundo: "Nosotros ni queremos ser colonizados por El Espana ni per 

Los Estados Unidos . Estoy yo sorprendido qua mi gents no ascandido." 

Eugeno de Ostos estuvo viajando on Los Estados Unidos cuando las noticias le 

llegaron qua las tropas norteamericanas hubieron aplastado la independencia 

puertorriquena con una invasion : "Los sacrificios saran mucho . . . pero La 

Independencia de Nuestra isla progresara " 

Antes la invasion 91% do la tierra pertenecioa los agricultores puertorriquenos . 

Tabaco y azucar comprendieron 66% de la production, pare an 1900 asta produccion 

fue puesto y controlado por los capitalistas yanquis . Los norteannaricanos 

posian la otra tierra y controlaban las reformas chicas agricolas . El entracoria 

.aercio de La Isla quedaba an la direction de to selecto Espanol . La burgesa 

puertorriquena qua se establecioantes la invasion yanqui fue secundario an su 

explotacion dal proletariado an coniparacion a los norteamericanos .

216 pna 

Cafe hubo sobreseedo azucar como un origen de ingreso para los capitalistas, 

y an la ultima parte de 1900 80% de la cosecha de cafe fue puesto por el gobierno 

norteamericano . Trabajadores y campesinos fueron pagados 50% mas_ b a!2 qua 

hubieran recibido bajo el regimen .Espanol . La carne y el arroz convinieron 

commodidades lujosas bajo v nta al por manor y la production de los intereses 

de los eommercios norteamericanos . 

En 1901 Los Estados Unidos creaton una systema educadora cual Ingles conveniera 

el idioma oficial, asi comenzola eradication de la cultura de Puerto Rico 

desde los mantes de su juventud . 

En 1916 Jose Do Diago un abogado famoso de la Iglesia Catlica comonzoa 

llenar una disertacion de hechos historicos y economicas exponer la explotacion 

criminal de no solamente ios recursos de Puerto Rico, pero tambien su g3nte . 

En 1917 con la llegada de la guerra imperialista Los Estados Unidos declararon 

qua Puerto Rico fue una colonia oficial, por hater eso pudieron a mandar a los 

jovenes puertorriquenos a la guerra y al raismo tiempo privieron la isla de una 

fuerza revolucionaria . 

En 1920 la lucha para La Independencia de Puerto Rico, todavia joven y prematura, 

econtroun brazo politico an la creation dal Partido Nacionalista . En 

sus estados tempranos se concentroen la critica dal imperialismo yanqui y las 

ventas esporadicas de literatura . En 1924 una epoca nueva nacioan Puerto Rico 

y una paging de la historia estaba esperando ser llenado. Errar entre el Partido 

Nacionalista fue joven cuando se graduode leyes desde Harvard, con un cutis 

moreno, su nombre fue Pedro Albizu Campos, 

un nombre qua las luchas universales de la 

liberation national abrazaran siempre . Pedro 

volvioa La Isla an 1924 despues de su hostigamiento 

porque de su color por el militar 

norteamericano . Despuess su registro entre el 

Partido Nacionalista, Albizu Campos fue eligido 

vieepresidente dal Partido . En 1926 el fue 

nombrado como un representante dal Partido a 

viajar a paises latino-americanos varios para 

qua se puso al corriente do La Independencia y 

movimientos revolucionarios an esos paises . 

No tuvo mucho tiempo para qua el ;en-or Pedrc 

Albizu aprender qua fue su fuerza inconqui;table 

qua hubo despertado a los nnillones de La

. 

pang 217 

Isla a la llarlada de La Liberaci5n; fue su voz quo resonaba en todas las aldeas 

y on todas las ciudades qua hubo sacudido los grillos de la.s masas ; fue su f-arocidad 

revolucionaria que hubo vuelto el todo orden social establecida de las 

burgesas-colonialistas to de arriba abajo . El hijo de un matrimonio del campo 

de Ponce fue a.llagar .;a ¬er,el orgullo y gloria de 'La Boricua' . 

Durante 1932, abajo la dixeccion del Doctor Campos , El Partido Nacionalista 

entro a las caLlpplias electorales con El Senor Albizu corm un candidato para 

senador a to largo . Antes la noch-- de la election los pariodicos pronortear_ier 

canos comanzaron una campana anti -nacionalista inundar la isla con acusaciones 

contra Pedro Albizu . Su campainapr3P.ganda no fue bastante, porque manipulo 

fraudulentamente las elecciones y pqr eso Pedro Albizu perdio,, sin ambargo on 

su derrota al candidatos de los multimillonarios el obtuvo 12, 000 vi toa. 

Anocha antes la derrota de Pedro, la depresign qua hubo en. pezado, mAs o 

menos en 1925 (Capitalisino impede sus posesiones extranjeras antes de aplica 

miseria econoonlica a su propria clase trabajadora.),,,empezab.a de.sleir lap fun- 

;daciones de la burgesa y de bajo de ella las clase& rnas baja ya estaba decayando, 

compeler a los canipesinos a mover desde el carnpo a .la ciudad, y mss tard3 a 

einigrar a Nueva York . .- 

Durante 1933 ias fuerzas sociales del proletariado einpazaron a gritar sus 

opresionas a la clase qua goberno la Isla an muchas deraostraciones . Una da 

estas deraostraciones fue dirigidos por Albizu contra el raonq) olio Yanqui, Porto 

Rico Railway, Light and Power Co . to que la huelga de los trabajadores se hubo 

salido con suyas . Durante 193411 dirt.io caripana varias contra los latifundistas 

y los patrones por conducir hualgas de cortadores de cans de azucar . Imperialismo 

estaba empezando a decaer dantro de confusion de su propria depresio'n . 

La degeneration y la perversi&n de las masas por los rlecanicos de la clase 

nduc~ier( 

elevada producieron proles multiples de contradicion Rvolucion torso 

el orden del dia. Coronal Francis J . Riggs, Jefe de La Policia y Guardia de 

corps de Gobernador Winship ofreciera a Albizu Carapos qua quitiera sus canipana 

. No consentio Pedro; desde que eel convino una peligrosa politics a los intereses 

commercios y monstruosos sobre La Isla . 

En 24 de Octubre de 1935 4 miembros del Partido Nacionalista fueron asesinados 

por las policia sobre ordenes desde Coronel Riggs . Los miembros fueron 

parte de una demostracion a protestar una pro-imperialists. burgess asamblea de 

edu diantes . Durante Diciembre de 1935, 25, 000 miembros del Partido Nacionalista 

compusieron una petition deriandar la resignaci'on de Coronel Riggs, la 

retirada de intereses coramercios Yanquis y la ratirada de las tropas norteamericanas 

desde La Isla . En 4 de Trarzo do 1936 on una batalla de fusiles con 

3 rZiembr )s jovenes (^1 p-i -. ta 118)

218 po za 

del Partido Nacionalista Coronel Riggs fu-- tirado y matado . Mas tarde la policia 

arresto a Elias Beauchan-ip uno de los guerreros de 'la libertad-que onvolvioo on el 

incidente y su arzigo Hiram Rosado . Defop.ua_s_de la. dete_nc_i_on Elias y1 irai. fu_e_ro_r. 

t_o_rt_u_ra_d_o_s y~.atados adentro _la_es_t_ac_i_on_ de la poiicia En 4 de P/larzo de 1936 

en La Universidad de Puerto Rico Pedro Albizu, durante una tentative a reclutar 

a paisanos en al ejercito Nacionalista, fue arrestado . Un corr..enso qua fue tornado 

por los estudiantes antes su detencion deraostrio' qua to soquidores de Don 

Pedro hubieron recogido a t.as de 250 voluntariDs durante unos cuantos horas . 

Anteceder su detencion al Doctor Campos fue accusado con instigar la batalla de 

fusiles to . quo fue matado el Coronel Riggs . En Julio de 1936 La Union de Las 

Libertades Civiles nortearnericanas mando una coraite a defender al Senor Canapos . 

En el mismo rues en of Congreso de Los Estados Unidos, un representante de 

Nueva York, El Senor Vito Marcantonio, defendo los derechos de Albizu y la lucha 

de la liberation en Puerto Rico . Contra el alegato del defense fue el Doctor Ernest 

Gruening (el senador 'liberal' desde Alaska) quien fue El Director Del Comite 

Del Proyecto Reedificacion de Puerto Rico y comisionado de Divisiones de Territorios 

y posesiones de Islas . El senor Gruening denuncio el movirziento de la 

independencia en Puerto Rico e inferno Pedro como un peligro al Gobierno norteamericano 

. Con los noticieros proirnporialistas sobre La Isla condenar a Albizu, 

y la convicci6n de culpa sostenido por el coloso de Departannento del Estado Yanqui, 

el jurado quo comprendib por completo de hombres Yanquis de negocios conveni6 

a Don Pedro . 

E1 juez Norteamericano to (Albizu) sentencio al pentt 

:: nciario de Atlanta por siete anos . Du r ante t o do e 1 

ensayo ningun puertorriqueno pudo entrar 

al cuarto de torte . 

El movirniento de la independencia se hubo puesto 

mejor desde un infante prematuro en un brazo revolucionario 

de las mesas, una fuerza ubicua acanalada 

por los pesos de la liberation national destrozar los 

pilares de explotacion humane, tronar en las partes do 

la intuition burgesa, desarraigar su superficie que estuvo 

tuvo dateriorando . Para 1937 El Partido Nacionalista . 

ya fue construido on un nucloo rzovilizado de miles de personas . El Partido no 

habia atraido solamente a los disoccii?ados, los trabajadores y los campesinos, 

pero tarabien los estudiantes, y maestros y los profesores en Las Univorsidades . 

Realizar la potential politica de tan fuerza dinarmica, El Gobernador Winship con 

al auxilio do burocrates varios puertorriquenos en secreto hubo ordenado una 

matanza on la ciudad ( a pagina 219)

pe`na 219 

de Ponce . Durante una parada de cadctes jovenes nacionalistas y enfermeras 

nacionalistas . La policia de Ponce, y las tropas Yanquis abajo la direction d3 

coronel Grhetta cunado de Dioniso Trigo, el representante fascista de Franco en 

Puerto 1Ric'O, mataron atrozmente a 50 a 70 hombres, rnujeres y ninos, y h1rieron 

a 150 . En una calle vacia en Ponce, un revolucionario que astuvo sangrando 

tropezoa la acera y escribio con su propria sangre : 

1 Viva la Republica I 

Abajo los I-sesinos 

De las tropas y de la policia que mataron a ninos puertorriquenos an ese dia 

sangriento no vino una a justicia . Coronel Orgetta quien hubo dirigido la motan 

dad de gente continuo'ser un coronel y el Jefe de La Policia . El Gobernador 

VVinship quien hubo ordenado la matanza quedaba "Al Gran Padre Blanco" de 

Puerto Rico . 

Con la eruption do 1a segunda guerra mundial La RevolucicIn an Puerto Rico 

vino a una interruption pero el dia infame en Ponce fue moldeado en las paginas 

de historia verdadera, -an obstaculo de la verquenza en los mentes de liberales y 

un recordario de la venqanza a'JIL puertorriqueno qua vivioese dia. 

La ultirra parte de este art culosstarderi SOl1LBOOK 4

220 freeman allen 

u~C~40Q OGl ~C1Q0~3~ 

a 

0~]QQ~ aG~OQ~QOGI~ 

ToVTD~ooaop 

by ernie allen & kenn m . freeman 

The following article is a review essay of the 

book, American Revolution , Notes From a Negro 

Worker's Notebook, which was written by Brother 

James Boggs (Monthly Review Press t 1961) 

(This is part one, part two will appear 

in SOULBOOK 4 ) 

eo.OJ4 

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE Yo:,RKING CLASS 

Bogg begins by noting the change which has occurred in the character of the 

American working class, beginning with the period of the 1:;30'; up to the present ; 

whereas many workers during the 30's were illiterate, their children are the en 

gineers and scientists of today . Thus we are left with the situation of the working 

class being, Boggs states, "so dispersed and transformed by tho very nature of 

the changes in production that it is almost impossible to select out any single 

bloc of workers as working class in the old sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

allen 221 

this working class is growing, as If1arx predicted, but it is not the old working 

class which the radicals por-.ist in believing will creato the revolution and establish 

control over production . There are only 12 million of these production 

workers left in American industry, out- of a total work force of 68 million." 

(pp . 15 -16) 

;o Boggs says that these charges in production have influenced th, character 

of the, working class in three primary ways ; these factors have in turn brought 

their influence to bear upon the very nature of production, as well as influencing 

and interacting between one another . Boggs views these resulting clP.nges as the 

following: 

(i) the working class has grown 

(ii) work has become diversified 

(iii) labor leadership has become bourgeois 

Thus, The American Revolution lays waste to a basic premise of many, 

contemporary so-called Marxists in the U . S . who would depend (at least 'in a theoretical 

sense) upon the existing working class to be instrumental in establishing a 

"workers state" in place of the present capitalist (ie racist) system . Not only are 

old myths destroyed, but an analysis is given by Boggs which we feel will greatly 

aid Black 1xnericans in their task of providing a viable program for total Black 

Liberation on a worldwide scale . 

THE WORKERS' STRUGGLE FOR CONTROL OF PRODUCTION & THE SUBSEQUENT SELLOUT OF THE PORKERS 

BY THE UNION LEADERS 

n developing organizations to fulfill this task of liberation it is important that 

Afroaniericans learn both from the past failures and accomplishments, strong, 

points and weaknesses, of organizations -- particularly those which have based 

themselves upon the strength of the masses . Boggs' position is that "By examining 

the industrial revolution, and unemploy «ant, we can get some idea of the revolutionary 

changes that have so rapidly developed in America, directly leading to 

changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . in 

the nature of work, the social composition of various strata of the population." 

(p.16) Taking the United Auto Workers as the model for the CIO, Boggs run:; dawn 

the history of the labor movement and points out the fact that there were more 

workers who were organized _i n_t_o_ the union than were those who o r_gani_z e=d 

the union, and furthermore, that all workers did n__ot_ participate in strikes . 

Now, what did the union do in order to improve working conditions and to procure 

extra benefits for the workers in the shop ? In short, what were its accomplish - 

ments ? Before World War II the workers, acting through the union, " . . . had the 

power to intimidate management, from the foreman up to the top (cont . p . 222)

222 freeman 

echelons, forcing their to yield to workers' demands whenever production standards 

were in dispute . "(p 18) In other words, the union gave the workers c_o_n_t_r_o_1_ 

ov a r P ro du_c_t i o n_ .At the sarae time, " . . it must be clearly understood 

that the wor'lcars in ta?c :.ng- hold in the plants d__i d_ n_o_t_ t_akk_e p_o w a r . " (empha 

sis added by as &'.cmf) They only too- : hold of the plants- They did not take over 

the state government, or the national government, or the city police, or the National 

Guard nor the army " The uni n was instrumental in forcing management to 

hire wor'zars who ordinar .1y would never have obtained jobs, but we do not wish 

to infer that the union was a panacea to the problems of labor . For as Boggs 

points out, "Even in their best days, it should be remembered, the CIO and AFL 

were not able to do much about unemployment . In 1939, when the Second World 

'JVar began, there were still more than 9 million unemployed, well over twice 

today's official figure . " (p . 53) 

During World War II, labor acquired "respectability . " Where before its representatives 

were workers in the shop, during the war labor leaders were conferring 

in Washington with heads of government . At this stage the "labor leader 

ship" was no longer the leadership of labor, and, in effect, joined with the power 

structure in the s_up p r e s s i o n of labor . But in spite of the fact that the union 

held continual negotiations with the government and made agreements not to strike 

during the second world war, Boggs points out that there were 8, 708 strikes involving 

four million workers in 1943 and 1944 alone . These "wildcat" strikes by 

labor, during WWII, involving basic human rights within the shop, circumvented 

the''authority' of the union and was the first indication that labor and "labor leadership" 

vare struggling towards entirely different goals: labor for control of production 

and procurement of human rights within the shop, "leadership" for control 

of the workers . 

As the gulf between labor and leadership was widening, and because of the 

fact that during the war the WLB was settling the matter of wages, the union, in 

an effort to demonstrate Sts "necessity" to the workers, began trying to change 

job classi ications so that workers could obtain a few cents more an hour . . 

However, the era of progressive reform inside the union Ymvement really ended 

on V-J day, for the control of production and human relations which workers 

had acheived were now completely shunted aside by the union ; the emphasis was 

now placed upon economic rather than human relations . In the General Motors 

strike of 1945-46 the wage increases and fringe benefits won by the union were 

hailed as "great social progress ." In 1948, under the "Security Claus,-,, " the 

union returned to management the right to run production as it saw fit . And 

when automation came upon the scene in 1955, the union began (cont .p . 223)

allen 223 

attempts to ease out the workers through 'th6 use of pensions, severance pay, 

and a "profit-sharing" plan designed0 incorporate the remaining workers into 

management . Boggs concludes that 

Thus, after 25 years, the UA has given back to management every right 

over production won in the movement of the 1930's and the war years, Today 

the workers are doing in eight hours the actual physical work they used to 

do in twelve . (p .26-7) 

What lessons can Black 1--Americans then learn from the experience which 

our brother, James Boggs has obtained _com the union_ movement? Boggs explains 

the failure of the union by stating that " . . . all organizations that spring 

up in a capitalist society and do not take absolute power, but rather fight only 

on one tangential or essential aspect of that society are eventually incorporated 

into capitalist society." (p .28) 

This statement is good as far as it goes, but we feel the need to point out that 

these organizations of which Boggs is speaking will (unless they take absolute 

power) either be incorporated into the society, infiltrated and/or obliterated by 

the state "gendarmes" (i . e . FBI, CIA , ate . ) , or will become virtually sterile 

and lose effectiveness through a continual revision and "watering dow1i" of their 

once-militant programs . These are significant factors t:, consider when analyzing 

the present state of labor organizations run by the white ruling class, the 

National Association for the Advancement of Certain Peopls , and certain bourgeois, 

pseudo-Black Nationalist organizations which are carrying the FBI's 

stamp of i'approval" ; once an organization becomes "respectable" in the eyes of 

the power structure, one can well be assured that it poses no threat to the existing 

socio-economic and political structure, and that its aims are corrupted by the 

said apparatus . 

AUTOMATION ; SOME IMPLICATIONS FOR BLACK PEOPLE IN A 

CAPITALIST SOCIETY 

The contradictions which presently exist between 

Black and White America, as well as those 

internal to each of these two nations, will become 

deeply intensified as automation thunders ahead; 

also, new contradictions will continue to rise during 

its process of development. Boggs views 

these int ensifi 3d (antagonistic) contradictions as 

being grouped primarily about the following three 

areas

224 freeman 

(i)the permanentlyunemployed and the employed 

(ii) the "young" workers and "old" workers within the plant 

(iii) the union and the workers 

Boggs places quite a bit of importance upon the first contradiction because 

it is a problem which encompasses the entire socio-economic structure: "This 

antagonism in the population between those who have to. be supported and those 

who have to support them is one of the inevitable antagonisms of capitalism ." 

(p . 37) Thus the contradiction between the unemployed and the employed is viewed 

correctly by Boggs as a factor which is inherent to the nature of capitalism ; he 

notes, however, that automation introduces a ne w factor : the problem of the 

permanently-unemployed man. As Boggs states, "what is new is that now, unlike 

most earlier periods, the displaced men have nowhere to go ." . 

(emphasis added by 

kmf &ea; p. 36) . His analysis continues ; not only will the unemployed be pitted 

against the employed, but in consideration of the . overall society Boggs states 

that : "those who propose that the unemployed be allowed to starve to death rather 

than continue as a drain on the public . . ")p . 37) will stand in direct opposition to 

"those who cannot stand by and see society degenerate into, such barbarism ." (p . 37) 

Later we will return to this point and examine its relevance to~ the problems of 

Black America ; presently we will concern ourselves with Boggs' approach to the 

solution of problems incurred through automation . 

"The dilemma before the workers and the American people is : 

have automation and still earn our livings ?"( .35) 

How can we 

In examining different chapters in The American Revolution one sees that 

Boggs' solution to this problem of automation vs . income is tinged with ambivalence 

on one hand he speaks of a social revolution in the U, S . which will uproot "whitey's' 

system of degenerate capitalism and in its place implant the roots of a socialist 

society where exploitation of man by man will be eliminated . On the other hand 

Boggs apparently is looking for a patchwork formula within capitalism (i . a . reformism) 

which will help the workers to survive and to maintain for themselves 

an adequate standard of living, for he seems to suggest that the root cause of the 

problems of income distribution and maintenance of consumption is to be found 

within the income-through-jobs link . This suspicion of ours becomes real when 

we discover that Boggs signed the now-famous document known as The Triple 

Revolution (which stated in so many words that the most important reform needed 

in the U.S . today was the abolishment of the income thru-jobs .link) . Also, in his 

The Rights of Man in an Age of Abundance Boggs states that" . . . a man's (cont .)

ight to a living should no longer be tied to his work . . "2 . 

This same theme pops up again in his fourth chapter : 

freeman 2-05 

"This nation cannot long endure short on rights and long on goods . We must accept 

the plain fact that we are moving towards an automated society and act onthe basis 

of this fact . 

The first principle that has to be established is that everyone has a right to 

fullife, liberty , and the pursuit of happiness, whether he is working or _not- 

emphasis added by kmf&eaj 

Now, how does Boggs form the bridge between his advocating the destruction 

of the income-through-jobs link, which is, in the context of a capitalist society, 

essentially reformism, and revolution, the complete uprooting of this society? 

First of all he feels that in a capitalist society the vast majority of workers will 

lose their jobs because the furthering of automation and cybernation will eliminate 

these jobs and will not create a sufficient number of others . Thus, for these 

people (and particularly Black people) to survive in this society it will be necessary 

to abolish the income -thrujobs link . He then goes on to say that this will 

force the capitalists to feed a vast army of the permanentlyunemployed, thus 

causing an unbearable strain on those who have jobs and pay taxes, and those 

who do not have jobs and do not pay taxes . Finally, he suggests that this nn_e_w_ 

contradiction will eventually produce the ultimate crisis of capitalism, as opp - 

osed to the orthodox -Marxian prediction that the antagonism between the worker 

and capitalist is the decisive contradiction which will cause the fall of capitalism 

and provide the motive force for a new social order . 

Now, we disagree with Boggs on at least one important point: his implication 

that work is somehow not a necessity for mankind, in general, to live . 

We agree that if a man cannot work then he should be given means in order to 

live adequately . In spite of this fact we still feel that work is still a necessary 

part of man's life ; there is an abundance of evidence to show that man developed 

from a lower to a higher being by working (with both his head and his hands), and 

we believe that man will continue to master nature and to solve his problems by 

working . Therefore we feel that work should not __ be deemphasized, even 

though it may not be necessary in the productive process, because of its essentiality 

to the further development of man . We must keep in mind also that the 

definition of productive work is certainly capable of being broadened, so that 

under this new definition, for example, research, the arts and other creative 

ventures could conceivably be included . 

Boggs points out that most people (and this includes many Marxists) " . . . . . 

have not been able to face the fact that even if the workers took over the plants

226 allen 

they would also be faced with the problem of what to do with themselves now that 

work is become socially unnecessary . They have not been able to face this fact 

because tney have no clear idea of what people would do with themselves, what 

would be their human role, or how society would be organized when work is no 

longer at the heart of society." (p . 41) 

So Boggs hits the nail upside the head ; since the U. S. is presently the most 

technologically advanced country in the world, today's problems of production 

relations in this highly-technical capitalist society will be tomorrow's problems 

in socialist societies as the instruments of production in these societies reach a 

level of sophistication . But keep in mind that it is only within a capitalist society 

where lack of work, and hence, lack of income seam to always reach crisis 

proportions (L e . . result in contradictions of an antagonistic sort), whereas in a 

socialist society, time not used in production work can be channeled (at least 

to the extent that it is a planned economy ) into healthy areas such as the arts 

and other creative, peaceful ventures . However, in a "workers' state" the solution 

to the challenge of automation tends toward the removal of one of the cornerstones 

of Marxism-Leninism., since Lenin's statement that "he who does not 

work shall not eat" becomes an anacnronism when work is no longer economically 

necessary 

Boggs shows that the retraining of displaced workers for new jobs requiring 

greater skills is of dubious value because automation also eliminates these skilled 

jobs without creating more Or . even the same number (although there is not enough 

evidence to substantiate this claim at the present time, or, probably more correctly, 

the evidence is being hidden from the public, we feel that when automation is 

in full swing this claim will prove to be true) . But there is an additional factor 

which makes retraining even more of a farce for Afroamerica, for, in the nationwide 

programs for job retraining, the fact that employment agencies discriminate 

against Black workers in favor of white workers for entrance into these programs 

has been exposed. 

Thus, Black Americans, who are already the most socio-economically 

oppressed group in the U . S . (as well as those Indians who have survived the 

merciless slaughter of the white oppressor), are suffering most from just the 

i__it_ia_1 phase ;~f automation, and will most certainly be the group which will suffer 

most when automation is in full swing . And as the probusiness Research Institute 

of America said: "The moment of truth on Automation is coming -- a lot 

sooner than most people realize ." 4.

footnotes 

I . James Beggs . "The Rights of Iran in ar Age of Abundance," p . 93, REVOLUTION , Vol . I, Nc .8 

2 . C . E . ililson . "Automation and the Negro : Will We Survive?", p .10 Liberator , Vol . V, 

No . 7, (July, 1965) . 

3 . J . Smith . "Cybernation : The Potential Problems of a 'Riorkless Society , " , p .6, 

National Guardian , (Nov . 21, 1964) 

'~DONT Y, KjD>-WEsLL FIGURE CUT SOMETMIA* FOR YOU! 

227 

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ERRATA 

3. Page 179;1ine 5 "slipping" should be slop . line 22 should be "dawn laved" 

4 . Page 226 line 10 reads "level" ; should read higher level" . 

5 . Page 192 line 17 " . .awaited beneficent lord saw sheets 

white mist while . . ." 

6 . Page 158 Cartoon reprinted from Bohemia . 7 . Page 155 photo reproduced from 

Peking Review 8 . Page 198 Cartoon reprinted from Bohemia 

9 . Page 219 Figure reprinted from Peking Review . 10 . Page 223 Cartoon reprinted 

Peking Review 11 . Page 227 cartoon reprinted from Muhammed Speaks 

12 . Page 203 fine 15 "imperialis" should be imperialism . 

13 . Page 181 line 13 "democrat" should be democrats . 14 . Page 171 line 4 omit 

"to an important degree . . . . ." 

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from the Editorial Board of SOULBOOK

SOULBOOK 

CONTENTS 

e d itor ia l s 

a lv in m o rr e l l 

230 

234 

VIETNAM, SNCC, BOND ; RICHARD GIBSON 

NOTES ON THE AVANT - GARDE : A BRIEF 

PERSPECTIVE OF BLACK MUSIC IN THE 

UNITED STATES 

jumma troupe 244 A REPLY TO MRS. "INSTANT-I1AIR" 

THOMPSON 

f r antz fan on 

dou g a l l en 

harry haywood 

REJECT _NOTES 

--- `- 

a l fred o pena 

roland young 

germa in mb a 

carol freeman 

246 PSYCHOLOGY AND NEGRITUDE 

254 'TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 

257 THE TWO EPOCHS OF NATION DEVELOP- 

MENT : IS BLACK NATIONALISM A FORM 

OF CLASSICAL NATIONALISM ? 

267 poetry by gaston neal, ernie alien, john 

fisher, ronald stone, wm . patterson, harold 

foster, carol turner, theodore horne, patricia 

bullins, k. william kgositsile 

281 THE PUERTO RICAN REVOLUTION (PART2) 

LA REVOLUTION PUERTORRIQUENA (2) 

292 THE NEED TO DEVELOP A REVOLUTION - 

ARY CONSCIOUSNESS 

296 TOWARDS A BLACK LIBERATION ARMY 

300 THE SUICIDE 

304 IT WAS ELECTION TIME IN NEW YORK -bobb 

hamilton 

kenn m . freeman 307 

AGAIN 

THE COLONIZED OF NORTH AMERICA 

CREMTSI * * * * * * * * * 

cover photo by ehori*s donld dowse" 

dkoteh*s by ctyde"pp.23S-6 

d0owkw by doneld frewonup.296 

cover design end titles by mkeilawte 

back cover photo: frantz twMo, 

PRICE:aw

jszz 

economics 

ply 

antifmpertalisiu 

p . o . box 1097 - 

berkeley, calif . (racist u. s. a.) 

editorial board : donald freeman, issac moore, orate allen, 

alvin morrel1, kenn m . freeman, carroll holmes, bobb 

hamilton . 

newYretea&Wve : bobb hamilton, $50 bowery, now York, 

new York . 

distribution, meager : bobby, seale 

volume - 1 number -4 

cable address. : EMIR 

winter, 19-65-66 

the quarterly journal 


afuoanperica 

annual subscription by ordinary mail,, $2 . 2S -inside, tit,O . , 

$3 .50 outside u . s . ; annul subscription by airmail} bi e . 

$ 4'. b 0, outside u . $ : $7 . S0 . ' tire are foul Ins" t~' as amrual subseriptivn 

. one e®py casts : $0.65: 

. Copyright, 1989, by SOULBOOK ino. Vp, o. boa 1087, bsx~cel~ty,, oalif. 94701 

all rights reserved. all corFeapcndewoe . eeaosrs3ng manuscripts 4~bus3rigr' 

matters should be addressed to SOULBOOK, p: a box 1097 berkeley, ealii.'_ 04701 

or'bobb hamilton, 350 bowery, New York 3, N. Y :

230 

editorigl 

The Student Non=fiolent Coordinatbg Committee, a civil rights organization 

with strong grass roots support among Black Americans, was recently 

moved to issue a statement condemning the U.S. Government for both its 

acquiescence and participation in the continued murders of Afroamericam and 

Vietnamese . 

The statement read in part 

" The murder of Samuel Younge in Tuskegee, Alabama is no different from 

the murder of-people in Vietnam, for both Younge and the Vietnamese sought 

and are seeping to secure the rights quaranteed them by law. In each case, 

the U. S. government bears a great part of the responsibility for these deaths. 

Thus SNCC realizes, just. as the majority of Afroamericans do, that Afroamericans 

and Vietnamese peoples are fighting parallel struggles for an 

identical objective -- human dignity. 

Furthermore, the masses of Black Americans can only acclaim SNCC for 

its forthright and uncompromising stand against the sending of Black troops 

to fightbrawn Vietnamese peasants for the perpetuation of white supremacy. 

It was a sign of increasing political maturity on the part of SNCC when its 

Public Relations Director Brother Julian Band chose to unambiguously assert 

SNCC's position as his own, fully realizing that he would be a victim of 

political oppression. Subsequently he was not allowed to take the office to 

which he was elected by the Black people of Atlanta, Georgia. This further 

exposed .to Black people that American Democracy, is a lie as great as .the 

geographical distance between Vietnam and Atlanta. . 

We are also convinced that the statement by SNCC and actions of Brother 

Juliani3ond .set an inspiring example for,ourpeople, thus adding impetus to

to our struggle . For in order to continue and increase the tempo of the 

struggle for Black liberation, we must all learn from the concrete realities 

that our enemies and ill-wishers place in our way. We must broaden our current 

perspectives to include all relevant forces and agents operating against 

our struggle . These will include concrete analyses of the economic and political 

circumstances and realities of the present day U. S. and of the world, 

which ultimately and unavoidably determine social realities and behavior . At 

each and every stage of development and enlightment, above all, we must not 

neglect to inform and take our direction from the people . For if we lose 

touch with our people, we lose our pxmpose . 

Therefore, we, as Afroamericans and as editors of SOULBOOK, BLACK 

DIALOGUE, and BURNING SPEAR, vehemently support and welcome the 

statements on Vietnam issued by SNCC and its subsequent endoreement by 

Julian Bond. This type of courageous and principled activity is an important 

ingredient for the achievement of Black Liberation in the same way that the 

heroic efforts of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam are a guarantee 

for the ultimate achievement of Vietnamese Liberation . 

ADDENDUM 

As we go to press SOULBOOK is deeply irritated by the inconsistent conduct 

of Brother Julian Bond during a T V interview on _Meet The Press-, Vhen 

Bond was questioned about the National Liberation Front ofSouth Vietnam as 

being a legitimate force struggling for the liberation of the Vietnamese People, 

his reply left the explicit impression that the Liberation Front was an alien 

force in Vietnam and that its aspirations were other than legitimate . 

SOULBOOK would like to take this opportunity to remind Brother Julian 

Bond that a 11 objective analyses . prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the 

N. F . L. of South Vietnam is indigenous to that area and represents the legitimate 

aspirations of the vast majority of Vietnamese people in south Vietnam 

infinitely more than a 11 the civil rights groups in the U. S. represent 

the needs and aspirations of the vast majority of Black Americans . 

231

From the Wars 

Black Soldier 

Marched home 

home to his woman, 

home to his boss man 

home to his rack, 

Hung up his balls . 

Black Soldier 

Turned in his gun_ 

Should have kept it; 

Enemies not dead 

Waited for him . 

with installment plan 

& 20 - year mortgage . 

A broad smile 

Pats for his back 

a foot for his ass . 

Black Soldier, 

Can you speak 

of a freedom 

you've never had? 

You're the nation's 

greatest con man. 

Why don't you 

rim for President? 

pttricia bui I Ins

NOTICE 

The accompanying 

communiqu6 was first 

.released in the Fall, 

1964 issue of Revolution 

magazine . Recently we, 

the editors of SOIILBOOK, 

were deeply disturbed 

to find this same nigger 

agent, Richard Gibson, 

featured in articles of 

recent issues (Dec .,1965- 

Feb .,1966) of a certain 

black publication . We 

feel that this magazine, 

which purports to be in 

full accord with the forces 

of Black Liberation, 

has done a grave disser- 

vice to our revolutionary 

cause ; thus we feel com- and ideas . 

pelled to hold up these 

above facts to Black 

light . 

Perhaps we judge too 

harshly ; it is quite possible 

that our brother 

editors FORGOT that traitor 

Gibson sold out the 

International Struggle . 

If this is so, then we 

hope that the republication 

of the communiqu6 

will serve as a helpful 

reminder . If not, it is 

time for them to got 

themselves tog$ther . 

SOIILBOOK 

L COMMUNIQUE 

Following most serious accusations brought 

forth by comrades from New York, London and 

Accra concerning Richard GIBSON and confirmed 

after proper investigation, REVOLUTION 

wishes to inform its readers that Richard 

GIBSON who has used his former position 

as secretary of "Fair Play for Cuba Committee" 

to infiltrate the International . Revolutionary 

Movement, must not be considered 

any longer as a member 'of REVOLUTION'S 

staff. We can not be held responsible for 

any of his past and present activities, projects

234 

alvin . mormll 

notes 

on the avant=garde " 

A BRIEF PERSPECTIVE OF BLACK 

MUSIC IN THE UNITED STATES 

In an article in the first issue of the magazine A f r i c an R ev o l u t i o nh 

LeRoi Jones, a profound and prolific writer who is at once a poet, polemicist 

and music critic (you know vddctL music I mean too), wrote an essay 

titled "The Avant Cfarde" . In this insightful article he tells of some interesting 

happenings on the contemporary Black music scene, and makes some 

critical observations and interpretations . 

JAM reports of a new rank of young musicians who are- beginning 

to use not only the most important ideas of "formal" music (by whieh is 

.meant European music), but more importantly, the ideas ocnta' d themusic. 

called BeBap . He points out that the use of Bop is the most significant 

aspect of the avant-garde , since almost any modern musician -can 

tell you Stra. , Schoenberg, Bartok, .etc . IARoi observes: "for the 

Black musicians to have come to the logical and beautiful conclusion that. 

BeBop was the most legitimately complex, emotionally rich music to come 

out of this country is -a brilliant'b cmung, JdT a0neW % .Bel3tv'.i5 ; *~Cdx 

now, just as rnuoh as Blues is ; classical. music is not" . He- stales that 

'classical' music (contemporary and past European 'art' music) "definitely 

can and should be 'milked' for as many solutions as possible" for the 

engineering problems the contemporary Black musician is likely to run into 

in his statement of musical truths and actions . He illustrates his point: 

"Ornette Coleman has had to live with the attitudes responsible for ~Anton 

Webern's music whether he knows that music or not: They were handed to

him along with the whole history of formal western music, and the 

musics that have come to characterize the Black man in the U . S . came to 

exist as they do only through the acculturation of this entire history" . 

He goes on to reveal that the actual knowing of that history, or those European 

music only adds to the indoctrination . "But that jazz and blues are western 

musics ; products of a- Euro-American culture . And we are all of us, 

moderns, whether we like or not . " HereLeRoi says that he is merely stressing 

the fact that he believes formal music of Europe can be used by modern 

Black musicians to solve technical problems . "How to play exactly what I 

feel" as he quotes an unnamed avant musician as telling him . LeRoi's definition 

of 'technical' is the utilization of the 'impoortant ideas that are contained 

in the residue of history" . A broadened though subjective definition of 

the term, and by ' history' I take LeRoi to mean western music history . My 

assumption is strengthened with "the fact that being able to doubletime Listz's 

piano pieces might help one to become a musician, but it will not make a man 

aware of the fact that Bartok was a 

greater composer than Listz . And 

it is the consciousness, on whatever 

level, of fact, ideas, etc . like 

this that are the most important 

part of technique" . LeRoi emphasizes 

this notion of his on.® more 

when he says "formal music, for 

the jazz musician should be ideas . 

Ideas that can make it easier for 

the modern musinian to get to his 

roots" . And he says further that 

the strongest of these roots are 

Blues and BeBop which are basically 

autonomous .musics . "They 

are understandable, emotionally, 

as they sit: without the barest diseussion 

of their origins, themselves . 

Blues is a beginning, BeBop,a beginning 

. They define other varieties 

of music that came after them" . 

LeRoi's essay is informative, as 

far as it goes, as to some of the advanced 

happenings on the modern 

music scene ; but a close inspection 

235

236 

of his critical assertions will reveal some re= 

markable contradictions and some just plain 

residue of brainwashing in the western music 

heritage that Ietoi hadn't ridden himself of 

at the time of the writing . The first thing I 

would like to hold up to black light is the 

rather common over-emphasis that is given to 

European music in the foundations and origins 

of African-American -or Black music . Whether 

the notion is stressed because of the music's 

tedWcal usefulness or convenience makes 

not one iota of basic difference . Me fact is 

that western music seems to be a gigantic 

boulder that constantly gets in LeRoi's way 

and he tries to get by it by making mental 

deals with it in order to get at the indigenous 

ideas that lie in the fertile mind of the Black 

musician and his roots -- Blues and BeBop . This historic origin and expression 

of Black people's music is radically different than that of the Europeans 

. In fact, as I will -show later, non-western musics all rblated among 

themselves in that each is predicated on radically different and opposing 

principles than those of the smaller western world . In other words, the 

music of the west is apart to itself -- segregated if you will . 

Western music's basic motivating force and characteristic are harmonic 

design and written +composition (the minutest detail possible within the idiom's 

musical reference, which is limited to what can be notated or made to con 

form to a preconceived standard of notation), especially after the 18th century 

and J . S . Bach . Accompanying these basic constructs were the desire 

for 'perfection' in pitch or tone expression and secondary consideration of 

melodic line with 'rhythm being of a basic 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 character ; all 

elements, remember, had t o be_rcompletely _ n ot ate d~ even such 

subtle distinctions as dynamic levels and on ofthe music to be 

played . Another important point to remember is that the writer or composer 

of the music rarely performed his own music or anyone elses as a playing 

musician, so the impersonal aspect of the composed music was rule . Hardly 

anything was left for the 'musicians' who did play it to do but provide the energy 

and hit the 'right notes' at the 'right' notated times . 

The musics of the eastern world, those of Africa, India, Oceania, etc ., 

are predicated on improvisational and rhythmic elements of immense

Complexity and depth as well as harmony (least extent) and melody . But the 

understanding of the rhythmic foundations is the essential key to the whole improvisational 

super=structure of the music ; and this area is p r e c i s ee 11 that 

arena that the Europeans understand least; as to demonstratedintheir harmonically 

dense but rythmically shallow music. The rythmic improvisations 

of the nonwestern musician allows him to express his own inner thoughts and 

feelings about the world as he sees it . They often consists of many different 

rhythms played by several musicians simultaneously, each man being aware 

of others while maintaing his own improvisation . The static and simplistic 

(I'm tempted to say "primitive') form of rhythmic content in western music 

accounts for the :act western ears find it difficult to respond with natural and 

unself-conscious appreciation to the rich rhythmic patterns of Indian and African 

music . 2 Of course, there are plenty of the socalled (self-called) "senscnua" 

type of "hip" hunkey on both coasts and Europe too, who put on a show at being 

up tight --but ; we know better . 

H 

To merely observe that it's a beautiful scene for AfricanAmerican musicians 

to now use BeBop as a beginning for a "new4' music is to look lightly, if at 

all, at some important philosophical . and historical concepts and motivations 

that the Black man, in general, and the Black musician, in particu ar, is responsive 

to and responsible for in his existence in this enclave, presently, of 

the western world . The AfricanAmerican musician holds certain beliefs 

about the world which makes it only natural for him to be orientated towards 

certain areas of thought and expression . These beliefs are primarily influenced 

by the musician's life in a racist society where he is one of a suppressed 

people . Among the young or avant-garde musicians this reality is increasingly 

being seen for what is ; and therefore is the substance of their expression and 

thought (musical, political and social) . , If these expressions and thoughts are 

influenced by western modes or technical resources (presently), -one must understand 

how these resources are used and whL . If recognition of the present 

forces affecting ones existence can significantly influence and cad to the 

forming of a'philosophical viewpoint of the World and the future, then'a further 

study of a particular history will deepen the influence and formation of 

that viewpoint . And if there is existing initiative, the new awareness can provide 

creative motivating factors with revolutionary ramifications . 

Historically, the majority of the instavments used by African-American 

musicians were of western origin with the drum, "banjo'!,, . , earth-bound, and 

others being exceptions (among the modern m : Yuseef 1ALteef uses 

23 7

Bessie Smith

many AfroAsian instruments, and Roland Kirk has invented some of his own) . 

The avant-garde, as a start, are going againstwestern musical tradition by 

playing these western instruments in "incorrect classical style" . Oh, dear I 

Although this has almost always been the case in the most original and best 

AfricanAmerican music . The same criticism was used against those Black 

musicians who, in distorted attempts to prove their . worth as human beings, 

mastered the conventions of European music . The c1f erence now, because of 

the beginning of a new awareness of themselves as Black men, is that the 

young musicians are more consciously undermining the confines of western 

tradition . 

The substance, historically, and n_ow evolving f o rms3 (in this lies the 

avant-garde's chief importance) are very definitely of a nonwestern character. 

In the United States, because of the white man's attempt to totally destroy the 

African American's conception of himself as .a human being, certain f o rms 

of African musical expression were suppressed by whites who couldn't understand 

them, but feared their use in anti-shave rebellions . 4 . But the fundamental 

rhythmic substance of the music was retained in the spiritual being of the 

peo% 1 .e and expressed in more convenient modes of music form --- that is the 

modes that the white slavers possessed . Thus began the imprisonment of a 

rhythmically and extemporaneously free music in a western- straight jacket . 

Every since the: end of avert slavery in this country, the Black musician 

has had one essential task before him --- . breaking free from the western contraction 

that his music was in . In Blues this was dame to the ._greatest extent, 

but, the instrumental expression of the same basic music presented a different . . 

thing although . The struggle has been accelerated more consciously in the 

last 25 years or so than at any time in African:American history . I think this 

is so because the musician has had a definite means of expressing his feelings 

amd attitudes of :the white man . (most of the 'hip' blood talk comes, from the 

musician) and at the same time within this expression there was the very 

real task of liberation from white western otan&rds .5 The rhythmic complexity 

(and the rhythmically JAduoedacs and iywannics created by Monks) 

of African:American music at the-time of the Initial Black onslaught of Charles 

Parker, John B . Gillespie, Thelmlovs Sphere Asonk, Jimmy Blanton, Charles 

Christian, Maxmtli Roach said others in the 1940's based on the more rudimentary 

but vital work of early Luis Armstrong ( in the 1925-29 period), James 

P . Johnson, Benny Moten and Count Basis demonstrates this vividly . The dedicated, 

young min icaa s of the present. are picking up the liberation movement 

attempting;to.make up for the .ttme lost in the 1959's when the social and political 

forces in the struggle miscalculated the winning of a small battle with de- 

23 ;

240 

feat of the enemy, 7 

Historic reunion : TAelonlour Monk accompanying Charlie Parker 

III 

In the history of AfricanAmerican music or "jazz"8 All developments of 

major and lasting importance .have come from the minds of Black musicians ; 

the avant-garde of today is very aware of this fact as are white "Jazz critics{" 

and musicians . With this in mind, I question LeRoi's advising Black musicians 

to use whatever important ideas that are contained in the, residue of 

European music history. Those ideas are just part of the dying residue of 

western culture and resurrecting them in order that they may help new Black 

musicians get to their roots sounds a bit grey to me . It's only logical for a 

man to get at his roots by going directly to them accompanied by the natural 

insight that a new generation will automatically bring to those classic roots .

By this time, there exist a body of AfricanAmerican technique based on the 

substance of the main music, of BeBop and Blues ; and these techniques can 

and must be added on to . Why go through some alien, oppressive tradition 

having to eject its shibboleths during the entire journey to the precious 

streams ? 1 l One may never reach the roots having been so brainwashed by 

white standards . "In my music, I came up with a music that didn't require . 

European laws applied to it . This was a revolutionary breakthrough as well a 

a support for the jazz image" . 9 This statement points to future of Black music. 

Cecil Taylor, contemporary pianist and nominal head of the avantgarde, 

says : "Jazz is the imposition of Black American feeling upon an aryan 

culture" . . And fee 1ing , that special quality, is a basic ingredient to 

the consciousness of ones own cultural heritage and roots. Oliver Nelson, 

composer-arranger, tenor saxman, says that he is just now getting over the 

affect of all his training in the university music (western) laboratory. "Jazz 

is not only the way Billie Holiday sang but the way she'd pronounce certain 

words . It's the way Duke Ellington pats his foot when he's playing. Sure, it 

came out of the experience of the Black man in America --- the way he feels, 

the way he brings those feelings into music . "10 And they didn't teach anyof 

these things in the white oriented university . The persistence of the African 

American musician with his creative strength and increased awareness can 

only lead to a further,growing and maturation of a culture of revolutionary 

significance . 

IV 

LeRoi comes on strong when he observes that the roots, Blues and Bop, 

are emotive. "And that there can be produced material of the purest intellect 

from this emotional experience as can the rawest emotions proceed from 

the ideal apprehension of any hypothesis . . . . IIt is the ideas that are utilized 

instincively then determine the degree of profundity any artist reaches. _We_ 

m_ ust always remember this vital fact : the Black musician's instinct represents 

not only his experience, but those of all AfricanAmericans because 

of the similarity of experience ; and for the Blackartist to express himself 

fully and freely, he will ultimately have to break every hallow tradition that 

the west has created in his enforced and uncoisulted presence . LeRoi indicates 

that he has the germ of this conviction in his concluding paragraph 

where writes : "Blues was the initial Afro-American music, and BeBop, 

the re-emphasis of the nonwestern tradition . And if the latter ,saved us 

from the vapid wastes of swing, singlehandedly, the new avant-garde 

(originally led by Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane) are saving us from the 

comparatively vapid 50's . And they both utilized the same general methods

242 

getting the music _back to its initial rhythmic impetus , and away imam tie 

attempts at rhythmic regularity and-melodie predic ability that the 30's and 

the 5 0's had laid on it . "And as O=ff 840 1 "Don't worry about figuring 

out each thing we're doing . Open up as maeh as you can, and try to feel the 

music as a whole . . . We're not trying to communicate blueprints . We're trying 

to tell you how we feel" .

. 

. 

L . African Revolution, Vol . 1, No . I (May, 1963) 

2 . . Heckmen, Notation and the Jazz composer', Downbeat-, Sept . 23, 1965, pp . 24 

3. The term "form' defines the overall musical shape of construction of a composition or sod . . 

generally . It's tike a beg that holds the improvisational expressions or ideas of the 

soloist . ; The Ideas that came free the mind of the musician is' the substance of the 

music . The substsnce -represents the raw material gathered from the day to day like of 

the musician, the things on his mind, and how he thinks . Hence, the substance is of prirary 

importance and eventually determines the shape that the music .wlll take if allowed 

the freedom to do se . 

4 . LoRel Jones . Blues People : Negro (Block) Music in white americe . New Cork ; 9m . Morrow 

and Co . 1963 . 

5. I think It is worth noting that up to the present time, the musician, of all Black people 

in the US, has been most successful in the liberation took that he has undertaken . 

Block musicians arm also among the most politically enlighten cadres of this struggle 

because they are literally in.the streets 'chopping' full time . Abbey - Lincoln, the 

brilliant wife of Max Roach was a 

at the U .N . 

l osier in the 1961 demonstration of pre-Lumumbe forces 

6 . Monk's music is a field within itself . His creations were done in nosr exile on V .63rd 

St ., N . Y . C . This was because his fellow ousicione did nst .understand and'appreciote the 

complexities of his music . According to Art Blakey : 'Monk Is the guy who started it all ; 

hs core before Parker and Gillespie' . Little did they realize (some still don't), until 

his 'rediscovery' nears y 15 years later, the significance of his work, Monk has, in fact, 

creamed a music of almost total AfHcon-american character . He didn't even borrow the 

European way of 'proper' hand position at the plane . This brought realization to the 

possibility of totally liberating Black music. free western concepts and Is what'$ what' . $ happen- 

ing now . - 

Loral ,~nes, Ibi .d . ----LoRei's book'Is a very Important thesis an the interrslativeness 

of the. sods-sco-politice and music areas, In AfrIcon-amsricon culture . I strongly hope 

that he will soon strengthen and expand the work this time directing it to the vital needs 

of the rising Blaekjouths acres* the country . 

8 . 1 oust come ouk with it ---Plizzo Is another one of those words coined .and sanction for 

us . b y you know who ; and of course, for de-nigrsting effect . The original work 'foes' was 

used by the brothers of the Story-vIlle district of ole .New Orleans and meant to 'foe' 

aecespenied by music played'by the 'cats' downstairs . The origin of 'cat a oleo dotes 

back to that era and area, and has remain with us . . You kww- who LOnA It . brothers . 

9 . Charles L . Russell, 'Ornette Cabman Sounds Off', Liberator, vol, V, No . 7 (July, 1965) ; 

p. 14 . 

10. N. Henteff, 'JSzz .end Roce', .Commonweal, vol . LXXXI, . ; No. IS,-(Jan . 8 . 1965) . 

243

244 

a fly ~o mrs.'S~t-hai"tha~qsm 

part , of a mim , to tlw block ronwgsohh 

From the midst of burning and fried hair, funky grease and oil there site 

our woman Mrs . "Instant Hair" Thompson serenely wrapped in the latest face 

borrowed from the pale white girls . As ever she retains that facial scorn 

grooved into her would-be beautiful countenance indicative of four hundred years 

of self-hatred. In this world supreme one hears the usual exchanges of the 

amorous conquests of their respective ministers spoken - as any trained observer 

would readily learn - with feelings of envy and concern as to why it 

could not be me . 

After the brief accounting of church business Our Lady of Little Rock and 

her counterparts address themselves to the trials, and tribulations of family 

life . First of all, there is the perpetual statement of a lack of money in which 

to run the house. Has it ever occured to these lustre-silk and nadinola wanders 

that their insufficient funds stems from a waste of their pitiful resources on 

artificial 'rbeauty" preparations which abounds in their hope of becoming akin 

to snow white . 

The money Black women spend on cosmetics, viz . in the form of hair culture 

and skin whiteness would place them and their families on a more viable 

plans ; of living . 

Another area of dismay constant in Mrs . "Instant Hair" Thompson's sojourn 

in .this supreme world, is the worry over keeping her fifteen year old son 

and daughter attendant in school resplendent in the very latest clvtMft as de 

picted gy m and Elegant Teen Magazines . Sister "Instant Hair" Thompson 

here is another wasteful way in which you create .an unnecoesmW drain 

an your.husband's meager earnings .

NW' ."O'new 96don 

Yes, Negro homemaker, you cry and yearn 

for understanding in your distressed condition . 

I hear your soulful cry and pledge myself to 

gain understanding, and suddenly 1 It is revealed 

to me that, you are often responsible 

for the perpetuation" of this sickness of soul . 

You are, as your mother was, saturated with 

the belief in, and faith in the four hundred 

year old cliche that "white makes right 1't 

Moreover, you negro female buzhies* bolieve 

that if you can't be white, then dress and 

act white, notwithstanding the cost : not only 

to your monetary position, but to your own 

self-being which causes you to loath anything 

black . 

What's that you say, negro homemaker ? 

Yes, your children attend school dressed like 

the ofay boys and girlie whose fathers and mothers earnings are much higher 

than yours - incidently, because of their capacity to exploit anti-black attitudes 

such as yours . And I soon learned that your children's grades and their 

desire to study is not made any more relevant as a result of their sartorial 

and elegant splendor . 

,Now that I have gained understanding of your especial home economic 

situation I can't laugh at you, but wish only to advise you in your daily strivings) 

which are rapidly becoming daily prayers : to stop your useless spending 

in an_accelerated effort to become white . The money you spend in your 

attempt to be accepted by white society could be used to provide a fund for 

your childrens' future . Teach yourself and your children the need to struggle 

for and to obtain self- acceptance, and consequently there will be no need to 

recreate yourself in a White image . 

Okay, Sister "Instant Hair", the hairdresser is through with you; now go 

on home to your husband who is just as much in need of advice as you were . 

He is spending his money on ivy league suits, alligator shoes, ofay whores, 

cases of imported scotch, and all the other income waste trappings of a frustrated 

Black male . Sister "Instant Hair", if it's all right with you, I'd like 

to see you next week at the wash house . 

" bourgeoisie 

245

franrz fanon 

psychology and 

negritude 

IOMWIs»ed from the freneh by SOULBOOK 

I speak of millions of men in which they have 

knowingly inculcated fear, inferiority complexes, 

trembling, kneeling down, despair, flunkying. 

(R . Cessire, Dis ® c~ou s our Is Colonialism@ ) 

The explosion will not take place today . It is too soon . . . or too late . 

I do not come armed with decisive truths . 

My conscience is not traversed with essential brilliances . 

In all serenity, however, I think that it would be well that certain thL:" 

be said. 

I am going to say these things, not cry them . For the cry left my life a 

long time .ago . 

And it is so remote . . . 

Why write this work? No one has asked me . 

Above all, not any of those to which it is addressed. 

Then ? Then, calmly I respond that there are too many fools on this 

earth . And since I am saying it, it is a question of proving it . 

Towards a new humanism . . . 

*Thin is Fenon's introduction to his book,Pesu Noire Mesawa Blsncs (Block Skirt, fhits 

Masks)

The understanding between men . . . 

Our brothers of color . . . 

I believe in you, man . . . 

Racial prejudice . . . 

To understand and to love . . . 

From all sides, dozens and hundres of pages assail and try to force themselves 

upon ,me . However, a single line would suffice ; a single response to 

furnish, and the problem of the black man is stripped of its seriousness . 

What does man want? 

What does the black man want? 

I may incur the resentment of my brothers of color, but I will st4te that 

the black is not a man . 

There is a zone of non-being, a region extraordinary sterile and arid, a 

stairway stripped of essentials from which a genuine upheaval might take birth . 

In the majority of cases, the black does not have the benefit of realizing this 

descent to a veritable hell . 

Man is not only possibility of rebirth or of nega ion . If it is true that the 

conscience is activity of transcendency, we should know also that this transcendency 

is haunted by the problem of love and of comprehension . Man is 

vibrant OUI~with the cosmic harmonies . Torn away, dispersed, confoundee, 

condemned to see dissolved one after another the truths which he elaborates, 

man must cease projecting in the world an antimcaiy which' to him seems coexistent 

. 

The black is a black man ; that is to say that as a result of a series of 

affective aberrations, he has taken root in the midst of a universe from which 

it will be very necessary to depart . 

The problem is important . We insist upon nothing less than the liberation of 

the man of color from himself . We will go very slowly, for there are two 

camps : the white and the black . 

We will tenaciously examine the two metaphysics, and we will see that they 

are frequently very solvent . 

For the former governors and missionaries we will have no pity . For us,. 

those who adore blacks are as "sick" as those who execrate them. 

24?

Inversely, the black who desires to whiten his race is as unfortunate as the one 

who preaches the batted of the white . 

In the absolute, the black is no more lovable than the Czech . And truthfully 

it is a question of freeing man . 

This book should have been written three years ago . . . but then the truths 

burned us . Today they can be said without excitement . Those truths have no 

need of being thrown in the face of men . They don't require enthusiasm . We 

mistrust enthusiasm . 

Each time we have seen it blossom somewhere, it announced fire, famine, 

and misery . . . also the contempt of man . 

Enthusiasm is par excellence the arm of the powerless . 

Of those who would heat the iron in order to beat .it immediately . But we 

would like to heat man's carcass and then leave . Perhaps we would arrive at 

this result : man maintaining this fire by auto-combustion . 

Man liberated from the springboard that the resistance of others constitutes, 

and digging in his own flesh in order to find a sense of himself . 

Only a few of those reading this work will guess the difficulties which we 

have encountered in the wording. . 

During a period in which sceptical doubt is present in .the world . . where, in 

the words of a group of bastards, it is to longer possible.to discern sense 

from non-sense, it becomes difficult to descend to a stage where the cate 

gories of sense and non-sense Are not yet employed . 

The black wants to be white . The white is intent upon .realizing a condition 

of man. 

We will see during the cpurse of this work an essay elaborating upon the 

understanding of the blackwhite relationship . 

The white is locked up in his whiteness . 

The black in his blackness . 

We will try to determine the trends of this double narcissism and the mo- 

tivations to which it returns . 

At the beginning of our reflections it seemed inopportune to 

plicit the conclusions which you are going to read . . 

to make ex- 

Only the anxiety of putting an end to a vicious circle has guided our efforts . 

It is a fact : some whites regard themselves as being superior .to blacks . 

It is another fact : cost what it may, some blacks want to demonstrate to 

whites the richness of their thought, the equal power of their spirit . 

How does one get away from it ? 

A short time ago we employed the term of narcissism . As a matter of fact, 

vm tbink that only a psychoanalytical interpretation of the black problem can

eveal the responsible affective anomolies within the structure of the complex . 

We will work towards a total lysis of this :morbid universe . , We think that an 

individual should tend to assume the universality inherent to the human condition 

. And when we, advance. this thought, we are indifferent to men such as 

(IIobineau 2 or wo&en such as Capecia . But in order to succeed in 

this execution it is urgent to rid oneself of a serie& of defects evolved from 

the childhood experience . 

The misfortune of man, said Nietzche, is having been a child. We 

would not know how to forget, however, for as Charles Other had us to under - 

stand, the fats of the neurotic resides between him, cnm bands . 

249

This following statement may also be painful for us, but we are obliged to 

make it : for the black, there is only one aim -- and it is white . 

Before beginning the process, we insist upon certain things . The analysis 

that we are undertaking is a psychological one. . Nevertheless it remains evident 

to us that the veritable destruction of the Black's alienation implies a 

brupt realization of economic and social truths . If-there is an inferiority 

complex, it is the. result of a double process 

--- Economic, first of all . 

--- Next, by internalization or, better, epidermization of this inferiority. 

Reacting against the coned tutionalist3 tendency at the end of the 19th 

century, Freud, through pschoanalysis, asked that the factor of the individual 

be taken into consideration . For a pbylogenetic thesis he substituted the 

ontogenetic perspective . One will see that the -alienation of t>le Black is not 

an individual question . At the side ofphrlogeny and catogany-1here is sociogeny5 

In a sense, in order to reply to the wish of IAconte and Dameygwe 

say that it is here a question of a -socio -diagnosis 

What is the prognosis ? 

But society, contrary to the bio-chemical process, doesn't escape the 

human influence . Man is what society succeeds in being . The prognosis is 

between the hands of those who are willing to shake the worm-eaten roots of 

the structure . 

The black should lead the fight upon two fronts : since, historically, 

they are conditoning themselves, all unilateral liberation is imperfect, and 

the worst error would be to believe in their mechanical independence . Be 

sides, the facts are opposed to a similar systematic inclination, which we 

will demonstrate . 

Reality, for one time, claims total understanding . Upon an objective 

plan as on a subjective plan a solution should be brought forth . 

And it is not worth the trouble of coming, with the airs of "crab-it-ismy-fault, 

" to proclaim that it is a question of saving the soul . 

There will be authentic destruction of alienation only to the extent that 

things, in the most material sense, will have resumed their place . 

It is good style to introduce a work of psychology from a methodological 

point of view . We will not follow this usage here ; we will leave systems to 

botanists and mathematicians . There is a point at which systems reabsorb 

themselves . 

We would like to place ourselves there . We will try to discover the different 

rebponses that the black adopts when confronted with the civilization of 

whites .

The "savage- of the bush" is not envisaged here, _because for him certain 

elements as yet have no weight. 

We feel that due to the fact of placing together the white and black races 

that there is apsycho-existential complex surrounding both . In analysing it 

we are also aiming at its destruction. 

Many blacks will not encounter themselves in the lines which follow . 

Similarly many whites . 

But for me the fact that I feel myself a stranger to the world of the schizophrenic 

or of the sexual incompetent in no way contests of their reality. 

The attitudes that I intend to describe are true . I have encountered them 

in incalculable number of times - in students, workers, & pimps in Pigalle 

or Marseille, I have identified the same conponent of aggressivity and passivity 

. 

This work is a c nic al study . Those who might find'themselves here, I 

believe, will have advanced a step . I really want to lead my brother, black 

or white, to jolt most energetically the lamentable livery built through centuries 

of incomprehension . 

The structure of the present work is situatid on a temporal base . All 

human problems demand to be considered from this point of view, the ideal 

being that the present always serves to construct the future . 

And this future is wt the one of the cosmos, but certainly the one of my 

era, of my country, of my . existence . By no-means should I plan to prepare 

the world which will follow me . I belong irreducibly to my own epoch, 

and this epoch is what I should live for . The future should be a sustained 

construction by existing man . This edifice is linked to the present to the 

extent that we pose the present as a thing which should be surpassed . 

The first three chapters concern themselves with the modern black . I 

take blacks as they actually are and try to determine their attitudes in the, 

white world . The last two are concerned with a psychopathological and 

philosophical explanation of the black's existence . 

The analysis is, above all, regressive . 

The fourth and fifth chapters are written on an essentially different plan . 

In the fourth chapter I have criticized a work~which in my opinion is dangerous 

. However, the author, M . Mannoni, is conscious of the ambiguity 

of his position, and perhaps that is one of the merits of his work . He attempted 

to render an account of a situation and we have the. right of declaring 

ourselves unsatisfied. We are obliged to show the autor where we differ 

from him . 

The fifth chapter, which I have entitled, "The Uperience Endured by the

252

Black, " ; it shows the black confronting his race . One will perceive that the 

black man described'in this chapter has nothing in common with the one who 

desires to sleep with white women . One would find that this last has a desire 

to be white -- a thirst for vengeance, in any case . Here, on the contrary, 

we witness the desperate efforts of a black intent on discovering the sense of 

his black identity . White civilization, European culture, has imposed an existential 

deviation upon the black . We will show elsewhere that often what 

one calls the 'black soul" is a construction of whites . 

The evolved black, slave to the Negro myth, spontaneous and cosmical, 

feels at a given moment that his race understands him no longer . 

Or that he understands it no longer . 

Then, he congratulates himself, and developing this difference, this iucomprehension, 

this disharmony, he discovers the sense of his veritable humanity 

. Or more rarely he has a desire to be with his people . And it is 

with the rage on his lips and madness in his heart that he plunges into the 

"great black cave . " We will see that this attitude, so absolutely beautiful, 

rejects reality and the future in the name of a mystic past . 

Being West Indian of origin, our observations and conclusions are only of 

value to, the West Indies -- at the very least in what concerns the black, 

within himself, there . There should be a study devoted to the explanation 

of divergences between West Indians and Africans . Perhaps we will do it one 

day . Perhaps also someday, it will have become useless, in which case we 

can only congratulate ourselves . 

FOOTNOTES 

I) means 'yea' in french 

2) the 18th century french author of several racist works 

3) this was Kreepelin's term for an ill-defined category of disorders in which 

he placed such symptoms as the following : uncontrolled excitement, despondency, 

homicidal impulses, chronic thievery, pyromania, sex perversions, and 

wanderlust (1833) . Kreepelin believed that such individuals were the result 

of had heredity, and hence degenerates . 

4) the growth and development of the individual, as contrasted with phylegeny, 

the development of the species . 

5) study of the origins of society ; characterizing behavior as determined by 

social experience . 

6) Y . Liconte and A . Oamey, Essal critique des nosographies psychiatrigues 

tuelles . 

7) ac Psychologle de la colonisation , by 0 . Yannoni (Ed . du Ssuil, 1950) .

254 

douglas alien 'twos the night before Christmas, 

and all through the house, 

not a creature was stirring, 

not even "whitey" . . . 

rwaAs "i tv 

i 

~etove cN~' "sfw~a~s 

Little Marvin Oswald of Alabaster, Louisiana, crept from his bedroom 

and into the gloom living room ., The glint of the tinsel and bulbs from the 

Christmas . tree shone in his bright blue eyes . All was quiet . 

Suddenly, there was a muffled scuffling from the cold stone fireplace, and 

among the ashes a black boot appeared, a bit of bright red pants-leg, , a snowy 

beard, and finally Santa Claus himself I 

But there was something wrong l Santa's face was full and dark, his cheeks 

two brown-baked apples above full lips and lying next to a wide, broad nose . 

Dang, man 1 Santa was a nigger I 

"Ho-ho-ho, " Santa said, puffing as he flowered a bag swollen with goodies . 

"Well, Marvin Oswald, have you been a good little boy this year? 

"Hey," Marvin said, "you're not Santa Claus I" 

Santa looked up from the bag with a puzzled glance . 

"What do you mean?" he said . "Have you seen Santa before?" 

"No, " Marvin hesitated, "but I know you're ,not Santa . You're black 1" 

"But I'm still Santa Claus," Santa protested, still a little puzzled . "Come 

on, Marvin, I've got a lot of work to do tonight . What do you .want for Christmas 

this year ?" He smiled broadly as he drew a large package our of his 

bag . " How about a nice skate board ? Or an official NBA basketball autographed 

by Bill Russell Or a - -" 

The door to'the room opened and Liandolph Oswald, Niarvin'sFather, 

_Living 

peered sleepily in . 

"Hey," he yawned, "what's all the noise About?" He looked a little closer, 

and his mogth dropped open in disbelief. "'What the hell--?" he began .

"Ho-ho-ho ?" Santa said a little weakly . 

"How'd you like the after-shave lotion I got 

you ]last year ? And the alpaca sweater ?" 

With a roar, Randolph Oswald disappeared 

into his room, and before Santa could gather 

up his bag of goodies andscramble for the 

fireplace the man was back in the -living 

room with a shotgun cocked under one arm. 

"What's wrong, Randolph ?" Santa said, . 

his eyes growing wide as he moved slowly 

backwards. "Where's the Christmas cheer 

you've been taught for so many years ? What 

about the faith and brotherhood all should 

live by on this anniversary of the birth of our Lord and- Saviour T Don't you belier 

in Santa Claus ?" 

"I don't know what your game is boy," Randolph said with clenched teeth, 

but if you think you can get away with'running around in a little red suit and 

breaking into white people's houses you're, about the most mistaken nigger 

in Dixie. " 

He pointed the shotgun at Santa. "Let's go, he said. 

Little Marvin and his friend Alexander, sat sadly ,uh tie frant pacch the 

morning after. 

"I didn't get any Christmas presents at .,all, "Abu-via said mournfuUy. 

"Neither did I," Alexiinder moped . "Say, what was all that excitement 

about last night ?" 

"Oh, they just lynched some fool nigger from the big Christmas ;tree 

Quit in from of City Hall:" He sighed and rubbed his toe in the dirt. " I wonder 

why Santa Claus didn't come this year -- ?" ," 

2

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harry haywood 

THE TWO EPOCHS of 

NATION-DEVELOPMENT : 

is blaolk riationalinxn aform 

= of o1asSICal riationalism? 

This is an excerpt from Brother Harry Heywood's unpublished book, Towards A 

Revolutionary Program For Negro Freedom . 

The dramatic resurgence of Negro nationalism, its emergence as a 

viable, authentic trend is one of the most significant developments of the 

present day Negro freedom scene . With the appearance of the Black Mus 

lims, its most articulate and best organized manifestation, Negro Nationalism, 

for the first time since the Garvey movement, has attained the significance 

of a major mass trend . It is having a profound immpact upon the 

Negro community, striking a deep chord among the lower masses, the 

most disprivileged section of the Negro population . Especially in the northern 

urban ghettoes is this impact felt . It has entered the list to challenge 

the old guard assimilationist leadership . Any program having in view the 

unleashing of the vast revolutionary potential of the Negro people's liberation 

struggles must take into account and accurately assess this burgeoning 

nationalist component, its implications and importance with respect 

to the character and future direction . of that struggle . Such an examination 

cannot be restricted to Muslim separation, which is only one manifestation 

of a broad trend, although the most vocal one . 

If nationalism in its broad sense_c_a_n_be_defined_as an effort of__apeople 

Lo assert its identity and its dii nity its human right_to become master of 

its own__de_sti_nyL enztoday,`N o nationalism is indeed_a_broad a_n_"row_- _ 

g trend embracin thevast majority of the Ne&ro~eople It is- rooted 

in their strivings to break out of the trap of racist -economic and cultural 

subjugation; to assert their humanity as a free and equal people . This new 

mood of self-assertion, this search for identity, far from being restricted . 

257

258 

to the Black Muslims or other avowed 

nationalist groups, ramifies 

throughout the entire spectrum of 

the present day Negro freedom 

struggle . It affects even those 

masses now under assimilationist 

leadership, and the Negro man in 

the street without organizational 

ties . 

Negro nationalism " .above 

defined is a catalyst -in the Negro 

civil rights revolt now sweeping up from its center in the South, bursting all 

regional barriers and exploding on all fronts . The unifying concept behind 

this movement is the Negro's new image of himself as belong to a people 

with a common destiny . A prime ingredient of this image is the Negro's determination 

to assume at whatever cost the upright . posture of manhood sad to 

right the ,%r cags of three centuries of slavery compounded by a century of 

fustian freedom . In this drive for .self- reaJization and .etfc identity, a, new 

)egro . personality emerges : Its elements are pride, dignity and self- - 

reliance . It pictures a people freeing itself from the entrapment of inferiority, 

reclaiming its stolen history, a people with a great past and a greater 

future, a people who have produced great men and women: poets, statesmen' 

scientists, heroes . It is a people recognizing its own great revolutionary 

traditions manifested in the struggle against chattle slavery, the Civil War, 

the battle of Reconstruction ; a people proud of their link to ancient African 

culture and the acheivements of the -xiewly emerged African nations with 

which they identify . Especially among the youth is there a reaffirmation of 

the value of the Negro experience . As James Baldwin put it : , 

'That son who is forced to snatch his msnhood,'his identity, out of the fire 

of human cruelty that rages to destroy it knows, if he survives his effort, and 

even if 'he does not survive- it, something about himself ond life th t no school 

on earth - and indeed no ch*ch -- can teach. He scheives his own authority, 

end that is unshakeeble . This Is becpuse he is forced to leek beneath appearances, 

is take nothing for,granted, to hear the meaning behind words. .0 I 

The Negro rebounds with an assertive nationalism from the blows of racism, 

using nationalism as a weapon against oppression and racist ideology . 

It is accompanied by a growing scepticism-ranging to violent rejection of the 

values and behavior patterns of the white power structure . 

Columnist Walter Lippmana is whistling in the dark when he writes

that, "American Negroes are asking only for their lawful rights . . . (but) the 

American Negro movement is not at all revolutionary, as we have seen the 

anti-colonial movements in Africa. and Asia.' " He is indulging in wishful 

thinking when he says that the Negro is merely trying to join the whites "inside 

the existing American social order . " 

The refrain of the non-revolutionary character of the current Negro up - 

surge is Tepeated ad nauseum by the Alsops, Harry Ashmores and other writerpp 

ati attempt to confuse and distort the new objectives of the struggle and 

to contain. the movement within the old framework of middle class assimilationist 

goals . 

The Negro's new concept of equality rejects the idea of acceptance into the 

existing power structure at the price of conforming to the standards and values 

set by the white rulers . Even if this goal were attainable, its, content is 

paternalism in which he would continue to be less than equal, and assimi 

lation would amount to ~osing'his identity and foregoing_ his rights to a future 

as a people . On the contrary, -Negro self-realization demands a status affording 

him control of his own affairs,, determination of his' future as a 

people, and assertion of his dignity, self-respect and pride . 

As E . U . Essien Udom puts it, " . . a status which enables him to recover a 

world in, which they can enjoy an unashamed sense of identity and vindicate 

their honor as Hlack Amer('cans . "'3 

it is - not accidental that the main thrust of the reawakening comes from the 

Negro youth, who are the spearhead of thedrive for identity. Caught up in 

what has been called "the revolution of expectancy,' , Negro youth refuse the 

status of forebears, the status of indefinitely waiting for recognition of Negro 

rights and human dignity . 

The temper of the youth is often expressed in strident disaffection, in a 

rejection of any possibility of adjustment within the white-dominated power 

structure, in scepticisni.tantamount to- a vote of no confidence in the desire 

or ability of the United States white rulers to live up to their promises and 

pretenses of recognizing elementary human rights of the Negro- subcitizens . 

The element of hope, an. essential ingredient of the civil rights upsurge, is 

also present . An awareness grows among Negroes that they push for freedom 

from positions of strength . They are gaining a consoiousness that the balance 

of world forces has shifted in their favor ; that their struggle takes place in 

conditions of irreversible, revolutionary world change;'that their fight for 

freedom is inseparably part of the globe-encircling revdt of the earth's 

downtrodden colored people . 

259

2.60 

Negro nationalism is not alien or new to the American scene, as sows 

writers pretend . Historically, it has been a basic andcow theme In 

Negro protest . In modern times, it has been a steady undercurrent in the 

national Negro community, existing side by side with the dominant integrationist-assimilationist 

trend . Submerged by the latter, in so-called "normail' 

times, Negro nationalism surges forth in times of stress and crisis, 

and in the absence or weakness of a revolutionary third trend, posing an 

alternative, it is apt to take the form of mass septet movements such as 

the Grarvey movement is the early 1920s and the Black Muslim movement of 

the present day . Not since the Garvey movement has the Negro nationalist 

trend acbefved the . dynamic and all-embracing character of the present resurgence 

. What is new is the stepped up urgency of the Negro's demand for 

The owth of Negro nationalist sentiment is a positive development in 

itself . It i, in fact an essential precondition for the emergence of a national 

revolutionary movement . The Negro population in the United States has been 

historically subjected to all-out psychological warfare intended to prevent it 

from fighting for its rights . This warfare has taken several forms . 

1) The lynch law of the South and police brutality in the north: to intimidate . 

2)PaternaUstic concessions and philanthropy, on both a personal and organized 

basis, to prevent Negroes from leading their own struggles . 

3) Conditioning the Negro people to believe profoundly in their own unworthiness 

. The white chauvinist version of history of Africa . and of the Negro 

people in America. predominant in United States publications and educational 

institutions, the racist contact of popular culture, as well as the over - 

whelming influence of the Negro church has incu lcated a deep feeling of unworthiness 

and humility . 

4) Encouragement of the illusion that militant struggle is hopeless, since 

Negroes as a minority dare not fight for their rights . 

All the above methods of ideological and political domination are now 

challenged by Negro nationalism . They are an essential ; prop to Negro 

oppression, because, far from being isolated and impotent, the Negro move 

ment represents a terrible potential threat to the existing power structure . 

This accounts for the nearly hysterical reaction against Negro nationalism 

in ruling circles, as well as among liberal "friends" of the Negro . 

The growth of nationalist sentiment is a step in the right direction, because 

it builds up self-confidence and a fighting spirit . The basic signifi-, 

cance of Negro nationalism is in the attempt to %et an independent course for 

the movement ; to shake off the dead hand of liberalism, paternalism, gradualism., 

and dependency which has plagued the modern Negro movement since 

its inceptiOn. : But this trend has yet to crystallize into a clear-gut work-

able political program. 

All objective factors point to the growth of Negro nationalism. The problem 

is to channelize this sentiment inSo a revolutionary direction. $iat the 

emerging revolutionary foroes will utterly fail in this task if they allowthemselves 

to trail, either ideologically or politically, the ghetto petty-bourgeois 

leadership of the nationalist movement . 

Mr . and Mrs . Robert Williams along with the head of the National Liberatlon 

Movement of South Vlet Nee and the Premier of North Viet Nam toasting to the 

future victories of the Viet Nomese People and the Afroamerican people . 

261

262 

SOME THEORIES THAT ATTEMPT TO DENY THE REVO - 

LUTIONARY POTENTIAL OF THE BLACK MOVEMENT 

Consistent with their direct integration or assimilationist orientation, the 

Communist Party theoreticians take special pains to be absolutely c e r - 

t a i n that all the elements of nationhood as defined by Stalin are not only present, 

but are maturing before the CPUSA can support a Negro national revolutionary 

movement. They insist that the Negro people in the deep south must 

take the "classic road to the formation of a nation" as precondition for continuing 

to support the principle of self-determination . 

For example, James S . Allen contends that the Negro movement in the 

deep south will not take an autonomous .direction because the negroes there 

lack the most essential elements of nationhood, that is, common territory 

and economic life . These, he contends, are in the process of disintegration 

as the result of the ' . . . . forces of capitalist development of great expansive 

power, which has lasted well into the era of monopoly and imperialism . 4 As 

a result, "the struggle for equal rights has not taken the "classic road of 

the formation of a nation in the Black Belt area ,, as supposedly envisioned by 

the CPUSA when it first put forth the principle of the right of selfdetermination 

. The Negro movement, he contends, has developed along other lines, 

"predominantly in the direction of integration . " In failing to fully appreciate 

these "specific characteristics of the development of the Negro people in the 

U . S . . . . . the party got fixed into _immutable positions not in accordance with 

reality . " 

Specifically, he charges that the Party's program with respect to the 

Negro nation and the right of self-determination was the result of a "mechanical, 

inflexible, unhistorical approach both to the . theory of nation and 

the national program . 11 

First of all, where, we must ask, does Allen expect to find an oppressed 

nation_ in the M_och_ of_impgri_aUsm taking the "classic road" to formation 

of nations ? His repeated.reference to the "Classic periodto formation of 

nations in respect to the Negro question, it seems to us, simply reveals his 

own unclarity concerning the national question of the epoch of imperialism . 

"Imperialism, " says Lenin, "is the progressive oppression of the nations 

of the world by a handful of great powers . It is the epoch of war among them 

for the widening and strengthening of national oppression . . . This is precisely 

why the central point in the Social Democratic Party must be the distinction 

between oppressing and oppressed nations, which is the essence of imperialism 

which is falsely evaded by the social chauvinist . 6

We are dealing here with the specific, Negro nation in the context of the 

extxema crisis , of world imperialism, a main feature of which is the collapse 

of the system of national-colonial oppression. We are dealing with a submerged 

nation in the heartland of V . 3 . imperialism, . .the main bulwark of the 

eol1apstng colonial system . , 

Allen's dogmatic strictures would make the development of a national 

movemem for autonomy and self-datermination contiu gent upon the ' "maturing" 

of all elements of nationhood of this oppressed nation . It is, however 

an elementary truth that universally, imperialist policy with regard to the 

national question is designed f_o r_c i_b ly t o arrest and distort the 

free _d e v e _1opm en t o f n at i o n . s _ To maintainthier economic andcultural 

backwardness as an essential,condition for the extraction of superprofits 

. Is it not clear that the application-of this policy operates to obstruct, 

warp, and distort the development of the elements of nationhood among 

oppressed peoples ? That is,, common territory, economic life, language, 

and culture ? 

Now . . then, can any serious . student of the c o_nt e x o r a r Y national 

question make our support of autonomy, includingthe rightof self-determi - 

mination of Negroes ; conti ngent upoii the m a_t u_rEin& of "all 'elements of 

nationhood among them ? Clearly, -the logic ofsuch a position, were we to apply 

it to the question of oppressed nations generally, would be to deny the 

right of selfdetermination to a whole number of peoples suffering under the 

yoke of imperialist oppression and, by virtue of this oppression, the maturing 

of all,the elements of nationhood among them has been prevented . Indeed, 

Allen's logic, if applied to the national-colonial question generally,, would deny 

the right of self-determination to a J number of the emerging nations in 

Negro Africa and elsewhere, among whom the requisites of nationhood exist 

only in extremely rudimentary form . 

Is not this position objectively close to apology for continued imperialist 

political domination of id-called "backward peoples ?" 

The dialectical fact, which Allen and others seem to miss, is that imperialist 

oppression, in stifling the development of nations, created the conditions 

for the rise of national revolutionary movements which, in this epoch, 

are a special phase of the struggle for socialism . This creates the basisfor 

internation=al 

the revolutionary alliance of the oppressed peoples with the 

working class in the struggle against the common enemy, capitalist imp - 

perialism . 

Allen is indeed on shaky ground when he lectures on .our ."unhistoric app - 

roach to the -theory of nations" when he himself confuses the classic period

264 

with the imperialist epoch . 

In insisting upon the 

'blassic road" with respect to 

the Negro national liberation 

movement, Allen clearly violates 

an elementary requirement 

of Marxist-Leninist theory: 

that is, the necessity of 

distinguishing between two ra- 

.dical~y different ODOC 

LtalismwithregLeet_to nations 

and national movements* 

1) The classic period - 

the victory of capitalism over 

feudalism - the epoch of ~bouar' 

geois revolution, which winn - 

uessed the formation of big 

gapitalist national states in Europe 

and the United States . 

2) T_he imperst cc!, when 

these nations, having long completed 

their bourgeois democratic 

transformation, have become 

powerful imperialist 

states oppressing these left- _ 

behind - the overwhelming majority 

of mankind, who can acheive 

national liberation only 

via the path of revolutionary 

struggle in alliance with the 

working class against imperialism 

. 

In the United States, the second 

bourgeois democratic re- ry 

volution of the Civil War and 

Reconstruction, while abol - 

ing chattel slavery, stopped " 

short of carrying through the laud revolution and guarantytag full citizenshipsilrl,tra,.fort 

o . The betrayal of ction blasted the

Negroes' hopes for democratic integration into U.S . national life on the basis 

of equality . With the advent of imperialism, the dominance of trusts and mono 

polies at the turn of the century riveted tighter the yoke of Negro bondage, 

with the result that he was thrust further outside the pale of U . S . democracy 

into deeper isolation within his own group . The possibility for peaceful, democratic 

integration into the U. S. mainstream was definitely precluded . Henceforth, 

an effective struggle for Negro equality had to lake the form of a struggle 

of an oppressed nation for special political guaranties to ensure its freedom . 

In correcting our "unhistoric approach", it appears that Allen blurs over 

this distinction. He fails to take into account Lenin's principle 

'The categorical demand of Morxian theory in examining any social question is thot 

it be placed within definite historical limits, and if its refers to one country 

(e .g . the national program of a given country) that the concrete peculiarities that 

distinguish that country from others within the same political epoch be token into 

account 

While Allen makes a bold attempt to discuss the "concrete peculiarities" 

of the Negro national question in the United States, he fails to take into account 

the "historical epoch . " His dogmatic, unhistorical approach explains his 

confusion with respect to the elements of nationhood . Concerning this 

question, Stalin said 

' . . .the elements of nationhood - language, territory, culture, etc ., - did not fall 

from the skies, but were evolved gradually in the pre-capitalist period . But these 

elements were in a rudimentary state . and at best, were only a potentiality, that 

is, they constituted the possibility of the formation of a noticn in the future 

given certAin favorable conditions . The potentiality became a reality only in the 

period off ising capitalism with its national market and its economic, cultural 

centers: 

In the classic epoch, the epoch of transition to capitalism, favorable circumstances 

for the conversion of this potentiality into a reality was the bourgeoisdemocratic 

revolution - the overthrow of feudalism. In the present, 

imperialist epoch, the epoch of transition to socialism, the essential condition 

for the full development of oppressed nations is the overthrow of imperialist 

oppression and domination of weaker nations . 

FOOTNOTES 

I . James Baldwin, The Fire Next Ties, p. 113 . 

2 . Washington Post , 8/29/63 

3 . E . U . Essien-Udom, Block Nationalise , p.4 

26E

266 

4 . James S . Allen, "Some New Data Towards Understanding the Position of Negroes in the 

U,S . Today," Discussion Bulletin No . 2 for the 16th Notional Conventi on, CPUSA, 

11/27/56 

5 . - V . I . Lenin, Selected forks , V . 284 

6 . Ibid . IV, 225 

7. J . Stalin, The Notional Question and Leninism . Pamphlet . 

rood 

CHINA .. .ft ... &OWof IV~, Oman of tndew 

A GREAT PEOPLE 

A GREAT BESTMY 

25 

P 

"' 

"" 

""' "m~ ~

gotten nstl 

ernis alien 

john fisher 

rsnsld stone 

we patterson 

harold fester 

carol turner 

theodore horns 

patricis bulling 

k willism kgositsile 

1 to the Smoke King . 

I am black. 

I am darkening with song, 

I to hearkening to wrong ; 

I will be block as blackness can, 

The blacker the mantis the mightier 

the man. 

.. . . . by il . E. B. DuBois

Revelations 

Behold the book was placed before me and it bore 

the seal of death . ., 

And a voice commanded me to read there of 

And go forth prophesying of things to be . . . 

And the writings of the book were a brand 

unto my eyes blinding me . 

it i s written, Selah 

And in the day of the night which is to come 

mighty tremors will gird the earth, shaking it 

as a leaf in storm, then will issue forth 

the trumpeter winds, the dark winds that burn 

sere and scorch the flesh and it will be a sign 

and in the day of the night to come your white 

and blue skies will yellow and taint with the 

breath of the lion, and the encroaching jungle 

will heave and move forward . And your pleasures will 

be carrion and ashes . Selah 

And in the day of the night to come the children of 

your blandness spewed from your bloodless loins 

will be gutted in an orgy of blood, and their 

bones affixed as crosses on your doorsteps 

to guide our way in darkness . Selahi 

And on the eve of the night which is to come 

You will quake palsied with knowing, and 

You will run to your hiding places, away 

from the black wrath among you, to find your 

retreat blocked by jungle, the black hordes 

surrounding you, and it is night .

And in this night from the airless 

tombs which you have sentenced unto us 

we will issue forth, a mighty army of spectres 

wraiths, destroying your cities, desecrating your 

alters, and your benediction will be the 

cold kiss of destruction and you will flee 

screaming to your graves and we will 

fatten and grow strong on the sweet food 

of revenge and wax mighty, and black 

Afrika will Triumph and the castrated sons 

of her flesh will issue forth new life 

long live Afrika 

carol turner

270 

Hell, Mary, 

You're full of crap; 

Milord's been with you -- 

If not the stableboy. 

And that dove tale 

Is for the birds . 

The fruit of your womb 

Will be a lemon, sweetie, 

To bear all by yourself. 

At least you can still 

Grab an old man, baby ; 

And_who knows ?- 

Your lucky star 

May shine one day. 

BAUBLE

Hiphiphooray 

for the good old redwhite&blue 1 

Uncle Sam 

oink a happy tune 

oink 1 Oink 1 Oink 1 OINK 1 

You ' re topdog of hogs now . 

In your pen 

is yourveryown vomit feces 

& the best garbage from the world over 

nor your consumption pleasure . 

You have all the wealth and power 

Uncle Sam 

a prize blue ribbon hog 

in human doghog civilization should have . 

everything is A-OK now 

but wow look out 

when Farmer Fate starts licking his chaps . 

renal d stern

MAN MATING 

Gathering tender fruit, we rape the tree of life 

that falling a serpant's head consume, 

Til in bright hot oastacy it bursts blindingly -- 

wrafting us skyward, 

Upward spiraling through vermillion vapors of cosmic 

hypnotic night, 

Exploding in a wild phahtasmagoria . Enraptured . 

O night of all nights 1 

;5ub4idinjr inmild euphoria. to the listless twittering 

of eye lids,, 

Oblivious of all -- save the sea of time around us . 

John fiahor

Decaying teeth 

from some destructive particles 

wedged between themselves 

and their black lives 

black clinchable lives 

stare them in their faces 

as they walk upon the sea 

that carries their alien food 

to some destructable water fall 

of stained gums that will not create 

their own salavia to float 

white . disease from their mouths 

and leave them with a new breath 

(of life . 

liberation, 

love of blackness 

that is. themselves and their beauty) 

if -realized in their * minds 

and not their tongues . 

MOTIVATION 

(for black painters) 

human's . fall from pyrrhea 

hsrNd foster

274 

Sometimes on midsummer nights 

As you grow weary of sleep 

Black Man Blues 

And seek to escape riding the waves of insomnia 

You ask yourself 

Why has my jungle dream left me ? 

I am the reason, and as you say this to yourself 

on covers bleached white 

Perhaps you seek a voice 

You lift your arms 

And the sound of chains 

enchromed in logic giving you answers 

Echoes 

through centuries 

dripping blood 

Soothing soul 

enclosed in beercans . 

+n. petterson

BLUES FOR BROk DEATH : BLUES FOR YOU 

dedicated to DonaN Byrd 

leaving 

last and lost 

arms and hours 

of cherished-bitter moments 

Happening upon tht 

welltrodden footpath 

through the wet foliage, 

and greying afternoon 

(still, as it were, 

unrecognized by you . . . 

but yet not unknown) 

Watching spring-green 

bushes bowing, swaying 

saplings bending, praying, 

approximating the movement 

of a curious wind which chills your body 

Dark, damp leaves brushing against your face 

"I've Longed and I've Searched . . . " 

Silent figures-greying masks 

watching your every turn 

on the dark, 'slippery ground 

knowing, knowing . . . 

with neither care nor comprehension 

as bowing, bending limbs 

paint with fallen leaves and water droplets 

mosaics on sky-grey canvas 

Faint voices with a call 

11 . . . For My Mother"

276 

for a shelter" somewhere 

Finding dry cave, cavern. . 

no 

Tunnel , black 

with breeze warm 

at first which dries 

the weather from .your face 

smooths the wrinkles 

relights the eyes 

as if in preparation 

for the long descent 

And you follow quickly-dropping : 

knowing not, asking not 

why 

with one hand against the wall 

making grey=cold st©nes~ become 

colder, greyer 

as you slip from the world of b w ding limbs and greying masks 

tracing .out the pathway of the cold, yellow beam of light 

which now illuminates 

the tomb 

Your spirit stops _ 

to pick its fallen shadow . 

from the stony silence 

of the sepulcher . . . 

but in this quiet place 

you learn that shadows come 

only to fall 

and leave 

their mark upon the wall 

and you step aside to face 

your face 

echoed, etched 

into the side of 

the tomb 

and light begins to fade . . . 

to die, : . Panic --

stricken 

Leave tunnel 

Hurry 

Stumbling, grasping coughing 

tripping clumsily upon 

steps easily descended, but . . . 

now calling cursing screa,min epithets 

motherfucker we, as children, 

had hopes- 

"I've Longed and I've Searched . . . " but Reality 

was for real 

wretching (and Immortality 

tears, blood-mingled, was not) 

rushing from parted orifice 

Backwards falling on 

steeping sleeping 

stony-cold steps 

grasping clutching 

Losing 

twitching twisted 

broken body 

lying on the tomb 

in . stone-like 

Silence 

as Bro. Death 

gives your brow 

a parting kiss 

"I'm Tryin' To Get Home" 

lornio al Ion

The crying sense of, soul 

makes itself 

within my mina 

The four foat beat man 

in my soul 

in my soul 

FROM THE GHETTO* . DARKLY 

(i cry inward Liars and talk to the 

man with disdain and resentment) :. . 

All day long as the movement lasted 

All day long as the hand touched 

All day long as the body wasted 

Theblues climbed 'tween the 

crack floors

In my torn heart 

In my black feet 

In my child's depleted body 

worn out from slumland lords, weak milk, 

mushy white bread, 

sad mourning fathers facing a white jobless 

day and a white unloving god. 

The rhythms 

The precious black lif e, treating this lie, 

this inhuman hell, as a truth, with incredible 

love 

And we will live 

And we will fight 

And we will win 

The crying sense of soul 

makes itself 

within my mind

280 

INHERENT AND INHERITED MISTRUSTS . 

woke up in the morning and listened to your radio 

Read yaw papers and history books also . 

Black thoughts . Black emotions . Black decisions . 

The future looks good to me now 

I'm goona stop the cause of the blues . 

Can a god that sings 

A new kind of blues 

or mbaganga -- if you will - 

Bend to the will of shrivelling 

toiletpaper gads ? 

The shit hit imperialist fans in the Congo . 

Colonial nuns hit your front pages losing their papal virginity 

Maybe the pope foresaw the need for prophylactic supplies . 

The U . N . says I'm a racist 

I say I have Black thoughts . 

Man, all I learned at your schools was what not to be . 

Charlie, don't you know I'm gonna stop the cause of the blues ? 

Your dreams have always been my nightmares . 

No more nightmares for me now ; only freedom on my mind 

No more iffy concessions from liberals for me now . 

Iaunumba incarnate in all Black children 

Black giant awakening beating freedom drums . 

Charlie, don't you know -you're living on borrowed time ? 

k willism kgositsile

y alfredo pena 

of the ho-Independence Alovewwe" of PoAe Nice 

The herto Rican REVOLUTION-: part 2 

After his release from . prison in 1943 Albizu Campos remained in New 

York for four years ; finally this citadel of an infected society became an 

infinite and monotonous cycle for him, and Pedro returned to the island in 

1947 to be hon cred at a triumphant affair . Thousands of followers filled 

Escobar Stadium in order to hear their "maestro" speak. 

In 1948 the United States dropped an egg of propaganda declaring Puerto 

Rico a "commonwealth, " and replacing the American governor with the 

corrupt liberal, Munoz Marin . On October 30, 1950 the criteria for Mar - 

. in's liberalism was constructed. With chants of independence echoing 

throughout the island, Munoz Marin supported the colonization of Puerto 

Rico . The Nationalist Party and hundreds of its sympathizers began a 

protest on the grounds of the Governor's - palace . The palace guards, who 

formerly had been holding back the demonstrators, began to fire into the 

crowd, killing three persons. The .protestors responded by taking up arms 

and firing back, killing six guards . Thus the second epoch of revolution 

for independence erupted with Albizu in the forefront and the armed proletariat 

behind, offering him support with all determination and force. 

News of the battle on the governor's grounds reached Jaguga, where 

revolutionary cadres burned down the police station . On the same night 

the townspeople of. Utado seized the Bell Telephone Company building . In 

Narajito the peasants came swarming out of the hills and attacked the police 

center with stones and machetes ; outbreaks of demonstrations oecurred 

in Police and Arecibo. Meanwhile, the police and the American 

Military Police seized Albizu's home, nearly beating his mother to 

death. 

281

282 

I met Bolivar on a IOng morning .. ... 

'Father .' ai said' 'Are you or are you 

not or who are you?' 

'And he said :' 

'I rise every hundred years when the 

people wake up' 

In October the battle in Jaguga 

continued. The conflict brought 

the peasants of the surrounding area 

to the aid of the nationalist freedom 

fighters, inflicting heavy losses 

pre both the police and the American 

troops, and damaging whatever 

mechanism the colonialists 

had brought. After a number of 

gw*+tee GNOW days the masses of Jaguga proclaimed 

the first Republic of Puerto 

Rico . On Oct . 31, 1960 the people of Jaguga were bombed by American planes . 

American and Puerto Rican imperialist ground troops overwhelmed the entrenchments 

outside of the town which were being held by the peasants . 

The news of the first Republic blazed with fury throughout the island, 

spreading the revolution from town to town . In Washington President Truman, 

who bad labeled the cause for freedom in Puerto Rico as "fanaticah' was himself 

nearly mowed down . Following the assasination attempt an Truman the United 

States began to attack the struggle for liberation with a program of slaughters 

in every village and extermination of the "campesinoo" crops . Pedro Albizu 

Campos, Juan Jose Muses, a t at Puerto Rico University and two women 

sympathizers were arrested, tortured and put on trial. . Pedro was sentenced 

30 to 80 years in prim is Puevto Rico . The American centers of propaganda, 

the press, distorted the revolution and accused it of being communist,lnspired 

and that it had occured because of a prison break in Rio Piedras . 

in 1951 a barber from Jaguga, Vidal Santiago Dlaz formed a cadre of revolutionaries 

sowing the seeds of insurrection again . In a gun battle with the 

police the heroic barber was murdered, but not before he held off 18 squadron8 

of American and Puerto Rican military police . 

it was while he was incarcerated that Albizu became paralyzed . The A 

merioan government began, to examine the prospects of nuclear ;- x-rays and 

the effect on human beings . Their prize subject was Pedro Albizu who wag 

forced to serve as a guinea pig in the laboratories ISOMed nitthe p!rtm .

Day after day they strapped 

hi m down and performed nuclear 

experiments on his body . 

They news of the atrocity reached 

outside the walls of the chambers 

perpetualting street demonstrations 

by his followers and 

his sympathizers . Finally, to 

preserve American imperialism's 

form of peace, Governor 

Marin had Albizu released . 

The apprehension of revolution 

was alive as the masses 

awaited with anticipation for 

Albizu's return . When Pedro 

was freed he was not the same - K=b in Rm"nits, Park 

titan who had become the van- "° ha" fte'botwu won i bm&" 

guard of the struggle of independence 

; instead the people 

found a psychological derilict 

handicapped with only one kidney; a graying old man unable to speak or remember 

. When his followers saw that his forthright and dynamic vigor 

had been transformed into a useless and wretched shell they burst with wrath . 

So in 1954 the liberation movement tore down the doors of the House of Re-. 

presentatives in an attempt to settle accounts . The "independentistas" shot 

five racist congressmen. Later a gum battle erupted when guards from every 

sector of the building attempted to arrest the freedom fighters . 

Each year of imperialism had abraded the resistance of the masses to the 

elimination of their dignity, their culture and their history. The stage constructed 

in 1920 by the Nationalist Party led_ and redeveloped by Albizu 

Campos has become the theatre of revolution for the M. P . I . (Movement 

for ProIndependence) 

The abundance and the acceleration of an exploited people's burden has 

created offsprings that have developed into a revolutionary , movement for 

national liberation whose forces are subjected to changes by the mechanical 

elements within the movement. 

283

284 

The shrewdness and sharpness of capitalism and imperialism, its enigmatic 

indoctrination have indirectly produced such a contradictory force . 

At each stage the bourgeois apparatus advances ; so does the proletarian 

revolutionary force . Each motion is negative and positive of its axiom . 

The Puerto Rican, 'whether in New York or in Puerto Rico, has been part 

of the toilers of the lower layers of the class system ; a part of the international 

proletariat : 87% of our people in the state of New York are in the 

poverty level, and -more than 50% are earning less than the average white 

American or (even) Afro-American workers . One out of every five 

Puerto Ricans has been a part of two generations that have lived under welfare 

. 

The Puerto Rican is a mixture of African, Spanish and 

Indian, his color varies from black, brown or red to 

white . Since we are of a racial mixture we don't consider ourselves ofay 

("todos somos hermanos, el hombre blanco es el diablo" - Taken from a 

speech by MalcolmX) We are a colored people and we are proud of our color . 

Those who consider themselves as Puerto Rican before considereng themselves 

American are proud of their heritage, culture, and philosophy that sees 

all colored people as one race . 

The migrations of Puerto Ricans in New York brought in a new era to the 

city . No more was it just the whites against Niggers, but it soon become 

whites against Niggers and Spics . 

It was in the early fifties that the Puerto Rican began to fight back against 

his white Anglo-Saxon tormentors . The harassments from the white race 

were countered in the form of . youth gangs . All over the south Bronx and east 

Harlem street gangs sprung up : "Young Sinners, " "Frenchmen" y "Command 

mandos," "Scorpions," Crowns," Viceroys, 11 "Dragons," "Enchanters," 

etc . Each gang's enemies were the white gangs and the police department. 

The gangs that were formed in the early fifties were not only a product of 

the Puerto Rican's social environment and his rejection of the all white American 

society, but also form of defense from the white American . 

The exploitation of our island by the American government is an illegal 

act since Puerto Rico does not belong to them . The land is ours, the beaches 

are ours, the streets are ours, the f lamboyans that touch the sky are ours. 

The island of Puerto Rico belongs to the Puerto Ricans .

Long Live Patrice Lumumba 1 

285 

The Puerto Rican peasants, workers and students 

will never forget the rape of our island by 

the ruling class of the United States . Neither 

will we forget the island's emasculation, nor 

themaiming of our dignity and our freedom . 

On April 19, 1965, U. N. General Assembly 

President Alex Quaison Sackey from Ghana 

warned Puerto Ricans against neo-colonialism 

which he called the greatest enemy of nations 

striving*for independence . The U. N. delegate 

from Ghana said countries under colonial rule 

should beware of accepting "a sort of independence" 

designed to make them "client countries 

In November of 1964 at the Pan:African conference in Cairo, Egypt the 

struggle for independence of Puerto Rico was recognized by all the nations 

that attended . Quaison Sackey was the prime mover which listed Puerto Rico 

among countries waiting to acheive independence . 

The task now of the movements of national liberation in Puerto Rico is to 

re-educate the masses, to identify them with their culture and history, to oppose 

"yanqui" propaganda with counter-propaganda . The Puerto Rican struggle 

for freedom is a reflection of the revolutions against imperialism and cdlonialism 

in Africa, Asia, and in Latin America. . Under the banner of universal 

revolution we identify ourselves with our brothers in South Africa, 

Angola., Congo, Vietnam, Santo Domingo and all of the other forces in the 

campaign to destroy imperialism and colonialism . 

Long Live Malcolm X 1 

Long Live Pedro Albizu"Campos 1

por alfredo p8Ba 

del Movimlento Pro-Irndependencim de Puerto Rice 

la re~oluc153M 

pt~ertorriqtZeiia.«> 

traducciin espaiola por SOIR~OOK 

Despues de su liberaci'on durante 1943 Albizu Campos se qued'o 

en Nueva York durante cuatro aBos ; finalmente la ciudadela de una 

sociedad infectada se convertib en un ciclo monStono e infinito a 

el . Durante 1947 volvioPuero a la. isla, y en .volver millares de 

Albizu se llenaron estado de Escobar para oir su maestro 

habld. 

En 1948 Los Estacbs Unidos dejaron caer un huevo de propaganda 

declarar Puerto Rico un "Commonwealth" y reponer al gobernador 

yanqui con un liberal corrompido, Munoz Marin . En 30 de 

Octubre de 1950 el criterio por el liberalismo de Marin fue construido 

. Con cantos de Independencia repercutir por la. isla, Munoz Marin 

sostuvo la colonizacidn de Puerto Rico . El Partido NacionaUsta y - 

centares de la gents que simpatizaron con ello . Commensaron a protestar 

sobre los sardines del palacio del Gobernador . Las guardias del 

palacio quienes anieahubieron sido detener el muchadumbre commenzieron 

a tirar a gente matar a 3 personas . La gents que estuvo protestando 

respondi3port tomar prestado armas, volver el fuego y matar 

a 6 guardias . Entonces la epoca segunda de la revoluci6n de independencia 

hizo erupcidn con Albizu en la parts mXs adelaiitada y el 

proletariado detras de d'1, con fusiles sostenerlo con determinaci& y 

fuerza . 

Noticias de la batalla sobre los jardines del gobernador llegd'a Jaguga 

donde cadres revolucionarios quemaron toda la estacidn de policia 

. La misma noche la compania de Bell Telefonos fue cercado por 

la gente de Utado despues oir de la batalla de hushes en el palacio .

En Narajito los campesinos vinieron 

pulular afuera de los cerros 

y atacaron el centro de la policia. 

con piedras y machettes . Erup 

ciones de demonstraciones occurieron 

en Ponce y Arecibo . Mientras 

la policia y la policia militar 

yanqui cercaron la casa de 

Albizu y gulpearon a la madre de 

Albizu y casi mataron a ella. 

'Conoci a Bolivar durente ws salons 

largo .. . . . 

'Padre, 'dijea usted ea o usted no as 

o quien es usted? 

y el dije : ' 

'Me levanto code cients ofies cuande Is 

gents as despierts .' 

Rots tII NOMPQ " UerA- 

En Octubre la batalla en Jaguga continuaba . El conflicto provocd los campesinos 

del camp circundante al auxilio de los guerreros de libertad nacionalista, 

estuvieron inflictiendo perdidas grandes sobre las dos la policia y la.s 

tropas yanquis, y estuvieron danando cualquier mecanismo los colonialistas 

hubieron traedo . Despues muchas dias las masas de Jaguga proclamaron La 

Primera Republica de Puerto Rico . 

En 3 de Octubre de 1950 fue - bombardeado la gents por los aeroplanos yanquis 

. Las tropas terrenas imperialistas Puertorriquenas y yanquis abrumaron 

los atrincheramientos afuera el pueblo que fueron occupados por los campesinos 

. 

Las noticias de la Repulliciardieron con furia por las isla, extender la revolucicfi 

desde un pueblo a otro . En Washington (El Distrito Federal) El Presidente 

Truman quien hubo marcada la causa de la libertad en Puerto Rico como 

"fanAtico", dl fue casi trrado . Despues el esfuerso asesinato en . Truman Los 

Estados Unidos comenzaron a atacar la lucha pare liberacidh con un programma 

de matanzas en todas las aldeas y el extermino de las cosechas "de los campexinos 

. 1' Pedro Albizu Campos, Juan Jose Munoz, un esWdiante on La Universtdad 

de Puerto. Rico, y 2 mujeres quo simpatizaban can El Partido Nacionalista 

twron arrestados, tortarados y trajeron en ensayo . Pedro fue contenado a 

80 a 80 anos de caroel an Puerto Rico. Los oentros Yanquis de propaganda, 

is- prensa, torceron la revoluci& y la acusaron de ser inspiraba por comunis- 

287

288 

mo, que hubo ocurrido porque alquien se escapo de la cXroel en Rio Piedras . 

Durante 1951 un barbero desde Jaguga se llama Vidal Santiago Diaz formo 

un cadre de revolucionsrios ; entonces sembrar otra vez las semilla de insurreccion 

. En una battaha de fusiles con la. policia al barbero heroico fue asesinado, 

pero no antes mantuvo a distancia 16 escuadrones de Policia Militar 

Puertorriqunllo y yanqui . 

Fue durante el tiempo quo 61 fue encarcelado que Albizu convino a paralizado . 

El Gobierno comenzo a examinar la. perspectivas de rayos x nucleares y el 

efecto sobre seres hu os . Su sujecto premio, fue Pedro Albizu quien fue 

forzado a servir como "un conejillo de Indias" en los laboratorios esta cerca 

la. cifrcel . Dia tras dia to amarraron y ejecutaron experimentos nucleares 

sobre el cuerpo de Albizu Campos . Ias noticias de la . atrocidad llegcla afuera 

de las paredes del aposento, perpetuar demongtraciones en las calles por sus 

sequidores y los quo 

simpatizaron con d'1 .. 

Por fin, para que preservar 

la. forma de la 

paz de imperialismo 

yanqui, el gobernador 

hubo puesto en libertad 

a Albizu . 

A La aprehensidin 

de revoluodn eatuvo 

activo conio Us ma .- 

-Bas esperargn OM tAticipacidfi 

ra. el re= 

greso de Album. Owndo 

Pedro fue libertado 

e'Y no fue el titano 

mismo quien hubo convenido 

la vanguardia 

de la lucha de independencia 

; on lugar 

la . gents encontrda un 

desamparo psicoldgico 

que tuvo solamente un 

rifion un hbmbre visjo 

quo no puede hablar o 

recordar . Cuando mw

sequidores quienes hubieron visto su vigor dindmica y 

francote hubo sido transformado dentro de corteza inutil 

y miserable se revantaron con ire . Entonces, durante 19- 

54 el movimiento de liberacidn derrib6las puertas de Camara 

de Representativas en una tentative a ajustar cuentas . 

'i Ijos independentistas" tiraron a cinco congresistas racistas 

. Mao tarde una battalla de fusiles hizo eruption cuando 

guardias desde todas las areas del edificio trataron aprehender 

a los guerreros de libertad . 

Cada ano de imperialismo ha raedo la. resistancia de 

las mesas a la. eliminacidn de su dignidad, su cultura y 

su historia . La etapa quo fue construido durante 1920 por 

El Partido Nacionalista y dirigido y redearrollado por Albizu 

Campos ha convenido al teatro de revolution para El Movimiento de Pro- 

Independencia . 

Its. abundancia y la. aceleracion de la. carga de una gente explotada ha creado 

proles que ha desarrolado en un movimiento revolucionario para libera - 

cion nacional cuyo sus fuerzas son sujetados a cambios por los elementos 

mecanicos dentro del movimiento . 

Ia sagacidad y agudeza de capitalismo y imperialismo, su instruction 

enigmAlica indirectamente ha producido tal una fuerza contradictoria . En 

cads. etapa el aparato de la. burgesa avanza ; tambidnn avanza la fuerza revolu 

cionaria proletaria . Cada moci(fn es negative y positiva de su axioms . 

Sea . el Puertorrique8o en Nueva York o en Puerto Rico, ha sido parite de 

los trabajadores de las capes mXs bajas del dystema clase ; una parte del 

proletariado international : 87% de nuestra gente en el Estado de Nueva York 

ess sobre el llano de pobreza, y md's que 50 % esta ganando menos que el 

Morteamerican Blanco mediano o (sun) los trabajadores Afroamericanos . Uno 

de cinco Puertorriquellos ha sido vivir sobre bienestar ; y uno de siete ha sid 

una pane de 2 generaciones que ha vivido abajo bienestar . 

El Puertorrique$o es una mezcla de Africano, Espafiol, 

y I n di o , su color varia desde negro, moreno, o rojo haste blanco . Desde 

entonces somos de una mezcla. racial, no nos consideramos blancos ("Todos 

somos hermanos, e! nomore blanco es el diablo" -- Dijo Malcolm X) Nosotros 

somos una. gente de color y tenemos orgullo en.nuestro color . Los que 

se consideran como Puertorriquel[O antes se consideran norteamericano tienen 

orgullo en su herencia, cultura y filosofia que considers toda gente de color 

aemo una raze . 

289

290 

La emigracian de 'Los PuertorriqueIIos a Nueva York induciduna era mom 

en . esa ciudad. No bubo mss fue solamente blancos contra "Niggers",- pero 

pronto convinda blancos contra "Niggers*" y I'Spics*". 

rue en las cinountas tempranas quo El Puertorrkgoefio comenzda terminar 

algima - contienda peleando contra sus atormentadoreg Anglosajcaes Blancos . 

.Los hisUgamientos desde la. rata Blanca se fueron ponedo en la forma de 

cua&MUss de jovenes . En todas panes de Bronx del Sur . y Harlem del este. 

cuadrillas de la calla surgeercn : "Young Sinner," "Frenchmen," " COmMan - 

doe" ''Scorpions," "Crowns," Viceroys", . "Dragoons", "Enchanters", etc . 

Los enemigos de oada cuadrilla, faeron las cuadrillas blancas y el departamento 

de la poUcia. Ins cuadrillas quo fueron formados on las cincuentas 

teapranas no foe sojamente un producto del ambiento social del Puertorriquedo 

y su rechazamiento de la sociedad norteamericana quo as solamentepara 

106 Blancos, pero tambidn uaa forma de defense desde el Americano 

Blanco. 

La eaplotacidn de nuestra isla por el Gobierno Norteamericano as un 

acto ilegal porque Puerto Rico no pertenem a el. . . La Tierra as la nuestra ; 

las playas son Ins nuestras ; la isla de Puerto Rico pertenecen a los .Puertorriquelios 

. 

Los campesinos Puertorriqueffce, trabajadores y estudiantes nuca olvidar>fn 

la. rapilla de Puerto Rico por la close quo controla Loss" Stados Unidos . 

Ni olvidarefnos la. castradura de la. isle, ni la mutilaacidfi de nuestra y nuestra 

libertad . 

En 19 de Abril de 1965 El Presidente de I8 Asamblea. General de Las 

Naciones Unidas, El Seflor Quaison Sackey desde La Republic de Gbana, 

avisda los Puertorriquenos contra neo-,colonialismo el cual & llamdel 

enemigo major de las naciones que luchan pare la independencia. El delegado 

en I®.s Naciones Unidas de Ghana dijo quo los poises abajo gobierno 

colonial se cuidiese de aoeptar "una suerte de independencia" qua diaefia 

a bacerlos "poises clientes . . . . . " 

Durante Noviembre do 1964 en La Conferencia PanAfricana en Egipto, 

Cairo . la. lucha pare. La.Iudependencia . de Puerto Rico fue reconocido por toda.s 

las naciones quo asistieron. Quaison Sackey fue el instigador principal 

el' cual inBcribo Puerto Rico en una Usta segda uno de los poises quo esperan 

realizar independencia . 

I8 fasna ahora de loo movimientos de liberaci& nacional an Puerto R100 

on a ensefiar otra vez lad mesas, establecer la identidad de epos can su 

cultura y historia, a opener propaganda yanqui con cantrapragagslgada.

La. lucha Puertorriquefia para la libertad es una. reflexidn de las revoluciones 

contra imperialismo y colonialismo en Africa, Asia y en Amdrrica Iatina 

. Debajo la. bandera de revolucidn universal afirmamos la. identidad de 

nosotros con nuestros paisaaos en Africa del Sur, Angola., El Congo, Viet 

Nam, Santo Domingo y todas de la.s fuerzas otras que son en la. campalia para 

destruir imperialismo y colonialismo . 

i Viva Patrice Lumumba l 

i Viva hialcolm X 1 

l Viva Pedro Albizu Campos 1 

Is James Baldwin a Black Writer? 

"I began by asking how is it that Baldwin has betrayed not 

only his race, but himself, in the very act of disclosure . 

The answer should now be obvious . He and his art are in 

violent conflict with the very nature of what that art- sets 

out to do . By exploring and attacking the White liberal 

conscience it merely gives it sustenance ; by speaking so 

forcefully to the White public it condemns by implication 

the Negro public as unworthy of being addressed by its own 

spokesmen and, conversely, adopts an Uncle Tom position 

(which it consciously rejects) that the revolution that is 

necessary before the Negro is to be treated as a citizen in 

his own country can only come about by pleading to the conscience 

and the-mercy of the Whites . 11 

Orlando Patterson . "The essays of James Baldwin" No . 26 New Left Review 

Summer, 1964 

29 1

292 

rola d young 

the need to develop 

a revolutionary 

consciousness 

JAZZ has always, since its beginning, served as the most 

revolutionary musical force of Black people in America . Mainly 

because it is an outgrowth of say, the roots of Black social protest 

-- blues . 

Blues is basically the residue of -Black hostility, suffering, 

and general social discontent . Being traditionally one of the only 

forms of protest we could engage in without fear of losing our 

lives, blues has been an essential part of our culture . . 

Jazz is essentially a logical extension of our protestations 

from a predominantly vocal ramificatiqu to a predominantly instrumental 

form . 

Today, more than ever, jazz is being put into its proper perspective 

by such musicians as Ornette Coleman, Cecil 'Z'a.ylor, Albert 

Ayler, John Coltrane, and Archie Shepp . Cliches'such as 

"avant-garde" and the "new thing" have been used to describe and 

distort the significance of this important form of music . Terms 

that inherently could have some value, but have been overused 

by those ofays who are constantly trying to put our culture in 

their white melifluous way . 

This music is in its proper conteict when described as 

revolutionary music .

Music, like literature and drama, 

doesn't exist in a singular vacuum . 

There are always contemporary social 

forces that cause, mold, and shape 

these various art forms . Just to say 

"avant-garde" and the "new thing" 

without also mentioning the social 

forces that caused, and are causing, 

this revolutionary music is omnivorously 

shortsighted . 

As I mentioned earlier, jazz has 

always been our most revolutionary 

form of music . It has constantly 

sought social change, and the musicians, 

for the most part, have been 

some of the most militant-minded 

members of Black America. 

MILFORD GRAVES 

Today there is a revolutionary consciousness 

that is correctly analyzing 

our plight, and preparing us all for 

our inevitable struggle and ultimate 

defeat of whitey's oppressive regimes . The revolutionary music I speak of is 

simply a reflection of this consciousness . 

Among the aforementioned forerunners of this music is tenor Saxophonist 

Archie Shepp . After listening to Shepp's two outstanding albums, FOUR, FOR 

TRANE and FIRE MUSIC, I was left unusually impressed. The side MALCOLM, 

MALCOLM from FIRE MUSIC remains most vividly in my mind . Shepp opens 

the side with a poem that gives vent to our generations of emasculations and 

sufferings . 

After listening to Shepp blow and then to hear him speak the same message 

left me with a feeling of hope, hope that at least one of our musicians 

would not only blow his message, but would speak with as much potency, 

Upon hearing of Shepp's planned booking at one of San Francisco's jazz . 

clubs, I awaited with much anxiety and anticipation to see for myself whether. 

or not he was true to his convictions . 

I checked Shepp out on the second night following his opening . After arriving 

somewhat late, Shepp showed with a bottle of beer and a gray cap 'A la Monk . 

This was my first recognition of a series of gimmicks that followed . 

293

294 

The first set consisted of one 

number an original I suppose. I 

overheard Shepp refer to it as 

"The Theme ." After a few bars 

to set the tune in motion, Rudd, 

the trombonist, took the first solo 

. His playing is more or less 

a take-off of Shepp's style on 

trombone . Rudd uses an enormous 

number of gimmicks such as 

long sustained notes and repetittious 

triplets and rums . There 

is nothing about his playing that 

is unusually creative or beautiful 

; in fact, he is lacking in many 

areas . He certainly is more 

harmful than complimentary to 

Shepp's possibility as a future 

giant . 

Drummer Beaver HARRIS is 

perhaps the most amateurish of 

all the so-called professional 

drummers that I have ever heard. 

He is very unimaginative, more 

or less say, just a repetitious 

timekeeper . Beating and banging 

over and over with nothing to say. 

There were times when he appeared 

to be completely lost . 

Bas sist Lout s WORRELL is the 

more outstanding member of the 

group, Shepp notwithstanding. His 

playing is poetic and smooth, his 

runs clean and creatively restoring 

. There is a conspicuous absence 

of gimmicking in his playing 

. It was he alone that made 

the night worthwhile . 

krchie Shepp

29 5 

Shepp's solos were much too long and obviously repetitious . He showed 

none of the imagination nor development that is exhibited in FIRE MUSIC . He 

was reaching and grabbing after the same twig constantly . 

All and all I was very disappointed . It looks like Shepp, too, will just be 

another musician lost in that mire of night clubs, booze, and whitey's phony 

contracts . Maybe I'm wrong, maybe my conclusions are premature, maybe 

as a "westcoaster" I was exposed to a bit of 

that New York complacency : you know, the 

idea that once you leave New York you can 

do anything and it will be praised simply 

because you got your thing together back 

East. An attitude that those Village hipster 

will soon find inadequate when they travel 

in this rection. An attitude they will 

eventually find equally inade uate even in 

New York . 

Perhaps it isn't too late, maybe s omeday 

Rosweu RA d - there will, be one of our musicians that is 

truly intorwbed in verbally living up to the 

claims of their music . Perhaps our revolutionary music will be played -when 

that day comes -- by musicians who are as revolutionary as their music, 

that is, Black musicians interested in Blink liberation -- regardless . 

Until that day comes, we can just forget about those poems and sweet 

little letters to the editor . We can sweep them under the rug as simple artificial 

fronts for the real self . Until musicians develop a revolutionary consciousness 

that has rapport with our struggle, their revolutionary music will 

just become another western-oriented art for art's sake bag ; a disinte grating 

abyss of noise . 

Wake up brothers, we have the swords ; let's sharpen them for the struggle 

that awaits us . Believe me, there is a need for the development of a revolutionary 

consciousness .

liberation Movements in 

the portuguese Colonies : germain mba 

towards a black 

liberation army! 

Aorta fM, ,N. fr.mil, dr SOUUOOK 

This article doscriboa an Instance 

of the highest toportsnce In the world 

struggle against whitey's aggression and 

imperialism -- stro~tegic coordination 

and unification of the forces of the 

Bandung revolution . The specific world 

region Is the Portuguese colonized terri- 

tories of Angola, Guinea and Cape Verde 

In western Africa, and Mozambique in 

eastern Africa . The movements of liber- 

ation in these areas are hard at work on 

forging the steel-tipped strategy that 

will enable our brothers' armies of II- 

beretion and reconstruction to march to 

victory at maximum strength and full 

ores-wide political unity . The same 

principles apply to ell levels of the 

common struggle as we witnessed In the 

direct efforts sot down by our own 

Brother Malcolm in building the forces 

of Afrosserican liberation In the context 

of the .world revolution I .e . In alliance 

with the forces of liberation In the 

Bandung world. SOIILBOOK

297 

Last September the CONCP (Conference of the Nationalist Organizations 

of the Portuguese Colonies) reconvened from the 3rd to the 7th at Dar-es -ftlaam 

. However, this event, which might possibly change the character of 

the nationalist fight in the Portuguese colonies, passed almost umiotioed. 

Constituted in April, 1961 at Casablanca in order to coordinate the fight 

against Portugal, the CONCP brought together what was the MPLA (Popular 

Movement for the Liberation of Angola), the PAIGC (African Party for the 

Independaaoe of Portuguese Guinea and Cape Verde), UDENAMO ( Democratic 

and National Union of Mozambique), the Liberation Committee of Sao Tome 

and Principe, the Party of the People of Goa, the National Congress and Liberation 

Council of Goa, as well as the Liberation Movement of Guinea and 

Cape Verde . 

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGES 

These are the same organizations which found themselves in Tanzania's 

capital . In between times the UDENAMO had become the FRELIMO (Liberation 

Front of Mozamibique) and the Liberation Movement of Guinea and Cape 

Verde were absorbed by the PAIGC . Meanwhile, Goa had become independent ; 

a committee of support for. the people of Portuguese colonies had been created 

in this former enclave of Portugal, and, is a manner which invited honor, 

took part in the Dar-es-Salaam union. The leaders of-these liberation movements 

stated that in spite of the difficulties which they should have faced up 

to during the past four years, the overall balance of their action had been 

positive . At the time of the Casablanca reunion in 1961, only Angola. had been 

following the course of armed struggle ; if today in thin country the struggle 

is trampling the ground, it is also developing in Mozambique and above all in 

Portuguese-speaking Guinea . - The PAIGC of Amiloar Cabral occupies and 

administers half of the country, possesses a regular army, guerilla forces,

and a people's militia. 

PORTUGAL IS "STRATEGIC HAMLETS" 

Last September 25 the Liberation Front of Mozamibique, led by Dr . Mondlane, 

observed the $rot anniversary of the launching of its rather successful 

armed struggle . Today FRELIMO has the support of 2, 000 well-armed 

guerillas, whereas they could only count 300 last year . This evolution has 

forced Portugal to revise its methods of oppression; today Portugal applies 

to the territories which it occupies the experiences gained from the inauguration 

of 'strategic hamlets' in Viet Nam . Only here they are called 'villages 

of protection .' The people are 'invited' to regroup themselves about administration 

centers . All sorts of pressures are exercised against the tribal 

chiefs in order to have them convince their people to leave the forests and to 

install themselves at these centers . The Dar -es-Salaam conference devoted 

itself to elaborating upon a strategy to deal with these new developments . 

They paid particular attention 

to the determination of the best 

ways of coordination the three 

wars (Angola, Mozambique, 

Portuguese -speaking Guinea) . 

On the other hand they showed 

that they were willing not to operate 

in closed clubs and affirmed 

that the success of their combat 

lay in the finding out by the entire 

African continent and the 

Third World of this struggle . 

TENACIOUS DIVISIONS 

This conference at Dar -es-Salaam felt very much relieved that it could 

hold itself at the same time that South Africa, Portugal, and Southern Rhodesia 

had begun to speak of a 'southern -crossing' project which would unkto 

them in a center of defense of the white empire, If the colonialist bloc appeared 

homogeneous it was also necessary that the nationalist movements of Africa 

demonstrate the name cohesion. Far example, only the MPLA represented 

Angola at Dar-es-Salaam . Despite the efforts which it has displayed in 

the enslave of Cabinda, the MPLA only partially represents Angola . Roberto 

Holden, chief of the revolutionary Angolan Government in Exile, was sorely 

missed at this conference . But the case of Angola is not unique : everywhere 

each liberation movement has a rival . All of the a0smpts made in view of

their reunification, notably by the OAU, have been in vain; the most recent 

example is that of the two Rhodesian parties, ZAPU and ZANU . Is it unthinkable 

that the nationalist will not follow the example of their rival colcnialists 

who know how to compromise or even sacrifice their interests in 

order to present a solid front ? 

A Perceptive Homage to Prime Minister Balewa 

"Remarkably honest himself Sir Abubakar was unable 

to control the forces of evil generated by the system 

over which he ruled . His failure sprang from the fact 

that he supposed, if his Government copied . all the outward 

attributes of British political life, all would be 

well . 

He failed to realise that he was being manipulated by 

neo-colonialism . He was deluded perhaps, despite his 

personal modesty, by the applause of Western countries 

who lauded Nigeria as the one true democracy of Africa . 

In fact they meant by this that Nigeria was, from their 

point of view, the easiest of all to influence . However 

this may be, Sir Abubakar never examined scientifically 

the basis of the society over which his Government 

governed . 

If he had done so he would have realized that of all 

countries on our continent, Nigeria had the most to gain 

and the least to lose by a Union Government of Africa . 

May he rest in peace ." 

From Dr . Kwame Nkrumah's speech in memory of the assassinated Prime 

Minister of Nigeria ., Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa . 

299

the suicide 

o n e a c t p 1 a y c a s t : the suicide ; the wife ; the preacher ; the neighbor ; 

and the cops . 

The sceij~ : A small cramped living bed room in an apartment, against one well on sawhorses 

?nd planks, a plain casket, draped with a lace tablecloth, at each end withered flowers in 

vases, end sods-pop bottles, the roar is very crowded contsining a double bed, some kitchen 

chairs, on the well directly over the casket is a small carpet, with the Lost Supper scene on 

it, next to that is a calendar from the Now Light Church with a fly blown picture of a csfs au 

last family, on their knees in a church pew, grinning estafiicplly at the ceiling. Sounds of 

muted merriment free the street, below, in a room off the living room, comes the smell .of 

frying chicken, and wosene' voices . 

First woman (the nei hb~ -- What ah wants tuh know is hi git dash in the 

firstplace . Frank ain had no car, is he ? Newspapers jus' say he jumped, 

nombah some thousan' jumped from that bridge, didn't hardly say much mo . 

Wife' -Ahtell ya how, mussa bummed him a ride, fun somebody, 

1wo_mM-- Got enny and in that showtneck ? 

Wjfe--- Take it all, Wine sin what ah needs now, issen you got a cuppla~ 

dollahs ah could have the loan of tell toomarrie mawning ? Frank's momma 

gon cum git the body then tuh ship back to loozana, en um goona hit huh fuh 

lead 20 bucks . 

First wo_ma_n_ -Bitch if sh had moe'n a kwarder you thank ahd be sstUn hash? 

(She fidgets nervawly, and wipes her throat with a dish cloth.) pamn( It's hot in heah, 

open up a winder or somethin', shit, ah got highblood pressuah an did heat 

gonna mek me fain inna minit . 

W_ ife - of ya havin hot flashes go stand in front of the frigidaih and stick yo' 

haid inside, but ain gon'open dose winders, evvy fly in ten miles, be done come 

in heah then . (She speaks sourly .) Frank, ya know Frank, he railly was a good man, 

'kept readin call them books, and drankfo much wine done rumn him crazy. 

But he was good. (She is sit ont, with her desire to explain to the neighbor hew Frank 

had been) Ah mean, he didn't hit me, didn't take mah change, didn't cheat on . 

me, welllll. : . . 0

lhore is a knock at the door, loud, ptisnt . The wm en ors silent . . . . . 

_wife - Wait uh minute, somebody at the do', Jeer' uh minute . (She rats" her 

voice to the door, and then she stands up ; a gaunt block women perhaps thirty, or forty, her 

eyes are red, she hex on a purple crops drses, with sequins and rhinestones down the front, 

the dress is too large, her heir Is dyed on obvious rod, she Is greying, high heal black 

shoos, and no stockings, her hands are blunt and course, the nails bitten to the quick, but 

painted a thick rod . Going to the door, she stumbles on the coffin, stares at It a moment, 

then opens the door .) 

_Preacher - Mrs . Frank Jones ? 

Wife -Yea, won't ya please come in revend. 

( Enter tl+e preacher, a very young stocky Black men, a dark suit, and the collar, he has on 

horned rimmed glasses, and a block fait hot, under ono are is tucked a large black Bible, 

he Is a po pous men, recently out of divinity school, he spooks formal English, end aware of 

his importance, gives himself airs . He entsre, and stands In the middle of the crowded 

room, he is i11 et mass hers .) 

Preacher-- (extending his hand) HarrumQ&l Is= 2wrerand Theophilious Handles, 

341

302 

your landlady told me of your misfortune, plus I read in the paper of your 

husband's untimely demise, and although neither you nor your husband were 

members of my congregation, I felt it my Christian duty to come to you in 

this time of need, and offer up a few prayers to the lord for this unfortunate 

soul . 

Wife- Would you lak to rest yol hat? 

Preacher--Indeed, indeed . 

Wife - Ya 11 k in set down on de bed of you wants to, aid got many chaihs 

cep them kitchen ones . (The preacher sits gingerly on the edge of the bed with his hat 

in his hand . The woman is now uncertain what to do next,she walks over and lays her hend on 

he Casket, hesitpntly, with her beck to the preacher, she turns suddenly,) 

Wife - Yall want to see Frank ? Kin of yu wants to, ah got the lid closed on 

count of the flies, but you kin look of you wants to . 

Preacher- Don't mind if I do . (He crosses over to the c?sket, the woman raises the 

lid, and they both stare intently at the body . The first wom~n enters si'ently from the 

kitchen, her glass in her hand, and stands behind the preacher and peers at the body .) 

First Woman : Ummph Ummph ummph 1 

.(,The preacher and the wife jump startled . The preacher is really shook .) 

Preacher- (His voice unnatural ly high .) Good God woman! Where did you come froz 

Ist Woman (Her voice surly, and blurred .) ,h come from the kitchen, where you 

thank ah come from, ( She finishes her drink .) Where you come from? 

Wife - Ah woman hush I This heres the preacher . 

Ist_W_o_mann- Hell ah know what he is . ( She speaks petul antly) 

TTMere is _ a silence, they stend uncomfortable with each other. The wife closes the coffin . 

Next door, suddenly comes the sound of a record player, and Jimmy Reed, blaring out a blues 

song . The neighbor, goes over and bangs on the wall .) 

F_ir_st_woman_- Turn that off ! Turn that music off1 We got dead folks in heah ! 

A muffled voice through the well : Fuck you! 

First woman :- (Turning to the wife .) Who is that next dot? 

Wife- Some of hoe, wants gonna git huh ass kicked tomorrow! (She 

her voices se that the woman next door can hear .) 

has raised 

Preacher -For goodness sakes! Please, Mrs . Jones! (The preacher clears his 

throat and opens his Bible . There is a knock at the door , then a voice through the door : 

Please don' kick my ass tomorrow, bitch 1 Come on out heah and kick it now, 

come on out 1 

Wife-(screaming) Ya gawdam right ah will! (She grabs 

mptles the wilted flowers on the floor, and rushes off stage . 

two women screaming at each other, then the sounds of tussling, 

the bed, and stares at the neighbor) 

one of the sede pep bottles, . 

Outside can be heard the 

the preacher, jumps from 

Preacher_- Somebody should stop them, - this is no way to hold a wake I If they 

don't stop I'm going home! This is indecent!

The neighbor goes into the kitchen, and returns with a butcher knife . 

First woman - Set down preacher, Mrs . Jones be right back, ah'll stop 

this shit . (She leaves . Outside can be heard a full scale battle, with screams, more 

curses - the preacher, jumps ever to the coffin, and lifts the lid, he stares intently at 

the body, and returns to the bed. He opens his Bible, and reads something, then he goes 

to the door .) Suddenly, from outside t "Aw shit) That bitch done stabbed that 

hoe! (Screems)Voice : Somebody call the ambulance) Call the mops 1 (The preacher 

grabs his hat, and opens the doer and steps out into the hall . Muted sounds from outside 

then sirens, heavy steps on the stairs .) Voice: Cops! heah the cops! 

_Cow- Get back! Get back, let me through ! All right what happenedhere ? 

murmuring vbices . . . . 

_Cow- Hold it! one at a time . Reverend what happened here ? 

Preacher- Officer, I cannot tell you all the details, I was inside, with the 

body_ 

C_oM- What body? What the hell are you talking about? 

Preacher- Well, uh,uh, the body in there, in the casket . 

303 

Reenter the preacher, and the cep 

Cop - Jee sus whets going on here ? 

Preacher-Well I was saying officer, I came over here to Mrs . Jones to 

help her mourn the passing of her husband, even though she nor her husband 

were members of my congregation, I was given to understand that she 

could not afford a church ceremony, and as the body was being shipped out 

tonight, for burial in the family plot in Louisiana I. . . . . . . . . . . . . 

CM:- Hold it rev. (He tresses to the door, and yells outside to @nether policeman) 

Hey Art 1 Come in here you gotta see this 1 nigger bitches fighting over a 

dead marl! 1 (A second cep enters, behind him is the wife . They clese'the doer, the wife 

site on the bed .) 

All right Rev. Tell it from the start . . . . . . Hold it, who is this woman? 

Is this the one that did the stabbing ? 

2nd Cop= Naw she's out in the wagon. 

started the whole thing . 

We're taking this one in too, she 

The Wife- (Her face to bruised, one eye is closing, her hair awry, her deess tern, she 

stands ever the coffin) Shs yells angrily i Who opened die coffin? Fliesl The flies 

on Frank 1 Motha fuc kahs 1 You bastids !fold you to keep, that lid closed 1 Now 

the flies on him 1 

1st coo - -. Christ 1 Get her our of herel (The second pal icemen grebe the wife and 

hustles her out the door, she is still screaming .) 

Wife = Let me go 1 Iet me go mothafucka 1 

2nd - OwwI You go to jail for that bitch! (The dear cl see, The preacher I cams 

thec~n, and stands by it, the cop walks over end oosne .it, and stores et the body .) 

Preacner- Please close it officer, the flies .

304 

it Was Election Time in NewYA-A 

On Sunday, .October 10th, I had a hour to kill ; I turned on the T . V. 

and got the three mayorality candidates -- their "debate" accomplished 

the murder more efficiently than I could ever dream of doing . Three 

white men were gouging each other for the "priviledge" of misgoveming 

New York City for the next four years . The contenders were. Abe 

Beame, a well worn Democrat hack who lately "discovered that his 

"boss," Wagner, was an uninspired and uninspiring, do nothing . John 

Lindsay, a lean thin lipped Anglo-Saxon Protestant, a Republican turned 

zoologist who is trying to crossbreed an elephant with a jackass, and 

Win . F . Buckley Jr., a Conservative, an over-age en fant terrible 

who rants like someone in the early stages of premature senility . Abe, 

Beame, his mind like a horizon to horis-on wilderness in which a handful 

of undernourished ideas and a few prodigal painfully memorized 

cliches blunder about like the aimless wanderings of a patrol lost on the 

Sahara Desert . John Lindsay a power hungry, velvet tongued Madison 

Avenue hipster ; and Wm . Buckley Jr . with his mediaeval mind -- a 

mind that is as sharp as a razor edge and just as narrow; these were 

the three candidates, all trying to outdo each other as to who will hire 

the most cops to keep the natives (Afro-Americans and Puerto Ricans) 

in line 1 

Junior Buckley is an outright Nogrophobe . Buckley was not only the 

"cutest" one on stage, he was the most honest -- in spite of himself. 

Honest or bold, have it as you will, I must "respect" Buckley in a peculiar 

sort of way, in the way that I would respect the brazen thug or 

the house-breaker, while shooting hinc down, as contrasted to the utter 

contempt I hold for the coalman who would try to "jive" me out of my 

dignity 1 Mind you, this does not mean that I dislike Buckley less ; it 

weans that I despise Beams and Lindsay more l . Buckley, somewhat 

less UWn Peckerwood Wallace, and cracker Bilbo shakes his rattles

305 

like a true diamond back so that I know 

what to expect . His opponents were 

and are more like the street corner 

con men who try to hustle you with 

the shell and pea game . Jr . made it 

clear that if he were elected he would 

by no means put a rein on the racist, 

trigger-happy New York cops I We 

must remember that Buckley himself 

is only one generation removed from 

the shellelagh and the brick -bat, and 

those of his landsmen who couldn't 

get rich joined the police force I His 

references to criminals were always 

allusions to Afro-Americans and 

Puerto Ricans "the subway criminals 

and street muggers who are criminals 

whether they are members of minority groups or not" is the way he puts it . 

But I've not heard indignant statements about what he wants the cops to do about 

the crime, the graft, and the shakedowns and shifts within the police department 

. There is an expose of crooked cops . 99% of whom are white, at 

least three times a year . Where is his indignation about these crimes . Of 

course he does not mention the white youths who destroy houses during wild 

parties, nor does he mention the dope sessions, the sex orgies, and the parent 

sponsored boozings which have been reported lately I 

Lindsay and Beame also play the racist game in their campaign material . 

They both promise more police to "make New York saf e . "' Neither wants a 

real review board. Lindsay, with good white protestant piety stated that he 

would give the police commissioner veto power over the findings of a board 

composed of cops and prominent "qualified" civilians. What makes him 

think that the blue bloods are anymore sympathetic to the victims of police 

brutality than the cops ? The civilians on that board should be the black and 

Puerto Rican mothers whose teenage sons are murdered, whose daughters 

are abused and called black bitches by white cops . Housewives whose husbands 

are beaten and falsely arrested for "assault," should serve on that 

board, as should truck drivers and building superintendents . So hypnotized 

was Buckley Jr . by the pretgness of his own speechmaking, which was heavy 

on opinions but light on substance, that he could not catch his co-canspira-

306 

tors pitch. Another subject which bugged Buckley Jr., as it does most white 

folks even in the Democratic Party, was Adam Clayton Powell . Buckley asked 

his "opponents" to denounce Powell as a scoundrel and a rascal . Lindsay 

allowed that Powell was not supporting him . Beame, whom Powell is supporting, 

kept an eloquent silence . He did not defend his backer either . Buckley 

of course took refuge in his immunity as a canidate to call Powell things 

that all of his "clahss" and banjo-eye bucking could not save him from in a 

losing libel -suit-if he had said those things as a non-candidate . The T . V. 

show pointed up to me that the black ; voter has nothing to gain from the election 

of any one of the three candidates ; Beame, a second rate retread, Lindsay, 

awkward political hybrid, and BuckleyJr . , a juvenile intellectual flapper 

who would have been a hit in the '20s ; the 1420's that is . 

'What is there to say? Simply this! when a West Indian licentiate " in 

philosophy makes it known that he will not take the agregetion "" , citing his 

color so the reason, then I say that philosophy has never saved anyone . Jhon 

another insists upon proving to me that blacks are as intelligent as whites, 

I reply: intelligence hoe never saved anyone . And that is true, for if it is 

in the name of intelligence and philosophy that sno proclaims the equality of 

men, it is also in their nut that one decides their extermination 

Frantz F onon .(Penn noire mss ues blonce , p. 42) 

"licentiate - to Europe, a university degree ttersediete between that of 

bachelors end that of doctor . 

"" csncours d'egregrtton- competitive examination for admission to teaching 

staff of state secondary schools to Europe .

the colonized 

of north america 

n~ri~w-e rlr of Fono fty" MA i, m Colonialism 

-In Fanon's book, Studies in a Dying colonialism 

which recently has been translated into English and 

Published by Monthly Review Press, there is an introduction 

which leaves me with an astounding amount of 

ambivalence (although it does not seriously take anything 

from Fanon's inordinate brilliance) . It is written 

by an Argentine journalist name Adolfo Gilly who gives 

Fanon's book a reflective marxist interpretation . But 

on the other hand it lacks any penetrating view of the 

vmW axle of the dying machine of colonialism : The 

United States, of America. . 

. Nowhere in the introduction . does Gilly give us an 

indication that he realizes that this world-wide revolution 

against what Fanoa calls `"an omipresent death" 

affects Black America. in a qualitatively different 

manner than White America. . In fact, he persists in 

suggesting that a 1 _1 residents of New York would be 

intimidated by the atomic menace, but that the Third 

World revolutionaries (such as the. Cubans, Vietnamese, 

Congolese etc .) themselves are not afraid of the possibility 

of nuclear destruction ((r to be precise, they do 

not stop fighting for liberation even though they may 

be threatened with nuclear destruction by their oppressors) 

. This courageousness of the Africans, Iatin- 

Americans and Asians is found in the Harlem residents 

throughout North America, in spite of Mr . Gilly . And

308 

like our oppressed brothers throughout the world, 

the use of "modern " weapons upon us merely 

increases our determination to win our liberation 

. 

Was it not, in the same manner as the Cubans, 

Vietnamese and Dominicans, that the Black Freedom 

Fighoers of Watts, who, in the face of 

"whitey's" arsenal, said : "We'd rather have 

them kill us all than go back to the old life . " Yes, 

our L . A . Brothers shook their strong, Black 

fists at the kingpin of the atomic menace, and 

just as the Cubans did not waver or flinch during the "Cuban" missile crisis, 

neither did the Afroamerican masses shrink from the challenge of the "Watts" 

crisis . Nowhere do we find a similar reaction from either the white american 

proletariat or the predominately white peace movement . 

There is another point that adds fuel to my fire that gives me the light with 

which to see the inconsistency in Gilly's introduction . He describes how 

the Bolivian miners, who, though having lost their recent armed battle with 

the Bolivian military dictatorship, have demonstrated that because they have 

hidden their weapons, their resistance to military oppression has not been 

destroyed . But Gilly does not mention that in Los Angeles the brothers lost 

the initial combative struggle, with the "national guard", but like . their "paisanos 

bolivianos" their resistance was not shattered . - For they have also 

concealed -their(and acquired many more) weapons with the determination of 

engaging their oppressors in battle again . 

Again we see that Gilly admits in his piece that the essence of revolution 

is the struggle for human dignity . But apparently he is not intellectually 

mature enough to realize (or to admit) that it is only the Black American li 

beration struggle which is. aiming for precisely human dignity in the racistinfested 

U . S . A . 

I found fascinating the insightful unmasking by Fanon of the French 

sociologist and his interest in the veils of Algerian women . Fanon understands 

perfectly won that this Interest in - "freeing" Muslim women is really 

the old colonialist clich5 of : "Let's win over the women and the rest will 

follow . " 

The only difference between this attempt by the French, and the parallel 

situation in colonized Afroamerica, is that commercial slavery and its anti-

social kin . southern sharecropping and northern wage-slavery, succeeded 

in forcing many of our women (%ad subsequently our men) into the role of 

house and bed . servants of vhf% america instead of 'being the foundation for 

our Black childrens' future and the inspiration of the Black man's masculinity 

; in Algeria, for certain historical reasons, this attempt at destruction 

of the woman's role in general never succeeded . 

Thus our family structure is , generally, disemboweled, but in colonized 

Algeria, the French were continually trying to rape the Algerian family, 

and destroy its tenacity . 

Our oppressor is doing everything that is in his power to see that our 

Brothers and Sisters do not succeed in rebuilding and reuniting our families, 

because this would depreciate his power in exploiting us politically, economically, 

psychologically, and sexually l I 

Have you looked at the "new", "uncensored" Negro Heritage L}brary ? The 

first volume is devoted to the American Negro Women . There is no volume 

in the set concerned with American Negro -en ; nor do they plan to 

publish one . 

Have you attended the latest nigger-bourgeosie gimmick ?'It is a tea-conference 

entitled : "American Negro Woman in The Great Society . " 

Have you seen the intellectually pornographic film, "The Pawnbroker, " 

where-a Black. woman . with natural hair is a prostitute for a, persecuted (sic I ; 

Jewish pawnbroker ? 

309 

Of course our Black women, who havf 

never ceased to -struggle against our 

oppressors, do not wear hack s * , but 

they, as the Algerian Muslim women, 

have be ei victimized by a different 

beast with the same premise : " ' In the 

colonialist program it was the woman 

who was given the historic mission of 

shaking up' the Algerian , ( read the Afroamerican) 

man converting the woman, 

winning her over to the foreign values, . 

wrenching her free from her status, 

was at the same time acheiving a real 

power over the man and attaining a 

practical, effective means of destruc-

310 

turing Algerian (Afroamerican) culture .!" (p . 39) 

Fanon, in the course of the first chapter, explains that the Algerian wommen 

preserved the wearing of the veil not so much because they loved the custom, 

but because they viewed this custom as a symbol of r_e_s i s tan ce 

against their white oppressor . He goes on to say that when an unveiledappearance 

became the best form of resistance against colonialism the women 

quickly shifted to it -- and the Algerian men likewise accepted it . 

This concept of resistance put forth by Fanon strikes me of paramount importance 

. He sees it as the main reason that colonial peoples do not perform 

well in areas that colonialists dictate as of being of crucial value . Thus , by 

implication, he denies such theories that colonial people lack "motivation . " 

(which. is a terribly vague notion since no one can measure "motivation") 

Now if one is to apply Fanon's theory of resistance to the Afroamerican masses 

one must ask this question : Is it because Afroamerican people are r e s i s t - 

i n g any further_ encroachment on the identity of Black America that they do 

not perform well in areas that white, western American cultural values prescribe 

them to do well? If this question is asked when applying it to a specific 

situation it must be remembered that : "This rejection of the conqueror 

assumes original forms, according to circumstamces or to the type of colon- - 

ial situation . " (p . 41)

Yf my frame of reference on this lather ppint is correct, and there is no reassn 

to think that it is not, then effective Black leader" must realize that 

are must examine the hew our people resist our oppressor, and then 

s a 1 e nt i f i a a 1 I y ascertain whether_these mesas sie ef~ctive in sustaining 

our identity . If they are not effective -- and often they are not -- then 

we must show ourselves new ways to resist the oppression heaped on our 

still undeveloped nation. Hence by organizing in this contest our features 

as a nation will qualitatively increase, for Fanon says this is what happened: 

41hs sometime fhot the colonized man braces himself to reject oppression, 

a radical transformetIon .tokes place within him which makes any-attempt to 

maintain the colonial system impossible and shockiaq . (p. 179) 

I am not saying that an attitude of resistance necessarily explains all the 

indifference of the Black American masses to struggling to enter the "whitestreamf" 

. But I am convinced it explains it more than such. theories as our 

people-have-nomotivation-beoausewe -do-Trot-have-.any-racial ride . On 

the contrary, Blacks with 1 e s s race pride than the Afroamerican masses 

show be tt e r performances in western cultural situations . (e . g . the Black 

bourgeosie in U . 3 . , and in the West Indies) Another thorn in the side of 

this race pride theory is : The Black American masses commit the most 

crimes, that is, physical aggression aga3nstvach other . However, the Black 

American bourgeosie display 1 e s s physical aggression against each other, 

but are inflicted with more _ self-hate than the Black masses . Why?? It is 

very probable that Fanonts 

theory explains it . 

(I want to make it very clear that I ;am not denigrating the n e c e s s 1 ty of 

our people restoring our racial pride . It is unquestionable a prerequisite 

in our struggle for Black liberation ; but it is not a panacea. for our ills .) 

Looking superficially at the chapter on the Algerian family, an Afroamerican 

might think there is nothing there that is relevant for understandrt:ing 

the Afroamerican family . For the Afroamerican family is, more often 

than not, a disrupted social unit where women suffer from too much freedom 

from their men . But In prerevolutionary Algeria the opposite problem was 

pervasive :. the women, and the children were tied too strongly to the male . 

But both problems are identical in a much more fundamental sense . One of 

the main results of both situations . -is that generally there is a lack of oon ., 

fugal love between the husband and w*: Fanon shows that by the Algerian 

husband and wife struggling together them mutual love is' qualitatively increased. 

it seems to me that this to the- best way, ifnot the -on 1y manner 

su

312 

in which we Black Americans can reconstruct .the.: now mutilated relationships 

between our men and women . 

At another point Fanon gives proof to my contention that this book is very 

applicable to Afroamerica 

'There is, first of of I , the fact that the colonized , person, who in this respect 

is like the eon in underdeveloped countries or the disinherited in ell parts of 

the, world, perceives IIfe not -a a flowering or a dove[ opmont of on essential 

productiveness, but ~a a permanent struggle rgainst an omnipresent death . This 

ever-menscing death is experienced as endemic famine, unesplyeent, high death 

rate, and inferiority complex ~-nd the absence of any hope for the future .' (p.128) 

This description fits our people like it was a glove especially patterned 

for each one of us . 

So it is Fanon, the Black revolutionary psychiatrist, who understands our 

problems infinitely more than the american IImarxist-leninists" .who incessantly 

use their bullshit that they try to pass off . as "science", and push upon 

us their white dope that they call women to denigrate and to sabotage our 

national struggle against "an omnipresent death . " 

But as Gilly forthrightly states in . his introduction 

''N,tions fall, armies collapse, businesses close or are. expropriated, 

colonists flee, a city is destroyed by bombardment, but the misess go on 

living ; they tenaciously recre ,to themselves, bury their dead, and go 

forward : (p .15) 

This is what we, the Black American masses, are now doing w i th o u t 

eider white women, american "mar2dsts", or "the great society", and are 

arming ourselves with -the revolutionary ideas of Frantz , Fanon, and soon 

with modern guns .

NOW IN ITS 2nd YEAR of PUBLICATION . .. 

K 

OULBOOeipolu"omwyafra 

SON 

~ t'P 

ond 11~&on out of sight!" 

COMING NEXT ISSUE 

PARTIAL CONTENTS OF SOULBOOK 5: 

* Two Black Nationalist Philosophies : 

Harold Cruse. and the Nation of Islam-an estimate . . . . Harry HaYwood 

* Notes On James Boggs' American ReVOlution (2? . . . . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . . Ernie Allen and Kenn M. Freeman 

* Toussaint Louverture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Aimb Cisaire 

* Jobs and the Afroamerican . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Labrie 

*The Economic Decline of the Third World. . . . . . . . . . . . Mariella Bosc 

*Bitter Harvest . ', . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anita Cornwell 

* Notes On the Tri-Continental Conference . . . . . . . . Kenn M . Freeman 

* Reject Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ply from the sails of black folk 

susscRIBE TOaAYI 

SEE FRONT PAGE FOR RATES

SOULBOOK #5

CREDITS! 

CONTE 

editorial 1 RICHARD GIBSON, LIBERATOR 

bobb hamilton 2 LETTER TO SOULFOLK 

p . k . 1 a b a l l o 4 HOW THE COUP IN GHANA WILL AFFECT 

THE AFRICAN LIBERATION STRUGGLE 

e d b u l l i n s 12 TOWARDS A REAL BLACK THEATRE 

g u i l l e r m o h o k e 14 THE MARKET OF THE DEAD 

h a s s a n 17 MEDITATIONS IN SCARLET HUE 

d o u g alien 21 OTIS GOES INTO THE ARMY 

_R E_J_-, C T_ -NOT __26 -ES 

poetry by clarence major, ernie allen, 

john fischer, patricia parker, bobb 

hamilton, k . william kgositsile 

w i l l i e green 62 THE WORLD IS THE BLACK MAN's 

LAND 

carol freeman 62 THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT 

a n i t a c o r n w e l l 65 THE BITTER HARVEST 

e r n i e alien 69 STATEMENT ON THE WHITE MAN'S 

DRAFT 

harry haywood 70 IS THE BLACK BOURGEOISIE THE 

LEADER OF THE BLACK LIBERATION 

STRUGGLE? 

paul lantimo 76 HAITI : A BLACK REVOLUTION WILL 

REPEAT ITSELF 

fro-,t cover photo : andrev hill 

by :; ~m h ,-:nton 

sc1:1_r Lure on ^F7 . 18 

from ev=-rc~reen ma-lazine 

TS

NOW IN ITS 2nd YEAR of PUBLICATION . . . 

PARTIAL CONTENTS OF SOULBOOK 6 

the quorterfy kurnol of 

revolutionary ofroarerl 

do it, do it, do it - 

to firA'rrl Ilk 

*The World is the Black Man's Land 

Part 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Willie Green 

*Neo-Colonialism and Jamaica . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dennis Daly 

*The Nation of Islam - an estimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harry Haywooc 

*Or_ the Ques :ion of Allies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alvin Morrell 

* " :,ove Me", A Review of Sex and Racism 

by Calvin Hernton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ernie Allen 

*Reject Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . poetry from the souls of black folk 

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editorialboard : donald freeman, issac moore, ernie allen 

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summer 1966 

number 1 

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LE"rIOR 70 

?`LOOK 

bobb hamilton 

if james Farmer, Martin Luther King, Whitney Young, et al represent 

the mainstream of the Civil Rights Movement, they are, at the 

most, a meandering stream . The term "mainstream" is a trick phrase 

invented by the white liberals and the uncle toms to put the stamp of 

"abnormal" or irresponsible on those intelligent black spokesmen who 

refuse to be bought by, or to support white paternalism . 

The Black middle class is the reservoir from which the white 

power-structure draws its hand picked niggers to speak for us . These 

two groups are allies, and they have conspired together to create a 

swamp called "Civil Rights" in which we are expected to filtunder 

through, through the quick-sand, through the sink-holes to the Promised 

Land of Integration on the other side . And while we toil through this 

morass, our "leaders" are riding on our backs sneering and laughing 

and talking pride in "how high they have risen . " If anything good for 

the Black man came out of that white family fight called World War 11, 

and the imperialist "police actions" that followed in Asia, it was the 

opportunity for many black people here, who were not members of the 

niggeratti set, to get a higher education or a better look at this outhouse 

called the "Great Society ." It is this new crop of blacks, yob 

thinking black men who are able to see through the hypocrisy and double 

dealing of this white society that is causing the so-called leaders and 

their white masters to tremble! The difference between a civil righter 

and a black radical is the willingness of the latter to learn from the past 

and to change his behavior in the light of the lesson he has learned .

The black radical is not concerned about presenting a good image for 

themselves! The black radical is not willing to sit down with crackers 

and "negotitLte" his dignity as though it were a piece of real-estate : he 

affirms his dignity by demanding to be respected now, not next year 

or ten years from now when a new law goes into effect . Four hundred 

years is long enough to wait . If the crackers were sincere about their 

so-called democracy, they would have changed their actions long ago . 

The black bourgeoisie civil rightists have not been able to face up to the 

fact that white folks respect power and power alone! Passive resistance 

and "moral force" have only reassured whitey that we are fools . And 

that we can be deceived forever . The fact that non-violent "training" 

is directed ~t making meek Negroes and not propagandized amongst the 

Klansmen and the cracker "citizens" councils shows the flabby tongued 

white liberal for the moral gangster that he is and it shows King up for 

the fool that he is . Let him teach the white folks non-violence . The 

phony legislation and the tokenism we get in return is too little for us 

to allow our women and children to be beaten and degraded while we 

stand around wringing our hands and singing hymns, meanwhile the 

white folks continue to rule and to prosper at our ex pense . The 

black radical is not only willing to die for his rights, he is willing to 

kill for them also . It will not be as easy ever again to lynch another 

3,407 blacks ; the Deacons and others of us will see to that . The en 

forced projects cannot hold us back nor deceive us any longer, the 

Times, the Post, and the Daily News notwithstanding . 

We are ready to use the power we have at hand to make some real 

changes, and thats what the fight over the Civil Rights Conference was 

all about . We back Stokely Carmichael 100% in his statement on why 

S.1V . C . C . withdrew from the Johnson sponsored circus with the nigger 

clowns . 

That hard black knot in the bowels of America is gathering its 

strength, and we intend to "work out . " 

Keep on pushing!! !

how the coup in ghana 

I will affect the 

african liberation struggle 

The U . S . - British-West German-Israel Imperialists and their agents 

are now in Ghana . The question is whatdo they want in Accra . 

The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, "South Africa", has withdrawn 

its Representative and students from Ghana . In the light of recent 

developments in Ghana, inspired and engineered by the United States- 

British imperialists, it became necessary to review our continued 

presence in Ghana . The imperialist controlled mutineers, however ; 

have clearly indicated that support to National Liberation Movements 

will cease . If this attitude was not adopted the Pan Africanist Congress 

would nevertheless have withdrawn and closed its office in Ghana as 

a matter of principle . 

In Ghana today reaction is on the rampage and an idelogical witchhunt 

is on . The very essence of this mutiny is mass arrest, murder 

and pillage . Hundreds of people \'ere killed, and several hundreds 

;gather Leballo is the President of the Pan ,-r ican-st Con ire 

of South Africa .

J 

seriously wounded . Amongst those killed were General Bawah and his 

gallant men who died in defence of the Flagstaff House, the President's 

office . They fought for twenty-four hours to the last man . Over two 

thousand people were arrested and detained without trial, in fact, more 

political opponents than it is claimed that President Nkrumah detained . 

Ghana which was once a Mecca of the African freedom-fighters has 

been reduced to an arch neo-colonialist state to serve the interest of 

United States and British imperialism . Thus the present temporary 

set back in Ghana is not only a set back for the people of Ghana but for 

all the anti-imperialist . forces in Africa, Asia and Latin America . 

The so-called National Liberation Council regards the maintenace 

of freedom -fighters offices at the Uureau of African Affairs, Ghana 

as having been a "prestige project" and constitute anest to engineer 

subversions (in our case) "against the lawful government of South 

Africa ." Under imperialist guidance they ejected all 

freedom-fighters from the African Affairs (Centre, at 

u n -p o i nt , and left them stranded in the streets . The imperialist 

Ankrah Mutineer clique has also ejected African 

Liberation Movements from their offices, in the 

African Unity House in London, a building given to 

African Liberation Movements by President Nkrumah 

to maintain their offices and project and struggle 

against imperialist oppression in their respective 

countries . 

The hospitality extended to African Liberation Movements by the 

people of Ghana and the Government of PresidOnt, Nkrumah was revoked 

, and with ruthlessness, too . This imperialist puppet Ankrah 

mutineer clique _m_u_s_tbe crushed if the African Revolution is to succeed 

and it can only succeed if President Nkrumah is returned to Ghana by 

the people and forthwith . 

IMPERIALIST PLOT NO . 1 

It is abundantly clear that the mutiny is designed, instigated and 

stage managed by United States-British-West German-Israel imperialism 

and their agents . I want to make the following reference to 

substantiate : 

(1) It was a known fact that President Kwame Nkrumah was 

totally opposed to imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonial 

ism and in practical steps too . At no stage did President 

Nkrumah waver in his opposition to imperialism, colonialism

and neo-colonialism and this was his greatest asset and was 

manifested in many ways 

(2) The imperialists harboured jealousy over his peace mission 

to Hanoi, the centre of U . S . Imperialist aggression, for 

President Nkrumah was the first African Head of State to 

undertake a visit to Vietnam . The imperialists knew he would 

score a major achievement for Africa and thereby establish his 

position as an outstanding world statesman of our time . 

The imperialists were also jealous over his successful socialist, 

revolutionary economy in Ghana . 

(3) The running dogs of the imperialists in Ghana, have with 

conceited pride, informed the imperialists that President 

Nkrumah provided freedom-fighters from non-independent 

African States with necessary military training in order that 

they liberate their respective countries in Africa . 

The so-called National Liberation Council collected the 

K 

imperialist amen and took them on -an organized tour of 

the secret military camps set up by President Nkrumah . They 

exposed to the imperialists the type of training the freedomfighters 

received, their numbers and their country of origin . 

By informing the world press that President Nkrumah trained 

freedom-fighters, the members of the so-called National 

Liberation Council could only be serving the interests of the 

imperialists .

(4) Two South African White reporters were among those 

present when the local reactionaries conducted foreign 

journalists on their guided tours of secret training camps for 

freedom-fighters and pointing out freedom-fighters and arms 

used by them during training . The Two south African Journalists 

came via London . Our attention was directed towards 

them by a B . B . C . Correspondent who was arranging hotel 

accommodation for them . 

(5) The Verwoerd-Salazar-Smith -Franco Axis, the arch imperialist 

agents in Africa sent spies ., disguised as pressmen, to collect 

information on military plans . These plans are designed to 

herald the doom of this racist axis . 

Even if they succeed in collecting information from the 

imperialist backed Ankrah clique their doom is inevitable and 

they shall be ground into powder by the invincible forces of 

Pan Africanism . 

(6) The Ankrah regime landed to the Portuguese colonialists 

freedom-fighters from Equitorial Guinea . The Portugue 

Colonialists sent a military plane to collect these freedomfighters 

. 

Thus we of the liberation movements cannot see how liberation 

plans of the Organization of African Unity will in future be kept from 

our imperialist enemies if representatives of the so-called National 

Liberation Council pursue this attitude . This is, indeed, gross betrayal 

of Africa's Revolution against imperialists and their puppets . How then 

can the Ankrah clique be still allowed to associate itself with the OAU 

when in actual fact Ankrah clique is obviously an imperialist agent to 

spy for its imperialist masters in the Councils of the OAU Conferences ? 

POPULAR RESISTENCE : 

It is abundantly clear that the broad masses of the pople of Ghana 

still remain loyal to Osagyefo Dr . Kwame Nkrumah . The so-cal l ad 

National Liberation Council has vigorously applied'he tactic of deceit 

and circulation of false propaganda through the local press, Radio 

and television which they control . Permit me to quote to you the type 

of support they claim in local newspapers and use this to induce the 

rank and file to support the mutiny . 

On Thursday 1st March, 1966 the local newspapers carried headlines 

such as " NLC delegation recognised by OAU and the article went on to 

say : " a three man Ghanaian delegation to the Sixth Ordinary Session of

the Ministerial Conference of the Organization of African Unity which 

opened in Addis Abbaba yesterday was given recognition and warm welcome 

by the whole thirty-six (36) Member African States repre, en ted . 

After the recognition, all the representatives went over to shake hands 

and congratulated the Ghana delegation . " This as we know is a blatant 

lie . The walk out of nine (9) African countries from the 6th Ordinary 

Session of the Organisation of African Unity's Ministerial Council was 

strictly suppressed by the Ankrah clique . 

The so-called National Liberation Council also attempted to win the 

support of the broad masses of the people by announcing the release of 

some five hundred and fifty (550) prisoners but refrained from clarifying 

that over three hundred (300) were criminals . The so-called National 

Liberation Council hoped by this "humanitarian" act to impress the 

Ghanaian people, but failed dismally . 

Mock demonstrations, stage managed by the so-called National 

Liberation Council are given wide publicity and reports are grossly 

exaggerated . A demolition squad pulled down Osagyefo's statue and 

it was reported that it was the work of the people displaying their resentment 

to President Nkrumah . 

Many more examples can be quoted to illustrate the unpopularity of 

the 1'iutiny of Ghana . 

The reactionaries in Ghana live in perpetual fear and therefore are 

making frantic appeals to their imperialist masters for assistance . 

Their fear of the people and President Nkrumah was expressed when 

Osagyefo broadcast to the nation from Guinea . Immediately the socalled 

National Liberation Council ordered the confiscation of all radio 

apparatus from the Ghanaian people . Their dictatorial suppression 

need no elaboration here except that the so-called National I-.beration 

Council accused President Nkrumah of being a dictator! 

Pamphlets, placards and slogans have now appeared in the streets 

of Accra and on the walls against the Ankrah Imperialist puppet clique . 

The people's resistence is now being intensified . Ankrah's army 

patrols are now being ambushed and this Ankrah admitted by warning 

Ghanaian people of these clashes through radio and television . 

ATTEMPTS AT VILIFYING THE OSAGYEFO PRESIDENT NKRUMAH 

The so-called National Liberation Council has vainly attempted to 

discredit the Osagyefo President Nkrumah accusing him of lavish

spending . They even went to the extent to attacking his morals . All 

these are nothing but diabolical, malicious falshhoods . 

In order to win support the so-called National Liberation Council 

is engaged in vicious, deliberate, dirty propaganda attacks of 

villification and falsehood against President Nkrumah . Ankrah and liis 

clique are trying to hide their own murderous deeds of blood-bath 

mutiny in (Riana behind these vilifications . 

TRIBUTE TO PRESIDENT NKRUMAH AND PRESIDENT TOURE : 

President Nkrumah of the Republic of Ghana is the torchlight of the 

African Revolution, his ideology of African Nationalism and Pan Africanism 

as a higher continental philsophy has successfully led the 

African Revolution . As a result of the permeation throughout the 

African Continent of this philosophical outlook we have witnessed the

emergence of some thirty-five (35) Independent African States, we have 

witnessed the formation of the Organization of the African Unity, we 

have witnessed the anti-imperialist upsurge in Africa, we have witnessed 

destruction of colonialism and neo-colonialism, we are witnessing 

the revolutionary armed struggle by the oppressed people in the 

still dependent states . President Nkrumah's contribution to Africa's 

liberation and his ultimate goal of one government for all Africa shall 

always remain indelible in the minds of the present generation and the 

coming generations of Africa . 

Gentlemen, I must say, Ghana without Nkrumah is no more and 

without Nkrumah and Toure there can be no Africa . 

Long Live Osagyefo President Dr . Kwame Nkrumah of the Republic 

of Ghana! 

PRESIDENT SEKOU TOURE : 

President of the Republic of Guinea, the greatest son of Africa is the 

rescuer of the torch-light of the African Revolution . We pay the highest 

tribute to him and the heroic people of Guinea for being in the fore -front 

against imperialist aggression in Africa . We of the Pan Africanist 

Congress of Azania (South Africa) unequivocally pledge resolute support 

to President Sekou Toure's positive action to crush forthwith the United 

States-British- imperialist inspired mutiny in Ghana . The running dogs 

of the imperialists in Africa must be fought to the finish, or else we must 

go under and perish if we fail to do so . However with the i{:iperialist 

inspired mutiny against President Nkrumah of Ghana, the African Revolution 

has suffered a temporary set-back . We call upon the people 

to rise and reverse the situation in Ghana . 

WE DEMAND: 

(1) That the Organization of African Unity ( OAU ) bar the imperialist 

puppet regime of Ankrah from participating in 

deliberations of the OAU and, 

_a 11 

(2) that the imperialist-puppet regime of Ankrah be isolated at 

all International Conferences and from association with Afro- 

Asian Countries . 

(3) The organization of African Unity (OAU) in pursuance of its 

Charter must _destroy _r o_y neo-colonialism in Ghana by all 

(4) 

means at its disposal, including armed intervention . 

The expulsion of all imperialist agents from the OAU and that

the OAU must take on a revolutionary outlook and carry 

forward the banner of African Revolution . 

That the Ankrah clique return to all expelled liberatory 

movements based in Accra, their property including files and 

confidential documents, which if exposed may prove detrimental 

to the liberation of the still dependent territories . 

AFRICA'S FUTURE : 

The tide of imperialist aggression in Africa must be halted forthwith . 

Actions of our great revolutionary leaders in Africa, during the mutiny 

in Ghana, cast a flicker of hope for the African Revolution . 

In his speech at Suez President Gamal Abdul Nasser, President of 

the United Arab Republic in reference to the imperialist coup in Ghana, 

categorically stated the attitude Africa must adopt towards imperialist 

subversion and aggression . 

"We must break their legs! " This was President Nasser's advice 

to all anti= imperialist forces in Africa . 

Let us take this as our guiding factor in dealing with imperialists . 

President Kenneth Kaunda, has guided us in the attitude we must 

adopt towards the running dogs of the imperialists . President Kaunda 

refused to receive in his country a delegation sent by Ankrah clique 

regime . We must have nothing to do with the running dogs of the 

imperialists . 

If we in Africa adopt the attitudes of President Nasser and President 

Kaunda we would know who are the enemies of African Revolution and 

how to deal with them . Thus we must denounce as imperialist colloborators 

A 11 those countries that have given recognition to the Ankrah clique . 

CONCLUSION : 

It is imperative that the peoples of Africa should rise and check the 

infiltration of imperialists and neo-colonialists aggression in Africa and 

their running dogs must be .fought and crushed if Africa is to enjoy her 

fruits of genuine freedom . GENTLEMEN, We have been challenged!!! 

Long live_the African Revolution! ! !

ed bu.111 ns 

~o~ards 

a real 

black 

theater 

ius_.on 

The popular "liberal" white patronizing condecension of today(1966) 

has given some black artists an easily accessible "R e v o I u t i o n a r y 

image . It is a legitimate preoccupation for some, though this "Revo 

lutionary" image for most has taken the form of merely fantasizing the 

sentiments and dreams of radical appearing black groups ; for the 

black artist has but to display the proper and genuine anger and hate 

for whites, possess the questionable ability to express this repugnance 

to his white reader and audience, then stand back and measure his skill 

as an artist by the criteria of whether the whites feel properly flogged, 

expiated, and apologetic for being white . Of course., for the black audi - 

ence and reader, their measure of appreciation coazes from their feelings 

of smlgness and superiority as the white victim writhes on the rack 

of his conscience and guilt, screaming petitions to black artists : "I'm 

sorry! I'm sorry! What did I do ? What can I do to help ?" Normally, 

the comeback to these ignorant, naive complacent white questions is : 

"You can die, mathafukker ! " 

Yes, the black artist can feel superior in doing this, and the black

13 

audience is quite safe, being far from the onslaught, as well as being 

quite distant from a literature in which the black man can find any 

identity other than as executioner . 

But in these times when the Negro has gotten his thirty pieces of 

silver in the form of "Wars on Poverty" to aid in systematically exterminating 

"little brown men" in foreign wars, and in these times when the 

Negro refuses to speak out for his own her of popular culture, Cassius 

Clay ; for the MAN is down on "dat" boy, and in these times whenblacks 

are the hired assassins of a spiritual hero, a b 1 a c k p r i n c e among 

ALL men;Malcolm X, it is empty, obscene and hypocritical for the 

black writer to stick his head in the sand and only criticize the safe 

white liberal targets who are too degenerate and sick to strike back . 

If all the above is worth integrating into the American culture, then the 

black artist should be the first to say, FUCK IT! 

A black writer is an absurd and foolish phenomenon in contemporarN- 

America : he must either revolt in safe paper and ink revolutions or 

go trip the light fantastic 

in the weird madhouses of 

the white academies, 

esthetics, and archaic 

lode . For there can be 

no art for the black, no 

tangible cultural identity 

slip 

Ihw~~ 

until he first directs 

his art toward his 

people . 

In the 'heatre of 

B lack Arts "liberal" 

lIik 

whites who come to be 

, lwhupped" should bring their own whips, clubs, cudgels, bludgeons, and 

ropes . 

This artist's budget can not absorb expensive frills, and, besides, 

his arms tire easily .

the market of the " 

dead 

guillermo hoke 

To show only the superficiality 

of a frightening drama 

that made Ftru drowsy for three 

centuries, an agency in the 

service of Northamerican 

imperialism says that a southern 

district of Peru, Puno, which 

has the largest indigenous pope . - 

lation in the Fatherland of the 

Incas, the Indians sell their 

children for 100 to 200 pesos . 

This notice that stood out in 

daily newspapers as something 

to read between smiles or changes 

of expression, never-the-less has its more painfully prJf=Nundmeaning . 

Let us rapidly take a look at it . 

In Peru, where 70 . 3% of it's population is found infested with T. B . - 

as stated in 1961 by the Secretariat of Health of my home province, there 

exist s five million Indians , the major part grouped in 1, 792 indigenous 

communities that occupy the highbarren plains, uneve'l, inhospitable 

land ; the Andean heights where piercingly cold wind reigns, the 

Indians feed themselves--if what they eat is food--dried potatoes and 

meal salad of wilted cabbage and one or another seed of the highlands .

Tl~c Indians . because of their sparse diet, have an avO'age life of 30 

years . At the present time they serve only as flesh for the silver, 

copper, and gold mines that the Northamerican enterprises control . 

The pneumonia. and T . B . continues to add to the barter rous amount of 

eight million Indians that the Spanish conquistadors murdered . The 

creole liberator that followed BolivO r and San Martin in the feats of 

1810 had transformed into the neo -spaniard who with more refinement 

and greater greed exploited the indigenes after having snatched away 

his lands, his women, and his thin children . 

As previously mentioned, the exis ting Andean Sierras are an immense 

cemetery where live the would be heirs of the extensive and socialist 

Incan Empire . From those rich lands where the loaded boats of gold 

and silver for the finery and extravagant eloquence of the Spanish 

monarchy were departing, only holes remain . Today, with foltr 

centuries of the most infamous conquest of all times the indigenous 

race has only the limits of pain, misery, sickness, and cocaine . 

After Indians give birth to sick children - - already bodies with 

accusing eyes -- many times they will take their children directly to 

the cemeteries ; thus saving themselves course: of pain and shame . 

Those that save themselves -- and they are very few --run the lucky 

risk of being sold in the public markets . And not for profit, fraud, 

or for contraband nor inhumanization, no ; the Indians sell their children 

to save them from a certain and terrible death ; death by hunger'. 

Thus at least they sustain themselves with the bitter consolation 

that their beloved children are going to see much of the wide 

world, they are going to know the cities, they are going to be educated 

in order to redeem, someday, their castigated race . With this oppressed 

hope they auction their children off for 100 pesos and then, in 

their grief get themselves drunk and cry for entire weeks ; tnat is 

until their eyes dry up or they die out in the brutal, savage, and 

frosty weather . 

The cables of the imperialist only told us of the ridiculous sale of 

children . They did not say that behind each child that is sold goes the 

grave accusation against the present and past Peruvian governments . 

Nothing was expressed of the conditions under which these Indians 

live . These people have no knowledge of what milk or fruit looks 

like, nor what a decent roof over their heads is like . Equally, nothing 

is said in this same Puno of their misfortunes ; that the Indians e,tt

dirt for the want of food . 

In the interim while in the Sierras the Indians sel 1 their children 

in order to saveOEm , in Lima (the Peruvian Capital) a lying and 

cowardly oligarchy enjoys everything, hoarding their money in banks 

in New York, London, or Switzerland and vacation on the Blue Coast 

of Miami or Hawaii . That oligarchy consists of 25 families ; 101 men 

and 14 women who neither are Peruvians nor to whom Peru owe any 

thing . And on the other hand Yankee imperialism disposes of 92% of 

the National rent, legislates in its favor, and imposes conditions in 

.,°der to appoint life or death to the Peruvians . 

in the presence 

of this picture of 

incredible and infernal 

truth selling 

indigenous children 

is justifiable . 

Also we radicals 

lose our sons in 

the wilderness on 

account of hunger, 

because we lack 

the courage of 

selling them in 

order to save 

them ; we still 

have our barbaric 

desire of possessing 

our sons, be - 

sides possessing 

our ardent revolutionary 

desire ; 

meanwhile our 

Indians of so much 

pain and death have 

remained without 

anything inside, as 

the rocks, as the 

brooks, as the hills . 

This article was translated from the Spanish text 

that appeared in Politica' 'Mexico City)

y hassan 

3~1U¬ 

Clouds of clouds clouded my inner-resQLve ; life's crimson liquid 

rushed vehemently trhough the gray ducts of my inner-body, and the 

image of handwriting scribbled across a dirty wall flashed on my 

mind's taut screen . It read : "IT IS PAST THE SEVENTH HOUR OF 

RECKONING: THE SCALES OF JUSTICE HAVE TARNISHED WAITING 

FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF EQUALITY : PLEAS FOR INTEGRA- 

TION HAVE BECOME AN ABYSS OF SHAME, AND ALL ATTEMPTS 

TO MAKE WHITE AMERICA HONOR HER OWN IDEALS HAVE 

BECOME AS FRIVOLOUS AS A GRAIN OF SAND ON THE SAHARA . 

;.0! STAND IN THE STREET, AND LET WINDY LIES BLOW YOU 

INTO THE INKY ARMS OF YOUR SEQUESTERING MILITANT 

BROTHERS, WHO REFUSE TO PAY ALLIGENCE TO A WORLD 

THAT PAYS THEM NO ALLIGENCE . " 

a t all white man, dressed in a red, white and blue colored suit, 

stopped out of a gossamer cloud of red smoke that had suddenly materialized 

in front of the dirty wall . He pulled out his penis and started 

urinating on the admonishing words that were scribbled on the wall . 

A fat ugly-looking Negro, dressed in an ivy - league suit, stepped out 

of a tree, pulled out his penis, and urinated on the wall . 

I saw the faces of a thousand-thousand black men . The faces grew 

larger and larger until they fused into one huge angry looking face . 

The face spoke ; "I cry out in blatant indignation at the cowardise 

quibble of America's black bootlickers - - the black

e s t a b l i s h m e n t , . I vomit each time I hear that dastard l Y 

of nonsense, 'if any blood flows, let it be ours .' I scoff at the u!~c~ 

sycophants who have exalted themselves above my b r o t h e i's i i) t 

b l a c k s l u m s . I have taken my position, and now I am read}- to 

brave the task of wielding the scissors of liberation and snip the strin,L 

that are holding up America's modern day Punch and Judys . I have 

slipped on the mailed gloves of battle and sound the call of contest 

against my pale foes and their sable lackeys--the prize ? fY e c d o m 

o r D e a t h . I have imbibed the b l a c k t r u t h that filled the hearts 

of Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Prosser, Marcus Garvey,' 

Patrice Lumumba, and that trojan black prince of our times, Malcolm X, 

who had their regal hands on the doorknob of black sovereignty, but 

were blasted into martydom, with the cry of freedom ringing from 

their precious ebony lips . I have rid myself of always judging my 

brothers through the eyes of those who would look at them with hatred 

and disgust . I can now see, with crystal clarity that America has 

always been a battle field with my h ale enemies stalking the naked 

streets of night in search of black blood to quench the perverted thirst 

of the Dracula and Vampires lurking behind satanic smiles . But I, 

who have at last found the face of my father, will not turn the other 

cheek just to placate the whims of that paradoxical book filled with 

oininousparables ; - i will fight my oppressors with every 

ounce o f strength i have , ar_d when I can no longer lift my 

blood-stained hands, rather than submit, I will gladly die the unsung 

death of a revolutionary, amid the brainwashed jeers of my socially 

indoctrinated brothers . And do not place my body in some polished 

mahogany casket and eulogize me with Uncle Tom folklore -- but rather, 

burn my body and scatter my ashes in the narrow, sordid streets of 

the black slums, where my black soul dwells ." I A~\'OKE . . . . 

The liberation struggle poses demands which 

require boldness in action and in thought . And 

boldness can give rise to over-hastiness, the 

source of imperfections and errors . . . No matter ! 

The movement proves its mettle on the march . In 

these days it is still better to stumble than to re - 

main seated . 

Majhemout Xop 

Quick march!

i .' -~ ()1 .1 1JO_N ON_ THE RIGHTS OF AFRO AMERICANS IN THE _U_. S . A . 

, i'assod .!,`, 

Fire Conference of Solidarity of the African, Asian 

;iild l,~ititi 1mericao Peoples held in Havana . Cuba, Jan . 3 to 12,1966) 

Constdcring : 

t . T'lat racial violc!ice and brutal discrimination in the United States 

a-airnst Afro-American men . women and children and the white humanitarians 

%\lio sympathize with them is another manifestation of the 

_\-hloit:ition of man by man : 

:: . That the A1i'o-Americans have the universal and inalienable right to 

legitimate defense, just as all other oppressed people who struggle under 

the most brutal repression and tyranny, for human rights and full 

liberation ; 

. That the struggle of the Afro-Americans against racial oppression 

in the United States has never been so wide-spread or so violent, and 

that the people in the black ghettoes are increasingly identifying their 

struggle for liberation with that of the oppressed and exploited peoples 

of Africa, Asia and Latin America ; 

4 . That during the rioting in Watts (Los Ang6les) and Chicago, Afro- 

Americans openly proclaimed they were fighting a common cause with 

their Vietnames brothers against racism and North American imperialism 

; 

5 . That, although, geographically, Afro-Americans do not form a part 

of Africa, Asia or Latin America, the special circumstances of the 

oppi~'vssion which they suffer, to which they are subject, and the struggle 

they are waging, merits special consideration and recommends that 

the Tri-Continental Organization study a mechanism through which representatives 

of their clearly anti-imperialist organizations can participate 

in future conferences and the Organization of the three continents 

; 

BE IT RESOLVED: 

1 . To strongly support the Afro -Americans in their struggle for human 

rights and survival, in common with the progressive forces which defend 

this struggle . 

2 . To condemn the murder of Malcolm X, the arbitrary imprisonment 

of William Epton, and likewise other victims of the violence unleashed 

by imperialism against the leaders and militants who face it .

OTis GOES INTO 

THE 

ARMY 

doug alien 

"Join Uncle Sam's Army and be prepared!", the big neon sign 

implored . 

Otis Washington rubbed the top of his wooly head, scratched under 

his arm, and shuffled into the Army Induction Center . The room was 

crowded with sweaty bodies, and a few heads, looked up at him as he 

came through . Most were lost in deep thought or murmuring nervously 

to their new buddies . 

A broad-shouldered sergeant came up to Otis . 

"Yeah, can I help you ?", he said gruffly . 

"Yeah," he said, scratching behind his ear and pulling out his 

induction notice . "The people sent me this here letter an' told one 

I was supposed to come and get in the army . " 

"Have a seat, have a seat . ", the man said as he took the letter from 

Otis . "I'm the Induction Officer . " 

"Yeah, that's what I come here about," Otis said, grinning . "I 

wanted to see if I could get sent over there to Viet Nam . " 

"Wait a minute . You say you want to be sent to Viet Nam ?" 

Otis Nodded . 

"That's curious," the Induction Officer said . "Tell me, why do you 

want to be sent to Viet Nam ?" 

"I just wantto help my country, that's all . " Otis said, "fighting them 

there Buddhist priests that've been talking all that mess against the 

U.S . government . " 

The Induction Officer shook his head . "No, I'm sorry . Government

troops aren't allowed to interfere in internal politics-" 

"No-no," Otis protested, mulelike . "I been reading in the papers 

how them priests been stirring up trouble, and I'm going to take a 

machine gun and blast the hell out of them!" 

The Induction Officer winced and wrote something on the letter in front 

of him . 

"Well, perhaps you won't get sent to Viet Nam," he said . "How 

would you like to do duty in Germany ?" 

"Oh hell yeah, I'd like to go to Germany!" Otis exclaimed . "I been 

reading up on how all Nazis treated the Jews . Man, I'm gonna shoot 

every German I see-" 

The officer erased what he had put 

on the letter and wrote something else, 

glancing at Otis and shaking his head . 

"No, Germany just doesn't seem 

right for you, " he said . "Now I suppose 

you'd be a little happier doing duty here 

in the United States where you can be 

close to home ." 

:Yeah, I've been meaning to have a 

word with somebody about that, : Otis 

said . "I'd like to get stationed in one 

of them Southern bases where I can be 

next to some of them places where 

they've got Ku Klux Klan . I figured 

that me and a bunch of my friends 

could go around and clean up that place 

in nothing flat-" 

The Induction Officer sighed and 

stamped something on the letter as he 

handed it back to Otis . 

"Tell you what," he said, "We're 

a little high on recruits right now . Why 

don't you come back in a little while . 

Like a month or so--?If

ON LEADERSHIP 

"Nobody can have correct insights into a nation's problems 

all of the time, and still less act on their behalf 

for history has never been otherwise than the direct result 

of action by the crowd, on nature and society ." 

President Sekou Toure of the Republic of Guinea 

" A leader is always a superior person, even though 

his superiority is not immediately visible beyond this 

pulling power . His psychological finesse permits him 

to feel the deep pulse of the people . His intellectual 

maturity permits him to transform these perceptions 

into a program of political action . His spiritual loftiness 

is invested with a certain suicidal quality which 

carries him forward to the dangerous post, to where 

are posted the machine-guns of the police . The people 

follow him, because he and the people complete each 

other . " 

Juan Arevalo, former President of the Republic of Guatemala 

" A mature leader will be he, that has thrown off the 

yoke of his family's oppression, the yoke of the white 

man's oppressive culture and who has risen above his 

own fear of death and feels within himself that he is a 

man who wants to join with all real men to make possible 

all things . He will radiate power, not possess it . 

He is a man and from this knowledge all things will 

come . He has to have a little bit of Robert Williams, 

Marcus Garvey, Fidel Castro, Frederick Douglas, Nat 

Turner, Toussaint L'Ouverture, Arthur Reid, Rand 

olph Wilson, Malcolm X, Nkrumah, Mao-Tse-Tung . 

He has to be young . . . . . 

Louise Moore, a strong revolutionary Black woman . 

' quoted from Liberato r magazine

In every organization, school, group, or community 

whether large or small, importance must be given to 

the establishment of a nucleus of leadership . The 

criteria for such a leading group should be absolute 

devotion to the cause, contact with the people, ability 

independently to find one's bearings and observance 

of discipline whether in carrying out central tasks 

or checking up on work, it is necessary to adopt the 

method of linking the leading group with the people, 

in addition to linking theory with practice . 

Mao-Tse-Tung, Supreme leader of the Chinese Peoples' Republic 

What is needed is unity . Unity and discipline . Unity 

and discipline and a solid, correct leadership . Lead - 

ershipwhich can never be bought over . Leadership 

which does not think of itself . Leadership which could 

never be isolated from the people . That is the kind 

of leadership which helped us to overthrow this double 

deck system of oppression . 

Mohammed Abdul P hman Babu, Minister of Cooperatives of Tanzania 

The African-American revolutionary awaits the 

day when Black humanism will prevail over white decadent 

materialism ; for on that day the oppressed 

will see the sunrise again, the redeemers will walk 

the earth, Hiram shall awaken and the meek shall 

inherit the earth! Up you mighty revolutionaries, 

you can accomplish what you will ! 

Moses Jefferson, a Black american revolutionary

READ 

burning spear 

for information, write 

BURNING SPEAR 

1462 HAIGHT STREET 

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 

c/o Vincent Lynch

eject 

notes 

clarence major 

alt °n 

john fiscr .='r 

uatricia nark?r 

boob hamilton 

k v, ti ;ro ; ;i tsile

BIACK CU,- 

c-,a=~ed a vv, ~ I --tew 

SO Witil the V- 

o y oppressoe , 6 systu-cn, 

death warning_ 

T en~a 

For I had not sworn to _protect 

his beliefs, 

his dreams, his vision of me . 

I had declared myself, 

saw the "me" --the 1,117 

& I was not going to be patient 

enough to wait until 

the coming of a way from the empasse 

I was to live now . 

Even dead 

clarence major

to Akilimali (whose richness is in reason and in love) 

naked laughter altogether stripped 

of pretense while black pearls flow 

in chains of love hung round our hearts 

like diamonds gently dropping to fecundant earth 

swallowed 

into caverns of becoming darkness 

finding rest in tenderness and warpath 

Akilimali, my soulful black woman 

magnificent African queen : 

a gentle sigh and Shango, drowsy, nods his head 

in rising waves of passion's offering 

which gives and takes as the sea 

awakening in a tide which breaking 

bonds of souls once two 

become at once 

and one a blinding flash and molten mass 

as on the eve of creation, yes 

quaking cringing shaking shimmer 

and impinging thunder from a thousand beating 

African drums and hearths upon the universe 

as stretching forth my hand to heights unseen 

i grasp the brightly flowing truth exploding 

from eternal eye of loveburst 

amorphous soul of burning blackness 

and 

with mighty hammer passed 

from centuries down and chaingang sweat 

from centuries down and brutal whip 

from centuries down and slavery cry 

i gently form the necklace which you wear, Akilimali

i hold you close and tell you of our past and 

whisper softly ; do not be afraid of happy tears 

which brush our cheeks, Akilimali, for 

kissing lips embrace this truth held 

tightly by a million links of love which lie 

about us in warm stillness or a moment's memory 

a gentle sigh and Shango, drowsy, nods his head 

but snatched from blossom given birth 

by playful rolling summer hills 

and 

tossing to the airs as surf 

from sea reali 

ties 

crash in 

euphony spent and 

sc a tt e r ed to departing southern shores 

a sinking shell in sand stand i 

at water's edge and watch chilled laughter 

slipping icily through toes tingling 

with empty feeling then 

a painful throbbing and 

i look around : 

my beating heart is leaving with the tide 

and mingling tears with misty sea 

yet 

gleaming as they never had before 

are countless precious jewels, my love 

whose sparkling memories join in train 

and glitter by in swimming sand 

churning churningover 

flowing lonely waters, and awaiting winter's tides ; 

now arms reach out 

to grasp for shells and links 

which bear our names to fill

foi ) ; iiji-ioals sake o , time 

suw, wATt away in av 

embrace of aching heart's black love 

orn e a! ! en

MAN'S ONENESS WITH GOD 

O Lord-O Lord-lift up this mighty curse, 

These willful sensibilities . Uproot Erase . 

Eradicate . If humhle Love be thy Holy name 

And placid beauty our crowning grace, why 

Then upon this feeble conscious this mighty 

Burden must thou press, that eons on deaf 

Ears hast fallen? 

Am I my brother's keeper ? -Down-Nvith this 

Puritanical light . . . 

Abraham, father of the multitude . I cannot 

Reach you . In Bethel of the soul I reach . I 

Stretch . I strain . I cannot reach you . . . 

Abraham . . . . . . . Abraham . . . . . . . will you forsake 

Me here in Sodom, too ? I cannot reach you . . . 

john fischer

A Voice from Watts 

"Burn, Baby, burn, 

Black gods have called judgment, 

give or burn, baby 

Black god - a mad mother, him 

spilling from ghetto stench 

a mob, 

a mad mob without identity - 

maybe a race that found theirs, 

& what you say in your white, 

Protestant, Anglo - Saxon 

God don't like niggers - 

Okay - 

Heaven 

Gonna see if it burns too . 

mother fuck the world church, 

throw a little gasoline on 

Bring your troops back, big daddy - 

"God gave Noah the rainbow sign, 

No more water, the fire next time! " 

"The Fire Next Time :

Need em here - 

cause Chief Parker ain't never beat 

no Viet Cong's head . 

now you don't have to worry 

about your woman getting raped, 

but 

peroxide burns . 

i really like to see how 

p :itricia parxer

" Brother Harlem Bedford Watts Tells Mr . Charlie \\`here Its At " 

Man, your whole history 

Ain't been nothing but a hustle ; 

You're a three card mollyl . 

Mother fucker . 

You've even run the shell 

And pea game2 on your own family . 

I wouldn't trust you 

As far as I could throw 

A turd of 

Gnat shit! 

Let me run down 

Just a little 

of my 

Case against you 

Chuck! 

When you set your 

Foot in our house,

()ur troubles begun-- 

Yeah, we had our family fights, 

But it took you 

to put 

Shit in the game . 

We though you was sick 

You looked so white and 

Hairy, and we taken you 

In like a brother 

"Poor thing . "We said, 

"He looks like one of our ghosts, 

Look at his pinched up nose 

And his little narrow 

Pink lips . And that hair is a gas . 

A lotta little brown 

And blond strings 

Hanging out of his head 

His god must be poor 

And don't have no wool-or else

Awfully stingy . ' 

And whilst we was 

Wining and dining you . 

And trying to put some Soul 

In your poor pale frame, 

You was casting 

Your greedy gray eyes 

Around, lusting after our 

Shining black women, and 

Our gold and silver 

Yeah, and you even licked 

Your fuzzy chops at our 

Black biceped men? 

You was scheming man . . 

Before we knowed it good, 

We were took over . 

Next thing we knowed 

Ya'll had a squabble 

Amongst yourselves

3-7 

:1nd di\ -ided up the whole 

Country . 

Old leopold run his 

Cut like a game preserve 

Chopping off hands and 

Foots, plucking out eyeballs 

Snatching off ears-He was 

Swinging-- 

And when he got tired 

He went home 

Put on some silk drawers 

Laid up in a 

Big Belgian bed 

Blew a fart and 

Died . 

The pope says he 

Went to heaven . 

Jeez man!

How dumb do you 

Sombitches think we are ? 

What happened to 

Your god's justice ? 

Speaking of justice 

Your god is a fink 

He let his own son get 

Lynched over there in 

Jerusalem Land . 

If Shango had made 

It with Mary, 

He wouldn't a ever 

Let his son 

Lay in a stable 

With all that 

Ox shit and .;;b r,w 

Now man, 

Mary woulda been 

Set up in

The finest compound 

With servants and good meals 

And lots of 

Palm wine! 

And if Pontius Pilau 

Had touched 

His ass woulda popped 

Like a motor boat 

All the wav back to 

Rome! 

And you got the nerve 

To tell me, "that was noble . 

You a jive cat 

Charlie boy . 

You paid off some 

Rib picking Baptist Nigger preacher to 

Go around telling us 

To love you 

everytime

You kick our ass . . 

Let him do his Head--rag hop somewhere else 

Cause if you ever kick me 

You will make a 

Dot and a dash 

For footprints, cause you'll have 

One peg and one shoe? 

Help you fight in 

Viet Nam 

Man, them's my folks 

you fucking with over there, 

Viet Cong 

or 

Hong Kong 

They is colored, 

And I hope Buzz 

Knocks a hole 

In your ass 

Big as the

Grand Canon! 

Man you been taking 

One big piss 

On me for 

Four hundred years 

And then 

Calling me 

Nasty! 

Hell now 

I ain't going 

Nowhere!! 

bobb hamilton 

l . Three card molly is culluuese for three card monte a 

con game with two black jacks and a red ~jueen which are 

shuffled and layed on the table for the "sucker" top pick 

out the queen which has been palmed Burin,; the shuffle and 

replaced with a dutlicate of one of the jacks . 

2 . The shell and pea ame uses three walnut shells . A pea 

is placed under one and the "sucker" picks the one its 

under . The con man has taken the pea between his fin ;ers 

while moving the shells around on the table .

Woody and the Reading Railroad 

Just managed life, my old man ; 

railroad trains shooting past his booth 

at the cross-switch in warehouse. yards 

where black lines of freight make up 

the landscape ; 

he enclosed in the brown of a dirty 

army jacket, 

enclosed railroad-man, travelling these roads 

toward these cities that vaguely promised 

freedom . 

My old man mumbling in the morning 

after mom, 

mumbling weariness, jamming his self 

into those work-shoes ; 

died one day in the winter ; 

the snow laughter out him down 

and it covered him .

FOR AFROAMERICA 

when your days were made 

of walls cold 

and whiter 

than snow 

when deranged vipers 

sliced through your black 

genitals my body was one 

huge bleeding ball . 

Now 

there will be no ifs 

red-lipped dreams too 

damned long deferred 

explode 

Now 

redhot truths 

defiant like volcanoes emerge 

taller than evening shadows

from ghetto magicians 

Now 

from the asshole of america 

gutter smells rush 

the blood Iike 

a stampede to the head 

scorching centuries -long tears 

up and down the land 

Now 

I see 

Patrice and Malcolm 

in your step as you 

dance near the sun 

your hand outstretched 

to embrace that long 

deferred day so close 

Now 

I can see 

ghetto smells going 

up in smoke up and down

the land exploding in 

the asshole of america 

I can see that day 

teasing you like a whore 

SCREANIING NOW 

k, Wllly k :rosltslle

wiilie g reen 

NEXT IN LINE ? 

I would like to clear up some points which were brought to my 

attention through the reading of a recent essay entitled . "The 

city Is the Black Man's Land, " written by Grace and James 

Boggs . 1 The first of these points involve two premises : 

the world 

is the black man's land! 

PART 1 : POWER IN THE CITY

one is that Afroamericans are, in a very specific manner . histo> .r 

entitled to the control of White America's cities ; the other is the dar :_( 

misconception that Black power (i . e . , control) can be established i» 

these cities with concomitant major social changes having been insti - 

tuted by their black governments before __the establishment of a 

black revolutionary government on a national ___level . This viewpoint 

is incorrect for two major reasons, not only in the possibility 

for this reform, but also in the very nature of the type of reform which 

the Boggs have in mind . 

The first premise, not being of as important a nature as the second, 

will be dispensed with first . The second paragraph of the Boggs' essay 

begins with the statement : 

_n --~ccord!~ , nce v.ith th , , ;eneral rhiloso,,hy of 

ma " ority mile and the sr-cif is tm-r -scan tradition 

~-f ethnic arruTin7 'T r -:F;h, ?'cli . h, `talian) ri- 

;ritin en mass- to the bi? citie= and t'- n taking 

cv r th - l ,-adershi ,, of munipii, al --vernm-nt, black 

I disagree profoundly wit this las ' statement . Black Americans are 

not next in line ; they a r e the line! And every ethnic group which 

came to America and stood in the line to municipal power also stood 

on the same line! Listen to the voice of a trade unionist : 

"each of thes ,,av-L - ot _r:r _;rant .` ic) was a .c .-ie,1latcd 

into the American system by cl~r;bin^ upon the 

backs of fir : t =?-d cn the backs of 

N-=gro-s, and t"en on trio ,f other iri-i7rants 

until e"ich reached . -t-tu :- nict cr e%ual to 

that of the 'Foundin° ?~at .h"rF' . 

The preceding statement was written by James Boggs in 1964 . And 

indeed, if we were to follow "American tradition:' (as previously documented 

by James Boggs) we would then be forced to state, "sadly" 

to be sure, that Black Americans would have to dismiss all illusions 

concerning the "historical" line leading to municipal government 

control, since there are no shoulders left for them to starton but their 

own . Pursuing this thought further, If we were to base our arguments 

for black control upon "tradition" , someone else could state - and 

with as much basis to their argument as ours - that black people in 

the US are entitled neither to power nor to human rights, citing a long 

history of American "tradition" as the reason for such . So we must 

look elsewhere for answers . The Boggs are mistaken, and I apologize

if this appears pedantic, to equate former "ethnic groLw ;ngs" with 

colonized Afroamericans . Obviously, the forniet~ travelled to 

the United States for the purpose of becoming citizens aitd to share i» 

the fruits and spils of a new and growing nation ; the latter- were carried 

here in bondage for the purpose of building it . "H istor c i I!\ , " it was 

never intended that Afroamericans would ever exercise -cDnomic or 

political power in the U . S . : so much for American t.r-+ .'; . .))n and 

historical lines to power . 

"REVOLUTION OR REFORAl" OR 

"REVOLUTION THROUGH REFCHAZ" 

' A positive aspect of the Boggs' paper rests in their ;zing of 

major cities in the U . S . (whose populations are on their . - to becoming 

predominantly black) as the arenas of struggle between : . :A power, 

which is revolutionary and humanistic, and white power, `Rich is 

reactio,iary and decadent . I also have some strong crib : . : :-;ms of their 

program in certain areas, and those criticisms will be . 

But it is in advancing their program for the cities that t 

~ hcoming . 

:. 

' 

: Boggs help 

lead us out of the present impasse in the black revolutiw -rv movement 

as well as furnish us ammunition to expose "ultra left" >ciencies of 

( quiet as it's kept) many dedicated revolutionary Natal : -:ts, for some 

of the current arguments to be found among this group +husly : 

i ) th manic :pal -(-v =rpm nts of virt- .:7, " v 

American. city nr~- ov rv.h~1-min7iy --tI .V 

corrupt ; ti-us to deb rte ,..Eeles s ar ;; 

argum --nt,r, v., ith v:hitev at th- city :. , . .-ference 

table is hljzhly 

wastes precio>>s time could. 

t o revol :-ticnary activitv ; 

y1. in addi' ., n back . .-~ ita-nts elec'. -ice 

may, under the influence of standar , : ;_amentnrv 

procedure," become corrupted a ; . , frus - 

trated by th- bureaucrat4c machinery 

result eith-r în forces the 

bly drop out of the liberation movnm-,in 

any case setting7 back the black 1 - 

strug,7le : 

iii)-he runninz of bl :,ck can idater- for 

-r mil itant" they mi ^ht b , , confu`- ._ 

a 

ross_- 

".oaer 

erm ` 0 reform' s n, a+

From where did these ideas arise ? Much of this was due - and we 

must be honest with ourselves - to inexperience on our own part . It is 

to be recalled that at one tima "politically-oriented" Bourgeois Nationalists 

advocated the voting of black candidates into office and as a 

result, "change the structure from within . " This line originated from 

those who were either politically ignorant, were opportunists, or per 

haps a little of both . I think that partly it was here in our effort to 

avoid the mistakes of the past that some of us took a position toward 

the struggle which we can only characterize now as being "ultra-revolutionary" 

(i . e . , ruled out for all practical purposes the adoption of 

"reformist" tactics in their proper place within the black liberation 

struggle, and this included the voting of black militants into office) . 

Why is it necessary to address ourselves to reform ? What are the 

consequences of ignoring this form of struggle, keeping in mind, quite 

naturally, the ultimate revolutionary goals of the movement 

First of all, no one in the black liberation struggle today could deny 

the corruption and degeneracywhich exist among all echelons of the U . S . 

government, from the municipal leve up to and including the White (out) 

House . But granted the difficulties that would confrot, t black militants 

elected to city government, it would be mistaken to assume that the roles 

which they could play there could only be negative, or would result in 

a waste of time . For example many of the 'under -the -mhle" 

xrachinations such as mis-labeled "Urban Renewal" programs which 

have a considerable effect on the lives of the majority of black people 

living in the cities could 

be squelched through 

tactic s devised on two 

different fronts : from 

within by attempts to dislocate 

and constipated the 

parlimentary machinery, 

and from without by mass 

mobilization of blacks, all 

coordinated by the revolutionary 

organizations . 

Secondly, the Black 

Revolutionary organization 

must demonstrate

through a c ti o n their sincerity and dedication to the people wlj() > i ~ i i .r 

purport to lead . We must remember that the first stage of the rep olu - 

tiion, the actual taking of arms for the purpose of seizing power, will 

fail (simply because of this factor) if the masses of our people ha\ - e not 

identified with, or are indifferent to, the aims of the revolutionary 

organization or the organization itself . This is rather obvious, for : 

1t.hot ;± 

rô~d, r= " 

' . . .nfu! 

, . - .;t :c n=ar" 

ìrv 

MC' _ 

i-. . . 

rV P- aF~' . 

not the sole 

roblem . 

?:ever 

. . . , -gi n ('c,nv-n 

r F~njr ., n, 

Ci.i_1t . . r:n 

. : ` .n . :T' f. ~. . ._.r :,tien i ._ ._.l l ic. . . '.:t :-, 

.St Cf:C~3'. : :iF: i t _ 

The connection of the Black Revolutionary Organization with the 

Afroamerican masses cannot be confined to the area of debate alone, be 

it either vocal or literary ; rhetoric without corresponding action has a 

way of turning back on itself . But it is in occupying itself with and 

attempting to solve the e_v_e_r y d aa y p r o b 1 e m s of Black people 

that the Black Revolutionary Organization will grow both in number and 

in power, at the same time raising the level of political consciousness 

of both the revolutionary cadres and the broad masses of black people . 

Otherwise the call to mass revolutionary action of itself will become, 

if not meaningless, completely inefficacious, and the Black Revolutionary 

Organization will find itself degenerating to the level of a study group, 

if that . 

The Boggs did not state the following, but I am sure that they would 

find themselves in agreement with me on this point: that any black 

militants who run for office and who are also supported by the Black 

Revolutionary Organization (whatever it may be) must be _f r_o__m 

this organization ; the reasons are two-fold : 

i) this first assur-s thiit the "militants" will 

hav , at thc, onset a correct revolutionary per - 

spective as advanced by the orgranization ;

ii) the election to public office o{ 

tants from the organization 0 c,, . 

a test of these cadres v ithin 

ac-t4-v-ities of the, revolutionary 

rol-s which they play !or fall ttheir 

terms of office vhould erve 

to future roles which they vil_ re =+ 

play during thF course of th- revc 

struggle ; for this mason alone ve 

sity of these militants b ii n ; : e rcn, _ t _ 

dedicated r-vc .utionary ors , ,r. :2at .on, 

in turn- must b4= resron~ ;, r l- 

bl-,ck r-opl- v hcm it =erv< s . 

: 

tr -r .F 

. 

As Lenin stated in 1920 : 

" . . .tr.e _developm~:nt of roo :i, reilabi°, ex.r-ri-~nce 

:i and authorit -:td ve 'le -ader .r' is a 

dif f icult t=z k, --3n-, t'r ;F :e iif f -icu -I tip. : . C annct 

h . . .";ucce :~ful I v ovr~rcorre . 

v ithc , ;,, cor7E in . n-fr l e_ 

Tal in,, ; ilie ° - :l work, and without t tin ; the 

1-lders . .in the p-:rlinm.ent'ary area as velm . 7 . 

At the beginning of this section we posed three argurfiebts cu "rently 

advanced by a few of our Revolutionary Nationalist brothers . The 

majority of these points have now been refuted, but it would be helpful, 

I think, to sum up the proceeding discussion : the Boggs, though 

not stating this directly but rather by example, help to point out 

exn ctly what some of we " Yo u ngb l o o d " revolutionaries are at 

times likely to forget in our hast to bring about the "final confrontation:" 

that revolutionary action is not all physical combat but must take place 

in the "parliamentary" area as well . This use of "reformist" tactics 

will help us to mobilize broad masses of our people around vital issues 

(we can not always depend upon such issues as Vietnam, though this 

too is important to utilize), elevate the political consciousness of the 

masses as well as the revolutionary "leadership, " and will act as a 

test of cadres in the Black Revolutionary Organization . 

What about the statement pertaining to confusing 11 . . . the masses 

of our people by encouraging them to think in terms of 'reformism' at 

a time when revolutionary activ# y is the order of the day?" Quiet as 

it's kept, Lenin also answered this question over forty years ago, and 

his reply still stands firm todayit 

Parliamentariam has become 'historically obsolete 

.' That is true as regards propaganda . Bu t

ev~=rvon~ knrws that this- i :: : tiii ; : lon :T v ay from 

ov~-rcomin=- it practical ly . Cur ita_ ism could have 

been declared, and uite riFhtiy, to be 'historically 

obsolete' -,any decades ado, r:l;t that do, s not 

all remove the need for E very lonT and very persistent 

strtigq~le on tF e s oil. of cal'it--liism ." 6 . 

As long as you are unable to disperse the Bourgeois 

parliament and every other type of reactionary institution, 

you must v:ork inside th-m, precisel y because 

Unless black revolutionaries in the U . S . pay strict attention to detailed 

characteristics of other revolutions which have taken place 

throughout the world, both those successful and unsuccessful, then we 

all may be in the act of viewing the formation of a black "super -left" 

in the U . S . , which like Superman (and Batman tool will remain a fi rti" 

and non-reality for the masses of our people . Furthermore we will be 

abandoning the black liberation struggle to Bourgeois Nationalists, as 

well as to various sectors of the "Ofay Left" who know the value of 

"reformist" tactics in a revolutionary struggle, and who also know well 

the value of "lollypops and white girls" to certain negroes who, in 

exchange for them, will write "black nationalist" bedtime stories for 

publication in their journals . 

On this important point we state in conclusion that it is not the use of 

"reformist" tactics in the present struggle as some might profess, but 

it depends, rather, on who is employing these tactics : groups who believe 

in reformism and feel no need or desire for changing the basis of 

the present system or those militants who view reformism as an 

essential step in the tempering of a mass revolutionary movement and 

who are also determined to see the revolution through . 

ON THE ORGANIZATION 

FOR BLACK POWER 

As stated previously, I have some very strong reservations concerning 

the Boggs' program in certain areas, and it is these points which I 

will bring up here . In a very real sense, Boggs and his wife confuse 

the seizure of power in the cities with the seizure of national state 

power . For in their discussion of a program which black government 

in the cities would institute, they state : 

"ihus, for -xampl-~, black po~itical power would institute 

a crash program to utilize the most advanced 

'turn to last pave of this article for en-in- of t i--s ;iuot~ 

52

53 

bor ." 

t fre, ci I . horn ~~ . forrr- Of manuaa 

~Ve will have something to say about the nature of this reform shortly, 

But they appear to be so mesmerized with their program, however, 

that it is almost as an afterthought that they add: 

"There should b " . no illusion that this coin be 

accornx lished ,ithout - " xyropriatin :T those now, ov nin 

; ,--:n7 contr-ll.i n=. our economy . Tt could not 

t}-.,-refore t, c__ accomrlished -imply c n a city-v is e 

basis :, is. , .-ithout d ,~f-atin, the national - poi er 

structurF, ." o . 

Thus they are not really speaking of a program that black city governments 

would initiate but rather a program which would have to be 

i iiatituted by a national revolutionary government . My position here is 

strengkh ened by the following quote : 

"America has -already become the dan-erous society . The 

nation s major citis ar becomi.n? police states . . There 

are on i v two roads open to it . ~ , ithpr v holy .-ale extermination 

of the black xopulation trrough mass 

massacr-s or forced mass mi ,~r,ltions . . .Or self--ov-rnmnnt 

of th- major cities by -.he blakt majority, mo 

bilized behind le~3ders and or - ~ni -rations of its cv n 

creation and prepared to reor--niz- tt :e structure of 

city r;ov rnm nt and city life from top to bottom ."1.0 . 

11 . . . prepared to reorganize the structure of city government and 

city life from top to bottom . " I think here that the Boggs have assumed 

a little too much in their desire to bring reform to the cities . For as 

we will soon see, it would be quite impossible for any of the governments 

in major U . S . cities, white or black controlled, reactionary 

or revolutionary minded, to initiate a_n_y major reforms under the 

present economic system ; within this context the problems of the 

cities are at present beyond the control of man's will, and will only 

come within control under a radically changed economic system . Just 

as the over-emphasis placed upon c o n_t_r_o_1_ of factories by workers 

led to reformism within the trade unions during the period of WWII,

so too over-emphasis placed upon contro l of the cities can lead to reformism 

within the programs of black revolutionary orgnnizations . 

v ,. :n .a o : ", tr , -r :~ . 

.:hints . _.(z not : _ av er . c^. o k h r ] _. 

`'i ' t hr, "1n t ~ . 

or the natik-.nal 

Th."" . '".(-t t .`.) kR OV , ~1, 

..±, cr 

t~ .c - .3 .t~ . , l/', . 

C' r, , r, r 

tr,e c : t . 

n-~t . nal ~w.rd, ,r `r : , 11 . 

Thus the workers seized control of the factories but did not, as we 

know, seize state power . We, as black revolutionaries, must not make 

the same mistake as did white workers, and it is because of this fact 

that I am slightly wary of the program of the Organization for Black 

Power . From the statement adopted at their founding conference which 

took place May 1, 1965 comes the following : 

"The city is the b,-.s- Which v.e mu : t or~rani-e as the 

factories v:ere or7-_ini7,ed in the "-'e must 

str~a ;ale to control, to 7ov~2rn tr: cities, ~s v.orkers 

struL-,Tled to control and LTovPrn the factories of the 

1 ;; 5ys y, l ~ ' 

As we well know, the labor organizers stopped at the factory level as 

soon as workers achieved their demands (I have in mind here chiefly 

the CIO) . Then came WWll, and every bit of control over production 

which workers had achieved in the factories from the 1930's until that 

time was gradually handed back over to management by the union . The 

conspicuous absence of any mention of this fact in the statement adopted 

by the above-mentioned conference, plus the over -emphasis which 

they have placed upon control of the cities - a necessary tactical step 

in the revolution, admittedly - rather than seizure of power at the 

national level has led me to believe, and I hope I am wrong, that the 

Organization for Black Power might well be travelling; the same route 

as the labor unions of the 1930's . 

Would it be possible, after seizure of power in the cities by blacks, 

to insitute reforms such as those which the Boggs have in mind, i . e . , by 

"reorganizing the structure of city government and city life from top 

to bottom" ? To answer this question it will be necessary in a very 

generalized manner to examine the present functioning (or rather non- 

functioning) of city governments, as well as assess the powers which

Afroamericans can presently utilize . Black America's political 

power manifests itself in the following three areas : 

i) the rower to unleash viol-nce 

ii) the rover to hurt th -, economy 

iii) the pov-r to ;-,top th=° machinery o! -°cv`T n^1ent 

These powers must obviously not be confused with economic power 

(which we do not have), yet it is these powers of "destruction" which 

we must use in order to seize the cities ; but it must be remembered 

that it takes economic ___power to run them . Let us examine the 

present source of funds for the functioning of the cities . Though the 

situation is far more complex than the following explanation might make 

it seem, we see these funds a emanating from four areas in general : 

taxes and assessments from light and heavy industry, from commercial 

enterprises, and from the general population . combined with various 

forms of aid from state and federal governm : tits . 

In order to seize control in the cities it would be necessary to somehow 

transform our "destructive" power into economic power . From 

where would the funds for reform, let alone city maintenance, come ? 

Could we count on the sources which the cities presently utilize ? Let's 

analyze some recent (and very general, it is true) trends which are 

affecting the functioning of the major cities : 

e l :7n;r'r cities a ". .- ; tov: ;+? : . i.re 

o . :er taxes endoved rv muniTalE- v h ; ch li= , cn 

" r ;- .-Ps of_ three thusnFe 

` more and more tax --cn-v e ;cr year ne~_r 

~~ndu : triP~, move to oth "--r ccal-- ; 

.- . . . 

thi :_ r,aocation o f in i,7tries ava.y 2rc .^' 'e 

citi~s as c^3 con : e~iuenc? resul .t.s in ec-=--= -=t 

n ~ Jobs for the inhatitants c' '` .ore 

?~e umber f Jobs 

.i 

citi : :, s which, a the uo ° . recnt cu}, ar

o f inyment in Wie cities 

e ct, ,-ax available I.c 

Y-1 ," `rcf"" "~ ; 

- C A U L C, 

121 OT the !actors outlined above are broad t -~ends , trhe " {-jat 

iodflCa! UNI A sings to cono, -7LOno" tie CWO ._ 

WE Mack population" will Or= sclve probleiiis of ii)nrierse 

rkagnitude, for the possibilities of any Qype 

of in the major cities 

of the U . S . are gradually moving out of reach . 

Ilecall the four areas previously mentioned from which the city 

currently obtains its resources . With relocation of industry, combined 

with the increasing use of cybernated equipment in their plants, the 

cities will be forced to count less and less upon the first three factors 

(i . e - , taxes and assessments from industry, the commercial sector, 

and the general population), which means a greater dependence upon 

funds from both the state and federal governments . Needless to say, 

state and federal funds do not come unattached, i . e , without corresponding 

control over their use . Thus the black governments in the 

cities in seizing power would be inheriting problems which could not 

possibly be solved within the framework of capitalism, i .e . , without 

having control over the surplus value of society, which means 

nationalization of industry . 

My point is this : that we s h o u 1 d b u i I d organizations for the 

purpose of seizing power in the cities, but that at the same time we 

should be under no illusions as to what we would be able to accomplish 

without first seizing power at the national level ; it would be impossible 

for black power and for white power to coexist for any length of time 

within the United States . By this I mean that we must not confuse the 

5 6

conditions of our particular revolutionary situation with those of past 

or present revolutionary struggles . And for those who do not vet 

understand i;his fact I would recommend very highly the reading of 

Mao Tse-Tung's profound essay, "Why Is It That Red Political Power 

Can Exist In China?", paying particular attention to the second 

section: "Reasons for the Emergence and Survival of Red Political 

Power in China . " 1.3 We must always keep in mind the following : 

" . . .all organizations that sprint ur _ . . 

society and do not t-k~ absolute rov:-r, bu'- _"' 

fight only on orie tan-ential or es -,.ntia- -. . 

that society are eventually inccrrorat ,~d _nto c 

talist society ." 14 . 

And as two other black writers were later to amend this statement, 

these organizations, if they do not take absolute power, will either be 

incorporated, destroyed, or lose effectiveness . 15 

We have shown the difficulties inherent in reforming the present 

system without the seizure of power at the national level, and have 

stressed that we should harbor no illusions concerning these difficulties . 

But it is not only the absence of these possiblities for basic reform that 

I am addressing myself to here ; James Boggs has, since 1963 at least . 

consistently held to the proposition that the potential U . S . working 

population (which includes the actual), because of the arisal of conditions 

in America which could provide for it, should be furnished with 

unconditionally guaranteed incomes . This was one of the major themes 

of his book, The American Rewlution , the very same idea was presen 

ted as the "solution" to cybernation in the U . S . in "The Triple 

Revolution" document, of which Boggs was one of the signers in 1964, 

and this train of thought also pervade the present essay which was 

jointly written by he and his wife . In a review of The American 

Revolution which appeared last year was the following remark, applicable 

also to the Boggs' present essay: 

" . . .we disagree with Boggs on at least one important 

point : his implication that v.ork dis somehow not a necessity 

for mankind, in general, to live . 

We agree that if a man cannot work then he should 

be given means in order to live adequately . In spite 

of this fact we feelthat work is still a necesary part

. , 

. 

of :rt in's lif,_ ; there is an abundanc- of ev~ dence to 

.--hoK that man developed from a lo -,. er to hi-her beinn,' 

, ì . ork=n-° 'with both 

_ :.eve t?- -it man wi t 

his hands an-i hi .r he id), and we 

G(;ntinue to mastr, r nature ana to 

v !-, : . . r nbi=:ms tv ; orkin :-7 . ""here f (r v . f ee i that 

;r : . i not be even r:c)u : h it maynot 

. . . : . . " v in 

'_h F. 

_ -nt~ _ ;1 t y to 

rod', -tIVroce . . -, beCau, e of 

t r. . _.rte , ;r ;r_ ],,- i nt ox men ." 

Furthermore, the following criticism of the program advanced by the 

authors of "The Triple Revolution" document is also applicable here : 

'' s , cc . ., . Lt~_ : . . . . . Gn :y ce t ; :* ;h e i,ea c_ uncona 

tic,nr- : ncom- . -i not the :°r _at rev ; - 

_ati, . . rrincyn_~~ : hi ch ti , au~ ..cr : . Gf ":'>ê ~'r~rie 

~ .ro,â (t ion' nt'.v PV e Tf apr 

t.ind°r G':r rr .°, fnt . - vr'tem, ~t Ge, rE _1?icn . 

an te of the T`°Gr .i`. t` . naIn~1- to :_tren .o-then t .-e t'itt:,' 

u : . ^,nd una-r ;-GCiaii :=t vcter . . .It V;GUl be 

, :n . .ec , : sari,^ an :: ^ : :Trt -io ~ :.or-, , h,:.:- tt : ;i : . ;ocd ." 17 . 

I both sincerely and strongly feel that the Boggs, before they continue 

on in their advocation of unconditionally guaranteed incomes, should 

seriously address themselves to the above two positions . We will be 

very interested in seeing their remarks concerning at least this point, 

in particular , in some of their future writings . 

The point stressing the development of "para-military cadres ready 

to defend black militants and the community from counter-revolutionary 

attacks" is an excellent and essential one . It is also very true, as 

the Boggs stated, that : 

5 8

"the most digficult .-gnu ch~.1 

or,anizlng of str grles around tr- ,., 

anc°.s of th`.' ?lam .` ; : :°S ?` hl~h will :ct 

the welfare of the black co .rûn :ty 

Gate the masses out of th~ir 

and make them conscious than ever?, adr-:; r- . 

and Iav:-enforcinT aTency in ti-is co ,;nrr v 

row-r . " 1?S . 

I agree completely that this is a very difficult problem, but it is a 

task which m_u_s_t be solved in practice by the Black Revolutionary 

Orgt.nization, for if the link between the revolutionary organization and 

the masses is reliant only uponthe spontanaeity of the latter, the entire 

revolutionary program will then be doomed to failure simply because the 

masses will not sustain a revolutionary movement without a strong and 

dedicated leadership to provide them with an effective program of 

political education and guidance . 19 

One apparent fault in the Boggs' paper is their failure to suggest any 

manner in which the struggle for power in the major cities (which are 

predominatly in the North and on the West and East Coasts) could be 

linked up with the Southern Freedom Struggle, which we have recently 

seen (though after the publication of the Boggs' paper, I might add) is 

also becoming a struggle for p o w e r 

""to :~eiv - armichael, n,-w c"T"' chairman, said about 

members of th- mi , itant stiid-nt or ranizar ion had 

b-en invited to the ccnfîence 'White House ônfer=ncn 

civii rights -- W('O . He emphasized thEst in re,,ectincr 

the invitations c^`CC is foi lowing an a~ ; °r , ssive ne',: 

all-'+e: ;ro course outside the vhite po4~er structures of 

government - from th - ',,:hate Souse down to courthou : es 

and city halis . 

'Integration is irrelevant,' Carmichael declared . 

'Political and economic power is what the black peor -e 

have to have' . " 20 . 

Further : 

"The Lowndes County Freedom Organization is not nonviolent 

. Nonviolence is irrelevant . !hat King; has 

working for him is a moral force, but we'r e building

a force to take rower . , e're not 

'-"e 're out to take _ro

17 T ~0 ;; i;berman in'l 

Tr r F, r 

'~enthly F~view, ^tT' . . . , , 

lh . -,race and Vame, ^ o fT :T ;, , 

' "=="` 

r~r 

2 . 

19 . An exceli-nt cor,. .r ,-nt%3rv 

tc be found in ."`?ac Tnecernin~r, 

Methods of ?,ea 

'Peking, lgb5), pp .ll'1-~ 

20, 5 .an Francisco Crsonicie , 

21 . 'Torn Benson, 11Tnterviow 

The Militant, 5/23/66 , 

-!: ?=' 

ir , 

~~ 

`)%24/th, r . b 

' i.th N,'V, c*dr" '.; :--airman, 

*there ,you will ,

carol freeman 

THINGS 

THAT GO 

BUMP 

IN THE NIGHT 

As far back in her life as she wanted to remember, she had 

been afraid of something . Respectable things that all children are 

afraid of, the dark, large dogs, dizzying high places . . . . and when 

mother and daddy died in a car accident, she was afraid of cars . 

Then she became afraid of living with Gramma Foley in Arkansas . 

She was afraid of the truckfull of Black people carrying sharp shiny 

hoes to chop Gramma Foley's cotton . "They're devils!", Gramma 

Foley would say in her thin crisp voice . "Lazy good for nothings 

you have to watch all the time, else they leave the weeds and chop 

down the cotton . " 

And when she was older, and going to school in starched 

white pinafores and red buster brown shoes, Gramma Foley said . 

"Don't let me catch you playing with those black savages, Missy: 

They ain't like us . God put a curse on 'em . They ain't more thark 

trained apes, and all the boys thinking of is ravishing white ladies!" 

And Missy (whose real name was Margaret Ellen Foley) 

remembered and never played tag, or may hide , or little sally 

walker, or hop scotch with the shy doe-eyed black girls, whose 

parents share-cropped for Gramma Foley . The fact was that Missy 

hated and envied them--those skinny tattered waifs that went to 

school 3 months out of the year and sharecropped 9 . When she was 

older, Gramma Foley let her keep the wage book for the piece

workers ; those were the negras that worked by the (I"1 1 \ ~ 

Foley and Missy felt very important with her mone y ~:~c, . 

book, sitting at a table under the high hickory nut tree 111 11 

calling of the names of the shuflling . dusty . silci: : ncgr~~ . 

Boscum, let's see . Tope youall picked 300 lbs of 

Thats $7 . 50 for you . ' And she would put the crisp ;- hi 11 oid t , ,,,() ~,Ii 

and a new 50~ piece on the edge of the table for the ashy black Band 

to ease away . "Thanl~yrnln" . lie ~\ould mumble, and tip his I)attcr(2d 

hat, and shuffle off . Slie rarely looked the negras in the e\ -e Mhei1 

paying them off, but preferred to watch the grey black claws they 

sneaked up to pocket the wage money . She never made jokes or 

chided them as some white ladies would --for you never could 

tell when they would get out of their place . When she was 16 she was 

allowed a steady beau, and chubby Cap Breedlove was it . He would 

race his green Ford convertible down the dusty road and park in fron 

of her house . taking one last sip of white lightning before he came in . 

Cal) was eligible, \\'bite . and Single --making him a "etch He was 

also the son of Hank Breedlove who o\%,ned the drug store and soda 

fountain in town, and who had the distinction of having on his watch 

c :.:-in a thin, soft, little hone that he claimed his graizna got off a 

bad nigra that was lynched 20 years ago : he called it H i s p e ck e r 

and lie cleaned his teeth with it . 

Cap was soft and fat with a flushed face and a charming 

smile : and \\-hen Gramina Foley wasn't looking, he tried to feel 

her breast . After a year of courting they got married in the Baptist 

Church and Gralnma Foley died . and Alissy learned what it was to 

e Frigid . Frigid meant a tightening of nerves and a shuddering 

that went all through you when Cap lowered his fat body into bed 

demanding his"duty . " Sometimes after the shuddering, Cap would 

curse her, or drink half a bottle of Lightning, or slap her . But all 

men were dogs, and she erected it, because Gramma Foley had 

warned her before she died . 

She became a Matron and went to teas and charity dinners, 

and paid off the negras, and complained about the heat, and the 

negras, and the price of cott on, and the negras . She met other 

white matrons and they would go calling one each other, and stare 

vacant eyed at the passing world, not quite sure that they were 

being left behind . Cap took to staying out all night when she would 

not have him in her bed, and she began to wonder if she was losing

his love . After a while she 

did not notice the whine in 

her voice, because she had 

lived with it too long . The 

crow-feet came, the strands 

of gray hair, and she wept a 

little for the passing of her 

youth, and wondered where 

the time went . She went on 

her eyes strayed a bit, 

paying off the negras that 

worked for wages, but now 

and she would let them linger on a particularly 

fine young- buck in the manner of a woman shopping for a choice cut 

of beef roast . Then came the time when she held back one Black 

boys wages 'till last, and held the crisp green money in her limp 

hand so that the grey black claw had to touch hers lightly to get its 

money . That night she dreamed about the negra, and the dream was 

a bit erotic, and she was ashamed and complained to Cap the next 

morning about the brash negra getting out of his place and how she 

would not give wages any more if that young buck would be there . So 

Cap took his morning drink of Lightning and went into town and told 

all the fine white men about the negra trying to touch his wife, 1Vlissy . 

And they came back with a gallon of kerosene, shot guns, and plenty 

of rope . Missy was afraid, and excited, and pleasantly surprised . 

Cap loved her after all . Going through all this trouble for her . And 

they caught the negra while he was picking cotton and beat hint till 

sundown, cut off his tongue and let him go with a warning : and the 

negra ran off across and down the road and into the swamp, and was 

bitten by a rattle snake and died . The sheriff found him three days 

later covered with flies, and swollen dead, and said it was a good 

thing the snake bit him and killed him, because otherwise Cap would 

have had to stand trial for lynching a nigra . But the sheriff laughed 

and took a drink with Cap to show he was only kidding . And Missy 

went to bed with Cap and found out that she had only to think about the 

big Black nigra boy, writhinpnd screaming when Cap and the other 

white men cut out his tongue, and she was not frigid any more .

anita cornwell 

THE 

BITTER 

HARVEST 

Paratroops, exile Cuban pilots, and white mercenaries from 

South Africa are dispatched to the Congo ; paratroops, marines and 

soldiers are rushed to the Caribbean while paratroops, the army_ 

the navy, the marines, the coast gzulrd, the seabees(and perhaps 

before it all ends, the boy scouts and the girl reserves) crowd 

into South Vietnam in a vain effort to keep those areas safe for 

white supremacy . 

however, it seems that no one will ever be able to stampede 

"lightbul1)" Johnson into making "democratic" America even 

n1oclerately safe for the segregated Negro . 

In a flimsy attempt to justify the flagrant violation of another 

nation's sovereignty, Lyndon Johnson said of the American invasion 

of the Dominican Republic late last April, ''\\'herever U . S . citizens 

go . the American flag follows and protects them . " 

And that, of course, is a patented lie . The American Flag 

follows and protects U . S . citizens wherever they go, u n 1 e s s_ t h_ e v 

a 1 . e l~ 1 (a c l: a n d i n th e U-S . A . convinced that the elegant speech 

plus the token gesture will somelio~~ manage to keep the American 

black in his place_, LBJ continues to blunder his *,ay toward 

oblivion by adhering to a foreign policy designed by a set of 

advisers who seemingly cannot get it through their thick, racist 

skulls that what England and other continental European countries 

did to the nonwhite world in previous centuries can never again be 

successfully done by any white nation . 

Due to the incredible stupidity, the unbelievable cruelty and 

the inordinate greed of the white man in his dealings with those 

whom he considered beneath his level, he is now thoroughly detested

throughout the ~un-developed' 

And immi,,tnci 0 ; ; ; :, 

which the United State , 

fears and despises c\ - ( n 

more, in many respectti 

than it does the Negro . 

matches America' s 

attitude snavl for snart 

on every front . And 

if the animosity of 

these two scowling 

monsters doesn't one 

day erupt into all-out 

war, then it surely 

must be counted a y 

miracle . For America . 

and Russia, are so 

busy trying to keep 

China in her place 

that those two rivals inav 

never even get arounc 

to a real confrontation 

themselves . 

The American 

Friends Service 

Committee, in urging 

the United States to 

recognize Mainland 

China and support its 

admission to the 

United Nations, remarked 

this past 

spring that, "During 

the 100 years prior to 

1949, human misery 

and mass starvation 

were unfortunately

common in China . The Communist government of the 1'eoi)i('_ 

Republic has succeeded in altering these conditions, and 

Chinese now are living under decent conditions than during the 

previous century . 

And that is indeed a noble sentiment, but what the Friends 

have not taken into consideration is that the United States cares not 

one bay of beans about the Chinese and their lack of suffering . As 

a matter - of fact, America -wants the Chinese to live in misery, for 

then they would be easier prey for the U . S . A . whose foreign policy 

toward weaker and/or smaller nations is identical with its domestic 

policy toward the unprotected, outnumbered American Negro : bribe, 

buy and brutalize . And if that method fails, there is always the 

final solution, the rope, the bullet and the bomb . 

Of course, in his twisted way of seeing the Other , the 

American white has always believed that no matter how inhumane he 

treats the nonwhite, these people who are made to endure, will 

endure, and, oh miracle of miracles, will also love their tormentors 

until the end of time . That is why the first large scale civil rights' 

demonstrations in this country caused such astonishment and outraae . 

"Why I can't believe o u_r_ N e gr o e s would do such a thing . 

The southern crackers cried along with the northern bigots 

Then they all latched onto the same refrain, " T h o s e p e o p l e a r e 

being stirred up by outside agitators!" 

And throughout the world, whenever any nation makes a oict 

to free itself from America's vicious yoke, our cliche-ridden 

adminstrat , on in Washington, now stuck in its tragic rut, declares, 

"Communist-led agitators attacked the U .S . Embassy in Panama 

today . " or Cairo or Jakarta or Caracas or Montevideo, and on and 

on as the furious rejection travels around the globe . 

One would think that any reasonably intelligent government 

would perceive that this is precisely what the Communists want, to 

be identified with the "havenots" in their search for freedom and 

dignity . But by now Americais too frightened and too sunk in its web 

of self-delusion to see anything buta reflection of its own hate and fear . 

It has been aptly stated that the white man's problem in Africa 

was, "Too little, too late . " And, needless to say, that is the white

man's problem period! When Rosa 

Parks refused to give up her seat in a 

Montgomery bus ten years ago and set 

off the bus boycott, Negroes in that 

city merely asked for one concess ion, 

to be allowed to retain a seat once one 

was seated . They did not seek, as was 

their legal right, to sit wherever 

they chose . They were willing to fill up 

from the rear . 

But those"good" southern Christian 

democratic Americans said n o . Any 

Black person, male or female could not sit while any white person, 

male or female was standing . And that no cost them dearly as will all 

the other no's they have flaunted in the face of the downtrodden since 

this country was first settled by dispossessing the hapless Indian . 

By now, of course, America is so steeped in myths, legends and 

out-right bald-faced lies which pervade all levels of public and private 

consciousness, that it no longer recognizes the real from the fantastic 

or the tragic from the merely ridiculous . For only a nation bereft of 

all sense of reality and common decency would systematically destroy 

another country in the name of peace and democracy when there's not 

one shred of democracy and very little peace in its own back yard . And 

how could anyone but a madman bomb an other nation with one hand and 

drop 'rehabilitation leaflet" with the other hand ? 

To be sure, America's "We want peace" myth deceives no one but 

America herself . What this nation actually means is, "We want peace 

i f you d o a s w e say ." And naturally no country in its right mind 

is going to follow power-mad, race-baiting America anywhere voluntar 

ily . But having raped and robbed, lynched and lied to the Negro for so 

long, the United States sees no reason why it cannot do this to other 

C o l o r e d P e op l e s . However, these other colored peoples have 

guns and tanl~s of their own and perhaps even an atom bomb or two and 

they d o not intend to play Uncle Tom to America's m a s s a j i m . 

And the sooner the U . S . realizes this, the soonerwill she cease her 

suicidal madness which is slowly but surely edging the world toward 

nuclear war .

STATEMENT ON THE WHITE MAN"S DRAFT BY ERNIE ALLEN, 

CO-EDITOR OF SOULBOOK (given on April, 1966) 

Today, April 14, 1966 1 was ordered to appear for induction into the 

Armed Forces of the United States . I did not appear as ordered and have 

no intentions of doing so . By appearing I feel that I would have betrayed 

not "nly my people but in addition, all other peoples in the world who are 

also struggling under the yoke of white oppression . I would have betrayed 

my',^'ife, now pregnant with child, who expects me, as a black man, to 

live in the tradition which Afroamericans have always followed in struggling 

against white oppression . And finally, by appearing for induction 

in White America's Armed Forces I would have betrayed myself as a 

soldier in the battle for Black Liberation .

While the p-rowth of Black Nationalism . 

the drive of the basic masses for selfrealization 

and identity is ()blectively 

revolutionary and anti-imperialist . this 

by no means implies that all its forms 

and manifestations are revolutionary . 

The question is not so simple . 

IS THE BLACK BOURGEOISIE 

THE LEADER OF THE 

BLACK LIBERATION MOVEMENT? 

harry haywood

Black Nationalism, as that of all oppressed peoples, is of a contr~l - 

dictory nature . There are tendencies within it which foward the 

struggle for liberation, and there are tendencies which objectively 

detract from the struggle , which warp and hinder it . This distinction 

arises from the dual nature of the nationalism of an oppr essed 

people, based upon class conflicts within the national revolutinary 

movement . For this reason, revolutionari es cannot indiscriminately 

support all features and manifestations of nationalism, but must 

e nip hasize_the demands and aspirations of-the basic 

_m_ass __e s_. Our criterion must be to what extent specific forms, 

expressions or tendencies bring the masses into conflict with the 

dominant white power structure . From this point of view, there are 

reformist and revolutionary tendencies in both the integrationist 

movement and the nationalist-oriented movements . 

It is our opinion that the "Great Debate" raging in the Black community 

over integration vs . Separation gives only a superficial and distorted 

pica, re of the true issues and problems involved . ~t- --e f l e c t s 

mainly the lower stru~~le between-two sections of 

black bourgeoisie . 

The direct integrationist or assimilationist group fights for ideological 

leadership of the masses, mainly in order to advance its 

own narrow group of well educated and "acceptable" Negroes, although 

their integrationist program is entirely unrealistic for the vast majority 

while the ghetto nationalist sector, economically based on the northern 

urban Black community, indulges in fantasies of building up a separate 

Black "Free Enterprise" economy as the solution . Neither section of 

the Black bourgeoisie is capable of leading the type of struggle necessary 

to win Black freedom . The basic masses must therefore forge their 

own instrument and fight for a program of liberation that will not subordinate 

their interests to those of either sector of the black bourgeoisie . 

The main overriding task confronting the Black people is the 

mobilization of their entire resources to take full advantage of the 

present crisis within the ranks of the enemy . 

Harold Cruse in his article, "Revolutionarv Nationalisi- -lid the 

Afro-American," 1 which has exerted considerable influence in 

left circles, involves himself in the toils of the ghetto nationalists, 

elaborates a theory for them, and then calls upon white progressives 

to fall in behind this "revolutionary" leadership . Instead of fighting

for a revolutionary program based upon the needs of the 

working people he seems to be distracted by the din and clarnoi 

integration versus Separation debate and disparages the sell-defend : 

movement in the Deep South . He sees only two trends ; the integrat ,)ni~t 

trend as represented by the assimilationist sector of the Black bour 

geoisie , and the separatist trend represented by its nationalist secto=~ . 

He then proceeds to narrow down the issue to the clash between them . 

The masses, he contends, have no choice but to follow one or the other 

sector of this bourgeoisie : 

Cruse thus neatly writes off the possibliity for the basic masses to 

fight independently and forge their own revolutionary movement . Evidently 

dazzled by the "militant" talk of the nationalist leaders, he latches 

onto the ghetto nationalist current, seeing in it the wave of the future . 

Equating the narrow class aims of this stratum tot hose of the masses . 

he imputes a revolutionary potential to its petty strivings for a larger 

share in the ghetto market in the northern urban centers . 

He professes to see in this conflict a "challenge" to white ruling 

class domination of the Negro urban communities, "which are owned 

lock, stock and barrel by white absentee proprietors" and are" the 

crucial areas in which the economic exploitation of the Negro is focused . " 

Cruse berates the Communist Party for its failure to see the class 

divisions among the Black people, for pursuing the "myth of a uniform 

Negro people," and attempting to beguile us into believing that any 

Negro was simply one of the 'Negro' people whether a cotton picker, 

a show girl, a steel worker, a political appointee of the power in power, 

or the editor of Ebony Magazine . " 

This blurring over class lines in the Black community, he contends, 

has led the Communist Party into "adopting a position essentially no 

different from that supported by the NAACP . " Ironically, Cruse while 

seeking to dissassociate himself from the old Left, falls into the same 

type of mis~ake which, if pursued, would lead to the same bankruptcy

7 3 

and blind alley in which the CPUSA now finds itself . Cruse 

differentiates between the assimilationist and nationalist sectors (A ti , ( - 

Black bourgeoisie, but at this point his class andysis falls down . lie 

fails to mention the objective conflict of interest and aspirations between 

the basic, most exploited and oppressed Black masses, north and 

south, and the aspirations of the ghetto nationalists sector of the Blaclc 

bourgeoisie . While the CPUSA glosses over clear lines in the Black 

community and ends up tailing the bourgeois assimilationists, Cruse 

glosses over the objective conflict of interest among the class comp;,Jnents 

of Black nationalist movements and ends up trailing the 

ghetto nationalists . While the CPUSA rejects a 11 nationalism as 

an "obstacle in the path to 

Negro freedom . " 3 Cruse 

apparently considers all 

Black Nationalism, even 

its most escapist, utopian 

manifestations, as revolutionary, 

and is prepared 

to follow their leadership . 

Clearly, both positions 

subordinate the interests 

of the basic masses to one 

or the other sectors of the 

Black bourgeoisie . Both 

tend to hinder the development 

of a . revolutionary 

Black nationalist trend 

which is already beginning to manifest itself in practice in the movement 

for self-defense in the Deep South, and among Black workers 

and radical intelligentia throughout the country . 

The key to Cruse's thinking on the question of liberation of oppressed 

peoples is his assumption that nationalist movements are primarily a 

bourgeois effort, in which the struggle of the bourgeoisie for control 

of the national market is the pivotal revolutionary factor . Hence, his 

reliance on the bourgeoisie as the natural leader of those . This over-

simplifed formula runs throughout his article and is a complete variance 

with contemporary theory, practice, and experience in national liberation 

movements . It is an outdated concept . And it is particulary 

unrealistic when it is appled to the Negro question and the attempt is 

made to ,~,pute to the conflict over the ghetto market the importance of 

a major contradiction between the nationalist bourgeoisie and U .S . 

imperialism . The petty strivings of this weak, li on-industrial, margi - 

nal bourgeoisie, largely removed from the Deep South areas of Black 

population concentration, and operating in the major cities of the North 

is presented. as a "challenge" to white rullng dominance, and as the 

"real economics of the American race question . " He attempts to 

identify the ghetto petty-bourgeois stratum with the colonial bourgeoisie 

whose fight is for a national market . He fails to understand that even 

in the advanced semi-colonial countries today, the market factor is no 

loner the major element in the national revolutionary movement . He 

fails to take into account the change in the social essence of the national 

question since the onset of the general crisis of the imperialist system 

following World War 1 . 

" e essence of the nat ;onal :t:estion lies at 

urea nt in the strugge of the masses of the reozle 

-n ~~e colonies and of' the derend :~nt ar:d of the dependent 

nationalties against financial exrloitation 

against financial enslavement, and the cultural 

effacement of these colonies and these nationalities 

by the imperialist bour?ecisie of the rulin :r natiohality 

. What significance can the compet ;tive struggle 

between the bourgeosies of the various nationalities 

have when the national question is presented in this 

manner? Certaihly, not a decisive significance . and 

in certain cases not even important significancg . Tt 

is perfectly obvious-that we are concerned mainly, not 

with the fact that the bourgeoisie of one nationality 

is beating or can best the bourgeoisie of another 

nationality in the competive struggle, but with the 

fact that the imperialist group of the ruling natiohality 

exploits and oprresses the main masses, and above 

all, the peasant masses of the colonial and dependent 

nationalities, and exploitin7 them, it thereby draws 

them into struggle aTainst im)erialism" 4

7 5 

1 . Stiijir.s on t'r. 

NEWS AND COMMENTARY ON 

THE INTkMNATIONAL ANTI- 

IMPERIALIST MOVEMENT ' 

Published by Global Views 

p,p . Box 16022 

Ran Francisco 16 .; Calif . 

single Copy 259 19 u icon t - 

Sufie~ipti~n. 

s 2.18 xf

paul lantimo 

LAC"lC REVOLUTION 

ILL REPEAT ITSELF 

translated from the spanish by SOULBOOK 

- o ; :i -i n c~in r) c , a ri ;.i t in wr : ch o :,ne 

. 

of fra can desc~nt , kv, -, Lee ;.for oven one ar t-le 

C -- , ri of whitey's intervention to stop tt., e jeople fr : :,m 

sc-vir-, - the . r ui hri .tal f o -jerty ana anti-L -.,acr~= 

Beat t Johnson and nis crc-tt :e - o 

were in lurk-,e T--jart rest - ons : :.cle with int'est :i .n - , -, .--etrat~n 

Cr : Cr :!' _ ::>121r : . . 0 n tit" e r r 1 , -ir -, olf the -- s, 1,i n d 'wh i c n i,ra 

tT-~o -i .unto D o m i -c ) the e.c, r, i e o f the Republic o f T ; a 1 ti, 

c- ollective soul and coiiec " ~eve re-listarice to white 

oppression is still exhibited in the reia~_-,ion of cur African 

ancestors, have vet to enjoy the llru,ts of their successful 

Black(and also the first non-white) revolt agaim-t Europe or 

its aescondants . So, jucit, - ni- frorr. recent pre entious U .S . 

__tats depart,-ient "leaks" that the U .S . has stationed trcors

7 7 

off the shores of Haiti to z:repare to"evacuate" Americans 

citizens 'n case of a bloody revolt aFaltist the Duvaiier 

regime, They are again prez~aring an atte=,~Ft to put out that 

single Haitian spark that started a universal Black 

prairie fire . 

But our Haitian Brothers are preparing for this opF,ression 

and some of the thin,;s they ai e ,,() , n ; are exclusively told 

by Paul Lantimo, a representative of the Haitian Liberation 

Movement . Run it down, Bro . Paul! 

Brother Delegates of the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America : 

In the name of the oppressed people of Haiti, the delegation from the 

United Democratic Front of National Liberation warmly salutes the 

peoples of the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America that are 

struggling against international imperialism for the sake of economic 

and political independence, social progress and peace . The Front transmits 

its message of vivid encouragement to the people of Congo(L), 

Angola, M o zambique, South Africa, the peoples of Colombia, Venezuela, 

Peru, Guatemala and Laos, who struggle heroically against imperialism 

and the retrograde governments of their respective countries . The 

Haitian delegation sends a special greeting to the Dominican people and 

assures them of the complete solidarity of the Haitian people in their 

struggle against the Yankee troops . Finally, admiration is expressed 

for the valiant people of Vietnam wio at this moment deal serious blows 

to ) imperialism and its lackeys . By landing numerous troops in Vietnam 

and intimidating the people American imperialism thought that the situation 

would be placed in their favor . Mr . Johnson and the pentagon 

militarists were grossly mistaken . In Vietnam it is the people that have 

the initiative --Northamerican imperialism will be crushed 

sooner or later . Today, confronted with the willful intensification 

of imperialist aggression the delegates of the progressive and revolutionary 

movements of Asia, Africa and Latin America are reunited so that 

conditions for decisive response from all the peoples may be planned . 

Oh, how the imperialists tremble] 

Brother Delegates :, the people of our country have already lived in 

memory of revolutionary feats . In 1791, under the leadership of 

Toussaint Louverture and Jean Jacques Dessalines, and utilizing inter- 

" This is the tr 

.-an slation (by 1,01 1, ` FOnK ) from the Srariish 

text of a speech given in French at the recent Afro-Asian- 

Latin American Con .1 ei: .~r . ::e .

colonialists 

rivalries, the 

French slave yoke 

was broken, the 

war of independence 

was victoriously 

sustained, and the 

napoleonic armies 

were thrown out of 

the country . This 

was in 1804 . 

But in the conditions 

of that epoch 

in which growing 

international capitalism 

leaned upon 

the colonial slavery 

in Africa and 

America(and thus 

determined the 

future of humanity), 

it was extremely 

difficult for a 

small country to 

develop an independent 

economy . 

The capitalist 

countries imposed 

upon us a sort of 

economic blockade, 

Henry Christophe 

King of Haiti 

and refused us credit and technical equipment so vital to us after a 

dozen years of devastating war . Leaning upon the military chiefs and 

the enormous import-export commerce in foreign hands, they 

succeded in making our country into a semicolony, thus condeming the 

Haitian masses to misery . 

This situation became worse in the first part of the century . Yankee 

imperialism, taking advantage of the rivalries between the European 

powers following the first world wars, sent their marines to our

7 9 

territory and. occupic :_" our country for 15 years(1915 - 1930) . The 

American imperialists u+ilized their presence in our country to outstrip 

their English, German, and above all, French rivals . They directly 

controlled our banks and our finances . They established a custom house 

management that bequeath the foreign trade to their monopolies they 

installed a judicial system according to their fancy, and an administration 

and military that permitted them to control the economic and political 

life of our country, which continued after their departure . They imposed 

on us the purchase of their oil and their coffee prices ; they expropriated 

our peasants in the Northeast, ii, the Artibonite Valley, and the West for 

the installation and working of their sugar and sisal refineries, and for 

the extraction of copper and bauxite, which instead of being processed in 

the country, is exported to the U . S . . By robbing us of our mineral riches 

and ferociously exploiting the labor of our people, imposing their trade 

and their prices, Northamerican domination succeeded in aggravating and 

accelerating the internal crisis of the regime . 

Northamerican imperialism ended its occupation of Haiti in 1930 . But 

it has left behind itself its slaughterhouses and a system conforming to its 

interests . The government of Duvalier is its present representative and 

faithful servant . 

Put into power by the Haitian army with the benediction of the State 

Department, Duvalier has not ceased to maintain for it an internal and 

external reactionary policy . He has supported and maintained : a free 

rein for the investments of imperialist capital ; sabotage of the national 

effort in economy, fiscal policy that crushes agricultural producers, starving 

the mass of workers and middle ciassea ; intolerance aria persecution of 

syndical and democratic organisations leaving the oppressed classes to the 

mercy of their masters, the feudal lords and the state ; total support 

for U . S . foreign policy ; notorious support to the imperialist intervention 

of the Congo, the Northamerican intervention in the Dominican Republic, 

and to the policy of U . S . hostility against Cuba . 

But Northamerican imperialism and its flunky Duvaliers cannot 

maintain domination of our people much longer . Already there have been 

outward signs of a crisis . The phenomenon of the insolvency of state has 

reapoared in dramatic manner : entire ranks of public employees and 

employers do not receive their semi-monthly, and monthly salaries 

and/or they collect it with great delay -- this situation places them in 

the hands of usurers . Certain enterprises of production controlled by the

state(essential oil factories nationalized in 1959, central confectioner of 

Cayes) are in constant deficit . The morality and state credit i s bankrupt ; 

the national, secondary and university teaching have lost their prestige 

because of the meddling of the "tonton-macoutes" (armed civil agents, 

members of Duvaliers repressive police) among professors, who in 

part are provoked into departing for Canada or Africa(on the other hand 

harm done to the low-income citizens provokes and increases the pres 

tige of private schools) . In the custom houses and post ou ! ces pillages 

of foreign packages 

have been organizer 

with the immense 

anger of citizens and 

especially businessmen 

. justice has 

entirely disappeared . 

All conflicts are 

seiiiea unaer the 

,uc 

pressu- -. ui a ' ton 

ton macoute", «,uo 

heap abuses on all 

classes . The political 

prisoners without 

trial are executed 

or else they rot in 

prison, completely 

cut off from the out 

side . An unimaginable 

terror is thrown 

down over the cities 

and countryside . The 

families of Benoit 

Riobe a P-au-P, 

Sansarick a Jeremie 

and many others were 

assassinated in broad 

C',ha rle^~a .T "-P ',eralta's i l art yrciom- s portsav-d 

r : y tha Haitian painter bin v,ho knev tre 

o"uerrilla leader . Feralta was r

foundation . On the border (Dominican-Haitian) areas hundreds and hundreds 

of peasants were machine-gunned and thrown to the pit and graves simply 

for having sold or supplied the Haitian rebels with food who fought in the 

mountains at that time . In short all levels of political and military authority 

are controlled by sinister persons, who owe no allegiance to any class, 

and who are ready to complete, if it is ordered of them, all the sorrowful 

tasks, and in case of necessity commit the most dishonest and cruel acts . 

The Haitian crisis thus became more visible, clear for all the world to 

see . But this was worse, because now a principal, decisive sphere of 

action has to be passed, the power sphere of the reactionary classes . The 

state is discovered to be incapable of satisfying the appropriate elementary 

obligations to the classes that sustain it . Their debts are inflated indefinitely 

to the detriment of the bank, or some big businessmen, and certain 

imperialist companies . And now it (the state) is faced with the necessity 

of utilizing extraordinary methods of taxation that are simply exigences 

of investment of this or that sum of money or opportunity . Thus, 

more and more the machinery of the state functions in the interest of one 

reactionary group against another . From that results an aggravation of 

the contradictions inside the exploited classes . It becomes vital for each 

group to directly take over the state machinery for themselves . In the 

long electoral campaign that was ferociously fought between the ciifferent 

traditional political sectors, the winning Duvalierist gangs used the 

stat; machinery not only against the people -- which was to be expected 

-- b, .t also against the other gangs of rcacti ,xi Pub l i c l i b e r t i e s 

do not even exist . 

In summary : the incredible misery of the working masses, the weakness 

of the regime as a result of the hostility between the different 

reactionary gangs ; the blind and ferocious repression and disappearance 

of all liberties for the people has . created a new situation that permits 

new forces to advance steadily in the country . 

The Duvalier Government did not fall from the sky . It is the 

expression of the crisis of the regime aria of world imperialism . Because 

the reactionary classes have been and always will be i np otent 

in solving crisis, only the revolutionary action of the people will be 

sufficient to change the situation . 

Up to now the Haitian masses have developed combat under different 

forms . The workers, students, and professionals have sustained 

important syndical and political battles despite the repression . During 

1961 students organized a powerful strike which took an immediate

political character and 

endangered the power of 

Duvalier . The peasants 

have often undertaken 

violent manifestations in 

order to defend themselve 

against the expropriation 

or the abuses of the "ton 

ton macoutes . " Likewise 

on three or four occasion ; 

groups of patriots tool. 

the initative of armed 

action that fa led because 

of the authors' political 

inexperience and their 

isolation from the people . 

The new opposition 

constantly organizes 

itself on a superior 

level: it supports portions 

of the vanguard, it does 

not yet entrust to itself 

the Role of Liberators, 

it works together on the 

basis of a program or 

any way on the basis of ideas ; it turns its back on the past and looks 

toward the future,condemning the imperialists, the big businessmen and 

the feudal lords ; it desires to lean upon the masses, to cons cientilusly 

support and guide them in assault : for these reasons this front has been 

established -- the United Democratic Front of National Liberation . 

It is a front which agrees to solve the present revolutionary situation . 

Our work is to unify the action of all Haitian revolutionaries and put an 

end to the division within our ranks in order to lead the masses in armed 

struggle against Duvalierism . We are convinced of the future demolition 

of the Duvalierists(by the popular forces), the bulwark of imperialist 

domination in Haiti . The popular forces will lead radical changes in the 

in the structure of the regime and will strike a strong blow against 

82

' 

imperialism . 

The demolition of Duvalierism and the regime which sustains it Aili 

constitute our particular contribution to the struggle of the peoples oi 

Santo Do aiingo and of Vietnam, to struggles of the peoples of the \mrld 

against international imperialism, against Northamerican imperialism . 

Brother Delegates : Mien the Northamerican imperialists occupied 

our country the Haitian people heroically resisted I'anlcee aggresssion . 

Our valiant peasants under the leadership of Charlemagne Peralta and 

Benoit Batraville entrenched themselves in the mountains and molested 

the U . S . Military . But due to lack of a revolutionary vau,g-uard and 

isolation from other counttiesthey were eventually annihilated, and their 

leader Charlemagne Peralta was captured then shot after being appended 

to a wooden cross . Since then the times have changed . On Dominican 

soil and in Haiti cletermined and shining vanguards work in order to 

unite both peoples against their principal enemy -- U . S . imperialism . 

Besides, the socilalist countries and revolutionary movements of other 

countries are cletermined to aid our two peoples . Imperialism cannot 

take action on their whirl_ ?-Zc-cently, U .S . imperialism disembarked 

troops in Santo Domingo, but . 

it. i s incapableof imposing its peace ; it is 

incapable of dominating the -;opular resistance . The Dominican people 

will conquer U . S . impex .~-I ~rY 

The Northamerican i ;ilpc : i thsts have cynically affirmed, since the 

events of Santo Domino l , t w i 11 and r i -lit to land their 

troops where they pleaso . 

But the Haitian and I)c --,peoples learn their lesson of history . 

And now on Dominican t.e : workers and patriots have begun go 

get along with the peop 'I,,, , 

. 

~f_rugble against Northamerican imperialism . 

The Haitian and Doini -. -? -cop]Qs under their respective vanguards 

and leaning upon B r o t 1: 

:c ~ ; ;) ws are obliged to cooperate and they 

will cooperate in order 0= the imperialists pay dearly for the 

humiliations of yesterdav :_ 

I :iv . They must wage a long and 

difficult struggle . But ci;)4c u!Iited with and aided by B r o t h e r 

p e o p l e s , they will fli : ililamerican imperialists into the sea 

and annihilate, intern :?-'1 ; . : _ , ;uppets that support yanl~ee imperialism . 

Brother Delegates : o_r_, people must meet above all else the 

battle against Northameri

we want to extend our handespecially to the West Indian people who 

struggle against French, British, and Dutch imperialism . Since all 

the imperialist have an understanding amongst themeselves to maintain 

their colonies in the Carribean, the Carribean people must unify their 

action against international imperialism headed by the U . S . A . We 

propose that the Tricontinental Conference should adopt a practi cal 

resolution with that perspective . Equally, as they come to their 

accursed agreement on their passing divergences on less essential 

questions, they are determined to smother the peoples' struggle for 

social progress , peace and socialism . It is in response to this that 

the peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America united in common action 

against international imperialism . Because of that we desire that the 

Trioontinental Conference make a resolution by which to establish a 

permanent organization to coordinate the struggle of the peoples of 

Africa, Asia, and Latin America . 

DOWN WITH THE IMPERIALISTS! 

LONG LIVE THE WEST INDIAN PEOPLES! 

LONG LIVE THE PEOPLES OF AFRICA, ASIA, AND LATIN AMERICA! 

84

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SOULBOOK

SOUlB00K~ 

LIBRO de NE6RISM0 

1 

LIYRE de NEGRITUDE 

~IC, 

e_d_it_or_i_a_l b_o_ard : WANANCHI donald freeman, issac moore . ernie alien, 

alum morrell , 

Leo r . huey 

keen m . freeman . carroll holmes, bobb hamiltan . 

new ork re resentative 

WANANC HI 

harry haywood 

Willie green 

carol freeman 

willy kgotsitsile 

leroi Jones 

clarence major 

doug alien 

hassa.n 

thQ original 

MWANANCHI bobb hamilton 

anita cornwell 

Larry neat 

ed bullins 

cedric little 

rolland snellings 

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P .0 . HOX 1097 

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SOULBOOK contributors 

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cable address : E MIR 

labor donated 

FORMA 94701

THE ORIGINAL 

SOULBOOK 

editorial 

mohamed cherif 89 

frantz fanon 94 

j ponder 

ernie alien 

reject notes 

volume 2 

winter - spring issue 

year of organization 1-967 

blackness, that's where it's at ! ! 

science in the service of revolution 

racism in france 

a 'ghetto' masculinity 

love me 

poetry of carol freeman, leroi Jones, 

soma sanchez, major Carter wright, 

h winfield tavasti, William r lamppa, 

k William kgositsile, bobb hamilton 

the nation of Islam 

problems facing black america 

the world is the black man's land 

number 2 

mwaka wa kuratibisha 

Copyright, 1967, by SOULBOOK Inc . , p . o . box 1097 berkeley, calif . 

94701, all rights reserved . all correspondence concerning manuscripts 

and business matters should be addressed to SOULBOOK, p .o . bax 1097 

berkeley, calif . 94701 . 

85 

111 

98 

120 

harry haywood 137 

cedric little 

146 

Willie green 153

87 

aoa~apQ~~, 

Chats where 

~4Q a,t ~ 

Editoyial / Wp Vyat en gen e~ii . 

We a re related--you and I, 

You from the West Indies, 

I from Kentucky . 

We a.re related--you and I, 

You from Africa, 

I from these States, 

We are brothers--you and I. 

lang s ton hughe s 

The following intense, enlightening essays are for the purpose of helping 

project Blackness into its only true contact : humanism . ?hus' it is no accident 

that every article is by Frantz Fanon, Black man par exce l_len_ce 

Indeed we reiterate for all negro sychophants of white power (e .g: , Roy

for it is not true that th~'~~ork of man 

is finished 

that man has nothy~ more` to_ Sao in the 

uvor~ d but b ye a p~~rasite in . t-h~ u~~orld 

that al. ) . we now need ;>>~ to keap in step 

with the world 

but th= work of man is;,only just beTinnin? 

and it remains to man to ~on~uer a11 . 

thA violenc.e,entrencfied, in the recesses 

of his rassion 

and no .race roGsesses ;the !nonopoly of bP~uty, 

of intelli~enc.e ; of=force, ; and there 

is a place for all at the rend.evo-us 

of victory . . . ~ . 

Rime Cesaire

89 

mohern~d chorif 

science 

the service 

ofrevolution 

In the remarkable preface to Fanon's final work, the W r_ e t che d o f 

the Earth , Jean-Paul Sartre writes that " . . .Fanon is the first since 

Engels to bring the processes of history into the clear light of day ." 

Without a doubt one will find there the appreciation of a sympathizer, of 

a friend and traveling companion . But it is a fact that the work of Fanon 

has forcefully imposed itself upon the diverse currents marking the "reentry" 

of the Third World into the global scene of events . 

Born in the West Indies, Fanon, as his friend Cesaire gave ,a militant 

intrepretation to N e'gr i t ud e . And,along with Cesaire he conceived of 

the rehabilitation of black culture as a "humanizing" project, the realiza 

tion of which should express itself and can only express itself at the level 

of political struggle against the order which has "dehum~"the black 

man. What Cesaire attained at the level of poetry, literature, or politics , 

Fanon gave himself the mission of accomplishing at the level of scisa~ce 

and politics . Elsewhere their complementarity appears in the similiarity 

of their conditions, of their preferemces, and of their projects : these are 

colonized men who armed themselves with Marxism in order to bring 

about a "new man ."

OUR ANCESTORS, THE GAULS 

Psychiatrist and sociologist , Fanon oriented his analyses toward the 

study of the social and psychological significance of the colonial order 

Peau noiremss blancs*) in order to arrive at the political conclusions 

(The Wretched _of the Earth ) which to his eyes imposed therimselves 

According to him the colonial order was based upon the domination and 

exploitation of one type of man, the colonized, by another type of man, the 

colonizer . The morality of the colonist order is simple ; the white colonizer 

decrees that he repersents Goodness and that the colonized black embodies 

Badness . In order to make this situation acceptable the colonizer first 

of all is going to form a class of "evolues," or "evolved natives," who 

will serve as figureheads for the colonized society . It is at this leve 1 

colonized society that alenation and deculturation will manifest themselves 

the most . ' he colonizer will try to persuade these "evolues" that their 

ancestors were "barbarians," and will furnish them history lessons 

making them descendants of the Gauls, etc . And by a process that Fanon 

says springs from delight, most of these "evolues" will try to convince 

themselves of it, and as a consequence will behave according to this 

"new-found" ancestry . They will deny their cultural traditions and will 

make desperate attempts to assimilate with the master . But this willingness 

to identify with the master will be quickly brought to a stop by the 

colonial reality the assimilated will see themselves refused jobs, housing, 

etc . , which are reserved for the colonizers . 

In the end, the "perfectly evolved" become "perfect ly uprooted" by 

virtue of the colonial situation . On the other side of the barrier, according to 

Fanon, the colonizer as well is an abnormal being, pulling from the colonial 

system a unique "raison d'etre" for his own existence . 

On the other hand, in spite of the extortion and vexation imposed upon 

the rural areas, $nd in spite of the operation by which the colonizer 

persists in suffocating and emptying them, at the level of culture these 

areas remain less touched . than the urban areas . In sum, Fanon thought 

that it would be the "wretched" (the peasantry) who would be the "motors 

of the revolution," for they had "nothing to lose and everything to, gain" 

within the suppression of the system. For Fanon decolonization _was of 

Violent necessity; the colonizer wouldrenounce his privileges only througY. 

force . Y"his violence would feed upon itself ; the least demand would be 

J l~

91 

___________i 

considered inadmissable by. the colonizer, who would repress it . On the 

other hand, from the time that the colonized reaches the point of stating , 

"Nothing to do ; only force pays," he will be deprived no more . This is 

the moment where the "order of violence" is begun 3 There is a spontaneous 

activation of the colonial machine, the results of which can be 

counted in terms of the number of persons who have disappeared, who 

have been wounded, or have been killed . On all levels the colonized resists 

the repressive apparatus ; at this moment he returns to his roots . 'Ibis 

is not a folding up, but a surpassing of oneself. In this regard Fanon 

observes in the attempts at dismembering the Algerian national culture, 

and notably in the producing of the "evolues ," that the colonizer attacks 

the veil in particular, which he labels as stupid, excessive, inhuman . . . 

hiding so much natural beauty," and also that "at this moment the woman 

is in a state of subordination with respect to the man." During the resistance, 

the Algerian woman refused to'deveil" herself, that is to say, to 

say, to abandon her cultural identity, save when the necessities of struggle 

dematxled it ; for example, to pass unseen among Europeans during a 

mission .

THE PSUEDO BOURGEOSIE 

In the majority of cases, the political movements in the colonies are 

attached to the existence of the colonial order . If they are not in all cases 

the organic extensions of the metropolitan parties, they at least reflect 

the leading ideas of these parties ; the "great humanitarian principles" of 

the movement . emanate from these ideas , and they organize themselves 

around electoral goals . The cadres of these movements are recruited amor 

the civil servants , the appointees , the workers , etc . , : that is to say that 

they represent a privileged group with respect to the peasantry which they 

scorn . These cadres seek only to ameliorate their condition of existence 

within the established order . They belong to the proletariat neither by 

their condition nor by their consciousness ; on the contrary, they act as 

"brakes" upon the liberation struggle . But in spite of the efforts which 

they employ to break the spirit of the masses, they will be surpassed . 

And to the extent that the struggle advances, honest intellectuals acid 

workers will detach themselves from the political apparatus in order to 

join with the masses, organizing them for the purpose of acheiving victory. 

But once formal independence is acquired, the '.'evolues : of the political 

parties will try to "take the place of the colonizer" in every area . And 

without making the slightest changes they will try to "take the masses 

on trips with their high sounding and empty discourses on the nation . . ." 

They will develop into a "psuedo-bourgeoisie whose existence will be that 

of an appendix of capitalism ." Fanon felt that this "false bourgeoisie" 

would be incapable of stepping the revolutionary process of the masses, 

first of all because the latter remain conscious of their role as motor 

that they have played in the liberation struggle, secondly because the 

bourgeoisie reveals itself as being incapable of leading the work of national 

construction, resulting in an aggravation in the conditions of life which 

will lead the proletariat to take up the struggle once again . 

Fanon assures us that the masses will win, desiring that this will mark 

the beginning of a new order which will not be a replica, "even ideally," 

of the European order, towards which "even Europeans temporarily 

feel an immense nausea ." Such is the thought of Fanon : a thought that 

marries the lucidity of the intellectual to the passion of the combatant. 

This profound and sincere passion brings to his work a mark of authenticity 

92

esulting in a vibrant testimony . It is true that his work at .times lacks 

lucidity ; Fanon nevertheless remains one of the most brillant spokesmen 

for the national liberation struggle . 

THB P~AL ~Gt~~ Y R~JB~LLICI~d by 1=~ristide Ratsimbazafy 

On ~;unday March 30~ 194'7 the world learned that 

an insurrection had taken pace on Madagascar . 

Arbitrary arrests and sumnU.ry executions of the 

finest sons of the I~ialagasy people s pillage and 

systematic destruction of ~ alaga.s y property : all 

these crimes were officially termed "pacification." 

In im~~osing this "pacification" over an 18-month 

period~~the French colonialists killed 90000 persons 

. 

Despite these mas vacres ~ the P-ialagasy people -- 

~-:ho had valliantly resisted the French military conquest 

of the island and who had twice taken up arms 

to drive out colonialisau -- never abandoned their 

demands for independence liberty and progress . 

It has been said that the I~ialagasy rebellion of 

1947 was provoked by the colonialists in order to 

launch a military attack against the Malagasy national 

movem :~:nt . A11 those who lived through the 

period of the rebellion to the "pacification" can 

not deny that . But it is none the less true that 

the peasant masses avid for liberty and progress 

took up arms to ends the social injustices and the 

brutalities of tiThich they were the victims . It is 

none the le :;s true that those rebellious peasants 

went beyond the calculations of the provocateurs 

and became the heroes of a glorious struggle against 

the colonial regime . 

The 1~Ialagasy rebellion of 1947 takes its place 

naturally among Africa's struggles for freedom and 

independence . 

~Je will not forget the 90000 Malagasy peasants 

who died during the rebellion of March 1947 !! 

LONG LIVL THi~ AFRIC~IVT REVOLUTION ! !

frantz fanon 

racism 

in 

france! 

translated from the 

Spanish text by 

SOUL~OOK

Two years ago the A . L .N . * which had been active on French 

Territory in order to neturalize the then very active counter-revolution, 

or to react against certain torturers among the French police, finished 

its operations there . At this time , spontaneous attitudes of racism and 

passionate discrimination by the French against North Africans began to 

develop . , One remembers this as being a period in which even a South 

American was riddled with bullets because he looked like a North African . 

Tunisian and Noroccan citizens equally suffered from this racist conduct 

. Tunisian workers were arrested, isolated, and beaten up . Moroccan 

students were apprehended and interrogated in local police courts . On 

the streets , remarks were made which were discourteous and humilating 

both for the person and for the young states . 

We remember this as a period when every North African was questioned 

several times, when numerous 1V'~oroccans or Tunisians working in France 

decided tore~rn to their national territory . 

On that occasion it became customary to declare that only the 

Algerians were responsible for this state of things, and that it depended 

on the Algerians to bring an end to this geirteralized suspicion with 

respect tb the North African population. 

Therefore it was thought that this strongly aggressive and vengeful 

behavior was not a component of the social and mental structures of the 

French people but simply the self-defensive reaction of an organism 

that found it difficult to distinguish the difference between the inhabitant 

of the Maghreb. ** 

The most recent events that have taken place on French territory 

merit special attention . '3his will demonstrate to us without doubt 

that the confusion between foreignersdid not spring from the basis of a 

deplorable ignorance, but that it found its justification in a banal 

principle desiring that the most brutal forms of racism would settle 

in France at a truly explosive rate .

A WRITER STABBED 

The first fact is the assault on the young writer, Oyono a .while 

back . the author of "Une Vie de Boy" left a restaurant in company of 

a woman . ~e pair was assaulted , the woman insulted in an obscene 

manner, knocked around, and then kicked repeatedly . As for rJyono 

after having resisted his attackers, he collapsed with a sharp pain in his 

lower back, and was then carried to the emergency ward of a Parisian 

hospital . After a blood transfusion, he recovered . lbday he tells those 

who want to hear it that he does nor feel safe in France, and that he is 

ready ~o leave . 

Haw to interpret this fact? This was not a personal attack on this 

man of color, nor was it attempted robbery . That is not the point ; the 

point is that it was corrective advice to the woman (who was white) and 

a warning to a Black . The attackers hurled themselves at Oyono with 

shouts of "Death to Blacks ! " It is interesting to note that Oyono was able to 

point out to the police one of his attacl:ers, 1~efore they vanished . The 

police to this day have ignored the names of the attackers and, in spite 

of methods taken by several associations, it is doubtful that this matter 

will ever be given judicial procedure . It should be noted that this 

happened in the heart of the Latin Quarter, that is to say, in the heart 

of an intellectual section of town frequented by students from all over 

the world . And is is significant to note that no one attempted to aid 

the victims, and with the operation (the assault) completed, the 

assailants were able to quietly disappear . 

AN ANTI-RACIST FILM PERSECUTED 

In the eagerness of struggling against the ambient racism in the U . S . 

and elsewhere , several movies on that theme have already been filmed . 

The lass one to appear, "Tripes au soleil" (Tripe in the Sun), on 

which one could say many things , has jus ~ been shown in Paris . At the 

first showing, young Parisians burst into an extraordinary tumult, 

destroying the armchairs, staining the screen, and manifesting their 

hostility when the film ended . Shouts of "Down with the Blacks , Death to 

the Blacks , Long live Hitler" were given and the police then "dispersed 

the demonstrators" 

Abou~ this same time the anti-fascist organizations were being 

systematically persecuted . One of the most active, M .R .A .P ., and 

96

97 

organization against racism, anti-semitism, and for peace ; and one of 

the first to take a position against the Algerian war .and for the recognition 

of the Algerian nation, was. the object of continued attacks . Their 

local branches were almost daily actacKea ; , and their leading members 

were objPCts of direct threats and acts of violence . On the walls of 

Paris , at about the same time, swastikas made their appearance . These 

swastikas in Paris were no more than replicas .of those that one could 

see in,Algiers or, in Constantine during the Algerian war . 

In as much as in France an anti-racist film can be persecuted in full 

daylight by an organization which does not fear proclaiming the slogan, 

"Death to Blacks" , it can be said that democracy is going very badly in 

France and. that Blacks would do well to abandon her (France) . 

But then, it ~s said, ,st~ouldnw we guard against generalizing about 

these facts ? Isn't this just a question of manifestations of "episodes 

repressed by law and unanimously condenmed by the national French 

conscience . . Perhaps we should agree to postpone judgementwntil later . 

And perhaps .such manifestations do mot rise spontaneously . In order 

that they exist, in order that they take form, it is necessary in a certain 

measure, and precisely in the national conscience, that it produce a 

. sufficient setting of racism, a superiority comple x, and discrimination . 

These manifestations surge in a straight line from the heart, that is to 

say,, from the heart of the individual . They express the visciousness of 

the French educational system with regard to the rest of humanity, and' 

also the consequences of decades of colonial domination . Didn't General 

DeGualle himself, at the time of his speech at Blois, miraculously 

rediscover this road from the hearts 

Speaking of the necessity of arriving at an agreement in Europe, did 

he not say, "Don't we civilized whites owe it to ourselves to find a 

common ground of understanding?" i 

We unhesitatingly think of this passage by the Black poet Cesaire : 

"What they (the 20th Century bourgeois humanists) do not pardon Hitler 

for is not crime in itself, the crime against the white man, but it is 

in having applied colonial customs in Europe : that which until now was 

only marked for the Arabs of Algeria, the coolies of India and Blacks 

of Africa ." 

If already racism raises its head in France in such dimensions, it is 

time that Blacks abandon ship (France) . To the members of the "French 

community" it is in deciding whether your place is still on the side of 

ose who are still not free ¬rom their meaness a~ hatred toward 

~'~~~ Black hate .

99 

"Faah generation must, out of relative obscurity, 

discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it ." 

Frantz Fanon 

RULE I :~'Pay close attention to all manner of things ; 

observe more, and if you have observed only 

a aittle, then do not write ." 

RULF 2 :"Do~not force yourself to write when you have 

nothing to say ." Lu Hsun, quoted by Mao 

Tse-Tung 

I would like, first of all, to briefly discuss my reasons for reviewing 

Hernton's Sex and Racism i_n America : I have always had admiration 

for Hernton as a Black poet His "The Distant Drum," for example, is 

a very outstanding poem of which I never tire of re-reading . And_I 

certainly would not have missed the chance of checking out his first book 

when it arrived on the scene . 

Now we can well understand why white magazines (with the exception 

of three, to my knowledge) would have wanted to review Hernton's work, 

simply because of the "provocative nature" of the title ; but viewed 

from a Black vantage point we discover in this work very little, if anything 

new to be found which has not already been said on the subject of 

the ~tertwining of sex and race within the last twenty-five years or 

so, ana pernaps better by other authors . And this in spite of the lavish 

praise recently heaped upon Hernton by the "New Left"' i . e . , the old 

left "warmed" , over ." 1 

For example , I find Sex and Racism _in America to be little more than 

an updated parallel to John bollard's Caste and Class in Southerntown, 

written in 1937 . Dollard, an ofay, bourgeois psychologist, and as such . 

endowed with all the mental encumbrances (ie, hangups) characteristic of 

those whites who attempt to take up the all - elusive "negro question," 

brought along all these hangups when attempting"to formulate his conclusions 

; since . it couldn't possibly have been otherwise, we thank 

Dollard for his research - ~ and analyses , and forgive his "white' .' solutions

100 

for the elimination of white racism in the U . S . But what disturbs me 

most is that Black America's thought regarding the sexualization of 

racism has, during the span Qf~the last twenty-five years or so, apparently 

gone no further than as to corroborate DolIard's findings with additional 

personal observations , as it were with the case of Hernton ; and that is 

why we're not going to' let Bro . Calvin off so easily . 

. In an author's note to the (Grove Press) paperback edition of the 

book, Hernton makes a correction to the following statement which inadvertently 

"slipped by" in the first printing : 

"~f,han racism disappears, the nature of the .American 

politico-economic system -- the v~ay power and jobs 

and chances for the ggod life are distributed -- will 

change .~" 1 . 

This upside down equation , Hernton attributes to an "error" in phrasing" 

on his part ; though I have no real reason to-doubt Hernton!s explanation. 

I will say this : if ~Iernton were the least bit aware of the nature of the .~ 

connections between the economic relations of a given society and its 

superstructure, that is, the political, philosophical,_luridicial, artistic 

religious, and other views of that society and the institutions which 

correspond to them , he would be less likely to err either in phrasing or 

in the formulation of really chi ld-like statements of the following sort, 

which cannot be explained away so easily : 

"For instance, the most rational move that Negro women 

could make in the South would be to agitate for 

the nullification of all legal barriers against intermarriage 

. This nullif,~cation u~ould afford Negro women 

legal redress a?ainst vrhite men N~ho refuse to sup~ort 

their ille ;itimate children and to honor sex 

relations with Negro vromen by a marria?e contract . 

This would constitute a real step (!) toward revolutionizing 

(!!) the power structure in the South~'~ 2, 

A quick glees at these two preceding quotes will reveal a common 

denominator of utopian reformism - one of the many white threads which 

run through this book from beginning to end - which desires, or rather, 

p 1 ead s that the social problem of White America's racist economic 

order be attacked not at their causes, their basic roots of decadent, 

White mispower, but at the level of their effects . 3 If one objects that

Hernton really and t~uky made a m#stake in phrasing, we can then also 

charge him with inconsistency here, for the general trend of his writting 

clearly indicates a refusal on his paxt to deal with problems at their roots, 

a road which we know can only lead to mystification . 

"The sexualization of racism in the United States is 

a unique phenomenon in the history of mankind ;" 4, 

This incorrect statement appeared in the first chapter ; if Hernton had 

taken the trouble to do a little more research he might have discovered 

the fact while the sexualization of racism in the U . S , is unique to the 

history of the U . S . , his over-simplified generalization is hardly 

applicable to the entire history of mankind . At this point it becomes 

instructive to see what the true expert .on the sexualization of racism, 

Frantz Fanon, had to say on this subject in his P e a u n o i r e m a s qu e s 

b 1 a n c '_ (Black Skin, White Mask For every experience that 

Hernton is able to relate to us regarding the sexualization of racism in 

the United States , ~ Fanon's work is able to furnish us with concrete 

examples of parallel sftuations which have occuxed, and are occuring 

still, between Black and whites lfving side-by-side in the West Indies, 

in Africa, and in Europe as well . 

For example, Hernton states that " 

" . . .whites conceive of the Negro male predominantly in 

genital terms -- that is, as a "bull" or as some kind 

of ' "walking phallus ." To the pornographic mind this 

may be either disgusting or attractive, but it is always 

exciting! These two emotions -- revulsion and 

desire -- combine themselves in the psyche in such a 

w-ay that the black man is perceived as sexual] y "abnormal 

." So that many white women who have intercourse 

with a Negro feet as if they _havee been "raged," 

The Negro may be ever so gentle and kind ; the woman 

neverthelAss feels that he has "ravished" her': Indeed, 

: such wiornen d~e~re : to he r'rawished", and ~rrtany 

of them tell

How, ,rally ; doe~.~his. ab_ove: :remark~~i~f~e~ : frAm th~, ;~ollowing:pa~sages 

of Fanon!s~.bo~pk?, : 

"A:t least on the enital plane, is not the .white 

man who detests black men, reacting to a feeling 

of sexual impotence or inferiority? V9ith the ideal 

lying at the level of absolute virility, and with 

the black man conceived of as a penis symbol, 

wouldn't the white man feel diminished in his contaet 

with black men? Isn'`t the lynching of blacks a 

sexual vengeance? We already know of the manner in 

which cruelty, tortures, and beatings admit of the 

sexual ; one is easily convinced of this by - rereading 

~ever!al pages of the Marquis de Sade," 6 . 

And just before this passage Fanon describes the erotic manner-in 

which the Black athlete .is viewed by white women : 

"A young woman confided to me that there was,so~pething 

about them which stirred ..up her heart : A fros 

-titute told me that the first time she thougrtabout 

sleeping with a Ne ro, the idea gave her an orgasm ; 

she looked for them but avoided demanding any money 

of them . "But," she added, "sleeping with them was 

no more extaordinary than sleeping with whites . It - 

was before the act that I attained orgasm . I thought 

about (imagined) everythin_e; that they would be able 

to do to me ; and this is what was so remarkable ." 'I . 

It would be no problem at all to cite case after case of similar 

examples, save for lack of space in this paper . Fanon's book --- full 

English translation of which has yet to be published -- is. filled with 

numerous . aecqunts of experiences, both sexual and not, -gf.Mack people 

in all parts of the world - experiences which certainly match those 

related by Hernton for the U : S . What should be stated here is that Hernton's 

unfortunate shortsightedness on this point has led him into a myriad of 

contradictions . For example , holding up his belief that "sexualize tion 

102

103 

of racis-m -in the; Uhited States -is a unique phenomenon ~n the history of 

mnnkind," he can on~bne hand state that, " :- . .I do nat think that the 

personality forces that mobilize most Negroes who seek relations with 

white women are free of ulterior or psychiatric motives ," 5 a point 

with which I would agree if I might be allowed to substitute the world 

"social" for "personality," since what we are dealigg with is not an 

individual ; but a collective problem . On the other hand, while speaking 

of young African brothers visiting the U. S: , Herntonannocently states 

that " . . . it is nothing . . . for these proud young Africans to date end cater 

to white women." 9 Hence we must conclude. that Mx' . Hernton eviden't_ly 

believes that Africans, in general, have escaped the sexua~ization of 

racism process and that young African brothers, in particular, are able 

to enter into social relationships with white American females, without 

having any effects of this sexualization process interject themselves into 

these relationships . Viewed solely from xhe standp!~int of the American 

white woman this last statement is all the more surprising to us, since 

prig to this remark Hernton had already stated that : 

"~'.hite America perc~rives -- or conceives of -- the 

^,merican black man as a "clothed African savage " 

"bite neorle -- men as yell as wome-n -- want to see 

+,he Negro's penis, "'hev v~ant to -see this "cl.othed 

savage" naked ." 10, . 

and further: 

"? beliAve that ^mPrican v,~pmen are prone to be curious 

about, or attracted by, foreign men (even Africans), 

because they find these men "exotic," To many v:hite 

women the American P~egro is considered as a sort of 

" .fcreign, .r .' " 11 . 

Iam not tao sure, then, simply on this last basis alone, as to whether 

one could not consider this "exotic" element as not having tainted any 

relationship between a white American female and an African male . I 

think the ~ facts will bear out, however, the American white women find 

foreigners --- particularly men of-color -- more. "erotic"- than "exotic," 

but all this -is $ bit beside the point ; I find two major faults in the

preceding_quote from-Hernton . First paint ; l cannot 

in any manner imagine why Hernton would have 

wanted to qualify-his remarks with the` adverb- 

"even" when it came ts~-the mention af- Afrioans~ 

For if there--is a myth surrouxiding the sexuality 

of the American Black man, the one fallawing the- 

African Blackman is at bast equal if not greater-! 

And- this very myth i-s exemplified in Hernton's 

statement that White America conceives of the 

American Black man as a-c l o t hed African 

savage . Due to the fact that Afroamericans in 

many ways have been dehumanized and psychologically 

destroyed by the Beast, isn't it logical 

(Chuck's logic) that an American white woman 

would desire an "original" Black man from the 

African Motherland even more strongly than she 

WOUld a "watered" down" and "domesticated" 

American Negro version? How then would a 

relationshup between an African male not spring from an ulterior motive 

(at least from the standpoint of the white woman) which is tied in one way 

or another to the sexualization of racism ? And notice here that we have 

viewed this relationship only from the side of the white female . In a 

moment we will return our African brother and demonstrate that with 

regard to white women in general , he has also fallen into the same 

psychological trickbag as his American Negro counterpart . 

The second fault in the above quote lies in the fact :hat it "terminates" 

the investigation just at the point where it should begin ." Hernton states 

here that American women are prone to the curious about, or attracted 

by , foreign men be c a u se they find these men "exotic . " But he has 

done nothing here but "explain" the observed phenomena away . Has 

Hernton thought to question why white women find so-called foreign men 

"exotic?" Evidently not . And here we see once again that Hernton 

refuses at any cost (for what reasons I am not sure) to look beyond his 

parochial mental blindfolds and to admit of the international existence 

of ;his sexualization of racism ; and this is but one of the factors which 

has spoiled his analysis . 

Due to she ubiquitous presence of racism throughout the entire w bite 

wes~ern world and to ~he similarity of method of all white coloniz ~ s 

I,he :hey from Europe

105 

or from North America), one is not at all surprised to discover the existence 

of the same types of social problems whenever and wherever Bla.eks have come 

into contact with whites, or vice-versa ;i . e . , with respect to the Black, the 

inferiority complex, the sexualization of racism from the standpoint of the 

victim . Thus, when we view from the side of the African male his relationship 

to the white female, in reality we are viewing the hangups or potential 

hangups (meaning here that social conditions for their blossoming objectively 

exist) of a 11 Black men who comb into contact whth white women, whether 

this contact occur in North America, the West Indies, Africa, or Europe . 

In a chapter of his book dealing with the relationship of the Black man to 

white woman, Fanon analyses a few passages from the novel, Un homme 

~a r eil aux autres (A Man Like Any Other) . Here we check out the reactions 

ofJean Veneuse, a West Indian Black who has lived for some time in Bourdeaux, 

France (and as such is considered to be a semi white) ; Veneuse has 

just asked a white man, Coulanges, for the hand of his sister in marriage 

"Entreated t the white man accepts the offer of giving his 

sister to Veneuse-- but on one condition : You have nothing 

`'in common with genuine Negroes ; You are not black, but 

excessively brown ." 

This process is well known among students of color in 

France . The Negro is a savage while the student is an 

"evolved ." You are "us" Coulange tells him, and if someone 

believes you are a Negro, it is thru error;you only look 

like one . But Jean Veneuse Doesn't agree ; he can't, for he 

knows . He knows that "exasperated by this humiliating ostracism, 

common mulattoes and blacks have only one thought 

from the time that they are in Europe ; to satiate the 

appetite that they have for white women ." 12 . 

Meanwhile, they tell us, Bro . Hernton has gone scampering off to Europe 

. Will he escape the sexualization of racism there ? ; only Lawd knows ! 

Hernton has little understanding, if any, of Black Nationalism as it has 

manifested itself in the U. S . It appears to me that he views "the humanit.~.rian 

solution to the race problem," (i . e . , the mealy mush furnished him by 

his beatnik "ideological" masters) as being threatened by this nationalism, 

and has little comprehension -- nor does he appear to desire any -- of its use 

as a vehicles for social change -save, perhaps, in its restricted, "cultural" 

manifestations . Is Hernton unaware that nationalism has been used by Afroamericans 

as a kind of "psychological balancing act" which has allowed them 

to maintain their sanity while living in semi-colonial status ? I think so . 

The slogan quoted by Hernton, "Buy Black, Think Black, and most of all, 

Lpve Black, " is expressing a means to self-preservation . The fault here is

105 

not the nationalist sentiment which undelies this slogan, but rather, that the 

sentiment is channeled into a "cultural" bag. And one of the . biggest practical 

problempresently facing our liveration struggle is precisely the politi~ 

'citation and the re-channeling of tb,e existing Afroamerican nationalist sentiment 

into a BIG, BLACK, FUNKY FORCE for social change . Is Hernton ` 

against this ? I think so ; and in this respect he reminds me of a little girl who 

would like to have a baby, abut who is too afraid to gothrough with it . for fear 

that it would be too painful ari experience . 

The lovehate syndrome that Hernton displays with respect to white women 

has . an analogy in his ambivalence toward the United States ; at times we 

find the words, "American democracy," written with "democracy" in quotes, . 

implying that ne is hip to Cracker Johnson and all the other "crackers" before 

him: Àt other times~we can find such bodacious statf;ments as the following 

"Emphasizing; thr> perils and sacrifices of associatin~ 

., , ith a u~hite soman ma,y tend to Enhance 

her value i.n the eyes of tk~< 1`legro . To such a 

N~=gro, the prize is v~orth the challenge . Indeed, 

it is thi "~ sort of spirit or "cuts" that has made 

America a great nation . The rub=ed individualist, 

the man vYio transcends the chains of hackgreund and 

provincialism to sura~e ahead toward nev, frontiers is 

and American hero . For the contemporary Negro the 

white woman definitely represents a "new frontier ." 

13 . 

When I read aloud that last passage to my puppy dog, even he rolled! 

Yes, indeed, as soon as we got to the subject of white women, "All is for-~ 

given Masse Jim . " Whimsically, Hernton finds White America either "dis 

gusting or attractive, but it is always exciting!" But as I read this passage 

once again, the full meaning of Hernton's statement unfolded before me ; yes, 

and there he was, the American Negro male (white~riented and would=bebrother), 

clad in buckskin coat and greasy loincloth, razor in one hand and 

and autographed picture of LBJ in the other, steathily creeping through the 

snake-infested, racist roach-ridden jungle of North America toward the 

lily clearing, toward the new frontier, h i s new frontier, the American 

white woman ! ! ! 

Is this book as bad as I have pictured it ? Surely there must be something 

in it of benefit . The answer is : yes, there is something of value in this 

book--but all of it has been said before . In sum, Herntonts book is ~ a series 

of personae observations written by the wrong person

One last point; the intensification of the Afroamerican liberation struggle -if 

one can take a cue from those liberation struggles which have already passed 

through this stage that we now find ourselves traversing -- will result in (indeed, 

will necessitate) qualitative changes on the relationships between individual 

members of the oppressed, Black nation . And this of course includes 

those relationships internal to the Black family structure as well . In this respect, 

any foreign ideological refuse that bubbles up from the toilets of either 

the White House or of Columbia University, that is, any ideas which tend to 

re-inforce those relationships among Afroamericans belonging to the old . order 

(which began when Chuck snatched us from the Motherland), as well as 

the collective hangups which resulted from this order, must be given a thorough 

and ruthless re-flushing. What I am speaking of here applies, unfortunately, 

to the following passage of Sex and Racism in America 

"In addition to the general cri is occ~~rin~ in 

contemporary race rel=Ations, a more rprcific crisis 

is ensuing; in th~~ rPlatior.~ b= " tween Negro, r:~n and 

'fe~ro vromen -- and, ' suspect, it will become morn 

intense as time Foes on unless iJe-rro v omen !: 7 say 

women because, in this rFQard, " do>>bt the caracity 

of the men) initiate measures to resolve it ." l~ . 

This remark concerning the "capacity of the men," of course, needs no 

further comment . In facy, we might have found this last quote in one of 

Chuck's sociology books . On the other hand, Western sociology, the 'logic' 

of which exists only to sustain both itself and the inhuman order which gave 

rise to it, cannot explain the dialectical connection between the intensification 

of anti -colonial struggle and the s tr en g thenin g of relationships among 

the colonized which results rrom it . Far from being an intellectualization, 

this is a phenomenon that finds its basic in practice 

" . . .the Afroat~!eri.can family is, more of ten than not, 

a disrur~ted social u~ti.t where vromen Suffer from too 

m~~ch f~ eedom from their !yen . Rut in ire-revol?~tionary 

Algeria the opro :-~ t.e _problem v:~as r~:rvasive ; the v:amen, 

and th~ children were tied too strongly to the 

male : But both nrohlems are identical iw a much more 

fundamental sense . Qne of th=~ main results .of both 

situations is that ~enerally there is a lack of con 

ju~al love between the hu~sband'and wife . Fanon Ghows 

that by the Algerian husband and wife stru~~;ling toa;ether 

their mutual lave is ;ualitatively increased . 

It seems' to me that this ~is tiie best way, if no-t the 

only manner in v:hich v;P Black Americans can reconstruct 

.the now mutilated relationships between our 

men and women ." l5 .

zos 

Though from preceding remarks I may have demonstrated to the 

reader my inability to relate to Hernton's book in a very positive manner, 

it must not be concluded that I, in a rabid fit of negro-egomania, have been " 

attempting, consciously or subconsciously, to destroy my brother . For 

here we can learn a few lessons ; firstly, all of us who are Black and who 

are also writers must as a primary goal subscribe to the principle of 

writing to and for our people ; in the present hour of our struggle this is a 

most basic point, open for newer sterile debate nor intellectualization . 

The "raison d'etre" of Bro . Hernton's work is most obviously, based 

elsewhere, and his very personalized, immature, often unfounded, and 

highly romantized idealizations of the Black experience in the U . S. as 

well as in other parts of the world become all. the more apparent ( and 

conseque't~tly all the more demoralizing to Blacks,. " when after a perusal 

of his work we disco ver sadly that he is writing to them, the oppresors, 

instead of to his own Black brothers and sisters . The. fact of this is 

reflected, above all, in the title of his lates~ -worI~ : W Pi i te P a per s f or 

White Americans . - 

To this highly creative and beautiful Blae~ poet we would therefore 

suggest the following : My Brother : if you find yourself unable to und~stand 

the basic problems of your people and°u moreover, if. yo~t~ gersansl 

hangups will not permit you to form a veritable bond of emota~naah dentification 

with them (that is, if you find yourself :pegchalogica 't~ablie~;o 

address your writings to Blacks p r i mar ly , aEnd above sI~ b :a; manner , 

which would invite honesty), then we as concerned Blacl¬ b~rv~rs° aid 

sisters urge"`you to suspend further publieatian of yaur~ writ tsg~ until 

such time as you can get yourself properly together (i . e . , ~e totally 

immersed within a Black psychological framework} . Pl seWndierstand 

that we feel obliged to tell you this solely because o¬ the inteaae .love 

which enjoins us to all our people regardless= of any individual" or 

collective views to which they may subscribe;, a love requiring consistent 

attempts at identifying and eliminating the ideological confuston present 

in much of the thinking of our people today, a love demanding of truth 

and above all, of commitment to struggle . 

In conclusion, then, we can only say 

KEEP ON PUSHIN', BLACK POWER, DONNA COME!

13) 

14) 

15) 

FOOTNCT ~~S 

11 'i'he fact that t1'hite hmerica is press°ntl,y 

in the act of oppressing; thn ma:irrit,y of 

th .e v~orld's p~oyes (i .e ., tre Third ~"orla) 

evidently eludes Bro . Calvin, but this 

''`,li~.>`" t di^crepancy" is ay ;:arently of pct 

too much conc~rr to those white ra~? ;cals 

v.~~.o fin ;3 it ec7 ectically convnn~_ent to 

"la,::-don" uerntc~n's book solely for the 

r,;Yr~-~ o .f k?-: rinm thîr del~_~ate, white 

-!.~fti,wt P~e,~ 9_ntact, and narti.cul .a.rl,y when 

c .^rn=~ : t~~ t~o~.r confronting Black P~Tationa- 

'i,=m 

; ; .~ 

i~ th.e ,T . ,, both at the lev?ls .of 

; 1 ^, . ,., 

'~ , ~' 1~r~tnn, °x and Facis m in Ameri ca 

~? i~~ht clarification is in order r.ere ; 

ty, a ~ .~-h ~aritaliw~ i_s definitely not th.e 

cause of rac _sm, it ~nevertreless rt--ma.ins tree 

that on? of the primary conditions for racism's 

unrootinu~ lies in the d~_at- h of capitalism at 

the international level . Space prohibits a 

d~tail_ed examination of tt~it problem here, 

v,~hich mast be dealt'w~ith separately . 

4) Hernton, pe7 

5} Ibid ., p .39 

6) ~rantz Fanon, Peau noire masques blancs (Daris, 

1952) p .l4g, Editions du Seuil 

7) hoc . cit . 

8) Hernton, p .73 

9) Ibid ., p .78 

10) Ibid>, p .40 

Ibid . , p .37 

12) Fanon, p .76 

Hernton, p .72 

Ibid ., p,168 

Kenn Pfl . Freeman, "The Colonized of North America," 

SC!UI~!?OOK. 4 (Rarkeley, 1965) p "311:-12

JOZN 

8~.~CK P~~~'~fER P~RT~

j 

ponder 

a Òf~f~4~0 

~~ ~~m tray,futions tiny cmnl;rlp ;- 

1Vig$CIILZNITY 

This is a topic fln which I have 

been wanting to begin a discussion 

for sometime . It is a product of 

experience that lingers from my 

own past, namely, spending a 

great deal of my life in what 

might be described as a 

"Black Ghetto" . Further , I 

would hope that some objective 

research be made in~o this

I22 

particular subject. 

The experiences that I am about to relate deal , I feel , with the 

problem of Identi~ in a particular Black Ghetto that had its beginnings . 

after world War I1 in Albany , California . The setting was a housing 

project in this area called Cordonieces Village; ironically, the same 

area is now called University Village and is the setting of housing for 

University of California student personel and their families . 

In particular the related experience is concerned with the problem 

of identify of a particular group of gams in this `Ghetto" community . 

Further, there is emphasis upon the "`role playing" of i~iividuals . 

in this particular "gaagland't * xarting this ambivalence and uncertainty 

in assumed role playing. I feel, in a basic and primal sense , to the 

assertion of individuals of their 'Fm a scu 1 i-n e" identity . - 

When I use the description 'masculine' , I do not mean it in any 

universal sense but it is used archetypallp (as a model-mod) in relation 

to a conception of the "Black Ghetto" and in particular, this 'Ghetto' 

situation as having "m a tr i ar ch i a l " character , thualn~ - 

allowing (probably for reasons psychological as well as economic) 

young men, in many instances, to identify themselves in a 'masculine' 

role . Further, this 'matriarchy ' , so far as my own experiences 

are concerned, (I will not refer to any literature on the "matriarchial 

structure of the Black family", which I believe could be quite misleading), 

represents in this sense probably a matriarch -bY-default' ; 

that is, in this Cordonices community (if one could call it -hat) and 

the family in which I lived, a great many of the families were without 

fathers . since these were poor Black communities, if the father 

was present, eiiher because of Iack of skills and education or because 

of 'racial prejudice' he was oft-times withou~ a~job . As a result, This 

father might spend, as was of}~.en the case in my own 'community', a 

great deal of time drinking, gambling , or giving the appearance of 

laziness . Under such conditions it was quite difficult for such a father 

to command respect from his wife and subsequently , from his children . 

In a real sense, then _responsibility, (both moral and economic) 

rested with the mother-of-the-house . I ca.n remember quite distinctly 

in my own community (a housing project in Alameda * California) 

hearing women talking about "how ro-good my oldman is" and how

She was "definitely going to raise my children to not be like their 

father" . In fact, I can remember my own reactions to my father for 

many years , who in many ways , managed to provide for my father for 

far more diligently than most in our neighborhood . In spite of this, I 

saw him during this time, as of much lower character than my mother 

. Possibly, this was because he did 'go out and have a drink' 

every now and then and found himself away from home for a great 

deal of the time . It was only when I approached adulthood that I discovered 

that my father 'in his absence,' had been working two eighthour-a-day 

jobs for something like five years . What becomes clear 

to me now is that I had most probably evaluated my father (through 

no urgings of my mother) in light of the prevailing roles (real or unreal 

assigned to a male (i .e . father) in the community , namely as 

'no-good and lazy .' I would assume also that many fathers, in spite 

of the poverty conditions and difficulty of obtaining' jobs, found themselves 

'content' at living up to their 'role expectations .' Further, 

and on the other hand, I am quite sure that many women (or mothers) 

found a measure of 'contentment' in playing the expected role of both 

mother and father . Today my respect for my father is quite complete 

with respect to h_is manhood . 

The 'Cordonices Village' experiencQ probably throws some light 

on the effect upon identity of male off-spring in such a 'Ghetto' situation 

. ~ The experience here related was told to me by a friend not 

too long ago in the course of a visit one evening to my home . Both 

of us during the evening began to reminisce about our childhood experiences 

. After a while my friend began to talk of his r~ollections 

as the younger brother of members of a gang in the 'Village .' 1V.~ost 

of what he said was very much 'news' to me for I had not lived there 

but had only heard of 'how bad the boys were in Cordinices Village .' 

Further , it became quite evident that this ' Village' community did 

have families quite similar in 'disintegration' as in my own community 

; yet, in contrast to mine the 'Village' possessed a number, for 

some reason, of very well organized gangs . 

Organization, as described by my friend, meant that the gangs 

consisted of a large membership (some 30-40 boys in their middle 

teens *), a code of behavior among members and between other . 

gangs , and a leader , who because of his leadership qualities , held 

rather absolute control over his following, yet he was 'integral' with

gangs , and a leader, who because of his leadership qualities , held 

rather absolute control over his following, yet he was 'integral' with 

the needs of his following. The gangs, then, if I am interpreting my 

friend correctly, tended to Fact' as a social unit . In fact, it is almost 

as though the monolithic aspect of these gangs was an enactment, in 

the rather 'contrived' and 'disintegrated' situation of a Black Ghetto, 

of a highly organized pat~ern of social interaction ; virtually, there

was the creation of a thorough-gpiag societal frame~~ork_ 

What seemed clear to both mg friend a~ mgself is that in This 

'societal' frame-work each individual had a rather precise definition 

of the role that he was to plag . In emphasizing the 'maaculfne~ cha 

raeter of these gangs * a part of the excepted code was that a paxticular 

girl ar gyp of girls, far example ; 'belon ' (in a ~rssessive 

sense} to either one gang ar~ the other . Ironicallg, the place of a 

chic in this ~saciety' bore na resemblance to the ~matriarchial~ mother 

in the village societg ; in kgangla~` it was esserrtiallg the bags 

who 'ran the shove .' 

In this gangland 'society' probably 'ma.sculir~' or aggressive activity 

in the sense that I defined te~led to take rather extreme manifestations, 

to say the Ieast. If might well be the case, as my 

fr et related, that if one member (or a group o¬ members} of one 

gang at~acked or, say, humiliated ore member (or members) of 

another gang, then it was the obligation of the latter to 'take revenge;` 

sometimes a gang-fight would ensue, mast likely resulting 

in someone hurt badly and oft-times, someone killed . At other 

times it would be the obligation of the garb leader , = in order to prove 

his leadership qualities, either to take sonic personal revenge or arrange 

(for the good of his following if he felt too much of a sense of 

danger) some sort of peaceful settlement . 

The gang leader, as stated by my friend, generally had some rather 

dynamic_ , not to mention bizarre qualities . Tn many ways he 

epitomized the manl~ or ' ma s cu 1 i ne' aspirations of the 

which he led; in fact, my focus is really on him for this reason . 

As a 'gangland' leader, he possessed qualities which could only be 

described (even in the outside world} as c r e a t i v e . For example , 

my friend told me of one leader . .' whom he knew, who had developed 

a proficiency at the construction of bows and arrows (both of 

which he hand-crafted with great efficiency} . Along with this , the 

gang leader possessed a certain amount of 'Pomp aril Circumstance' 

indicating ch a r i s m a that went along with his high office . Continuing 

with the previous example, my friend commented that this 

leader who made the bows and arrows would make it his practice , 

when showing up (as representative of his gang} at dances to precede 

his entrance into the dance hall with the shooting of a 'flaming 

arrow' into the middle of the dance-floor, consequently creating an

aura of fear and respect connected with the presences of his gang and himself 

as an individual . 

A third quality of the gang leader was, according to my friend, that he had 

to constantly prove himself 'as being f e ar1e s s and b r ave . In the case of 

this 'tillage' , being fearless and brave meant that he had to k i 11 . ' ;:his as - 

pect of the leader astonished me the most for it was related to me that many 

of these leaders would kill another boy (or a man, inside or out) at the slight 

est provocation . In fact, my friend said, many leaders (many of whom are 

st ill walking around Northern California today) have been known to have 

killed from 10 -15 : people . Further , many lower level (rank and file) g~ 

members in imitation andcompetition~f their leadership (and thus, of their 

role expectations) have killed also . Ix is interesting to note that if tY~ese 

rank a nd f i 1a members were t skillful in their killing gerrerall~¬ they 

were caught and went to prison ; if they were skillful or successful, h er, 

they tended to progress up the ladder' possibly to challenge the leadership . 

It is significant, at this point to re-emphasize how much the gangla~ society 

contrasted with the 'Village' ghetto of the parents of the individual 

members of the gangland . In the ghetto society as a whole,_ it seems obvious 

that the authority of the father was rather tenuous ; his identity appeared 

to be supplanted by that of his wife ; this supplantation most clearly 

occurred when the family did not possess a father . On the other hand, in 

the gangland society, in a rather perverse way the masculine archetype 

was being enacted by the male himself in term of the gangland social strueture 

and hierarchy; it is almost as though a social evil (i . e . . the family dis 

memberment, expressed in a loss of masculine identity) was being corrected 

or rather compensated for by the only means (though limited) available 

to these Black ,youth, namely , the construction of t heir own societal framE 

work . 

In conclusion, and as a final possible substantiation of the function served 

by the gangland society to supplant a lost sense of masculine identity, my 

friend related a most astonishing appect of this situation . He told'me that 

after the Cordonices Village Black Ghetio had been 'broken up' in the mid- 

1954's after city 'Urban Renewal'pressure and the families were dispersed 

to all parts of the Bay Area most of .he gangleaders that he knew -those 

who had escaped jail -- had now become hom v s e xua 1 s . 

l~.s

I would , however , find it difficult to make sweeping generalizations 

about connections universally about gangleaders and gangland and homosexuality 

; however, it does seem valid that in this particular 'ghetto' 

situation, gangland society did provide and 'outlet' far the formation of 

a masculine identity . On the other hand, when the gangs were forced 

to break-up , I wonder what could fill the v o id o f i d ent i ty left by 

the lost of such an intense and integrated social structure .

F00'1'N0T'~S 

1, Charms ~ La 'i'ythie 

2 . Le lan~are et 1'a~ressivite 

3 " 

4 . "Je suis i~~atU.ni~'uais ~ c' est la pemie foil due 

je viens en rance ." 

5 . 

Leon-G, mamas tio ~ue t ( ~' i g.nent s ) 

6, "Garc,:m! un ve de bie ." 

U, 

~~~Je mean by this rem~.r'r that blac'cs who return 

to their families give the impression of having 

completed a cycle s of having something added to 

them z.ihich for~r~erly ti~ras missing . They return 

literally "complete ." 

~~ime Oesaire, C ;~hier d'LU~. returr au pays na tal 

(fresence ~~~fric~~.i_ne 

Ibid. .~ p .3o 

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a 

a ~As t~swi 

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~o 

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.~ ~~ Boug~loo 

',~ 

t °e ~ b 

``-' '~~ Sdmori 

~uMUMew 

nest Turner 

~f,~~ 

~~~ 

,~, ~~~~, ~t~ 

COLTRANE~ 

re~ectt~i~ 

~ 

V ~rr ~ ~0 

,~r 

a solitary man imprisoned in white 

a solitary man who defies the white cries of 

white death 

TOUSSAINT 'rOliSSAINT LOUVr:rtTUR~ 

He i:~ a map who bewitches the vrhite hawk of 

white death 

:-~e is, a man alone in the sterile :_e~~ of ~-rhite sang 

uv ~Ime Ce: :ire 

s . 

~ : 

NOMMQ

to you 

who almost 

turned me Qn 

yeah . 

my man 

got no place else 

to go . have to turn 

into myself . 

child 

like am i my man . 

i believe in fairy tales 

(tales 

told by fairy men) 

slow 

fabricated 

stories 

that 

scare . 

like . today . 

full 

of yesterday's hide and 

seek shadows , i sucked 

a strange mouth out of 

control . but . 

strangers 

are rainbow colored and 

i am color-blind . 

sonia sanchez

i have been a 

way so long . 

once after college 

i returned tourist 

style to watch all 

the riil;gers killing - 

thenlse:wes with 

3 fob oners 

with 

needles 

that 

could 

not 

suppoo~t 

their 

stutters 

now woman i 

have returued 

leaving'Jbehind me 

all those hide and 

seek faces peeling 

with freudian dreams 

this is for real . 

niggers . 

baby . 

i have' learned it 

ain!t like they say 

in the ~lewspapers . 

homecoming 

black . 

m y beauty . 

sonia sanchez

to a jealous cat 

my man . 

don't try none 

of your jealous shit 

with me . don't you 

know where you're 

at? 

no one never told 

you that jealousy's 

a form of homo 

sexual (ty ? 

in other 

words my man 

you're faggot bound 

when you imagine 

me going in and 

out some other cat . 

yeah . 

my man . 

you ain't the man 

we thought . 

sonia sanchez

GOD'N HIS SHIT 

Hold evuh thang Jesus,Lawd, God 

Or who de hell evuh you says you is, 

Time you'n me had uh lit'1 talk 

Bout de shit yous ben hannin us al .dees years ! 

Now al dis time we's ben catch'n hell, 

We wus shout'n, sing'n and pray'n tuh you . 

We kissed charlies ass , ~ ead qo bible, 

Did evuh thang else you told us tuh do . 

You talk a hol'lotta shit bout what you dun dun, 

how you went down'n Egypt and raised Cain ; 

But whennit Gums rat down to de real nity grity . 

You aint dun uh godd?mn thang! 

While yous off sum whare rid'n uh cloud 

Our ass is down here on de back uh de bus . 

You lef Ovoid tuh ask'n hit wud be giv'un, 

Who'n de hell dun mo ask'n dan us ? 

You said dat vengence wus yos, 

Dat al de powuh wus in yo hans ; 

Yet my ass ben kicked uh thousun times 

And you aint dun shit tuh de white man ! 

Ben sit'n on my ass uh hundrud years, 

wait'n tuh see whut ,you wus gonna do . 

But I dun gnt hip tuh al yo shit 

Now my sit'n and waint'n is thru !

Gonna stop g'in yo preacher my money 

tuh help de white man run my life . 

Gonna fern bout Africa, Malcolm and Marx, 

And makit back'n de pad wid my wife . 

Gonna sell my bible and byy me uh gun 

Den I'll git my freedum dis very day : 

I'll shoot white crackers, black house niggers, 

And yo ass too god if you git in de way! 

major canter wright

leopard deadwyler : before the revolution 

so the city will hear 

the cityscry 

the cityspain 

the. cityswail of agony 

only a city knows--- 

ADW they tattled 

and hounded the buick down 

the broken boulevard 

the woman's sharp cry 

the woman's pain 

the wail of agony only a woman knows 

between swerves and lurches 

rails and curbs the game flew 

boyscout-with-a-gun game 

chasing-blackman-and-wife game 

ADW rattled 

thru the shitstrewn yard of the city 

a sudden screech a brite white blast 

then the rush of singed-blood 

the smell of angry blood 

the fumes of failing gasps 

blackdeath tasting blackdeath 

cops a~ robbers 

calling all ears 

to fulfill another mania 

among the ten thousand drilling 

motorcycl ed manias 

guarding wretchedpeace 

ten thousand big 

blue boyscauts excreting ten thousand gungames 

126

ts~v~~t:.,sozie ~r~E~.n blindness 

a~-, .t, c~one -,~itlz m~?-r~ier 

t:~ -at :~on.~~ v,I~ ~ ~ 3~eastness 

to plc_,t tYais black :tz-~;~n's breath past 

ten ir:;ausand 1 :cttir~g out this 

bla~~~k,YZarz's 1~reath ~i~cc it was a dirty 

word miasr_iic ~- : -, g~ Lhousand big 

blue boyscouts his::? : ;-.; '`hey 

niggergitfucked ni4.

Black Bourgeoi$ min 

A PROFILE 

,Wear a fifty dollar hat on a ten cent head 

Go to work in a 

All white $rm. 

Ffe pioneer . 

Walt to wall carpet, big~desk, 

Big black cigar 

'tween his pearly whs~te teeth- 

Fi re on one end , 

Fool on the other- 

lie asset to firm ! 

White man give him- speech , 

_ f 

For to read on television, 

~e spy, "progr ess just around corner, 

You all get ready, 

hook at me,"` he say .

He a leader . 

He go home to 40 thousand dollar mortgage ; 

Wife she high society, 

Also high yaller . 

Her great great great great grandfather wan gov'iwr of state . 

She having a club meetia gBlack bourgeois man 

go to look at self on t,v. 

I~ ~t m rn:ts ; 

Left one is de~c drawer, 

Wife got other one in pouch 

~txeen her legs . ~ keep sharp scalpel 

On top of her head 

tinder her store~oug3tt btir- 

Black bourgeb~is matt 

Hewed : 

Tbey go abroad every year, 

to lbranm Gana~ ;' 

TLey world trave~n . 

He a handpicked >,i~ 

He respomible , Re a credit ~ his race 

babb 1s~31taa

I just wrote 

My son a letter , 

Told him to pay you no mind- 

You live in that 

Piss-puddle _ 

That the whites folks 

Told you to call , 

"The Mainstream" 

I saw your wife- 

And your mother 

Flopping and splashing 

About 

Like puppy-dogs 

With their bathing-caps on: 

They didn't want 

Them heads to get wet- 

Not even in the main stream . 

"Wh©opee ," they said , 

A LETTER TO BOY WLLKENS

"Sure is good to be in." 

Man, whats wrong with 

You folks , 

Caint ya'll taste 

All that salt? 

bobb llamilto~

AFRICA 

Muffled tom-toms 

Reverberate 

Through steaming swamps , 

Increasing in tempo, 

Till an ear-splitting 

Crescendo 

Shatters the evening air 

Of a land 

Where white fingers 

Are slowly slipping . 

Black hands 

Grip flailing drumsticks 

Tighter . . . 

willi~m r, la~mppa

FLIRTATION 

Against these two 

pillars and the evening 

sun stands the baobab 

as I stand 

between memory and desire 

AFRICA ! my memory the melody 

that lingers across the hovering 

womb of desire at dawn : AFRICA 

the bitter stench of absence 

AFRICA! the fragrance of rebirth 

K. William kg~3itsile

Word From the Right Wing 

President Johnson 

is a mass murderer, 

and his mother, 

was a mass murderer, 

and his wife - 

is wweird looking, a special breed 

of hawkbill cracker 

and his grandmother's 

weird dumb and dead 

taming in the s+ed earth - 

sick as dry blown soil 

and he probably steals 

bates magic 

and has no use 

for change, the changing, -and changed 

the weather plape ib gambling 

tune . His mother is s dead blue cloud . 

He has negroes work for him hate him , 

wish him under the bullets of kennedydeath 

BEN FIRE FR4~d THE BCHOOI: WIND~W3 

these projectiles kill his mother plagued 

by vulgar cancer, Rusting her dusty horoscope, 

witb®ut the love e~ sb'e thinks she needs, deadbitch, 

-Johnson's mother, walked all night holding hands 

with s nigger, and stroked that nigger's 

hard . H1ew him downtown newark 2918 . . .I got proof 

leroi hones

W.W. 

Back home the black women are all beautiful 

and the white ones fall back, cutoff from 1000 

years stacked booty, and Charles Of The Ritz 

where jooshladies turn Into billy burke in blueglass 

mocks ; With wings , and jingly bew-teeful things . 

the black women in Newark, are fine . Even with all that grease 

in their heads . I mean even the ones where the wigs 

slide around, and they coming at you 75degrees off course . 

I could talk to them . Bring them around . To something . 

`Some kind of quick course,on the sidewalk , like Hey baby 

why don't you take that thing off yo' haid . You like like 

Miss Muffett in a runaway ugly machine . I mean . Like that . 

2cro~ hones

When i was young Gnd small with ashy grey legs that had little rivulets 

of black where the pee had driped, i used to run head long into 

thin cutting places of 3ohnson grass, hiding from the greying sun, and 

the grass would rustle static and s1~i11 and ho4rse huffs of noise would 

limp from mY open lips, 2nd the grass would dab little slivers of pain 

into me, as the seeking v~ind parted the gras~es~ and 3abbed cold 

fingers up my nose end whispered youtre it . 

carol freemG.n

The drive of the ghetto petty~ourgeoisie for a Black controlled economy 

is a main dynamic of the most vocal, aggressive current within Black 

nationalism today - the Black Muslim movement, led by Elijah Muhammad . 

Profit and business, enterprise is one of the most important aspects of 

Muhammad's teaching . 1 

The Muslims, in the most vociferous and trenchant way, challenges 

the myth of integration . They articulate the bitterness and resentment 

of_the vast majority of Black Americans, placing the onus of moral 

depravity where it belongs ; on the white man's culture . 

The Black Muslims identify with the most - radical sections of the 

international struggle against colonialism . Their publication, 

Mu h amme d Sp e a k s , has given favourable and extensive coverage 

to the Cuban Revolution, the successes in eliminating racism from the 

islagd . The newspaper featured the message of support from Mao TseTung 

to the Afroamerican struggle under the heading, "First Big Power to Assail 

Racist Doctriae in America . " 2 It reports the activism of the most 

militant sections of the liberation movement, such as SNCC, and exposes 

the hypocrisy of the Federal Government .

The main base of the organization is among Black workers and youth, 

who make up the over whelming majority of its membership . 

~nTp to OV7~ of a typical congregation is between the ages of 

17 and 35 " 3 

The rigorously high moral standard of its personnel and membership ; 

its emphasis upon dignity, self-reliance, and race pride ; its defense and 

respect for the Black woman; its rehabilitation of thousands of demoralized 

victims of racist oppression, have won wide respect . . 

The movement's eloquent disaffection and rebellion against prescribed 

patterns of "Negro protest;" its violent rejection of the "American 

Creed," along with its social myths which have been used to keep the 

Black Liberation movement under wraps, has sent cold chills down the 

spines of the ruling elite of the United States . Their reaction in reflected 

in the capitalist press, and in the writings of liberal "friends" 

of the "Negro, " whose comments often verge on hysteria . A typical 

reaction to the Muslim's advocacy of self-defense is that of the Southern 

liberal, Harry S. Ashmore . 

"So long as violence is directed against Negro demonstrators, 

elemental standards of justice and Federal guns are automatically 

on their side (sicl) . Let Negroes initiate the attack, or 

even reply in kind, and the balance will shift -- and without 

this essential support s Negroes agalart will be a helpless minority 

in as aroused white community ." 4 

The ruling circles fear that even the formulation of the concept that 

Afroamericans constitute a nation in the United States, if attached to a 

realistic, strategic program, would basically upset the power balance 

within the country. The charamistic and messianic character of the 

Black Muslim leadership is typical of many national revolutionary 

movements among oppressed peoples. Examples abound fn history of 

such movements, utilizing a religioui3 vehicle, have played an 

objectively revolutionary role . One can cite the Mad Mehdi Revolt in 

the Sudan in the 1860's, the recent Mau Mau Rebellion in Kenya, etc . 

Despite the positive aspects of the Black Muslim movement, their 

ultimate political program calling for a segregated, exclusively 

controlled Black state within the U. S. A. is at best utopian, and escapist, 

13 8

139 

diversionray, and at worse, extremely dangerous. The Muslim 

leaders expect not only the acquiescence of the white rulers ¬or this 

project, but their material support as well . As Elijah Mohammed said 

"If they don't want us to mix with them in their equality, 

give us a place in America . Set it- aside . . .Give us three, four 

or more states . We have well earned whatever they give us ; 

if they give us 25 states, we will have earned then . Give 

us the same instruments that they had to start a civilization 

in that territory . Take care of us . Give us what we ask 

them for, for the next 20 or 25 years, until r:e are able to 

go for ourselves . Demand something. Don't demand a fob . 

Demand some earth . We have come to the point we must have a 

home on this earth that we can call our or~n . You pray for 

help to be sent to Africa . Money to help them be free from 

England and America . It is like a blind man praying for eyes 

for the other bli :zd man, that can't see and yet does not 

realize that he doesn't have any eyes . It is a shame . . ." 5 

It is clear that the Muslim leader conceives the projected Nation of 

Islam as a neo-colonial dependent of the dominant white power elite, and 

that with all their professed hatred of the wh i t e d e v i l s they are 

u n ab 1 e to transcend the idea of natural white overlordship . The 

Muslim plan is a dangerous caricature of nationhood, and a crass distortion 

of the important idea of Black political power . Their false doctrine 

of inherent racial conflict logically leads to this distortion of the concept 

of nation . They pessimistically write off the possibility of any white 

support for a Black nationalist revolutionary movement, ignoring the 

many examples in United States history of whites who have identified with 

and fought uncompromisingly for Black Liberation . They regard all whites 

as an undifferentiated mass : Robert E . Lee and John Brown ; Gov . Wallace 

and the murdered freedom riders, the KKK and the white freedom riders 

shiners - all are "white devils' : Their emphasis upon strict separation 

of the races, their rejection of support of all whites, is in itself 

a capitulation to the white racist doctrine of inherent racial antagonism . 

Objectively, this dogma lays the basis for practical agreement with the 

most rabid Negrophobes, the troglodities of the fascist right, the 

Birchites, the ~medrcan Nazi Party, the White Citizens Councils and 

the KKK. The racist, ultra-right has already acknowledged their unholy

Whiteney Young 

coppin' pleas 

Boy '~iilkins ;vetting 

his bone from L . 

Beast Johnson 

kinship with the Black Muslims . (The American Nazi Party's endorsement 

of Muslim separatism . Also, approval by Birchites . Please 

document) 6 

This tendency towards practical agreement with the most implacable 

enemies of the oppressed people is an inevitable danger and acharacteristic 

feature of zionist type nationalist movements, which have projected a 

solution through exodus of the oppressed from the land of bondage . The 

Garvey predecessor of the Muslim movements sharply illustrates this 

point . In 1924, we find Garvey seeking support for his back to Africa 

program from Col. Simmons of the KKK, whom he visited and invited 

to speak at the UNIA(Universial Negro Improvement Association) 

Convention . Garvey also publicly praised the KKK. 7 We also negotiated 

with various Souther senators and congressmen for cooperation . According 

14 0

to W . E. B . DuBois, the clan issued circulars defending Garvey and 

declaring that opposition to him was from the Catholic Church . 8 

Characteristically, in 1938, Sen. Bilbo of Mississippi introduced a bill 

to deport 13 million Black People to Africa, and received the support of 

remnantsof the Garvey movement . 9 

The pattern of enlisting the support of the enemy was set by 

Theodore Hertzl, father of Jewish Zionism in Tzarist Russia, who evolved 

a plan for the Jews to give up the struggle for equal citizenship rights in 

return for the support by the Tzarist Black Hundreds and reactionary 

Ukranian . nationalists for his scheme for a Jewish homeland in Palestine . 

Another negative aspect of the Muslim program which also flows from 

their principle of racial separation is the tendency to abandon the struggle 

for Black Power in the communities where they reside, which in effect 

mean pessimistic abandonment of positions already won . 

REVOLUTIONARIE POTENTIALITIES 

OF THE GHETTO BOURGEOISIE 

While it is true that the ghetto bourgeoisie , including the Muslims, 

are incapable of 1 e a d i ng a revolutionary struggle for Black Power, it 

would be a mistake to equate them with the top assimilationist stratum . 

The latter, as a stratum, has no revolutionary potential ; whereas the 

ghetto bourgeoisie, when it sees a storng national revolutionary movement 

with a realistic program, is perfectly capable of throwing its weight 

as a stratum behind such a movement . This is confirmed by the 

experiences of the 193 0's . 

The Muslim's long-range program for deportation ar transportation 

of Black People from where they reside is necessarily utopian and 

unrealistic . But even if it could be put into effect it would involve 

serious economic losses to their own stratum . We can cite the example 

of South Africa, where small business and professional people were 

forcibly removed from their homes, businesses, and long built up 

clientele when the areas in which they reside were declared for white , 

occupancy only, and they were forcibly removed to overcrowded barren, 

poverty-stricken areas . They are only allowed to leave these reservation 

when they are needed for labor by the whites, and 9 hen they are 

no longer needed, are forced back onto the reservation .

142 

This is euphemistically called "Bantu 

Self-Government,"and this is precisely the 

type of Black state which we can anticipate in 

the U. S: A. organized with the ardent support 

of the Southern Oligarchy and their ultra-right 

allies if the Muslim program were put into effect . 

Instead of a~hieving B la ck P owe r , :it 

would reduce Afroamericans to a condition 

worse than slavery . These dangers in t1~eMtfslim 

political program must be emphasized by the 

revolutionary forces, both for the sakeof 

clarification within their own ranks, arxt in 

order for them to exert influence on the Muslims 

to alter their program in the direction of flglvti~ 

for Black political power in the areas in which they actually reside, white 

fighting for the maintenaee and advancement of all rights for Black 

Americans. At the same time, the revolutionary forces shnulcl seep 

unity of action with the Muslims on immecliate issues confronting Black 

people . 

From the above, it is evident that netiher the assimilationist nor the 

ghetto nationalist section of the bourgeoisie can lead the type of movement 

necessary far Black liberation . As we have seen, the dominant charac 

teristic of the bourgeois-assimilationist leadership is that every in the 

process of opposition, they not only vaciliate , but constantly seeks 

compromise with the oppressors, to arrive at new agreements based not 

on the interests of the masses, but to favor special interests of their own 

stratum and enhance their own prestige among the masses . The Muslims 

only offer disengagement, a retreat from positions already won, withdrawal 

into fan t a s i e s of Black Power, substituting nationalistic 

symbols in place of struggle for real power. Clearly, the I e.a der s h i p 

must fall to more radical social forces . 

One cannot gloss over the difference between the position of 

Afroamericans in the United States and tine oppressed peoples in the 

colonial and semi-colonial world without doing violence to U . S. realities . 

In the colonial world, the choice of political separation or independence 

is clear, viable, and the sine qua non for freedonn . But the Black minority 

in the U. S. camtot choose racial separation without abandoning the struggle 

for defense and extension of Blaci~ r1gI1tS \v1tIn11n the country . This hurdle

143 

is a rock on which all Black movements which have adopted strict 

racial separation as a principle, have and inevitably must founder . 

The two trends in the Black Liberation movement, the integrationist 

and the separatist trend, are developing side by side . Neither offers 

a viable solution to the "Negro Question" . But both contain eleements 

of truth. The integrationist trend arises from the need of the masses 

to win full citizenship rights and to combat racial . discrimination .. The 

separatist trend arises from the neec¬ of the Black masses to eansolidate 

their strength as a people with aut on om ous euNase, values, and 

economic and political strength . The problem is ~ ax~ve at a 

r e v o 1ut i onary s ynth e s i s of the best eleme~s in both trends . 

The present situation urgently raises t~ question of the revival of 

a THIRD TREND, a revolutionary trend, based upon the most disprivileged 

sections of the Black population, the' vast majority ; the workers 

and the depressed and land hungry agricultural population in the South, 

the small bourgeoisie and semi proletarian elements of the urban ghettoes : 

a trend reflecting the basic interests of those masses, their life needs, 

aspirations, their fighting determination to achieve freedom and human 

dignity. Already the nucleus of its potential leading cadre is forming 

among Black indusrtial workers in the trade unions, the radical section 

of the petty-bourgeoisie intelligentsia, the youth on the campuses and in 

the urban ghettoes, and among tl~ left forces in the existing bourgeoisieled 

organizations and the socialist-oriented left . They are already 

discussing programs for the next stage, the national revolutionary stage 

in the movement which will mark its passage from the narrow and 

limited goals set by the incumbent bourgeois leadership of the civil 

rights and ghetto nationalist movements. 

True, the third trend is only in its nascent stage . Its voice is still 

weak, its elements are still scattered and lack the cohesion of a unified 

force . Nevertheless, the fact remains that alI the objective prerequisites 

for its resurgence are at hand . Assistance in the organization and 

building of this revolutionary third trend should become a major prospect 

of the socialist-oriented left .

FOOTNOT_~5 

l, Essien-Udom~ op,cit,~261 

2, Nluhammad Speaks 8/30/63 

3 . C, Eric Lincoln 8/30/63 

v 

~+ . Look I~iagazine, summer y 1963 . 

5 . Essien-Udom~ op .cit,~260, 

6, (lease document 

7, The Liberator s New Yor'~,Oct .1924 . 

8, The Century New York~Feb .lg23 

g, Congressional Records ray 24, 1938 

10, Outlook s VI A 6 Sydney~Australia(Dec,1962) 

AS "t~È GO TO PRL,~~S 

CONI~~RY, GUIivTEA -.- Between Sept .l and I~1ov .2B, 345 

Portuguese soldiers were liquidated in encounters 

with combatants of the P :=LIGC ( .tLfrican Independence 

Party of Guinea and Cape Verde Islands) according 

to figures released to Soulbook by PAIGC offices here, 

The dispatch :n~~de the point that principal operations 

taken occurred in regions situated to the north of 

the Jebba River ? .with the combined participation of 

both guerilla military detachments and the Liberation 

Army, As a result of these oper~:tions~ g military 

trucks of the colonialists were destroyed 3 a radio 

station was put out of commission s as well as were 

two electrical plants . Sou,lboo'~c has also learned 

that a Portuguese warplane wa.s shot down and an arms 

supply seized by our Guinean brothers in the,Empada 

region during this same period . DO IT, DO ITS 

144

SROTHERB 

145 

P O BOX 6161 

~-LMHU RST SCAT 1ON 

OAKLA ND, CAL IF . 

don't join

PROBZ.EMS 

b cedric little 

y 

This was the position paper 

of the steering committee of 

the conference on Black Power 

and art, held in San Francisco 

in September, 1966 . It (This 

paper) was subsequently adopted 

as the manifesto of the Black 

Panther Party of Northern 

California . 

146

147 

THE SITUATION TODAY 

INTRODUCTION 

Brothers and Sisters, we have come together out of a shared experience 

of race oppression . We have come together out of a need to discuss the 

loeal~ regional, and national aspects of our oppressed condition . And we 

have come together out of a shared desire to find a means of struggle that 

will truly liberate us. . 

Our past experiences have confirmed the fact that American "democracy s ' 

means race hatred and expleaitation Qf our people . ~fe well realize that we 

are living in a hypocritical country ; it preaches freedom, yet practices 

slavery ; it preaches equality, yet practices "discriminations' (race oppression); 

it preaches Justice, yet practices injustice . Freedom, equality, and 

justice are a mockery to our very exietence here in racist America . 

Black people have learned from their past struggles . Expdrience has 

shown that the "integrat onists' movement (assimiliation, civil rights, etc . ) 

has not been in the best interests of Black People, and have run counter 

to our collective experience . At exactly the time when Black People 

should be concerned with providing for our own defense and survival, the 

integrationist tells us to l o v e a people who have consistently p r oven 

to be our enemies . Our homes and charges go unguarded and ou r 

families undefended . These integrationists have sold out our cause and 

our people because they have set Black People up to be wasted by the 

enemy . Because we Black People are no longer fooled by these Uncle Tom 

integrationists , we have raised the cry of B ~ a ck P o we r ! We have set 

upon a search to find ways of struggle that are more in keeping with 

the way we are as a people and the objective conditions surrounding us . 

BACKGROUND 

A SHORT HISTORY OF OUR STRUGGLE 

A look at our past history might help to clarify many issues involved 

in our current struggle, The history of our people has been a long

and souI fu I one. It began in Afr iea . Our BIaek ancestors 

developed cultures and civilizations that today far surpass the western 

world far their emphasis on the humanity of man to man, and its emphasis 

upon art as being an essential part of everday living . In fact, Greece" 

"borrowed" from these civil~zatiox~s ancient Kusl'~, Ethiopia, arxl Egjzj#t) 

much of what became the basis for their religion, agricultzzuee, geometry, 

aIK~ S~ul~pturE . 

DEUring the 'middle ages, F~ three Vid'est African cultures arose. The 

ancient African empire of Ghana reached its peak at a time when Europe 

was gang through the °'Dark Ages . " The empire of Mali arose during 

the 23th century . Its fam~s cities of Djenne and Timbuktu were centers 

of trade and thought . The empire of Songhay in the 25th century coffered 

an area I ar g er than the United States . 

MODERN TIMES AND THE 

BEGINNING OF THE STRUGGLE 

But then carne the slave trade and slavery . The slave trade resulted 

from the "discovery" of the New World, which created a demand for cheap 

and plentiful Iabor to work it . The basis of this slavery was founded upon 

racial inferiority . As the Iie went, Black People were heathens and thus 

were fit subjects to be " ~ h r i s t i a n i z ed " and use as free labor. This 

racism was made the foundation for the West's industrial development, 

because due to the slave labor of Blacks, Western civilization was able 

to develop its low-overhead economy . 

Thus, Western civilization from its modern beginnings was based 

upon the exploitation of Black people for its advancement . Every advance 

by the white world has meant that the Black World has been pushed 

further into the dirt . 

OPPRESSTON AT WORK 

To white society, slavery meant gain . To the Africans, it meant that , 

our culture was . taken from us ; our roots were destroyed; our whole way 

of life was manipulated to the advantage of the slavemaster. 

The slavemaster tried to tale our African heritage away from us and 

to replace it with a culture and way of life that was completely alien to 

our very mature . We were Christianized; that is, told to obey and submit

149 

to the slavemaster . Our main means of communication, the drum, was 

taken from us because it could be used to call Black slaves to a national 

revolt . In an attempt to enslave Blacks completely, the symbols of our 

culture were systematically taken from us r destroyed, and substituted 

with things acceptable tc> the white slavemaster . 

SLAVE REVOLTS 

The majority did not accept their enfor~e+ed slavery . "Their naticmal 

consciousness was high . They k~w who the enemy was and e~rhat had 

to be done to take tl~ir freedom . kfLrberty or DeathE~F was a declara 

tion very real to them . They fought op~ressian on every level . Some 

Black mothers killed their newborn Flies rather than have tlsem grow 

up in slavery ; some killed themselves ; and others revolted . Dt~ing the 

period of slavery, there was a slave revolt or rumor of one every two 

weeks . The names of Gahriel Prosser, ~enmarlZ Vessey, and Toussai~ 

L"fk~.verture were feared among the white slavetnasters as being the model 

of Black Men in general. 

It was the knowledge of the g7rowing national consciousness among 

Blacks that had a great deal to do with the coming of the Civil War . The 

Slavemasters realized that it was just a matter of time before the slaves 

and slave revolts would hook up nationally (which Blacks, in fact, were 

already doing) . 

THE CIVIL WAR AND 

RECONSTRUCTION 

The war came and we were systematically excluded by bath sides 

until we were needed . Then we were promised 40 acres and a mule by 

the Union to fight our salvemasters . 

Then came Reconstruction, and the biggest sellout in history . In order 

to win the presidential election of 1876 (Tilden-Hayes), white Northern 

liberals abandoned the reconstruction of southern society for a few 

electoral votes . It was after this day that the South began to degrade, 

humilate, and exterminate Black People with the s a n c t i on of the 

national government, until we began to believe that it was always like this .

THE GARVERY MOVEMENT 

Black America was asked again to fight "to make the world safe for 

democracy'' during the First World Wart, and the crack Black troops were 

more often than not the best on the battlefield . The Black Man came back 

at the end of the war expecting freedom as a reward for our valour, but 

facing inteead a 'Red Summer" that saw 26 race riots in American 

cities from June to December . Riots begun by whites in order to "put 

niggers back in their .places . " 

Our people, however, kept on pushing . As a result of the war, Blacks 

began more and more to migrate to the cities (a process which is continuing 

to this day) . The i cities were, mythically ~ the places where a n y one 

could make it "if he would only try . " 

At this time, Marcus Garvey arrived . He was a Black Man who 

realized that the salvation of Black People was only to be achieved through 

Black Unity. He knew the needs of Black People, and by satisfying those 

needs he built up the largest Black organization in the history of Black 

America. He had unerstood their basic national conscousness . 

But like all Black leaders who blow hard to their people and who 

understand their basic national consciousness, Garvey wash isolated from 

the Black community by a coalition of Uncle Toms, white liberals, and 

so-called radicals . The Justice Department exiled him, and he died 

in 1940 unable to return to our people . 

THE PRESENT STAGE OF THE STRUGGLE 

El Haji Malik Shabazz (Malcom X) was, like Garvey, a threat of 

destruction to the~tt white power structure . He was dangerous because 

he correctly saw the postion of Black People in America, and could 

convey this message to the people . Because of this, he was assasinated 

by black hands with white minds and white money . Malcolm recognized 

that Black People have had our cultural roots destroyed. We wexe cut 

off completely from what we have been . Because of this, we have 

developed a lack of self-confidence . This is just another result of the 

marks of oppression that our people have been forced to suffer . 

It is out of this historical perspective that SNCC made their decision 

to bar whites from their organization . SNCC's paper on Black 

Consciousness is another advance in the struggle because it reaffirms 

150

Black People's national consciousness and their determination to 

decide for themselves upon the events that directly influence us . , 

OUR RESOLVE TO RENEW THE STRUGGLE 

IN THE TRADITION OF BLACK PE OPLE 

WHAT WE GAIL FRONT 

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 

Thus, we come to the present. As we must hegira to chart a course of 

action to return to the glorious day of our Black p ast, we can draw from 

our past experience and develop a guide to action . in the coming struggle : 

1 . We Black People are in search of our collective selffdentity . As 

a nation enslaved, our culture was taken from us lay tl~e slavemasters . 

Now, we are in search of ourselves . Out of the struggle for liberation 

will come that self . 

2 . We Black People will not fight in another white, racist war . Learning 

from our past experience in white wear, we realize that this time we must 

fight for ourselves, in defense of ourselves . 

3 . We Black People will no longer accept leadership from Uncle Tom 

sellouts, or white liberal "friends" We have learned from past struggles 

(Garvey, Malcolm ; etc . ) that our friends are those who support our cry 

for B 1 a ck Pow e r out of a firm commitment to our people and to 

what we stand for . 

4 . We Black People have come to an awarness through struggle that we 

must struggle for liberation - and the essence of liberation is B I ack P owe r 

We Black People realize that we are an oppressed people, therefore we 

must fight for our very s urvi v a 1 in racist America. We are being 

trapped in the cities with no jobs, poor housing and education and in a 

hostile ring of whites . 

5 . We Black People realize that we have something in common with 

the majority of the world's peoples" we are all-nonwhite and we are a 11 

oppressed by white . 

DEDICATION 

Brothers and Sisters, we are at a crucial stage in the struggle, and our 

actions must be decisive . Learning from our past struggles, we camiot fail . 

As Marcus Garvey said, "Up you mighty people, ,you may accomplish 

what you willl"

~FiA'f IS RiiYTHM? 

Rhythm uurites a soul brother, is the architecture of being, 

the inner dynamic that gives it form, the pure expression of 

the life force . Rhythm is the vibratory shock, the force 

which i through our sense, grips us at the root of our being . 

It is expressed through corporeal and sensual means ; through 

lines, . surfaces, colours, and volumes in architecture, sculptor~ 

or painting ; through accents in poetry and music, 

through movements in the dance . But, doing this, rhythm turns 

all these concrete things towards the light of the spirit. In 

the degree to ~rhich rhythm is sensuouslg embodied, it illuminates 

the spirit . 

Since man controls things through the imperative of the ward, 

rhythm is indispensable to the word : rhythm activates the word ; 

it is its procreative component . Only rhythm activates the 

word, that is gives its effective fullness . It is the word of 

God, . that is, the rhythmic word, that created the world . 

c~~Qo~(~ 

p o box 15187 bi -weekly 

son francisco, calif . 94115 10~ per copy

wf11i~ yr~~n 

153 

the world 

is the black man's lattd 

pa~f Z:poor Fw ~~ 

There is just one last area which I Wrill coar~er,~ a~ this coaeer~ 

the relationships between Afroamerica, ©tBer,netfa~ o~'tfie This 

World, and the United States . That the Boggg correctly eoosider`tBe 

relationship of Afroamerica to the US as being z case° of dQmea~tie 

colonialism, I have no doubt : 

"Like the colored peoples of the underdavelQped 

(ie, super-exploited) countries, AfroRmericans 

have been kept in a state of underemployment, 

doing tasks which are already technologically 

outmoded . " 22. 

In his article which appeared in B l ack Ame r i ca , James Boggs also 

But when they pose the following statement their entire analysis 

breaks down: "It is because labor is becoming more and 

more socially unnecPSSary in the United 

StatPS and another form of socially necessary 

adtivity must be put in its place that 

a revolution is the only solution . And its 

because Afro-Americans are the ones who have 

been made most expendable by the technological 

revolution that the revolution must be 

a black revolution ." 25 . 

This statement appears adequate enough on the surface, but here 

the Boggs have made -the error of equating the struggle for Black liberation.with 

a new type of social revolution, what_I have ca.lled.the '!Cybernetic 

Revolution" in pages to follow ; they are not the same struggle, 

nor do they have the same goals . But in order to understand fully 

here the position which the Boggs have taken it will be necessary to 

touch very lightly upon one of the elementary but basic laws- of Marxism 

economics which states that production .rela.tions must correspond to_the 

character of the productive forces . 26 This - law, and it is important to 

keep this in mind, reveals the economic basis of social revolution, 

Let us examine the functioning .of this law under two radically different 

economic periods, both of which assume capitalism as their basis ; one 

of these economic periods creates the basis for socialist revolution, 

the other has, during the past year, given rise to certain theories 

which claim that a basis has now been or is being created in the US 

for what I have called the - "Cybernetic Revolution" . The two economic 

periods which we will be examining will be those of capitalism before 

the introduction of cybernation (at least on a wide scale) into the means 

of production, and capitalism after their introduction . 

With an eye upon the most industrially advanced nation of his time, 

Great Britain, Karl Marx during the mid - 1800'x correctly pointed 

out the contradiction between the social character of labor and the 

private ownership of the means of production under capitalism . Though 

this particular contradiction has yet to be resolved within the economic 

systems of the advanced capitalist nations, though production relationx 

in these countries still fail to correspond to the character of the 

productive forces, there have never been socialist revolutions in the 

highly industrialized nations as Marx expected; we will concern our- 

154

155 

selves with the reasons why very shortly ( i might 

add here that we are not at all discovering any 

"new" principles, for as any third grader in the 

People's Republic of China will tell you, the 

answer to this last puzzle is ; imperialism ; but it 

is because of the deliberate distortion of this fact 

by bourgeois economists and other proponents of 

the status quo that we must emphasize this point 

again and again) . What we should understand. at . 

this point is that the failure of production relations 

to correspond to the character of the productive 

forces under "pre-cybernated" capitalism in the United States has led 

to the occurence of another, qualitatively different factor in the connection 

between these production relations and the character of the productive 

forces . What is the nature of this new factor and what were the 

conditions for its emergence ? We will also see here that these conditions 

are directly related to the failure of socialist revolutions . to materialize 

in the advanced capitalist countries . 

The basis for this new relationship corresponds to a level of productive 

forces that Marx thought could only reach attainment through socialism . 

But because of the arisal of imperialism and the means of production 

in the US have been able to develop through automation and cybernation 

to such a point that productive work ( in the Marxian sense) is becoming 

no l onee r _s o__c i_a_1_l~ nec e s_s_a_r~ . This has led to the introduc - 

tion of a new relationship side~y-side with the old, a qualitatively 

different type of non-correspondence between production relations and 

the character of the productive forces under US capitalism : 

i) t~roduction is of a sc:ci~il nature whereas th? 

means of production are privately owned ; this 

is the same unresolved contradiction which 

existed under ?TS carita.lism before the introduction 

of c,ybernatien 

ii) productive work is beceminr nc longer socially 

necessary yet the v.~orker's means cf 

existence is tied to a drainishin~ nurnbPr of 

jobs ; this is the new contradiction

156 

That the two contradictions can temporarily exist side~y -side 

under thesame economic system is due to -the fact that capitalism in 

the US, as a direct result of the eybneration process, is in the act of 

approaching, ,but has not as yet reached,, what might be termed a state of 

"economic limbo" by this I mean that under the present system it will 

soon prove unable to move either-backwards or forwards in its further 

introduction of cybernated equipment into US produ-dive facilities . 

For the present owners of the means of production are now challenged 

with the necessity of both having the introduce cybcrnated equipment at 

the greatest rate possbile in order to -maximize their economic growth 

rates (and meet competition in theer respective areas) and at the same 

time having a need of markets for thE~r-products, a contradiction when 

workers, because of a dwindling ability to purchase as a result of mass 

job elimination-brought about by automation, are no longer able~tabuy . 

Supposing now-that the second contradiction could be resolved without 

affecting the first it would then -mean that the state would have to furnish 

wages (or some form of monetary assistance) to the popat~.ation whether 

performed productive work or -not, and the source of these wages 

could only come from a portion of the surplus value accrued by the . 

owners of the means of production . No matter how this contradiction 

might be solved, there is the implication here that a total change in 

the nature of capitalism within the US would be required, that is, it 

would not be capitalism . anymore . And of course the solution to the 

first contradiction by making the means of production of a social 

nature would negate the economic ~~sis of capitalism :private ownership 

of the means of production . 

Recall that the first contradiction is the "raison d'etre" of - 

socialist Revolution . The arisal of the second contradiction, that a 

man's right to existence in the US is being tied to a diminishing number 

of jobs, has led to the proposal of a number of solutions, all of which 

have been formulated incorrectly. 28 

Among the first of these solutions to appear was included in the 

"now-famous document known as the Triple Revolution (which stated 

in so many words that the most importan reform needed in the US today 

was the abolishment of the in~ome~hrujobs-link) ." 29 The positive 

aspect of this document lay in the fact that it exposed the need for a 

close examination of present-day economic relationships withul'the US,

15T 

but the failure of the document to. propose_ any viable solutions, however, 

was . reflected in its; bourgeois nature and "prestigious" signatures 

with which it was accompanied . . As a consequence no mention, at all 

wa.s made vie-a.=vie, the question of privately vs : socially owned means 

of production (ie . refexence to the first contradiction mentioned above), 

and in lieu of a concrete solution the document could oonly end on a plea 

~~to Cowboy Johnson, imploring him to "do something : " 

A second of these solutions was advanced by a sector of the "Ofay 

- Left'! in the form of a reply_to The Triple Revolution document 

(discussion oftheir position_ is . not absolutely essential here ; Ihave given 

a thorough analysis of the Crowley's essay in my" A N e w Ideo1o gy 

for a ; New Agq ") . 

There is one last posi~iorto which we must address ; ourselves ; this 

is the solution which wa.s posed by the Boggs, one which_is tied up :with . 

the struggle for Black Liberation in the US ;.as well as ~the_rising conditions 

for the Cybernetic Revolution . Because so many words have interjected 

themselves from the time that theix erroneous statement was originally 

presented, I will state it here again nor purposes of convenience: _ 

"It is because labor is becoming more and more 

socially unnecessary in the United Mates and 

another form of socially necessary activity 

must be put in its place that a revolution is 

the only solution . And it is because Afro- 

Americans are the ones who have been made most 

expendable by the technological revolution that 

the revolution must be a black revolution . 30'. 

The failure of this statement is due to the following shortcomings 

i) it ignores the semi-colonial status of black 

people within the r~nited States and instead 

concentrates upon economic relationships " that 

production relations must correspond to the 

existing state of prdductive forces and that 

non-correspoddence between them prescribes 

social revolution for their amelioration 

ii) it ignores relation=hips between Black Amer- 

-ica and remaining countries of the "Third 

World" (ie, relationships between peoples who 

fighting against the same enemy)

How does the statement ignore the semi-colonial status of Black 

Americans First of all, the relationships between the two Americas, 

Black and White, have since the beginning of the Black man's appearance 

in the United States taken on concrete forms of colonial relationships 

which have been seen to appear between colonizers and colonized in other 

parts of the world . 31 When the Black liberation struggle is placed within 

the context of a Cybernetic Revolution (or socialist revolution for that 

matter), the entire Afroamerican quest for self-determination is reduced 

to a question of relationships between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat 

in the US, or to be more exact, between the bourgeoisie (owners of the 

means of production) and a s e c t i on of the proletariat ( the most 

oppressed strata of the society who in this particular case happen to be 

Afroamericans) . From this premise it falls upon the Black liberation 

movement to lead either the Cybernetic or the socialist revolutions, 

which I have stated previously are entirely different struggles, the fact 

of which will become more apparent during the course of this present 

essay . Suffice it to state here that the p r i n c ip 1 e contradiction 

between Afroamerica and White America's power 

structure is that of the colonized-colonizer relationsh3~ 

and n o t the worker-capitalist relationship 

. And in addition , this formulation, this 

blending together of the two movements is also 

dangerous because it leaves open the door for 

the proposition that some whites, because they, 

too, lack technical training and thus would be 

among the first to be affected by automation 

(and hence could be considered to be among the "most oppressed" of the 

society) , should be able to play 1 e a d er s h i p roles within the B la ck 

l ib e r a t i o n m ovemen t . This of course leads to a contradiction, since 

all White Americans, regardless of class affiliation, benefit in one wa.y or 

another form the US colonial (ie, racial) situation . Another manner in which 

the Black liberation movement differs from either Cybernetic Revolution or 

socialist revolution falls upon my second major point ; thus the relationship 

between Black America and other nations which comprise the Third World 

must be taken into account . This cannot be done subjectively by observing 

only the external characteristics of our present struggle and by remarking 

upon their similarities to the struggles of other nations : we must discover 

the inner logic which binds together worldwide liberation movements . 

158

15 9 

THE_ PROBLEM OF THE TV~NTIETH eE1VT~ElR~ IS TH-E PROBLEM 

OF THE DOLOR LINE 

~T. E . B . I3EtBois 

THE FIRST PRINCIPLE 

History is sordid with accounts of the enslavement, degradation, and 

dehumanization of colored races at the hands of whites for aver three 

hundred years ; peoples of African descent in particular have suffered 

the most from white oppression . As Bro . Mohammed Babu stated in his 

historic Harlem speech . 

"This (African-WG~ is the contient of the oppressed 

people and when they tell you about oppression they 

know what they mean . There is no other contient that 

has suffered the oppression that Africa hoe suffered ." 33 " 

And it is in understanding completely the internation ramifications of the 

oppression of all colored races that we can see why the Afroamerican 

revolutionary struggle must not be confused with other socialist or 

Cybernetic revolutions . 

Recall our previous discussion concerning the contradiction, or non - 

correspondence , between the production relations and the character of 

the productive forces under "pre-cybernated" capitalism ; let us examine 

in particular the contradiction between the social character of labor and 

the private ownership of the means of production . This belongs to the 

class of antagonistic contradictions since the overriding relationship between 

labor and the owners of the means of production is of an exploitative 

nature . Now with the division of the Black world (in its broadest sense) 

by the predatory white nations into "spheres of influence" came the 

enrichment of the white nations (the US and its NATO -thug allies) at the 

expense of the Black nations (Africa, Asia, Afro and South and Central 

America) . Thus it is important to realize, as one writer remarked, that 

development and underdevelopment are both sides of the same coin, in 

the same manner that one side of a balance goes uh because the other 

side goes down . Thus one group of nations «-as able to develop because 

they forced another `;r .n_tp ~~i nations to remain in a state of undcr-

development . This process of exploitation which began illegally through 

the colonization and enslavement of the colored races by the white races 

has, after nominal independence in many cases, taken on the outward 

appearance of "legality" and "respect" through the signing of commercial 

treaties between Black and white national (ie, between the black 

bourgeoisie and their white counterparts in the metropoles), "aid to 

underdeveloped nations" by "benevolent" imperialism, etc: , etc . ~ But 

as we have seen, the masses of black ., brown, and yellow peoples 

.throughout the world still remain in the same super-exploited condition 

as before, and the situation is growing progressively worse . 34 

What have been some of the results of the exploitation of two thirds 

of humanity (or all of humanity, if you subscribe to theories of "~demonoology" 

) by a handful of white nations ? With the surplus value created 

through the super exploitation of bla.ek, brown, and yellow peoples throughout 

the world the power structures of the industrially advanced white 

nations were able to "pacify" their white working classes with scores 

of reforms, which included higher wages, improved working conditions, 

and the like . And this action, in general, has lead to relative internal 

stability for the capitalist nations and virtual impoverishment of the 

Third World nations . 

And so we can see very clearly now why socialist revolutions in the 

advance capitalist nations were never able to materalize as Maxx 

expected ; increased demnads by the working clsses of the -industrialized 

nations for improved work conditions and higher wages always resulted 

in an increase in collective exploitation of colored peoples all over the 

globe for the satisfying of these demands ! Though the antagonistic 

contradictions between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie remained, 

thesE contradictions took on secondary importance with respect to 

imperialist exploitation of the darker peoples of this earth. I find it 

beneficial to insert here the following lengthy quote: 

"The widening gulf v~~hich separates the affluent 

nations and the proletarian nations is perhaps the 

strongest indictment of the failure of the European 

working classe,~ and their leaders to live up 

to the ideals of global socialist solidarity, The 

gulf between rich and poor nations is, of course, 

nothing new ; for over a generation the world situation 

has been characterized by the juxtaposition 

of affluent metropolitan countries and hungering 

and stagnating dependent territories . Over this 

160

ls~ 

generation the working classes in the V~'est have 

progressively pushed up their level of living, 

and certainly there can belittle criticism of 

their determination to emerge from the often subhuman 

conditions under which so many millions were 

formerly condemned to live and die . V'hat i~ harrowingànd 

what is crucial here is that, in part 

at least, this rising level of living should have 

been acheived at the . cost of thw worker in the nonwestern 

world ; that, having; tasted the delights of 

affluence, the workers should have become ever more 

bourgeois and Europo-centric in their attitudes, In 

Britair~ .Macmillan's claim that 'you've never had it 

so good' and the corking-cl-ass attitude enshrined in 

the phrase 'I'm all right, .lack!' express succinctly 

the means and the result of the alienation of the 

western masses . 35 . 

This brings us to an important proposition : if there are,in . the world 

today class struggles within nations, they are rapidly becoming overshadowed 

by what might be considered as class struggles between 

nations : the rich, white . nations which own and control . the bulk of.the 

means of production throu~hout~he world, and the impoverished black, 

brown, and yellow nations which struggle to create surplus value for 

the exploiting, white nations and bare subsistence wages for themselves . 

And all trends, as noted both by independent economists and various 

co~i~se of the United Nations Organization (notably the. GATT and 

the FAO) indicate the continually growing enrichment of the industrialized 

white nations and the corresponding trend towards greater 

impoverishment of the colored nations of the Third World. And though 

far from'being an economist singer Ray Charles thesis that: 

"~4'hem that got is them that get 

And I ain't got nothin' yet . . ."

has evidently become as true for nations as it is for individuals. But to 

cite only these economic problems experienced by the exploited nations is 

to understate the entire filthy history of white oppression; to this economic 

exploitation has always . been the attempt by whites (and with measurable 

success} to d eh um an i ze the nations of the Thrid World by destroying 

systematically both their cultures and their peoples . Thus were attempts 

to cram Christianity down the throats of colored peoples during the colonials 

era, the recent attempts of the USIS to force "modern" paintings upon the 

cultures of South and Central American peoples (ie, a form of cultural 

genocide), the chopping off of arms, legs , ears and private parts of the 

Congolese during the infamous reign of Belgium's bastard King Leopold, 

as well as the ~ recent lynchings of these heroic Congolese peoples by 

white mercenaries . '1'nis is but a small portion of the atrocities committed 

against the colored races of the world by white beasts, not to mention the 

long history of lynchings and castrations of Afroamericans, whether "legal" 

orillegal, physical or cultural . Needless to say, there is no parallel 

situation to be found among the histories of white working classes of any 

nation . And, as a matter of fact, members of the American working 

classes have many times (or a majority of times) been a party to acts of 

caveman savagery directed against Afroamericans . 

This then leads us to another important propositon . You will recall 

the earlier discussion concerning necessity for revolution iri which was 

stated the Ma.rxian economic law that production relations must correspond 

to the character of the productive forces ; this law led us to the economic 

basis for social revolution . But worldwide revolution of black, brown, 

and yellow peoples is not only for the ractification of existing (and blatant) 

economic inequities but also for the restoration of pride i.n themselves and 

for their attainment of dignity as human beings . As Modibo Keita, the 

President of the Republic of Mali, stated recently in a published-interview 

(while speaking of soem ofthe results of conolial oppressionj : 

"~e have undergone a_certain number of traumatic 

expQrienees from ~: hich I am not :;ure that vee 

have cor~Fletely r~eeovered . These traumas v~ere 

162

163 

able to destroy in us~the feelin ; that we were 

men in the same respect as other men, re?a.rdless 

of the color of cur skin or the system of domination 

which we underwent . ., we h?ve a need to reaain 

cur dignity andt~-resr~ct Tave Col~nePrtaon 

created in us certain 

habits, F > 

mental ity . ~~.,'e didn't. have the heart to work . ':"'e 

didn't care . '.'''e were content to survive . ''ith 

:~~ith independence came the duty for tb...P~f~~'mer 

colonized to enter the door of progress and development, 

the ~re~pon~ibiliay of taking in - hand 

the obligations of his freedom . . . the Fevc" lution 

must take place, first of all, in each African ; 

;_t iG in this manner that ^~ e will el~.min~=tP our 

own weaknesses and '~r~in victories over ourselves 

in order to be in a better position to resist 

imperialism . ° 3~~ 

(* for more dealing with the colonial problem of Black people check out 

page 172 -- ed) 

Thus the dictum that "the oppressed must free themselves" is ever so 

true here;_by themselves shouldering the responsibilities of both their 

economic problems and other results of imperialist oppression, colored 

peoples of the world are also aiding in ridding themselves of their inferiority 

complexes(of which Fax~on has so beautiful analyzed) . Thus as we progress 

we are able to see even more clearly the clifference between the Black 

_ liberation struggle and the Cybernetic Revolution . This brings us to the 

statement of the First Principle of_ this paper . 

FIRST PRINCIPLE 

~a!e, as colonized Afr.oamericans, are an integral 

part of the worldwide movement of black, brown , 

and yellow peoples who are struggling not only 

for economic advancement but also for dignity to 

live as human beings ; these tv~~o goals are inseperable~ 

both must be fulfilled

THE SECOND PRINCIPLE 

Aside from the question of imperialsim in general, it is necessary to 

state that which is today already known to the majority of peoples of 

Africa, Asia, and South and Central America; w i th o ut a . doubt , the 

United States of America is today the citadel of world 

oppression, both racial and economic . As Lin Piao, Minister 

of National Defense of the Peoples Republic of China stated in his historic, 

Long , Live the People's War ! 

"Since World V;ar II, Ti^ imperialism ha ;-- stem Pd 

into the shoes of German_, ~apane~e and Italian 

fascism andhas been tr,yin~ to build a great American 

emx~ire b,y d~minatin ; and ?nslavinP the Nhnle 

world . Tt is actively fosterine~ .T:~rane :?e an , i ' est 

nPrman militari m a.s its chief accomr.lices in unlea~rin~; 

a world v~ar, Like a vision :; ~~~orlk, it is 

bull~ " in~ and enGlavin~ various t~eorles, r7 .~;nderin~ 

their wealth, Pncroac}vinT ~~ron their caor.trie :-' sovereignty 

and int.~rferinq in their :r.ternal affairs : 

It is the most rabid a .rarPGGOr in hnm-s :,_ hi.r-torv and 

the most f?roo ::cu~ common enPmv of +re reorl .~ or the 

World, ''v°Y'v reox~lP or cn,~r.trv ire +ve ~wrld that 

marts revo~ntir, r_, inderendence . and re ace cannot r~_;t 

d ~rPct ~hP spPa.rhead of its ~+.nasal° main :=z ~, ;. 

imperialsmm ." 3R, 

As the leader of the white imperialist powers (which, incidentally, is 

the only existing type of imperialism) the United States is the staunch sup - 

porter of the festered pockets of white oppression in Southern Africa . 

Through its thug-machine, NATO the US furnishes arms to its degenerate 

Portuguese allies for the purpose of halting liberation movements in Angola, 

Mozambique, and "Portuguese" Guinea ; aid to South Africa's oppressive 

regime comes from the US in forma of military (arms and instruction) and 

financial support ; and who is fooled by the platitudes of the Johnson administration 

with regard to the Zimbabwe (ie, Rhodesian) situation . The cases of 

the Dominican Republic and of Vietnam are more brazenly overt links in a 

seemingly endless chain of atrocities and abuses . against the majority of 

mankind. And as the Venezuelan delegation to the Tri-Continental Conference 

164

165 

represenattives of the FALN, stated truthfully : "there are no longer 

frontiers!" It is against this blood-stained backdrop of worldwide savegery 

both perpetrated and perpetuated by the United States and its allies that 

the nations of the Third World are buys forging their strategies and tactics 

for the emerging uni ted struggle againsti "international thuggism . " 

That Cowboy Johnson and his Ku Klux Klan regime will, under the pre - 

text of "halting aggression," use all force necessary for the maintaining 

of the status quo is manifest in the Ftihrer's May 11 address at Princeton 

University in which he stated that the US was going to oppose "international 

aggression" wherever it presented itself . Thus at the whimsy of the 

imperialist powers led by the United States, counter-aggression against 

reactionary forces by colored peoples will be labled "aggression," counterviolence 

will be termed as "violence", just wars will be labled "unjust," 

and military intervention in the affairs of obstensibly soverign states will 

be enacted for the "protection of Americans abroad" (ie, CIA agents), 

all for the purpose of making the world safe for white exploitation . 

We need to state this point again: 

"If there are in the i~rorld today class struggles 

within n:-:tions~ they are ra~oidly becoming overshadotired 

by what might be considered a.s class 

struggles between nations : the rich e white nations 

which o~rm and control the bul'r of the means 

of production throughout the world s and the impoverished 

blac'c~ brotm~ and yellow nations vihich 

are forced to struggle to create surplus value 

far the ex~laiti.ng~ white nations and bare subsistence 

wages for themselves ." 

"The fundamental duel which seemed to be that between 

colonialism and anti-colonialism and indeed 

between c-a.pitalism and socialism is already losing 

some of its importance, ~rJha~ counts today 

the question which is looming on the horizon is 

the need for a re-distribution of wealth ." 39 "

I have in various places critized the program set forth by the Boggs, as 

well as others ; I refuse to do so without offering alternatives . There is a 

very important role which Afroamerica.ns are destined i:o play, must play, 

in the emerging, united worldwide struggle against oppression ; the question 

which remains to be answered here is ; what is this role and how did 

it arise ? 

There is no doubt that 250 years of free labor by White America's 

internal colony, Black America, furnished the capital necessary for North 

American industrializaiion, which as a xesult helped to catapult White 

America into leadership position of the imperialits pus heap . As the late 

E1 Mahdi remarked: 

"In essence, the .fro-American produced the 'imp~rial_ist' 

thesis (iTnited `'tates), and its opt ression in 

the ??nited °.tates has ultimately forded it into the 

anti-imrerialist humani .~tic antithesis . mhus the 

PmPr~in .~ P.fro- American nevol.ution is an aspect of 

modern 'dialectical ~schatolo~;y' -- Armar~eddon, the 

ultimate, final confrontation ~f the inhuman `.Vest 

and the humani ::tic '~=:ndun~ Porld -- Asia, Africa, 

T~atin and Afro-America ." 40, 

Once this fact is grasped one can then clearly see that the key role of 

Afroamerica lies at the heart of this final confrontation between the humanist 

Third World and the inhuman West, for as events in Vietnam, Korea, virtually 

all of the South and Central American countries, and in recently overthrown 

(and also white ~lomina.ted) African nations have shown, no nation of the 

Third World which has not as yet consolidated its national democratic 

revolution will be able to do so under its own power (let alone enter into 

the socialist phase) without the destruction or severe weakening of White 

America's political power . 41 And Afroamerica, furthermore, as an 

i n t e r na1 colony of the Beast, is the only nation capable of dealing the 

final, internal death blow to " in t e r nat ional thugg i s m ! " 

That we are considered as being of significant value to the rising 

worldwide revolutionary storm - not only theoretically but also in fact - 

is born out by the following statement taken from the Resolution on the Rights 

of Afro-Americans adopted by the Political Commission of the first Tri- 

Continental Conference held in Havana. in January (1966) 

166

16 7 

" . . .al though, ?;eo~;raphical 1,y, Hfre-American : ~o not 

form a part of Africa, Asia cr Latin k.mPrica, " he 

special circumst=~nces of the c.Y,Fr~, ~--siren which they 

suffer, to whicr they are sub wct, and tr~~ : ; tr~ :~mle 

they are v~a~;inq, merits s~ c_:al con :-ideration and 

recorr~ :~ends teat the Tri-~~"'ontinental l`r~ani~^tion 

study a mechanism thrc~yh v:hich Tw~r~~entat~v~ : , cf 

their clearly anti-imr~reialist cra~^.i~ati~ ": : : can 

participate in future conferee^Ps :; -!d t!e c- r'rnization 

of tha three c~ntinPr.ts ; " 

This brings us to the statement of the second principle of this paper . 

SECOND PRINCIPLE: 

The key rol~ ~wich afro^^~~r ca h={ := inh~r :rPd 

historicall .,y " hrcugh i^.er T eculi :~ " r o .Wtirr. u : '_eternal 

colony of th^ citadel c .f :;crld .c " r s . .~n, 

the TJni'ed `'tates, r sts in the demolir-i . "!~^ ~ : t.r.~ 

internal ~+o : itical and mi_l .i tart' m .~chin~~ry of tt~:~ 

'_Tnited ~tate :~ in cocr~lin-+tion w ith th~ v orl ;iu ide 

struggle f~~r liberati~~n and self-determination 

end, as one writer remarked, once this historic feat is accomplished 

i,y courageous Afroamericans : 

"iJG lack~v ~"av~~rn^' n ~. ~ ilI t~prle ~ very : . ^re , 

onca tiê raciat vfite American ~;c;vPrn^~:~rt ' :: nc 

longerw_.ab1P t t^ ~~, mP . t ; .eir aid . '.' ; tr jwn :' . t; ;:te 

Ameri:~an ruling cl~^^ wired of` tr^ f-Fce ~f ±his 

planet, and the re~âirinT r~=~c'ti en~r~~ fc;rce= 

sl~fferin° ev'e,ntual def -.^t, tr-F r~ "aclt~~icnarv '~.fro- 

~.merican !'.overn.ement v~ill call . on tike i ~± r c` tether 

revol.utionari?s end revel~ :tic~n=:ry , werr~~^~ents to 

help res`.ore crdPr and tc~ fulfi -!l tY.e ~:lti :âtA obiFctmes 

Of the v:nrld black rPvnlution ." _ 1~% . 

THE THIRD PRINCIPLE 

The conditions for the Cybernetic Revolution in the US disappear before 

our eyes once we strip off our provincial blindfolds and are able to view the 

world in its present, divided state of "developed" and u"underdeveloped" 

nations . First and foremost, a good-size portion of the material wealth to 

be found collectively among the nations of the imperialist West - and

and particularly the United States - was expropriated, s t o 1 e n , from the 

peoples of Africa, Asia, Afro and South and Central America in the form 

of either raw materials or exploited labor (or both) . Thi s is the principal 

contradiction existing in the World today, the contradiction between exploited 

peoples and the exploiting peoples, between the Third World and the decadent 

West, and to its amelioration we propose a two-fold solution: 

i) coordination of worldwide liberation struggles 

combined with seizure o~f White America s means 

of production through their nationalization in 

all countries of the Third World 

ii)the role of Afroamerica as worldwide distributor 

of the material wealth of the U S after 

consolidation of the revolution which, since it 

has already been paid for many times over in the 

form of blood, sv~eat, tears, and bodies, rightly 

belongs to the super-exploited of the earth, the 

peoples of the Bandung nations 

That the Black revolutionary government would directly participate in 

the distribution of this wealth on a worldwide scale is not a question but a dire 

necessity for the sruvival and well-being of the majority of humanity . Because 

the conditions for the Cybernetic Revolution arose not simply from internal 

factors but fron the external exploitation of other nations (ie, took on an 

international character) its solution must also be of an international character. 

As such, we, as international revolutionaries , as b l a ck i n t e rnat i on a l i s t s 

must see to it that a more even development is able to take place between 

the super-exploited and the developed nations of the world . For us to subscribe 

to any other position would be to render our struggle both contradictory 

and counter-revolutionary to the struggles of our brother revolutionary 

peoples around the woudr . f 

The Third Principle has already been stated in so many words, but here 

it is again in more concise form . 

THIRD PRINCIPLE : 

3ecause of Afroamerica's historical position as internal 

colon? of Beastrom, usurper of the vrorld~s 

we~ath and oppressor of the r~orld~s peoples, she 

must, after consolidation of her revolution, aid her 

sister nations of the Third iWorld both c~ aerially ~:nd 

16 8

16 9 

physically in the abolition of poverty and human sutfering, 

and spiritually in the creation of new man dedicated 

to the elimination of exploitation between 

all men . 

SUMMARY 

' We have come a long way since the first opening remarks of this paper, 

and it is necessary, I think, to present a brief summary of the most important 

critiaismsmadeof the Bogg's paper. 

First, I felt it necessary to take the issue of the Afroamerican liberation 

struggle out of the restri~ted,content in which the Bogga had placed it by 

their noting only the similarities in some of the more outward characteristics 

of our struggle with those of our brothers abroad, instead of taking account 

of a worldwide strategy which we, in conjunction with these other struggles, 

might employ; thus the reason for my choice of title . 

Secondly, my criticisms were also directed towards what I consider to 

be an coveremphasis which they placed upon achieving power in the cities 

instead of at the national level, even though they would qua.Iify their position 

by stating that some of the reforms could not be achieved without seizure 

of power at the national level . But in spite of this qualification they continued 

in their unfolding of a program o¬ reform which the Black governments 

in the cities would initiate, which to me appeared to be contradictory. 

l might add here that the attempt at programs which are basically 

reformist, thereby furnishing a- lessoa in political educatiotr for the masses 

land leaders, is one thing, but~placing of too much faith by leadership 

in the possibility of ena.eting these reforms is another . ~rthermore, Stalin's 

position that under bourgeois rule "reforms are a byproduct of revolution" 

expresses clearly and succinctly the position that Black revolutionaries should 

take on this question of the relationship between reformist and revolutionary 

tactics and strategies . And it was not only the possibility for the type of 

reform which the Boggs had in mind and of which I was critical, but also the 

very nature of one of the reforms which they mentioned : that of providing 

unconditionally guaranteed incomes to the US population . The mistake of 

assuming that Afroamericans were next in the "historical line" to power

in White America's cities resulted from the inconsistency in treating Afroamerica 

as a minority group with the same characteristics and on the same 

level as a that of the Irish, Poles, Italians, etc . , instead of as an internal 

colony which was never intended for anything else than the creation of superprofits 

for White America . 

Finally, the Bogg's treatment of Afroamericans as the most oppressed 

section of the US proletariat (by their being the first to be affected by the 

march of cybernation through US industry) led them into the error of nomi 

nating Afroamericans as the vanguard of a revolution to eliminate work in 

the US, when in fact Afroamerica has an entirely different role to play as 

regards the aims of her coming revolution, as outlined by the Three 

Principles of this paper. 

WHY WE WILL WIN 

The United States, as usurper of the world's wealth and oppressor of the 

world's people, will be forced, because of the very nature of imperialism, 

to intervene militarily in the affairs of any peoples who are determined to 

cast off their chains of oppression . Liberation struggles throughout the 

world will continue to develop and to become stronger, simply because 

two thirds of humanity cannot continue to live in their present state of poverty 

stricken misery . In this case the strength of the United States (as measured 

by its ability to send troops all over the world) is its very weakness, for it 

is in the worldwide coordination of liberation struggles that the United States 

will meet its well={leserved and just defeat . 

"The struggles waged by the di_f_ferent peoples 

against US imperialism reinforce each other 

and merge into a torrential ?~cr1d-wide tide of 

opposition to US Imperialism, The more successful 

the develo~oment og people's ~,ra.r in a given 

region s the larger the number of US imperialist 

forces that can be pinned down and depleted 

there, When the US aggressors are hard pressed 

in one place s they have no alternative but to 

loosen their grip on others . Therefore the 

conditions become more favorable for the people 

elsewhere to wage struggles aginst US imperialism 

and its lackeys ." 43, 

170

At this historic juncture, when the torrent of worldwide revolutionary 

forces is defeating the Beast in all sectors of the globe, is when the forces 

of Black Liberation within the US should strike at the white heart of the same 

bellicose Beast. For by correctly utilizing the contradictions between 

United States imperialism and the peoples of Africa, Asia, and South and 

Central America, as well as oursevles, we cannot but win. Why is this so ? 

White America cannot afford to a lose any major struggles for power, 

whether they ar at home or abroad . The United States has only a finite 

number of men within its armed forces, and,they are deployed over the 

entire globe . When we strike at the heart of White America's industriomilitary 

complex with all of our forces of Black majestic glory, the 

present disposition of troops within the US will not be able to handle the all 

enveloping black storm . White America will have to decide what to do with 

her troops abroad (which will be pinned down in their attempts to crush other 

liberation struggles) ; if she decides to have those troops remain abroad, then 

we will surely win, but we will win nevertheless even if these troops are 

recalled to the United States . For inrecallingher troops the liberation forces 

throughout the world will triumph one by one, and the losses to White America 

of both markets and sources of raw materials will weaken her economically 

to a very great extent, thus precipitating economic crisis within the US and 

putting the forces of Black liberation there in an excellent position to bring 

down with a thunderous and most glorious roar the remaining walls of Beastrom .

This concludes my criticisms of the Bogg's paper, but there is one last 

point here that I would add; the Boggs, while citing the many schemes which 

ar,e being used by whites to block any attempts by Blacks to gain power in the 

cities, have stated - and I sincerely question the revolutionary character of 

this statement - that 

"these scherles may definitely delay or even permanetly 

exclude the black majority front taking over the reins 

of city government ." 44 . 

To this statement I must reply " n o th i n g ever remains the same, not 

even in North America . 

LONG LIVE MALCOLM X! 

THE WORLD IS THE BLACK MAN'S LAND! 

WE WILL WIN, BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY! 

This problem of colored peoples regaining their dignity, a question 

to which many still relegate to a position of minor importance( for 

example, by subordinating it to a question of economic relationships), 

was considered of such importance by delegates to the Tricontinental 

Conference as to warrant special attention in the form of a resolution: 

"The colonial system was not satisfied with dislocating 

social structures deplacing entire populations~ 

imposing artificial frontiers upon territories 

and languages and decimating our peoples by means of v 

forced labor m mines and on plantations ; with an equal 

violence it attacked the cultural heritage of our 

countries . . .In the best of cases the cultures that 

escaped pure and simple destruction were condemned to 

vegetate in historic secrecy . The cultural dynamism 

belonging to each people rapidly degenerated into a 

totality of fragmented folkloric traditions into 

clothing and culinary practices into groups of artists 

incapar.;le of carrying .on the process of histor.icwl 

continuity in the creation and genuine ef"ervescence 

of both literature and science . Savage exploitation 

misery famine s racial discri .~_ination~

trp loss of self-~steom, and the infericrity comrlPx--factors 

du? to col.or:~ali.=m--rrovoo?d ?VPT'vv:here 

a deer irhibiti.on in bot?~ c!~l±ure anal knw :~Pd~;e, and 

condemned hundreds of neorles, }.hat they miTht keen 

from dvina of sririt~aal cold, to sift time and~aTain 

for scores of years the Same sources of leTends, stories, 

popular songs, and saok?n lit?raturP ." 37 . 

TJ . ''_'Y!? Cnl,y Thane 'Worse Than rapit~lism Is the 'd,hite "àr~ 

22 . ramps and ^r~cP "oafrs, r . 3~ 

23, ~lam?S RO?=?'S, "'Tnt?P~ratlOTl anal T~emOCraCV," p .5 

24, ~7rac? and .?ames Roes, r. . 1~4 

2~ . Ibid ., p . 3? 

26, note : reduction, wr cccnomic relation:: are thcs? 

relatior_s ~,^=hick ritive arnon~ recsrle during th.? rrocess 

of production, distribution, and exchanrP of 

mat~rial veal.+t ; . 

productive forces inclu.dP the means of r~rod~ac+ic-~n 

created by moiety, the instruments cf labor rr~_maril,y, 

andal_so therPople vho rroduce met~ri-~? 

wealth . 

.the relation of x~eople -to the mean :- of ~wrodu^t .cn 

det .~rmir~e :, t?~e dace z. ~ox~le occury in ccciet~^ and 

the metho ;~- b~- u?i -~ ch the prcd~;cts of labor arP 

distriburea . 

2'7 . note : t} ~, f first contr~~dlc ticn can only be resolve ;; 

in one v.ay under "pre-cyternated" caTwutalism, by 

repl~~cin-~ tv:e nri_vatPl ".~ c:v^,ned mea ;i of production 

witY? sociail ~r ov,ned me :n .^ of production . Und~ar 

"post-c;vb " rn~~ :ted"' capita~' .zsm (in it :; final stn ~e) 

one might arau~ theoreticali,y that if tre state 

could furnish a~w:~mes for non-productive v:ork

28 . P~hat T have called the "Cybernetic Revolution" 

can nov~.~ be ?xplained in greater detail . Proponents 

of the Cybernetic Revolution contend 

that its necessity has grnvn our of the contradiction 

that productive work is becoming no 

longer socially necessary, yet a man's ri :;ht 

to five in the ?'S is being tied to a diminishing 

number of ,jobs . '`:hat is int~re ;,ting to 

note, hov.ev~r, is that neither the authors of 

"The Triple Devolution" document, the "r~v :1.~ .> .~ 

'Ke,yond Hutomation," Monthly h'eview , T1ov,l b4, 

pp .423-3g1, =,arose position I have taken ut; in 

my essay, " A N,~w Ideiolomy For .4 N :~w n,.e," nor 

the Boggs have ever, as fa.r ~s I ha~? seen,posPd 

the question as t~ hou . , in the fir ; t pi=ice, the 

conditions for the Cybernetic Revolution could 

have ari . .

The Probl?m of the Ta~entieth C~" ntury Is the Probiem~of the 

Color Line 

33 . Mohammed B~bu, "medication, Discipline, Decisiveness," 

R1ack America , Summer/Fall, 1865, p, 6 

34, see Kwame Nkrumah's T?eo,-Colonialism : The East `'tale of 

Imrerialism for an exce lent reakdov:n of im "veri?list 

maneuvers vis-a-vis th-~ Third G'orld ; al~~o, helpful i.= 

Pierre _Talee's excellent work, T,e '-'illa~e du '?' ers 

Monde !?'aris, 196.5) , as: v eil a.s .?acyu~s ae ":u rr.v's 

"L'A.rt d'arprauvrir les p~uvres" in the Tt;l ;v 25 issue 

of .Ieune Afrique !Tunis), n .}~ . 13-14, 19h5 . 

3`;, Keith Rmchanan, "The ^1~ ;ro Problem - "n ~,~tsider's 

`~riew," Monthly Review , S2rtember, 1963, r,n . X37-3R . 

36 . .Iustin Vie.yra, "Modibo K,eita Parle," Jeune ':friaue, 

n . Tay 8, 1866, p : 12 . 

37 . "Social and Cultural Resolution of the Tricontinental 

Conference," cited by Albert -?'anl I,Pntin, 

La Lutte tricontinentale , Paris, lgb6~ pp . 13-14, 

38 . Lin Piao, Lon~ Live. the Victor' of Peo .le's CJar, 

(Peking, 19 5, p . 5?_ 

39 . Frantz Fanon, p . 77 The V~'retched of the Farth 

(NY, 1863) . 

40 o F1 Mahdi, "Dialetical I"sCh.atnlo~y ; Destiny of 

Afro-America," Black America, . " ummer/Fall 1965, 

x~ . l6 

41o see him Piao's Long Live the Victory cif Peorle's 

42, Max Stanford, ~"~'e Can VJin,!` Black America , 

Fall, 1864, p . 22 . , 

V I ',°;hy '~" e Vw i 11 lF~in 

43, Lin Piao, p, 56 

, 

44, c'Trace and James Bo~~s, p . j~ . .-(.em!ihasis added -- w~) 

BLACK PGf ,ER! ! 

tilh~EZC MFUS I ! ! 

PGDI:R NEGRO ! ! 

TO?TUOIR NOIR! !

&7 176 

Wilkins anc~ C : Rowam~; all niggahs who are still "enslaved between two 

white sheets, caught in the crotch of our enemy* . : . ." (e .g., Sammy Davis 

Jr .) ; for all negro leftists (e .g ., Bayard Rustin, James Jackson) ; beatniks 

(e . g. , Calvin Hernton) ; and others of our race who are trapped in 

the North Beaches, Greenwich Villages and the Latin Quarter of Paris, 

and other "concentration camps for imitation white men*" : Time is running 

out 11 This is the last chance for you to understand that to be Black 

is to identify with, and learn about humanity, to struggle to be more human, 

and, of course, to help destroy inhumanity . 

Tb identify with white is to be part of a long tradition, in fact, a way 

of life ; that is, the life of the oppressor, the creator of inhumanity : those 

who struggle to be more inhuman . Brothers, we present Fanon to you because 

he understands your problem . 

To our Brothers who talk Blackness, but have never ceased to use 

their own people as cannon fodder for their negrv~gos and for their own, 

personal ambitions in the white hypocritical, decadent world, let Fandn's 

honesty and frankness grind you and your hypocrisy into the wastes of 

the Sahara 1 

In sum, we believe there is something in Fanon for all Black Freedom 

Fighters, dormant or otherwise . To we Blacks who understand the racism 

of the white world (western civilization) and the torture of Black 

people within, 'the brilliancy of Fanonism clarifies much . 

Tb those of us who are more ideologically togetha Nohamed Cherif's article 

on Fanon is out of sight I His analysis of the brotherhood between 

the great Black poet AimeCesaire and Fanon should inspire us all in our 

own personal relationships . And to those of us who still believe in "gay" 

Payee his exposeof racism in France is a stark lesson . 

As for those theoreticians of our struggle, who have not as yet understood 

the development of the Black liberation struggle, (although they 

have contributed much to the destiny of the Black revolutionary strug 

gle) Fanonism gives the opportunity for one to see the Black light in the 

biggest breakthrough in the historical development of our struggle : The 

Black Panther Party . It is about time somebody asked, "what does the 

emergence of the Black Panther Party in Lowndes County signify?'~ It 

shows beyond any kind of doubt that is is in the RURAL south where _organized 

political resistance to white america (our colonial oppressors) 

is initially found in the colonized nation of Black America . Is this not 

the peasantry Fanon found in all parts of the Third World? Is this not

where Stokely et al first found Black Power ? Nowhere else have Black 

people been organized to take p o 1 i t i c a 1 power, Black power ; that is, 

independent power for Black people . Therefore Fanon's thesis of reliance 

on the peasantry is valid at least in the all-important initial organizing 

stages of the Afroamerican national liberation movement . But we would 

like to make this as clear as a Black woman: the Black Panther Party 

should immediately be organized in the North as well as the South, and the 

Black Panther Party is the next organizational stage for all of Afi aamerica . 

To the rest of the Third World we say that the above mentioned thesis 

in regard to the peasantry is unquestionably valid to you . 

For instance, the isolation of the proletariat in the city of Santo Domingo 

froxrr the Dominican peasantry--diabolically imposed by U . S . Imperialism-and 

the stultified stupidity of Juan Bosch were the chief reasons why the 

resistance of Black People on that island collapsed organizationally . Hence, 

revolutionaries in the West Indies, South and Central America should stop 

their reliance on Fidel's speeches and start reading Fanon's books ! 

But that's not all . 

It is fanon's theoretical applications which show clearly the essentiality 

of the relationship between racism and colonialism . And it is the Fanonist 

method which gives us the tools to make us all into new men ; worthy 

descendants of our Black African ancestors . 

*taken from the poen "Carbon Copy 

White Man, " by K . William Kgositsile

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3 . RACISM AND SOCIALIST SOCIETY , WITH PARTICULAR 

REFERENCE TO THE CUBAN REVOLUTION 

4 . more writings by HARRY HAYWOOD 

5 . poetry by HOCHIMINH ;leroi JONES ;CaRoIfREEman 

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6 . CHEIKH ANTA DIOP'S writings on Egypt ~~ 

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