We are living in the historic era of moribund capitalism – imperialism. We live in the decades of imperialist wars and proletarian revolutions, the era marked by the transition of nations and peoples from capitalism to Socialism. The question of developing an international front of struggle of the working class becomes a fundamental question in the tactics of the class. The question of maneuver and of reserves become basic questions of strategy for the Anglo-American working class.
The Negro question developed as an antithetical element in the growth of the state of the U.S.N.A.. The bourgeois revolution of 1776 was also a turning point in the development of Negro slavery. Engels wrote “.the American Constitution, the first to recognize the rights of man, in the same breath confirmed the slavery of the coloured races in America; class privileges were proscribed race privileges sanctified.”[1]
In a like manner, the development of U.S.N.A. imperialism, its assuming an international character was paced with the development of the national character of the Negro question. The keystone of revolution is the resolution of the Negro question, just as this question is the keystone to the introduction of fascism in the United States of North American as a whole.
History has repeatedly proven that any attempt of the Anglo-American working class to move forward and not take full account of the Negro question is doomed to failure. The sorry history of the C.I.O. is proof enough.
We communists of the CL are the most passionate crusaders for justice and morality. We have a sense of moral revulsion and outrage when we daily see the humiliating oppression and ruthless exploitation of the Negro people. Not only because we hate national oppression and national privilege but also because it is that very national oppression of the Negro Nation that fasten ever tighter the chains of capitalist exploitation on the Anglo-American working class.
Leninism defines the political nature of imperialism as reaction down the line. This is doubly true as regards U.S.N.A. imperialism and triply true in relation to the Negro Nation. All the prayers, pious resolutions and Christian self-sacrifice of life and liberty will not bring Independence and Democracy one bit closer for the Negro Nation. There are no more reforms left in U.S.N.A. imperialism. Historically it is transforming into Socialism. The only path is the path of revolution, the path of Socialist reconstruction of the United States of North America.
We face a difficult task. The class and social struggle is being waged without a Marxist-Leninist Communist Party. This situation can only result in defeat of the proletariat and fascism. It is the very difficult and contradictory nature of the task of building a revolutionary Communist Party that suggests its resolution. That is, to build such a party on the basis of the fact that the Negro question, a national colonial question is key to the Socialist revolution in the U.S.N.A. It is key to the unity of the working class, key to the alliance of the Latin American peasant masses and the Anglo-American proletariat.
The political movements that preceeded the CL – from the New York Communist Clubs down to the decrepit revisionist CPUSA have all been smashed to smithereens on this rock of the Negro question.
We believe that we have fundamentally proven our point on the Negro question. Now we must match the struggle for theoretical clarity with an aggressive practical and revolutionary struggle for the unity of the proletariat.
We call upon those who have read this document and basically agree with it to join us in militantly answering the call of history!
BUILD A REVOLUTIONARY MARXIST-LENINIST COMMUNIST PARTY
INDEPENDENCE FOR THE NEGRO NATION
EQUAL RIGHTS FOR THE NEGRO NATIONAL MINORITY
[1] Engels, Frederick, Anti-Duhring, International Publishers, N.Y., 1939, p.117