France, Alternative Libertaire AL #230 - Revolution Black Dossier: Black and labor movement: Black or white, always proletarians (fr)

The labor movement, the American left organizations and the struggle of black-'re 
experienced ambivalent relationship between racism, indifference, and radical commitment. 
-- The movement of black Americans has often failed to take into account issues of class. 
The first positive experience of connection between white and black proletariat began 
after reconstruction during the Civil War. In the southern states, the emergence of the 
Populist Party managed a time to break down racial divisions between blacks and poor 
whites. The party had a speech class, and around 1890 claimed hundreds of thousands of 
members. ---- The Southern ruling class against then-suddenly attacked fraud, intimidation 
through the Klan, and put to date the discourse of white supremacy. Racist then denounced 
the "black domination."

The scheming politicians Democrats did collapse movement around 1896. At the same time, 
supporters of white supremacy were gradually reduce the voting rights of blacks, while 
extended segregationist laws, which became the rule when they were still exceptions before 
1890. This racist violence was a reaction to the simultaneous process of empowerment: 
social inequality before the coming of slavery was not questioned, and black and white 
poor were divided.

Socialists divided on the issue of racism

At the end of the nineteenth century, the Socialist Labor Party, one of the largest 
workers' parties also tried to open the black-es. Peter Clark, one of the first blacks to 
officially claim of socialism has held an executive function. The leader of the section 49 
of the District of New York "Knights of Labor" is engaged against racism and led the 
fighting in solidarity with Chinese workers. The arrival of Daniel De Leon at the head of 
the party allowed some consideration of racism. But De Leon, it still remained a secondary 
issue, and was a manifestation of class oppression. He considered that the fuss about 
non-economic issues such as lynchings and race riots merely distract from the real 
struggle for the abolition of wage labor.

In the early twentieth century, the Socialist Party was heavily penetrated by racism.
Some were not interested in the rights of blacks, while the right wing openly showed his 
racism: the first socialist elected to Congress in 1902 declared for limiting immigration 
for fear that "if there [was] made this country [become] a black and yellow countries "[ 1 
]. His view was shared widely within the Second International, favorable to colonization 
and the "civilizing mission" of the great powers. Other party activists as Eug?nes Debs 
challenging the black-es are "lower innate way" [ 2 ], and wanted to invite them to join 
the party, but their words were the same as that of De Leon. Debs and some were brought 
still to oppose Jim Crow laws, denounced white supremacism and reactionary positions 
within the party. The party never really allowed to bring white and black tie, black-es 
being in the best of cases treated paternalistic, no power in the party.

The Wobblies or the union of black and white proletarians

Nevertheless, the most successful experience of unity of black and white working class and 
the fight against racism of the time was that of the International Workers of the World 
(IWW). Significant efforts were developed to organize workers blacks and whites in the 
same organization. The union claimed that no worker or workers would be denied membership 
because of his color or his faith. The IWW vigorously opposed to racism in all its 
publications. The number of black-'re having joined the union is unknown, but some 
estimate that between 1909 and 1924, 100,000 union cards were awarded to black-es. This 
radically anti-racist strategy had positive results for its recruitment campaign as well 
as for fighting. Among these include the strike of woodworkers in 1913. While lumber 
barons tried to hire black strike breakers, they eventually refuse to work with the Black 
Trade Unionists. Management then had to come from workers abroad and Mexican but also 
refused to be strikebreakers. It was the violent repression and murder of trade unionists 
who broke the strike, because racial division failed.

The Communists in the fight against racism

The American Communist Party, the Workers Party (WP), was also a period during a real 
interracial movement. He refused since its creation racist, but only adopted at the 
beginning of the critical angle of the division of labor. The magnification of the black 
working class forced him to change direction. He took note of the fact that black workers 
are " ? exploited and oppressed harder than any other group ? "[ 3 ]. The party enjoyed 
limited success in starting to recruit black and black unionists eventually join and 
played an important role later in the extension of its influence.

The African Blood Brotherhood, a secret black revolutionary group calling for " ? full 
racial equality ? "join the party and give him his first generation of black leaders. The 
campaign for the release of Scottsborro Boys (two black youths falsely accused of raping 
two white and sentenced to death in 1931), is the most famous examples of the activity 
conducted by the WP at the time, and allowed him to earn the respect of many black-es. In 
the 1930s, the black-fourth are composed of the party. Developed by Stalin, the theory of 
"Black Belt" claim a black state, heir to the separatism of Marcus Garvey, was adopted by 
the party. Following the turnaround in Moscow, who decided to seek alliances with 
bourgeois governments against fascism, WP then began to compromise on his earlier 
commitment against racism. He then caused the disillusionment many and many black-es.

Nicolas Pasadena (AL Montreuil)

Case summary:
The roots of racism: From slavery to the ghetto
labor movement: black or white, always proletarians
Malcolm X: a life in black and white
Malcolm X: Building a Black Power
The Black Panthers beyond the myth
The Black Feminism: at the intersection of oppressions
DRUM: The struggle of blacks in the workplace
black reformist movements: The pitfalls of bourgeois strategies
Harana Par? (historian): "This is the revolt that brought into existence the American Black"
A Black Revolution remains to be done

[ 1 ] Ahmed Shawki, Black and Red, black movements and the American Left 1850-2010 , 
Syllepse Editions, 2012.

[ 2 ] Ahmed Shawki, Black and Red, black movements and the American Left 1850-2010 , 
Syllepse Editions, 2012.

[ 3 ] Ahmed Shawki, Black and Red, black movements and the American Left 1850-2010 , 
Syllepse Editions, 2012.