| Unity and militancy

yy

By HENRY WINSTON

| Chairman, Communist Party,
U.S.A.

iI
Fy, gmmnist. Party, USA has a
dof aes of more than 40 years
a, Ing for Negro freedom un-
Re i eons. For years, almost
unde the struggle in the Deep
fa " Conditions comparable to
fo In Hitler Germany, for full
3 r the right of black people
ay veanize, to have equal ac-
Dal Falic Places, for the repeal
Member against lynching. Many
lives 5 ers, Negro and white, gave
M those early bitter battles.

: pition black Americans, have
Tce Point of grave crisis in our
Fag ag thinking as well as cour-
Mi, , Ded of the moment. The
are for us and indeed for
£°%0p a as well is: How shall
Pihea « 2Chieve full equality now
tore “YS, not in the dim future
has = Orn black generations?
Mand Ach. out for leisurely discus-
Ps” 5 ate and for “studies” and
nt a an endless parade of gov-
po Missions. The question is
(Ri a action agenda!
a ption that must be decided
y Tment T assessment and not by
te he; Provocation. And indeed
M de aH provoked! Rebellions
he than pcssion in the ghettos
Migs ee Cities are now being
A llion.a lle President Johnson’s
2 $39 per military budget in-
thi illion for the war in Viet-
ng Was rushed through
Te riot training for more
National Guardsmen,
Ve laws, more racist hys-
talit Up by the press, more
mo eb the black communi-
Sin the han equality for black
¥ ety lists of Vietnam
ing; ut the most provo-
to aa €nts to violence? :
ty awaine and increased spread of
mth of . the black community,
Society he influence of the John
h, in : the Ku Klux Klan and
! a hatig Police departments all
Tight N has led to the demand
€gro people to police
S. We fully support

mM Misses
gy, MUnitie

i Com, . \

42% Comnist Party of the United
4, Atmeg Unists everywhere, has
* forciby the right of oppressed
: eine Y Overthrow an oppres-
! te Cha never the channels for
A, Bit ig yce° Are closed to them.
Inder *firmed in the Decla-

More (Pendence,
"Bh op «ee Can be no question
: iy “ates ° Negro people in the
88 fro US violence to free
ton, ™ oppression and to win

® that 2:

eg Night to violence should
te a Suld be determined by
Mate o Circumstances and a
4 Condition concrete situation
bent, ‘a Which prevail at
Ait, Win ey everyone would
ay ee, 1¢ change without the

iN
rua’ Situation?
iy Olr  Tefusal of th i
iy Ue g e ruling
sition tty and the Johnson
but “ 1 particular to permit
Onditi Changes in the un-
et ae faced by black
i the ay in the ghettos,
het Teo lve peaceful demon-
ty tk op Ut Years, has led to a
\ ithiey sonfidence in the abil-
Mine de €aningful change
"hin Nocratic eee :
the € mass rebellions
sions on 8hettos should be
rave 3 aged Americans will
or ON of the conditions of

ices

Hor black liberation

class and liberal and progressive forces
to understand the desperate nature of
the crisis in the ghettos and to ally
themselves with the black people in
their struggle for the necessary radical
changes to resolve the crisis, has re-
sulted in an increasing lack of confi-
dence in the ability of white masses to
overcome racism and their readiness to
join with black people in the fight for
meaningful solutions.

Repeated failure by the Federal gov-
ernment and all branches of govern-
ment to take decisive action against ra-
cists in and out of uniform who mur-
der and maim black people has result-
ed in the recognition of the need for
greater reliance on determined self-
defense, including armed defense.

Black people, with good cause, smell
the flesh-burning stench of the gas
chamber in these menacing develop-
ments. They have rightly served notice
that they have no intention to play the
role of passive victims of genocide.

Moreover, an alternative program to
violence, radical enough to solve the
problems of the ghettos and possible of
achievement has not been convincingly
put forward.

To this must be added the lack of
class consciousness and an understand-
ing of revolutionary tactics which are
geared to specific U.S. conditions
among the leadership of the Negro
Freedom movement. The world libera-
tion struggle of recent years, particu-
larly in Africa, Asia and Latin Ameri-
ca, has inspired increased determina-
tion to ght for full freedom in the U.S.

All these factors have given rise to
a new emphasis on the need for armed
struggle on the part of some, particu-
larly in the black ghettos.

Courage is the banner of the fight
for black freedom.

Communists join all militant black
freedom fighters in bearing this banner
high.

The ghetto uprisings and countless

‘heroic battles have made it amply

clear that black people are prepared to
fight to win full freedom now. _The
task, especially of Negro leaders is to
jointly seek the ways to skillfully
make the best use of our heroic peo-
ple’s militancy.

The task is to prevent the power
structure, through its provocations,
from misusing this militancy and turn-
ing it against us.

The ott ahead is: how to make the
most effective use of every position
gained, how to exert the utmost skill
in rallying allies to our struggle and
in isolating our enemies. It is for this
reason we stress courage and clarity of
purpose. It is in this spirit that the
question of armed struggle should be
soberly considered.

Communists believe in the use of
violence to achieve political objectives
only when reaction has closed off the
channels whereby a majority of the peo-
ple can realize their objectives by
peaceful means.

As we see it today, the overwhelm-
ing majority of the American people,
including black people, are not yet con-
vinced that the system must be chang-
ed: much less that it is necessary to do
so by armed force. nn x

Armed uprisings for these objectives
cannot successfully be undertaken by
the black communities alone, no mat-
ter how courageously they struggle.
They require powerful allies, above all
in the ranks of the working class,

ite and black.

Mes therefore reject today the organ-
izing of armed uprisings In the black
communities. It is necessary to warn
that there are extremely dangerous
pressures to close the channels of de-

mocratic process and in many areas

they have already virtually been closed.

: : : He
Should this continue it would leave t
black people no alternative to violent

struggle.

However, those who conclude that
the task now is to give an organized
character to the spontaneous upris-
ings in the black ghettos gravely

misjudge both the mood of the black -

communities and the relationship of
forces such an organized armed upris-
ing would have to contend with. The
strength of the 1967 uprisings lay in
its spontaneity. It was this quality of
the rebellion which rallied the sympa-
thy and support of black communities
and jolted large numbers of white
Americans into a greater understand-
ing of the crisis in the ghettos.

It would be quite a different matter
under present conditions to rally such
support in the black communities, let
alone in the white neighborhoods, for
an organized armed uprising. Nor can
there be any comparison between the
repressive measures employed in the
suppression of the spontaneous upris-
ines. harsh as they were, and the un-
limited force that would be used by the
ruling class and its government against
an organized uprising.

Black communities, of course, have
the right to take all measures to de-
fend themselves from invasion and as-
sault by armed forces. But the real task
at hand is to rally nationwide support,
particularly the support of all truly de-
mocratic white Americans, especially
white workers, to stop the annual
“symmer slaughter” and to aid the
struggle for survival of the black
Americans.

There is an urgent need for organ-
ized militant and united struggle in
every black community in the U.S. Its
arsenal of tactical weapons should in-
clude any and all forms of struggle
that will most effectively and most
speedily advance the fight for full free-
dom: mass marches, demonstrations,
massive militant civil disobedience,
boycotts and strikes. It should include
sit-ins, sit-downs and sit-outs and
armed defense when necessary. It
should include black community mass
marches to the polls to elect Negro
mayors, U.S. Senators, Congressmen
and Negro public officials on every
level.

There is an urgent need for conside-

ration of forms of organization which
will unite the people in the black com-
munities and coordinate the commu-
nities themselves on a city, state and
national level. The aim should be to
bring effectively to bear on the power
structure the collective will of the
black people, to organize and direct
mass actions on every front and at
every level.

The objective should be to unite the
black communities politically, and
make full use of their strategic posi-
tion in our great cities. From such po-

. sitions of strength they can, in alliance

with other oppressed minorities and
progressive white sections of the popu-
lation, struggle effectively for unpre-
cedented levels of Negro representa-
tion and drastically alter political rela-
tionships throughout the country.

It is wrong to conclude, as some do,
from the stubborn refusal of the power
structure and the Johnson administra-
tion to deal adequately with the crisis
in the black ghettos, that the channels
for democratic change are closed to

the black people.

ssa or ay

Thus, the fateful question: will the
channels of democracy be closed to the
black people and it would mean inevit-
ably closed to all Americans—has not
only not been answered in the affir-
mative, but the conditions exist for
opening wider the doors of democracy.
The task is to fight militantly to open
them and to combat resolutely every
fascist-like attempt to close them. This
is the path not only to winning greater
partial gains but to preparing the best
grounds for the fight for revolutionary
change—for socialism.

Many white people, frustrated by
the dangerous drift to disaster of our
cities; -have responded with fear to the
uprisings in the black ghettos. The ra-
cists have been quick to seize on these
fears to inflame their deeply imbedded
prejudices. Thus, a dangerous situation
is developing which can turn our
streets into bloody battle-grounds of
racial strife. But there are also deve-
loping among increasing numbers of
white people significant new levels of
understanding of the meaning of full
equality for black people. This is re-
flected in the readiness of larger num-
bers of whites to accept and work for
greater black representation. Thus, the
greater representation. Thus, the basis
for achieving higher levels of black-
white unity in struggle exist.

This is especially so because the
crisis in the black ghettos has served
to put the spotlight on the crisis of our
cities. There is no way of resolving one
crisis without resolving the other and
particularly the latter without the for-
mer. Thus, life itself has joned the fate
of the black communities and of our
cities, including the white communi-
ties. And the answer to both lies in
Washington, above all radically chang-
ing federal responsibilities to the cities
—to provide adequate funds for decent
homes, schools, hospitals and transit.

The answer.lies in drastically chang-
ing our nation’s priorities from waging
war to providing for the long-neglected
needs of peace-time living. Above all,
the answer lies in ending speedily the
unjust war in Vietnam. More and more
Americans, white as well as Negro,
have come to recognize the interrela-
tion of three crisis: the ghetto, our
cities and the war in Vietnam. An ir-
resistible force can be brought into be-
ing by uniting the mass of Americans
to fight for the resolution of all three
unbearable crises:

The struggle, by uniting white and
black around their common interests,
can weaken the dangerous inroads
made by racists in the white commu-
nities in the recent period. Thus, it is
toward the development of such joint
efforts that black and white progres-
sives and especially revolutionaries
should bend their efforts.

To achieve this unity in struggle re-
quires a consistent and courageous
fight by white progressives and revo-
lutionaries against racism especially in
their own communities, shops, offices
and schools.

The struggle for black freedom faces
not only great trials but great oppor-

tunities. Both aspects of the situation -

have to be grasped. More, they have to
be acted upon, and acted upon united-
ly, in time to make the 1968 elections
the arena for great and victorioys
struggles.

November 24, 1967—PACIFIC TRIBUNE—Page 7