Rebel's Guide To Malcolm X

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• Publisher: Bookmarks E Books
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN: 9781910885123
• eBook ISBN: 9781910885147

Malcolm X was an inspirational speaker, an activist and a revolutionary. Born into poverty in 1925 in Nebraska in the US, by the time of his assassination 40 years later he had become one of the most iconic figures of black power. And he remains so today. This addition to the popular Rebel's Guide series follows Malcolm X's political journey and the movements and ideas that influenced it.

1.
INTRODUCTION

In 2008 Barack Obama’s election as the first ever Black president of the US sent shockwaves through American society. With the slogan “Yes We Can”, he became for many millions of people a beacon of hope and progress.

For those who remembered the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and the focus on changing society by electing Black people into positions of power, this was the ultimate goal and a huge step forward in the campaign to end racism.

However, during two terms in office the Obama Administration failed to address the violent racism at the heart of the US judicial system and allowed space for far right groups and reactionary politics to grow.

The Black Lives Matter campaign, launched in 2013 to challenge the second class status of Black people in the US, gathered momentum following the killings of Eric Garner and Michael Brown in July and August 2014.

The campaign exposed police brutality and racism, and the electricity and energy of the demonstrations pulled in huge numbers of new activists. Protesters against racist policing felt that their demands for justice would at last be heard. But instead of backing the protesters, Obama chose to tell them that they had to accept the decision of the US justice system because the US was a “nation built on the rule of law” (www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/11/24/president-obama-delivers-statement-ferguson-grand-jurys-decision). For millions in the US this means the police can continue to murder Black people with impunity.

The mass marches, sit-ins and rallies against racism across the US have continued, inspiring solidarity from every corner of the world. This shockwave of resistance has resonated in the UK where there had already been major upheavals.

In 2011 the killing of Mark Duggan by the police sparked riots across England, unleashing tensions that had been building for years under immense levels of police harassment, brutality and racism. The Black Lives Matter campaign reinvigorated this resistance in a more coordinated way, with solidarity actions in cities across the UK which fundamentally challenged structural racism.

Within any anti-racist movement there are huge tactical questions to be faced about how we can bring about the change we need, including whether white people can be involved, whether Black people must lead and whether this system can be made to work for us or whether we need a different one.

Our rich history of struggle provides a crucial guide to answering these questions. We have many iconic figures who we can look to: Martin Luther King Jr, Maya Angelou, Frederick Douglass, Angela Davis, the Black Panthers and the American Communist Party (CP) of the 1920s and 1930s. But one of the most significant figures remains Malcolm X.

Malcolm was a Black revolutionary Muslim whose slogan of uncompromising militancy—“by any means necessary”—is still recognised all over the world. His life story shows how ideas can change with struggle. He was imprisoned, saved by religion and fought for Black separation. Later, as he travelled across Africa at a time of anti-colonial uprisings, he embraced integration and developed revolutionary ideas. His huge influence continued after his assassination; the Black Power movement was built on the back of his achievements. He exposed the link between capitalism and racism with a charismatic flair that left his opponents stunned.

Half a century after Malcolm’s assassination, we are still fighting a battle against an unjust system. At the end of the first Black presidency, the election campaign has seen Republican candidate Donald Trump call Mexicans rapists and demand a ban on Muslims entering the US. In Europe refugees, immigrants and Muslims are the targets of racism, labelled as terrorists and blamed for the failings of capitalism.

The need to take forward Malcolm’s arguments and militancy is as strong as ever. And, as Malcolm’s own political journey shows, ultimately we need to challenge the system itself.

2.
EARLY LIFE AND GARVEYISM

Malcolm X is remembered by many for his revolutionary zeal, uncompromising attitude and militant spirit. He is one of the most iconic figures of Black Power and represented a radical edge of Black politics, which drew inspiration from anti-colonial struggles and cut through to the civil rights movement. However, he wasn’t born with an understanding of the world and knowing he would fight with everything he had to change it. He wasn’t even born as Malcolm X.

He was born Malcolm Little into a very poor family on 19 May 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Although they lived in the Midwest—in a state with no specific segregation laws—Malcolm’s family still suffered regular attacks by the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and harassment by the police. Holding down a job and keeping a roof over their heads was a constant struggle.

Malcolm was the fourth of seven children born to the Reverend Earl Little Sr and Louise Little. He also had three half siblings from Earl’s first marriage. This large family strained his parents’ ability to provide for their children and stay strong in the face of adversity. Louise later paid the toll of this emotional burden.

Earl and Louise were both political activists in Marcus Garvey’s United Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

The UNIA was a Black nationalist group whose programme set out to organise capitalism in the interests of Black people. They set up Black only businesses, banks and housing associations and pulled a community together around a network of churches. The aim of the programme was to carve out a space for Black people in a racist society. In this sense it challenged racism, albeit in a very limited way, in the face of constant attacks from the state and white supremacists.

Garvey believed that the task for Black people was to return to Africa and build a better world for themselves there. This was based on a belief that all Black people had the same interests and left to themselves would create a Black utopia. It is from this tradition that Malcolm would later draw political inspiration.

The UNIA had a huge attraction in the northern ghettos where, even though segregation was officially abolished, Black people were forced to live separately. Businesses were set up by Black people to serve Black people. This atmosphere of self-reliance played into the ideology of Garvey who believed Black people needed to better themselves and their own communities in order to progress.

In the South the ideas of the UNIA grew organically out of the extreme levels of oppression. Black people had already been ostracised as second class citizens within their own states and the UNIA provided moments of brief escape and a long-term goal to fight for. Weekly UNIA meetings instilled the confidence and militancy needed to deal with daily persecution by the state and the KKK. Meetings were delivered in churches by a local reverend and were a hub of pride and inspiration. The collective strength drawn from powerful sermons reached their climax when everyone would join together to sing “Up You Mighty Race”. The lyrics spoke to the reality of racial oppression, recognised all Black people as one common people and gave the courage to fight all together for what is right:

“How long must our people be a human sacrifice/ Stand up, defend your rights/ Up, up ye mighty race, you can accomplish what you will/ Stand up, defend your rights”.

By the 1920s Garvey could claim the UNIA had 6 million members. Although this is probably an overestimate, his newspaper had a circulation of up to 200,000 and claimed 35,000 fee-paying members in New York City alone. At its peak there were at least 700 branches of the UNIA across 38 states.

During the 1920s and 1930s Garvey’s Black nationalist movement was not the only challenge to racism; the left too was organising.

Under the slogan “an injury to one is an injury to all”, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) organised strikes, mass meetings, and parades and focused on direct action and sabotage. The IWW grew with the workers’ struggle throughout the 1910s, pushing on following the Russian Revolution in 1917. State attacks, defeats in the early 1920s and the IWW’s rejection of political parties led to a long-term decline in membership and activity. However, their struggle inspired and paved the way for organisations like the Communist Party (CP) and others.

The Russian Revolution was transformative and provided a huge source of inspiration for many and a major attraction for early recruits of the CP. The newly founded CP prioritised recruiting Black workers. Radicals from all over the world were encouraged to travel to Russia and see the new society at first hand. Among the hundreds of Americans who made the trip in the early 1920s were a handful of Black activists. Lovett Fort-Whiteman believed it was, “the first state in the history of the world which had actually solved the problem of racial di...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• ⋆ 1. Introduction
• ⋆ 2. Early Life and Garveyism
• ⋆ 3: The Great Migration and Life in the Ghettos
• ⋆ 4: Prison and the Nation of Islam
• ⋆ 5: The Civil Rights Movement and Malcolm
• ⋆ 6: Malcolm Splits with the Nation of Islam
• ⋆ 7: Becoming a Revolutionary in an ERA of Pan-Africanism
• ⋆ 8: How to Organise
• ⋆ 9: The Final Months and Visiting Britain
• ⋆ 10: Assassination and Legacy
• ⋆ 11: The Black Panthers and Drum
• ⋆ 12: Why does Malcolm X Remain Relevant?