Towards the Liberation of the Black Nation: Organize for New Afrikan People's War! They Thought They Killed You, but I Saw You Yesterday

Towards the Liberation of the Black Nation: Organize for New Afrikan People's War! They thought they killed you, but I saw you yesterday. Assata Shakur, Youngblood NewAfrikan Freedom Fighter MTAYARl SHABAKA SUNDIATA February 18, 1944 - October 23,1981 Murdered by Detective Irwin Jacobson, NYPD How can we talk about a nation and not talk about an army. That's not realistic. Every nation has an army. So, power to the people's army. The nation must come to fruition through revolutionary action. MTAYARl SHABAKA SUNDIATA • 1975 COMMITTEE TO HONOR NEW AFRIKAN FREEDOM FIGHTERS Dedicated to the memory of Mtayari Shabaka Sundiata and all New Afrikan Freedom Fighters who have given their lives in the struggle for Land, Independence and Socialism. CONTENTS Consolidating the Most Advanced Forces in the New Afrikan Independence Movement 1 What is the State of Affairs in New Afrika's Struggle for Land and Independence 3 Development/Role of People's War in New Afrikan Independence Movement 7 Revolutionary Violence and the Theory of Force in the U.S.A 11 Building Strategic Alliances and People's War: National Liberation Inside the u.s. Imperialist State 17 Consolidating the Most Advanced Forces in the New Afrikan Independence Movement The question of why there is a need for consolidating the most advanced forces in the New Afrikan Independence Move- ment must begin with a dialectical materialist analysis of the political and armed struggle dynamics within the Revolutionary Nationalist Movement. This analysis should cover the period of 1964 to 1982. The rationale for examining this particular period is 1) to direct the analysis to one of the most significant periods in the rise of the Revolutionary Nationalist Move- ment, and 2) tocapsulizethe major historical events that occurred in the development and spiralingof the Black Liberation Movement inside the U.S.A. By making a dialectical materialist analysis of key events in a particular epoch of Revolutionary Nationalist history, qualitative leaps and major mistakes can be isolated and critiqued to sharpen our political theory and military practice of people's war and the building of a people's army. From 1964 to 1982, a short period in protracted struggle, revolutionaries would witness twists and turns, leaps and set- backs in the Black Liberation Movement that would have irreparable damage to the movement and more significantly would break the confidence of the masses to support revolutionary ideology and practice. This was true for both military actions by the Black Liberation Army and political activism by above ground forces. During this eighteen year epoch the Black movement would swing from left to center, and from center to right, due to changes in leadership, availability of material resources, or the lack thereof with each constituency. The left constituency consists of vanguard militarists who saw armed struggle occurring only within the context of the foco theory ("the funda- mental principle of the organization is that revolutionary action in itself, generates revolutionary awareness, organization and conditions"). The center consists of the petit bourgeoisie nationalists, and the right the Black capitalists. The inability to unite the most scientific and ideologically pure from each of these sectors and the failure to tie concrete struggle into the masses' struggles was a major problem. Disunity among the most advanced forces was due to the absence of a single revolutionary ideology putting forth a mass line, and lack of a highly disciplined structure to build above and below ground infrastructures. Lack of organization and ideological disunity by advanced forces alienated them from the people. This in- evitably led to the compromise in theory and practice of building revolutionary structures, public and clandestine, that had a mass base character and offered programs and services that could serve the needs of the people. These were fundmental contradictions during this eighteen year epoch of revolutionary struggle. A cursory review of the history during this period overwhelmingly supports these contentions: 1965— The assassination of Malcolm forced RAM underground and the Black Liberation Movement lost its mass spokes- man that could ignite and unite the people. After Malcolm's assassination the movement was in disarray for seven years because of its dependency on a charismatic leader to pull together the above and below organization. 1966— The Black students movement began with the organizing of Black Students Unions and Black Studies programs, the first being at S.F. State College under the Black Panther Party leadership and ideological direction. The Black Students Union movement reached its peak by 1970. The failure of Black students nationally to read and respond to Governor Ronald Reagan and S.F. State University President S.I. Hayakawa's fascist onslaught and liquidation of the Black students movement was a major tactical error which college administrators learned from and took advantage of to defuse and neutralize the revolutionary fervor of Black students on college campuses. The BSD leadership and Black Studies program of S.F. State and San Fernando Valley State College were two of the most progressive models in the country. The San Fernando Valley State BSU led one of the most militant college revolts of the 1960's, in the Fall of 1968. The conviction of the leaders of the 1968 revolt at San Fernando Valley State was the first conviction of Black student activists in the 1960's. The BSU, and later the Pan Afrikan Union of San Fernando Valley State, played a major role in building Afrikanist consciousness. The BSU and PAU participated in initiating Afrikan Solidarity Day which was later to be named Afrikan Liberation Day, raising thousands of dollars for Afrikan liberation. The BSU and PAU also were in the center of support for political prisoners and prisoners of war during the early '70's. After the mass arrest of the BSU leaderships, the neutralization of the most revolutionary Black Studies programs in the country, the Black students movement on white college campuses would never regain its revolutionary initiative or character. 1966— The Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee would reach its peak by 1968 with the loss of its national leadership and the lack of having a revolutionary ideology that was linked to the materialist reality of Black people's needs in the south. 1966— The Black Panther Party reached its peak by 1970. The BPP had become a mass base party made up of Black youth with a revolutionary platform and people's program. The BPP had the greatest potential of organizing a revolutionary mass based organization but was destroyed by a massive counter-intelligence war strategy by the FBI and local police departments. Regional dictatorship by the 'central' committee and corrupt leadership also led to its demise. 1967— Several Black workers organizations sprung up. DRUM, League of Revolutionary Black Workers, Black Workers Congress. All of these organizations put forth revolutionary analyses and line on organizing Black Workers at the point of production. The majority of them failed because of lack of rooting themselves with the masses of Black workers. They also suffered from ideological sectarianism and doctrinaire leadership. 1968— Formation of the Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika. The PC offered in 1968 Revolutionary Na- tionalists the most progressive tenets of revolutionary nationalism. The mass line was that Black people constituted a colonial nation and the struggle was for land and independence from the Imperialist state. This was a major leap in nationalist struggle and laid the foundations for building revolutionary nationalist organizations. The PC reached its peak by 1972 with its Southern based leadership being arrested. The PC was unable to become a viable force in revolutionary nationalist struggle because the leadership failed to consolidate cadre and national office around a scientific analysis and political line for people's war and the building of a people's army. 1972— ALSC—The Afrikan Liberation Support Committee was one of the most progressive Black anti-imperialist national mass fronts organized in the last fifty years. Black people overwhelmingly supported in practice and materially the armed struggle movement of their brothers and sisters in Afrika. The ALSC reached its peak by 1974 after organizing hundreds of thousands of Black people throughout the western hemisphere and sending hundreds of thousands of dollars to the liberation movements in Afrika. The ALSC was destroyed internally because the leadership opted to change the organization's character along with its line to become a Black communist party. This move split the leadership and membership asunder. 1976— New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalists initiate Anti-Bicentennial Campaign to expose colonial status of New Afrikans during america's Bicentennial celebration. In Los Angeles, the Afro-american Anti-Bicentennial Committee was formed. The AAABC produced anti-bicentennial, anti-imperialist literature and propaganda, and organized demonstrations to disrupt bicentennial events. In Philadelphia, Afrikan Peoples Party cadre led July 4th Anti- Bicentennial rally of thousands, raising the slogan: National Independence for the Domestic Black Colony! 1979— The National Black Human Rights Coalition and the Human Rights Campaign became one of the most positive, popular offensives initiated by Revolutionary Nationalists, pro-Independence forces since the call for the RNA. The United Nations mobilization was a success, bringing together over 5,000 people on,Black Solidarity Day march and rally. This showed that pro-Independence forces can unite broad sectors of our people around the slogan of Self- Determination and Human Rights. The heroic liberation of AssataShakur on the eve of Black Solidarity Day, and the ideological support provided this action by the National Black Human Rights Coalition and the PC RNA is a shining example of the mass public movement supporting the armed clandestine movement. The campaign also served as a means to develop political consolidation of Revolutionary Nationalists in struggle together in a national formation.

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