It would be a radical mistake to think that the struggle for democracy was capable of diverting the proletariat from the socialist revolution or of hiding, overshadowing it, etc. On the contrary, in the same way as there can be no victorious socialism that does not practice full democracy, so the proletariat cannot prepare for its victory over the bourgeoisie without an all-round, consistent and revolutionary struggle for democracy.[1]
The October League views the struggle for the following democratic demands as a component part of the struggle for socialist revolution in the U.S. We must firmly oppose those who would have us “postpone” this struggle “until socialism.” These “super-leftists” view the struggle for basic democratic rights (such as the fight against segregation in the schools) as divisive. At the same time we must oppose the main traitors to the working class, the revisionist CPUSA and the labor aristocracy who would limit the struggle for democratic demands to relying on elections and bourgeois legalities. These traitors try to prettify capitalism. They would have us liquidate our fighting organizations and abandon our final aims and the struggle for socialism.
The October League believes that we should fight for every reform that will better the conditions of the working class, facilitate the unity of the working class, and improve our ability to fight. It is in the course of the struggle for these rights that an iron clad fighting unity among the workers of all nationalities is built. Most importantly, it is in the course of the struggle for these basic democratic demands that the reactionary character of the bourgeois state is glaringly revealed.
Marxists know that democracy does not abolish class oppression, but only makes the class struggle clearer, broader, more open and sharper; and this is what we want. The more complete freedom of divorce is, the clearer it will be to the woman that the source of her ’domestic slavery’ is not the lack of rights, but capitalism. The more democratic the system of government is, the clearer it will be to the workers that the root of the evil is not the lack of rights, but capitalism. The more complete national equality is (and it is not complete without freedom of secession), the clearer it will be to the workers of the oppressed nation that it is not a question of lack of rights, but of capitalism. And so on . . .[2]
By relying on the masses of working and oppressed peoples in building a mass revolutionary movement against all national oppression by consistently summing up the lessons from this struggle, the Marxist-Leninist party can grow and win the masses of people to the socialist revolution.
The national oppression of the Afro-American people is manifested in every sphere of American life. Everywhere in U.S. society–in no matter what class–Black people occupy the lowest rungs of the ladder. The rot of slavery is found in U.S. income distribution, police repression, housing, education, health care, employment and unionization, and in the special oppression of Afro-American women. The inequality of Afro-Americans with whites in all these areas exists with particular severity in the South, but it spreads from there, along with its ideological reflection of white chauvinism to the whole country. In all these areas, the October League demands equality for the Afro-American people. We demand the extension to Afro-American people of any and all “reforms” which the imperialists may extend to any other sector of society.
We recognize, however, that this social inequality, based as it is on national oppression, cannot be finally and fully eliminated until the national question is solved, and until the dictatorship of the proletariat exists in the U.S. Reforms in these areas will flow from the revolutionary struggle for these final aims.
Special problems require special solutions. The forced migration of large numbers of Afro-American people from the southern Black Belt region to the North and the resultant creation of compact concentrations of Black people in northern cities is such a problem. This phenomenon is a product of national oppression, and within these communities this national oppression continues unabaited. In these communities (ghettos) the people suffer poor housing and health care, high unemployment and police repression. Every aspect of their life is affected by national oppression. This oppression has produced resistance, resistance which reflects the demand for political power. This is a just and progressive demand, which the October League supports, and which the unity of the working class requires.
The land question remains a central part of the Afro-American national question. For many years, the plantation system and sharecropping perpetuated the bonds of slavery. The considerable replacement of this system in the South by corporate ownership, the creation of a large displaced peasantry, and the continued survival of sharecropping, either directly or in “new” forms such as in the pulpwood industry, have not eliminated Afro-American national oppression, but have rather increased it. Robbed of their land after the Civil War, and having lost nearly 10 million acres of land since 1910, the land of the Black Belt remains the rightful property of the Afro-American people. Without a revolutionary destruction of the imperialist-backed landlord system in the Black Belt, Afro-American self-determination cannot exist.
A favorite tactic of the imperialists in the Black Belt is to draw political boundaries–state and county lines and congressional districts–in such a way as to split up the Black majority areas and produce white majorities in as many districts as possible. Exercise of basic democratic rights by the Afro-American people in the Black Belt requires that these artificial boundaries be redrawn. They must be replaced by units based on areas of Black majority.
In the first quarter of 1975, reflecting the results of the deepening economic crisis, government statistics for unemployment among Black people was 13.6%–twice the rate of white workers. The historic discrimination in hiring towards Black people in addition to the current crisis has resulted in Black income being both inadequate and below that of whites. In 1974, the median income of Black people was $7,800-58% of that of whites. 31% of all Black families had incomes below $5,000, the government “poverty line,” as compared to 9% of all white families.
We demand an equal and adequate income for all people of a minimum of $10,000. Further, we demand an end to the system of “last hired, first fired” aimed against Black people. Black workers must share the same employment opportunities as all workers. Where applicable, special attention must be given towards hiring and compensative seniority aimed at enlarging and preserving the gains that Blacks have made in attaining jobs, especially in basic industries. These demands are crucial to attaining unity of all workers in the fight against the imperialists.
Finally, we support the struggles for job-upgrading and opening up of the skilled trades and professions to Black people. We are opposed to schemes such as the Consent Decree presently being implemented in the steel industry, which is aimed at undermining the just struggle for equality on the job.
Organization of Black workers into trade unions, particularly in the South, has historically been neglected by the labor aristocracy. We demand a systematic unionization campaign in the South, aimed at organizing Black and white workers. We stand for full democracy within the trade unions, and an end to the “Jim Crow” policy of exclusion of Blacks from the skilled trades. Where applicable, we demand that the unions support the struggles for compensative seniority for Blacks and other minorities. We demand that Blacks be fully represented on all levels of the trade union structure.
Official government statistics register unemployment among Black youth at 39%. This is grossly underestimated, and the actual figure in most Black communities, especially under the conditions of the current crisis, exceeds 50 or 60%. Job opportunities and job-training programs must be developed to provide a living for these young people.
National oppression means the denial to Afro-American people of the means and facilities for adequate health care. The life expectancy at birth for a Black person is about 60 years, as against 68.3 for whites. Black infant mortality is 29 per every 1,000 live births, compared to 16.3 per 1,000. Black people die at a faster rate-in 1971, the rate was 1,257 per 100,000 for Black men compared to 874 for white men.
Black people visit hospitals and dentists much less frequently than whites and the health care facilities in the Black communities are fewer and far inferior. In most major cities, Blacks are relegated to use of the public hospitals, well-known for their overcrowded and understaffed conditions.
We demand an immediate end to these conditions, with free and adequate health care made available to all people. In addition, we demand that special diseases, such as sickle-cell anemia, receive special attention in all major city hospitals.
In 1972, 8.4%, or nearly 1 out of 10, of the Black population was arrested for one reason or another. This compared with 2.5% or about 1 out of 36 of the total white population. Both figures are indicative of intense repression on the American people. The astounding rate of Black arrests (4 times that of whites), however, reveals the direct intensive police repression of Black people. Once convicted (all crimes) the average sentence for Blacks is 18.04 months whereas whites receive 6.8 months. This is about 3 times more for Blacks. (On specific crimes: Rape: 10.7 months for Blacks, 5.9 months for whites; Murder or Kidnapping: 66.1 months for Blacks, 5.8 months for whites; Robbery: 52.9 months for Blacks, 11.5 for whites. The list goes on in much the same manner.) Out of all prisoners on death row in American prisons over half are Black. Prior to 1968 (when “legal” executions were ended) from 1930 for a 38 year period, 54% of the people put to death were Black. This of course does not include the thousands of Black people who have been murdered or lynched as a result of racist violence. The October League has been active in fighting against police killings in the Black community, many of which go undocumented. These figures represent only the tip of the iceberg. These crimes must be ended.
We support the struggles of prisoners against inhuman treatment, for full democratic rights and for decent living conditions.
We also support fully the rights of Black people to organize and fight back in every way possible, including armed self-defense against their brutal oppression. We demand an end to the murders and jailings of Black leaders and the freedom of Black political prisoners such as Ruchell Magee, Joan Little, the Atmore-Holman Brothers, San Quentin Six and a host of others.
The present illiteracy rate among Blacks is three times that of whites. Black children are forced to attend inferior schools that lack all the basic facilities needed for a decent education under the present system. These conditions are the direct result of the racist policy of segregation in the educational system.
Handicapped from their earliest years, Black students are excluded from universities and discriminated against in classroom procedures and testing methods required for college entrance. We support the legitimate demands calling for improvements in the schools in the Black communities, as well as special admissions policies in the colleges and universities aimed at bringing in large numbers of Blacks and other minorities. We support special programs in the schools and colleges that teach the genuine history and Afro-American culture for all students. We oppose the cutbacks currently going on in the schools that are aimed at taking away many of these hard-won gains that have already been implemented.
The inferior education offered to Blacks in U.S. society is a direct result of the imperialist policy of national oppression and segregation. History has shown that in the United States, “separate” is not equal. We fully support the struggles of Black people, throughout history and up to the present time, aimed against segregation in education. This includes the current struggles for busing to achieve integration in the schools. We stand opposed to the imperialist-backed segregationist movement and fully uphold the rights of Black people to defend themselves against racist attacks, including armed self-defense. Black children must have the right to attend integrated schools. This is a necessary condition for improvements in the educational system as a whole.
Discrimination and poverty confine Black people to overcrowded and dilapidated urban ghettos in the central cities North and South, and to the worst housing in the rural areas, particularly in the Deep South. In 1970, according to watered down government statistics, 23% of all Black families lived in “substandard” housing. In the rural areas (outside metropolitan areas) 52%, over half, of Black housing is listed as “substandard.” This is direct result of national oppression. A component part of the day-to-day struggle must be for full equality in housing. We oppose segregation in housing and fully support the right of Afro-Americans to live in any community of their choice. Included in the communist program for full democratic rights and self-determination is the necessity for special programs to rectify these atrocious living conditions.
Addiction to drugs is an imperialist method of pacifying the masses of poor people. Numerous exposures of police and government protection of those responsible have been made. Eradication of drugs in the community can only come about as a result of a revolutionary mass movement.
The Black woman is the lowest-paid worker in the U.S. She is the victim of class, national, and sexual oppression. She is forced to bear the brunt of the imperialist attacks on the Black family-through imperialist wars, discriminatory welfare laws, police terror, etc. The number of Black families headed by women has increased from 23% in 1965 to 35% in 1974. (This compares with about 9% of white families headed by women, a figure which has remained consistent.) Of all the Black families headed by women, 53% had incomes below poverty level in 1974.
This brutal oppression has given rise to the courageous resistance of millions of Black women throughout the country–in the workers’ movement, such as the Oneita strikers, and in the national liberation movement as a whole. Through their practice, Black women have shown their militancy and important role in the overall working-class struggle.
As regards the special demands of Black women, the entire working class must resolutely support their demands for:
a) an end to discrimination in employment and on the job
b) free childcare for all working women
c) an end to the discriminatory welfare system and an adequate income of $10,000 for all families.
d) an immediate end to forced sterilization of Black women combined with adequate health care.
White chauvinist ideology has historically been promoted by the imperialist class, through their agents, the labor aristocracy, to justify their brutal national oppression of Blacks and other minorities and to maintain splits and divisions within the working class movement. Where white chauvinism has been strongest, such as the South, the workers movement has been prevented from making even the minimal gains it has made in other parts of the country.
In the U.S., white chauvinism takes the blatant form of preaching the inferiority of Blacks, as well as less open forms such as the distortion of Black history, stereotyping of Black people, and “sociological theories” about the irresponsibility of Black parents, etc.
We strongly oppose all bourgeois theories and justifications for national oppression of the Afro-American people. The working class must take up a consistent struggle against these ideas in all forms, understanding that this is a key element in forging class unity. This must be done with the understanding that the basis for national chauvinist ideas can only be eliminated with the full emancipation of the Afro-American people and a final end to the imperialist system of national oppression.
[1] V.I. Lenin, “The Socialist Revolution and the Right of Nations to Self Determination,” (CW, Vol. 22, p. 144 ).
[2] V.I. Lenin, The Woman Question, International Publishers, p. 82.