Freedom Road looks at the U.S. domestic situation

The following is the Domestic section of the Main Political Report from the 6th Congress of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization. The Economic section has been previously published, and the section on the international situation is forthcoming.

Decline of American Power, Leftward Shift Define New Period

For the past three years, the conditions shaping domestic politics in the United States have been marked by the economic crisis, a qualitative shift away from the free market capitalism of Ronald Reagan on the part of the bourgeoisie, and a leftward political shift amongst the people. The massive economic and financial crisis, which began in December 2007, and the continuing decline of U.S. imperialism globally, have come together to judge the Reagan Era and its aftermath as a failure.  The economic crisis swept from power the party of George Bush and brought into office the first African-American President of the United States–Barack Obama.

This set of qualitative changes is in part the foundation of and in part manifestations of a new period.  It is this new set of conditions which sets the context for the peoples struggle against U.S imperialism.

Collected Documents on the National Question in the United States

The following is a collection of statements, resolutions, books, articles and other documents by various Marxist-Leninists which provide a theoretical analysis of the national question in the U.S. Generally speaking they are listed chronologically. This collection, though necessarily different in format, has been incorporated into the M-L Study Guide.

General

• Nationalism, Self-Determination and Socialist Revolution by Amiri Baraka of the League of Revolutionary Struggle (1982)
• Statement on National Oppression, National Liberation and Socialist Revolution by the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (2004)

African American National Question

• The 1928 and 1930 Comintern Resolutions on the African American National Question
• The Struggle for the Leninist Position on the Negro Question in the United States by Harry Haywood (1933)
• The Negro Question in the United States (PDF) by James S. Allen (1936)
• Negro Liberation (PDF) by Harry Haywood (1948)
• For a Revolutionary Position on the Negro Question by Harry Haywood (1958)
• The Degeneration of the CPUSA in the 1950s by Harry Haywood (from Black Bolshevik – 1978)
• The Negro National Colonial Question by the Communist League (1972)
• National Liberation and Proletarian Revolution in the U.S. (Red Papers 5) by the Revolutionary Union (1972)
• The national question in the U.S. today (Review of Red Papers 5) by Carl Davidson (1973)
• The Struggle for Black Liberation and Proletarian Revolution by the October League (M-L) (1972)
• On the Afro-American National Question by the Revolutionary Communist League (1977)
• Build the Black Liberation Movement by the Revolutionary Workers Headquarters (1981)
• RWH on the Black Liberation Movement: Wrong Again! by Amiri Baraka (1981)
• The Development of the Afro-American Nation by the Amilcar Cabral / Paul Robeson Collective (1982)
• The Third International and the Struggle for a Correct Line on the African American National Question by FRSO (2006)
• Fred Hampton – A Fighter for Black Liberation, Revolution and Socialism by FRSO (2008)

Chicano National Question

• Chicano Liberation by the October League (M-L)
• Fan the Flames: A Revolutionary Position on the Chicano National Question by the August 29th Movement (M-L)
• The Struggle for Chicano Liberation by the League of Revolutionary Struggle (M-L) (1979)
• The Brown Beretes: Young Chicano Revolutionaries Fight Back! News interview with Carlos Montes (2003)
• May 1 and the Fight for Equality and Self-Determination by FRSO (2006)
• The Immigrant Rights Movement and the Struggle for Full Equality by FRSO (2009)
• Resolution on the Struggle for Immigrant Rights by FRSO (2010)

Indigenous Peoples

• Nationhood or Genocide: The Struggle of the Native People Against Canadian and American Imperialism by the Bolshevik Tendency (Canada) (1975)

The Debate Over White Skin Privilege

• White Blindspot by Noel Ignatin and Ted Allen (1967)
• A Critique of “White Blindspot”: A Contribution to the Struggle against a Petty-Bourgeois Line on the Question of Working Class Unity by Alan Sawyer (1972)

Documentary: Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement

The following documentary film, “Chicano! The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement – Quest for a Homeland”, examines the beginnings of the modern Chicano Liberation Movement. For a revolutionary analysis of the Chicano struggle for national self-determination and full equality, see the 1979 article “The Struggle for Chicano Liberation” by the U.S. League for Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist-Leninist), and the important 2003 interview with Brown Berets co-founder, Carlos Montes, “Young Chicano Revolutionaries” conducted by Fight Back! News, the newspaper of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization:

Carlos Montes on the 39th Anniversary of the Chicano Moratorium

Carlos Montes is a veteran fighter in the Chicano Liberation movement. He was a founder of the Brown Berets and the Chicano Moratorium. Montes is currently active in the Southern California Immigration Coalition, the East L.A.-based Latinos against War and with CSO, which organizes parents in the East Los Angeles area to fight against the privatization of public education in Los Angeles Unified School District. For more on the Chicano Liberation Struggle, see the League of Revolutionary Struggle’s 1979 Resolution on the Chicano National Question.

The following commentary by Carlos Montes is from Fight Back! News:

39th Anniversary of Chicano Moratorium: The Struggle Continues 

Commentary by Carlos Montes

Los Angeles, CA – Today, Aug. 29, 2009, shows that our people are continuing the fight for equality and self-determination. It was demonstrated by the many groups that were present today at Salazar Park, including the student group MECHA and the new Brown Berets, to commemorate the historic day in 1970 when over 20,000 Chicanos marched down historic Whittier Boulevard in East L.A. to protest the war in Vietnam and the high casualty rate of Chicanos. The mass peaceful rally in 1970 was attacked by the Los Angeles Police Department and the sheriffs. Ruben Salazar, news director for KMEX, was killed, along with Angel Diaz and Lynn Ward. A similar example of repression took place on May 1, 2007 when the LAPD attacked a pro-immigrant rights rally at MacArthur Park. 

Celebrate Chicano Liberation Day: August 29th

Further reading on Chicano liberation:

• The Struggle for Chicano Liberation by the League of Revolutionary Struggle (M-L)
• The Brown Berets: Young Chicano Revolutionaries interview with Carlos Montes
• May 1 and the Fight for Equality and Self-Determination by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (2006)
• The Immigrant Rights Movement and the Struggle for Full Equality by FRSO (2009)

May Day 2009: Fighting the Crisis

The following statement is from Freedom Road Socialist Organization (en español):

By Freedom Road Socialist Organization

On May 1, International Workers Day, millions upon millions will be marching against the capitalist economic crisis that has engulfed most of the world. Working people in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and North America will hit the streets to protest the soaring unemployment, shorter hours and cuts in pay that are sweeping the world.

New Freedom Road Pamphlet: The Immigrant Rights Movement and the Struggle for Full Equality

The following is from Freedom Road Socialist Organization:

In 2006 there was a huge upsurge in the Immigrant Rights movement, peaking on May 1, when some two million people marched across the country. At the core of this movement is the struggle of Chicanos, Mexicanos, and Central Americans for self-determination and full equality. This paper presents the views of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) on the current immigrant rights movement and the struggle for Chicano, Mexicano, and Central American liberation.

1. Immigration, Imperialism, and National Oppression

In our “Statement on National Oppression, National Liberation and Socialist Revolution” (FRSO, 2004), we say that “It is imperialism that still dominates the countries of the Third World, forcing more immigrants to come to the United States to escape poverty and repression.” This is certainly true for immigrants from Mexico and Central America. The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has opened up the Mexican economy to even greater penetration by U.S. multinational corporation and agribusiness, driving millions from their hometowns to seek work in the cities and the United States. U.S.-backed governments and counter-revolutionaries in Central American have violently attacked popular movements and governments, leaving economic devastation in their wake, driving hundreds of thousands more to the United States.

Once here in the United States, immigrants from Mexico and Central America face intense national oppression, rooted in the U.S. conquest and seizure of Northern Mexico. Mexicans in the this territory, which today make up the states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, were dispossessed of their lands, their language suppressed in schools, and the culture denigrated, and forced to work in the mines, fields, and homes of the capitalists. Thus the Mexican people of the southwest were forged into an oppressed nation, the Chicano Nation, with a common territory, economy, and culture and the right to self-determination, up to and including secession from the United States.

Generations of immigrants from Mexico who have settled in the southwest have been assimilated into the Chicano Nation. Mexican immigrants and their children are changing the demographics of the southwest, as more and more majority Chicano counties emerge, strengthening the demand for self-determination. This so-called “Browning of America” is striking fear into the racist monopoly capitalist class that rules America, but is welcomed by revolutionaries and communists who seek to weaken and ultimately overthrow this class.

The Struggle for Chicano Liberation

Detail of a mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros

The following article is from the League of Revolutionary Struggle (Marxist-Leninist)‘s Forward: Journal of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought – No. 2, August 1979 – “The Struggle for Chicano Liberation”. This number of Forward is divided into four main sections: 1. Resolution on the Chicano national question; 2. History of the Chicano people; 3. Program for Chicano liberation; 4. Chicano art, theater, and struggles in photos. The LRS was a mostly oppressed nationality organization in the New Communist Movement, and was a predecessor group of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. They wrote extensively about the Chicano and African American national questions, in particular. I’m posting here the first part of the LRS’s The Struggle for Chicano Liberation, which is appearing on the internet for the first time. Other documents from the LRS are available in Left Spot’s LRS archive. Conditions change but the Chicano national question is nonetheless at the forefront of the people’s struggle, especially considering its connection to the larger immigrants rights movement. I hope people find this contribution useful to better understanding these issues.