Turning the Pages of History: The Nationalist Community in the USA

July 12, 2017 by Herbert Daughtry

Part Five

“Hundreds of political and cultural organizations were spawned at this time, and hundreds of State and Local politicians were elected under the Black Power banner. Many established African American politicians were also sympathetic to this trend. Perhaps, the chief beneficiaries, however, were the nationalist-oriented elite who were now able to wrest from the integrationist elite hegemony over the masses of the African American community.”

“These new leaders did not articulate nationalism in the tradition of Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X, but they did, nevertheless, bring to the masses a new and positive sense of community, and advocated economic, social, and political ideas markedly to the left of the integrationists and remarkably more Pan-Africanist. By the middle of the 1970’s, however, many factors, including disorganization and failure to consolidate and concretize gains as well as the efforts of the dominant society to co-opt, subvert, and destabilize the thrust of the nationalist movement, resulted in the loss of ground by the nationalist, and the revived predominance of the integrationist sentiment.”

“In the aftermath of the demise of the hegemony of the nationalist forces, including the decline of Black Socialist Nationalist groups such as the Black Panther Party (in its early years), the League of Revolutionary Black Workers, and the Black Workers Congress… a lull appears to have been reached. Yet, this was not so. In the later 1970’s, the quest for African American national identity took a form of new pre-party and party formations (Communist League, Communist Labor Party, Communist Workers Party, U.S. League of Revolutionary Struggle M-L) in which the national question was central.”

“This quest culminated with the historic founding of the National Black United Front (NBUF) in June 1980, and the National Black Independent Political Party (NBIPP) in November 1980. The National Black United Front was established in New York City upon the initial efforts of New York Black United Front in Brooklyn, New York; and, the National Black Independent Political Party, in Philadelphia under the aegis of the National Black Political Assembly.”

“Both organizations are grounded in the African American struggle for national identity and are geared towards mass mobilization of African Americans against the twin evils of monopoly: capitalism and racism. Presently, the concept of national identity remains a potent source for African American organizations and parties, and, as the current crisis of the world capitalist order deepens, this potency indeed may unleash unprecedented African American revolutionary activity.”

The End.