and million black people live in Britain today. The vast majority either settled in Britain since the war, having been encouraged to come here to the labour shortage;
descendants of those who did.
British capitalism cannot end the oppression which black people suffer in Britain. Equally, expel tremendous black resistance, stimulate the fascist far right dangerous upping of the stakes which the ruling class cannot lightly embark upon.
The Black people of Britain have become a new and permanent feature of British political life, and the task of Black liberation a major problem of strategy for revolutionary socialists in Britain. Just as the growth of the women's liberation movement forced the Marxist left to re-confront the relationship between the struggle for socrans ana or women s Hoeralon, so belatedly we are being forced to confront the relationship black liberation and socialism. Contribution An • important wards this process has recently come from Tony Bogues and Kim Gordon, both members of the Workers Party, been published in a pamphlet called 'Black nationalism and socialism'. Below Shiraz Khamis examines their WONK IT IS not often that we read essays which debate the political positions held amongst the black vanguard, and it is rare indeed when these are written by revolutionary socialists involved in the day to day struggles of the black people. For this reason alone Black nationalism and socialism' important reading for all revolutionalica The essays are divided basically two sections. The first deals with the history of LITe movement in the Garveyism, Malcolm X and the OAAU, the Black Panther Party, ending with an essay by the veteran black Trotskyist CLR James The authors are correct to look at between contribution toSocialist whose essays have lilakes into black West Indies and levolutional y and be the their people and of means working class Black very eve impossible concrete and positive terms.
and will objectively group that rights that they see around them.' nationalism.
more people to OWIl Tony Bogues and Kim Gordon, published by the Socialist Workers' Party.
As CLR James puts it: 'The white struggles against the objective rule of capital and for some subjective goal, which even on revolution, is visualise fully in The Negroes, on the other hand, struggle struggle against captial, but BLACK self-defence, 1953, taken from 'Black nationalism and socialism', a collection of essays by Do the black people of Britain constitute 'national minority', Bogues calls Afro-americans? The comrades answer yes, and that exerting the right the united less clear.
Tony revolutionary build an Foolish such movement respond black liberation.
their own languages, religion, cultural - they continue to form and distinct national Whether these divisions will be eradicated over a prolonged time is difficult to say at this stagt we must speak of the self-determination ot the minorities, and not a single national At the same time British society oppresses black people, not according to their distinct national identities.
according characteristic — they are idemifiabis black. The need for political unity of black peoples to fight their common oppression is what calls for a and independen: black liberation movement.
A second question must be asked sort of black liberation movement? Here the comrades Bogues points ou: that within nationalism are iwo trends that which ends up collaborating with the system (black capitalism. cultura nationalism) and those who maintair a consistent nationalist position the nationalists). HiS conclusion is that it is necessar! io •independen: resolutionar organisation or blacks SIT It TELLEC sorters 504-2742 then revoiutionar: organisation of blacks? Do we insist that any black liberation movement must be revolutionary at the outset? This would be foolish — we place no pre-conditions upon participation in the trade unions. To say that revolutionaries support and defend black. people in their building independent liberation al.
movement, and then place conditions upon that support, is in reality to split the black The black liberation movement revolutionaries seek to build must the immediate issues facing black people, and unite the black peoples for a political struggle based on seif-reliance. Within such a movement revolutionary socialists, along with all other currents, must advance their particular strategy for