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Black Leadership Analysis

This is an unofficial Spiral Dynamics blog. It is not endorsed by D. Beck PhD.

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David Hartful Jr.

This site will use Ego Development Theory to analysis various leaders and problems in the black community. Ego Development Theory is a value meme classification first invented by Clare W. Graves and expanded by Natasha Todorovic, Christopher Cowan, and Don Edward Beck.

Ancestral Reverence in Shadow Work

Part of Buddhist and African spirituality is reverence for your ancestors. In both frameworks, ancestors provide guidance and assistance. In addition to the help they can provide, people that adhere to these spiritualities use ancestral reverence as a way to recognize and thank our forebears for their sacrifice. The practice allows for a person’s ancestors to move through them. Reverence for ancestors will also aid in coming to grips with yourself as part of an unbroken continuum of experience. The continuum stretches back to the beginning of time and forward until the end of time. The continuation happens whether an individual has children or not. The ancestors will help a person to integrate aspects of their personality.

My ancestral reverence practice occurs after my daily meditation. After meditation, I bow, the Buddhist term is half-prostration, and imagine how my ancestors looked. In meditation, a person should move away from using words and attempt to concentrate on first order sensations. I chose as my ancestral image to be a slave. For me, a female image is more natural and more soothing. I am not sure why.

I feel Black Americans need to come to terms with our slave ancestry. The first step for us was coming to grips with our African ancestry. Black Americans were told the pre-colonial Africans were primitive and lacked culture. Those myths have been debunked, and most blacks understand that African civilization was advanced.

I viewed my slave ancestry as something I have to overcome. My slave ancestors sacrificed for me to be here. I now owe them being successful. If I am unsuccessful, their sacrifice was for nothing. I suspect many other people feel the same way.

What I was missing was slaves had full lives in spite of the oppression. The slaves sought wisdom, savored the few pleasures they had, and found love. I am a product of them finding love. When I came to grips with that, I could allow myself to live a full life. My life doesn’t solely have to be about being successful. My slave ancestors showed me how to have a full life in spite of oppression. I owe them being happy, not successful.

Anyone that follows my blog knows I have completed extensive research on the Pullman Porters. While doing research, I stumbled across many stories of the abusive treatment the porter’s received. Porters were called every racial slur. One of the most frequently used was calling all porters “George.” The name came because a man named George Pullman owned the Pullman company. During slavery, slaves were named after their master. Most passengers, especially from the south saw the porters as slaves and treated them accordingly.

These stories triggered me emotionally. Many times in my career I did not speak up when I or someone around me suffered a racial injustice. Many of my black co-workers expressed that I was extremely passive. I had a rocky start to my career and felt I needed to concentrate on the “nuts and bolts” of the job. I avoided unnecessary conflict because I had very little experience and could be replaced easily if things come to a head. I was fired from my first job due to having a racial conflict, and I did not want to repeat this pattern.

I often second guess my decision on this job. I regret not standing up for myself and others more. I have a few instances, in particular, I regret very much. I justify it to myself by saying I had to take care of business. I needed to hold on to the job and gain experience. Deep down I feel not only did I not stand up for myself, but I also did not stand up for my race.

I contrast my struggles with what the Pullman Porters accepted from the company and what they were able to accomplish in the field of Civil Rights. Even if a porter was completely passive, he was part of an organization, if he joined the union, which laid the foundation for the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement. If he was kowtowing, he kowtowed for the struggle. If a few racist white people laughed about making a spectacle of a porter, who cares? The porter laid the foundation for me.

I am not saying I have accomplished anything anywhere near as significant as the Pullman Porters. However, progress is not about individual achievement. Progress is about community achievement. I could get the opportunity to redeem myself, someone in a future generation could redeem me. Everyday I decide if the cumulative affects of my actions are positive or negative. Being black is not about winning every fight; no one wins every fight. The goal is to have a larger balance of positive action than negative actions. Your positive action balance is tallied every day. In each moment you create your legacy.

I recently, re-read Che Guevara’s Motorcycle Diaries. In the book, he recounts a story of meeting a black man in Peru that reported the murder of his friend. Below is the quote:

“Until this point, we had been traveling in the same truck as the black guy who had reported the murder. At one of the stops along the road, he bought us a meal and throughout it, lectured us on coffee, papaya, and the black slaves, of whom his grandfather had been one. He said this quite openly but [in] it you could detect a note of shame in his voice. In any case, Alberto and I agreed to absolve him of any guilt in the murder of his friend.”

The man from Peru had an intellectual understanding of the history of his people. The man did not have emotional acceptance, hence the shame. A person must foster both the intellectual understanding and the emotional acceptance. I feel that we as black people have a difficult time with the fact we have had to and still have to acquiesce to injustice. It is a survival method forged by our slave ancestors and is often still useful. Black people hate to admit that they had to acquiesce and others around them had to acquiesce.

The shame of acquiescence causes black people to vilify many our mainstream Civil Rights leaders as Uncle Toms. Many hate that A. Philip Randolph had to say the racist American Federation of Labor leader and L. Johnson was a greater friends to blacks than Lincoln. He was able to accomplish more than any other Civil Rights leader. Randolph was not a dogmatist; he was a pragmatist. He built relationships and allied with those he needed, not those with similar views. He separated the needs of the group and race from his personal need for pride. The same goes for Ed Nixon who organized the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Nixon was also pragmatic and extremely successful. He is now often viewed as a Tom. These men should be revered as examples of successful leadership.

I think the vilification of Nixon and Randolph would lessen if black people came to grips with their issues with acquiescence. Once a person accepts they did not directly confront the racism they encountered they can accept the behavior in other people. When can then realistically evaluate the sum of all actions and determine if the leader was successful or not. It is true many leaders acquiesce and get no benefit to themselves and the race at large. Acquiesce without results should be vilified. However, if you can prove the leader made the material conditions of black life better, then give the leader the credit they deserve.

To recap, ancestral reverence will help to integrate various aspects of a person’s personality. Once a person has a better understanding of themselves and their psychology, they will reevaluate many leaders from a more logical standpoint. Often we don’t like in leaders aspects of ourselves. As a community, doing shadow work will help us to choose the most suitable leaders.

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Analysis: Founding of the Organization of Afro – American Unity

This analysis will look at only one speech that Malcolm X gave at the Founding of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). I will call this analysis a spot check.

The OAAU was founded eight months before his death, one month before the signage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and seven months after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Malcolm X used the OAAU to unite black people in the Western Hemisphere and later join black people from all over the world. The OAAU is a secular organization.

The analysis will evaluate the values presented in the Founding of the Organization of Afro-American Unity speech. The values will be compared to Don Beck’s Spiral Dynamics hierarchy. The speech will receive a meme. It is important to remember the meme will not be given to Malcolm X, to do that many speeches over his entire career will need to be analyzed.

A short overview of Spiral Dynamics Hierarchy

According to Spiral Dynamics, a person’s ego expressed in his or her values will progress in a set hierarchy. Every individual has his permutation of the meme, but the underlying values advance in a steady hierarchy.

To move up the hierarchy, a person must undergo conflict that causes such great disorder that the person reconstitutes themselves at the next level. This analysis will illustrate the evolution of Malcolm X’s values in response to the conflicts he faced.

Red Meme is the earliest stage that is common in today’s society. Acquiring power and dominance is at the center of the meme. People in this meme look out for their needs and disregard the needs of everyone else. “Might Makes Right” would be a common saying. Red Meme individuals want gratification now and do not think about consequences. These people “live fast and die young.” They go out in a blaze of glory, and their lives are used to create dozens of dime store novels.

In the life of Malcolm X, the red meme stage of his life was in New York when he was known as Detroit Red. He was a gangster in Harlem, he ran numbers, gambled, and consumed drugs. He had a wild life that many people would find envious. Detroit Red did not think about consequences, that is the reason why he dated white women in the 1940’s. In his autobiography, he recounts many tails in which he almost died.

The conflict that would move him out of the Red Meme was his conviction for burglary in 1946. In the 1992 movie of Malcolm X’s life, his accomplice Shorty realizes he received ten 15 year terms served concurrently. Shorty doesn’t know what concurrently means and faints. Shorty is an example of someone that could not handle the conflict and reorganize. In contrast, Malcolm X begins his reconstitution.

While in the penitentiary, Malcolm X meets John Bembry who introduces him to the Nation of Islam. In the 1992 movie, there is a scene in which Bembry asks Malcolm X to pray to A-h. Malcolm X does not feel worthy of prayer. Bembry asks, “You can bow your knees to pick a lock, but will not bow to the most high.” Guilt and shame are a large part of the Blue Meme. Another example in the movie of how Malcolm X did not feel worthy was his first meeting with Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm X began to cry because he was in the company of a man as great as E. Muhammad.

In the Blue Meme, a person’s values and identity are largely a function of their membership in a group. Often the group they affiliate with will have one patriarch that is infallible and in total control. Questioning the patriarch or the validity of the group will get a person expelled. E. Muhammad served that purpose for Malcolm X.

The conflict that will cause enough disorder that causes reconstitution at the next level was finding corruption in the Nation of Islam. The largest transgression was a scandal that involved Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm X conducted his investigation into the allegations and determined that the claims were valid. The controversy causes him to lose faith in the NOI, and the conflict causes a reconstitution at the next level.

At the next level, known as Orange Meme, a person moves from dependence on a group membership as the authority and rediscovers one’s individuality. Spiral Dynamics shows people vacillate between self-expression and group expression. In the Orange Meme, Malcolm X begins to assert himself as an independent thinker. Malcolm X at this point has national acclaim and his following of Muslims and Non-Muslims. E. Muhammad directs his ministers after the death of Kennedy to not talk about the assassination or say the loss saddens them. Malcolm X responds when asked by a news reporter that his death is the result of poor US foreign policy all over the world. The assassination is a result of “Chickens coming home to roost, ” and as a farm boy “Chickens coming home never made me sad, it only made me glad.”

Malcolm X asserted his independence from the Nation of Islam in this statement. He was later silenced for a short period. He will officially leave the Nation in March of 1964. To solidify his views as an independent Muslim, he leaves on a pilgrimage to Mecca.

The pilgrimage to Mecca is another cause of conflict that necessitates reconstitution. While touring Mecca and Africa, two things happen. The first is he learns that Islam encompasses people of all races that cooperate and worship together. The second he learns that Africa is full of people going through a similar struggle as the Afro – American. The African understands the Afro-American struggle and has sympathy.

As the Orange Meme redefines individualism, the Green Meme redefines the group. Malcolm X began to see the Afro-American struggle as just part of the fight of all dark-skinned people. This realization expanded his perception of “group” since he began to see the fate of all dark-skinned people as linked and that direct action should be taken to create unity. The OAAU was his effort toward unity. I will determine the value meme from the summary below.

Analysis: Founding Speech of the Organization of Afro-American Unity

From the speech, this is what Malcolm X considers freedom

An African concept of freedom is a situation or a condition in which he, as an African, feels completely free to give vent to his own likes and dislikes and thereby develop his own African personality… and atmosphere of complete freedom where he has the right, the leeway, to bring out of himself all of that dormant, hidden talent that has been there all along.

The Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) was modeled after the Organization of African Unity. The Organization of African Unity brought together thinkers from all over Africa of different philosophies to determine how to throw off the yoke of colonialism. Over a ten year period, the organization freed most of the African nations from European control. The African is now respected on a world stage in addition to having his freedom according to Malcolm X.

Malcolm X wanted the OAAU to bring together people of African descent from all over the Western Hemisphere to work together for solutions. The collaboration in the OAAU will compare thoughts, hopes, aspirations, likes, and dislikes. Once the African of the Western Hemisphere has worked through his various problems, he can unite with the Africans in the motherland. The unity of all African people will resurrect a “golden age” for our people.

It is important now to determine what Malcolm X meant by people of African descent. He does not go into detail in this speech on what he considers African descent. In the Autobiography of Malcolm X he refers to Hispanics as Spanish Negros . He often talked of outreach to the Spanish Negro community. Therefore, perhaps all people of color, such as Hispanics and even Native Americans might well choose to be part of OAAU if given the opportunity. The next group I imagine he would include are Native Americans. The speech contains the following phrases.

[E]veryone in South America of African descent is an Afro-American. Everyone in the Caribbean, whether it’s the West Indies or Cuba or Mexico, if they have African blood,
they are Afro-Americans. If they’re in Canada and they have African blood, they’re Afro-Americans. If they’re in Alaska, though they might call themselves Eskimos, if they have African blood, they’re Afro-Americans.

So we can conclude “African descent,” to Malcolm X, means all dark-skinned people.

As Malcolm X addresses the goal of the OAAU, he presents the first order of business is getting the problem of the Afro-American in front of United Nations.
Our individual countries are not capable of hearing or morally equipped to solve our problem, so a larger body is needed.

Malcolm X realizes there are barriers to creating a society or segment of society in which the black man is free to create and thrive. The list of obstacles is listed below.
1. Violence perpetrated by the State and mobs
2. Violence perpetrated by other black people
3. Lack of proper Social Services
4. Lack of knowledge on history, politics, and economics
5. Lack of independent cultural development and press

To address the violence perpetrated by the state and mobs, Malcolm X wants an independent defense force that will police the streets and, if needed, protect the community from a white mob. In the early 1900’s there were many instances of white mobs forming to destroy entire towns of black people. A few cases were Elaine, AR in 1919, Tulsa, OK 1921, and Rosewood, Fl 1923.

Malcolm X did not trust the traditional police. He said this of the New York City Police Commissioner:

Anytime there’s a police commissioner who finds it necessary to increase the strength numerically of the policemen in Harlem and, at the same time, we don’t see any sign of a decrease in crime, why, I think we’re justified in suspecting his motives… The more cops we have, the more crime we have. We begin to think that they bring some of the crime with them.

He spoke of the “Stop and Frisk” and “No Knock” laws first proposed by Nelson Rockefeller:

[Stop and Frisk] is worse than any law that they had in Nazi Germany … the only thing this law is designed to do is make legal what they been doing all the time.

[The No Knock]law that gives them the right to knock down your door without even knocking on it. Knock [the door] down and come on in and bust your head and frame you up under the disguise that they suspect you of something.

Some may read this and say Malcolm X has an issue with all cops. To rebut, I provide the following quote.

I say there’s some good [cops] and some bad ones. But they usually send the bad ones to Harlem.

Because the police are either unwilling or incapable of reducing crime, Malcolm X says:

… Brothers and sisters, it is time for you and me to organize and eliminate these evils ourselves…

We must declare an all-out war on organized crime in our community; a vice that is controlled by policemen who accept bribes and graft.

Later in the speech, Malcolm X discusses the struggle between himself and the Nation of Islam. The ongoing fight between the Nation of Islam and Malcolm X is simply a distraction from the greater needs of the community. In the speech, he specifically mentions Elijah Muhammad and asks that they put aside their squabbles and unite to improve the conditions of their race.

Malcolm X also explains how a lack of social services hurts the community. The OAAU will endeavor to provide drug rehabilitation clinics, foster care system, and alternative living for black unwed mothers. He views these activities like charity work, and we should not depend on the government to provide them.

The OAAU will provide various education services that will include training in history, politics, and economics. Descendants of Africans that have excelled in the field will teach the classes. He cites an NYC school board report saying that ten percent of NYC schools are un-salvageable. Malcolm X wants to take control of those schools. He spends the majority of the speech on history education because he knows its importance. He speaks on the reason the Afro-American is called Negro, and the African is referred to as an African.

You are Negro because you don’t know who you are, you don’t know what you are, you don’t know where you are, and you don’t know how you got here. But as soon as you wake up and find out the positive answer to all these things, you cease being a Negro. You become somebody.

Malcolm X also stated there would also be independent cultural growth board and independent press. The goal of this branch of the organization will cultivate the black mind. Once everyone has similar goals political action can be fostered. The OAAU will support candidates and increase the number of black government officials to be numerically representative of the population.

What the speech has right

He is correct in saying that black people should run a black organization. In mainstream society, acquiring leadership positions is difficult for blacks. A black organization could serve as an incubator for leaders that serve their race and the community as a whole. It is insulting when a white person thinks they understand problems unique to black people better than people going through the problem. Everything cannot be learned intellectually. Some things need to be learned experientially.

Malcolm X is also correct in saying whites would be of the greatest service to blacks by educating themselves and other whites on racism. Realistically a person, including a black person, cannot live in America without having negative thoughts about black people driven deep into their conscious and subconscious mind. There needs to be inner healing on both sides before they can come together.

Malcolm X’s views on New York’s police policy are sound. If a community does not want a particular crime policy, the rest of the city or state should not force the policy on them. It is surprising that Libertarians, who ask for the local government to make solutions, do not make this argument more often. Many inner city communities consider the police an occupying army. Neighborhoods should have the final say on police policy. America looks at its inner city communities as children, not fit for self-governance. America has to allow individuals the right to self-determine what policing is best for their community.

Getting the issues of Blacks in front of an international committee such as the United Nations is also important. Black issues are often told internationally by people that do not fully understand the issues. The presentation to the United Nations will not only improve the world perception of blacks; it will initiate international aid to Black America. It is possible international pressure could force the United States government to act on behalf of blacks.

He never refers to whites as “devils” in this speech. He does think most whites are racist, but he does say some are good. He feels blacks should concentrate on self-improvement and inner healing first. Malcolm X does not vilify all white people in this speech; he focuses on attacking specific government structures that cause oppression.

What the speech has wrong?

He is trying to do too much, too fast, with no money. The OAAU can not function as a supplemental government with each member only paying $54 a year. It would be impossible to stop all the things he wants to stop in one organization. He is over promising and if he had continued would have either gone bankrupt or renege on promises.

Malcolm X believes that if the government does not provide a public good, then black people should pool their money and provide the public good themselves. Another alternative would be to petition the government to provide better services. Malcolm X wants to exclude government from our affairs as much as possible. He calls his approach self-sufficiency.

The public goods he talks most about in the speech are policing and education. He provides efforts to show the police are ineffective and abusive. He also cites a New York City official report that says many schools in New York City are beyond repair. Malcolm X thinks the solution is community policing and taking over failed schools.

It is hard to believe that Malcolm X could accomplish this without a considerable amount of money. The money would also need to be supplied in perpetuity. Essentially, he would need a voluntary tax system. The voluntary tax system will consist of people that are systematically disenfranchised and often encounter shortages of money.

It is important the poor people defend their right to public goods. If a person does not have much money, they obviously can not provide for their education and police. To require the poor to provide services that most middle-class and upper middle-class individuals could not provide for themselves is irresponsible. Black America needs to feel entitled and protective of their rights to public goods.

The idea that self-sufficiency is providing for public goods without the government is prevalent in today’s thought on black empowerment. Few leaders that profess self-sufficiency and cite Malcolm X as the source explain that he died before he could implement the program. These self-sufficiency leaders often talk of pooling money together to provide for services that can be more efficiently obtained by the government. The most practical method of securing public goods is petitioning the government.

Living in a country that excludes blacks makes black people feel like an eternal outsider. It has gotten to the point that we have lost the sense entitlement to services from our government. Many black leaders perpetuate this shame. Black America should petition its government for its needs as any other community. If the government can give corn farmers money not to grow corn, the government can provide money to improve black communities.

Where is the speech on the Spiral

The speech is a Green Meme Speech.

The largest Green Meme aspect is the broad scope with very few resources. Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam only a few months earlier. He did not have any infrastructure to accomplish, basically rebuilding a new local government. Having too many unprioritized goals is a common problem in the Green Meme.

The focus of the OAAU was to unite all Africans in the Western Hemisphere. Again, the Green Meme reconstitutes what is the “group”. As stated earlier, Hispanics and Native American are considered descendants of Africa in Malcolm X’s paradigm. Again his definition of the group has expanded well past people in the Nation of Islam (Blue Meme Concept).

His ultimate goal is changing or creating a haven in society in which black people can fully express themselves. Malcolm X does not make the new society contingent on black people making more money, like A. Philip Randolph (Orange Meme), or everyone joining the same religion (Blue Meme), or the settling of a score as General Seti (Red Meme). The goal is abstract, no one thing changing will usher in the new society.

If a person looks deeply at his concept of freedom, it is ultimately setting a stage for self-actualization.

Many people would look at this speech and call it Red Meme. The main reason for labeling the speech Red Meme is his liberal use of “cracker.” In spite of the harsh language, which could be a play to the crowd more than an expression of his actual feelings, the speech focuses on unity. Malcolm X says that there are some good white people, only at the moment, the concentration should be on black uplift, not racial reconciliation.

An analyst must take into account a person’s life experience and adjust what is considered within and outside a given Meme. The KKK killed Malcolm X’s father, he grew up poor, and he spent many years in prison. Malcolm X will never have the same views as Dr. King. Ultimately, Malcolm X finds some white people to be good. He knew that black inner healing and self-protection was more important than direct racial unity.

Disclaimers

The writer of this article is not a Muslim. If there is anything in the article that mis-characterizes Islam, please reply in the comments. I will evaluate the feedback and make the appropriate adjustments.

This is a personal blog that is not an official Spiral Dynamics Blog. It is based on the work of Clare Graves and Don Beck. For more information on Spiral Dynamics, please go to the website below.

http://www.spiraldynamics.net/dr-don-beck.html

Feel free to give feedback. However, I would prefer if you read the original speech first. The link follows.

http://www.blackpast.org/1964-malcolm-x-s-speech-founding-rally-organization-afro-american-unity

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Malcolm X

This page will have various blogs an analysis of Malcolm X. The page will be added to periodically.

Analysis: Founding of the Organization of Afro – American Unity

Dr. King and Malcolm Agree on Kennedy’s Death

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Analysis A Philip Randolph

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Analysis: Asa Philip Randolph

What He Has Right

Randolph’s treatise on lynching was superb. He understands and relays to the audience the underlying cause of lynchings is economic, not racist. By being able to see the bigger picture, the audience can understand the manipulation. The treatise on lynching illustrates how race issues are rooted in economics.

Randolph did understand the causes of World War I. Many modern historians point to the German colonial expansion was a catalyst for the War. Also, the war can be a boost for the economy and did boost the economy in America and Europe. The war utilized idol materials and workers.

He also understands that global peace will only come after all people are independent and self-agentic. He realizes that the non-European countries are not ready for full independence as of yet. However, the European countries should nurture and bring the countries along.

Randolph’s ultimate plan of bringing together black and white workers will work to the benefit of all involved. Uniting the workers will reduce the number of people willing to cross picket lines and gives the union more power. However, he also understands people will not integrate without laws forcing them to do so. He knows the failure to comply should lead to a loss of funding or political power.

The march toward fair hiring practices will require sustained action. He encouraged the crowd to take the energy back home. He also tutored younger leaders such as Martin Luther King. Randolph understood the process would not only extend his whole life, but it will extend through many lifetimes.

Randolph is correct that he and more moderate Civil Rights leaders are the voice of most Black Americans. Only Dr. King can rival Randolph’s list of accomplishments. Integration is the only way forward for a people systematically disenfranchised. Blacks should not leave or separate. Blacks were an integral part of the building of the country and should reap all the same rewards.

What He Has Wrong

Peace is not a sufficient motivator to get the European countries to facilitate the growth of Non-European countries. The Orange meme, which most European countries were operating at the time, has no reason to help other countries grow. In the Orange meme, the European countries want to have as much status and resources as possible. If profit sharing and knowledge sharing happens, the European countries must give up their status. Here are a list of reasons why the European nations will never facilitate third world growth

1. The European nations want to keep the resources to themselves
2. The European nations want to keep labor cheap
3. The European nations do not see the natives as intellectual equals
4. Admitting that change is needed proves that the European countries were wrong in the past

Full equability requires a shift in consciousness. No council full of countries at Orange level consciousness will perpetuate the current system. That doesn’t mean that a council will not at least ensure the world does not regress. However, profound psychological work will be needed by a large group of individuals before any real progress occurs. At the time Randolph was writing this treatise very few people had made the connection between spirituality, politics, and psychology. The modern day analyst, especially the integralist, can see where this philosophy is lacking.

His framing of President Johnson is overly rose-colored. It is important for the reader to know that Johnson was a Dixiecrat and supporter of segregation until he became president. Most other historians recount how afraid most black people were when Johnson took over the Presidency. Johnson did sign some of the most important Civil Rights legislation. However, the motivation was more political than moral. A separate blog post is needed to give this subject justice.

It is also clear that Dr. King was under FBI surveillance during his entire career. Johnson had to be aware of this fact. To say Dr. King and Johnson had good relations is simply not accurate.

The Democratic party absorbed most of the Civil Rights leadership of the 1960’s. Randolph knew he had to keep his political allies to push forth more legislation. Randolph was also Vice President of the AFL-CIO. The AFL-CIO was strongly allied with the Democratic party. Randolph was being pressured on all sides to keep a positive relationship with the Democrats.

Where is A. Philip Randolph on the Spiral

A Philip Randolph is in the Orange Meme Integrationist. He is a Democratic Socialist that supports First Order Change. Randolph saw race as a subset of the larger issue of economic inequality. In his work, he concentrated on American blacks. Even though he did have a world perspective, which is usually Orange Meme, his work was all in America. Randolph was a power player in the Democratic Party for decades and had recognition internationally. He concentrated on America.

At the beginning of his career, he wanted Second Order change and supported the revolution in Russia. He saw the treatment of minorities in the USSR and determined Communism was severely lacking. Just because he felt the system was superior that did not mean change was not needed. Randolph demonstrates pragmatism in action.

I saw no change in values, so there was no shift up or down the Spiral in Randolph’s public life. He is centered in Orange the entire time.

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March on Washington Movement

After the departure from the National Negro Congress, A. Philip Randolph tours the country with his Brotherhood Vice-President Milton Webster. Webster has the idea of a mass demonstration in Washington. He suggests 10,000 people Marching on Washington. [1] Randolph closes his speeches with a call for a mass protest. The idea spreads like wildfire. In 1941, many are calling for Randolph to go through with the march. Black people have been excluded from the Defense Industry too long. Randolph also wants to end Jim Crow in the military.

Randolph started the March on Washington Movement to create a new coalition to create a mass demonstration to force the government to end segregation in the military and defense industry. He allies with the NAACP, Federal Council on Negro Affairs, and National Urban League. [2]All groups are moderate Civil Rights organizations that wanted first-order change.

Mary McLeod Bethune headed The Federal Council on Negro Affairs. She was a Washington insider that had unprecedented access to the Roosevelts. She was the highest paid government official at the time. [6] Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt were close friends. Bethune received inside knowledge on how the President thought and had an advocate for blacks that is extremely close to the President.

Walter White headed the NAACP at this time. White was another Washington insider and had several meetings on the topic of desegregation in the defense industry. [6] In later years, Randolph and White become rivals and tell conflicting stories about who convinced Roosevelt to sign the executive order. Ultimately, both men had influence on Roosevelt. White pressured from inside the White House. Randolph pressured from outside the White House.

He now needs to ensure those that want second-order change, the Communist, are excluded from the group. He calls for only black people to come to the march. At the time, few whites outside the Communist Party had interest. There were very few black people in the Communist Party because they abandoned the cause of Civil Rights during World War II. Calling for only black people to be at the march was a shrewd method to dissolve the threat of Communist agitation. There is still bad-blood between the two groups since the National Negro Congress split and the Communist could use a disturbance at the march to reduce A. Philip Randolph’s power.

Roosevelt never said he was against desegregation, but he did not actively support Civil Rights. He needed Southern support to pass and continue the New Deal. To keep the Southerners support, he purposely excluded domestic and agricultural workers from New Deal benefits. At the time 60% of black people were domestic and farm workers. Roosevelt also refused to back an anti-lynching bill in 1938.[3] No matter what Roosevelt personally believed, he would always act with political motives.

The USA had not entered World War II in the summer of 1941. Roosevelt wanted to aid the allies in not only supplies but soldiers. He also was framing the war as a struggle against tyranny and genocide. A mass demonstration against racism would call into question America’s moral authority in the war. Roosevelt could not risk a civil disturbance at this critical time.

Eleanor Roosevelt, heavily influenced by Bethune, calls A. Philip Randolph to discuss postponing the march. Randolph agrees to meet with Roosevelt, other Civil Rights leaders, and various cabinet members. According to Randolph in a 1968 interview, Roosevelt was chiefly worried about a civil disturbance at the march. [4] Roosevelt initially proposed an executive order to outlaw segregation in the government contracted defense industry in return for calling off the march. Randolph would not agree. He demanded that the government include non-contract defense industry. Randolph is only willing to postpone not stop the march. Roosevelt balked at first but ultimately capitulated. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8802 two days before the march. [4]

Randolph makes a unilateral decision to call off the march. [2]It is possible he did not have enough time to consult with the rest of his team. It could be that he thought the team would not agree unless the order included the military. Many historians chastise Randolph for unilaterally calling off the march. Originally the March on Washington Movement was a collaboration among equals; now it was Randolph’s group.

There is another group of historians that believe Randolph would not have been able to make the march happen. [6] Washington was a segregated city at that time, that meant few accommodations for housing and restricted access by rail. Because many of the rural areas around DC did not have black newspapers, word of the March spread in major cities across the country not to blacks within driving distance. It is possible that Randolph knew he would not be able to gather his 100,000 people.

Randolph has only postponed the march he has not called it off altogether. He now has branches in Los Angeles, Chicago, Trenton, Milwaukee, Washington, Cleveland, Richmond, St. Louis, Atlanta, Savannah, St. Paul, and Jacksonville. [2] The new national movement was successful in creating demonstrations in New York, Chicago, and St. Louis.

Roosevelt created the Fair Employment Practice Committee, FEPC, to enforce desegregation in the armed forces. He appoints Southerner Mark Ethridge to oversee the committee. Ethridge was a staunchly believed segregation had moral and practical justification. [2] The FEPC has no authority to punish the contractors or government agencies if they are found not obeying the executive order. The result of the FEPC is only documentation that segregation is happening. [2]The FEPC ended due to government cuts in 1943.

The FEPC did have practical reasons for not punishing desegregation. The country was in the middle of supplying and fighting (by the end of 1941) a war effort. Stopping a production line or pulling a contract could get people killed on the front line. However, there could have been measures taken that would not shut down the line, such as disqualification in future contracts.

Randolph continues to use the threat of a mass protest to pressure the government into desegregating the military. To execute a massive protest, he needed more organizational infrastructure. In the 1942 conference, organizational ground rules are made. The first is no money from whites. The MOWM can only serve blacks if it is funded by blacks. The second was a complete denouncement of communism. The third was all local branches come together for the March on Washington.[6] Other than the March on Washington local offices had autonomy.

The institutionalization of the MOWM causes the NAACP to worry that they could lose membership and funding. The NAACP denounced the MOWM as being exclusionary to whites. Turning the NAACP into an enemy caused the most problems with the Washington local branch. The NAACP did everything to discourage membership. The DC local was found to have no members in a 1943 audit. [6]The lack of membership was partly due to poor management, but denouncement by the local NAACP did not help the matter. [6] If there is no support in the city in which the protest takes place, there is no reason to think a protest can happen.

The Left criticized the MOWM first. The Left felt the executive order did not go far enough because there was no penalty for non-compliance. The second issue was a fear that Randolph was working to gain a foot into the Democratic Party on the backs of his people. Blacks would then have total loyalty to the Democratic Party. People do not bait hooks for caught fish. From the extreme Left the criticism was Randolph was not attempting to overthrow an inherently racist system, he was just trying to get black people included in the system at a deeper level.

On the right, there was the charge that a mass demonstration is too risky. The summer of 1943 birthed two race riots in Detroit and New York. Both ended with dozens of blacks killed or injured. The Ohio newspaper,Cleveland Call, urged Randolph to concentrate on local protest at factories. The paper cited numerous instances of local protest working without the risk or cost of a national demonstration. [7]

Randolph wanted the march to be all black to reduce the likelihood of infiltration by saboteurs and to promote black pride. Having an all black march would combat the inferiority complex in blacks. [6] If blacks cannot do anything on their own they will never have the confidence to compete in America. Having the MOWM funded totally by blacks allowed for total control of the movement. Randolph reiterates an old saying “there is no instance of people… winning freedom who did not have to pay for it in treasure, blood, and tears, and since who pays the fiddler calls the time.” [6]

Ultimately, a movement can’t be funded by people with no money. Funding from the NAACP dries up when the MOWM is thought to be working for a permanent organization. In 1942, Randolph admitted to a lieutenant that the movement does not have a dime. [6] In 1943, Randolph asks the Executive Committee for personal loans to keep the movement afloat. [6] The organization holds itself together until 1947 with no paid staff members.

The first organization dedicated to nonviolent direct action was The March on Washington Movement. The NAACP focused on winning cases; the National Urban League groomed politicians, the MOWM got people in the streets across the nation to protest. The MOWM successfully picketed an arms manufacturer in St. Louis along with other local victories. The blueprint will be taken up in the 1960’s by Randolph protege Dr. Martin Luther King.

As stated earlier, Executive Order 8802 did not desegregate the military. Truman will have to implement Executive Order 9981 in 1948 and Secretary McNamara issuing Defense Directive 5120.36 in 1963. However, it was a crucial first step. After EO 8802 the number of black civil servants triple and the number of blacks in the defense industry went from 8.4% to 12.5%. [6] Desegregation would never happen overnight. It took many people of all races working together in many different manners. The MOWM created a template for non-violence that will be used for the entire Civil Rights Movement.

One can not be sure why Randolph left his earlier pragmatism behind. It is reasonable to assume he was terrified of communist infiltration. It is also sensible to think he needed an all-black movement to be successful to salve his ego. It’s hard for a person to share a victory with people he does not trust. I assume there were some shadow elements within Randolph that caused some self-sabotage. Randolph also lacked a lieutenant in the MOWM effort. Milton Webster was a pragmatic Vice-President of The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Randolph had a few female secretaries, but due to money issues, none stayed long enough to influence the movement. History will never understand Randolph’s lapse in judgment.

Sources
1. Rising From the Rails by Larry Tye
2. “The Negro March On Washington Movement in the World War II Period” https://theanarchistlibrary.org
3. “Race and FDR’s New Deal” http://www.shmoop.com
4. Thomas Baker Interview with A. Philip Randolph October 29,1968
5. New York Amsterdam News August 7, 1943
6.“It’s A New Kind of Militancy” by David Lucander
7. Cleveland Call Sept 12, 1942
8. “Harry Truman and the Desegregation of the Military” by Joy A. Reid http://www.thegrio.com

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Basic Philosophy of Asa Philip Randolph

Lynching

In 1917, Randolph and his business partner, Chandler Owen, wrote a treatise called The Truth About Lynchings. Lynchings was a way to punish people or entire groups without a trial. Lynchings were very common in the South, and the victims were mostly black.

Randolph and Owen created the treatise to combat the myth that black men having sex with white women cause lynchings. Often interracial relationships ended with an accusation of rape. The whites of the town would rally and kill the offending black man.

To prove the cause of lynchings is not racial, Randolph and Owen show the stats for victims of lynching. Around 35% of victims of lynching were white, and only 34% followed a rape charge. There were black men lynched for dressing well, standing up to whites that disrespected them and attempting to vote. Often black men were just randomly killed. Even when a black man was accused of rape, he did not even know his white accuser. The cause of lynching is much deeper than race.

The writers contend all the victims were extremely poor and often exploited for labor. Most times blacks moved into an area and provided incredibly cheap labor. The skilled labor, generally white, would then need to run these people out of town or kill them. A mob would form to kill one man in hopes the rest would leave out of fear. If that did not work, an attack on the entire black population would follow. That was the story of lynchings in the North.

In the South, lynching provided cause for a constant state of fear in the black community. The state of fear impeded organizing and protesting for equal pay. The fear keeps the old exploitative Capitalist system alive, and the South stayed one step away from slavery.

The capitalists perpetuate racial fears and cause lynchings. The wealthy control the newspapers and can create whatever narrative they want. The public believes the narrative, and the skilled workers are pitted against non-skilled workers. Both have their attention diverted from the real cause of suffering.

Ultimately, exploitative Capitalism led to lynching. Instating socialism can correct the problem. The first order of business was to have all trade unions integrated. Blacks also have to begin to support trade unionism. It is insane to be against trade unionism because most black people are in the working class. In spite of the discrimination in the Union, the fundamental principles of Unionism are sound.

International Affairs

Randolph wrote a treatise on how the United States should handle World War I in 1917 with fellow socialist Chandler Owen. The duo was instrumental in the formulation of socialist thought in the black community. For the reader to fully understand the essay a summary of World War I is needed.

World War I started in 1914 with the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne. A terrorist organization known as the Black Hand carried out the assassination, and the group had connections to Serbia. Serbia had recently gained full independence from the Ottoman Empire with the help of Russia. The Serbians wanted to liberate various Slavic countries from Austria – Hungary.

Austria – Hungary declared war on Serbia to avenge the killing of the heir. Serbia had a mutual protection pact with Russia. An alliance between France, Russia, and England had existed for decades. The entry of Germany on the side of Austria – Hungary culminated in “The war to end all wars.”

At the beginning of 1917, the United States was not yet in the war. A telegram from Germany was intercepted by the British. The telegram offered Mexico aid if Mexico declared war on the United States to reclaim land lost during the Mexican-American War. The telegram is now known as the Zimmerman Telegram. Public opinion swayed from isolationism to interventionism upon publication of the Zimmerman Telegram. The USA declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

Even though America was justified in entering the war, there were many issues getting soldiers half-way across the world. America could not reinforce European Allied force at speed to move the front line. 1917 was a year of stalemate. America was dumping tons of resources in a war with no end in sight. The government instituted the draft. America will solve all these logistic issues and by 1918 ten thousand new soldiers will be sent to France a day. The Allies will begin to push the Axis Powers back, and the war will end in the summer of 1918.

The stress of the war was not only taking a toll on America. Russia was also near starvation by 1917. The harsh living conditions for the average Russian resulted in a revolution to overthrow the Czar. The new government was the first Socialist government in the world. The new Russian government scales back on the war effort. A treaty between German and Russian will be signed in March of 1918.

Randolph and Owen’s joint treatise Terms of Peace and the Darker Races details how to the major European powers can gain peace with each other and with the non-whites of the world. The treatise takes the position that the war was not intended to avenge the death of Ferdinand. The war was to halt German progress in acquiring new territory in Africa and the Pacific. At the beginning of the war, Germany had colonies in East Africa, West Africa, Northern part of Papua New Guinea, and various islands in the Pacific. The German colonial growth threatened French and German power in Africa and beyond.

The second cause of the war was a surplus of military goods that was going idol. Capitalists run Europe and want to ensure resources go to use and generate profit. However, once the excess of military assets has been exhausted the European powers will end the war because there is not profit motive. The following paragraph is a good summary.

“ After the goods produced shall have been used. There is no gain in having the war continue, but on the contrary, the war’s continuance would be a substantial debt upon capitalist. The capitalist…sell immense amount of goods. When the war ends, the government owes them huge debts. It is necessary for the soldiers to become laborers now to pay this debt. Hence the object of peace is profit – gain- just as the object of war is.” p.2

To illustrate his idea the capital gain is the real reason for prolonging the war he shows how differently the new socialist government in Russia and the capitalist government are handling the issue of peace. The Russians have made their terms for peace well known. Britain and France engage in dark diplomacy, working on terms with Austria -Hungary, and Germany in secret. He concludes that Britain and France want continuance because they still see that the venture is profitable

The profit to be made is not only on the sale of arms and supplies, but the reclaiming of colonial lands recently lost to Germany. The new colonial lands have numerous untapped resources. Further development in Europe is no longer possible due to overuse of land. The new colonial lands are vital for further growth. The allies hope to weaken Germany and take the land back.

The European power’s main relationship to the colonial land is for exploitation. The people of the land are seen as a vehicle to be used to cultivate the ground. They are not independent/agentic beings. The following quotes are a summary of this aspect of the philosophy.

“To prevent such a fight, one of three things may be done: You may eliminate the fighters, you may remove the thing they fight about, or change the attitude on what they are fighting about.” p.8

“Herein lies the real bone of contention of the world war – darker peoples for cheap labor and darker people for rich lands” p 13

“Before getting into the terms of peace for the darker nations, we wish to observe that incidentally are the darker people’s exploited. It is not because of their color per se, but because colored peoples happen to assume such a low place in the scale of civilization just now as to make such exploitation attractive easy and possible.” p 15

Because you can not eliminate the European nations or the colonial lands, the attitude toward colonial lands must change. That is why the European must acknowledge the colonial’s independence an aid in the march toward self-sufficiency. Global peace and stability will be needed to facilitate this new paradigm.

The creation of a Permanent International Peace Commission will be necessary. The commission will judge international breaches of justice. The ability address grievances in a court setting will make the need for war obsolete. As part of the commission, there will be an International Council on the Condition of Darker Races. This council will ensure profit sharing between the workers and capitalist, proper education for natives, and eventual independence for the native people.

Randolph believes the desire for peace will be the ultimate motivator to accomplish this goal. World War I was so bloody on such a large scale that no one will want to endure any war ever again. If everyone wants peace, then full independence for the colonies is necessary. He extends the desired autonomy to Alsace, Lorraine, and Poland which were controlled by various European nations at that time.

Immigration

Like many other Black Empowerment Thinkers, Randolph was a restrictionist.[D] Restrictionist means a person believes jobs or government benefits should first go to United States citizens. His reasoning is complex.

1. Black immigrants rarely applied for citizenship in the early 1900’s
2. White immigrants worked to bring racist laws into the North to shut down black competition for work. Immigrants from nations that were hostile to the USA displaced black veterans in the job market.

His restrictionist stance came from the general labor dynamic of the early 1900’s. The labor unions shut out blacks. Then the union would monopolize the labor market. When the union would strike, blacks would fill the jobs left behind by the strikers. So blacks were often opposed to immigration and the unions. The racism of the labor unions led to most blacks voting Republican and most immigrants voting Democrat. The following was a quote from Randolph in 1924.

“ Instead of reducing immigration to 2% of the 1890 quota, we favor reducing it to nothing… We favor shutting out the Germans from Germany, Italians from Italy, and the Hindus from India. Negro’s from the West Indies. The country is suffering from immigrant indigestion.”[D]

It is important to note that Randolph took no stance on immigration bills after the BSCP joined the AFL. Specifically, he did not comment on the McCarran-Walter Act in 1952 or the Hart-Cellar Act in 1965.[D]

Worker relations

In a 1919 editorial in his periodical “The Messenger” he detailed his Socialist policy in an article entitled “Our Reason for Being.” Randolph explains how the interest of black and white workers are the same. Specifically, their interests are better wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. If unions discriminate against blacks, the capitalist will have a bank of workers to use when the union workers strike. The larger the union, the more power it will have. Therefore integrating unions is only logical. He cites the Industrial Workers of the World, which was the largest union and the most powerful integrated union in the 1910’s.

Allowing Blacks in Unions will also stop the spread of communism among black people. Black radicalism was starting to spread in blacks frustrated with the slow pace of racial justice. If black people were financially stable faith would be restored in the government and society. The newfound faith in America would lead to more stability.

Proactive Politics

Randolph gave the opening speech at the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. In the speech, he details how all Americans need to have full employment. Randolph hoped the march would lead to a jobs bill that would reduce national unemployment. Fair hiring practices must accompany the new jobs. He details one of the main hindrances to fair hiring practices is the need for social peace. Opponents will always claim that change will upset current workers and customers and cause a problem. Randolph expresses the need not to be afraid of conflict for the sake of advancement. Randolph demands that federal funding be contingent on compliance was the method of enforcing the new employment laws.

Randolph also makes clear that the march is just the beginning. He calls for listeners to take a pledge to take the call to resistance back home.

“ When we leave, it will be to carry on the civil rights revolution home with us into every nook and cranny of the land, and we shall return again and again to Washington in ever growing numbers until total freedom is ours” [F]

Legacy

Thomas Baker interview Randolph in 1968 on his life and legacy. The Lyndon Baines Johnson Library kept the interview. The interview recounts his dealings with presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson

The first President that Randolph interacted with was F. D. Roosevelt. Randolph had scheduled the 1941 March on Washington to protest segregation in the armed forces and munitions manufacturing. World War II was underway in Europe. The United States would enter the war in December 1941 after Pearl Harbor. The US was supplying the allied war effort. Therefore munitions factories were opening all over the country. Blacks were applying and were not given jobs in munitions factories. For a group of people kept systematically poor, not being allowed in a growing industry was a real problem.

An even larger problem was segregation in the military. There was the moral issue of fighting discrimination overseas when blacks at home suffered and the practical issue of the glass ceiling for promotions for blacks. A black soldier could be in charge of a black division but nothing else. That made the dream of becoming a general unobtainable. All black people in the armed forces had feelings of resentment.

Mrs. Roosevelt was the first to reach out to Randolph to see if they could avoid having the march. The President did not want racial strife to divide the nation when any day the US could be called to help the Allies in Europe. Mrs. Roosevelt asked why had Randolph not come to the President first. After talking, Mrs. Roosevelt set up a meeting between FDR and Randolph.

F.D. Roosevelt explained that he was soon to execute Executive Order 8802 forcing the National Defense Industry to desegregate. Initially, the Executive Order only applied to government contractors. Randolph demanded the addition of federl government work. Roosevelt agreed if Randolph called off the march. Two days before the march, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802 and it included the federal government.

Executive Order 8802 did not contain the military. Randolph and other Civil Rights leaders went to work on a national campaign to end segregation in the military. Truman agreed to meet with Randolph in either 1947 or 1948, Randolph could not remember. In the meeting, Randolph explains black were preparing to become insubordinate if the military did not desegregate. Truman did not realize the situation was that serious. Truman got to work and issued Executive Order 9981 desegregating the military.

Randolph says Eisenhower did the least of all the presidents he worked with for the cause of Civil Rights. Eisenhower was sympathetic to the black cause, but would not take public stands. Randolph did commend Eisenhower for protecting the Little Rock 9, but he could have done much more.

Randolph recounts the story of the 1963 March on Washington. Senators Javits and Douglass organized a meeting between Kennedy, Johnson, various congressmen, and Civil Rights leaders. The biggest concern was keeping the march peaceful. There had never been a demonstration of that size before. If the protest turned violent, it would be difficult to contain. The Civil Rights leaders reassured everyone they could keep control.

Johnson is the best president for Civil Rights according to Randolph. He makes sure to say that list includes Lincoln. Randolph lists Johnson’s accomplishments: Civil Rights Act of 1964, 1965, Voting Rights Act of 1967 and the Open House Occupancy Act of 1968. President Johnson is the first man that won the Presidency that received Randolph’s vote. Randolph spent most of his life as part of the Socialist Party, and Johnson was the first mainstream candidate that had his support. Randolph is confident that President Johnson would soon end the Vietnam War.

Baker asks Randolph if Dr. King and President Johnson had any animosity. Randolph says that Johnson and Dr. King had a good relationship. There was no animosity between King and Johnson.

Randolph considers himself and fellow Civil Rights activists Roy Wilkins and Andrew Young the voice of most of Black America. He grouped Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois together as Capitalist thinkers.He considered Marcus Garvey the voice of more radical separatist. He says Garvey’s Back to Africa movement will not work for the following reasons.

1. Most blacks don’t want to go back to Africa
2. Blacks don’t have enough resources to collective move back to Africa
3. Even if blacks move back to Africa, Imperialist control all the resources.

Ultimately, the Back to Africa movement was not realistic.

Sources:
Books
1. Banks, W. M. 1996, Black Intellectuals: Race and Responsibility in American Life, New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
2. Randolph, A.P 1917 and Owen, Chandler, Terms of Peace and the Darker Race, Poole Press Association (E-book version on Google Play)
Internet
A. Pfeffer, Paula F. (2000). “Randolph; Asa Philip” American National Biography Online. Oxford University Press.
B. “A look at Malcolm X as a mirror for America” New York Times 12-16-1992
Asa Philip Randolph biography on http://www.aflcio.org
C. Scott, Daryl (1999) “ Immigrant Indigestion” Center for Immigration Studies
D. Randolph, A.P. “Our Reason for Being” transcript on http://www.historymatters.gmu.edu
E. Transcript of Randolph’s 1963 March on Washington Speech found on http://www.jacksonville.com

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Randolph & The National Negro Congress

A Philip Randolph provides many examples of how to build and break coalitions. Randolph understood that alliances bring economy of scale and cross-pollinate ideas from one movement to another. He also understood if a member or group of members is going down the wrong path, it is better to let them go down that road alone. He understood relationships are important, but the welfare of the people he is here to protect is more important.

Randolph’s first coalition was formed to aid the Scottsboro Boys to fight their 1931 case. The Scottsboro Boys were a group of black hobos that fought a group of white hobos for the right to stowaway on a train car. After losing the fight, the white hobos got two white women to accuse the blacks of rape. The Scottsboro Boys are arrested and almost lynched. A rushed trail and a harsh conviction followed to prevent a race riot.

Randolph teams up with the NAACP and the Communist Party. Randolph, having the Pullman Porters at his aid, was able to make sure news of the trial got across the country. The NAACP had the lawyers and the political pull to make sure the Scottsboro Boys had a retrial. The Communist Party had money and pull with white liberals and radicals. The team was able to free four of the nine men. [1]

The members of the team decided they should keep a good thing going. In May of 1935, the National Negro Congress is founded at Howard University. They had their first convention in Chicago in February of 1936.[2] The NNC had 800 delegates representing every major national and local Civil Rights, Labor, and Leftist organization.[3] The goal was to fight for Civil Rights as a subset of economic equality. The NNC will encourage blacks to join the unions, the unions to accept black people, and pooling resources to support leftist candidates and policies. The largest difference between NNC members and mainstream leftist and Civil Rights organizations is the thought race is a material, not moral construct and racism is a national not Southern issue. [4]

The biggest division in the group was the Communist and liberal Civil Rights leaders. The Communist wanted to change the economic system of the United States. Beck refers to this as a “Second Order Change.” The Liberals wanted more blacks involved in industries outside domestic and agricultural. The Liberals wanted “First Order Change.”

On top of having different philosophies, many Communist Party leaders were in contact with the Soviet Union (USSR). The USSR and the USA had a very complicated relationship in the 1930’s. USSR was part of the allied alliance against Germany. At the same time, the Soviet Union vowed to spread Communism all over the world. The spread of Communism was a direct threat to American capitalism. Many of the liberals did not want to get involved in taking on the entire government. They also did not want to be implicated in an espionage investigation

In 1939, the USSR signed an agreement with Germany not to attack. Essentially, the USSR left the Allied Alliance. The USSR leaving the war caused a split in the NNC. The Liberals wanted to support the war effort and desegregate the military. The Communist wanted to become pacifist. A. Philip Randolph and the other liberals left the NNC in 1940. [4]

In 1941, Germany reneged on the pact with the USSR and invaded. The American Communist Party does a one-eighty and now supports the war effort. The Communist go so far that they no longer call for the military to desegregate. The new stance is Hitler is the primary enemy and racist are a secondary enemy. After the war is over, the Civil Rights struggle will continue.[5]Many of the NNC members and black people in the Communist party at large left when the party abandoned Civil Rights. One of those people was Bayard Rustin. The NNC dissolves in 1947 due to Cold War Suppression. [3]

Randolph took the contingent that was pro-USA and started the “Double V” movement. The goal was to encourage black people to join the war effort and desegregate the military. The committee will grow to the March on Washington Movement that will force the desegregation of the war industry and the military. It will also increase Randolph’s influence with a host of presidents. More on this subject will fill a later blog post.

As the reader can see, Randolph again shows exceptional judgment. He had watched the Soviet Revolution since 1917 when he viewed it optimistically. He watched the atrocities it committed over the last fifteen years and determined he wanted no part of it. The USA had its problems, yet he understood that these problems could best be solved within the USA. Becoming a puppet to a foreign government caused not only the loss of independence, but it also puts the organization even more at odds with the government that has power over the lives of the members. Randolph made the best decision for himself and the Brotherhood by leaving the NNC. By keeping his independence, he was able to take a practical stance against oppression

Sources

1. “Scottsboro Boys, Trial, and Defense” http://www.blackpast.org
2. “The National Negro Congress of 1936” http://freepress.org
3. “National Negro Congress” http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org
4. Report on Deathblow to Jim Crow by Charles Manning
5. “The Negro March On Washington Movement in the World War II Period” https://theanarchistlibrary.org

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