Black party at the crossroads

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by Kwame and Zakiya Somburu Kwame Somburu, formerly Paul Boutelle, was vice-presidential candidate on the 1968 Socialist Workers Party ticket. Zakiya Somburu is currently cochairperson of the San Francisco-Oakland chapter of the National Black Independent Political Party (NBIPP).

The National Black Independent Political Party was founded in Philadelphia, Nov. 23, 1980, at the end of a three day convention called by the National Black Political Assembly (NBPA). Approximately 1,500 Black activists attended this convention. NBIPP developed out of the oppressive political, social, and economic conditions suffered by Black Americans for hundreds of years, and out of our collective experience in trying to fight that oppression.

This most recent and advanced form of Black organization had its roots in the Black political convention of 1830. That was the first attempt to organize Blacks politically-independent of America's rulers. In the 20-year period before NBIPP's founding, there were many other attempts at political organization.

There were many and varied reasons for the eventual failure of these fledgling attempts. It is a fact, however, that a major direct and indirect role in wrecking every one of them was played by the Democratic Party.

On June 28, 1964, one of the most articulate, courageous, intelligent, and dedicated fighters for Black liberation, Malcolm X, launched a secular Black unity movement at a public gathering. It was called the Organization of Afro-American Unity. In his political remarks at that meeting, Malcolm revealed the vast gulf in consciousness and commitment between himself and the many political hucksters and misleaders of Black people. He stated:

"We won't organize any Black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out.... We propose to support and organize political clubs to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in office who answers to and is reponsible to the Afro-American community. We don't support any Black man who is controlled by the white power structure."

Malcolm characterized capitalism as a system that "needs some blood to suck" in order to survive. He said that capitalism must be eliminated here and in the world in order for real liberation to come into existence. He characterized the role played by different segments of the Democratic Party as "a giant political con game" to keep Blacks politically impotent and in the party's clutches.

Malcolm exemplified the type of leadership that is urgently needed in the Black liberation struggle today. Malcolm's political analyses and sagacity have been continuously ignored (except for occasional lip service) by practically all those who are considered to be leaders or spokespersons for the Black masses. Most political developments and activities in the Black movement since his tragic assassination by agents of the U. S. ruling class on February 21, 1965, provide lucid examples of this.

NBIPP's modern genesis was the Black political convention of 1972 in Gary, Ind., attended by 8,000 Black activists. Many of those in attendance were strongly in favor of building an independent Black political party. But the convention leadership was composed of Black agents of the Democratic Party such as Gary, Ind., Mayor Richard In his Ballot or the Bullet speech Malcolm first and the Democrats put you last." Feb.

assassination 19 years ago convention for nominating him, and after a speech devoid of any real substance, tearfully declined-stating that he would remain in the Democratic Party and encouraging the activists to do likewise. His declination shocked and demoralized the assemblage.

After a few years of wound-licking by the NBPA leadership, Black activists convened another convention in New Orleans. Although the delegates were far from unanimous and spent several days expressing divergent views on the Black party issue, the convention adopted a call for a founding party convention to be held Philadelphia in November 1980. It also voted not to support any capitalist presidential candidate in the 1980 elections, and counseled Blacks to vote "no" on all of them or to vote for any minor said, "You put the Democr ats marks the anniversary of his NBIPP members for supporting Jackson's candidacy is the urgent need to defeat Reagan. They go so far as to say that any Black person who is not actively working in the "anti-Reagan movement" is not really serious-is "irrelevant." They believe that NBIPP's political activities should be geared to the level of those who blame Reagan for their woes and who think that all their problems will be solved by putting someone else in the Oval Office.

This is the type of simplistic approach to politics that America's powerful, sophisticated rulers and their agents want the masses to have. But no one individual is responsible for the problems and no one individual can solve them. As (Continued on page Socialist Action February 1984 5

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1984 elections: DEC 1980, Ronald Reagan's victory margin over Jimmy Carter in eight Southern states worth 72 electoral votes was 192,000 votes. There were 3 million eligible but unregistered Black voters in those states. In Massachusetts, Reagan won by 2,500 votes, when there were 64,000 unregistered Blacks. If the Democratic Party makes room for the locked-out, if it commits significant resources to register the unregistered, it cannot lose."

Jackson's campaign clearly fits in well with the overall Democratic Party perspective for the 1984 election. Jackson can play an indispensable and unique role among the Democratic candidates