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Negro Digest - Freedom Archives

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yJOOIIf I /Ol¢(A.~<br />

that can be escalated to the heart of<br />

the problem ( "the end to imperialist<br />

rule"), is the organization that is<br />

most progressive . This he sees as inevitably<br />

connected with the organization<br />

of the poor workers in the western<br />

metropolitan countries . However,<br />

he cites Frantz Fanon on the<br />

limitation of Black Nationalism but<br />

fails to deal with the racist colonial<br />

exploitation enjoyed by the European<br />

(white) working class . He<br />

applauds the African innovation of<br />

Julius Nyerere of Tanzania and Kenneth<br />

Kaunda of Zambia, but fits all<br />

his analysis into models of European<br />

revolution . In fact, we look at this<br />

analysis as glimpses of Black revolution<br />

as defined by James' version of<br />

Marxist-Leninism . But this is not a<br />

criticism as much as a clarification .<br />

This volume calls us to develop an<br />

analysis of Pan-African action . Black<br />

people in the United States must begin<br />

to look at the world through<br />

their African eyes . Along with this<br />

work, Black people ought to read<br />

books like Not Yet Uhuru, by Oginda<br />

Odinga, in order to deal with<br />

the specific national developments in<br />

African affairs . We ought to read<br />

Handbook for Revolutionary Warfare,<br />

by Kwame Nkrumah, to consider<br />

an ideological plan of action<br />

to liberate and unify the entire continent<br />

of Africa . And we ought to<br />

read Zambia Shall be Free, by Kenneth<br />

Kaunda, and Ujamaa: Essays<br />

on Socialism, by Julius Nyerere, to<br />

probe more fully the positive development<br />

of African models of revolution<br />

today . This is the beginning of<br />

a people conscious of their world,<br />

living in thought and emotion the<br />

everyday struggles of African people<br />

everywhere on the earth . We must<br />

be a united African people, and for<br />

that we need to have a united all-<br />

NEGRO DIGEST March 1970<br />

(Continued from page 52)<br />

African analysis of African affairs .<br />

Brother James provides us with a provocative<br />

beginning for this new step<br />

forward .<br />

But more than this is needed from<br />

brothers like C . L. R . James because<br />

relevant literature is so sparse . He<br />

has been involved in the history of<br />

the history of the Pan-African movement,<br />

and he has been intimate<br />

friends with outstanding figures like<br />

W . E . B . Du Bois, George Padmore,<br />

Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and many<br />

others . We need an informal history<br />

of how these men came together and<br />

worked as they did . We need a detailed<br />

analysis of the way they dealt<br />

with problems that are plaguing the<br />

Black struggle today . We need an<br />

analysis of the relevance of Marx,<br />

Lenin, and Trotsky for the Pan-<br />

African struggle of today as compared<br />

with the 1930's . We need no<br />

autobiography from C . I . R. James .<br />

Nearly as important as the substance<br />

of this book is the organization<br />

that published it . Drum and<br />

Spear Press is a new development in<br />

the current historical turn to Africa .<br />

It is connected with a book storeinformation<br />

center, an educational<br />

center, and other services designed<br />

to heighten the consciousness of<br />

Black people to an African awakening,<br />

and it is organizing Black people<br />

to develop skills that will concretely<br />

contribute to the Pan-African struggle<br />

. It is significant that the exploitative<br />

decision of white publishers to<br />

reprint out-of-print volumes has<br />

lured and seduced so many integrationist<br />

brothers in academic-intellectual<br />

circles . But that is merely white<br />

people rendering Black Studies<br />

meaningless by flooding the market<br />

with 19th century writing and making<br />

a big fat profit . All of this with the<br />

consent of the Black literary estab-<br />

91

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