revolutionary action movement (ram) - Michael Schwartz Library

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Freeman sent letters to the Challenge cadre, discussing ideological aspects
of the civil rights movement .
In the spring of 1962, Studies on the Left , a radical quarterly, published
Harold Cruse's articles, "Revolutionary Nationalism and the Afro-
American ." 3
Cruse, in his article, described Afro-Americans as an op
pressed nation within a nation . Freeman wrote a letter to the Challenge
cadre telling them to seriously study the article . He also said black
radicals elsewhere were studying the article and that a movement had
to be
created in the North similar to the Nation of Islam, using the
tactics of
SNCC but outside of the NAACP and CORE .
The Challenge cadre studied
Freeman's letter but did not know where to begin .
After much discussion, the Challenge cadre decided to form a broad
coalition party to take over student government .
Meetings were held with
representatives from each class, fraternity and sorority . A slate was
drafted and a name for the party was selected . At the meeting of the coalition
party, the name Revolutionary Action Movment was chosen . But it was
felt by the members at the meeting that the word revolutionary would scare
Central
State's administration so they decided to use Reform Action Movement
(RAM) for the purposes of the student election . It was called RAM,
later to be known as the Revolutionary Action Movement .
The Challenge cadre met and decided to dissovle itself into RAM and
become the RAM leadership . RAM won all student government offices . After
the election, the inner RAM core discussed what to do next .
Some said that
all that could be done at Central State had already occurred, while others
disagreed . Some of the inner core decided to stay at Central State and run
3Howard Zinn, SNCC (Boston, Mass . : Beacon Press, 10,64), p . 3 .