THE Fourth International, the organisation of Trotskyists, regards the black people of the United States as an oppressed nationality minority. We are not alone in this - an important section of the Afro-American masses regard themselves as an oppressed nationality.
For us this is the key thing, for we have no pre-conceived notions as to what constitutes a nationality minority. It is primarily a matter of how they see themselves. As Trotsky wrote: 'We do not obligate the negroes to become a nation; if they are then it is a question of their consciousness, that is, what they desire and strive for...
That black people were striving to become a nation was evidenced at the time Trotsky said this by the Garvey movement which had over 1. million adherents in the USA. It has been shown even more clearly after the growth of the black nationalist movement in the 60s. Fixed Trotsky based himself present consciousness of black people, the objective factors which could lead in that direction. He argued that nations were not fixed for all time, but were created objective conditions.
'In any case,' he wrote, 'the suppression of the negroes (under slavery and after) pushes them towards a political and national unity...
The Socialist Workers Party in the United States, of conditions which into a nation in the light of experience of the SEXUES *Black people America as slaves. They came here speaking different languages. totally different levels of historical and cultural development. Ency- came here different nations, and totally different tribes, totally different Certainly none of these characteristics was a common denominator.
"Their common denominator became their servitude, the destruction languages the destuction cultures by their slave masters. What happened was that on American soil, conditions, these black slaves became a new nationality not directly linked to their original nations or tribes, which languages, nao no common bond waatsoever and often didn't know each other. Afro "That was the origin of what today we call the Afro-American nationality.
These unique conditions welded the American Indians into a nationality are repeated importantly black come here as slaves.
savery immediate and violent suppression aspects of their original social life, including the family and/or tribal people coming to Britain brought with them the culture, religion, language and traditions of their nation or nationality.
While these are under forces accept language, black people have been able to resist and maintain them, even if in a modified form. Continued links with their country of origin continues to reinforce those traditions.
SCULICE national minorities.
STILIST society, however, distinguish between black people according to their national origin. black people.
Different aspects of that oppression affect different nationalities in different ways or even to different degrees. For example, the strong family network of the Asian people Socialist Challenge For national or nations! not only on the but or nationalities and material certain the Fourth have spelt out the objective were forming black people were dragged to North They came here from totally sections of Africa.
of their native of their native under unique spoke different LABORATE black which also Britain. Most people in Britain did not black people suffered an of Black under the SLEUCLUTC.
they threat as society Black country LOSE GE national does oppresses them makes 21 February 1980 was the Garvey political struggle today can be created struggles of all the oppressed. ideology Practice to test this in practice struggles of convinced. In so workers' bourgeoisie to aid masses will be won to socialism.
self-determination they, too, determination.
in the USA to unconditionally supported.
All these in movement organises from the unions.
But fundamental As they enter their oppression defend they defend the Trotsky first advanced this position when the only evidence of a mass current. which wanted separation from the American state movement. It was not a question of whether black people then wanted a separate state or were calling for one it was a question of their having the choice For Afro-Americans moving into common oppression a simple question was and is posed: Is it possible to end our oppression through creating a non-racist multi-national state, or are we forced to create our own separate state?
For whole sections of the black masses this question will only come to the fore as they are drawn into political activity; as they begin to feel the force of their movement, and are for the first time grappling with the problem of achieving their liberation because some sort of major change seems on the agenda.
-That is why Trotsky argued that it was very likely that on the brink of the revolution itself the Afro-American masses would be likely to raise this slogan, and socialists could not base nemselves on present levels of consciousness What will be true for the masses tomorrow is of concern for a vanguard of the black people We believe that a non-racist workers' state - indeed we believe that a successful socialist revolution depends on the working class championing the demands and Not only will ending the private ownership ot the means of production eradicate the material basis of racism, which is the product of imperialist exploitation of the third world and slavery, but the existence of mass workers' democracy will create the political conditions a struggle against the vestiges of racist But propaganda on the material roots of racism is not enough to convince the bac masses that this is so. They will (correctly) wish In so far as a mass revolutionary current develops within the white working class which genuinely champions the specific demands and black people they will be far as that revolutionary current respects the right of black people to determine their own future, and fights within movement separating if they so choose, then the black That is why our support for the right of unconditional and requires us to say nothing more than that it is for black people to decide — our efforts must be geared to convincing the white workers that must defend that right to selfFurthermore, in order for the black people exercise the right of self-determination, they must be able to exercise it through their own organisations - their own political movement with their own leaders. The autonomous organisation of black people, or self-organisation of black people, must be considerations apply to the national minorities in Britain today.
It is true that in Britain black people form a far smaller section of the population and that political separation would be in some senses more difficult. It is also true that the labour black workers in unions, whereas in the United States the black workers remember when they were excluded these differences, the issues remain the same: capitalism cannot end their oppression into political struggle, the black masses will find the reformist leadership of the labour movement either complicit in For incapable of carrying through the fight to end it, and they will come to judge the white workers on how seriously rights of black people, including their right to self-determination.