Spreading Revolutionary Pan-Africanism and Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Is the Responsibility of All Black Communists in the US.
It’s a great misfortune that Black people in the US pay very little attention to the affairs of our siblings in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Africa. We are colonized descendants of Africa that have the highest standard of living in the African diaspora due to the fact that we live in the wealthiest country in the history of humanity. This is on the backs of not only our ancestors kidnapped from the Continent but also due to the continued super-exploitation of our brothers and sisters in the Caribbean and the Continent. That coltan that made the iPhone you be playing on SnapChat and Fedbook with? That didn’t drop from the sky, it came from mines worked by child slaves as young as seven years old in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Do you know where the Congo is? Have you seen Black Panther? Of course you have. Did you know that there are enough resources under and above the soil of that country that, if we had been paying active attention to the affairs of our brothers and sisters and applying pressure in lockstep unity with our people, could have laid the foundations for a real life, socialist Wakanda? Not a silly ass feudal state still trafficking in the trifling cultural nationalist rhetoric of “kings” and “queens” and “princesses”, but a beacon of hope and light for all of the oppressed peoples of the world and a firm hand against imperialist aggression from Europe and the US. You want a fictional Wakanda on the white man’s big screen but ignore the real life Wakanda in front of your eyes that could exist if you dare to work, dare to struggle and dare to build.
The continent from which we come and to which we still owe a duty is the richest on Earth, yet others, Chinese and Yankee and European imperialists along with their neocolonial, Uncle Tom lackeys, reap the benefits. We also, indirectly, benefit from this exploitation of our Motherland because we live in an imperialist country. It is our task to learn as much as we can, teach as much as we can, stop engaging in the Europeans’ divide and conquer regime that has pitted us against our brothers and sisters from other areas of the world, stop physically and emotionally abusing our children and our elders trying to replicate the atrocious and foreign, European introduced “nuclear family” and patriarchy, reject the reactionary cultural nationalism, “hotep” ridiculousness and competition of Ron Karenga/US Organization/Umar Johnson type that when applied to politics results in moving backwards towards a past that never really existed. We as a people have to look forward and this means that we must embrace an all the way revolutionary Pan-Africanist outlook in theory and practice and actively work to develop revolution in the United States, using a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist framework and understanding. Marxism-Leninism-Maoism right now has very little prestige in Africa itself or the Caribbean because of the continuing near-hegemonic influence of the old Soviet modern revisionist backed parties run by leaders who have long capitulated and given up the slightest semblance of waging class struggle or transformation of society. The revolutionary movements in places like Grenada, Angola, and Mozambique, while having progressive aspects, could not thoroughly transform society and ended up being derailed because they were over-reliant on social imperialism and revisionism. Whenever one places their stock in these things and cynical “proletarian internationalist” support from countries like the Brezhnevite USSR, there will inevitably be abandonment and failure. The support of the hyper-revisionist Mengistu clique in Ethiopia by the USSR, which massacred thousands of actual Communists, is another example of the perils of allowing revisionists and opportunists to run amok among our people. The experience of Grenada under Maurice Bishop and Burkina Faso under Sankara in particular shows the errors inherent when one relies on coups like those led by the NJM instead of people’s wars led by revolutionary parties that mobilize and rely first and foremost on the people. Although we mustn’t take the ultra-left path and write them off entirely, it is important to realize why they failed and hold no illusions or fetishes for leaders. If you fail, you’ve done something wrong because Mao taught us that internal contradictions (problems within the party, etc.) lead to external factors (coups, imperialist invasions, etc.) becoming operative and destroying or setting back the revolution’s course.
“Maoism” also has little prestige on the Continent because of the atrocious Dengist “Three Worlds” theory which led the Chinese state to abdicate revolutionary theory and practice (proletarian internationalism) vis a vis the Third World in lieu of opportunism and alignment with the US in international affairs. This led it to back UNITA in Angola, Pinochet in Chile, Marcos in the Philippines (and withdraw support to the Communist Party of the Philippines and the People’s Army there). It also led China to support the Pol Pot regime in Kampuchea and invade Vietnam in 1979. Marxist-Leninist-Maoists reject these opportunist deviations and do not incorporate them into our theory and practice, and it is highly important that we explain thoroughly what Maoism in the 21st century means and why we must adopt it to ensure the liberty not just of our people in the USA but the liberation of all black people worldwide and our continent and its resources. This is why we have to be crystal clear as to what Maoism is and what Maoism is not. Many opportunists, revisionists, and other cretins knowingly misrepresent and distort MLM principles to disgrace our ideology to mislead and misguide our people away from it. This is why we must embrace and engage thoroughly in two-line struggle with them before the masses of our people and engage in propaganda activity to dispel myths and lies from both left and right opportunists. Without a Maoist analysis, Maoist politics in command, and the knowledge that the capitalist road is easy to slide down, how can we ensure that the resources of the Continent are used for the development of our people and to serve proletarian internationalist ends instead of continuing to be traded away for a pittance to feed Chinese social-imperialism? Without a Pan-African political line and analysis, how can we claim to be Black revolutionaries when our lines aren’t influenced by the material realities of our own people worldwide along with in whatever specific diasporic contexts we work and organize? Without the knowledge and conscious application of a pan-African analysis, we will be at the mercy of the myriad of white and other opportunists that have insinuated themselves into the Communist movement with the intention of harnessing the advanced revolutionary consciousness of our people for their own pro-imperialist, revisionist, or generally unprincipled ends.
Malcolm X, after breaking away from the Nation of Islam, traveled to Africa and encountered many New Afrikans who were living in the Continent. He criticized them strongly, as they weren’t there engaged in any serious political work or anything to benefit the struggle of Black people in the Americas or on the continent. This is a trend that can still be seen today. While everybody else, including other diasporic Africans, are highly serious about politics and revolution and following things from their areas of origin, we in the US oftentimes get so wrapped up in our own material success accrued from being residents in an imperialist country that exploits the rest of the world that we have become divorced from the rest of our people and our heritage. I just watched a ridiculous interview with Waka Flocka Flame where he entirely rejected his African heritage. Yet, I guarantee you that if this idiot were thrown down and shot to death tomorrow by the pigs, Africans would know about it! Of course, this is not entirely our fault, as we’ve been confused, miseducated, and lied to our entire lives and certain strata of our people have been successfully coopted into the American system in exchange for continued spreading of capitalist-imperialist propaganda and lies to our masses, but excuses help nobody. It is our task, if we are real revolutionaries and not plantation, Uncle Tom, Mickey Maoish pseudo-revolutionaries, to firmly grasp what Maoism is, what Pan-Africanism is, pay great attention to African, Caribbean and Latin American affairs, develop firm links with our people there, and take concrete steps to propagate revolutionary ideology and practice among the lowest and deepest masses of our people to counteract the imperialist sponsored and backed organizations, practices, and political lines that have misguided, misused and misled us for so long.
