An ex-Black Panther turned anarchist
Lorenzo Komboa Ervin
Written by ex-Black Panther turned anarchist Lorenzo Komboa Ervin, Anarchism and the Black Revolution is both an easy-to-read introduction to the fundamental principles of class struggle anarchism and an analysis of their relevance to the black liberation movement. Also contains a good section on why the author is an anarchist and why non-class struggle anarchists are useless.
Taken from the libcom library edition, this text has been corrected for scanning errors in other online editions, and includes footnotes for explanations and more information.
Footnotes
1. The ABC is an international network of groups which provide practical support for anarchist and class struggle prisoners.
2. ARA - a radical, decentralised network of militant anti-fascist individuals and groups, who believe in and carry out both physical and political confrontation with fascists and white supremacists.
3. The Industrial Workers of the World, a non-hierarchical, global trade union which sought to unite all workers into One Big Union and democratise all production. Largely smashed by repression but still active in some countries. See www.iww.org
4. Marxist-Leninism, like Trotskyism is an authoritarian form of socialism which believes in the seizure of State power by an elite Party, which will run society "on behalf" of the working class.
5. Bourgeoisie - the originally French word meaning the capitalist class
6. In addition to Black organised or led labour federations in the 1870s, there were 90,600 Black workers in the Knights of Labour in the 1880s and at least 100,000 in the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) in the 1900s.
7. The anarcho-syndicalist International - founded in 1922 it reached a height of 5 million members. It was decimated in the 1940s by fascism, state communism and military dictatorship, but rose again from the ashes in the 1970s. Its website is at www.iwa-ait.org and its British section Solidarity Federation’s is at www.solfed.org.uk.
8. CNT - Confederacion Nacional de Trabajo or National Confederation of Labour. The anarcho-syndicalist trade union in Spain was the dominant force in the labour movement there. Upon a military uprising by neo-fascist General Franco in 1936 the CNT called the revolution, and helped collectivise large areas of industry and agriculture as well as fight the fascists militarily. The revolution was sadly defeated by the fascists in combination with Western capitalist powers, Communists and poor strategy of the CNT. The fascists eventually won the war in 1939.
9. NB This seems to be a slight misunderstanding on the part of the author - anarcho-syndicalists do not organise solely in the workplace. They seek to organise the entire working class whether in work, unemployed or in unpaid work such as housewives.
10. Autonomism in generally held to have originated in Italy in the 1970s
11. Two-thirds, for example. Some groups may use consensus, 90% or a simple majority vote.
12. Marxists in particular think a big problem with capitalism is the perpetual boom and bust cycle, which they sometimes refer to as "anarchy in production".
13. Also available from Freedom Press
14. This pamphlet may have been written over a decade ago, but how little times change ! Afghanistan and Iraq would be better examples now...
15. The ABC still exists in England. Brighton ABC’s website is at www.brightonabc.org.uk
16. The Workers Solidarity Alliance, the US section of the anarcho-syndicalist IWA
Anarchism and the Black Revolution - Lorenzo Komboa Ervin
Source : libcom.org
More Lorenzo Komboa Ervin texts : infoshop.org
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