Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Friday, March 30, 2018

KARL MARX, “On the Jewish Question” (1843) In: The Marx-Engels Reader. Edited by Robert Tucker, New York: Norton & Company, 1978. p. 26 - 46.
Political emancipation is at the same time the dissolution of the old society, upon which the sovereign power, the alienated political life of the people,rests. Political revolution is a revolution of civil society. What was the nature of the old society? It can be characterized in one word: feudalism. The Old civil society had a directly political character; that is, the elements of civil life such as property, the family, and types of occupation had been raised, in the form of lordship, caste and guilds, to elements of political life. They determined, in this form, the relation of the individual to the state asa whole; that is, his political situation, or in other words, his separation and exclusion from the other elements of society. For this organization of national life did not constitute property and labour as social elements; it rather succeeded in separating them from the body of the state, and made them distinct societies within society. Nevertheless, at least in the feudal sense, the vital functions and conditions of civil society remained political. They Excluded the individual from the body of the state, and transformed the particular relation which existed between his corpora-[45]tion and the state into a general relation between the individual and social life, just as they transformed his specific civil activity and situation into a general activity and situation. As a result of this organization, the state as a whole and its consciousness, will and activity—the general political power—also necessarily appeared as the private affair of a ruler and his servants, separated from the people.The political revolution which overthrew this power of the ruler, which made state affairs the affairs of the people, and the political state a matter of general concern, i.e. a real state, necessarily shattered everything—estates, corporations, guilds, privileges—which expressed the separation of the people from community life. The political revolution therefore abolished the political character of civil society. It dissolved civil society into its basic elements, on the one hand individuals, and on the other hand the material and cultural elements which formed the life experience and the civil situation of these individuals. It set free the political spirit which had, so to speak, been dissolved, fragmented and lost in the various culs-de-sac of feudal society; it reassembled these scattered fragments, liberated the political spirit from its connexion with civil life and made of it the community sphere,the general concern of the people, in principle independent of these particular elements of civil life. A specific activity and situation in life no longer had any but an individual significance. They no longer constituted the general relation between the individual and the state as a whole. Public affairs as such became the general affair of each individual, and political functions became general functions.But the consummation of the idealism of the state was at the same time the consummation of the materialism of civil society. The bonds which had restrained the egoistic spirit of civil society were removed along with the political yoke. Political emancipation was at the same time an emancipation of civil society from politics and from even the semblance of a general content.Feudal society was dissolved into its basic element, man; but into egoistic man who was its real foundation.Man in this aspect, the member of civil society, is now the foundation and presupposition of the political state. He is recognized as such in the rights of man.But the liberty of egoistic man, and the recognition of this liberty, is rather the recognition of the frenzied movement of the cultural and material elements which form the content of his life.Thus man was not liberated from religion; he received religious liberty. He was not liberated from property; he received the liberty to own property. He Was not liberated from the egoism of business; he received the liberty to engage in business.The formation of the political state, and the dissolution of civil[46]society into independent individuals whose relations are regulated by law, as the relations between men in the corporations and guilds were regulated by privilege, are accomplished by one and the same act. Man as a member of civil society—non-political man—necessarily appears as the natural man. Tle rights of man appear as natural rights because conscious activity is concentrated upon political action. Egoistic man is the passive, given result of the dissolution of society, an object of direct apprehension and consequently a natural object. The political revolution dissolves civil society into its elements without revolutionizing these elements themselves or subjecting them to criticism. This revolution regards civil society, the sphere of human needs, labour, private interests and civil law, as the basis of its own existence, as a self-subsistent precondition, and thus as its natural basis.Finally, man as a member of civil society is identified with authentic man, man as distinct from citizen, because he is man in his sensuous, individual and immediate existence, whereas political man is only abstract, artificial man, man as an allegorical, moral person. Thus man as he really is, is seen only in the form of egoistic man, and man in his true nature only in the form of the abstract citizen.The abstract notion of political man is well formulated by Rousseau: "Whoever dares undertake to establish a people's institutions must feel himself capable of changing, as it were, human nature itself, of transforming each individual who, in isolation, is a complete but solitary whole, into a part of something greater than himself, from which in a sense, he derives his life and his being; [of changing man's nature in order to strengthen it;] if substituting a limited and moral existence for the physical and independent life [with which all of us are endowed by nature]. His task, in short, is to take from a man his own powers, and to give him in exchange alien powers which he can only employ with the help of other men."Every emancipation is a restoration of the human world and of human relationships to man himself.Political emancipation is a reduction of man, on the one band to a member of civil society, an independent and egoistic individual, and on the other hand, to a citizen, to a moral person.Human emancipation will only be complete when the real, individual man has absorbed into himself the abstract citizen; when as an individual man, in his everyday life, in his work, and in his relationships, be has become a species-being; and when he has recognized and organized his own powers(forces propres) as social powers so that he no longer separates this social power from himself as political power


Monday, March 19, 2018

Thursday, March 08, 2018

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Whose Family Values?

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Whose Family Values?: Women and the Social Reproduction of Capitalism "proletarii, propertyless citizens whose service to the State was to raise children (...

Saturday, March 03, 2018

ResoluteReader: Ben Fine & Alfredo Saad-Filho - Marx's Capital

ResoluteReader: Ben Fine & Alfredo Saad-Filho - Marx's Capital: A decade after the financial crash that marked the start of the Long Depression , capitalism has still failed to recover. Economic crisis,...



Fine and Saad-Filho' guide to Marx's ideas has been in print, in various forms, since the 1970s. The text I've read is from 2004 and I understand it has been much developed since the early versions. The authors are two leading Marxists and have attempted to condense the key points of Marx's thought into this short book. I suspect it's popularity in no small part lies with its length - many of Marx's works and the guides to them are long, detailed books and this short volume offers an easy start.

The authors look at several key aspects of Marx's work - in particular his Method and the origins of his philosophy; the Labour Theory of Value, commodities; the circulation of capital and its accumulation and the role of the falling rate of profit in creating crisis. These are good introductions, and worth reading. Later chapters, particularly those on finance capital and agricultural rent are harder.

While there is much of interest here, in my opinion the book is too difficult to act as an entry to Marx's ideas. The early chapters are accessible, but by the middle of the book the authors appear to be addressing students with existing knowledge of mainstream economics. Because the book is not a guide to specific volumes of Marx's work in self-contained sections, the authors miss key sections. For instance there is no serious discussion of Marx's concept of money as a universal commodity - a key and very important section of the early chapters of Capital - It's omission makes some of the later explanations harder to understand.

Thursday, March 01, 2018

Earthquake right below Hutchinson, Kansas - March 1, 2018

#FRACKQUAKE FROM #SHALEOIL #WASTEWATERINJECTION

#Earthquake right below Hutchinson, Kansas - March 1, 2018: Are you one of the people who felt the shaking ? If Yes, please tell what you experienced by filling up the I FELT IT form behind the earthquake or at the bottom of this page. Your I FELT IT report…

Friday, February 16, 2018

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Black History Month Posts

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Black History Month Posts: Here we are half way through February and half way through Black History Month. Here are my posts from the past dedicated to Black History. ...

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Lucy Parsons Redux

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Lucy Parsons Redux: I originally posted here about Lucy Parsons for Black History Month . Here are some updates from the web about Lucy. And as you read about...

Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Tuesday, December 05, 2017

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: The Real Crime In Canada

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: The Real Crime In Canada: Is violence against women. Today is Dec. 6 and we remember the massacre of women Engineering students in Montreal by Mark Lapine. And ye...

Thursday, November 30, 2017

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Today In History

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Today In History: Sagittarius (12/1/1954) It's my birthday. Turns out I am a horse in both western and Chinese astrology. Sagittarius ...

Sunday, July 23, 2017

NINE VOLUMES OF MAYAN ICONOGRAPHY INCLUDING THE SPANISH INVASION

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS 
INDIGENOUS CIVILIZATIONS OF TURTLE ISLAND
NINE VOLUMES OF MAYAN ICONOGRAPHY INCLUDING THE SPANISH INVASION 
Antiquities of Mexico : comprising fac-similes of ancient Mexican paintings and hieroglyphics, preserved in the Royal Libraries of Paris, Berlin, and Dresden; in the Imperial Library of Vienna; in the Vatican Library; in the Borgian Museum at Rome; in the Library of the Institute at Bologna; and in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Together with the Monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix: with their respective scales of measurement and accompanying descriptions. The whole illustrated by many valuable unedited manuscripts
by Kingsborough, Edward King, viscount, 1795-1837; Dupaix, Guillermo; Sahagún, Bernardino de, -1590; Veytia, Mariano, 1718-1780?; Simón, Pedro, b. 1565; Adair, James, approximately 1709-1783; Cortés, Hernán, 1485-1547; Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés, Gonzalo, 1478-1557; Alva Ixtlilxóchitl, Fernando de, 1578-1650; Alvarado Tezozómoc, Fernando, active 1598; Aglio, Agostino, 1777-1857, lithographer;


Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration. Library, former owner. DSI
Publication date 1831Topics Indians of Mexico, Manuscripts, Nahuatl, Facsimiles, Nahuatl language, Nahuatl literature, Languages, Writing, Ethnology, Lost tribes of Israel, History, Antiquities, History, AntiquitiesPublisher London : Printed by James Moyse ... : Published by Robert Havell ... and Colnaghi, Son, and Co. ...Collection smithsonianDigitizing sponsor Smithsonian LibrariesContributor Smithsonian LibrariesLanguage English
Volume v. 1statement of responsibility: by Lord Kingsborough; the drawings, on stone, by A. Aglio
Vols. 1-4: plates; v. 5-9: text
In English, Italian, and Spanish
Vols. 1-7: "In seven volumes"; v. 8-9: "In nine volumes."
Imprints vary: v. 6-7: London : Printed by Richard and John E. Taylor : Published by Robert Havell and Colnaghi, Son, and Co., 1831; v. 8-9: London : Printed by Richard and John E. Taylor : Published by Henry G. Bohn, 1848
Printer's statement, v. 7, p. 461, reads: Londres, en la oficina de Ricardo Taylor, 1830



Vol. 9 includes p. [1]-60 at end, signed "Vol. X", but with explicit, p. 60, "End of Vol. IX, which concludes the work." No more published
Vols. 5-9 include, in addition to notes on plates, Kingsborough's various notes, and miscellaneous extracts from Spanish authors: "Viages de Guillelmo [i.e. Guillermo] Dupaix sobre las antiguedades Mejicanas" (v. 5, p. [207]-343); "Libro sexto de la retorica y filosofia, moral y teologia, de la gente Mexicana ... por ... Bernardino de Sahagun" (Bk. 6, chap. 1-40, of Sahagun's "Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España"; v. 5, p. [345]-493); "The monuments of New Spain, by M. Dupaix" (transl. of "Viages ..."; v. 6, p. 421-486); "Historia universal [i.e. general] de las cosas de Nueva España ... por ... Bernardino de Sahagun" (entire work, except Bk. 6, chap. 1-40; v.7, p. [10], [1]-464); "Historia del origen de las gentes que poblaron la America septentrional que llaman Nueva España ... son autor ... Mariano Fernandez de Echeverria y Veitia" (v.8, p.[159]-217 (2nd count))
"Tercera [y cuarta] noticia[s] de la segunda parte de las Noticias historiales de las conquistas de Tierra Firme ... por Fr. Pedro Simon" (v.8, p.[219]-271); "History of the North American Indians ... by James Adair" (1st part of Adair's "History of the American Indians", publ. 1775; v.8 p.[273]-400); "Cartas ineditas de Hernando Cortes" (v.8, p.[401]-418) ; "Relaciones ineditas de Fernandez de Oviedo" (v.8, p. [419]-424) ; "Cronica Mexicana de Fernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc" (v.9, p. [1]-196) ; "Historia Chichimeca por Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl" (v.9, p.[197]-316) ; "Relaciones de Don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl" (v.9, p.[317]-468) ; "Ritos antiguos, sacrificios e idolatrias de los Indios de la Nueva Espana y de su conversión à la fée y quienes fueron los que primero la predicaron" (v.9, p.[1]-60 at end)

The SCNHRB copy of v. 4 (39088004441598) is extra-illustrated with type-written labels mounted on some of the plates
The CHMRB copy has accession nos. 6078 through 6086
The CHMRB copy has bookplate: Presented by Mrs. J.W. Roosevelt, November 1910, Cooper Union Museum Library
The CHMRB copy has old gilt-tooled black leather binding with marbled paper boards; raised bands; marbled endpapers; all edges gilt


Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Futility of Fosterism by One Big Union

PRIMARY DOCUMENTS OF LABOUR HISTORY
WESTERN CANADIAN SYNDICALISM (PACIFIC USA)
THE ONE BIG UNION #OBU
Futility of #Fosterism
by One Big Union
https://archive.org/details/FutilityOfFosterism
RARE
A critique of the labor politics of William Z Foster and the Communist Party of America's Trade Union Education League (TUEL). Author Ben Legare was the main US organizer for the One Big Union (OBU) a socialist union founded in western Canada by dissident members of the American Federation of Labor. this publication has been difficult to find, whilst often quoted in US labor history works.
"The strange thing about what we will call "Fosterism" in this pamphlet
is that it was suddenly revived in the United States in 1920 just
as the influence ~of the Western Canadian secession movement was' beginning
to be felt on the American side of the border."
WHEN ALBERTA WAS RED AND NOT JUST RED NECK
I met one T.U.E.L. organizer in Calgary addressing a meeting of the
"militants" of Calgary. When I arrived at the meeting place with a
couple of O.B.U. members I found five "militants" including another of
~our O.B.U. members and the speaker, Bartholomew. No effort was made
at all by Bartholomew to refute any of my arguments against the
T.U.E.L. policy and "Bart" afterward tried to convince me that he was
really "boring-from-within" in the interest of the O.B.U., but in view of
the malicious attacks that have been made upon the O.B.U., using the
same propaganda against it as used by the Manitoba Employers' Association,
it is not easy to believe in the sincerity of the alibi.
On the Pacific Coast, around Vancouver, the followers of Foster did
succeed in breaking up the O.B.U.; though a share of the credit for that
achievement should be given to the agents of the North West Mounted
Police working "undercover," in the regular report to Moscow; and Losovsky
should also be informed that after breaking up the O.B.U. they
did not succeed in getting the slaves back into the A. F. of L., so the net
result of the T.U.E.L. campaign in that sector has been the destruction
of all working class organization and the consequent discouragement of
the workers. The remaining vestiges of the A. F. of L. on the Vancouver
waterfront is now in process of being destroyed by a typical A. F. of L.
strike under T.U.E.L. leadership.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
In ~1919 a great insurgent movement was sweeping through the
unions of the A. F. of L. that had for its goal, One Big Union. Where
that movement took definite shape and became coherent the programme
advocated was SECESSION of local unions from their various Internationals
and the formation of One Big Union.
This movement was most advanced in Western Canada and the One
Big Union of Canada was the result.
~
It was formed by the SECESSION of most of the local unions in the
four western provinces of Canada and when it was launched in June, 1919,
it not only laid the foundation of a real labor movement but at the same
time it practically wiped out the A. F. of L. in western Canada and made
it impossible for ~that organization to ever again mobilize the mass of the
workers in that part of the country in a union controlled by the boss.
Though the A. F. of L. fought hard ,to recover that lost ground and' had
the help of the employers and the government and spent many hundreds
of thousands of dollars, it has never been able to re-establish its prestige
in Western Canada.
Though every effort has been made to destroy the' Canadian O.B.U.,
it has lived through the storm and today constitutes the firmest foundation
upon which a labor movement may be built on this continent.
The strange thing about what we will call "Fosterism" in this pamphlet
is that it was suddenly revived in the United States in 1920 just
as the influence ~of the Western Canadian secession movement was' beginning
to be felt on the American side of the border.
It was a time when the million and a half of workers that have since
dropped out of the A. F. of L. were in rebellion and beginning to tear at
the bonds that tied them up in the capitalist-controlled Internationals of
the A. F. of L.
Instead of promoting the SECESSION movement toward the One Big
Union, Foster and those who followed him began a frenzied campaign to
convince the insurgent unionists that they should "stay in the A. F. of L."
Topics One Big Union, OBU, Socialist Party of Canada, SPC, AFL, Communist Party of America, William Z. Foster, Trade Unions, AFL, TUEL, WSPUS, World Socialist Party (US), WSM, World Socialist Movement, SPGB, Socialist Party of Great Britain
Collection opensource #LABHIST #LABOR #LABOUR #LABORHISTORY
#CANADIANHIST #LABOURHISTORY #CANADIANHISTORY #CDNPOLI
NO DATE FOUND I THINK ITS AROUND 1925 FROM INTERNAL REFERENCES
EPLAWIUK

Monday, July 17, 2017

Foster-Ford: The Candidates of Working Youth (1932)

Image may contain: one or more people
LABOUR WORKING CLASS HISTORY PRIMARY DOCUMENTS #CPUSAPRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 1932Foster-Ford: The Candidates of Working Youth (1932)by Young Communist League / Communist Party National Campaign Committee / Workers Library Publishershttps://archive.org/details/Foster-fordTheCandidatesOfWorkingYouth1932
...CHECK OUT THE COMMUNIST PROGRAM IT IS THE BERNIE SANDERS PROGRAM FOR 2016 IT IS WHAT WE WOULD TODAY CALL SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC, MANY OF THESE DEMANDS HAVE BEEN FULFILLED AFTER WWII AND THE UAW ORG DRIVE THE TROTSKYITE SECTS IN NORTH AMERICA CONTINUE TO BASE THEIR ORGANIZATIONS ON STUDENTS AND YOUNG WORKERS AND #BLM AS THEY SAY plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose - Wiktionaryhttps://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/plus_ça_change,_plus_c%27est_la_même_choseFrench[edit] ... An epigram by Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in the January 1849 issue of his journal Les ... the more things change, the more they stay the same
WILLIAM Z FOSTER IS NOT A YOUTH BUT JAMES FORD WAS AS WELLAS BEING A 'NEGRO CANDIDATE' AT A TIME OF LYNCHINGS STILL IN THE SOUTH OR BEING KILLED IN A CHAIN GANG
Topics #Communism -- United States -- Campaign Literature. Election of 1932, #WilliamZFoster, James W. Ford, CPUSA. Language English
Image may contain: 1 person, textCrudely printed newsprint 2 cent pamphlet issued by the Communist Party as part of its 1932 election campaign. No Author listed.No copyright notice in original publication. Published in USA before April 1, 1989. Public domain.Substantially reformatted for readability in this digital version. Scanned from an original in the Tim Davenport collection.This is a bibliographic rarity. WorldCat shows 3 copies only in pamphlet form as of March 2010. Also included in the bound pamphlet set "Where Do the Communists Stand: Communist Election Pamphlets, 1932," of which WorldCat shows 7 additional copies.
WILLIAM Z FOSTER BEGAN AS A WOBBLY ORGANIZERAND AN ADVOCATE OF SYNDICALISM PRIOR TO HELPINGFOUND THE CPUSA, WHERE HE THEN PROMOTED HIS OWNAND THE BOLSHEVIK THIRD INTERNATIONAL RED UNIONMOVEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL UNIONISM THE TRADE UNION EDUCATION LEAGUE

Sunday, July 16, 2017

"You cannot kill the working class"

WORKING CLASS HISTORY
PRIMARY DOCUMENTS #CPUSA
I LOVE THE TITLE OF THIS PAMPHLET
"You cannot kill the working class,"
by Herndon, Angelo, 1913-1997.
https://archive.org/details/youCannotKillTheWorkingClass
a pamphlet by a CP activist who became a cause celeb when he was arrested in Georgia for "inciting insurrection"
Topics African Americans. Working class -- Southern States. Communism -- United States. Herndon, Angelo, 1913-1997.
Publisher [New York : International Labor Defense and the League of Struggle for Negro Rights,
ITS THE #BLM OF ITS TIME
Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line
https://www.marxists.org/…/…/proletarian-cause/article13.htm
Proletarian Cause
N. Sanders
Let Me Live! a book review
* * *
Editor’s Note
Angelo Herndon was a great hero of the Afro-American people and of the United States working class. The fact that a hero as great as Angelo Herndon emerged in the South during the twenties and thirties is testimony to the high- level of struggle waged by the masses of Black and white people in the South.
We must encourage the study of past working class struggles in the United States and bring back to life the examples of past working class heroes such as Herndon. The U.S. ruling class has carried out a campaign to deny the masses of people in the United States their true heroes and their revolutionary history. Periods such as the twenties and thirties in this country are periods of class struggle that showed to the whole world and ourselves the great power, unity, and revolutionary spirit of the American working class. It is this revolutionary spirit and revolutionary history that the capitalists would have us forget.
Let Me Live
Angelo Herndon
Introduction by Marlon B. Ross
The passionate prison autobiography of Angelo Herndon, Communist union organizer of the 1930s
Description
Series Class : Culture
Let Me Live tells the remarkable story of Angelo Herndon, a coal miner who worked as a labor organizer in Alabama and Georgia in the 1930s. Herndon led a racially integrated march of the unemployed in 1932 and was subsequently arrested when Communist Party literature was found in his bedroom. His trial made only small headlines at first, but eventually an international campaign to free him emerged, thanks to the efforts of the Communist Party and of labor unions interested in protecting the right to organize in the South. Herndon was finally set free by the U.S. Supreme Court, with the help of well-known leaders including C. Vann Woodward, Thurgood Marshall, A. Philip Randolph, and Whitney North Seymour, Sr.
https://www.press.umich.edu/208151/let_me_live
Review: ‘Let Me Live’
Chris Jones
MAY 4, 1998 | 12:00AM PT
This startling and abrasive prison drama by the author of "I Am a Man" (slated for future broadcast on HBO) is an impressive addition to the growing canon of an African-American playwright increasing in prominence and influence. Bleak and depressing themes, extensive onstage violence and raunchy language will doubtless limit future productions to those theaters with a taste for controversy and adventure. But this fictionalized treatment of the real-life experiences of Angelo Herndon in a 1932 Georgia jail is a searing piece of theater with the capacity to profoundly disturb even the most complacent audience member (and with the right ensemble of actors, it would make a startling movie).
ANGELO HERNDON
PAPERS
The New York Public Library
Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture
515 Malcolm Blvd.
New York, New York 10037
In 1936, Herndon became a member of the Executive Committee of the Youth Branch of the National Negro Congress. His autobiography, Let Me Live, was published by Random House in early 1937. Writing in the Harlem edition of the Communist Party newspaper, The Worker (July 14, 1949), Abner Berry called him “one of the most celebrated of American political prisoners... greeted by the President of the United States, [and] entertained on the White House lawn by Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.” Herndon worked subsequently for the Daily Worker, co-edited the short-lived Negro Quarterly: a Review of Negro Life and Culture with Ralph Ellison (1942-1943), and was the editor-in-chief of The People’s Advocate, a biweekly newspaper published in 1944 by the Negro Publication Society of America. He left the Party shortly thereafter and relocated to the Midwest. He
apparently changed his name around 1937 to Eugene Braxton. He died in 1997. http://archives.nypl.org/…/col…/pdf_finding_aid/scmmg124.pdf
BLACK HISTORY MONTH: REMEMBERING ANGELO HERNDON
Posted on February 23, 2011 by David L. Hudson Jr.
During Black History Month, we should remember those who had the courage to face government opposition — even imprisonment — for their convictions.
Imagine, for example, the bravery of a young black man who traveled to the South to enlist members for the Communist Party in the early 1930s. The Chicago Defender called him a “young Communist martyr.”
http://www.newseuminstitute.org/…/black-history-month-reme…/
History & Archaeology
Civil Rights & Modern Georgia, Since 1945
Angelo Herndon Case
Original entry by Edward A. Hatfield, New Georgia Encyclopedia, 08/14/2009
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/…/hi…/angelo-herndon-case
UNZ REPRINT SERVICES PDF COPIES OF REVIEWS
OF LET ME LIVE FROM 1937
http://www.unz.org/Pub/HerndonAngelo-1937
“History” as Ideology: the Case of Angelo Herndon
As an African-American Communist in total dedication to the liberation of the working class and other oppressed peoples, Angelo Herndon’s 1937 autobiography, Let Me Live, brought a fresh perspective that challenged the traditional themes carried in both black slave and uplift narratives and white proletarian literature. Herndon’s story grants readers powerful insight into the many ways African-Americans experienced the Great Depression era, how they felt, thought, and interacted with the social and economic vagaries of American capitalism. In addition, the story of Angelo Herndon represents the emergence of a new experience for African-African organizers – political imprisonment. Yet, regardless of its unique contribution and power innovations, Let Me Live fell out of publication and into obscurity for decades. While Herndon’s story fallen has into obscurity, other accounts of black oppression have become standard history curriculum and part of popular consciousness. At the time, Herndon’s case received just as much attention as the case of the Scottsboro Boys, and, yet, today, the Scottsboro case is the approved representation of black victimization taught in “History” classes, while Herndon’s case remains largely unknown. However, the practice of only admitting certain parts of the past into institutional memory is no mystery. Angelo Herndon has not been incorporated into “History,” for his autobiography was and still is a subversion to several dominant American mythologies, including the mythologies of black male victimization, black male achievement, and the idea of black labor, which made it irreconcilable with the existing superstructure and a threat to the dominating systems of power.
https://daretostruggle.wordpress.com/…/%E2%80%9Chistory%E2…/