Scan barcode
A review by readwithbre
The Black Belt Thesis: A Reader by Black Belt Thesis Study Group
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Eugene Puryear and all who contributed to this reader did an excellent job with choosing which primary documents to include. From Lenin's breakdown of the southern slave economy to Claudia Jones' critique of Leninist revisionism, I'm walking away from this book with an infinitely better understanding of the objective conditions of Black people in the Black Belt south post civil war which formed them into a nation with the right to self determination - that is, the right to govern themselves and choose their own destiny.
I more deeply understand what is being presented in this thesis and how it's different from the Garveyist reactionary Black nationalism, but also what made (and makes) Black oppression in the Black Belt have a special character that, while mirroring the colonial, imperialist oppression of other nations (particularly in the global south), is still markedly different. In that, I find this collection to be a great conversation piece with the various theories that characterize Black oppression in the U.S. as that of an internal colony.
More than anything, I really appreciated the "organization" section of this reader for how it busts the myth that the Black Belt Thesis had limited practical field applicability. In fact, it is because of this thesis, rooted in the 1928 and 1930 ComIntern Resolutions, that the Communist Party was at the forefront - dare I (along with Claudia Jones) say even the vanguard - of joint working class struggle and solidarity for full negro liberation in the 30s and 40s. Adopting this political line as a programmatic demand led to the formation of the most revolutionary sharecropper and farmer unions in the south, unemployment councils, and other trainings grounds for real, revolutionary proletariat struggle that served to unite Black and white workers against their common white capitalist enemy, the likes of which had never been seen, not even in the white abolitionist organizing of the pre-Civil war and war years. I would encourage anyone who's skeptical about the Black belt thesis applicability to read through issues of the "The Communist" from the 30s-40s available here: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/index.htm
I will be marinating on this reader for a while as I integrate its lessons with other things I've been chewing on recently regarding the character of Black oppression in the U.S. today.
I more deeply understand what is being presented in this thesis and how it's different from the Garveyist reactionary Black nationalism, but also what made (and makes) Black oppression in the Black Belt have a special character that, while mirroring the colonial, imperialist oppression of other nations (particularly in the global south), is still markedly different. In that, I find this collection to be a great conversation piece with the various theories that characterize Black oppression in the U.S. as that of an internal colony.
More than anything, I really appreciated the "organization" section of this reader for how it busts the myth that the Black Belt Thesis had limited practical field applicability. In fact, it is because of this thesis, rooted in the 1928 and 1930 ComIntern Resolutions, that the Communist Party was at the forefront - dare I (along with Claudia Jones) say even the vanguard - of joint working class struggle and solidarity for full negro liberation in the 30s and 40s. Adopting this political line as a programmatic demand led to the formation of the most revolutionary sharecropper and farmer unions in the south, unemployment councils, and other trainings grounds for real, revolutionary proletariat struggle that served to unite Black and white workers against their common white capitalist enemy, the likes of which had never been seen, not even in the white abolitionist organizing of the pre-Civil war and war years. I would encourage anyone who's skeptical about the Black belt thesis applicability to read through issues of the "The Communist" from the 30s-40s available here: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/communist/index.htm
I will be marinating on this reader for a while as I integrate its lessons with other things I've been chewing on recently regarding the character of Black oppression in the U.S. today.