Vol. 74/No. 22      June 7, 2010

The review recommends the book by Socialist Workers Party national secretary Jack Barnes for “all public libraries and bookstores for its general appeal and historic content.”

The book looks at “labor history from the perspective of how the African American question was viewed by thinkers and leaders like Trotsky and organizations like the American Communist Party,” writes Catherine Rendón.

“Barnes paints a picture of African American leaders and their struggles, vision, and impact, and he includes recent reflections regarding the election of Barack Obama and how this fits into the overall perceptions of African America from within and without that community,” Rendón concludes. The full review can be read at www.libraryjournal.com.

An earlier article in the Midwest Book Review about the English-language edition of the book called it “a powerful and persuasive political testimony.”

The book is “an unabashedly pro-socialist treatise” that looks at the “exploitation of workers—especially black workers—particularly from the mid-1950s onward, when black people were disproportionately claimed as an under compensated industrial work force and as cannon fodder for America’s wars.”

The Midwest Book Review notes that the book “searches for lessons from the past, and seeks to apply those lessons to promote a future where socialism provides a framework for reducing or eliminating exploitation, violence, and racism.” It especially highlights the impact of the 1917 Russian Revolution on the attitude of revolutionaries toward the Black struggle in the United States.
 
 
Related articles:
Read, Sell, & Discuss: ‘Malcolm X, Black Liberation, & the Road to Workers Power’
Civil rights museum hosts Malcolm X panel
The fight for a modern ‘land and labor league’  
 
 
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