Freedom Now

"Independent Black Political Action 1954-78" is a bulletin published by the U.S. Socialist Workers' Party. The publication date given is 1982. The SWP supported independent Black, Chicano and Labor candidates who were running against Democrats and Republicans, as a first step towards the formation of a third party. Although the bulletin is heavily skewed towards SWP-related material, it does contain a few items that might be of interest to students of African-American political history.

The platforms of the Freedom Now Party, the Black Panther Party and the Preamble to the National Black Political Agenda (adopted at the Gary Convention) are included. There are on-the-spot reports on the Lowndes County Freedom Organization, an attempt to create a Black party in Deep South Alabama back in 1966. There are also reports on some other election campaigns. At one point, the Black Panther Party was running for office in Seattle!

As for the SWP themselves, their political line is a strange blend of sectarianism and pragmatism: it's alright to support a Black Democrat running as an independent, but apparently not alright to support the same candidate if he is running as a Democrat after successfully winning the primary elections. But what on earth is the difference, really?

That being said, I found this rather obscure booklet relatively interesting, and therefore give it four stars.