> Baraka was in the Leage of Revolutionary Struggle. He split
> in 1988 when LRS decided to go along with the DP in the
> general election. I don't remember any organization called
> "Revolutionary Communist League."
Baraka's group was originally called the Congress of Afrikan People, and was a cultural-nationalist, daishikis-and-libations kind of group. Baraka took an M-L turn in the mid-70s, at least partially due to the impact of the successful revolutions in Portuguese Africa, and his group was then renamed the Revolutionary Communist League, though it was pretty much all the same people. Somewhat later they joined up with (formed?) LRS. I know all of this because I know some people who were in it, including at least one prominent political figure in Pittsburgh.
> Nelson Peery (the leader of the CLP) was a black war veteran,
> who wrote a book of memoirs which I haven't read but which
> drew some admiring reviews.
"Black Fire." I recommend it. Fascinating stuff about growing up black in a lily-white town on the prairie during the Depression, having a white girlfriend, getting radicalized, then -- probably the most politically interesting parts of the book -- clandestine activities in support of the Huks in the Philippines while he was still a soldier in the US army.
Dennis Perrin asks:
> No offense to Carrol, but does anyone take any of this shit
> seriously, apart from some entertainment value?
It's mostly just entertainment, but it's not totally irrelevant. LRS cadre had a central role in the Rainbow Coalition, which was a force on the REAL (as in mass as opposed to the sectarian) left in this country. Plus, as I mentioned above in the case of Pittsburgh, some people who are now elected officials -- particularly in black communities -- developed relationships in the milieu of these small left groups back in the day that may explain something of their behavior in the here-and-now. You can use this information to help understand these folks, you just have to use it responsibly and not to gratuitously smear and attack people, the way Michael Pugliese does.
- - - - - - - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
Tell no lies, claim no easy victories