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I should do a thread on every Black communist who spoke truth to power about the Soviet union and why Black people today shouldn't seek to use its theory or aesthetics.
I'll start with Thomas Sankara who believed the USSR's policy in Africa was imperialist and thought Stalin perverted leninism. http://www.thomassankara.net/the-legacies-of-thomas-sankara-a-revolutionary-experience-in-retrospect/?lang=en
Steve Biko as a South African revolutionary was weary of the Soviet union relenting that they were just as imperialist as the US but in the eyes of African people had a cleaner slate.
He spent time unraveling the contradictions in the USSR theory.
http://roape.net/2018/09/12/understanding-steve-biko-race-class-and-struggle-in-south-africa/
He spent time unraveling the contradictions in the USSR theory.
http://roape.net/2018/09/12/understanding-steve-biko-race-class-and-struggle-in-south-africa/
Still in Africa, Patrice Lumumba a Congolese revolutionary and prime minister asked for soviet aid.
However the aid they gave him was vastly different then what he was expecting and minimal and amounted to nothing and clinching his defeat
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/01/lumu-j22.html
However the aid they gave him was vastly different then what he was expecting and minimal and amounted to nothing and clinching his defeat
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2011/01/lumu-j22.html
Jomo Kenyatta a African Revolutionary who helped free Kenya went and visited the Soviet union for training before Kenya gained independence
He describes his experience filled with "repugnant racism." When foreign powers heard this they tried to turn him against the USSR....
He describes his experience filled with "repugnant racism." When foreign powers heard this they tried to turn him against the USSR....
This later failed because even though his experience in the soviet union was terrible and he rejected communism he felt they could eventually become anti-racist.
That being said he refused to help foreign powers undermine Africa in the fight against communism.
That being said he refused to help foreign powers undermine Africa in the fight against communism.
Last of the Black leaders in Africa in this thread is Kwame Nkrumah who was mentored a trained by George Padmore who at that stage of his life had become anti-communist.
Kwame Nkrumah's strategy for dealing with the Cold War was playing the US and USSR off of each other.
Kwame Nkrumah's strategy for dealing with the Cold War was playing the US and USSR off of each other.
....He did this so his country Ghana didn't get caught up in the conflict between the Soviets and Amarican not only that but it got him massive funding as they competed over who would make allies in that region.
Finally we get to the first of the
African Amarican communist before the BPP there was the Black belt theory and it's Black communist supporters.
African Amarican communist before the BPP there was the Black belt theory and it's Black communist supporters.
George Padmore was one of the most influential communist leaders he mentored both Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah. He also went to the USSR
However his position on the Soviet union and it's eventually abandonment of the Black belt lead him to leave to anti-communism.
However his position on the Soviet union and it's eventually abandonment of the Black belt lead him to leave to anti-communism.
Another Black Belt communist was Claude McKay. He wasn't as connected as George Padmore but he was famous as a poet of the Harlem renaissance.
He also visited the Soviet union looking for anti-imperialists qualities when he didn't find what he was looking for he left angry.
He also visited the Soviet union looking for anti-imperialists qualities when he didn't find what he was looking for he left angry.
After his falling out with the Soviets over their imperialist qualities he started to fall out of communist circles eventually becoming a anti-communist.
Next we have Cyril Briggs who joined the CPUSA his motivation was again for their anti-imperialist attitude.
The CPUSA a Soviet funded organization had began to follow the USSR's lead in abandoning the Black belt leaving people like Briggs unpopular and marginalized.
The CPUSA a Soviet funded organization had began to follow the USSR's lead in abandoning the Black belt leaving people like Briggs unpopular and marginalized.
Briggs had started his own group called the African Blood Brotherhood who he later claims predated the CPUSA and wasn't started by them.
He was pushed out the communist party later for being a Black Nationalist. After the abandonment of the Black belt Black Nationalists weren't really accepted within the party.
Next I would like to take time to talk about Robert Robinson a laborer who went to the USSR to escape Amarica.
There he found thinly veiled racism and a propaganda program aimed at African Americans. He refused to be a proponent of such propaganda.
There he found thinly veiled racism and a propaganda program aimed at African Americans. He refused to be a proponent of such propaganda.
Later on he witnessed people disappearing and became increasingly scared of staying in the USSR.
He describes his leave as a escape and he goes in detail talking about another Black communist by the name of Lovett Fort Whiteman.
He describes his leave as a escape and he goes in detail talking about another Black communist by the name of Lovett Fort Whiteman.
Lovett Fort-Whiteman a legend among African American communists in the Black belt.
Lovett also visited the Soviet union but his actions criticizing the soviet government made enemies.
He was falsely accused and sent to a Soviet gulag where he was beat to dea*h.
Lovett also visited the Soviet union but his actions criticizing the soviet government made enemies.
He was falsely accused and sent to a Soviet gulag where he was beat to dea*h.
Lovett Fort whiteman was known as the redest of the Blacks. Because of his loyalty to the communist party this didn't stop them from taking his life or accusing him of crimes he didn't commit.
