MLK

Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Struggle for Socialism

Today, January 19, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a day to remember the struggle of millions of African-Americans and their allies to end the poison of racism. The recent movement in response to the police killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and Eric Garner in New York City serve to underline that racism is still very much alive in the United States, but so is the fight against it.

MLKLike Malcolm X, MLK Jr. had come to the conclusion towards the end of his life that racism and capitalism were inextricably intertwined, that  you could not end the divisive rot of racism within the bounds of the capitalist system, the system that spawned racism in the first place. The conclusion for class conscious workers and youth is clear: in order to end war, to end racism, to end poverty, to end discrimination, to end misery, and to end hunger, we must end capitalism.

We would like to direct our readers, on this important day of commemoration, to a few articles (and a leaflet) which offer a class perspective on the question of racism and the need for the working class to energetically combat it while linking this struggle with the struggle to end capitalism once and for all.

For a theoretical and historical analysis of racism and the perspectives for its elimination through the struggle for socialism, we are linking to the Workers International League’s 2008 document, Black Struggle and Socialist Revolution.

For analysis on the recent movement against police brutality and racism, we are are linking To End Racism and Police Brutality, End Capitalism!

And for distribution at various MLK Jr. demonstrations, we are linking to this leaflet, MLK Jr., Obama, and the Struggle Against Racism.


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