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III. THE STRUGGLE FOR PROLETARIAN LEADERSHIP OF THE NEGRO LIBERATION MOVEMENT

COMRADES, it is clear from all of this, the widespread growth of the petty bourgeois nationalist movements and the increased activities of the Negro reformists of all shades, that we are urgently confronted with the task of seriously strengthening and radically improving our methods of struggle against the Negro reformists and petty bourgeois nationalists. We must develop a more concrete, popular and sustained exposure of these misleaders through our agitation in the press and every medium at our disposal. This agitation and propaganda must be aimed at shaking the faith of the masses in their reactionary doctrines and exposing their true character as agents of imperialism within the ranks of the Negro people. In this, it is necessary to bring forward more energetically the struggle for the immediate special demands of the Negro toilers in every phase of our activities. First of all, this demands an all-around strengthening by the Party and trade unions of our work in the shops, in the factories, mines, the bringing forward of the struggle for the demands of the Negro unemployed. All of this should be coupled with a stronger campaign for the civil and political rights of Negro masses, against lynching, for the freedom of the Scottsboro boys, etc., etc. However, the successful combatting of these poisonous influences can only be achieved on the basis of the widest application of our policy of united front from below. In connection with this, we must carry forward a bold policy of penetrating these organizations, building up our oppositions from within on

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the basis of struggle for the immediate demands of the Negroes and exposure and isolation of the Negro reformist and petty bourgeois nationalist leaders. In this, we must direct our main fire against the petty bourgeois nationalists as the main danger. Their role is to head the growing mass movement against reaction in order to behead it, by putting forth reactionary Utopias, Back to Africa, etc., etc., creating illusions of a peaceful way out of the crisis, and in this manner to bring the masses back within the fold of official bourgeois reformism and imperialism.

Unless we are able to isolate these misleaders, to liberate the masses from their counter-revolutionary influence, we will not be able to carry through the task imposed upon us by the present situation. We will not be able to weld that unbreakable solidarity between the Negro and white workers, which is a pre-condition for successful struggles against the rising forces of fascism and war, an important part of preparing the masses for the revolutionary seizure of power.

The Fight on Two Fronts

At the same time this upsurge of petty bourgeois nationalist movements, as well as the spread of white chauvinism among the masses, calls for an all-around strengthening of the fight on two fronts: within the ranks of the Party and the revolutionary movement; against white chauvinist influences as the main danger, and at the same time conducting a more consistent struggle against the influence of the petty bourgeois nationalists within our ranks.

We have spoken much about white chauvinism and our task in relation to it. There has been, undoubtedly, a considerable strengthening of this fight. Of course, there is still much room for improvement on this score, particularly in view of the present situation of the spread of white chauvinist poisoning among the masses of white population. But

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Transcription Notes:
I just added the page number 51; the rest is good to go.