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FREEDOMWAYS SECOND QUARTER 1973
that a liberation strategy for an external colonized nation can be adopted by an oppressed national minority living within the oppressor nation. Granted, there are similarities between a colonized people and Blacks within the U.S., but those similarities lie mainly in the level of exploitation and oppression.
Forman fails to realize that a colonized nation, aided by the World Socialist movement in solidarity with the international working class, can win the fight for political independence an an end to oppression even before the total defeat of the capitalist system, significant gains can be made through democratic struggles, but an end to national oppression can only come about with the total defeat of capitalism--which only a strong united working class, Black, Brown and White can effect. Only the entire working class can begin to lay the base for the complete liberation of oppressed peoples. This is the crux of the vital question. And it is precisely this point which Forman underplays.
Small wonder, then, that his "colonized Black working class" will be the vanguard to usher in his abstract from of "Socialism" under which the "problems of Black people and all humanity" will "be solved."
The failure to understand the major role of the entire working class in the struggle for Black liberaton has led Forman to the ideological bankruptcy characterized throughout his book.
In the final analysis, James Forman has attempted to wrap up a number of old ideas in new "revolutionary" verbiage. Overall, the attempt has failed.
Brenda L. Jones
A LITTLE ABOUT A LOT
RACISM AND HUMAN SURVIVAL: LESSONS OF NAZI GERMANY FOR TODAY'S WORLD. By Claude M. Lightfoot. International Publishers, New York. 287 pages. $1.50 (paper).
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN'S South Pacific, the famous musical of 1949, had an obscure song, rarely heard, called "Carefully Taught." The lyrics go:
"You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year
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Reopened for Editing 2024-02-21 03:09:02
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Reopened for Editing 2024-02-21 17:49:46
