The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020 sparked national outrage that coalesced into a movement across the United States demanding real, structural change in local law enforcement and the U.S. justice system. As this movement consolidated around the unifying demand of “Defund the Police,” a widespread interest in the rich history of Black radical thought reemerged. Leftist discourse reignited a critical study of ideas like the relationship between race and class, third world nationalism, critical race theory, and identity politics. What are the origins of these ideas, and how far back in our socialist history do they reach?

The DSA-LA Political Education Committee is proud to present our original Night School for 2022, A Study Series in Black Leftist Thought. Spanning March through June, this seven module series will introduce attendees to the writings, speeches, and perspectives of Black leftists through most of the twentieth century. Through original sources in writing, audio, and video, we will trace back the history of discourses introduced and developed by Black socialists, all of which have profound impact on our political landscape today.

Join the DSA-LA Political Education Committee for our sixth class of the Political Education Committee’s 7-Part Night School: Study Series on Black Leftist Thought Black Radicals and the Labor Movement on Tuesday, June 28th at 6PM.

Readings and Media (highly recommended, not required):

This class will center around a screening of the 1970 documentary Finally Got the News documenting the struggles of Detroit's League of Revolutionary Black Workers.

For additional context and discussion, please check out the resources below:

• Martin Luther King, Speech to the AFL-CIO Convention (1961) 8 pages
• A. Philip Randolph, Negro Congress Will Give Weight To Union Drives, Randolph Says (1937), 3 pages  
• William R. Hood, For These Things We Fight: Keynote Address at the Founding Convention of the National Negro Labor Council (1951), 3 pages
• The Black Workers Congress, The Trade Union Question. Ch. 9 in The Black Liberation Struggle, the Black Workers Congress, and Proletarian Revolution (1974), 9 pages
• VIDEO: Mike Siviwe Elliot: Talking with General Baker: Revolutionary Detroit Auto Worker (2014) 16 min

Check out our last class in this series:

• Black Feminism - 7/12