To Die for the People
ByPublisher Description
"Huey P. Newton's To Die for the People represents one of the most important analyses of the politics of race, black radicalism, and democracy written during the civil rights-Black Power era. It remains a crucial and indispensible text in our contemporary efforts to understand the continuous legacy of social movements of the 1960s and 1970s."—Peniel Joseph, author of Waiting Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America
"Huey P. Newton's name, and more importantly, his history of resistance and struggle, is little more than a mystery for many younger people. The name of a third-rate rapper is more familiar to the average Black youth, and that's hardly surprising, for the public school system is invested in ignorance, and Huey P. Newton was a rebel—and more, a Black Revolutionary . . . who gave his best to the Black Freedom movement; who inspired millions of others to stand."—Mumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner and author of Jailhouse Lawyers
"Newton's ability to see theoretically, beyond most individuals of his time, is part of his genius. The opportunity to recognize that genius and see its applicability to our own times is what is most significant about this new edition."—Robert Stanley Oden, former Panther, Professor of Government, California State University, Sacramento
"The former leader and chief theoretician of the Black Panther Party, Huey Newton was (and for some, remains) an iconic figure. This new edition of writings and speeches from between 1967 and 1971 moves Newton out of the haze of memory and brings his ideas (as well as the early history of the Panthers) into sharp focus. Recording the Party's internal struggles, rivalries, and contradictions, selections trace the development of Newton's personal and political thinking during these tumultuous five years. A new introduction by activist and former Panther Elaine Brown puts Newton's writings and political ideas into broader perspective. This book will greatly appeal to both political activists and readers interested in the history of social movements."—Book News
"Golden Gate Park has once again become a nexus for huge music concerts. . . . Politically speaking, it's especially important to bridge a sense of then and now. One person who will be doing exactly that is David Hilliard, former chief of staff in the Black Panther Party, author of many books, and current-day teacher. 'Our purpose was always to ensure that art was part of our revolutionary political process,' says Hilliard."—Johnny Ray Huston, San Francisco Bay Guardian
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hoonie
Created 2 months ago
“I feel the need to preface this review with a couple disclaimers, the first of which is that Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party set models for what a movement steeped in truly radical care could look like and it is an unsurprising tragedy of modern American historical liturgy that a vast majority of Americans are unwittingly divaricated from learning in earnest about the community work that the Black Panther Party engaged in. From free lunch programs to free shoes and clothes for children and beyond, the Black Panthers preached and practiced the beliefs that power originates from the community and that those most disadvantaged pave the way for the liberation of us all.
The second is that in many ways, Newton and I align on our visions for how power ought to be built, as well as the pitfalls of political organizing that doom even the best movements. The twisted ironies of reading this book in 2024/2025 include the fact that Newton's project failed in many ways despite his clarity of purpose and strategic vision of a movement adaptable to any context and space, as well as the unfortunate reality that many of the fears Newton had about White radicals "looking for new heroes" (93) and the inclination of many in movement to demand an A-to-Z approach (47) have only been exacerbated by the modern technological era. The ways in which past leaders and writers like Newton foresaw many of the tendencies that have led us to the dark years we are about to yet again enter remain unshakeable.
Now, on to the criticism first. As an Asian American, not well-steeped in the historical intricacies of Asian-Pacific national and international affairs over the last century but comfortable enough in historical context to view the moralities of various authoritarian regimes, it was moderately shocking to me to comprehend the pedestal upon which Newton and, it seems from the introductory text and other mentioned authors, the Black Panther Party writ large lionized some of the most dangerous and brutal authoritarian regimes of post-World War II Asia. Newton refers to Mao Zedong and Kim Il-Sung favorably on multiple occasions, and goes so far as to write to the Vietnamese National Liberation Front (eg. Vietcong) offering reinforcements at a time when those three countries had endured or were enduring destructive civil wars.
Without condoning the destructive Western (mostly American) interventionistic tendencies of this era, Newton's vocal support felt almost like a contradiction of his equally vocal opposition to American imperialism in that he, an American by birth benefitting from the status and international legitimacy bequeathed to all Americans whether we like it or not, chose to endorse regimes that actively or historically murdered millions of their own people for the sole purpose of power. It is undeniable, especially in retrospect, that anti-imperial authoritarian regimes around the world engaged in horrifically genocidal tactics aimed at their own populations and spawned some of the most dangerous modern day dictators. It also leads me to a question I desperately would love to have answered because there are no alternatives -- did Newton and the BPP <i>know</i> about the way these regimes acted and did not care, or were they not informed enough on the histories and contextual frameworks of Asian geopolitics to understand their implications? Were they willing propagandized pawns in international geopolitics (speaking only of Asian here, because I don't know enough about African or Middle Eastern political history in the late-1900s) who sought puritanical denunciations of American imperialism irrespective of its full form, or were they blinded by a fetishization of foreign, "Far Eastern" culture and strife that, if I'm being so for real, still exists today? It cannot be both, but it was uncomfortable to sit with that question while reading this collection because it must be one or the other, and either way Newton and the BPP were vocally backing authoritarians who actively operated in opposition to the very programs the BPP stood for at home.
Now for the positives:
People, especially people who consider themselves leftists and progressives, would be wise to read and absorb Newton's approach to political organizing and power-building, beginning with the concept that "any action which does not mobilize the community towards the goal is not a revolutionary action" (47). We live in an era where people call anything revolutionary and are willing to hang their participation trophies for reposting a tweet on the mantle of fomenting a revolution of which they themselves barely have a conception. It's how we ended up with Trump. Twice. It's how progressives continue to lose important races in important places, and how we continue to regress in spite of an agenda many Americans want when stripped of its partisanship. Because reposting a tweet and putting boot to pavement and knock to door cannot be equivocated. One demands a perfect solution, A to Z, and the other remains an imperfect sample of Newton's vision for guiding an unprepared community from A to B to C, so that we can, one day, get to Z.
Newton understood incredibly well that those suffering the most may not be ready for solutions that will free them, an insight that undergirded the entirety of the BPP's community programs feeding and clothing everyone through mutual aid and community pressure on large or monopolistic corporations to <b>demonstrate tangibly</b> what is possible. His alternative, the revolutionary cultist, pines about high-minded, ivory tower revolution while the BPP actually redistributed wealth in ways that radicalized communities to understand that better was possible in a systemic way. And yet revolutionary cultists run rampant today, when virality and the attention economy prioritize quick solutions and immediate outrage over the necessary, countless years of revolutionary action and political organizing that, as Newton envisaged, would foment the circumstances for a sustainable radicalization of masses towards demanding their due.
I would <b>especially</b> encourage high-minded liberals, progressives, leftists, etc to consider this from Newton:
"One of the primary characteristics of a revolutionary cultist is that he despises everyone who has not reached his level of consciousness, or the level of consciousness he thinks he has reached, instead of acting to bring the people to that level... as revolutionaries we must recognize the difference between what the people can do and what they will do. They can do anything they desire to do, but they will only take those actions which are consistent with their level of consciousness and their understanding of the situation." (100-101) Sound familiar? You should probably go pick up a clipboard and get knocking because we have a whole lot of work to do.
In the end, this was an enlightening collection (thank you Toni Morrison). I stand by the fact that the BPP and Newton changed many trajectories in this country, and the greatest tragedy is that they did not succeed more. And yet, it still left me with many uncomfortable questions about what even the radically empathetic among us are willing to tolerate in service of our greater ambitions and goals. Is there such thing as acceptable deaths and sacrifices? Whose, and by whose decision? This is a book filled with visions unfulfilled, warnings unheeded, histories yet to be fully lived. It is both a mile marker in our rearview and somehow a path we have yet to reach, and in that way Newton succeeds in his ambition for a platform sustained through generations.”subartistic
Created 5 months agoThickabod Crane
Created 5 months ago108shania
Created almost 2 years agohdubby
Created about 2 years agoAbout Huey Newton
Huey Newton was co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party, and its chief theoretician. In 1967 Newton was arrested and charged with killing an Oakland police officer during a dispute, leading to a much-publicized "Free Huey" campaign. In 1980, Newton earned a doctorate in philosophy from the University of California. He died in 1989.
Toni Morrison is a Nobel-prize winning American author, editor and professor. Among the best known of her novels are The Bluest Eye, Song of Solomon and Beloved, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1988.
Elaine Brown became, in 1974, the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party. Today, as an activist, writer and popular lecturer, she promotes the vision of an inclusive and egalitarian society, focusing on resolving problems of race, gender oppression and class disparity in the United States.
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