African
Revolutionary Writers, Part 2c
Martin Luther King
The main item “Beyond Vietnam” (download linked below) of the
late Rev Martin Luther King
Junior, is a classic. Nowadays it has become commonplace to refer to
“international solidarity” as if it is both a narrow idea, and also a universal
one.
But this concept that we have received and then stripped of
its particularity, does actually have a tremendous and specific history whose
meaning is not fully conveyed by the mere formula-phrase, “international
solidarity”.
The anti-Imperialist struggle and the democratic struggle
can and should be one. It is not a matter of charity of the rich to the poor.
It is also not solely a matter of good-hearted and exceptional individuals, but
there have indeed been such individuals, and there will be again. Martin Luther
King was such a man.
What Martin Luther King describes, and justifies, is: “why I believe that the path from Dexter Avenue
Baptist Church
- the church in Montgomery ,
Alabama
In other words, MLK at the meeting of the “Clergy and Laymen
Concerned about Vietnam” in April, 1967, was preaching the intrinsic, organic
unity of the struggle of the common people everywhere. It is not an artificial
altruism but it is a unity of purpose, in concerted action against the single
enemy: monopoly capitalist Imperialism; and it involves personalities, and
actual events, and places.
Further than his literal message, there is also the
extraordinary power and style of MLK’s oration. In September 1917, just prior
to the Great October Russian Revolution that he led, Lenin spoke of “insurrection as an art”.
It is an art that goes beyond the military, and encompasses all of our
activities. Therefore when reading such a piece, one should regard them as a
source of learning of the art of advocacy, which is part of the art of leadership,
and essential to the art of insurrection.
Exactly one year after making this speech, King was gunned
down by an assassin in Memphis, Tennessee, where he had gone to show solidarity
for workers who were on strike there.
Picture: Rev.
Martin Luther King, Junior, at the White House, Washington DC , USA
- The above serves
to introduce the original reading-text: Martin Luther
King, Beyond Vietnam, Time to Break Silence, 1967.
- A PDF file of the reading text is attached
- To download any of the CU courses in PDF files please click here.
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