Arizona sun., 1948-12-17
Jimcrow-Why 1t Exists and Way toEnd It
NEGRO LIBERATION
BY HARRY HAYWOOD
Reviewed by DOXEY A. WILKERSON


alton" is an extremely useful Wea-
pom in the struggle against jimcrow
oppression and against the whole
structure of Wall Street imperial
ism from which it stems. Here,
clearly defined more concretely
and comprehensively than in any
other book 1 know are the material
Gle, super-profit making) roots OF
the jimcrow system and its politi-
cal implications for the Negro peo-
pie and for the labor-progressive
movement as a whole.
The central thesis of Negro Lib
Grafton" can be summarized in the
following four propositions:
1. The core of the Negro ques-
ton lies in the Black Belt of the
South, where some 100000 Negro
Americans are concentrated as the
majority population, and where the
feudalistic plantation is the chief
instrument of oppression; with all
other manifestations of the jim
crow system, in both the South and
the North, but the Shadow of the
plantation"
2. The whole structure of jim
crow oppression-including it's eco
nomic, social, political and ideol-
logical manifestations devel-
oped and is maintained for one fun
damental purpose; namely, to
wiring super-profits out of the sides
of white and Negro workers, not
only in the South, but also in the
North.
3. Finance capital address:
Wall Street, is the effective ruler
of the economic and political life of
the South, the chief appropriately
of the super-profits the jimcroW
system is designed to yield. and
hence the MAIN oppressor of the
Negro people.
4. The liberation of the Negro
people from jimcrow oppression is
possible only through effective
struggles to break the dominance
of finance capital over the Black
Belt and the entire nation; and in
the development of such struggles,
the Negro liberation movement is
the natural and necessary ally of
the labor-progreSsive movement as
whole.
An outstanding merit of Negro
Liberation" lies in the fact that its
central thesis is thoroughly docu-
mented with data. Here is a careful
marshalling of historical and socio-
logical facts about the development
and characteristics of the jimcrow
system, and the Interpretation OF
these facts in the only theoretical
framework which yields full under
standing-that of an emerging and
now dominant American imperial
ism.
In this connection, the chapter
on "Big Business and the Planta-
tion," together with its supporting
appendix, affords probably the
most concrete and comprehensive
Recommendation of Wall Street i'm
perialist domination over the South
that can be found within the covers
of single book.
The cult of liberal reformism
takes quite a drubbing in Negro
Liberation" In a series of spirited
polemics, the author exposes the
hollowness of so-ealled liberal
remedies" which would "solve" the
Negro question in a nice, gradual
manner, without seriously disturb
ing the exploitative economic and
political foundations upon which it
rests. Against such Utopian illu-
sions, Mr.. Haywood poses the fun
domental necessity for radical
solution of the land question in the
Black Belt, and for eventual self
determination for the developing
Negro nation in that area.
The concluding, and longest,
chapter of Negro Liberation" pro-
vides an admirable summary and
evaluation of major trends in the
Negro liberation movement during
the past four decades-from the
Niagara Movement and the found
ing of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored Peo-
pie around 19O8-1O, to the develop
11IS 4NCS1O-AdUO1 COd1pCIO1l VI AC-
cent years. The author stresses
"the urgent need for the formation
of fighting alliance between the
labor movement and the Negro
people, without which neither the
victory of labor nor the freedom of
the Negro people can be achieved"
This need emphasizes, he points
out, "the pressing task of the polit-
ically-conscious vanguard of labor,
centering in the Communist party
lie, the education of both Negro
and white workers in the spirit of
unifying solidarity"
Even since the late 1920's, Harry
Haywood has been a leader in the
development of MarxiSt theoretical
interpretations and practical strug-
giles on the Negro question in the
United States. It is not surprising,
therefore, that he now produces so
vital, convincing and useful an an
alysis as that set forth in Negro
Liberation"