White Light Black Light

Crockford provides some interesting third party historical tidbits:

In 1966, in a speech given in Frogmore, South Carolina, the Reverend Martin Luther King said, “You can’t talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can’t talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums …. we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong …. with capitalism …. There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism.”

Reverend King’s astute observation of the need to move toward socialism did not come without scrupulous observation and study. Both he and Rosa Parks were trained at the Highlander Folk School, a labor organizing and training center with socialist underpinnings located in Tennessee.

Likewise, the Black Panther Party – known for its community programs to alleviate poverty – matured politically through the study and adoption of socialism and socialist ideas.

In the San Joaquin Valley, in the African-American community, in the Immigrant community, among the poor, the wage earners, and in our youth, we see an awakening to the oppressive and discriminatory nature of capitalism. More and more people are choosing to identify themselves and finding political solidarity as “anti-capitalists.”

Another thing which stood out in that article was something of which I wasn’t aware:

For the many socialist parties throughout the country – including California’s Peace and Freedom Party – discussions are underway to form affiliations that could ultimately lead to a unified socialist party within the U.S.

As a Libertarian, I know how difficult it can be, at times, to unite various ideological factions under the same roof. It may be interesting to see if such unification will occur.

// posted by Alice @ Friday, December 14, 2007