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ABOUT THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
(Courtsey of Huey P. Newton Foundation)
The original vision
of the Black Panther Party was to serve the needs of the oppressed people in our
communities and defend them against their oppressors. When the Party was
initiated we knew that these goals would raise the consciousness of the people
and motivate them to move more firmly for their total liberation. We also
recognized that we live in a country which has become one of the most repressive
governments in the world; repressive in communities all over the world. We did
not expect such a repressive government to stand idly by while the Black Panther
Party went forward to the goal of serving the people. We expected repression.
We knew, as a
revolutionary vanguard, repression would be the reaction of our oppressors, but
we recognized that the task of the revolutionist is difficult and his life is
short. We were prepared then, as we are now, to give our all in the interest of
oppressed people. We expected the repression to come from outside forces which
have long held our communities in subjection. However, the ideology of
dialectical materialism helped us to understand that the contradictions
surrounding the Party would create a force that would move us toward our goals.
We also expected contradictions within the Party, for the oppressors use
infiltrators and provocateurs to help them reach their evil ends. Even when the
contradictions come from formerly loyal members of the Party, we see them as
part of the process of development rather than in the negative terms the
oppressors' media use to interpret them. Above all, we knew that through it all
the Party would survive.
The Party would
survive because it had the love and support of the people who saw their true
interests expressed in the actions of the Party. The Party would also survive
because it would be a political vehicle which continued to voice the interests
of the people and serve as their advocates.
The importance of a structured political vehicle has always been apparent to us.
When we went to Sacramento, we went for the purpose of educating the people and
building of a permanent political vehicle to serve their true interests. In our
most recent communication with both the North and South Vietnamese Revolutionary
governments, they pointed out that they understood what we were doing and saw it
as the correct strategy. They said that a "structured organization is related to
politics as a shadow to a man." We recognize that the political machine in
America has consistently required Black people to support it through paying
taxes and fighting in wars, but that same machine consistently refuses to serve
the interests of the Black community. One of the problems is that the community
does not have a structured organization or vehicle which serves its needs and
represents the people's interest. You can no more have effective politics
without a structured organization than you can have a man without his shadow.
Oppressed Black people --the lumpenproletariat-- did not have a structured
organization to represent their true interests until the Black Panther Party
arose from within the community, motivated by the needs and conditions of the
people.
Across the country
there have been coalitions of Black people and Black caucuses, but these have
not served the people as political vehicles. They have merely served as
bourgeois structures to get Black candidates into political office. Once
elected, the machinery used to thrust these people into office simply passed out
of existence or became ineffective insofar as serving the true interests of the
Black oppressed people.
A truly
revolutionary vehicle which will survive the repression it encounters daily is
made up of a number of characteristics. First of all, there is a small but
dedicated cadre of workers who are willing to devote their full time to the
goals of the organization. Secondly, there is a distinct organized structure
through which the cadre can function. It is this combination of structure and
dedicated cadre which can maintain the machinery for meeting the people's needs.
In this way a printing press can be maintained to review the events of the day
and interpret them in a manner which serves the people. Information can be
circulated about daily phenomena to inform the people of their true meaning.
Programs of service can be carried out to deliver to the people the basic needs
that are not met elsewhere because the lumpenproletariat are the victims of
oppression and exploitation. A cadre and a structure, however, are not what make
the political vehicle a revolutionary one. It is the revolutionary concepts
which define and interpret phenomena, and establish the goals toward which the
political vehicle will work. A revolutionary vehicle is in fact a revolutionary
concept set into motion by a dedicated cadre through a particular organized
structure.
Such a vehicle can
survive repression because it can move in the necessary manner at the
appropriate time. It can go underground if the conditions require, and it can
rise up again. But it will always be motivated by love and dedication to the
interests of the oppressed communities. Therefore the people will insure its
survival, for only in that survival are their needs serviced. The structured and
organized vehicle will guarantee the weathering of the test of internal and
external contradictions.
The responsibility of such a political vehicle is clear. It is to function as a
machine which serves the true interests of the oppressed people. This means that
it must be ever aware of the needs of the communities of the oppressed and
develop and execute the necessary programs to meet those needs. The Black
Panther Party has done this through its basic Ten-Point Program. However, we
recognize that revolution is a process and we cannot offer the people
conclusions we must be ready to respond creatively to new conditions and new
understandings. Therefore, we have developed our Free Breakfast Program, our
Free Health Clinics, our Clothing and Shoe Programs, and our Buses to Prisons
Program as well as others, responding to the obvious needs of Black people. The
overwhelmingly favorable response to these programs in every community is
evidence that they are serving the true interests of the people.
Serving the true interests of the people also means that the political vehicle
must stand between the people and the oppressive forces which prey upon them in
such a manner that the administrators will have to give the appropriate
response. Such articulation requires us to have a political organ which will
express the interests of the people and interpret phenomena for them. Again, the
existence of such a political vehicle is justified only so long as it serves the
true interests of the people. Serving the true interests of the people, however,
does not mean that the vehicle is simply a reflector of public opinion, for the
opinions of the people have often been molded and directed against their true
interests by slick politicians and exploitative educators. Their diversion
tactics often lead the people down blind alleys or onto tangents which take them
away from their true goals. We can easily see this when we apply the concept of
American democracy to the Black community.
Democracy in America (bourgeois democracy) means nothing more than the
domination of the majority over the minority. That is why Black people can cast
votes all year long but if the majority is against us, we suffer. Then the
politicians and educators try to deceive the community with statements such as
"It's rule by the majority, but the rights of the minority are protected." If,
in fact, participating in the democratic process in America were in the interest
of the Black community there would be no need for a Free Breakfast Program,
there would be no need for Free Health Clinics or any of the other programs we
have developed to meet the people's needs. The rights of the minority are
"protected" by the standards of a bourgeois government, and anything which is
not in their interest is not permitted. This may be democratic for the majority,
but for the minority it has the same effect as fascism. When the majority
decreed that we should be slaves, we were slaves where was the democracy in
slavery for us? When the majority decreed that we should pay taxes, fight and
die in wars, and be given inferior and racist education against our interests,
we got all of these things. Where is democracy for us in any of that? Our
children still die, our youth still suffer from malnutrition, our middle-aged
people still suffer from sickle cell anemia, and our elderly still face
unbearable poverty and hardship because they reach the twilight period of their
lives with nothing to sustain them through these difficult times. Where is the
democracy in any of this for Black people? Democracy means only that the
majority will use us when they need us and cast us aside when they do not need
us. A true understanding of the working and effect of American democracy for
Black people will reveal most clearly that it is just the same as fascism for
us. Our true interests and needs are not being served.
The political vehicle of the people must be guided by a consistent ideology
which represents nothing more than a systematic and organized set of principles
for analyzing and interpreting objective phenomena. An ideology can only be
accepted as valid if it delivers a true understanding of the phenomena which
affect the lives of the people. The development of a wide variety of truths
about the community, its internal development and the external forces
surrounding it will lead then to a philosophy which will help orient us toward
goals which are in the true interests of the people.
The Black Panther Party was born in a period of stress when Black people were
moving away from the philosophy and strategy of non-violent action toward
sterner actions. We dared to believe that we could offer the community a
permanent political vehicle which would serve their needs and advocate their
interests. We have met many foes; we have seen many enemies. We have been
slandered, kidnapped, gagged, jailed and murdered. We know now, more than ever
before, that the will of the people is greater than the technology and
repression of those who are against the interests of the people. Therefore we
know that we can and will continue to serve and educate the people.
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