Resolutions Adopted at the School on the Afro-American National Question

On Joint Work to Advance the Struggle for the Right to Political Secession of the Afro-American Nation

The raging chauvinism of the Anglo-American bourgeoisie against the Afro-American Nation necessitates, at this time, that real democrats and Marxist-Leninists intensify their agitation, propaganda and organizational work to advance the revolutionary struggle of the Afro-American Nation, especially for its right to self-determination and to secession. Specifically, the following organizations agree to:

(1) Publish the documents of this school for circulation throughout the country.

(2) Publish shorter agitation and propaganda materials on the same subjects.

(3) Conduct forums in our respective cities to champion the struggle for self-determination (especially activities during "Black History Month" in February) and to show the slide show.

(4) Organize a special tour of the major areas of the North during February for showing the slide show.

(5) Conduct, where possible, joint work around Emancipation Proclamation celebration days in the Black Belt South.

(6) Develop a mass poster on the subject of the right to political secession .of the Afro-American Nation to be distributed widely throughout the Black Belt-and the South as a whole.


Condemning White Chauvinism

In Support of the Right of Self-Determination for the Afro-American Nation Including the Right to Secession

Whereas, we condemn the oppression of Afro-American people in the U.S. and the subjugation of the Afro-American Nation in the Black Belt South; and

Whereas, we know that great nation chauvinism is the greatest danger to building unity between the multinational proletariat; and

Whereas, white communists and revolutionaries must champion the struggle against great nation chauvinism and white supremacy;

Therefore, be it resolved that the Marxist-Leninist organizations and anti-imperialist revolutionaries at this Afro-American National Question School:

(1) Will go out and work among the workers to defeat great nation chauvinism and fight white supremacy, especially among the white working class. White cadres will be especially dispatched to carry out this work; and

(2) Will put forward a Marxist-Leninist line on the question of self-determination, including the right to political secession, among all sections of the working class, especially among white workers; and

(3) Will recruit workers into multinational communist organizations in order to carry out our central task of party building and carry on the revolution in this country. For it is only the working class under the leadership of a genuine communist party which can defeat great nation chauvinism, the main danger, and all forms of nationalism.


In Support of Gary Tyler

Whereas: Gary Tyler, a young Afro-American man from Destrehan, Louisiana, is a political prisoner of U.S. imperialism, incarcerated for over seven years in the infamous Angola Prison. Brother Tyler is sentenced to prison for life on framed-up murder charges resulting from a Klan-inspired attack on a school bus carrying Afro-American children. Brother Tyler has been singled out in this frame-up because he was outspoken against national oppression at his high school. Brother Tyler was convicted in a kangaroo court by an all-white jury and had no genuine representation for his defense. All witnesses against Brother Tyler have recanted their stories and admitted that they were forced by the bourgeoisie to lie. The railroad of Brother Tyler is typical of U.S. imperialist justice throughout the Afro-American Nation; and

Whereas: Gary Tyler has served the majority of his sentence in solitary confinement because he has refused to pick cotton at the prison for 3¢ an hour, stating that his ancestors fought against this slavery. Brother Tyler was 16 when he went into prison and he has reached manhood behind bars, robbed of the finest years of his life. Brother Tyler has remained an inspiration to his fellow prisoners because of his firm stand against U.S. imperialism and his support for self-determination of the Afro-American Nation including the right to political secession;

Therefore: Be it resolved that the Marxist-Leninist organizations and anti-imperialist activists attending the Afro-American National Question School:

(1) Send our warmest fraternal greetings to Gary Tyler; and

(2) Pledge to conduct agitation in our cities and work places about the struggle to free Gary Tyler and connect this agitation to the right of the Afro-American Nation to self-determination, including the right to secession.


In Support of the Struggle for Self-Determination for the Palestinian Nation

Whereas, the Palestinian people have been robbed of their homeland and brutally persecuted by the U.S.-backed Israeli Zionists; and

Whereas, the Palestinian people have been the subject of the most fascist relocation plans into concentration camps called "refugee camps" by the Israeli Zionists; and

Whereas; the U.S.-backed Israeli Zionists have carried out a rabid policy of expansionism into Lebanon, and committed fascist genocidal attacks against the Palestinian and Lebanese people; and

Whereas, the U.S., Israeli Zionist, and Lebanese governments have acted in concert to oppress and massacre the Palestinian people, with the fascist Zionist and right-wing Christian Phalangist armies committing the most cowardly slaughter of Palestinian men, women, and children – a massacre carried out only after the heroic fighters of the Palestine Liberation Organization evacuated the camps; and

Whereas, the U.S. imperialist military has been dispatched to Lebanon to protect the oilmen's interests under the guise of "protecting the Palestinian people" but the real motive is to continue the Zionist murder and persecution of Palestinians and progressive Lebanese;

Therefore, be it resolved that Marxist-Leninist organizations and anti-imperialist activists attending the Afro-American National Question School:

(1) Support the brave and just cause of the Palestinian nation for self-determination, including the right to set up an independent Palestinian state; and

(2) Condemn U.S. imperialism and Israeli Zionism as arch enemies of the Arab and other oppressed peoples and the working people of the world; and

(3) Support the valiant fight of the Lebanese leftists to oust the occupying Israeli Zionists from their country; and

(4) Oppose U.S. intervention and aid to the fascist Phalangist government in Lebanon and the government of Israel, and all phony war-mongering schemes such as the Reagan "peace" plan; and

(5) Oppose the fascist government in Lebanon as a puppet of U.S. imperialism and Zionism; and

(6) We proudly and energetically take up our duty to build solidarity between the workers of the U.S. and the people of Palestine, and the progressive people in Lebanon and Israel who are fighting against U.S./Zionist aggression; and

(7) Support the staunch and militant resistance of the Palestinian people and Lebanese leftists who are laying down their lives in the struggle for self-determination; and

(8) Call to our brother and sister workers of Israel to break with the fascist Zionist regime and fight side by side with the Palestinian people.

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