Revolutionary Suicide

by Huey P. Newton, J. Herman Blake

The searing, visionary memoir of founding Black Panther Huey P. Newton, in a dazzling graphic package

Eloquently tracing the birth of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is as much a manifesto as a portrait of the inner circle of America's Black Panther Party. From Newton's impoverished childhood on the streets of Oakland to his adolescence and struggles with the system, from his role in the Black Panthers to his solitary confinement in the Alameda County Jail, Revolutionary Suicide is smart, unrepentant, and thought-provoking in its portrayal of inspired radicalism.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Politics, Biography, Memoir, Race, Theory

332 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Huey Percy Newton was co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, a civil rights organization that began in October 1966.

Reviews

[Chante · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had the opportunity yesterday to read this book (Yes, I read the entire book in one day and I'm a slow reader). A new version is coming out later this year and I was asked to help review the changes.

I knew Huey as a child and I didn't like him. In fact, I was afraid of him. I'd hide behind my father every time I saw him. From the time of his death until now, I've learned more about the man he was, before I was born, and the organization he created. Even still, I knew nothing. Revolutionary Suicide is brilliant. It's like Huey was two different people: the man I knew and the man who shines in these pages. If you know very little about the Black Panthers or even if you believe you're an expert on their history and organization, I encourage you to pick up a copy of this amazing autobiography. The insight into Huey's soul, thoughts, and adventures is worth your time.

[leynes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Huey Newton was, and remains, up to this day, the icon of the Black Power movement. He and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. The Oakland-based organization’s ten-point program called for employment, housing, health care and education for all members of the Black community, as well as the end of police brutality toward Black people.

All power comes from the people, and all power must ultimately be vested in them. Anything else is theft.

Although they began a free breakfast program, they are remembered more for carrying guns and fighting back against the white police who terrorized the Black community. While the local police harassed and killed members of the party and the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) program pitted them against each other, it was the party’s internal power struggles that brought the Black Panthers down in 1976.

Reading Newton’s autobiography 40 years after its publication can be a bleak experience. Did the revolution come? No. Many Black Panthers died, but does the depth of their sacrifice guarantee the value of their ideas? Again, no, but these questions are political, not literary.

For my mother and father, who have given me strength
and made me unafraid of death and therefore unafraid of life

Huey’s father was a proud Black man (born from the rape of a white man committed on a Black woman) who never let whites cross him, but he was worn down by endless work to pay endless bills. Newton saw the man he loved beaten by the world and vowed revenge.

In school, his teachers read him Little Black Sambo and called him stupid. As Huey so impressively puts: “We, too, had great expectations. And then we went to school.” But he fought back and got his first taste of power. He entered his senior year of high school functionally illiterate, but, like Frederick Douglass and Malcolm X, he overcame his shame by teaching himself to read using Plato’s Republic. In Revolutionary Suicide, Huey says that “Malcom’s influence was ever present. We continue to believe that the Black Panther Party exists in the spirit of Malcolm X.”

Later on, Huey says that Malcolm is the supreme example. His life and accomplishments galvanized a generation of young Black people; Malcolm helped them take a great stride forward “with a new sense of ourselves and our destiny”. A new militant spirit was born when Malcolm died. It was born of outrage and a unified Black consciousness, out of the sense of a task left undone. So, meaningful as Malcolm’s life was, his death had great significance, too.

Like Douglass, Malcolm and even Saint Paul, Newton’s eyes opened to the senseless barbaric pain the poor endure. He fought like his father before him and the martyrs before them both. He was jailed and went through the same rite of passage that his political forefathers did. He endured dark nights that ended with a spiritual discipline that made him invulnerable to pain or temptation. Newton was released, trapped and shot, tried for the murder of a policeman, imprisoned and released again. With his murder in 1989, Newton found eternal life in the memory of the people.

By surrendering my life to the revolution,
I found eternal life.
Revolutionary Suicide.

Revolutionary Suicide is quick, fluid and elegant. Newton made his life into a myth in order to transform the reader into a revolutionary. The martyr’s discourse transforms. It shifts the referential duties of words; it unlocks blindness, opens the world within the world.

The only dishonesty in Revolutionary Suicide is the dogma that political activism leads to ultimate freedom. All freedom is conditional. You can be free for and with the people, which is noble enough, but the cost is that you can’t be free to be yourself. Newton warns that you can’t be yourself until you confront the society that created you.

[Crazyarms777 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful for a Black Marxist revolutionary. So far I have read ''Souls of Ice'', ''Soledad Brother'' and ''Revolutionary Suicide'' and I am convinced the BP were controlled op funded by Zionists because of all the overly sympathetic references to the holocaust. This is a shame because previous Black Nationalists like Garvey and Malcom were overly cautious of the outside influences funding their community. Also note that the BP made an unholy alliance with white liberals during the 70s which more conservative factions such as Carmichael were against, and if Newton has been aware of the dangerous creep of ''Cultural Marxism'' he would have seen much of the so-called white revolutionaries were ''nihilistic'' degenerates with out a solid causes except for liberating societies for their own selfish pleasures. Aside from the Marxist and pandering to 3rd world rhetoric, this is an insightful look into a Black Nationalist who wanted the best for the struggle of his community. I cannot endorse his complete worldview because we come from opposing sides. However, I can appreciate self determination for one's people no matter how flawed the application may be.

[Jonfaith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Public libraries used to be astonishing space, until the spaces fell behind the technology curve. Our local iteration proclaims itself as a space of welcoming and interface. It hosts outreach and provides resources. yet--books no longer appear to be a priority.

I read this book from just a place in my imbalanced teen years. I was at Uni and found purpose in identifying injustice. I can't say I was conditioned to do anything about it once it had been properly located. This book went a great way towards recognizing what organization requires and the challenges it then creates. Not near as important for me as Bobby Seale, George Jackson or Eldredge Cleaver this was still important primer.

[Kusaimamekirai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who seeks to put a label on Huey Newton is going to have an exceedingly difficult time. Part small time criminal, fighter, revolutionary, self taught intellectual (Newton couldn’t read or write before he entered college and taught himself reading Plato’s Republic), polyamorist, Marxist, defender of the poor, and probably twenty other things on top of these. He was for me in some respects not always a particularly likeable person, but he was in all respects a remarkable person. “Revolutionary Suicide” is his autobiography of his childhood up until the early part of the 1970’s when perhaps he could feel the impending decline of the the Black Panther movement he worked so hard to create.
Along the way, we get some really fascinating insights into who he was. Something that struck me in particular was the violence he was capable of. Perhaps this is unsurprising to most with a cursory knowledge and stereotype about him and the Panthers. But this wasn’t a casual or random violence. Almost exclusively borne of self defense Newton certainly fought, but only when his dignity or the safety of those he felt he had to protect were threatened. Reading about the systemic state and federal obsession the authorities had with not only infiltrating and harassing the Panthers, but often resorting to cold blooded murder while barely bothering to give credible justifications, it’s a minor miracle Newton wasn’t more violent than he was.
The most common refrain heard about Huey Newton then and probably now from anyone who recognizes his name is that he was a racist. However, what jumps off the page here is not a hatred of white people. Frustration yes. Anger at the wanton violence and racism of the police in his community, most certainly (I didn’t know for example that the derogatory term ‘pigs’ for cops started with Newton and Bobby Seale). Yet over and over again, Newton advocates first and foremost for the security of his neighborhood and black neighborhoods around the country. For community programs for the poor and disadvantaged who have been left behind and forgotten. For a return of pride and self esteem to those who have been treated as nothing better than disposable for all their lives.
Newton and the Panthers in the end were unable to sustain their movement due to internal and external pressures (few movements can survive the murders and imprisonments of most of their leadership over a short period of time). Perhaps had Newton lived, he would have be unsurprised by the events of a Ferguson or the murders of countless innocent black men at the hands of police. Yet seeing the community response to these injustices, and their unwillingness to silently tolerate it any longer is probably a legacy of something he began and would probably put a smile on his face.

[salem · Rating 5 out of 5]

reading this as a black woman & current oakland resident is so special. having met fredrika newton and seeing how young and present revolutionaries like huey p newton could be today had they not been murdered breaks my heart. too many gone too soon.

i feel especially drawn to the internationalism of the bpp and practice of global solidarity - these roots of the black radical tradition do not feel present in our approach to ongoing crises like the tigray genocide.

anyway i’m so touched by this book and his very clear and principled reflections 🫶🏾😭 i love you huey

[Erik · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Revolutionary Suicide" is Huey Newton's, founder of the Black Panthers, memoir on his life before and during his time leading the the Black Panthers as a radical response to the police brutality and economic depressions imposed on the black community in the United States.

What is clear from the first page is that Newton's plan for the Black Panthers was rooted in a deeply researched understanding of ideas from canonical thinkers like Plato and Fanon. This makes sense given the realities Newton faced: a man who graduated high school in inner-city Oakland unable to read or write, taught himself, at age 18, to read by reading and re-reading Plato's "Republic" until it made sense.

Newton, with Bobby Searle, studied the laws closely and formed the Black Panther Party to protect the black community from the police and to provide much needed ideological and economic support to the black community, a community the US government was apt to ignore. And for this he earned the ire of the white, upperclass establishment who tried to frame him for the murder of a police officer - a murder he did not commit, could not commit, because the police officer was too busy shooting him while he was unarmed.

In the pages of Huey Newton's memoir comes a prescient tale of the realities face by Black America: even when they follow all the rules and try to support each other out of their oppressed position, white America will do everything in its power, illegal or not, to keep them down. And what Huey fought this with was simple: ideas of a world that was better than the one in which we are living.

[Bobbieshiann · Rating 5 out of 5]

"For more than 350 years Black men in this country have been dying with courage and dignity for causes they believe in. This aspect of our history has always been known to Black people, but for many the knowledge has been vague. We knew the names of a few of our martyrs and heroes, but often we were not acquainted with the circumstances or the precise context of their lives. White America has seen to it that Black history has been suppressed in schools and in American history books. The bravery of hundreds of our ancestors who took part in slave rebellions has been lost in the mists of time, since plantation owners did their best to prevent any written accounts of uprisings. Millions of Black schoolchildren never learned about two great Black heroes in the nineteenth century, Denmark Vesey and Nat "The Prophet" Turner, who died for freedom.

White people had good reason to destroy our history. Black men and women who refuse to live under oppression are dangerous to white society because they become symbols of hope to their brothers and sisters, inspiring them to follow their example. In our time, Malcolm X is the supreme example. His life and accomplishments galvanized a generation of young Black people; he has helped us take a great stride forward with a new sense of ourselves and our destiny. But meaningful as his life was, his death had great significance, too. A new militant spirit was born when Malcolm died. It was born of outrage and a unified Black consciousness, out of the sense of a task left undone.

In light of this, I was able to stand back a little and consider my own death. The Black Panther Party had been formed in the spirit of Malcolm; we strove for the goals he had set for himself. When Black people saw Black Panthers being killed not only by the police but also by the judicial system, they would feel the circled closing around them and take another step forward. In this sense, my death would not be meaningless." - Huey P Newton.

[juice · Rating 5 out of 5]

i first read this when i was 17 when i was first getting politicized and now i’m re-reading it 8 years later as a whole new person. phew. reread your books! you never return the same person. seeing how your understandings have changed, how your practice has changed, and everything else in between is so necessary.

“The reactionary suicide must learn, as his brother the revolutionary has learned, that the desert is not a circle. It is a spiral. When we have passed through the desert, nothing will be the same.” 🌀

[Christopher Moltisanti's Windbreakers fan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huey was truly one of the finest gems of the Black Panther Party. Not only he was ahead of his time in thinking, but someone who shunned idpol and built a coalition made of the victims of capitalism, racism, imperialism, classism, and gender violence. Rest in Power <3

[Sydney P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really REALLY good book in understanding the history of the of the Black Panther Party and the tenants behind them. Loved every chapter of this book and was not bored of it once. Can’t recommend enough.

[Bread · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5 A really interesting autobiography about Huey Newtons life up until 1971.

His parents sought solace in religion amongst an impoverished black community in Oakland, always burdened by the bills, the bills, the bills. He went through a racialised education system that stunted his sense of self, undermining his confidence and his ability to do well at school, and by the time he reached his last year of high school he was functionally illiterate. He admired his older brother Melvin, who awakened his desire to learn and this, alongside a deep feeling of shame at not being able to read, drove him to go over Plato's Republic, dictionary in hand, over and over again. From then on and for the rest of the autobiography, he engages in and makes constant references to poetry and the works of people like A.J. Ayer, Camus, Fanon, Nietzsche, Joyce, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Baldwin, and Du Bois, amongst others. His love of books and his awareness of the economic and racial issues facing himself, his family, his community, and his race thereafter led to the formation of his own identity and an awakening of a political consciousness. Eventually, this led him to form the Black Panther Party with Bobby Seale.

That's just the first quarter of the book, and there's a lot of interesting stuff afterwards about the programme of the Black Panther Party, how Newton studied the law and provided legal counsel (with the backing of openly-carried firearms) to black people getting harassed by police officers, his disapproval of Earl Anthony in presenting a simplistic and absolutist black nationalist view of black vs white with no complications or any mention of class to Zengakuren (a Japanese radical students organisation) to which they correctly criticised (in Newton's eyes), his observations about the need for disciplined community programmes and revolutionary organisation over spontaneous rioting and revolution as opportunistic LARPing violence (who he attributes in part to Eldridge Cleaver), the blatant bias and corruption of the legal system (as exemplified in his own trial leading to the "Free Huey!" campaign) and the need of the defence to manoeuvre around the tactics employed by the prosecution, his experience in the prison system (the sense-deprivation and need for mental self-discipline in isolation cells, how prison guards used racial division to prevent prisoners of different ethnic groups from working together, the use of psychological tests that were absolutely inadequate in determining, for instance, the intelligence of a human being, etc), and so on.

Of course, Newton is not a perfect guy by any means in the book (nor should we expect him to be). For instance, his relationships with women were not always great and his seeking to rehabilitate the image of black masculinity sometimes came at the expense of reinforcing certain ideas about women or gender roles, while his brief foray into pimping women was something that he himself heavily regretted. He also makes a few offhand comments regarding homosexual men that definitely raised an eyebrow. From what I understand, he did ultimately speak positively about the women and gay liberation movements for the time, especially when compared to other black organisations (as can be seen here), but its still unfortunate considering the tensions the BPP would continue to have regarding the role of black women in their leadership and ranks. His pretty positive comments about the PRC and Mao when he visited China might put some people off as well (one thing that I thought was a little funny though was his warning to a Chinese factory worker about the dangers of pollution in the United States and how it might cause a problem in China in the future as well with regards to rendering the air unfit to breathe). I also do wish that there was a more in-depth discussion about the organisation of the BPP's survival programs like the Free Breakfast for Children program. But overall it was very enjoyable and well worth reading.

Also, fuck Eldridge Cleaver; he was already pretty bad in the autobiography, with his publicity-seeking and attention-whoring for radio spots and television appearances, his completely unproductive LARPy ideology and pseudo-hyper masculinity that led him to dismiss the survival programs and ignore doing real work in black communities, and his ultimate undermining of Huey Newton and the party. But in his most well-known book, Soul on Ice, he apparently talks about his raping black women as "practice runs" before seeking white "prey" to rape "as an insurrectionary act", and says some pretty homophobic shit implicitly directed towards James Baldwin. And to top it all off, it turns out by the 1980s that he just converts to a conservative Republican, appearing at various Republican events to talk about his 'political transformation'. What a piece of shit.

[Peter Bruno]

As someone who struggles with depression, this book hit me in ways that I wasn't quite expecting. Coming into this book, I thought I already knew a fair amount about the Black Panthers, but of course, nothing can really substitute for listening directly to the first-person accounts of those who actually lived it. This book does a good job of helping you see the conditions of Newton's life that led him to feel like he had to do something about changing them, in a way that I think any reader should find inspiring. I found Newton's framework of revolutionary suicide vs. reactionary suicide rather helpful. Sure, it's one thing to be able to articulate how material conditions can cause feelings of helplessness and powerlessness, but Newton helps reframe this dynamic, turning it on its head and making you feel like giving up is already an act of living death.

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most fascinating and inspiring books I've ever read. The story of Huey's life and experiences with the black panther party really show bare the realities that minorities have to face in this country. Huey's outlook and conclusions make complete sense. This book does a great job at cutting away at the "violent" image that the media puts on him and humanizes him. You can see how intelligent and thoughtful he was. A must read 10/10

[Nakia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be up there with the Autobiography of Malcolm X , in that every one who reads Malcolm, should read Huey immediately after.

[Wendy Liu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the social commentary doesn't quite stand the test of time, but his story is mesmerising nonetheless.

[Louie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This man's dedication to the empowerment of the people for liberation through knowledge and not violence was truly an amazing aspect of his character as a human being. Many of my misconceptions about the Black Panther Party were of a racist group who killed and sought blood shed at any turn of the establishment, I personally couldn't have been further from the truth and my past ignorance to this is a welcomed change in my thinking and train of thought. Mr. Newton didn't see the racist police officers, district attorneys, judges and privileged established white america as the enemy but a lack of their understanding to the struggles of all people with color as the main source among divide within America at the time. In educating "The People" he in theory would be educating "The Opressor" and overtime all forms of hatred and discrimination would fall to the waste-side by knowledge and enlightenment. Thoughts on his views with religion are very captivating having grown up a traditional baptist background...after attending college he in a way rejects this belief system while still holding the bible as one of his favorite text, I am under the impression that the revolution in a way became his new faith and the higher being he was seeking was freedom for all people oppressed by the ignorant. In closing, I encourage anyone who has intrest in race relations and a different point of view of how the struggle for equality is viewed fromt he eyes of the oppressed to read this text.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had been meaning to read this book for awhile now, and I was especially sparked to read it this year in response to the current state of the world and content that I learned in class about the Black Panthers. In my experience, the story of the Black Panthers is brushed over in school history classes, and we barely get to know who Huey P. Newton (the founder of the party) is. This book not only lets the reader in on what went on behind the scenes of the Black Panther Party, but also sheds light on the forces behind it and what they faced while fighting for Black liberation. There is insight into the prison industrial system, and the parallels between police brutality and the forces of military operations being conducted overseas today, racism and white supremacy being at the core of what these systems are built upon. I think that everyone who is thinking about a revolution should read this book. Newton writes, “By giving all to the present, we reject fear, despair, and defeat. We work to repair the breaches of the past. We strive to carry out the revolutionary principle of transformation, and through long struggle, in Camus’s words, “to remake the soul of our time.”” This is the mindset that I think a lot of young people hold, especially when it comes to protesting and working to take down systems of oppression.

[Matt Shaqfan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Black Panther Party organized a community centered around respect and perseverance. Food was provided for children. Safety was provided for families. They policed the police, ensuring officers operated under the legal guidelines and nothing more. They wanted equality for all, not just whites, not just Blacks, but for all. They were a movement of positivity and progressive ideas, fueled by generations of unjust oppression.

Huey's words are immaculate, and universal to anyone with a sense for what's right. He speaks from experience and with wisdom. He's seen the world in its ugliest, lowest form, yet he continues to fight in the hope that the proper change can one day come.

Unfortunately, reflecting on the current state of affairs here in amerika, it's sad, pathetic and draining to think about how distant these concepts still seem.

[Kiana Olea · Rating 5 out of 5]

i wanted to insert a quote i really liked from the book in this review but then i realized i couldn’t quote a whole book so here we are

BUT i will include this one; “... the United States is an empire, not a nation, and the way prisoners and minorities are treated here has a definite relation to the way the American power structure treats people around the world.”

this autobiography is freaking amazing from beginning to end and this ~review~ isn’t gonna do it any justice because it was just that good so please read it!

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly moving and impactful. Fantastic insight into the struggles these revolutionaries faced, as well as intelligent analysis and problem solving.

‘The reactionary suicide is "wise," and the revolutionary suicide is a "fool," a fool for the revolution in the way that Paul meant when he spoke of being "a fool for Christ." That foolishness can move the mountain of oppression; it is our great leap and our commitment to the dead and the unborn.
We will touch God's heart; we will touch the people's heart, and together we will move the mountain.’

A class act.

[Hungry Rye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Huey holds a really special place in my heart. This whole book was so moving. Not only does he tell about how he was raised and how that affected his politics and development of class consciousness but he has gives wonderful Marxist dialectics on the prison industrial complex, the policing system, white supremacy, patriarchy, and more. This is a must read for comrades.

[JRT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Even after all these yeras, Huey P. Newton's intellectualism is grossly underrated. Huey tells his story in a masterful way, and weaves in his worldview of intercommunalism to instruct colonized and oppressed people in Oakland and beyond how to fight back.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Huey P Newton's book. I had not much knowledge about the Black Panthers or the pain they suffered by the authorities.

[Cas · Rating 5 out of 5]

holy shit.

[Wick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book rather fascinating. At times it seemed slow and at others I could not put it down. As a historical document it is substantial. Obviously Newton was an incredibly intelligent man regardless of what IQ tests told him. The insight into his early life and trials was fascinating. The media image of the Black Panther Party is still so pervasive that coming in a generation later I have not been as accurately informed on them as I would like to be.

I do wish that he had spoken more of his theories, particularly surrounding revolutionary suicide. He touches on it several times but never goes too deep into it. It's such a fascinating and important concept, the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the movement, that I really wanted to hear it more fleshed out in his words. I will definitely do more reading on him and on the works that he inspired following this.

I enjoyed his talk of speaking to academic activists and finding it frustrating because they were more interested in "phrasemongering" than actual discussion. Particularly for such an impressive man to say "They either do not want to learn or they do not believe that I can think." was a simple but very honest and telling sentence.

He was a revolutionary man, to be sure, and helped create amazing changes in our country (trial by jury, community/police liaisons, community consciousness, survival programs, "pigs.") At times I did find it uncomfortable his views on women and queer people. His admission of using the sexual liberation movement to put women in sexual/romantic situations that they did not want to be in was particularly bothersome. After reading this I will definitely be reading an autobiography from a female leader of the Black Panther Party.

An incredible man and an incredible book.

[AC]

The first third is quite interesting. But one begins now to suspect a lack of empathy in this man...

[Kai · Rating 3 out of 5]

China shoulda supported the Black Panthers more

[Jazlynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

insane read

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Too many so-called leaders of the movement have been made into celebrities and their revolutionary fervor destroyed by mass media. They become Hollywood objects and lose identification with the real issues. The task is to transform society; only the people can do that - not heroes, not celebrities, not stars. A star's place is in Hollywood; the revolutionary's place is in the community with the people. A studio is a place where fiction is made, but the Black Panther Party is out to create nonfiction. We are making revolution."

Reading about Newton's experiences in the prison system particularly are invaluable.