Fighting Racism in World War II: From the pages of the Militant

by From the pages of the Militant newspaper

A week-by-week account from 1939 to 1945 of efforts to advance the Black rights struggle in face of patriotic appeals to postpone resistance to lynch-mob terror and racist discrimination until after U.S. "victory" in World War II. These struggles--of a piece with rising anti-imperialist battles in Africa, Asia, and the Americas--helped lay the basis for the mass civil rights movement in the postwar decades. Chronology, glossary, notes, index.

511 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 1980

Reviews

[Sam Whitehill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bunch of Socialist Worker Party-line articles about racism during WWII. Not bad, a little repetitive, but a good documentation of the fight against Jim Crow in the armed forces and essential industries. C.L.R. James only wrote the first few articles- tricky work, Pathfinder press!

[Marc Lichtman · Rating 4 out of 5]

While these articles from the 'Militant,' including some that were in Black newspapers previously, may not always be exciting reading, they do always shine a light on the real history of World War II, and of racism in this country and the fight against it. What's left of the Communist Party is still today lying about its history. Don't think the 'Militant' is a reliable source? It was widely used by Taylor Branch in his 3-vol. 'America in the King Years.'

As an aid to understanding the time period I also suggest complementing this with Labor's Giant Step: The First Twenty Years of the CIO: 1936-55 and with Malcolm X, Black Liberation, and the Road to Workers Power.