[PEN-L:2171] Malcolm X

["Charles Brown" <CharlesB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Lenin on cooption of our revolutionary
heroes by the ruling classes:

 "What is now happening to Marx's
doctrine has, in the course of history,
often happened to the doctrines of
other revolutionary thinkers and leaders
of oppressed classes struggling for
emancipation. During the lifetime of
great revolutionaries, the oppressing
classes have visited relentless
persecution on them and
received their teaching with the
most savage hostility, the most
furious hatred, the most ruthless
campaign of lies and slanders. After
their death, attempts are made to
turn them into harmless icons,
canonise (Jim's term below)
 them, and surround their
_names_ with a certain halo for
the "consolation" of the oppressed
classes nd with the object of
duping them, while at the same tiem
emasculating and vulgarising the
_real issues_ of their revolutionary
theories and blunting their revolutionary
edge..."

 -Opening lines of _The State and
Revolution_

Malcolm X on a U.S. stamp is
an example of what Lenin is
talking about. Of course, WEB
Dubois, Fredrick Douglass and
Sojourner Truth are on U.S.
stamps too., But by the logic
below, all the bourgeoisie
have to do is put a revolutionary's
picture on a stamp after they
are dead, and future generations
of revolutionaries would
ignore or be suspicious of the examples
of their lives. The logic below
also capitulates in the struggle
to broadcast the truth about revolutionaries
in history; and there is that
struggle around the story of
every revolutionary's life.

I once heard a radio commercial
for the Marines which was
a vignette of Angela Davis'
legend. She's not even dead.
Her story is also taught in
many schools. Do y'all
think she's with us or them ?

That the bourgeoisie have
appropriated Malcolm X's
icon after his death is not proof that he
was not a revolutionary in life.

Lenin , himself, is one that the oppressing
classes have trouble turning
into a harmless icon even after
his death. That's how
tough he was.


Charles Brown


>>> "Frances Bolton (PHI)" <fbolton@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> 01/05 9:03 AM >>>

On Tue, 5 Jan 1999, Jim heartfield wrote:
>
> And when did Rakesh become "white"? When he refused to pay homage to
> that All-American hero Malcolm X? Face facts, Malcolm X's Autobiography
> is on the school syllabuses now. He is being taught to children black
> and white, by teachers who have assimilated him into the curriculum and
> the canon of American triumph over adversity.
> --
Regarding the all american hero, Malcolm X: Jim, did you know that
Malcolm X postage stamp is soon being issued?

frances