The Sojourner Truth Organization: Notes Toward a History

Much of STO’s early analysis and strategy developed out of a careful assessment of the lived experience of several revolutionary movements of the twentieth century:  the Italian “Hot Autumn” of 1969, the French uprising of 1968, the experiences of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit during the late 1960’s, and further back the history of the IWW’s hey-day from 1905 until the mid-1920’s.  At the same time, however, STO was hardly averse to theory, or to the close reading of classic works of Marxism.  Of course they read Marx and Engels, and Lenin, and even Mao every once in a while, but three Marxist writers must be put at the top of the list in terms of the influence they had on STO as an organization:  Antonio Gramsci, WEB Du Bois, and CLR James (more…)

Back again, after a long absence.  My best excuse is that I was busy writing the talk that I gave last Sunday at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair.  To prove it, I’m posting the text of my talk here.  A couple of notes are in order:  first, the discussion after the talk has encouraged me to rethink some of the criticisms detailed here (but I’ll let you all try to figure out which ones…).  Second, the spoken version of the talk deviated slightly from the text here, but only slightly.  Finally, I’d really like to get critical feedback on this post, not least from those who are on the receiving end of my criticism.  NEFAC, Chris Crass, I’d like to hear from you… (more…)

Anne and Sofia and I were in Kansas City last weekend, and had breakfast with the good folks who maintain the ever-growing STO Web Archive.  We talked about a bunch of stuff, from arcane Sojourner Truth Organization trivia to present-day revolutionary politics.  One item that united those otherwise disparate threads of conversation was a pamphlet that STO produced in the mid-seventies entitled “Since When Has Working Been a Crime?  The Deportation of Mexicans Without Papers”.  This long-lost pamphlet is a popular treatment of a subject that is as even more in the news now than it was thirty years ago. (more…)

Lest anyone get the impression that all members of STO took jobs in factories, I should offer a couple of clarifications.  (more…)