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. 

Each of these three writers now has a comfortable afterlife in the academy, with a plethora of books examining their theoretical contributions, so its worth remembering that in 1970, only a small number of radicals in North America took any inspiration from them.  At that time, the Marxist section of the left was much more interested in the work of Mao, and secondarily of Stalin (sadly, I’m serious about that one), while Frantz Fanon represented something of an alternative for those who were not bound by the limits of either the European or the Marxist canon. 

I want to spend more time on each of these three thinkers, but here is a brief capsule summary of each and his influence on STO.

Gramsci was a leader of the Italian Communist Party during and after World War One.  He is best known today for his theory of hegemony, and STO incorporated this theory into their analysis of the functioning of capitalism and white supremacy.  His insights into the social and cultural aspects of revolutionary politics were also highly prized by the group as it developed its understanding of dual consciousness.  In the early seventies, STO published in pamphlet form some excerpts of Gramsci’s writings on “The Soviets in Italy,” which examined the experiences of worker uprisings after WWI.  His insights on the nature and potential of the soviet form of organization were influential in STO’s early workplace organizing efforts.

Du Bois I have mentioned earlier, and his influence was most keenly felt in the theory of history held by STO, which prioritized the experience of black oppression and resistance as the central aspect of US history.  For Du Bois, as for STO, the reconstruction period represented the high point of revolutionary struggle in North America over the past two hundred years.  STO’s analysis of the need for white workers to repudiate white skin privilege and work in support of the struggles of black workers was based directly on the criticism offered by Du Bois of the 19th century white labor movement, which turned its back on black efforts during and after reconstruction.

James was the only one of the three to have been alive when STO was founded, and in fact some early members of the group had met James during his periodic visits to the US during the late sixties.  He was a black Marxist from Trinidad, who lived parts of his life in the US, Britain, and the Caribbean.  As with Du Bois, his politics represented a bridge between traditional Marxism (in James’ case, originally of the Trotskyite variety) and pan-Africanist revolutionary nationalism.  For STO, James’ key contributions were two-fold:  first, his rejection of the Stalinist model of revolution, in favor of the “liberation of the class is the task of the class itself” approach that informed all the different eras of STO’s work; and second, his belief that the black working class in the US represented the key sector of the class whose needs must be addressed if a revolution is to succeed.  This latter concept represented the core of STO’s political strategy throughout its existence.

As I said, I need to write more about each of these three figures, to flesh out their historical position and their influence within STO.  But for now, this will have to do.