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| New Communist Movement | |
|---|---|
| Name | New Communist Movement |
| Foundation | 1970s |
| Dissolution | 1980s–1990s |
| Ideology | Maoism, Marxism–Leninism, Third Worldism |
| Country | United States |
New Communist Movement
The New Communist Movement emerged in the United States during the late 1960s and 1970s as a constellation of organizations and collectives inspired by Marxism–Leninism, Maoism, and anti-imperialist struggles such as the Vietnam War, the Cuban Revolution, and decolonization in Algeria. It drew activists from the Civil Rights Movement, the Students for a Democratic Society, the Black Panther Party, and the antiwar movement, seeking to synthesize revolutionary theory with national liberation and labor struggles. The movement produced numerous publications, cadres, and short-lived parties that intersected with campaigns around policing, prisons, and international solidarity.
The Movement developed against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, the 1968 global protests, the Civil Rights Movement, and the rise of the Black Power movement and Chicano Movement. Influences included the People's Republic of China's Cultural Revolution, the Algerian War of Independence, the Cuban Revolution, and the experiences of the Anti-Apartheid Movement and Vietnamese revolutionary leadership. Key moments feeding recruitment were protests at Columbia University, the fragmentation of Students for a Democratic Society, and clashes with law enforcement such as the Attica Prison riot, which shaped strategy and analysis.
Groups within the Movement debated Marxism–Leninism versus revolutionary nationalism and adopted variants of Mao Zedong Thought, Ho Chi Minh Thought, and Che Guevara's focoism. Theoretical touchstones included readings of Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Vladimir Lenin, and selections from Frantz Fanon, C.L.R. James, and Amilcar Cabral. International alignments shifted with the Sino–Soviet split and later with events like the Soviet–Afghan War and the Cultural Revolution. Debates also drew on analysis of imperialism from Rosa Luxemburg and anti-colonial praxis associated with Kwame Nkrumah and José Martí.
A proliferation of organizations arose, including the Progressive Labor Party, the Socialist Workers Party, the Revolutionary Union, the Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist), the Revolutionary Communist Party, the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, and numerous localized collectives linked to campuses such as University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, and University of Michigan. Ethnic and national formations included the Young Lords, the Brown Berets, the Black Liberation Army, and Asian American organizations influenced by groups like the Vietnamese National Liberation Front. Publications and journals—modeled after The Militant, People's Daily, and radical newspapers associated with Black Panther Party media—served as nodes for cadre formation and political education.
Activism ranged from campus organizing at sites like Kent State University and Ohio State University to labor solidarity in strikes involving United Auto Workers and International Longshore and Warehouse Union members. Campaigns included antiwar demonstrations, solidarity with the Palestine Liberation Organization, protests against South African apartheid, and support for liberation movements in El Salvador and Nicaragua during the Nicaraguan Revolution. Tactical emphases varied: some groups focused on electoral work in municipal races like those in Oakland, California, others on clandestine direct action reminiscent of the Weather Underground and on community programs such as free clinics and breakfast programs inspired by the Black Panther Party.
Relations with established unions such as the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations affiliates and the United Auto Workers ranged from collaborative solidarity to tension over strategy. The Movement sought to influence labor through rank-and-file organizing and alliances with Teamsters dissidents and multiethnic coalitions within the United Farm Workers led by figures associated with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. Intersectional work connected to the Women's Liberation Movement, the Gay Liberation Front, and prison reform activists who engaged with campaigns around the Attica Prison riot and organizations like American Civil Liberties Union allies.
Federal and local responses included surveillance and disruption tactics reminiscent of COINTELPRO methods used during the Civil Rights Movement and against the Black Panther Party. Investigations and prosecutions drew on statutes applied in cases similar to those involving the Weather Underground, Symbionese Liberation Army, and other radical organizations. Departments such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, local police forces in cities like New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles conducted infiltration, arrests, and legal actions that impacted organizational capacity and public perception.
By the 1980s and 1990s many groups fragmented, merged, or shifted toward community organizing, electoral politics, and cultural work as geopolitical changes such as the end of the Cold War and transformations in the Soviet Union and People's Republic of China altered international alignments. Legacy threads include contributions to anti-apartheid campaigns, prison abolition discourse, and community-based social services, influencing later formations like Democratic Socialists of America networks, contemporary social justice coalitions, and labor renewal efforts within the Service Employees International Union and other unions. Former activists moved into academia at institutions like Harvard University, University of California, Los Angeles, and Columbia University, nonprofit organizations, and legal advocacy working on issues linked to civil rights litigation and international solidarity.