Moving Against the System

The 1968 Congress of Black Writers and the Making of Global Consciousness

Edited by David Austin

Publication date:

20 September 2018

Length of book:

304 pages

Publisher

Pluto Press

ISBN-13: 9781786803788

In 1968, as protests shook France and war raged in Vietnam, the giants of black radical politics descended on Montreal to discuss the unique challenges and struggles facing their black comrades all over the world.

Against a backdrop of widespread racism in the West and ongoing colonialism and imperialism in the Global South, this group of activists, writers, and political figures gathered to discuss the history and struggles of people of African descent and the meaning of black power.

For the first time since 1968, David Austin brings alive the speeches and debates of the most important international gathering of black radicals of the era. With never-before-seen texts from Stokely Carmichael, Walter Rodney and C.L.R. James, these documents will prove invaluable to anyone interested in black radical thought and political activism of the 1960s.

Acknowledgements
Introduction: The Dialect of Liberation: The Congress of Black Writers at 50 and Beyond - David Austin
1. The Psychology of Subjection: Race Relations in the United States of America - Alvin Poussaint
2. The Haitian Revolution and the History of Slave Revolt - C. L. R. James
3. The Fathers of the Modern Revolt: Marcus Garvey and the Origins of Black Power - Robert Hill
4. African History in the Service of the Black Liberation - Walter Rodney
5. The Civilizations of Ancient Africa - Richard B. Moore
6. Black History in the Americas - Richard B. Moore
7. Race in Britain and the Way Out - Richard Small
8. Moving Against the System: New Directions for the Black Struggle - Harry Edwards
9. Frantz Fanon and the Third World - James Forman
10. Black Power in the USA - Stokely Carmichael
11. 'A Black Woman Speaks Out' - Barbara Jones
12. 'You Don't Play with Revolution': Interview with C. L. R. James - Michael Smith
13. On the Banning of Walter Rodney from Jamaica - C. L. R. James at Montreal Rally
14. Letter to C. L. R. James from Rosie Douglas, June 9, 1968
15. Letter to Rosie Douglas from C. L. R. James, June 27, 1968
Notes
Index

'The Congress of Black Writers marks one of the most important gatherings of radical intellectuals in the 20th century... Where else can you find the likes of C.L.R. James, Walter Rodney, Richard B. Moore, James Forman, Stokely Carmichael, Robert Hill and others, talking revolution to an engaged and sometimes combative crowd? I couldn't put the book down'