The Future Is Up to Us: A Revolutionary Talking Politics with the American People

156 Pages·2002·0.73 MB·English

by  Nelson Peery

The Future
Is Up To Us
A Revolutionary Talking Politics
With The American People
Nelson Peery
Also by Nelson Peery:
The Negro National-Colonial Question (1975)
African American Liberation and Revolution (1992)
Black Fire (1994)
Moving Onward (1998) (with Brooke Heagerty)
The Future
Is Up To Us
A Revolutionary Talking Politics
With The American People
Nelson Peery
Speakers For A New America Books http://www.lrna.org/speakers
Speakers For A New America Books are published
under the auspices of The People’s Tribune Speakers Bureau,
P.O.Box 3524,Chicago,IL 60654 telephone:[phone]
Printed in the U.S.A.May,2002 First Edition
copyright ©2001,2002 by Nelson Peery
Book design:Dana Yarak
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Library of Congress Control Number: 2002102497
Peery,Nelson
The Future Is Up To Us 1.Title
ISBN 0-9676687-3-5
Contents

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 
Chapter .Revolution and Class Struggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 
Chapter .Twentieth Century Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 
Chapter .Revolution & U.S.History:Class,Gender,Nationality . .
 
Chapter .African American History and U.S.History . . . . . . . . . .
 
Chapter .Our New Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
 
Chapter .Our New Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

About the Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Contents 
 The Future Is Up To Us
Preface
This collection of statements was first recorded during several interviews
on some pressing questions facing the new generation of revolutionaries.
It is an effort to present Marxism in an easily understood way.The idea
of the discussions originated with Abdul Alkalimat.Rosemary Williams,
the heroine of the project,did the difficult job of transcribing the tapes.
Marilyn Borgendale pitched in her considerable talents to edit and
advise the book along its way.Dana Yarak applied his imaginative and
graphic arts skills to turn cold type into an attractive and accessible
volume.Diana Berek helped design and select the graphics.Lew
Rosenbaum organized the process to its conclusion.
I take responsibility for my statements and formulations.But
much of what I have learned is through the collective process.
Throughout these essays,you will find me saying “we think and we
know”as often as “I think and I know.”Therefore,I give credit to the
collectives of which I’ve been a part.Individuals make books the way
they make history,in unity with others.
I wish to thank all the people who asked the questions and
patiently listened to my answers.And thanks to all the comrades who
kicked my butt to finish this book.Thanks,too,to those I had to kick
in order to finish.
Preface 
 The Future Is Up To Us
Introduction
A Revolutionary Talks Politics With The American People
I had finished an interview on “Good Day,Atlanta,”a popular morning
show.From there,I went to Underground Atlanta,the old railroad
station that has been converted into a popular eating and shopping
center.I had no more started eating my lunch when the waiter said,
“Hey,I know you;I saw you on TV.I thought that stuff you were
saying was right on,man.”Then I noticed a white guy standing just
to the side of me very patiently waiting for me to notice him.
Southerners are still polite.I stood up and invited him to please sit
down.He declined,saying his family was waiting for him.Then he
went on to say he had seen the interview.“I’m from Vicksburg,
Mississippi and there is no way for me to be a communist.”Then he
said,“I’m not going to agree with you,but at the same time,I want
to tell you that this was the only sensible resolution of this problem
that I’ve heard so far and we’d better resolve the problem,soon.”We
all agreed on what the problem is:something must be done to guarantee
people at least the means of survival.
I thought that he summarized the attitude of a large number of
people,who,for ideological reasons,are not prepared to accept
communism,but understand there is no other way.Either the
method of distribution is changed to guarantee the necessities of life
to those without employment,or we will have to coexist with growing
numbers of bodies in the streets.In the winter of 1998 in Chicago,
there were 40 or 50 bodies a month found along the roadsides and in
the shelters.But the numbers are growing and either we deal with it
or it will reach epidemic proportions.
Reaganomics introduced a level of selfishness hitherto unknown
in our country.As bad as the ideological and moral situation has become,
there is still a fundamental morality amongst human beings that simply
cannot tolerate the wholesale destruction of human life.The American
people will rise to their historic tasks.
CInhtraopdteurc t1ionRevolution and Class Struggle 
What’s unique about the American people? Who are we,anyway?
Any American who has observed this country from the outside realizes
that the United States and its peoples are unique amongst nations.This
uniqueness is not just a reflection of the geographic or ethnic diversity
of the country.It reflects the ideological diversity and contradictions
that are rooted in American history.
The U.S.is,by far,the most ideological country on earth.The
U.S.was founded by ideological groups and they left their mark in the
form of a number of sects.Huge numbers of the population who do not
belong to these sects,harbor and cherish sectarian ideas and ideals.
This is the purest capitalist country in the world.The spiritualism
and idealism expressed by the sects,more often than not,are in flat
contradiction to life in the material world of capitalism.This
contradiction was most vividly expressed by slavery and the
slaughter of the indigenous peoples on the one hand,and revolutionary
proclamations that thrilled democratically minded people everywhere,
on the other.Revolutionary,democratic idealism coupled with the
most brutal imperialism and exploitation is the context for the
uniqueness of the people of this country.
Over the past few years,I have been able to travel up and down
and across this country on book tours and speaking engagements publicizing
my memoir,Black Fire(The New Press,1994).As a revolutionary of more
than fifty years,I’ve started summarizing and publishing my experiences
for the newer comrades.The thousands of people I have talked to,and
the hundreds I have listened to,confirm the grappling of the American
people with this historic contradiction.The people sense that they are
at,or approaching a defining fork in the road.Either they uphold political
democracy and extend it into the economy,or they fall back into some
sort of dark age of fascist reaction.They don’t state it that way,but I got
the sense they understood it that way.
During these book tours,there were three generalized groupings
I met.In the first group were the interviewers,the hosts of talk
shows,radio or television programs.In the second were people who
came to the bookstore readings or lectures and the third included people
who had heard the radio or television interviews — people I met in
the street and had some opinion or commentary on the interviews.
 The Future Is Up To Us