Volume 5

  • VOLUME V: 1959-1964 Ñ THE EMERGENCE OF A THIRD AFRO-ASIAN, LATIN AMERICAN WORLD AND A NEW GENERATION OF REVOLUTIONARIES ALSO IN THE U.S.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/2687.pdf

    After Marxism and Freedom was published, Raya Dunayevskaya undertook a number of international trips. They established new international relations both in Europe and in Africa. In 1959, under the impact of the retrogressive move of De GaulleÕs coming to power, the state-capitalist tendencies of Europe and the U.S. decided to hold an international conference in Milan, where Dunayevskaya spoke and where it was decided to publish a forum for international discussion, for which purpose a separate section of Prometo (Milan) was created. In 1962, Dunayevskaya made a trip to Africa where a new Third World had been developing since the establishment of an independent Ghana in 1988. At home these were the years of News & Letter participation in the movements of workers, Blacks, and anti-Vietnam war students.

  • Section I The Black Dimension In Africa

    (See Section IV for the Black Dimension in the U.S.)

  • (1) Nationalism, Communism, Marxist-Humanism and the Afro-Asian Revolutions,

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/2688.pdf

    by Raya Dunayevskaya, August 1959; a News & Letters pamphlet. The pamphlet first appeared as a supplement to the June-July 1959 issue of News & Letters. In 1961 a new edition appeared, published by the Left Group, Cambridge University Labor Club, England. It included a Forward by Peter Cadogan; a new Introduction, ÒAfrican Realities and World Politics,Ó by Dunayevskaya, April 1961; Appendix I, ÒThe New Humanism: African Socialism,Ó by Dunayevskaya; and Appendix II, a review of Marxism and Freedom by Cadogan. (The pamphlet was translated into Japanese in 1965. Its writing preceded Dunayevskaya’s trip to Africa.)

  • Section II Activity and Philosophy

  • (1) Resolution on Workers Battle Automation,

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/2735.pdf

    Pre-Convention Bulletin, June 1960. (This was preceded by struggles of workers against Automation in the U.S. and England, and inspired some English co-thinkers to establish a special section of News & Letters, called ÒBritish Labour News,Ó Jan. 1960. Although it was published only two years, until Dec. 1961, Harry McShane, the outstanding revolutionary labor leader and Marxist, continued to issue ÒThe Scottish Marxist-HumanistÓ in mimeographed form.)

  • (7) Summaries of HegelÕs Major Writings.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/2806.pdf

    In Late 1960 and early 1961 Raya Dunayevskaya completed summaries of HegelÕs major writings. (These summaries were published together with other commentary on Hegel in Dialectics of Liberation, 1974; a News & Letters pamphlet.): a. Notes on HegelÕs Phenomenology, completed Dec. 12, 1960. b. Notes on Science of Logic, Jan. 26,1961. c. Notes on Encyclopedia of Philosophical Sciences, Feb. 15,1961.

  • (9) Workers Battle Automation,

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/2843.pdf

    by Charles Denby, editor of News & Letters, Nov. 1960; a News & Letters pamphlet. Workers from various industries speaking for themselves about Automation: auto, steel, the mines. Includes ÒM.D.Ó writing on medical effects of automated production.

  • Section III 1961-1963 — Establishment of Weekly Political Letters; the Africa Trip; and New Youth Developments

    There were two series of Weekly Political Letters. The first series was begun in opposition to the Bay of Pigs Invasion in April 1961; the second began when the world was thrown to the brink of nuclear disaster by the Cuban Missile Crisis, in Oct. 1962. This was also the period of great activity around the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament in which Marxist-Humanists participated. The first series included the letters from Africa, which were published in Africa Today.

  • (1) Weekly Political Letters, by Raya Dunayevskaya.

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/2906.pdf

    The weekly political letters were begun on April 22, 1961 after the Kennedy speech following the invasion of Cuba, when Raya Dunayevskaya felt the necessity of being able to respond immediately to world developments without waiting for a monthly issue of News & Letters. This first series covered the widest range of political subjects spanning every continent and major development for a period of some 16 months. A second series of political letters was begun on Oct. 25, 1962, in the midst of the Cuban missile crisis.

  • (2) 1961: Resolutions, Plenum Reports:

  • (3) 1962: Year of the Africa Trip:

  • f. The Time is Now,

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/3232.pdf

    Perspectives Report by Raya Dunayevskaya to 1962 News and Letters Committees Convention, Sept. 1962. The emergence of a Third World in an advanced capitalist world in crisis is taken up. The Bulletin also includes excerpts from a speech, ÒThe Organizational Story of the Philosophy of Freedom,Ó Oct. 12, 1962.

  • (4) 1963: Resolutions, Plenum Reports, Publications:

  • e. The Young Marxist-Humanist, 1963;

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/3295.pdf

    a News & Letters pamphlet. This is the first youth pamphlet written by young Marxist-Humanists. Includes ÒWhy the Young Marxist-HumanistÓ by Robert Ellery; ÒThe Heritage and the ChallengeÓ by Raya Dunayevskaya; ÒFrom the Pen of Karl MarxÓ; and a number of contributions by young members and friends.

  • Section IV Pamphlets on the Black Revolt at Home

    Ever since the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955-56, News and Letters Committees have participated directly in the Black struggle. First there were in-person reports on Montgomery by News & Letters editor Charles Denby. Next were reports and participation in all of the activities, from the sit-in movement, South and North, to the Freedom Riders of the early 1960s, the Mississippi Freedom Summer Project, the Maryland Freedom Union and the rebellions in the cities from Watts to Detroit of the mid and late 1960s. The first News and Letters pamphlet on the Black struggle was Freedom Riders Speak for Themselves.

  • (1) American Civilization on Trial,

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/3369.pdf

    ÒThe Negro as Touchstone of History, 100 Years After the Emancipation ProclamationÓ, A Statement by the National Editorial Board of News & Letters, May 1963; a News & Letters pamphlet. (A third edition, subtitled ÒBlack Masses as Vanguard,Ó was published in August 1970, and contained as Appendix ÒBlack Caucuses in the UnionsÓ by Charles Denby.)

  • (5) The Maryland Freedom Union, Workers Doing and Thinking,

    link to PDF file: http://rayadunayevskaya.org/raya/ArchivePDFs/3553.pdf

    by Mike Flug, Spring 1969. Participant reports of the formation of a union by workers, primarily from nursing homes. The workers, mostly Black women, relate their experiences in organizing, striking and demonstrating.