A New Anarchism Emerges: 1940 - 1954
Andrew Cornell
The Journal for the Study of Radicalism
Vol 5, no. 1: 2011
pp. 105-131
Michigan State University Press
Andrew Cornell is a historian of American radical politics who teaches at New York University. His CV shows a wide array of interests within the field of anarchist and radical history, however it appears that much of his work focuses on radical campus activity. His article A New Anarchism Emerges: 1940-1954 does not cover campus politics but rather focuses on the period of the 20th century when American anarchism was at a low ebb. The old left of the IWW had passed its peak, the Communist Party was in decline, and American enthusiasm for World War II had dissipated much of the radical sentiments of the first half of the century.
During this period Cornell argues that while there was little that resembled a ‘movement’ with regards to anarchism, there were a number of publications and small groups of people whose work contributed to the rise of the radical 1960s. Cornell’s article is a survey of anarchist activity within the United States during a lull that occurred between two extended bursts of radical action. Cornell focuses on a number of now largely forgotten publications such as the anarcho-syndicalist newspaper, Why?, begun by the young syndicalist Audrey Goodfriend, and her older roommate, Dorothy Rogers. According to Cornell, the publication moved away from a strict program of anarcho-syndicalist ideas and news towards a broader program that included analysis of the Spanish Civil War and critiques of World War II.
Another publication Cornell discusses was a quarterly periodical titled Retort, published by Holley Cantine and Dorothy Paul. Retort emerged from Cantine’s adherence to the ideals of American transcendentalist philosopher Henry David Thoreau - Cornell points out that it was published out of a cabin built by Cantine - and it included literary works in addition to the standard political analysis and criticism of such journals. One of the first poem published in Retort was by radical San Francisco proto-beat poet Kenneth Rexroth. In a section under the heading of ‘Proto-Beats’ within Cornell’s article, Rexroth is placed at the forefront of a circle of west-coast poets and artists who foregrounded radical politics in their art.
In addition to Rexroth, some other well known figures were active during this period, although their best work was to come later. Eventual Chicago 8 defendant and former Union Theolgical Seminary student David Dellinger led protests against segregation in prison while he was incarcerated as a Conscientious Objector to WWII. Word of the protests spread to other prisons which eventually integrated their dining halls. Dellinger and his associates took a non-violent approach to their protests which Cornell suggested had some influence on the path of the later civil rights movement. (cf. see Glenda Elizabeth Gilmour's book, Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950
for a prehistory of the 1960s civil rights movement.) Furthermore, Dellinger entered the movement with a background in theological study and demonstrated the potential for spirituality in radical politics.
Cornell also discusses the early writings of the philosopher Paul Goodman, whose later work, Growing Up Absurd
, about the unsatisfying and empty possibilities offered to American youth passing into adulthood during the mid-1950s, was an influential text on the burgeoning 1960s youth culture. Paul Goodman's may stand as a kernel of the essence of Cornell’s article, in that the anarchists of the 1940s developed new forms of political thought that intersected with the arts, spirituality, and action, and helped to produce the radical 1960s: that is the youth counterculture, the new left, the peace movement, and the civil rights movement. Goodman was multi-talented and contributed ideas to all of the facets of countercultural activity that made the 1960s a new golden age for American radicalism. Cornell describes a small and loosely connected network of anarchists who lacked anything resembling popular support, but were still very productive and provided the edifice upon which the radical 1960s were constructed.
Jane Rhodes
Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise of A Black Power Icon
The New Press
2007
404 pages
Jane Rhodes is, as of the time of this writing, the presiding Dean of for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, Professor, and Department Chair at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnessota. Much of her work focuses on black activism and the media representation of people of colour. Judging from a quick survey of her publication titles, she often combines these two interests, which is the case with Framing the Black Panthers. In this text, Rhodes charts a history of the Black Panther Party as it appeared in media of all kinds.
Rhodes begins her text with an analysis of the 1995 film Panther, directed by Mario Van Peebles. Panther was a film by a black director that represented the Panthers positively as fighters for black freedom. In some sense Van Peeble's film is the cinematic culmination of a legacy of the Panther as a romantic revolutionary figure for the post-modern world of media and image driven politics. After a lengthy analysis of Van Peebles’ film (and some other films that represent a black power ethos from the same period, including Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, and a brief mention is given to Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump). Following her study of Van Peeble’s cinematic portrayal of the radical organization, Rhodes proceeds to a comprehensive historical analysis of media and the Black Panther Party.
Framing the Black Panthers can be read as a microcosm of how radical politics appeared in the media during the 1960s. At the first appearance of the Black Panthers in 1967, newspapers reacted immediately to the party with an oppositional, hostile tone. The BPP was founded in Oakland CA, where the two nearest major newspapers, The Oakland Tribune and the San Francisco Examiner, both immediately began attacking the Panthers in print following the emergence of the radical group. These two publications consistently representing them as militant thugs without any coherent political platform perpetually on the edge of violence. Incidentally, in the 1989 book Destructive Generation: Second Thoughts about the Sixties by former New Left leader, David Horowitz’s, the Panthers are remembered with the same venom that they were characterized with by their contemporary mainstream press. During the late 60s, however, the Panthers were discussed positively from a flourishing underground press and also began their own party newspaper (which is archived online here). The offices of the BPP became a target for police repression, as media consistently represented party as a paramilitary mob. Through the dissemination of their own newspaper however, the Panthers entrenched themselves into the communities which they sought to defend (and elevate). Furthermore, the popularity of their newspaper within poor black communities meant that the Panthers political program was read and understood by the people the BPP was reaching out to.
Rhodes investigates how the Panthers became accomplished media figures over the course of their careers in radical politics. One particular photograph, a representation of Black Panthers co-founder Huey Newton enthroned in a large wicker chair with a Kalashnikov rifle in one hand and a spear in the other, became one of the iconic images of the late 1960s.
The image was originally published in Ramparts magazine, but it developed a life of its own and was frequently used in the Panther’s own propaganda. Rhodes described the Panther’s as an organization that was constantly concerned with the image it presented, with combating negative or racist portrayals, and with finding the widest possible audience for their messages.
Rhodes presents the Panthers as a force in radical politics that was always operating on two seemingly contraposed fronts: grassroots community organizing and the widespread dissemination of their ideas via media. One of the most interesting chapters in Rhodes book is Servants of the People: The Black Panthers as National and Global Icons, which described how the Black Panther Party influenced subaltern nationalist groups, and Marxist revolutionary factions around the world. Their ideas were influential, but so was their quasi-military all-black fashion and their mix of Marxist jargon and street talk. The BPP were so influential because they were so successful in entering the realm of media, as Rhodes points out.
A final short note about Rhodes book. A survey of her bibliography (which is divided into types of materials) shows a large number of books about the Black Panthers published in the decade before her own book's time of publication. Rhode's book is relevant as the Panthers have entered another phase of media portrayals - representation in academic literature.
