The Ideology of The Black Student Union:

"Until the Lions Have Their Historians, Tales of the Hunted Will Always Glorify the Hunter"

The Ideology of The Black Student Union

from New Perspective Date: 1969

There has been a lot of discussion among members of the Black Student Union as to precisely what is the ideology of our young organization. The leadership has said the ideology is Pan-Africanism, but has never defined Pan-Africanism and laid the necessary ideological foundation for concrete and positive action in that direction. We understand very clearly that there are prerequisites which have to be met in order for our struggle to proceed on the correct path to liberation for ourselves and other oppressed people. A firm ideological foundation provides us with the power to stand firm against attacks from the oppressor, and puts us in a position to deal with ideological revisionists and dogmatists. It serves as as our most important weapon in our struggle to eliminate the evils of liberalism and organizational hang-ups within our ranks of people. Our ideological foundation provides the masses with a guide to judge us as we move among them with implementation of our programs.

When we say our ideology is Pan-Africanism, we mean that the ideology of B.S.U. is the understanding of historical experiences of African people the world over and the wisdom gained by African people in their struggle against colonialism, racism, and imperialism, defined through the ideological framework of Pan-Africanism as defined by the B.S.U. Central Committee. However, we must place heavy emphasis on the last part of that definition, “as defined by the B.S.U. Central Committee.” The world of Pan-Americanism has become a large jungle of opinion in which conflicting interpretations from revisionism to dogmatism have been allowed to give off reactionary and blind philosophies, as revolutionism has been defined from the need of all African people to return to the motherland and liberate it. To the idea of setting up an independent African nation within the americas. Such an ideological inconsistency presents serious problems to a young organization, such as ours, in its attempts to move in our struggle for liberation and unification of Black people.

When we say we are Pan-Africanists, we mean we understand the classical principles of Pan-Africanism and that we have adopted these principles to our own situation. Although we do not move with closed minds to new ideas and new information, we realize, to be free from ideological flunkeyism, we must use our own brains in solving problems of an ideological nature. We understand, very clearly, the revolutionary principle of self-reliance, and how we must relate to it if we are to survive. It must be us who lay the necessary ideological foundation that is in tuned to an ever changing political situation.

Ideology is a body of doctrine, myth, symbols, etc., of a social movement, institution, class, or large group. Such a body of doctrine, myth, etc., has reference to a political and cultural plan, with necessary means of putting it into action. The correct ideology is an invincible weapon against the oppressor in our struggle for liberation.

Pan-Africanist philosophers around the world have taught us the correct classical principles in our ideological struggle, but they have never truly dealt with the struggle of African people in the United States. Although their principles apply, it is our duty to carry these principles further by our political work among the masses. Only when we bridge the gap between theory and practice, do we see any type of an ideology formed. This bridge gives further meaning to our political work.

Historically, through our involvement, we have found that organizations cannot give us a political ideology. They can only give us an ideological framework in which to define our experiences, as we move about implementing programs and doing necessary political work. The classical principles of Pan-Africanism constitutes the ideological framework or the theory, and the experiences we gain by teaching these principles to the masses constitutes our ideology (the practice). We teach in various ways: community programs, lectures, newspapers, etc. When we take our ideological framework to the people, we bridge the gap between theory and practice. A political organization that does not bridge that gap becomes static and fails, whereas those that do, continually succeed in their struggle for freedom and liberation.

In order for our struggle to move in the direction we desire, we must clearly understand the classical principles of revolutionary Pan-Africanism. These principles are many and varied, but we shall deal with only those that apply to us and our particular situation:

We are African people – Just because we were ripped away from Africa does not change our origin. Does kidnapping a person change his identity? We came from Africa, so we are Africans! Our future is bounded up with Africa. England, France, the U.S. make divisions between us such as Negroes, Colored, African, etc. because it is to their advantage. But among Africans there must be no division. We are African – period.
We must be revolutionary internationalist – We understand that our struggle is part of the entire world struggle of African people. We say especially the struggle of African people because we are Pan-Africanists. We realize that we must first organize and unify all Africans because this is the most natural and efficient path to freedom. We are a nation. We can identify Africans physically, on the basis of color. We know that all Africans have been assaulted by the exploitation and racism put out by European and the U.S. controllers. That is one common bond. It is in our interests to unite ourselves because we must eliminate the oppression put down by the present controllers. So, we must first organize ourselves. It would be unrealistic for black people to go out into Williamsville, Paris, France or Scotland to organize non-Africans in Buffalo, and in the U.S., on the African continent, in the Caribbean, South America, Europe, Australia and any other place where Africans are now living. This does not mean we are against the struggle of other people for their own self-determination. We will work with and support all socialist movements that are working towards the independence of their people and ending exploitation. But our energy will be concentrated on organizing African people and strengthening our own nation.
Our fight must be against racism and capitalism – We do not agree that by destroying capitalism, you automatically destroy racism. Revolutionary socialist Cuba has taught us that Cuba has been trying to rid itself of the situation where lighter skinned Cubans have been pressed for preferential treatment from the government that the Cuban society. These lessons gained from the movement of African people the world over have taught us we have to fight against both capitalism and racism. Capitalism was not designed for the majority of the people; it serves as a vehicle by which the rich stay richer at the expense of the poor and color people of the world. Racism operates exploitation on color lines.
Land is the basis of independence – We don’t mean that as soon as you get a deed for a piece of soil you become independent. To be independent, you must control the land. The school in your neighborhood are part of the land, the stores are part; the houses, factories, power plants, are all part of the land. We must control these! Until we control these, we are only tenants on somebody else’s land. We understand that [] this land, it is our duty to create a nation. We [] the land to produce the things that are necessary for our survival and growth. A nation is a group of people who control a certain land, who have the same interests ad background and are moving toward the same goals, using a unified, organized plan. The African nation is composed of black people who are working for all-African unity and founded on the principles of socialism.

It is our duty to apply these Pan-African principles and carry them to their furthest potential – implementation. Another legacy left to us is to bring forth new revolutionary Pan-African principles, derived from our constant participation. Let us always remember the words of Frantz Fanon:

“It is a question of the Third World starting a new history of man, a history which will have regards to the sometimes prodigious these which Europe has put forward, but which will also not forget Europe’s crimes, of which the most horrible was committed in the heart of man, and consisted of the pathological tearing apart of his functions and the crumbling away of his unity. And in the framework of the collectivity there were differentiations, the stratification, and the bloodthirsty tensions fed by classes; and finally, on the immense scale of humanity, there were racial hatreds, slavery, exploitation, and above all the bloodless genocide which consisted in the setting aside of fifteen thousand millions of men.
So, comrades, let us not pay tribute to Europe by creating states, institutions, and societies which draw their inspiration from her.
Humanity is waiting for something from us other than such imitation, which would be almost an obscene caricature…
If we wish to live up to our peoples’ expectations, we must seek the response elsewhere than in Europe.”