In January, scenes of Black Lion Party for International Solidarity (BLP) members carrying rifles at a Philadelphia anti-ICE demonstration were broadcast around the world, going viral on social media.
Since then, BLP Chairman Paul Birdsong has amassed nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram, and numerous articles fretting about the party’s activity have appeared in the capitalist press.
The BLP’s sudden visibility is no surprise. The party’s name and aesthetics evoke memories of the Black Panther Party (BPP) of the 1960s. What’s more, their boldness and militancy appeal to a layer of radical workers looking for a way to escalate the fight against ICE terror—and the ruling class as a whole.
Is ICE terror a “Black issue”?
According to Birdsong, the Black Lions recently split from a group called the New Age Panther Party, who claim that the struggle against ICE is not a “Black issue.” In contrast, Birdsong describes the BLP as internationalist, explicitly rejecting the characterization of the party as a Black nationalist group.
The BLP correctly points out that the original Panthers fought for solidarity between and freedom for oppressed peoples of all races. As Deputy National Chairman of the BPP Fred Hampton said in 1969, shortly before he was assassinated by the Chicago police and FBI:
We say you don’t fight racism with racism. We’re gonna fight racism with solidarity. We say you don’t fight capitalism with no Black capitalism; you fight capitalism with socialism.
The RCA wholeheartedly agrees with this perspective. An injury to one is an injury to all! It is in the vital interests of all workers to fight against all forms of oppression.
Last month, the BLP hosted an open house at their North Philadelphia headquarters, which several RCA comrades attended. There were about 120 other attendees from around the country. It was a diverse crowd in terms of race, age, and gender. During the meeting, Birdsong told the crowd that BLP membership is open only to Black people, which he defined as those who are “descended from American slaves.”
He called for people of other races to create their own “Lion” organizations. Each group would focus on particular problems facing their own racial demographic. For example, Birdsong insisted that white supremacy is a white problem, and therefore only white people can end it, just as certain issues within the Black community can only be solved by Black people. How these different Lion parties would work together was left vague. Birdsong’s implication was that they could form a loose federation.
This is a point where we differ with the Lions. While it is absolutely necessary for white workers to fight against white chauvinism, it is the task of the entire working class to fight against chauvinism and oppression of all kinds.
The ruling class uses identity politics and the poison of racism to divide workers. They want us to blame each other for our problems, distracting attention from the real perpetrators: the capitalists themselves.
It is in the interest of all workers to fight against racism and the capitalist system. Rather than dividing the most advanced, conscious elements of the working class along racial lines, we need a revolutionary party capable of uniting workers of all races and ethnicities in a determined struggle against the class enemy.
“Just say when and where”
BLP members are often armed with semi-automatic weapons. At the open house, they encouraged others to legally purchase and carry firearms of their own. Birdsong is fond of repeating Mao’s adage, “Political power grows from the barrel of a gun.”
The question of “armed bodies of men” is taking on more significance as the crisis of capitalism deepens. But ultimately, political power does not grow from the barrel of a gun. The power of the ruling class is rooted in its control over the means of production. On the other side of the barricades, the power of workers flows from our central role in production and exchange, and our ability to shut down the economy through collective mass action.
An RCA comrade at the meeting asked Chairman Birdsong if he would support a struggle against the capitalists. “Hell yeah!” Birdsong replied, a sentiment that was widely echoed around the room, “Just say when and where.”
Birdsong and other BLP leaders recognize that the fight against capitalism is a necessary part of the Black struggle. Indeed, the BLP argues that capitalism is a pillar of white supremacy. However, they have it upside down. It is capitalism that requires racism to function, so that it can divide the working class against itself.
The fact that a new generation of revolutionary fighters wants to honor the heroic legacy of the BPP is a welcome development. We appreciate the opportunity to offer our perspective on the important questions that workers across the country are grappling with. There are people of all identities within the capitalist class, and they oppress workers of all identities indiscriminately. It is only through class struggle in an organization that unites workers of all backgrounds to fight our common enemy that we can end poverty, violence, and all the forms of oppression that capitalism perpetuates.