Malcolm X

“”You get freedom by letting your enemy know that you'll do anything to get your freedom; then you'll get it. It's the only way you'll get it.

—Malcolm X at a 1964 speech giving advice to black Mississippi youth

Malcolm X in 1964.

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Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, also known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz) (1925–1965) was an African American primarily known for his political activism as the leader of the black nationalism movement, and as a priest in the Nation of Islam. He was one of Martin Luther King's most vocal critics, rejecting nonviolent protest in favor of forceful emancipation, now famous for its slogan "By any means necessary".

Malcolm grew up in the world of 1930's and 1940's America, a time of intense racial tensions. Malcolm's family became victim of extreme racial harassment, systemic racism and the personal betrayal by several white people, which contributed to the set of beliefs he would end up holding. After his father's death and his mother's hospitalization, he spent his adolescence living in a series of foster homes or with relatives. Mostly left for himself, still, he ended up committing various crimes and, in 1946, was sent to prison 8 to 10 years for burglary.

In prison, Malcolm X joined the Nation of Islam and, after his parole in 1952 (having served 6 years of his sentence), quickly became one of the organization's most influential leaders. The NoI embraced black nationalism and had a significant impact on Malcolm's attitude towards whites. He was the public face of the NoI for 12 years before disillusioning and forming his own Sunni Islamic organization Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Pan-African Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Malcolm would spend the rest of 1964 arguing - violently, they sent him death threats - with the Nation of Islam until on February 21, 1965, Malcolm's life was cut short during an attack involving the largely defensive weapon of gun.

Malcolm's beliefs and attitudes changed as his life progressed. His original rationale was that black emancipation was long due and that, if whites won't give it to them, blacks will have to take it forcefully. Malcolm brought up the example of the American Revolution as a successful example of gaining freedom from oppressors using violent means, and advocated for something like this for black people in America at that time. He believed that something similar would have to happen in the United States as well, if blacks ever were to live harmonious lifes - not harmonious with whites, necessarily, but amongst each other. In fact, he proposed 'economic nationalism', an economic program of self-sufficiency, ie. black control of the economy and politics of black communities.

Anything that white people would give them, like black suffrage or civil rights, Malcolm said, were insincere token breadcrumbs intended to keep blacks appeased in their oppression, and he believed that cooperation with whites and people of other faiths was impossible. As he disillusioned from the Nation of Islam and during his pilgrimage to Mecca he underwent the most drastic changes in his political attitude, beginning to accept cooperation with whites, though still only in the pursuit of the ultimate goal of black emancipation. Unfortunately, Malcolm's intellectual and spiritual journey was cut short only two days later as he was assassinated on an event of one of his organizations (the OAAU). He was unceremoniously shot by a sawed-off shotgun, rushed to a hospital and pronounced deceased the same day. The exact circumstances around his assassination and the person responsible for his death, however, remain a mystery.

Ideology

White liberals and conservatives

Malcolm X believed that both white liberals and white conservatives were only interested in gaining and preserving power. White liberals, he believed, were insincere in their promises and that there were no fundamental differences between the parties. The difference between white liberals and white conservatives, according to Malcolm X, was that white liberals were more hypocritical than white conservatives and more willing to use black voters as a pawn to gain power. White liberals would vote for white liberal Republicans, and white conservatives would vote for white conservative Democrats.

Malcolm X was pissed that whites championed around three million black voters as a big "achievement", as yet another token victory used by whites to appease black people. He said that whites bent over the knees to get black people to vote to create the illusion of suffrage, while in reality the three million black people who did vote (or potentially even the other eight million who did not) in the 1960 presidential election most likely did not have a real say over who wins. Malcolm believed that black Americans should set up their own power structures and become players in the political arena. The rationale was that a unified bloc with separate power structures would be a lot less vulnerable to institutional marginalization from the white-dominated power structures of the white majority.

Malcolm X argued that because the vast majority of those three million black voters were the "black bourgeoisie," white politicians that sought their votes would only cater to the interests of the black bourgeosie, and not the black proletariat, the "masses". Malcolm X argued that integration of the races was in the interests of the black bourgeosie, who sought to lose their "black identity." The only solution to the "race problem", as Malcolm X called it, was for white people to listen to "what the black masses want."

Malcolm X tended to refer to white conservatives as "wolves" and white liberals as "foxes." His reasoning was that white liberals, or "foxes," were more friendly (in a deceitful manner), and therefore more likely to successfully fool black Americans. White conservatives, or "wolves," were more overt in their hatred and their intent to marginalize blacks.

By any means necessary

Famous Malcolm X poster.

Human rights for black black people were an indisputable, fundamental right in Malcom's eyes, so he sought to take those rights "by any means necessary", using what's called diversity of tactics. If the situation calls for entryism and non-violent activism, then that's the method that will be used. If participation in the political machinery of the state is not achieving the goal of black liberation, then militancy is required. In the same vein, Malcolm X was a strong advocate for the right of black Americans to bear arms.

In his now legendary "The Ballot or the Bullet" speech, Malcolm X uses the example of the political violence of the Patriots in the American Revolution, and how that violence secured the "freedom of whites in this country from the English," as an analogy for how black nationalist political violence can bring about the emancipation of black Americans in the United States. However, in that same speech he said that America was presented with a unique opportunity for a bloodless revolution. He said that (as of 1964, when the speech was given) he was unaware of any peaceful revolutions. Malcolm cites the Chinese, Russian, French, and American Revolutions (among others) as examples of bloody revolutions, but that in 1964 the conditions were present for a revolution that was peaceful. According to Malcolm X, all Uncle Sam had to do to avoid a bloody revolution was give black people in America everything that was their due.

Malcolm X was a strong believer in extreme self defense. By his own admission he was an extremist, but he qualified that his extremism was emancipatory. Not the reactionary, genocidal extremism of imperialism and fascism, but the emancipatory extremism of left-wing nationalism.

Black nationalism

Malcolm X's program of black nationalism was, in his eyes, an emancipatory program. He noted that the waves of decolonization happening around the world at the time were not happening "because of singing 'we shall overcome', but results of local nationalism." Similarly, Malcolm believed that black nationalism in the USA was a tool to emancipate black Americans from "political oppression, economic exploitation, and social degradation."

As Malcolm X's intellectual journey progressed, he became more open to the idea of cooperation between black people of all faiths. Malcolm X identified black nationalism as his "political, social, and economy philosophy." He considered his religion, Islam, to be personal business (as he viewed sectarianism among black Americans to be detrimental to the cause of black liberation). This went so far that, after leaving the NOI, he even announced a willingness to work with the Civil Rights Movement to advance the cause of black liberation:

I am prepared to cooperate in local civil rights actions in the South and elsewhere and shall do so because every campaign for specific objectives can only heighten the political consciousness of the Negroes and intensify their identification against white society.

After rejecting black separatism, he continued to advocate for black nationalism, but this too began to change in the few months prior to his death when he met North African revolutionaries who were by all appearances white. Malcolm X's evolving sentiment about black nationalism as an emancipatory tool is exhibited in the quote below:

I was alienating people who were true revolutionaries dedicated to overturning the system of exploitation that exists on this earth by any means necessary. So I had to do a lot of thinking and reappraising of my definition of black nationalism. Can we sum up the solution to the problems confronting our people as black nationalism? And if you notice, I haven't been using the expression for several months.

Economic nationalism

Malcolm X envisioned a political and economic program of black self sufficiency. That meant, to Malcolm, black control of the economy and politics of black communities. Malcolm saw one of the root causes of black economic marginalization was integration of the economy. Black people were spending more and more of their money outside of their community, and so less money was going into the black community as a result.

If black people controlled the means of production in their communities, they would no longer be subject to white-controlled economic machinery and therefore be more resilient to economic marginalization.

Cooperation with whites

Malcolm X, after his split with the NOI, began to become more amenable to cooperation with white fellow travelers. Two days before his assassination, Malcolm X articulated his changing views on white people in a conversation with Gordon Parks:

[L]istening to leaders like Nasser, Ben Bella, and Nkrumah awakened me to the dangers of racism. I realized racism isn't just a Black and White problem. It's brought bloodbaths to about every nation on earth at one time or another.

Brother, remember the time that White college girls came into the restaurant‍—‌the one who wanted to help the [Black] Muslims and the Whites get together‍—‌and I told her there wasn't a ghost of a chance and she went away crying? Well, I've lived to regret that incident. In many parts of the African continent, I saw White students helping Black people. Something like this kills a lot of argument. I did many things as a [Black] Muslim that I'm sorry for now. I was a zombie then‍—‌like all [Black] Muslims‍—‌I was hypnotized, pointed in a certain direction and told to march. Well, I guess a man's entitled to make a fool of himself if he's ready to pay the cost. It cost me 12 years.

That was a bad scene, brother. The sickness and madness of those days‍—‌I'm glad to be free of them.

As a result of his hajj to Mecca and seeing everyone from "blue-eyed blondes to dark-skinned Africans" interacting as equals on hajj, Malcolm X came to view Islam as a way to overcome racial problems.

Economic views

Malcolm X's economic philosophy was contradictory. Malcom X's speeches at the Militant Labor Forum heavily criticized capitalism, but he also advocated essentially for black capitalism in his famous "Ballot or the Bullet" speech. Malcolm X, when asked what his economic ideology was, said he didn't know but he also didn't believe it was a coincidence that many of the newly decolonized nations of the Global South were turning to socialism.

When Malcolm X was directly asked what he thought of socialism, he asked if it was good for the black community. Upon the reporter's affirmative response, Malcolm X then stated he was "for" socialism.

What first put Malcolm X on the FBI's radar was when, while still a prisoner in 1950, he sent a letter to Harry Truman that declared that he was both opposed to the Korean War while also identifying as a communist.

Unfinished journey

His ideas were evolving rapidly as he sought to develop a political and economic strategy to put his ideas into practice, before he was assassinated in 1965. Most importantly, Malcolm began to see cross-racial and cross-faith coalitions as part of a strategy to gather more allies in a fight for black emancipation. He became friendly with the SWP, who saw parallels between his ideas and the anti-colonial battles in the Third World. Further reconsideration of his opposition to working across racial lines occurred in the softening of his stance against the civil rights movement. He watched the Congressional debate on the Civil Rights Act, as did Martin Luther King. He advocated for the right of black communities to armed self-defense, but not for the use of arms as a political strategy.

The contradictions of his black nationalist political and economic strategy were never resolved. The black power movement became loud, theatrical, and ineffective. Black nationalism was a divisive force, alienating mainstream blacks as well as whites. It caused fragmentation and dissension on the Left (although the SWP was still regarded as a "white" organization by black nationalists). The role Malcolm X might have had — either applying his great intelligence to those problems, evolving his ideas further, and providing true leadership; or getting caught up in the maelstrom of dead-end negativity — remains one of the great imponderables of the 1960s.

Malcolm's death

Because of the murky details surrounding Malcolm X's assassination, conspiracy theories have formed around the nature of his death. For example, since the 1950s Malcolm X had been under near constant FBI surveillance and the NOI was thoroughly infested with federal moles. It is speculated that the FBi willingly turned a blind eye to Malcolm's assassination or may even have directly participated in it. J. Edgar Hoover, the then director of the FBI, tried to hide the fact that some of the witnesses to Malcolm's assassination were snitches for the feds. However, just like with JFK conspiracy theories, the burden of proof is on the conspiracists to prove direct federal involvement in these assassinations. And while his assassination and the aftermath of his death are very suspicious indeed, the evidence for such claims remains circumstantial at best.

However, to further add credence to the doubt over Malcolm's assassination, two of the men convicted of his murder have since been exonerated. The FBI and NYPD have also admitted to hiding evidence in the case. For Malcolm's family part, as of February 2023 they have launched a lawsuit against the FBI, NYPD, and CIA claiming that the feds hid evidence during Malcolm's trial (which they have openly admitted to doing).

As for the theory that the NOI had him offed, Louis Farrakhan has pretty much openly admitted to the NOI ordering Malcolm's assassination:

We don't give a damn about no white man law if you attack what we love. And frankly, it ain't none of your business. What do you got to say about it? Did you teach Malcolm? Did you make Malcolm? Did you clean up Malcolm? Did you put Malcolm out before the world? Was Malcolm your traitor or ours? And if we dealt with him like a nation deals with a traitor, what the hell business is it of yours? You just shut your mouth, and stay out of it. Because in the future, we gonna become a nation. And a nation gotta be able to deal with traitors and cutthroats and turncoats. The white man deals with his. The Jews deal with theirs.

Betty Shabazz, Malcolm's widow, has also accused Farrakhan of ordering Malcolm's assassination. Shabazz even alleged that Malcolm's death was a "badge of honor" in the NOI, and that nobody kept Farrakhan's involvement a "secret".