Don’t mind me, I’m just a lumpen trying to teach myself theory.
But essentially, what he says is that the BPP is a thing of it’s own, and is not a traditional ML or Maoist org.
I like it bc I am an unaligned eclectic leftist myself. I study all tendencies. I study history.
Is the BPP actually what socialism with American characteristics look like?
well, I think I would like to learn more about the BPP, so I can't rly answer that question. But I would be interested if somebody credible had something to say about it.
Same boat, hence the question lol
According to Fantz Fanon, probably.
I think any lumpen focused movement would fall under the 'socialism with X characteristics' movement. The BPP went thru transformations while drawing on other movements throughout the world, and eventually recognizing that the set of circumstances aren't always the same across the board.
It's a tragedy that the BPP movement, among others, failed. Any movement in any country failing is a tragedy, but the loss of knowledge amongst the black populace in regards to the socialist currents that ran across these movements just 40-50 years ago had been complete, especially when you see just how bereft of any socialist tendencies the modern offshoots of these movements are. In a period of 20 years, the civil rights movement died, socialist movements were destroyed from the inside out, any sense of a black 'middle class' collapsed, social services wiped out under twisted Reaganomics, the advent of crack-cocaine, and black college enrollment plummeted. Imagine for a period of several years feeling euphoria and optimism, not knowing what would await buy '68
Absolutely dire, bleak