We celebrate the founding of the Black Panthers on October 15 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in Oakland, California, a visionary organization of revolutionary struggle, resistance to tyranny, and liberation from white supremacist terror and the legacies of slavery.
As we look forward to the great work ahead, the abolition of divisions of exclusionary otherness from our society and the restoration of democracy throughout the world, as the injustices and inequalities of our civilization are exposed, as our government is threatened by the return of Trump’s fascist tyranny of state force and control which has betrayed and subverted our liberty, as we rise up and resist our enslavement and dehumanization and the theft of our universal rights, as we join together to question and challenge authority as is the primary role and responsibility of citizens in a free society of equals, the most important thing we can say to one another now is direct and simple; I stand with you.
In this moment of peril, let us swear ourselves to one another in the cause of our liberty and in mutual aide of our rights and freedoms as citizens and as human beings.
This is the time to forge of ourselves a true Band of Brothers, Sisters, and Others, and all varieties of humanity as yet undreamed, to reach toward an America of allyship united in our diversity and the common needs of our human condition. Of this mission much remains to be discussed and explored, and it will continue to change with time.
Such is the great lesson of the Black Panthers, who maintained a principle of bottom unity, of diversity inclusive of all who challenge and resist those who would enslave us, as brothers and sisters in liberation and revolutionary regardless of gender, color, or class, or the nuances of ideology. As Nelson Mandela once said of his alliance with Cuba and the Soviet Union against Apartheid; “We are not in the position to refuse help from anyone.”
But mine is not the voice that needs to be heard in this context, for I cannot speak from within this realm of lived experience. So instead I recall to all of us the wisdom of our elders in the words of an exemplar of resistance and a champion of the people, the great and visionary Huey Newton, in the proclamation of the Ten Point Program of the Black Panther Party as written in October 1966 and published in War Against the Panthers:
“We Want Freedom. We Want Power To Determine
The Destiny Of Our Black Community.
We believe that Black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.
We Want Full Employment For Our People.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the White American businessmen will not give full employment, then the means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
We Want An End To The Robbery
By The Capitalists Of Our Black Community.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us, and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The Germans are now aiding the Jews in Israel for the genocide of the Jewish people. The Germans murdered six million Jews. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million Black people; therefore, we feel that this is a modest demand that we make.
We Want Decent Housing Fit For The Shelter Of Human Beings.
We believe that if the White Landlords will not give decent housing to our Black community, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that our community, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for its people.
We Want Education For Our People That Exposes
The True Nature Of This Decadent American Society.
We Want Education That Teaches Us Our True History
And Our Role In The Present-Day Society.
We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else.
We Want All Black Men To Be Exempt From Military Service.
We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by whatever means necessary.
We Want An Immediate End To
Police Brutality And Murder Of Black People.
We believe we can end police brutality in our Black community by organizing Black self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our Black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all Black people should arm themselves for self- defense.
We Want Freedom For All Black Men
Held In Federal, State, County And City Prisons And Jails.
We believe that all Black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.
We Want All Black People When Brought To Trial To Be Tried In
Court By A Jury Of Their Peer Group Or People From Their Black
Communities, As Defined By The Constitution Of The United States.
We believe that the courts should follow the United States Constitution so that Black people will receive fair trials. The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, environmental, historical and racial background. To do this the court will be forced to select a jury from the Black community from which the Black defendant came. We have been, and are being, tried by all-White juries that have no understanding of the “average reasoning man” of the Black community.
We Want Land, Bread, Housing, Education,
Clothing, Justice And Peace.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect of the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”
How relevant and filled with creative potential for our future his words remain for us now, anchored to the principles and values of the American Revolution as an ongoing process and experiment in becoming human.
For further reading I recommend Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party, by Bloom & Martin, and The Black Panthers Speak, Foner editor.
Stanley Nelson -“Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” film trailer
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4316236/?ref_=nm_knf_t_3
The Black Panthers, a reading list
Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party,
Joshua Bloom, Waldo E. Martin Jr.
Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party’s Promise to the People,
Kekla Magoon
The Revolution Has Come: Black Power, Gender, and the Black Panther Party in Oakland, Robyn C. Spencer
Black Power: The Politics of Liberation, Stokely Carmichael, Charles V. Hamilton
Ready for Revolution: The Life and Struggles of Stokely Carmichael, Stokely Carmichael, John Edgar Wideman (Introduction), Ekwueme Michael Thelwell
(Contributor)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149043.Ready_for_Revolution
To Die for the People: The Writings of Huey P. Newton, Huey P. Newton,
Toni Morrison (Editor)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/220415.To_Die_for_the_People
Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton,
Bobby Seale
The Angela Y. Davis Reader, Angela Y. Davis, Joy James (Editor)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/635636.The_Angela_Y_Davis_Reader
Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Angela Y. Davis, Cornel West (Foreword),
Frank Barat (Introduction)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25330108-freedom-is-a-constant-struggle
The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther, Jeffrey Haas
Assata: An Autobiography, Assata Shakur
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/100322.Assata
We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party, Mumia Abu-Jamal,
Kathleen Cleaver (Introduction)
A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story, Elaine Brown
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/913316.A_Taste_of_Power
Black Panther, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
https://www.goodreads.com/series/205147-black-panther-by-ta-nehisi-coates
The entire archive of the Black Panther newspaper is available here: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/black-panther/index.htm
https://jacobinmag.com/2016/10/black-panther-party-fifty-year-anniversary-founding
https://isreview.org/issue/93/legacy-black-panthers/index.html
https://summerof.love/remembering-the-black-panther-party-newspaper/
https://spartacus-educational.com/USApantherB.htm
Communiques of the United Panther Party
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1781659525414542/user/100064415571167/
The Discipline of Showing Up: Allyship as a Daily Practice of Unlearning and Redistribution
We have all been in those spaces, from rallies to meetings to community forums, where the energy is about justice, but our own role feels unclear. We want to help. We feel the urgency. But many of us have also felt that moment of unease, watching a well-meaning white person center themselves in the struggle and unintentionally drain the room of its power.
This is not about guilt. It is about strategy. It is about effectiveness.
For non-BIPOC individuals, “showing up” is not a passive state of agreement. It is a disciplined, daily practice of unlearning supremacy and embodying solidarity. It is about moving from wanting to be the savior to becoming a reliable part of the team.
Step One: Listen to Understand, Not to Respond
Our first instinct, shaped by a culture that tells us we are the heroes of every story, is to speak, fix, and lead. The most radical first step is to actively fight that instinct.
This means:
• Practicing restraint in meetings. Maybe that means not speaking for the first few you attend, to truly listen.
• Reading the full articles and books by Black and Indigenous thinkers, prioritizing authors whose work is rooted in lived experience and movement-building, not just academic analysis.
• Believing people of color when they share experiences of racism, without playing devil’s advocate or pointing to exceptions.
This is the work of unlearning supremacy. It feels passive, but it is not. It is active, disciplined, and necessary.
Step Two: Find Your Role in the Engine Room, Not on the Bridge
We often think usefulness means being the face of the movement. That is ego, not strategy.
The real work happens in the engine room. This is the logistical backbone. It is not glamorous, but it is essential. Ask yourself:
• Can you drive? Offer rides to elders or organizers.
• Do you have a printer? Print and distribute flyers.
• Are you good with kids? Provide childcare during meetings.
• Do you have a stable job? Set up monthly donations to BIPOC-led bail funds or mutual aid groups. This is redistribution, not charity.
• Are you organized? Manage spreadsheets, sign-up sheets, or social media.
This is how we shift from wanting to lead the charge to ensuring the charge is equipped, grounded, and sustained.
Step Three: Wield Your Privilege as a Shield
We carry privilege simply by being white in a racist society. The goal is not to shed it; that is not possible. The goal is to deploy it strategically against the system that gave it to us.
This means:
• Being a buffer at protests by placing your body between BIPOC leaders and police.
• Calling out racism in your own circles: family, workplace, and friend groups. This includes interrupting microaggressions, challenging coded language, and refusing silence when harm is normalized.
• In meetings, if a BIPOC colleague’s point is ignored, amplifying it:
“I think Jamal’s idea is crucial here.” Redirect the credit and the conversation.
This is where our presence is most strategic. Not to speak over, but to shield, support, and redirect.
Step Four: Earn Trust Through Consistent Action
Trust is not earned through symbols or slogans. It is built through consistent, principled action and lost through performative missteps.
We earn it by:
• Showing up consistently, not just when it is trending.
• Taking correction without defensiveness. When we mess up, a simple “Thank you for the correction. I will learn from this” is key. No performative guilt.
• Matching actions to words, even when it is inconvenient.
• When we cause harm, apologizing sincerely, learning, and changing our behavior without expecting a gold star for our growth.
• Practicing unconditional solidarity, especially when tactics challenge our comfort or privilege.
This is how we build trust that can withstand the pressures of struggle.
Step Five: Redistribute Power, Not Just Resources
Ultimately, “showing up” is a conscious act of power redistribution. It is about dismantling the hierarchy within the movement itself.
This means:
• Ceding platforms by recommending BIPOC colleagues, sharing their work, and deferring to their expertise.
• Redirecting resources directly to BIPOC-led efforts without strings or control.
• Using your voice within your own communities to educate and challenge, which is where you have unique access and influence.
• Offering specialized skills, from legal to medical to tech, in service to goals set by BIPOC-led leadership. These contributions must be directed by BIPOC-led strategy, not personal initiative. The goal is to serve, not steer.
It takes more strength to listen than to speak, to follow than to lead, and to serve than to be served.
The Bottom Line
This is a lifelong practice. Messy. Humbling. Necessary.
When we learn to show up in these ways, quietly, consistently, and with discipline, we stop being a liability and begin contributing to collective strength.
And in the process, we do not just help build a more liberated world for others. We begin to free ourselves from the toxic roles this system assigned us, too.
ALL Power to The People.
For a Living Marxism: A Collective Challenge
Comrades, this isn’t a critique from the outside; it’s a challenge from within our own ranks, born from collective frustration and a stubborn hope that we can still get this right. We share the goal of total liberation, but the map we’ve been using the classic, Eurocentric Marxist playbook, is leading us into a trap. It’s a theory that hasn’t kept pace with how capital actually grinds people down, and if we don’t wrestle with that, we’re just reciting dogma while the world burns.
So here is our collective argument, one we’ve had to confront in our organizing: for our movements to have any real shot in this century, we need to rebuild our orthodox Marxism from the ground up. It’s not about adding “diversity” to a class-first analysis. It’s about realizing that power works through race, gender, and colonialism at the same time as it works through class—they are fused. And once we truly get that, we can see that even our goal of “internationalism” is looking through a dirty lens. The real, grittier, more profound goal is what we’ve come to call Intercommunal Mutualism (The Praxis), a vision that our best ancestors, from Indigenous communities to Maroon societies, have been practicing all along.
The Straightjacket of Class-Only Thinking
We all agree capitalism is the enemy. But when we treat class as the only real contradiction, we’re not being tough-minded revolutionaries; we’re being blind tacticians. We’ve learned this from the ground, in the fractures within our own ranks.
The “worker” we talk about in theory is a ghost. In reality, our class is fractured. A white guy on a factory line, a Black single mom facing a slumlord and cops, an Indigenous water protector defending their river from a pipeline, we’re all getting screwed by capital, but the way we’re getting screwed is fundamentally different. W.E.B. Du Bois showed us how a “psychological wage of whiteness” was used to split us, and we can still see that script playing out today [1].
This isn’t a new trick. Cedric J. Robinson forced us to see that capitalism was never a pure economic system; it was born as “racial capitalism,” stitching itself together from the racial hierarchies of the old world [2]. And we see the proof in the Maroon societies throughout the Americas. They weren’t just hiding; they were building a new world in the swamps and mountains, creating social orders based on reciprocity and fierce defense, a living, breathing rejection of the racial capitalist state [3].
Meanwhile, thinkers like Silvia Federici connected the dots, showing how the witch hunts in Europe were a war on women and communal knowledge, all to create a patriarchal system that would pump out new workers for the factories [4]. And from Indigenous scholars like Glen Sean Coulthard, we learn that capitalism is not just an economic system but a relentless attack on a “mode of life” itself, on the very grounded normativity and reciprocal relationships with the land that define Indigenous existence [5].
This isn’t a neat row of separate oppressions. It’s a single, tangled knot. A class-only analysis tries to cut one thread and hopes the whole thing falls apart. It won’t.
Why the Vanguard Feels Like a Ghost
The classic vanguard party model? It feels like trying to use a key from a different lock. It claims to have all the answers, but that very claim dismisses the wisdom that our communities forge in their own fights to survive.
This model creates a top-down structure that just mimics the state we’re trying to replace. Rosa Luxemburg saw this danger early on, warning that hyper-centralism would suffocate the spontaneous, creative power of the masses [6]. And she was right.
What’s the alternative? We look to the ways our people have always organized outside the state. The consensus-based councils of many Indigenous nations. The free federations and mutual credit networks advocated by Mutualists [7]. These aren’t disorganized; they’re differently organized—horizontal, accountable, and rooted in the community. Leadership here isn’t a title; it’s a trust we earn by showing up, much like the cell-based resilience of Maroon societies.
The Problem with “Internationalism”
So, let’s say we fix our analysis. We still hit a wall with “internationalism.” Why? Because it’s a handshake between states. It accepts the nation-state as the default setting for politics.
But the nation-state is a cage built on stolen land and broken treaties. Its borders are tools of control, its citizenship a legal weapon. Huey P. Newton called this decades ago with his theory of “Revolutionary Intercommunalism (The Core Theory).” He argued that U.S. imperialism had become so total that it smashed real national sovereignty, turning the world into a collection of communities under a single empire [8].
This resonates deeply with how Indigenous peoples have always seen the world. As Leanne Betasamosake Simpson teaches, Indigenous resistance is a “constellation of co-resistance” that builds power through relationship, not domination [9]. The Haudenosaunee Confederacy didn’t deal in “internationalism” between states, but in relationships between sovereign peoples. Our solidarity must be the same—not state-to-state, but community-to-community, people-to-people, bypassing the prison of borders entirely.
Building the New World Now: Intercommunal Mutualism (The Praxis)
This all leads to a single, practical question: what do we actually do? The framework that makes sense is Intercommunal Mutualism (The Praxis). It means building the world we want, right now, by linking our communities through direct action and mutual support.
Revolutionary Intercommunal Mutualism (The Theory) is the Horizon. It’s the recognition that our primary relationships are with other communities in struggle, everywhere. This is the modern expression of an ancient, Indigenous understanding of the world as a web of reciprocal relationships.
Intersectional Mutual Aid is the Work (Praxis). This is the engine. It’s not charity. It’s the gritty, beautiful work of meeting our own needs together, a principle documented by Peter Kropotkin [10] but lived for millennia in the potlatch, the seed sharing, and the collective care of the commons. It’s the community land trust (a modern commons), the tenant union, and the mutual credit union—practices that build a counter-economy of life, not profit.
We Prefigure by Doing. Every time we practice this, we’re not just surviving—we’re engaged in the active work of decolonization, building the new society in the shell of the old. We are making a free world tangible, not just a promise in a party pamphlet.
The Choice We Face
Walking this path requires a humility that’s hard for any movement, especially one that’s seen itself as the vanguard. It demands that we decenter our certainties and center the leadership and epistemic insights of those who have been living at the sharpest edge of this system for generations.
The choice isn’t to abandon class struggle. It’s to finally make it real by deepening it into a fight against the whole interlocking system, racial capitalism, patriarchy, and the imperial state. Our revolution won’t be found in a dusty textbook. It’s being written in the daily practices of care, defense, and cooperation that our ancestors never forgot. It’s on us to remember, and to join that work.
ALL Power to The People.
References
[1] Du Bois, W. E. B. (1935). Black Reconstruction in America.
[2] Robinson, C. J. (1983). Black Marxism.
[3] Sayers, D. O. (2014). A Desolate Place for a Defiant People.
[4] Federici, S. (2004). Caliban and the Witch.
[5] Coulthard, G. S. (2014). Red Skin, White Masks.
[6] Luxemburg, R. (1904). Organizational Questions of the Russian Social Democracy.
[7] Proudhon, P.-J. (1840). What Is Property?
[8] Newton, H. P. (1972). To Die for the People.
[9] Simpson, L. B. (2017). As We Have Always Done.
[10] Kropotkin, P. (1902). Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution.
The Discipline of Showing Up: Allyship as a Daily Practice of Unlearning and Redistribution
We have all been in those spaces, from rallies to meetings to community forums, where the energy is about justice, but our own role feels unclear. We want to help. We feel the urgency. But many of us have also felt that moment of unease, watching a well-meaning white person center themselves in the struggle and unintentionally drain the room of its power.
This is not about guilt. It is about strategy. It is about effectiveness.
For non-BIPOC individuals, “showing up” is not a passive state of agreement. It is a disciplined, daily practice of unlearning supremacy and embodying solidarity. It is about moving from wanting to be the savior to becoming a reliable part of the team.
Step One: Listen to Understand, Not to Respond
Our first instinct, shaped by a culture that tells us we are the heroes of every story, is to speak, fix, and lead. The most radical first step is to actively fight that instinct.
This means:
• Practicing restraint in meetings. Maybe that means not speaking for the first few you attend, to truly listen.
• Reading the full articles and books by Black and Indigenous thinkers, prioritizing authors whose work is rooted in lived experience and movement-building, not just academic analysis.
• Believing people of color when they share experiences of racism, without playing devil’s advocate or pointing to exceptions.
This is the work of unlearning supremacy. It feels passive, but it is not. It is active, disciplined, and necessary.
Step Two: Find Your Role in the Engine Room, Not on the Bridge
We often think usefulness means being the face of the movement. That is ego, not strategy.
The real work happens in the engine room. This is the logistical backbone. It is not glamorous, but it is essential. Ask yourself:
• Can you drive? Offer rides to elders or organizers.
• Do you have a printer? Print and distribute flyers.
• Are you good with kids? Provide childcare during meetings.
• Do you have a stable job? Set up monthly donations to BIPOC-led bail funds or mutual aid groups. This is redistribution, not charity.
• Are you organized? Manage spreadsheets, sign-up sheets, or social media.
This is how we shift from wanting to lead the charge to ensuring the charge is equipped, grounded, and sustained.
Step Three: Wield Your Privilege as a Shield
We carry privilege simply by being white in a racist society. The goal is not to shed it; that is not possible. The goal is to deploy it strategically against the system that gave it to us.
This means:
• Being a buffer at protests by placing your body between BIPOC leaders and police.
• Calling out racism in your own circles: family, workplace, and friend groups. This includes interrupting microaggressions, challenging coded language, and refusing silence when harm is normalized.
• In meetings, if a BIPOC colleague’s point is ignored, amplifying it:
“I think Jamal’s idea is crucial here.” Redirect the credit and the conversation.
This is where our presence is most strategic. Not to speak over, but to shield, support, and redirect.
Step Four: Earn Trust Through Consistent Action
Trust is not earned through symbols or slogans. It is built through consistent, principled action and lost through performative missteps.
We earn it by:
• Showing up consistently, not just when it is trending.
• Taking correction without defensiveness. When we mess up, a simple “Thank you for the correction. I will learn from this” is key. No performative guilt.
• Matching actions to words, even when it is inconvenient.
• When we cause harm, apologizing sincerely, learning, and changing our behavior without expecting a gold star for our growth.
• Practicing unconditional solidarity, especially when tactics challenge our comfort or privilege.
This is how we build trust that can withstand the pressures of struggle.
Step Five: Redistribute Power, Not Just Resources
Ultimately, “showing up” is a conscious act of power redistribution. It is about dismantling the hierarchy within the movement itself.
This means:
• Ceding platforms by recommending BIPOC colleagues, sharing their work, and deferring to their expertise.
• Redirecting resources directly to BIPOC-led efforts without strings or control.
• Using your voice within your own communities to educate and challenge, which is where you have unique access and influence.
• Offering specialized skills, from legal to medical to tech, in service to goals set by BIPOC-led leadership. These contributions must be directed by BIPOC-led strategy, not personal initiative. The goal is to serve, not steer.
It takes more strength to listen than to speak, to follow than to lead, and to serve than to be served.
The Bottom Line
This is a lifelong practice. Messy. Humbling. Necessary.
When we learn to show up in these ways, quietly, consistently, and with discipline, we stop being a liability and begin contributing to collective strength.
And in the process, we do not just help build a more liberated world for others. We begin to free ourselves from the toxic roles this system assigned us, too.
ALL Power to The People.
Strategic Divergences in Leftist Movement Building
This framework offers a comparative analysis of the United Panther Party’s (UPP) Survival Pending Revolution strategy alongside other major leftist tendencies, including Marxist-Leninist vanguardism, anarchist/autonomist mutual aid, and social democratic electoralism.
Grounded in the UPP’s foundational document From Survival to Revolution, this chart highlights the philosophical and practical distinctions that shape each approach to power, organization, unity, and revolutionary change. The UPP’s model centers Intercommunal Mutualist Networks and the Five Pillars of Survival as the terrain for building dual power from below—prioritizing life, dignity, and collective infrastructure over ideological uniformity or state capture.
By contrasting these strategies, this framework is designed to support political education, coalition-building, and strategic clarity for organizers navigating the complex landscape of leftist movement work.
Comparative Framework: UPP vs. Other Leftist Tendencies
Dimension:
UPP: Survival Pending Revolution – Build dual power from below; replace oppressive systems through survival work
Marxist-Leninist Vanguardism – Seize state power via revolutionary rupture; centralized party leads
Anarchist/Autonomist Mutual Aid – Abolish hierarchy; build horizontal networks of care and resistance
Social Democratic Electoralism – Reform the state through elections and policy
—
Role of the Masses:
UPP – Center unaffiliated locals; leadership through shared practice
ML Vanguardism – Mobilize masses under party leadership; education flows top-down
Anarchist/Autonomist – Empower individuals and collectives; direct action and autonomy
Social Democracy – Mobilize voters and constituents; policy advocacy
—
Organizational Structure:
UPP – Decentralized cooperating chapters; united by shared code
ML Vanguardism – Centralized, disciplined party; ideological uniformity
Anarchist/Autonomist – Horizontal, non-hierarchical collectives; fluid membership
Social Democracy – Formal chapters, committees, and campaigns; institutional focus
—
Strategy for Unity:
UPP – Mosaic of strengths; unite through survival work, not ideology
ML Vanguardism – Ideological alignment required; unity through party line
Anarchist/Autonomist – Affinity-based networks; unity through shared values and tactics
Social Democracy – Coalition-building around policy goals; pragmatic alliances
—
Terrain of Struggle:
UPP – Five Pillars: food, housing, health, defense, education
ML Vanguardism – Political agitation, party-building, state confrontation
Anarchist/Autonomist – Mutual aid, community defense, direct action
Social Democracy – Legislative reform, electoral campaigns, public policy
—
Revolutionary Timeline:
UPP – Gradual construction of dual power; revolution is lived
ML Vanguardism – Ruptural moment of state seizure; revolution as event
Anarchist/Autonomist – Ongoing resistance and prefigurative politics
Social Democracy – Long-term reform; revolution often deferred or rejected
From Survival to Revolution: A Plan for Socialist Unity
No One Is Saved Alone: The Case for Intercommunal Socialism
Issued by the United Panther Party (UPP), in solidarity with all forces for liberation
Comrades,
We stand at the edge of crisis. The hunger, the engineered scarcity, the violence of neglect, and the ecological collapse are not distant futures, they are daily reality for millions. In this moment, endless debates about perfect futures are a luxury we cannot afford.
Theoretical purity cannot feed a child. Sectarian division cannot stop an eviction.
One truth binds us all, a truth from which every revolutionary practice must flow:
Survival Pending Revolution.
We cannot speak of liberation to those who are perishing. Our first and most sacred duty is to preserve life, health, and dignity, here and now. This is not retreat from revolution. It is the only practical road toward it: building the new world within the shell of the old.
Intercommunal Mutualist Networks: Unity in Struggle
This is a call to form Intercommunal Mutualist Networks, a united front grounded not in ideological sameness, but in shared, practical survival work. Our power lies in harnessing our differences for the common good.
The Strength of Our Mosaic
Each current of the movement has a role to play:
Mass Organizations (DSA, PSL, and other structured formations): Your strength is scale and institutional capacity. You can mobilize resources, operate community centers, and coordinate city-wide tenants’ unions. You are positioned to provide the backbone for People’s Free Health Clinics and to use electoral shields to defend our mutual aid.
Anarchists & Autonomists (IWW, Anti-fascist networks, local affinity groups): Your strength is rapid response and horizontal mutual aid. You power eviction blockades, organize community defense patrols, and respond first in disasters. Your praxis of “solidarity, not charity” is mutualism in action.
Marxist-Leninists & Vanguard Parties (CPUSA, PSL, FRSO, and others): Your strength is discipline, long-term strategy, and deep political education. You run Liberation Schools, build curricula that explain the crises, and ensure survival work develops revolutionary consciousness.
The Unaffiliated, the Community Organizers, the Everyday People: You are the most vital force. Rooted in neighborhoods, workplaces, and places of worship, you are trusted by your communities. This movement is for you and by you.
The Pillars of Survival Pending Revolution
Together, these networks will build dual power, meeting urgent needs while preparing the ground for liberation. Our pillars are clear:
Material Security: Community kitchens, urban farms, clothing exchanges.
Housing Justice: Tenants’ unions, eviction defenses, community-controlled housing.
People’s Health: Free clinics, harm reduction, mental health support.
Community Defense: Copwatch patrols, de-escalation training, collective safety.
Liberation Education: Teaching true history, revolutionary theory, and socialist principles in every act of service.
Our Shared Code
We will not always agree. But we will be bound by a shared code:
Serve the people in all we do.
Build collective power, not personal prestige.
Oppose all oppression and exploitation.
Turn survival work into revolutionary power.
Revolution as Daily Practice
Revolution is not a single, spectacular event. It is daily, patient work: feeding, defending, teaching, healing. It begins when we share a meal, defend a neighbor’s home, or heal a wound together.
Survival work is not charity, and not the end. It is the seedbed of dual power—the organized will of the people, able to replace the systems that oppress us.
Lets stop waiting for a distant revolution. Lets build it today, with our own hands, in our own communities, with our own power.
Join us. Contribute your unique strengths. Together we’ll build a front so essential, so rooted in The People, that its survival guarantees the revolution.
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE.
United Panther Party
United Panther Party (UPP) Revolution: A Comprehensive Report
The United Panther Party (UPP) represents a revolutionary synthesis of Black radical tradition, dialectical materialist analysis, Black anarchist praxis, and Indigenous resistance. This report examines their ideological framework, strategic implementations, and critical interventions in leftist discourse.
1. Core Ideological Foundations
◘ Intersectional Mutualism
Blending Kropotkin’s evolutionary biology of cooperation with Indigenous gift & Tribal economies and Panther survival programs (Black cooperative economic models), creating living alternatives to state and market systems.
◘ Revolutionary Intercommunalism
Huey Newton’s framework expanded through Indigenous sovereignty movements and global anti-imperialist struggles, rejecting both neoliberal capitalism and state communism.
◘ Black Anarchism
A distinct tradition emerging from maroon societies and urban resistance, differing fundamentally from Eurocentric anarchist movements in its centering of racial colonialism, organized collective resistance, community care and mutual aid.
2. Strategic Frameworks
◘ Dual Power Infrastructure
Building autonomous medical clinics, food distribution networks, and community defense programs that simultaneously meet needs and dismantle reliance on oppressive systems.
◘ Decolonized Technology
The People’s Tech Protocol reimagines technological development through Indigenous data sovereignty principles and Panther commitments to arming the people with knowledge.
◘ Accountable Allyship
Rigorous protocols for non-Black participation that prevent the historical patterns of white radical co-optation and erasure of Black revolutionary leadership.
3. Critical Interventions
◘ Beyond Marxist Limitations
Documenting how traditional communism failed Indigenous nations and Black radicals, from Soviet collectivization to Marxist-Leninist party vanguardism.
◘ The Performance Trap
Analyzing how nonprofit industrial complexes and symbolic activism drain revolutionary potential while maintaining oppressive structures.
◘ Movement Assessment Tools
Practical diagnostics like the “Is Your Movement Trash?” flowchart that test organizational integrity against radical principles.
4. Living Revolution
◘ Mutual Aid in Practice
From urban bail funds to land defense initiatives, demonstrating the material power of collective care outside state and capitalist systems.
◘ Ideological Evolution
Stress-testing political theories against frontline struggles, maintaining theoretical rigor without dogma.
◘ Political Education
The Revolution in PowerPoints series as both continuation and innovation of Panther educational traditions for the digital age.
The UPP articulates a 21st century revolutionary praxis that honors its Panther lineage while innovating beyond traditional leftist paradigms. Their work demonstrates that another world isn’t just possible – it’s already being built in community clinics, land back struggles, and liberated technologies.
References
◘ Kropotkin’s Mutual Aid (1902)
◘ Newton’s Revolutionary Intercommunalism essays
◘ Indigenous resistance literature
◘ Black anarchist theoretical works
◘ UPP’s complete Revolution in PowerPoints series
ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE
The Dictatorship of the Proletariat or the Commonwealth of The People?
An ideological position rooted in Marxist-Leninist thought presents a forceful argument for the necessity of a centralized revolutionary authority. This perspective critiques anti-authoritarianism as naive and counterproductive. While this position offers a valid critique of disorganized opposition, examining its conclusions through the framework of Revolutionary Intercommunal Mutualism reveals a more complex and historically grounded path. This lens affirms the need for revolutionary discipline while fundamentally challenging the model of a centralized state as the ultimate goal.
Understanding the Framework: A Synthesis of Theory and Practice
Revolutionary Intercommunal Mutualism is a living practice informed by historical struggles for liberation. It integrates two core components.
First, it draws from Dr. Huey P. Newton’s theory of Revolutionary Intercommunalism. Newton argued that U.S. imperialism had eroded traditional nation states, replacing them with a global system of exploited communities. He termed this system “Reactionary Intercommunalism,” controlled by an empire centered on the American ruling class. The revolutionary response is to break these monopolies and forge a “Revolutionary Intercommunalism,” where liberated communities connect through solidarity, moving toward a stateless world.
Second, it is grounded in mutualist praxis, which finds its roots in long standing traditions of non exploitative economics. This includes Indigenous gift economies, the Black cooperatives movement, and the reciprocal networks of the Underground Railroad and Maroon societies. Mutualism is defined as cooperation where all involved benefit, creating a mode of reciprocity that opposes capitalist extraction. This is operationalized through Survival Programs like free breakfast initiatives and community health clinics. These are not charity but “survival pending revolution,” designed to meet immediate needs while building collective power and political consciousness outside the state apparatus.
The synthesis of these ideas creates a philosophy guided by solidarity over charity, self determination, collective care, decentralization of power, and reciprocity.
Points of Convergence: Agreement on Revolutionary Necessities
From this perspective, the Marxist-Leninist position makes several critical points that align with revolutionary history.
There is agreement on the critique of a formless opposition to power. The Black Panther Party exemplified rigorous discipline and organization. A successful revolutionary movement clearly requires structure, coordination, and a unified political line to challenge a powerful enemy.
Furthermore, the position correctly emphasizes the need for collective force and self defense. The Panthers’ practice of community armed patrols demonstrated the people’s right to defend themselves against state violence. Any revolutionary theory must account for the necessity of organized community defense.
Finally, the focus on the importance of political education is paramount. Breaking through imperialist indoctrination was a core Panther practice. A revolution cannot succeed without a politically conscious populace that understands its own history.
The Fundamental Divergence: Building New Worlds Versus Seizing the Old
This is where Revolutionary Intercommunal Mutualism presents its most significant challenge to the centralized state solution. The Panthers’ strategy evolved toward building power outside of the state, not within it.
The primary divergence lies in the concept of prefigurative power versus state power. While the Marxist-Leninist solution culminates in seizing the existing state, the strategy of Revolutionary Intercommunal Mutualism is to build alternative structures from the ground up. The objective is to make the state irrelevant through the long term practice of building dual power.
This connects directly to Newton’s rejection of nationalism in favor of intercommunalism. He argued for a worldwide coalition of liberated communities. This vision of a decentralized network contradicts the call for a single, centralized policy making and enforcing body.
Ultimately, this leads to a different understanding of revolutionary authority. The Panthers derived their authority from direct service and deep community organization. Their legitimacy was earned through action. This model suggests true revolutionary authority is decentralized and earned through practice. It is an authority of service, not of command. It shifts the question from “Who should wield the state’s power?” to “How can we build people’s power to make the state obsolete?”
An Intercommunal Mutualist Response to Questions of Revolutionary Transition
The questions posed are serious and necessary. An intercommunal mutualist perspective proposes a different strategic approach centered on building popular power.
On the Immediate Elimination of the State:
This question presents a false binary. Our opposition to the Dictatorship of the Proletariat is based on its historical failure to wither away. Our strategy is Dual Power, the deliberate project of building a new society within the shell of the old. We seek to render the state obsolete, not to immediately eliminate it.
On Protecting Gains from Reactionaries:
The plan is decentralized, community based self defense. Defense is the responsibility of the entire community, organized into democratically controlled militias accountable to local popular assemblies. This model is more resilient than reliance on a standing army. Defense is also economic; expropriating capitalist property removes their material base of power.
On Serving and Protecting the Most Vulnerable:
Protection is a structure built with marginalized communities, not for them. This is the principle of self determination. The communities most targeted must control their own defense and service programs. Services will be provided through decentralized mutual aid networks organized to be responsive to specific needs.
On Coordinating Infrastructure and Vital Needs:
Large scale coordination does not require top down command. The model is confederalism. Local communities manage their own affairs and then voluntarily federate to coordinate large scale projects. These federations use recallable delegates with strict mandates to implement decisions made at the base level.
On Ensuring Safe Travel and Dismantling White Supremacy:
The goal is to dismantle white supremacist enclaves, not just make travel safe within them. A revolution would dismantle local power structures and replace them with intercommunal assemblies. Safety would be ensured by a continent wide network of BIPOC led community defense organizations. A traveler moves through a linked network of allied communities. Ultimate security comes from the cultural transformation achieved through self organization.
The Revolution is in the Building
In conclusion, the Marxist-Leninist position provides a valid critique of politics that mistake discipline for authoritarianism. It correctly identifies the need for organization and defense.
However, its prescribed solution of centralized revolutionary authority risks regenerating the very systems of domination it seeks to overthrow. Revolutionary Intercommunal Mutualism proposes a different means to the same end. It is focused on building power from the bottom up through community based institutions and international solidarity.
The choice is between a system of domination and a world of liberated communities practicing mutual aid. This is a practical strategy. As the Panthers put it, their programs were “survival pending revolution.” The process of collective survival and building is the revolution itself.
ALL Power to The People.
Intercommunal Mutualist News is a grassroots project advancing anti-colonial, anti-capitalist solidarity.
References
Alkebulan, P. (2007). Survival Pending Revolution: The History of the Black Panther Party. University of Alabama Press.
Bloom, J., & Martin, W. E. (2016). Black against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party. University of California Press.
Gordon Nembhard, J. (2014). Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. Penn State University Press.
Newton, H. P. (1970). To the Revolutionary Peoples Constitutional Convention. Speech delivered in Philadelphia, PA.
Newton, H. P. (1973). Revolutionary Suicide. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Newton, H. P. (1974). Intercommunalism. Retrieved from BlackPast.org.
United Panther Party. (2021, August 5). Revolutionary Intercommunal Mutualism: A Living Practice of Resistance and Reconstruction [Facebook post]. Facebook.
Williams, E. (2020). The Politics of the Black Panther Party’s Social Programs. Anarchist Library.
Torch of Liberty 