Facing Reality
Encyclopedia
Facing Reality was a radical left
group in the United States which existed from about 1962 until 1970.
led by C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya
. It has its origins in the Trotskyist left but regarded the Soviet Union
as state capitalist. By 1951, the Johnson-Forest Tendency
had left the Trotskyist left to form its own organization known as Correspondence Publishing Committee
. C.L.R. James was forced to leave the USA in the early 1950s and Correspondence split. The faction that stayed loyal to C.L.R. James retained the name the Correspondence Publishing Committee and continued to receive advice from James from Britain, while a significant number supported Raya Dunayevskaya
and split to form a new group, News and Letters Committees
, which publishes a monthly newspaper, News & Letters, that remains in print today.
In 1962, there was a further split as Grace Lee Boggs
, James Boggs
, Freddy Paine and Lyman Paine
abandoned the politics of C.L.R. James for an eclectic politics that was third worldist
, while keeping the organization's name. The small number of members that continued to endorse the politics of James took the name Facing Reality, after the 1958 book by James co-written with Grace Lee Boggs and Pierre Chaulieu, a pseudonym for Cornelius Castoriadis
, on the Hungarian working class revolt of 1956. Facing Reality was based primarily in Detroit and published a monthly newsletter, Speak Out, as well as pamphlets by James and other leading Facing Reality figures such as Martin Glaberman
. They include Negro Americans Take the Lead: A Statement on the Crisis in American Civilization in 1964 and Mao
as Dialectician by Martin Glaberman
as well as James' Marxism and the Intellectuals in 1963 and Lenin, Trotsky, and the Vanguard Party in 1964. In 1967, four key leading members, C.L.R. James, Martin Glaberman, William Gorman and George Rawick
of Facing Reality collaborated to write the pamphlet, The Gathering Forces, a document some such as Kent Worcester have characterized as representing the influence of Maoism
even in Facing Reality. Martin Glaberman, however, has disputed this claim in a review of Worcester's book in Against the Current
magazine.
political activists at Wayne State University
in Detroit and in auto plants in the city. A community paper, Inner City Voice, published articles by James in the late 1960s. Glaberman taught a class on Karl Marx
's Capital
to many of the staff of the Inner City Voice. Numerous members of this group were also active in the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement
. In 1970, the group was dissolved at the suggestion of Glaberman over James' objections on the ground that it was too small to have an impact.
It is important to note, however that the group had a broader international influence as well, including in Italy's burgeoning "autonomous" communist movement.
Far left
Far left, also known as the revolutionary left, radical left and extreme left are terms which refer to the highest degree of leftist positions among left-wing politics...
group in the United States which existed from about 1962 until 1970.
History
Facing Reality originated in the Johnson-Forest TendencyJohnson-Forest Tendency
The Johnson–Forest tendency, sometimes called the Johnsonites, refers to a radical left tendency in the United States associated with Marxist theorists C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya, who used the pseudonyms J.R. Johnson and Freddie Forest respectively...
led by C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
. It has its origins in the Trotskyist left but regarded the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
as state capitalist. By 1951, the Johnson-Forest Tendency
Johnson-Forest Tendency
The Johnson–Forest tendency, sometimes called the Johnsonites, refers to a radical left tendency in the United States associated with Marxist theorists C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya, who used the pseudonyms J.R. Johnson and Freddie Forest respectively...
had left the Trotskyist left to form its own organization known as Correspondence Publishing Committee
Correspondence Publishing Committee
Correspondence Publishing Committee was a radical left organization led by C.L.R. James and Martin Glaberman that existed in the United States from approximately 1951 until it split in 1962.-History:...
. C.L.R. James was forced to leave the USA in the early 1950s and Correspondence split. The faction that stayed loyal to C.L.R. James retained the name the Correspondence Publishing Committee and continued to receive advice from James from Britain, while a significant number supported Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya
Raya Dunayevskaya was the founder of the philosophy of Marxist Humanism in the United States of America. At one time Leon Trotsky's secretary, she later split with him and ultimately founded the organization News and Letters Committees and was its leader until her death.-Biography:Of Jewish...
and split to form a new group, News and Letters Committees
News and Letters Committees
News and Letters Committees is a small, revolutionary-socialist organization in the United States. It is the world's most prominent Marxist-Humanist organization....
, which publishes a monthly newspaper, News & Letters, that remains in print today.
In 1962, there was a further split as Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs is an author, lifelong social activist and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. She eventually went off in her own political direction in the 1960s with her husband of some forty years, James...
, James Boggs
James Boggs (activist)
James Boggs was an American political activist, auto worker and author. He was married to feminist activist Grace Lee Boggs for forty years until his death in 1993.-Biography:...
, Freddy Paine and Lyman Paine
Lyman Paine
George Lyman Paine, Jr. , known as Lyman Paine, was an architect and radical left activist. He is known for his work with the Correspondence Publishing Committee with his wife Freddy Paine, and was closely associated with Grace Lee Boggs.Paine was born in New York City in 1901. His father George...
abandoned the politics of C.L.R. James for an eclectic politics that was third worldist
Third-worldism
Third-worldism is a tendency within left-wing political thought to regard the division between developed countries, and developing countries or "Third World" nations against the background of primary political importance...
, while keeping the organization's name. The small number of members that continued to endorse the politics of James took the name Facing Reality, after the 1958 book by James co-written with Grace Lee Boggs and Pierre Chaulieu, a pseudonym for Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis
Cornelius Castoriadis was a Greek philosopher, social critic, economist, psychoanalyst, author of The Imaginary Institution of Society, and co-founder of the Socialisme ou Barbarie group.-Early life in Athens:...
, on the Hungarian working class revolt of 1956. Facing Reality was based primarily in Detroit and published a monthly newsletter, Speak Out, as well as pamphlets by James and other leading Facing Reality figures such as Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker.-Biography:Glaberman was associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a radical left group that split from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, which understood the Soviet Union as a state capitalist society rather...
. They include Negro Americans Take the Lead: A Statement on the Crisis in American Civilization in 1964 and Mao
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
as Dialectician by Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman
Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker.-Biography:Glaberman was associated with the Johnson-Forest Tendency, a radical left group that split from the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, which understood the Soviet Union as a state capitalist society rather...
as well as James' Marxism and the Intellectuals in 1963 and Lenin, Trotsky, and the Vanguard Party in 1964. In 1967, four key leading members, C.L.R. James, Martin Glaberman, William Gorman and George Rawick
George Rawick
George P. Rawick was an American academic, historian, and socialist, best known for his editorship of a 41-volume set of oral histories of former slaves, entitled, The American Slave: A Composite Autobiography....
of Facing Reality collaborated to write the pamphlet, The Gathering Forces, a document some such as Kent Worcester have characterized as representing the influence of Maoism
Maoism
Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...
even in Facing Reality. Martin Glaberman, however, has disputed this claim in a review of Worcester's book in Against the Current
Against the Current
Against the Current could refer to:* Against the Current, the journal of the socialist group Solidarity * Against the Current, a 2009 film starring Joseph Fiennes, Elizabeth Reaser, and Justin Kirk...
magazine.
Political impact
Facing Reality had a particular, if small, impact among African AmericanAfrican American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
political activists at Wayne State University
Wayne State University
Wayne State University is a public research university located in Detroit, Michigan, United States, in the city's Midtown Cultural Center Historic District. Founded in 1868, WSU consists of 13 schools and colleges offering more than 400 major subject areas to over 32,000 graduate and...
in Detroit and in auto plants in the city. A community paper, Inner City Voice, published articles by James in the late 1960s. Glaberman taught a class on Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
's Capital
Das Kapital
Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
to many of the staff of the Inner City Voice. Numerous members of this group were also active in the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement
Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement
The Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement was an organization of African-American workers formed in May 1968 in the Chrysler Corporation's Hamtramck Assembly plant, formerly Dodge Main, Detroit, Michigan....
. In 1970, the group was dissolved at the suggestion of Glaberman over James' objections on the ground that it was too small to have an impact.
It is important to note, however that the group had a broader international influence as well, including in Italy's burgeoning "autonomous" communist movement.
Sources
- Martin Glaberman, "C.L.R. James: A Recollection", New Politics #8 (Winter 1990): 78-84.
- Kent Worcester, C.L.R. James: A Political Biography (Albany: State University of New York, 1996).
External links
- Facing reality, complete book at Hathi Trust
- Glaberman 1969 article