Main Report from the Harlem Regional Committee to the Harlem Regional Convention, Adopted December, 1956

[New York]: [Communist Party USA], [1956]. An important internal document issued by the Harlem Regional Committee in response to the controversial Draft Resolution for the 16th National Convention of the Communist Party, U.S.A.. This report from the Harlem Committee states that “the Draft Resolution must state unequivocally that only a party based upon Marxism-Leninism can lead the working class to Socialism in our country, and our Party must be built to do so” (p. 4). The Committee denounces the reformist and gradualist approach of a “peaceful and constitutional struggle” and points to the Negro struggle against segregation and white terrorism by the Klan and White Citizens Councils as evidence that “revolutionary struggle” is already underway. The document continues with further objections to the Draft Resolution and recommends the “practice of Democratic Centralism,” the implementation of a “constructive cadre policy,” and the development of a class approach. It concludes with a critical self-analysis of the Regional Committee’s failure to grow the Party in Harlem and its commitment to addressing the issues of housing and education for Harlem’s Negro masses. The final page lists the seven points comprising the “Majority Resolution Adopted By the Harlem Regional Convention, Dec. 1956.” An important document providing further insight into a fractious stage of the CPUSA’s history and the perspective of black Communists to the Party’s proposed reformism.

Ten corner-stapled, mimeographed leaves (8 ½” x 14”). Horizontal crease from folding, penciled notes along the top margin of the first leaf. Not found by us in OCLC. Item #9299

Price: $300.00