League of Revolutionary Black Workers - Factors Leading To The Creation of The League

Factors Leading To The Creation of The League

There were a number of factors, particularly social and political developments, throughout the 1950s and 1960s which created the foundation upon which a revolutionary Black workers movement was formed. One of the most important factors was the mood of Black rebellion in Detroit, and indeed throughout the U.S., and the increasing political development among Black workers in Detroit. The 1967 Detroit riot was one of the largest and most violent of a number of urban insurrections that swept the U.S. between 1964 and 1968. The Detroit insurrection was led by Black working class youth, many of whom were adopting the teachings of Marxism-Leninism and incorporating this ideology into their writings and actions. Many of those who would later lead the League of Revolutionary Black Workers were involved in the insurrection, including John Watson, who began publishing a radical ghetto newspaper called "The Inner City Voice" in September 1967, following the intense repression of the uprising.

In addition to increasing militancy and revolutionary consciousness in the Black working class movement, the conditions of the trade union movement in Detroit, and particularly in the auto industry, played a significant role in the creation of the LRBW. During the intense labor shortages as a result of WWII, Black workers were hired in significant numbers, particularly in the auto industry. While there was a union in the auto industry, the United Auto Workers (UAW), most Black workers felt alienated from the union’s majority white leadership and perceived the union in the same vein as the government and the bosses for its failure and outright refusal to meaningfully take up the growing concerns of Black workers in the auto industry.

With the social and working conditions of many Black workers deteriorating, many Black workers concentrated in the auto industry, an unrepresentative and, at times, even hostile union, and a growing spirit of militancy of revolutionary vision among these workers, the conditions were ripe for the development of a working-class movement to directly engage Black workers and to build a political organization to fight for their interests.