Carl Dix - Early Political Life

Early Political Life

Dix grew up in an African-American working class community of Baltimore, Maryland. While attending college, he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War. In 1970, he was one six GI's who refused orders to go to Vietnam. This was the largest mass refusal of orders to Vietnam during that war. Dix served two years in Leavenworth Military Penitentiary. It was during his incarceration that he became a revolutionary. After his release from Leavenworth, Dix returned to Baltimore, Maryland, and worked and organized at the Bethlehem Steel plant. He was active in the African Liberation Support Committee. and a member of the Black Workers Congress.

Dix cites an impromptu all-night session in 1974 with Bob Avakian, then a leader of the Revolutionary Union, where he says Avakian helped pull him firmly on the path to revolution and communism. Following this all night encounter, Dix became a founding member of the Revolutionary Communist Party in 1975.