A Report and an Appeal

The Special Convention of News and Letters Committees, held in Chicago on May 25, was a reaching out for a New Beginning by the revolutionary Marxist-Humanist organization founded by Raya Dunayevskaya in 1956. From its birth, our concept of organization was "responsibility for the Idea of Marxism for our age, with its aim being Marx's goal of no division between mental and manual labor, specifically theory and practice as a unit." Never was this more needed than for today's world in crisis.

This June-July issue of N&L is an especially appropriate time to look at the two historic points of our development, and, in particular, two documents that provided the ground for our decisions there. One was the Thesis presented by Dunayevskaya to the founding convention on July 6, 1956, as Theoretical and Practical Perspectives--Where to Begin? We saw the principles established by the founder as what can guide us to a higher point in our quest to develop a philosophically grounded alternative to the horrors of capitalism.

The other document and date in which we grounded our perspectives was the June 1, 1987, presentation by Dunayevskaya in which she challenged revolutionaries to find and walk "the untrodden path" of the "Dialectics of Organization and Philosophy" that Marx alone had practiced. What became clear was that posing the need for us to return to the 1956 and the June 1, 1987, presentations was not a move "back" but a move forward to a "new beginning" based on principles established at our founding. We reaffirmed that principles do not change no matter how different is the objective situation. Both of these documents are available to all.

It is necessary to recognize the unprecedented nature of this Special Convention, which was called by the members, not the leaders. The Call was motivated by the need to end the impossible situation created when a minority group in the organization attempted to sabotage the publication of N&L, openly calling for a boycott. While the aim of the Special Convention had been to resolve these critical questions, this group, rather than trying to work them out, resigned the day before the Convention convened.

Those who came together on May 25 represented a wide range of dimensions--from two of our founding members to the Youth columnist for the last three issues; younger women's liberationists as well as the mother who became a South Central LA activist after her son's arrest during the LA rebellion; gay activists as well as a Black worker with long experience in community organizing; professors and students. One of our many prisoner subscribers sent us his greetings, which are in our Readers' Views section.

The objective need for an organization like ours--as a vital part of the search for a viable alternative in the life-and-death struggle for a totally new society built on human foundations--is evident in the daily headlines of the world press. Revealed in our recent Leads is the meaning of these crises--from the fears of global recession, to the "flames of revolt in China," to the seemingly never-ending disastrous wars in the Middle East. The principles on which we are grounding our new beginning were expressed in the epigraph to the Report given to the Convention on "What is a Marxist-Humanist newspaper in 2008?" It is from Dunayevskaya's 1956 "Where to Begin?"

"To reach all these strata, beginning with the first and most important, the working people, and extending to all who wish to break with this present society, we have to have the conviction not merely of ideas, but of practice. Not to hide behind the generalities of a new social order, but to go into the practicalities of a paper, a committee, a book, a visit to a shopmate, a conversation with a next-door neighbor, a distribution before a factory gate, a drive--I mean the inner drive from your own convictions--to want to do the impossible, which is only seemingly impossible, to sustain these new beginnings."

The threat to our continued existence brought out the many skills and talents of our members, who suddenly needed to take on new tasks to continue publishing News & Letters as a unique combination of workers and intellectuals and of theory and practice. There are two difficult tasks we have to share with the world as soon as possible: a collection of Raya Dunayevskaya's Writings on the Middle East; and the collection of her writings on Marx.

As we have done ever since our birth, we are turning to our readers and supporters to help us continue. We welcome your contributions to News & Letters, to discussions, and to revolutionary finances, all of which are necessary to help us keep going forward.

Missed the News and Letters Committees Special Convention?
Read about it now!

Post-Convention Discussion Bulletin includes:

• "An Open Letter to All Friends and Supporters of News and Letters," by the Resident Editorial Board
• "On Organization," by Olga Domanski
• "What Is a Marxist-Humanist Newspaper in 2008?" by Terry Moon
• "Report on Revolutionary Finances," by Mary Jo Grey

"What has been a serious concern for some time is what we are and are not doing to work out the question of what Raya Dunayevskaya called the 'Dialectics of Organization and Philosophy.' Why do we seem to be looking at our digging into the June 1, 1987, statement Raya presented to us as a challenge to work out that Dialectic, as if it is somehow contradictory to our digging into Marx's Critique of the Gotha Program (CGP)?... It is needed more than ever this year when 'two sides' seemed to have been developed towards it. Why were the important discussions about Marx's CGP being made to seem as if they were versus, or 'instead of,' digging into June 1? Why is that relationship being pulled apart?"

Reprinted for the Special Convention:

• Raya Dunayevskaya's report to the founding convention of News and Letters Committees, July 1956, Theoretical and Practical Perspectives: Where to Begin?

Also available:

• Pre-Convention Discussion Bulletin.

Three dollars each plus $1 shipping, or all three for $8.50, includes shipping.

Home l News & Letters Newspaper l Back issues l News and Letters Committees l Raya Dunayevskaya l Contact us l Search l RSS

Subscribe to News & Letters

Published by News and Letters Committees