International Committee Against Racism
Encyclopedia
The International Committee Against Racism was the "mass organization" (front organization
) of the Progressive Labor Party in the United States. It was founded in 1973 once it had become clear that the Worker Student Alliance
section of the Students for a Democratic Society
could not sustain itself and that a new group with a more long-term vision not focused on students was going to be needed. Early leaders included Dr. Robert Kinlock, Toby Schwartz, and Finley Campbell. At first the group took the name "Committee Against Racism" (CAR), but as various Latin America
n members began to start chapters in their home countries, CAR changed its name to InCAR and proclaimed itself to have not just a U.S. anti-racist focus, but a worldwide one as well.
By 1978 InCAR was about 1,500 members. It had a magazine
periodical format, known as Arrow (Flecha in Spanish).
For the most part, PL did not bother to hide that it was in charge of InCAR, but it did always choose to frame its role in InCAR as one of "leadership" rather than control. According to PL's party statement: "InCAR is a radical organization led by the Party which the Party builds in order to advance the struggle for communism
." InCAR, for its own part, insisted in its mission statement (reprinted on the inside front cover of every magazine issue) that it "recognizes the absolute necessity of unity of communists and non-communists in this struggle" against both societal and organized racism.
Like PL as a whole, InCAR was often active in protesting racist rallies held by the Ku Klux Klan
, Nazis, and other white supremacists
. InCAR sometimes earned fear from these groups: the KKK in the 1980s told the Hartford Courant that "it's because of those commies in InCAR and PLP that our boys are afraid to come out in public wearing their hoods."
Of all the anti-racist actions it took over the years, the best known among the general US public and intellectuals has remained one particular event early in their history having to do with their opposition to sociobiology
, made most widely known in recent years by Arthur Jensen
, but also involving a few theorists before him. In February 1978 at a symposium held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science
, members of InCAR assaulted
biologist Edward O. Wilson
. Members chanted "Racist Wilson you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!" Members then rushed the stage and poured a pitcher of ice water over Wilson's head. The symposium's moderator Alexander Alland along with Stephen Jay Gould
took the microphone and apologized to Wilson and condemned the attack as an inappropriate way to attack sociobiology. Wilson, still wet, gave his speech and received a prolonged standing ovation, but later recalled that after the attack "No one asked them to leave the premises, no police were called, and no action was taken against them later."
InCAR was quietly disbanded in 1996 as PL decided, for both strategic and financial reasons, to continue InCAR's intense anti-racist work only from within PLP. The party began to argue that itself and InCAR had many duplicate memberships, duplicate or highly similar articles for publication across both the party's newspaper Challenge and InCAR's magazine Arrow, duplicate international chapters similarly containing overlapping memberships, and that all of this was highly costly as well as being fundamentally unnecessary. As long as PLP was going to continue to advocate communism openly, it was argued, then it was pointless to try to maintain a separate organization into which non-communists could "slowly and gradually" be won to the party's ideas. Lastly, as a practical matter, InCAR was simply not getting enough recruits to remain valuable to PL as a separate entity.
The decision to disband InCAR gave an extra boost to a renewed PL focus on "basebuilding" in the working class, a theory that rests heavily upon what InCAR was designed to do—win the masses gradually and genuinely to a fully communist world outlook. The difference, PL now argues, is that the slow and gradual process is now being conducted directly into a communist party, rather than first to anti-racism, and then to communism, as it had been previously thought was necessary to do.
PL today holds to a fierce rejection of the Maoist doctrine of mass line
that calls for a more liberal
line when working with the masses
versus a fully communist-ideology party line
to be used within the ideology and functioning of the actual Party. Its rejection of that principle in the mid-1990s as essentially dishonest (it today calls for "one line" across all its political functioning) made the disbanding of InCAR all the more likely.
Front organization
A front organization is any entity set up by and controlled by another organization, such as intelligence agencies, organized crime groups, banned organizations, religious or political groups, advocacy groups, or corporations...
) of the Progressive Labor Party in the United States. It was founded in 1973 once it had become clear that the Worker Student Alliance
Worker Student Alliance
The Worker Student Alliance in the United States was the section of Students for a Democratic Society led by the Progressive Labor Party. The WSA argued that the best way to build a movement in the working class, like SDS wanted, was for students to become involved in workers' struggles both on...
section of the Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society
Students for a Democratic Society was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main iconic representations of the country's New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969...
could not sustain itself and that a new group with a more long-term vision not focused on students was going to be needed. Early leaders included Dr. Robert Kinlock, Toby Schwartz, and Finley Campbell. At first the group took the name "Committee Against Racism" (CAR), but as various Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
n members began to start chapters in their home countries, CAR changed its name to InCAR and proclaimed itself to have not just a U.S. anti-racist focus, but a worldwide one as well.
By 1978 InCAR was about 1,500 members. It had a magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
periodical format, known as Arrow (Flecha in Spanish).
For the most part, PL did not bother to hide that it was in charge of InCAR, but it did always choose to frame its role in InCAR as one of "leadership" rather than control. According to PL's party statement: "InCAR is a radical organization led by the Party which the Party builds in order to advance the struggle for communism
Communist revolution
A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, typically with socialism as an intermediate stage...
." InCAR, for its own part, insisted in its mission statement (reprinted on the inside front cover of every magazine issue) that it "recognizes the absolute necessity of unity of communists and non-communists in this struggle" against both societal and organized racism.
Like PL as a whole, InCAR was often active in protesting racist rallies held by the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
, Nazis, and other white supremacists
White supremacy
White supremacy is the belief, and promotion of the belief, that white people are superior to people of other racial backgrounds. The term is sometimes used specifically to describe a political ideology that advocates the social and political dominance by whites.White supremacy, as with racial...
. InCAR sometimes earned fear from these groups: the KKK in the 1980s told the Hartford Courant that "it's because of those commies in InCAR and PLP that our boys are afraid to come out in public wearing their hoods."
Of all the anti-racist actions it took over the years, the best known among the general US public and intellectuals has remained one particular event early in their history having to do with their opposition to sociobiology
Sociobiology
Sociobiology is a field of scientific study which is based on the assumption that social behavior has resulted from evolution and attempts to explain and examine social behavior within that context. Often considered a branch of biology and sociology, it also draws from ethology, anthropology,...
, made most widely known in recent years by Arthur Jensen
Arthur Jensen
Arthur Robert Jensen is a Professor Emeritus of educational psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. Jensen is known for his work in psychometrics and differential psychology, which is concerned with how and why individuals differ behaviorally from one another.He is a major proponent...
, but also involving a few theorists before him. In February 1978 at a symposium held by the American Association for the Advancement of Science
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
, members of InCAR assaulted
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
biologist Edward O. Wilson
E. O. Wilson
Edward Osborne Wilson is an American biologist, researcher , theorist , naturalist and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants....
. Members chanted "Racist Wilson you can't hide, we charge you with genocide!" Members then rushed the stage and poured a pitcher of ice water over Wilson's head. The symposium's moderator Alexander Alland along with Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
took the microphone and apologized to Wilson and condemned the attack as an inappropriate way to attack sociobiology. Wilson, still wet, gave his speech and received a prolonged standing ovation, but later recalled that after the attack "No one asked them to leave the premises, no police were called, and no action was taken against them later."
InCAR was quietly disbanded in 1996 as PL decided, for both strategic and financial reasons, to continue InCAR's intense anti-racist work only from within PLP. The party began to argue that itself and InCAR had many duplicate memberships, duplicate or highly similar articles for publication across both the party's newspaper Challenge and InCAR's magazine Arrow, duplicate international chapters similarly containing overlapping memberships, and that all of this was highly costly as well as being fundamentally unnecessary. As long as PLP was going to continue to advocate communism openly, it was argued, then it was pointless to try to maintain a separate organization into which non-communists could "slowly and gradually" be won to the party's ideas. Lastly, as a practical matter, InCAR was simply not getting enough recruits to remain valuable to PL as a separate entity.
The decision to disband InCAR gave an extra boost to a renewed PL focus on "basebuilding" in the working class, a theory that rests heavily upon what InCAR was designed to do—win the masses gradually and genuinely to a fully communist world outlook. The difference, PL now argues, is that the slow and gradual process is now being conducted directly into a communist party, rather than first to anti-racism, and then to communism, as it had been previously thought was necessary to do.
PL today holds to a fierce rejection of the Maoist doctrine of mass line
Mass line
The Mass Line is the political, organizational or leadership method developed by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist during the Chinese revolution...
that calls for a more liberal
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
line when working with the masses
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
versus a fully communist-ideology party line
Party line (politics)
In politics, the line or the party line is an idiom for a political party or social movement's canon agenda, as well as specific ideological elements specific to the organization's partisanship. The common phrase toeing the party line describes a person who speaks in a manner that conforms to his...
to be used within the ideology and functioning of the actual Party. Its rejection of that principle in the mid-1990s as essentially dishonest (it today calls for "one line" across all its political functioning) made the disbanding of InCAR all the more likely.