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Are there any good faith criticisms of the Black Panther Party and it's failures? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 3 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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A lot of literature seems to either be a pseudo-Hagiography or calls the BPD revisionist trash. Any good respectful critics of the methods and strategies of the Black Panthers and how they could have done better?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

From what I read, the organization had serious problems with homophobia and sexism. But that's not an indictment of the organization, it's goals, or it's achievements as a whole, and members of the Black Panthers did actively fight against reactionary thought in the group.

I also read that despite handing out documents and quotations from Marx, Lenin and Mao to members, that some members have claimed the organization didn't make Communism as front and center as it should have been, but again that could just be anecdotal claims.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

This speech from former black panther Ashanti Alston starts with some of the flaws he's come to notice in the black panthers.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

I’m sure there are books, but in general, in the future orgs need to learn from them to deal with cointelpro better (no blame on BPP bc it was new).

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Any substantial criticism that could be levied against them would've been during the earlier parts of their historical existence, which they corrected as they matured as a political organization.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

why? wouldn't the criticism target the tail end of their existence considering they ultimately failed?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

Kinda hard to crit an org like that for failing when they didn't really have a solid roadmap to follow in the first place. I think they probably did their best to be sustainable but that shit is hard when the entire might of the US empire is actively trying to crush you. I think crit is probably not the right word, maybe lessons would be a more accurate word for those takeaways.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

I'm talking primarily ideological issues

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

iirc, the end of the book Black Against Empire, which is a great overview of the history and repression of the BPP, does have some minor criticisms in the last section, but I don't remember them.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

currently reading this actually (about halfway through), will report back

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

Its a very solid read too.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067456/

https://www.tumblr.com/the-merricatherine/181383891117/assata-shakurs-critiques-of-the-black-panther

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (2 children)

Huey Newton was not what you would call a good speaker. In fact, he had a kind of high pitched monotonous voice and his rambling for three hours about the negation of the negation was sheer disaster. People walked out in droves. Instead of criticizing what was happening, most of the Party members defended it. When I said that Huey needed speaking lessons they jumped down my throat. When Huey changed his title from defense minister to the ridiculous "Supreme Commander" and then to the even more ridiculous "Supreme Servant," damn near nobody said a word. That was one of the big problem in the Party. Criticism and self-criticism were not encouraged, and the little that was given often was not taken seriously. Constructive criticism and self-criticism are extremely important for any revolutionary organization. Without them, people tend to drown in their mistakes, and not learn from them.

One thing I see fairly often on here is the idea that trying to refine the presentation of leftist ideas = ceding ground to liberals, or watering leftist ideas down. The importance of good presentation is somewhere between "extremely helpful" and "absolutely crucial."

The BPP seems to have left a lot of potential untapped because they didn't care enough about how people received their ideas. We should learn from that.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

When Huey changed his title from defense minister to the ridiculous "Supreme Commander" and then to the even more ridiculous "Supreme Servant," damn near nobody said a word.

seems similar to Trump or Modi. Like there's too much emotional attachment to your friends "just because" and not enough ego death

Trump tbh seems the most emotionally removed of the three based on my very poor understanding of them, but his followers definitely aren't, and if he pulled a Modi (AKA said he's god tomorrow) they'd prob double down on him even further

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

The BPP seems to have left a lot of potential untapped because they didn’t care enough about how people received their ideas.

Pretty sure they did it well in other contexts, but there’s definitely a lot of room for improvement.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago

Upvoted for the reference to Assata Shakur's critiques; much as I might uplift what the Panthers were doing, not taking the critique into account is exactly how one fails the same way