◆ SpookStack

a { luwpen--5 without taking the masses into consideration, the lumpen-proletariat will theme itself into the battle and will take part in the conflict--but this time on th the side of the oppressor, And the oppressor, who never loses @ chance of secting fhe niggers against each other, will be extremely skilifu on using tha ignene incomprehoasion which are the weaknesses of the lumpen-proletariat. fon se of y available reserve of human effort is not immediately organized by the over we rebellion, it wil! find iteelf fighting as hired soldiers side by side wit colonial troops, (p, 109) What makes all this particularly dangerous is that it may occur after the Jumpen proletariat has fought on the side of the revolution, and may therefore take © ea revelutionary forces completely by surprise, Fanon points out that the enemy relies re ude fel aeatyado to take advantage of any such opportunity: The enemy is aware of ideological weaknesses, for he analyses the forces of re- bellion and studies more and rere carefully the aggregate enemy which makes up & colonial people; he is alse aware of the spiritual instability of certain layers of the population, The enemy discovera the existence, side by side with the dis- ciplined and well-organised advance guard of rebellion, a miss of men whose parti- cipation is constantly at the mevcy of their being for too long accustomed to Physiological wretchedness, humiliation and irresponsibility, (pp, 109-110} turely it is not difficult to imagine a similar situation here, and we sheyld be ', arned of the necessity of raising the consciousness of all those whe join the struggle, 4 The Block Panthers! political cducation courses, based on intensive study of Nao and tress.ng an appiication to peeple's immediate experience, here serves as a wodei, ‘any of their early rceruits, aithough unaceustaued to reading and used to an firespoh- ible, criminal life, learned how to serve th2 people with complete dedication.) , 9 other parts of Fanon's analysis are of even more immediate and strategic importance, be first is the theory of the Inrpenproletariit as the way the countryside enters the ity. "The rebellion, which b+ in the co:ntry districts, will filter into the towns hrough that fractiou of the peasant pepulation ,,, which bas not yet succeeded in findir hone to gnaw in the colonial sysitex,” "Ie is within this mass of humanity, this ople of the shanty tevns, 5 : @ core of the J 11 find its urban spearhead." {p, 163) sow docs this apply to the U.S.? It is asy enough to sn. the unory. loves people of the Black ghettces as part of this mass of wanity, But where is the re lion that began in the couatry districts? The a er, f course, is in the worla r: sion as described by Lin Piao in Long Live the Victory £ Peovlets War! The country districts of the wor}d are Asia, Africa, and latin America, omelanis of the wretched: of the carth, There are various groups of people in the nited States wno snare the Piysical misery of these rural masses--Awerican Indians, aicano fava laborers, Black tenant farmers in the South, the dispossessed whites of epalachia, Bot mest of these Broups are scattcred and weak, living oa the fringes { capitalist sort » aay from its vital centres, There is only one group that not aly shaves the dcpradation of the world's revolutionary masses but is sufficiently meent rated to ber ful--the urban lumpenprolctariat, This class in American society + laryely made up rd World people, but elso includes whites dispos d From ve land.ox drepeed ait of their class, This last is no Inconsid ble gr 1s taken over arcas of several important cities, from the Haight-asubury " vepue through Nadison to the Lower East Sidc, Cambri¢g2, and Georgetown, 4 ‘wpenprotetargat Lives in Anerica, "law and order" are rapidly disintcgrating, luper- lism, esught in its own contrsdictions, finds tt increasinzly difficult to develop ‘Seetive waevers to use withia its own diseased vital rgaus, its cities, Here stirs he humpeaprolstariat, the one class whose physica! existence approximates that of the tm farnac nf tha eacta nee tees in ‘“elegraph werever the Ree ee Fat Ec = aN alan IN a Ppa ag EE ae ero? ES i NED ro Me! SO EEN OP IE TE s/t SEE eae oe RTRERS oe ag grin