111: mm! NI ?0 .t?r r'admg Of this jerk? my." be basa?fxcd wium ever ntcemzr)? document contained in 1r. The appr opriale upgrading 511;; must 6 CONFIDENTIAL Conlents checked For transfer 10 DRO. (59(1) 11-. hm} Dale, (0.19.: Ci 1: DEPT A I A 47': --I - p. cc H.M.DIP J- -Q 1 g5? LOMATIC SERVICE mpo? i .131AND PAPERS UNNECESSARILY RETURN THEM TO REGISTRY FOR B.U. OR PA. Do NOT RETAIN FILES FILE .. Wane/L Hm} ., 61/1231; 3114714114 TO REFER TO REFER TO REFER To TE NAME TO DATE NAME TO DATE de th?ErEwecessary) SEE: (and dept when necessary) SEE: (and depl. When necessary) SEE: Registry Address FQTW 3:263. YEAR STAN NB. UPC SECURITV . (N 13 He grading of this jacket m! be the same a: that of the [aghast graded document contained 1111?. 7712 appropriate upgrading slip must be a?xed when ever necessary CONFIDENTIAL AWN ?:10 (LL {)mm?r VU ()yQuL/ PLLAA mmnan Arm common-mm omen, lint-n11: House, 157-166 :15 11mm. Lemon. (MAJ, 21 W. 1870 You will nun that m, at 3;er om W?on, your W091. kimlly 1003:? am tho draft of a. pay: on the Black Pava- Wt which had bun gar-pared ham. 2. ?Jo law now am 1210 wt of the (Britt-11111 piper Ian tn. light of mzonq1,lmt Ho (should b. moat (attain). if com-I of edition. at it 5min for us. up. of it, but it would be nice to TOC Inc. Manum and Wt. Hon- 01110., Runny 8mm. lat-hm Btu-t. wzmou, 3.1-2.1. m. not xix-owning to .MIAI: third part of tho math I attach a, you nub-Waveguide 1mm: that it in :11 m. 1/ (LE. Tyra- Intomntion mm th Ni; k1. ?dike?, "krwogmw km ?111 7h. 227* 4 2% 3'7 Mail 3&1 3.53.111 AL 6-8- ?inch Power in Britain as swgpestod by Mr. Crook at last Tuesday's prayerS. I have revised the unclassified paper on the Black Power movement 2* this country which was originally drafted by Mr. Langridge last summer. I have also added a few paragraphs which take account, ccessarily somewhat tentatively,_of the latest small?scale outbreaks of violence in London.r A how a If Ni. Grooh agrees, I_suggest that we should next 3 '3 COPY Of this paper to Flatt of the Home Office, whose Although we have ised no section vetted the original paper. I . . 1 new issues in this latest ver31on, Mr. Platt's section 18 the unit in Whitehall charged with the oversight of race relations in this country and I think that we should take care to carry them with us on this occasion. In fact, I do not anticipate any Thereafter the paper might be sent, vities. difficulty in this respect. . for a start,to all the recipients of British Communist Acti QET le?qugrer) wu?y? 1 egg1gm3 Miss.Allg?tA 9? O'Connor-How Mr Tyrer's revision of the section of the IRD 'Black Power? paper concerned with the situation in Britain replaces the version dated June. 1969. The revision has involved additions, adjustments of factual detail. a shortening of the beckground It also introduction and a representation of the conclusion. discusses Black Power organisations before dealing with individual leaders. reversing the order in the earlier version. I agree With Mr Tyrer's suggestion that Mr Platt of the Home 2. Office should see the paper. 3. I have attached a copy of the earlier paper for comparison with the new version. (C.F. MacLaren) 1 May, 1970 /In fact CONFIDENTIAL In fact the original paper on the Black Power Movement was given no official distribution in the U.K. I have reminded Mr. Machnron or this but he still feels the present paper could he sent round as a supplement with the next British Communist Activities, a paper which, as you will know, has a pretty selecto?tlist of recipients. *1 . 1 agree that so long as we can confine it to the section of the Power Movement in Britain this seems a sensible idea. srlwuuszEZaJ' J. O?Connor Howe 13 May, 1970"Fa/f Ewe ri/??i/sf) Nari ?W?d?K/n 0 s: b'w 1/ ?all 64 9 1713?? ?bre/Vi. Go?f?r urging/"6 by? Silig?hf j?e?z ??g3 E?k/ C?atggra? L2 oi ngg, ?ess4?\ ?k If; Cr: EME hlmUK POWER MOVEMENT IN BRITAIN 31cc Rolatjons in Britain Althouuch in not widonl?u?end in Brituin, the arrival over the last few years of immigrants from the Commonwealth and their concentration in about 80 towns in Britain, mostly in London, the Midlands and the West Riding of Yorkshire, has given rise to certain social problems and some manifestation of rncial pre? ln the last 25 yours, over a million Commonwealth immigrants have entered Britain; about 500,000 from the West Indies, 300,000 from India and Pakistan and the rcnninder from other Commonwealth countries. The present British coloured numbers nbOut one and a quarter million of which it is believed one fifth were born in Britain. Estimates of the future growth of the colOured popu* lation in the United Kingdom vary considerably. judice. pean immigrants, in 9 Commonwealth immigrants face the same problems as Euro and cultural L. particular those which arise from differences of language, religion, background. The problems are, however, made more difficult because many Commonwealth immigrants are unskilled workers with no experience of industrial society; they are easily distinguishable by their colOur and the instinctive . four of the stranger can give rise to manifestations of colour prejudice in acts of discrimination; their need for unskilled work forces them to settle in urban areas where housing conditions and the social services are already under strain; many immigrants, who cannot adapt quickly to British society, are moving into close communities out off frOm their workmates and neighbours. 3. 0n the whole, British coloured communities do not have the same sense of injustice and inferior status as the negroes of the USA. The British immigrant groups are smaller of the population while, in America, negroes constitute 12% of the whole) and what grievances they have are naturally more recent in origin. Relationships with authority are not fraught with mistrust or antagonism. To a large degree, the authorities themselves are responsible for this. In 1965 the Government passed a Race Relations Act which made discrimination on grounds of race, colour or ethnic or national origin unlawful in certain public places. The Race Relations Act of 1968 extended the scope of this Act to cover discrimination in the provision of goods, facilities and services, as well as in employment and housing. The section of the 1965 Act whiCh was intended to prevent deliberate incitement to racial hatred, orally or written without curtailing freedom of comment or controversy remains in force and seems to have done a great deal to moderate the terms in which racial matters are dealt with in public writing and discussion. h. The Race Relations Board set up to administer the 1965 Act was increased in size in 1968, and its powers extended to cover the provisions of the new Act. The National 00mmittee for Commonwealth Immigrants, which was also set up in 1965 to encourage and co?ordinate voluntary efforts to counter racial discrimination, was made a statutory body - the Community Relations Commission with wide terms of reference, including a brief to advise the Government on matters involving race relations. 1. The Government provides grants to local authorities who have to employ staff 5. to deal with local problems of race relations, and in the particularly delicate field of education the official policy is to provide extra teachers and equipment in areas where the teaching of English to immigrant pupils is a problem. Increasingly special arrangements are being made for teaching English to older immigrants as well. Problems of low?grade housing and overcrowding of immigrants are dealt with under the wider frame work of slum clearance and housing schemes. The Government has also instituted an urban programme for making additional financial assistance available to areas of Special social need, many of whidh are areas of high immigrant concentration and will benefit from such a pregramme. 6. Since 1967 continuing efforts have been made to assist relations between the police and the coloured immigrants. This is a field in which misunderstandings and mistrust have been exploited by extremists. Each police force with a sizeable immigrant community has made special arrangements to minimise possible misunder? standings. These arrangements include the appointment of police-immigrant liaison officers, who often sit on the local councils of the Community Relations Commission. In some areas officers have learned the immigrant language, and in general race relations is part of training at all stages of a police officer's career. 7. One of the most serious problems of race relations in Britain is the possibility that coloured school-leavers may not be able to get the jobs to fit their aspirations and qualifications. If this happens they may turn to more aggressive methods of securing their rights and thus become vulnerable to the views of agitators and extremists. 8. 0n the whole, however, Black Power has little following in Britain. In particular the Indian and Pakistani communities, which are closely?knit and tend to be inward?looking, are to Black Power ideas. The West Indian community in Britain, taken as a whole, is only more susceptible. Foreign Influence on Black Power in Britain 9. Black Power exponents in this country are noticeably reSponsive to outside example and the fame of such American leaders as Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and latterly the Black Panther hierarchy has impressed ambitious individuals. These local agitators vary from self?publicists to those who are genuinely convinced that the American Black Power ideology is relevant to British conditions or have incorporated some of its concepts into their existing Marxist views. None has a following of any size and few seem able to work in harmony with others. 10. The American influence on coloured militants here has been directly stimulated from time to time by visiting.American Negro leaders. In 1965 the late Malcolm X, then still a Black Muslim, came to Britain and deeply impressed some of the more disillusioned West Indians by his self?confidence and oratory. To the few converts he made he was a personification of his own ideas of black pride and they were attracted by his teaching that Black Power should be an international struggle based on the common roots of negroes everywhere. His best-known British convert was Michael de Freitas (also known as Michael Abdul Malik) who took the name Michael K, according to the practice of the American Black Muslims. He first founded a Black Muslim Brotherhood of Britain, which met with little success, and later organised the Racial Adjustment Action Society. ll. By the time Stokely Carmichael arrived in Britain in July 1967, the tone of the speeches by coloured militants at Hyde Park Corner had become increaSingly 2. tion of the moat obvioue manlfeo.a Ca Iml Ch?ol hes continue, indeed, to ite only manifestation. violent. These Speec are, for long periods, Black Power in Britain and demanded revolutionary action: the only way to end it in otjtutionaliced in nociety, The Politicn of ?If racism is in (S. Carmichael, Black Power: to destroy the society". Liberation) he left behind him ideas which were ceized offered his own interpretation of announced that it o~ordinlting (The Times, cave the country, however, '3 Association (UCPA a Student Hon?Violent between the two bodie Britain early in 1968. After he was asked to 1 upon by the militants, each of whom, them. The new Univrreal Coloured People was to be the British equivalent of Carmichael' Committee (SNCC), but there were no apparent li four SNCC members were reported to have visited 1t Earch, 1968) Paul Boutelle, an American Trotskyiet and a member of the Socialist Workere' tried to ally itself to the American Black Power Movement, stayed Two members of the Trotskyiet 'Vietnam Solidarity Campaign', Tariq Ali and Pat Jordan, were said to have partly sponsored his visit (Sunday Telegraph, 2 June, 1968) and at a meeting organised by them in Hyde Park he urged that black people everywhere should arm themselves. 13. Another American visitor was Bobby Scale, one of the thunders of the Black Panther Party in America, who visited Britain in April, 1969 on his way to Scandinavia. His presence had little immediate effect, but encouraged the small Black Panther Movement which had already been set up in London. His subsequent arrest in the USA has been represented as political by his few British supporters. A recent visitor, in beruary, 1970, was Connie Matthews, Black Panr thera' international organiser. 12. Party which has in Britain in June, 1968. 1h. Some Black Power leaders have also been influenced by Peking, and a few are regular visitors to the Chinese Diplomatic Mission in London. There is evidence that what has been called "the official Mnoist network in Western Europe? is deeply interested in Black Power in Britain. Albert Manchenda, a part of that "network" and his deputy Teja Singh Sahota, are active in the Black Power movement and have both visited China recently. Indeed, Sahota'e latest visit in December 1968 was alleged to have been paid for by the Chinese Diplomatic MissiOn in London. a South.African Maoist who visited Britain in 1967 1968 is en ch 15 March, 1968). Ebrahim has influenced such activist; as Ajoy Jagmohan Joshi, and (who is on the printed in Brussels and flown to 15. Gore Ebrahim, another (The Times, Chose, Roy Sawh, Johnny James, editorial board of Lal Kar, a Punjabi newspaper London to be sold to Indian immigrants). 16. In sum, American influences have largely worked on West Indians in Britain, while the Maoists (and Trotskyiste) have largely worked on the Asians. In both cases, though, the effects have been limited to the militant leadership and a few followers; there is no evidence of significant support at the grass roots for Mioiem, Trotskyiem or for militant Black Power. It is imprObcble that there are more than about 2,000 Black Power supporters in the whole country. The British Black Power Movement i2; tigegz are probably more than 1,000 coloured immigrant organisations in Britain, Jority are unoff1c1al cultural bodies working to create contacts between 3. immigrants, help new arrivals and ad . . Vise them about schools a . ou81n. a :Ei: mony work in liaison with the authorities irGaiv a Eins can properly be called Black Power groups and even thosey it: es 818 0 .en contain only a minority of Black Pounr supporters W1 militant 18. The few militant organisations ., rely heaVily on the their actual support is seldom known, as they often havep Which they attract. in nearly all cases the number of adherents is much exaggerated 19. The aims of the Black Power groups are seldom clearly articulated and vary from group to group. Usually they are a m?lange of vague left?wing ideals, and more for the alleviation of welfare problems, shading into racialism the Kenyan Asian problem, re of some particular case of eXploitation create a temporary alliance between the militant groups, sometimes the moderates as well. In general, though, moderate leaders denounce the militants as self?publicists who do more harm than good, while militant leaders seem united only by their dislike of moderation. 21. The militant groups in Britain which are, or have been in the past few years, controlled by Black Power activists include: Racial Adjustment Action Society (RAAS), founded in 1965 by Michael de Freitas and Roy Sawh to further the econOmic, social, and cultural welfare of coloured people gy became increasingly militant as de Freitas, in particular, in Britain. Its ideolo tried to exploit the publicity that American Black Power leaders were gaining in Britain. After his imprisonment in 1967, RAAS collapsed; lately its former leader has tried to revive it under the banner of Black Capitalism. At its height, in bly around 1,000). 1965, RAAS claimed 45,000 members (the actual figure was probe Its activities were limited to fiery crations by Sawh at Hyde Park Corner, and ill? attended meetings in Reading. formed by in June, The Universal Coloured People's Association (UCPA) It at one stage incorporated another 1967, and taken over by Obi Egbuna in 1968. The UCPA claims that it is small group formed by Egbune, the Black Panthers. Britain's Black Power Movement, although Sawh is now attempting to create a Black Power Party of his own. Its ideology is that of Stokely Carmichael, although it avoids cooperation with most white radical groups. UCPA has a Trotskyist bias and, from time to time, the UCPA banner may be found in the same demonstration as the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, among others; Egbuna himself has said that he needs "a two-pronged ideology, one to understand the economics of racism and one to understand the economics of class". The Indian Workers' Association (IWA), a good example of a non-militant body with It was founded in 19h0 and has its headquarters in a highly militant leadership. . . . . ds Birmingham. Its main strength is among immigrant communities in the Midlan but it also has a large branch in Southall. In 1965 it hid Sixteen branches an. claimed a membership of 25,000. Recently it has been split by internal disienSIOHS and several branches have become the scenes of power struggles. The curren . Under Jagmohan Joshi's guidance, the Association leadership is extreme left?wing. has become affiliated to the Black PeOple's Alliance (see belOV) bh~ TSEnlns in essence non-militant. WISC is now divided into two d) The West Indian Standing Conference @130). . iompletely separate branches; a London-based branch dominated by a militant leadership, and a Birmingham branch which tries to he multi?racial and multi? p?liil?ul. whose lenders ore moderate and are directly Opposed to the anti?white teachin of the London group. ?The moderate branch, which has h,000 members, coordinates the work of six immigrant organisations in the Birmingham area and has always been basically a social welfare body. The more political London group claimed 7,500 members in 1966, but this was certainly an inflated figure; in 1967 it published a report accusing the London police of 'nigger~hunting'. The Campaign Agninst Racial Discrimination (CARD) was founded in 1965 by a group of clergy. politicians and sociOIOgists to oppose racial discrimination and to influence the Government in connexion with the Race Relations Act, then being drafted. Predominately middleuclass and essentially moderate in tone, it was distrusted by the militant leaders, and, at the end of 1967, CARD was the victim of a partially successful takeover by militants, after which its membership and influence waned. By the end of 1968 moderates again controlled most of its It remains a multi-racial organisation and is not affiliated to the branches. Black People's Alliance. It is alleged that some of its London branches are dominated by the pro?Chinese London Workers' Association. (Daily Telegraph Magazine, 23 may, 1969) The Eagles, a small group of activists working in South London who They have copied the American concentrate on local problems and black self?help. Black Panther Party in using "ministerial" titles for their leaders (Daily Telegraph Their "Prime Minister" is Darcus Awusu, a Trinidadian MB amine, 23 May, 1969). ex-member of the RAAS and UCPA. The Black People?s Alliance (EPA) was founded in 1968 as a result of the unease felt in the various coloured communities following Mr. Enoch Powell?s controversial speeches on the racial situation in Britain. In April, 1968 50 delegates from 20 immigrant cowmunities met in Leamington Spa to form a body which would pursue a policy of "militant action to combat white racism"; this was the origin of the Black People's Alliance. The affiliated associations were by no means all militant, although some of the moderate bodies would have little to do with it. To the militants, however, due formation of the EPA was "a beautiful thing". Jagmohan said that "for the first time in the history of race relations in this country, black peOple have decided to unite". (New Statesman, 10 May, 1968). There was little argument about the aims of the Alliance, but its manifesto was vague. This was a of internal uneasiness; many of its constituent bodies had little sympathy with militant aims and, soon after it was founded, moderate groups on its periphery began to dr0p away, including the West Indian Standing Committee (Birmingham branch), the National Federation of Pakistani Associations in Britain and the Indian?Workers' Association branches in Southall and Slough. The BPA thus came increasingly under the militants' control although it has not fulfilled their expectations and there has been disharmony among the militants themselves (Roy Sawh was outsted from the Steering Committee early this year after a clash with Joshi). The Alliance has organised public meetings and demonstrations in conjunction with other groups. One such demonstration on the occasion of the Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London in January, 1969, ended in rioting outside Rhodesia House and South Africa House, although the EPA and most of its supporters played no part in the violence,which was mainly the work of Trotskyists and militant students. Militant Leaders 22. Among the principal Black Power leaders are 6. de Froitus, alias Michael or Michael Abdul Mslik, a Trinidadian who formed the defunct Black Muslim Brotherhood of Britain in 1965. Shortly afterwards he helped found the Racial Adjustment Action Society. He came th Black Power after a dubious post (he had been implicated in Rachmanite housing schemes, drug traffic and brothel?keeping.) His main motive in espousing Black Power has probably been self-publicity. This reached a climax in 1967 when he was sent to gaol for a year for inciting racial hatred in a speech in which he claimed to have killed a white men and urged others to do likewise if circumstances demanded. His gaol sentence, he boasts, has caused more peeple to listen to him: "Before we had to work hard for a meeting, now the halls are always filled." (Daily Telegraph, 23 May, 1969) De Freitas is now trying to establish a kind of "Black Capitalist" centre of sheps and flats in North London, through which he hOpes to resuscitate the defunct Racial Adjustment Action Society. Roy Sawh, an Indian from Guyana who has lived in Britain since 1959 and has spent two years at Moscow University (which he left after trouble over his rscialist views). He has sympathies with Peking and was in close contact with Gore Ebrahim when he visited this country. Sawh is a talented speaker, but has found it nearly impossible to cooperate with other leaders. He was convicted of racial incitement in August. 1967. After helping de Freitss to form RAAS in 1965, Sawh left to organise the Universal Coloured People's Association (UCPA) in June, 1966- H6 lost the leadership of the UCPA to other extremists led by Obi Egbuna and formed the Universal Coloured Peeple's and Arab Association. He then took part in the formation of the Black People's Alliance in early 1968, but left its Steering Committee in the spring of 1969 after a dispute and has now joined the Labour Party. Jagmohan Jeshi, is Secretary of the Indisn.Workers' Association of Great Britain and convenor of the Black PeOple's Alliance's Steering Cemmittee. He is a Maoist and regards the black?white confrontation as an anti?imperialist struggle. Although he alliances with radical white groups he scorns moderates. He has defined his aims as "uniting the black peOples of Great Britain, helping to fight against British Imperialism both here and abroad. Our work is not intended to exclude the white working class, the most advanced sections of which, for exam lo, the new Communist Party of Great Britain, msrxist Leninist are with us". _(Letter to Liberation, published by the Marxist?Leninist Communist Party of India . Obi buns, is a Nigerian playwright (he is an Ibo who supported ?Bisfra') and a theorist of Black Power. He was given a twelve?month suspended sentence in December, 1968 for conspiracy to incite the murder of police. His arrest and subsequent imprisonment for five months awaiting trial brought him support from other groups and leaders, including some moderates. He places special emphasis on black culture and a spirit of identity with other coloured peoples. He has told the Times (lh.March, 1968) that he "has strong links with Africa and He was contact with Ahemed Mohammad Rahman Bsbu who has firm Chinese connexions and was an architect or the Zanzibar revolution. He was first led towards Bladk Power in America." In 1968 Egbuna lectured on Black Power at the so-called 'Anti-University of London? in Shoreditch, whose courses included seminars on revolution and which had links with the Peace University of New York. 6. a former lieutenant of Michael and one of the (3) Frankie ?1?rsn]cie Dymon), Black Muslim Brotherhood of Britain. Dymon has a penchant for few members of the violent talk about teaching his people karate, handling explosives, and terrorist tactics. He claims that caches of arms to be used for Black Power riots exist. His speeches seem a mixture of exhibitionism and an attempt to draw attention to the frustration of some young intelligent coloured people. Johnny James is a West Indian, resident in this country since 1959. A prolific writer and a Trotskyist with pro?Chinese views, he is known to have been in contact with the Belgian dissident Communist Jacques Grippa and with Gora Ebrahim. He is the effective head of the Caribbean Horkers' Movement and was assistant secretary of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD), during the struggle for control between the militants and moderates in Nbvember, 1967. James is one of the hard?core of activists usually to be found at the centre of Black Power demonstrations. and fined in November 1967 for inciting racial Ajoh Ghose was convicted . PA and is a frequent v1s1tor hatred at Hyde Park Corner. He is a leader of the UC to the Chinese Diplomatic Mission. Albert Manchanda is an avowed Maoist and has played a leading part in Vietnam war demonstrations in London. He runs the Britain-Vietnam Solidarity Front, is a regular visitor to the Chinese Diplomatic Mission and has attached himself to the Black Power movement as a means of gaining a wider audience for his views. Hanchanda is the leading Maoist in the Association of Indian Communists of Great Britain, which has a degree of influence in the Indian Workers' Association of Great Britain (1m) . Andrew Salkey, a Jamaican novelist, agitates for Black Power on two fronts, the Jamaican and the British. He is deeply interested in events in his native country and has organised and led demonstrations to the Jamaican High Commission in London. In August, 1968 he headed a protest against the Jhmaican Government's ban on the writings of leading American Black Power authors, and in October, 1968 he was fined for obstruction after a protest against the banning from Jamnica of a university lecturer, Walter Rodney. He claims that he is not a Communist, but he is probably a Marxist and has visited cuba, describing that island as an example to be emulated by other Caribbean countries. (Evening Standard, 10 July, 1968). To Salkey, British society, at present "fundamentally racist?, must be uprooted and rebuilt. Conclusion 23. The Black Power Movement in Great Britain is, therefore, more of a potential than an immediate threat. Its constant support is negligible and its leaders are at loggerheads. It is an embarrassment to the majority of coloured immigrants and their representatives. Its supporters outside the immigrant communities are almost wholly confined to a fringe of Maoists and Trotskyists, together with the hooligan element which they attract. 2h. Herein lies such danger to public order as the movement at present represents. Although it is largely ignormiturthe Communist Party, apart from.a few individual Communists, and is derided by the largest Trotskyist group in the country (the Socialist Labour League) there are Trotskyista the International Marxist Group) who have espoused Black Power and who, since the lessening of the impact of Vietnam as a slogan, have been looking for other issues to e1ploit. This small but 7. articulate Group, which ia the official affiliate in Great Britain of the IFourth Intornatiunal? in Puria, - also controls the Vietnam Solidarity Camnaign ?nd, hav1ng quarrelled with the pr Opriotora of The Black Dwarf, now issues its own journnl The Red M010 (edited by the Pakistani, Tariq All). This Group was very much in ovidonco in London in April, 1970 when nbout 2O peOplo were arrested in London for Bllok Power demonstrations inspired by recent troubles in Trinidod. It is significant that on nearly all tho occasions so far when tho press has reported Block Power rioting - in January, 1969, March and April, 1970 - more white trouble? makers, often Trotskyiats, Maoists or merely hooligans, have been detained than coloured militants. Black Power has not, in fact, even begun to attract significant support from its supposed natural supporters in this country and, as long as this remains the once, it will remain a aide issue, however unpleasant, in the Sphere or British race relations. Trotskyiat 8. BLACK POWER BRITAIN Summar 1. The conditions in which many immigrants in Britain live are similar in kind, but not in degree, to those affecting the American Negro. There exists a real gap between the standard of living and status available to white and to black British citizens. Apart from shortages of houses and jobs, the most serious problem in coloured communities may in future be that.of educated young persons unable to find vocations in which they can use their qualificatiOns. (Paras 9-12) - 2. A major fear among moderates is that over?publicity of the problems of coloured immigrants may intensify the harmful racial dissension which arose after Mr. Enoch Powell?s speeches of early 1968.(Paras 13,h7,59). 3. Despite this, race relations in Britain otherwise tend to be harmonious, and the great majority of coloured immigrants here seem confident that their problems can be solved by traditional means.(Paras 1h,15,hhrh5)o h. The Black Power movement in Britain consists of a few articulate leaders (paras 26-h3) who have a small but probably growing following. The influences on these leaders come frOm the USA and, to a less extent, China. The Maoists have made a determined effort to win Black Power figures to their ideology. (Paras 16?25). 5. Militant leaders in Britain are seldom explicit about their aims but usually follow the Stokely Carmichael theory that only violent revolution can rid a society of racism. The activities of these leaders hawe so far been limited to virulent oratory. In this they have been somewhat inhibited by the Race Relations Act. (Paras 19 20,65). 6. Black Power organisations in Britain are usually either small groups with no registered membership, or established organisations whose executives have been taken over by militants. (Paras hhr63). 7. The various groups and leaders show little capacity for cooperation but occasionally outside influences temporarily unite the coloured communities. (Paras 47.59). 8. Despite the sporadic nature of the manifestations of Black Power in Britain, and its minority support among coloured immigrants here, it must be regarded as a real threat to the traditional harmony which has, with a few exceptions, characterised race relations in.Britain. (Paras 68,69). Background 9. Although it is difficult to estimate with accuracy the numbers of coloured people in Britain and is even more difficult to predict their growth rate it 18 generally thought that Britain's coloured population new numbers just over one million, of which one-fifth were born here. The numbers will probably continue to rise and could reach about three million b3 the end of the centuryi?a conditions in many immigrants in Britain live are similar in 1. someresnoctsim those affecting the Negroes in the USA. overcrowding and shortage of housing and of schools could provide a breeding ground for extremism and violence. In the London areas of Brixton, Notting Hill and Southall, coloured immigrants account for 60-65% of the inhabitants. Conditions in these places have been described as 'ghetto?like' by seme sociologists, while in Birmingham the school system is severely strained by the increasing numbers of immigrant children entering it. 11. There exists for coloured Britons some difficulty in obtaining the houses and jobs which they want, and this has given rise to the impression that there is a wide gap between the standards of living and status available to white Although there is, in some cases, a barrier of and black British citizens. prejudice which frustrates the immigrants' ambitions, the main problem is that many new immigrants belong to low?inocme, unskilled groups and tend to settle in areas already occupied by similar coloured people. Because many arrive with debts to relations in their countries of origin, they are often compelled to live cheaply and, therefore, the standards of accomodation in these areas tend to be depressed. Low standards of education and often of speaking English the language problem is particularly are present among all groups of immigrants; important in schools where coloured children are sometimes seen by white parents tion. Another factor which as a retarding factor to their own children's educa . . serves to exacerbate racial differences is a difficulty in communicating with the authorities a difficulty found in varying degrees among all the coloured communities in the United Kingdom. A more serious element which may well lead to the deterioration of race 12. relations in Britain is the increasing dearth of jobs for coloured school? leavers, a condition Which threatens to become worse as the numbers involved increase, and will probably become particularly acute among the more qualified. It is this problem which prompted Dr. David Pitt, a moderate West Indian leader, to say this generation of immigrants seriously. Its the school- can't take leaVers I am worried about. I have seen the effect Stokely Carmichael had on them and can guess what will happen if they get their academic qualifications and still end up on the buses." (Sunday Telegraph, 7 April, 1968) One major fear among black moderates and white observers is that the inevitably wider publicity given to these problems in the future will stimulate that scan of prejudice which exists in British society and which was apparent in some of the arguments which followed Mr. Enoch Powell's series of speeches These arguments, and the diSproportionate degree of emphasis in early 1968. placed in debate on immigration, new arrivals and preserving law and order, rather than on solving the basic problems of settled coloured people in Britain, create suspicion in immigrant communities and serve to strengthen the position of the militants. (See Paras 59?60). in? For all this, however, race relations in Britain are fairly harmonious. British coloured communities have by no means the same deeply ingrained sense of injustice and inferior status as have the Negroes of the USA. Statistically, the British groups are smaller (making up 2% of the total population, while in America, Negroes alone constitute 12% of the whole) and historically what grievances they have are of shorter duration. Relationships with.authority, although at times bad, are not fraught with extreme mistrust, or even Open on in the USA. TO a large dame-c, themcolven . . the actions of the authorities . nave hecn rcunoncihle for this. Traditional British concern for rights of mlHOFltleH now been reflected in the Race Relations Acts of 1966 and 1968 by which ovcrt racial or religious diocrimination was made illegal - and by the establishment of the Race Relations Board which investigates connlaints Concerning ouch diacrimination. Government Departments are also, when nossible charmed with the of racial harmony in their rennective snhores; for examnle the Department of Employment and Productivity often deals with race rolutionn on the shon floor and, in the particularly sensitive a relations with coloured c0mmunitien, the Heme Office has always been ready to investigate allegations of nrejudice. Thin has h917?d to reoccurc many coloured peonle in Britain about the impartiality of the authoritico with whom they deal. rea of police 15- AlthOunh the Indian and Pakistani communities in Britain are closely knit groups and tend to be rather inward-looking, they have their own culture, realign-on and history and this maker; them much less suscentible to the ideology of Black Puwcr than is the American Negro community. The West Indian community in the UK is only more amennble to Black Pewer influence but the younr Went Indian in orobably the most likely potential convert to Block Power in the future. (ii) Black Power in the UK . v. Power exoonents in this country are noticecbly resoonsive to outside ezarole a?d the fame and following of American leaders such as Malcolm X, Carmichael and latterly the Black Panther hierarchy have particularly ced ambitious individuals. These local agitators vary from those who annear to be little more than self?publicists to those who seem convinced that the Black Power ideology is relevant to British conditions or have incor- norated some of its concepts into their existing extremist left?wing views. Hone of them has a following of any great size, and few seem able to work in harmony with 17. The American influence on coloured militants here has been directly stimuleted from time to time by visiting Negro American leaders. In 1965 Malcolm - than of the American Black Muslims - came to Britain and deeply impre;3cd a few of the mere disillusioned West Indians by his self?confidence and oratory. To *hc few ccnvertc he made here he was a personification of his own ideas of hire: criue, and they were also attracted by his teaching that Bleck Fewer should be an international struggle and by his emphasis on the cannon roots of Negroes everywhere. Halcoln's bent?known British convert was Michael de Freitas (also known a: Hichael Abdul Kalik} who took the name Michael X, thus conying the craftice of the American Black Muslims. He founded a Black Muslim Brotherhood of Britain, which met with very little success, and later helped organise the Racial ad ustnent Action Society. (Paras h9-50). lg. By the tire 3toke1y Carmichael arrived in Britain in July 1967, the tone of the speeches by coloured militants at Hyde Park Corner had become increasin"ly threatening. (These oteeches continue to be the most obvious manifesta?ion of Poucr in Britain, and, for long periods, are its only manifestation). Carmichael advined that the idea of black consciousness be translated izto . L-J . IILOIA: 7 j! . . . . . . . . ?If rJCism is institutionalised in a soc1ety, the Only way to end it is . 1 ?L'q 1? to destroy the soc1ety". (S. Carmichael, Black :ower: The roli.ics cl Liberation) 20. Cnrmichael was asked to leave the country, which were coserly seized uoon own int-summe-L hut he left behind him ideas .cttion of them. the militants, each of whom, however, had his The newly formed Universal Coloured People's Association (UCPA) announced that it was to be the British equivalent of Germichdel's Student Non?Violent Co?ordindting Committee (SNCC), but there were no awoarent links between the two bodies although ur SUCC members were renorted to have visited Britain early in 1968. (The Times, 1h March, 1968) 21. 4. '1 Paul Boutelle, a member of the American Socialist Workers' Party which has ried to ally itself to the American Black Power Movement, stayed in Britain for a few days in June, 1968. Two members of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign, Tariq Ali and Pat Jordan,were said to have partly sponsored his V181t Tele aoh, 2 June, 1968) and at a meeting organised by them in Hyde Park he urged that black people everywhere should arm themselves. 22. The latest of these American travellers has been Bobby Scale, one of the founders of the Black Panther Party in.America, who visited Britain in April, 1969 on his way to Scandinavia. His presence had little overt effect, but may have given moral strength to the small Black Panther Movement which had already been set up in London. 25. Black Power leaders here have also been influenced from Peking. Several leading personalities on the British.B1ack Power scene who admire Mac to the ooint of hero worship are regular visitors to the Chinese Diplomatic Mission and there is also evidence that what has been called "the official Maoist network in Western Europe" is deeply interested in Black Power in Britain. Albert Manchanda, a part of that "network", and his deputy Teja Singh Sahota, are active in the Black Power movement here, and have both visited China over the last three years. Indeed, Sahota?s latest trip in December, 1968 was alleged to have been paid for by the Chinese Diplomatic Mission in London. 2h. GOra Ebrahim, a Maoist South African who visited Britain in 1967?1968, is another element in the Maoist wooing of Black Power leaders (The Times, 15 Irinrch, 1968). Ebrahim met and influenced such activists as Ajoy Ghose, Hey Sawh, Johnny James, Jagmohan Joshi, and Nanchanda. The latter is on the editorial board of Lal Khr, a Punjabi newspaper printed in Brussels and flown to London to be sold to Indian immigrants. 25. While American influences have lar gely worked on West Indians in Britain, the Maoists (and Trotskyists) have largely worked on the Asians. In both cases though, the effects have been limited to the militant leadership and a few followers; there is no evidence of significant support at the grass roots for Maoism, Trotskyiem or for militant Black Power. Black Power Groups and Leaders Leaders 26. Michael de Freitas alias Michael or Misha He formed a now?defunct Black Muslim Brotherhood e1 Abdul Malik is a Trinidadian. afterwards he helped found the Racial Ad . of Britain in 1965. Shortly Justment Action Society (Paras 49?50). 4. 3y, Dc Froitas come to Black Power after a dubious past during which he was in housing schemes, drug traffic and brothel-keeping-. H13 Hal? motive in Black Power has probably been self?publicity.. This. poached a climax in 1967 when he was sent to gaol for a year for inciting raClal hatred in a speech in which he claimed to have killed a white man and urged . others to do likewise if circumstances demanded. His ?301 he 01?1m5? caused more people to listen to him: ?Before we had to work hard for a meeting, now the halls are always filled- (Daily Telegraph, 23 May, 1969) . ll De Freitas is now attempting to establish a kind of "Black Capitalist 0f Shops and flats in North London, through which he hopes 0 resuscitate RAAS (the defunct Racial Adjustment Action Society - 29. Roy Sawh. An Indian from Guyana, Sawh has lived in Britain Since 1929. and has Spent two Years at Moscow University(which he left, 1t 18 beliegek, after trouble arose from his racialist views.) He ha? sympathies With ing and was in close contact with Gcra Ebrahim when he Visited thiscountryi (Para 24). Sawh is a talented speaker, but has found it nearly 3 COOPerate with other leaders, possibly because he is a volatile character. was convicted of racial incitement in August, 1967- 30. After helping de Freitas to form RAAS in 1965 Sawh left to organlietghe Universal Coloured People's Association (UCPA) in June, 1966. He 1osd tho leadership of the UCPA to other extremists led by Obi Egbuna and forms. t; Universal Coloured PcOple?s and Arab Association. He then tooz part in .6 formation of the Black People's Alliance in early 1968, but left its Steering Committee in the spring of 1969 after a dispute with a colleague, Jagmohan Joshi. 31. Jagmohan Joshi. Joshi is Secretary of the Indian Workers? Association of Great Britain and convenor of the Black PeOple?s Alliance's Steering Committee. He is an extremist and a Maoist and regards the black?white confrontation as an anti?imperialist struggle. Although he countenances alliances with radical white groups, he scorns all moderates. He has defined his aims as "uniting the Black peoples of Great Britain, helping to fight against British Imperialism both here and aborad. Our work is not intended to -exclude the white working class, the most advanced sections of which, for example, the new Communist Party of Great Britain, Marxist Leninist are with us". (Letter to Liberation, published by the Marxist? Leninist Communist Party of India). 32. Obi Egbuna. Egbuna is a highly articulate Nigerian playwright (he is an Ibo who supports 'Biafra?) and theorist of Black Power. He was given a twelve?month suspended sentence in December, 1968 for conspiracy to incite others to murder police. As this would imply, his speeches tend to be highly militant, but this sentence has forced him to be more restrained. His arrest and subsequent imprisonment for five months awaiting trial brought him support from other groups and leaders, including some of the moderates. 33. He places special emphasis on black culture and a spirit of identity with other cola-med peoples. He has told the Times March, I968) that he ?has strong links with Africa and He was in contact with 5. ?hm Hohammed Rahmun Unbu w? urchiiect of the Zannihqr no hf? Chinese connections and was an Poucr in America." - rCVOthlon. He was first led towards Black in. In 1968 on} i London' in On Black Power at the somcalled ?Anti-University of ANLi??vaorsi had 1: Course? i?01Udod seminars on revolution. The body in ?Ollnud the Peace of New York and an equivalent Enbnno an 1 3 :01 the creation of the Black PeOple's Alliance in 1968 nounced hi3 intention to fade from the Black scene. (trautio Dymon), former lieutenant Of Michael and one of the 10? ??Ibord Of the Black Muslim Brotherhood of Britain, Dymon has a oenchant for colourful talk about touching his people karate, handling of explosives, and t?rroriSt taCtiCS in urban areas. He has sail that cadhes of arms to be used Ior Black Power purposes exist, but this seems doubtful. His outrageously Vlotept?SPEGChesy like these of some of his contemporaries, seem a mixture of and an attempt to draw attention to the frustration of young intelligent coloured peOple. 36' ?2Q2?X.l??2?o James is a West Indian, resident in this country since 1959. A prolific writer and a Trotskyist with pro?Chinese views, he is known to have been in contact with the Belgian dissident Communist Jacques Grippa, and With GOra Ebrahim. He is the effective heed of the Caribbean.Workers' Movement and was assistant secretary of the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination (CARD), during the Struggle for control between the militants and moderates in November, 1967. James is one of the hard-core of activists usually to be found at the centre of Black Power demonstrations. Chose was convicted and fined in November 1967 for stirring 37. Ajoh Ghose. up racial hatred at SpeakerS' Corner. He is a leader of the UCPA, a frequent visitor to the Chinese Dip10matic Mission and a devotee of Mao, Carmichael and Gore Ebrahim. A militant and avowed Maoist, Manchenda plays a leading 38. Albert He leads the Britain4Vietnam part in Vietnam war demonstrations in London. Solidarity Front, is a regular visitor to the Chinese Diplomatic Mission and has attached himself to the Black Power movement as a means of gaining a wider audience for his Maoist views. Manchanda is the leading Maoist in the now fragmented Association of Indian Communists of Great Britain, which has a degree of influence in the Indian Workers' Association of Great Britain (Ids). 39. Andrew Salkel. Salkey, a Jamaican novelist, agitates for Bloom Power on He is deeply interested in events two :ronts, the Jamaican and the British. in his motive untry and has organised and led demonstrations to the Jamaican High Commission in London. In August, 1968 he headed a protest against the Jamaican Government's ban on the writings of leading American.Black Power authors, and in October, 1968 he was fined for obstruction after another protest, this time against the banning from Jamaica of a university lecturer, Walter Rodney. 40. He claims that he is not a Communist, but he is extremely left-wing in his views, has visited Cuba, and has written of that island as an example to be emulated by other Caribbean countries.(Evening Standard, 10, July, 1968) resent fundamentally racist, must be bl. To Salkey, British society, at the coloured community in Britain 141? w? m-nF?Wsu-g uprooted and rebuilt. no lurid.? must be used to bring this about. An, A Vu 6. ?LrgeS the diffeient immigrant communities in Britain to unite in 0? 03}b10u to the administration's "deliberate policy of isolating them", and links this to a wider Black Power struggle: "retell and the British are fighting to maintain the idea and practice of Anglo?Saxon privilege and racial pride, through a veiled programme Of rRCial contempt for the Black Peeple in British society and throughout the world". (Black Dwarf, 14 March, 1969) sess the extent of Salkey's audience, but he is perhaps LS. It is difficult to as a unified the most eloquent voice in Britain preaching for 'the formation 0 and militant Black Power base. Black Power Groups the There are over 1,000 coloured immigrant organisations in Britain, and the majority are unofficial cultural bodies working to create contacts between immigrants, helping new arrivals, and advising individuals about schools, housing and jobs. In this last capacity many of them work in liaison with the authorities. Very few British organisations can properly be called Black Porer groups and even those with militant leaderships often contain only a minority of ordinary members who subscribe to Black Power. The few militant organisations that do exist rely heavily on their noisy Numbers of members in these bodies are seldom tered membership; ct that they often have no regis are much less than those claimed by he an increasing response among Power message. 45. leaderships for publicity. accurately known, due to the fa in nearly all cases numbers of adherents the leaders. There does appear, however, to young blacks in certain urban centres to the Black The aims of Black Power groups and their leaders in Britain are seldom eed vary somewhat from group to group. Usually ideals and more immediate demands for hading into white racialism. 46. clearly articulated, and ind they are a melange of vague left-wing the alleviation of problems of general welfare, 8 At certain times outside influences such as 'Powellism', the "enyan Asian problem, the Immigration Act of 1962, or the exposure of some particularly harrowing tale of exploitation of coloured immigrants in labour or housing, tend tween militant groups, occasionally including to create a temporary alliance be moderates as well. In general, though, moderate leaders denounce the militants as self?publicists who do more harm than good, while militant leaders seem united only on one thing their dislike of moderation. The following is a list of groups in Britrin which are or have been in led in some degree by Black Power activists. the past few years control 1,9. Racial Adjustment Action Society RAAS was founded in 1965 by De At that time its stated aims were the economic, social, Freitas and Sawh. and cultural welfare of coloured peeple in Britain, but its ideology became i cressingly militant as De Ureitas, in particular, tried to exploit the publicit that American Black Power leaders were gaining in Britain. After the imprisonme of De Freitas, RAAS collapsed. Lately its former leader has tried to revive it, under the banner of Black Capitalism. (Para 28). 50. At its height, in late 1965, RAAS claimed h5,000 members but the actual figure was probably around 1,500. Its activities were limited to fiery 7? {111? 'lmi 1' ?ma mm - . . ?Brion are a small {noun of activists wortin' 1.1) .l 1? . . 'e vu\i local ovoblomm and black self?helm. They . .Cher Party In uninr "miniutcrial" titles :27, mm, Their ?Prime . 1 ?s?1 I: 1 In haxcnn nwnan, Trinidadian and nx?membor of the RAAS and UCPA. ?1 1 The museum felt in Ihe various coloured 0V intolerant followinn Mr. Enoch Powell's f? 1V0V?Vwiul H?covhen on the racial Hituutlon in Britain was manifest in April, than NU delen?tou from EU immi?runt cumwunitiec met in Leamington Spa to would nnrune a policy of "militant action to combat white V501 Thus the Black People's Alliance was formed. The affiliated aAnociations were by no means all militant, although some UK the better??woun moderate bodies would have little to do with it. To -ilitanls, however, the formation of the EPA was "a beautiful thing?. Fan-ohun Joshi said that ?for the first time in the history of race relations l~ tyiu country, black peonle have decided to unite". 10 May, lOoR . 01. There was little argument about the aims and means of the Alliance and Inn of its monifesto was vague. This was a of the uneasiness of the Alliance: many of its constituent bodies had little sympathy with the aims of the militants, and soon after it was founded, moderate groups on its ?orinhory began to dron away; these included the West Indian Standing Cowmittee (Birmingham branch), the NotiOnnl Federation of Pakistani Associations in Britain and the Indian Workers in Southall and Slough. 62. The EPA thus became more and more the tool of the militants, although it has Lot fulfilled their expectations as a broadly based militant coalition. Nor has there been harmony among the militants themselves and Roy Sawh was ousted from the Steering Committee early this year after a clash with Joshi. mi. The Alliance has organised public meetings and demonstrations in conjunction with various leftist groups. One such demonstration, on the occasion of the Honnornealth Prime Ministers? Conference in London in January, 1969, ended in rioiing outside Rhodesia House and South Africa House, although the EPA and most of its played no part in these concluding events. As the EPA contains the most militant of the coloured organisations in Britain, it is to be expected that similar demonstrations, with or without similar d?nouments, may be mounted in the future. (iv) Conclusions 7h. Power movement in Britain consists of a few colourful and articwlute leaders who have a small but probably growing following. Among the great mawn of immigrants and coloured Britons Black Power has little appeal, but the nrerequisites for the racial suspicion, disillusionment and impatience On which Black Power feeds, does exist. The most likely converts are unemploye youths or coloured school-leavers who cannot get jObs to fit their qualification and the latter category is likely to increase in the near future. 65. The influences on Black Pounr leaders in Great Britain are from the Trotskyic s, from the USA, and, to a lesser degree, from China. The leaders on whom these influences work are seldom explicit about their immediate aims and although most of them urge violent revolution to purge Britain of racism, 9.9 their means, so far, have been limited to oratory. In this they have been somewhat . (31: 1 . . to restrain White racism, Vhloh, ironically enough, was intended 66. Black organisations in Britain are usually made up of little more than a militaNk group 0f leaders and a few sympathisers. The memberships claimed for these organisations are often inflated estimates and usually there is no registered membership as such. 67. The various Black Power leaders show little capacity for but occasionelly certain events have tended to unify militants, together with some moderates, for a short time. 68. The immediate-dangers of Black Power here would seem to be, first, that the more violent believers may use tactics of sabotage rather like those ?39d by Welsh Nationalists - to publicise their cause (Para 35)! and, that young coloured peOple may be tempted tO'follow the American example of the Black Panthers and use local confrontation with authoritY: the non? negotiable demand, and other techniques of intimidation to gain a hearing. 69. The storm produced by 'Powellism' in 1968 should serve as a warning that Britain is not necessarily exempt frOm the circle of accusation: recrimination and counter?accusation between races that has occurred elsewhere. Black Power, however sporadic its manifestations, or few its followers, must be regarded as a threat to the-comparative harmony which has, with a few exceptions, for so long characterised rsce relations in Britain. JuneI 1262 10.