Glossary
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This glossary includes definitions of terms, concepts, historical events, as well as the names of individuals, organizations, and schools of thought, that will be referenced throughout our 2023 Revolutionary Summer School: Pan Africanism and the Struggle for Our Future. The glossary is organized into three categories: terms, organizations, and people. To fully understand the content within all the courses of our summer school, it is essential that we familiarize ourselves with important terms for understanding history, political economy, and the leaders and ideas that have shaped the present.
This is a working document with definitions that have been developed through discussion, debate, and study, and that will continue to be revised and added to as we continue learning from the experience of this course and others.
Definitions are an important starting point for revolutionary study, that help us build and deepen our understanding of history, theory and political economy. We hope this glossary is a tool to begin this study!
| Term | Definition | Category |
|---|---|---|
| Abahlali baseMjondolo | Abahlali baseMjondolo (AbM),or the Shack Dwellers Movement, is a grassroots movement in South Africa that organizes land occupations, builds communes, and campaigns against evictions and for land sovereignty and dignity. The group has faced severe repression in South Africa, citing that over 20 activists have been murdered in the past 10 years. Despite this, AbM recently won a significant court case that ruled forced evictions from their eKhenana Commune as illegal. | Organization |
| African Blood Brotherhood | The African Blood Brotherhood was a radical Black liberation organization with ties to the Communist Party, with around 3,000 estimated members. Founded by Cyril Briggs in 1919, members of A.B.B. went on to be early, key Black cadre of the Communist Party, enabling them to recruit thousands of Black members in the 1930s and 1940s, and to lead a militant struggle for Black liberation in those decades. | Organization |
| African National Congress | The African National Congress (ANC) has been South Africa’s ruling political party since its first democratic elections in 1994. Originally formed in 1912 as the South African Native National Congress (SANNC) to fight for the rights of Black South Africans, the ANC was forced underground after the establishment of the apartheid government and began a prolonged armed resistance struggle alongside the South African Communist Party. (Source) | Organization |
| African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC) | The African Party for the Independence of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC),was first formed as the African Party for Independence (PAI) in 1956 by Guinean revolutionary Amilcar Cabral to unify the two countries under one independence movement against Portuguese colonialization. | Organization |
| Black Panther Party | Started out of a program of principled self-defense in Black communities in Oakland, California, chapters of the Black Panther Party formed all across the country and soon became one of the largest mass organizations of its time. The Panthers organized a number of different kinds of programs across regions, including breakfast programs for children in local communities, political education courses and schools, actions and rallies around local campaigns, and others. The organization came under severe persecution by the United States government through the FBI-created COINTELPRO surveillance and infiltration program, which led to the state-sponsored murder of Fred Hampton and arrest of many other Panther members. (Source) | Organization |
| Civil Rights Congress | The Civil Rights Congress (CRC) arose from three other organizations: the International Labor Defense (ILD),the National Negro Congress, and the National Federation for Constitutional Liberties. Led by William L. Patterson, CRC focused on mass movements and education through the legal defense and freedom campaigns. Some of its more noteworthy cases include the cases of Willie McGee, the Martinsville Seven, the Trenton Six, Rosa Lee Graham, and the role it played in publicizing the lynching of Emmett Till. CRC also lead the We Charge Genocide campaign, which connected the U.N. definition of "genocide" to build a case of genocide against Black people within the United States and brought these charges to an international audience. | Organization |
| Combahee River Collective | Based out of Boston, the Combahee River Collective brought together a group of Black socialist, feminist leaders whose legacy of critically addressing patriarchy within the fight for Black liberation is still celebrated today. In their groundbreaking 1977 Combahee River Collective Statement, the collective put forward an analysis that identified the three pillars of capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy as interwoven forces of oppression. In this statement, they also developed the concept of ‘intersectionality’ – the idea that multiple forces of oppression can interlock and combine to create unique experiences of suffering. (Source) | Organization |
| Communist Party of Kenya | The Communist Party of Kenya (CPK) was established in 1992 as the Social Democratic Party and in 2019 publicly adopted a Marxist-Leninist ideology and the new name of the organization. The CPK identifies itself as part of the continuation of the social and national liberation struggle that brought about independence from British colonialism in 1963. (Source) | Organization |
| Communist Party of South Africa | The South African Communist Party (SACP) was first established in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA) but changed its name after being forced underground in 1953 by the apartheid government. The SACP was a leading organization, along with the African National Congress, in the armed struggle to free South Africa from apartheid. Both the SACP and the ANC remained banned until 1990. (Source) | Organization |
| Communist Party USA | The Communist Party USA was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Bolshevik-led Russian Revolution in 1917. The CPUSA reached its heyday in the 1920s and 1930s, yet suffered severe decline and isolation due to the anti-communist persecution of the McCarthy Period. At its height, the CPUSA had influence in many different struggles across the nation and distinguished itself from other radical groups and parties by putting antiracism at the forefront of its national organizing. A number of noteworthy organizers and celebrities were once members or associated with the Communist Party, including Louise Thompson, Claudia Jones, Langston Hughes, W.E.B. Du Bois, Angela Davis, and others. | Organization |
| Democratic Way Worker's Party | The Democratic Way (DW) was a mass organization in Morocco that was dedicated to anti-imperialism and the working class struggle in its country. In July of 2022, the Democratic Way held their fifth national congress and announced the formation of the Democratic Way Workers’ Party with a socialist and anti-imperialist ideology. (Source) | Organization |
| International Monetary Fund | The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington D.C. The IMF was formed out of the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, which ultimately solidified the United States as the leader of the new global economy coming out of World War II. Through offering and negotiating loan agreements with member countries, the IMF is one of the premier instruments of maintaining US imperialism and the underdevelopment and subordination of countries in the Global South to debt and neoliberal policies. | Organization |
| League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) | The League of Revolutionary Black Workers (LRBW) was established in 1969 as a Marxist-Leninist organization that saw frontline auto workers in Detroit, Michigan, as the lynchpin to disrupting production for the Big Three major automotive corporations, General Motors, Chrysler, and Ford. The LRBW organized for a militant Black working-class vision of liberation and incorporated concrete displays of international solidarity with revolutionary movements around the world. (Source) | Organization |
| National Network of Farmers’ Groups in Tanzania (MVIWATA) | MVIWATA is a network of smallholder farmers and groups in Tanzania to collectively develop their capacity, advocate for, and defend their interests. MVIWATA grounds their work in the belief that land development should center the welfare of smallholder farmers. (Source) | Organization |
| National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) | The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) was formed in 1987 by the unification of four labor unions: the Metal and Allied Workers Union (MAWU),the Motor Industry Combined Workers Union (MICWU),the National Automobile and Allied Workers Union (NAAWU),and the United Metal, Mining and Allied Workers of South Africa (UMMAWOSA). It is the largest trade union in South Africa, comprising over 400,000 members. Although originally aligned with the African National Congress and the South Africa Communist Party in what was called the Tripartite Alliance, NUMSA broke from the Alliance in 2013. (Source) | Organization |
| Non Aligned Movement | The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) emerged during the massive wave of decolonization and national liberation struggles that succeeded across Asia, Africa, and Latin America after World War II. The 1955 Bandung Asian-African Conference is considered the antecedent to the Non-Aligned Movement where developing countries met to consolidate a uniquely Global South perspective to assessing world issues and pursuing joint policies in international relations. | Organization |
| Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL) | The Organization of Solidarity with Peoples of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (OSPAAAL) was established in Havana, Cuba, after the Tricontinental Conference of 1966. OSPAAAL contributed to the international solidarity movement of the time with its magazine, also called Tricontinental, which intervened in the Battle of Ideas, the art and culture it produced, and with its initiatives to transform the global political economy. (Source) | Organization |
| People’s United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) | The People's United Democratic Movement (PUDEMO) was founded in 1983 in Swaziland, the only remaining monarchy on the African continent. It is the largest opposition party in the country and advocates for total liberation, which they define to mean constitutional multi-party democracy, a transparent and accountable government, an environment conducive to the economic growth and empowerment and the development of a culturally vibrant and tolerant society, based on maximum participation and the respect of the will of the people. (Source) | Organization |
| Socialist Movement of Ghana | During the summer of 2021, the Congress of the Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) was held and its transformation into the Socialist Movement of Ghana (SMG) was unanimously approved. The SFG was first born in 1993 as a Marxist study group and has over three thousand members across the country. The transition to the SMG signifies the level of development the SFG had reached in Ghana and an advance in working class organization. (Source) | Organization |
| Socialist Party of Zambia | The Socialist Party of Zambia was founded by journalist Fred M’membe and officially established in 2017. The Socialist Party emerged as a third, socialist alternative to the ruling Patriotic Front and the opposition United Party for National Development. (Source) | Organization |
| Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) | Founded through the student-led sit-in movement in North Carolina and Tennessee that sought to desegregate lunch counters, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led the student section of the civil rights struggle and produced a number of historically significant Black revolutionaries. SNCC also played a leading role in organizing the registration and mobilization of Black people in the South. Eventually, SNCC pivoted from the mainstream civil rights movement and started to articulate views based on anti-imperialism, Marxism and revolutionary Black nationalism. (Source) | Organization |
| Third World Women’s Alliance (TWWA) | The Third World Women’s Alliance (TWWA) came out of the Black Women’s Liberation Committee of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Some of the leaders who developed this organization include Frances M. Beal, Mae Jackson, and Gwendolyn Patton. The TWWA centered their work around highlighting the intersectional nature of capitalist, racist, and sexist oppression faced by women of color, particularly Black women, and internationalist solidarity with movements abroad. They published essential texts such as the pamphlet “Black Women’s Manifesto” and the newspaper Triple Jeopardy. (Source) | Organization |
| Tricontinental | From January 3rd to 18th, 1966, over 500 leaders of revolutionary movements in Africa, Asia, and Latin America attended the Tricontinental Conference in Havana, Cuba. For the first time, countries of the Global South were united to focus on issues of anti–colonialism and anti–imperialism. The conference attendees connected over their shared struggles for liberation in the context of the global wave of decolonization movements. It was radical in its approach of rejecting capitalism and the interference of the United States in communist nations, as well as in its message of international revolution with socialist motivations. Many African and Asian countries had recently gained independence or were still fighting against their colonizers, while many Latin American countries experienced changing governments and new political movements. | Organization |
| United Democratic Front | The United Democratic Front (UDF) was a coalition of over 400 anti-apartheid trade unions, student unions, and organizations that was active from 1983 to 1991 in South Africa. The UDF operated by organizing boycotts, school protests, and worker stay-aways, as well as international actions of solidarity. In 1987 the South African apartheid government banned the organization and had, by then, imprisoned many of its leading activists. The coalition disbanded when the apartheid government was defeated. (Source) | Organization |
| World Bank | The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA),two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group. It was established along with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. The World Bank essentially acts like a giant bank whose customers are countries. It loans countries money for big infrastructure projects like hydroelectric dams, coal-fired power plants, transportation systems, and industrial agriculture technology. World Bank and IMF loans are unique in that they make policy prescriptions to poor governments, which it ensures are adopted by making them “conditions” for lending. See "Structural Adjustment Programs" for more. (Source) | Organization |