MLK JR a communist?

[ipollux]

I learned tonight that the FBI had accused Martin Luther King Jr. of having communist ties. Can anyone verify if this is true or not?

[Lost In Translation]

It's J Edgar Hoover's fault. He was so obsessed with trying to catch MLK with doing something illegal. I believe Hoover had MLK bugged once. Hoover was afraid that communists had tried to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement. But I doubt MLK was "communist".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

[#FF0000]

MLK was a democratic "christian socialist".

[Q]

Just before he was killed, MLK was increasingly moving to the left and taking socialist conclusions. Some suggest it was the reason why he got killed.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

He was a confirmed socialist who distrusted the communist parties associating with the Soviet Union. His radicalism developed throughout the '60s when he saw that poverty, racism, and class are all tied.

[Sugar Hill Kevis]

"You can't talk about solving the economic problem of the Negro without talking about billions of dollars. You can't talk about ending the slums without first saying profit must be taken out of slums. You're really tampering and getting on dangerous ground because you are messing with folk then. You are messing with captains of industry...Now this means that we are treading in difficult water, because it really means that we are saying that something is wrong...with capitalism...There must be a better distribution of wealth and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism."

[Sir Comradical]

One can never hear about about socialism and still be able to locate the root cause of inequality...these are universal ideas.

[Ismail]

He was a Christian Socialist. They don't advocate the overthrow of the government and ideally believe in living a life similar to what Jesus led. Christian Socialism itself is usually amped up when needed as a counter to Marxist Socialism.

You guys for example might know that the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a Christian Socialist named Francis Bellamy. Of course, why would a 'Socialist' write a goddamn pledge to the state? Well...

The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy. The Pledge was written by Bellamy for a national Columbus Day celebration ceremony, the program of which was published in The Youth's Companion magazine. It reflected his idea of a united America after the Civil War. At the time the country was still very much divided because of the conflict between North and South. The Pledge reinforced the idea of ONE NATION, something important to many after the Civil War and the attempts of the South to secede. Francis Bellamy was vice president of the Society of Christian Socialists. This was an organization that promoted the view that society should be organized based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and was critical of capitalism and individualism as corrupting forces in society. Francis Bellamy was actually the cousin of another influential Christian Socialist activist of the time, Edward Bellamy. Both Francis and Edward were involved in the Nationalist movement as well. Some 167 Nationalist Clubs sprang up around the United States after Edward Bellamy published his best selling book, Looking Backward.
Both men were involved in these clubs, though Edward was better known at the time. Looking Backward was essentially Edward's "answer" to the recently written Communist Manifesto. It was a book that attacked the positions of Communism, declared that any good society had to be founded on God's word, and basically took up some of the positions of the Socialist movement, but from a Christian perspective.


The Nationalist and Christian Socialist movements of the Bellamys were their "alternatives" to the Marxist movements of the day. While the Marxists were promoting rebellion against the State, the Bellamys promoted duty to the State.


After Columbus Day became a nationally recognized holiday on July 21, 1892, Francis Bellamy and others involved in the Nationalist movement helped to put together a national school program for the celebration of the event.
National School Celebration of Columbus Day - The Official Programme, was published in the September 8, 1892 issue of The Youth's Companion. As there was no real national means to distribute information to all the schools in the country at the time, this publication served as the means to organize the official events. The subtext of the article title read:

Let every pupil and friend of the Schools who reads The Companion, at once present personally the following programme to the Teachers, Superintendents, School Boards, and Newspapers in the towns and cities in which they reside. Not one School in America should be left out in this Celebration.
The program for the National Celebration of Columbus Day was to be the first unified national celebration in the country's history, with every single school taking part in the ceremony according to a time table in perfect unison. The address, also written by Francis Bellamy, which was to be given at a certain part of the ceremony, started out:

The spectacle America presents this day is without precedent in history. From ocean to ocean, in city, village, and country-side, the children of the States are marshaled and marching under the banner of the nation: and with them the people are gathering around the schoolhouse.
Men are recognizing to-day the most impressive anniversary since Rome celebrated her thousandth year-the 400th anniversary of the stepping of a hemisphere into the world's life; four completed centuries of a new social order; the celebration of liberty and enlightenment organized into civilization.
And while, during these hours, the Federal government of these United States strikes the keynote of this great American day that gives honor to the common American institution which unites us all, - we assemble here that we, too, may exalt the free school that embodies the American principle of universal enlightenment and equality: the most characteristic product of fours centuries of American life.
Veterans of the Civil War were also expected to attend the ceremonies and be recognized during the course of the program, as well as lead the Color-Guard of the pupils.
The original Pledge read as follows:

I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
From this time up until 1942, the salute used while saying the pledge was to make a military salute to the chest or brow, and then extend the arm straight out with the palm facing the flag, as shown below. This type of salute originated in ancient Rome and has been used by many groups. The salute is most widely recognized now as a "Nazi salute," but in fact it was Mussolini who adopted it before Hitler as apart of his fascist party, precisely because of its Roman origin. The Nazis later adopted it from the Italians. Its use in America prior to this time has no direct relationship to the fascists, however, it was a nationalist salute to the State. In the Italian and German usage the salute was to the leader himself, as it was used in Rome to "Hail Caesar" ("Heil Hitler").


At a signal from the Principal the pupils, in ordered ranks, hands to the side, face the Flag. Another signal is given; every pupil gives the flag the military salute -- right hand lifted, palm downward, to a line with the forehead and close to it. Standing thus, all repeat together, slowly, "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands; one Nation indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all." At the words, "to my Flag," the right hand is extended gracefully, palm upward, toward the Flag, and remains in this gesture till the end of the affirmation; whereupon all hands immediately drop to the side. Then, still standing, as the instruments strike a chord, all will sing AMERICA- "My Country, tis of Thee." Source: The Youth's Companion, 65 (1892): 446-447 - http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/rise_of_american_fascism.htm (don't forget to read Part I first, IMO it's one of the best free sources on what Fascism really is)

[comrade stalin guevara]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayard_Rustin.

This is a link to m.l.k communist influence.

[KurtFF8]

It's J Edgar Hoover's fault. He was so obsessed with trying to catch MLK with doing something illegal. I believe Hoover had MLK bugged once. Hoover was afraid that communists had tried to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement. But I doubt MLK was "communist".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr.

Exactly, as said before, he was a Democratic Socialist. But the Civil Rights movement did genuinely include a Communist section of it (especially if you consider the Black Panther Party to be part of the civil rights movement)

[comrade stalin guevara]

Not to mention the influence of the cpusa and the young communist leauge

[Random Precision]

This is a good article on how Dr. King developed socialist convictions and was becoming more and more anti-capitalist at the time of his death:

http://www.isreview.org/issues/58/feat-MLK.shtml

All in all, he was a much more radical figure than bourgeois history portrays him as today, sadly, that seems to be the fate of many revolutionaries.

It is true that the NAACP, SCLC (and by extension Dr. King himself) kept the Communist Party at arm's length during the most crucial episodes of the civil rights movement to avoid association with communism however.

[Chapter 24]

As said before, he was a kind of Christian social democrat. He was concerned with issues not only related with race but also with class. In fact, days before his assassination he went to Memphis to support black sanitation workers for higher wages and treatment quality.

[superiority]

Other people have said enough about what he actually believed. I will only add that the FBI (especially Cold War-era FBI) considering someone to be a communist only means that that person is somewhere to the left of Strom Thurmond.

[trivas7]

He was a confirmed socialist who distrusted the communist parties associating with the Soviet Union. His radicalism developed throughout the '60s when he saw that poverty, racism, and class are all tied.
How so? Who had he read?


One can never hear about about socialism and still be able to locate the root cause of inequality...these are universal ideas.
What do you mean to say? That socialism is a universal idea? That socialism can't say what the root cause of inequality is? I don't understand.

[Red Anarchist of Love]

MLK was for the betterment of humanity and would take any system to promote the rights of humanbeings. I think he knew capitalism was not good for the poor, the portion of humanity with the hardest living conditions and little power.

[ipollux]

I think he knew capitalism was not good for the poor, the portion of humanity with the hardest living conditions and little power.

Agreed.