By Any Means Necessary

Malcolm X

Pathfinder, 1992 - African Americans - 191 pages

"We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary." "The thing that I would like to impress upon every Afro-American leader is that no kind of action in this country is ever going to bear fruit unless that action is tied in with the overall international struggle." Through these speeches from the last year of his life, Malcom X takes his place as one of the twentieth century's outstanding revolutionary thinkers and leaders. Malcolm sought, as he put it, to "internationalize" the fight against racism. He condemned Washington's war in Vietnam, solidarized with the African freedom struggle, and championed the revolutionary victories of the Chinese and Cuban people. Readers will follow the evolution of Malcolm's views on building political alliances, Black-white intermarriage, women's rights, capitalism and socialism, and self-defense against racist terror gangs -- all in his own words. - Back cover.

Contents

• Answers to questions at the Militant Labor Forum: 14
• Harlem and the political machines New York July 4 1964: 69
• On being barred from France London February 9 1965: 167

About the author

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, and the son of a Baptist minister, Malcolm Little grew up with violence. Whites killed several members of his family, including his father. As a youngster, he went to live with a sister in Boston where he started a career of crime that he continued in New York's Harlem as a drug peddler and pimp. While serving a prison term for burglary in 1952, he converted to Islam and undertook an intensive program of study and self-improvement, movingly detailed in "Autobiography of Malcolm X." He wrote constantly to Elijah Muhammad (Elijah Poole, 1897--1975), head of the black separatist Nation of Islam, which already claimed the loyalty of several of his brothers and sisters. Upon release from prison, Little went to Detroit, met with Elijah Muhammad, and dropped the last name Little, adopting X to symbolize the unknown African name his ancestors had been robbed of when they were enslaved. Soon he was actively speaking and organizing as a Muslim minister. In his angry and articulate preaching, he condemned white America for its treatment of blacks, denounced the integration movement as black self-delusion, and advocated black control of black communities. During the turbulent 1960's, he was seen as inflammatory and dangerous. In 1963, a storm broke out when he called President Kennedy's assassination a case of "chickens coming home to roost," meaning that white violence, long directed against blacks, had now turned on itself. The statement was received with fury, and Elijah Muhammad denounced him publicly. Shocked and already disillusioned with the leader because of his reputed involvement with several women, Malcolm X went on a pilgrimage to Mecca and then traveled to several African countries, where he was received as a fellow Muslim. When he returned home, he was bearing a new message: Islam is a religion that welcomes and unites people of all races in the Oneness of Allah. On the night of February 21, 1965, as he was preaching at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom, he was assassinated.

Bibliographic information

• Title: By Any Means Necessary; Malcolm X speeches & writings
• Author: Malcolm X
• Edition: 2, illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Pathfinder, 1992
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Jan 11, 2010
• ISBN: 0873487540, 9780873487542
• Length: 191 pages