Line of March collection, 1977-1987, undated HLL.2019.019
Allison Ransom
Holt Labor Library at CSU Dominguez Hills
September 2020
Contributing Institution:
Holt Labor Library at CSU Dominguez Hills
Title: Line of March collection
Identifier/Call Number: HLL.2019.019
Physical Description:
.42 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 1977-1987, undated
Abstract: The collections contains reports, study materials, and publications regarding Line of March, a trend within the Marxist-Leninist
anti-revisionist rectification movement that was centered around the
Line of March journal.
Language of Material: Collection material is in English.
Biographical / Historical
Line of March (1980-1989) was a trend within the Marxist-Leninist rectification network, an anti-revisionist movement that
opposed the Khrushchev's reforms in the USSR and the Communist Party of China (CPC) after Mao. It was among other components
of an anti-dogmatist trend that included the Communist Party USA, the Maoist New Communist Movement, the Organizing Committee
for an Ideological Center (OCIC), and groupings united around the
Theoretical Review journal and the
Guardian newspaper. The rectification network began in 1976 and was initially led by the Union of Democratic Filipinos, the Northern
California Alliance, and the Third World Women's Alliance. Rectification leaders developed close ties with
Guardian staff members, including executive editor Irwin Silber, leading to rectification network members joining the Guardian Clubs,
which became the National Network of Marxist-Leninist Clubs (NNMSC) in March 1979. In the Spring of 1980, the rectification
network issued a journal called
Line of March: a Marxist-Leninist Journal of Rectification, which attempted to develop leadership for the movement by articulating and solidifying its central ideas and establishing
its views on various political and theoretical questions. The trend developed study projects that were inspired by the Soviet
Union Study Project, and established a regular Marxist-Leninist discussion forum that utilized study guides and supplementary
readings that complemented journal articles in the
Line of March journal. Those education initiatives led to the formation of the Marxist-Leninist Education Project (MLEP), which served
as a proto future party school and had the capacity to educate hundreds of activists about Marxist-Leninism fundamentalism.
Line of March later became the Frontline Political Organization, and then Crossroads, which was founded in conjunction with
the Freedom Road Socialist Organization.
Bibliography:
Elbaum, M. and M. Paras (1980). "The Theory and Practice of the Rectification Movement."
Line of March, 1(3). https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-6/lom-theory.htm
"Line of March." KeyWiki. 8 September 2018. https://keywiki.org/Line_of_March
"The New Communist Movement: Anti-Dogmatists Unable to Unite, 1978-1980."
Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-Line. https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-6/index.htm#rectification
Arrangement
The collection is alphabetically arranged in one series.
Processing Information
The collection was processed by Allison Ransom in August 2020.
Preferred Citation
Custodial History
The Line of March collection was donated to the Holt Labor Library in San Francisco, California between 1992 and 2019, and
were acquired by the Gerth Archives and Special Collections at California State University, Dominguez Hills, in 2019.
Conditions Governing Access
There are no access restrictions on this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Archives
and Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of Special Collections as the owner of the physical
materials and not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained.
Scope and Contents
The Line of March collection (1977-1987, undated) comprises bulletins, journals, pamphlets, and newsletters that reflect
the trend's central ideas and views on various political and theoreticeal questions. It also includes reports regarding its
organizing party lines and discussion group study guides.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Communism -- United States
Line of March (1980-1989)
box 1, folder 1
Class Lines Discussion Bulletin of the Line of March Labor Commission, No. 1-4, 7
January-August, December 1982; April 1984
box 1, folder 2
Discussion and study guides
box 1, folder 2
Unit Discussion Guide, Jim West Report to CPUSA Political Bureau on the Line of March
1987, October
box 1, folder 2
Unit Study Guide for "On Strikes" by V.I. Lenin (Notes No. 3), November 1986
1986, November
box 1, folder 2
Bay Area Committee discussion group information leaflet
undated
box 1, folder 3
Frontline, a Line of March publication, Vol. 1, No. 21; Vol. 4, No. 1[unnumbered edition]; No. 1-2
1984, April 30; 1986, June 9; undated
box 1, folder 4
Line of March: a Marxist-Leninist Journal of Rectification Vol. 1, No. 4; No. 17
January-February 1981, Spring 1985
box 1, folder 5
Notes on the Class Struggle: and communist practice; and building the left, Activists' Bulletin of the Line of March, No. 3-4
Fall 1986-1987
box 1, folder 2
"Polish Workers' Strike, More Meat and Democracy,"
Organizer
1980, September
box 1, folder 6-7
Reprints from
Frontline
1987, undated
box 1, folder 6
Black Political Power on Trial in Alabama, updated edition
undated
box 1, folder 6
Central America: U.S. intervention and the rising tide of liberation
undated
box 1, folder 6
El Salvador: the people's movement advances
undated
box 1, folder 6
Labor: the struggle for progressive politics
undated
box 1, folder 6
Namibian Liberation: key to the Anti-Apartheid fight
undated
box 1, folder 6
Nicaragua: defending the revolution
undated
box 1, folder 6
"People Power" Won the Victory
undated
box 1, folder 6
Socialist Renewal in the Soviet Union
undated
box 1, folder 6
South Africa: a revolution in the making
undated
box 1, folder 6
South Africa: a revolution in the making
1987, April
box 1, folder 6
South Africa: a revolution in the making, updated edition
undated
box 1, folder 7
The April 25 Mobilization and the Labor Movement
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Fight for Lesbian/Gay Rights in the Age of AIDS and Reagan
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Hormel Strike: what's at stake for the labor movement
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Middle East: tinderbox of world politics
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Nicaraguan Revolution
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Nicaraguan Revolution: celebrating the 50th anniversary
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Philippines After Marcos, The Unfinished Democratic Revolution
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Revolution in Indochina: lessons from Vietnam and Kampuchea
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Role of the Soviet Union in the Struggle for Peace, updated edition
undated
box 1, folder 7
The Struggle for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
undated
box 1, folder 7
The War Against Affirmative Action
undated
box 1, folder 7
Women in the Struggle for Peace, Equality and Liberation
undated
box 1, folder 2
Reports
1977-1987, undated
box 1, folder 2
National Board Report
undated
box 1, folder 2
D.G. Guide for "Poland- Where We Stand," L.O.M., Vol. 1, No. 4, February 1981
Feburary 1981
box 1, folder 2
"Reconstruction and Critique of Line of March's Party Building Line, 1977-1987" report
1977-1987
box 1, folder 2
"Critique of the Opportunist Line Which is Destroying the LOM" report
undated
box 1, folder 2
"The Old LOM Party Building Line Revisited" report
undated
box 1, folder 8
Tyler, Judith and April Hawkins. "What We'll Remember About P-9,"
Viewpoint, Frontline
undated
box 1, folder 3
The OCIC's Phony War Against White Chauvinism and the Demise of the Fusion Line, by the Line of March Editorial Board
undated
