Forward Motion began in the early 1980s and continued into the next decade. We approached our work from close to the ground level of organizing, where great starts had been made in workplaces, communities, and more. We were an all-volunteer operation, with no paid staff, working under the umbrella of the Proletarian Unity League.
Forward Motion tackled a wide range of issues in the United States and globally. Through interviews, opinion pieces, poetry, book reviews, researched analyses, and occasional PUL position papers, we grappled with those issues in fairly accessible and non-dogmatic language (for the times). Many of the debates captured there remain useful today, some as a snapshot of left concerns in those years and others for the analyses themselves.
In addition, we sought out organizers and movement activists with experiences to share. We provided framework questions to sum up that work. And we edited and published the results in ways intended to help others do the same in their work. We aimed to provide an example of learning from practice and using those lessons to deepen and extend political understandings and theory.
We did this at a contradictory time for radical politics. Left ideas had new presence and strength at the grassroots even as an emboldened right ushered Ronald Reagan in as president. Experienced organizers had begun to make breakthroughs in labor struggles, the Rainbow organizations, internationalist work and so much more even as the national organizations of the revolutionary left declined.
Forward Motion made sense for those times. Lessons positive and negative from the organizing of the 1980s and 1990s may prove useful and inspire socialist activists challenged in their current organizing. If so, then adding to the Archives today will have served its purpose.
Thanks to Ben Allen for scanning many of these issues.
–Forward Motion Editorial Collective
The Proletarian Unity League" Where We Came From, What We Look Like, What We Do
Getting Out from Between a Rock and a Hard Place. Sum-up of a Strike in a Municipal Hospital (Part 1)
How to Think about the Soviet Union
Nuclear Blackmail
Building the Black United Front
Affirmative Action in the 1980s
The Old and the New
Black Independent Political Action
Using Louise: What the Directors Did in Reds
All in the Family
The Ruling Class Debate on Foreign Policy
When Militance Is Not Enough
“Mrs. Call”
Views on the News
Letter and Comment
CPUSA’s “Take a Stand” Rally in Milwaukee
Massacre in Lebanon
The L.A. Coalition Against Plant Shutdowns
Meanwhile, Polo is In....
“Breaking In”
National Liberation, National Communism
China Today: Two Interviews
Transit Workers Respond to Turks’ Murder: A Sum-up
Leaving the Night Shift
Tracing the Roots of the Palestinian Struggle
People’s Army in the Philippines
PUL’s Recent Conference
Who we Are and Where We’re Headed
The Crisis of Marxism
Concentrating Our Efforts in the Mass Work
Nationalities Work/Against White Supremacy
The Awakening
Poland: A State of War
Views on the News
America’s Democratic Traditions
March on Washington – August 27
The Boston Police and Firefighters Case
Looking At the Harold Washington Victory
Winning on the Shop Floor
Dancing
The Soviet Union and Oppressed Nationalities
Study Guide: Using What We Have to Get What We Need
Lesbian and Gay Exclusion: RWH comments
King Vs. Flynn
All Out for Mel King
Join Mel King
The Harold Washington Campaign
Winning with Washington
Chinese
Chinese-American
Editorial: Jackson for President
The Boston Mayoral Race
Interview: Assessing the Mel King Campaign
Support Melrod, Drew, and Ohnstad!
Poetry: “Of Birds and Flowers”
“Why the U.S. Fears Grenada”
On Grenada
Review: “Under Fire”
Letter from Chicago
Socialism and Democracy Study Guide, Part II
Interview: Women in Non-Traditional Jobs
“Ain’t I A Woman?”: Black History Forum
Sue Doro: Three Poems
“I thought we were allies”: A letter
Christmas Day at the Medical Center
New Technology
Appearance and Essence in American Politics
Occupied Grenada: A Visitor’s Report
The Kissinger Report and Nicaragua: A First Hand View
Study Series: Socialism and Democracy, Part III
Industrial Policy and Socialist Strategy
The Jackson Campaign in Massachusetts
On the Death of Ahmed Sekou Toure
Double Trouble For Women of Color
Party Up
The Student Movement and the Progressive Student Network
Labor Update: The NLRB Under Reagan
Vol. III, No. 3, August-September 1984
Central America: The War Is On
El Salvador: A Poem
Overcoming Dependency: Agriculture in Nicaragua
I
ndian National Rights in Nicaragua
New Work, Old Debates
Labor Solidarity With Central America
SEIU Resolution Fight on Central America
Dear Ralph and Alice
Party Up, Part II: The Fundamental Things Apply
Health Care in the Reagan Era
Review: The Color Purple
Review: John Mellancamp's Uh-huh
Vol. III, No. 4, October-November 1984
Reagan, the Democrats, and the Future of Rainbow Politics
If This is Tuesday, It Must be “Mondale”
Thoughts on the West Side of Wisconsin
The Farrakhan Controversy
Reagan and Ideology
Pleeease
Shaking Up Chicago Ward Politics
Mobilizing Students Against Reagan
The Kiss of Death
Nicaragua: Revolution and Democrary
Save Mila Aguilar
Labor Notes in 1984: Solidarity Now?
Loco Motion
Vol. III, No. 5, December 1984-January 1985
Interview: The Front Line in Africa Today
Editorial: Anzania Must Be Free
Interview: African Labor and Apartheid
Independent Unions in South Africa
Sudan: A Visitor’s Perspective
Cabral and Guinean Independence
Review: African Socialism or Socialist Africa?
Review: A Guest of Honour
Update on Mila Aguilar
Letter and Replies on Central America
Vol. IV, No. 1, February-March 1985
Editorial: Twenty Years After Malcom X
The Passing Of A Freedom Fighter
A Look At Black Studies Today: An Interview
Black Liberation By Any Means Necessary
Child’s Play
Helping Children Imagine King's Dream
Prospects For Black Student Activism In The Boston Area
Poems From Black History
The Bennie Leonard Case: A Seven Year Struggle For Justice
Party Up: Party III:Organizing to Learn, Learning to Win
Responses To Party Up
The British Miners Strike And Labor In Thatcher’s Britain
Students And Reagan
Vol. IV, No. 2, April-May 1985
Taking It All On In The Locals
Editorial: International Women’s Day 1985
Nicaragua: A Black Perspective
Background: The U.S. and Nicaragua
Welcome Indians
Free Mila Aguilar
Poetry By Mila Aguilar
Party Up IV: On the Contradiction of Leninism
Good News Bad News
Vol. IV, No. 3, June-July 1985
Introduction
Police Terrorism in Philadelphia
Working for Socialism
Coup in Sudan
LocoMotion
Review: For My People
The Spirit of Justice
Vol. IV, No. 4, August-September 1985
Editorial: Bending Foster Care to Anti-Gay Politics
Comparable Worth: Issue of the '8Os
A Long Journey for Chinese-American Women
Poetry
A Look at the Pornography Debate
Save Our Children From the Right Wing
Students on the Move Against Apartheid
Pop Culture and the Lessons of ’Nam
Party Up, Part V: Tendentially Speaking
Review: The Changing Situation of Workers and their Unions
Vol. IV, No. 5, October-November 1985
Industrial Disease: Why Everybody’s Getting It
Hormel Meatpacking: Corporate Campaign With A Punch
Boston City Hospital Wage Equity Gains
Join the Campaign Against Coors
Organizing at Litton Microwave
Lynn GE: A Reform Coalition Comes to Power
Organizing Federal Workers in the Reagan Era
ILWU Local 13: Mixed Blessings of Success
Review: Organized Labor and the Black Worker
Interview: The Irish Republican Movement Today
Macho Nerds for Reagan
Stirrings in the Bronx
LocoMotion: LiveAid
Vol. IV, No. 6, December 1985-January 1986
War and Famine in Eritrea
Philippines: Day of Protest
Letter from Filipina Activist
Poetry: Researcher Reporting on the Dumagats
Nicaragua: Zero Hour . . . Again!
U.N. Women’s Forum in Nairobi
Review: Cambodia: 1975-1982
Welcome, Freedom Road
Farms, Not Arms
Review: Kiss of the Spider Woman
The Philippine Revolution and the Left, Interview with E. San Juan, Jr.
The Prospects for Democracy in the Phillipines, by Charles Sarkis
The Black Family: Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, by Candice S. Cason
Lift Every Voice, by V. Morris
Boston School Bus Drivers Stand Firm. An Interview
Six Months of Struggle in Mexico: A Balance Sheet, by Francisco Miguel Mantilla
The New Campus Right Wing: William F. Buckley in Iowa, by Joe losbaker
Review: Another Look at The Color Purple, by Lucy Marx
Two Decades of the Irish Struggle. Interview with Bernadette Devlin-MeAliskey
Hormel: Labor’s Selma, by Joe Alley
Back Into the Arena of Sexual Politics, by Liz Hill
Ilopango Is Another Trench in the Revolution, by Robert Johnson
Working for Socialism: The Path of Resistance, by Steve Camera
Working for Socialism: Looking Back at the CPML, Interview with Don Smith
Book Review: I Never Played the Game, by Joe Alley
Vol. V, No. 5, October-December 1986
In Memorium: Mauricio Gaston
Editorial: Get Ready for ’88, by Freedom Road Socialist Organization
On the Cutting Edge in Chicago Politics, by Luis Gutierrez, Robert Starks, Richard Saks
On Blackie’s, by Richard Berg
Impressions of a Rainbow, by Laura N.
For Fire Next Time: Jackson And Labor, by Charles Sarkis
Resisting the New Repression in Puerto Rico: Interview with Jorge Farinacci
Lift Every Voice: The “Drug War,” by Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Letters to the Editors
Book Review: Parallel Passions, by Lucy Marx
Film Review: Horrors, by Tom Goodkind
Vol. VI, No. 1, January-February 1987
Old Visions, New Visions, by Celia Wcislo
The Philippines: Editors’ Introduction
Revolutionary Struggle in The Philippines, by E. San Juan
Founding of the Partido ng Bayan, by Juan Maria Sison
Philippine Communists Reassess, with Julio Rivera
Amandla!, by Themba Vilakazi
Samora Machel: A Luta Continua, by Seamus Flaherty
To Winnie, by j.e.m.
“Just Say No,” by Dennis O’Neil, Lee Ornati
1986 Labor Notes Conference, by Sean Ahern
The Swamp, by Dave Cline
CIA Off Campus, by Max Harvey
Successful Left Unity
The Def Beat, Part, by Dennis O’Neil
Vol. VI, No. 2, March-April 1987
Howard Beach and the Black Movement, with Jitu Weusi
Howard Beach and White New York, by John Jameson
Black Culture and Politics in Britain, with Linton Kwesi Johnson
An Ebony View of the Ivory Tower, by Leon Watson
Fight, by Collete Armstead
New Phase for US in Central America?, by Dennis O’Neil and Lee Ornati
Directions for Labor’s Left Wing, by Chris Curran
Rank and File Movement at Kaiser, by Michael Kellard and Edward Freeman
Adirondacks Revisited, by Bob Peterson
Southern California Blues, by David Stock
To the Editors
China: The Student Demonstrations, by Don Carroll
Democracy and Class in China, by Ping Yong
Ourselves Alone, by Tom Goodkind
China Advances On the Socialist Road, by Mic Kelly
Spring Tidings – I, by Dennis O’Neil and Lee Ornati
Spring Tidings – II, by Samantha McCormick
Women’s Work, by Meizhu Lui
The Irish National Movement, with Peter Urban, together with Comment by Bill Nevins
Rock and Roll to Change the World, by Dennis O’Neil
To the Editors
Vol. VI, No. 4, July-August 1987
Editorial: AIDS, Gay Pride, and U.S. Politics
Life in Dukakis’ Massachusetts, by Karin Aguilar-San Juan
Rainbow Politics: From the Grass Roots On Up, with Mel King
Music to Help the Movement Carry On, with Bernice Reagon
Rock’s Advertising Connection, by Dennis O’Neil
Grenada and the Caribbean, by Don Rojas
Working For A Living/Red Ants, by Mila Aguilar
Review: Understanding American Labor’s Prison, by Mike Conan
Review: Reshaping the Irish-American Connection, by Bill Nevins
Vol. VI, No. 5, November-December 1987
Editorial: The Left and Jesse Jackson
Editorial: End the Coors Boycott?
Interviews: Bright Promise: The Chicano and Mexicano Movements, with Delores Huerta, Kiko Martinez, Argemiro Morales, Devon Peņa, Daniel Orsuna, Angela Sanbrano
Poetry: The Illegal, by Rosario Caldera Salazar
Interview: Organizing Around the New Immigration Law with Barry Harlow
Labor: Everything Under the Sun, by Peter Olney
Analysis and Interviews: Left Unity In Mexico, by Victor Roha
Analysis: Crisis in Panama, by Lamoin Werlein-Jaen
Obituary: On the Death of Truman Nelson, by Alexander Lynn
Labor: No Going Back to the Jungle, by Joe Alley
Vol. VII, No. 1, January-February 1988
Commentary: New Black Reconstruction Goverment, by Saladin Muhammad for Black Workers League
Commentary: Background to the National Question by the Amilcar Cabral-Paul Robeson Collective
Commentary: Black Liberation Today, by the Freedom Road Nationalities Commission
Dedication: To Abner W. Berry
Analysis: A Southern Strategy, by Cordon Dillahunt
Analysis: Black Land Loss in the South, by Cary Grant
Interview: Black Theology and the Southern Church
Perspective: We Are Our Own Liberators!, by the BWJ Women’s Commission
Poetry: The Challenge, by Christina Davis
Report: The Klan Marches in North Carolina, by Akil Jagas
Labor: Support International Paper Workers, by the Alabama New South Coalition
Labor: Black Labor: An Overview, by Saladin Muhammad
Music: Jazz and the South, by Walter J. Norflett
Obituary: Remembering Harold Washington, by Peggy Baker
Vol. VII, No. 3, May-June 1988
Interview: AZAPO and the Freedom Struggle in South Africa With Saths Cooper
Photography: Faces of the New Nicaragua, by Samantha McCormick
Analysis: Building Socialism in Africa, by Wamba-dia-Wamba
Labor: Hospitals Laundry Workers Organize, by Gene Bruskin
Poetry: Survivor’s Cento, Jury of Peers, Ninth Floor Reprise, The Day When Mountains Moved, by Chris Llewellyn
Poetry: First Day on a New Jobsite, by Susan Eisenberg
Poetry: Trying to Turn a Bad Thing into Good, Muscle, by Sue Doro
Organizing: The Gay Community Confronts the AIDS Crisis, by Steve Hamilton
Culture: The Hard-Boiled Detective Hits the Eighties, by Cathy Chamberlain
Review: Toxic Wastes and Race in the U.S.
Comment: Absence of Good Black Dancers in New York, by Charles Sarkis
Obituary: Remembering Maxine Fennell, by Celia Wcislo
Letter: To the Editor
Vol. VII, No. 4, July-September 1988
Editorial: Uprising in the Occupied Territories
The Uprising: Causes and Consequences, by Gail Pressman
The Palestinians’ Fourteen Demands
Letter From The West Bank
Palestine and Israel, by Bob Petersen
New Phase for the Rainbow, by Freedom Road
The Left and the Jackson Presidential Campaign, by Susan Connor
Inside the California Jackson Campaign, by Ayofemi Stowe
Labor Struggle at GM Van Nuys, by Peter Olney
El Salvador’s Miguel Marmol, by Charles Sarkis
Vol. VIII, No. 1, February-March 1989
Editorial: Education for Empowerment
Analysis: Literacy in a Democracy, by Harold Berlak
Analysis: Weeding Women out of “Woman’s True Profession,” by Sara Freedman
Resources: Newspapers and Magazines on School Reform
Interview: Education and Community Empowerment, with Wilbur Haddock
Organizing: The Struggle for a Decent School, by Bob Peterson
Analysis: Organizing Strategy for Urban Education, by Tony Baez
Commentary: So, You Want To Help an Adult Learn To Read, by Joan Sheldon-Conan
History: Black Belt Industrial Education Movement, by Donald Stone
Conference Call: Reconstructing Our Schools
Commentary: The Final Friday of Ramadan in the First Year of the Intifada, by Hady Alex Amr
Update: Justice For the Hartford 15, by Lenore Glaser and Juan Vargas
Vol. VIII, No. 4, December 1989
Editorial: Facing the ’90s, by the Labor Commission, Freedom Road Socialist Organization
Analysis: Massachusetts Vote No On 2 Campaign, by Jeff Crosby
Review and Analysis: Union Power or Soul Power, by Michelle Sanders
Interview: Unionism from Scratch with Monica Russo
Organizing: New Unionism in the South, by Saladin Muhammad
Organizing: Lessons of Michael Angelo’s, by Maria Elena Mendez and Martin Eder
Analysis: Labor and Independent Political Action, by Bill Fletcher, Jr.
Report: Lesbian and Gay Labor for Health Care, by Harneen Chernow and Susan Moir
Safety and Health: Three Hundred Workers A Day, by Joe Alley
Brazil: Speaking a Different Language, by Marybeth Menaker
Book Review: The Journalist and the Orator, by Charles Sarkis
Letter: Events in China, by Jerry Harris
Locomotion: Locomotion for the Holidays, by Dennis O’Neil
Colombia: Drug War’s Long Shadow, by Martin Eder with Antonio Navarro
Mexico: On Learning From The Crisis Of Socialism with Rodolfo Armenta
On The Fall Of Old Style Socialism with Eraclio Zepeda
Mozambique: The Dream Destroyed? Or Just On Hold?, by Loretta J. Williams
Eritrea’s Independent Revolution with Hagos Chebrehiwet
Is Socialism Dead?, by Dr. S.J. Noumoff
Is Economic Conversion the Answer?, by Elizabeth Kimbrough
U.S. Economy in the Changing World of the 1990s, by Chip Smith
U.S. Health Care Crisis, by Celia Wcislo
In Memory of Clarence Jerome Fitch, by WAW
Vietnam Perspective, by Clarence Fitch
Letter to the Editors from Jerry Harris