Book Review: Revolutionary Suicide

"By having no family I have inherited the family of humanity.

By having no possessions I have possessed all.

By rejecting the love of one I have received the love of all.

By surrendering my life to the revolution I have found eternal life.

Revolutionary suicide."



“Revolutionary Suicide” by Huey P. Newton was recently republished and made broadly available as part of the Penguin Classics series. As an autobiography and as a window into the life of the Black Panthers it is extremely significant. However the power of “Revolutionary Suicide” lies not merely in the story it tells but for the way in which it enunciates the moral foundations upon which broader revolutionary theory and practice is based. In this way Newton earns his place not only among the great revolutionary activists of the world, but stands with and of the tradition of authors like Maxim Gorky, giving voice to the inspiration behind lives dedicated to the struggle against capitalism.

Newton begins the book aptly enough not with a discussion of birth but one of death. He opens with reflections on the growing rates of suicide among black men which came to his attention while reading during his imprisonment. Basing himself on the Sociologist Emile Durkheim's conception of all suicides being based in broader social conditions, Newton elaborated his theory of revolutionary and reactionary suicide. Reactionary Suicide is “the reaction of a man who takes his own life in response to social conditions that overwhelm him and condemn him to helplessness”. Beyond reactionary suicide and even more degrading is the cynical acceptance of ones own oppression, “a death of the spirit rather then of the flesh” which consigns its victims to a life without meaning or decency, a life of “quiet desperation” which is a death of it's own kind.

In contrast the path of the revolutionary, of any human being seeking to retain dignity and self respect in the face of oppression, is one of resistance at any cost. “I do not think life will change for the better without an assault on the Establishment... Thus it is better to oppose the forces that would drive me to self-murder then to endure them. Although I risk the likelihood of death, there is at least the possibility, if not the probability, of changing intolerable conditions.” Revolutionary Suicide is nothing less then the total commitment to demand respect and humanity at any cost, a demand which as history would prove was sure to bring the state's murderous represseion down upon the Panthers. Yet this is not to be confused with a cynical acceptance of death or repression, in contrast it, like all revolutionary ideologies is grounded in the hope and longing for a world that could be. “The concept of revolutionary suicide is not defeatist or fatalistic. On the contrary, it conveys an awareness of reality in combination with the possibility of hope – reality because the revolutionary must always be prepared to face death, and hope because it symbolizes a resolute determination to bring about change.”

Newton relates his background and upbringing (including the somewhat surprising origin of his name), his progress from a disillusioned youth to one of the founders of the Black Panther party, his trial and imprisonment, release, and the work of the Black Panther Party in the aftermath of the split with Eldridge Cleaver. Newton's writing style is direct and clear, yet rhetorically effective and engaging. He succeeds in weaving the underlying philosophy of revolutionary suicide into each conflict and transformation, demonstrating in practice what he advocates in theory. Though at times the narrative appears dragged down by some of the infighting within and without the Black Panthers, the work is a product of it's time of which the first cracks in the Party are as much a part of as the incredible revolutionary devotion the book captures. "Revolutionary Suicide", and in particular the revolutionary philosophy Newton incorporates into each aspect of his story, is in many ways a more accurate representation of the spirit and potential of Newton and Panthers then any history showing their decline and collapse in the face of resurgent conservatism and state repression could be.