Monica Moorehead, a Workers World managing editor and editor of “Marxism, Reparations and the Black Freedom Struggle,” gave the following talk at a New York City Workers World Party forum honoring Malcolm X on Feb. 20, 2025.

Comrades and friends, the 60th anniversary of the assassination of Malcolm X affords us the opportunity to look back on the timeless contributions that Malcolm made to the struggle for the liberation of Black people, first through the prism of revolutionary Black Nationalism and last through the prism of anti-imperialist internationalism, and to apply those contributions to the class struggle today. 

Malcolm’s speeches on police brutality and the right to self-defense were cornerstones of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords and others, both politically and organizationally. A year or two following Malcolm’s death, the Black Power Movement was born, with major spokespeople being the late Kwame Ture, aka Stokely Carmichael, and H. Rap Brown (now Imam Jalil Al-Amin, a political prisoner). 

I just want to make two points about Malcolm X. 

During the height of the Black Liberation Movement (BLM) in the 1960s, both Malcolm and Dr. King were the most influential figures. They represented two political wings of the BLM — Malcolm represented the militant wing, especially advocating the right to self-defense for Black people, which drew the ire of the racist status quo. 

As a member of the Nation of Islam, the largest Black organization in the U.S., Malcolm supported the right of NOI’s program of separation. Our party defended their right to do so, even with our ideological differences with NOI. 

And on the opposite side of the spectrum was Dr. King, who represented the moderate wing that advocated the right to assimilation or integration. King preached for civil rights reforms within the confines of the capitalist system; Malcolm did not. 

But despite these differences, both Malcolm and Dr. King were targeted by COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program), because they were both dynamic figures who had a mass base in the North and South representing the aspirations of the Black masses for full democratic rights. They both aimed to further the struggle for full social equality for the Black masses by any means necessary. 

With that said, the bourgeois press had a field day pitting these two sides of the political debate against each other. It was a struggle over which tactics and strategies to use in the quest for Black liberation, which the racists violently opposed. And while it was true that Malcolm was more of a vocal critic of the reformist politics and non-violent tactics of the Civil Rights Movement, these kinds of debates are not new. 

A similar debate occurred in the early 20th century between the philosophies of Booker T. Washington and W. E. B. Du Bois, one generation removed from Reconstruction. 

From Black Nationalism to internationalism

But a seismic shift happened once Malcolm X made his pilgrimage in the fall of 1964 to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, where he interacted with Muslims from around the world who spoke different languages, came from different cultures, different ethnic backgrounds, but what brought them together ran deeper than the religion they shared, which was demonized in the West. 

It was the unity and solidarity expressed not only in Mecca but also during his visits to African countries like Egypt, Ghana, Ethiopia and countries in West Asia that had a tremendous impact on Malcolm. 

This included a visit to Gaza where he visited the Khan Younis refugee camp, where he came to see first hand the plight of the Palestinian people living under a brutal settler-colonial occupation. This visit inspired him to write a commentary called “Zionist Logic” where he linked this European colonial ideology from Palestine to Africa. 

Malcolm attended a meeting of the newly formed Organization of African Unity, a united front of African countries that recently won their independence from imperialist European countries. 

Taking this five-month historic trip was decisive in Malcolm developing a perspective of internationalism against racism and imperialism to show that Black people inside the United States were not oppressed by racist individuals but by an entire social system — worldwide capitalism. 

As someone born under segregation in Alabama, I shared the same view about white people as Malcolm X did until I met Workers World Party in the early 1970s. That taught me that Black people had more in common with other oppressed people of the world regardless of where they live or who they are. 

Malcolm went from characterizing the “white man” as the main oppressor of the world to the system of imperialism as the main oppressor. Malcolm was evolving from the ideology of Black Nationalism — which our Party defended when other Marxist-Leninist parties did not — to internationalism. 

The week before his assassination, Malcolm stated: “It is incorrect to classify the revolt of the Negro as simply a racial conflict of Black against white or as a purely American problem. Rather, we are today seeing a global rebellion of the oppressed against the oppressor, the exploited against the exploiter.” 

Organization of Afro-American Unity – what might have been

When Malcolm returned to the U.S. after spending five months abroad, he announced the formation of the Organization of Afro-American Unity with the goal of uniting Black people, regardless of where they lived, into a united front to fight not just for civil rights but for human rights and to show that the oppression of Black people knows no borders. 

Malcolm announced that this united front included putting aside any differences with the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King to help form this new organization. There is a famous photo showing Malcolm shaking hands with Dr. King, which you can just imagine sounded alarm bells for the racist ruling class, whose rule is predicated on dividing, weakening and co-opting movements for social change. 

Malcolm envisioned bringing the issues of racism and other human rights violations like the lack of housing, health care and education — reparations denied coming out of the Civil War — before the United Nations, which was playing a different role over 50 years ago than it is today because of the anti-colonial revolutions sweeping the globe at that time. 

But the ruling class decided it was not in their class interests for Malcolm to bring the plight of 22 million Black people to the attention of the world, tarnishing their already tarnished image. 

The ruling class decided that Malcolm had to be silenced with his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom 60 years ago tomorrow [Feb. 21, 1965], just as they decided that Dr. King had to be silenced three years later when he declared that the Vietnam War was “immoral” and linked that war abroad with the war at home in the form of racism and poverty. 

But as Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton stated, “You can kill a revolutionary, but you can’t kill the revolution.” This certainly applies to Malcolm, especially 60 years later with all that is happening with the current white supremacist Trump/Musk regime and their billionaire allies’ attacks on our class. 

It’s safe to say that the lessons and spirit of Malcolm X — to never remain stagnant and always evolving one’s worldview as he did — will continue to influence and inspire revolutionaries and activists around the world, including the younger generation.

Malcolm X, ¡presente!

Monica Moorehead talk on video: youtu.be/cM1-bv64–0

Link to the entire meeting of Feb. 20: youtu.be/JqBpDUVqmQQ