Line of March collection

Collection

Identifier: HLL-2019-019

Staff Only

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.

Dates

1977-1987, undated

Language of Materials

Collection material is in English.

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.

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

Extent

.42 Linear Feet

Additional Description

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.

Arrangement

The collection is alphabetically arranged in one series.

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.