IN MEMORY OF A. PHILIP RANDOLPH
Rustin, Bayard
Mr. Randolph was a successful and uniquely gifted labor and civil rights activist because of his human qualities. His leadership flowed from the depth of his humanity—and from his understanding of...
...And early in his life, when he was a mere solitary and powerless individual, he swore to challenge this affront to humanity...
...Thus, while rejecting religious and racial intolerance, worker exploitation, and unbridled capitalism, Randolph never embraced totalitarianism...
...In 1942, he urged me and others to devote ourselves to the cause of Japanese-Americans who were detained during World War II...
...I want to share with you a touching passage from a letter I received from my good friend and comrade, the author James T. Farrell...
...His modesty, his integrity, and his dedication won for him the loyalty—and yes, the love—of his comrades and trade union brothers and sisters...
...He saw men like Stalin and Hitler and he knew that systems based on total power constitute a threat to freedom and justice everywhere...
...Instead, he embraced democratic socialism, the political philosophy that was the foundation of his strategies and tactics in the trade union and civil rights movements and that—combined with his own intelligence, integrity, and complete lack of sentimentality—helped him reject the fads, the easy answers, and the separatist delusions that have all too frequently plagued liberation movements...
...We who worked for him never served out of a sense of coercion or fear, but out of a sense of love and our need to share his commitment...
...He helped establish the first American Committee Against Apartheid...
...This philosophy provided as well a basis for universal moral concern, compelling his resistance to any tendency that defended unjust acts in the name of justice or that excused wrongdoings, by whites or blacks, because it was done in the name of freedom, or democracy, or racial liberation, or of any other cause...
...Jim recalled a conversation he had with a Pullman porter back in the 1960s...
...Moreover, he always taught us that the struggle for any right is inextricably linked to the struggle for all rights...
...But we must remember that A. Philip Randolph considered himself part of a living, vibrant movement—a movement that embraced thousands whom he regarded as equals, as his brothers and sisters...
...He urged me to go to Southeast Asia to assist the thousands of defenseless refugees fleeing the brutal, totalitarian regimes of Indochina...
...He asked us to join the struggle with Martin Luther King, Jr...
...Referring to Mr...
...He knew that powerless workers could uplift themselves only by uniting in democratic trade unions, the only effective instruments of economic liberation, then and now...
...The chiefs boundless concerns are clearly seen in his world view...
...All of us here must recognize our responsibility to "take care of the old gentleman...
...And shortly before his 373 death, he emphasized the urgency of assisting the refugees from Haiti who are reaching our shores in search of freedom...
...That we can do by taking care of his unfinished work...
...His leadership flowed from the depth of his humanity—and from his understanding of the human condition...
...He also understood the terror and depravity of absolute power wielded by a totalitarian elite...
...I read these remarks at the Washington memorial service for A. Philip Randolph.—B.R...
...He saw that industrial capitalism—an economic system motivated by insecurity, greed, and ruthless competition—debased society in a fundamental way...
...Later, he urged us to become involved with liberation movements in India and Africa...
...We who loved him feel a longing for his presence...
...And we'll take care of the old gentleman...
...His most prized possession was a gold watch given to him by the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters...
...He offered enthusiastic encouragement as we began the difficult task of organizing the Black Americans to Support Israel Committee...
...Randolph, the porter said to Jim: "The old gentleman took care of us when we needed it...
...Now he's old and he needs to be taken care of...
...That watch symbolized for him the appreciation and love of his union brothers, and he left it to brother Douglas Taylor, one of his most loyal followers...
...He had no double standards...
...Randolph lived simply...
...His political philosophy also arose from his humanity...
...in the South...
...As a young man, he saw and felt the ugly realities of racial oppression that were to him an abomination...
...He was also disturbed by the deplorable conditions of most American workers, white as well as black...
Vol. 26 • September 1979 • No. 4
