3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

defense in the swggle for black equality but also symbolically brings the civil fights
movement full-cit+cle to its humble beginnings in Montgomery, Alabama . While in exile,
Robert Williams associated with Fidel Castc+o, Che Guevara, Alberto Pineira, Blas Roca,
and other Cuban governmental officials, all of whom tried to convince him that "the race
issue is due to class oppression . . . rather than racial struggle."~ Cuban officials argued
that the only chance for black ~vancement was for black and white workers to unite
across racial boundaries . But Williams continued to see the greatest threat as coming
from the same working-class whites championed by Communist doctrine . in 1964, when
an interviewer asked him if he "preached hate" like the Muslims, Williams replied: "Yes,
I teach and advocate hate . I teach and advocate hatred of all forms of oppression, tyranny,
and exploitation. I teach and advocate hatred of the haters . Why should we be required
to love our enemies?"~
Williams continued to agitate from abroad, using radio transmissions from
Havana ("Radio Free Dixie") and his monthly newsletter The Crusader to encourage
Afro-Americans to fight white oppression actively . He also sought to clear his name . His
rhetoric took on an increasingly revolutionary, Marxist tone . Such rhetoric prompted
the editor of The Charlotte Observer to decry Williams' "scurrilous propaganda" and
'Testimony of Robert F. Williams, U . S . Senate Judiciary Hearings, Subcommittee
on Internal Security, 91st Congress, Second Session, Febniary 16, 1970 (Washington,
D.C . : U .S . Government Printing Office,1971), 3-4, 12 .
uWilliams, "An Interview with Robert Williams ;' Marxist LeninistO~ 2
(1964) : 1, 60.
For example, see Williams, "USA: The Potential for a Minority Revolution,"~
~ 7 n 1(August 1965) : 1-8 .
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