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

But Williams, honoring anti-communist fervor in the United States, disavowed any
association with the Communist Party . "I am not interested in promoting ideologies or
philosophies . I am interested in justice and freedom . . . It is not a matter of socialism, or
what they call socialism or communism ."~~ He denied any formal affiliation with the
Communist Party . "This movement that I led was not a political organization," he
repeated . "It had no political affiliations whatsoever. It was a movement of people who
resented oppression ." aZ Forced into exile, Williams became an expatriate, decrying
American imperialism at home and abroad. During these years, he was not only a
fugitive, but also a patriot : throughout this trying time, he still considered the United
States "home ."
Williams became more notorious as a refugee than as a militant activist at home.
During his exile, a number of domestic groups usurped his name and image to advance
their own causes and to keep his alive in the United States . The Peace and Freedom Party
suggested he run for President of the United States while in exile; he respectfully
declined. He also served briefly as the honorary Prime Minister of the Provincial
Government of the African-American Captive Nation, a short-lived separatist group
advocating a separate nation within the U.S . for black Americans . While in Cuba, the
Revolutionary Action Movement asked Williams to become its chairman ; while in China,
the Republic of New Africa did the same. Both titles were honon~ry, and Williams
3~Williams, quoted in Robert C . Maynard, "Williams Says Duty Called Him Back,"
Washin on Post (September 15, 1969): 1, A4 .
32Williams, Negroes With Guns, 119 .
214