Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Decay of an Enterprise
- 2 Fascism
- 3 Neofascism: Some Presumptive Candidates
- 4 Julius Evola, Fascism, and Neofascism
- 5 Black Nationalism and Neofascism: Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association
- 6 Black Nationalism and Neofascism: Elijah Muhammad and the Lost-Found Nation of Islam
- 7 Islamofascism: Neofascism in the Middle East
- 8 Hindutva: The Case for a Saffron Fascism
- 9 Post-Maoist China: Fascism with Chinese Characteristics
- 10 Conclusions
- Index
6 - Black Nationalism and Neofascism: Elijah Muhammad and the Lost-Found Nation of Islam
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1 The Decay of an Enterprise
- 2 Fascism
- 3 Neofascism: Some Presumptive Candidates
- 4 Julius Evola, Fascism, and Neofascism
- 5 Black Nationalism and Neofascism: Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association
- 6 Black Nationalism and Neofascism: Elijah Muhammad and the Lost-Found Nation of Islam
- 7 Islamofascism: Neofascism in the Middle East
- 8 Hindutva: The Case for a Saffron Fascism
- 9 Post-Maoist China: Fascism with Chinese Characteristics
- 10 Conclusions
- Index
Summary
Before the 1960s, when both the Black Power movement and Elijah Muhammad's Lost-Found Nation of Islam became political powers to be reckoned with, white and black liberals were quick simply to condemn any movement characterized by “fierce chauvinistic nationalism and strongly centralized leadership” as “fascist.” Muhammad's “Black Muslims,” the heir to Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), could be, and generally were, so depicted. Muhammad's Black Muslims were seen part of the “black fascist tradition” begun by Marcus Garvey. The continuity has been traced without much difficulty.
With the eclipse of Garvey's UNIA in the late 1920s, a number of candidate substitutes either made their appearance or achieved increasing prominence. They responded to the evident demands of blacks who still suffered all the disabilities common to the race – at a time when those disabilities were exacerbated by the Great Depression.
The United African Nationalist Movement and the National Movement of People of African Descent were among those organizations. The appearance of such movements was accompanied by a number of specifically religious organizations such as that of Father Divine, who announced that he was “the Son of God” – the “Messenger” to a sinful world – and Charles Manuel, “Sweet Daddy Grace,” who sometimes claimed to be God, and who established “Houses of God” along the entire Atlantic seaboard of the United States. Blacks who felt orphaned by the passing of the UNIA had a choice of options in their search for its alternative.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Search for NeofascismThe Use and Abuse of Social Science, pp. 137 - 165Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006