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By Any Means Necessary (Malcolm X Speeches and Writing)

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It will open your eyes to truths hidden for decades. Malcolm X made me see what crimes to humanity my race (yes i'm white) has comitted. But it goes deeper than that. There are civil right movements in all the countries of the world, and this book inspires and reminds us of what HAS TO BE DONE!

I love it!

By Any Means Necessary consists of lectures (including responses to audience questions) as well as interviews by reporters both hostile and friendly.

Malcom's revolutionary strategy for confronting and overcoming the oppression of African-Americans in the 1960s is applicable today for the working class and oppressed people everywhere.

I think the best way to describe this great book is a few excerpts.

"... by any means necessary. That's our motto. We want freedom by any means necessary. We want justice by any means necessary. We want equality by any means necessary."

"We won't organize any black man to be a Democrat or a Republican because both of them have sold us out."

"Those who claim to be enemies of the system were on their hands and knees waiting for [Democratic president] Johnson to get elected because he's supposed to be a man of peace; and he has troops invading the Congo [in Africa] right now and invading Saigon [Vietnam]...."

"This political, economic, and social system of America was produced from the enslavement of the black man and that particular system is capable only of reproducing that out of which itself was produced."

"No, you have got no friends in Washington, D.C.... You've got friends in Africa, friends in Asia, friends in Latin America."

"[The] thing that I would like to impress upon every Afro-American leader is that no kind of action in this country is ever going to bear fruit unless that action is tied in with the overall international struggle."

(In one of his speeches, Malcolm read the founding statement of the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) which he led, adding his own comments. Malcolm didn't write the statement himself; it was developed by a committee of the new group.)

"[quoting OAAU] 'A first step in the program to end the existing system of racist education is to demand that the 10 percent of the [New York city] schools the Board of Education will not include in its [desegregation] plan be turned over to and run by the Afro-American community itself.'"

"[quoting OAAU] 'The [Black] community must ... wage an unrelenting struggle against police brutality.'"

"Wherever you have organized crime, that type of crime cannot exist other than with the consent of the police, the knowledge of the police and the cooperation of the police.... [Criminals] pay the police off so that they will not get arrested. I know what I'm talking about - I used to be out there."

"[quoting OAAU] 'We propose to support and organize political clubs, to run independent candidates for office, and to support any Afro-American already in office who answers to and is responsible to the Afro-American community.' We don't support any black man who is controlled by the white power structure."

I also recommend "Malcolm X Talks to Young People". (See my review.)

I recommend the ads in the back of the book. Pathfinder Press is defined by a political goal, not commercial success. It aims to provide a platform for revolutionary leaders speaking in their own words. If you like one book, you will probably like others.

Much has been written about Malcolm X, perhaps the foremost black leader in the latter half of the 20th century. But the best way to really learn about Malcolm, I think, is to read his own words. Then read them again. Malcolm was - and remains - so very popular because he possessed the gift of being able to cut directly to the heart of issues. He could describe them in terms that people can immediately understand. His ability to do just that is aptly compiled in this collection of speeches and an interview in the Young Socialist magazine. Malcolm discusses the loathsome nature of capitalism, the folly of the Democratic Party and the interrelationship of struggles in the Third World to the fight for black rights in this country. While scholars have written much about Malcolm's abilities as a public speaker, this book shows that Malcolm was much more. He was a doer. He was an organizer of Harlem blacks, and he constantly urged black people elsewhere to fight for their rights. Ultimately, it was because of his deeds as well as his ideas for which he was slain.

Malcolm's own words
REALLY THIS BOOK AND EVERYTHING ELSE BY MALCOLM X SHOULD HAVE SIX OR SEVEN STARS NOT JUST FIVE!!!!! Edited by the editor Malcolm selected to present his work, By
Any Means Necessary contains speeches by Malcolm X about politics of struggle against Racism, Capitalism, and the Democratic and Republican parties. Read this book and you understand what Malcolm X meant when he said that African Americans and other people in struggle need to look at the US from the point of view of the oppressed majority around the world, not as an 'American.' This book like the other books published by Pathfinder Press is just Malcolm X speaking, writing, being interviewed.

Just as good are Malcolm's works including Malcolm X Speaks, Malcol X: The Final Speeches, Malcolm X: the Last Speeches, Malcolm X Talks to Young People, Malcolm X on Afro-American History. Also read George Breitman's Malcolm X the Evolution of a Revolutionary, a great, honest, measured analysis of Malcolm's last year with Malcolm's program for the Organization of African American Unity as an appendix

While this book may not be directly available from Amazon at times, they are available from the booksfrompathfinder on Amazon that you can find by clicking on the new and used books on this page.

I recommend this book to anyone who is curious as to who Malcom X is. It is not a biography, but a collection of interviews and speeches that reveal the essence of a natural born leader. Malcom X lived in a time where his people where treated as second class citizens, where every genuine attempt to counter the mistreatment of blacks was met with opposition, either by supremacist groups or the Government's inability to protect the rights of his people.
Naturally he develops a militant stand against the injustice, as every other measure seemed futile. The militancy undeniably made him notorious in the media circles and he was often misunderstood of misquoted by the establishment. By objectively reading his words as they are transcribed, one cannot help but agree that he is indeed a revolutionary philosopher and activist, unafraid and eager to change his views as he learns more about the struggle for universal human rights.
This is a must read for people who are curious to learn more about the real civil rights struggle, a stark contrast from the rosy pictures that are painted every year in Febuary.

There is a documentary on Malcolm's life that one can occasionally find packaged with some copies of the movie Malcolm X. I consider it the finest documentary done regarding Malcolm's life because it bypasses narration or peers recounting their relationship or randomly inserted persons raising up how Malcolm affected their lives. All that the documentary includes is a series of speeches, lectures, news clips, and sound bites strung together which trace Malcolm's life from end to end.

This book is a similar summation. Perhaps no finer text exists with a collection of Malcolm's writings that display his ability to grapple with the political and cultural conditions to arrive at new truths. It is sufficient in this world to simply be the stake one's flag in the ground and hold that position until death, but when one can be so public and still allow the world to know that your position has changed upon the arrival of new information; that you might have possibly been wrong and now you are publicly correcting your stance.

This is the signature of a mature human being. One not lost in the leadership role assigned to them, but one whom has transcended and simply recognizes that they are a part of some larger and human and brilliant.

I think the title of my review says it best. This is just another person who died too soon. The messages in this book gives you a peak at what my grandfather had to go through. This is deep and you need to get your mind right before you pick it up. Are you ready for some truth?

I thought the book was excellent. I being a white English-american woman was forced to question everything negative I ever heard about Malcolm. I can truly say his message is inspiring. For those who are uncomfortable about Malcolm's message, I challenge you to put yourself in his place with all the experiences and pain he has gone through in his life. I challenge you to look through the tears and suffering that invisibly envelope his message to see a real human being wanting to better the world for all people.

This collection of writings and speeches by Malcolm X deals with the last year of his life and contains some really interesting material. M/X goes off on some ideas that would still make many people squirm, such as his idea that "Any Black person who registers as a Democrat or a Republican is a traitor to his people." What Black politican today would say this? He also stresses that the main thing for African-Americans to do is to undo the damage to the self-esteem of Black people done by slavery and Jim Crow (another capital idea seldom heard-but needed to be said-today). He warns against reactionary picketing against foolish and symbolic issues and bluntly states that if it's an idea that you aren't worth dying for, then you shouldn't demonstrate at all!

Ideas tof this kind are seldom heald even from so-called "militant" leaders of today, who thrive on theatrics and shock value as opposed to concrete ideas for the betterment of the masses. I also like his take on white liberals ("John Brown should be your standard") although I disagree to an extent with a few ideas (such as his take on Rev. Bruce Klunder, a Cleveland martyr) but one does not have to agree with someone 100% to recognize sincerity and brilliance. Read it and think!