Clifton DeBerry (September 18, 1923 – March 24, 2006) was an American communist and two-time candidate for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

of the Socialist Workers Party. He was the first black American in the 20th century to be chosen by a political party as its nominee for president.

Biography

Early years

Clifton DeBerry was born in September 1923 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. He worked as a house painter and was a

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

ist.''Socialist Workers Party Election Platform.'' New York: Socialist Workers Party, April 1964. Page 1. In the 1940s, DeBerry left his native South and moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, where he worked in a factory owned by

International Harvester The International Harvester Company (often abbreviated by IHC, IH, or simply International ( colloq.)) was an American manufacturer of agricultural and construction equipment, automobiles, commercial trucks, lawn and garden products, household e ...

.Joel Britton, "Meeting Set to Celebrate Life of SWP leader Clifton DeBerry," ''The Militant,'' vol. 70, no. 14 (April 10, 2006). Online at http://www.themilitant.com/2006/7014/701405.html. He became active in the Farm Equipment Workers Union and joined the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

. DeBerry grew critical of the official Communist movement, and in 1953 he joined the Socialist Workers Party, a

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

organization. During his Chicago years in the late 1950s, DeBerry found it hard to keep a job. "I would get a job and it would last only 3 days. I would go from one job to another. The

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

would visit my boss and I would be fired." DeBerry gave up on the city and moved to New York in 1960.

Political career

DeBerry's career as a political activist began in earnest in the 1950s. In 1955 he helped organize a mass protest in Chicago to protest the lynching of Emmett Till back home in his native Mississippi. DeBerry spoke out in defense of the

Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution ( es, Revolución Cubana) was carried out after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état which placed Fulgencio Batista as head of state and the failed mass strike in opposition that followed. After failing to contest Batista in co ...

, in support of African liberation struggles, and demanded withdrawal of U.S. troops from

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. DeBerry marched for

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

in Selma, Alabama and

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

and was a supporter of

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an American Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. A spokesman for the Nation of I ...

in the 1960s. He was a delegate to the founding conventions of the Negro Labor Congress and the

Negro American Labor Council In the English language, ''negro'' is a term historically used to denote persons considered to be of Black African heritage. The word ''negro'' means the color black in both Spanish and in Portuguese, where English took it from. The term can be ...

. In November 1963, DeBerry ran for councilman in the

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

borough of New York City. He received 3,514 votes in the race.Federal Bureau of Investigation, COINTELPRO material, http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/swp.htm#deberry."Apathy Marks At-Large Campaign in Brooklyn", ''New York Times'', October 26, 1963 DeBerry was the Socialist Workers Party's candidate in the 1964 election. He was the party's first

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

candidate as well as the first African American candidate for president of any existing party (he was preceded in 1960 by marginal candidate Clennon King). DeBerry's running mate was Ed Shaw, a printer from

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

. In the 1965 city election, DeBerry was the SWP's candidate for

Mayor of New York The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

. In

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

, he ran for Governor of New York and polled 5,766 votes. DeBerry ran again in the 1980 United States presidential election as one of three candidates the party had that year, the others being Andrew Pulley and Richard Congress.

Matilde Zimmermann Matilde Zimmermann (born September 6, 1943) is an American author and professor who ran as the Socialist Workers Party candidate for United States Vice President in 1980. The party had three different presidential candidates that year, Andrew ...

was the vice presidential candidate on all three tickets.

Death and legacy

Clifton DeBerry died of heart failure on March 24, 2006 in a hospital near his home of

Union City, California Union City is a city in the San Francisco Bay Area in Alameda County, California, United States, located approximately south of Oakland, from San Francisco, and north of San Jose. Incorporated in 1959, combining the communities of Alvara ...

. He was 82 years old. A memorial meeting was held in his honor by the Socialist Workers Party in New York City on April 29, 2006.

Footnotes

Works by Clifton DeBerry

* ''Marxism and the Negro Struggle.'' With

Harold Cruse Harold Wright Cruse (March 8, 1916 – March 26, 2005) was an American academic who was a social critic and teacher of African American studies at the University of Michigan until the mid-1980s. ''The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual'' (1967) ...

and George Breitman. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1965. * ''The Case for an Independent Black Political Party

ith The Ith () is a ridge in Germany's Central Uplands which is up to 439 m high. It lies about 40 km southwest of Hanover and, at 22 kilometres, is the longest line of crags in North Germany. Geography Location The Ith is immediatel ...

American Politics and the 1968 Presidential Campaign,'' by

Jack Barnes Jack Barnes (born 1940) is an American Communist and the National Secretary of the Socialist Workers Party. Barnes was elected the party's national secretary in 1972, replacing the retiring Farrell Dobbs. He joined the SWP in the early 1960s ...

. New York: Socialist Workers Party, 1967. * ''Murder in Memphis. Martin Luther King and the future of the Black Liberation Struggle.'' With

Paul Boutelle Kwame Montsho Ajamu Somburu (born Paul Benjamin Boutelle; October 13, 1934 – May 3, 2016) was an activist, politician, black nationalist, and member of the Socialist Workers Party. In 1979, he changed his name to Kwame Montsho Ajamu Somburu. ...

George Novack George Novack (August 5, 1905, Boston, Massachusetts – July 30, 1992, New York City) was an American Marxist theoretician, editor, and activist. Biography Novack attended Harvard University for five years, though without earning a degree, ...

, and Joseph Hansen. New York: Merit Publishers, 1968. * "Report on Black Struggle," in ''May 1968 Plenum Material.'' New York: Socialist Workers Party, 1968.

External links

Summary of materials on Clifton DeBerry
at

COINTELPRO COINTELPRO (syllabic abbreviation derived from Counterintelligence, Counter Intelligence Program; 1956–1971) was a series of Covert operation, covert and illegal projects actively conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation ( ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deberry, Clifton 1923 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American politicians Activists for African-American civil rights African-American candidates for President of the United States Candidates in the 1964 United States presidential election Candidates in the 1980 United States presidential election Members of the Communist Party USA People from Holly Springs, Mississippi Socialist Workers Party (United States) politicians from New York (state) Socialist Workers Party (United States) presidential nominees African-American people in Mississippi politics