The August 29th Movement (or August Twenty-Ninth Movement, ATM) was a
Chicano communist organization that lasted from 1974 to 1978. It formed out of the Labor Committee of
La Raza Unida Party in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, and other collectives, officially forming at a Unity Conference in May 1974. It was one of several organizations that were part of the
New Communist Movement, which were influenced by the thought of
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...
and
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
's theories on the National Question.
The ATM published a manifesto, "Fan The Flames: A Revolutionary Position on the Chicano National Question," in 1975. In it, the organization articulated the view that Chicanos living in the
Southwestern United States were an oppressed nation due to the annexation of northern
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
in the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
of 1846–48, and had a right to independence. The strategy of ATM, like other NCM formations, was to build a multinational communist party.
The August Twenty-Ninth Movement published a newspaper, ''Revolutionary Cause'', and a theoretical journal, ''The Red Banner''.
In
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
, the ATM chapter entered into the
Chicano Communications Center, a media organization founded by
Elizabeth "Betita" Martinez. They were responsible for the destruction of an entire edition of her book ''450 Years of Chicano History'', one of the first Chicano histories, due to disagreement of how ATM saw the books portrayal of the Chicano National Question.
[Martinez, Elizabeth Betita. "A View from New Mexico: Recollections of the Movimiento Left." ''Monthly Review''. July–August 2002. http://www.monthlyreview.org/0702martinez.htm.]
In 1978, ATM merged with
I Wor Kuen, an
Asian-American Communist organization, to form the
League of Revolutionary Struggle.
Publications
* ''Dasco Strike: Lessons for the M-L Movement''. August 29 Movement, 1974?, 7p.
* ''Unity Statement'', 1974.
* ''Fan the Flames: A Revolutionary Position on the Chicano National Question'', 1975.
* ''Selected speeches presented at forums by the August 29 Movement 1974–1975 : Marxist-Leninists unite!,'' 1976?.
* ''The Red Banner: The Theoretical Journal of the August Twenty-Ninth Movement (ML).''
* ''Revolutionary Cause=Causa Revolucionaria''. Newspaper.
References
Sources
Bill Gallegos: They Wanted to Serve the People
External links
History of Mexican Americans
Defunct Maoist organizations in the United States
1978 disestablishments in California
1974 establishments in California
New Communist Movement organizations
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