Unity Archives

From 1978 to 1990, young activists from African American, Asian American, Chicano, and progressive white communities organized in the League of Revolutionary Struggle (M-L). The LRS was notable for its majority people-of-color membership, women in key leadership roles, and deep roots in local struggles for immigrant rights, affordable housing, labor organizing, student activism, international solidarity, and the women’s movement.

The LRS was formed through the merger of I Wor Kuen and the August 29th Movement in 1978, both guided by Marxism-Leninism. In 1979, the Revolutionary Communist League, led by poet and playwright Amiri Baraka, merged with the LRS, followed by smaller groups including Seize the Time (East Palo Alto), East Wind (Los Angeles), and the New York Collective.

At its peak, the LRS had chapters in over a dozen cities, nearly 3,000 cadres, and thousands of supporters. Its newspaper, Unity/La Unidad, was published bi-monthly in English, Spanish, and Chinese. The organization also produced Forward, a theoretical journal, The Black Nation, East Wind: Art and Politics of Asians in America, and pamphlets addressing the regressive politics of the Reagan administration.

This archive project and website highlight the mass struggles and organizing of the era as documented in Unity/La Unidad and other LRS publications. It honors the thousands of people whose dedication and sacrifice continue to inspire the ongoing fight for social justice, equality, and liberation.