In this 1983 column, Bayard Rustin warns that a Black-led symbolic presidential run risks political isolation by framing national crises like poverty and unemployment as race-specific issues rather than grounds for broad coalition-building. He argues that real power lies not in symbolic candidacies but in multiracial alliances that preserve leverage within the Democratic Party and prevent the splintering of the Black vote.
Racism On Television: The Case of "Skag"
This 1980 column finds Bayard Rustin critiquing the television drama Skag for presenting a distorted picture of working-class America that largely erased Black steelworkers from view. He argues that racism had shifted from overt caricature to more subtle forms of exclusion and misrepresentation. Rustin also condemns the show’s condescending portrayal of laborers, calling on the media industry to more honestly and respectfully depict working-class life.
"The Minimum Wage Veto—An Outrage to Blacks" Newspaper Column: Strategy for Economic Realignment
This column finds Bayard Rustin criticizing President Richard Nixon’s veto of a federal minimum wage increase, arguing that it placed an even greater burden on low-income working families. Rustin contends that raising wages was essential to reducing poverty and strengthening economic opportunity, while urging Black voters and organized labor to build the political power needed to advance policies that support working people.
Coming of Age Politically: The Shift from Protest to Electoral Power
In this piece, Bayard Rustin argues that by the early 1970s the civil rights movement had entered a new phase, shifting from protest to “political self-expression” through voting, organizing, and coalition-building. He urges a move toward professional, interracial politics focused on winning power in Congress and securing broad economic reforms rather than retreating into race-based isolation.
Nothing New for Blacks: Critiquing Nixon’s New Economic Policy
In this column published in The St. Louis American, Bayard Rustin critiques President Richard Nixon’s economic policies for failing to expand employment and economic opportunity for Black Americans and other low-income workers. He argues that tax incentives for corporations cannot substitute for job creation, training, and public investment aimed at addressing unemployment and poverty.
The Necessity of Political Participation: Endorsing Hubert Humphrey
In this column published in The St. Louis American, Bayard Rustin warns that calls to boycott the 1968 election would only strengthen conservative forces. He urges Black voters to support Hubert Humphrey, emphasizing his civil rights and labor record and the critical importance of the Black vote in defeating Richard Nixon.
Bayard Rustin Talks with the I.U.E.
In this discussion with the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers, Bayard Rustin addresses urban unrest, Black nationalism, the Vietnam War, and the direction of the civil rights movement. He argues that economic inequality and racial exclusion fuel unrest and calls for an expanded economic program centered on employment, higher wages, social insurance, and public works.
Bayard Rustin’s "The Liberal Coalition and the 1968 Elections": A Blueprint for Economic Realignment
In this election-year essay, Bayard Rustin calls for a powerful coalition between labor, liberals, and the civil rights movement to defeat a reactionary alliance blocking racial and economic justice. He warns that without a serious, unified political strategy—anchored in programs like A. Philip Randolph’s Freedom Budget—the nation risks repeating the betrayal of Reconstruction and abandoning the promise of democracy.
The Negro and the Unions
In this column, Bayard Rustin argues that organized labor has been a powerful force in reducing poverty and advancing economic opportunity for Black Americans. Highlighting apprenticeship and job-training programs that opened skilled trades to Black and Puerto Rican workers, he emphasizes the importance of union cooperation, preparation, and sustained access to employment in advancing racial and economic justice.
New South...Old Politics
Please note: The exact date of publication is unknown.
Description
In this political analysis published in Liberation, Bayard Rustin examines the growing contradiction between the South's rapidly changing economy and its entrenched political system. Rustin argues that industrial expansion, urbanization, and agricultural mechanization were transforming the region in ways that undermined the foundations of the old plantation order. Millions of Southerners had moved from farms into cities, while large numbers of Black Southerners continued migrating northward in search of economic opportunity and political freedom. Despite these developments, Southern political leadership remained committed to preserving segregation and exclusion through one-party rule, voter suppression, and racial division. Rustin contends that the South's governing class increasingly relied on outdated political arrangements that no longer reflected the economic realities emerging across the region. Rather than adapting to these changes, segregationist politicians attempted to preserve their authority by mobilizing racial fears and presenting themselves as defenders of tradition, states' rights, and social stability.
Rustin argues that Black citizens occupied the central position in this struggle because the Southern political system depended upon their continued exclusion from meaningful political participation. He presents the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the successful Tallahassee Bus Boycott as evidence that organized nonviolent direct action could challenge structures of power that conventional politics had left untouched. Rather than treating these campaigns as isolated local victories, Rustin views them as part of a broader movement capable of reshaping the region's political future. He further argues that segregation harmed not only Black citizens but also working-class democracy itself by dividing labor, weakening political coalitions, and preventing cooperation among people with shared economic interests. Rustin concludes that the future of the South would ultimately be determined by whether civil rights activists, labor organizations, religious institutions, and democratic reformers could build a durable political movement strong enough to challenge the racial and economic interests that had dominated Southern politics since the end of Reconstruction.
Historical Context
Rustin wrote this article during the final weeks of the 1956 presidential election between Dwight D. Eisenhower and Adlai Stevenson, a contest that exposed growing tensions within Southern politics. Although the Democratic Party continued to dominate much of the region, divisions over civil rights increasingly strained the traditional political order. Earlier that year, 101 Southern members of Congress signed the Southern Manifesto, condemning the Supreme Court's school desegregation ruling in Brown v. Board of Education and encouraging organized resistance to federal intervention. State governments across the South responded by adopting policies designed to delay or obstruct integration while framing segregation as a defense of states' rights and local self-government. Rustin's article was written amid this political backlash, when segregation had become a central issue in both regional and national debates.
At the same time, the South was experiencing profound economic changes that complicated efforts to preserve the existing racial order. Mechanized agriculture continued displacing thousands of rural workers, industrial development expanded in urban centers, and demographic shifts altered the composition of Southern communities. These transformations weakened many of the social and economic arrangements that had sustained segregation for decades, even as segregationist leaders fought to preserve them through political resistance. Rustin recognized that these competing forces were creating a period of transition in which economic modernization and democratic demands increasingly collided with institutions built to maintain racial hierarchy. His article captures a moment when the central question confronting the South was not whether change was coming, but whether its political leadership could continue resisting changes already underway.
Rustin, Bayard. "New South...Old Politics." Liberation 1, no. 8 (October 1956): 23–26.
