ANARCHY, U.S.A.

Year Published: 1963

Format: 16mm

Description:

Description: Content warning: brief still images of mutilated bodies in the Algerian War

"Right-wing film arguing that the civil rights movement and urban disturbances of the 1960s were evidence of a worldwide communist revolution and dominance at home. The polemic warns that communists may be planning to create an independent African American state. Includes purchased news footage." (Paraphrased from Rick Prelinger, The Field Guide to Sponsored Films, p. 6).

Documents civil rights movement in U.S., framing civil rights as Soviet influence

A critical text on the film's position is here: https://archive.org/details/anarchy-usa-1966-film-by-john-birch-society_202112. Accessed July 23, 2023.

National Film Preservation Foundation page: https://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/anarchy-u-s-a-1966. Accessed July 23, 2023.

Reuse Statement: For information on reusing Prelinger Archives footage and obtaining written usage agreements, please visit http://www.prelinger.com.

Subjects: Activism; War; Communism; Civil rights; 1960s; 1950s; Politics and government; People of African origin or descent; Patriotism; Black history and culture; Law enforcement

Tags: propaganda; Soviet America; Ku Klux Klan; KKK; Medgar Evers; Birmingham, Alabama; church bombings; Martin Luther King, Jr.; SNCC; Fidel Castro; Selma, Alabama; March on Washington, 1963; Cuba; radio

Film Sponsor: John Birch Society

Creator: George Edward Griffin

Credits: Director and Writer: G. Edward Griffin.

Distributor:

Contributor: Prelinger Archives

Source Collection: Delaware County Committee on Patriotism

Digitizing Sponsor: Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) and Internet Archive

Production Date: 1966

Release Date: 1966

Geographical Location: USA; Birmingham, Alabama; Selma, Alabama; Washington, D.C.; Alabama

Genre/Form: documentary, sponsored

Language: eng

Rights: Copyright not registered.

Film Format: 16mm film

Element: release print

Color: b&w

Color Process:

Sound or Silent: sound

Film Soundtrack Type: variable area

Edge Code:

Frame Rate: 24 fps

Length (feet): 1607

Complete Record: Description: Content warning: brief still images of mutilated bodies in the Algerian War "Right-wing film arguing that the civil rights movement and urban disturbances of the 1960s were evidence of a worldwide communist revolution and dominance at home. The polemic warns that communists may be planning to create an independent African American state. Includes purchased news footage." (Paraphrased from Rick Prelinger, The Field Guide to Sponsored Films, p. 6). Documents civil rights movement in U.S., framing civil rights as Soviet influence A critical text on the film's position is here: https://archive.org/details/anarchy-usa-1966-film-by-john-birch-society_202112. Accessed July 23, 2023. National Film Preservation Foundation page: https://www.filmpreservation.org/preserved-films/screening-room/anarchy-u-s-a-1966. Accessed July 23, 2023. Reuse Statement: For information on reusing Prelinger Archives footage and obtaining written usage agreements, please visit http://www.prelinger.com. Subjects: Activism; War; Communism; Civil rights; 1960s; 1950s; Politics and government; People of African origin or descent; Patriotism; Black history and culture; Law enforcement Tags: propaganda; Soviet America; Ku Klux Klan; KKK; Medgar Evers; Birmingham, Alabama; church bombings; Martin Luther King, Jr.; SNCC; Fidel Castro; Selma, Alabama; March on Washington, 1963; Cuba; radio Film Sponsor: John Birch Society Creator: George Edward Griffin Credits: Director and Writer: G. Edward Griffin. Distributor: Contributor: Prelinger Archives Source Collection: Delaware County Committee on Patriotism Digitizing Sponsor: Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web (FFDW) and Internet Archive Production Date: 1966 Release Date: 1966 Geographical Location: USA; Birmingham, Alabama; Selma, Alabama; Washington, D.C.; Alabama Genre/Form: documentary, sponsored Language: eng Rights: Copyright not registered. Film Format: 16mm film Element: release print Color: b&w Color Process: Sound or Silent: sound Film Soundtrack Type: variable area Edge Code: Frame Rate: 24 fps Length (feet): 1607

Transcription

foreign the Communist plan for the conquest of the United States was explained to the American comrades by moscow's agent Joseph pogani pogani was sent to this country by Stalin for the specific purpose of laying the groundwork for the agitation that would eventually develop into a negro revolutionary movement American Negro problems was published in 1928 by Joseph pogani using the Alias John pepper and carried the official communist line for America the workers Communist Party of America in its fight against imperialism must recognize clearly the tremendous revolutionary possibilities of The Liberation movement of the Negro people the black belt of the South with its starving and popularized negro farmers and negro agricultural working massive with its Jim crow-ism its semi-futile status and its political system still bearing the earmarks of the period of slavery constitutes virtually a colony within the body of the United States of America the workers Communist Party of America puts forward correctly as its Central slogan abolition of the whole system of race discrimination full racial social and political equality for the Negro people but it is necessary to supplement the struggle for the full racial social and political equality of the negroes with a struggle for their right of national self-determination self-determination means the right to establish their own state to erect their own government if they choose to do so the Negro Communists should emphasize in their propaganda the establishment of a negro Soviet Republic in 1934 the Communist writers James W Ford and James S Allen further defined the Soviet negro Republic the actual extent of this new Republic would in all probability be approximately the present area in which the Negroes constitute the majority of the population in other words it would be approximately the present Plantation area it would be certain to include such cities as Richmond and Norfolk Virginia Colombia and Charleston South Carolina Atlanta Augusta Savannah and Macon Georgia Montgomery Alabama New Orleans in Shreveport Louisiana Little Rock Arkansas in Memphis Tennessee these cities and the cities which lie within their spheres of influence became known in communist writings as the black belt of the South and were to constitute the nucleus of a future Soviet Soviet Republic [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] at the National Convention of the American Communist Party held in New York City in June of 1940 James Ford the Communist Party candidate for the vice presidency of the United States said my people the Napier people of America have in the Communist Party their best defender the unfailing champion of the are therefore I accept its nomination for vice president of the United States [Music] [Applause] by this time the Communist champions of the Negro race had hidden the revolutionary ideas and slogans for a Soviet negro Republic behind the humanitarian banners of jobs security civil rights and peace these humanistic issues were to provide the friction necessary to divide the American people and lay the groundwork for revolution I am Leonard Patterson when I was a young man only 23 years old I joined the Communist Party I was a member of the national executive committee of the American young communist League in 1930 I was official Commons candidate for election to New York State Assembly I knew Gus Hall and other top-ranked American Communists very well because I trained with them at the London University in Moscow I joined the party because I honestly thought the economists were trying to help America I broke away from the party when it became clear to me what it comes were really up to was to use the Negro people in this country as Canon father and a violent and bloody Revolution aimed at the establishment of the American Soviet dictatorship it was that simple and it is still that simple today make no mistake about it what is happening in the United States right now under the bound of civil rights is exactly what has happened in China in Cuba in Algeria and many other places around the world I'm Julia Brown for nine years I was a member of the Communist Party serving as an undercover agent for the FBI during that time I learned that the Communist conspiracy had been planning and working for years to bring violent revolution to America it was to be a Communist Revolution but the great majority of the American people would not be allowed to realize that until it had already happened if all goes according to the Communist blueprint Americans will believe that the chaos and violence has something to do with civil rights our enemies were quick to find our weakest point for their attack they knew that racial differences could provide them with an excellent wage to divide our people their strategies simply has been to keep hammering on that wedge to drive it deeper into our social structure to open all wounds that have long since healed and deliberately to create new ones wherever they can [Applause] but I'll tell you I don't wanna I don't want to even be around no more good [ __ ] I'm with them no good Negroes that's what they're called Rodriguez a good negro I want to be with the bad [ __ ] because I know what's happening with the bad news that's where I want to be I want to be with the [ __ ] because he was the bad [ __ ] that don't want to ride on the back of the bus no you sit down there when Davis I call you and the bad [ __ ] is not gonna work for 18 or 20 no I don't want to be for the bad [ __ ] I'm gonna register and vote I want to be for the bad [ __ ] Gonna swim on any of God's Beach where water is fluent [Applause] Lyndon Johnson is the biggest [ __ ] lover in the United States amen he may think that he can use his justice department with Bobby Kennedy at the head of it and he may think that he can use J acre Hoover in the FBI in the Army to force us white people here in Saint Augustine and other parts of the nation to mix up with [ __ ] but if he sends troops in here and puts a bandit behind every one of us we still will not mix up with a bunch of black Savages all right like I said in a in a real sense not fellow Freedom Fighters who are fellow slaves for we all are slaves not only in this Society not only in this community but all over this nation and all over the world what you're doing here is very significant and it's very important and you follow up your friends and acquaintances and ask them if they want to help put this fight over to save this country from the onslaught of integration you know the system is they want to throw white children and color children into the building part of integration throughout of which will come a conglomerated the latter Mongol class of people both races will be destroyed in such a movement I for one under God will die before I'll yield one inch and that kind of a movement oh [Applause] thank you [Music] if God has some champions of the white man and you can name Connie Lynch as one of them [Applause] and forever [Applause] thinks he can scare the [ __ ] up I'll go also important him that the white men can be stirred up to defend what is lifeless and so the seeds of dissension were sown among both the black and the white races and inexorably the people of the United States were being divided according to plan among the so-called downtrodden and oppressed among the supposedly starving and puperized Negroes the enemy was referred to as Whitey Mr Charlie the man and the ofay phase one was well on its way now it was time to implement phase two create the appearance of popular supports beguile the people of the United States and the world into believing the pious fraud that the Civil Rights Uprising led by a handful of agitators was a popular movement of the whole negro race in the United States now this doesn't mean that there isn't a legitimate need for the advancement of civil rights for many of our negro citizens of course there is a need there otherwise communist agitators posing as civil rights leaders could never hope to enlist massive support for their schemes the aspirations of negroes for full equality were not created by Communists but they are used by Communists in such a way that idealistic Americans of all Races can be tricked into implementing the Communist blueprint for revolution haven't been on the inside of the Communist Party it's easy for me to recognize this revolutionary agitation in disguise but the average American finds it's hard to believe that something as worthy and Noble sound in as a civil rights movement could possibly be a communist maneuver communism must be built with non-communist hands the Revolutionary accepts reform in order to use it as a cover for his illegal work by concealing the true communist objectives behind appealing slogans and pretended humanitarian goals the conspirators are able to dupe hundreds of uninformed opportunists and misguided idealists into supplying the non-communist hands needed in the overthrow of this Republic thoroughly deceived some of the Negroes cry for Liberation through the slogan Freedom now [Applause] the Democratic slogan one man one vote has gained wide acceptance but perhaps the most popular slogan is Ben ceramos the rallying Cry of the deluded peasants of Cuba Haiti and Venezuela Ben ceramos we shall overcome is now the rallying Cry of the deluded peoples of the United States please God oh my God please [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] oh please when I was studying communist practice and strategy in Moscow my instructors emphasize the importance of using honest Grievances and popular slogans of his smoke screen to cover up the true nature of the revolution we were taught how to use propaganda and around the emotion of the masses we learn how to set one group against the other and to make them hate each other we learn the stressity of having martyrs and we were even told how to create our own martyr if they did not imagine the result from the atmosphere of hatred we were taught the importance of getting large masses of people into the street for marches and demonstrations and finally we were instructing ways to take off rise and make them spread and to keep them going when I returned to the United States I was a vehicle given practical training I participated in so-called non-violent demonstrations that were deliberately calculated to irritate white people and to violence against us I personally was in charge of organizing a March on Washington to genotize this gospel boy's case in New York about 1935 a negro boy was reported killed by the owner of a store while in the act of stealing some merchandise Communist Party equals decided to make a March out of the boy so we went right to work putting out hand bills and holding open the app meter in less than a half an hour after we started that was a race ride at 155th Street complete with smashing wonders of why still keep looting and all the rest I'm not speaking of things I read about these are things I personally participated in [Music] [Applause] [Music] as it was in Cuba so it was in Algeria foreign [Music] and so it is in the United States in Jackson Mississippi Medgar Evers State field secretary for the NAACP was shot in the back by an unknown assassin as he was entering his home after lying in state in Mississippi the body of World War II infantry GI Medgar Evers was sent to Washington D.C for burial in Arlington National Cemetery now a victim of the very communist agitation he had helped promote Medgar Evers was able to further serve communist purposes by being glorified as a martyr in the supposed fight of the Negro people for freedom and justice Medgar ever's remains were buried with full military honors and Nationwide news coverage [Music] as it was in Cuba [Music] so it was in Algerian and so it is in the United States mysterious bombings by assailants unknown plagued the lives and property of the Negro people and served to intimidate those who might speak out against the conspirators the bombing of this Birmingham Alabama Church claimed the lives of four little girls attending Sunday School a memorial service was held in Washington D.C for the four young victims after which the mourners demonstrated their grief before the White House and the Press [Music] a martyr that rallied the sympathies of the nation was the lovely Biola Greg liuzzo who was shot to death while driving between Selma and Montgomery Alabama with a negro civil rights worker the American Press told their shocked readers of her five children and husband and her righteous Zeal for justice that caused her to go to Alabama to help the American Negro gain the right to vote this photo of Mrs liuzzo taken during the Selma to Montgomery March and just prior to her death points up the fact that the Press failed to mention that the photo used to gain the sympathies of the nation was a high school photo taken almost 20 years earlier that her five children were by three husbands and that her name had been removed from Michigan's eligible voter list in accordance with state law because she had not used her voting privilege for six years we were taught how to use propaganda as aroused the emotion of the masses we learn how to understand one group against the other and to make them hate each other we learned this stuff to happen Martin and were even told her to create a Walmart if they didn't automatically result from the atmosphere of hatred divide the people then create the appearance of popular support and if any of the alert informed citizens call attention to the true revolutionary goals behind the humanitarian slogans move into phase three and neutralize the opposition one effective way to neutralize any opposition is to liquidate it in the summer of 1965 a respected negro farmer in Alabama dared to speak out critically against the Civil Rights revolutionaries in this cabin in late August 87 year olds Perry small struggled with an assailant who said he had come to get Perry's tongue the Aged negro skull was crushed with a cast iron frying pan the attacker is striking with such force that the skillet was broken then the Intruder pulled Perry's tongue from his mouth and with a butcher knife cut it off all the way back to the old man's tonsils Perry small the man who dared defy the conspirators died six days later in China Cuba and Algeria Terror was also a most effective weapon in intimidating and neutralizing the opposition and there's another even more widely used method of neutralizing and paralyzing opposition to communism's conquests you can and must write in a language which sows among the masses hate revulsion and Scorn toward those who disagree with us members and front organizations must continually embarrass discredit and degrade our critics when obstructionists become too irritating label them as fascist or Nazi or anti-Semitic constantly associate those who oppose us with those names which already have a bad smell the association will after enough repetition become fact in the public mind by duping the American public into turning a deaf ear to the voices of warning because the topics were controversial or because the Patriots themselves had been ridiculed as extremists racists fright Peddlers the conspirators were ready to move one step closer to their hidden goals by precipitating mob violence riots demonstrations street battle instruments of a revolutionary Army such are the stages in the development of the popular uprising the Communist Party will educate and organize the working masses for Mass strikes and mass demonstrations it is through struggles that the working masses are prepared for the final Conflict for power as these strikes grow in number and intensity they acquire political character through unavoidable collision and open combat with the capitalistic State mass action culminates in Insurrection and Civil War but instead in history instead in Civic but right now you got to put your history and your Civics in the streets you got to make the Constitution real you got to make democracy real since 1960 the February the fresh 1960s more than 50 000 your fellow students have been arrested in jail beat them face holy souls and water holders before we see real freedom before we'd be able to walk behind these streets there's a sense of dignity and with a sense of Pride and walk in Freedom no doubt there would be more jealous more beating more water hoses more dogs the other thing is this we are determined that this city will not celebrate its quadrice Centennial as a segregated City if that celebration takes place we plan to use everything within our power and all of the non-violent weapons at our disposal to dramatize this blatant Injustice and to demand that the federal government not put a cent in this city unless it decides to face the realities of desegregation lifetime when Martin Luther King said March we're going to have our March and cheese and you know they have kicked us around a long time haven't they and so many of us have come we've come up in life without any shoes at all and if it becomes necessary for us to March without shoes we'll March barefooted I don't like the way you're clapping tonight are you ready to March are you ready tomorrow then we are not afraid of dogs are with children so many of us we were raised up with those [Applause] and we have had to we have had to live the life of dogs right here in the United States of America [Applause] I want you to raise your hand High tonight everybody that's ready to March raise your hand High raise it half of your ability in Mars are you ready to March if you're ready to March I want you to raise both of your hands above your head I want you now I want you to stand up on your feet keep your hands high [Applause] now bring them together and suffer together everybody wants me everybody wants me everybody [Applause] [Music] and so many were tricked into helping create the appearance of popular support for a conspiracy that hit its true objectives behind appealing slogans and humanitarian goals a Detachment of the deceived staged sit-ins a handful of the hoaxed made freedom rides a portion picketed and protested while still others boycotted buses and then more of the deluded mobs marched and demonstrated as it was in Cuba where the leaders of the humanistic Revolution marched with arms locked in camaraderie so it is in the United States where the leaders of the Freedom Movement marched with arms locked in Brotherhood as it was in Cuba where the comrades marched arm in arm to shouts of vencer Ramos so it is in the United States where the brothers March to the strains of We Shall Overcome [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] in 1965 Martin Luther King explained the purposes of the marches and demonstrations as follows the goal of the demonstrations in Selma as elsewhere is to dramatize the existence of Injustice and to bring about the presence of Justice by methods of non-violence long years of experience indicate to us that Negroes can achieve this goal when poor things occur first non-violent demonstrations go into the streets to exercise their constitutional rights second racists resist by unleashing violence against them third Americans of conscience in the name of decency demand Federal intervention and legislation fourth the administration under Mass pressure initiates measures of immediate intervention and remedial legislation [Applause] I didn't hear from everybody are you ready to March as Martin Luther King said demonstrators staged a huge March on Washington D.C to dramatize their demands they staged demonstrations across the country and as Martin Luther King said violence was Unleashed then accordingly the federal government intervened in a vicious legislative step on the road to tyranny was enacted in the form of the Civil Rights bill of 1964. their cause must be our cause too because it's not just Negroes but really it's all of us who must overcome the crippling Legacy of bigotry and Injustice and we shall overcome [Applause] now we mean business are you ready to march with them as Martin Luther King said the demonstrators staged a huge March from Selma to Montgomery Alabama to dramatize their demands he staged demonstrations across the country and as Martin Luther King had said violence was Unleashed against them then accordingly the federal government intervened and still another vicious legislative step toward tyranny was enacted in the form of the Voting Rights bill of 1965. and these enemies too poverty disease and ignorance we shall overcome [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I broke away from the party when it became clear to me or the Communists were really up to was to use the Negro people this country as Canon father and a violent and bloody Revolution aimed at the establishment of an American Soviet dictatorship [Music] it was to be a Communist Revolution but the great majority of the American people would not be allowed to realize that until it had already happened if all goes according to the Communist blueprint Americans will believe that the chaos and violence has something to do with civil rights [Applause] make no mistake about it what is happening in the United States right now on the Battle of civil rights is exactly what has happened in China Cuban in Algeria and many other places around the world [Applause] [Music] the goal of the international communist conspiracy is world domination they have thus far been highly successful in accomplishing the step-by-step objectives necessary for reaching that goal in the United States the Communist plans call for two revolutions at once a revolution of a supposedly oppressed proletariat or working class against a capitalistic system that is supposed to breed wage slavery unemployment poverty crises and War the second revolution is a Revolt of the supposedly poor and oppressed Negroes of the black belt against the supposed lynching segregation social ostracism and exploitation of the white man currently what the Communists call their negro revolutionary movement now masquerading behind the humanitarian banners of civil rights is contributing tremendous momentum to the Communist plans to take over the United States divide the people get them fighting among themselves rather than their common enemy create the appearance of popular support through a favorable press and the use of Terror intimidation and the creation of Martyrs make the world believe the revolution is a popular one particularly among those being liberated neutralize the opposition when obstructionists to the cause become too irritating label them as fascist nazi anti-semitic extremist racist controversial precipitate mob violence get the mobs into the streets March and demonstrate as the demonstrations grow in number and intensity they will acquire political character through the desired collision and open combat with the forces of Law and Order since mass action culminates in Insurrection and Civil War what of the fifth principle of the Communist strategy create the semblance of revolution had not this rotten fascist racist cop Lieutenant that killed a young cowboy had he not killed a boy the Boy very well might have died in South Vietnam in the name of freedom foreign I was also asked to tell you not to get your passion so high not to get too worked up however I think many of us are going to have to choose where we're going to die at where are we going to die at we're going to have to decide whether we're going to die on the streets of the United States or in South Vietnam I would choose the United States myself I would say the United States [Music] invites you to listen to the free voice of the South stay with us for music and I'm commentary by Robert F Williams Robert F Williams a fugitive wanted by the state of North Carolina and the justice department broadcasts weekly revolutionary messages beamed into the United States from Cuba and we shall set the layers great stronghold objective imperialism a place without Battle Cry of Freedom Freedom now accept for our people in the monthly newsletter published in Cuba and sent into the United States through Canada the revolutionist Williams tells the Negroes of this nation we must be willing to suffer jail we must be willing to suffer death we must be willing to kill for freedom gestapo policeman on every street corner it's just like Mississippi and I predict things are going to grow worse in fact I think policemen are going to be dead before this situation is over during the Summers of 1964 and 1965 the demonstrations became riots finally culminating in the worst race riot in this nation's history in the Watts District of Los Angeles across the United States law enforcement officers were dead and Negroes did die in the streets and the situation was far from over seven days after the rioting broke out in Watts a new newspaper started publication the voice of all the oppressed and exploited calling for the workers of the world to unite this new voice of the people declared that all the people of the U.S who oppose U.S imperialism wish to thank the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people for their pledge of support for the people of Los Angeles in their struggle against U.S imperialism in keeping with communist principles and expectations the atmosphere of hatred generated in the Watts Riot resulted in 32 Martyrs for the cause of Liberation in their memory we pledge to destroy U.S imperialism in 1928 and again in 1934 and still again in 1965 we hear the Negro people constitute a nation in the black belt of the South unless there should be any misunderstanding Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King followed the example of Lenin Peace Prize winner Fidel Castro and Lennon Peace Prize winner Ben Bella and protested that I am sick and tired of people saying this movement has been infiltrated by Communists and communist sympathizers there are as many Communists in this Freedom Movement as there are Eskimos in Florida foreign [Music] in the past hour we have offered only a brief survey of the material that's available to support the charge that the Civil Rights Movement as we know it today is simply part of a worldwide movement organized and directed by Communists to enslave all mankind [Applause] there are hundreds of additional Witnesses and thousands of additional facts to testify to the Communist involvement in the American Civil Rights Movement but the limitations of time prevent their inclusion here [Applause] please foreign we urge you to continue your studies of these unpleasant truths and gain a more complete understanding of the conspirators plans to subjugate the United States [Music] Begin by reading it's very simple the true story of civil rights by Ellen Stang the Civil Rights packets and the other books and pamphlets on civil rights that are available from one of the American opinion libraries Across the Nation we also urge you to resolve first that you will not fall victim to the Communist plot to set race against race American against American [Music] second that you will now join with other Patriots in a positive program and concerted action to save for our children and their children this once glorious country and Humane civilization which we ourselves inherited foreign


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