The Downfall of the Black Panther Party

The Downfall of the Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party was the most influential revolutionary group during the Civil Rights movement era. The BPP became a very strong political power. It influenced many government decisions and attracted the mass media. Yet, due to a number of reasons the BPP eventually collapsed. The Black Panther Party came to its demise due to government operations against it, various mistakes by the Party itself, and by short comings by its own leaders.

The most devastating cause of the BPP’s demise was programs ran by the Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at breaking up the party. The FBI was mostly responsible for the eventual breakup. In the 1960s, the FBI had a secret program to undermine upsurges sweeping through the nation. This program was known as COINTELPRO, which stands for “Counterintelligence Program”. The Black Panther Party was one of many different “radical” groups that were targeted by this FBI led program. According to Wolf, “the FBI set out to eliminate radical political opposition inside the US.” J.Edgar Hoover, who once called the BPP as the ‘greatest threat to national security’, and the FBI used any means required to demolish this threat.

“ When traditional modes of repression (exposure, blatant harassment, and prosecution for political crimes) failed to counter the growing insurgency, and even helped to fuel it, the Bureau took the law into its own hands and secretly used fraud and force to sabotage constitutionally-protected political activity. It’s methods ranged far beyond surveillance and amounted to a domestic version of the covert action for which the CIA has become infamous throughout the world.”

Thus, the demise of the BPP was caused mostly by the FBI operation COINTELPRO. It destroyed the Panthers, in time, with a string of arrests, murders and forced exiles.

One of the effective ways COINTELPRO worked was how it systematically destroyed the power structure of the Black Panther Party. For instance, fabricated letters were sent to different factions causing dispute. These efforts were made to encourage division between essential leaders especially between Newton and Cleaver. The FBI’s goal to have different factions fight against themselves worked well. In January of 1969, for example, unidentified gunmen murdered two Los Angeles Panther leaders at UCLA. The ...

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...at a seizure of state power was imminent or that a revolutionary struggle is like a quick paced TV program. That is, it comes on at 9 p.m., builds to a crescendo by 9:45, and by 9:55 -- Victory! all in time to make the 10 O'clock News. When it didn't happen after a few years, that is, Africans in the U.S. still were not free, no revolution occurred, and worse, the BPP was everywhere on the defensive, taking losses and riddled with dissension, many members became demoralized, disillusioned, and walked away or went back to old lifestyles. They were not psychologically prepared for a long struggle. In hindsight it appears that the BPP didn't do enough to root out this TV mentality in some members, but did in others, which is an aspect to ponder on. Although the BPP made serious errors, it also gained a considerable measure of success and made several significant new contributions to the BLM. The final judgment of history may very well show that in its own way the BPP added the final ingredient to the Black Agenda necessary to attain real freedom: armed struggle; and that this was the great turning point which ultimately set the Black Liberation Movement on the final road to victory.