Sojourner Truth Organization

Sojourner Truth Organization was a new communist organization, which came into existence in the winter of 1969-70. Throughout its fifteen-year existence (1969–1985), it existed mainly in the Midwest and oriented towards organization in the workplace. It was named after the nineteenth century female African American activist, Sojourner Truth. It distinguished itself from other New Left groups in its critical approach to the role of race in the formation of the American working class. This perspective is perhaps best expressed in Noel Ignatiev's Preface to Workplace Papers, a 1980 publication of the STO:

Noel Ignatiev, a former leader of the Students for a Democratic Society, and a prominent member of the STO, would later contribute to the formulation of critical race theory, and edit Race Traitor magazine.

According to historian Michael Staudenmaier, "The Sojourner Truth Organization was founded in Chicago at the end of 1969, partly by people who had been involved with the RYM II faction of the recently crumbled SDS. The group largely turned its back on the student milieu, and instead focused its efforts on what has been variously called "industrial concentration" or "(point of) production work." This focus dominated the group's first several years, until the mid-1970s. During this time, the bulk of the membership (close to 50 people at some points) was employed full-time in a variety of factories throughout the Chicago area. In this context, the group agitated for what it called mass revolutionary independent workers' organizations, built alliances with black and Latino revolutionaries in workplaces, and struggled around a variety of campaigns that reflected the group's strategic orientation of placing the struggle against white supremacy front and center. Since STO was the first post-new left group in Chicago to emphasize production work, it was able to tap into and relate to a strikingly broad range of workplace struggles, wildcat strikes, and independent organizing efforts. Some of the best stories told by former members focus on these experiences. Still, the failure to build any sort of lasting momentum (much less a mass organization) caused STO to reflect critically on the limitations of industrial concentration as the group had practiced it throughout the early 1970s.

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