ABSTRACT
Jesse Jackson campaigns were a revolt against both Reaganism in the Republican Party and the capitulation of the Democratic Party to the repressive policies of the Reagan administration. The black petty bourgeoisie supported Jackson's effort along with the African-American working class and the unemployed, but for different reasons. The poor and working class had been hit with a severe deterioration of wages, the expansion of drug traffic in their neighborhoods, and the collapse in public transportation systems, health care, and social infrastructure. Jackson's strategy in 1984 was essentially to build a broad-based coalition of forces representing roughly 80 percent of black America, combined with small fractions of the Latino, progressive white, and labor constituencies. Along with the development of institutions, the left and the black movement must reassess the potential weaknesses and strengths of mounting yet another national presidential campaign behind Jackson.
