This article is a companion piece to Part I of our Boston ’75 series, published in the July 16th issue of CHALLENGE, which chronicled our struggle against the racist, fascist group Restore Our Alienated Rights (ROAR) in Boston during the summer of 1975. Here, we examine the virulent expansion of ROAR into New York City, in reaction to Black and Latin families moving into what was then a predominantly white, working-class neighborhood and PLP’s fightback to defeat the racists in the Morris Park section of the Bronx.

In Part I, titled Remember Boston ’75: Reds Busted Racists, we explored the roots of the fascist ROAR movement and decisive role played by the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and the PLP-led International Committee Against Racism (INCAR), which organized a militant, multiracial movement that ultimately crushed ROAR’s efforts.

When Black workers are under attack, it is the duty of all workers and antiracists to stand up and fight back. Fifty years later, the fight against racist state sponsored violence is not over. Like the Black workers in Cincinnati militantly organizing against Neo-Nazis and multiracial groups of workers standing against ICE in L.A., Chicago, and Newark, to smash racist attacks and any far-right movement, we need Progressive Labor Party (PLP)— a mass internationalist communist party, committed to militant fightback and revolution. 

Racist Plague in Boston emboldens Racists New York City

In 1975, racists in New York were inspired by the racist group “ROAR” (“Restore Our Alienated Rights”) in Boston that opposed busing to end segregation in Boston’s public schools. This was a serious fascist, openly racist movement, and it had somewhat of a mass base. ROAR leaders were on the Boston City Council. The letters “ROAR” were pasted on the windows of the Boston municipal building and one of its organizers was on the Boston School Commission, leading the fight against integrating the public schools. Boston ROAR tried to organize nationwide.

PLP has a long history of fighting racism in the Bronx and Queens, New York City. In 1975 a few Black families had just begun moving into Morris Park, the Bronx, a working-class neighborhood, largely Italian and Irish. They were attacked by racists organized by the “Morris Park Association,” which claimed to represent the white residents of Morris Park. In fact, it was allied with the Mafia, an organized crime group headed by Vincent Basciano, alias “Vinny Gorgeous” after the beauty salon he ran that doubled as his front. (Basciano is now serving a life sentence for murder without possibility of parole in a federal prison).

There was plenty of crime in Morris Park – murder, gambling, racketeering, extortion – but it was largely ignored, either because the crime was committed by “whites” or from fear. The claims by the Morris Park Association that “minorities” were responsible were lies. There was plenty of crime already! As one resident put it, Morris Park “tolerated crime as long as the criminals looked familiar. That’s not community pride. That’s hypocrisy.”

When Black, Yemeni, Indian, and Dominican families started moving into Morris Park, the racist organizing began. One resident remembers: “When I was a kid in the 70s the Morris Park Association used to give out money to teens who would beat up ‘undesirable’ visitors … money was given and Black kids were beaten.”

Racists’ organizing in the Bronx is crushed by multiracial workers’ power

In the summer of 1975 ROAR expanded into New York. The Morris Park Association paid for a racist ad in the Bronx Home News. It opposed busing and claimed that Blacks were getting favored treatment over whites. The Morris Park Association claimed a membership of 400, and between 200 and 300 people attended their meetings. The racists were trying to build a mass base.

PLP organized a march of several hundred in Morris Park starting from Jacobi Hospital, one of the city’s health facilities drastically harmed by cutbacks, and down Morris Park Avenue, a main shopping area. We chanted “No Boston Here,” “Stop the Bosses, Not the Buses,” and “Jobs – Not Racism.”

When we got within a block of the racists’ headquarters, we were met by a crowd of about 100 people, including many teenage boys, some curious, some hostile. Hundreds of residents lined the streets to watch our march. There hadn’t been any communist marches in the Bronx in decades.

Fascists fade away when faced with multiracial unity organized by the Party

At this point the Morris Park Association leaders did not want to reveal their fascist nature by physically attacking us. In addition, our discipline and obvious willingness to defend ourselves made them wonder how well they would do in a fight with us, particularly since they had probably heard from their fellow racists in Boston about how we drove them back in the Battle of Columbia Point.

A member of PLP who lived in Morris Park explained that local residents should resist being drawn into a racist trap, and warned the young people against being used the way Hitler used youth to attack Jews. A leader of the Morris Park Association was heard to say: “Let’s get these kids out of here – they’re eating this up.” We picketed for a while and marched through the neighborhood back to Jacobi. We handed out antiracist flyers, sold CHALLENGE, and talked to many residents.

When school opened in September, the racists tried to organize a boycott by white students of Christopher Columbus High School, where non-white students were being bussed. A multiracial PLP antiracist committee welcomed the bused students. The racist Morris Park Association could not even muster a picket line as hundreds of Black, white, and Latin students poured into the school. The racist boycott flopped.

Sources:

Morris Party march, July 31, 1975, page 5.

“Move Against Fascists” – May 31, 1975 March in Morris Park, Bronx. June 12, 1975, page 5.

“Try Intimidating Communists” and

“Anti-Racist March for Jobs” (Morris Park, Bx), June 31, 1975, page 5.

Editorial: “School Racists = Strike-Breakers,” (Morris Park, Bx), September 18, 1975, page 2.

For PLP’s May Day March and Anti-Racist summer project against “R.O.A.R.” in Boston, 1975, see the following:

“Remember Boston ’75: Reds Busted Racists.” CHALLENGE July 16, 2025, pages 8 and 7. At https://plp.org/home/challenge-newspaper/13667-remember-boston-75-reds-busted-racists

“Fascism and Busing in Boston.” PL Magazine vol. 10, no. 1. August- September, 1975 (also a PLP pamphlet).

“40th Anniversary of Boston ‘75 — PLP Smashed Anti-Busing Racists”, CHALLENGE, April 22, 2015, page 5. At http://www.plp.org/challenge/2015/4/9/40th-anniversary-of-boston-75-plp-smashed-anti-busing-racist.html

”PLP History: Anti-Racism at Forefront of Communist Fightback,” CHALLENGE, July 29, 2015, page 8. At http://www.plp.org/challenge/2015/7/16/plp-history-anti-racism-at-forefront-of-communist-fightback.html

“PLP History: The Summer of Smashing Racists.” CHALLENGE August 5, 2020, page 8. At https://plp.org/home/challenge-newspaper/10958-plp-history-the-summer-of-smashing-racists