A Continuous Struggle

The first biography of the revolutionary political prisoner who laid the foundation for contemporary abolitionist struggles and Black anarchism.

A Continuous Struggle is a political biography of one of the most important revolutionary figures of the twentieth century in the United States. Martin Sostre (1923–2015) was a Black Puerto Rican from East Harlem who became a politicized prisoner and jailhouse lawyer, winning cases in the early 1960s that helped secure the constitutional rights of incarcerated people. He opened one of the country’s first radical Black bookstores and was scapegoated and framed by police and the FBI following the Buffalo rebellion of 1967. He was sentenced by an all-white jury to thirty-one to forty-one years.

Throughout his nine-year imprisonment, Sostre transformed himself and the revolutionary movements he was a part of, eventually identifying as a revolutionary anarchist and laying the foundation for contemporary Black anarchism. During that time, he engaged in principled resistance to strip frisks for which he was beaten eleven times, raising awareness about the routinized sexual assault of imprisoned people. The decade-long Free Martin Sostre movement was one of the greatest and most improbable defense campaign victories of the Black Power era, alongside those to liberate Angela Davis and Huey Newton. Although Sostre receded from public view after his release in 1976, he lived another four decades of committed struggle as a tenant organizer and youth mentor in New York and New Jersey. Throughout his long life, Martin Sostre was a jailhouse lawyer, revolutionary bookseller, yogi, mentor and teacher, anti-rape organizer, housing justice activist, and original political thinker. The variety of strategies he used and terrains on which he struggled emphasize the necessity and possibility of multi-faceted and continuous struggle against all forms of oppression in pursuit of an egalitarian society founded on the principles of “maximum human freedom, spirituality, and love.”

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Praise for A Continuous Struggle:

“After decades of neglect, Martin Sostre is finally receiveing his due as a pioneer of priosner organizing and Black anarchism. Garrett Felber's powerful biography . . . excavates his many contributions as well as the work of his support committee in the successful Free Martin Sostre movement.” —Kite Line Radio

“Vibrant...This brings the revolutionary spirit of the '60s and '70s alive in fascinating detail.” —Publisher's Weekly

“I’ve been waiting for years for a biography of Martin Sostre worthy of its subject. This is it. Garrett Felber tells an engrossing story of a complex and committed man who dedicated his life to the struggle for liberation of the oppressed with depth and revolutionary love. A new generation will now get to know someone whose contributions have made all our lives more possible. A Continuous Struggle will be a mainstay on my shelf and my book recommendations.” —Mariame Kaba, coauthor of Let this Radicalize You

“Now that Garrett Felber has given us such a deeply researched and compelling biography of Martin Sostre, Sostre’s pivotal and far-reaching contributions to the movement against prisons and the broader abolitionist movement can no longer be ignored. This book is more than a biography of a single individual—it charts the collective work that guides us today.” —Angela Y. Davis, is a political activist and author of numerous books, including Freedom is a Constant Struggle

“A Continuous Struggle is urgent reading for organizers everywhere. Martin Sostre’s project-oriented revolutionary vision gifts us with insights. Garrett Felber vividly shows how Sostre understood the consciousness-expanding power of frequently modest ‘objective examples.’ As a result, the man’s life and this book encourage us to notice the many unsung people who work towards a new society in militantly practical ways.” —Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author of Abolition Geography

“A rigorous examination of Sostre's revolutionary life that offers vital lessons for those seeking to carry on the struggle.” —Orisanmi Burton, author of Tip of the Spear

“The radical, indeed revolutionary life of Martin Sostre, a Black Puerto Rican political prisoner, is a remarkable one. He entered prison thinking himself nonpolitical, but learned, through hard-fought struggles and experience, that every time we wrestle with the State (Leviathan) we are engaged with politics. . . . His bio tells the tale of a man who transformed when faced with new challenges, becoming more radical with each transformation. Those students of the '60s, the Black nationalist and the prisoners’ rights movement would do well by reading his work.” —Mumia Abu-Jamal, political prisoner and coeditor of Beneath the Mountain

Garrett Felber is an educator, writer, and organizer. They are the author of Those Who Know Don’t Say: The Nation of Islam, the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State, and coauthor of The Portable Malcolm X Reader, with Manning Marable. Felber is a cofounder of the abolitionist collective Study and Struggle and is currently building a radical mobile library, the Free Society People's Library, in Portland, Oregon.

Robin D. G. Kelley is author or coeditor of numerous award-winning books including Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Original, and Race Rebels: Culture, Politics, and the Black Working Class, among others.