Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical TraditionIn this ambitious work, first published in 1983, Cedric Robinson demonstrates that efforts to understand black people's history of resistance solely through the prism of Marxist theory are incomplete and inaccurate. Marxist analyses tend to presuppose European models of history and experience that downplay the significance of black people and black communities as agents of change and resistance. Black radicalism must be linked to the traditions of Africa and the unique experiences of blacks on western continents, Robinson argues, and any analyses of African American history need to acknowledge this. To illustrate his argument, Robinson traces the emergence of Marxist ideology in Europe, the resistance by blacks in historically oppressive environments, and the influence of both of these traditions on such important twentieth-century black radical thinkers as W. E. B. Du Bois, C. L. R. James, and Richard Wright. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Part 1 The Emergence and Limitations of European Radicalism | 7 |
Part 2 The Roots of Black Radicalism | 69 |
Part 3 Black Radicalism and Marxist Theory | 173 |
Notes | 319 |
| 409 | |
| 431 | |
Other editions - View all
Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition Cedric J. Robinson No preview available - 2000 |
Common terms and phrases
African American Communist American Communist Party Atlantic Slave Trade became Black Marxism Black nationalism Black radical tradition Black Reconstruction bourgeois Brazil Britain British C. L. R. James capitalism capitalist Caribbean civilization colonial Comintern Communism Communist Party consciousness critique culture domination E. P. Thompson early economic emergence Empire England English Europe European exploitation feudal force French Garvey German Haitian Revolution historians Ibid ideology imperialism industrial intellectual intelligentsia International Irish Islam Italian Karl Marx labor Lenin liberation London maroon Marx and Engels Marx's Marxism masses merchants modern movement nationalist native Negro nineteenth century organization Padmore peasants petit bourgeoisie plantations planters political population Portuguese production proletariat race racial racism rebellion revolution revolutionary Robinson ruling classes Russia slave trade slavery social socialist society Spanish Stalin struggle theory thought tion Trinidad Trotsky UNIA University Press W. E. B. Du Bois West Indies Western William workers Wright York