Since 2019, members of Unity & Struggle and friends have been spending time on a long-term study on race and capitalism and mutually constituting relationship between the two. In PART 1 we studied historical and logical aspects of racialization, beginning with primitive accumulation, and focusing heavily on the period of slavery in the United States. Check out our post-study interviews on Rev Left Radio.
The PART2 took place in 2020 following the George Floyd uprising, and amidst an ongoing global pandemic. We then discussed each section in summary. Listen to / watch our short summary videos put together by participants:
PART 3: The 1940s to Present
PART 3 will trace the relationship between capitalism and race in the U.S. from the 1940s-present. The readings look at the subjective and objective formation of race relations, from the development of the Welfare State, through the Civil Rights Era, Third World Liberation and other decolonial movements; through the advent of state-managed migration and the development of neoliberalism; and arriving at our current moment characterized by the BLM / George Floyd Uprisings and a crisis of social reproduction.
Syllabus
Section 1. PART 1 & 2 recap
1-1
- Harry Chang, “Toward a Marxist Theory of Racism” from Review of Radical Political Economy
- FTC Manning, “Closing the Conceptual Gap: A Response to Cinzia Arruzza’s ‘Remarks on Gender.’” Viewpoint (2015)
- Peter Hudis, “Racism and the Logic of Capitalism: A Fanonian Reconsideration.” Historical Materialism (2017)
- RevLeft Radio Episode 1: Foundational Concepts
1-2
- Patrick Wolfe, Traces of History, Introduction
- RevLeft Radio Episode 2: Primitive Accumulation
- Karuka, Empire’s Tracks, (pg 20-39)
- U&S YouTube: Settler Colonialism & Indigenous Racialization
- OPTIONAL: Our History is the Future, The Dig podcast
1-3
- RevLeft Radio Episode 3: Free & Unfree Labor / Slavery & Capitalism
- DuBois, The General Strike, Ch. 4
- Hunter, Reconstruction and the Meanings of Freedom, Ch. 2
- U&S YouTube: Reconstruction
- OPTIONAL: Carico, Freedom of Accumulation
1-4
- W.E.B. Du Bois, selection from Chapter 1 of Souls of Black Folk
- Wilderson (2009) Gramsci’s black Marx: Whither the slave in civil society? Social Identities, Vol 9, Num 2.
- RevLeft Radio Episode 4: Race & Alienation
- David Roediger, Wages of Whiteness (1991)
- RevLeft Radio Episode 5: Wage Labor & White Supremacy
1-5
Section 2. 1940s – 1970s: Civil Rights & Third World Liberation
2-1
- Mohandesi & Teitelman, Without Reserves in Social Reproduction Theory
- Jay & Leavall, Material Conditions of Detroit Rebellions
2-2
- Jones, An End to the Neglect of the Problems of Negro Women!
- DeLux, Never Hers Alone: A Review of ‘At the Dark End of the Street’
- Ransby, Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement selections (190-192, 236-238, 241-247, 305-306, 322-325, 348-352)
2-3
- Audio from Radio Free Dixie
- Audio from Mabel Williams Speaks!
- Fuller, Philadelphia After the Riots
- Warden, The California Revolt
- Sykes, Harlem Report
- Horne, Fire this Time: The Watts Uprising and the 1960s, Chs. 2 & 5
2-4
- Greenberg, Race and State in Capitalist Development, ch 17 (conclusion)
- Adi, Pan-Africanism: A History, chapter 8
- Film: Umm Kulthum, A Voice Like Egypt (1996)
2-5
- Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, On Violence
2-6
- Kadalie, Internationalism, Pan-Africanism, and the Struggle of Social Classes chs. 4 & 7
2-7
- Ransby, Ella Baker and the Freedom Movement selections (309-311)
- Shakur, Assata selections (181-192)
- Johnson, Guerrilla Ganja Gun Girls: Policing Black Revolutionaries from Notting Hill to Laventille
2-8
- Communist Research Cluster Reader II, section 15, The Nation Thesis Spreads
- Pulido, Differential Racialization in Southern California
- Acuña, Occupied America Ch. 13: Goodbye America
2-9
- Dunbar Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States ch.10
- Akwesasne Notes, photos from Voices from Wounded Knee
- Nagel, American Indian Ethnic Renewal: Politics and the Resurgence of Identity
2-10
- Brown, A Taste of Power selections (132-137, 246-249, 321-328, 426-436)
- Williams, The Original Rainbow Coalition
- McNally, The Dialectics of Unity and The Constitution of Wage-Labour
- OPTIONAL: PBS film The First Rainbow Coalition
Section 3. Post-1965 Migration
3-1
- Canterbury, Migration and Capital Accumulation
- Chacón, The Border Crossed Us: The Case for Opening the US-Mexico Border, Introduction
- Walia, Border and Rule, Introduction
3-2
- Loyd Boats, Borders and Bases, chapter 1
- Ngai, Impossible Subjects: Illegal Aliens and the Making of Modern America, pg 17-20, 93-95, and ch 4
3-3
- Ayala and Bernabe, Puerto Rico in the American Century, Intro, ch. 9 & 10
3-4
- Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, ch. 2
- Lee, A New History of Asian America, ch. 12
- Mitchell, Rethinking Sanctuary Cities in an Age of ‘Targeted’ Deportation
- Against the Grain, Human Labor and Factory Farming podcast
Section 4. 1980s – Present: Post-Civil Rights & Neoliberalism
4-1
- Marx, Capital vol I, Chapter 25, p. 762-818
4-2
- Marx, Capital vol I, Chapter 25, p. 818-870
4-3
- Chen, The Limit Point of Capitalist Equality, Endnotes 3
- OPTIONAL: Das, Reconceptualizing Capitalism: Forms of Subsumption of Labor, Class Struggle, and Uneven Development
- OPTIONAL: McIntyre, Race, Surplus Population and the Marxist Theory of Imperialism
4-4
- Singh, Race and America’s Long War, Introduction
- Reed, Black Particularity Reconsidered
4-5
- Marable, Race, Reform and Rebellion, 3rd ed., chapters 7-9
- Audre Lorde Berlin Years Documentary
4-6
- Kwong, The New Chinatown, chapters 3-4
- Coal, Cages and Crisis Talk with Christina Heatherton
4-7
- Estes: Red Nation Rising, ch 4
- Aufheben, La ‘92: Context of a Proletarian Uprising
4-8
- Taylor, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, ch 6
- Rodriguez, Two Readings on Mistaken Identity
4-9
- Samudzi and Anderson, “Grounds to Defend on” and “From Here on Out” in As Black as Resistance
- Anarkata, A statement
- Akuno, Until We Win: Black labor and liberation in the disposable era
4-10
- Johnson, The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now
- Ford, The Black Misleadership
Section 4. 1980s – Present: Post-Civil Rights & Neoliberalism
4-1
- Marx, Capital vol I, Chapter 25, p. 762-818
4-2
- Marx, Capital vol I, Chapter 25, p. 818-870
4-3
- Chen, The Limit Point of Capitalist Equality, Endnotes 3
- OPTIONAL: Das, Reconceptualizing Capitalism: Forms of Subsumption of Labor, Class Struggle, and Uneven Development
- OPTIONAL: McIntyre, Race, Surplus Population and the Marxist Theory of Imperialism
4-4
- Singh, Race and America’s Long War, Introduction
- Reed, Black Particularity Reconsidered
4-5
- Marable, Race, Reform and Rebellion, 3rd ed., chapters 7-9
- Audre Lorde Berlin Years Documentary
4-6
- Kwong, The New Chinatown, chapters 3-4
- Coal, Cages and Crisis Talk with Christina Heatherton
4-7
- Estes: Red Nation Rising, ch 4
- Aufheben, La ‘92: Context of a Proletarian Uprising
4-8
- Taylor, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation, ch 6
- Rodriguez, Two Readings on Mistaken Identity
4-9
- Samudzi and Anderson, “Grounds to Defend on” and “From Here on Out” in As Black as Resistance
- Anarkata, A statement
- Akuno, Until We Win: Black labor and liberation in the disposable era
4-10
- Johnson, The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now
- Ford, The Black Misleadership
- Johnson, “The Panthers Can’t Save Us Now”
- Ford, “The Black Misleadership”
As always, our open syllabus is available for anyone to comment and exchange thoughts.
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