Class, Race, and Marxism

by David R. Roediger

Founder of whiteness studies surveys the race/class relationship

Seen as a key figure in the critical study of whiteness, US historian David Roediger has sometimes received criticism, and praise, alleging that he left Marxism behind in order to work on questions of identity. This volume collects his recent and new work implicitly and explicitly challenging such a view. In his historical studies of the intersections of race, settler colonialism, and slavery, in his major essay (with Elizabeth Esch) on race and the management of labour, in his detailing of the origins of critical studies of whiteness within Marxism, and in his reflections on the history of solidarity, Roediger argues that racial division is not only part of the history of capitalism but also of the logic of capital.

Genres: History, Race, Politics, Nonfiction, Class, Sociology, Social Justice

208 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2017

About the author

David Roediger teaches history and African American Studies at the University of Kansas. He was born in southern Illinois and educated in public schools in that state, with a B.S. in Ed from Northern Illinois University. He completed a doctorate in History at Northwestern in 1979. Roediger has taught labor and Southern history at Northwestern, University of Missouri, University of Minnesota, and University of Illinois. He has also worked as an editor of the Frederick Douglass Papers at Yale University. He has written on U.S. movements for a shorter working day, on labor and poetry, on the history of radicalism, and on the racial identities of white workers and of immigrants. The former chair of the editorial committee of the Charles H. Kerr Company, the world's oldest radical publisher, he has been active in the surrealist movement, labor support and anti-racist organizing.

Reviews

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Man this one was a mixed bag.

The title would give you the impression that Class, Race and Marxism is a book on politics or political philosophy; deceptively, it's actually a smattering of essays and personal reflections on the history of the discourse surrounding marxism and its perceived collision with 'identity politics'. Even more specifically, it concerns only the (very niche) storm centring around the book's author, David Roediger. To defend himself against the idea that he might have left the marxist ideosphere, Roediger provides evidence of three things: biographical data charting the historical interest of marxist theoreticians in questions of race and gender from the mid-20th century and earlier, the development of racial identification within the context of US slavery, and the historical difficulty of asserting a-racial class 'solidarity'.

The second and third parts are solid and good: demonstrating the 'rational' way in which the interests of capital pushed for racial chauvinism among workers, the essays convincingly push back against the hyperfrankfurtian narrative of capital as being the ultimate universal equivalizer that usurps older identitarian distinctions but does not create them. The essay on solidarity and the fate of the American Indians, on the other hand, amply problematizes the notion of 'solidarity' and forces the reader to confront the negative exclusionism always latent in the term: from the sham of Athenian democracy to the anti-Chinese labour movements in the early 20th ct US, it has been all too easily co-optable by narrow, divisive social segregation.

The first half, however, fails to properly introduce and contextualize its topic and its relevance to the reader, and as such half of it comes off as petty internecine squabbling, while the other just doesn't hold the uninformed reader's attention, smacking them around the ears with biographical tidbits which inclusion the book spends no time justifying. Looking beyond that, this reader felt the general structure could have been much more thought-out, making the read seem less like an arbitrary informational cavalcade loosely connected by the idea of marxism (which, incidentally, remains for the most part undiscussed at a political/philosophical level; this text focuses purely and simply on the historical-discursive layer).

A soft recommendation, but know what you're getting into - which you wouldn't, going by the title.

[Faaiz · Rating 2 out of 5]

You would think that a book titled "Class, Race and Marxism" would have more to say on class, race and Marxism but this one surprisingly has little to say on it, especially on the Marxism part. What (I think) the author wanted to convey was that racism/logic of race/divisions based on race is intricately linked and (maybe) even built into the logic of Capital. However, the author goes about it in the most indirect and meandering way with dense academic writing and dull, insipid prose.

Instead this seems to be more about "Whiteness studies" and an overview of the people involved in that genre of academia and the author's thoughts and reflections on his journey within that field which would have been fine had the book been titled "Reflections on the Current Trends in Whiteness Studies" or something. There is also surprisingly a lack of focus on ideas and arguments and more of a focus on the various people involved in this niche academic circle which is not interesting for someone who is not immersed in the field of Whiteness Studies which is almost every human being on earth. I just have no patience anymore with academics writing for academics.

What else to say, this just doesn't seem like a well-thought out book in terms of its purpose, goals and objectives regarding what it wants to convey to the reader and what it wants to be about.

[Christopher McQuain · Rating 3 out of 5]

***1/2 Attempts a hybrid of academic prose and sometimes embarrassing stabs at hipness, sometimes with compelling results, too often with a tone less equivocal than muddled. (Docked an extra half-star for exceedingly bad proofreading, evidently through the final stages; I have rarely seen more typographical and punctuation errors throwing off intended meaning so badly in one book, certainly not from the fine publisher, Verso, under the imprint of which this volume has been issued.)

[Eurethius Péllitièr · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book offers a great section on 'Race Management', how social scientists encouraged factory management in identifying the "best race for a given job" which deeply entrenched racism, and provides good insight into contextual solidarity, it's entire first half and many places in the second focus on personal interaction and histories of specific people/activists without much of the political discussion which is a real shame for a book with so much to offer.

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting volume that mixes reflections of a scholar on contemporary debates (though they're mostly relevant to me as twitter spats unfortunately) over the importance of race in talking about capitalism, as well as one solid theoretical chapter on the crossovers of scientific management, race science, and race management. The end chapter on solidarity is interesting and important (thinking through solidarity not as an easy task but as something inherently difficult).

If anything this book is useful for pointing towards foundational texts on white privilege (which were Marxist analyses!!!!!), but otherwise it feels unfortunately like some contemporary reflections by an academic on the state of debates class and race and solidarity, with a few other reflective essays stuffed in the middle to make it a full book.

In place of this book, I would instead read some of the writers mentioned in this text if you'd like to get into the theory/political economy/history/sociology of class and race: W.E.B. DuBois, Theodore W. Allen, David Roediger (author), C.L.R. James, Cedric Robinson, George Rawick, Michael Lebowtiz, and others. This book will be much more valuable to you once you have a grounding in some of these thinkers, as well as the online sphere of debates over identity politics and class reductionism.

[HappyHarron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first half of this book is more technical and functions as a critical reflection on the historiography of whiteness studies with the aim of emphasizing its Marxist character and it’s emergence as a response to class struggle and failures of the labour movement. While interesting, it’s out of my depth and I got halfway through the last essay before skipping to the second half of the book.

The last three essays are more engaging for someone like myself, and are why I gave it four stars instead of three. The first is a defence of intersectionality as a way to analyze the emergence of “slave management” literature in the Antebellum South. The second, while harder to follow is more in depth and looks at the connection between slave management and scientific management as mutually intertwined methods of boosting productivity. The third is by far my favourite in the book, and uses the debate over “allyship” to critically reflect on the way solitary was employed in early workers struggles, often undergirded by racial biases it ostensibly aimed to transcend. Overall, a very good though technical work which most open minded leftist will likely get something out of.

[Jim · Rating 1 out of 5]

The title would lead you believe somewhere inside would be discussions about those things in the title, namely Class, Racism, and Marxism. Well, you'd be quite wrong. I'll pass on getting too upset that Roediger doesn't seem to adhere to the Oxford Comma rules. Anyway. This reads like an academics roundtable-slash-persnickety bitchfest about who is more qualified to weigh in on the issues of the day. Not completely "Whitesplaining" since some of the referenced are Not White, maybe a more apt title would be "Academics Writing to Other Academics About Academics"? I am all about theory and scholarship, but this just name-drops and article-drops without any real positions being taken. There is little, if any, theorizing or analysis, unless you count Roediger analyzing and criticizing and unloading on other writers, academics, and theory-pundits. Plenty of multisyllabic words that while easy to parse meaning from, do little to explain the point Roediger is trying to make. Honestly, I am unsure what point Roediger is trying to make, besides self-promoting his brand of scholarship and Class-Race approach. Whatever that may be. Unreservedly unable to recommend this to anyone.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of essays by a really important senior US historian I'd never read. Clearly I need to read his book The Wages of Whiteness. I got a lot out of the essays here, especially the one on the historiography of whiteness in the US. The main subject of the book, I think, is how people separate race and class in US history writing. Roediger's point is that you can't really do that. Even discussions of solidarity apparently hide the appropriation of the work of black intellectuals. I read this with an eye toward deepening my knowledge base for my introductory Gender, Race and Class course, but found there isn't much here to share with the students. It's too technical and insider baseball.

[Clare Vergobbi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kind of a strange collection...while the essays in this book are all tied together by a basic theme (the intersections of race and class and how they relate to Marxist theory and workers' organizing), some essays are more applicable and timely than others. The final two, along with the long introduction, were the most thought-provoking in my opinion.

[Ben Schaefer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I think that the author brings up very salient points and does so in fluid way. The biggest critique I had was that it could be dry at times which took away from the argument. However, I think that this book is a great read if you’re interested in economics, politics, race, and a radical viewpoint. If I could, I would give a 4.5.

[Ernest L. HIckman, Jr. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too contemporary for my taste

I guess because this is a white man speaking on race struggle in general he did the smart thing and not dictate it or act holier than thou. So it was quite boring, but none the less informative

[KT · Rating 2 out of 5]

Collection of essays that vary in quality on history of intersections of class, race and Marxism with the author's own reflections throughout
Mileage may vary depending on interest in what may read like academic political philosophy infighting at times

[Pablo Uribe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The intro and the last couple essays were the most compelling and readable.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent resource for articulating the relationships involving the 3 titular objects.

[Gabriel Symer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitely not for beginners, but a fantastic book on whiteness and the left's frequent lack of understanding around issues of racism.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very strong collection of essays from various periods in Roediger's long and illustrious career as a historian, sociologist and theorist of American race studies.

[Left_coast_reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

C. L. R. James said, "The race question is subsidiary to the class question in politics, and to think of imperialism in terms of race is disastrous. But to neglect the racial factor as merely incidental is an error only less grave than to make it fundamental." W. E. B. DuBois said, "the problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line." What are we to make of the gap between these two black geniuses?

Few people are better positioned to answer this than David Roediger, one of the most important voices in the study of whiteness and its relationship to the labor movement. This book contains six essays loosely grouped around the concepts of race and class and how we write about them.

I went into this book bracing for difficult discussions. But the book really didn't dig very deeply into recent debates. Other than the introduction and the first essay, the focus was elsewhere. I was pleased with the lack of vitriol, considering how tense debates on this subject can be, but disappointed that the book didn't challenge me more.

Roediger points out that critics who argue for prioritizing class over race in organizing efforts mistakenly assume that recent years have had a focus on race already. He considers the past few decades to be an era of retreat from both race and class organizing (elite efforts to co-opt the language of racial justice notwithstanding). He also asks whether a focus on race necessarily precludes also organizing based on class.

His essay on the history of "race management" failed to convince me of his overall argument. Roediger wants to show that managerial strategies based on supposed racial differences in disposition of workers are not only compatible with capitalism, but constitutive of the logic of capital itself. Unfortunately the essay isn't long enough to give this the treatment it deserves. And he does not mention racially homogeneous capitalist societies and what that might mean for his argument.

This book wasn't exactly what I was expecting in both bad and good ways. I would like to read more on this topic, even if it opens old wounds surrounding recent political campaigns. If anything it convinced me I absolutely must read DuBois.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Class, Race, and Marxism distills one side of a more or less esoteric debate within Marxism on the position of race within class struggle. Roediger's point of view is race is pretty central—to combat racism is the same as waging class war. Others, such as Adolph Reed Jr. and Cedric Johnson, who take a more classical Marxist approach, see fighting racism as important, but also as a cultural particular compared against the universal struggle of class in the capitalist system.

By no means do I want to take a position on this debate here (though I do recognize its wider significance), and will leave it at stating that while I am much more familiar with Adolph Reed's writing, I found Roediger's arguments quite persuasive. In the end think it's worth doing some reading into his sources here, which now (waving my hands in the air) I shall pursue.

[Dan Christensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't get finish one and a half of the 6 (7 if you include the not-inconsiderable introduction) essays... and I am not feeling a strong urge to go back and finish it off. Very interesting and informative, but feels as if I was wading into an ongoing and unfamiliar (to me) conversation/debate. The essays all are around related topics, but were all (I believe) published in other places before and are just being collected here - that is to say, not as inter-related as I had thought. I can imagine there is a readership (an academic one) for whom this is compelling reading, but I would have been better off with a more introductory or cursory book on the topics.

[Mills College Library]

305.5 R712 2017